Tea Parties in Boston

19 - A Long Day

October 9th, 2022

Faded giggles, that ticklish feather boa against her skin, sounds, tastes and scents, little touches - glimpses of memories - and a low throbbing just around her temples accompanied Rory's waking process the next morning. Her mouth felt dry, her eyes itchy - her ability to take off her makeup having been somewhat hindered last night. This was definitely what the doctors sometimes referred to as veisalgia, the medical term for a hangover. The beginning from a Norwegian word 'kveis', referring to an 'uneasiness following debauchery', and the end 'algia' fittingly translating from Greek as 'pain'. It was yet another useless fact in this moment that was swishing around in her head - all thanks to some visiting professor having included it in his linguistics lecture last week.

It had no doubt been a fun night. The end of the night had been a little fuzzy, and what she was feeling now was certainly proof of that.

Unwilling to move much just yet, she stretched out her arm to reach for her phone. There was a brief message from Angie, already up and about with her kids, on a day trip to see her parents' in Vermont, posting pictures of some incredible foliage and checking if she was still alive.

Rory shot back a quick affirmative and closed the conversation for now.

There was a brief message from yesterday morning from her mother - another constant - wishing her happy birthday, but no longer at the wee hours of the morning like she'd grown up with. Her mother hadn't disowned her, but everything between them was withheld, cautious and cordial - much like it had been for years between Emily and Lorelai.

From downstairs Rory could already hear Em and Christopher interacting, nothing specific, just the usual banter she was used to waking up to on weekend mornings, her father allowing her those mornings to sleep in. She might have boosted her confidence a great deal, learned to accept doing whatever she did as well as she could as success, appreciate what she had and make better choices over the years, but in the end - she still loved to sleep late, devoured her morning coffee and on mornings like this there was nothing more she craved than hangover food.

She groaned at the headache, and forced herself to get up, having a good guess that the kitchen was likely going to have some cheesy egg dish waiting for her. Not quite Tito's but good enough. It was certainly quicker than ordering anything.

Rory showered, allowing the hot water to numb her throbbing head a little. That or the glass of water she'd gulped down before stepping under the shower, having helped significantly.

Little by little the walk back home with Logan was coming back to her. Those 10 minutes had definitely had brought back a lot of memories, though in her memories those walks had hardly ever ended at the doorstep with a hug. The hug! - she suddenly remembered what she'd thought as she'd done that. She hadn't actually said that to him, had she? A shutter of embarrassment went through her, but she shrugged it off, deciding to not believe she could've been quite that drunk. Perhaps it was better that she believe that.

She pulled on some sweats, an interesting conflicting combination of Harvard's leggings and a Yale hoodie, and made her way downstairs, having towel-dried her hair just a little.

"Eggs and bacon?" Christopher asked, hearing her steps. It seemed he was overcompensating a little on the weekends, it seemed now that Gigi was in Yale most weekends.

The downstairs as well as every mantlepiece on each of the floors was decorated by the pumpkins they'd bought last weekend, along with dried flowers and electric lanterns - mostly Camilla's doing, but Rory truly appreciated embracing the fall spirit like this. It was the part of Stars Hollow she wanted Em to grow up with.