New Beginnings

Act 4 ch 9

Walking down the sidewalk Victoria, Lorelai, and Rory walk towards Luke's.

"Twenty-three is old. It's almost twenty-five, which is, like, almost mid-twenties" Lorelai mocks. "She did not say that" Victoria says in disbelief.

"She did say that" Lorelai insists. "It seems a little wrong that Jessica Simpson is alive and well and Roy got eaten by his tiger" Rory says. "Aw. Survival of the fittest, baby" Lorelai says as they walk into the diner.

"Oh, man, this place is packed. Damn that Zagat guide" Victoria complains.

"Only the loser mini-table is open" Lorelai points out. "What do we do?" Rory asks.

"Time to hover. Let's take the old couple, Mom can hit the cybergeek" Victoria suggests. "Got it" Rory walks over to an older couple eating "Hello" she says awkwardly.

Lorelai walks over to a guy working on a laptop.

"Hello" she raises her eyebrows at him. A few minutes later, they slide two tables together and sit down.

"That was some of the best hovering I've ever seen you do" Lorelai tells her daughters. "We were taught by the best" Victoria replies. "But the focus-you never blinked. And Rory's sneeze-so tiny, so dainty, so terrifying to the old" Lorelai compliments.

"Luke's gonna be mad. I mean, he hates it when we commandeer two tables during rush hour" Rory worries.

"Oh, he only hated it that one time" Lorelai insists. "What time?" Victoria asks.

"The time when we did it and he was mad" Lorelai answers vaguely. "He's hated it every time we've done it" Rory says. "No" Lorelai denies.

"Yeah" Victoria disagrees.

"No, only the one time" Lorelai insists. "Which time?" Rory asks her.

"The time we did it and he was mad" Lorelai replies. "You're gonna do this to Luke, aren't you?" Victoria realizes. "'Til he's so dizzy he throws up" Lorelai confirms.

"Nice. Calendars?" Rory suggests.

"Let's do it. Okay, so, uh, your finals-induced hibernation period is setting in..." Lorelai starts. "Monday" Victoria tells her.

"Okay. So how about, uh, Sunday we have a major Sephora fix, maybe a movie-sort of a see-ya day before you go bye-bye?" Lorelai suggests. "Throw in a pedicure and you got a deal" Rory responds. "Done" Lorelai agrees as Luke walks over.

"Hey. Coffee's gonna be ready in a sec" he tells them.

"You know what you want?" Luke asks. "Oh, um, well, we need napkins to cover this big, wide, expansive table" Lorelai tries provoking him.

"Okay. Uh, hey, are you in the mood for pancakes?" Luke asks the girls. "Pancakes, sure, yeah. I guess we have enough space for pancakes" Lorelai says gesturing to the tables. "'Cause I'm making pumpkin pancakes and it comes with homemade cinnamon butter" Luke tells them.

"You made cinnamon butter?" Victoria asks.

"This morning" Luke confirms. "Wow. I bet the other people who would love a table right now but can't have one 'cause they're all taken would love pumpkin pancakes with homemade cinnamon butter" Lorelai says.

"I'll get your coffee" Luke tells them before walking away without acknowledging Lorelai's table scheme.

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"So what are the plans for today?" Tristan asks starting to walk to the bench Victoria's at after paying for their coffees.

"Well my grandfather's coming to Yale for lunch today" she tells him. "Your grandfather?" Tristan asks sitting next to her.