Pretty & Perfect

Chapter Thirteen

Rory and I had decided to stay in Stars Hollow at Mom's house that night to have a Cop Rock marathon. We were all in the kitchen preparing a feast of frozen waffles, pop tarts and other delicious but bad for you food. Rory's laptop was set up at the table and she was burning CD's as we 'cooked'.

"Okay, I know I was the one that said I was craving mashed potatoes, but, oh my God, they're a lot of work." Mom said as she read over the back of a package of instant mashed potatoes.

"It's instant mashed potatoes. Key word: instant." I told her with an eye roll.

"Oh, no, not instant. I have to mix water and butter into it, not to mention the adding of salt and pepper."

"OK The Best of Super Furry Animals complete." Rory announced as she looked at the laptop screen on the table.

"Oh! Plus I have to rip the package open, dump it into a bowl and, oh my God, are they serious? I have to stir the mixture to combine? What is this, the Gulag?" Mom continued to rant about the stupid potatoes and I just bit my lip to keep from laughing at her.

"Hey, do you want the Arcade Fire?" Rory asked us and I nodded enthusiastically.

"I don't know, do I?" Mom asked me and I looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. I couldn't believe that she hadn't heard Arcade Fire.

"Yes." I said simply as I went to take the mashed potatoes packet out of her hand.

"Then yes." Mom said to Rory and my twin starting clicking on the laptop. "So basically once I'm finished with all this manual labour, I still have to clean the bowl."

"And the spoon." I pointed out to her as I read the back of the package.

"What do I use the spoon for?" Mom asked me with a confused frown on her face and I pointed to the package in my hand and she looked over my shoulder to see.

"Stir to combine." I said as I pointed to the words on the package. Mom just scoffed at me and picked up the bowl before waving her hand around in it.

"Pfft. Right. What do I use the spoon for?"

"Oh, my mistake. Carry on."

"So let's cut to the chase. How badly do you want these mashed potatoes?" Mom asked both me and Rory and we gave her a look.

"You wanted the mashed potatoes." We pointed out together.

"'Cause with tater tots I can just rip and dump." I pointed out to Mom with a happy smile at the thought of tater tots.

"Then stick with your strengths. Brain Master Eno coming up next." Rory commented and Mom moved to get the tater tots out of the freezer. There was a knock at the back door and I jumped at the sudden noise behind me.

"Who is it?" I called out, not moving from my place at the table.

"It's me." Luke said from the other said of the door and I smiled because I hadn't seen Luke in a while.

"Me who?" Mom asked him and I laughed at her.

"Rory, can you just open the door?" he asked my twin, since he knows that Mom and I would most likely keep teasing him instead of opening the door. Rory gave a smile as she stood up to open the door for Luke. "Do you have an extension cord I can use?"

"I'll go look." Rory answered him before going out of the kitchen to look for an extension cord.

"Hi! Come on in." Mom said brightly to her boyfriend and I smiled inwardly when I see her light in his presence.

"No, that's all right. I don't want to disturb you guys." Luke said, not moving from the doorway. I stood up and went to stand next to Mom.

"Oh, you're not disturbing us." I assured him with a genuine smile.