❝A.L.L RISE, PLEASE❞
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⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ chapter sixteen,
Gilmore Girls — Season Four

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟑𝟎𝐭𝐡, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟒
―୨୧⋆ ˚ LUCY'S POV
( addy, luce & lindsay are such femininomenons )

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        𝐈'𝐌 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍'𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐒𝐀𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘. Yes, Addy is freaking here── in Stars Hollow.

This morning, I was awoken to a surprise in the shape of a blonde, five-foot-five Juilliard dancer. It was six in the morning, I was absolutely exhausted, and I swung open the door, frustrated until I saw who it was. Followed by opening the door, I squealed at the top of my lungs, probably waking everyone in Durfee Hall, but I did not give a single damn in the world.

  My best friend── my girl, my ride-or-die── was standing at the door to my suite.

  Not only was she standing at the door, she was standing at the door on her birthday. For the past fourteen years, Addy and I have never been separated on our birthdays until my nineteenth birthday in December. She sent me a gift, we talked on the phone for an hour, but it wasn't the same as being together.

Now it's her birthday and instead of being stuck on the phone, we're stuck with each other for a whole weekend. Yes, she's staying the entire weekend, so after she arrived at my suite, I immediately packed up my stuff for the weekend, introduced her to my flatmates, and I drove us back to Stars Hollow.

Now we're in Stars Hollow with Lindsay, chatting over a single slice of carrot cake and three cups of coffee.

  "Why is Taylor wearing a toupee?"

  We look to the counter to see Taylor, and I grin at the unusual bed of hair upon his head. "He just came back from the Caribbean, I guess he's trying something new."

  "He looks ridiculous," Addy comments.

  Lindsay tilts her head, staring at him. "Don't you think he looks a little younger?"

  "Not because of the hair, Linds. Taylor is an avid consumer of night cream," Addy whispers like it's some filthy crime, but everyone in town knows that Taylor uses something on his skin to make his face appear less old.

Taylor looks towards us, obviously hearing our chattering, and we quickly turn away, laughing to ourselves at how truly Taylor looks with that damn toupee on his head. If my dad has seen him today, I just know he's making fun of him.

"God, I even miss Taylor when I'm away." Addy frowns, jabbing her fork into the carrot cake that sits in front of us. "There's no fun people in New York. It sucks."

  "Roommate still driving you crazy?" Lindsay asks, taking a sip of her coffee.

  "She brought home a karaoke machine── for what reason, I'll never know."

  A smile touches my lips. "You totally had a go on it, didn't you?"

  Addy sighs, shaking her head, but the smile on her face says something else. "Yes," she begrudgingly admits. "I sang a beautiful rendition of TLC's, No Scrubs, and then I did a cute little mic drop, walked out the apartment, and took a cab to Nathan's."

  "I love that," I say, pushing the cake closer to her as it's her birthday, and a measly carrot cake is all Lindsay and I could afford. "So I'm guessing having Nathan really close by is a perk, huh?"

  "Oh, yeah. He's my getaway when Lemon drives me mad."

  Lindsay chokes out a laugh. "Lemon?"

  "Yes, that's her name. Nickname is Lem. Can you believe that?"

  "Is she fruity?" I ask, grinning.

  "I don't know," Addy scoffs. "Why? Are you interested?" I roll my eyes, ignoring her comment, and Addy smiles, obviously proud of herself for that joke. "Oh, also, I forgot to mention, but Jess stopped by."

My eyes widen. "Jess? My cousin, Jess?"

"How many Jess' do you know?"

"Why did he stop by?"

"Uh, you gave him my address," Addy deadpans.

When Jess stopped by in January, I did give him Addy's address in New York, but I didn't expect him to actually use it. We've spoken a few times since he left Stars Hollow a few months ago, and he never mentioned that he'd actually took my advice and stopped by Addy's.

"Wow." I nod, still in disbelief that Jess went to somebody else. "What did he want?" I ask, lifting my coffee mug.

"Drugs," Addy answers, jabbing her fork into the cake.

Both Lindsay and I choke on our coffees. "What?"

Addy laughs, mouthful of cake. "Obviously I'm kidding. He asked if I had any bedsheets."

"Bedsheets?"

"I assume he needs them for wherever he's staying," Lindsay answers, and I figured as much, but I have no clue why he'd ask Addy when Dad and I gave him ten thousand dollars. "Do you know where he's staying?"

I shake my head. "No, he hasn't told me." I gaze over at Addy. "Do you know?"

"Nope. I did try to pry, but he wouldn't tell me."

"Hmm." I take another sip of my coffee, finding that it's no longer warm.

"Oh, but he did smell strangely nice," Addy adds on. "Kinda like──"

"Cherry and vanilla?"

"Yeah!" She grins. "How'd you know?"

"His car smelled awfully nice too." I hide my smile behind my mug. "He's got a new friend. All I know is that they met in California, her name is Kennedy, and they're just friends."

"Well, if she's as nice as she smells, he should totally go for it."

  "I don't think he will."

  He was definitely insistent on them being just friends, and I didn't pry as it was none of my business.

  "Is he not over Rory?" Addy asks, sipping her coffee.

I shrug. "I don't know."

I look to Lindsay, realising that Rory is kind of a sore subject with her because her husband is Rory's ex, and Addy realises it too so she quickly diverts the question. "Oh, how's Tristan and Lisa doing?"

Lindsay turns to me. "Is he doing better since his dad died?"

Tristan's dad died just over a month ago, and it's definitely been an adjustment for him and his family. He's been struggling at college, and when we spend our nights together, I help in any way that I can. I've written several of his essays for him, proofread his work, and read through the books he needs for his classes, giving him notes so he can discuss them in class.

I offer help in college because I can hardly help him with his home life. With his mother deciding to vacation around Europe── Tristan says that's her way of grieving── Lisa is alone in the house a lot, and Tristan has hired several maids to keep an eye on her when he can't be at the house. He splits his time between college and home, driving half-an-hour every night to check on his sister, and driving another half-an-hour back every morning to get to back for college.

He's been stressed, even after selling his father's company for a lot of money.

I won't bore you with the details, but he's put most of the money in a savings account for him and Lisa── only giving his mother a couple hundred thousand for her trip, but Geoffrey left a sum of money to his wife, just not the business.

He now has a lot of money for his future, and I'm unsure what he's going to do with it, but I haven't asked either. It's his choice.

"I think he's doing better," I say slowly, still a little unsure. "He's saved the money he made from his father's company, and he's paying a maid to take care of his sister."

  "I hope he's getting better. I know he didn't get along with his dad but it's still..." Addy doesn't finish the sentence, but I know exactly what she means. Geoffrey's death has left Tristan feeling confused, angry, and hurt, and I wish I could understand but I've never lost anyone in my life── not since my grandpa when I was four. I have no idea how to handle this.

  "And how are you feeling?" Lindsay asks which I greatly appreciate. "I mean, you know, since he..."

  "Proposed out of grief?" I huff out a laugh, still finding that moment to be terrifying and amusing. "I'm doing fine. I just want to be there for him, that's all."

  "I still can't believe he proposed." Addy laughs, her head shaking. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you two will definitely get married one day, but for him to propose like that── it's crazy even for him."

  "He was just hurting," I defend. "He was unsure on what he was feeling, and in that moment, he was just... weak, I think."

  "Would you have said yes if the circumstances had been different?"

  Lindsay's question weighs on me, and the truth is, yes, I would have said yes. No doubt in my mind, no hesitation in my words if he had asked me at a different time, in a different way. I would have said yes, and I would have married him on the spot if I could.

  I stare down at my coffee. "Yeah, I would've."

  "It'll happen for real one day, babe." Addy places her hand over mine, and I smile, knowing that she's right. "And when it does, I get to be your maid of honour── I can't wait."

  Bridesmaids will wear blue, that's what I've decided── that's what I've always envisioned. I imagine Lindsay and Addy at the front, standing behind me with tears in their eyes as I say my vows to Tristan, their hands holding a bouquet of blue cornflowers.

  I want that, I really do, but I want it when the time is ready which isn't yet.

  I decide to change the subject, wanting to discuss something a little lighter. "Oh, Linds. Tell Addy about this townhouse you and Dean are buying." I look to Addy. "You need to see it. It's beautiful."

A few months ago, I went with Lindsay to check out this townhouse she had her heart set on, and it was gorgeous. Totally overpriced, but she and Dean have been saving up as much as they can to buy it, and now they're in the final steps of renting it which is just mind-blowing to me.

"Oh, I've heard all about it," Addy laughs. "But I definitely want to see it. Can you take me?"

"I think so," Lindsay replies. "Another couple have made a competing offer, but we're hopeful that we've got it."

"Need us to kick anyone's ass for it? We will."

"Back in town for a few hours and you already want to cause trouble," I comment, narrowing my eyes on my best friend── the troublemaker. "Taylor will not be pleased."

"Well, it's just my nature. Taylor understands."

  "Your wild ways haven't been tamed in New York?"

  "No, if anything, they're worse."

"I need to go to Doose's," Lindsay says. "but then I can see if we can stop by so you can see it."

Addy beams. "Perfect."

  We walk to Doose's, and Addy immediately begins shopping for herself, claiming that everything is so much cheaper here than in New York. She wants to pack an entire bag full of Stars Hollow and take it back to New York, and I don't make any attempt to stop her. In fact, I help her fill her basket.

Outside Doose's, townsfolk are running around, trying to find the remaining Easter eggs that are stinking up the town. The Easter egg hunt was over a week ago, and Kirk was in charge of distributing the eggs around town for the children to find, only not all three hundred eggs were found, so now they're trying to find the remaining ones. I feel bad that Addy has returned to a stinking, Taylor toupee-wearing town, but I didn't plan for this to happen.

We continue to walk down the second aisle, and I pile bags of marshmallows into Addy's basket. "Seriously, this stuff is so much cheaper. I need──" She stops talking, and we both hear somebody else's voice.

It's a voice we recognise, and it's a voice that's talking about the girl standing on the other side of me── Lindsay.

"...but I'm more mad at Lindsay. She's so selfish." Addy looks like she's about to pounce, Lindsay looks disheartened, and I'm on the verge of pushing the aisle over and trapping her.

"That bitch," Addy utters, and Lindsay grabs her arm, shaking her head. It's obvious she doesn't want to cause a scene, but Addy is very persistent on defending the people she loves. She won't let it stand, I know her.

The voice── Rory Gilmore── continues to talk openly and loudly to Lane about my friend. "She's his wife. She should be encouraging him to go to school and think about his future, but, no, she needs a townhouse and a Rolls-Royce."

"Oh, that──"

"Addy."

"Lindsay, she's talking crap about you. I swear I will──"

"You won't do anything," Lindsay insists.

Rory and Lane begin rounding the corner to our aisle, and Rory is still talking. "They are getting the townhouse, and he didn't even seem that excited about it. It's just Lindsay. I mean, why doesn't she get a job?"

Rory and Lane stop dead in our aisle, coming face to face with me, Addy and Lindsay. Addy places her basket down, and if I didn't know better, I'd say she's about to jump forward and fight her. Lindsay stares at Rory for a long moment before she turns away, storming off. "Lindsay!" I'm about to follow after her, but I know better than to leave Addy alone and unattended with Rory Gilmore right now.

Rory's eyes shift between me and Addy, and Addy opens her mouth first, "Hi, Rory." She nods, looking her up and down. "You know, I've been back in town for a day, and I've already had the displeasure of seeing you." Rory opens her mouth to argue, and Addy holds her hand up. "I'm sorry, but you have no right to talk about Lindsay like that. No right. She has not said one bad word about you, even though she should."

Addy is loyal to a fault── that's why we're such good friends. I can't even count how many times she's defended me, and now she's here, defending Lindsay so effortlessly.

I stare at her, in absolute astonishment, but I don't say anything. I have no idea what to say that Addy won't already say, so I just let her rip into Rory in the middle of Doose's.

"Also, I don't see you with a job. Do you have a job?" Rory looks to Lane, obviously embarrassed that she was caught talking about Lindsay in front of us. "I'm gonna take that as a no. So if you don't have a job, why do you think you can walk around, demanding that Lindsay gets a job when you── spoiled, little rich girl── don't work either? You've never worked a day in your life, you just get stuff handed to you. Lindsay didn't ask Dean to drop out of college, he chose to do that, and Dean chose to work more── all were his choices, so don't you dare run your mouth and blame Lindsay when she did nothing to deserve your cruel words."

Addy steps forward, Rory steps back, and I reach out to grasp Addy's arm. "You are nothing but a mean girl, Rory Gilmore. People in town might be fooled by your pretty face and your really straight, Ivy-League hair, but I am not. If I ever hear that you've talked another word about Lindsay or done anything to harm her, I swear I'll make it hurt a lot more than it does now."

Addy turns away, uttering a "come on" to me, and she walks out of Doose's market after delivering one hell of a final blow.

I scowl at Rory one final time, and then I turn away, knowing that Addy said all that needed to be said.

Rory Gilmore isn't a girl's girl── she's mean.

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𝐌𝐘 𝐃𝐀𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐀 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘'𝐒 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘. I knew he was going to, so I had to drag Addy back to the diner even though we still haven't found Lindsay. She stormed off after hearing Rory's comments, and we looked around town for her, but we couldn't, so we left her several voicemails, telling her to meet us at the diner when she's ready to talk.

Addy hugs my dad, grateful for the party, but she's still in a foul mood after yelling at Rory, and I just want to cheer her up and focus her mind on something else.

  The party── if one can call it that── consists of my dad, me, Addy, Miss. Patty, Caesar (because he works here), Tristan and Lisa. Taylor waves to us through the window in the diner── the window that looks into Taylor's Soda Shoppe. Yes, a few months ago, Taylor installed a window so now we can see into each other's stores.

  Dad was not happy about it, but now he just has to get used to it.

  Tristan surprised me by being here. I didn't expect to show up, but I'm not unhappy about his presence. I've missed him the last few days as I've been busy with assignments and readings, so I'm just relieved to have him here.

  He sweeps me into a hug just as Lisa rushes ahead, wrapping her arms around Addy's middle. It's sweet that Lisa continues to dance. It just shows that Addy inspired her to keep on dancing, even when Addy isn't here. Lisa Dugray will be the next Juilliard dancer, I'm certain.

  "Hey, Blue." I lean into him, my arm wrapping around his. "Where's Lindsay?"

  "Rory said some mean things about her in Doose's, and we overheard, and she stormed out, so I don't know where she is right now."

  I hope she's okay, I really do. Addy defended her, and if Rory is smart, she won't say another word about Lindsay or do anything to harm her. If she's stupid, well, Addy will handle her, and I will too even though I hardly did a thing today.

"She'll be okay." Tristan's hand reaches up, his fingers rubbing at the base of my skull.

"I'm glad you're here." I lean into him.

"I wanted to ask you something."

I pull him towards the counter, and we sit across from one another. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to..." He pauses, eyes searching mine. "...move in together?" My eyes widen, my jaw drops, and not a word comes out of my mouth. "N-Not right now. I-I mean next year, unless you already have plans to live with June or──"

I shake my head. "N-No, I don't have any plans for next year yet. I mean, we've discussed it, but..." I swallow, looking down at my hands. "Wow. Moving in together. Y-You want to──" I breathe out, and I lean back against the counter. "You want to move in with me?"

  "Yes."

  "Uh, well, I..." Why am I freaking out? "Can I think about it?"

  "Yeah, of course. We still have a few months until the end of the first year so..." He nods, reaching forward to take my hand. "Look, I love you, and I want to move forward, you know? This isn't a proposal..." I huff out a laugh. "...this is just me wanting to live with you."

  "But you're going to Oxford in our third year and── Wait, are you still going?"

  "I'm still going," he confirms. "But when I come back, it'd be nice to come back to our apartment."

  A smile touches my lips. "Our apartment," I repeat, liking the sound of that. "I like that."

  He smirks. "Yeah?"

  I nod, squeezing his hand. "I'll think about it, okay?"

  "Take all the time you need, Blue."

  The subject of where we will live next year has come up in our suite, but we haven't decided what to do. We've considered all living together again next year, and then Joanna suggested splitting up, but still living close to each other. I cannot make a decision to save my life── that's good, right, considering I want to be a lawyer.

  I wouldn't mind living with the girls again, but now Tristan is asking me to get an apartment together, and it's... exciting and terrifying. I want to, don't get me wrong, but moving in together is a big, big thing.

I can't decide, not right now, so I cling onto my best friend.

I wrap my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder. "Tristan wants to move in together next year."

Addy spins around, eyes wide, but grin wider. "What?" She clasps my hands. "Are you going to?"

  "I-I want to. I'm just..."

  "...freaking out?" I nod, my head falling forward. "That's totally normal, but I think you should do it. Seriously, it could be so fun."

  "Or it could be so hard."

"Maybe." Addy shrugs her shoulders. "But it could be really great, and this is a major step down from proposing so it's not that scary, right?"

"I guess not."

"You should seriously consider it. Besides, he's way hotter than your suite mates." I glare at her, and Addy smiles, patting a hand against my cheek softly. "Oh, I love you, Luce. If you do decide to move in with him, I think it'll be really great."

"You do?"

She nods. "Yeah. Really, really great."

"I've missed you," I say, stepping forward to wrap her in another hug. "Happy birthday."

"Hey, in the summer, you and Tristan should visit." She pulls back, hands on my shoulders. "Lem is going back to her family over the summer, so you can stay at our suite, but only if you want. There's also a few hotels in the area."

I nod, liking that idea. "I'll ask him."

"I want Lindsay to come too..." She looks past me, looking to the door. "Do you think she's okay?"

"I don't know."

"If Rory hurts her while I'm away, or says anything else, you call me and I'll be over in minutes."

"Minutes?"

"Just fitted the teleporter into my suite── I can be over in seconds."

"I'd like that."

I really, really miss her everyday. We used to see each other everyday, and now we barely see one another. We talk on the phone, but it's never the same as seeing each other in person.

"Just keep an eye on Lindsay. I know you go to Yale with Rory, and I don't know if you're friends or──"

"We're not technically friends," I interrupt. We've barely spoke to one another, only smiling kindly at each other in the halls. "Lindsay is far more important to me. I've got her back, I promise."

"I know. You've always had mine."

"If anything more happens, I'll call you."

"Thank you, babe." She swings her arm around me. "I love you."

"I love you more."

"If you don't move in with Tristan, you're more than welcome to move in with me."

"I'll consider it. But where would Lem go?"

"Back to her tree hopefully."

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soph speaks:

i rlly don't like this chapter, and it's very rushed and very messy . . . just wanted to write about the downfall of rory, and how addy is there for linds

chapters won't be out as much as they were before,, maybe one a week bcos of uni (which i hate) so apologises, but life is life,, it sucks :)

thank you for reading!!!