I've been holding onto this story for a really long time now, I've been trying to get it perfect and completely done before I started posting it. But I'm starting to realize that sometimes, you just need to put stuff out there and take a chance.
So, here is the first chapter of A Summer of Big Things. I realize that the first chapter might seem a little slow. Just trust me.
Lorelai drove Rory to the airport, and they chatted animatedly as if they did this every week. She walked with Rory as she got her tickets and her boarding pass. They bought and drank horrible expensive coffee, and waved goodbye at security. Lorelai had even sat in the jeep and waited until the plane she thought might be Rory's had taken off, watching until it was out of her sight. She remained in the parking lot for nearly half an hour, continuing to watch the planes, just in case the first one had not been Rory's.
These details she remembered vividly, but Lorelai could barely remember the drive back from Hartford, and more out of habit than actual thought, she drove to Luke's. She sat down at the counter, and it was only after Zach materialized to take her order that she realized that Luke wasn't there.
"Hey, s'up Lorelai? Coffee, I assume?"
"Coffee would be great."
"For here or to go?"
"To go, please." As much as she wanted to stick around, she needed to go home and rest before she had to go to the inn. "Where's Luke?"
"He's upstairs, probably sleeping. About time too."
She frowned. "What do you mean, about time?"
"Well, Luke started planning that party for Rory on Saturday, and me and him and a bunch of other people from town stayed up late to help set up, and then Luke stayed up even later to make that giant tent when Babette said it was gonna rain."
"Right."
"And then after the party, he helped take down everything even though everyone kept telling him he'd done enough. But Taylor made a huge stink about it being an unofficial party, and permits and stuff, and I guess Luke promised that he would help with the clean up and whatever. I don't know how he stayed up so long. I know I couldn't. One time..."
Lorelai began to tune him out as she thought. Luke. Incredible, sweet, hard-working Luke. He did all this, and wasn't even going to tell her that it was his idea. It was just so... Luke. She suddenly had the overwhelming urge to see him. She stood up and interrupted Zach's ramble.
"Can you excuse me a second, I'll just need to talk to Luke for a minute."
"Sure, no problem. Still want that coffee?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind. I'll grab it on my way out."
Lorelai slipped behind the curtain that blocked the stairs and climbed up them, knocking on Luke's apartment door. It took a couple minutes, but Luke finally answered. He hadn't even gotten changed his clothes since that morning. Lorelai took a step toward him, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Luke hugged her back and kissed her hair before resting his head against hers.
"Rory's plane leave okay?" He asked softly.
Lorelai nodded, enjoying the feeling of his soft flannel on her skin. "She said she'd call me when she landed."
"How are you doing?"
"Mmm." Her eyes started closing. "Tired. Stayed up all night packing. Sorry I woke you up. I just wanted to say thank you. Again."
"Don't worry about it. You gonna go home?"
"Probably should. Need a nap. Work later." She turned her head and nestled it under Luke's chin. "Don't wanna go."
Luke was equally exhausted. His eyes began to droop, and he stifled a yawn.
"You could sleep here if you want." He suggested.
Lorelai was too tired to argue. Not that she remotely wanted to. "Sounds good."
Downstairs in the diner, a cup of coffee stood cooling, forgotten on the counter.
Lorelai woke up several hours later, slowly registering the warm sleeping form next to her. Even in her sleepy hazy, she knew it was Luke - his body, his smell, his sheets. She snuggled closer to him, his arms tightening automatically around her waist, though he was still asleep. They'd both been so tired, they had not even bothered with blankets or sheets, and they were both still fully clothed. Which became increasingly apparent to Lorelai as Luke's belt buckle dug into her back.
She patted his arm, trying to wake him. "Babe, I have to get up."
"Call in sick." He mumbled.
"Have to get up first."
He nuzzled the back of her neck, his whiskers tickling her skin, making her shiver. "Stay."
"I want to," Her voice was heavy with sleep and desire. "But your belt buckle is ruining the mood."
Luke let go of her and she turned over so that she was facing him. He fiddled with his belt but was still too asleep to take it off. Lorelai looked over him at the clock on his side of the bed, and the shock woke her up.
"It's after noon! I was supposed to be at the inn at ten!" She shot out of bed, and started looking for her shoes.
Luke sat up. "Didn't you say Rory was going to call you?"
"Oh shoot!" Lorelai gave up looking for her shoes and grabbed her phone out of her purse while Luke got up and started looking for her shoes. She had several missed phone calls and voicemail messages. She sat down on the bed next to Luke and listened to her voicemail while she put on the shoes that he'd handed her.
The first message was from Rory.
"Hi, Mom, it's Rory. The plane landed fine and I'm currently waiting for the taxi to come and get me."
"It's Rory, she's fine." Lorelai told Luke.
"I know, I heard." Luke smiled at her, absentmindedly rubbing Lorelai's back.
"- to talk to you but I assume you're taking a nap, which is good, since I know you didn't sleep all night even though you said you were going to when I went to sleep. I'll talk to you when I get to my hotel. Bye!"
The second message was from Emily.
"Lorelai, it's your mother. I wasn't sure what time Rory's flight left, but I assume she's gone by now, and I was just wondering if you'd heard from- Oh wait, I think she's on the other line. I'll talk to you later, Lorelai. I'll see you on Friday for dinner."
"Hmm, dodged a bullet there." Lorelai commented dryly.
The final message was from Sookie.
"Lorelai, hi! I thought you'd be here at ten, but you're not, which is fine. I figured you'd need the day off today so I called in Michel, but he's insisting that he get paid overtime. I told him he'd have to take it up with you later. Anyway, call me. Or I'll try to call you again later. Or I can drop by your house after work. I just, uh, wanted to check in with you today, okay? Okay, bye. Talk to you later!"
Luke's hand migrated to her hair, and brushed a few strands away from her face. "You planning on going to work?"
"Nah, it sounds like it's covered for now." She turned to Luke, and smiled at him. "What about you?"
"Took the day off."
"Smart thinking." She murmured. She gazed at him, taking in everything she had missed in their time apart. Sleep tousled hair, blue eyes, stubble. She brought her hand out to touch his face, and her fingers found the soft curls at the nape of his neck. Luke reached to pull her face toward him, kissing her. His lips felt soft against hers, and she tilted her head back to deepen the kiss, and wrapped her arms around him, drawing him closer. His other hand came to rest on her knee, and rubbing tiny circles on her leg.
They pulled apart after a moment, and rested their forehead to together for a few comfortable, quiet moments. Lorelai sighed, and Luke knew from experience it was not in a happy way. Luke knit in brows together in concern.
"Hey, you okay?" His voice barely rose above a whisper.
"Yeah." She forced a smile. "Fine."
He gave her a knowing look, and she sighed, letting the smile slip away. "Honestly, no, I'm not fine. But I don't wanna talk about it yet. I don't even wanna think about it yet, so just… I just need to be fine right now. I need… I need coffee. And I'm hungry, are you hungry?"
He chuckled at her. Same Lorelai.
"I'll go get us some food. I gonna change first though."
Luke stood and went to change in the bathroom. Lorelai started to take her shoes off again and padded over to Luke's fridge. It was filled with typical Luke fare, which meant a lot of vegetables and food that needed to be cooked before eating.
"Your fridge is full is disgustingly healthy food." She shouted towards the bathroom door.
"Of course it is, it's my fridge." He shouted back.
She grabbed juice out of the fridge and poured a glass. "You're gonna have to fix that."
"I'll get right on it." Luke came out of the bathroom. Lorelai looked at him. He'd changed into a more relaxed outfit, jeans still, but a t-shirt instead of flannel. "Bathroom's free."
Lorelai grabbed one of his flannel shirts and went to change. When she came out, Luke was back, setting food on the table. "I got burgers. Fries for you, and a salad for me."
"Can we eat on the couch and watch tv while we eat?"
"Uh, sure."
They cleared the coffee table of and settle on the couch. Lorelai sat on one end of the couch with her legs curled under her. Luke sat in the middle, flipping through the channels.
"What do you wanna watch?"
"Whatever, I'm not picky." Lorelai looked around the apartment. "Huh. I haven't been up here in awhile. It's different."
"Yeah, April helped decorate."
"Ah." At the mention of April, Lorelai felt a pang of jealousy, closely followed by one of guilt, but did her best to hide it for Luke's sake. "I like the blue. Did April pick it?"
"Yeah she did, it's called cerulean. She says it's her favorite color."
Lorelai nodded. She tried focus on the tv, and saw "I love Lucy" was on. "Oh, hey, wait, stop here!"
After the food was gone, they had just sat and watched in silence, which Luke found disconcerting after a while. He looked over at her. She was just watching, no commenting or mocking. She wasn't even really watching, just staring at the tv set. He could practically see the gears turning in her mine, and he had a pretty good guess as to what she was thinking about. Well, two guesses, but they both needed to be discussed. Sooner rather than later.
"So do you want to talk-" he tried to ask.
"Nope," she said, not taking her eyes off the television.
"Okay." Eventually works fine too.
Lorelai shifted closer to him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. Lorelai looked down at his other hand, and frowned, sitting up. Luke was about to ask what was wrong, when she grabbed it and began examining it. He realized what she had noticed. He had been so focused on making the tent for the party, and then the party and the clean up afterward, that he'd nearly forgotten that he was nowhere near as craft-disposed as Lorelai, and had gotten hurt when he had been sewing the tent together.
"Oh my god! Luke, what did you do you your hands?" Her fingers began to ghost over the new little scratches and cuts on his hands.
He tried to pull his hand away from her examinations. "Oh, it's nothing."
"That is not nothing." Lorelai traced one scratch that looked deeper and more painful than the others. "Did you take up wood carving as a hobby when we were apart?"
"No, I did not."
"Did you just whittle your time away?"
Luke rolled his eyes, making her giggle.
"Sorry it was just sitting there. But seriously, what did you do?"
"Nothing, I just- I'm not as handy with needles as you are. I got myself a couple of times when I was making the tent. You know, for-"
"Right." Lorelai sighed. "I still cannot believe you did all that."
He shrugged. "Well, I couldn't not do it."
"And I cannot believe you did this." She grabbed his other hand and looked at it. "Does it hurt?"
"No. I mean, they were a little sore yesterday, but I'm fine."
"Oh, Luke." A tear dropped from her face, followed closely by a second.
"Hey," He said softly, and reached up with his free hand to cradle her face. She took hold of it and kissed his palm, before pressing it back against her cheek. Luke tried to pull her into a hug, but she pushed him away gently.
"No." Lorelai brushed the tears from her face, and took a second to collect herself. "Sorry, I just… I'm not ready to... I'm not ready to fall apart yet. I know I will and I don't want to, but-"
"I know." He rubbed her shoulders. "I know."
Lorelai picked up the remote and started flipping through the channels again, desperate for a distraction. "What else is on?"
He let her curl up next to him once more while she flipped through the channels, and wrapped his arm protectively around her. Neither mentioned the odd stray tear that would appear. After a while, she drifted off to sleep once more, followed closely by Luke.
Several hours later, Lorelai's cell phone woke them up. Or rather, it woke up Lorelai, who had been curled up and leaning on Luke, resting her head on his chest. In her haste to reach her phone, she elbowed Luke in the ribs, who awoke with a grunt of pain.
"Sorry. It's probably Rory." She apologized, and snatched up her phone to answer it. "Hi, sweetie. How's your first day as a real reporter been?"
"Stressful, but good, I think. Did you just wake up? I didn't mean to wake you up."
"Rory, honey." Lorelai gently reprimanded her. "You know you can call me anytime, day or night. Even if you don't want to talk and just need some white noise in the form of familiar mommy-babble."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"So, what's the verdict on fanny packs among reporters nowadays?"
"Well, I haven't actually asked anyone yet, but no one's wearing one, so I think it's a safe bet to say that fanny packs are out. I might hang onto it for a little while just in case though."
"Smart kid."
"So where have you been?"
Lorelai glanced over at Luke, who'd gone back to dozing next to her. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I tried you at home first, thinking you'd probably be there, but Babette answered and said she hadn't seen you yet, and that Paul Anka had moved all the books off the bookshelf again."
Lorelai groaned. "Oh, man, I just got them all organized."
"They were not organized."
"Yes, they were." She insisted. "I organized them by the likelihood of me reading them."
"So you organized them from eventually to never?"
"You talked to Babette." Lorelai prompted.
"I talked to Babette, then I called the inn, and I talked to Michel, who was in a bad mood. And then he handed the phone to Sookie, who said that she hadn't heard from you all day. Where are you?"
"Oh, just around." Lorelai said airly. "I've just been driving around, running, uh, errands."
"Errands?"
"Yeah, errands. In Hartford. You know, since I was in town, dropping you off and such."
"Right." Rory said, clearly not believing her. Lorelai carried on, not caring if she was buying it or not. The lying was for her benefit, not Rory's, and she knew it.
"And work, you know, they can do just fine without me for a day and I just didn't want to face everyone... You know that everyone would want to know everything about you, your job, where you're going, and I'm gonna get enough of that for the next couple weeks, and I just thought I'd just take today off and avoid everyone for a while."
"Well that sounds healthy," Rory said sarcastically. "But seriously Mom. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, kid." Lorelai assured Rory. Luke, who'd been half-listening, gave a snort of derision. Lorelai swatted him lightly on the arm.
"Okay." Lorelai could tell that she still sounded uncertain. "I wish I could talk more, but there's a drinks mixer for all the reporters tonight and I need to get ready for that, I smell like airplane.
"See, you sound like a normal person sometimes, and then sometimes you sound like my mother."
"Oh, nice, lady." Rory snarked back playfully. "I'll call you tomorrow. Oh, Sookie said to call her."
"Have fun at the mixer, hon."
"Call her, mom." Rory insisted.
"Alright, I will." Lorelai assured her.
"Promise?"
"Rory..."
"We just worry about you."
Her daughter's "Rory face" was audible in her reply. Lorelai blinked back a fresh flood of tears and tried to keep her voice light and calm.
"Rory, I'm fine, I swear. And I promise to call Sookie."
"Okay. Bye mom."
"Bye, Rory. Oh, remember, no windows." Lorelai reminded her, thinking back to the advice she gave Rory several years prior, on spring break.
Rory laughed. It felt good to hear Rory laugh. "Right, no windows."
She hung up the phone and tossed it on table, and sat back against the cushions with a sigh. Luke, who was awake now, reached over to rub her leg. "How is she?"
"She's good." Lorelai said automatically. "At least, she sounds good."
He looked at her pointedly. "And how are you?"
"Still processing."
"Okay."
Lorelai sat up again, stretching her muscles. "What time is it?"
Luke checked his watch. "Just after four."
"I should probably go check on things at the Dragonfly." Lorelai said, and got up slowly. Luke stood too, and walked her to the door, where they paused to kiss. God, how she missed that.
"See you tomorrow?" Lorelai asked.
He nodded. "I'll be the one with the coffee."
Lorelai kissed him one last time, and made it to the top of the stairs when Luke called to her.
"Hey."
She looked at him over her shoulder.
"I'll be here." He promised. "When you're ready to talk. I'll always be here."
Lorelai smiled softly at him. Always Luke.
"I know." She nodded slightly. "Bye."
"See ya."
She just gave him one last small smile, and walked downstairs to an almost empty diner, and slipped out the back, grateful that she didn't have to deal with any nosy townies.
At least, not yet.