Author's note: The parts in Italic are the past or Luke's thoughts/memories. Thank you for reading, please leave a review to let me know if I should continue writing this.
He let her walk away. Luke had let the love of his life walk away. She came to him last night, frantic and distraught, asking him to elope. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't react fast enough. She gave him an ultimatum, "No! I'm not waiting! It's now or never!" She had said. For him, it had come out of nowhere, he had no idea that she felt so left out, and he was clueless to the fact that he had hurt her. He thought she was happy, that she was okay with him wanting to spend time with April alone. He wonders why she never just told him how she was feeling these past few months.
The next morning, he goes to her, wanting to talk about what happened. But she didn't even give him a chance; she told him that she had given him every chance already. "There is no us. There's you, and there's me. It's over. It was over last night, and it's over now. It's over." She told him. And he notices that she took off her engagement ring. Hearing her say that almost made him want to give up on her, but he didn't.
Then, to make his day even worse, Kirk crashed a car into his diner. Luke told the tow truck driver that he needed time to think about what he wanted to do about the car. But, he used that time to think about Lorelai. He came up with a plan. He decided that he would need to prove that he was ready to marry her. He goes and fills the truck with gas so that they can drive to Maryland or Atlantic City or even Vegas to elope. He even makes renovations at a couple places. He packs the truck with a large assortment of things, camping equipment, clothes, and a whole bunch of random things that they might need for their elopement. He doesn't even think about what he'll do if she rejects him.
The next morning, he drives to her house. She comes outside when he honks the horn; she stands on the porch, her arms crossed. He stays on the grass. He tells her about the car crashing into the diner, but he tells her that he doesn't even care about that. She's all that matters right now. He pours his heart out to her:
"It's like it's not even real to me. It's like my life isn't even real to me unless you're there, and you're in it, and I'm sharing it with you. And, uh I don't know what I was waiting for, and I don't know what I was scared of, but I'm not. I'm not scared, and I'm not waiting. I'm here."
And he means every word of it. He can't imagine life without her. He blabs on and on, telling her what he's planned for their elopement and he tells her that she was right, that he needs act faster. But she tells him once again that it's over.
He won't accept that, "You can't just say that it's over. It's not over. You can't just decide that it's over I'm in this too. You know I'm not gonna let it be over." He tells her. He can't lose her, he won't give up. He's desperate to get her to come with him.
But then, she tells him. She says the four words that make him turn around and leave. "I slept with Christopher."
He stares at her for a few seconds, nods his head a little, realizing why she kept telling him to stop. He gets in the truck, slamming the door behind him.
He drives back to the diner, goes to the apartment to pick up his address book and a map. Lorelai gave him Christopher's address a while ago, in case he was with Rory and Lorelai and something had happened to them and Lorelai couldn't tell Christopher that Rory was hurt. He gets back in the truck and just drives. He feels a whole mix of emotions: Anger, sadness, betrayal, and hurt. He is not most angry at himself or Lorelai, he's most angry at Christopher. He saw how upset and emotional Lorelai was that night. Sure, she went to Christopher, but Christopher took advantage of the situation. He had sex with a woman who had just broken up with her fiancé. He took advantage of the fact that she was hurt and vulnerable. So Luke decides to give Christopher what he deserves. When he gets to Christopher's apartment, he knocks on the door and as soon as it opens and he sees Christopher standing there, he winds up his arm for a second before punching him right in the face. Then he turns around and leaves before Chris can react. It's what he deserves, Luke reminds himself.
Luke decides to start repairing the diner himself. He finds T.J. there. T.J. mentions that there's a diner across the street. Luke is confused, what diner? T.J. tells him that it's Kirk's diner. Oh great another thing to deal with. Kirk tells him that he was just filling a need for the town, like it wasn't his fault that Luke's had to close for repairs. When he gets back to T.J., T.J. starts rambling about Liz, which turns into him telling Luke to get Lorelai pregnant. Luke tells T.J. that he'll go get the primer to hopefully get him to stop talking about Lorelai.
On the way back from the hardware store, he sees her. They stand on opposite sides of the street. They walk by each other, as she passes she says she's sorry. He tells her he's fine. She tells him that she's not fine. "You're not?" He asks, trying to sound surprised.
"Of course not." She replies. He once again tells her that he's fine. He won't let her believe that he's not anything but fine. Then he tells her that he punched Christopher to deal with it, suggesting that she should do the same. She didn't know that he punched him. "You two really need to work on your communication skills." He tells her, trying to imply that she should have worked on them with him.
"Christopher is not my boyfriend." She tells him and he tells her that he doesn't care if he is or not, she can date whoever she wants, he doesn't care… obviously she doesn't care how it will affect him, so why should it matter if she wants to be with Christopher now. She tells him to take his anger out on her, saying that she deserves it.
He tries his best to try to convince her that he's truly over it, that it's no big deal for him.
"Oh, it's not as big a deal?" She asks, clearly not believing him.
"Yeah, so we're not getting married. It's okay by me. I mean you're the one who proposed in the first place." He knows it a low blow and he walks away before he regrets saying it and before he can see her reaction. As he walks back to the T.J. he realizes he just said all those things to her because he wants them to be true. He doesn't want to feel this pain right now. He doesn't want to forget what it's like to sleep next to her. He doesn't want to stop seeing her every day. He doesn't want to stop loving her… but there's nothing he can do to go back in time and fix their mistakes. So he tells himself that it's easier to tell her he's fine, that's he's over it, that he doesn't care. When the truth is, he feels the complete opposite.
T.J. wants Luke and Lorelai to come with him and Liz to some concert or something. Luke needs to tell him, so he does, "Lorelai and I broke up."
T.J. hugs him. He actually cares… and he invites him over to dinner. Liz also hugs him and it's actually comforting. Luke remembers how excited she was when she found out that he and Lorelai were dating. However, she seems to have changed her mind as she gives him this stupid theory on why he and Lorelai broke up, saying that they were on different planes. Luke tells her it didn't work because they weren't right for each other. He tries to convince them and himself this. Liz forgot that the oven was broken, so Luke volunteers to go pick up some food for them. He goes to the supermarket, not Doose's since its closer to Liz and T.J.'s place.
She's there, across the frozen food aisle.
"Hey." He greets her.
She figures that they both decided to avoid Doose's. And she reminds him that he said he's not mad. He tells her the truth, yes he was mad and he was a jerk… and mad. Then she tells him that she was also a jerk. He tries not to look her in the eye, because it hurts. Her eyes are beautiful and he can't bear to look into them again. He tells her that he eventually won't be mad anymore. He states that it's not either of their faults, they're just not right together. He's been trying so hard to convince himself of this fact; he tries to deny that they ever belonged together. He tells her that she belongs with someone like Christopher. He tells her that he'll go back to being the guy that pours her coffee, that's all they'll ever be to each other again, diner owner and his customer. He tells her this to convince her to move on and to convince himself to move on. After more than nine years, it's time to move on. Even though they had managed to fix things and get back together before, this time there was no getting back together. They were done, it was over for good. "It's for the best." He tells himself.