"I mean just what I said, Rory. At his locker, before fourth period, talking to her," Lane said it very slowly and then looked to Rory for a reaction.

"Why are you telling me this, Lane? Just because Dean's my boyfriend, doesn't mean he's not allowed to talk to other girls."

"Uhhh...Rory, it wasn't just that she was talking to him. It was the way she was talking," Lane expanded.

Rory stopped in mid-bite to look at her friend. "Explain please."

"Well, okay, so she was leaning up against his locker like this..." Lane stuck her hip out to rest against an imaginary locker, "And then she did that thing where she twirls her hair with her fingers all seductively..." a demonstration of that followed on with Lane's short, dark hair, "She had that laugh, the snooty 'I'm-blonde-and-I-know-it' laugh. She was totally flirting."

"And what was her name again?" Rory asked, seeming slightly more interested.

"Cindy Caseson," Lane announced.

"Should I know that name?" Rory questioned.

Lane sighed and pulled her colorful winter hat down farther on her head. "Rory, I know you weren't really up with the Stars Hollow social hierarchy, but Cindy Caseson is the head cheerleader, the president of the student council and she's been dubbed ‘Cindy Crawford.' For obvious reasons."

"I'm not worried," Rory said.

"Why not?" Lane asked.

"Dean doesn't go for girls who twirl their hair," she explained.

Lane stopped walking and sat down on a bench set directly under a leafless, wintry Weeping Willow. "How do you know?"

Rory sat down beside her. "Because if he did," she said logically, "Why would he be with me?"

"Good point," Lane agreed, "But if he didn't, then why is he with her?"

Lane pointed one mitten-covered hand in the direction of the local grocery store. Rory followed her arm and could easily see through the giant windows Dean holding a box full of some canned food or another and a voluptuous blonde at his side.

"Oh my God, she is twirling her hair."

"Just go in there and smile and say 'Hello Dean, my boyfriend.'"

"I am not saying that, Lane," Rory hissed through her teeth as they approached the store.

"You have to let that Barbie in there know that Dean is your territory," Lane demanded.

"I think you're overreacting just a little," Rory said.

"Go in there and kick her ass. I'll be out here watching."

"You know, I don't think I like you living vicariously through me anymore," Rory decided.

"Since we have no TV, I've been at home knitting."

"You're like the devil on my shoulder."

"I'm making you a sweater."

"Always pushing me to do things for your own sick pleasure."

"It's red."

"There's probably nothing going on in there."

"With fringe."

Rory raised her hands in surrender, "I'm going."

"And that is why you're my best friend."

Rory walked into the store, jumping slightly when the bell jingled above her head. She headed hesitantly for Dean, who she could see stocking canned corn in the back of store. She cast a glance back at Lane who waved furiously for her to keep going.

She continued to make her way down the aisles, her eyes focused on Cindy, whose hand was placed comfortably on Dean's arm. As she got closer, she saw Cindy's mouth form a good bye. Dean nodded his head, his eyes focused on his work. Cindy walked past Rory then, not even slipping so much as a glance in her direction.

Rory approached Dean until she was standing right behind him. He still hadn't noticed she was there when she said a timid, "Hey."

"Hey," he responded monotonously until he turned around and saw Rory standing behind him, "Oh hey!"

Rory smiled slightly as he reached down to give her a strong hug and leaned back to place a sweet, soft kiss on her lips. "How are you?" He asked before going back to stocking the corn.

"I'm good. I've been good. Everything's good. Umm...how are you?" Rory rambled.

Dean stopped what he was doing to turn and look at her. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong! Nothing, I'm good. Are you good?" Her last comment was asked suspiciously.

"I'm good," he paused a moment and cocked his head to the side to look her over carefully, "What's going on, Rory?"

"Nothing is going on with me. Is there something going on with you?"

"I feel like I'm on trial here," Dean said.

"You're not," Rory countered, "I was...just making conversation."

"Right, well listen, I was wondering if you wanted to go out on Saturday. Maybe to see a movie or something?" Dean asked.

"I can't," Rory answered quickly.

He glanced over his shoulder. "Why not?"

"Because of this...thing...that I have to do. This homework thing," Rory stumbled over the words.

"Homework on a Saturday?" Dean questioned, his voice sounding doubtful.

"It's a big thing," she defended herself meekly, "I have to go. I'll see you later." She turned around to walk away before pivoting back quickly and throwing her arms around Dean. She put her hands on each side of his head and brought his lips roughly to hers. "I'll see you later."

Dean pressed his fingers to his lips and watched as Rory ran out of the store. "Umm...bye."

Rory opened the door and let out a whooshing breath when she felt the cold air hit her skin.

"Soo...?" Lane asked excitedly.

They began walking up to Rory's house.

"I damn you, my shoulder devil."

The door slammed behind Rory as she walked into her house. Lane had said good-bye to her at the door and headed out to her own home.

"Mom, are you home?"

"In here, Rory!" Lorelai's voice filtered in from the kitchen.

Rory entered the doorway of the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe. "Hi."

Lorelai turned to her and held up a glass pan with a charcoal looking, black meat. "Does this look right?"

"Umm...what is it?" Rory asked cautiously.

Lorelai placed the pan on the top of the stove. "You in the mood for Luke's?"

Rory waved her hand dismissively. "Whatever."

Lorelai sat down on a chair and crossed her arms, "Okay, spill."

Rory rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Is it that obvious that something's wrong?"

"You came from my womb, you share my name, I know these things. Sit down..." she reached her hand in her pocket and removed a small, rectangular box, "...I can't offer you roast, but have a Tic-Tac."

Rory plopped down on a chair and sighed. "Can I give you a hypothetical situation?"

"Hypothesize away. I'm great with these. Can there be a bunny?"

"Mom, this is serious," Rory said.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Go ahead." She made a show of taking a deep breath and "centering" herself.

"Pretend that you're a high school student. You have this boyfriend...sorta...that goes to another school. And your best friend sees him talking to this other...incredibly beautiful, supermodel girl at his locker. Then you see him talking to said girl where he works...let's say a grocery store. What would you think?" Rory finished her situation and looked up at her mother expectantly.

"Well, it depends, what did this guy say about it when I straight-forwardly asked him about it?" Lorelai's eyebrow went up.

"Umm, you haven't really gotten to that point yet," Rory admitted nervously.

"Okay, here's what I think. I think I have to talk to this guy...let's call him...Bean..." she gave Rory a long look, "...and see what he has to say before I condemn him."

"But what if I...you...talk to this guy and it turns out that the Barbie girl is really what he wants?"

"You shouldn't even think about that until you talk to Bean," Lorelai said, "But since Bean has been following me around like I'm a female puppy in heat and he's a Great Dane for the past few months, I doubt there will be any reason for me to be worried."

"I know."

"So, now that that's settled, Luke's?" Lorelai asked.

"You go, I have homework."

"Are you sure? There's good food and good friends."

"Go, I've had my Tic-Tac, and I'm sure there's some peanut butter and jelly around here somewhere," Rory insisted.

"All right. I'll be back soon," Lorelai said, grabbing her purse.

"Tell Luke I say hi," Rory called.

"Will do."

"Hey Luke," Lorelai said as she walked into the little diner, "And Rory says hi."

"Uhh...hi?" Luke asked as she walked over to her.

"I just didn't want to forget. I need some coffee. Extra caffeine," Lorelai demanded.

"Good day?" Luke asked sarcastically.

"Rory's having boy trouble," Lorelai admitted.

"The produce guy?" Luke asked, taking the chair across the table and straddling it with his arms around the back of it.

"Yeah, seems he might be looking at another girl. Rory's really upset about it. And I think I'm going to have to be a mother now," Lorelai sighed.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"I think that it's going to have to be my job to tell my sixteen-year-old daughter that sometimes boys lie. It's going to break her heart. Is it wrong to want to hurt him?"

"It's only wrong if you actually do," Luke said.

"From Rory's description of this girl, she's blonde and gorgeous. She's like that girl in 16 Candles and Rory is Molly Ringwald," Lorelai groaned.

"Didn't Molly Ringwald end up with the guy while the blonde girl got the nerd?"

"Must you pick apart my metaphors?" Lorelai complained.

"Sorry."

"How do you know so much about teen 80's movies?" Lorelai asked.

"Junior year I dated Julie Jenison who had an obsession with 16 Candles," he explained.

"So you just sat and watched that movie with her over and over?" Lorelai asked, a small smile on her face.

"Yeah."

A long sigh. "I wonder if Dean would watch 16 Candles with Rory multiple times if she asked."

"Would Rory want him to?" Luke questioned.

Lorelai gave him an exasperated look, "Again. With the metaphors."

"Sorry."

"Just get my coffee."

The next day

Rory sat at her lunch table, quietly eating her lunch while reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

"The Bell Jar, huh?" His voice made her instinctively roll her eyes and she looked up to see Tristan sitting on the other side of her table.

She brought her eyes back down to her book and attempted ignore him.

"And how's your street urchin boyfriend?" He asked and grinned broadly when he saw her tense up, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I hit a nerve?"

"My nerves are not your concern, Tristan," Rory ground out, upset that she had let it show how aggravated she was with she and Dean's entire situation.

"Oh, but they are Mary, they are," he argued, leaning forward on his elbows and forcing her to meet his eyes.

"Can't you go bother someone else? Please? I'm sure there are girls in this school that would die for your company," she continued when he grinned smugly, "But I am not one of them."

"Well that's too bad, isn't? I like bothering you," Tristan admitted.

Rory turned her book over to save her page. "And why is that?"

"Because you fight back," he said simply and shrugged.

"I'm trying to eat, Tristan, and you're ruining my appetite," Rory said.

He leaned back and grinned, "Do you want to know a secret?"

"Not really," she answered.

He went on as if he hadn't heard her, as Rory knew he would. "You're on my agenda."

"You have an agenda?" Rory asked.

He nodded, a slight grin on his face.

"And I'm on it?"

Another nod. "You should be honored."

"Would you settle for disgusted?" She shot back.

"Well now that the farm boy is out of the picture..." Tristan said.

"NO ONE is out of the picture. Especially not Dean."

"What's so great about him?" Tristan demanded, folding his arms across his chest.

"Let's see...he's beautiful, he listens when I talk and his ego doesn't suffocate me whenever he's within a two mile radius. I guess that about covers it," Rory smiled rudely at Tristan before turning her book over and continued reading.

Tristan stood up indignantly and let his perfect, chiseled face show his pain a millisecond before he covered it up again and walked away.

When Rory came home from school, she was immediately greeted by her mother holding a phone out to her.

"Narcolepsy Boy called twice in the last half an hour. He seemed properly concerned and nervous. I was pleased. You should call him back, Rory," Lorelai said.

"I will. Later."

"Rory, the sooner you talk to him about this, the sooner you can start to deal with it."

The younger Lorelai stuck her tongue out at the eldest one before taking the phone from her hand. She slowly dialed the numbers she knew by heart and, when the phone was finally answered, the person on the other line informed her that Dean was at work.

She hung up the phone and handed it to Lorelai, who was standing in front of her watching impatiently.

"He's at work," Rory told her.

"So...?" Lorelai pushed.

"So what?"

"So...we're out of milk and I need you to get us some."

"Mom, I'll see him later," Rory argued.

"How will you have cereal tomorrow morning without milk, hmmm?"

"I'm not stupid," Rory said.

"No, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and without it you lose that extra edge you need for Chilton. I bet Paris has breakfast every morning," Lorelai teased.

"Fine, I'll go talk to Dean!" Rory exclaimed as she re-zipped her jacket to prepare to go back outside.

"Good girl," Lorelai complimented, smiling brightly.

Rory turned the doorknob and was about to go out the door when Lorelai stopped her.

"Rory!"

Rory turned around to face her mother, "What?"

"Don't forget the milk."

When Rory finally arrived at the grocery store, the first sight she saw was Dean once again shelving boxes and Cindy once again standing beside him.

Rory's face fell as she made her way, as quietly as she could, into the store. She crept forward until she was ten feet away from Dean and Cindy and well hid behind a display of Doritos.

"So are you doing anything Saturday?" Rory heard Cindy ask in a deep, sultry voice reserved only for phone sex operators and late 1930's blue singers.

Dean looked upset at this question for a moment, "No, I'm not doing anything on Saturday."

"You have a girlfriend and you're not doing anything on a Saturday night?" Cindy asked.

"She's got some homework...thing...I guess," Dean said.

Rory was secretly happy that Dean had mentioned her to Cindy.

"Well, I'm having a party on Saturday and I thought maybe you'd like to accompany me?"

"Cindy, I really don't know how many times I have to tell you that I have a girlfriend for you to understand it," Dean said, his voice was harsh.

"It's only one night, I don't think she'd mind," she winked suggestively.

"Rory's cool and she probably wouldn't mind," Dean said, "But the point is, I would. I don't want to go out with anyone else. Why can't you understand that?"

Rory couldn't stop the huge smile that spread over her face.

Behind her, a mother was attempting to push a cart full of groceries and two children down the narrow aisle. By accident she nudged Rory who was leaning precariously into the display. Rory lost her balance and she, along with the entire display of Doritoes went falling over and she landed on the ground at Dean and Cindy's feet.

"Rory!" Dean exclaimed, shocked at seeing his girlfriend surrounded by Nacho Cheesier tortilla chips. He held out his hands to help her up. Rory sheepishly allowed her to pull her back to a standing position.

The mother stood next to them with her hand over her mouth, "I am SO sorry, honey."

"No, it's okay, ma'am. It's my fault," Rory said.

"Rory, what are you doing here?" Dean asked.

"I...came to talk to you. You left me some messages. And I needed milk."

"Umm...Cindy, this is Rory, my girlfriend, Rory, this is Cindy."

Both girls smiled timidly at each other, but neither made a move to say anything. Cindy turned back to Dean and smiled. "Well, if you change your mind..."

"I doubt it."

With that, Cindy turned around and walked back down the aisle and out of the store.

Rory couldn't stop smiling. When Dean looked down and saw her, he bumped his shoulder against hers. "What?"

"Nothing," she grinned brighter.

He bumped her again. "What?"

"Can we talk?" She asked.

"Sure, let me take a break." He ran off to talk to his manager and came back about ten minutes later to tell Rory he could take a twenty-minute break.

They walked out of the store and Dean took his hand in Rory's and gave it a little squeeze. "What's been going on lately, Rory?"

"Okay, I have to tell you something. And it's so stupid, and so...teenage angst..."

"Rory, just tell me," Dean urged.

"Umm...I'm just going to say it. I...sort of...thought that...umm..."

"I thought you were going to say it?" Dean interrupted her.

"I thought you liked Cindy," she blurted you.

He stopped in his tracks. "Wait, what?"

"Lane saw you guys talking by your locker and then I kept seeing her with you in the store..." she gestured back to the grocery store behind them, "And I thought that you liked her."

"Uh-huh..." Dean said.

"So that's why I didn't want to go out with you on Saturday and so I saw you talking today and I wanted to hear what you were going to say so I eavesdropped and hurt all the chips," Rory said, keeping her eyes focused on her feet.

"I'm sorry, I should have known that you wouldn't do anything and I was being stupid and...thank you for saying I was your girlfriend," Rory continued.

"Uh-huh," was all Dean said.

"Can you say something please?" Rory begged.

She got her wish when Dean swiftly stepped in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders to make her stop walking. She looked up and him and saw that he was smiling.

"So what you're saying..." he began, "Is that you were jealous?"

Rory opened her mouth to protest, closed it again and finally said, "I wouldn't say jealous so much as...concerned."

"No, no, I think you were jealous. You thought another girl was going to take your place, and you were jealous."

"Okay, please stop," Rory pleaded.

"You know what?" Dean asked, putting his finger under Rory's chin and forcing her to look at him, "You're cute when you're jealous."

Dean grinned at the blush that spread like butter on bread across her cheeks. "Please, please stop. I beg of you."

"Were you going to beat her up?" He teased.

"I don't like you," she grumbled.

"Sure you do, jealous girl...come here," Dean put his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. He pressed a kiss on her forehead and sighed. "You don't have to worry about me, I promise."

"Okay," Rory whispered.

He ran his finger down her cheek and to the back of her neck before gently urging her closer to him. Rory got on her tiptoes and met Dean's lips in a deep, passionate kiss.