Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

❝𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙, 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕,
𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕,
𝚁𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜, 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚠,
𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑.
𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑,
𝙱𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎,
𝚁𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚔, 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚠,
𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑.❞
𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚗 𝚂𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚛 – 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝙴𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑

❝𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎
𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚜
𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚐𝚎 𝙸 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛
𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚍. 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚗𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚢𝚘𝚞.❞
― 𝙽𝚒𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝙻𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚜

The summer passed on too quickly for Thea’s liking. Sure, she was busy, trying to keep the bakery open, and keeping an eye on the restoration of the Dragonfly Inn.

        According to Liberty, Luke and Rachel had done a detour on their trip and stopped by the Magic House in St. Louis so Billie could get a break from all the museums.

        Apparently they wished they found it sooner and just took her there instead of all the museums.

        Doose also opened up his Soda Shoppe. To Georgia’s horror, he made Georgia Ice Cream Queen. Then he proceeded to photoshop a god-awful crown on Georgia’s head. Georgia had gotten really pissed at that, went out, bought a plastic tiara, and had them retake the photo with her wearing it so they could do it ‘right’.

However, right now, Doose was bitching at Luke about someone covering the window that looked right into the Shoppe with a curtain.

Liberty and Jess had tried to stop him, but Doose didn’t listen to them. And Todd had the idea of covering the window with a curtain, because it was Luke’s diner and Doose had no say about it.

        However, right now, Doose was bitching at Luke about someone covering the window that looked right into the Shoppe with a curtain.

        Liberty and Jess had tried to stop him, but Doose didn’t listen to them. And Todd had the idea of covering the window with a curtain, because it was Luke’s diner and Doose had no say about it.

        Doose was saying, “Your kids covered up the window!”

        “My kids are adults and can make their own decisions,” Luke replied, defensively. “And I didn’t agree to have the giant window put in!”

        “So what?” asked Doose.

        “A giant window! Right here! Before they covered the window, you could see my entire diner. And when I’m in my diner, I could’ve seen your whole stupid store.”

        “I don’t understand why yours is a diner and mine is a stupid store,” Doose replied.

        “Look at this place!” Luke said, “Look at you. All you need is six dancing penguins and Mary Poppins floating in the corner to bring back two of the worst hours of my childhood.”

        “I don’t think you had a childhood,” Doose pointed out. “I think you came out a bitter surly killjoy.”

        “You can’t change the basic structure of this place without my ‘okay!’” Luke ranted as he pointed at the giant window and noticed that Doose was looking down, “What?”

        “Your hand is near the wax lips,” Doose said.

        “So?” asked Luke.

        “If you could just move it so you don’t accidentally touch the candy,” Doose started. Luke held up his hand,  “Lucas.” Luke stuffed his hand in the barrel of candy. “What are you doing?” Luke started ruffling his hand around in the barrel before going around and stuffing his hand in more barrels of candy. “You stop that right now!”

        Luke threw some candy in the air, “Look at all the pretty candy!”

        “Agh, stop it right now!” demanded Doose.

        Luke ended up taking off instead. 

        Thea felt bad for Luke, because Doose pretty much had the power despite being Luke’s tenant.

Later, Thea and her friends sat at the counter. Billie was sitting at the counter eating mozzarella sticks and stealing fries from Aiden’s plate. Actually, Aiden, who was clearly amused by it, was letting her take fries from his plate.

        The door opened and… “Bonjour, Luke.”

        Georgia actually groaned.

        “That was the most Ice Cream Unqueenly sound I ever heard,” Todd told Georgia.

        Georgia shoved him off of his stool in reply.

        “Pouvez-vous attacher vos chaussures?” asked Lorelai.

        “What?” asked Luke, speaking for Thea and her friends.

        “Uh, hi, Luke,” Lorelai said. “Do you know how to tie your shoes?”

        “Very good,” Luke told her, before going to wipe Billie’s face off because she was getting marinara sauce on her hands and face.

        “Yup. It came in handy, let me tell you. Not one shoelace fatality on my watch,” Lorelai said, having to stand at the counter because the stools were full.” 

        After Luke was done tending to Billie, he wiped his hands off on a cloth, before setting a mug in front of Lorelai. 

        Lorelai smiled, “You remembered.”

        Thea heard Georgia make a fake gagging sound and Jess snickering at Georgia’s response.

        “Yup,” Luke replied. “A couple things about you stick. You have a good time?”

        “Vos odeurs de chat,” Lorelai stated.

        “What's that?” asked Luke.

        “‘Your cat smells,’” Lorelai translated.

        Luke asked, “Are you talking about Thea’s cats?” He looked at Thea, “Do your cats smell?”

        “No?” replied Thea. 

        Luke looked at Lorelai, “Well, you must've been a big hit with the salon set.”

        “The trip was incredible, we had the best time. We were supposed to come back on Saturday,” Lorelai said.

        “Well, why didn’t you?” asked Georgia.

        That went ignored.

        While Luke and Lorelai chatted, Lorelai said, “And we got you and Billie something.”

        Luke seemed surprised, “You did?”

        “Yes, we did,” Lorelai said.

        “You didn’t have to do that,” Luke said.

        “What are you talking about?” Lorelai said, “We do not go to Europe and come back without bringing something for Luke…and Billie.” She reached in the bag that she had carried in with her and took a jar of jam and a baby sheep stuffie.

        “Jam,” Luke said, looking at the jar. “And a stuffie.”

        Sage reached over and Luke handed it to him to look at, before Luke took the stuffie.

        Aiden wiped off Billie’s hands and face before Luke handed the toy to Billie, who practically lit up at the sight of her new toy. She took it and hugged it so tightly with a giant smile on her face, it honestly made Thea smile at the sight.

        “Yes,” Lorelai said. “Fancy French jam and an Irish stuffie.”

        “More like fancy jam that Jackson made,” Sage stated, clearly recognizing the jam.

        Luke gave Lorelai an unimpressed look while Lorelai glared for being ratted out. 

        “What? Did you buy Billie’s stuffie from a gas station?” asked Luke.

        “No, Rory saw the stuffed animal in Ireland and thought of Billie,” Lorelai said. “Look, it was hard to find a gift for you because you do so much for us that it was hard to find something to show our appreciation.”

        “Hey, don’t sweat it,” Luke said. “I’d have been happy with—” He took the jam back from Sage, “Fruits de la Terre.” 

        “Fruits of the Earth?” asked Thea.

        “I think that’s blueberry jam,” Sage said, looking at the jar.

        “Sorry,” Lorelai started.

        “It’s fine,” Luke said. “I didn’t get you anything on my trip either. We’re even.”

        Luke however, gave Thea and her friends knickknacks, so there was that.

        “Oh, yeah,” Lorelai said. “How were the museum tours?”

        “They were fine,” Luke said. “Rachel and I spotted this place called the Magic House in St. Louis. Billie cried when we had to leave.”

        “So you and Rachel, huh?” asked Lorelai. 

        “What?” Luke said, “Oh, there’s nothing between us.”

        “Are you sure?” Lorelai said, “Sharing hotel rooms, being alone on the road…”

        “We tried to give it another shot,” Luke explained. “We agreed that it wouldn’t work between us anymore.”

        “Oh,” replied Lorelai.

Georgia had gotten wrapped up in some Ice Cream Queen stuff at the Soda Shoppe so Thea went to the stationary store for pens and notebooks. 

        Sure, she already got pens and notebooks, but she considered getting more, but when she was about ready to grab the package of pens, a different hand grabbed them as well. 

        “Oh, sorry,” Lindsay said. 

        “Oh, no, you can have them,” Thea told her. “I already have some pens.”

        Lindsay nodded, “Nervous buying too?”

        “Yeah,” Thea replied. “What are you nervous about?”

        “Starting college,” Lindsay explained. “Young Chui had talked me into applying for community college.”

        “He did?” asked Thea, surprised.

        “Yeah,” Lindsay replied. “He introduced me to his parents and didn’t really approve because I’m a white blonde girl.”

        Thea grimaced at the thought. She tried to imagine how Lorelai would have reacted if she had found out about Thea’s two boyfriends. She probably would’ve been pissed/worried, if Lorelai had actually given a shit about her. But then again, it was a highly different situation considering Lindsay was white and Young Chui was Korean.“I’m sorry.”

        “It’s okay,” Lindsay replied. “He stood up for me. And my parents wanted me to marry straight out of high school, but I didn’t want that, so I had to tell them that. It felt really good telling them off.”

        “I bet it did,” Thea replied. “You’re going to college? For what?”

        Lindsay looked embarrassed, “Ever since I was younger, I wanted to be a news anchorwoman. Like I would sit on the couch while my parents watched the news and I always thought to myself, I want to do what that lady does. As a little kid, I always wanted to play news anchorwoman with my friends, but they thought I was a freak.”

        “That’s awful,” Thea replied. “I would’ve liked to play news anchorwoman with you.”

        “I think you did when we were in the first grade. You just sat there and stared moodily at Rory instead,” Lindsay pointed out.

        “So, what are you going into college for?” asked Thea, wanting to get away from the awkward topic of her childhood.

         “Oh, I was going into journalism,” Lindsay said. “Young Chui encouraged me to actually try to go for it.” She smiled rather goofily, “He’s so supportive. I was worried that he would’ve laughed at me for mentioning it, but he didn’t.”

        Thea looked at Lindsay, “You do kind of look like an anchorwoman. I hope you make it.”

        Lindsay smiled, “Thanks.”

“Are all of you excited for college?” Jess asked his friends.

        For some reason, all of them were sitting on the roof of Georgia’s house, after watching the sunset together. Rory had given them knick-knacks from her European backpacking trip.

        “No,” Todd replied.

        Jess just smiled, because he wasn’t going to college. That was his deal with Luke; graduate high school. Apparently they didn’t look that far ahead about what to do after high school. Besides that, Jess was going to babysit Billie – stuck watching Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears while he started writing his books.

        The first one he didn’t talk about, but the second involved a new guy moving to a smalltown to live with his uncle and cousin. While the town seems old and boring – there was a dark secret underground. It turns out the town is infested with murderers. The town meetings involve bickering about who has the highest body count or something. Whatever else it was about, Jess never said. He told them to read it – when it was published – whenever that would be.

        “Well, you’re going to be starting on Saturday,” Jess pointed out.

        “Thank you Jess,” Sage replied dryly. “I oughta push you off the roof for the reminder.”

        “I’ll just drag you down with me,” Jess replied.

        It looked like Kirk walked by wearing a skydiver’s jumpsuit that was covered with leaves and trailing a parachute behind him.

        Kirk stopped in his tracks and looked up at them. He seemed confused, “What are you doing?”

        “Waiting for our mothership,” Todd called back. “What are you doing?”

        “Strong wind,” Kirk replied.

        Thea was going to miss the weirdness of Stars Hollow, but at least her friends were coming with with her.