Pretty & Perfect

Chapter One

I pulled my car to a stop outside the house that my twin Rory had grown up with our mother, Lorelai. I didn't think anything could derail my euphoric mood. Finally, after years of dreaming my mother was opening her own inn with her best friend and business partner, Sookie. That night was the first test run and they had invited the entire town. I was so proud of her, of them. I climbed out of my red Porsche, a graduation present from my paternal grandparents, Francine and Staub Hayden. I saw the light on in Rory's bedroom and smiled to myself. She had left the Dragonfly Inn an hour ago to find CDs for mom. I opened the door and it banged as it opened.

"Rory!" I called out to her as I rushed inside. "Oh, my God. You're missing everything." I ran up the stairs to where my mom's room is. "Grab those CDs and head back to the inn before you miss the cross-dressing midgets. That's where the night is headed. Oh! Things are happening - big things, wow things. I have so much to tell you." I ran around grabbing bandages and the camera on her side table before running back down stairs two at a time. "Let me just open with this little tidbit - Kirk running naked through the square. Of course, with all her careful planning and preparation, mom forgot to bring Band-aids and a camera. I have got to learn that, always, without fail, Kirk equals camera." I rushed to the bottom and saw Rory standing alone in the kitchen, looking dishevelled. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Dean came over to borrow something." My twin sister stammered just as her ex-boyfriend Dean exits her bedroom, looking equally as dishevelled.

"Yeah. Thanks." Dean said nervously, glancing around the kitchen like he can't look either of us in the eye.

"You're welcome."

"So, um, I should go. Um...bye, Christa." Dean replied as he practically ran out the backdoor, leaving me glaring at my sister and her looking at the ground guiltily.

"So, I'm almost done getting the CDs together. I picked a wide selection so we'd have choices, and then I picked a bunch that probably only you will like, but it's good to have options." Rory said guiltily as she went back into her room and I followed her. I sighed as I noticed the rumpled bed. The comforter and pillows were all askew and the teddy bear that normally sat on Rory's perfectly made bed was thrown carelessly on the floor. I picked up the bear a placed it on the desk besides me.

"So, what did he borrow?" I asked her, knowing that she was lying. Rory turned and looked at me with wide eyes. I raised my eyebrows in question at her. It was completely oblivious that Rory and Dean had just had sex.

"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it first. I know I promised I would, but I swear, I didn't know that this was going to happen. I mean, I didn't know he was going to show up tonight, and it just happened." Rory said in a desperate tone. "It's awful for you to find out like this, I know, but everything's okay. I'm okay, and we were, you know, safe. So all those Trojan man jokes all these years really apparently stuck. And I'm lucky, too, because Dean, he's - well, aren't you glad that it happened with someone who's good and really loves me?" she asked as she noticed my disapproving expression. I knew that my lips were pursed and my eyes screamed disappointment.

"But he's married." I stated matter-of-factly, picking back up the teddy bear.

"You don't understand the situation." Rory argued with me, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Is he still married?" I asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, but – "

"Then I understand the situation." I interrupted her before she could start defending her actions. I may be many things but even I wouldn't sleep with a married man.

"It's not working out between them. They're not happy." Rory told me defiantly. I looked at her in pity as I put the stuffed bear back on the desk.