03: speaking of which
"You're very lucky, Cassidy, to be named after him."
--☆--☆--☆--
Two of the three Gilmore Girls were sitting inside Luke's diner for dinner. They both had salads in front of them and neither of them seemed eager to eat it. Both of them picked at the lettuce with their forks, not saying a word to each other.
Both of them were silently wishing that Cassie would come bursting through the door but for some reason she seemed to be running late.
Lorelai let out a sigh as she looked up at her older daughter. "So, you were late getting home tonight."
"Yeah, I went to the library," Rory told her, but of course she was lying.
"I'm here!" Cassie yelled as she pushed open the door to the diner. She was wearing her favorite baseball cap, the one Luke had gotten her after taking her to a New York Yankees game. "Sorry I'm late."
Lorelai smiled as Cassie quickly kissed her on the cheek before sitting in between her mother and sister. Cassie instantly picked up on the weird vibe, not knowing that both her mother and sister had something to share with the table.
"So... what'd I miss?" Cassie asked.
"I uh... forget to tell you girls, we're having dinner with your grandparents tomorrow night," Lorelai informed her daughters. "So no going out tomorrow night, kay?" Lorelai said, this time looking only at Cassie.
"Okay, no going out tomorrow," Cassie nodded but the confused look remianied on her face. "So we're seeing our Grandparents tomorrow?" Cassie questioned since that was the last thing she expected her mother to say.
"Yes, we're having dinner with the grandparents."
"But it's September."
"So?"
"So what holidays in September?"
"It's not a holiday thing. It's just dinner, okay?" Lorelai told her, not appreciating the tone of voice Rory was using with her.
"Fine, sorry."
Luke set down three plates that contained fries and a burger, he didn't need to wait for Cassie to come in and order, he already knew what she'd ask for. "Red meat can kill you. Enjoy." He said calmly before walking away from the table.
"So I finished hemming both your skirts today," Lorelai told them as Cassie picked the lettuce off her burger. Cassie smiled at her mom before taking a bite of her burger but Rory hardly moved at all. "A grunt of acknowledgement might be nice."
"Thanks Mom," Cassie said quickly, in an attempt to diffuse the tension at the table.
"I don't understand why we're going to dinner tomorrow night," Rory said, going back to their previous conversation topic. "What if I had plans? You didn't even ask me."
"If you had plans, I would've known."
"How?"
"You would have told me," Lorelai answered. "Cassie tells me when she has plans and she always has plans."
"I don't tell you everything. I have my own things," Rory told her but it kind of wasn't true. The three Gilmores told each other everything, and if something wasn't meant for a mother's ears then the other twin would know.
"Fine, you have things."
"That's right. I have things."
Cassie sat awkwardly between her mother and sister, occasionally picking up a fry to put into her mouth. Rory and Lorelai hardly ever fought but when they did it could get ugly, and Cassie always ended up in the middle.
"Hey..." Lorelai spoke calmly, "I had dibs on being the bitch tonight."
"Just tonight?" Rory asked her, looking down at her plate.
"Rory-"
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Lorelai asked with a small scoff.
Rory was quiet for a moment, then she looked over at her sister. Rory never kept secrets from Cassie, and she knew that what she was about to say would even shock her. "I'm not sure I want to go to Chilton."
"What?" Cassie scoffed. Rory was right, Cassie was shocked. Because after all the pushing and nagging Rory had to do to get her sister to even send in the application she decided she doesn't want to go. "What do you mean you're not sure?"
"The timing is just really bad."
"The timing is bad?" Lorelai asked her.
"And the bus ride to and from Hartford, it's like 30 minutes each way."
"I can't believe what I'm hearing," Lorelai shook her head as Cassie crossed her arms, sinking down in her seat slightly.
"Plus, I don't think we should be spending that money right now," Rory added, her words sticking in her sister's brain. "I mean, I know Chilton's got to be costing you a lot. And there's two of us."
"Oh, you have no idea."
"All that money should be going towards buying an inn with Sookie."
"Mom... she might be right," Cassie said quietly, not wanting to make her mother upset. She knew how hard Lorelai was working and she knew about her dreams to open an inn. Cassie would be heartbroken if she knew the reason they didn't buy an inn was because she and Rory wanted to go to a fancy private school.
"Not you too. Girls, what about college? What about Harvard?"
"We don't know that I can't get into Harvard if I stay where I am," Rory told her.
"Okay, enough," Lorelai waved her hands, signaling to her daughter that she didn't want this conversation to continue. "Enough of the crazy talk, okay? I appreciate your concern but I have this covered."
"I still don't want to go."
"Why?"
"Because I don't!"
"I have to get out of here," Lorelai said, shaking her head at Rory. She grabbed her purse and stood up, ready to walk out of the restaurant.
"Mom! Mom, we have to pay," Cassie reminded her.
Lorelai turned around, slamming a couple of bills on the table before walking out. Rory stood up, following her mother leaving Cassie alone at the table. The youngest Gilmore looked down at her food, her stomach growling quietly.
She stared down at her food with a frown. All she wanted to do from the moment she walked into Luke's that evening was eat. She was tired, and more importantly she was starving.
Luke walked over to the table, handing her a box. He had seen her looking at her food from across the diner, and he figured out a simple solution. Cassie smiled, taking the box from Luke and she put her burger into it. Luke smiled looking at the youngest Gilmore. He always saw the Gilmore daughters as his own kids. He's watched them grow up, and he watched them grow up without a dad.
"Good night Luke," Cassie waved, running out the door and down the street.
"Cassie!" Ms. Patty, the town's dance teacher yelled, stopping the young girl. "Your mom and sister just passed by."
"Oh thanks," Cassie smiled.
"You must tell me all about Rory's new male friend," Ms. Patty told her.
"Rory's male frie- Oh," Cassie sighed and suddenly it all began to make sense. The guy, the guy she saw watching Rory must've finally decided to say hello. "I promise Patty, the second I know something you will too," Cassie told her, which of course wasn't true. If she did tell Ms. Patty the entire town would know in less than an hour.
"All right darling," Ms Patty waved to her before continuing to teach her class.
Cassie walked quickly back to her house, the sound of music coming from the living room made her realize that Rory and Lorelai's fight didn't end when they left the dinner table. She walked into the house only to be pulled into the living room by her mother.
"Who's the guy?"
"I don't... uh-"
"Don't pretend you don't know," Lorelai told her, urging her daughter to not lie to her.
"I don't know," Cassie told her. "He's new. I don't know anything about him."
"You don't know the guy?"
"I don't know the guy."
Lorelai sighed, shaking her head then walked up the stairs, leaving Cassie alone with her burger.
--☆--☆--☆--☆--☆--
The three Gilmore Girls were all dressed and ready for a fancy dinner with the grandparents. They had all spent time putting together an appropriate outfit and doing their hair all to get in the good graces of their grandparents.
The only problem they had now was waiting for Lorelai to ring the doorbell. The twins knew that Lorelai didn't have the best relationship with her parents, that's the reason she ran away at sixteen with two babies in her arms. But on this particular evening Rory didn't have much patience.
"So... do we go in or do we just stand here reenacting The Little Match Girl?" Rory asked.
"Okay, look." Lorelai turned towards the twins but her eyes were mainly focused on the older girl. "I know you and I are having a thing right now and I know You hate me, but I need you to be civil. At least through dinner and then on the way home you can pull a Menéndez. Deal?"
"Fine." Rory grumbled, as they began to step towards the door.
Lorelai reached forward, finally ringing the doorbell. Moments later the door opened revealing the one and only Emily Gilmore, Lorelai's mom and the twin's grandma.
"Hi Grandma," Rory and Cassie said together.
"Well, you're right on time."
"Yeah, yeah no traffic at all," Lorelai told her mother as the three girls walked in, taking their coats off.
"I can't tell you what a treat it is to have you girls here." Emily was saying, as she took their coats and hung them up.
"Oh, well, we're excited too." Lorelai sounded anything but excited. She looked at her daughter, watching as both of them stood completely still, like they didn't know how to act.
Emily turned towards their mom, eyeing the coffee in her hand. "Is that a collector's cup or can I throw it away for you? In the kitchen, please." Emily added.
Lorelai apologized quickly and despite wanting to stay near their mother their grandmother had other plans for them. Emily took both their hands, wrapping a gentle arm around the girls' shoulders as she led them into the sitting room.
"So, I want to hear all about Chilton."
"Well, we haven't actually started yet." Rory corrected her.
"We start on Monday," Cassie added.
"I see." Emily smiled, leading them into the room. "Richard, look who's here." They were faced with their grandfather, who was reading the newspaper and lowered it as he looked up at them
"Rory, Cassidy - you're both tall.
"I guess," Rory shrugged.
"What's your height?" Richard asked as he took off his glasses to get a better look.
"Five-seven. Cassie's Five-Five," Rory answered.
"That's tall - they're tall."
Lorelai walked in, her coffee cup no longer in her hand."Hi Dad." She greeted him with an awkward smile.
"Lorelai, your daughters are tall."
"Oh I know. It's freakish. We're thinking of having them studied at MIT." Lorelai replied, a smile taking one of the glasses of champagne once offered.
Cassie quickly reached forward to grab one, beating Rory by a few seconds.
"This is fancy." Lorelai commented as Emily set the tray down on the table. While her eyes were somewhere else Cassie quickly took a sip of her champagne, only to earn herself an annoyed look from Rory.
"Well, it's not every day that I have my girls here for dinner on a day the banks are open." Emily said pointedly, raising her glass. "A toast. To Rory and Cassidy entering Chilton, and an exciting new phase in their lives."
"Here, here." Richard said, as they all raised their glasses and returned to his newspaper,
"Well, let's sit everyone," Emily led them around to sit down, the twins besides their grandfather. "This is just wonderful." Emily said, as Lorelai hovered near the chair besides her mother, obviously not wanting to sit down. "An education is the most important thing in the world, next to family."
"And pie." Lorelai added. The room suddenly grew quiet as Richard and Emily looked at their daughter in confusion. The twins looked down, not knowing what to do in this situation. "Joke.. it was a joke." Lorelai finally sat down, crossing her legs.
"Ah." Emily said and silence took over the room for the second time.
Richard picked up a newspaper, offering it to the twins. They both took it, knowing that reading the newspaper was better than staring at their feet.
A few minutes later one of Emily's maids came into the room letting them know that dinner was ready. The awkward tension followed them into the dinning room as Emily and Richard sat down at either end of the table. Cassie and Rory sat down on the same side with Lorelai alone on the other side of the table.
"Do you like the lamb?" Emily said, looking between the twins.
"It's good."
"Too dry?"
"No, it's perfect."
Emily looked pleased at this, raising a fork to her lips. Cassie and Rory smiled, before turning back to their food.
"Potatoes could use a little salt though."
"Excuse me?" Emily asked, looking at her daughter.
Cassie sighed as anxiety began to fill her. Lucky for her she had a twin sister who turned to their grandfather. "So, Grandpa, how's the insurance biz?" She asked.
"Oh, people die, we pay. People crash cars, we pay. People lose a foot, we pay," Richard replied.
"Well at least you have your new slogan." Lorelai chimed in.
"And how are things at the motel?" Richard asked her.
"The inn? They're great."
"Lorelai's the executive manager now. Isn't that wonderful." Emily chimed in, looking across to her husband.
"Speaking of which, Christopher called yesterday."
Both of the twins froze at the mention of their father. They both looked at each other, not knowing how to respond to Richard. They both shrunked down in their seats, turning to their mother seeing the uncomfortable look on her face.
"Speaking of which? How is that a speaking of which?" Lorelai asked, feeling just as uncomfortable as her daughters.
The girls didn't talk about Christopher much. He was around a little when they were babies but as they grew older they saw less and less of him. Now getting a phone call from him was a rare occasion. The twins didn't hate him, at least Rory didn't, but they still weren't eager to talk about him. However the topic always seemed to come up when they went to see their grandparents.
Richard ignored his daughter's questions as he continued to talk about Christopher. "He's doing very well in California. His Internet start-up goes public next month. This could mean big things for him. A very talented man, your father."
"They know."
"He always was a smart one, that boy." Richard continued, not caring that he made Lorelai and the twins uncomfortable. "You must take after him." He looked towards the girls, who smiled nervously, not knowing what else to do. "You're very lucky Cassidy to be named after him."
"Of course," Cassidy Hayden Gilmore said quietly. She hated that his last name was her middle name. He didn't seem to want to be their father so it never made sense why he wanted to be part of her name. She always said she would change her middle name if she could, but even Lorelai thought it was a little dramatic.
"Speaking of which, I'm gonna get a coke." Lorelai got to her feet, making her way to the kitchen. "Or a knife." She added, as Rory and Cassie glanced nervously at each of their grandparents
"I think we're gonna go talk-" Rory began to say but Emily got up and interrupted her.
"No, I'll go." Their grandma replied, a smile on her face. "You stay and keep your grandfather company."
Richard didn't say much to his granddaughters, in fact he didn't say anything after Emily walked out of the room. Unfortunately due to his silence the conversation between Lorelai and Emily became known to everyone in the house. Meaning Cassie and Rory could hear every single word spoken in the kitchen.
They listened while Emily and Lorelai talked about Christopher and how disappointed Emily and Richard were when they found out that their daughter was pregnant. They heard Emily say that a child deserves to have both a mother and father, something they would've had if Lorelai and Christopher got married.
They heard how upset their grandparents were when Lorelai took Cassie and Rory and left Hartford. How disappointed Emily was that Lorelai had to work all on her own.
But then the conversation took a turn, now focused on the topic of their new school, and they very suddenly found out that Emily and Richard would be paying for Chilton. It was at that moment they realized the real reason they were at their grandparents house and how they'd be there every day until Chilton was finally paid for.
It wasn't long after Lorelai left the kitchen that the Gilmore girls finally left Emily and Richard's house. They all headed towards Luke's, now that Rory agreed to go to Chilton with her twin sister.
Everything in the Gilmore house was right again. They weren't fighting and they were smiling and drinking their coffees just like they used to. But of course in two days they twins would be putting on a plaid skirt and heading off to their fancy private school.
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