A/N: Thanks to the poll, I know at least 11 people are interested in this new series (plus one 'maybe'! lol) so here we go, let's get started. More random scenes, vignettes, one-shots, whatever you want to call them, in the lives of Rory, Jess, Jack, Tori, Luke, Lorelai, Billy, Liz, TJ, Doula, Lane, Zack, Steve, Kwan, Sookie, Jackson, Davey, Martha, Jaime, Emily, April, Paul, Dax, Alex, Tara, Paris, Doyle, Eva, Jonathan, and anybody else I may have forgotten that might put in an apperance at some point (including possibly Richard and Mrs R, because some of these will go back before their passings).

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters from Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other folks that aren't me. Any other characters belong to me (Ultrawoman).

Drunk and Disorderly - 16th November 2024

When the knock came on the door, Jack fought to tear himself away from his book to go and answer it. Nobody else was home. If he ignored it, it wasn't as if anybody would know or care. Two of his suite mates, Andy and Mike, were hanging out in their girlfriends' rooms today, whilst Tom had been up and out early as usual and still wasn't back yet. Jack was grateful for the peace and quiet, truth be told. He had been trying to find the time to get to the end of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest all week and now seemed like his best shot. He could've done without a distraction, but whoever was at the door wasn't giving up.

"Fine," he muttered. "I'm coming."

Opening the door, he found a girl on the other side, looking startled. He realised belatedly that she had given up knocking and was starting to write something on the whiteboard before he opened the door. So far she had only gotten as far as his name, which didn't exactly surprise Jack. After all, he had met this girl before.

"Hey," she greeted him now with too big a smile. "Jack Mariano, right? You probably don't remember me."

"The mysterious red-head who threw herself on top of me at a party last night? Nope, don't remember you at all," he said, barely containing the smirk that was determined to come to his lips.

The girl blushed almost as red as her hair then. Jack might have felt bad for her, except it really wasn't his fault. She was the one who got drunk and kissed him all out of the blue. He was the gentleman who refused her advances and returned her to her friends, uninjured and unsullied.

"Anyway," said the stranger, "I wanted to come by and apologise for my awful behaviour. I'm really not that girl. Y'know, the one who gets so drunk that she just throws herself at anyone. Not that you're anyone," she back-tracked. "I mean, you're a great guy, I'm sure. If I knew you, which of course I don't."

Jack leaned against the door jamb and just watched her a moment whilst she got herself into a muddle of words and went off on at least three tangents. He came from a family of ramblers. His mother and grandmother, even himself and moreso his sister had a tendency towards that kind of thing, but this girl was a whole other level. So far he had heard her mention Chinese politics, the Moulin Rouge, and Marvel's X-Men, and that was just the parts he could catch.

"Hey, Cassandra Cillian! You might wanna stop before you give yourself the brain-overload nose-bleed," he urged her.

"I'm sorry," she apologised, shaking her head and pulling a much needed breath through her lungs. "I get caught up sometimes," she admitted. "Anyway, my name is actually Amanda - Mandy, most people call me Mandy - and I just want you to know that I'm sorry I made a fool out of the both of us last night, and also thank you, for being such a knight in shining armour, Cary Grant type. Not a lot of guys around here would be that decent."

"It's fine, and you're welcome," said Jack, trying to continue in that gentlemanly behaviour she was so grateful to him for. "Honestly? You made a boring party a little more interesting," he admitted.

"That's one way of looking at it," Mandy considered, though she didn't look altogether comfortable about her behaviour still. "Um, I'm sorry, again. I should probably go, leave you in peace."

"Probably," he agreed, nodding his head.

It wasn't that he wanted her to go away. She was actually kind of attractive now he saw her sober, though he would hazard a guess she looked even better when she wasn't nursing a hangover, or at the very least the remnants of one this late in the day. From what he had seen of her so far, he liked her well enough. It also didn't hurt that he already knew she really, really knew how to kiss, even when she was three sheets to the wind and then some. It made Jack wonder why exactly he was letting her walk away right now. It made him doubly glad when she turned back before she reached the corner.

"So, this is probably the craziest idea I ever had," she said, coming back to the open doorway, "at least when I'm sober anyway, but is there any chance that you maybe want to go out sometime? With me, I mean."

Jack hoped he wasn't blushing. He felt like maybe he might if he wasn't careful and prayed that through her semi-hangover daze Mandy might not notice if it did happen. The lighting wasn't great anyway, it would probably be fine.

"You're asking me out?" he checked. "That's progressive."

"It's 2024, man," she said, rolling her eyes. "Progressive would be asking out a guy that used to be a girl or something."

"Guess I have some old-fashioned values." Jack shrugged. "Comes from being raised in Stars Hollow, I guess."

"Stars Hollow?" said Mandy, eyes lighting up just a little. "You live in that cute little place? My cousin lived there for a while. Small world, huh?"

"Apparently." Jack nodded. "Uh, just checking, her name isn't Alison, is it?" he asked, getting a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Nope, his name is Scott," she explained. "Why'd you ask that?"

"Kind of a long story. Which I guess I could tell you sometime, when we go out."

If he thought her face lit up before, Jack had been very wrong. At the sound of his acceptance to her offer of a date, only then did Mandy's face really seem to be aglow with joy as she grinned at him.

"Cool, then it's a date. Like an actual date, on which I will be sober, or at least no more drunk than you are," she amended, before thinking about it some. "I mean, we might drink, but not to the excess that I did last night, because that was... Well, there's a long story there too."

"Then we'll swap long stories," Jack told her. "Maybe Friday?"

"Friday would be great," she told him. "You have your cell? I'll give you my number."

Jack pulled the phone from his pocket and handed it over, watching as Mandy typed in her name and number. She really was no hardship to look at, and she seemed like a barrel of monkeys to be around. He never had been asked out like this before, but he kind of liked it. After all, he wasn't the best at getting up the nerve to ask out girls. It tended to take him a pretty long time of laying ground work and building up the nerve. Mandy saved him all of that. He liked her already.

"Okay," she said, handing him back his cell. "Now, call me," she said, pulling out her own phone. "Y'know, so I get your number?"

Jack dialled as asked, waited for the ring and then cut off the call, sure the number had registered on her phone. Mandy smiled and saved him as a contact.

"Done. Thanks," she said, grinning still.

"No problem." Jack nodded. "So, I'll see you Friday."

"Friday, right. We'll fix a time and place later. You can text me, or I'll text you, whatever."

"Okay."

They were both stood there like fools, seemingly saying just anything at all so she didn't have to walk away and he didn't have to close the door. It was the weirdest situation, not being able to find the right way to say goodbye for now. Eventually, just when Jack was going to say he really ought to go, Mandy sighed.

"Oh, screw it," she muttered, suddenly taking his face in her hands and pulling him to her so she could lay her lips on his own.

Though she had come here to apologise for this very thing, Jack didn't mind quite so much on this occasion. At least it was a sober decision this time around, and slightly less of a shock, though not by much. He made sure to respond before it was too late. After all, he did like the girl and he wasn't unwilling when it came to kissing her. When they parted, Mandy was breathing pretty hard, but then, Jack realised, so was he.

"Okay," she said, hands sliding away from his face, down his chest and away. "Not so sorry about that one," she admitted. "I just had to know it felt as good as I remembered."

"And?" Jack couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, so much better this time around," she admitted, blushing a pretty pink even as she backed up down the hallway. "Friday," she said, pointing a finger at him as she went.

"Friday," he echoed, watching until she disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

Jack closed the door then and leant back against it, unable to keep from smiling.

"I do love college."

A/N2 So, truth is that I normally write a little ahead of what I post here, because everything has to be checked and betaed, and because it means I can post a new chapter for you guys even if I haven't had time to write that particular week. This new series is different. This is literally all I have to post for you right now, and there is a reason. I have ideas for further one-shots - when the kids are kids, when they're teens, when they're grown, etc. - but I would also like your ideas. Anything in particular you want to see? Any characters you're wanting to read more about? Any situations or moments in time you really have a yen to see happen? Please send me your thoughts in a review or a PM. I can't promise to hit them all but I will do my very best. Thanks, folks :)