"You will not come near her. Ever again."
--☆--☆--☆--
Josh turned his head, looking over at Cassie who was sitting in the passenger seat of his car. She was looking out the window, watching all the buildings pass by while Josh kept glancing over at her. He couldn't believe how beautiful she looked, the dress, the hair, everything about her was perfect to him.
"Do you think they'll have good food?" Cassie asked, turning her head to look over at Josh. "What?" She saw the look on his face and it confused her.
"You look beautiful," He told her. Cassie blushed, turning her head so he wouldn't see, but he did, and he thought it was adorable.
The rest of the drive was filled with Josh telling Cassie about the kind of food they served at these events while Cassie complained about it. She was hungry, she only got two bites of her taco before Emily decided to take pictures.
When they arrived at the formal Josh jumped out of the car going over to Cassie's side and opening the door for her. She shook her head at him as she got out of the car. Josh held out his arm causing Cassie to let out a small laugh before she linked her arm with his as they walked inside the formal.
"Wow," Cassie gasped when they walked through the doors into the room filled with Chilton students. "This place is amazing."
"Yeah, it is," Josh agreed but his eyes weren't on the building, they were on Cassie. "Come on," Josh started walking down the stairs with Cassie on his arm.
"Hey!" Tristan yelled from a table making Josh change his course of direction to go over to his best friend. "Wow, Cassidy Gilmore is all dressed up."
"Not for you," Cassie told him.
"Cassie!" Sophie yelled for the younger Gilmore, requesting her presence.
"I'll be right back," Cassie told Josh before unlinking their arms. "Bye Tristan," She said before walking away.
Josh sighed, suddenly noticing the girl sitting behind Tristan, waiting for his attention. "Cissy."
"Josh," She smiled up at him.
The Dawson boy pulled his best friend away from his date, knowing that what he was about to say wouldn't be great for Cissy to hear. "Seriously?"
"What was I supposed to do? Come alone?" Tristan asked him. "So did you see the guy?"
Josh nodded, "Dean. He honked for her."
"You're kidding," Tristan looked up. One of the perks of dating one of the Chilton boys was they were all taught manners from the day they were born. If any of them honked for a girl it would go against years of teaching them. Tristan looked past Josh, his eyes landing on Rory and Dean. "That piece of shit."
"Dude," Josh grabbed his best friend, keeping him from going over to them. "Let her come to you."
"Is that what you did?"
Josh hesitated before nodding. "I tried going after her but I freaked her out, that's why we're here as friends."
Tristan looked up at his best friend with pure confusion in his eyes. "Friends? You and Cassie? Dude," He laughed.
"I know, I know. I'll figure it out," Josh patted Tristan's arm. "Don't do anything idiotic," Josh told him before walking off to find Cassie.
He looked around, spotting her standing with Sophie and her date. Josh walked behind Cassie, putting his arms around her waist. He smiled when she leaned into him, something a friend wouldn't necessarily do. "Wanna dance?" He whispered to her, right as a slow song began playing.
"Okay," Cassie nodded.
Josh pulled his hands away from her, taking her hand instead as he led her to the dance floor. Cassie looked around, finding Rory and Dean walking onto the dance floor as well, causing a smile to appear on her face.
The two of them stopped walking, finding a good spot on the dance floor. Josh put his hands around Cassie's waist while her hands went around his neck. The two of them swayed slowly, smiling at how awkward it suddenly got.
"So this friends thing," Josh said, making Cassie hum, waiting for him to continue. "How long is it gonna last?"
"What do you mean?" Cassie asked him.
"I mean, I want to be more than friends with you, Cassidy Hayden Gilmore," He told her.
"Wow, you legal named me," Cassie laughed when she saw the smirk on his face. Cassie honestly couldn't tell if Josh said that as a joke or if he was being completely serious. She wanted to make sure before she admitted that she wanted that too.
"That's how serious I'm being," Josh replied and Cassie's laughter stopped. They looked right into each other's eyes and Cassie felt the butterflies in her stomach and her heart beating faster and faster. "Can I try something?" Josh asked her.
"Okay?" Cassie answered in an unsure manner.
Josh leaned his head down slightly, his face now level with hers. Cassie sucked in a breath, knowing what might happen in the next couple of seconds. Josh moved slowly, not wanting to freak her out again.
"This okay?" He whispered so only she could hear him.
"More than okay," Cassie whispered back.
Josh smiled before fully leaning in, his lips finally pressing against hers. He's wanted to do this since the first day they studied in Stars Hollow, and she didn't even know how much she wanted it until it happened. The first kiss only lasted about two seconds before Josh pulled away to make sure that Cassie wasn't freaking out.
Cassie smiled at him, pulling him in again. This time the kiss was longer, and the two of them moved in sync. From afar both Sophie and Rory were smiling at the new couple, both of them thinking, finally.
They pulled away at the same time, now dancing along to the slow song that was about to come to an end.
"You do that with all your friends?" Cassie asked him.
"Only the ones I really really like," Josh answered, making the Gilmore Girl smile as they continued dancing.
--☆--☆--☆--☆--☆--
The rest of the dance was perfect. The Gilmore twins danced with their dates and talked with their friends, aka each other. Josh and Dean, however, still haven't connected. Which probably had something to do with the fact that Josh was Tristan's best friend and Tristan liked Rory.
As of right now, Rory and Dean were sitting at a table while Josh and Cassie were dancing again. They both felt immensely more comfortable being this close to each other than they did when they first walked onto the dance floor at the start of the evening.
"I have an idea," Josh announced.
"Do tell."
"You, me, and some cheap burgers," Josh told her, smiling when he saw Cassie's face light up.
"Oh you read my mind," Cassie said excitedly.
"I can go grab our coats."
"Okay." They walked off the dance floor and Josh left Cassie with her sister. "Where's Dean?" Cassie asked as she sat down.
"Getting our jackets," Rory told her. "Where's Josh?"
"Getting our jackets," Cassie answered. "We're gonna get some food. What about you? Headed home?"
"Yeah, I think Dean's getting bored," Rory replied.
"How could he be bored, he's with a Gilmore girl," Cassie joked. "Uh oh."
"What?" Rory looked up, watching as Dean and Tristan talked.
"Come on," Cassie pulled Rory out of her seat.
"Get out of my way Dristan," Dean said angrily.
"Oh, aren't you clever," Tristan mocked.
The twins stepped in between them, Rory on Dean's side and Cassie in the middle. "Hey what's going on?" Rory asked nervously.
"Nothing. Just getting to know your boyfriend here," Tristan said, answering Rory's question.
"It's going really well, don't you think?"
"Oh yeah. We're just about to build a clubhouse."
"Well I hate to break up the party, but we should go," Rory said, pulling Dean closer to her.
"Oh why? Little girl's gotta be home?" Tristan taunted.
"Hey," Cassie shook her head at him, wondering why he was acting like this.
"Stop," Dean said at the same time.
"No, I think you two make a very cute couple. Is your horse and buggy parked outside? Got to get home for the barn raising?"
"Let's go," Dean said, then he and Rory started to walk away. Despite Cassie's attempt to stop him Tristan walked past her and moved in front of Rory. Dean acted immediately and shoved Tristan away from him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"You will not push me again!" Tristan yelled at him.
"Are you seriously trying to act tough? You're wearing a tie for God's sake," Dean said, pointing to the tie Tristan had on.
"What the hell's going on?" Josh asked as he appeared beside Cassie. "I could hear the shouting from the coats."
"Dean and Tristan, lover's quarrel," Cassie answered.
"Outside! Now!" Tristan yelled pointing towards the door as the music stopped.
"I'm not fighting you. It'd be like fighting an accountant. I'll call you when I need my taxes done," Dean said mocking him and that set Tristan over the edge.
He lunged forward, going after Dean, who was ready to hurt Tristan if he had to. Josh and a few other guys reacted, pulling the two of them away from each other. Rory took a few steps back, she never expected something like this to happen because of her.
"You don't want to fight me Tristan!" Dean yelled.
"Why not?"
"'Cause I'll kill you, idiot!" He fully pulled himself away from the guys holding him back. "Come on, Rory, let's go," Dean took Rory's hand trying to walk away. However, Tristan broke free from Josh's grip right as Dean turned around to look at him. "You will not come near her. Ever again."
"Woah," Cassie whispered, she didn't expect something like this from Dean.
Josh walked back over to Cassie, shaking his head at his best friend's actions. "I told him not to do anything idiotic."
"Too late for that," Cassie commented. "You wanna go talk to him?"
Josh shook his head. "He needs time to cool off. Let's go get our burgers."
"If you say so," Cassie replied then the two of them started heading for the door.
--☆--☆--☆--☆--☆--
Cassie and Josh were sitting in the parking lot of a mall, each of them with a cheap burger in their hands. They both took a bite of the burger, Cassie letting out a sigh of content as she nodded her head.
"Yeah, this was a good idea," Cassie confirmed.
"I know," Josh replied, taking another bite from his burger.
Cassie lifted her milkshake that was sitting in the middle console, taking a sip. Josh watched her with curious eyes. Normally when he went on dates a girl would order a salad then take two bites of it before claiming they were full, but not Cassie. She ate like there was no tomorrow.
"What?" Cassie asked, looking at her date. She looked down at her food, realizing what he was thinking. "Don't expect me to apologize. I was hungry."
"I don't want an apology. I think it's cute," Josh told her.
"Good," Cassie smiled, taking another bite from their food. "Mhm, not as good as Luke's but still good."
"You go to Luke's everyday?"
"Yeah," Cassie nodded. "Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you can find me there."
"Why?"
"Why what?" Cassie asked.
"Why do you go to Luke's everyday?"
Cassie sighed, thinking about her answer. There was the obvious one, that the food was good. But that wasn't the only reason. "I feel safe in there... I guess." Josh nodded, accepting her answer. "Do you have a Luke's?" Cassie asked him but he looked confused. "A place you could go everyday? A place that makes you feel safe?"
"Yeah, my mom always used to go to this coffee shop, I go there now. At least one a week, makes me feel like she's still around," Josh told her and Cassie couldn't lie she half expected him to give her some sort of joke answer. Josh turned his head and looked at Cassie. "My mom died about a year and half ago," He explained.
"I'm so sorry," Cassie reached her hand over, putting it on top of his hand.
"So," Josh cleared his throat, signaling to Cassie that the conversation was over. "Are we still just friends?" He asked her. Cassie laughed quietly, turning her head to look straight ahead. "And just so you know, I wouldn't mind being more than friends."
"You wouldn't mind?" Cassie questioned, looking over at him again.
"Not at all," Josh replied then his eyes shifted to the clock on the dashboard which read, 11:48pm. "I have to get you home." He looked over at her and he practically saw all the thoughts flying through her head. "You don't have to give me an answer now, Cassie. Just think about it," He told her then started the car again.
When Cassie got home that night all she could think about was what Josh said. She wanted to be more than friends with him, she's wanted that since the moment he asked her to the dance. But for some reason the thought of being someone's girlfriend made her feel a little nervous. She didn't know if she was ready to depend on someone like that.
Cassie quietly climbed up the stairs, seeing her mother and grandmother asleep in the living room. She walked right past them, not making a noise before heading to her bed and falling asleep, wondering what the right thing to do was.
author's note: I absolutely adore this chapter and I really hope you all do too. Gilmore Girls has been a favorite show of mine for so long and I really want this story to be good enough for the fans of this series. So if you enjoyed please let me know in the comments or by voting I'd truly appreciate it. Also I will start putting little surveys in the chapters to see what you guys would like to read in the rest of the series.
I hope you've enjoyed so far.
<3 Alanna.