This Is Hell

He hadn't really believed that places like this existed: maybe in TV Land in the sixties or seventies, (though be aware: Jess Mariano is not admitting to watching The Brady Bunch) but never real life. Everyone here was so damn smiley, when they weren't running you over with their children in matching outfits. Shudder.

Finding a bench in the town square, he was glad he'd brought his own book with him. He knew people were watching him, surveying him. He took a drag of his cigarette and opened his book to read. They didn't approve. No one ever does.

Lorelai - another one of the Damn Smiley crowd. And what drugs were the squeaky-voiced redhead and the deranged veggie guy on? He'd thought his Mom was the only one that could talk that incessantly, but even then, it was only if she had a guy to rant about.

When he idly looked into the bedroom he was surprised by the dark haired girl: Rory. She seemed sane. Quiet. Admittedly, she smiled as well, but it was so unassuming and unguarded that for a second he found himself caught off guard. And in that moment he saw her books; and a moment after, her eyes. And then Jess Mariano started to fall.