"I am not going to wallow."

--☆--☆--☆--

The Gilmores pulled out of a hug, the mood hanging low now that Rory has made her announcement. Cassie stood close by her twin, the happy mood she was in a minute ago had completely faded.

"Tell me what happened," Lorelai said, looking at her heartbroken daughter.

"We broke up, we just broke up," Rory answered, brushing off her question.

"But I don't understand," Lorelai admitted.

"We- we went to dinner and then we walked by the bonfire but it wasn't lit, so we went to this junkyard and we sat in this car and then- oh God!"

"What?" Lorelai asked, putting her hands on Rory's arms, worried about what she was about to say.

"I forgot your meatball in the car."

"Oh honey, forget it."

"Oh I can't believe I left your meatball in the car," Rory said, sounding more upset about the meatball than about the breakup.

"Ok, ok, come on," Lorelai walked her into the living room, her and Rory sitting on the couch while Cassie sat in the chair in front of them.

"After I told the waiter to wrap it up and everything. And everyone was like 'what do you want with one meatball?' and I was like 'It's a mother/daughter thing.'" Rory ranted, still leaving out any mention of Dean. "And I'm he thought I was nuts but he was so nice and he did it anyway and he uh, brought out one of those tin foil swans or duck or some kind of bird and- and then I left it in the car."

"Rory forget about the meatball," Cassie told her sister, all she wanted to know was if she was going to have kill Dean sometime before morning.

"Just tell us what happened," Lorelai added, using a slightly softer tone.

"He just broke up with me, okay?"

"That doesn't make sense," Lorelai told her. "This is Dean we're talking about. He's crazy about you."

"He calls like thirty times a day," Cassie added.

"Have you seen the cover of his notebook? It's one step away from stalker material."

"I have to go to bed," Rory announced as she stood up and walked towards her room.

"Well, wait. Take me through the night step by step," Lorelai requested as she and Cassie followed Rory into her room.

"Why?"

"So we can help decipher what happened here."

"What happened here is we broke up. He doesn't want to be my boyfriend anymore, end of story," Rory answered, making Cassie shake her head.

"There has to be more to the story," Cassie commented, looking beyond confused.

"No, there isn't."

"Honey, he did not plan out an entire romantic evening complete with dinner and a junkyard, which we'll get back to later, and then suddenly decide to dump you for no reason," Lorelai told her, and Cassie nodded her head in agreement.

"How do you know?" Rory asked as she walked over to her closet grabbing a big brown box.

"Because I have read every Nancy Drew mystery ever written. The one about the Amish country, twice," Lorelai reminded her. "I know there is more to the story than what you're telling me. What are you doing?" She asked when Rory started putting a bunch of random items in the box.

"I'm getting rid of all this stuff," Rory answered, picking up a book and tossing it in the box.

"What stuff?"

"Hey I gave that to you," Cassie said, grabbing a cd before Rory could put it in the box.

"Everything he gave me, everything he touched, everything he looked at."

"That's a little drama-" Cassie was about to say only to receive a 'that's not helpful' look from her mom.

"Honey, will you calm down for just one second," Lorelai asked her.

"He doesn't want to be my boyfriend- fine."

"Okay, it will be fine but-" Lorelai reached in, taking a shirt from Rory's hand.

"What?"

"Mine."

"Oh."

"Is there someone else?" Lorelai asked as Rory walked back over to her closet, her mom and sister following her.

"No."

"Is he moving?" She guessed.

"No."

"Is he dying?" Cassie asked.

"Maybe his football team lost their game," Lorelai guessed.

"What?"

"It's happened," She replied, then a terrible, terrible thought crossed her mind. "Did he, um, try something?"

"What?"

Cassie let out a sigh, knowing what her mom was asking. "You know, did he wanna-"

"What?"

"Did he wanna go faster than you-"

"God no!" Rory looked confused by the accusation, wondering where it came from. Since sex with Dean wasn't really on her mind.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry."

"Jeez..."

"You're just not giving me a lot to go off here," Lorelai reminded her.

"You're like the vault of secrets," Cassie added.

"Honey," Lorelai paused when Rory pulled a certain dress out of her closet, "That's your fancy dress, the one I made for you."

"That I wore to a dance that I went to with him," Rory reminded them.

"Oh yeah... Sweater's brand new."

"Well he saw me in it yesterday and he liked it," Rory pointed out as she put the sweater into the box.

"Well then he's got good taste," Lorelai told her.

"He said it brought out the blue in my eyes."

"Then he's gay," Cassie told her.

Rory turned her head to give her sister an aggravated look, "You guys aren't funny and it goes."

"We're a little funny and if you throw everything Dean ever saw you wear you're gonna be walking around in a towel. Colonel Clucker?" Lorelai asked and suddenly all the attention was on the chicken in the box.

"No, Rory," Cassie looked up a sister, shaking her head.

"Are you serious? He's been with you since you were four."

"And Admiral Eggstein is upstairs," Cassie reminded them, thinking about The Colonel's twin chicken that she kept in her room.

"The first time Dean came over, he picked it up," Rory informed them.

"You can't blame the colonel for that," Cassie pouted, a little more upset about this than anything.

"He was sitting there minding his own business and a guy comes in and picks him up, what's a stuffed bird to do?" Lorelai asked as Rory took off her Dean bracelet and put it in the box.

"I don't want to joke about this, not now," Rory told her before taking the colonel and putting him in the box.

"Okay..."

"Here," Rory said, giving her mom the box. "I don't want to look at that anymore."

"Okay, I'll, um, I'll put it away."

"No, take it out of the house," Rory told her as she walked behind Lorelai to go back over to her bed. "Throw it in a dumpster, burn it, I don't care. Just- I want it gone."

"You know honey, some day, when all this is in the past, you may be sorry that you don't have those things anymore," Lorelai advised her.

"I don't care."

"But Rory-"

"I don't care!"

"Okay. Fine. It's gone."

Rory nodded her head, finally able to calm down a little. "Thank you."

"So I'll take care of this and you go to bed and get some rest," Lorelai spoke softly. "Maybe you'll feel more like talking in the morning."

"Okay."

"Night Rory," Cassie smiled softly, she hated seeing her sister like this.

"Night," Rory smiled back as Cassie walked out of the room.

Lorelai followed after her a few seconds later, and the second she came out of the room Cassie grabbed the colonel. "I'll keep him safe," Cassie told her mom.

"Okay," Lorelai nodded, smiling when her daughter ran upstairs to hide the stuffed animal. Lorelai walked over to the closet, placing the box on the floor and covering it with a blanket.

--☆--☆--☆--☆--☆–

There were no early risers in the Gilmore house. It wasn't in their DNA, waking up early was not a part of their routine. Especially not on a Saturday.

Except on this particular day, Rory Gilmore found herself up and ready before 6. She had already rearranged the furniture and done her laundry. All she needed to do now was wake up her family. She woke up Lorelai first, knowing it'd be easier to get her sister awake if everyone else was awake first.

Rory walked into her sister's room, laughing quietly when realized that somehow in the night Cassie's head ended up on the wrong side of her bed.

"Cassie," Rory spoke loudly, making her sister groan. "Cassie wake up."

"Is there a fire?" She asked, her voice still scratchy from her slumber.

"No?" Rory answered in a questioning manner.

"Then go away," Cassie replied, trying to push her sister away.

"I made up a list of everything we say we're going to do on a weekend day, but never do because it's too boring," Rory told her as she walked to Cassie's window, opening the shades.

"Oh jeez," Cassie grabbed a handful of blankets, pulling it over her head.

"I think we should get it all out of the way, once and for all," Rory continued as went over to Cassie's closet, picking her an outfit. "And, I was telling mom, maybe we can make a reward system."

"Rory," Cassie whined, trying desperately to go back to sleep.

"Wake up," Rory told her, tossing Cassie's clothes on top of her, forcing her to peek out from the blankets. Cassie glanced over by the clock that sat by her bed, and all she wanted to do was scream her head off.

"It's 6!" She yelled, trying to hide under her blankets, which only caused Rory to completely pull the duvet off her bed. "Rory!"

"Up please."

"Rory, it's 6 on Saturday morning," Cassie reminded her.

"I know."

"We get to sleep in on Saturday. Five days a week we are up before the sun rises, I need my Saturday."

"Up please!"

"I'm going to kill you Rory," Cassie yelled as Rory walked out of her room. Cassie slowly pulled herself out of bed, and changed into the clothes Rory had picked out for her.

The youngest Gilmore was hardly conscious, when she looked in the mirror she cringed when she saw her hair out of place and the bags under eyes. It took every ounce of energy she had to fix it, so she tossed her hair in a ponytail and fixed her face before heading out her bedroom door. When she made it to the hallway she was met with a half dead Lorelai, who was pulling herself out of bed.

"She got you too huh?" Cassie asked her mom.

"Yup," Lorelai nodded, then the two of them walked towards the stairs.

Lorelai walked down first, Cassie following behind her. Since Cassie was walking with one eye open she didn't notice the redoracted living room, but Lorelai did. She completely stopped in her tracks, causing Cassie to crash into her.

"What?" Lorelai pointed to their living room and Cassie slowly turned her head, but she was too tired to react. "What?" She breathed out.

"Come on honey," Lorelai put her arm around her daughter's shoulder, guiding her the rest of the way to the living room. "Hello. Did you rearrange the furniture?" Lorelai asked as she set Cassie down in a chair.

"Yes."

"Good, cause for a minute there I thought we were having a problem with decorator elves and I was gonna have to call an exterminator and ten the place but it was just you," Lorelai nodded awkwardly while Cassie began falling asleep at the table. "Great. Good. So now was there any reason that you just suddenly felt the need to move around large pieces of furniture first thing in the morning?"

"I was up, it was there," Rory answered.

"Okay good thought process. Great. Now I noticed you didn't move the tv though," Lorelai pointed out.

"It was too heavy."

"Too heavy?" Cassie asked, slightly lifting her head.

"Go back to bed honey," Lorelai patted her daughter's head, and Cassie put her head back down on the table. "Right, okay. Well I like this," Lorelai told Rory. "This is good. Now of course when the sofa actually faced the tv it made it a little easier to watch but you know this is good too. It'll be like um, you know, like radio."

"Are you ready to go?" Rory asked her, before glancing down at her sleeping sister.

"Yeah, I am. Just one quick sec. Um, why don't you- could you put the pen down?"

Rory looked up from her paper, "Just finishing the list."

"Yes, I see and as much as I love your list," Lorelai sat down, taking the pen from Rory, "let's just finish this particular one in a little while, okay?"

"Okay."

"Rory, I'm concerned about you. I wish you would talk to me," Lorelai told her, "and your sister when she wakes up."

"I don't want to deal with it right now. I can't deal with it right now," Rory admitted.

"Fair enough. But listen, I've had my heart broken before. It's really hard. It's hard for everyone, so can I give you a little advice?" Lorelai asked her daughter.

"Okay."

"I think what you really want to do today is wallow."

"Wallow?"

"Oh yeah, get back in your pajamas, go to bed, eat nothing but gallons of ice cream and tons of pizza, don't take a shower or shave your legs or put on any kind of makeup at all and just sit in the dark and watch a really sad movie and have a good long cry and just wallow. You need to wallow."

"I wanna wallow," Cassie admitted. "Let's wallow."

"No."

"Rory, your first love is intense, and your first break up even more intense," Lorelai told Rory, however her words made Cassie sit up. "Shoving it away and ignoring it while you make lists it's not gonna help."

"I don't wanna wallow."

"Try it for one day," Lorelai requested.

"Try before you deny," Cassie smiled, hoping to make her sister laugh but she didn't.

"No."

"One day, one day of pizza and pajamas. I'll rent 'Love Story' and 'The Champ', 'An Affair to remember', 'Ishtar'," Lorelai listed.

"I don't want to be that kind of girl."

"The kind of girl that watches 'Ishtar'?"

Rory shook her head at her mom, not finding her as funny as she usually did. "The kind of girl who falls apart just because she doesn't have a boyfriend."

"That description hardly applies to you," Lorelai told her.

"It will if I wallow."

"Not true."

"So I used to have a boyfriend and now I don't," Rory shrugged as she stood up to clean her cup. "Okay, that's just the way it is. I mean sitting in the dark eating junk food and not shaving my legs isn't gonna change that, is it?"

"No..."

"But it's more fun than chores," Cassie reminds her.

"We have things to do, we have school and Harvard to think about," Rory said and Cassie had to try not to roll her eyes.

"Honey, Harvard is like three years away."

"But now is the time to be preparing for it. I mean Harvard is hard to get into and I don't know why I even spend my time thinking about anything else," Rory continued.

"Because you have a pulse and you are not the president of the audio visual club," Lorelai told her.

"And you're not Paris Geller," Cassie added.

Rory sighed, ignoring her mom and sister. "I'm 16, I have the rest of my life to have a boyfriend. I should be keeping my eye on the prize right now."

"I admire your attitude."

"Thank you."

"So should we rent 'Old Yeller' too?" Lorelai asked.

"No, that's more a guy's crying movie," Cassie answered, causing both her and Lorelai to laugh.

"You guys aren't listening to me," Rory groaned in annoyance.

"I am listening to you, I just- don't agree with you."

"I don't want to wallow and you can't make me," Rory told them.

"Okay Fine. So that must be the list."

"Yes it is," Rory nodded.

"May I see it please?" Lorelai asked as she took the paper from her daughter. "We do not need a garden hose."

"We don't have one," Rory reminded her.

"Probably because we don't have a garden," Cassie commented.

"But maybe if we have a hose we can grow one," Rory pointed out.

"Can I see the pen please?"

"Why?" Rory asked, keeping the pen from her mom.

"Small adjustment," Lorelai reached forward taking the pen. "Small adjustment." Lorelai told Rory as she took the pen, writing a quick note on the list.

"Make sure to add kick Dean's ass on the list," Cassie reminded her but that only earned her two frowns. Lorelai silently shook her head at her youngest daughter then slid the list back over to Rory.

"Mom..."

"What? It's on the list," Lorelai told her. "Don't you have to do it if it's on the list?"

"I'm not going to wallow," Rory crossed wallow off the list.

"But I put it after going to the recycling center."

"Can we just go to Luke's please?" Cassie asked using the whiny tone she was famous for when she was a kid.

"Yes," Rory nodded and Cassie's eyes lit up. "Luke's is on the list."

So the Gilmore Girls headed out into the world. All of them looked around their town in confusion, wondering why there were so many people out this early in the morning. However the real adventure of their morning was when the three Gilmores walked all the way around the town and through the trash to get to Luke's. All to avoid Dean.

But the three women finally made it to their sacred place. Only problem was there was a crowd of people they didn't recognize.

"Who are all these people?"

"It's the 6am crowd."

"The who?" Cassie asked in shock. To her waking up early was punishment, she was weirded out by the fact people did this for fun.

"I officially recognize nobody in this place," Lorelai shook her head in amazement.

"Hey," Rachel, Luke's new girlfriend, stopped to greet the Gilmores.

"Oh hi," Lorelai turned her body to look at her.

"Coffee while you wait?" Rachel asked.

"Oh thank god," Cassie eagerly took the mug, jumping with excitement as Rachel poured the warm coffee in her mug.

"Oh bless you," Lorelai smiled when Rachel began pouring coffee into her mug. "So Luke put you to work huh?" Lorelai asked, a hint of jealousy flashing in her eyes.

"Yeah well I figured if I'm going to be hanging around here for a while the least I could do is help out," Rachel shrugged with a smile on her face.

"So you're gonna be hanging around for a while... here?" Lorelai asked.

Rachel nodded her head, "yeah, I think so."

"Oh well that's nice."

"Yeah."

"So where is Luke?" Cassie asked. Now that she's had her coffee she was ready for her breakfast.

"Well were kind of up late last night-"

"TMI," Cassie whispered, and Rory closed her eyes, shaking her head at her sister.

"-so I let him sleep in," Rachel continued.

"Sleep in? Luke?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh believe me, it wasn't easy to get him to agree to it, but in the end, a little sweet talk, a couple Excedrin PM he finally caved," Rachel answered and Lorelai laughed.

"Hey there's a seat over there," Rory pointed to the table,

"Great."

"Oh go, go! I'll be over in a sec," Rachel told them and the three Gilmores headed off to the table.

"I feel like everyone is staring at me," Rory said quietly.

"Well yeah, because you've got a banana peel stuck to your foot," Lorelai told her.

"I do?" Rory asked as she and Cassie looked down at her foot. Cassie wouldn't have been surprised if there was a banana peel on her sister's foot, after all they were just traveling through a gross alley.

"I'm kidding. Nobody's staring at you," Lorelai laughed as they sat down at the table.

"They know."

"They don't know."

"It's probably all around town by now," Rory guessed anxiously.

Rory lowered her head, feeling embarrassed. Cassie looked at her sister, her big sister, and wondered how this could've happened to her. She saw how much Dean cared for her and still Rory ended up with her heart broken. Suddenly Cassie was worried that something similar could happen to her, and she didn't want that to happen.

"Honey it just happened last night, it's like 6 in the morning," Lorelai reminded her.

"Everyone knows that I've been dumped."

"Maybe we should just go home," Cassie suggested but Rory immediately shook her head.

"No, we have a list," She said ademietly

"Okay, great. I'm gonna order us something," Lorelai announced and both her daughters agreed. "Any preference- eggs, french toast, key to the dumpster?"

"I don't care," Rory shrugged.

"Okay. I'll be right back," Lorelai told them then walked off to the counter.

Cassie smiled awkwardly at her sister, and for the first time in her life she didn't have anything to say. Sure she wanted to ask Rory why she and Dean really broke up, but she was worried about annoying her sister, so she stayed quiet. Rory, however, found her sister's silence more annoying than her babbling. So she decided to be the one to speak up.

"I never asked you about last night," Rory spoke up.

"What?"

"Your night with Josh... how'd it go?"

Cassie shook her head. She wasn't about to tell her sister how great her night had been when Rory had literally just been dumped. "Average."

"Average?"

"We saw Harry and Taylor get into a fight," Cassie told her, trying to change the subject slightly.

"How long did it take them to find matches?"

"Too long," Cassie laughed, and for a split second things felt normal. That was until Kirk approached them.

"Rory."

"Hey Kirk," Rory waved awkwardly.

"I just wanted to tell you that I should've voiced my concerns about Dean-"

"Kirk, you know this isn't the best time," Cassie tried to tell him but he only ignored her and continued speaking.

"I never liked him. I don't know what it was, something about the shape of his forehead or his height or the floppy hairstyle," Kirk paused for a second before nodding his head. "Actually yes, on reflection I think I was the floppy hair style."

"Hey, good morning Kirk," Lorelai smiled at the man as she approached the table.

"Lorelai, I want to express my apologies for not voicing my concerns about that floppy haired jerk earlier because if I had-"

"Oh you know what- you need to leave now," Lorelai told him urgently.

"I cannot go until you accept my apology."

Without hesitation Lorelai said, "I accept your apology."

"Alright. It will not happen," He told them ready to walk away, but of course in natural Kirk fashion he turned back around with more to say. "About your boyfriend-" He tried to tell Cassie.

"Bye Kirk," Lorelai waved and Kirk finally left.

"Thank you," Rory smiled.

"Honey are you sure you don't want to-"

"Don't say wallow," Rory told her with a pointed look.

"Swallow your coffee before you eat," Lorelai corrected herself.

"I am fine," Rory announced for the millionth time.

"But the look on your face..." Cassie tried to say sweetly but it didn't really work out.

"It's the same look Mom had on her face when she broke up with Max," Rory announced as she looked over at her Mom who sunk down in her seat. "Did wallowing help you get over him?"

"I'm not saying wallowing will help you get over Dean. It's part of the process," Lorelai explained to her. "It's the mourning period. It's a step, an important step. The only thing that will get you over somebody is time."

"How much time did it take you to get over Max?"

"I'm not sure exactly," Lorelai told her.

"Approximately?"

"I didn't clock it."

"Ballpark figure?"

"A while," Lorelai finally answered.

"Be vaguer."

"Rory come on," Lorelai sighed, now a little annoyed.

"More coffee?" Luke asked the girls and Cassie immediately held up her mug. "Pancakes are coming right up, anything else I can get you?" He asked pouring more coffee for each of the Gilmores.

"No thanks," Rory answered politely.

"Hey I've got some strawberries back there, you like strawberries don't you?" Luke asked Rory, an unusually bright smile on his face. One that suggested to the twins that he knew about the breakup.

"Yeah I like strawberries but-"

"I'm getting you strawberries," Luke decided before Rory could even finish her sentence. He smiled at Rory then walked over to the next table.

"You told him didn't you?" Rory asked.

"She totally did," Cassie laughed quietly.

"No. Miss Patty did," Lorelai lied.

"Well who told Miss Patty?"

"Miss Patty knows all," Cassie reminded her, then her attention went out the window where she saw Luke talking to Dean.

"If you tell Miss Patty, everybody in town is gonna know," Rory complained, not liking the idea of everyone knowing about her breakup.

Cassie tilted her head to the side, a look of pure amusement on her face when she watched Luke and Dean begin to fight. "Honey people have their own lives and their own problems. I hardly think you and Dean breaking up is the main thing on their minds," Lorelai tried to tell her. Cassie laughed, causing Lorelai to look out the window, her eyes immediately went wide in shock. "Oh my god!"

"What?" Rory asked but Cassie and Lorelai were already halfway out the door. "Oh my god," She quickly got up from her seat, going to follow her mom and sister.

"Hey, hey, hey, cut it out!" Lorelai yelled, "Break it up!"

"God I wish I had a camera," Cassie said quietly but Rory didn't find this nearly as funny.

"You back off! Come here!" Lorelai pulled Luke away from Dean, "What do you think you're doing?"

"He started it!"

"By doing what?" Lorelai asked him.

"He was coming in," Luke answered, pointing over to Dean who had now turned around, facing away from the Gilmores.

"Are you a lunatic! He's 16!"

"Well what was I supposed to do?!" Luke yelled back.

"Kick his ass," Cassie answered with a smile, seeing the slightly scared look on Dean's face. Sure they had been getting along these couple weeks but no one messed with her sister. She'd happily kick Dean's ass if Lorelai wasn't standing right next to her.

"Well stand in the middle of the street and have a slap fight of course!" Lorelai shook her head at him but Cassie was still smiling. "Come here!" As Lorelai led Luke back towards the diner Cassie held out her hand and gave Luke a quick high five. One that unfortunately was seen by her mom. "You come here, now," She pulled Cassie towards the diner, not wanting to leave her alone with Dean either.

"Pretty epic Luke," Cassie told the diner owner.

"Cassie!" Lorelai scolded her.

Dean stormed past them and without a second thought Luke tried to go after him again. Only to be rained in by Lorelai who was holding onto his flannel.

"Inside now!"

"He started it," Luke muttered before going back inside.

Cassie frowned when she saw Rory staring down at the sidewalk. "Hey," Cassie said softly, putting her hand on Rory's shoulder.

"Hey."

Lorelai walked up to them, smiling at her oldest daughter. "So where's that list?"

"What?"

"The list, we've got a lot to do Missy, otherwise I'm gonna be dragging your butt outta bed at 6 again tomorrow morning," Lorelai joked but Rory still looked sad. "So where do we start?"

Rory sighed, pulling the folded up list out of her jacket pocket. "Well we need a soap dish for the kitchen."

"A kitchen soap dish?" Cassie questioned and Rory nodded a slight smile forming on her face.

"That's quite decadent but what the hell, let's go," Lorelai smiled and the three Gilmores walked down the street with their arms linked.

author's note: will I be posting mini spoilers on tik tok? I don't know, you'll have to wait and see. Tik tok: allthevibez.wp

All jokes aside thank you so much for reading my story and a special thanks the people who have been leaving the sweetest comments. I've been kinda going through it and seeing all the support has helped immensely so thank you.