- -
Lorelai walked into Rory's room. "Do you think these baggy pants are too baggy?"
Rory sighed. "This is crap!"
"Does that mean you're jealous of my pants?"
Rory barely glanced her way. "What? Oh. They're fine."
"Do they make me look fat?"
"Of course."
"Well. Just checking. So what are you working on, hun?" She walked up behind
her daughter who was seated at her desk in front of her laptop, staring at...
something.
"There's this author. I read her work. I'm totally into her stories about a
certain couple, and I just learned that she also writes stories about a rival
couple. Isn't that nuts?"
Lorelai looked at her. "Seriously, this is the most boring conversation we've
ever had."
Rory forgot about her troubles for a moment to argue, "I disagree. Our
exchange about scented or unscented tampons in the store the other day speaks
for itself."
"Ah, and its reputation precedes it."
"Exactly." Rory sighed, turning back to the computer. "I mean, it's like the
'Dawson's Creek' syndrome. Dawson and Joey or Pacey and Joey? Choose one and
stick with it, or risk dodging many rocks!"
"You could never hit somebody with a rock. Have you witnessed your aim?"
"This one time," Rory said, again disagreeing, "I tossed a contaminated M&M
into a trash can from like five feet away, and I totally scored that goal."
"Contaminated?" Lorelai furrowed her brow.
"I had dropped it onto the floor."
"So? Use the five second rule. Blow it off and stick it back in your mouth."
"This from the woman who never vacuums."
"This from the woman who's watched 'Dawson's Creek'."
Rory almost laughed, but quickly turned back to her laptop screen. "I'm so
upset!" she insisted. "I feel so betrayed. I always read stories by this author,
one of the few to write about my favorite couple. And here she is cheating on
me, pairing the girl with a different guy. You can't be passionate about two
different couples, you just can't!"
Lorelai pondered this for a moment. "Well, think about it. I mean, you've had
more than one boyfriend. And you were totally into each of those relationships
as it came along. You loved each of those boys as if they would be your last,
and yet they weren't. Now here you are, savvy and single, reading instead of
living."
"It's called living vicariously."
"Of course, you're right, I'm wrong, I just don't subscribe to your theory."
She could see by Rory's slumped shoulders that she was clearly genuinely upset.
"It's okay to have faith in more than one relationship for someone. Both
relationships can be beautiful, in their own time, in their own way. Her usual
couple may be the winner in the end, but it's okay to occasionally glance up
from your focus and dabble in the idea of something different being beautiful,
too. Just because this author writes about a couple that you don't understand,
it doesn't mean she's abandoning your couple or negating their worth to each
other."
Rory looked at her mother oddly. "Who are you and what have you done with my
mom?"
"I am Dawson. Don't you recognize me? Oh wait, let me see if I can expand my
forehead..."
"Aha! You've watched that show, too!"
"I have watched promos. Take a chill pill. Everybody knows what Dawson looks
like."
Rory was gazing so sadly at her computer screen. "I want her to write more of
my couple. I told her this. I don't know if she'll listen."
"She will if she knows what's good for her," said Lorelai, tapping her head
with her pointer finger. "'Cause those with no more feedback from Rory? Doomed
to wonder where she went."
"Oh I know, I give the best feedback. I am the most loyal fan."
"Behold: she who changes purses every three weeks. Loyal fan, all right."
"That merely demonstrates that I am loyal to purses in general, not
particular ones."
"You need to look up what loyalty is."
"You need to vacuum!"
"It's no fun using the five second rule if you don't have to blow dirt off
your food."
Rory wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I cannot believe we are related."
"Believe it. Although I have to admit, there are so many of my attributes
that you just didn't pick up on yourself."
"Attributes." Rory chuckled. "Right. Like your glass shattering singing
voice."
"It makes for quite a church service."
"I don't think you should sing in public."
"Don't you have some feedback to write, some disgusting bad couple to read?"
Rory waved Lorelai away. "Shoo! I have work to do."
"Fine, but remember what I said," insisted Lorelai as she slowly stepped
backwards toward Rory's open bedroom door. She upped her vocal chords a notch,
making them squeaky and girly before saying, "Maybe she's just loyal to couples
in general, not any couple in particular."
"That was a horrible impression of me," Rory said, no longer looking her
mother's way.
"I'd be careful what you say around me, missy. I might open my mouth and
sing."
"Goodbye!" announced Rory, getting up to stalk towards the door and close it
in her smiling mother's face with that grin wide as a Cheshire cat’s.
Rory sat back down at her computer, and heaved a big sigh. She thought about
what her mother had said. She thought about loyalty in general, its definition,
the love that could splinter off from it. She was so hurt that an author whose
work she read on a regular basis has snubbed her so, unintentionally. She almost
didn't want to forgive that author for ruining a day of reading for her.
But in remembering some of this author's stories, she realized that the
loyalty was present in the stories, even if not the focus factor in all of the
stories. Rory sighed. Perhaps she could forgive, even if she couldn't forget.
She squirmed around in her seat, getting comfortable, and held her fingertips
poised over the keyboard. And as she set them onto the keys, she began an email
to this author.
"Dear Elise,
Please don't forget about my couple... They're my favorite. You can write
others, but please don't stray too far..."
- -
end
