"Do I need to kick his ass?"
--☆--☆--☆--
"Okay so here's what I'm thinking," Cassie announced as she walked into Rory's room.
"What are you doing?" Rory yelled at her. After their day full of errands Rory decided that she wanted to attend Madeline's party in Hartford. She of course convinced Cassie to go with her, but Cassie got distracted on the way back to her room. "You're supposed to be getting ready."
"We sneak up behind Dean on his way to work-"
"No!"
"I definitely want the first punch but you can throw a couple too," Cassie told her.
"Cassie, we're not going to punch or fight Dean," Rory told her sister.
"Why not? It'll be therapeutic and it's not like he can hit us back, that's assault," Cassie reminded her.
Rory let out a long and disappointed sigh as she brought her hand to her forehead. "Cassie, if you hit him that's still assault."
"No one's gonna arrest us, we're too pretty."
"Oh my god," Rory shook her head at her younger sister, "you're so gonna get arrested one day."
"As long as I look good in my mugshot," Cassie said with a smile. "We can put it on a Christmas card," Cassie added then, without a second thought, Rory threw a random shirt at her.
"Go get ready!"
"Fine," Cassie groaned then walked out of Rory's room to go back to her own.
Cassie walked over to her closet, searching through her clothes to find the right thing to wear. She had been to parties before but not a Chilton party. She assumed it wouldn't be like the Stars Hollow High parties, people wouldn't be in jeans and a shirt drinking cheap drinks in a small living room. No, the Chilton kids were rich, jeans and a shirt wouldn't cut it tonight.
The youngest Gilmore pulled out a blue dress that had little white flowers on it. She changed into the dress then walked out of her room into the shared bathroom to fix her hair. Cassie began running a brush through her hair when Lorelai walked into the bathroom.
"Don't you look nice," Lorelai smiled at her.
"You have to say that, you're my mom," Cassie shook her head at Lorelai.
"But you're my daughter, which means you have my genes. So really I'm complimenting myself," Lorelai reminded her with a pointed finger and Cassie just laughed quietly.
"So I'm helping your ego?"
"Absolutely yes."
"So if I do something bad..."
"Then my ego will be bruised," Lorelai said, a hint of confusion in her voice when she looked at her daughter.
"Then I guess you don't want to hear my plans to beat up Dean," Cassie told her nervously.
Lorelai closed her eyes for a moment, but she wasn't all that surprised Cassie was planning on messing with Dean. "That you get from your dad."
"Remind me to thank him," Cassie smiled but Lorelai shook her head at her daughter's chaotic side.
--☆--☆--☆--☆--☆--
Cassie didn't know exactly what to think when she, Rory, and Lane walked into the party. Well actually her first thought was, 'damn I wanna be rich', but after that her thoughts were pretty much a blur. She smiled nervously at her sister who was also eyeing the very large house.
There was music playing and people everywhere. It was seriously impressive.
"Wow," Lane was the first of three to speak, the Gilmores were still in awe. "My wedding won't be this big."
"Yeah," Rory smiled, her brain finally coming back to life.
"This is amazing! I can't believe people live here."
"This is Madeline's house," Rory told her best friend.
"Is this what your grandparents' house looks like?"
"They wish," Cassie told her.
"It's big, yeah, but it's not this Hearst Castle," Rory added.
The three girls continued walking through the crowd of people, their heads still turning to take in all the sights. "There should be a map, or a tour guide, or Robin Leach, or something," Lane told them.
"Hey Lane," Rory stopped walking so naturally Lane and Cassie did too. "Thanks for coming."
"Anytime."
"Oh my god, there's a pool table," Lane realized.
"And a DJ."
"It's like a teenage Sodom and Gomorrah," Lane said excitedly.
Cassie turned her head, spotting Sophie in the crowd. What she didn't expect was Louise, Madeline, and Paris by her side. "You came!" Madeline lifted her arms in the air when she saw the Gilmore twins in her house.
"Yeah," Rory said nervously.
"Who's watching the farm?" Louise asked them.
"Madeline your house is beautiful," Rory complimented.
"Thanks, it's my stepfather's."
"Her third stepfather," Sophie whispered to Cassie who in all honesty wasn't that surprised.
"So where is he?" Louise asked, her tone shifting from casual to nosy.
"My stepfather? He's in Japan."
"No, not your stepfather," Louise told her best friend before turning to look at Rory again. "Prince Charming?"
"He didn't come."
"Why?"
"His white horse was in the shop," Rory answered playfully.
Louise, not caring that Rory looked uncomfortable, continued to ask questions. "You guys didn't break up did you?"
"Hi, I'm Lane," The Kim girl spoke up.
"As in 'walk down a...'?"
"Yes exactly."
"Hi I'm Madeline," The dark haired girl waved with a bright smile as two guys approached them, one going behind Louise and the other behind Madeline.
"So when does the tour of the pool house start?"
"You've been in the pool house before," Madeline reminded them, a confused look on her face.
"Yes, but they haven't seen it at night, right?" Louise asked the guys.
"Right?"
"But-"
"Madeline, you are not confused. Think. Process. Focus," Louise told her and just like that it all clicked.
"Oh. Bye," She immediately started walking away, the guy following her.
"Later Paris."
"No glove, no love," Paris reminded her as she looked down at her watch.
"Lovely," Louise replied then walked away.
Paris looked up at the twins, "So I didn't think you were much of a party girl," She told Rory. "You maybe," She added looking at Cassie, who shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm not usually but I thought I might come by and check it out," Rory told her.
"Same exact people we see at school except now we get to see them dance," Paris told her as the group took a couple steps forward. "So where is your boyfriend?"
"We, um, we broke up," Rory told her, and Cassie gave her a confused look, she didn't expect Rory to tell Paris the truth.
"Oh. Well at least you had a boyfriend for a while," Paris muttered, looking down.
"So do you know, um, which way would lead us to some soda?" Rory asked her.
"Keep up because I'm not turning around," Paris answered then began walking away.
"We'll catch up," Sophie informed Rory as she grabbed Cassie's arm, keeping her from walking away. Rory nodded then followed behind Paris with Lane by her side. "They broke up?" Sophie asked Cassie as the two of them walked through the party.
"Yeah..."
"Why?" She asked, but Cassie didn't actually know the answer so she just shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know," Cassie told her. "I don't get it. I mean... Rory's perfect, she's the perfect girl. It doesn't make any sense."
"There's no such thing as the perfect girl," Sophie reminded her. "Besides you have nothing to worry about, you have Josh." Cassie looked down at the ground for a moment, a worried look appearing on her face. "What?"
"I know it isn't realistic to think he and I will stay together forever," Cassie began, "I mean we're only 16. But I hate thinking that one day he might not be in my life anymore. And if a guy like Dean could break up with a girl as amazing and as perfect as Rory, how do I stand a chance?"
Sophie stopped in her tracks, forcing Cassie to stop walking too. "No."
"What?"
"You're insane if you think Josh would ever break up with you," Sophie told her, looking her right in the eye so Cassie would know she's being serious. "And I'm not just saying that because I'm your friend. I'm saying this because I know Josh, better than most. I know what I'm talking about."
"Don't listen to her, she knows nothing," Josh informed his girlfriend as he appeared behind her. "Hi," He leaned around her shoulder, giving her a quick kiss.
"Hi," Cassie smiled, and just like that Josh managed to make her worries fade, for the moment.
"Trust me, I'm right," Sophie told him, of course he had no idea what they had been talking about before he arrived.
"Hi Josh," Summer greeted the tall boy in a flirty tone.
"Uh, hey," He smiled politely but didn't move away from Cassie. Summer continued walking and going to dance with a guy that wasn't Tristan.
"Don't you just love Summer?" Sophie asked, shaking her head at the girl.
"I thought she and Tristan were still in honeymoon mode," Cassie commented in confusion.
"That ended about ten minutes ago when we caught Summer in the bathroom with Austin," Josh informed the girls and they both shook their heads.
"No!" Cassie gasped. "God, everyone is on my fight list today," She added, shaking her head.
"Do I wanna know?" Josh asked.
"Dean broke up with Rory," Cassie told him.
Josh immediately stood up straighter, a look of anger and concern taking over his expression. "What? When? God, I knew that guy was a piece of shit," Josh shook his head. "Is Rory okay?"
"She'll be fine," Cassie answered for her sister. "She's just trying to push past it."
"I should talk to her," Josh announced.
"I don't think she wants to talk about it."
Josh shook his head. "I'm finding Rory."
"Josh-" Before Cassie could even try to stop him he was already gone. Cassie laughed quietly watching as Josh ran off in search of Rory. She was glad that Josh cared about Rory, and she knew that Rory liked Josh, even if she didn't admit it outloud.
"See," Sophie said with a smile. "He's never breaking up with you."
"He and Rory are friends, that has nothing to do with me," Cassie pointed out.
"For a girl with such a high gpa you sure are dumb," Sophie shook her head at her best friend. "Come on. You and me, dance floor," Sophie took Cassie's hand and dragged her off to dance.
Rory was walking around the party, she had just checked in with Lane who had found herself a date and she couldn't find her sister anywhere. With nothing else to do and no one around her, Rory decided to head to a quieter room. She sat down in a chair, pulling a book out of her bag, just as she was about to start reading two voices caused her to look up.
"Tristan stop it," Summer whined as she quickly walked away from her boyfriend.
"You're making me chase you around the whole party," Tristan reminded her, clearly annoyed.
"Just trying to have fun," She said with a shrug, clearly not caring about Tristan or his feelings.
Rory, still looking up from her book, wondered how this was happening to Tristan. He was Tristan Dugray. He could basically have any girl at the school, and the one girl he picked turned out to be the biggest jerk in the entire world.
"Okay, you won't talk to me, you won't dance with me, why the hell did you even come with me?" Tristan asked her.
"Stop yelling," Summer told him, but really she didn't care if he yelled. He could kick over a chair and she'd barely flinch. All she wanted was attention.
"Summer please," Tristan put his hand over hers, trying to stop her from walking away. "Can we just go?"
"No."
"Please," Tristan begged right as Josh walked into the room.
"No. I'm sick of fighting with you. I'm sick of hearing 'You're my girlfriend'," She told him.
Tristan looked around at the room, everyone had stopped mid activity to listen to the two of them fight. He didn't like it. "Could we possibly do this somewhere where a roomful of people aren't staring at us?"
"I think we should break up," Summer told him.
"Okay, I really want to go outside and talk about this," Tristan told her but Summer had already made her decision.
"Then go, bye," Summer replied then without letting him say another word she walked out the door. Tristan watched her leave but then was reminded of where he was. He looked around at the group of teenagers, his eyes landed on Rory who quickly glanced back down at her book. He shook his head then began walking away.
"Hey," Josh put his hand on Tristan's shoulder but the Dugray boy moved away from him.
"Don't," He told Josh then walked out of the room.
Josh let out a sigh but he didn't follow his best friend out of the room. He knew Tristan needed time to process and right now there was someone else the Dawson boy needed to check up on. He spotted Rory in the corner of the room with a book in her hand, Josh walked over to her, sitting down in the chair next to her.
"Hey," Josh said softly, causing Rory to look up from her book. She saw the look on his face and knew something was up, and she knew exactly what it was.
"She told you."
"Yeah," Josh nodded his head. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Rory told him. "You don't have to sit with me. Go have fun with Cassie."
"She's with Sophie," Josh told her, not budging from his seat. In fact he only got more comfortable. Rory shook her head at him, wondering why he felt the need to check in on her. "When?"
"Yesterday," She answered right away.
"Why?"
"He didn't want to be my boyfriend anymore," She told him, feeding him the same answer she gave everyone else.
Josh shook his head at her, not believing her answer. "Bullshit."
"Excuse me."
"You're lying," He told her.
Rory scoffed, her eyes filled with annoyance. "You barely know me. How would you know I'm lying?"
"Okay fine," He held his hands up. "Just tell me if I need to kick his ass," He waited for a second but Rory didn't answer. "Do I need to kick his ass?"
Rory smiled for a second, "You and Cassie really do belong together."
"Don't avoid my question," He replied but then a cocky smile appeared on his face. "And thank you."
"You don't need to kick his ass," Rory told him, and Josh nodded his head, the two of them smiling for a moment.
"I have a major problem!" Lane announced as she ran into the room finding Rory and Josh.
"What?" Rory asked, using a worried tone.
"Henry, the guy I've been dancing with?"
"Yeah?"
"Okay, so he's really good in school, he's going to be a doctor- pediatrician to be exact, his parents are extremely involved in their local church. He himself helps out at Sunday school. He speaks Korean fluently, he respects his parents and he's also really cute, very funny, and surprisingly interesting," Lane ranted and Josh accidentally let out a laugh.
"Lane, I'm sorry, but I'm totally failing to see the problem," Rory told her, sounding much less worried than she did a second ago.
"I'm falling for a guy my parents would approve of!" Lane yelled.
"That's a problem, why?" Josh whispered to Rory.
"Her mom is Mrs. Kim," Rory told him and the look Josh gave Lane after was full of condolences. He had only met the women for a moment, but damn it was not a good moment.
"They'd love him, they'd go crazy! There'd be dancing in the Kim house! Dancing!"
"Really?" Rory asked.
"Followed by a lot of praying but initially there'd be dancing. This is horrible. This can't happen. I have to stop it. We have to go," Lane snapped her fingers, wanting to run away.
"But uh-"
"No now!" Lane yelled. "You need to grab your stuff, and grabb Cassie, we gotta go."
"Wait wha-" Josh stood up following them, he wasn't ready for his girlfriend to leave yet. He barely got to spend time with her.
"Hey!" Henry smiled when he found Lane.
"Ask her to dance again," Josh whispered to Henry before running off to find Cassie.
Josh walked through the crowd of dancers, smiling when he found his girlfriend and her best friend standing at the edge of the crowd. Sophie twirled Cassie around, the two of them laughing hysterically when they nearly tripped over each other.
"You two should never dance in public again," Josh informed them, making the two of them look over at him.
"I'll have you know we are great dancers," Sophie told him with a pointed finger. "You just need to have your eyes checked."
"My eyes are fine," He responded then reached his hand out pulling Cassie away from Sophie and towards him.
"You guys are too cute, it's nauseating," Sophie shook her head then walked away from them without another word being said.
"You find Rory?" Cassie asked as she and Josh began to slow dance.
"I did," He nodded.
Cassie looked up at him, waiting for him to continue but he didn't say anything else. "Well... what'd she say?"
"That's between me and Rory," He told her, smiling when he saw the disbelief on her face.
"You guys have secrets now?" She asked him.
Josh shrugged his shoulders trying not to laugh. He smiled down at Cassie then pulled her closer to him, his lips meeting hers. His hand held the side of her face, his thumb stroking her chin lightly. Josh loved kissing Cassie, in fact it was favorite thing to do.
The two of them smiled as they pulled away from each other and they were able to keep dancing for another couple of minutes. That was until Rory came running up to them.
"Rory?" Cassie pulled herself away from Josh when she saw her sister.
Rory had tears in her eyes and she looked freak out. It was not a state anyone would want to be in. "We have to go."
"Okay, okay, let's go," Cassie nodded her head, she glanced up at Josh who also looked concerned.
"Call me when you get home," Josh told Cassie and she nodded then ran after Rory who went to find Lane.
Both Cassie and Lane were worried, Rory refused to say what happened and didn't say anything the entire ride back to Stars Hollow. Cassie drove, with Rory in the front seat. They dropped Lane off at her house, the three of them exchanging quick goodbyes before Cassie drove Rory home.
When they got into the house Rory went straight to her room, Cassie following behind her. "Rory..."
"I have to get out of this dress," She told her, going to her dresser to grab her pajamas.
"Rory," Cassie repeated, she put her hand on Rory's shoulder. Both of them were silent for a moment, until Rory turned around to look at Cassie. There were tears in her eyes and she looked like she had just been punched in the stomach.
"I miss him," Rory admitted, but then she scoffed lightly shaking her head. "It's been a day and I already miss him."
"It's okay to miss him, he was your first boyfriend," Cassie told her, but really she had no idea how Rory was feeling. When Cassie broke up with her first boyfriend the next thing that happened was recess. She's never had a boyfriend that she actually had real feelings for, until Josh.
"I don't want to talk about it," Rory replied.
"Okay," Cassie nodded. "Rocky road or mint chip?"
"What?"
"Do you want Rocky Road or mint chip?" Cassie asked her.Rory just shrugged her shoulders, not caring which flavor they ate. "Both then," Cassie walked out of Rory's room, allowing her to change into her pajamas while she grabbed the ice cream.
When Rory came out of her room the two of them sat on the couch with two buckets of ice cream in between. Rory leaned her head on Cassie's shoulder, the two not saying anything while Rory cried quietly.
A few minutes had passed when Lorelai walked into the house. She looked at her daughters, the smile that had been on her face falling.
Rory sat up, looking over at her mom. "I'm ready to wallow now."
author's note: so sorry this took so long. I promise I'll try to be more frequent with my uploads.