Luke had bought the flower shop next door, so he was renovating it to expand the upstairs apartment into a bigger space, complete with rooms for Liberty and Jess. So, there was a lot of renovation in the diner part too.

Thea also knew that it was to keep Doose from buying the flower shop which would've 'required' Luke to take down the hardware store sign.

Jess had handed Georgia an open umbrella to make sure that she and her mother didn't get nailed with bits of drywall.

Lorelai had gotten invited for a spa weekend trip with Emily so at least they won't have a Friday Night Dinner to endure.

School was mostly fine. At least a 'mini-scale riot' didn't break out again. However, during lunch, some chess kids got into a serious fight over chess. Apparently one kid accused the other of cheating and proceeded to throw him through the window – not out the window – but through the window. Glass shattered, blood splattered on the bricks, and paramedics had to be called. The janitor had to clean up the mess. The kid got expelled.

And since it was going to be a while for Rory to get home, taking the bus home and probably going to meet up with Dean, Thea and her boyfriends had the bright idea of playing strip Monopoly, as seen on TV, more specifically Friday the 13th. 

The game was going fine until Rory came into the living room, "Oh, god." She had covered her eyes, "Whoa, hey." She uncovered her eyes and looked at Aiden. "Do you even know how stripping games work? Why are you wearing socks and shoes?" She started heading to the kitchen, determined to look straight ahead.

"I'm surprised that you do," Aiden called after her.

"Well, if you and Sage are going to be here, then you can help sort out my clothes from darks, mediums, and lights. And make separate piles of white tee-shirts with white tee-shirts that having writing on them," Rory told them through the kitchen, trying to avoid looking at the three that were naked (Aiden), half-naked (Thea), and mostly-naked (Sage) in the living room.

"Uh, no, sorry," Aiden said, hastily putting his clothes on. "I have something to do that's not separating your clothes."

"Yeah, I'm busy that day," Sage said, also getting dressed.

They had kissed Thea goodbye before taking off.

"You enjoyed scaring them off a little too much," Thea said, putting up the board game.

"Well I didn't appreciate coming home to see Aiden and Sage naked," Rory replied.

"It's not the first time," Thea pointed out. Rory looked like she didn't appreciate the reminder. "We'll just keep this to ourselves."

"Yeah," Rory replied, knowing that Dean would lose his mind knowing that she had seen Sage and Aiden naked – twice. "Hey, I'm ordering food from Sandeep's. You want anything?"

"I already ordered Greek food ten minutes ago," Thea told her, going to put the board game up.

After helping Rory drag out her massive pile of laundry out and helping Rory sort her clothes, Rory called Sandeep's to order her Indian food before Lorelai called.

The doorbell rang and Thea went to answer the door. Paris was there, holding a binder.

Thea started, "Hi, Paris—"

Paris walked right on in, "I tried to stay home and study myself but I can't. I don't know what anything means anymore. I mean I can't even read my own handwriting. What does this say? The person who wrote this should be dressed in a clown suit stuffing bodies under their porch. You two are in your pajamas." She finally stopped freaking out to notice what was going on around.

"We know," Rory replied.

Paris said, "This was your big night you had planned – a rendezvous with Mr. Peanut and your sister who's wearing grandma's wallpaper?" She looked at Thea, "No offense. Your pajamas are cute, though."

Thea couldn't feel offended because Paris did seem like she was freaking out.

Rory started, "Well..."

"You're doing laundry," Paris pointed out.

"Yes," Rory replied.

"You two are doing laundry in your pajamas," Paris pointed.

"This isn't my laundry," Thea said. "I was helping her and I originally planned on playing strip Monopoly with Sage and Aiden, but Rory came home early."

Paris looked like she really didn't want to know that.

"Our mom is out of town and we never get the house all to ourselves," Rory said.

"You mean you never get to go months on end without seeing your parents, just getting an occasional postcard that doesn't even have a courtesy 'wish you were here' written on it? That does suck," Paris said, going to the front door. "Don't let me stand in your way."

Thea felt bad for Paris.

"Paris, wait," Rory went after Paris.

"No, forget it, I don't want to get in the way of your big night. I hear there's gonna be some hot knitting going on later," Paris said.

"Rory doesn't even know how to knit," Thea told Paris.

"I'll study with you," Rory told Paris.

"You will?" asked Paris.

"For one hour, that's it," Rory said. "We can do a quick review and a pop quiz and then you are going home. Deal?"

"Deal," Paris replied.

"Okay, so go sit on the couch," Rory told her. "I'll be out in a minute."

Paris asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go change," Rory said, heading for her room.

Paris called after her, "Okay, but my hour doesn't start until you get back out here, right?"

Thea took Paris's coat to hang on the mirror. She said, "It'll start when she gets back." They made their way back to the living room to sit on the couch.

Paris looked at Thea, "How was your day at school?"

"A kid got thrown through a window," Thea told her.

"You mean out a window?" asked Paris, confused.

"No, through," Thea corrected. "He was accused of cheating at chess, so he got thrown through the window. Shattered glass, blood on the ground, the paramedics were called and he got expelled."

"What school do you go to?" asked Paris, horrified.

"Public school," Thea said.

Paris asked, "Why don't you transfer?"

"Well, I have one more year left to go. I was thinking of making a tee-shirt that says: 'I survived Stars Hollow High' on it. I don't want to wimp out now," Thea replied. 

Rory came back with her stuff, "Are you ready, Paris?"

While the two were distracted, Thea took her chance to go to her room to change.

Although she did look in the mirror and put on some white slip shorts to avoid accidentally flashing everyone her underwear. 

Thea's Greek food delivery arrived while Rory and Paris were studying together.

She hung out in the kitchen because the work they were doing gave her a headache, although Rory took off every now and then to snag some grape leaves to eat.

Thea had to move to the living room because Paris looked like she was ready to strangle Rory for taking off on her.

Rory asked Paris, "So, given that those are the reactions occurring in the two half-cells, what do you do next?"

"Well, if we add them together, doubling the coefficients of the silver half equation but not the voltage, we get the equation for the complete reaction," Paris answered.

"Well, you're in much better shape than you wanna think you are," Rory told her.

"Impossible," Paris said.

The doorbell rang and Rory got up from the couch to the door.

Paris asked, "Where are you going?"

"That's my food," Rory told her.

"Another half-hour, please," Paris pleaded.

Thea was sure that Paris really didn't want to go home to her empty house and to her nanny.

"No, you got your hour," Rory said. "You need to go."

Paris started, "But—"

"Go!" ordered Rory.

"Fine," Paris said.

Rory opened the door.

"Delivery," Jess said.

Rory asked, "What are you doing here? Did Thea invite you?"

"No, Luke figured since you and Thea are alone tonight that maybe you wouldn't have any food in the house, so he sent over a care package for you and her," Jess said.

Thea was sure that was a lie.

"Thea and I don't need a care package. Thea got her food and I ordered food from Sandeep's," Rory explained.

"Really?" Jess asked, "Planning on burning down the house afterwards? Should I get Todd's dad? I hear he really likes fire."

"Jess," Rory started.

"The only way to kill the smell," Jess said. "Where should I put this?" He walked in.

Thea got up, "Here, just set it on the table."

"Okay," Jess replied, heading for the kitchen.

Rory followed and Thea took a bag from the box. Rory said, "God, how much food is in there? This could feed twelve."

"Excuse me, I've seen you eat," Jess said.

"Fine, six," Rory replied.

"Yeah, well, he wanted you both taken care of," Jess said. "He was a bit worried about Thea." He started taking out containers of food.

"You know, our mom was going to be gone just tonight," Rory replied, helping remove containers of food from the box.

"Yeah, Belle and I know, which means that Luke knows," Jess replied. "She tells him everything."

"That she does," Thea said, also taking containers out. "How's the construction coming along?"

"There's a lot of banging and yelling. That place gives me a headache," Jess said. "And Belle's not there so she's not miserable with me."

Thea asked him, "Where's she at?"

"With Todd, Sage, and Aiden," Jess replied. "I think Craig was there too. I'm not sure, but that guy's voice gives me the creeps, especially when he laughs manically." After he took out the last container, he asked, "So, aren't you two gonna eat?"

"Eventually," Rory said.

"It gets cold fast," Jess said.

"We can heat it up," Rory replied.

"Reheated french fries really suck," Jess told her.

"Hm, they do suck," Rory said.

Thea knew what Jess was doing, "Hey, Jess, do you want to share this food with us?"

Jess smiled, as he took off his jacket, "Glad you asked."

Rory gave Thea a look, like she couldn't believe she allowed Jess to stay.

Jess started to open containers to take food.

Although to be honest, being at Luke's with all the construction going on, here was better.

Paris walked in, "I can't find my flashcards."

Jess looked at Paris, "Hey, Paris."

Paris nodded at him, "Jess."

Rory looked confused, "You two know each other?"

Jess and Paris nodded at Thea.

"Thea invited me to make some snow monsters with her at the horribly anachronistic Bracebridge Dinner," Paris said. "I agreed. So we met."

"Oh," Rory replied.

"I didn't know Paris was going to be here," Jess said.

"We were just studying," Rory said.

"Oh," Jess replied.

"Don't worry, I was just leaving," Paris siad. "If you find my flashcards, call me, okay?"

"No," Rory replied.

"What?" asked Paris.

"She's inviting you to stay for dinner," Thea said.

Rory said, "But I thought—"

"We have a ton of food, and we can go over the notes more later," Rory said.

Paris asked, "You're sure?"

"Positive," Rory said.

Paris noticed something, "Is that mac and cheese?"

"Yeah, it is," Thea said.

"I love mac and cheese," Paris said.

"Great," Rory said.

"I'm not allowed to have mac and cheese," Paris said.

"Splurge," Rory said. "Come on, Paris, stay."

Paris asked, "Do you have a twenty-four hour pharmacy just in case I have an allergic reaction to something?"

"Yeah, we do," Thea said.

Paris said, "Okay, can I borrow your phone?"

"It's by the door," Rory told her.

Paris walked away to speak to her nanny.

Then after she got done with that, she joined them at the table. 

While they were eating, the three somehow got onto the topic of the Beats, which was something Thea hadn't read or even wanted to.

"A tragic waste of paper," Paris said.

"I can't believe you just said that," Jess replied.

"Well, it's true, the Beat's writing was completely self-indulgent. I have one word for Jack Kerouac – edit," Paris said.

"It was not self-indulgent," Jess said. "The Beats believed in shocking people, stirring things up."

"They believe in drugs, booze, and petty crime," Paris told him.

"Well, then you can say that they exposed you to a world you wouldn't have otherwise known," Rory said. "Isn't that what great writing's all about?"

"That was not great writing," Paris said. "That was the National Enquirer of the fifties."

"You're cracked," Jess told Paris.

"Typical guy response," Paris said. "Worship Kerouac and Bukowski, god forbid you'd pick up anything by Jane Austen."

"Hey, I've read Jane Austen," Jess defended himself.

"You have?" asked Paris.

"Yeah and I think she would've liked Bukowski," Jess said, making a salt and pepper dip.

Rory asked, "What do you think, Thea?"

"I think you all need to read something by a person of color," Thea told. "All I heard was 'white person this' and 'white person that'. You all need to pick up The Color Purple by Alice Walker or I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I'm just saying, take a step back from the white bread and look at something else other than white."

They looked at Thea for a moment before Paris asked Jess, "What are you doing?"

"Salt and pepper dip," Jess finally said. "Only way to eat a fry."

"Really?" asked Paris in disbelief.

"It's fast food gospel," Rory told Paris, while she went for the salt and pepper dip.

Paris tried it, "Mmm. That's good. That's really, really good."

The phone rang and Rory went to answer it.

Jess asked Paris, "You like hot sauce?"

"I don't know," Paris replied. "Should I?"

"This is why you need more friends, Paris," Thea told her. "You need to broaden your horizons."

Jess nodded.

Paris said, "That's why you're my friends." She frowned, "We're friends, right?"

"Yeah," Jess replied, handing a bottle of hot sauce to Paris.

Thea nodded, "Yeah, we're friends." She looked at Rory who seemed to be in a bit of a panic. "Shit, Dean's on his way."

Paris asked, "How can you tell?"

"Rory's freaking out slightly," Thea said. "He's showing up even though she told him that she wanted to be alone."

"Creepy," Paris muttered.

"Not even Sage and Aiden are here," Jess pointed out.

"Sage told me that Dean got irrationally jealous and possessive when Rory just asked him if he could tell Aiden that she wanted to discuss The Secret History with him," Thea told him.

Jess snickered, "Dean got jealous over Sage?" He paused and thought about, "Yeah, I would dump Dean and go after Sage. At least Sage and Aiden are more attractive." Paris nodded in agreement and gave Jess a strange look. Jess shrugged, "I'm secure in my masculinity enough to point out a guy can be attractive. Sage and Aiden get more bonus points for respecting Thea and understanding boundaries." He paused, "No wonder why Thea is dating the both of them."

Thea had to laugh and Paris joined in.

"You know, I can't get into poetry," Jess said, to get away from rating Thea's boyfriends' attractiveness. "It's kind of like, geez, just say it already, we're dying here. I don't know how Todd can enjoy it."

Rory came over, "Wow, you know, I just noticed the time, and it's getting really late."

"Just tell Dean that Jess is here to see me because he's my friend," Thea said. Rory gave her a look. "Then tell Dean that I saw a spider in the shower and he came to throw the spider outside but it got lost in the house."

Jess seemed confused, "Why me and not Sage or Aiden or both?"

Because they were afraid of spiders because they were just unnatural and always had Thea chuck the spiders outside, because they didn't believe in killing spiders.

Jess was in disbelief, "Seriously?"

"Even worse when they jump," Thea said, remembering how Aiden and his dad both screamed when the spider jumped at them.

"Ooh, those are the worst," Paris agreed with the boys' logic.

"Jess," Rory started.

Paris asked Rory, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Rory replied.

"Dean's on his way over and Rory doesn't want him to find me here even though I'm Thea's friend and he knows that," Jess explained.

"I really wanna avoid a fight with Dean," Rory said.

Thea said, "Rory, that's a bit concerning, don't you think? He got mad at Sage because you dared to talk to him. And you want Jess to leave even though I'm here and he's my friend."

"I find that a bit concerning," Paris said, holding a hand up.

Rory started, "Yes, but—"

"I talk to Todd, Craig, and Jess," Thea said. "Sage and Aiden don't care because I'm allowed to have male friends. You're allowed to have male friends. Dean needs to accept that. You deserve better than him."

There was a knock on the door and for a brief moment, she looked terrified, before she went to answer the door.

Rory started, "Hey, Dean—"

Dean walked in, "Okay, so—" He stopped and scowled right at Jess, who just waved in greeting. Dean turned onto Rory, "What the hell is he doing here?"

"I invited him," Thea said, getting up, to go look at Dean. "He's my friend. He delivered food that Luke gave him and it was a bit too much so I asked him to stay for dinner." She was sure that Jess was the one who packed the food, considering how his mom used to take off for days on end when she said she'll be gone at least a night. So, he probably thought the same with Lorelai. And it was true that she asked Jess to stay for dinner.

Jess got up to move Thea out of Dean's way because he grew slightly uncomfortable with the way Dean towered over her, scowling, "Can you not tower over Thea like that? And you really got that Frankenstein scowl going—"

"Frankenstein's monster," Thea corrected him. "I didn't even finish the book and even I know that Frankenstein is the guy who created the monster. The letters took me out."

"You guys," Rory started.

"So, deal with it Dean," Thea said. "Jess is my friend and I invited him over. And if you don't like it, you can leave because Jess is here to stay."

Dean took Rory and went to the kitchen.

"You told me you were doing laundry tonight," Dean said.

"I was," Rory replied.

"And now you are here with Jess," Dean continued.

"And Thea and Paris," Rory defended herself.

Dean snapped, "Jess, Rory!"

"He's friends with Thea," Rory replied. "I swear, I didn't—"

"You didn't what? You didn't know he was coming over?" Dean interrupted.

Apparently he didn't hear 'He's my friend and I invited him over'.

"I didn't," Rory said. "Thea invited him over."

Dean asked, "And you also didn't know he was gonna stay, right?"

"Thea told him to stay for dinner," Rory replied.

Dean said, "Are you really using your sister as an excuse?"

"Stop yelling," Rory told him.

Dean shouted, "You totally lied to me! And you're lying to me right now!"

"I didn't! I'm not lying!" replied Rory.

Thea had enough. She went into the kitchen, found a chef's knife and went over to point it at Dean's throat. "That's enough, Dean! She's not lying. She didn't lie. So stop shouting at my sister. I told you, I invited him over and I told him to stay for dinner. Now, I think it's better that you leave since you can't be civil."

"Says the one pointing a knife at his neck," Rory said.

"And I think it's best that you sign up for anger management classes," Thea said. "So, go. Start walking."

Dean headed for the front door, figuring it's best not to argue with a pissed off girl holding a knife to his neck, who most likely will use it too.

"And leave the ice cream," Thea told him. Dean handed her the ice cream. "Now I want you gone in five seconds before I cut off your dick, since you clearly don't deserve it with the way you act towards my sister." Dean took off.

Thea closed the door and tossed the knife to the side. She held up the ice cream, "Who wants ice cream?"