The next day, on the walk to Luke's, Rory goes over her list of things she did while she waited for the phone to ring. She cleaned out her hard drive, cleaned the hair and dust out of her keyboard, watched television, did her homework, proofread articles for The Franklin, organized Lorelai's sock drawer, and returned emails. Lorelai asks whether it ever occurred to Rory to call Jess herself. "No," Rory says, because she's the opposite of a teenage girl. "Because he said he'd call me," Rory adds. Decades of advancement, erased in a single Friday night. Lorelai asks if Rory's going to chew Jess out, or at least mention the fact that he stood her up. Rory asks, "Why should I?" Ugh. She is not her mother's daughter.

Rory and Lorelai turn to look at the front of Stars Hollow High. Did you know it was right there at the Town Square? Anyway, it's been toilet-papered by the Wildcats, the team from a rival high school. Rory and Lorelai wave to Dean, who is in charge of standing on a ladder, pulling down pieces of paper. Lorelai wishes him good luck tonight. Dean gives a "We're gonna lose, but thanks" hand gesture back. Rory says that when Dean said he'd call, he always called. Lorelai warns Rory not to do this -- not to compare Jess to Dean, because it's going to be a poor comparison. She says that Dean was a really, really good first boyfriend, and that for most girls, their first boyfriend is someone like...Jess. She doesn't say "Jess," however. She tells the story of Brian Hutchence in the seventh grade, who asked Lorelai to go steady and then never talked to her again until the tenth-grade Sadie Hawkins dance, where he tried to sell her an overpriced dime bag. She says that's what most of us had to put up with, not the perfection that was CuteDean. Hear, hear. The girls walk in a strange place right here, and you can see the mountains of Burbank over their shoulders. Rory asks if this is just the way it is and she has to accept it. Lorelai says that she just has to remember that every guy is different, so she should give Jess a chance to explain before she freezes him out. Rory wasn't going to freeze him out, Lorelai. She was just going to smile when he looked at her and pretend her feelings were never hurt.