Lorelai Cortez

Lorelai Cortez is the primary protagonist of The Hopeless Motel.

Lorelai studied at an expensive university, studying business and finance, landing a job as the personal assistant to The Director of Concord bank. Lorelai spent her days organizing his schedule, planning meetings and running errands for The Director.

She is known for being very high strung and incredibly organized. She is intelligent, driven and deliberate in what she says and does as the constant criticism from her boss demands her to be so. Despite the hefty paycheck Lorelai isn't the biggest fan of her job as she finds it endlessly exhausting but she has no choice but to continue working as that's where she is in life. Despite that she has a hunch that the job might kill her someday.

To quote The Hopeless Motel: "Lorelai knew herself well and she only saw one thing, if she continued working for the director, she’d burn out. But in her stubbornness she’d push through it, ignoring all the warning signs of her deteriorating mental health. She’d keep on going, believing she was doing the right thing until she’d purposefully walk into oncoming traffic or end up leaping in front of a train."

### Her story.

After one very stressful day of meetings, running about and criticism Lorelai runs to her car to drive home, knowing every second counts. She drives, suddenly becoming tired, she fights against the exhaustion, passing out at the wheel. She falls asleep at the wheel and wakes up at The Hopeless Motel.

After finding herself at The Motel is initially confused and attempts to sleep the night off and return to work the next day however when she awakens she finds that time hasn't moved. Confusion sets in.

She seeks out the only other resident of The Motel. After explaining her story to the stranger, the man fails to offer help, monologuing about his predicament before slamming the door in her face. Annoyed by his attitude, Lorelai attempts to take matters into her own hands and attempts to escape only to be stopped by the man. After a desperate plea for help, the man offers her a tour of the place refusing to reveal anything about himself. Afterwards the two part ways with Lorelai sitting down outside. Feeling bad for the girl the man decides to offer help and decides to reveal his name, Christian Cafferty.

Unnerved by the place Lorelai declares she's determined to escape and after getting to know Christian, she announces that she won't leave until he can to. Her driven attitude inspires Christian, who for the first time, believes he stands a shot at leaving. The two talk about escaping, pondering on what they'll do after. Lorelai wants to return to her job, believing that's what she's meant to do.

She gets to know Christian, with Christian dubbing her the nickname 'Rory'. The two grow close with her learning about his love for his guitar and for a band called Three Punch City. She listens to him play guitar. Christian encourages her to paint, to explore her creative side, something she has seldom had time to do since starting her job. This goes awry, with Lorelai dripping paint on her shirt, which causes her to panic. She obsessively cleans her shirt in the sink, amidst a breakdown. Christian helps her calm down, offering her some new clothes, encouraging her to relax and enjoy the place the best she can.

The two attempt to escape, noting down bits and pieces, searching for thin points in reality to try and escape in a way not intended. Lorelai believes she can break her way out. After enjoying a "day" with Christian, Christian offhandedly makes a comment that she would look better with shorter hair. Later, Lorelai impulsively cuts her hair above her shoulders with the reasoning "Once all this was over she’d go back to the same life with the same people and barely a thing would be different. But her hair, if cut, was tangible proof." and "She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t utterly curious to see if he (Christian) was right." They try and escape although its silently agreed that Lorelai will return to her life, leaving Christian alone again. He's hurt by this but understands, he'd rather be alone in reality, then alone again in the motel.

After another day of escaping Christian becomes fed up with her futile attempts to escape, with her trying things he'd already tried, ways that didn't work. Her motivation and drive, of which Christian had previously had faith in becomes a point of contention, causing an loud argument that ends with the two parting ways. After cooling off, Christian attempts to repair their relationship, showing up at her door with flowers. Lorelai lets him in and the two resolve their conflict with a conversation, which soon turns to the topic of their futures. Christian believes Lorelai's job is only harming her, and he suggests she quit. Initially she rejects this, however the sight of her work shirt prompts her to panic and thus, change her mind. After standing outside in the cold, Lorelai considers her options and decides to quit her job.

With her future planned, she turns her sighs to Christian's future, suggesting she join her brothers band, Cult Classic. However, his rock career must start somewhere so she sets up a stage in the parking lot so he can play his first gig at The Hopeless Motel. As the only person in the crowd, she cheers as he preforms. To her shock, he has quite the singing voice. The gig cements his future as The Universe agrees with this decision. With a plan for both of their futures they are allowed to leave together. Their cars both start up however Christian opts to leave his car behind in favor of leaving with Lorelai.

Once back in reality Lorelai receives a phone call from the director and after being berated by her boss she loudly quits. The two soon find themselves at Lorelai's brothers house in the real world and stay there. Christian joins her brothers band.

### Her ending

Lorelai ends the story, dancing and singing along to Cult Classic at a dive bar in some random city in California. She is unemployed, with nothing to do. For the first time in a long while she's happy and free, no longer held down by such a suffocating job. Her future is unknown however she states "I could be some overqualified cashier in some craft store and paint trash art in my spare time." The story ends with Lorelai and Christian talking about the concert.

### Trivia

* Her favorite color is a toss up between warm grey and cornflower blue.
* Despite saying she hates the color yellow, over the course of the story she grows to enjoy it, eventually wearing it to the concert at The Tightrope.
* Christian calls her Rory while her brother calls her Laurie, she doesn't have a preference on which nickname she likes best.
* Rory is short for Lorelai although people might disagree. It's a reference to the Gilmore girls.
* She studied business and finance at university.
* She rarely talks to her parents due to her constant commitments.
* She considers herself quite intelligent.
* She is familiar with the band Three Punch City as her brother is a fan of their music.