You beat your head upon your wall/You disconnect yourself from it all/'Cause you know that you're so beautiful and so untouchable/ And I want to get in so bad and I don't know how/No I don't know how.

Lola had precisely fourteen minutes left of her hour when she sat down at the counter at Luke’s. Thirteen minutes by the time Luke himself got to her.

“Hey Lo,” he greeted her. “What can I get you?”

“Your two grandnephews,” Lola began. “And a cup of tea. Sugar only.”

“The sugar will rot your teeth,” Luke warned her as he placed a cup in front of her.

She flashed him her most charming smile. “Then I’ll just have to make sure I brush my teeth extra hard tonight then.”

Luke just grunted in response and finished filling her cup. “I’ll send the boys down.”

“Thank you,” Lola called to his retreating form before filling the cup with sugar.

She was half done with her tea and had a total of seven minutes left when Dallie and Devon came down the stairs.

She stood up, taking a huge gulp of her hot tea.

“I see that not even hot substances are enough to melt the Ice Princess,” Dallie greeted her.

Devon rolled his eyes at his brother’s remark and kissed Lola on the cheek. “Hey Lo.”

“Maman has issued a dinner invite to you,” Then added, with reluctance, “both.”

“The royal summons, eh?” Questioned Dallie.

Lola ignored him and fixated her sapphire colored eyes at Devon. “Well?”

“I can’t,” Devon replied with regret. “There’s a bus broken down outside of town and I promised Luke I’d help out here tonight since they’ll probably get hungry. But I’m sure Junior here can.”

“Lovely,” Lola replied dryly, before leaning into the counter. “Luke!”

Luke appeared from the kitchen, “Nice set of lungs there kid, I was wondering if you were ever going to resemble your mother.”

“Never again, I promise,” She winked at him. “The total?”

He waved it off, “No charge. You deserve a reward for not suffering the Gilmore’s weakness of coffee.”

“Thanks Luke,” Lola said before turning on her heel, not bothering to see if Dallie followed.

It was weird, Dallie decided as he sat across from Lola at the dinner table, and next to Rory. Rory had gotten up a few times to check on dinner, and had announced the last time she sat down that it should be done in five minutes maximum. Lola just sat with her hand on her chin and looked bored. Ever the unaffected princess. If he wouldn’t look suspicious, he would have glared at her.

“I’ll get drinks set up,” Rory said, standing up suddenly. “Coffee all around.”

“I don’t drink coffee,” Lola reminded her mother without looking up from the tablecloth.

Rory frowned. “Since when?”

Lola’s gaze flickered up to her mother’s face, “Since the first time you forced the vile stuff down my throat and I spit it out, announcing my disdain for it.”

“You were four,” Rory pointed out. “And I’ve seen you drink it since then.”

“Tea, mother,” Lola leaned back in her chair, “I’ve been drinking tea.”

Rory looked at Dallie for help, “Tea, she has been drinking tea.”

“We don’t have tea here,” Rory’s frown deepened. “Does your grandmother know about this?”

Lola nodded, “It’s why she refuses to serve me beverage. Something about tea drinkers being sacrilegious, Dad doesn’t really drink it either. It’s why his house is stacked with a variety of tea.”

“Variety?”

“Indian, English, Chinese, etc.” Lola listed off, bored. “Chinese Fortune tea is my favorite.”

“We don’t have tea,” Rory repeated dumbly. “What do you want to drink then?”

“Soda will be fine,” Lola replied. “Oh but make it diet.”

Rory nodded before disappearing into the kitchen.

“I don’t drink coffee either,” Dallie mumbled.

“That’s because when you drink it, you get as insane as your mother,” Lola said with a sickeningly sweet smile.

“Lovely,” he mocked, crossing his ankles underneath the table.

Oh yeah, tonight was just starting off great.

Rory took out the casserole with shaking hands before setting it down and finding herself staring at the coffee pot. Sure her and Lola weren’t nearly as close as Rory and Lorelai had been when she was 17, but then again these were different circumstances. Not to mention the fact that Lola lived with Tristan most of the time, whereas Rory had lived with her mother mostly. But, goodness she hadn’t realized it had gotten this bad. At this rate her and Lola were going to end up like Lorelai and Emily.

She wouldn’t let that happen. Rory left the stove area and grabbed the portable phone by the table. Dialing the long distance number, and knowing this was going to cost a fortune, she waited for the familiar voice to answer.

“Hello,” Came the groggy male greeting.

“I need to talk to you,” She announced as she sank into a chair.

“Rory?” He sounded fully awake now. “Is Lola okay?”

“Yeah she’s fine,” Rory sighed. “Tristan, what’s Lo’s favorite drink?”

“Chinese Fortune tea,” Tristan replied warily. “Is this some sort of trick? Waking me up to ask me questions I all ready know the answers to?”

“Why don’t I know that?”

“Because you don’t have tea time at your house?” He ventured half-heartedly.

“Tristan! I’m being serious here,” Rory growled. “I’m not sure why I even bothered…”

Tristan let out a frustrated breath, “I’m sorry Ror, but I just went through a day of meetings in which I dealt with a bunch of incompetent people. Doing business that I could have done over the telephone. I was exhausted and had finally managed to make myself dead to the world when you called. Sorry for not being more eloquent or understanding.”

“No, I shouldn’t have bothered you with my petty problems,” Rory told him before hanging up the phone and putting it on the table. She rested her head in her hands.

Life was starting to suck more than it usually did.