The summer seemed to pass far too quickly for Delilah's liking. She spent time with Erika, who was Samantha's best friend, who Samantha said, "I love you guys, but I want to have friends and Velvet who had become Matt's friend. Matt explained that Velvet had apologized for dumping him out of nowhere and with no explanation. Velvet had said that she wanted to like him 'that way' but she couldn't make herself to fall for him, so she dumped him before he fell in love with her.
She invited Jake to hang around since she was friends with him.
It was a little weird to have people other than Samantha and Matt to hang out with.
On the morning of the first day of school, they went to Luke's for breakfast, like always. Lorelai and Delilah ate their food, while Rory stared at them, with her hands clasped together on the table, like a creepy weirdo.
Rory asked, "How are the eggs?"
"Good," replied Lorelai.
"I'm glad," Rory replied, continuing to stare at them.
"We're not going to make you late, so stop staring at us like a creepy weirdo and read a book," Delilah told her.
"It's the first day of school. I wanna get there early," Rory replied.
"We will be there early, I promise," Lorelai replied.
Rory started explaining, "I have different classes this year, my routes aren't the same. I haven't found the quickest path around. And my locker, they moved it, so I don't even know if it'll work properly and then I'll have to get a new one and God knows how long that'll take or where it'll be and that could send the whole day into chaos."
"What's wrong with a little chaos in your life? It just makes everything more exciting," Delilah stated, taking a bite out of her toast.
Lane walked in and said, "Oh, thank god, you haven't left yet." She grabbed a chair and dragged it over to the other side of the table and sat down on it.
Rory replied, "Nope, what's up?"
"Well, I found the greatest record store in the world. It's ten minutes from your school and I'm wondering how much you love me," Lane stated.
"Address," Rory said, taking a notebook and pen out to write it down.
"Record Break Incorporated, 2453 Berlin Turnpike," Lane recited.
"Got it," Rory said. "Place your order now."
"Yes," Lane stated, taking a large book out called Mojo. She even put sticky notes on the pages. "Okay...Charles Mingus, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady'."
Lorelai hummed and Rory stated, "Right."
"The Sonics, Here are the Sonics," Lane continued listing.
"Burn me a copy." Rory told her, "Next."
"MC5, Kick Out the James," Lane said, "Fairport Convention Leige and Lief, BeeGees, Odessa."
Rory looked a little disgusted, "BeeGees really?"
Delilah asked, "Why is the BeeGees on that list?"
"Well, Mojo says..." Lane started.
"So it must be true," finished Rory.
"Okay, that's it," Lane said. "Now if I could just a copy of Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit, and Greenhill, I will finally be done with the sixties." She handed Rory some money.
"I can get there today, tomorrow at the latest," Rory told her.
"I love it when you go back to school," Lane told her.
"Me too," Rory replied. It looked like some Boy Scouts walked in. Lorelai got up.
Delilah asked, "Where are you going?"
"I am getting donuts for later," Lorelai told her. "As soon as I do, I will take you to school and the nice men in the white coats will pick you up."
Taylor started talking to the Boy Scouts.
Delilah looked at him and back at Lane, "God, that's never going to leave my nightmares."
"It'll never leave mine either," Lane replied.
Delilah shuddered, "I'm going to go before it burns itself into my eyelids and that's all I see when I blink."
"Good idea," Lane told her.
"Tell Mom that I left," Delilah told Rory, who nodded.
Lane and Delilah took off.
It was weird with it being the first day of school without Rory. All throughout their lives, they entered school together, but now, they were entering school without each other.
It was weird; almost as weird as someone covering her eyes with their hands.
"Guess who?"
It was obvious who it was.
"Hi, Matt," Delilah said.
Matt removed his hands from covering Delilah's eyes. He asked, "How did you know it was me?"
"You didn't bother masking your voice," Delilah told him. She turned around and kissed him.
After two class periods and going through the class syllabus, lunch arrived, but there were tables set up to sign up for school clubs, in case anyone wanted to sign up.
To Delilah's surprise, five people signed up for her little baking club.
Lane was eyeing a group of cheerleaders which included Velvet. There was supposed to be some pep rally during the last class period to welcome them back for another school year.
Delilah joked, "Are you having some weird, bisexual awakening?"
"God, no," Lane replied. She cringed, "I mean, no. I was just trying to imagine myself being a cheerleader."
Delilah blinked and tilted her head, squinting at Lane. "I think I can kind of see you being one. It'll be very Bring It On of you." Now that she mentioned it, she couldn't be sure if she liked the movie because of the story or the fact that it had hot women in it.
Lane asked, "Really?"
"Yeah," Delilah replied with a shrug. "It'll be weird, but I think you'll enjoy it."
"But Rory and I used to make fun of Janie Fertman and we used to hide during pep rallies," Lane replied.
"Just don't tell Janie that," Delilah replied.
"I don't know," Lane replied. "Rory wouldn't appreciate it, but she's been busy lately with Dean and she's not around as much anymore."
"So you feel like you've been left behind," Delilah replied.
"Yeah," Lane responded. "I mean, I know I can hang out with you and your friends..."
"But it's just not the same," Delilah finished.
Lane nodded, "Yeah. I feel like I'm going crazy because I spotted Velvet talking to Janie and my first thought was 'I want to be one of them.'"
"Then go ahead and try it out," Delilah told her. "There's the cheerleader sign-up sheet over there. The worst is that they'll reject you and you don't have to tell Rory." She shrugged, "It's your decision, your choice."
"At some point, I'll have to tell Rory," Lane said.
"If they accept you," Delilah replied. "If they don't, that'll just be between us. One of our own inside jokes."
Lane nodded and went to the table.
Delilah hoped that she didn't give bad advice.
Lane returned, "If I join the cheerleaders, what do I tell my parents?"
Delilah responded, "That its school related?"
"Got it," Lane replied, going to the table. She signed up and went back to Delilah, "Okay, I signed up for it. Can you hit me over the head because I must've lost my mind?"
Delilah looked at her, "I'm not going to do that."
"Come on, Lila," Lane pleaded.
Delilah looked around and smacked Lane upside the head. "Better?"
Lane adjusted her glasses, "Yeah, thanks." She took off.
Matt came up to Delilah and asked, "What was that all about?"
Delilah looked at him, "I have no idea."
School ended up being let out early, because someone stuck weed in the school vents.
So, Delilah was heading home when she spotted a guy walking down the sidewalk. She could see that he was new. At least, she was sure that he was new. She focused on getting her house key out of her backpack, before the guy came up to her.
"Hey, I'm new here, but I'm certainly enjoying the townspeople," the guy said, obviously checking her out.
"Hi, I'm taken," Delilah replied.
The guy definitely checked her out again, "Is that so?"
He was good-looking and he knew it. He had a bad-boy aura, but the joke was on him, she was into bad-girls and nice guys.
"Yes, perhaps along the way, you might even meet him," Delilah said. "Let's go. I'm Delilah Gilmore, but everyone calls me Lila."
"I'm Jess Marano," said the boy, Jess.
She showed him the Independence Inn that her mom was the executive manager of and where Matt worked at. She showed him Weston's Bakery that she worked at even stopping by to say hi to Elijah, Fran, and Marjorie. She showed him Miss Patty's, who tried to flirt with Jess, causing Delilah to laugh.
"What brings you to Stars Hollow anyway?" Delilah asked Jess.
"I'm staying with my uncle," said Jess. He didn't sound to enthusiastic about it.
"Come on, how mean is your uncle?" Delilah asked.
"He's...cool, I guess," Jess replied.
Someone barreled into Delilah's back.
Jess looked taken aback.
"Hey there, Delilah," Samantha said, pressing a kiss to the corner of Delilah's mouth. Jess really looked taken aback. "Who's the guy?"
"He's Jess," said Delilah. "He's new here. I was showing him around. Jess, this is my girlfriend, Samantha."
"Not Sam or Sami, just Samantha," said the blonde girl.
"You said you have a boyfriend," said Jess. "If you're a lesbian, that's cool with me. It would've saved me some time on planning how to steal you from him."
"It's complicated," Delilah said.
"How complicated?" asked Jess.
Matt came up to them and kissed Delilah on the head before planting a kiss on Samantha.
Jess looked like his brain was malfunctioning.
Matt asked, "Who's the dude?"
"That's Jess, the new guy. Delilah was showing him around," said Samantha.
"That's our girlfriend. The town welcoming committee," said Matt.
"You guys...are dating each other?" asked Jess confused.
"Yeah," said Delilah.
Jess blinked and rubbed his head, "Okay. That's going to take some time getting used to. I never meet anyone who was dating two people at the same time, who are also dating each other."
"We're a triad," said Delilah.
"As long as no one thinks we're going to be a quad," said Samantha.
"How did you guys become a triad anyway?" asked Jess.
"It's a long story," said Delilah.
"Not really," said Matt.
"You can tell me on the way to Luke's Diner," said Jess. "I have to go back to my uncle's place. He lives there."
Samantha asked, "Your uncle is Luke?"
"Yeah, I know. He's grumpy," said Jess.
"Oh," replied Matt.
"He's dreamy though," said Samantha.
"He is not going to turn our trio into a quad," Matt grumbled. "He's old."
"Come on, man, he's not that old," said Jess. "So, that story?"
They chatted along the way to Luke's, which didn't really take that long, but when they got in Luke's Diner, Lorelai was talking to Luke.
Luke looked over, "Jess, hey, good. I'd like you to meet someone."
"Hey, hi, I'm Lorelai. I just wanted to meet you before Luke had a chance to fill your head with all kinds of little lies about me," said Lorelai.
"Hi," Jess said, looking like he had no clue how to respond to that.
"Did you meet one of my daughters, Lila?" asked Lorelai, looking at Delilah, Matt, and Samantha.
"Yeah, she's cool," Jess said. "They were going to show me around the town some more. I just wanted to get something real quick."
He took off to the back.
"Well, at least he made some friends, right?" Lorelai asked Luke.
"Out of anyone, he had to befriend the residential triad," said Luke.
"Why? Worried that we'll turn into a quad?" Samantha joked.
"Where are you guys going anyway?" asked Lorelai.
Delilah responded, "They're showing Psycho at the bookstore, so we were going there at seven..."
At seven, Jess joined them on the way to the bookstore. He was a smoker, Delilah noticed with a bit of disgust. Although the smoking was the least bit of her worries, so she said, "I'm kind of worried that everyone will think we're going to turn into a quad."
"Would people think that Matt and Jess will date?" asked Samantha.
Matt side-eyed Jess, "Last year, I said that I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of dating a guy..."
"Nope, I'm not into guys," said Jess.
"I'm not either," said Matt, "Got to keep an open-mind, though. I should head to Eli's apartment though."
Jess asked, "Eli? The guy that Lila works with?"
"Yeah, he's my half-brother," said Matt. "I didn't even know I had a brother 'til nine months ago. Now I live with him."
"You're living with a guy you didn't even know existed?" asked Jess.
"Well, it was either live with my mother who refused to even feed me since I was six-years-old and according to my brother, emotionally abused and neglected me, or live with the guy. It wasn't that hard to chose," Matt explained.
"Don't forget, she 'lovingly' locked you out of the house plenty of times too," Samantha added darkly.
Jess asked, "What did your dad think of all that?"
"Don't know. He disappeared when I was six. I like to think that she killed him and buried him in the backyard," said Matt.
"I don't know my dad either," Jess admitted. "He left when I was a baby apparently. He went to get diapers and never returned."
"That's even worse," said Matt.
"There's no competition on that," said Delilah. "You both equally have crappy dads who took off on you both."
"Your dad was never around either," Matt said.
"He shows up once a year and calls once a week. That's highly different," said Delilah.
"Still..." said Matt.
"Do we all have daddy issues here?" asked Jess.
"Just you three," said Samantha. "My dad's fine and normal, which is probably the abnormal thing in this group."
Jess and Luke arrived the next night. Lorelai wanted to welcome Jess to Stars Hollow by making a dinner.
So, Delilah wore a nice outfit, a red shirt and a black, pleated skirt with fishnet leggings.
Delilah showed Jess the living room while Lorelai and Luke chatted.
Jess looked around and noticed some pictures on the mantle of the fireplace.
"Yeah, those pictures are of me and Rory," Delilah told him.
"You and Rory look very similar," Jess told her.
"We're twins," Delilah responded.
Jess asked, "How old is your mother? She's very young."
Delilah wasn't expecting that question, "She was sixteen when she had us."
"Oh," Jess replied. He was staring at Rory in the picture.
"Hey, you two," Lorelai called to them. "Wanna come on in the kitchen?"
They made their way to the kitchen.
"Sookie, Jackson, I want you to meet Luke's nephew," Lorelai said to the two. "This is Jess."
"Do you eat cheese?" Sookie asked.
"What?" Jess replied, confused.
"Oh my god, this is the greatest lemon I have ever grown. I mean, this is a great lemon," Jackson stated. "Sookie, you gotta try this lemon. Isn't it a great lemon?"
Delilah went to try the lemon, thinking that maybe Jackson could give the bakery some lemons to make lemon squares out of.
"That is a great lemon," Sookie stated.
Jackson handed it to Delilah, "Try it, it's a Meyer."
Delilah tried the lemon. It was sour, but it was oddly great. "Wow. This is a great lemon, Jackson. Maybe you should give some to the bakery."
"Jackson grows fruit and then scares people with it," Lorelai explained to Jess. To Rory's open bedroom, Lorelai said, "Rory, they're here."
"Coming," Rory replied. She turned in her chair to greet the newcomer, "Hey."
"Hey," Jess greeted, walking right into Rory's bedroom.
Delilah followed after him.
"I'm Rory," Rory said.
"Yeah, I figured, since she's Lila," Jess said.
"Nice to meet you," Rory replied. Delilah sat on Rory's bed.
Jess looked at Rory's bookshelf, "Wow, aren't we hooked on phonics."
Rory replied, "Oh, I read a lot. Do you read?"
"Not much," Jess replied, takin a book off the shelf.
"I could loan that if you want," Rory said. "It's great."
"No thanks," Jess responded, putting the book down.
Rory replied, "Well, if you change your mind..."
Lorelai poked her head in, "Okay, we really need to get Jackson away from the lemons now, so we're moving the feast in the living room." She walked away.
"Be right there," Rory replied.
Jess moved a curtain aside and asked, "So, do these open?"
"Oh, yeah, you just have to unlatch them and then push," Rory explained.
"Great," replied Jess. "Shall we?"
Delilah was confused. Did he want to sneak out the window? "What?"
Rory nodded, "Yeah, what?"
"Bail," Jess replied.
"No," Rory replied.
Jess looked at Delilah, who shook her head. "I'd rather eat than leave."
Jess asked, "Why?"
"Because it's Tuesday night in Stars Hollow," Rory replied. "There's nowhere to bail to. The twenty-hour mini-mart just closed twenty minutes ago."
Delilah nodded.
"So we'll walk around or sit on a bench and stare at our shoes," Jess replied.
Delilah asked, "Why do you want to leave? Sookie makes great food."
"Because I don't want to be here," Jess told her.
Delilah tilted her head, "Then why are you here in Stars Hollow?"
"My mom sent me here," Jess replied.
Delilah nodded, "Oh. I get it. You got this the Screw the World mentality because your dad bailed and your mom would rather screw around than take care of you. Okay. Fantastic. So can you stick your jackass mentality up your ass for about an hour while we eat the food that Sookie made to welcome you? That would be great, thanks." She turned and walked out of Rory's room, grabbed a soda from the fridge and went into the living room.
Lorelai asked her, "Hey, where's Rory and Jess?"
"I left them in Rory's room," Delilah said, getting a plate to make.
Lorelai nodded, "Okay."
Rory eventually came in and got a plate.
Luke noticed something, "Hey, Rory, where's Jess?"
"He's getting a soda," Rory told him.
Lorelai handed Luke her plate, "Here."
Luke took it, "I'm sorry, you must've mistaken me for you."
Lorelai asked, "Ooh, too much?"
"Oh, I forgot the garlic bread," Sookie stated.
Lorelai said, "I'll get it."
Of course, after that, it was when everything went to hell when Lorelai and Luke started arguing before Luke left.
On Monday, Delilah went to Luke's diner to apologize on behalf of Lorelai and to apologize to Jess for what she said to him on Friday.
"Lila," Luke greeted her.
"Luke," Delilah replied. "I need three coffees and three Danishes." Luke looked at her. Delilah stared back. "It's for me, Matt, and Samantha." Luke looked out the window. "They really love Danish day." She added, "I'm sorry for what happened with my mom on Friday. She was trying to help..."
"I didn't need her help," Luke replied.
"I get that," Delilah replied. "She overstepped a line that she shouldn't have."
"And I don't need you apologizing for her behavior," Luke replied.
Delilah shrugged, "I had to apologize to Max over voicemail for her that whole ditching him road trip thing."
Luke looked surprised, "You were the one who left him a voicemail?"
"Yeah," Delilah replied. "That was probably something he didn't want to hear."
Jess, for some reason, hung out with them at school though he looked like he didn't want to be there. Delilah did apologize to him for what she had said, but he shrugged it off, apparently having heard worse things.
To make things more interesting, Jess tried to hit on Velvet, who gave him the most unimpressed look that Delilah had ever seen. Delilah needed to get Velvet to teach her that look. Jess then tried to hit on Erika, who made a strange face and said, "I'm a lesbian."
"Oh," Jess had replied looking even more awkward than Erika. "Sorry."
Erika shrugged, "Its okay."
Jess looked at Erika's outfit, "So, that dress...?"
"I made it myself," Erika replied. "I hope that person puts weed in the vents again so we'll get out of school early again."
"I heard that it was Margaret who did that," Velvet stated.
Rory dragged Delilah down to Doose's Market. So, Delilah got a few bags of chips and some flashcards for her club, because she needed to get a meeting started. In a way, she wasn't sure what she was thinking when she started the club, then she remembered that she was trying to get into Yale.
As they were leaving, Jess came up to them.
"Hey," Jess greeted.
"Hey yourself," Rory replied.
Jess asked, "What are you doing out here?"
Delilah had the weird feeling that it was directed at Rory.
"I needed something for school," Rory replied. "And Lila wanted chips and flashcards for her baking club. What about you?"
"Oh, yeah, same thing," Jess replied.
"I doubt you started a club," Delilah told him.
"Uh-huh," replied Rory, clearly not believing him. "So, that was quite a disappearing act you pulled the other night."
"Potlucks and Tupperware parties aren't really my thing," Jess said.
"Too cool for school, huh?" Rory replied.
Jess stated, "Yes, that is me." He was messing with a quarter.
Rory asked, "What are you doing?"
"Oh, this?" replied Jess. He held up the coin and did some kind of illusion with it, making it disappear. He showed spread fingers to show it wasn't between them. "Just another little disappearing act."
"Little tip?" started Rory.
Jess prompted, "Yeah?"
"If you ever want to speak to me again, don't pull that out of my ear," Rory stated.
Jess asked, "So I assume the nose is off limits too?"
Delilah had the suspicion that they were sort of flirting with each other.
"Any place you wouldn't naturally find a coin, let's leave it that way," Rory added.
Jess asked, "So, what are you doing now?"
"I have some homework to finish," Rory stated.
Jess looked at Delilah, "And you?"
"I was going to look over some starter recipes for my club," Delilah said. "Fran was nice to loan me the bakery so we can bake there."
"Okay, then, I'll leave you this last little trick," Jess stated. He pulled out a book out of his back pocket.
Rory said, "You bought a copy? I told you I'd lend you mine."
"It is yours," Jess replied.
"You stole my book," Rory accused.
"Nope, borrowed it," Jess replied.
"Okay, that's not called a trick," Rory stated. "That's called a felony."
"I just wanted to put some notes in the margins for you," Jess replied.
"What?" Rory took the book and looked through it. "You've read this before."
"About forty times," Jess replied.
"I thought you said you didn't read much," Rory replied.
"Well, what is much?" Jess replied with a shrug. "Goodnight Rory." He knocked his shoulder into Delilah's. Not in a mean way. Sort of like, 'see you later, bro' weird kind of way, "Later, Lila."
"Later, bro," Delilah replied as Jess walked away.
"Goodnight Dodger," Rory stated.
Jess stopped and asked, "Dodger?"
"Figure it out," Rory replied. She was still looking at Jess's annotations.
"Oliver Twist," replied Jess as they walked.
Rory stopped, smiled at him, and nodded.
Delilah grimaced a little because she didn't like where this was going.