Thankfully Eleanor got out of a Friday Night Dinner because of a cello recital that she had to go to that was out of Stars Hollow with her friends.

When she got back late that evening, Lorelai told her that Emily expected her to be at the next Friday Night Dinner, as if Eleanor skipped out on it on purpose.

Eleanor almost groaned because of course she was expected to be there.

On Thursday morning, Eleanor went into the kitchen to get something to eat. She spotted Lorelai sitting moodily at the table.

Rory was coming out of her room, closing the door to block out the loud music that was playing.

"Hey," Lorelai said. "I have an idea for a new reality show. How about everyone ust look out their freaking kitchen window for a change?"

Rory looked at Eleanor, "Ooh. She's cranky this morning."

Eleanor took a Boston cream filled doughnut out of the fridge, "I noticed."

"Let's just say the world has a fordmitable opponent," Lorelai said.

"Wait," Rory stated. "Shouldn't you two be baking?"

She was talking about the bake sale that was going on at Chilton. Every parent was expected to bake something for the sale.

"Fran has my portion covered and Mom has Sookie making your portion," Eleanor told Rory as she poured some coffee into a tumbler. "I have to give Fran and Marjorie directions to Chilton, so I'm going to be riding with them to school."

"Yeah, that reminds me, we're late," Lorelai said. "Get your stuff and hit the stereo."

Eleanor took off.

Eleanor was setting up her table with Fran and Marjorie while Sookie got Rory's table ready.

She almost groaned when she saw Elliot coming up to her table. Okay, she can admit that he is attractive, but his annoyingness diminished it a bit. However, she would take annoying (Elliot) over douche bagginess (Dugray) any day. One good thing was that Dugray finally left her alone; maybe Brad licking her arm finally got rid of him.

"Hi," Fran greeted Elliot once he reached the table.

"Hi," Elliot said. He looked at the desserts. He pointed at something, "What is that?"

"That's caramel apple coffee cake," Eleanor said. She pointed at another dessert, "This is cinnamon apple cheesecake."

"This is apple dumplings, apple fritters, and gingerbread pumpkin trifle," Fran finished.

"I'll take an apple dumpling," Elliot said. Marjorie got the dessert for him. "I need to talk to you."

"Go ahead," Eleanor told him.

"In private," Elliot said.

Eleanor nearly rolled her eyes and followed after him. "What is it?"

"I'm going to cash in that favor you owe me," Elliot told her.

Eleanor almost groaned at that, but she did owe him one. "What is it?"

"I need you to come over to my house for dinner tonight," Elliot told her. "I hope you like awkward family dinners."

"Bitch, I am the queen of awkward family dinners," Eleanor told him. "I have awkward family dinners every Friday night."

Elliot looked at her, "Okay, then."

"I won't wear a dress, though," Eleanor told him.

Elliot seemed confused, "Why?"

"The last time I wore a dress a month ago, Rory told me that it looked like my boulders were trying to escape it," Eleanor said.

Elliot, looking even more confused, asked, "Your boulders?"

Eleanor motioned to her chest, "Yes, my boulders. How can these possibly escape your notice?"

Elliot looked down and recoiled, like he was surprised that she had those the entire time. "Oh. Oh. Oh!"

Apparently he was surprised by them, Eleanor noticed with a weird odd sense of satisfaction, like she was pleased she took him off guard by revealing that.

"Wow," Elliot stated, looking back at Eleanor's face. "I didn't notice."

Strange; her breasts were the first things that guys noticed about her. Elliot must've been zeroed in on her face or something. Well, besides Elliot, Brad never noticed her chest but that was because dating and sex weren't his thing, like no one turns him on. Okay, maybe a few girls caught his eye, but he just preferred his friends' company than having potential girlfriends (or boyfriends), so, he just stayed single.

"Yeah," Eleanor replied, crossing her arms to try and cover them.

Elliot asked, "When did you realize that those were huge?"

"When I was eleven and some grown man reached out to stop me and Rory from entering a movie theater and 'accidentally' touched one," Eleanor told him. "Rory gave him a black eye. I never heard her cuss before or after that. In fact, I never saw her get violent before. He swore it was an accident, but it wasn't because there was no reason to stop us, especially—" Eleanor stuck her hand out, "doing that to us. It made me feel awful."

Elliot nodded, looking in the distance, "Yeah, I know the feeling."

Eleanor asked, "Someone groped Fiona and you gave him a black eye?"

Elliot looked at her, as if realizing that she was there, "Yeah, sure."

"Middle school was worse," Eleanor told him. "I was just trying to get dressed and all the girls all gave me death stares. Then this little piece of crap named Chase asked me, 'doesn't it hurt when you sleep on your stomach? Do you float? Do you even need pillows?' Its kind of funny now, but it killed me back then."

Elliot asked, "A guy named Chase humiliated you?"

"Easy for you to say, you don't have boulders," Eleanor told him. "Even my mom and sister call my bras boulder holders. Do you know how hard it is to find bras that fit?"

"No, because I don't wear bras," Elliot told her. He looked at his table. It looked like his parents and Fiona were staring at them, although his parents looked a little to disapproving. "See you around Lenore." He walked towards his table where his parents were, though he didn't look happy to go over there.

She turned around to see that Lorelai and Mr. Medina were talking to each other. She went back to her table.

"That boy has the biggest crush on you," Fran told her.

Eleanor was confused, "What?"

"He looked at your face the entire time he talked to you," Fran said.

"Not once did he look at your breasts," Marjorie told her. "That's a good sign right there."

"He doesn't like me," Eleanor told them.

Fran and Marjorie looked at each other.

"Teens these days," Fran told Marjorie who nodded.

"You'll get it in a couple of months or so once you both stop being in denial," Marjorie told Eleanor.

Eleanor was confused, in denial of what?

Eleanor got dressed in a burgundy red pleated skirt, black stockings, and a cream colored long-sleeve shirt. She even considered wearing her black combat boots, because why the hell should she impress Elliot and his family? However, at the last minute, she chose some white colored converse that had flowers embroidered on them by Arielle.

She got the Peppermint, a white-and-red striped circular bag that looked like one of those peppermint candies that her fourth grade teacher used to pass out.

She had her house key, wallet, candy apple lip gloss, and vanilla body spray in there. After that, she was ready to eat at Elliot's home. He never said why, he just wanted her there.

She was kind of nervous, because she never really ate a guy's house before. Sure she ate at Brad's house before, but going to Elliot's house seemed a little to...intimate and a lot like meeting your boyfriend's parents for the first time.

It was stupid because she wasn't dating Elliot; all she was doing was a favor.

So, she got her butt on the bus and got dropped off at the school where Elliot picked her up. He seemed rather impassive when he picked her up.

Elliot's parents were blond, Eleanor noticed. She felt out of place, considering her hair. They were having lobster bisque with salad, fennel gratin, and garlic parmesan breadsticks. It was awkward.

Although she noticed Elliot's mom, Mrs. Taylor, give Eleanor's bust a jealous look.

Mrs. Taylor asked, "What did you say your name was again?"

"Eleanor Gilmore," the girl said.

Mr. Taylor asked, "Any relation to Richard and Emily Gilmore?"

"They're my grandparents," Eleanor replied.

Mrs. Taylor took a sip of wine, "What is Lorelai doing now?"

"She's executive manager of Independence Inn," Eleanor said. "She's looking into opening up her own inn."

Mr. Taylor made an unimpressed noise.

"I hear you play the cello," Fiona piped up.

Mrs. Taylor looked at her, "Is that so?"

"My friends and I take lessons from Julian Munroe," Eleanor said. "He got accepted into Julliard when he was ten-years-old."

Mr. Taylor nodded in approval, "I heard of him. He had written some symphonies when he was twelve." He looked at Fiona, "I took your mother to one of them."

Elliot was playing with his food, though he didn't look to happy.

Mrs. Taylor asked, "What do you want to do, Eleanor?"

"I want to be a neuroscientist," Eleanor said. "I work part-time at Weston's Bakery to save up for Yale."

Mr. Taylor asked, "How's Chilton? It must be challenging compared to your other school."

"Its fine," Eleanor replied. "I'm trying to catch up. The notes alone can be used to bludgeon someone to death with." She cringed; stupid Brad.

It sounded like Elliot snickered at that.

Eleanor wasn't sure if he found that amusing or laughing at her for saying something stupid.

Eleanor would've been fine taking the bus home, but Elliot's parents told him to drive her home. It was awkward on the drive to Stars Hollow.

Elliot asked, "So, do you like cats or dogs?"

Eleanor shrugged, "I like cats. My mom's not a cat person. We had a hamster but our mom abandoned it."

Elliot asked, "How did she abandon a hamster?"

"Well, Skippy, the hamster kept biting her," Eleanor said. "Skippy seemed to like me, but hated her. I'm sure that it's because my mom kept putting Kleenex in the cage. I kept clearing out the cage. So my mom took Skippy to the pet store, waited for the cashier to go in the back, put the cage on the counter, and left."

"That's so messed up," Elliot stated.

Eleanor nodded, "I know. I mean, I prefer cats over dogs. I'm not saying I don't like dogs. I like other people's dogs, I just don't want one."

Elliot nodded, "I know. I like dogs, I just don't want their 'I'm your best friend, so I'm going to be in your face' energy. I don't want that. I just want an apathetic roommate who wants to hang out sometimes."

Eleanor nodded. They had something in common. Oh god. She rolled her eyes and looked out the window. "I did you a favor so you owe me one."

"Fine," Elliot said.

It went silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry for making you do that," Elliot told her. "I just wanted to go one evening without being criticized or compared to Fiona."

To Eleanor's horror, she found herself empathizing with him. "I know the feeling when it comes to Rory. Growing up, our grandparents focused on her during the holidays and at our Friday Night Dinners. They talk to her and lavish praise on her. Even our parents prefer her. I'm just Rory's big boobed twin. That's all everyone notices when it comes to me."

"The worst is when teachers say 'Why can't you be more like your sister?' Give me a break," Elliot said.

Eleanor groaned, "I hate that. When that happens, I say 'I don't know. It's like we're two separate people than one entity.' It shuts them up for a while. I think if Rory and I wrote the same essay, written exactly the same, I would get a lower grade than her just because it's Rory."

Elliot groaned, "Oh, god, if that happened to me, I would be so pissed. They wouldn't care if I turned it in. They would grade her higher because—"

"She's the better twin," Eleanor and Elliot finished in unison.

"Yeah," Elliot stated. "She's not perfect, you know."

"Same with Rory," Eleanor replied.

There was silence in the car some more.

"I ran away once," Elliot said. "I was gone for two weeks and my parents didn't even notice. Fiona called my friends to see where I was the day after I ran away. I told her not to tell our parents, so she didn't. Even she was shocked by how they didn't even notice."

Eleanor was stunned at that. "Jesus Christ. I was gone for a day and my mom freaked out. Granted, she thought good ol' Jello Jugs was out slutting it up."

Elliot asked, "People call you Jello Jugs?"

"Yeah," Eleanor said. "I'd take that over Mary Magdalene any day. I haven't even had sex."

"Neither have I," Elliot said. "God knows that Fiona has."

There was another silence, before Elliot asked, "Your mom thinks you're a slut?"

"Well, not exactly. She doesn't want Rory and I to turn out like her because she got pregnant at sixteen," Eleanor explained. "So, she sees us as extensions of herself. Rory didn't even want to go to Chilton because of some guy. So, all she saw was herself."

Elliot nodded, "That explains why she looks so young."

Eleanor nodded, "Yeah."

There were a lot of people at Babette's house when they got to the Gilmore house.

Elliot asked, "Are they having a party?"

Eleanor shrugged and got out of the car. Rory ran over to her and Eleanor asked, "What happened?"

"Cinnamon died," Rory told her.

"Oh, that's awful," Elliot said. He leaned over to Eleanor and whispered, "Who the hell is Cinnamon?"

"A cat," Eleanor responded.

Rory nodded, "Babette is having a wake for her."

Elliot jingled his car keys, "Oh." He went over to Babette's house for reasons Eleanor couldn't figure out.

Eleanor and Rory went over to Babette's home.

"Cinnamon rolled into a lamp," Leslie told Eleanor as soon as they entered the house.

"I hope she was dead before that happened," Eleanor said.

Arielle came over to them, "Brad is talking to that guy that you talk about constantly."

Eleanor looked and spotted Brad's busy hair talking to Elliot, who seemed like he was feeling out of place. She said, "Oh." She moved over to her mom.

"There you are, Nell," Lorelai said.

"Here I am," Eleanor said. "Where's Babette?"

"Over there," Lorelai said.

Eleanor went to Babette, "Hey, Babette. I'm sorry about Cinnamon. She was a special cat."

"Hey, Nell," Rory called to her. She was standing outside the door.

Eleanor went to the window, taking a drink with her. "What?"

"That's Mr. Medina," Rory told her.

"Oh," Eleanor replied.

Why was their English teacher at their front door?

"Mom," Rory called to Lorelai who was walking past the door.

Lorelai came over to them, "Huh?"

Eleanor asked, "Why is Mr. Medina at our front door?"

Lorelai gasped, "Oh no." Mr. Medina was knocking on the door. "Tonight's Thursday."

"Glad you know the days of the week," Eleanor said.

Elliot wandered over and looked over, "Huh. I thought Chilton doesn't do at home parent-teacher conferences after that one teacher impregnated someone's mother."

Rory asked, "Wait, what's going on? Are Nell and I in trouble?"

"No, no, you're both great. Let me just come back in just a second," Lorelai said.

"Oh," Eleanor replied, finally getting it.

"What?" Rory asked, "What is it?"

"He and Mom are supposed to go on a date," Eleanor told her. Elliot took off inside the house. "There really is no reason for him to be here unless he's taking her out on a date."

"I'm gonna talk to him real quick and I'm gonna be right back."

Lorelai went over to their home.

Rory looked at Eleanor, "I can't believe she didn't tell us."

"That's her rule," Eleanor said.

Lorelai had created this rule that she won't bring home any guy in case they get too attached and Lorelai breaks up with him. It was all about 'protecting' them.

"I know," Rory said. "But that's our teacher. How can we look him in the eye if she breaks up with him?"

"Look a little to the left so you're not actually looking him in the eye," Leslie told them.

Eleanor looked at her and nodded, "Yeah."

Eleanor left her room when she heard her mother scream in frustration.

"She's working for a sedative manufacturer, keeping that demand sky-high," Lorelai said.

"You should've have told her," Rory said from the kitchen.

"Well, I don't know what to tell and what to hide," replied Lorelai.

"Yeah," replied Rory.

Lorelai said, "So, we never did quite settle the whole dating-your-teacher issue. I won't go out with him if you don't want me to."

"You can go out with whoever you want," Rory said.

"It's whoever we want," replied Lorelai.

"Well, I'm certainly not going to go out with him 'cause that would be really weird," replied Rory.

"I'm fine with you dating Max," replied Eleanor. She really didn't care. She had work to catch up on.

"Yeah, but you know if there's anything that make you feel uncomfortable, big or small, then he's out of there," Lorelai told them.

"Good to know," replied Rory.

"You know, it's not like I'm desperate," said Lorelai. "I mean, there are plenty of other guys out there."

Rory said, "Sure are."

"And it's not like I have to ask your permission. I mean, this is a courtesy," Lorelai told them.

Eleanor said, "All right.

"Okay," Rory added. She went into her room, closing the door on them.

"O-okay," replied Lorelai. "So I'm going to be up for a while, if you want to get back to me on this."

"I know where you are," Rory called through the door.

"She's enjoying dragging this out," Eleanor told Lorelai.

"I know," Lorelai said. They both started to leave, but Rory opened the door.

"Hey, do you think you could keep him out really late on Thursday night, because Nell and I have this oral exam on Friday that I'd really love him to sleep through."

Eleanor couldn't help the smile that formed when she saw Lorelai smile.

"I'll do my best," Lorelai said.