I look at my mom carefully. Obviously she saw me. The question now becomes what will she ask first?

"Where's Dean?"

Ah, the safe question. The easy question. Why am I not surprised she didn't immediately choose the question in her eyes? "He broke up with me."

"What happened?"

I tilt my head. "I was late meeting him out front of Grandma's. Fifteen minutes because I lost track of time. The guys were behind me when he did it. He broke up with me in front of a crowd."

"Of potential society grooms."

"I didn't know that when I agreed to go mom. You know that."

"You just showed up here with a limo full of them Rory! It couldn't have been as bad as you made it out to be on the phone!" she yells.

"I don't want to do this right now mom. I want to do this when I can explain and you won't try to blame it on the champagne."

"Do what Rory? Tell me why it is you've decided to throw away your life to be some bimbo on a rich boy's arm?"

I move to the couch and sit down. "That's not what this is mom."

"Of course it is Rory. That's what that world is. That's what that entire world is. That's why I left."

"Mom, when I say this I want you to really listen. I want you to hear what I'm saying and not jump to conclusions. I love you. I love Stars Hollow. I know how amazing what we have is. I know how much more we have here than what so many of my friends had growing up. But I'm a Gilmore at Yale mom. Grandma and Grandpa remind me of that constantly. There's so much history in that. And yes, they force-fed it to me tonight. More than you know. They only left me alone after Logan and I started talking. I'm in it mom. I am. And if I'm in it partially, I'm in it all the way. I'd rather choose who I'm going to surround myself with rather than have them chosen for me."

"Who's Logan?"

"Logan Huntzberger, he works at the paper with me."

"Huntzberger? Wow, you don't go halfway do you? I mean, testing the waters is one thing kid, but damn, you just jumped right in without a harness."

"I wore the harness." I close my eyes and think back to the rush of the air on my face.

"That was rhetorical Rory."

"To you. Seriously, can we do this in the morning?"

"No. We're going to do this now. What the hell happened with Dean? You were happy!"

I snort. "I hadn't seen him in three weeks mom, and when I did, I asked him to read my article. He didn't bother."

"Okay, so he didn't read your article, but Rory, you were happy. It was Dean."

I look over at her. She's perched next to me on the sofa. "Mom, when I was sixteen, Dean was the perfect guy. Attentive, caring, always patient. He was the perfect first boyfriend. After Jess, I was lost. I was also out of my comfort zone. Last year, I was really lonely. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was. It wasn't until Tana pointed out that I was alone in all the pictures of me that I got it. When I sought out Dean I was looking for that comfort zone. I think, in a way, he was too." I pause. "Logan's an ass, most of the time. Finn never remembers that he's met me before, and I really don't know that much about Colin or Stephanie yet. But I do know that I like them. They're blunt, honest people who don't believe in sugar-coating life." I stand. "I'm tired. We'll talk about this tomorrow."