Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls. :o(
A/N: To everyone reading this, disgruntled and non-disgruntled fans alike, this is a JavaJunkie, trust me. It's just not a JJ yet. And to everyone who has ever reviewed on anything I've posted here, thank you. It makes me want to write more to make you guys happy. And mucho thanks to Mark, my ever faithful, ever patient beta. I won't forget to feed you or to clean the tank.
You're Faking a Smile with a Coffee to Go
Lorelai sighed as she slipped on her heels. Glancing at the clock, she grimaced when she saw that she had a staff meeting in 15 minutes. After calling Sookie and asking her to start the meeting without her and that she'd be there as soon as she could, she stood up, smoothed an imaginary wrinkle out of her skirt and did what seemed to be the hardest thing for her to do lately: start her day.
She met Sookie for breakfast at Weston's every morning. She had told her that the reason was to go over inn stuff for the day, but she knew and Sookie knew, that if someone was waiting for her, she would have some sort of motivation to get out of bed.
Ever the queen of multi-tasking, she dialed her cell as she poured her coffee into a travel mug, and walked out the door.
"Rory, Mini-me! I just figured that since I had to be up at this ungodly hour, I shouldn't be the only one. Love you babe, call me call me!" She closed her phone, got into her car and drove to the inn, the only place that provided her with enough distraction to get through the day.
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Lorelai hesitated before entering the diner. Yes, it had been over a year since her and Luke broke up, but occasionally she still got the feeling that something just wasn't right with Luke.
Luke looked up as the bell jingled, and looked her in the eyes. It was still hard for him to look at her sometimes. Look at the person he knew so intimately, more intimately than any man before him. She had let her guard down for him. And he had proved her wrong. Pouring her a cup of coffee, she mumbled a quick 'thank you' and pulled a notepad out of her bag and started going over everything that she hadn't done today that needed to be put on tomorrow's list of things she hadn't done. Walking into the kitchen, he started an order of chocolate chip pancakes for her while he studied her. She was still beautiful; it was hard for her not to be. But things had changed. Her eyes looked sad. Not 'my boyfriend just broke up with me' sad, but resigned. There were dark circles under her eyes; her skin wasn't fair anymore it was pale. Her clothes fit a little looser. Seeing that the pancakes were done, he took them off the stove and served her.
Hearing the bell again, he looked up and saw a tourist group enter. He didn't get a break until 20 minutes later, and when he did, he saw that she was gone and there was a $20 on the counter. And had left a half-finished plate of chocolate chip pancakes on the counter. Worried, he walked over to where she had been sitting and glanced into the coffee cup. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was all gone. She might have looked tired and worn-down, but she was still Lorelai Gilmore. He hoped that he was right and he hoped that it would stay that way.
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Lorelai pushed open the front door to face an empty house once again. She knew Chris would be over later that day, which brought a smile to her face. She wouldn't have to sit at home by herself watching the Sofia death scene over and over again. Not that watching the Godfather III with Chinese food and a few pints of Ben & Jerry's was a bad thing, but it was more fun with other people around. Settling down on the couch, she heard the first few notes of her ringtone. After listening for a few seconds, she got up to find it as the tune stopped. She spotted her bag by the front door and opening the phone she saw that it was Chris who called. Putting a smile on, she dialed the familiar number.
"Hey Lore, I just tried to call you!
"Yeah, I got distracted by the pretty pretty music and didn't get to it on time." She said with a grin.
"Well don't you sound happy?" Chris asked, sounding amused. He was surprised at her tone, although he would never let her know it. It had been a while since she had sounded that happy and it sounded like her propensity towards banter was returning.
"Well why shouldn't I be happy? I'm only on the phone with the world's greatest date planner. You know, these big, over-the-top, Lorelai Gilmore is my whole world, life, and reason-for-being dates are awesome, but-"
"But what Lore?" he said laughing.
"Eh I've got nothing. Keep doing what you're doing." Chris could hear her smirk over the phone.
"Thought so," he said smugly. "Anyway, what I was going to suggest, is that we keep it low key tonight, just a movie night. I'll bring the movies, you get the food. Chinese, Thai, clams from Al's Pancake world-"
"Bite your tongue that was a one time thing! And besides, I didn't even eat those."
"Ok, then maybe not Al's, but food, lots and lots of food.
"We could get Balinese. Paul Anka isn't scared of Balinese anymore. Or we could get tacos! Mexican sounds good. We'll get tacos, Chinese, and pizza. I'll get the candy."
"Meanwhile back at the ranch..."
"So I'll see you at 8?"
"Bye Lorelai." Lorelai shut her phone with a smile. It felt good. She was on her way back to being happy. Maybe that was the trick: to just keep going, one foot in front of the other. Maybe things would get better.
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Luke absentmindedly wiped the already clean counters off a second time. Sighing with defeat, he sat down and allowed himself to think about the one thing he never did: her.
She hadn't seemed herself today. Throughout the past year, he kept on telling himself that it was natural for her, for both of them, to be sad after the demise (the crash and burn?) of a relationship. That's what it was really. Leave it to Luke and Lorelai to not just break up, but to go out in style.
Now, a year later, things were slowly returning to something that resembled normal. She came into the diner regularly, but not daily and she definitely did not stay as long as she used too. They didn't talk much past the usual order taking and he only halfheartedly fought with her on her coffee consumption because if he didn't, they would only be the guy who serves coffee and the girl who drinks it. They would be cut off from each other completely. He smirked as he realized the only real link he and Lorelai had left was coffee. With a decisive nod he stood up and walked upstairs. He would change this. The two of them were friends for a long time before they had gotten involved with each other. Granted, during those 8 years Luke harbored a secret, unrequited love for her, but he suppressed it before, if he had too, he would do it again. Yes he missed her. He missed a lot of things about her. He missed everything about her. But he could deal with it, it would just take time.
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Lorelai looked at the spread in front of her. She had really outdone herself this time. She was eyeing the box of sweet and sour chicken that seemed a little too close to the edge of the table when the doorbell rang. She looked at the clock, noting that it was 8:15. "Right on time" she whispered as she went to open the door for him.
"So what movie did you bring?"
"Nice to see you too Lorelai. And movie? As in singular? Do you think I'm crazy enough to bring just one movie?"
"Not anymore at least." She said as he rolled his eyes.
"One time Lore. One time. Will the mocking never end?"
"You should know the answer to that one. And it wasn't just the fact that you brought over only one movie. It was that combined with the fact that the movie you brought over was so bad, that I would watch "Snakes on a Plane" again before watching the movie you brought. Well, I'm not sure about that. I'd watch it before "Cool as Ice", maybe "Snakes on a Plane." Do you remember how bad "Snakes on a Plane" was?"
"What's wrong with "Final Destination 3"?"
"What's wrong with "Final Destination 3"? I mean, why even bother calling it Final Destination 3? At that point just call it "Now you're really, really, really dead! And you didn't even bring over the first two so we could watch those first!"
"It's a horror movie!"
"Yes, but it doesn't make any sense!"
"It's not supposed to make sense Lore. Now we can put in the first movie please?"
"You never told me what the movie actually was."
"The Wedding Singer.
"And just out of sheer morbid curiosity, what was the other movie you brought?"
"Labyrinth."
"Wait, Billy Idol and David Bowie? You do love me!"
"I'll get the drinks." Chris said with a smile, returning with some beers and two plates.
"Thanks Chris." She said, settling down into the sofa, putting the movie in and pushing play. When she saw the FBI warning she felt a pang of sadness as she thought about Luke.
"You've seen this, right?" Lorelai looked at him like he was crazy. "Right. Billy Idol. Duh."
The phone rang as Billy was just appearing on screen. Rolling her eyes, Lorelai paused the movie and got up to look for the phone.
"I thought we didn't pause. It ruins the flow of the movie?"
"Chris, it's Rory calling. And besides, it's Billy Idol. We always wait for Billy."
"Answer the phone Lore." He said, settling in to the couch. It would be a while before she was off the phone again.
"Hey kid, what's up?
"She's alive!"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Do you know how long it's been since I've been able to get you on the phone? A week. A week of messages and phone calls. Lately I have a better relationship with your answering machine than with you! We haven't not talked this much and not been fighting since the infamous week from hell in 2006. Remember that?"
"How could I forget kid?"
"Right. And do you remember how it ended?"
"How could I forget? My mother, going completely postal in the mall?"
"That was around the time we finally got the horses."
"Don't remind me."
"Oh c'mon hon, that was a long time ago!"
"Mom, the horse died. While I was riding it! I think I have a perfectly valid reason for not liking horses."
"Whatever you say. So did you call just because you missed the sound of my voice or is something up?"
"October 13th."
"October 13th. Hmmm because that tells me so much…'
"Saturday, October 13th. At the Dragonfly Inn. There will be cake and pretty pretty dresses."
"You set a date!"
"Yes!"
"Awesome babe. I am SO happy that this is happening for you. Do Limo Boy and his parents know it won't be at some country club or the Plaza or something?"
"His parents are not too thrilled about it being in Stars Hollow, but Logan told them too bad."
"Go Limo Boy!"
"See, I knew you had a soft spot for him."
"Yeah, once I realized that he wasn't out to corrupt my baby girl, everything was ok."
"Yeah, sure. And how long did it take you to get there?"
"As soon as that ring hit your finger babe."
"That's what I thought. I gotta run. Love you mom."
"Love you too babe."
Lorelai tossed the phone onto the table and fell onto the couch with a happy sigh.
"I'm guessing they finally set a date?"
"Chris, our kid is getting married. Next October."
"So that's only 11 months away. At least we know we didn't screw her up too badly."
"Apparently not, and it's to Limo Boy. Who would have thought that he'd come to his senses and move back here?"
"I'm glad he did. It's amazing that his family didn't disown him though. Don't get me wrong I'm glad they didn't. But this is the Huntzbergers."
"But they only have Logan. No other sons."
"Huh. Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Yeah, I am right." Chris said.
"For the first time in a long time." Lorelai said with a smirk and she hit "play" on the remote. This was nice. It was comfortable. It felt like being with an old friend again.
"Hey Lore?"
Sighing, she paused the movie. "Yes Chris?"
"What if we got married?"
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ARRRR I know I'm horrible! But don't we all just LOVE to review?
