Luke Danes really did not want to be there. But there he was, standing in Jacob Whitney's trashed living room, a cheap can of beer clutched in his hand, with the majority of teenage Connecticut raging around him.
On any other Saturday night, he wouldn't have been there. Hell, there wouldn't have been a rager this big in Stars Hollow any other Saturday night. But this Saturday wasn't like every other Saturday. Hours earlier, Luke pitched a no-hitter in the state championship against Litchfield High School, earning Stars Hollow its first ever state championship, and sending most of Connecticut into a tizzy about the local who they all hoped would be going pro after he graduated this spring.
"Hey congratulations superstar!"
Luke turned towards the pretty blonde he recognized from his games, although her name had never really stuck. "That was quite a game you played today," she said as she grabbed onto his flannel.
"Thanks. Uh, I'm gonna go get another beer," He grumbled, his eyes searching the room for an escape route as he quickly shook his hand off her shirt. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with her, but after his disastrous breakup with Rachel the year before and his ill-advised hookup with Crazy Carrie under the bleachers a couple weeks later, Luke had stayed away from the girls that had quickly gathered as the baseball season wore on.
Luke quickly found Jacob across the room. "Butch! There you are! I've been looking for you! Hey, do you think you can be my wingman for Danielle? I saw you just shake off Sarah Williams over there so I figured you'd be willing to help a brother out. We can't all be Butch Danes: Superstar you know," Jacob slurred as he raised his hand to give Luke a very manly fist bump.
"Dude, how many beers have you had tonight?," Luke laughed as he held out a hand to steady his best friend.
"Oh, not that many, don't worry about it Dad," Jacob said as he shrugged Luke's hand off his shoulder. "Hey, wait what about that girl over there?," Jacob said as he grabbed onto Luke's sleeve and pointed to a girl standing in the corner. Luke followed his friend's gaze, and his eyes fell upon a girl that he had never seen before. Luke froze, as he felt the world suddenly spinning away from him in a different way than he'd ever known, and the pieces clicking together in a different way than they'd ever been before.
"Luke, you need to get out of bed," William Danes said as he strode across his son's room and sat down on the bed. "It's going to be fine. Rachel wasn't the girl for you, Luke." Luke flipped onto his side away from his dad and stared vacantly at the ceiling, a heavy silence invading the room. "I thought that maybe she was though Dad," Luke quietly sighed, the words so quiet they were almost unintelligible. The silence stretched out again, which wasn't exactly uncommon when Luke and William were the only ones in the room. William sighed loudly, sounding eerily like his son's sigh earlier. "Look, Luke. I really am not qualified to give you a lot of girl advice. But I can tell you that the second your mom walked into the hardware store for the first time, there was never a maybe."
William's words rang in Luke's ears as he stared unblinkingly at the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. Honestly, beautiful wasn't strong enough of a word for Luke. He'd never been one for words, but he found himself in that moment cursing himself for not being able to think of the right word to describe the girl Jacob had pointed out. She was facing one of her friends, another pretty girl Luke didn't recognize. She was animatedly telling a story, her arms waving up around her head, sloshing her beer over her cup and onto her black Rolling Stones t-shirt. Luke would've been perfectly happy standing there staring at her for the rest of the night, until he saw Jacob's short head weaving across the room and directly into the path of the beautiful girl.
"Aw, shit," Luke cursed as he watched Jacob tap on her shoulder. "Why do you have to do this to me Jacob?" Luke grumbled under his breath as he quickly pushed his way across the room.
"Hey, I'm Jacob," The girl spun around, her blue eyes flashing up and meeting Luke's for a quick second before she focused on Jacob. Luke stopped his walk across the room, momentarily struck by her eyes looking into his for the first time.
"I'm Lorelai," Luke heard the girl respond to Jacob. Lorelai.
"Hey, have you seen my teddy bear anywhere?," Luke heard Jacob say from across the room. A feeling of panic constricted Luke's chest and he moved faster than he'd moved all day, including those homeruns he'd made earlier. He knew what line Jacob was about to use. Oh, Jacob, you dumb drunk asshole. Luke knew what line he was about to use, and his number one goal in life became to get over there before he could get the words out.
"Your teddy bear?" Lorelai asked. Luke watched as the mask of confusion on her face turned into pain, and then rage as Jacob slurred "I think I lost it. Can I sleep with you instead?"
Luke reached Jacob just in time to see her bright blue eyes cloud over and hear her whisper, "Do you know Christopher?"
"No, not Christopher. Jacob. But you can call me anything you want later tonight." Luke grabbed onto the back of Jacob's shirt and yanked on it, pulling him away from Lorelai and directly stepping in front of him. The gaggle of girls around him started giggling, and Lorelai's eyes got wetter as she looked up at Luke, who was now standing directly in front of her.
"He doesn't know Connor," Luke said, using the low, soft tone he used when Liz came home crying. "I'm so sorry…"- Lorelai turned around, and ran off towards the hallway behind them. As soon as she was gone, her friends interrupted into even louder giggles.
Without a second thought, Luke ran down the dark hallway after her. She turned into the bathroom and grabbed the door, trying to slam it in his face. Again without thinking, Luke stuck his boot in the doorway, blocking her from closing the door. A look of panic quickly crossed her face as she grabbed onto the door handle, trying to force it closed. Great going Danes, he chastised when he realized what she probably thought.
"Oh, no, no, I'm not trying to hurt you!" He held up his hands and moved his foot, panicked about how this looked to her, but also equally panicked that she would slam the door in his face, and he'd never see her again. She took a deep breath, tears shimmering in those blue eyes.
"Who does your friend know from St. Marks?" She asked as she took a deep breath, the words shaky. His heart leapt up into her throat. She hadn't slammed the door in his face. She was actually looking at him again with those beautiful eyes, although he wished they weren't currently brimming with tears, and oh, he really should respond to her question.
"Oh, Jacob?" He managed to stutter out, the question and Jacob's name barely registering in his brain.
"No, our other mutual friend Jimmy Carter. Yes, Jacob, complete stranger."
"He, uh, he doesn't know anyone from St. Mark's. That I know of at least. He's just really, really drunk. And an asshole even when he's not drunk. And he's not my friend. He's the pitcher on my baseball team and I've known him since I was wearing diapers-which means I was a baby because I haven't worn diapers since then, in case you were wondering, but he's not my friend," Stop rambling, his brain told himself as he sputtered out more words than he'd said in the past month combined. "I'm actually thinking of putting a hit on him right now actually." She giggled at that, the tears leaking out of her eyes a tiny bit as she smiled up at him. Oh god, if she ever smiled like that again he was sure that wouldn't be the last of him embarrassing himself.
"And why are you thinking of putting a hit on someone you've known since you were in diapers Complete Stranger?" She asked, her eyes finally lighting up with something that definitely wasn't tears.
"He made the most beautiful woman I've ever seen cry," Luke immediately blurted out, his face turning a bright shade of purple the second he realized what he'd just revealed. She laughed again, a full laugh this time, and not just a giggle like before.
"You don't do this a lot, huh Complete Stranger?" She teased, apparently getting pleasure out of his fifty shades of red face. He shook his head, a tiny smile appearing on his lips. "And why is that?" She asked, not subtly eyeing his muscular arms under his flannel. He shrugged, the very tips of his ears now turning purple.
"Ok, well people normally start by introducing themselves," She instructed, her tone turning bossy.
"Oh, duh. I'm Luke," He shook his head and looked down at the ground, but she could still see the beautiful smile that was the reason she'd noticed him standing by the keg an hour earlier.
"Luke?" She questioned, recognition flooding into her face. "Luke Danes?" He nodded, clearly used to what was coming next. "The Luke Danes who's the reason this party is being held? The sole reason Stars Hollow won a state championship? The Luke Danes who just got drafted by the Red Sox? That Luke Danes?" He nodded, clearly embarrassed.
"I'm not the only reason we won. It takes more than one good player on a team. And it's not like I'll be playing for the Sox next year, I'll be in the minor league." She stayed quiet for a second.
"So you're telling me that Conneticut superstar Luke Danes really has no idea on how to pick up girls? I'm finding that hard to believe." He finally looked up, and forced himself to make eye contact with her again. Yup, it was as good as he remembered.
"Well, I've never really had to before," He admitted. She laughed her real laugh again.
"Honesty. I appreciate that Babe Ruth," she teased.
"Aw geez," he grumbled. "Don't call me Babe Ruth."
"Oh come on. I'm sure the ladies of Stars Hollow would agree with me that you are in fact a babe." He blushed red again, and then fell quiet, suddenly intimidated again by her. She sobered for a second.
"Hey Babe-Can you see the people I was with?" He glanced back at the living room, and saw her friends were all standing in a circle, clearly gossiping.
"Yeah, they're all talking about something," He reported back to her.
"No doubt me," She sighed. She was quiet for a second, clearly weighing her options. "Alright, well it was nice to meet you babe. But if you don't mind moving your foot I'm going to sneak out the bathroom window while they're occupied." He quickly went back into panic mode when he realized she was trying to leave , a thousand questions swirling in his mind, but mostly his dad's voice telling him that there would be no maybe. He couldn't let her leave.
"No. Where'd you park? It's past midnight it's not safe for you to be outside by yourself," he heard himself say.
"Oh, I don't drive yet I just turned 16. But I'll just take the bus, no big deal," she shrugged, clearly unconcerned. Luke's panic quickly went from being directed at her impending departure to the almost instinctual need to keep her safe.
"You can't do that! It's the middle of the night! Let me drive you," He almost pleaded, praying to whoever was up there that he didn't look as frantic as he felt.
"Oh, I live all the way in Hartford. Plus, even if you did drive me all the way there there's no chance of you getting any," she said flippantly, sure that the handsome baseball star would give up when he realized that she wasn't as easy as her supposed friends were currently gossiping she was. His jaw fell open.
"I wasn't planning on getting any!" He protested, holding his hands up. She looked at him warily.
"Lorelai, please let me drive you home. I'd hate myself if anything happened to you on the bus. Look, I'll drive with one hand on the wheel and one tied behind my back if it'll make you feel better," he pleaded. She bit her lip, clearly considering.
"Fine," she decided. "But you better be serious about the hand thing!"