STARS HOLLOW
It was nighttime in Stars Hollow and the townspeople were gathered for a town meeting in Miss Patty's dance studio. There was chatter among the people at Taylor complained to Miss Patty about people not listening to him. Harper sat beside Luke and Nate sat next to Harper with his arm on her chair. She laid her head on his arms and shut her eyes, feeling tired from the all day only to be kept from sleep and hear Taylor's voice screeching.
"No one is listening to me." Taylor complains.
"Oh, Taylor, calm down." Miss Patty says.
"I can't calm down, I'm being persecuted." Taylor snaps.
"I promise that we hear you."
"We've been hearing you for 20 minutes." Harper opens one eyes and saw Andrew stood up frustrated at the fact that his time was being wasted. She shut it again and listened.
"Well, excuse me, Andrew, but some of us have businesses to run that don't involve peddling drug paraphernalia to kids." Taylor snaps at Andrew.
"It was a lava lamp, Taylor." Andrew defends himself. Nate and Harper watch the entertaining scene play out.
"There is no use for a lava lamp unless you're on drugs." Taylor says.
"Hey, I have a lava lamp." Nate mentions to Taylor. Taylor looks at him straight in the eye.
"My point exactly." Taylor says before looking back at Miss Patty. Nate's jaw drops, feeling called out for something that wasn't true. When he looked to Harper for support, he found her trying to keep in her laughter. Nate pouted and poked her side to stop her from laughing at him.
"Oh, for crying out loud." Andrew mutters but sits down.
"Now we've already agreed to look into your accusations, let's just move on..." Miss Patty says before moving out of the way to sit and allow Harry, the mayor of Stars Hollow, to speak out.
"I have been mayor of this fine town for a long time. I tend to think of all of you as my children-"
"More like grandpa." Nate interrupts, not even trying to hide it. Everyone around that heard let out a laugh. Harry was not pleased and pointed a finger.
"Unfortunately, sometimes children have to be disciplined." He looks directly at Nate when saying it and Nate shrugs. Harry looks back to the others. "Now I'm going to say something and I'm only gonna say it once. . .we have leash laws, people. Rover will not leash himself."
Harper yawns and rubs her tired eyes, having being dragged here by Luke who said, "If I have to go through these useless town meeting with Taylor complaining the entire time about everything, than you are come with". Harper moved her head to leans Nate's shoulder and immediately felt him stiffen up. She opens her eyes and looks at him in question, but Nate didn't look at her, but she did catch the faint red on his cheeks.
"...I would like to now move on to something of even greater importance. As you all know, this coming Friday is the anniversary of the legendary Battle of Stars Hollow." Everyone but Luke applause. Harper saw his eyes roll in annoyance of this "anniversary".
"...Penny will be circulating a sign up sheet for those of you who would like to participate in the reenactment of foresaid battle." Harper saw Luke shaking his head and crossing him arms, he was getting rattled up. Nate tapped her shoulder and held out a bag of gummy bears.
"The real show is about to start." Nate whispers. Harper stares at him in awe and shakes her head.
"You brought food to watch my dad explode?" Harper asks. Nate's face gave it away.
"Of course, why do you think I always go with you to the town meeting on this particular day?" Nate said rhetorically before popping a gummy bear in his mouth. Harper rolls her eyes, but nonetheless takes a gummy.
"All right -- It was a frigid November night, some 224 years ago. The brave Stars Hollow militia stood in wait for the Red Coats."
"He's adjusting the cap." Harper heard Rory say. Luke was indeed adjusting his baseball cap.
"Tired and hungry, twelve proud men took their positions in the town's square, braving the elements and imminent death in their valiant efforts -" Luke jumps up out of his seat, making Harper jump in her seat in surprise. Nate places his arm around her should and hid his laugh from behind Harper
"Oh, for God's Sake, do we have to go through this every damn year!" Luke shouts. Harper heard Nate let out a laugh and elbowed his gut hard.
"Yes!" Harper heard Lorelai say proudly.
"And the urge wins by a long shot!" Rory adds.
"I thought we were here to discuss town issues." Luke says seriously, ignoring the Gilmores after clearly hearing their comments.
"This is a town issue." Taylor butts in.
"Excuse me, who's talking?" Harry asks, removing his glasses.
"It's me, Harry, Luke. You've known me since I was 5 years old."
"Oh, Luke, yes. Sit down." Harry says and puts his glasses back on. "Now as I was saying - twelve heroic men assembled with guns drawn ready to meet their maker --" Luke did sit back down, but jumps back up.
"What are you talking about? Twelve guys stood in a row all night." Luke interrupts.
"-Waiting for the Red Coats." Harry continues, trying to ignore Luke. Luke did not give up.
"Who never showed!
"Now just a-" Harry calls.
"Twelve guys stood in a row all night waiting for an enemy that never showed. They got stood up. They should've been wearing prom dresses." Luke says. His last comment made the people laugh, along with Harper and Nate.
"I've had just about enough of this." Taylor says standing for his seat.
"Sit down, Taylor." Harper pipes in. Taylor glares at Harper.
"Menace." Taylor calls Harper.
"Suck up." Luke calls Taylor.
"Loud mouth!" Harper says after.
"Five bucks says somebody ends up in a headlock." Lorelai spoke.
"You're on!" Rory says.
"Have any of you ever considered the fact that you're glorifying a war we fought so we could keep land that we stole?" Luke asks, giving good points that many around him agreed on.
"If you don't like it here in America, why don't you go stand in line for toilet paper in the USSR!" Harry snaps.
"There is no more USSR, Harry." Luke told him. Luke and Harry continued to argue with each other. Harper shakes her head at the unnecessary fight playing out in front of her.
"Why do I even come to these things?" Harper asks herself. Nate took it upon himself to answer for her.
"It's free entertainment." Nate says with a laugh that earned him another elbowing but to the chest.
"Shut up." But Harper smiles with him and laughs as well.
_______________________________________
Rory, Lane, and Harper entered the Independence Inn. Lane was dressed in her band uniform and spoke nonstop as Harper was the only one listening and Rory was business looking for her book, not listening.
"I just can't believe it. I mean, I sat next to him at practice for months, and then one day I look over and it's Rich. Rich Bloomingfeld." Lane gushes. Rory looks up from her bag.
"Where is my chemistry book? I had it at your house yesterday, didn't I?" Rory asks, ignoring Lane's gushing. Lane frowns.
"Rory, focus, please." Lane says.
"I'm sorry. I just can't find my book." Rory rummaged through her bag. Lorelai saw the three 16 year olds and walked over.
"Hey babe. Little Danes. Sergeant pepper." Lorelai greets them.
"Mom, do you know where my..." Rory asks, but didn't get to finish when Lorelai interrupted.
"Big scary chemistry book is? Behind the desk." Lorelai points out.
"Oh, thank God." Rory turns and goes to get the book, Lorelai glances over Lane's band outfit.
"Wow." She breathes out
"Yeah." Lane agrees. Harper flicks at the feather in Lane's hat in boredom. Rory returns with the book and zipped her bag shut.
"So, is Sookie in the kitchen?" Rory asks her mom.
"And there she'll stay." Lorelai said before walking away. Rory looks back over to Lane and Harper.
"Okay, so where were we?" Rory asks, giving Lane her attention
"Just that Lane met her soulmate." Harper teases, making Lane blush and grin the Cheshire cat way.
"Right, Rich Bloomingfeld." Rory reminds before her face turned curious. "Does he still wear the Star Trek shirt?"
They entered through the kitchen doors and Rory clings her books to her chest.
"Hey Sookie." Rory greets.
"Hey kitty cats. Cinnamon buns are over there." Sookie says.
"Don't mind if I do, I'm starving." Sookie hands Harper a napkin and she heads over to the fresh cinnamon buns. Harper grabs one and held it in her mouth to eat it at the moment while she piles a few more on the napkin for later.
"Do you have any of those rocky road cookies that you made yesterday?" Rory asks Sookie.
"I can scrounge some up. Lane, you need a bag?" Sookie offers.
"No, thank you." Lane answers, denying the cookies. Harper returned to their side and munched on the cinnamon bun.
"What about you, Harper?" Sookie asks.
"No thanks to rocky road, but do you have any more white chocolate macadamia nut cookies? Nate likes those." Harper asks. Sookie wiggles her brows at the Rory and Lane.
"I sure do. Be back in a jiffy." Sookie walks away to get the cookies. Rory and Lane giggle to each other softly. Harper looks at them with a questioning look.
"What?" Harper asks. Rory looks at Lane and smiles.
" 'Nate likes the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. When he sees that I brought them just for him, he'll love me even more.' " Rory says in a mimicking way. Harper crosses her arms unimpressed.
" 'Nate is soooo dreamy. One day we'll get married and I'll make him all the cookies he wants.' " Lane joins in before both girls break out in laughter. Harper did not join them.
"Oh shut up. He's helping me at the diner tonight and this is my way of thanking him." Harper explains.
"Just give him a kiss, that'll be thanks enough." Rory teases, earning her nudge in the ribs. Rory let out a noise of protest. "We're only teasing. You do the same to me!"
"That's because you and Dean are easy to tease about ." Now it was Harper's turn to tease and started making kissing noises. Lane joins and Rory's pale cheeks turn a blushing pink.
"Stop that." Rory says, covering her face in embarrassment. Lane and Harper stop their teasing and laugh.
"So, anyhow, Rich has this amazing hair." Lane tries to change the subject. Harper didn't say anything else and wanted to focus of Lane.
"Really?" Rory asks.
"Oh my God, it's so perfect. It's thick but it's not too thick, and it's got really good natural wave, so he probably uses way less product than most guys." Lane gushes out. Harper laughs. Rory glances away but looks back quickly.
"Always a plus." Rory adds. "Hey, what time is it?"
"I don't know." Lane answers, still giddy about the thought of Rich Bloomingfeld.
"I have to get to the bus stop. Dean's meeting me there." Rory mentions. In all honest, Harper was getting sick of hearing Dean's name being said. Dean this, Dean that. It was starting to annoy Harper and she saw the way it made Lane feel.
"But I'm trying to talk to you about this." Lane loses her smile and replace it with a frown.
"I know, we'll talk on the way." Rory says and turns just as Sookie returns. She hands Rory and Harper each a bag of cookies.
"Here you go."
"Thank you, Sookie." Harper and Rory thank the chef together. Rory holds the bag into her books and hold them close, but Harper opens hers and takes a cookie out. Rory and Lane look at her.
"What? They're not all for him." Harper exclaims and takes a bite of the cookie. Lorelai enter the kitchen.
"Hey, sweets. I have a locksmith coming to the house today like 5-ish, and I don't know how long it'll take, so will you tell Grandma and Grandpa that I'm gonna be late, and that I'm having Satan's baby. You pick the order." Lorelai says. Harper takes another bite and hold back a chuckle.
"I'll relay the time message but I'm leaving the rest up to you." Rory says. Lorelai plucks the bag of cookies from Rory.
"What is this? You hate rocky road cookies." Lorelai informs.
"I do not." Rory lies/denies, taking the bag back.
"Oh, I'm sorry. That must be my other daughter, Schmory."
"We're leaving now." Rory informs and goes to get out quickly, but Lorelai hold her back and wraps an arm around her to keep her there..
"Wait a minute. I know who likes rocky road cookies."
"Who?" Sookie asks, squinting her eyes in curiosity.
"Dean. They're for Dean." Lorelai says with a teasing smile.
"She's bringing baked goods to a boy. Wow, serious!" Sookie smiles brightly. Lane gave a fake smile.
"Here Dean, these cookies are for you, 'cause you're keen." Lorelai says with a high-pitched voice
"Stop." Rory says, hoping it would end, but knowing Lorelai, no.
"Rory's in love!"
"Love, love, love, Dean, Dean, Dean!"
"Cookies for the love and the Dean and the cookies for the love and the Dean and the cookies for the love and the . . ." Rory quickly walked out of the kitchen with Lane and Harper following. Lorelai and Sookie sang higher as they walked away. "Dean and the love and the Dean and the love and the Dean and the love. . ."
_______________________________________
Harper, Rory, and Lane walk toward the bus stop. Lane continued on about Rich Bloomingfeld. "I just can't believe it. I mean, I've known him since the sixth grade, but suddenly he's different. He's not gangly anymore. You remember how gangly he was?"
"Like Shaggy from Scooby Doo, but with proper vocab." Harper mentions. Lane smiles and turns to Rory for her to say something. Rory looks up from for textbook.
"I'm sorry-what?"
"You're not listening to me." Lane says. Harper saw how it made her upset. Rory shuts her book.
"I am, I'm sorry. I just couldn't find my bookmark. Okay, go ahead."
"Okay, here are the problems facing the whole Bloomingfeld-Kim situation."
"One, hyphenation would be a pain." Rory jokes. Harper hides back her chuckle.
"Two, he's my band partner. Romance would be completely awkward."
"Don't wanna pull a Stevie Nicks-Lindsey Buckingham." Harper replies.
"Exactly! Three, he's never even looked at me like I'm a girl or something resembling one." The three sit on a bench as they wait for Rory's bus.
"He sees you as a parrot, then?" Harper asks. Lane sighs.
"At this point, probably. Four, there's no way I could convince my parents he was Korean. But I can't help it, I'm obsessed." Lane puts on a bright smile. "Did I tell you about his hair?"
"It's on his head, right?" Rory asks. Suddenly from behind the bench, Dean leans in between the Rory and Lane.
"Hi." Dean greets Rory first.
"Hi." Rory smiles at him. Dean turns to Lane and Harper.
"Harper. Lane."
"Dean." The girls say at the same time. Dean looks at Lane's hat for a moment.
"Nice hat." Harper couldn't tell if he was being snarky or not, but either way she didn't like the way he said it. Dean sits on the bench and hands Rory a book. "Here."
"Oh, how'd you like it?" Rory asks, giving him her full attention. Harper saw Lane shrink back in sadness. She places a hand on her shoulder and gives it a squeeze.
"Well, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Dean says. Rory smiles.
"Aha! You liked it, you liked Jane Austen. I knew you would." Rory turns to Lane and Harper. "Lane, Dean likes Jane Austen. Harp-"
"I get it, Jane Austen. Woohoo." Harper says, uninterested.
"Wow, who would've thought." Lane replies.
"I told him he would, but he was all, 'Forget Jane Austen, you have to read Hunter Thompson.'" Rory mimics Dean.
"You do have to read Hunter Thompson."
"Not as much as you needed to read Jane Austen." Lane looked down, uncomfortable and felt ignored.
"Yeah, yeah. Hey, what's that?" He picks up the bag of cookies.
"Just some cookies." Rory shrugs off as if she didn't bring them for him purposely.
"Rocky road."
"Yeah."
"Wow, she brings me cookies. How can I repay her?" Dean asks himself.
"How about a little Charlotte Bronte?" Rory asks him with an eyebrow raises.
"How about something else?" Dean says before leaning in and kisses her. Harper's nose scrunches.
"Okay, this is getting gross. I'm getting out of here before I'm late for class." Harper stands up and fixes her bag.
"Yeah, me too. I am gonna be late for homeroom, and I have that perfect attendance certificate in my sights." Lane says.
"See you later." Rory says to them both.
"Yeah, see ya." Harper waves goodbye and walks with Lane to school. Lane looks down at the ground and didn't speak. Harper nudges Lane with her shoulder.
"Don't take it personal, Lane. Rory's just..." Harper trails off, not knowing what to say.
"In love?" Lane asks.
"I... don't know. But I would hardly call that love, to be honest." Harper replies. Lane nods but smiles at Harper.
"At least you listened." Lane says happily. Harper smiles back.
"Always, Lane. You always have me to talk to."
"That's good."
"Hello ladies!" A voice calls, greeting them. Nate walks over and wraps an arm around their shoulders.
"Hi Nate." Lane greets. Nate's eyes widen.
"You're not seriously wearing that all day, are you?" Nate asks, eyeing Lane's band outfit. Harper elbows Nate in the chest. "Hey, what was that for?"
"Don't be rude."
"I'm not, did you not hear the weather for tonight? Snowstorm is about to hit Hartford, probably here too." Harper pulls out the cookies and waves them in front of Nate's face, hoping it would get them to shut him up for a while. Nate looks away from Lane and gasps. "Are those..."
"White chocolate macadamia nut? Yes, they are." Nate takes the bag and opens them to take one and eat.
"This is why you're my favorite!" Nate exclaims with a mouth of cookies.
"Yeah, I know." Harper waves off but laughs eventually. The three enter the school.
_______________________________________
It was nighttime and back at the diner, Harper handed over plates to customers as Nate refilled empty cups. Nate was right. The snow came down on Stars Hollow. It made the town look beautiful. Harper saw the reenactors walk pass the window. She saw Harry, Kirk, Taylor, the only paramedic with a valid license. She also saw what they were wearing and, like every year, it was going to be a long cold night for them. Harper wanted to go outside, even if it was for a minute, just to smell the frosty air. She liked the snow, it made everything look magical.
She put down the last plate in her hand for the customer and told them to enjoy. Nate walks up from behind her and slings his arm around her shoulder.
"Diner's getting a bit quiet. How about we take a walk out?" Nate offers. He knew she favored the snow and it was a perfect opportunity to spend more time with her alone. Harper pushes his arm off and walks away behind the counter.
"I shouldn't. Don't want to leave my dad alone to do everything."
"He won't be alone, Cesar's in the kitchen." Nate says. Nate looks out the window and points. "There he is right now, I'll go ask him for a break."
Harper shakes her head, but stops to see who her dad was talking to. She quickly runs around the counter and prevents Nate from leaving. She grabs his hand and pulls him back. "Hold up, stop!"
Nate looks down at their hands and raises a brow. "What?"
"He's talking to Lorelai. Do not disturb them." Harper whispers. Nate takes a look out the window to see Lorelai and Luke talked.
"Oh, I see now." Nate nods and takes the opportunity to pull Harper to his chest. "Do you think he'll ever have the guts to ask her out?"
"I hope so. I want to see him happy." Harper smiles to herself. They stayed there for a moment before Harper pulled away quickly. The door opens with a bell chime and Luke walks in content from talking to Lorelai. Nate just forward immediately.
"Hey, is it cool if Harper and I take a break?" Nate asks. Harper jumps in as well.
"It's alright if not, dad. I don't want to leave you alone with all the work."
"No, no you ahead. I-I got it all handled here." Luke waves on. Harper looks at him to make sure he was sure before Nate grabs her hand and drags her out. He pulled her out the door and the cold breeze hit Harper's face. Nate took the scarf he grabbed before leave, wrapping it around Harper to keep her warm.
"Thanks..." Harper says as they walk. They crossed the street and made their way to the gazebo. The fairy lights were on and Harper smiles at how beautiful it looks. Nate stopped at the steps, allowing Harper to stand in the center of the gazebo and look around. He watched how beautiful she looked. A smile crept on his face and he joined her.
"So, what do you wanna do? Build a snowman, have a snowball fight?" Nate asks with a sly look on his face. His hands suspiciously hidden behind him as he inched closer to Harper.
"As tempting as that sounds, I'll pass. I just wanna walk around for a bit." Harper suggested. Nate gives a silent nod and shuts his eyes.
"You're right. Wait -you have something in your hair..." Nate reached over as if to pick something off Harper's head. Harper felt a cold smack and snow fell from the top of her head. She turned to Nate and saw a grin on his face. "You have a bit of snow in your hair."
"Nate! It's cold!" Harper exclaims, brushing the snow off. Nate shrugs and smiles at his victory. Harper didn't like his response and bent down to grab a handful of snow. "Let's see how you like it."She said before shoved the snow into his face.
This means war. Nate thought. He gives Harper a smile before picking her up without another thought. Harper let out a yelp in surprise.
"Nate, what are you doing?" Harper asks in panic. Nate walks down of the steps of the gazebo.
"Don't worry 'bout it, sweetheart. I'mma just step you down here." Nate dropped Harper gently into a pile of shoveled snow. By every passing minute, the snow was coming down hard and covering the path. Harper shivered and trying to stand, but keep on getting stuck deeper.
"Come on, Nate! I'm cold!" Harper says holding out her hand for Nate to help her up. Nate reached over to grab her hand, but Harper had other plans. She grabbed his arm and pulled him next to her into the snow. Nate landed face first, making Harper laugh.
"That's playing dirty." Nate said wiping snow off his face. Harper grabbed a handful of snow and smacked it on the top of his head just like Nate did to her.
"You started it, I'm just finishing it." Harper says. She got out of the snow and brushed it off her clothes. Nate turns around and has his hand held out. Harper rolls her eyes but helps him up anyways.
"We're not done yet. This is war and I declare it on you." Nate spoke; bending down to pick up snow. "Come on, then. Turn around, walk 6 steps and fire you snowballs. I'll be fighting for my honor." Harper could see he was joking, but he still held the snowball and fully prepared to throw it.
Harper indulged him, picked up some snow and walks. Before she could take her fourth step, a snowball hit her back. Harper turns around quickly and chucked her snowball at Nate, hitting him in the stomach. Thus, a snowball fight between them broke out. Nate broke out into a run and Harper chased after him. They crossed the street, making sure not to get hit by cars, but almost ran into Lorelai and an unknown stranger.
"Sorry, Lorelai." Nate laughs, stepping aside to allow the adults to pass.
"Enjoying the snow?" Lorelai asked the teenagers.
"Just for a while before going back to the diner." Harper responds. Nate agrees with her. The two teens eyed the stranger, never before seeing him in Stars Hollow. Lorelai took notice and smiles.
"I'll see you two later then. My friend and I are about to watch a movie." Lorelai explains.The stranger smiles at Lorelai, who smiled back. The man, unknown to the teens as Rory's teacher from Chilton, smiles and nods at them before being dragged away by Lorelai. Nate looks at Harper and Harper back at Nate.
"Who was that?" Nate asks, never seen or heard of the stranger. They would have heard from Miss. Patty or Babette if there was a new resident in Stars Hollow, for sure.
"No clue." Harper says. She looks away and hooks her arm with Nate. "Let's go..."
She pulled him away to enjoy a few minutes of a peaceful walk.
_______________________________________
An hour later, Harper and Nate were back at the diner. It started to calm down more because of how later it was getting, along with the heavy snow falling. The reenactors from earlier were standing out in the cold snow. Harper watched through the window next to her dad. The Danes saw how much the men were shivering. Luke turns away and walks behind the counter to grab the coffee pot and disposable cups.
Luke grabs the tray and walks out towards the reenactors. Harper grabs a second tray and piles it with muffins.
"Where're you going?" Nate asks, wiping down a table.
"Can you heat up a pot of milk and a pot of water for me?" Harper asks, picking up the tray. Nate moves to the back as Harper walks out of the diner and towards the reenactors.
"When our forefathers stood out here many moons ago, they didn't have any coffee." Harry says angrily to Luke, refusing as Luke was holding a cup of coffee out to him.
"How do you know? Do you have written documentation about what sort of beverages they did or did not have on that long historic night of standing?" Luke asks in a mocking way.
"This is still a joke to you, young man. I don't choose to be a joke. We don't need your coffee." Harry says sternly. Harper decided to move to the other side and offer some muffins. The fire chief took on gladly, as did the only guy in Stars Hollow with a valid medical license.
"Harry, please, take the coffee. My father would've taken the coffee." Luke says, holding the coffee out once more. Harry looks at Luke then to Harper who smiles and nods in encouraging to take the cup
"Well, all right then, thank you." Harry says, taking a sip. Luke looks at the next person.
"Andrew?"
"Thank you, Luke." Andrew takes the coffee immediately, as well as a muffin when Harper come to him.
"Kirk?"
"You got any herbal tea?" Kirk asks.
"Uh, not on me, but I can get some."
"I have the water heating up right now, as well as milk for some cocoa." Harper informs. She takes out her notepad and a pen to write down Kirk's order
"With a squeeze of lemon?"
"Okay."
"I could really go for some cocoa." Another reenactor says after hearing what Harper said.
"Oh, that sounds good. Cocoa for me too, and maybe another muffin." Another jumps in. Harper wrote it all down.
"Okay, okay, hang on a minute. One herbal tea, uh, and two cocoas..." Luke says, making sure Harper was getting it all write. He turns his head to sees Lorelai walking with a man across the street. He watches them.
Harper looks up from her notepad to see her dad watching Lorelai and the stranger. She saw the sad look in his eyes as Lorelai and her beau kiss and then continue down the sidewalk holding hands. Harper nudges Luke, catching his attention. She gives him a hug, which Luke gladly returns.