𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 . . . 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴
❝ Abba rocks, don't be pretentious. ❞

  THE NIGHT OF the dreaded dinner had finally rolled around. Dreaded was a strong word, for only being dreaded by two of seven attendees, but dreaded by them very deeply.

  Charlie Gilmore had attempted to get out of it, asking her mother ten times over if she could eat at Emma's, but this attempt went down the drain before it spilled from her lips. The night of, the girl had chosen to bury her nose in a faded copy of 'To The Lighthouse', attempting to ignore the chaos going on around her.

  The other dreading came from a teen standing on the porch fo the Crap Shack, beside his uncle he'd rather not be with.

  "Charlie, hello," Lorelai dragged out, dipping her head down as she walked by to intercept her field of vision, "Luke's been at the door for like, five minutes."

  "Oops," Charlie mumbled, not dragging her vision away from the words.

  "If you don't open the door or answer the phone, what did I have you for?"

  "You needed someone to paint the nails on your left hand and sing the high notes in Cyndi Lauper songs."

  Lorelai smiled, touching her index finger to her nose as she left Charlie to answer the front door. Charlie sunk down into the couch, blocking out the faint conversation happening in the foyer.

  "Hey, Connecticut."

  "You sound like you're on FM radio," Charlie mumbled, looking up to meet Jess' eyes. He smirked, wandering over to the mantle and picking up a picture of the Gilmore twins. "Yeah, make yourself at home."

  "Hey, guys, wanna come on in the kitchen?" Lorelai asked, leaning slightly as she spoke to the teens.

  Charlie tucked a take out menu in her book to mark her page, standing as Jess followed Lorelai out of the living room.

  "Hey, Pea," Luke greeted with an unsure smile.

  "Hey," Charlie sighed, giving the man a quick side hug.

  "Do you eat cheese?"

  Charlie cracked a smile as she and Luke entered the kitchen— she'd never had a close relationship with Sookie St. James, but this didn't mean she didn't like her. Charlie found humor in every movement and word from Sookie— she liked her mother's choice of a best friend.

  "What?" Jess asked dully, making the Gilmore girl roll her eyes, scooting past the crowd into her and Rory's shared room, sliding her book onto one of the only spare spaces in their shared bookcase.

  "Rory, they're here!" Lorelai called, making the youngest twin turn in her desk chair to see Jess mozying in behind her sister.

  "Hey, I'm Rory."

  "Yeah, I figured," Jess mumbled, inspecting the room.

  The room was clearly split in half, sides contrasting drastically. To his left, was a classic style room— Harvard paraphernalia pinned up alongside travel posters, with books littering every surface. To the right, the bed was covered in a patch quilt with ten pounds of pillows on it. The walls were coated in a layer of posters with familiar faces of rock legends, a pale wooden guitar trapped in a corner between the bed frame and a desk.

  "Nice to meet you," Rory smiled.

  "It was cool until I saw Abba," Jess noted, pointing half-heartedly to Charlie's poster collection.

  "Abba rocks, don't be pretentious."

  Charlie crossed her arms, defensive of the only pop band she found herself liking. But this slight anger dissipated as she heard a loud knock on the back door. She couldn't be sure, but it was better to be safe than sorry, so Charlie rushed from the room— thankful the adults had migrated to the living room— and found herself on the back porch within seconds.

  "You so cannot be here right now," Charlie said in a breath, peeking through the door's window to see Jess leave the twins' room.

  "Why not?" 

  "Seriously, Sookie and Jackson made dinner. Luke brought his nephew, bad time, Liam," Charlie whispered harshly, turning to face the boy.

  Liam had always been attractive in the simplest terms. Strong jaw, pushed back blond hair, shining blue eyes, and he had this boyish smile to top it all off. And he'd been Charlie's best friend since elementary school, alongside Emma. 

  Granted, Lorelai had given Liam the benefit of the doubt, but she'd grown to dislike him. It was an amalgamation of many things, his parents and their attitude, Liam's tendency to only be nice to those he deemed friends, and the rebellious acts the trio often took part in.

  "I haven't seen you all day, Charls," Liam frowned, "I just missed you."

  "Yeah, I'm sorry, I've been busy," Charlie sighed, her tension leaving with her breath, "Missed you, too, though."

  "So. . ." Liam stuffed his hands into his pockets, rocking on his heels, "Let's get out of here, Emma wants to get out of town for the night."

  "My mom would kill all of us."

  "Come on, they're all occupied with crap that doesn't matter," Liam complained, "Rory, college, Rory, work, Rory."

  To be fair, it was probably Charlie's fault Liam didn't like Rory Gilmore. She had a bad tendency to complain about her twin, to rant about how Rory had been on an attention high since she was born, and it seemed this distaste had infected Liam deeper than anyone else.

  "We'll hang out tomorrow," Charlie offered, "But I'm stuck here tonight."

  "Fine, fine, I give," Liam said, raising his hands in surrender, "See you at school, Charls."

  Liam pressed a chaste kiss to Charlie's cheek before he fled from the porch, ducking under a living room window as he rounded the corner of the home. Charlie only sighed and sunk into a chair, wondering why the hell she chose to think about the consequences today.

  "That your boyfriend?"

  "What the— Jesus," Charlie jumped, covering her heart with her hand as she saw Jess leaning against the house with a beer bottle.

  "It's actually Jess."

  She gave him a glare.

  "So, is he?"

  "Is he what?"

  "Your boyfriend."

  "No," Charlie replied too quickly, pushing herself up to stand, "No, Liam's. . . just a friend."

  "Sure," Jess drawled, nodding, "Seems like it."

  "Are you trying to say anything?"

  "Just that the song you were writing seemed a little too romantic for you to be single."

  "He's not my boyfriend," Charlie defended harsher, making Jess laugh.

  "Okay," Jess nodded, maneuvering to the railing of the deck and popping the cap off of his beer.

  Before Charlie could comment on how irritating he was being, the kitchen door opened and out strutted Lorelai Gilmore.

  "Oh, for me? Hey, thanks." Lorelai easily took the alcohol from Jess, sipping the beer whilst glaring at Charlie, "Refreshing, so what? You're not hungry?"

  "Not really," Jess responded dryly,

  "I am," Charlie said quickly, attempting to go inside, but her mom caught her arm.

  "Sookie made you some grilled cheese, if you don't like pot roast," Lorelai spoke carefully to Jess, saving the lecture to Charlie for later.

  "Oh, wow, if I had known that. . ." Jess sarcastically spoke.

  "Let me guess— you don't wanna be here."

  "Doesn't matter."

  "I mean, here in Stars Hollow." 

  "Jeez, Miss Gilmore, why would anyone not wanna be here in Stars Hollow? That just sounds plum crazy."

  "Dude." Charlie gave him a 'what the hell' look, making Jess only shrug.

  "Oh, Jess, let me give you a little advice." Lorelai went on about his attitude, but since Charlie had heard it all before she tuned out. When Jess asked if Lorelai was sleeping with Luke, Charlie simply walked away.

  Off the porch, out of the yard, and towards the bridge, she often read at, when extremely bored.

  Her sneakers almost skimmed the water as she swung them back and forth, eyes focused on the reflection of the stars instead of the real ones. Footsteps approached her, but no words were exchanged with the person sitting beside her, staring at the lake as well.

  "I argued with your mom."

  "How'd that go?" Charlie mumbled, almost too quiet to catch.

  "I snapped because she was trying to talk to Jess." Charlie nodded, showing she was listening, "And she said she knew more about parenting because of you two."

  "And then. . ?"

  "And then I said she might not because she got pregnant at 16 and I've parented you just as much as she has."

  "Luke!" Charlie let out in shock, wide eyes now focused on the diner owner.

  "I know, I know, I shouldn't have brought you into it." He removed his cap, only to fix his hair and replace it. "I'm sorry, Pea."

  "You're not wrong." She shrugged, gaze drifting back to the lake, "You're the one who helped me make that volcano in 6th grade. And you braided my hair."

  "Which we don't speak of,"

  "You taught me how to fix cars, kind of," Charlie sighed out, a small smile on Luke's face, "And how to make pancakes."

  "You're the only Gilmore that can cook food."

  "But I still don't," The girl grinned up at him, Luke pulling her into a hug. "I think Jess is lucky to have you, Luke."

  The words were soft and didn't exist to leave an impact, but alas most things Charlie said stuck with Luke for far longer than their expiration date and this was no exception.

  "Let's get you home," Luke said suddenly, patting Charlie's shoulder. 

  She didn't argue with this, but Luke did have to deal with her humoring up the situation the entire drive back to the Crap Shack and he wondered which he'd have preferred.

  Charlie entered the home quietly, causing Luke to drive away, she slipped off her shoes and attempted to sneak right back to her bedroom.

  "I don't want you around him," Lorelai's voice sent the teen a foot in the air.

  "What? Mom, what the hell?" The woman was sat on the couch in the dark, only facing Charlie once she flicked the lights on, "Around who?"

  "Jess." 

  Charlie let out a long sigh as she dropped onto the couch.

  "Mom, I don't know him that well but I think I should give him a chance."

  "A chance? Really? He tried to steal a beer from your mother—"

  "Okay," Charlie cut her off softly, "I can't pass judgment on anyone about that sort of thing. And he's in a bad situation, from what Luke's told me, I'd probably have an attitude if you sent me off to live with some relative I didn't know. It's his first week here, too, Mom, so yeah. I think he deserves a chance."

  "You're too good at this," Lorelai grumbled, crossing her arms as a small smile graced Charlie's face, "He already has one strike though, one more and you stay away." 

  Charlie grinned and hopped up from the couch, blowing her mom a kiss as she rounded the corner towards her room.

  "In baseball, it's 3 strikes!" The teen shouted as she opened her bedroom door.

  "This isn't baseball, this is the real world!"

( AUTHOR'S NOTE. )
I'm really liking the re-write, also
y'all are gonna like Liam this time
and feel wEIRD ABOUT IT