CHERRY. [JESS MARIANO]

Race You

Bradley International Airport in Hartford was full of people walking around with luggage's and screaming children who didn't want to get on the plane. Rory and I went through our security checks and went out to the waiting areas to look for our mum.

"Where are they?" Rory groaned from under the weight of her bags. She had on three duffel bags and not a single suitcase.

"I don't know why you didn't just bring a suitcase," I tell her as I gesture to my black suitcase. "You wouldn't have to carry all that if you had."

"Less talking more looking," she retorted as we both scanned the many faces of people for our mothers.

Given my slightly shorter than most people height, I had to constantly go on my tiptoes to see the faces of passerby's. Rory however had no need for that. Which would explain how she spotted them first.

She grabbed my arm and pointed in their direction. "There they are!" She tells me excitedly.

I look in the direction she's pointing in and smile. My mother and Lorelai stood with what looked like a single shopping bag. It seemed like they were bickering with each other, which knowing our mothers, wouldn't be very surprising.

I look at Rory with a grin. "Race you!" I challenged. Without waiting to see if Rory agreed, I sprinted off to the direction of my mum. I dragged my suitcase behind me with a loud rattling coming from the wheels.

Rory was running behind me as she shouted out, "You cheated!" We were both attracting very strange looks from other people. I think I may have knocked over a small child with my suitcase, but that was a small price to pay for my victory. Lorelai and my mum stood in their spots with open arms as we collided into them. I arrived a split second before Rory.

I hugged my mum tightly as she dropped whatever bags she had in her hand. I could hear my suitcase fall over, but it was muffled from my head being buried in my mothers shirt.

Where my mum and I had a hug that was fit to be the ending of a movie, you know the one where they're in the airport and there's people around and they're both hugging each other really tight. Lorelai and Rory however, collided into each other and immediately fell to the floor.

Their ruckus, made my mum and I pull apart and give them a glance. They were both sprawled out on the ground with the bags between them. Both of them were laughing with huge grins on their faces as they hugged each other sitting down.

My mother glanced around and sent apologetic smiles to the people around us. "I can't bring you two anywhere," my mother chided to the two Gilmores on the airport floor.

"Hush, you. We got presents for you two." Lorleai says before dragging me down to the floor next to her. "Sit down Maria."

Crossing her arms in front of her, my mom scowled at Lorelai. "If security comes, I'm ditching you." She sits down on the floor reluctantly.

"Ladies and ladies," Lorelai announced as she put her hand in the bag dramatically. "I- we got you some surprises," she quickly corrects herself after an elbow to the ribs from my mum. "A Hartford notebook." She pulls out a notebook with picture of Hartford on it.

"We're supposed to be the ones to get you presents," Rory protests guiltily as she takes the notebook in her hand.

"Yes, but we're broke Rory." I tell her with my hands in my folded lap. "They aren't."

My mum takes the bag from Lorelai's grasp. "And for you, we have a Hartford sweater." She pulls out a grey sweater before handing it to me.

"What else have you guys wasted your money on?" I ask sarcastically before going through the plastic bag.

Rory shifted some things in the bag as she peered in from beside me. "Hartford mug, Hartford pencils-" she was listing off things in the bag.

"The Hartford pencils go with the notebook," Lorelai chimes in excitedly.

"Hartford shot glasses?" I raise my eyebrows at the two parents. "Wonder who those are for." I look at the set of three shot glasses in my hand.

My mum picks them out of my hand. "We broke a few stuff while you were gone," she admits.

"Mum!" Rory scolds her mother with a frown. "What did you do."

"We may have gotten a little drunk," Lorelai says sheepishly. "It's no big deal."

Sending a scoff Lorelai's way, my mum retorts back at her. "She thought Kirk's name was dirt."

Lorelai gasps at my mother in betrayal as Rory and I let out a few light laughs. "That was our secret!" She exclaims. "You were the one who was convinced Tom Hanks was your husband."

"Tom Hanks is my dad?" I ask them both questioningly.

Rory looked my face over exaggeratedly. "I see the resemblance."

"Alright," my mother announces before standing up. "We've got to get going if we wanna be home in time for the festival." All of us cleared up the bags and mess we had made and stood up. We each had our fair share of bags to carry before exiting the terminal.

~~~

"So I got something to tell you," my mum says anxiously from the drivers seat of the car. Lorelai and Rory went in a separate car since we each needed some room for all our bags.

"Is it that Tom Hanks really is my dad?" I joke as I close the book in my lap. The morning sun shone brightly through the windows.

She sends me a playful glare. "I wish, but this is serious."

I sit up straight in my seat as I readjust the seatbelt across my chest. "Well what it is?" I ask, eager to know what she has to say to me.

"Jess is back," she tells me with her eyes still on the road ahead of us. I completely forgot about the fact that she didn't know. She takes her eyes of the road for a second to see my reaction. From the look on her face I can tell that my expression didn't convey the surprise she thought it would. "You knew," she sighs out in disbelief.

"I saw him when I went into Luke's before I left," I say as I played with the frayed ends of the book.

She doesn't say anything for a while. Her eyes still on the road as she nods to herself about something. "You have got to stay away from him," she finally speaks out.

I snap my head towards her so fast that some hair flies into my mouth. "What? No, no way." I protest quickly.

"It's for the best," she says calmly.

I think though about what I was going to say about that. I didn't want to accidentally blurt out something about Sookie's wedding. "He's my friend."

"I know you think that, but he's not." She tells me sternly. I saw that the knuckles of her hands were white from gripping the steering wheel so hard. "He's just a load of trouble."

To be fair, I see why she wouldn't want me to talk to him anymore. But that didn't mean I had to listen to what she said. When have I ever done what she told me to. "I'm not going to."

"And I'm not asking," she says as her voice rises ever so slightly in frustration. "You have got to listen to me."

"Why? Why do I have to listen to you?" I defy her, knowing that it was the wrong move but not caring at all.

"Cause I'm the mum, and it's my job to make sure you don't throw your future away for some guy!"

"I am not gonna throw my future away, no matter what," I say confidently. No matter who it was, I would never jeopardise my future for them.

My mum nods, as if my answer satisfied her. "Glad to see we're on the same page."

I look at her incredulously. "No, we are not on the same page! We're not even on the same book!" I say. "You can't stop me from seeing him, it's a small town."

"I may not be able to stop you, but I'll be dammed if I don't try." She says with a frown on her face.

"Well then, lets see you try,"