A/N: This chapter begins with some wedding dress shopping. I didn't really like the dress they have on the show. It's pretty and all, but I didn't think it looked very good on her, which is weird, because pretty much everything looks good on her. Anyway, I went online and tried to find a dress that I thought would look good on her for this story. I will put it down in the chapter when they find it. So, look for the link. (well, you can't actually post a link on here, so you have to replace (slash) with "/" and (dot) with "." etc. I think it's pretty. I hope you do too. If you don't, you can just find a different dress and pretend that's the one she'll wear. Whatever.
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine, the dress is not mine, but most of the plotline is. The title is taken from a 3 doors down song, from their album "The Better Life"
Lorelai stepped cautiously through the big glass doors and looked around her at all the lace and tulle and flowers, feeling incredibly out of place and having flashbacks to the many uncomfortable parties of her childhood. Rory followed in behind her, smiling amusedly at the nervous expression on her mother's face.
Trying to make Lorelai feel more comfortable, Rory knew the best way to start was to make her laugh. With a quick glance around the room, she easily spotted the puffiest, frilliest, most hideous wedding dress she had ever laid eyes on.
"Mom, I've found it already. This is absolutely the dress for you." She waited a moment for her mother to find her way over following the sound of her voice. When she finally arrived, Rory had to fight hard to keep a straight face. "In fact," she continued, "it's so nice, I may have to find someone to marry right away so I can wear it myself."
Her little joke had the desired effect, and Lorelai let out a little chuckle, instantly feeling more at home in this store of big and fancy things. After a few more joke dresses, the girls got down to business, shopping for real. Lorelai hadn't really expected to find anything in the first store, but she was still a little disappointed when she didn't. There had been a couple of gowns that had fit well and looked okay, but nothing that really blew her away.
Four hours and six shops later, however, and they finally found it.
"Oh, my gosh!" Lorelai shouted, running the soft fabric through her fingers while trying to get her hopes up in case it looked awful when she put it on. "Rory, come quickly! I might have it this time."
http(colon)(slash)(slash)www(dot)bridalonlinestore(dot)com(slash)store(slash)Monroe(dot)asp
Rory rushed over to her mother, hoping that this might really be the one. She always loved their shopping trips, but her feet were sore and she was getting tired. When her mother said they'd be shopping all day, she didn't think she had really meant all day.
When she saw the dress that Lorelai was holding, she got a feeling that this wasn't another false alarm.
"Well? Go try it on!"
Lorelai grinned and entered the changing room. Rory waited patiently as her mother tried to do up the laces in the back herself.
"Mom, come on! Let me do them for you."
"No, Rory. I don't want you to see it until it's done. You need to get the full effect."
Rory sighed at her mother's stubbornness, but said nothing and continued to wait. Finally, she heard the door swing open and her draw dropped.
"Mom! You look incredible!"
"I know! I love it. This is really the one. This is the dress. The perfect dress. For my wedding to the perfectman. Oh, babe, I'm finally going to have it. The whole package."
Rory just smiled at her mother and pulled her into a hug.
Once Lorelai had changed back into her street clothes, Rory let out a huge sigh of relief. She picked up her bag and asked if Lorelai was all ready to go home.
"Go home?" Lorelai questioned. "Honey, we just found my dress… now we've got to look for yours."
---
Rory walked back over to the table she was sharing with her current study partner, a fresh cup of coffee balanced carefully in one hand as she tried to rearrange her wallet in her purse with the other. She made it to the table without any spills and she sat back down across from Dean, who was staring intently at the open book in front of him. Rory smiled. He looked cute when he was confused.
"What's the problem?" she asked, leaning over to see what was troubling him.
"Why did it move like this?" He asked pointing towards one of the graphs.
"Well, if you look at the equation, then they've added three, which moves the whole asymptote." Rory explained.
"What?"
Rory got up and walked around the table to join him. Using her pencil as a pointer, she explained it to him again, trying to find different words, and this time he got it.
The two of them still had their daily coffee "dates" every day after school, but now, every Sunday, they met again for their math study sessions. They had a test coming up soon, and things seemed to be going well.
Rory thought back to that conversation with her mother. Would something happen again between them? They seemed to be doing great as just friends right now, but they were like this before when she was dating Jess too. And when he married Lindsay.
She shook her head, clearing away all the thoughts of what was and what could be. Right now, I just need to focus on what is
---
"Lu-uuke!" Lorelai sang out as the strutted happily into the diner. There was a lull at the diner, so Luke was just standing behind the counter. He looked up when he saw her and smiled.
"Did your shopping trip go well?" He asked.
"It was fantastic!" Lorelai gave him a quick kiss before continuing. "It was slow going at first, but then I found the perfect wedding gown. And we found a dress for Rory too."
"Doesn't Sookie's dress have to match, or something?"
"Not really. We're just gonna go for having them be the same color. They can be different dresses since Rory's the maid of honor."
"Okay." Luke didn't really care about the details of the clothing, as long as his wife-to-be was happy, and she certainly seemed to be. "Can I get you anything?"
"Coffee.—"
"Only if you eat something healthy too." Luke tried to bargain.
"Okay, what the hell? Throw in a slice of apple pie." Luke gave her 'the look.' "What? She feigned ignorance. Apple is a fruit. Fruit is healthy. Therefore, apple pie is healthy."
"Have an orange."
Lorelai sighed, too happy from her successful day to argue. "Fine. I'll take the orange."
Luke opened his mouth, startled by how quickly she gave in, but then closed it, deciding it was better not to question it. Instead, he decided to bring up something even more awkward that had been sitting in the back of his mind. As their wedding day grew closer, he grew more and more apprehensive.
"Lorelai…" he wasn't really sure how to start. He wanted to try to be subtle, but subtle had never really been his thing.
"This is really going to happen, right?" Lorelai looked at him with confusion.
"What's really happening?"
"This." Luke was afraid of upsetting her with his doubts, but he had to know for sure. "Us. Getting married."
Lorelai was not offended, but rather touched once again by how much Luke cared for her, and that while he was so strong and protective, he had to have insecurities too. She smiled sweetly at him and placed her hand in his. "Yes, Luke." She gave his hand a quick, reassuring squeeze. "This is definitely going to happen."
Luke smiled back and leaned toward her for a quick kiss before letting go to grab his pad and pencil and help some customers that had just walked through the door.
---
Dean pulled up in front of the Gilmore house and brought the car to a stop in the driveway. After their meetings continued, he and Rory finally decided that it was idiotic for them to both drive, wasting gas and therefore money, when they lived so close to each other. Being raised the way he was, Dean quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped out of the car, running around to the other side to open Rory's door for her. Rory knew he enjoyed playing this chivalrous part, so she sat patiently and waited for him before she accepted his hand as he helped her out.
Neither one commented on the fact that as he walked her to her door, their hands remained joined, swaying gently between them.
A/N2: First, I would like to apologize profusely to everyone, but especially to Ashley1497. I told her a while ago that I would have this posted, but I had forgotten that I was going to New York on a trip with my school, and then when I got back it was time for AP Exams and my dad took away my internet so I wouldn't be distracted from studying. I am sooo sorry, but now I have finished my exams and have my internet back, so here it is.
Additionally, I would now like to note that it may be longer until my next update. I will not abandon this story. I am absolutely determined to finish it. But lately I have been getting back into the Harry Potter fiction more than the Gilmore Girls, because as the season continues going downhill, I get less and less interested.
Tonight's episode was absolutely the worst. I thought it would be okay at first--it made me laugh out loud quite a few times and it seemed to be a pretty cute episode (I loved that line about the voices), but at the end… that was absolutely the most ridiculous thing they could possibly have had Lorelai do. I'm still holding onto a shred of hope that it's one of those stupid WB things that they often do where they trick into thinking something really awful so you won't be upset with the only minorly awful thing they have planned, but I don't expect that to really be the case. Right now, I really hate both of our Gilmore Girls, and so I haven't been feeling particularly inspired. But I expect that that will later turn into actually more inspiration for this story, as I will be more determined than ever to improve on this most awful season.