‘Save some of that positivity for your date, Lollie. I’m sure Grayson won’t be able to resist your optimistic zest for life.’
‘It’s not a date!’ Lorelai insisted. ‘I’ve been very clear. We’re going to be friends and that’s it.’
The sound of glass clinking against glass made them both freeze. Lorelai raised her eyebrows at Joanie. Riggs was home.
‘Riggs,’ Lorelai called out, but she was met with silence.
Joanie marched into the living room, with Lorelai hot on her heels. Riggs was sat in darkness illuminated only by the light of the kitchen, which spilled onto his slouched form on the floor. There were several empty beer bottles scattered around him. Four more were lined up on the coffee table in front of him, their caps removed, ready to be consumed.
‘Everything alright?’ Lorelai’s redundant question startled Riggs. He looked up at them with red, puffy, sad eyes. His face crumpled and he let the tears flow hot and freely down his face. ‘Oh, Riggs.’
Joanie looked at Lorelai in alarm. Joanie was all fire and heat when she thought Riggs was shirking his responsibilities, but this was something else. She didn’t know what to say or how to comfort this broken man in front of her.
Lorelai knew this was all on her. ‘Why don’t you let me speak to Riggs alone for a bit?’ she whispered to Joanie. Joanie eagerly nodded in agreement.
‘I’ll make us some coffee,’ Joanie declared before disappearing.
Lorelai took off her coat and scarf, placed it over the arm of the couch and sat on the floor beside Riggs.
‘Not my best night,’ he said, reaching out to peel a green metallic label off a bottle.
‘Was it your worst night?’ Lorelai let her shoulder bump against his and left it there.
‘It’s up there but… no.’ Riggs laughed sadly at himself. ‘Not my worst.’
‘Damn. I had a whole inspirational speech ready for when you said yes. Then I would’ve said something enlightening, like, “It’s only up from here!” Or, “You’ve survived your worst day, so now you can get through anything”.’
‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to spoil the pre-planned encouragement.’ Riggs picked up a full beer bottle and began to drain it at worrying speed.
‘How much beer have you had?’ Lorelai asked, looking at the debris.
Riggs ignored the question. ‘I have no plans for the future. No real interests to pursue. No money. No home. No job.’ He paused. ‘No girlfriend,’ he said more quietly.
‘You can have all of that. It’ll take time but this is a huge turning point in your life. You’re still young. There’s plenty of time to figure out what you want to do.’
‘Who’s going to love me?’
So he’s really hung up on the girlfriend thing.
‘You’ve had girlfriends before… right?’ Had he? Lorelai had no idea. She’d never seen him with any girls but then she didn’t often see him outside of work. No friends and no girlfriends seemed unlikely and, yet, here he was, sat on her living room floor.
‘As soon as they realised I lived with my parents they disappeared pretty quickly.’ He folded the label over and over, creasing the edges with his fingernails.
‘You don’t live with your parents anymore. And if a girl cares about where you live then she’s not the girl for you.’
‘Wouldyoucare?’ he asked after a moment.
‘If someone I was dating lived with their parents, you mean?’He nodded. Would she care? Perhaps a little, but not enough to put her off dating them. She had other reasons for that… ‘No… no I wouldn’t.’
‘Really? You wouldn’t care if someone had no job, no money and still lived with their parents…?’
‘If I really liked them, no. That’s not a deal breaker. But if they weren’t happy with the life they had I think I’d probably encourage them to—’
Lorelai couldn’t quite fathom what happened next. Her vision went quickly black, the breath knocked out of her as she fell backwards into a dark abyss. Images started to flash through her mind. Several bottles of whisky surrounded by small white dots. Everything was a blur – she couldn’t focus on anything for long enough. The images danced around, hazy and unclear. She heard groaning and something rattling. The small white dots. They were pills being poured from a plastic pill bottle into a pair of dirty hands. But everything was so confused. This wasn’t like the other times.
Lorelai struggled to open her eyes, and saw Riggs above her.
‘Riggs…’ she mumbled.
