Grandma and Grandpa were in the living room talking while Rory and I had been in the dining room for about two hours now. At this point, I wasn't really studying, too distracted by the noise Grandma and Grandpa were making, so I was sitting in my chair, bouncing my pencil to see if it would jiggle while doing so.
I'm so bored.
"Ladies!" Grandpa called out, catching mine and Rory's attention, "Are you in any way malnourished or in need of some international relief organization to recruit a celebrity to raise money on your account?" He asked a very in-depth question from his chair in the living room.
"We're good." I called out, a tad confused, but overall knew the answer.
"They're good, Emily." Grandpa told Grandma. Rory continued to go back to her work. I huffed as I looked at her, envying the fact that she could just study anywhere.
I wish I could do that.
I put my elbow on the table and rested my forehead on my palm as I looked back down at my work. I tried to focus, but that only lasted about two seconds. I quietly laughed at myself before getting up from the table and walking over to join the Grandparents.
Yes, that is how desperate I am to cure my boredom.
I knew that they were talking about dinner and something about the cook not coming and from the last part of their conversation, I could tell that they didn't know what to do.
"Hey, uh, how about I check the fridge?" I questioned as I made my way over, "I'm sure there's something in there we could whip up."
"Whip up?" Grandma asked, confused.
"Yeah." I replied. How has she never heard that term?
"Come on." I started and started to walk away, but they didn't move so I looked back, "It'll be fun. I promise."
"Well come on, Mr. 'We'll figure it out.'" Grandma teased Grandpa before following me. Rory at this point joined me in walking to the kitchen, meaning she could hear what was being said, yet somehow still managed to work.
When we all got to the kitchen Rory and I walked to the fridge. Emily and Richard crowded behind us, as if they have never seen the inside of a fridge before. Rory opened the fridge and there were a bunch of small leftovers packaged in white bags with labels on each.
"Nothing." Grandma said as she starred into the fridge.
"Not a blessed thing." Grandma added, towering above us.
"Hey, there's a frozen pizza!" Rory exclaimed, pointing at the bottom shelf.
"How in the world did that get there?" Grandma questioned.
"Maybe you bought it and forgot about it." I answered, having no clue because my Grandparents would have never bought a pizza.
"I have never bought frozen pizza. It must belong to Anna." Grandma came up with a reasonable answer to her question.
"The maid?" Grandpa questioned.
"Yes." Emily rolled her eyes.
"Ahh, got one!" Grandpa cheered for himself.
I laughed slightly before reaching out and grabbing the pizza box. "What are you doing?" Grandma inquired as I brought the cardboard box to the island, "I'm gonna make it."
"Oh, Eva, you're not serious." She objected.
"That hardly looks like dinner." Grandpa mused.
"I agree, Eva, that's food you eat at a carnival or a Turkish prison." Grandma continued.
At this point I was ignoring them, knowing we weren't gonna eat anything else.
"I promise you're gonna love it." Rory spoke up when I didn't, looking over my shoulder to read the instructions with me.
"Listen, just leave it up to us. You guys go back into the living room, and we'll call you when it's ready." She bargained looking back at them.
The Grandparents looked at each other, before shaking their heads in agreement that they were gonna let us do this. As they started to turn I quickly spoke, "Hey Grandma?"
"Yes." She replied, looking back at me.
"What are the odds of you knowing where a cookie sheet would be?" I questioned, knowing the odds were low, but had to ask anyway.
"I'd say very slim." Grandpa teased as Grandma looked confused and then slightly insulted.
"Never mind. We'll find it." I dismissed with a slight laugh at their interaction.
"Very slim?" Grandma questioned Grandpa, "Thank you for that."
~~~
After finishing the easy, yet difficult, task of putting the pizza in the oven Rory and I separated. She sat downstairs with the Grandparents and I went up to a random room in this massive place and found a phone.
I plopped myself down on the perfectly made bed and reached over dialing the specific number I wanted before grabbing the phone and holding it up to my ear.
"Hello." I heard his voice call.
"Hey you." I smiled into the phone, laying down and crossing my legs by the ankles.
"Hey!" Justin replied much happier now that he knew who was calling, "How was your day?" He asked.
"Crazy." I answered with an exhale.
"That bad?" He questions for more details.
"Not really, just kinda daunting, you know," I shrugged my shoulders, even though he couldn't see, "And now I'm stuck at my grandparents cause of the weather, so that's a nice touch." I replied sarcastically.
"Sorry to hear that." He sympathized, "But on the other hand it is snowing and if I remember correctly this is your favorite time of the year?" Justin questioned himself, but as always was dead on.
"Yeah, that's true. Rory fell a couple times at school today, so that was fun." I beamed as he brought on good memories of today.
"No she didn't." He replied, but I could tell he was trying to hold back a laugh.
"Yeah, the poor thing just couldn't handle the snow today." I teased her. He finally let out his little chuckle. "Anyways, how was your day?" I asked.
"It was good. Josh and I pranked Mrs. Wansart." He laughed.
My jaw dropped a bit, "No!" I mused, there's no way.
"Yep, we put a fake snake in her desk. She freaked when she saw it." He continued his story through his fits of laughter.
"I can't believe I missed that!" I exclaimed into the phone. I could see her reaction. It would've been priceless.
"It was great! I can't even describe her face." He now settled to a slight chuckle.
"I miss going to Stars Hollow High. No day there was ever boring." I mentioned.
"Yeah we know how to keep it fun down here in the Hollow." He teased with laughter.
"Now don't go giving yourself too much credit. I'm sure that was Josh's idea." I called him out, I just couldn't see him doing that alone.
"Well you got me there." He murmured.
I giggled, "Well, I should probably go before the pizza gets done." I started to wrap up.
"Pizza? At your Grandmothers?" He questioned, sounding surprised and honestly I can't blame him.
"Yep. The cook couldn't come in, so Rory and I are making pizza, but that also means they might freak out if I'm not down there when the buzzer goes off." I reported my answer.
"Well I'll let you go before catastrophe strikes." Justin joked.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow." I smiled.
"See you tomorrow." He added before hanging up.
I smiled to myself as I stared up at the ceiling, phone still in my hand. I let out a heavy exhale letting my mind wonder.
Even though today wasn't the most hectic I've had, it still felt a bit chaotic, if that makes sense. I felt very overwhelmed and didn't really talk to anyone, but Rory. I missed talking to people today, normally that was what got me through my days. And even though I knew I probably shouldn't, there was still one voice that I wanted to hear.
I debated in my head whether I should call him or not. I had my pager on me, so I could easily get his number, but should I? Even though I've said we are just friends, I can't help but feel a little guilty when talking to him outside of school.
There's nothing wrong with having Tristan as my friend and maybe the reason I'm feeling this way is the fact that I haven't told Justin that Tristan and I are actually friends now. I know that I've told him that he wasn't bugging me anymore, but for some reason that doesn't seem like enough. I want to have that conversation with him, but I also don't. Which doesn't make sense in my head.
Another reason why I wanted to talk to Katie and Belle about this. I could tell them anything and they would know what to do, but then the guys interrupted and I felt as if I had to stop talking about it, to the point where I basically bolted away.
I don't know why I feel like this. I'm happy and in a great place with Justin. He makes me feel safe and protected, however whenever I'm around Tristan, my stomach twists, I smile at the sight of him, he makes my heart race. I love that we can tease each other so freely, and that smirk. My god the power that his little smirk has over me, is just not fair.
Without even thinking about it, I pulled my pager out of my blazer and found his contact. I reached over and dialed his number into the phone, then waited patiently as the phone rang.
Once. Twice. Then three times. I pucker my lips at the sound of the fourth ring, debating if I should just hang up, but as the fifth ring was beginning he answered.
"Hello?" He questioned, his voice brought a smile to my face.
"Hey, it's Eva." I greeted trying not to sound like I was smiling.
"Oh, Eva. Hey." I could tell he was slightly surprised that I called.
"What'cha up to?" I questioned as I played with my end of my skirt.
"Nothing much, I was just about to watch a movie." He answered, "You?"
"Oh, um, nothing either. Kinda bored. I'm at my grandparents waiting for the pizza to finish." I commented, nodding my head.
"Emily and Richard eating pizza! How'd you do that?" He exclaimed. I could hear slight shuffling in the background.
"Well, the chef couldn't make it cause of the weather and it was the only thing in the fridge." I explained.
"Well, good luck with getting them to eat it." He chuckled, knowing my grandparents.
"Thanks, I'm gonna need it." I huffed in realization that they have probably never eaten pizza before.
"So any particular reason you called?" Tristan questioned and I could see the smirk on his face through the phone.
"Just bored." I huff, trying to play it cool.
"You missed me." He teased on the other end.
"No, I just don't want to be downstairs." I defended myself.
"Come on." He chuckled, "You didn't get to talk to me today. You missed our daily conversations." I couldn't help but smile, knowing that was true, but I wasn't going to give into him that easily.
"Seriously, you try spending three hours with my Grandparents. You'll understand how desperate I've become." I replied.
"Right, wel-" Tristan started, but static cut over the top of his words before I couldn't hear him anymore.
"Tristan?" I called out, "Are you there?"
"There you are!" Grandma exclaimed as she ran into the room I was in.
"I think the phones went dead." I commented, slightly upset that he was cut off.
"It's probably just this horrible storm." Grandma suggested, "You must come downstairs immediately." She continued.
I put the phone back on the desk, "What's wrong?" I asked, she sounded uneasy.
"The stove is buzzing." She replied as if it was something unbelievable.
I chuckled, "It's just the timer, Grandma."
"I know it's the timer, Eva. What I don't know is where it's located or how to turn it off." She fussed, "Please come downstairs and help me stop the buzzing." She begged.
"Okay, let's go." I agreed knowing I wasn't going to be able to call Tristan back and had nothing better to do.
~~~
Once Rory came downstairs we all gathered to eat in the kitchen. Grandma insisted we put the pizza on a serving tray, so we did. Rory and I had both grabbed a piece and were eating it like any other normal person, but as we looked over at Grandma and Grandpa they were sat with their pizza on their plate, looking confused on how to start to cut it.
Rory sat hers down on her plate, while I took another bite of mine. They'll figure it out somehow.
"You want to eat it before it gets cold." Rory suggested. Or with the help of Rory. Grandma finally cut a piece of hers and took a bite, immediately regretting it.
"How is it?" I asked, finishing my bite. "Not cold." She answered, at least she didn't hate it.
"Mmm. It's actually quite tasty." Grandpa commented from the other side of the table, taking a bite as well, "Emily, we should have this more often."
And it looks like we converted Grandpa to pizza. Who would've thought.
"What?" Grandma explained like Grandpa gave the most outrageous suggestion. "Perhaps instead of that horrible salmon that keeps showing up." Grandpa continued as he took another bite. "That salmon is a fine delicacy." Grandma defended.
"Mm-hmm. Potato, po-tah-to." Grandpa was quick to dismiss.
"Try it again Grandma. It's probably cooler now." Rory advised.
"No, thank you. I'm fine." Grandma gave up, refusing to even try it.
"You know what? It's really good if you add some parmesan to it." Rory didn't give up as she walked to Grandma's side and added more cheese.
"This is mom's famous trick. Frozen pizza is a staple at our house." I explained as to how Rory got her idea. Grandpa looked quite impressed.
"Mom's become a doctoring genius. She'll put anything on it. One time Sookie came and brought us some foie gras and mom stuck it on a pizza." I made conversation.
Grandma looked intrigued, "How was it?" She asked. "Pretty good once we took the foie gras off." I joked, but was also serious. Rory chuckled a bit as she finished with the parmesan,
"Okay, that's good." Rory sat back down at her chair "Try it." She demanded, "Please?"
Grandma gave in and started to cut into the pizza. "If you want to get really crazy, you can pick it up." I suggested as cutting a pizza was not the best.
"Well, alright." She agreed as she looked up at me. She put her utensils down, honestly I wasn't expecting her to give in that fast.
"Here goes nothing." She directed as she picked up the pizza and took a bite. Rory and I waited patiently for her reaction.
"Mmm! That's wonderful!" She crowed. "See?" Rory teased.
"Rory, pass me that cheese." Grandma demanded.
Immediately she did as told and Grandma took it over to Grandpa's plate. "Trust me. It makes all the difference." She told Grandpa and started to shave the parmesan into the pizza.
"I'll be right back." Rory added as she raced up from her seat and headed up stairs. I just sat there and continued to eat my pizza.
As quick as Rory had, she also returned, "I found this is mom's room." She announced coming back with a book in her hands.
"What's that?" I asked as she brought it over to the table. "Pictures." She answered, putting the book down.
As soon as Grandma saw it, she knew what it was. "Oh, my goodness. I haven't seen that in years." She commented.
"Oh, my, god." Grandpa muttered as Rory placed the book in front of them. My curiosity got the better of me and I got up from my seat and joined them on the other side of the table.
"Ah, would you look at this!" Grandma exclaimed as she started to flip through the pages.
"That's one fluffy white dress." I observed. "Yes, there were twelve petticoats underneath it." Grandma added as we all looked at the picture of baby Lorelai.
"We got it in London. Remember Richard?" Grandma continued, Grandpa hummed, but I couldn't tell if he actually remembered or not.
"She looks like a little princess." Rory noted.
"Yes, well, if memory serves, I believe about two minutes after that picture was taken her highness dumped a glass of grape juice all over it." Grandma recalled.
"Look Emily, it's Hopey." Richard pointed to a picture. "Hopey?" I questioned as I looked at a young girl in the picture.
"My younger sister." Grandma clarified. "Has she ever been here when I was here? I don't remember her?" Rory asked, excited.
"She lives in Paris. Our great expatriate." Grandpa answered. "Oh my Hopey, look at you. I haven't seen her in such a long time." Grandma said aloud, reminiscing on her childhood.
"Maybe we should take a trip this year." Grandpa suggested. "That would be nice." Grandma agreed.
"Maybe you girls could go with us." Grandpa also said. Rory and I smiled, "We'll start packing tomorrow." She gushed. Grandma flipped the page again and I looked down at another picture,
"Oh, is that you guys?" I questioned pointing to a picture of a young couple on their wedding day.
"Yes, it is!" Grandpa exclaimed. "That is our wedding picture." Grandma continued. "That's an amazing dress." I commented.
"It should've been," Grandma started, "My mother had three seamstresses working around the clock making it."
"You still have it?" I wondered. "It's upstairs packed away somewhere." She replied as she looked at the dress in the picture, "I'll save it for you if you like." She added as we looked at each other.
"Oh, Emily." Grandpa hissed, "Eva's too young to be thinking about things like that."
"Oh, Richard, please. Every young girl thinks about her wedding. I know I did." She tells him, "I knew from the time I was twelve that I wanted lilies and orchids with a silver bow wrapped around them for my bouquet." She drew the picture.
"Hm, you also knew that you wanted to marry Errol Flynn." Grandpa teased her, taking off his glasses.
"Really!" Rory and I say in union. "Grandma had a thing for the pirate guy?" Rory questioned with a teasing tone.
"I did not have a thing for the pirate guy." Emily was quick to defend. "She was mad about him. She even tried to get me to grow one of those little mustaches." Grandpa was even quicker to throw Grandma under the bus. "You're kidding!" I laughed.
"Richard stop." Grandma pleaded. "She wanted me to swing from a chandelier." He continued to look straight at her. "Now you're just being silly." She argued.
"Luckily, I was on the fencing team at college or I would've married Lucinda Lester by now." Grandpa told his story as Grandma took a sip of her drink.
"Actually Lucinda Lester looked a lot like Errol Flynn." Grandma commented and Grandpa laughed playing with his fake mustache. I couldn't believe we we're having this conversation with them.
"I should've married her. It would have been very modern of me." Grandma teased.
Rory had gone back to the pictures and was flicking through a couple before one caught her eye.
"Wow, mom looks really beautiful here." Rory awed at mom posing in a beautiful white dress. "Yes, she does." Grandma agreed softly, the mood of the room changing.
"What was the occasion?" I asked as she did look very pretty. No one answered through.
"Who would like some coffee?" Grandpa asked, trying to change the subject.
"That was her debutante gown for her coming-out party." Grandma spoke up.
"Mom had a coming-out party?" Rory was quick to ask. "No, she didn't." Grandpa replied, looking lost in space. Quickly, Rory and I understood what they meant. "Oh." I softly let out.
"Yes, well, things happen, don't they?" Grandma stated as she closed the book.
"If you'll excuse me, I have some business calls to make." Grandpa said getting up from his chair. "I'll go get that coffee." Grandma also excused herself.
Rory and I awkwardly stood there as they dismissed themselves. I looked at Rory and gave her a small smile, she smiled back before pointing to the book. We took the seats that our grandparents were just in and opened the book to continue looking at pictures of our mom.
~~~
Rory and I got up super earlier in the morning, wanting nothing else but to go home. Since the weather died down Grandma let us use her car and in the same outfits as yesterday, we were finally home. As Rory and I were approaching the door, mom was quicker and very hastily opened the door.
"Hi!" She exclaimed, startling both Rory and I.
"Hi, what's up?" I questioned her antics.
"Nothing. What's up with you?" She asked back.
"You have something to tell me?" Rory was quick to decipher.
"Why, you're so smart." Mom hung her head,
"Right, okay, here we go." Mom took a breath, "I've got a boy in the house." She admitted.
"You what?" I questioned, all our life she has never brought a guy home.
"Nothing happened, I swear. He slept the whole night on the couch and you know him." Mom quickly added.
"We do?" I questioned, not making any connections.
"And you like him." Mom smiled, "I don't know if that's relevant. I just thought that I would throw that in there." She rambled as Rory walked forward, making mom move out of the way so we could get inside.
We walked through the door and to the living, I was curious to see who it was. "It's Mr. Medina." Rory hissed as we stood near the stairs.
"I know." Mom admitted. I was a little stunned to speak, I mean my teacher was sleeping on our couch.
"My English teacher is on my couch!" Rory voiced my exact words, but with a bit of an aggressive tone.
Mom tried to speak, but gave up before saying, "It was the snow. You know how I get. It's like catnip!" Mom tried to explain, "I was walking. He was there. His car was broken. We had fiesta burgers. It was the snow!" She continued as Rory and I stared at the man sleeping.
"Girls," She started looking between us, "Say something." She pleaded. Rory was quick to walk away, but I stood still.
"You happy?" I questioned as I met mom's eyes.
"Yeah, kid." She smiled. I had nothing else to say so I nodded before mom walked away to deal with Rory.
I followed, having nothing else to do. "Rory, talk to me. How do you feel?" She asked.
"I don't know." She blankly answered. I put my bag down on the floor before reaching over to grab a coffee mug.
"Take a guess, angry, frustrated, nauseous?" Mom listed all the possible emotions as Rory stood still in the kitchen.
"Weird." She huffed, "I feel weird." She admitted as I poured myself a cup of coffee. "Has he been here all night?" Rory asked, not letting this go.
"Pretty much." Lorelai was quick to answer.
"Oh my god. Did he go into the bathroom?" She exclaimed in terror. I have stuff hanging in there." She points out. I scrunched my face when she said that.
If Mr. Medina saw any of my undergarments I would be scarred
"You knew I was gonna date him. This isn't a total surprise." Mom stated the truth.
"Yes, I knew you were gonna date, I just didn't expect for him to be here at our house, in the morning." Rory also gave a good argument.
"I know." Mom agreed. "I don't even remember ever there being a man in our house." She continued. "Yeah, well, I kind of broke the rules." Mom admitted.
"God, why is this so weird for me? Why aren't you freaking out?" Rory questioned me as I took a sip of my coffee.
"Honestly, I don't know." I shrugged, "I mean it is weird to have our teacher sleeping on our couch, but I also kinda expected it."
"Do you love him?" Rory asked out of the blue. Mom looked a little taken back, "I, um -- We had one date. It was a great date, world series level, but it was just a date." Mom replied as they moved to the table. I stood still, leaning on the counter.
"Honey, I promised myself a long time ago that I was gonna keep all this stuff separate from you, and I want you to know that, that still stands." Mom explained, "Okay, this was a one time thing. I'm not gonna start just bringing guys home. This is not a trend." She shook her head.
"You can, you know." Rory muttered, not making eye contact with anyone. "What?" Mom asked for clarification.
"Bring guys home. I mean if you like someone, you should feel comfortable doing that." Rory assured. Mom smiled, "I appreciate that."
"I want you to be happy." Rory continued. "And I love you for that." Mom added.
"Plus, I know you're not a cat person, so you truly will be alone if you don't find someone." Rory snickered. I chuckled softly, glad that they were slowly making up.
"Okay, look, someday, I will bring somebody home, but when I do, I just wanna be sure it's the guy." Mom stated her opinion.
"Mr. Medina's not the guy?" I questioned from my spot at the counter.
"I don't know. He might be." Mom replied honestly as she looked back and forth between her daughters. "But right now, it's just you both and me." And started before Rory's door started to open, "And sometimes Lane." She finished as Lane appeared in Rory's room.
"Hey." She softly greeted Rory. "Hey." Rory matched her sad tone. I assume something happened between them.
"Um, I'm gonna go wake the man up." Mom excused herself while grabbing a cup of coffee.
Lane, then, appeared holding her bad clothes and instrument. "Your mom let me spend the night here." Lane explained and suddenly I felt like I should leave them alone.
I held my mug and walked out of the kitchen to see mom and Mr. Medina sitting on the couch.
She had given him the coffee and they were now sitting, talking to each other. Mom laughed at something that he said as Mr. Medina threw his arm on the back of the couch. I smiled to myself watching the interaction.
They looked happy.
(A/N)
Thank you for 5k reads!
So sorry for not updating as often.
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Bella
March 17, 2022
Word Count 4510