For some reason, Todd had decided to hang out with Thea and her friends. It was strange because he was Dean's friend, although it looked like Dean hung out with other people. Lane had to turn Todd down because she realized she doesn't like him like that and yet Todd continued to hang out with them, not bringing up the disaster date.

Strangely, Liberty seemed to find Todd amusing.

Todd wanted to show them a movie at his house because he wanted to show them his favorite scene in a movie called Tough Guys Don't Dance.

It was awful so far, until they got to the scene where Tim went down to the beach to read a letter.

https://youtu.be/Y9KyBdPeKHg

They started cracking up at the reaction because it was bad.

"He wasn't reading a letter, he was reading the script," Liberty said.

"Imagine seeing a man spinning in a circle at the beach, saying, 'oh god, oh man,' repeatedly," Aiden said.

"God, that would be concerning," Thea said.

"I'm trying to figure out if she said, 'your pet killed them' or 'your pet, kill him'," Georgia said.

"It's 'unless you're prepared to kill them,'" Todd said.

Lane, Georgia, and Aiden came over to help organize stuff for the rummage sale since there was a fundraising thing going on. A bridge was falling apart and apparently Stars Hollows's residents wanted to save it instead of getting a new, safer one.

Lorelai volunteered to run the job for some reason.

Georgia held up a spaghetti strapped shirt, "Where does this ugly ass sparkly top go?"

"In the tacky pile," Aiden said.

Rory asked, "Are you calling it tacky because you find it tacky or is it actually tacky in general?" She looked at the top Georgia was holding, "Yeah, that is tacky in general."

"So where?" asked Georgia.

"Over there," Aiden said, pointing at a spot.

Georgia tossed it over at the pile.

Thea asked, "So, where would this creepy clown baby doll go?" She held it up.

Aiden looked at it and shuddered, "In a burn barrel."

Thea tossed it to a small pile where things that couldn't be salvaged were to be hauled off to a dump.

Rory looked in a bag and held up something, "Sweater?"

"Over here," Lane said, holding up her hands. Rory tossed the sweater to her.

Aiden held up something cloth like, "What are these? Shorts?"

"Trash," Rory told him.

Aiden tossed it to the trash pile, "Where did the doll go?"

Thea looked but didn't see it, "We're screwed." She continued sorting the bags she had gotten.

Rory asked, "Jeans?"

Lane pointed at a pile, "In back of you."

"Here's a dismembered Barbie doll," Georgia said, tossing it over to the trash pile.

"Hat," Thea said, taking out a hat.

"Over here," Georgia said.

Thea tossed it to her Georgia to put in the pile.

"A big furry purple thing that could be either a hat, a toilet paper cover or some kind of dirty hand puppet," Rory said.

"Mystery box on the left," Lane said.

Liberty and Luke came in carrying some bags.

"Hey, Teddy," Luke said to Thea.

"Hey Luke, Libby," Thea greeted.

"Hey Luke," Rory said.

Liberty held up a bag, "Where do you want us to put this crap?"

"What do you have?" asked Rory.

"Clothes, rags, and some old pots and pans," Luke said, holding up the respective bags.

"The pots and pans go in the kitchen," Thea said. "The clothes go over here somewhere."

Luke took the kitchenware to the kitchen while Liberty went over to her friends.

"I found some clothes that belonged to Rachel," Liberty whispered to her friends. "I figured that it would be good to donate that stuff."

Georgia nodded.

Lorelai came downstairs clutching some clothes. She handed it to Rory, "Here, Grinch."

"Thank you," Rory said.

Lorelai asked, "Who wants cheese?"

"Are there crackers?" asked Rory.

"Somewhere in the state of Connecticut, yes there are crackers," Lorelai said.

Rory asked, "And the Gilmore house?"

"No, I ate them because of period cramps," Thea defended herself. She always had bad cramps that left her throwing up.

Lorelai asked, "So, who wants cheese?"

"Me please," Lane said. She held up a poster, "Um, kittens in the toilet poster?"

Aiden said, "Jesus, another poster?"

"This one's signed," Lane stated.

Georgia seemed baffled, "Why?"

Lorelai shouted, "There's a man in my kitchen! Somebody call the constable!"

Luke emerged from the kitchen, "Your mom's a fruit cake."

"Fruit cakes by the door, please," Lorelai said.

"Goodbye, Libby, Teddy, Rory," Luke said. With one look at Thea, he added, "I wish you luck–" He looked at Lorelai "–with everything."

"Well appreciated, Luke," Thea told him.

Luke and Liberty left together.

"Okay, so rummage sale's Sunday, today is Tuesday," Lorelai started. "At this rate, we are going to be sleeping in the yard by Thursday. We have got to start getting some of this stuff out of the living room."

Taylor came in, "Hello?"

"Go away," Lorelai said.

"I have a full set of dishes," Taylor said.

"Come on in, Taylor," Rory said.

"Dishes go in the kitchen," Thea said.

"Okay, but I have to explain something first," Taylor said.

Thea tuned them out, resuming the sorting.

"Ooh, that's nice," Lorelai said, taking something out and holding it to her chest.

"Put that back," Rory said.

"But it has rhinestones on it," Lorelai countered.

"The point of this is to get crap out of here, not to trade it in for new crap," Rory pointed out.

Lorelai held up the sweatshirt that looked vaguely familiar to Thea, but she couldn't place where. Lorelai asked, "Okay, are you seeing this?"

"Yes I am," Rory said.

"No, I don't think you are, because if you were seeing this, you would see that this obviously has 'Lorelai' written all over it," Lorelai said.

"Fine, we'll just get rid of it at next year's sale," Rory replied.

"Thank you," Lorelai said.

Sookie and Sage came in.

"Okay, you guys are gonna love me," Sookie said as she took off her overcoat.

Sage had gone over to Thea and kissed her on the cheek. He had been a little more affectionate since he said 'I love you' to her.

"We already love you," Lorelai said to Sookie.

"No, I mean you're really gonna love me," Sookie stated as she dug through her purse.

"We do," Lorelai said.

Thea looked at Sage, who just smiled at her.

"Hey, look, it's our lunch break," Georgia said, taking Aiden's arm and leaving with him.

Aiden had doubled back, kissed Thea goodbye and left with Georgia.

They must've sensed that they weren't wanted at the moment.

"Trust me, you guys are gonna so love me," Sookie continued.

"Okay, the love is starting to fade now, Sookie," Lorelai said.

Sookie held some tickets, "I have here in my hand, as requested by Ms. Lorelai Gilmore, six fabulous tickets to the Bangles at the Pastorella Theatre on Saturday!"

Lorelai said, "What?"

"No," Rory said in disbelief.

Lane took the tickets from Sookie.

Sookie said, "Do you love me?"

Sookie asked, "Do you love me?"

"Oh, baby, do I," Lorelai said.

"Are these good seats?" Lane said, "These look like good seats."

"9th row, aisle," Sookie said.

"I can't believe you got me my tickets!" Lorelai asked, "Well, how did you score these?"

Sage explained, "Mr. Birnbaum runs a ticket agency and he was really impressed with the wedding—"

"Fiji Fantasy," Lorelai interrupted.

Sage looked like he didn't appreciate being interrupted. He didn't like it when people interrupted him or talked over him.

"Yes," Sookie said. "They were so thrilled with the volcano wedding cake that they wanted to do something nice for me. I knew you were dying to go, so I asked him if he could—"

"Make four girls very happy," Lorelai finished. "Wait, you got six tickets."

"I thought Sage and Thea would like to go," Sookie said.

Thea didn't practically care too much for the Bangles and Sage probably wouldn't have wanted to go either, but it was nice being thought of every once in a while.

"So, he made you all happy," Sage said.

Lorelai said, "Huzzah for the Birnbaums!"

Rory started, "Hey, Sookie, if you got six tickets and you and Mom, Sage, and Thea go, then that means..."

"One is for Lane and the other is for you," Sage said.

Sookie and Lane hugged each other.

Lorelai asked, "This is gonna be a very special night," Lorelai said. "And you what a very, very special night deservers?"

Rory asked, "What?"

Lorelai pulled out a hot pink dress, "A new outfit!"

"That is the ugliest dress I ever saw," Sage said, looking disgusted.

"I agree," Sookie said.

"That's worse than the tacky shirt that Georgia pulled out of a bag," Rory said.

In history, Sage walked in the class, looking a bit bothered by something. He went to the desk and handed the teacher a note.

"Mr. Loughty wanted me to give you this note," Sage said.

The teacher took the folded paper and waved Sage to leave. Sage did get a few steps in and stopped to look over his shoulder. He looked a little uncomfortable and left the classroom.

Thea founded that a little weird and couldn't focus on World War 2 stuff after the teacher had them pass their tests forward to collect.

After the bell rang, Thea finally left the class and went to find Sage among her classmates, but couldn't.

Todd came up to her, so they had to walk to the cafeteria together.

So, after getting their food and they went to the table.

Their friends were already there. Sage still looked a little bothered.

Liberty said to Sage, "All right, your girlfriend is here. What the hell happened?"

"In math, Mr. Loughty tried to humiliate me in class by making me solve this stupid equation on the board, but I solved it because I was paying attention. So, after I solve it, he hands me a folded note to deliver to Mr. Fisher. I was confused because he usually sends out girls to deliver these notes to Mr. Fisher," Sage explained.

Todd seemed confused, "Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?"

"So, I got curious and wanted to know what the note said so I read it," Sage said. "Guess what is said."

"Just spit it out before I twist your nipple out of impatience," Liberty threatened.

"It said 'check out the ass on this guy,'" Sage said.

"What the fuck?" asked Todd, horrified.

"So I gave it to Mr. Fisher and just out of curiosity, I turned around and I saw Mr. Fisher's eyes dart up," Sage said. He looked even more uncomfortable. "I got to thinking, 'If that's what Mr. Loughty wrote about me; what the hell did he write about all those girls that he had sent out to give notes to Mr. Fisher?'"

"Oh, god," Thea muttered.

"Our school is full of creeps," Georgia said.

Aiden nodded.

"You should tell the principal," Todd said.

"He didn't do shit when Coach Rivers walked in on us changing because nothing happened," Georgia told him. "He won't do shit over a note." She looked at Sage, "Unless you fish it out of the trashcan."

"He ripped it up when I turned around to look at him," Sage said.

"Damn," Thea said.

After school, Thea and Aiden hung out together, doing math homework together, since Thea realized that they hadn't spent one-on-one time together in a while.

Thea asked Aiden, "Any updates on your dad going on parole?"

"Not yet," Aiden said.

Thea nodded and looked at her math notebook, "Hopefully he goes on parole soon."

"I hope so too," Aiden said.

Thea solved a math problem and looked at Aiden, "Hey."

Aiden looked at her, "Yeah?"

"I love you," Thea told him.

Aiden smiled at her. "I love you too."

Thea smiled back because they were on the same level with Sage. It seemed balanced and fair. She went back to looking at her math text book.

"Yeah, screw math," Aiden stated and Thea nodded and shoved her notebook and text book off of Aiden's bed before Aiden joined her, kissing her.

Thea and her friends (including Todd) were in Luke's.

"So, I see that you picked up a stray, Teddy," Luke said looking at the extra kid.

"Yeah," Thea agreed.

Rory came in and went to the counter.

"If you want coffee, you'll have to wait," Luke told her.

"Hey, Luke, I noticed that Liberty had put a sign for the rummage sale up in the window," Rory said.

"Libby didn't put the sign there," Luke said. "You can have decaf right now if you're in a hurry."

"Then you should call the cops because we all know how you feel about public displays of town affection," Rory said.

Luke said, "Your mom asked me to put it there, okay?"

Rory seemed surprised and amused, "And you said yes?"

"She's not real good with 'no,'" Luke said.

"No she's not," Rory said.

"For every second you laugh at me, that's one second longer you're waiting for coffee," Luke told Rory.

"Sorry, no laughing," Rory said.

Luke went to the back.

Lorelai walked in wearing a black-and-brown polka dot cowboy hat and the rhinestone sweatshirt.

Georgia looked disgusted, "God, what died on your head?"

"A really great hat," Lorelai told her.

"Besides that, Margaret Atworthy just dropped off three boxes of city council pot holders and begged me to take her grandson," Lorelai explained. "People are getting crazy man."

"That hat isn't really that great," Sage said.

Liberty came over carrying a plate of nachos. She froze and stared at Lorelai. "Take that off!"

"Look, the hat isn't that bad," Lorelai said.

"Not the ugly ass hat! I meant that jacket," Liberty yelled.

Luke came in carrying a pot of coffee, "All right, what's going on?" He noticed the jacket, "Take that off."

Lorelai asked, "What?"

"They're talking about the sweatshirt," Thea snapped at Lorelai, because how dense was this woman?

"Yeah, it's not yours," Luke said.

"No, I found it in the bags of stuff for the sale," Lorelai said.

Luke said, "Oh, so you just find something and then you take it, is that it?"

"No, I paid for it," Lorelai said.

Luke said, "Oh, so that makes it all right?"

"It makes it legal," Lorelai said. "What is the matter with you and Liberty?"

"Nothing," Luke said. "Nothing is the matter."

"Luke..." Lorelai started.

"Pour your own coffee," Luke said, setting the coffee pot on the counter and left into the kitchen.

Liberty set the plate on the counter and went in the kitchen to possibly calm down her dad.

"Never saw Luke that pissed before," Todd muttered.

Rory and Lorelai looked at each other and had a hushed conversation over what had just transpired.

Thea was struggling to find her cat among all the stuff in the house. She kept hearing the bell jingle on River's collar..

"I keep hearing River's bell," Thea said.

"She's somewhere over there, I think," Sage said, pointing. Thea went over to look.

Lorelai came in, "Okay, just a question. Did anyone in town keep anything?"

"Apparently not," Sage said.

"I'm never being civic-minded again," Lorelai said.

Sookie started walking, "Honey, you're doing a good thing." She tripped over something. "Ow!"

"Sookie," Lorelai called.

Sage rushed over to help pull Sookie up.

"I'm okay," Sookie said, shaking off Sage's concern. "Hold on, Apple Pie. Something down here likes me." Her hand slipped from Sage's and she went down with another clatter.

"Jesus Christ, all this crap is procreating worse than rabbits," Sage said, taking his mom's hand again and helping her up.

"How you did not die as a child is a mystery," Thea said.

"I know," Sage said.

Rory came down the stairs, "Jeez, this stuff is like tribbles."

"Oh, thank god – just in time," Lorelai said. "Grab a bag and move it to the side of the room and be very careful, this pile just tried to eat Sookie."

"Maybe I should sic it on Paris when she gets here," Rory muttered.

"Oh my god, that's right," Lorelai said. "You're studying here today."

"Any minute actually," Rory replied.

"Oh, this place is such a pit," Lorelai said.

"Mom, don't worry about it," Rory said. "They'll come in, they'll make a face, they'll say something snotty, we'll study, they'll leave. I'm just looking forward to this whole day being over, then I can concentrate on the concert."

"That's the spirit," Sage said with a rather fake smile.

"Yeah," Lorelai added.

Miss Patty called over, "Lorelai, sweetheart, would come outside please? I want to know where you want me to put these."

Lorelai called, "Coming Patty!"

"Okay, two very large porcelain squirrels," Sookie said.

"Set them free," Lorelai told her.

"Will do," Sookie said.

Lorelai went outside and Rory went to move some bags over. Rory said, "Were you looking for River? Because I found her." She picked up the cat.

"Set her on the cat tree," Thea told Rory.

Rory did as she was told and the phone rang. "I got it. That must be Lane." She went to answer the phone and Sage went over to Thea, put his arm around her waist and kissed her.

"Hey, hey you two," Lorelai said. "Stop sucking face and start moving bags."

Sage pulled away from Thea and went to move the bags.

"That was Lane," Rory said

Lorelai asked, "Oh and what's the verdict?"

"She decided to be stupid and tell her mother the truth – that she wanted to go to a rock concert with us tonight in New York," Rory explained.

"I didn't want to lie to another mother, but yeah, it was stupid," Lorelai said.

"Stupid," Rory said.

"I'm so sorry," Lorelai said.

"I'm making coffee," Rory said.

"Well, this looks really familiar," Miss Patty said, picking up the sweatshirt.

"Oh, that's mine," Lorelai said, "Uh, I saw it first and then I bought it so it's mine now."

"Really?" asked Miss Patty. "Who brought it in?"

"Luke and Liberty did," Thea said.

"And judging by their very hostile reaction, they weren't done sharing it yet," Lorelai said.

Miss Patty started, "Oh my, I wonder if..."

"What?" asked Lorelai.

"I bet this was Rachel's," Miss Patty said.

Sookie said, "Oh my god – Rachel's?"

"Rachel?" asked Lorelai. "Who's Rachel?"

"Luke's ex-girlfriend," Thea said.

Lorelai chuckled, "Luke's ex-girlfriend?"

"They were very serious," Thea said. "She was sort of like a mother to Libby."

"The sweatshirt does look like her," Sookie said.

Lorelai asked, "When did Luke have a girlfriend?"

"It was six years ago," Thea said.

"She broke their hearts," Miss Patty said. "It was terrible."

Lorelai asked, "How did I not know about this?"

"Honey, you had two eleven-year-old kids and you were just moving into this house. Plus Rachel traveled all the time. She was a photographer."

"Archeologist," Miss Patty corrected.

Sookie asked, "Really?"

"Or a flight attendant," Miss Patty said.

"She was a photographer," Thea corrected.

"I can't believe I never even heard about it," Lorelai said.

"He hates talking about it," Thea said, "Doesn't even say the name. Not even Libby is allowed to say the name. She only said it to mean when she said that she wanted to get rid of some of Rachel's stuff."

"Well, he could probably brain a person with that coffee pot if he wanted to," Sage said.

"Liberty too," Sookie added with a giggle.

"Wow," Lorelai said. "I never pictured Luke having a girlfriend...or a broken heart."

"Well, I would keep this hidden if I were you," Miss Patty said, referring to the sweatshirt. "Well, I gotta be going. Trampoline class at two."

"Bye Patty," Sookie said.

"Bye," Thea and Sage said to Miss Patty.

"Bye," Miss Patty said.

"Bye," Lorelai said. "Thanks for the drums."

Sookie picked up a pile of clothes, "Okay. These all need to be mended."

"My room," Lorelai said.

Sookie hummed, "Okay." She went upstairs and Thea heard breaks squealing.

Lorelai went to the window and looked out, "Rory! I think your friends are here." Rory went over to the window. "She must be one great babysitter to earn enough money for that car."

Thea rolled her eyes. Sage nodded and they went to move bags over some more.

Rory led three girls into the living room. She asked, "So did guys find it okay?"

"There's no sign on this street," the dirty-blonde haired girl said.

"I know," Rory said. "That's why I told you turn right at the big rooster statue."

"I thought you were kidding," the dirty-blonde haired girl said.

"Oh no, we never kid about Monty," Lorelai said.

Thea found something bronze on the ground and went to put it on the table with the toys. It looked like a doorknob, but she couldn't be sure.

"Monty?" asked the girl in what looked like leather pants.

"The rooster statue," Thea said.

"Yeah, Monty the rooster," Lorelai added.

"Oh," said leather-pants wearing girl.

"Everybody, this is my mom," Rory said.

"Lorelai," the woman said.

"And this is my twin sister, Theodosia, but we call her Thea," Rory said, pointing at Thea. "And that's Sage, Thea's boyfriend. This is Louise, Madeline, and Paris."

"Ah, very good girl-group names," Lorelai said. The Chilton girls looked at the clutter. "Okay, so, um, sorry about the house of horrors here. Some crazy lady volunteered to lead this charity thing and we're trying to get her some help, so make yourselves comfortable." To Rory, she said, "Rory, just yell when you guys want pizza."

"Okay," Rory said.

"Okay," Lorelai said and went upstairs.

Rory asked, "So do you guys want to work in here or in the kitchen?"

"Whatever," said Paris.

Thea and Sage looked at each other, noticing the stand-offish tune. There had to be a story there.

"Okay," Rory said. They went to the coffee table.

"Oh, cute cat," Madeline said, noticing the cat while she put on a purple scarf.

"She belongs to Thea," Rory said.

"Okay, so here's how it should go: Madeline will do the introductions, I'll handle the debate, Rory will do the conclusion and Louise will take questions," Paris said.

Thea found herself thinking that she would do group projects with Paris, because at least Paris wouldn't let her down. Everyone in Thea's group usually screws up at different parts, screwing everything up as a whole.

Sage held up something, "Where do I stick this ugly thing?"

"Stick it Aiden's tacky pile over there," Thea said, pointing.

Louise was looking through some stuff while Madeline wound a purple scarf around her neck.

Louise asked, "So what is all this stuff?"

"It's for a big town rummage sale," Rory said.

"Like a charity thing?" asked Madeline.

"A bridge is falling apart and people want to repair it instead of getting a new one," Thea explained.

Louise picked up a top hat, "Oh cool hat."

"Put that down," Paris ordered. "It's used."

"Vintage dear," Louise said.

"Filthy darling," Paris said.

"I think that belonged to the magician my mom hired for my seventh birthday and that guy in the house costume ended up murdering the magician," Sage said. The girls looked at him. "Or maybe it was a mime."

Thea remembered that incident. Sure they knew Sage when they were kids, but again, Sage didn't want Rory and Thea to be his friends when they were kids. Lorelai made them go to Sage's birthday parties, but they barely talked to him. "Actually he lived and the clown was supposed to be one of those old creepy vintage clowns."

"I heard he died," Sage said.

Madeline held up a shirt, "Is this a Pucci?"

"No, that belonged to Miss Patty," Thea said.

Madeline seemed confused, "Miss Patty?"

"A dance teacher," Rory said. "These are some of her old costumes."

"Oh, here Paris," Louise said, holding up a pink sequence dress that belonged in the tacky pile. "Tristan might like this."

Paris asked, "Can we just work please?"

Louise groaned, tossing the dress down. She sat on the couch, "I would love to have a boyfriend that looked like Tristan." She looked at Sage, "Or Sage over there."

Thea looked at Sage who looked like he was getting Mr. Fisher flashbacks.

"Your boyfriend's no slouch either," Madeline said to Rory.

"Oh yes – 6'2...and feisty," Louise said. She looked at Sage, "How tall are you?"

Sage seemed confused, "5'10."

"That's about above average," Louise stated. She looked at Rory, "So, how is your relationship with Dean? Are you two still 'Joanie loves Chachi'?"

Thea managed to tune them out while she and Sage worked in silence sorting stuff out and moving things over.

Louise asked Thea, "Hey, how long have you two been together?"

"About six months," Thea said. "We got together in August."

"Oh wow," Madeline said. "Six months."

Paris slammed her text book close, "Hey!"

"Jeez," Madeline stated.

Paris snapped, "We have a debate to organize here and this conversation is quickly veering towards the subject of French kissing and glitter eye shadow – trashy or trendy? And I for one have no intention of being humiliated in front of the whole class because we were forced to study in the middle of a carnival and you two couldn't keep your eye on the prize! I want to win and I'm going to win."

They were silent for a moment, before Louise said to Rory, "So. How good of a kisser is Paul Bunyan anyway?"

The girls, except Paris, giggled.

Sage gave Thea a 'are you kidding me' look.

Aiden swung by with some bags of stuff, "My aunt and uncle sent me over with this stuff."

"Just set it there and we'll deal with that," Thea told Aiden as he moved closer to her. She turned back to look at a denim jacket that had a hole in it.

Aiden looked at the Chilton four who were still at the coffee table, working on their debate, "What's going on over there?"

Sage started explaining, "They're studying for—"

Aiden stuck his hands underneath Thea's shirt to run his fingers up her sides tickling her, causing Thea to squeal in surprise and jump away from him.

Sage stared at Aiden, "Why are you a dick to our girlfriend?"

"Its fine," Thea told Sage. "It's harmless, you know that."

She turned and saw that Paris, Madeline, and Louise were looking at them confused as hell.

Louise said, "Did he just say 'our girlfriend'?"

"I'm dating Aiden too," Thea said with a shrug.

Madeline asked, "How did you get two boyfriends?"

"Hey, we'll need the actual quotes, so learn them by heart," Paris told her team.

Madeline said, "What about using note cards?"

"Note cards look sloppy," Paris said. "We will know our information."

Sage picked up some old books, "Where am I supposed to put these books?"

Sookie came down the stairs, "Bye girls and Aiden. Thea, Rory, see you tonight!"

"Bye," Thea and Aiden said.

Sage seemed confused, "Mom, where are you going?"

"I was going to stop by at the inn for a while," Sookie told him.

"Okay," Sage said.

Louise asked, "What's tonight?"

"We've got tickets to see the Bangles at the Pastorella Theatre," Rory said.

"Hey, let's go get some food," Sage told Thea.

Thea considered it, "Sure." They took off.

When it was four-thirty, Thea and Sage split to go home, to get ready for this concert that they didn't want to go to, but they were going anyway. However, Thea found out that Madeline, Louise, and Paris were going too, because Lane wasn't going.

So, they walked in the theater together.

Sookie seemed excited.

Rory, Madeline, and Louise were in front of them, with Rory showing off the bracelet that Dean apparently made Rory.

Paris trudged alongside them, probably sensing that they didn't want to be there like her, while Thea awkwardly messed with the edge of her skirt that she picked out to go with her outfit.

"He made it," Rory bragged.

"Oh, he's handy," Madeline said, "How great."

Louise asked, "And you wear it all the time, right?"

"Just when she's breathing," Lorelai said.

"It's a love thing," Sookie added with a giggle.

"Thanks for the contributions," Rory said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Okay, here," Lorelai said. She handed them over but pulled back. "Ah! With these tickets you are about to enter sacred space, you will be treading on hallowed ground, you will be walking like an Egyptian."

"Mom," said Rory, looking even more embarrassed.

"Take 'em," Lorelai said and Rory took the tickets. "Oh, you're going to have a great time."

Sage and Thea looked at each other, both doubting it.

"The Bangles are the best! They were my favorite band in high school. I almost named you Susanna but I gave Thea the middle name of Susanna."

And what a clunky full name it was too: Theodosia Susanna Gilmore.

"The day I found out you both had no musical talent at all was the saddest day of my life," Lorelai finished.

"I'm sorry," Rory said.

"Well, you say that now. Here, okay, these are probably located..." She looked around and spotted an usher, "hi!"

"Hi," the usher replied.

Lorelai spoke to the usher.

"Oh good, girls—" Lorelai added, "Sage. Okay, here's the deal. Take the tickets, go to your seats, have the night of a lifetime – Bangle it up. The second the concert is over, meet us outside in front of the theater, got it?"

"Yes," Rory said.

"Keep an eye on Sage, he tends to get lost in large crowds," Sookie added.

"Well do, Sookie," Thea said.

"Good," Lorelai said. "Now go!"

"Thank you," said Rory, hugging Lorelai.

"You're welcome," Lorelai said.

Thea considered hugging her mom, but Lorelai turned to Sookie as Rory, Madeline, and Louise went through the doors.

So, Thea followed after with Paris and Sage following behind.

Paris asked Thea, "Are you fighting with your mom?"

"What?" replied Thea.

"Your mom didn't even ask where you went, she barely acknowledged you, and she didn't even let you hug her," Paris said.

"That's every day for me," Thea said. "I can't even remember the last time I hugged her."

"I can't remember the last time I hugged my parents either," Paris said, looking sympathetic. "They didn't even want me."

"Neither did my mom," Thea said. "Every time they got into one of their spats, I suddenly turned into my mom's best friend, when it actuality she was just trying to make Rory jealous."

"Hard to believe that they have fights," Paris said.

"I know, but they have them," Thea said. "My mom didn't even set up a meeting with my school's principal after I got stabbed in the back by sewing needles. She lied telling Rory that she had a meeting with him to wiggle out of going to Parents' Day at Chilton."

Paris looked horrified, "Stabbed in the back?"

"Five kids did that," Thea said. "It hurt like hell, but it's just another day at Stars Hollow High, home of creepy adults and weird, crazy crap going down."

"And here I thought my mom didn't care, but at least she showed up for five minutes before leaving. She didn't even stay to go to my lit class," Paris said.

"Sounds like something my mom would do because Rory is more important," Thea told her. She felt better, knowing that someone's relationship with their mother was just as bad as Thea's was with Lorelai.

Sage asked, "So, which aisle are we supposed to go to?"

"Row nine," Rory said.

"We're almost there," Louise said.

"I have never sat this close to a stage before," Madeline said. "In fact, I've never even really been to a concert before so I could be sitting at the back and say the same thing."

"The last time I went to a concert, I felt like I was going to get crushed to death and that was at a small venue to see a band that my mom liked," Sage said.

"In here," Louise said.

"Oh, good," Madeline said, relieved to find the row they were in.

"Wow, these are amazing seats," Rory said.

Louise was looking at the guys in the row behind them, "Yes, they are."

Rory asked Paris, "What are they looking at?"

"The guys behind us," Thea said and Rory turned to look at them.

"Check it out, we've got fans," a guy said.

Thea shuddered, remembering Coach Rivers barging in on her and her friends changing in the locker room. To Rory, trying to say it as loudly as possible for the guys to hear, she said, "They're not even that cute."

"Bummer," Sage deadpanned. After a moment of silence, with Louise and Madeline obviously flirting with the clearly adult males, he stated, "It's Mr. Loughty and Mr. Fisher all over again."

Paris said, "Mr. Loughty and Mr. Fisher?"

"Two of our teachers," Sage explained. "Mr. Loughty wrote a note about me that said, 'Check out the ass on this guy' to deliver to Mr. Fisher. I read the note in the hall out of curiosity. I handed it to Mr. Fisher and I turned around to see that he was definitely doing what the note told him to do."

"Gross," Paris said. "And before it's dark, they'll have every picnic basket that's in Jellystone Park."

Everything seemed to be going just fine. The concert was admittedly pretty good, though it would've been better if Madeline and Louise stopped flirting with the creeps behind them.

Even Paris looked like she was enjoying herself.

Louise said, "Oh my god! He is so gorgeous."

"Keep telling yourself that while you flirt with guys that have tiny dicks," Sage told her.

Louise snapped, "How would you know that?"

"They're here with no girlfriends, flirting with teenagers, of course they have tiny dicks, since they're obviously here to pick up women," Sage explained. "It's pretty obvious."

"Well, there's a massive party going on right around the corner," Louise said.

Thea asked, "What's your point?"

"My point is that they invited us," Louise said.

"Shocker," Sage said.

Rory asked, "Who?"

"Jess and Sean," Louise explained. "We've been talking to them this whole time. They're extremely cool."

Thea pointed out, "You mean extremely creepy?"

Louise demanded, "What is your probably with them?"

"They're adults. You're sixteen," Thea said. "It's creepy no matter how attractive you think they are."

"Nothing will happen," Louise said.

"I thought the same thing before a male PE teacher barged in the locker while my friends and I were in various states of undress in the locker room months ago," Thea explained.

"Or the fact that two male teachers agreed that I apparently have a nice ass," Sage added.

Madeline asked, "So are we going?"

"No," Thea said.

Rory asked, "Going where?"

No surprise she didn't know what they were talking about. She was too focused on the concert.

Madeline said, "To the party?"

"There's a concert going on," Rory pointed out.

"The band won't miss us," Louise said.

"We can't just leave, Louise," Rory said.

"It's America, Rory," Louise pointed out.

"We have to meet my mom and Sage's mom after the show," Rory countered.

"Oh come on," Louise said.

"What do you mean 'oh come on'? We have to meet my mother and Sage's mother after the concert. The band may not miss us but Lorelai and Sookie sure will," Rory said.

"These guys are so cute," Madeline said.

"No they are not," Thea said.

"Yeah, but we're still not going anywhere," Rory said.

Louise taunted, "What? Are you afraid?"

Thea said, "Of ending up in a disgusting pervert basement somewhere? Yeah."

"I expect this from Rory, but you? I thought you were more fun, having two boyfriends and all," Louise said.

"Yeah, Aiden and I will be thrilled knowing that our girlfriend wandered off with a bunch of creeps in the middle of the night. Such fun," Sage said. "She would be safer with my former friends while smoking crystal meth with them."

"Well, we're going," Louise said.

"Hell no," Thea said. "I'm not going anywhere with them."

"Yeah, you're not," Rory said.

Louise said, "Paris, join please?"

"No, thanks," Paris said, not looking away from the concert.

"Fine, come on Madeline," Louise said, putting on her coat and grabbing her bag. Madeline followed after her.

Rory asked, "And just what am I supposed to tell my mother?"

"That you and your sister very good little girls," Louise mocked.

"At least we won't be in some creep's murder basement," Thea shot back.

Louise ignored that in favor of taking off.

"Louise," Rory hissed.

"The party's in a building on the corner of Waverly and First," Madeline told them. "Try to get away."

"Madeline," Rory called after her.

"We'll be back by the time the concert is over," Madeline promised.

"You'll be dead by the time the concert is over," Sage said.

Thea looked at Sage, "Crystal meth?"

Sage started explaining, "They tried to trick me into smoking it by saying it was something else and was nonchalant about what it was when—"

"I hope to see you there," the man in the leather jacket told Thea, lightly pulling on a tendril of her hair and kissing her on the cheek, before taking off.

"Asshole!" yelled Sage.

Thea tried to wipe the kiss off, but she still felt it, "Ew."

"You know, I like this band," Paris said.

"Yeah, I'm going to the restroom," Thea said. "I need to wash it away."

"I'll go with," Sage said following after her.

After the concert, Thea wasn't surprised that Madeline and Louise had returned. Rory and Sage had gone to look for Lorelai and Sookie but apparently they couldn't find them.

When they got back, Paris asked, "Well?"

"We couldn't find Mom or Sookie anywhere," Rory said.

Paris asked, "So what do we do now?"

"We just wait for them to find us first," Sage said.

"Okay," Paris said.

"I can't believe Louise and Madeline would just leave like that," Rory said.

"They've done it before," Paris stated.

"You need to ditch them because they're not real friends," Sage told her. "Take it from me because I had to leave my at-the-time friends since they honestly didn't care about me."

Paris shrugged, "They care about me in their own way."

They lapsed in silence for a moment before Rory said, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Maybe," Paris replied.

Rory asked, "What could you possibly see in Tristan?"

Thea tuned them out as she scanned the crowd to spot either Sookie or Lorelai; preferably Sookie.

Lorelai showed up with shirts.

"Hey," Lorelai said.

"There you are," Rory said.

"Think fast," Lorelai said, before chucking shirts at them. Thea was surprised that she got one. "T-shirts for all the kids because I'm the Good Witch of the – hey, are you missing a couple of kids?"

"They took off to go to a party with some creepy guys," Sage explained.

Lorelai asked, "Excuse me?"

"These guys were sitting behind us and they were having party," Rory said.

"Unbelievable," said Lorelai.

Sookie came up to them, "What's going on?"

"Madeline and Louise took off to go to a party with some creepy guys," Sage explained.

Sookie said, "What?"

"Let's go, come on, move," Lorelai said.

"It was apparently in a building on the corner of Waverly and First," Thea added.

They ended up at an apartment building. Thea wasn't surprised that the creepy college guys held parties in an apartment building; it was maximum douchiness.

Thea trailed behind as Lorelai knocked on someone's door to ask if the person might know if there were some college boys living there or if they have friends living there.

The woman had replied with, "I don't talk to anyone. People annoy me."

Thea thought that was fair as the woman closed the door.

Sookie was listening at a door.

Lorelai asked, "What?" 

"She found him with the blonde again," Sookie told Lorelai.

"Oh, shit," Sage said, going to listen to the door while Lorelai walked on. "He's accusing her of being with the red-head."

"Really?" replied Sookie going to listen.

Lorelai came back and grabbed them by the shoulders, pulling them away from the door. "Now is not the time, you two gossip hounds."

Paris asked Rory, "She's gonna knock on every door in the entire building, isn't she?"

"Yep," Rory replied.

"Wow," Paris said.

Lorelai knocked on a door while Sookie knocked on another door.

A dog barked from inside the apartment that Sookie knocked on. "Aah! Let's go follow your mother."

"I wonder if I was missing if my mom would come looking for me like that," Paris said.

"Paris, you know she would," Rory said.

"Yeah, or at least she'd send somebody," Paris said.

There was music coming from inside one of the apartments.

Paris looked at Thea, a silent, 'would your mom send somebody out to look for you' question. Thea shook her head 'no' because she knew that Lorelai wouldn't.

Lorelai knocked on the apartment door and it opened to reveal the creep that kissed Thea on the cheek.

"Hey, babe, glad that you could make it," the man said.

Thea shuddered.

"Hey, she's sixteen," Lorelai cut it. "Could you move please?" She walked in the apartment, making the guy move aside.

Thea stayed outside to avoid going near that man with Sage standing with her, while Lorelai dealt with Madeline and Louise inside the apartment.

After ranting, Madeline and Louise finally left the apartment with the rest of the group following after.

Madeline and Louise walked on.

Lorelai slammed the door shut and called after the two girls, "Hey! I am not even going to begin to tell you how completely insane it is to take off with anyone you don't know, or drink things that you don't know what's in them, or act like you have a clue when you don't, but so help me god, if you ever pull a stunt like this again, it will not be around my kid! Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Madeline and Louise said in unison.

Thea and Paris shared a look, both noting 'my kid' not 'my kids'. Paris grabbed Thea's arm and gave it a squeeze, before letting go.

"Good, now let's go," Lorelai said. "I can't wait to meet your parents. We have some catching up to do. I think we'll just talk and talk and talk all night long," Lorelai said.

It looked like Madeline and Louise rolled their eyes slightly, before they were marched forward.

Paris stopped and said, "You know what? I think this is the best night I've ever had."

"That's pretty sad," Thea said.