[unedited]

the lunch tray

Wyatt walked up to the Gilmore house, standing in the backyard staring up at Molly's closed window with rocks in his hands. The girl hadn't shown at the Diner that morning, leaving him to get into his car and drive to her house, fifteen minutes before the bell rang. He threw the first rock, hitting the center of the window with ease, but no movement came from behind.

So, he threw another.

And another.

Then one last rock and the window flew open, a fiery girl sticking her head out the window. Her red hair was tossed over, curls flaring up like flames to match her angry eyes. He dropped the remaining pebbles to the ground, shielding his hand over his eyes as he stared up at her with a lopsided smile.

"Wakey-wakey, school starts in fifteen!" Wyatt yelled out, picking up the to-go filled with hot coffee that he brought for her. "Now get dressed, I'll be in the car with your coffee!" Molly stared tiredly back at him as he held the cup in the air, walking towards his car.

When the door closed, Molly let out a frustrated sigh, grabbing her deodorant from her dresser and lazily applying it. She threw off her large t-shirt, replacing it with a random shirt she pulled from her closet before tugging on jeans. She rushed to the bathroom, sticking her toothbrush in her mouth and running a wet brush through her hair.

"Shit, shit, shit." Molly ran back to her room, grabbing socks from her drawer as she kept the toothbrush in her mouth. She switched out from tugging on the socks and moving the brush, nearly tripping as she ran for a pair of slip on vans.

"Ten minutes!" Wyatt yelled out, rolling down the window to his car.

"Fuck you!" She yelled back, spitting the tooth paste into the sink before running to her closet for a jacket. She threw her toothbrush back into the cup, tugging on her jacket as she ran down the stairs. By the time she reached the porch, she was practically gasping for air.

"No time for breaks, let's go!" Wyatt snapped out the window repeatedly, rushing her to the the passenger seat. Molly grabbed her skateboard from the porch, running to his car and jumping inside.

"I'm not—" she breathed in deeply, "an athlete."

"I'd hate to see you run suicides." Wyatt muttered, backing out of the driveway as she pulled her seatbelt on.

Molly grabbed her coffee, holding it in her cold hands as they pulled from the driveway. "Should've let me sleep all day." Molly mumbled, laying her head back against the seat and closing her eyes.

"Long night?"

"I stayed up talking to Tristan." She answered, a slight smile creeping on her face.

"You've been doing that a lot lately." Wyatt said, turning off her street and into town.

Molly smiled, humming softly to herself, "is it stupid to say I think I'm falling in love with him?" Wyatt fell silent at her question, her eyes opening as she sat up to look at him. "Wyatt?"

"No, it's-it's not stupid, you've been going out for like two months. I'd be concerned if you weren't falling for him." He told her, keeping his eyes on the road and she smiled wider.

"It's sickening." Molly groaned, slouching back in her seat and he laughed.

"Remember not that long ago you were making fun of people in love, saying how you would never be like them." Wyatt said, tapping lightly against the steering wheel as music played quietly through the speakers. "Does that mean you're gonna—" Wyatt glanced over to her, tugging at his lip and her brows furrowed, "y'know, do it."

The hot coffee caught her throat, spilling from her mouth, "you mean have sex with him?"

"No, I mean do a puzzle." Wyatt rolled his eyes, pulling into the school parking lot. "Well, are you?"

"I'm not entirely opposed, I don't really see what the whole big deal on losing your virginity is anyway.. I mean, you lost yours to some chick at a party—"

"Yeah, because I'm an idiot, you're not." Wyatt parked the car, turning to her and frowning. "You should be sure before you do it, because even though you don't care now, you will later."

Molly shrunk into her seat, undoing the seatbelt, "I know his name, that's more than—"

"Molly, this isn't fucking about me, it's about you. I know you like to think you're so tough and can close yourself off from all the care in the world, but you aren't. You do this now without thinking about it—"

"I have thought about it." Molly mumbled, shaking her cup lightly, watching the coffee whirl around.

"This is the first I've heard you mention it."

Molly rolled her eyes, "that's because I don't tell you every little thought in my brain, but if you really want me to then fine. Want to know what I'm thinking now?" She'd grown annoyed, tired of the conversation that she didn't want to have in the first place. Wyatt stayed silent, the hot headed girl beside him letting out a scoff. "I'm thinking you need to stop worrying about everything I do and get your own damn life." She forced open her door, getting out as she spoke and slamming it closed when she'd finished.

The blonde sat in the car, at loss for words as he watched her storm into the school. Maybe he didn't worry about her more than he should've, but he also cared about her more than he had anything else. Molly found it claustrophobic at times, his constant need to protect her as if she was a frail child. But that could've been her own fault. She'd also been the one to want to spend each second of her own time by his side. There was no right or wrong answer in their situation.

When the large doors closed with Molly behind them, Wyatt kicked open his own door, taking his bag from the backseat and slinging it over his shoulder. School no longer felt like a necessity in his day, wanting to avoid an angry Molly as much as he could in hope's she'd cool down. He knew she hadn't really meant what she said, but it still stung as much as she'd intended it to in the moment.

He stood in the parking lot, his eyes jumping from the school to the road, contemplating which route to take.

But his answer was made for him, "oh, WD! Could you help me for a minute?" The blondes hat nearly fell off with the quickness of his head turning to the woman calling out. Miss Patty was stood on her porch, a cigarette in hand as she waved him over.

"'Sup, Patty?" Wyatt asked, jogging across the street to her studio.

"You're a tall boy, would you mind hanging a few Halloween decorations for me? I asked that handsome young man Rory's always with but he had to get to school." She shoved open the door as she spoke, sticking the cigarette at the corner of her mouth and entering.

"Sure thing." Wyatt smiled to her as he walked inside, the decorations thrown on the floor like confetti. "Plus, wouldn't you rather a much more handsome young man like me do the work for ya?" Wyatt joked as he picked up one of the banners from the floor.

"Oh I'm sure you've got all the young ladies wrapped around your finger." Miss Patty took a puff as he dragged the banner outside. "They likely sit in their rooms at night crying over you picking Little Red over them, huh?"

Wyatt's brows furrowed, his head shaking at the woman, "oh, no, Patty, you know we're just friends."

The woman let out a chuckle, "my ex husbands all started out as friends." Miss Patty said, leaning against the frame of the studio door. "You look at that girl like she's only one in the world but perhaps you're far to young to understand that just yet." As she spoke, his eyes focused on the school, the bell ringing loudly—class had started.

"I—I don't—" he didn't have a clue as to what to say to her, if he denied it, truth or not, she'd argue otherwise. "I'm sorry, Miss Patty, I've got to—I've got to get to school." He rolled the banner up, barely able to start what she'd asked of him. "I promise as soon as I get out, I'll put up everything." She smiled as he assured her, having already known he needed to be at the school.

"Don't wait too long, alright?" Wyatt nodded as he ran across the street, rushing to school before he was too late for homeroom.

Molly had already been sitting at her desk, her walkman on low volume with her headphones over her ears. The seat beside hers that would normally be occupied by Wyatt, was empty by the time the bell had rang. She'd regretted her words the second they left her mouth, but she couldn't take them back. She was still upset with him, but she knew something in what he said had been right.

"Molly." She felt a light tap on her shoulder as she began to doodle on the pages of her notebook. She tucked one of her headphones behind her ear, turning back to the brunette behind her. "Where's Wyatt?" Her classmate, Jaden, asked, glancing to the empty desk next to them.

"Don't know." Molly answered, face the front once more.

"Is he not coming today?"

Molly rolled her eyes, "I don't know."

"Well, shouldn't you? He's your boyfriend, right?" Molly let out an aggravated sigh, tossing her head back at the question.

"No, but if you'd like I can toss in a few words to him for you." Molly said, an obvious fake smile forming as she looked to the girl. "Does 'doesn't know how to mind her business' sound good to you?" The girl's mouth clamped shut, forming into a small frown.

"Good morning Stars Hollow High, a few announcements for today, October thirtieth. Tomorrow is Halloween, you may dress up but there will be no masks or weapons (real or fake) brought into the school. Another reminder for tonight as most of you seem to forget every year, there's a curfew for each of you and anyone caught breaking it or doing any sort of incriminating act will be—"

The door classroom door swung open, breaking what little attention Molly had from the announcements as Wyatt walked into the class. His picture perfect smile was strung over his face, hiding any evidence that he'd previously been upset. The teacher scolded him, not saying a word as he pointed him to his seat. Wyatt did his usual play boy greeting to each classmate that waved to him as he strutted towards his seat.

There was no doubt that Wyatt had been one of, if not the most popular guy in school. He may not have valedictorian, but homecoming king, pretty blonde hair and being the star player was enough for nearly everyone in the school to love him. It had always been weird for Molly, watching him work his natural charm with everyone around him. She wondered how he'd stayed friends with her when people threw themselves at him daily. Yet she also knew, the Wyatt he'd shown to the world, wasn't really the Wyatt she'd spend hours with on the roof of the diner.

"Yo, WD." Molly kept her headphone tucked, allowing herself to listen to one of the Hockey players sat behind Wyatt. Wyatt leaned back in his seat, his eyes falling to Molly for a split second as he looked to his teammate. "The team's planning to prank coach tonight, you in?"

Wyatt looked back at Molly, as if she'd answer for him but her head attention seemed to be focused on her notebook.

"I'm not sure."

"Oh, c'mon, everyone knows you're the prank master, don't think we can do this without you, bro." Wyatt sighed, nodding slowly, continuing to wait for Molly to look at him. "She can come too, as long as she doesn't bitch the whole time."

Wyatt's body turned back quickly, his tongue pressed hard against his cheek, fighting the urge to hit him right then. "What'd you just say?" Wyatt had heard him clearly, but he wondered if he'd been dumb enough to repeat it.

"You know I didn't mean it like—"

"No, Jake, I'm pretty sure you did." Wyatt gritted his teeth as he spoke, gripping the back of his chair to keep himself from lashing out. The only thing that kept him from swinging was the thought of losing his  Captain spot.

Molly lifted her head, a small smile creeping on her lips as she looked to Jake, "sounds fun, but little insight, Wyatt isn't the prank master.." Jake stared at her as she spoke up, "I am and the only one I hear bitching, is you. So why don't you and your one braincell that hasn't been knocked out of your head by a hockey stick, shut the fuck up."

Wyatt stiffled a laugh, knowing she was likely still upset with him and that he should be upset with her.

Jake's mouth fell open, processing her words and trying to make his own remark. The teacher noticed they hadn't been paying attention to the lesson plan that had began.

"Is there a problem back there?" Mr. Prescott asked, the three teens sitting properly back into their seats.

"No, sir."

—

Molly walked out to the school yard, her lunch tray full of food she'd likely give to Wyatt. She searched for Izzy, seeing her sat at their usual table with Lane, a book in one hand and a granola bar in the other. Wyatt had been sat at a table next to theirs, surrounded by his teammates and a few cheerleaders. He was sat comfortably close to one of the cheerleaders, listening to her flirtatious whispers as he talked loudly with the guys on his team.

Molly slammed her tray down onto the table Izzy sat at, glaring at the table beside theirs, "he's actually fucking disgusting." Molly muttered, her nose scrunching as she watched her best friend flirt with a girl he'd like never take out.

"You say this as if he doesn't do this all the time." Izzy mumbled, her eyes squinting from the sun as she looked to where Molly's attention was. "Eh, it's Ashley, she's sweet." Izzy shrugged, focusing back to her book.

"I don't see how he can even stand to hang out with them." Molly said, breaking her hard stare and picking up one of the soggy fries from her tray.

"Wyatt's a douche at heart, it's not hard." Izzy responded, sliding her lunch pail over to Molly.

"I'd say he's been hit in the head with one too many hockey pucks." Lane joked, stealing one of Izzy's pringles from the can. "I mean, he's a guy, aren't they supposed to be jerks?"

"Hey, Gilmore!" Molly groaned as she heard her name, looking back over to the crowded table. "Let my boy off his leash, would ya?" Gavin, a junior who she'd talked to a total of one time at a Hockey game, laughed out, the entire table chiming in.

"Excuse me?" Izzy closed her book, a look of surprise struck over the girls faces.

"Not talking to you, talking to little miss firecracker who can't seem to let WD do anything on his own." Gavin waved off Izzy with a look of disgust, Molly's mouth falling open with a bitter laugh.

Wyatt was sat in his seat, a puzzled expression on his face at the guys words. "Woah, Gav, the fuck are you doing?" Wyatt asked, sitting up as he'd only heard the last bit. He hadn't ever said anything about Molly to his teammates, at least nothing in spite of her. The accusations Gavin had said coming to him as much of a surprise as it had the girls.

"Just supporting you, man." Gavins delirious smirk showed them that he thought he was right. Molly was furious, not only with the idiotic junior, but with Wyatt, for even associating himself with someone like that.

"Well, chill the fuck out, she didn't do shit." Wyatt retorted, his face had nothing but anger spread over it, not finding his friend funny.

"Oh, c'mon, man, she's a fucking prude—"

"I said, chill the fuck out." Wyatt had been up from his spot in a matter of seconds, stepping himself in front of Gavin.

"See, even now, she hasn't said shit and yet you're still under her control." Gavin rolled his eyes, looking back at his teammates and shaking his head. "At least tell you're getting some fucking out of—"

Wyatt's anger got the best of him, no longer worried about his Captain spot. He cared about his friends more than that, the sickening words that left his teammates mouth enraging him. So much so, that when he swung, his fist collided with with Gavin's jaw, hard enough to knock him off his feet. When the older boy hit the ground, holding his face in pain, Wyatt fell to his knees, gripping the collar of the others shirt.

"Wyatt!" Izzy yelled, capturing his attention long enough that Gavin got the upper hand, shoving the blonde off and flipping their positions.

"What do we do?" Lane asked, panicking as the older boy started to hit Wyatt back.

Molly didn't think, her feet moving faster than her brain could process. Her arms wrapped around Gavin's neck, pulling him off with all her strength as he began to try to hit her.

"Get the fuck off of me!" Gavin yelled, swinging his elbow back into her gut, the air escaping her lungs for a moment and she fell back. Gavin continued to try and hit Wyatt, the blonde blocking most of them and swinging in return.

As Molly crouched on the ground, clutching her stomach, Izzy was now ready to defend her.

Molly noticed the younger girl storming her way over, her eyes widening, "Isabella, don't-"

"I've always wanted to try this." Izzy muttered, the empty lunch tray in her hand swinging forward into the side of Gavin's head, hitting hard enough that he lost grip on Wyatt.

"You little fucking—" Wyatt kicked his knee up, reaching for Izzy as he did so.

"You gotta do it harder, like this!" Wyatt smashed the tray into Gavin's head, knocking the older off of him.

"What in the hell is going on out here!" The swarm of students surrounding them broke, Principal Merton appearing with wide eyes and two teachers at his side.

The three looked to each other, then to Gavin, "he did it." They all pointed to the nearly unconscious boy.

—

Sitting outside of the office, waiting for their parents to arrive, the trio didn't speak a word to each other. Izzy had sat between Molly and Wyatt, tempted to say anything about what had happened less than an hour ago. Wyatt was slouched back, his head against the wall as he held a tissue to his bleeding nose. Molly had stolen glances to him, feeling as if she should apologize for being the cause of the entire fight—but her stubbornness had the best of her.

"The tray thing was cool, right?" Izzy asked, trying to diffuse the thick tension with a proud smile.

"Mhm." Wyatt hummed, his eyes squeezed shut. The school nurse believed he could've had a concussion from his head hitting the ground, but he'd still been better off than Gavin.

"So, you're getting suspended?" Molly asked, leaning forward to look at Wyatt. His eyes opened for a second, but he didn't say anything to her, only sending a cold stare. "Wyatt, I'm—"

"Just shut up, Molly." Wyatt muttered, closing his eyes again and she sat back, biting hard on the inside of her cheeks.

"My moms going to kill me." Izzy mumbled, her eyes watching the doors for their parents. Lorelai, Luke and Tina all walked in, but the only one who didn't look like they were ready to kill had been Izzy's mother.

"What happened, mija?" Tina asked, crouching in front of her daughter, her hands cupping Izzy's face, frantically checking for injuries.

"It wasn't our fault, Mama, this boy started saying nasty things about Molly and—"

"What'd he say?" Lorelai asked, looking to Molly who had a face of sincere guilt. The three stared back, none wanting to answer her. "Wyatt?" It had been one of the first times Lorelai looked to the blonde with gratitude.

"Yeah?" Wyatt uttered out, pulling the crimson tissue from his nose.

"Tha—Tell me this kid looks worse than you do." Lorelai smiled to him as she spoke, a small, split lip smile appeared on his face as well.

"Oh, definitely." Wyatt answered smugly, but then his eyes fell to Luke, who looked to him with disappointment. "Dad, I—"

"I thought we agreed on no more fights." Luke said, Wyatt frowned, nodding slowly.

"I couldn't just sit there." Wyatt told him, his head turning to look to Molly who'd already been watching him.

"You can explain after you've made the diner spotless." Luke muttered, nodding for the boy to stand from his seat. Luke looked to the two girls sat on the bench, "you two gonna be alright?"

"Oh, yeah, we kicked major a—butt." Izzy caught herself from swearing in front of her mother, still proud of herself for her input on the fight.

"I'm sure you did." Luke smiled, only to push Wyatt towards the door of the school.

"Mom, I'm sorry." Molly said, her eyes glossy as she feared Lorelai would be upset with her.

Lorelai smiled, "let's just get you home." The woman said, holding out her hand for her daughter to take. Molly stood up, looking to Izzy as she'd got up as well.

Molly let go of her mom's hand, turning back to her best friend and wrapping her arms around her. Izzy slowly hugged back, letting her chin rest against Molly's shoulder.

"Thank you." Molly said quietly, "I'm so sorry, you shouldn't have had to—"

"Don't apologize because some jerk doesn't have more than one functioning braincell." Izzy whispered, Molly nodded into her shoulder, giggling lightly.

"Have I told you recently how much I love you, Iz?" Molly mumbled, pulling back to see Izzy's smile and the girl shrugged.

"I could hear it a few more times." Izzy joked, letting her arms fall from Molly. "I love you too, Molls."

"Isabella, let's go." Tina called, Izzy stepped forward quickly, pressing a kiss to Molly's cheek.

Molly followed Lorelai from the school, unable to form a proper sentence in her defense as they got out to the jeep. Though her mother hadn't seemed upset with her, she believed that would change the moment they were alone. But it didn't.

"Sookie is making cookies for the guests, I'm sure she'll give you some if you ask, maybe even ice cream." Lorelai said, starting the jeep so they could drive to the Inn.

Molly stared questionably at the woman, "you're—you're not mad?"

"Why would I be? You didn't do anything but defend yourself and your friends." She answered, reaching over to squeeze Molly's shaking hands. "Sure, I was pissed when I got the call, but when I walked in there and saw the three of you, I was kind of proud. I mean, Wyatt in a fight, not a surprise but Izzy, who would've thought?"

Molly laughed, realizing her mother had been trying to cheer her up, "you should've seen it, she was like a little superhero. The guy hit me and it was like something clicked in that big brain of hers and bam! Lunch tray to his head."

"He hit you?" Lorelai asked, her eyes widening and she'd grown furious.

"Elbow to the gut more like it, but it still hurt like a bitch—"

"Surprised Wyatt didn't just kill him right then." Lorelai said as she pulled from the lot, letting go of Molly's hand to steer.

Molly frowned at the thought of Wyatt, he words from that morning playing over in her head. Even after she'd said what she did, he still defended her. But that didn't change the fact that he was mad at her.

"You okay?" Lorelai asked, noticing the tears building in Molly eyes.

"I messed up, I said—I don't know what to do, Mom, Wyatt he—we got into an argument this morning and I said something to him that I don't mean and I just—I don't want him to hate me..." the tears rolled down her face, choking on her words that she could barely spit out. "I can't lose him." Molly faced her mom, trying to wipe away each tear that fell. She hated crying, especially in front of people, especially in front of Lorelai. Molly never wanted to put the pressure of her feelings onto her mother, though she knew she'd comfort her unconditionally. But she felt weak for doing so.

But Lorelai understood why her daughter was torn up over the idea of her and Wyatt's relationship crumbling. She'd been hard on Molly for spending as much time with him as she had, only in fear that what had happened to her, would happen to Molly. But she also knew, there was no other person in the world that Molly cared about like she had Wyatt.

"I'm not sure what happened between you two, but I am sure that with time, you and Wyatt will be okay. That boy cares about you, I'm pretty sure more than even he can comprehend. But if he truly is upset, you can fix it. Have you tried to apologize?"

Molly nodded slightly, "he, um, he told me to shut up."

"Oh?"

"I think—I think just giving him time, like you said, I think that's the best option right now." Molly mumbled, though she wanted anything but that.

"It'll be okay, I promise. Before you know it, he's gonna be climbing up that tree to your window." Lorelai assured her, Molly's eyes widened at her mother's words. "You really think I didn't know?"

"I kinda hoped you didn't."

authors note.
i have nothing to say other than stan izzy and the lunch tray