Poker Faces
Chapter One: Magic Number
Disclaimer: I don't own this. C'mon people.
Summary: She hates change. He stays the same. She's lonely. He likes the company. She wants to keep a secret. He'd never tell. It's completely perfect, until something unexpected happens… L/L
A/N: This isn't really like any other story I've written before. I suppose it's a little bit like Kiss with Open Eyes. It's more like that, than any other story of mine, but it's also a little different. It's hard to explain, so you'll just have to read.
This story is rated M for a reason. It's mostly just for caution. Some chapters will be clean for the most part, others won't be.
It takes place in the very beginning of season one.
Max Medina is a nice guy. He really is. He's smart, he uses a lot of big words without breaking a sweat, he's attractive, he doesn't wipe his nose on his sleeve, and he likes Rory.
She likes his company. She really does. He laughs at her jokes, he understands some of them, he makes her laugh, and he can keep up with her for the most part.
So, why wouldn't she want to go out with him?
It's just too complicated. There are so many bad things about this relationship; she isn't sure where to begin.
He's Rory teacher, and dating Rory's teacher could be bad. It could be very bad. She has always wanted to keep her Rory life and her dating life completely separate, and dating Rory's teacher would make the two worlds collide in a completely hideous car crash. What if something happened, and they broke up? Rory would be in a horrible position. Not to mention, how awkward a parent teacher conference would be.
When it comes to her dating life, she's always made sure it would never affect Rory. Dating Rory's teacher would most definitely affect her, and maybe in a not so good way.
Dating Max Medina was just not a good idea.
Then, there was Luke.
She knows that dating Luke would affect Rory, too. They eat there every single day. He feeds them. He fixes their sink. He tries to make them eat healthy. Dating Luke would definitely affect Rory.
It's weird, though. When she thinks about dating Luke, she doesn't exactly think about having the dinner and a movie type of thing with him. Dinner and a movie things are usually for people trying to get to know each other. She already knows Luke. Luke already knows her. He fixes her medicine cabinet, for God's sake. They definitely know each other. They don't really need the dinner and a movie thing.
She's not exactly sure what to expect from dating Luke. She wonders what dating Luke is like. She can't really imagine it at all. All she can think about was how amazingly great he looked the other night.
Behold, the healing powers of a bath.
It must have been one seriously powerful bath, because he looked good. He looked really good.
It's been a pretty long time, longer than she'd like to admit. She knows she could do it with Max, but that would come with way too much baggage. Doing it with Max would lead to change, and Lorelai Gilmore does not like change.
Then, of course there's the man that came all the way to her Inn to ask her out. Don't get her wrong, she considered it. She really did. She almost agreed to have a little pre-China fling with him, despite the fact that he's a Chilton Dad. That is how long it's been.
Way, way, way too long.
She doesn't really like dating, though. Sure, in the beginning it's sweet. Everything the other person says is funny. Every time they leave a message on your machine, you listen to it more than once. When they touch you, you get butterflies. Yeah, it's sweet, but it just wasn't really her thing.
Dating was just another way to screw up. It was just another way to disappoint. It was another way to fail. It was another way things could change. There was no guarantee with dating, and she liked to have guarantees.
It's not like she wants to go crash a strip club, or pick up some guys at a bar and have a hot one night stand, complete with martinis, magnums, and probably countless STDS. That's not what she wants. She just wants to have sex. Sex without any attachments, without change. Sex that didn't affect Rory. Sex that didn't affect the parent-teacher relationship she was supposed to have with Rory's educators.
It's not that late, but most of Stars Hollow has gone to bed. The lights are still on at Luke's, and she sees him wiping down a table in the corner. She walks in, and he turns to look at her.
"Suddenly become illiterate?" He grunted, towards her. "We're closed."
"The door was unlocked… the light was on… You were standing right there." She shrugged, as she threw her purse on a stool.
"We're closed." He said, as he began to close the blinds.
"The coffee maker's still on. You don't look busy." She told him.
He flicked the switch off. "Nooo…" She pleaded.
He rolled his eyes, and flicked it back on, just like she knew he would. "Yay." She said, clapping her hands together.
"Are you going to make me get my own coffee?" She asked.
"Looks like it." He grunted, staring at her from his position beside the coffee maker.
She got up, and stood beside him as she poured her coffee. God, she was way too close to him, and it's been way too long.
Maybe she was still a little buzzed from the three martini's she had at Friday night dinner, or maybe she was just really desperate, or maybe she just saw a trace of Luke's muscles under his shirt. "Hey Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"What's your magic number?" She asked, with a mischievous grin.
"My what?"
"Your magic number." She said, loving how uncomfortable he looked. "C'mon, just tell me. I'll tell you mine."
"I don't want to know yours." He told her.
"Well I want to know yours." She told him.
He sighed. He knew he wasn't going to win this. "3." He told her.
"4." She told him. "I win."
"Really? 4?" He asked.
"What, you thought it'd be higher?" She asked, slightly offended.
"No… No, I just… I just- I don't know. 4. Wow." He said, his cheeks beginning to turn red.
"So… anyone I know?" She asked, again with that smile of hers.
"Jeez."
She giggled, and went back to stirring her coffee, and then taking a sip. "Really, who are they? I'm dying to know." She smiled.
He rolled his eyes. He didn't want to tell. She knew he would.
"C'mon. I won't tell."
"Just some old girlfriends. No one you know." He answered.
"If I don't know them, then why so hesitant to tell me?" She asked him.
"Why do you care?" He growled.
"I don't. I just love how red your face is getting." She told him, taking another sip.
He blushed again, and looked at the floor, while running his fingers through his hair. She giggled.
After a few minutes, she spoke up again. "Hey Luke?"
"What?"
"How longs it been?" She asked him as she stirred her coffee. He looked up at her, without a fight, answered simply.
"A while." He said, with a small sigh.
"Me too." She sighed. "Way too long." She said, putting her coffee down.
"What about that Chilton dad?" He asked her.
"I think he's in China." She said, sighing.
"And the teacher?" He asked.
"You know about Max?" She asked, surprised.
"Everyone knows about Max." He said, pointing a finger at her.
"Right… I forgot I live in a freaking Tabloid." She said, inching closer to him a little. "I don't know what's happening with me and Max." She told him, still inching closer. She knew it could be a bad idea, but it had been too long, and he looked really hot right now. And it had been a while for him, too. Maybe they could just have one, little, innocent night? Maybe nothing would change.
"Yeah…" He told her as he reached out and pushed a lock of hair behind her ears, and she smiled at him.
Neither of them were exactly sure how this had even happened in the first place, but they both knew what was going to happen.
"Will this change things?" She asked him, as he pushed more hair away from her face.
"Not unless we let it." He answered simply, staring straight into her hair.
"I don't want things to be weird with us later." She told him, honestly.
"Then don't make it weird." He told her.
"I don't know if I can help it." She admitted.
"You can." He said, brushing her arm.
"What about you?" She asked him.
"What about me?"
"You don't think it will change things?" She asked him.
"Not unless we let it." He repeated.
"Nothing can change." She stated, making sure they were clear.
"I don't change." He told her. She looked up at him, as her hands fell to his waist. "You know that."
"But that's what I like about you." She told him. "I hate change. I like that you don't."
"Some change can be OK." He shrugged.
"Everything stays the same?" She asked, just to clarify, as her face inched closer to his.
"Yeah. The same." He practically whispers.
"Promise?" She asked, inching even closer to her.
"Promise." He told her, before he kissed her.
As soon as their mouths touched, their hands roamed, and clothes began to fall to the floor. Lorelai pushed his flannel shirt off his shoulders. She pulled up his t-shirt, and he raised his arms, so she could take it off. His thumb was rubbing circles on her waist, as she took off his belt.
"Up." He grunted, as he pulled on her shirt. She lifted her arms and soon her shirt was on the floor.
"And nobody can know." She told him, almost out of breath, as his hands roamed up and down her back.
"Because I was planning on telling Miss Pattie at my dance lesson, tomorrow?" He asked, sarcastically.
She smiled at him. "Just checking." She told him, a little breathier than normal.
"I know." He said, as he kissed her neck.
"Mmmmm… It's just… I don't want Rory to know… God… this can't affect her." She told him, running her fingers through his hair.
"Please don't talk about Rory." He begged her.
"OK." She agreed, before grabbing his face, and kissing him again. She began unbuttoning his jeans, as he unhooked her bra.
"I'm not going to say anything. " He repeated.
"I know… Just… had to say it… make sure." She said, in between a few kisses.
"Mhm." He mumbled, against her mouth.
"And if either of us start seeing someone…" She began, but was interrupted by more kissing. "We have to stop." She finished him. "I don't want to be the next Days of Our Lives."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"I don't date." He told her, and she wasn't really sure what he meant.
"What?"
"Aren't you already seeing someone?" He asked, confusing her a little.
"Not officially." She told him.
"Ah." He said, before his pants fell to his knees.
"We haven't been on a date yet… We just… I don't know…" Lorelai explained.
"Why?" He asked her, confusing her.
"Why what?" She asked, busily undressing him.
"Why haven't you been on a date with him yet? I thought you liked him. You and Sookie were going on about him the other day." He asked her.
"I don't know." She said, looking at him like he was crazy. Here she was trying to fuck him senseless, and he wanted to know about her not so existent love life? What's he on?
"If you like him, then just… go out with him… give it a try. What's stopping you? Just do it… go for it."
"Do the Nike people know about you?" S he asked, with a grin on her face.
He pulled away for a second, and she looked up, seeing the seriousness in his eyes. "No, look… if he's right… if you think he has a chance of being right… just…"
"Go for it, I know." She said.
"Well, why not?" He asked her.
"I don't know." She shrugged, wanting this conversation to be over.
"Don't not do it because of me, OK? Make sure you don't do it because of me. I give you coffee. I feed you. We're friends. I don't date. I just don't." He said, making it all very clear, as he pulled her back towards him, and she stepped out of her jeans.
"Luke, I know… I'm still not sure if I want to go out with him." She said. "He's Rory's teacher." She said, running her hand up and down his chest.
"Don't-"
"I know." She said, pulling him into a kiss again.
She reached her hand inside his boxers, and felt him. He moaned against her neck, and she giggled a little. "I can't imagine you doing the whole dating thing… dinner, movie… champagne, tie… Nope, can't see it." She said, as she played around with him.
"Good." He told her, beginning to guide her against the wall, in between two windows.
"Alright… but, do you even own a tie? Or a suit? Oh God, Luke in a suit!"
"Jeez." He said, pushing her against the wall.
"So, I'm thinking that it hasn't been so long for you." She told him, as she picked up her shirt from the floor.
He laughed, and found his own shirt. "A while." He said.
"What, like… a week? Two weeks?" She asked, turning it right side in. "Cuz I gotta tell you, buddy, it didn't seem like it had been more than that."
"I don't know… a while." He repeated, a small smile playing at his lips.
"I thought that once I got it out of my system, I'd be OK, you know… but yeah… I don't think it's out of my system. I think it might be staying there a while… hibernating, starting a family, maybe adopting a little girl from China and buying a white minivan."
"What?" He asked her.
"Forget it." She laughed. "I'm just going to bed a very happy woman tonight." She told him.
"What happened to nothing changes?" He said, putting his own shirt on.
She looked up at him and smiled. "Chill out, Burger Boy. I'm not asking you to marry me or have my babies, or anything… I'm just saying… that was… good… very, very good." She told him. "I'm not picking out the wedding china just yet."
He laughed, as he buttoned up his flannel.
"Oh, c'mon… Are you telling me that you've had better?" She asked him, putting her hands on her hips.
"I didn't say anything." He told her walking back towards the counter, in that way that drove her crazy.
"Admit it, that was the best sex you've had in your life." She said, following him.
"Eh, maybe." He told her, hiding the smile on his face.
"Maybe? Luke, just admit it." She told him.
"Fine, whatever… You're the best." He told her, in that way that drove her insane. But she caught on and smiled. She grabbed his face, and kissed him hard.
His hands fell on her hips, and he pulled her a little closer. She wasn't sure what it was, but the second his hands touched her, she got this feeling. She wasn't sure what it was, but it wasn't bad, not at all. Their tongues clashed until they ran out of breath, and pulled away.
"I better get home." She said, trying to catch her breath, once they pulled apart.
"Yeah." He nodded, still trying to catch his own breath.
"Hey, now when someone asks you your magic number, you can say 4." She told him, gathering her purse.
"Who else would ask me that besides you?"
"You never know." She told him, with a smile.
"Yeah."
"Nothing changes?" She asked, again, just to make sure. You can never be too careful.
"Nothing changes." He told her, gesturing towards the diner, covered in his father's old hardware stuff.
"Bye Luke." She said with a smile.
"Bye Lorelai." He replied, with a smile of his own.
She closed the door behind her, causing the door to make that familiar ringing sound. Nothing had changed. Sure, now they were having secret sex.
But, hey, not all change is bad.
There we go, chapter 1.
The chapters in this story may be shorter than my other stories. Just letting you all know. I'm still not sure yet. But hey, this was 6 pages. That's longer than most other stories.
Anyways… For the people that wanted my other stories… This one won out by just a few votes. I will eventually write the other two, so don't worry.
And also… some chapters will have more of the sex in it, and it won't just like cut off like it did in this chapter… It just didn't really work here. It's hard to explain, really, but trust me, it just didn't.
Next Chapter:
Lock Up: A mid-morning lull at the diner and Kirk has the chicken pox. What is Luke going to do? Or should we say, who?
Please review. Tell me if you want more. Tell me anything.