MELLIFLUOUS | gilmore girls ¹

chapter eight!

"Is Lorelai here?"

• • • • • • •

The soft ring of the diner bell, pulled Thea away from the hot mug of coffee, that Jess had placed in front of her, even though he argued that it was too late in the door for coffee. A middle-aged man, a little older than Lorelai, stood in the entranceway of the diner.

A backwards baseball cap offering his head little protection from the uncharacteristic heavy rainfall of the Connecticut town. Thea assumed the wearer of the backwards baseball cap and the flannel shirt to be the owner of the diner, Luke, a man Lorelai had mentioned before in passing.

The diner owner caught sight of the Hartford girl sitting at a table in the middle of his emptied dinner, a warm towel wrapped over her damp shoulder, strands of wet hair framing her damp face. His nephew sat opposite the girl as the two conversed, this was the most Luke had ever seen Jess speak.

The girl was an exact replica of Lorelai, from her dark locks to her caffeine addictions, right down to how she held herself. The only difference between the mother and daughter where the piercing green eyes that the younger Gilmore possessed. Luke assumed she had inherited from her father, Christopher, who he'd met once when he'd breezed through town.

"Jess, who's your friend?"

"She's looking for Lorelai," Jess answered, his attention focused on the green-eyed Gilmore.

Luke nodded, moving behind the counter and picking the landline off the hook. Turning away from the teens, Luke dialled the number for the Gilmore house, praying that the mother-daughter duo were home.

• • • • • • •

"I got back from Doose's and there she was,"
Luke burst out of the diner as soon as he spotted Lorelai approaching.

Lorelai stepped back, Luke's sudden outburst on the steps of the diner, shocking her, "Who?"

"Sat there drinking coffee, crying and talking to Jess," Luke continued, without answering Lorelai's question, gesturing to the rain-soaked girl through the glass door, Loreali peaked behind Luke spotting her youngest daughter.

"Thea?"

Luke nodded, pushing open the door, allowing himself and Lorelai to step into the near-empty diner. Lorelai moved cautiously over to the Gilmore, almost as if one wrong move would send her scurrying off as if she were a stray animal.

The mismatched outfit covering Thea's slight frame caught Lorelai's attention, bringing the woman to one conclusion. Half cheer uniform, half Jess'. Lorelai took the seat across from Thea, occupying the seat Jess previously had, "Thea, does Mom know you're here?"

"N-no, I'm not even sure Grandma knows I'm gone," Thea shook her head, panicking slightly as she worried about what her grandmother would say when she returned home.

Luke and Jess had retreated back upstairs to the small apartment, leaving the mother and daughter to talk.
Neither mother nor daughter knowing what to do or say.

"Why are you here?" Lorelai asked, finally breaking the silence that had taken over the diner.

Thea froze, unwrapping her still icy finger from the coffee mug, which had begun to turn cold due to the lack of caffeine, "I heard everything you said to Grandma,"

"Oh,"

"I shouldn't have to beg for my mother to be in my life." Thea spat out, shaking her head as her mother refused to meet her eyes.

Lorelai finally glanced up from her hands, meeting Thea's glossy green eyes, "I'm sorry, Thea. I really am."

"It doesn't excuse what you did, you left me without a word," Thea scoffed, a small nervous laugh escaping her chapped lips, "You put me through so much."

"I didn't mean to -"

"Every year, I waited for you to whisk me off to Stars Hollow," the young Gilmore cut the older woman off, tears now streaming down her cheeks, "You never did."

Lorelai's breath caught in her throat, her hands falling onto the table, "I never meant to hurt you, I was just trying to protect you."

"You could have left me a letter," Thea argued, rubbing at her slender wrists, "Anything, anything just to let me know why."

"As soon as I left I regretted it, regretted not taking you with me, regretting not leaving you a letter," Lorelai sniffed, tears welling in her bright blue eyes,
"I'm sorry, you thought I didn't want you."