Title: Falling In Love
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: The time between meeting and finally leaving is sometimes called falling in love.
A/N: One-shot. Once again, my head would have exploded if not for the writing of this story. Based almost entirely on a song called "Falling In Love" by Lisa Loeb from her "Firecracker" CD.
Rated: PG-13 (or "T") for a slight crude paragraph towards the end.
She was 24 when they met.
They "met cute", he always liked to say, savoring the part in the story when she tripped off the stage and fell into his arms. She always blushed when he related the story to people she knew; she was so unlike herself that night. He never believed her when she said that, and always told her that he knew that night she was her real self, her secret self, the self that made him fall in love with her.
She should have realized that they wouldn't last.
Her mother raised her eyebrows when she brought him home. "He's so different from you," Lorelai murmured to her daughter while they were holed up in the kitchen.
"Well, opposites attract," Rory said a little defensively, her subconscious already telling her they were doomed.
"Okay," Lorelai said, holding up her hands. "Don't get defensive, I was just pointing it out."
"Everyone points it out," Rory said, slamming a cabinet closed.
"Whoa. Babe, calm down. He's different, but he loves you. I can tell it in the way he looks at you."
"Really?" Rory asked, looking at her mother, her eyes full of hope.
"Yeah." Lorelai smiled. "You try hard, you can make this work."
She tried hard. She really did. She ignored his arguments. She let his criticism slip from her shoulders. She did whatever he wanted to do, and shoved her own wants and needs into the back of her mind.
When she saw her mother again, Lorelai pulled her into the bathroom.
"You're thin, sweets. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Rory said, shaking her head. "I just haven't been getting too much sleep."
"Well, if the paper's working you that hard, just tell your boss"
"No, Mom, the paper's fine. I've just been missing work lately to go out with him. I have to go in at night to make up for it."
"Oh, Rory." Lorelai sighed. "Tell him you need to work."
"It's okay," Rory said. "We're happy, Mom. He doesn't really like my working. He likes when we go out."
"Honey, do you realize what this guy's doing to you? He's changing you!"
"No, Mom, he's not. I'm changing because I'm older. It has nothing to do with him."
Lorelai sighed again. "Okay, babe. Whatever you say." Lorelai turned to leave, but Rory grabbed her arm.
"He's moving in," she announced in a whisper, her eyes twinkling above their dark purple circles. "He loves me."
"Wow, Rory." Lorelai hugged her daughter, hoping to feel the enthusiasm she was feigning. "That's great."
Two weeks later, he was finally moved into her apartment. That night, as he was above her and grunting her name, she watched his eyes, his piercing blue eyes. They were clouded with lust at the moment, while he was in her.
At that moment, she didn't know how she could live without him.
He was never home after that. He finally allowed her to go to work, but after she got home he was never there. She still lost sleep, waiting for the sound of his feet on the doormat, the sound of his hand on the doorknob. She was up till all hours, just waiting for the moment he would walk through the door.
One night she was sleeping all alone in their bed, the phone rang, she woke up, and sat up and said, "What time is it?"
"Well, it's five-thirty there, and it's two-thirty here, and I won't be home tonight," he said.
She left. She left their apartment all alone, and went home to her mother, to Stars Hollow, to Luke's diner. While waiting for her mother to show up, she pulled a picture of the two of them together, taken right after they'd met, while they were still together together. The gray sky was romantic because he was holding her hand. He was her man. She rubbed the smudge of the photograph and put it back into her purse.
The time between meeting and finally leaving is sometimes called falling in love.