𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 . . . 𝘝𝘢𝘯 𝘎𝘰𝘨𝘩 𝘝𝘚 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢 𝘒𝘢𝘩𝘭𝘰
❝ Hm, so he's rich then? ❞
"CHARLIE WAKE UP, our house is falling down."
"I think I would know if our house is falling down, Rory," Charlie grumbled rolling over in her bed to face her sister, who looked quite worried.
"Mom's foot when through the porch this morning," Rory began to explain, though Charlie never asked, "And so we called Kirk and he said we have termites, and the whole structural integrity of the house it terrible, and it's going to cost like $15,000 to fix."
"So, we have Tuesday and Friday night dinners."
"Charlie!"
"Look, Kirk is probably just being melodramatic," Charlie sighed, pushing herself up so she was sitting, "I'm sure it's not as bad as he's making it seem."
"You don't think our house is gonna fall down?"
"I don't think our house is gonna fall down."
"Mom, is the house gonna fall down?" Lorelai choked on her coffee at Charlie's genuinely panicked face.
"No, no," The woman laughed, "I'm gonna fix it, everything's gonna be fine, Crap Shack's not going anywhere."
"I can pitch in you know," Charlie spoke quietly, "I've been saving up from working at Luke's--"
"That's the dream fund," Lorelai frowned, "For Yale, or New York, or France, or whatever dream you have that hour."
"Crap Shack's more important than Greece."
"It's Greece today?" Lorelai nodded, "I was thinking Scotland, the men wear those funny little skirts—"
"Mom."
"I'm going to figure it out," Her mother sighed, offering a smile, "Now, get to Luke's, you promised him a shift."
↬
"No."
"Just agree with me!"
"You cannot compare The Beatles to anyone— especially not Bowie, they aren't on the same playing field!"
"You're just mad cause I'm right," Dean laughed at Charlie's irritated expression.
Despite their reconciliation, Charlie wasn't too keen on getting comfortable with Jess right away. She'd refused to jump the gun on anything with him ever again, never prepared to hear him shoot her down— so, Charlie did the rational thing. She turned back to her life before Jess Mariano.
Hanging out at Liam's house, chatting with Dean at work while attempting to squeeze homework in; Charlie was reverting to the basics.
"It's like comparing Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo."
"Now you're exaggerating," Dean said, gasping when Charlie shoved him lightly, "Woah! No need to get violent."
"Whatever," The girl rolled her eyes, "How's your project going?"
"Fine," Dean shrugged, leaning his arm on the counter, "Lindsay's nice, I only have like a paragraph though. Should I even ask how yours is?"
As if on que, Jess sauntered down and right up to Dean. The two stared at each other for a moment, Charlie looked between them waiting for something to happen.
"Can I help you?"
"You're in my seat."
Dean looked to Charlie as if asking 'can you believe this guy?' to which she simply shrugged. "There's like five empty seats, dude."
"It's still my seat, dude," Jess drawled out.
"Why don't you find another girl to follow around like a lost puppy?" Dean snapped, "Why is it my girlfriend and her sister?"
Charlie looked up at Jess in confusion, but he was focused on Dean, "I don't follow your girlfriend around, just get outta my seat."
"Fine," Dean yelled, the two had grasped the attention of the diner's occupants, "Just stay away from both of them." The boy began walking away to find another seat, only to realize Charlie wasn't behind him, "Charlie?"
"I'll talk to you later, Dean," Charlie mumbled, grabbing a pad of paper and slipping a pen behind her ear. When did life get so complicated? To the point that she couldn't do her job without a fight breaking out around her.
"Hey, Gilmore."
"Not in the mood, Mariano."
↬
"Wake up." Charlie groaned, feeling a thud on her bed. "Wake up."
"What's going on?" Rory mumbled from her own bed.
"Mom—"
"I can hear them chewing."
"Who?"
"The termites." Charlie peeked on eye open, only to see her mother was deadly serious, "I hear them, they're everywhere, nibbling and eating and swallowing."
"You're insane," The girl decided, letting her head hit the pillow again.
"I can't sleep here." Both girls asked their mother what she was talking about, "We have to go to Sookie's."
"You're kidding, right?" Charlie questioned, "Like when you told me Rory blew out all the candles on both our cakes?"
"No, that really happened."
"It's better for everyone if we pretend it didn't."
"It's 11 at night," Rory frowned.
"Yeah here, but somewhere in the world it's still Miller time."
Charlie fell asleep as her mother and sister conversed, only to be woken up minutes later. The twins bundled up in coats and met their mother out front, and within thirty minutes the trio were walking through the sleepy town.
"Ugh, I feel like they're crawling all over me."
"I know," Lorelai sympathized, "With their creepy little fangy teeth and their tail things and their pointy tentacles."
"Do you have any idea what a termite looks like?" Charlie questioned. Lorelai and Rory realized she was falling behind and slowed down, linking their arms with either one of hers.
"Hey, unless they're wearing a foundation repair guy t-shirt, I don't really care." Lorelai looked to her oldest daughter, "We're almost there, hon."
"Are you sure Sookie was up?"
"Yeah, she answered the phone," Lorelai responded, admitting it took 20 or 30 rings for her to pick up.
"Mom, she was sleeping."
"So was I," Charlie grumbled as they walked up the steps to Sookie's front porch.
"No, no," Lorelai waved off, "She's just deaf in one ear."
"Since when?"
"Now." Lorelai rung the doorbell. "You have to be deaf in one ear not to hear the phone ring 20 or 30 times."
"There they are," Sookie greeted with unusual enthusiasm, "My little termite whisperers."
"Hey, Sookie, sorry to call so late."
"And so incessantly," Rory added.
"I'm just sorry," Charlie sighed, flopping her head on her sister's shoulder.
Sookie ushered them all in, going on about how this was like a slumber party. After her list of things to do, Lorelai reminded her it was midnight. Sookie agreed they'd just do milkshakes, but both women gave Charlie their approval to go to sleep right then.
↬
"When are you—"
"If your next words are 'tenting' or 'moving' this pen is going where the sun doesn't shine," Charlie threatened Luke, flashing the sparkly purple pen.
"Taking your break?" Luke finished with a deadpan look, "People are really on your case about the termites?"
"I might actually kill Taylor," Charlie informed, "This town is starting to get on my last nerve."
"So leave," Jess smirked, emerging from the staircase, "We could go to California, New York, Florida, maybe go international if you're feeling lucky—"
"Here's a tip: don't talk about running away right in front of your guardian," Luke stated monotonously.
"You're right," Jess grinned, "C'mon Charlie, let's go upstairs—"
"You are not taking her upstairs!" Luke snapped.
And while poor Jess wanted to further this joke, though perhaps it had some underlying tones of honesty, a wide grim spread across Charlie's face as she saw a puff of brown hair bob around the windows of Luke's.
All thoughts left instantly as she dropped her apron, pen, and paper of the counter.
"Gotta go I'm working this week, see you around, bye, guys!" Luke and Jess stopped their argument to watch the Gilmore girl rush out of the diner with her coat in her hand.
"Was that weird?"
"That was Charlie."
"You're here!" Charlie shouted, quite literally jumping onto Finn, who wasn't prepared for the hug at all, but reciprocated quickly, "Where's Tweedledum?"
"Colin couldn't make it," Finn explained, leaving an arm around the girl's shoulders as they began walking. "I'm staying in the states through the new year though, so I guess you're stuck with me."
"You're not so bad."
"Are you flirting with me?" Finn grinned down at her, "Oh, everything is better in America."
"I wasn't flirting," Charlie laughed, hitting his chest lightly, "So, where are you staying?"
"A friend's house, lives in New York." Charlie nodded. "Actually, he'd liked to meet you! His parents know your. . . grandparents, I believe."
"Hm, so he's rich then?"
"Aren't we all, Lottie?"
( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
ok these next few chapters
are genuinely some of my favs in
the whole book-- ALSO heads up,
CHERISH THE FINNEGAN,
CHARLIE, COLIN, AND LOGAN
FRIENDSHIP WHILE YOU CAN
because the next time you'll see
this much of them will be
book 2 (yes Charlie still talks
to them, but mostly Finnover the phone)!!