lovely | jess mariano

chapter fifteen

lorelai rambled on as tori and rory walked beside her on their way to luke's to get breakfast before school. 

"oh my god," lorelai exclaimed as they entered. "look."

"wow," tori breathed. 

"empty."

luke walked to the front of the counter, "just one of those weird lulls. happens occasionally."

tori glanced around, "can we sit wherever we like?"

"wherever you like."

"such luxury i never dreamed of," lorelai quipped. 

rory turned to lorelai, "where do you wanna sit?"

and thus began their back and forth as they decided where to sit. did they want an unobstructed view of the garbage cans behind al's pancake world or did they want to make sure they weren't hit over the head with a cannoli? 

"hey, let's sit at the counter," lorelai suggested. 

"nah, the counter, those are not the power seats," rory replied. 

"yes, but with no one here we can sit at either end and play bagel hockey."

"oh, bagel hockey! oh boy," tori cheered, heading towards the counter.

"just sit at a table," luke ordered.

"oh, you're awfully rude for a guy who only has three paying customers," lorelai retorted but did as he said anyway.

"okay, three thirty on friday - my debate at chilton. write it down," rory told.

lorelai took her jacket off, "already written." she paused. "are you prepared?"

"please. paris has us beyond prepared. i now know more about doctor assisted suicide then I ever cared to," rory informed. 

"cheery topic."

the phone rang and it was for rory. after luke made a weird reference that ended in lorelai calling him a geek, she turned to tori.

"what about you?"

"i am well informed on all things the death penalty. sadie asks me questions during drills. i get it wrong i run a lap."

"jeez, i thought paris was intense."

tori's team was set to take to the debate following rory and paris. it was strange but they had more than one debate per tournament.

---

christopher informed both the girls that he would be at their debate. he hadn't arrived yet and they all had to take their seats.

"god paris is a nut," sadie muttered, watching the girl yell at people in spanish to move out of their seats due to a bass problem.

tori tilted her head, "yeah but she's a nut who's going places. i respect her nuttiness."

"i do too. she's gonna rule the world one day, we kind of have to."

---

paris wiped the floor with brad, a boy who was terrified of paris (no one really blamed him for that though). and then sadie and tori did the same with the team they were against. 

"and victoria and sadie have won."

victoria was out after rory, rushing over to her mom, "i need a gallon of bleach to be poured through my ears and into my brain to get rid of this excess knowledge of the death penalty please."

"i'm all out of bleach, will you take vinegar?" lorelai asked.

"you don't have bleach in your bag but you have vinegar?" tori exclaimed. 

"those little satchets."

"makes sense." she turned to christopher and the woman he was with. "hey. you made it." she then faced woman. "i'm tori."

"this is sherrie," christopher introduced. 

tori took in her outfit, "your hair is so nice. how'd you get it to stay so volumised? mine falls flat in minutes."

sherrie smiled, "i'm so thrilled to meet you both. and i spray it with hairspray upside down. it helps add volume. i can give you the brand."

"huh. yeah, sure. i need to branch out on the haircare."

sherrie seemed to brighten at the fact tori was so quick to converse with her and so easily, "all your dad does is talk about you two. i couldn't wait to meet these amazing people."

"well, they live up to the hype. let me tell ya," lorelai complimented. 

"is my face turning red?" rory questioned. 

"oh yeah, beet red," lorelai mocked. 

"oh, i'm sorry. i put you on the spot. i've just been really looking forward to this," sherrie spoke. 

tori laughed, "you're fine. keep the praise coming, i live for it. who needs to be humble?"

lorelai quickly got them out of the situation before they began discussing what they needed to do with chris and sherrie there. the only conclusion was to invite them to their house. 

before lorelai could invite them sadie came bounding over. 

"we won," she cheered. "this is a sign. we're gonna win nationals get places at soccer camp and rule the world." she pulled tori into a hug, who laughed loudly. 

tori pulled away, "this is sadie. sadie, this is my dad, christopher and his- and sherrie."

"hi, i'm sadie. the best friend, biggest supporter, co-captain and wife," she introduced. 

tori pushed her gently, "you have a girlfriend, idiot, go find her."

"oh shit, yeah. jasmine," she called, searching for the girl in the crowd of parents. 

"did you let her have coffee again?" lorelai sought. 

"nope, she's living on a permanent high since her and jas started dating."

"what was that about soccer and co-captain?" chris questioned.

tori snapped her fingers, "oh right, that didn't get to you. i'm soccer co-captain and in the school musical. is that everything?"

lorelai smiled, ready to use the next part against tori, "don't forget that it's the addams family and you're morticia. oh and you broke a girls nose."

"bruised it."

"what?" chris asked, knowing that lorelai had at least five jokes up her sleeve about it all. 

sherrie, however, went down a different route, "oh wow. busy." and she began to ask questions about it. rory's face went slightly redder as she glanced around. 

"you know, rory's on the newspaper," tori informed. "she's the best writer i know." rory smiled shyly.

lorelai had cut the conversation short with an offer for the pair to visit their house. she'd started to notice the ugly green monster rear it's head more and more whenever tori was the centre of attention and she hated to think her daughters were being pitted against each other. she said nothing in the hopes that rory would grow out of it and see that they shouldn't be compared to one another. 

not that rory had minded when it was tori being compared to her, for she only ever did what her twin did. she followed her around like a lost puppy at stars hollow high. but no one knew that it was because rory had asked her to and it was just a bonus that rory was seen first over tori. now that it was the other way around she couldn't handle it.