"I hope my youthful metabolism is still with me. This stuff can't be good for you. What is that? Chicken?" Paris gestured at Rory's plate with her chopstick.

"Well, that's what the menu says... but there is a disturbing lack of cats in this neighborhood."

Paris stopped eating. "Cats?"

"Sorry. A little MAD magazine humor."

"Your blue collar humor ceases amuse me."

Rory rolled her eyes.

Paris pulled a notebook out of her bag. "Now, tomorrow, we're scheduled for an 9AM 'Get to Know You Brunch' followed by the Leadership Orientation at noon. Then we have a few hours of free time until our 'Get Acquainted' dinner at five thirty..."

"Gee, I hope I get a chance to meet people while we're here."

"... then we have an informal ice breaker type social mixer at seven thirty."

"Work, work, work. Didn't they consider our social lives at all?"

"Tomorrow's the biggie. We have to establish ourselves. Let people know we mean business."

"You."

"Me? Me what?"

"You mean business. I just trail behind you in the wake of your omnipotence."

"I'm sorry if I take this seriously. People look at this stuff. Important people. Harvard people."

"Right. Okay. I'll mean business. But not till tomorrow." Rory reached across the table and grabbed the notebook.

"Hey, I was reviewing my itinerary!"

The Gilmore girl stood up and began making her way toward the exit. "You can have it back at exactly 8:45 tomorrow morning."

"You expect me to last over fourteen hours without it?"

"You will if you want a sane vice president to travel in your wake tomorrow. Right now we're going to go do something totally non-government related, which is a great challenge, considering we're standing in our nation's capitol. Take the challenge, Paris. Live on the edge. Stay out past nine-thirty. Play a video game. Ride a bus. Spit on the sidewalks. Act like you're in high school." Rory slipped out the door.

Paris sat in the booth for a moment, then followed her out.

To be continued...