This story is part of a competition between me and my fellow author LukelovesLorelai. I'm proving that I am a better author than her, just kidding. This competition is 100 friendly (Because I don't have to prove I'm a better author, everyone already knows that). Seriously though, we're both taking the episode Forgiveness and Stuff and doing a story off the end of it. It really is a friendly competition because we're both best friends and we just want to see who likes what story better. So on with the story.
LORELAI: It's hard to imagine living somewhere else isn't it?
LUKE: Thanks for the hat.
LORELAI: You're welcome. Looks good on you.
LUKE: Good how?
LORELAI: Just watch the procession.
Luke and Lorelai turned back to the window.
"Lorelai" Luke said, hesitantly.
"Yeah?" Lorelai asked.
"Why didn't your mom know about Max?" Luke asked.
"What are you talking about?" Lorelai asked.
"She kept asking if we were dating, I'm assuming that meant she didn't know about Max" Luke said.
"Well…you know…I just don't talk to my mom about those kinds of things…and we've only had one date so technically we're not dating" Lorelai said.
"You should tell her" Luke said.
"What, you spend a minute with my mother and you think you know how I should act around her?" Lorelai asked defensively.
"That's not what I meant" Luke said. "Never mind"
"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't yell at you, not after what you did tonight" Lorelai said. "It's just; I don't think I can be with Max"
Luke was quiet.
"I mean, there's just nothing there" Lorelai said. "No spark, no magic"
"Maybe if you just give it some time" Luke said.
Luke mentally kicked himself.
"This was your chance" Luke thought, "She's telling you she wants to stop dating a guy and you tell her she should give him another chance. Are you a sucker for pain?"
"I don't think so" Lorelai said, snapping Luke back into reality. "He's just not the right guy. That seems to be the story of my life"
"You'll find a guy" Luke said.
"When? When I'm an old woman sitting in the bingo hall all alone? I can see it now, eighty five year old woman marries ninety year old man" Lorelai said.
"You'll find someone. You have guys falling at your feet" Luke said.
"I do not" Lorelai said smiling.
"Yes you do" Luke said. "I've seen it"
Lorelai laughed.
"Well, you aren't so bad yourself, Oscar" Lorelai said.
"Oscar?" Luke said.
"Oscar the Grouch" Lorelai said. "Sesame Street, Rory loved it as a kid"
"Oh, was that the red thing she used to carry around?" Luke asked.
"No, Luke, that was Elmo" Lorelai said trying not to laugh.
"Hey, don't laugh, I've never seen the show" Luke said.
Lorelai couldn't contain herself any longer and laughed which cause Luke to smile.
"Well, at least you weren't completely off" Lorelai said. "Elmo was from Sesame Street"
"See" Luke said. "And you laughed"
"I'm sorry" Lorelai said, still smiling. "I shouldn't have laughed"
"No, I'm glad I made you laugh" Luke said. "After what happened tonight"
"Luke…when your dad…did you…never mind" Lorelai said.
"What?" Luke asked.
"It's just, there's so much I've never thanked my dad for" Lorelai said. "If he had died tonight…"
"But he didn't" Luke said.
"But if he had then he never would've known how thankful I am for everything he's provided for me" Lorelai said.
"He would've known" Luke said.
Lorelai smiled weakly.
"I should go home" Lorelai said. "Rory's probably wondering where I am"
"She went to Lane's" Luke said. "She asked me if I thought you'd mind, I didn't think you would. You don't…do you?"
"No" Lorelai said. "It's good that she went. It'll keep her mind off of tonight"
"Are you hungry, I can make you something" Luke said. "You never really got to eat that Santa Burger"
"Shouldn't you be closing up?" Lorelai asked.
"Since when has me closing up ever stopped you from eating here?" Luke asked.
Lorelai smiled and took a seat at the counter.
"You might want to turn your lights on" Lorelai said. "You don't want to fall onto the burner when you're making me a burger. I don't know first aid"
Luke flipped the lights back on. He grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee.
"No lecture?" Lorelai asked.
"Not today" Luke said.
"So, sorry about Emily nagging you about the dating thing" Lorelai said. "She just can't get it out of her head that we're not dating"
"She's mentioned it before?" Luke asked.
"At Rory's birthday party" Lorelai said. "When you brought the ice"
Luke nodded.
"I mean, I guess I can see where she would get the idea" Lorelai said.
"We do spend a lot of time together" Luke said.
"But we're just friends" Lorelai said.
"And I feed you" Luke said.
"Yeah, so it's ridiculous to assume we're dating" Lorelai said.
"Yeah, ridiculous" Luke said.
"I mean us, date?" Lorelai said like it was the most outrageous thing ever.
"Yeah" Luke said, hiding his disappointment.
Lorelai's cell phone started going off and she looked to see who it was. She hesitated before answering.
"Hi" Lorelai said.
Luke watched Lorelai nod a couple of times.
"Um, I don't think I can meet you tomorrow" Lorelai said. "But we really do need to talk"
She paused.
"Max, this isn't really the place to talk about this" Lorelai said. "Max, wait"
She closed her eyes and threw her phone back into her purse.
"He hung up" Lorelai said.
"I'm sorry" Luke said.
"Yeah, well, this day can't get much worse" Lorelai said. "First the apple tarts, then my dad, now Max"
"Apple tarts?" Luke asked confused.
Lorelai smiled at his confused look.
"Every year at the Christmas party my parents have these amazing apple tarts" Lorelai said. "I look forward to them the entire year"
"Oh" Luke said.
Luke and Lorelai heard Taylor yell something and they looked out the window.
"Must be over with" Luke said.
"But Taylor hasn't even made them practice it a third time" Lorelai said.
Almost on cue they heard Taylor yell again.
"Come on people, don't leave yet!" Taylor shouted. "We need to practice it again!"
Lorelai and Luke laughed as everyone kept leaving. The only ones left were Taylor, Patty, and Kirk.
"We live in a town of nutcases" Luke said.
"I wouldn't trade it for the world" Lorelai said.
"You're an amazing woman" Luke said.
"Shit, did I just say that out loud?" Luke thought to himself.
"Thank you" Lorelai said, looking strangely at Luke.
"I just thought you should know that" Luke said, his cheeks blushing.
"Is Luke blushing?" Lorelai thought to herself.
"I can honestly say in the years I've known you, I've never seen you blush" Lorelai said.
"I'm not blushing" Luke said. "It's just hot in here; I should probably turn the heat down"
Lorelai was about to make another comment but decided to let it go.
"I don't know if I've told you thank you enough for what you did for me tonight" Lorelai said. "It means a lot"
"It's no big deal" Luke said.
Luke quickly remembered something.
"I have something for you" Luke said. "I was going to wait till Christmas but since you gave me the hat and your day has sucked, I think you should have it now"
"Ooo, what is it?" Lorelai asked, looking like a little kid.
Luke laughed.
"I have to go get it from my apartment" Luke said. "Wait here"
While Luke was upstairs getting her present, Lorelai realized how hungry she really was. She went behind the counter and grabbed a doughnut and a piece of pie.
"You cannot have just that for dinner" Luke said coming back downstairs.
"It's not dinner" Lorelai said. "It's an early breakfast"
"Still, pie for breakfast is not healthy" Luke said.
"Well" Lorelai said. "When has that ever stopped me?"
"Never" Luke said.
"Exactly" Lorelai said. "Now where's my present?"
"Sit down and I'll give it to you" Luke said.
Lorelai went back to the regular side of the counter and sat back down.
"You'll do anything for a present, won't you?" Luke asked.
"Dirty" Lorelai said.
"Lorelai" Luke said, sounding annoyed but they both knew he didn't mind it.
Lorelai looked expectantly at the present he was holding.
"Hold on, I'm enjoying this sense of power over you" Luke joked.
"Okay, that deserves a second dirty" Lorelai said.
Luke rolled his eyes and handed her the present. Lorelai was about to rip it open when she stopped.
"Wait, this is the first present you've ever given me" Lorelai said.
"It is not" Luke said. "I give you five hours of free fixing up around the house on your birthday"
"As much as I love that I don't think it can be unwrapped" Lorelai said.
"This is not the first present I've given you" Luke said.
"Okay, Mr. Sensitive, this isn't the first present you've given me" Lorelai said, putting her hands up in mock surrender.
She started to unwrap the box. She took the top off the box. Inside was a silver necklace with sapphires and diamonds.
"Luke" Lorelai said, at lost for words. "This is beautiful"
"A couple weeks ago when you were in here after Friday Night Dinner, you broke that necklace…"
"My favorite necklace" Lorelai said. "It looked just like this one"
"I know, I stumbled a crossed it while I was going through some old things" Luke said. "It was my mother's"
"Luke, I shouldn't have this" Lorelai said. "I mean, it belongs with you, in your family"
"Lorelai" Luke said. "Liz won't take it, she doesn't want it"
"But someday, you'll have a wife or a daughter that might want it" Lorelai said.
"I want you to have it" Luke said.
Lorelai looked up.
"Thank you" Lorelai said. "For everything"
Lorelai and Luke sat at the diner and continued talking. Lorelai was laughing when she noticed what time it was. Luke followed her gaze to the clock; it read 12:01 AM.
"Your bad day is officially over" Luke said.
"Come to think of it, the day wasn't so bad" Lorelai said.
Please Read: So the whole point of this competition is to see who can get the most reviews so please review whether it's positive or negative. If you'd like to go read her story (I encourage you to because both stories are very different from each other), it's called Lookin Good. So read and tell us which ones better or if they both suck.
Also if any of the people who are reading this read my other G.G fic, Underneath Snow, sorry about the long delay I'm just having a terrible writer's block with it.