Love Me Softly - Gilmore Girls -

Chapter Eight : Gilmore Edition

Rory Gilmore's POV: (surprise)

Not long after Alice got picked up by her mom, my mom pulls into the parking lot with her jeep. I quickly walk over to her awaiting arms, dropping my backpack as I do. 

"Hello daughter," she greets, squeezing me tighter in the hug.

"Hi mom," I respond, picking my bag up after she's finally released me. I throw my bag into the back of the jeep as we climb into our seats.

"I'm so glad you're making friends," she starts, "how was it?"

"I really enjoyed it," I answer, smiling thinking back about how easy it was the hang out with Alice. "She's really nice, you'd like her. Although she is not a coffee drinker."

"How could she not like coffee?" she jokes back at me, her eyes on the road ahead.

We sit in silence before mom interrupts with another question, "you never told me who it was you hung out with. It wasn't Paris, was it?"

"No," I laugh, the thought of Paris voluntarily hanging out with me is humorous and terrifying, "it was actually her best friend that I was with."

"Oh," she responds, before the pause can become awkward she continues, "what's her name?"

She seems worried when she asks but I brush it off as I answer, "Alice. She's only in one of my classes so I was surprised she wanted to hang out. Especially after how everything went on Friday."

As the words exit my mouth mom slams on the break, jolting my body forward. "Mom!"

"I'm so sorry," she responds quickly, her words jumbling together, "I don't know what happened."

"Are you okay?" The worry is thick in my voice, I can't stop myself from staring into the side of her face. She's worried, more than that it's clear stress across her face.

"So kid, you're sure this girl has good intentions?" Mom starts, breaking my staring contest with her face, "After all, she's friends with those kids that have been messing with you."

"I'm sure," I respond, defensively, "her friends didn't know we were hanging out until after school anyways. She seemed genuine, and I'm glad she isn't holding how I treated her friends Friday against me."

"Hey," she cuts me off, "you did nothing wrong on Friday. Those kids have been awful to you and you shouldn't feel guilty for putting them in their place. Okay?"

I don't agree with her, I feel awful now that I think about how I yelled at them. I looked like a lunatic. Maybe I can eventually apologize to Paris once Alice and I are closer friends. I'm thinking so hard about the scenarios I don't hear mom calling my name to answer her.

"Rory," she says, grabbing my hand from the driver's side, "Don't feel bad about it, ok?"

I nod, not trusting my voice to lie to her. I decide not to mention anything else about Alice, meeting her mom, or any of the things we talked about. We remain silent through the rest of the drive home and most of dinner together, sticking to lighter topics about the Inn and our hometown. 

I head straight to my room to work on homework, mom seems to be calling Sookie from her cellphone as I'm unpacking the insane amount of homework. Looking down at the pile, I decide to call a buddy to keep me company while I work. I peek out my bedroom door for mom, not seeing her I grab the phone off the hook before shutting my door. I dial the number on the pink notebook paper, waiting as it rings. 

I start getting worried the longer it rings, this is a bad idea, and with that thought I hear a voice, "Hayden household," a woman's voice sounds through the phone.