"You know," Anthony started, while Thea and her friends sat at a table in the cafeteria. "I find it funny that when people find out that I was a former junkie, they feel the need to tell me about their problems."

Georgia looked confused at that, "Really?"

"I had one of my professors straight up tell me that he hated his family," Anthony said. "And all I could say was, 'have you tried heroin? I guarantee that your life won't get any better, but within a month, your family won't be a part of it.' Like what words of wisdom are you expecting out of your junkie freshman student?"

Sage snickered as he reached over to steal some bacon from Georgia.

Georgia stole some toast from Sage in retaliation.

Anthony always seemed confused by the whole eating off each other's plates thing. "I also learned how much I hate when people justify their addiction. That guy over there?" He motioned to a guy with his head. Thea and her friends looked over. "I know he's an alcoholic, because he tries to justify it."

"How?" asked Todd.

"He said to me, 'you know, eating too much is worse than drinking too much,'" Anthony said. Liberty started laughing. "And I'm thinking, 'yeah, because my brother's ex-girlfriend is a nice woman until she eats to many sandwiches.'"

Georgia was confused, "What?"

"'And after a few patty melts and a large diet coke, she became a totally different person,'" Anthony continued. "'And my brother would have to hide the knives because he was worried that she was going to stab him and he'll end up going to jail for it, because Juniper went on another patty melt rampage. That rye bread is the devil's bread.'"

"Your brother's girlfriend?" asked Todd.

"Ex-girlfriend," Anthony corrected. "Yeah, get a couple of drinks in her and you'll be trying to hide the knives. She was very mean and vindictive." Liberty made a face. "You should see the scar she left on Blake's face. She also told me that I should've overdosed on heroin, that I should've been the one that got murdered, and she told me that I should've got raped in jail."

"Oh, jeez," Liberty replied, horrified.

"My sister, Zoё, was really pissed when she heard that," Anthony said. "It takes a lot to really piss her off. Like, we thought that anger didn't exist in her, but when she heard that, even Juniper realized she had messed up. Like I never saw a woman go pale that fast. I think it had something to do with the fact that Zoё pulled out the Hi Striker mallet from Candy Apple Red."

Anthony's sister had played Velvet in the movie Candy Apple Red. It was about five teen girls going to do a scavenger hunt in an amusement park. Little did they know, it was a trap. They had been lured there by someone who wanted them dead. The movie was kind of cheesy, but the mallet scene where a character got her hand smashed in by the Hi-Striker mallet replayed in Thea's mind every time she saw a Hi-Striker mallet.

It had been one of Lorelai's favorite movies and she and Rory would eat candy apples while watching the movie. Thea wasn't invited to join in.

The movie did fell eventually fell into obscurity.

"What happened?" asked Georgia.

"Let's just say that everyone in my family has done time in jail," Anthony said. "And out of my parents and siblings, I was the one who was in jail the longest. My mom has this tree mural on the wall and has all our mugshots framed and placed on the tree, like some giant family tree thing. It dates back to at least the 1920s. Complete with what crime was committed and with how long we spent in jail."

"I really need to see that," Georgia replied.

"And I thought my mom was proud of her bank robbing days," Todd replied.

"Yeah, on that family tree, you got assault, murder, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, mass murderer, and all you see is 'drug possession.' Made me feel pathetic seeing my lousy crime," Anthony said. "We have a serial killer great-great aunt, but I got disowned for smoking weed when I was eighteen. And they thought I was murdered which made them realize, 'hey, we want you back, just as long as you don't do drugs.' Makes no sense."

Rory came into the dining hall, wearing her pajamas. She made a grab for the remains of breakfast and Thea considered going over there to hand Rory her leftover food.

However, Anthony was way ahead of Thea, when he took his container and himself over to Rory.

"I can't wait to see the shitshow that's going to go down when Rory starts dating Anthony," Georgia said gleefully. "It's going to be so much fun."

"Yeah," Liberty agreed.

Thea nodded in agreement as Anthony gave (a grateful) Rory his food, then that weird guy, Marty, came up to them.

Marty seemed to size Anthony up. Anthony clearly was amused by Marty who took Rory (and Anthony) over to a table with some other guys.

"I ran down to the dining hall in my pajamas and bunny slippers, and of course I ran into Marty," Rory explained to Lorelai.

"Naked guy," Lorelai said.

"It was totally humiliating," Rory said.

"Humiliating 'cause naked guy's hot?" asked Lorelai.

"It was humiliating because I had terry cloth rabbits on my feet," Rory said. And in front of Anthony no less, but Lorelai didn't need to know that.

"So naked guy's not hot?" asked Lorelai.

"Naked guy is Marty and it's not like that," Rory said. "He's sweet."

"Ah," Lorelai replied. "Sweet means bad butt."

"Sweet does not mean bad butt," Rory countered. "Sweet means sweet."

"Pook naked guy," Lorelai said. "He should've left his clothes on."

"Okay, you have got to stop talking about naked guy," Rory told her. "I just met Marty."

"All right," Lorelai replied. "If not him, are there any other guys on the horizon?"

Rory thought about Anthony, but she knew that Lorelai wouldn't approve, "Nope."

"No?" asked Lorelai. "How about a professor – someone older, wiser, with brown cords and whiskey breath?"

Well, Anthony was older... "Oh, well, yeah." Rory added, "Sort of."

"Sort of?" asked Lorelai. "Come on, Rory."

"Well, he's older, but not professor type old," Rory admitted.

"How much older are we talking?" asked Lorelai, now being curious.

Rory said, "Like seven years."

"How bad does this guy test?" asked Lorelai.

"He's a freshman too," Rory defended. "I think he's very smart. He just had a rocky couple of years a while ago and now he's in college."

"So, did you agree to go out with him?" asked Lorelai.

"He hasn't asked me out and I'm not entirely sure he's into me," Rory tried. And she knew that Lorelai wouldn't approve of him, but Lorelai didn't need to know that.

"Well, maybe you should try asking him out," Lorelai said. "You wouldn't know unless you try." 

Aiden seemed to be off all day, so Thea stopped by his dorm to make sure he was okay.

Thea went over to sit next to him on the bed. She grabbed Aiden's hand, "Are you okay?"

"Just stressed," Aiden replied.

"Oh," Thea replied. "I know how to help with that." She leaned over and kissed him on the neck.

Aiden moved away from her, "Yeah, I don't really want sex."

"Oh, sorry," Thea replied. "Want me to give you a massage?"

"Nah," Aiden replied. He hugged Thea and moved so they could lie down on the bathtub sized bed together. "It's just..."

"What?" prompted Thea, wrapping an arm around Aiden's waist.

"My Egg Donor died today," Aiden explained. "I haven't thought about it, 'til it hit me that she died eleven years ago. I have been alive longer than when she had been dead. If that makes sense."

"Yeah. She's been dead for eleven years, and you're nineteen now," Thea said.

"And I can't help but think, it's been a decade and I still wake up terrified that she's going to walk in my room and be like, 'Let's play a game, pretty boy,'" Aiden said, and shuddered at the words he used. Thea grimaced and pressed a kiss to Aiden's shoulder. "And I can't help but think, 'Maybe Aunt Karen is right. Maybe I should just get over it. It's been ten years'."

"She is not right," Thea replied, heated at the thought of Aiden saying that. "The Egg Donor shouldn't have done that to you. You were a child. Her child and she had no problem ruining your life and your friend's."

They got silent.

"Do you still talk to your friend?" asked Thea, curious. Aiden never said who his friend's name was.

"Yeah, but he doesn't talk much to me these days," Aiden said. "Probably very busy."

"Maybe he wants to move on from that ordeal and you're just reminding him of the past?" suggested Thea, cringing at the thought of that.

"I did think that once, so I didn't email him in two weeks, and he asked if everything was okay because he hadn't heard from me, so our friendship is still a thing," Aiden said.

"What's he up to?" asked Thea.

"Going to college, working part-time at a pizzeria, and his relationship went down the drain because his girlfriend was very jealous over him emailing or calling me, thinking he was cheating on her," Aiden said. "She accused him of being gay when he said that he was talking to a dude."

"He should consider that a bullet dodged," Thea pointed out.

"Oh, he does," Aiden replied.

"I kind of wish I could meet him," Thea admitted.

"Why?" asked Aiden, "Considering adding him to your collection of strays?"

Thea pursed her lips before saying, "Maybe."

"Maybe I can see if I can get him to visit for winter break," Aiden said.

Thea smiled at him, "Thanks."

They lapsed into another silence.

"I could really use one of Luke's milkshakes right about now," Aiden told Thea.

"I can go to one of these hamburger places to get you one," Thea told him.

"It's not the same," Aiden replied. "I'll feel like I'm cheating on Luke."

"Well, if I have Jess bring you one, you know he'll just drink like 80% of it before giving it to you," Thea told him.

"I know," replied Aiden.

Thea was trying to clean out the car with Sage, Aiden, and Anthony. It wasn't that messy, but she figured it needed to be done. It was also a one-person job, but they seemed to want to help.

"You know, I once lost some heroin in the car I drove," Anthony said, holding up a candy wrapper.

Thea was confused, "You lost your heroin?"

"Yeah," Anthony replied. "I was just in the car and the small baggy just fell in between the seats and I spent my entire lunch break searching for it and I couldn't find it. I was irritated the rest of my shift. I think my coworkers thought I got dumped."

"Yeah, no, they knew what happened. They just didn't want to get yelled at," Sage replied.

It reminded Thea of how Jess thought that since he had broken his leg in a car accident, they liked him, but Sage said "no, they hate you, they just pity you."

Anthony seemed to think it over, "Yeah. You're right. I remember Shawn still being pissed that I got promoted over him and he yelled that I was an addict to our boss, Mark. Mark said that he didn't care and that I could be snorting cocaine off his wife's left asscheck and still do a better job than Shawn."

Sage asked, "Why did he have to specify that it was the left one?"

Anthony seemed to think it over. "Now that question is going to haunt me alongside the question of where my heroin went."

"Maybe it's in the place where the missing socks go when they're in the dryer," Thea said.

Anthony made a 'that's true,' face.

"My dad told me that he once went to McDonald's and he lost the hamburger in his car once," Aiden said.

"A hamburger somehow rolled out of the bag?" asked Sage.

"No, he was eating and the patty fell out and went into between the seats," Aiden explained.

"Yeah, that hamburger became a lot healthier once the Grade F beef fell out," Anthony said.

"Once Rory and I were cleaning out Lorelai's jeep and we found a McDonald's French fry," Thea told them. "We hadn't had McDonald's in months during that time and somehow it looked better than when we first got it." Anthony made a face, "I didn't eat it, but I licked it and it was still salty."

"That's some super salt right there," Sage said.

Anthony asked, "How bad does your food have to be to where bacteria goes, 'I'm not touching that.'"

"Very bad," Thea told him.

Rory, looking nervous, came up to them, "Hey, Anthony? Can I talk to you in private?"

"Sure," Anthony said, and walked off with Rory.

Thea watched them curiously as it looked like Rory rambled on about something, but judging from the huge smile on Anthony's face, Rory must've asked him out.

"I think Rory finally asked him out," Thea told Aiden and Sage.

"About time," Aiden muttered.

"So, tell me," Emily told Rory. "What are your plans for the weekend? Any parties going on?"

"Well, yeah, there are always parties going on, but I'm not going to a party this weekend," Rory replied. "I'm actually going on a date."

Lorelai was surprised, "You are?"

"Well," Emily said. "Your first college date."

Lorelai asked, "Who's the lucky guy?"

"He's one of Thea's friends," Rory said. "Anthony Torres."

"What happened?" asked Lorelai. "Did he ask you out or did you ask him out?"

"Oh, Rory, tell me you didn't ask a boy out," Emily said.

"As a matter of fact, I did," Rory replied. "He agreed to it."

"Rory, you're in Yale, not Amsterdam," Emily told her. "How you conduct yourself socially is as important as how you conduct yourself academically."

"I promise, it was very proper," Rory replied. "I just walked up to him and asked if we can go get something to eat sometime and he agreed."

"Well, what do you know about this boy?" asked Emily. "Do you know where he's from? Who his parents are?"

Rory thought about it, "He's from Naples, Florida—"

"Wow, richie rich," Lorelai cut in.

"What do his parents do?" asked Emily, her interest piqued from knowing the Naples thing.

"I think they're both executive producers for TV shows," Rory said. "Oh, and his older sister, Zoë, played Velvet in Candy Apple Red."

"No," replied Lorelai, giddy at the thought.

"She even has the Hi-Striker mallet from the scene where Jade's head gets crushed," Rory said, grinning. "He has pictures to prove it and everything." 

"So, where are you taking him?" asked Lorelai.

"What?" asked Rory.

"You asked this guy out," Lorelai pointed out. "I think he's expecting you to pick the place to go eat at."

"I hadn't thought about it yet," Rory admitted. She needed to talk to Thea about where to go. She knew Anthony a bit better than Rory did.

"Ooh, find a place that's fancy, but not too fancy," Lorelai told her. "Casual, but not too casual."

"Gee, thanks Mom," Rory said sarcastically. "That's very helpful."

"I'm just trying to help out here," Lorelai said.

"There's this Italian place in New Haven that I think he might like," Rory told her.

Lorelai finally picked up the phone, "Honey, are you okay?"

"No, this whole night is so awkward," Rory stated.

"What?" asked Lorelai, "How?"

"You're right – I've never dated before and I know that now because of this feeling I have. I've never had this feeling before," explained Rory. She should've agreed to go on a date with Trevor so she could have some experience before making a fool out of herself in front of Anthony. But mostly she was nervous.

"Sort of frozen, sort of unsure, sort of wishing you'd read a lot of dating articles in preparation?" asked Lorelai.

"No, I'm just very nervous and cold because the waitress accidentally knocked a soda onto my lap and everyone is staring at me because I'm wearing soda and Anthony had poured his drink on himself to save me the embarrassment," Rory said looking at the other guests. "And now we're both cold and wearing soda."

"Anthony poured a drink on himself because a waitress accidentally knocked a drink onto you to save you the embarrassment?" asked Lorelai.

Luke looked over at hearing the name. Was Rory on a date with Thea's stray? Did Lorelai know about Anthony's past? Most likely because Rory and Lorelai told each other everything, so Luke kept his mouth shut.

"Yeah," replied Rory.

"Well, that's a very...nice thing for him to do so," replied Lorelai. "So, what's the problem?"

"Well, he told me about his ex-girlfriend from three years ago who had an allergy to cats and had a penchant for PCP and chased him with a knife because she thought he was a vampire when she took PCP and now I need a weird life experience story to match his," Rory said. "Why did I have to go to Chilton and why did Stars Hollow High have to turn weird when I left?"

Lorelai was completely baffled, "Well, honey, I'm sorry that you didn't live a very colorful life like Anthony."

"I guess," Rory said. "I mean, I can tell him about our backpacking trip through Europe."

"There you go," Lorelai replied. "There's those stories."

"Yeah, but they're not quite as interesting as Anthony's," Rory said. "Or even Todd's for that matter. Why didn't you rob a bank when you were in your twenties?"

"Because I was busy taking care of you and Thea," Lorelai said.

Luke snorted and Lorelai gave him a look for that.

Even Rory snorted, "Yeah. Taking care of Thea."

"What does that even mean?" asked Lorelai, offended.

"Bye, Anthony's coming back," Rory said to Lorelai. "I'll come up with something." She hung up.

The rocky start to the date did eventually run a bit smoother and afterwards, Anthony asked if it was okay for him to kiss Rory, and she said yes, so all seemed good.