Gilmore Girls Stuffing Story:
A Stars Hollow Eating Contest
A Stars Hollow Eating Contest
This plays in the world of the Gilmore Girls series. If characters or dates deviate then it is likely intended though I don't mind you if you ask or point out flaws. Thanks for reading.
Part 1: Introduction
On a warm autumn afternoon Lorelai Gilmore entered the local fast food store without much of a thought. She had not been eating anything since breakfast and it was 5PM already which was very unusual for her but served a purpose. She knew that eating something now was not beneficial for the upcoming contest but her stomach had taken control of her actions and it needed something right now and not in one hour. Besides, there would probably not be much of a competition to begin with. So she ordered two Cheeseburgers, a Donut and a medium sized Vanilla Milkshake which was not more than just an appetizer by Lorelai Gilmore standards. She sat back in her car and began to munch away while she drove to the event area where she was appointed to meet her teammates Rory and Dean.
The 34-year old Lorelai is a single mother who lives in a peaceful small town called Stars Hollow in Connecticut. She is an independent and free-spirited woman with a golden heart and I could describe in many words how fabulous she looks but if you want to know that you can easily google her. Rory is Lorelai's beautiful 18-year old prodigy daughter who has a bright future ahead of her and Dean is Rory's boyfriend. She did not keep her own age a secret so anyone who did the math knew that Lorelai gave birth to her at the very young age of sixteen but that did not keep her from being a great mother. The small age difference even had the advantage that the two could often be more like friends than like mother and daughter.
At first Lorelai did not like Dean. She thought Rory was just a foolish little girl who had a silly crush on a good looking tall athlete. But with time the relationship of Lorelai and Dean got better and better. Dean is not a genius like her daughter but he isn't stupid either. She learned that he is a nice guy with a good heart and even though he currently only works in a supermarket he is a diligent worker and plans to go to college soon. He is no drinker or pothead and accepts the fact that Rory's ambitious college plans mean that she doesn't always have time for him. But most importantly he loves her daughter and she loves him. Lorelai has realized that her daughter truly loved Dean as well and if Lorelai has learned anything from her own past it is that love matters much more than ambitious plans of ambitious parents. By now Lorelai is actually very happy with the boyfriend her daughter has chosen who had once again proven to have a better sense of judgment than herself.
Part 2: No Rory
A few minutes later she arrived in the small event hall that in contrast to the empty fast food box in her hand was already quite filled with spectators. It looked like half of Stars Hollow was there to celebrate Stars Hollow's fourth annual Eating Contest. The atmosphere in the hall was casual. Most people did not take the contest very serious, what mattered for them was the get-together and the fun. They wanted to get out and enjoy a little bit of variety and for that it didn't really matter if it was an eating contest, a giant corn maze that was spread all over the city or a dance marathon. Stars Hollow was a friendly town in which everyone knew everyone and whenever people met they had a lot of townlet gossip to share. The background murmur and chatter all these people made was loud enough to drown the clicking of Lorelai's High Heels from her own ears. Unlike most of the others however Lorelai took this contest quite serious so she even dressed up well for it. Her outfit was not over the top, but she still spent quite a while in front of the mirror and ended up wearing black High Heels, subtle makeup and a beautiful knee-long Bordeaux colored dress that was revealing just a tiny bit of her quite substantial cleavage.
The first thing Lorelai did after arriving was to secretly throw the empty Fast Food box into a nearby bin because she felt that it would be a bit awkward if she got caught with it so shortly before an eating contest. Her team was the odds-on favorite to win after all. Three years ago the contest was held for the first time after Stars Hollow's mayor and only politician Taylor Doose has seen a contest in a nearby town and was impressed with the atmosphere and with how many visitors came. Even though Lorelai often made fun of Taylor because of his pedantism as well as his excessive ambitiousness as a townlet mayor she had to admit that this has been one of his better ideas. What Lorelai concerned it was easily the best idea because she simply loved to eat a lot and this contest gave her a perfect opportunity. Back then Taylor had decided to make this a team of three competition and so far Lorelai has been a member of each winning team. For all three years so far she was in one team with her best friend Sookie. In the first year they teamed with Rory's dad Christopher who still has a good relationship with them but because he tends to appear and disappear at random intervals the last two years they just teamed with Rory and she was a good replacement. Both years they won in pretty dominating fashion. Lorelai and Sookie can eat like crazy. You can easily see why the overweight Sookie would be such a good eater simply by looking at her but despite Lorelai's womanly yet slim figure she was the major eater of their team. A normal woman with Lorelai's calorie intake would weigh a ton in no time but thanks to her good metabolism, stressful job and caffeine-fueled hyperactivity her figure was kept in a great shape.
And even though Rory was a much more responsible person than her mother some of Lorelai's bad behavior has rubbed off on her. Eating far more than what you should was one of these things. Years of ordering more food from the delivery service than what would be considered sane, candy-fueled film marathons and quad desserts after family pizzas have trained her stomach capacity well.
This year however there would be no Sookie on the team. Sookie was pregnant and so she was absolutely fussy about living as healthy as possible and that of course included no overeating. Lorelai and Rory had decided that the replacement for her would be Dean. He was a tall guy and an athlete so they figured he could eat well too. Not that they would need him to carry the team though: the competition was not very fierce and for the last two year's they celebrated their victory with a coffee and a small piece of cake at their favorite place Luke's diner afterwards.
Lorelai looked around the hall to find Rory and Dean. It was not an easy task to find anyone in this crowded place, not even the tall Dean who should tower the crowd like a lighthouse. What made things even more difficult was that almost everyone here knew her and wanted to talk to her about gossip or ask her if she would win again this year. Lorelai's modesty made her tell them that it would be tough even though she supposed that this would be an easy win again. During the last years she didn't even have to go close to what she could eat and yet they won handily (though Sookie and Rory seemed to be quite full towards the end). Little did she know how right she was when she told her friends how hard it would be.
During the last years she didn't even have to go close to what she could eat and yet they won handily (though Sookie and Rory seemed to be quite full towards the end). After asking about a dozen people about Rory's whereabouts she came to the conclusion that her usually overly reliable daughter was not present. Lorelai immediately called her on her mobile phone. No one answered. The contest would start in thirty minutes but Lorelai was not too worried so she decided to just register their team Rory-Dean-Lorelai for the contest anyway and wait for them to show up.
The next minutes Lorelai spent waiting at the entrance small-talking with friends from Stars Hollow about the weather, her chances of winning the contest and the latest townlet gossip. With less than 5 minutes on the clock her mobile phone finally vibrated. It was a text message from Rory that read:
"sorry! on our way! arrive as fast as possible! try to stall! sorry!!!!"
So Rory was indeed late. Even though Rory resembled a saint she was also still an 18 year old girl hanging out with her boyfriend so it is not unusual that she would forget the time for once. In fact Lorelai sometimes joked that Rory should be a little less perfect so that she doesn't look so bad in comparison. But today was such an inconvenient occasion for that wish to come true Lorelai thought to herself. She messaged Rory back and told her to hurry even though she knew that was exactly what Rory was doing anyway. More important was the question how she could possibly stall for time. This was organized by none other than Taylor Doose after all who was a natural born civil servant, always acting strict by the rules (unless they are to his personal disadvantage) and not sympathetic towards dawdlers at all. Nonetheless she had to try.
"Hey, Taylor... I have a question." Lorelai asked in her sweetest voice.
"Hello Lorelai, as you can see I am very busy at the moment so maybe you can consider asking me that question at a different time." he answered, busy with the last preparations.
"No Taylor, this is urgent." she insisted.
"What is it this time Lorelai?" a visibly stressed Taylor asked.
"Rory will be a few minutes late"
"And?" Taylor asked, honestly not understanding what Lorelai was getting at.
"And she is a part of my team."
"And what does that have to do with me? If you need someone to pick her up I am hardly the right person. Mind your own business and let me mind mine."
"No Taylor, what I wanted to ask is if you could delay the whole thing for maybe a few minutes." Lorelai asked, though she already knew the answer.
"No Lorelai, that is impossible." Taylor told her unsurprisingly.
"Please, Taylor. We have the title defender bonus."
"No Lorelai. The rules say nothing about a title defender bonus and the contest starts in two minutes. The deadline was well known and it counts for everyone, even you."
"Yes, and I am here."
"Stop your deviations. The deadline counts for Rory too. All other teams have managed to be here in time, too."
"But..."
"Look" Taylor interrupted her "everyone is ready and the spectators are waiting. Now leave me alone."
Lorelai knew that further arguing was pointless and what made things worse was that Taylor was right. Lorelai had to think of something different.
"In that case would it be okay for me to start the contest alone?" she asked.
"What do you mean, start the contest alone? If this is another of your antics I don't have time for it." he answered.
"No antics, I promise. I just sit down there alone, do the first one or two rounds myself and then when my team arrives they join me." she explained.
"Hmm, that is odd and I doubt you can do it but I don't think there are any rules that forbid it. When they arrive they can join you. Go ahead. Just go."
"Wait. How about you delay it until Rory is here?" Lorelai asked again. Even though it might cost her when she needs him again in his function as mayor it was just too much fun to torture him.
"No, I already told you that is impossible." Taylor answered with a painful expression on his face. "Leave me alone."
"A tiny delay?"
"Now sit down or I reconsider my decision." a now visibly annoyed Taylor told her.
Even though her team was still missing she managed to disgruntle Taylor a bit so that was at least something.
"Welcome to the fourth annual Stars Hollow Eating Contest." she heard Taylor say through the microphone.
to be continued...
