It was an understatement to say Samantha was shocked when her grandparents told her she was going to be spending her spring break with her father in Stars Hollow. Not only that but the unlikely trio of parents had developed some sort of scheme so that the Gilmore girl would get to spend time with Luke on a regular basis. While the 11-year-old would love nothing more than to get to know her dad more, she didn't want things to change. Samantha didn't have good experiences with change. The last time things she let things change she found out her aunt was her mother and her cousin was her sister!
This master plan her grandmother, grandfather, and dad had come up with would start on spring break, which was two weeks from now, and continue indefinitely. Every week Samantha would switch between staying at Luke's Diner and the Gilmore residence, two very different homesteads. That's why they were waiting until spring break to start. Her grandparents needed to work out the school details with Chilton and Stars Hollow. The youngest Gilmore never thought she'd say this but next year she'll be a Minutemen, Stars Hollow's school mascot. Samantha was brought out of her thoughts by the stereo coming on.
"Stop worrying about your insanely complicated family problems and dance with us!" Lucy yelled, over the Taylor Swift song, that was currently blasting from the radio, as she grabbed her friend's hands and tugged her to her feet. Samantha let out a laugh as she was suddenly spun around before grabbing three hairbrushes and tossing the other two to Archie and Lucy. The small brunette jumped around the room as the inseparable trio belted out the lyrics.
Baby, we're the new romantics
Samantha let out a snort as Archie pranced toward her, doing a horrible interpretation of the running man.
Come on, come along with me
The 11-year-old grinned as the Brown boy grabbed her hands and pulled her toward him.
Heartbreak is the national anthem
The two kids giggled wildly as they took hold of each other and galloped across the room, Lucy laughing at their childishness.
We sing it proudly
The Brown girl let out a squeal as, out of nowhere, her hands were grasped on both sides.
We are too busy dancing
The three friends laughed, without a care in the world, as they kept their hands interlocked and spun around in circles.
To get knocked off our feet
Samantha and Lucy erupted in laughter as Archie started to get dizzy and toppled over onto the bed.
Baby, we're the new romantics
The duo was caught by surprise when they were unexpectedly pulled onto the mattress as well.
The best people in life are free
Before Archie could get revenge, they heard Archibald yell at them from downstairs to shut up, just making them burst into laughter again.
~:~
"Try not to smudge it," Lucy warned, as she painted Samantha's ring finger. "That's my blood, sweat, and tears in there."
"Wouldn't dare to," the Gilmore girl laughed as she blew on her nails to help them get dry quicker. She looked behind her to Archie, who was struggling to paint his toenails. "How are you doing over there, Archfiend?"
"I don't get why I have to do this," the 11-year-old huffed as he threw his right hand in the air dramatically. Samantha and Lucy couldn't help but chuckle when they saw that his nails were painted blue. "Isn't painting nails for girls?"
"Yes," Lucy answered, enjoying her brother's horrified expression before Samantha playfully nudged her shoulder.
"Just because most girls do it doesn't mean guys can't," the small brunette shook her head before continuing. "Just like how girls can do anything a guy can do."
"But my fingernails have glitter on them!" Archie complained, completely missing the point. Samantha rolled her eyes before turning back to her best friend.
"Leave the pinky," Lucy instructed as Samantha began to get her nail polish out, making the brunette furrow her eyebrows.
"Why?"
"Because," Lucy grabbed the lavender polish Samantha planned to use for herself later. She pushed it into the girl's hands and wiggled her eyebrows. "I want to match you."
Samantha grinned as she took the nail polish and painted her pinky with the lavender color, unlike the snowy white the rest of her nails were. "There," she hummed before blowing on her nails gently, not wanting to smear Lucy's handiwork.
"My turn!" Lucy clapped her hands together excitedly, not noticing her brother scooting over to join the group.
"Me next!" Archie piped up, making the girls give him an amused look.
"Alright, alright. I'll double up," Samantha glanced at the Brown boy. "Archie do you want to match with us?"
Before he could answer Lucy butted in, clasping a hand on his shoulder. "Yes, he would."
"Alrighty then. Stay very still."
Archie watched Samantha's every detail as she rotated between painting his nails and Lucy's. From the way, her hair was still wet from the shower, the way the shirt she borrowed from him was so big on her that it hung off her right shoulder, exposing the freckles that dotted her skin. The small brunette bit her lower lip in concentration, not wanting to mess up.
The girl smiled slightly as she carefully painted Lucy's pinky finger white, contrasting with the rest of her lavender nails. She moved on to Archie, trying to ignore the way that she got goosebumps when she touched his hand. Samantha's grin widened as she closed the white nail polish and put it on the table. "Now we match!"
The Brown siblings giggled at the girl's enthusiasm before admiring their nails. Samantha's right hand had four white nails with a lavender pinky. Lucy had four lavender nails with a white pinky. And Archie had four blue nails with a white pinky. Samantha glanced at her friend's hands before she reached over, intertwining their pinky fingers and matching flawlessly.
"Perfect," Samantha's voice was quieter than before as she looked at their hands. "They're perfect."
~:~
"Do you think you're ever going to forgive Lorelai for leaving you?" Lucy questioned as she and Archie got ready to go back home. Both of them knew better than to call her Samantha's mother. Archie looked up curiously, also wanting to know the answer as the Gilmore girl froze slightly.
"I don't think so," Samantha shook her head. "She just... she really, really hurt me. And it's not just her abandoning me that I'm angry about. It's everything! She took away my chance at knowing my father and my sister, and she doesn't even care." The girl paused before admitting, "I'm really scared for when I move to Stars Hollow. How on earth am I going to avoid her in her own town? She probably has evil little minions to spy on me or--"
"Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Lucy cut her off as she grasped her friend's shoulders. "Think of the positive! You get to spend time with your dad and you get to see that chef you love so much. What's her name... Susan?"
"Sookie," Samantha laughed, her worry decreasing slightly. "And you're right. I am excited to spend time with Luke and Sookie. But I'm nervous about going to going to a new school. I've gone to a Chilton my entire life! Won't that be a difficult adjustment?"
"Ah, ah!" Archie interrupted as he took his sister's spot. "Don't worry about that until after summer. You, me, and Luce are going to be living it up on the East Coast. Road trip!"
Samantha grinned before crashing into her friend with a hug, leaning over to pull Lucy in as well. "What would I do without you two?"
"You'll never have to find out," the Brown siblings answered simultaneously, making them look at each other weirdly.
"Come on," Samantha giggled as she grabbed both of their hands and started to drag them downstairs. "I'll walk you out." What the Gilmore girl didn't realize was that it was Friday night dinner, and her happy mood would soon vanish.
"Pick up the pace Browns," Samantha ushered her friends, not realizing they were coming upon the dining room where Lorelai, Rory, Emily, and Richard were now east dropping on their conversation. "If you two are late to dinner again your mom will murder me!"
The Gilmore girl came to a halt in front of the dining room doorway when a terrifying thought came to her mind. "What day is it?"
"It's Friday--" Lucy started to respond before realizing what she just said. The 11-year-old tugged at her hair in panic as she yelled, "Oh my gosh! It's Friday! You need to hide!"
"You're right," Samantha nodded as she started to form a plan. "I'll just go lock myself in my room and everything will be-- oh."
The Gilmore girl smiled sheepishly as she turned around to be met with all of her former dinner mates. Her grandparents wore slightly worried expressions, not knowing how to get their granddaughter out of this situation, as they glanced at each other. Meanwhile, Rory and Lorelai were both staring Samantha down, daring the girl to run away from them again.
"What is it--oh," Lucy cut herself off when he turned to see Samantha's grandparents and the twin terrors.
"Do you want us to stay?" Archie whispered as he leaned toward the girl, making her shake her head and give him a thankful smile.
"That's okay, I need to face them eventually." Both of the siblings clapped her on the shoulder, giving her an encouraging smile, before leaving. Samantha took a deep breath before turning to her grandparents with a raised eyebrow, not knowing what to do.
"Samantha," Emily grinned at her granddaughter apologetically, knowing what an uncomfortable situation she was about to put her in, "Why don't you join us?"
"Um..." she looked toward her grandfather, who nodded, "okay." The intimidated girl looked around the table for a seat, her face falling when she realized the only open one was next to Lorelai. Samantha visibly brightened when Archibald came in, out of nowhere, and set a chair down next to her grandmother. He nodded to her as she mouthed thank you. The 11-year-old kept her eyes on the white tablecloth as she sat down, knowing that everyone was staring at her. She awkwardly picked at her food as Lorelai tried to start a conversation.
"You know, mom, I'm really loving this salad dressing."
Emily nodded as she stabbed her fork into her salad aggressively, "I'm glad." Samantha could feel her mother's eyes burning holes into her head as she continued to stay silent.
"Mom, Dad, Samantha," Lorelai started as she twisted a new ring around on her finger. "I have something to tell you." Rory gave her mother an appalled look, wildly gesturing for her to stop, which she ignored. Emily and Richard looked up at their daughter while Samantha kept looking at her plate.
"Well, it's like this uh..." Lorelai paused. "Samantha, honey, could you look at me for a second?"
The small brunette pursed her lips, grabbing onto her grandmother's hand, before making eye contact with the woman. Lorelai smiled at her before continuing. "Okay... um, you guys know Max?"
"No I don't," Emily answered immediately, Richard nodding along. Samantha racked her head for a Max but when she came up empty, she realized it was just another thing Lorelai hid from her. She should honestly stop being hurt at this point.
"Well I know you don't know him, know him but you've heard of him right?" Lorelai questioned.
"Not really, no," Richard stated, slightly confused as to where this was going.
"Okay," Lorelai huffed before trekking on. "Well, Max and I have been serious for quite a while now and..." Samantha felt her heart sink, knowing where this was going. "He asked me to marry him, and I said yes. I'm getting married."
Samantha's breathing stopped, and any trace of emotion on her face was immediately wiped off as she slowly shifted her eyes back to her plate, unable to look at her mother. Lorelai kept blabbing on but her daughter couldn't hear her as she stared down at her plate with a cold expression. The Gilmore girl felt her heart crumbling at Lorelai's news.
She could barely think as her mother's words repeated themselves in her head. 'I'm getting married.' Lorelai is engaged? All this time she'd been with someone and never even bothered to tell her? She told Rory because Rory's the favorite, but of course, she didn't tell her. Now all Samantha could feel was betrayal, and suddenly she felt really forgotten. Forgotten by her biological mother and sister.
"Oh my," Emily started, clearly caught off guard and trying not to show how hurt she was. "Well, we're very happy for both of you." Samantha looked up at her grandmother just in time to see her give her a prompting expression. The Gilmore girl turned to her mother, who was already looking at her.
"I'm happy for you too, Lorelai."
"I want you to be one of my bridesmaids, Samantha. Would you?" Lorelai inquired, making the small brunette give her grandmother a pleading look.
"Well she's very young," Emily tried to refuse on her behalf.
"Well, Rory's the other bridesmaid. They can do it together," Lorelai insisted, making her mother give in. She turned to her youngest daughter.
"What do you say?"
"Say yes," Rory whispered, as she nudged her sister across the table.
Samantha looked at Rory, her face crestfallen. She turned to her grandfather, who reluctantly nodded at her. Then she turned to her grandmother, the older woman giving her hand a squeeze before slowly nodding her head. Samantha turned to Lorelai before letting out a barely audible, "Yes." Her head didn't come back up for the rest of dinner.
~:~
On the morning of Lorelai's supposed wedding, Samantha was adding her final touches to her dress. What the Gilmore girl didn't know is that her mother had backed out of the wedding and ran away from her problems, once again taking Rory with her and leaving Samantha behind. Finding this out would be the last straw for the 11-year-old. Emily Gilmore stood outside her granddaughter's bedroom, internally preparing herself for the news she was about to give the poor girl. The small brunette smoothed out her dress before going to answer the door.
"Oh," Emily gasped as she cupped her hands over her mouth, "you look absolutely radiant, Samantha."
"Thank you, Grandmary," Samantha twirled around, showing off her off-the-shoulder, light blue dress.
"Sweetheart," Emily started cautiously as she took the girl's hands and sat her down on the couch. "I have something to tell you."
Samantha felt her stomach churn in anticipation as she saw the concern plastered across her grandmother's face. "What is it, Grandmary?"
"The wedding is off," Emily informed her granddaughter. "Lorelai and Rory left this morning, we aren't sure where they are."
The loving grandmother watched with sad eyes as her granddaughter's expression slowly collapsed. The smile previously adorning her face had completely vanished. The optimistic, hopeful sparkle in her eyes had dimmed down to a dull black void. The excited, vivacious flush across her cheeks had gone white.
Samantha felt tears hot spring to her eyes as she looked down at her lap. They hovered there, but she refused to let them spill over. Not for them, not for the people that kept leaving her over and over again. Time and time again the Lorelai's had proved that they didn't need or want her. Samantha thought doing this stupid thing for her mother and sister might be a good way to build a bridge between them but now it just felt like a cruel joke. And that bridge is one Samantha would never try to cross again.