Kiss with Open Eyes
Chapter 1: I'd Like to Learn Your Name
Disclaimer: You know it's not mine.
Summary: Lorelai's world is falling apart. He is the only one who can make her smile and she just wants to be happy…
A/N: Alright… Another day, another story. I'm excited, are you?
This is one of those 'what if Lorelai hadn't run away from home and married Christopher' stories. It's not a L/C story, though. I mean… duh… I hate Chris. It's one of those 'she's married to Chris and meets Luke' type things, but it's different… I think. Actually, I don't know if it is because I don't think I've ever read one of those stories… Lol… Anyway.
All you have to know is that Rory is 16. Lorelai works in the DAR with her mother, and lives in Hartford with Rory and Chris.
Just so you know, the story gets much, much, much better later on. The first two chapters are just setting everything up, you know?
"Morning, babe." Lorelai said to her daughter as she walked into the kitchen.
"Did you hear about Tori Spelling?" Rory asked, reading the newspaper, and eating cereal.
"Uh… I recall something about her on that radio talk show Dad's alarm clock is set to… Damn thing, I can never figure out how to turn it off." Lorelai said.
"She's pregnant." Rory told her dully.
"Well, now I know what to get her for Christmas… A nice Bun in the Oven shirt. Do you think she Tori likes light blue?" Lorelai said sarcastically.
"But not with her husband's baby." Rory continued.
Lorelai gasped, sarcastically.
"Yup, some Canadian guy." Rory explained.
"Did she learn nothing from 90210?" Lorelai asked.
"Guess not." Rory said, putting the paper down. "This is sad... we really need to get the TV fixed." She said.
"Tell your father." Lorelai said rolling her eyes. "He said he was going to get Ed to take care of it."
"That was a week ago." Rory complained. "I'm sick of reading magazines about stupid celebrity stuff." She said.
"I know. At least with a TV, we don't have to read about it… we can listen to it on Regis and Kelly… and you know, sort the laundry at the same time." Lorelai said sarcastically.
"I thought it was Kathy Lee." Rory said.
"Where have you been?" Lorelai said sarcastically.
"In the world of stupid celebrity gossip." Rory sighed.
"Hey, where is Dad?" Rory asked.
"He already went to the air port, didn't he say bye?" Lorelai asked taking a seat at the table.
"No." Rory said, looking down at her plate.
"Oh." Lorelai replied, hating that disappointed expression on her daughter that always seemed to be a result of something Christopher did.
"When he's coming back?" She asked.
"Monday." Lorelai replied.
"That's a whole week." Rory said.
"Yes it is." Lorelai said. She knew Rory hated when her father went away on business trips. The first 10 years of her life and their marriage, he had always been on trips and was barely ever home. He was around a lot more now, which made Rory happy, but not so much Lorelai. In a crowd, her and Christopher would put on fake smiles and pretend to be happy. They would laugh at each other's jokes every once in a while and tell at least one funny story about the other one, but when they were locked in their bedroom, away from the prying eyes of their mother's friends, all they ever did was fight.
"Hey, you want to play hooky with me today?" Lorelai asked, hoping to cheer her daughter up.
"I can't do that." Rory said, looking at her mother as if she was crazy.
"Why not?" Lorelai asked.
"I have school, Mom! I have tests… and I will miss some notes, and I'll fall behind. And you can't do it either!" Rory said.
"Sure I can." Lorelai told her.
"You know Grandma will kill you." Rory told her.
Lorelai shrugged. "C'mon, we'll take a road trip. Please?" Lorelai begged. "It'll be fun." She told her.
"Mom, no." Rory said.
"C'mon, Chilton can do without you for one day." Lorelai said.
"You know Richard and Emily would definitely disapprove of this." Rory said.
"All the more reason to do it." Lorelai said happily.
"Mom…" Rory said sternly.
"What they don't know won't hurt them." Lorelai shrugged.
"Mom, they'll find out… They always find out." Rory told her.
"So? Fake a good cough. They'll think you were sick." Lorelai told her.
"Mom…" Rory said sternly.
"Rory…" Lorelai said mocking her.
"Mom, we can't." Rory said.
"C'mon, kid. Where is your sense of adventure? These are supposed to be your rebellious years... I got pregnant, the least you can do is skip one day of school to hang out with your poor, old Mom." Lorelai said.
"You're crazy." Rory said.
"And you're beautiful, let's go!" Lorelai said grabbing her arm and pulling her out the door.
"Mom, where are we going?" Rory whined.
"I have no idea. It's a road trip, Rory… put that map away!" Lorelai said.
"Mom, there is no rule that you can't have a map on a road trip." Rory told her mother.
"Well, I just made one, give me that!" She said, taking the map and throwing it out the car window.
"Great, not only are we skipping school and work, but we are also getting lost and wasting valuable gas money driving around aimlessly… and we'll have to buy a new map." Rory said sarcastically.
"Dude, take a chill pill." Lorelai said, mockingly.
"Mom, I need coffee…" Rory whined.
"Hmm… me too. We'll get off at this exit, OK?" Lorelai asked.
"Hurry!" Rory said.
"Oh! Here, I know." Lorelai said turning right.
"What?" Rory asked.
"OK, so a couple months ago, the DAR had some function thing in the town of… Stars Hollow." Lorelai said dramatically as they passed the Welcome to Stars Hollow sign. "It was at this Inn… I forget the name, but anyway, the lady there went and brought us back coffee from this place called Luke's, or maybe it was Duke's… Whatever… The point is that it was the best coffee in the world, I think I had a little orgasm when I drank it." Lorelai said.
Rory rolled her eyes at her mother.
"Here." Lorelai said parking her car. "I was right the first time, it's Luke's." Lorelai said pointing to the building.
"Mom, it says Williams Hardware." Rory said.
"Hmm… Uh, I don't know. It says Luke's Diner on the window." Lorelai said.
"Whatever, I need coffee." Rory said getting out of the car.
They walked into the diner and sat down at the counter, where an argument was going on.
"Luke, please, it's just one measly sign!" A grey haired man told a guy named Luke.
"Taylor, I'm sick of going through this every freaking year!" Luke said throwing his arms up in the air.
"I'm liking this place already." Rory told her mother. Lorelai nodding, smiling.
"Luke, c'mon, where is your town spirit?" Taylor asked.
"It died, Taylor. It died and it's never coming back!" Luke said angrily as Lorelai and Rory giggled.
"Hey, but what if it comes back in you know, a ghost… Oohh, like some Casper and Wendy type thing… The Devil's Back Bone, or maybe the Haunting…" Lorelai rambled on, interrupting the fight. "Put those on the movie night list." Lorelai said turning to Rory.
"Who are you?" Luke asked.
"Is that how you talk to all your customers?" Lorelai said flirtatiously, her eyes sparkling.
"Yup." Taylor said interrupting.
"Go away Taylor." Luke said.
"But, Luke, if you just-" Taylor said.
"No." Luke said.
"But-"
"NO!"
"I'm not giving up." Taylor announced as he walked out the door.
"Well, I'm guessing he must be one that has the other half of your best friend necklace." Lorelai said.
"What?" Luke asked.
"You know… best friend necklaces… never mind." She said shaking her head.
"Coffee please?" Rory pleaded.
"Me too." Lorelai said.
"Aren't you too young to have coffee?" Luke asked pointing at Rory.
"Nope." Rory said.
"She's had it ever since she was a little fetus." Lorelai said giggling. "You know, fetus is a funny word."
Luke rolled his eyes and turned back to Rory.
"You know it stops your growth." He informed Rory.
"Well, I'm already pretty tall." Rory said.
"It turns your teeth yellow." Luke continued, talking to Lorelai now.
"That's the beauty of toothpaste, Luke." Lorelai said. "I like the cinnamon flavor." She said.
"You're going to die before you're 40." He said, ignoring her toothpaste comment.
"Well, then you better hurry up with that coffee… don't want to waste time." She said.
He rolled his eyes and turned around to make coffee. Lorelai watched as he did, mentally tracing the muscles under his shirt. Sure, he was wearing flannel and a ratty backwards baseball cap, but he was hot.
"Mom!" Rory whispered, nudging her.
"Ow! What?" Lorelai said, rubbing her arm.
"Stop staring at him." She whispered.
"I'm not." Lorelai said defending herself.
"You're married!" Rory said.
"I know." Lorelai said rolling her eyes.
Just then, the diner door flew open.
"Luke! Help!" A woman yelled to him.
"Sookie? What's wrong?" He asked.
She held up her pinkie, close to his face. "Does this look straight to you?" She asked.
"God, Sookie, what did you do?" He asked, looking at her most definitely, broken finger.
"Well, you see I was trying to… and then… and it went… swoooooooo… BOOM!" She said, complete with hand motions and spinning.
Luke shook his head. "Ice?" He asked.
"Yes please." She smiled. Luke went in the back to get ice.
"I just saw Taylor on the street and he seems really determined this time!" She yelled to him. "I mean, really determined. He's even getting Gypsy and Kirk in on it. You should just give up now, cuz man, he's got something crazy planned." Sookie said.
Luke came back and handed her the ice. "He asked you to convince me, right?" Luke asked.
"Did it work?" Sookie asked, hopefully.
"No." Luke said.
Sookie sighed. "C'mon Luke, he promised me coupons for 20 percent off the ant spray!" She said.
"Do you have ants?" Luke asked.
"No… But maybe that's just because the ant spray is working so well!" Sookie asked.
"Oh, come on, Luke, don't deprive her of the ant spray." Lorelai chipped in.
"You don't even live here! What do you care?" He asked.
"How do you know I don't live here?" She asked.
"Small town." Luke and Sookie answered in unison.
"Ooh." Lorelai said nodding.
"I'm Sookie, by the way." Sookie said offering her hand out.
"Lorelai." She said smiling. "And this is my daughter, Rory." She said, waiting for the normal reaction. They would say 'wow you're so young,' or 'wow, she looks more like a sister,' or 'nooo way.' However, neither Sookie nor Luke said anything. They acted as if nothing was wrong with that, like nothing was weird.
That's what intrigued her about them. They seemed to all know each other. They cared about each other, and they didn't judge her. She wasn't used to these type of people. She was used to the type of people whose toothbrushes cost more than her favorite, strappy sandals. She was used to the type of people who had a 3 o'clock tea time, and didn't know how to work a dishwasher. She was used to the type of people who would glare at her and judge her the moment she mentioned a daughter.
"Nice to meet you." Sookie said.
Lorelai smiled and nodded.
"Here's your coffee." Luke said, placing too cups in front of them.
"You're an angel." Lorelai told him, flashing him a smile.
"Yeah, let me go grab my halo." Luke said, rolling his eyes and then going to poor coffee for the others in the diner.
"So, what brings you here?" Sookie said, sitting on a stool. "Business? Are you traveling?"
"The coffee." Lorelai replied.
"Huh?" Sookie asked.
"I- um, the place I work at had a function down here, at this Inn … and they brought back this amazing coffee… from here, so Rory and I decided to come get some." Lorelai explained. "We decided to play hooky today." She said.
"I work at the Independence Inn." Sookie said.
"Oh, that was it!" Lorelai said. "The food there is amazing… the harp lady is a little mean, but the food was really great." Lorelai said.
Sookie smiled. "I'm the chef."
"Wow." Lorelai said. "The food was so good, I ate so much." She said before taking a sip of her coffee.
"Did you like the squash puffs?" Sookie asked as Luke came back and stood behind the counter.
"Squash puffs?" Rory asked, giving them a strange look.
"Oh yeah, they were incredible." Lorelai said.
"Thank you!" Sookie said throwing her arms in the air. "I told Jackson! HA!" She said.
Lorelai laughed, and stole a glance at Luke, who gave her a funny look.
"So, are you two… together?" Lorelai asked, pointing at Sookie and Luke.
"Oh, no, no, no…" Luke and Sookie both said.
"OK." Lorelai said laughing.
"Just friends." Sookie said.
"Friends are good." Lorelai nodded.
"Hey Luke, have you seen Kirk today?" Sookie asked.
"Nope, he hasn't come in yet." Luke said.
"Oh, God, then I better go… He'll probably be here any minute." Sookie said starting to get up.
"Why?" Lorelai asked.
"He's been trying to sell me his brother's My Little Pony collection all week!" Sookie said, annoyed.
"Kevin's or Eddie's?" Luke asked.
Lorelai looked at Luke strangely, but he didn't look surprised or anything. It seemed like this was completely normal.
"Eddie's." Sookie replied.
"His brother's My Little Pony Collection?" Lorelai asked.
"Yeah… At least he finally gave up on the American Girl Dolls." Sookie said.
"Yeah, now he's trying to get me to buy them." Luke said, gruffly. "I mean, seriously, when you look at me, do you see American Girl Dolls?" He asked.
"Oh yeah." Lorelai nodded. "I can definitely see it… you and your American Girl Dolls, and your Barbie Dream House… Ken's cheating on Barbie with Skipper, and Felicity catches it all on tape and gives it to Barbie, and-" Lorelai babbles on.
"She wasn't allowed to touch her Barbie's when she was little." Rory said, putting her hand over her mother's mouth.
"Tragic". Luke said.
"Well, I got to go… Thanks for the ice, Luke. Bye Lorelai, bye Rory, it was nice meeting you." She said.
"You, too." The girls said in unison. They watched her walk down the street and then turned back to Luke.
"Interesting town you got here…" Lorelai said.
"Does he seriously have a My Little Pony Collection?" Rory spoke for the first time in a while.
Luke nodded.
"We have to meet this guy." Lorelai told Rory.
"Trust me, he's not much worse than any of the other crazy weirdoes that live in this town." Luke said.
"So, then tell me… Why do you live here? Are you a crazy weirdo, too?" Lorelai asked.
"I must be." Luke said. "I've lived in this town my whole life. I should be The King of crazy weirdoes." Luke said dryly.
"Guess so." Lorelai said smiling. "So… Tell us… where would we go to if we wanted to see the full… crazy weirdo… way of life?" Lorelai asked.
"I don't know… You want 10 feet and you've basically seen everything there is to see." Luke shrugged.
"You're a lot of help." Lorelai frowned.
"I try." Luke said sarcastically.
Lorelai took out her purse and handed him a few crumpled dollar bills. "Bye Luke." She said in a singsong voice as her and Rory went out the door.
"You were so flirting." Rory said.
"Was not… I was being… charming." Lorelai laughed.
Rory rolled her eyes.
"So, where should we go?" She asked, standing in the square and looking around.
"And did you meet Morey?" Lorelai asked laughing. They were driving home, now. They had spent the whole day in Stars Hollow, and it was almost 10 o'clock.
"Was he the one with the hat? He kept calling me a cool cat." Rory said.
"Yes! And the gnomes…" Lorelai said, not finishing her sentence because she was laughing too hard.
"Yeah! And what was that lady's name?" Rory asked trying to think.
"Babette!" Lorelai said, when she thought of her name.
"Yeah, yeah… She pinched my cheeks." Rory said. "She smelled like cats."
"What do cats smell like?" Lorelai asked.
"Like cat food… and fish… and yarn… and cat hair." Rory said.
"Right, right." Lorelai said.
"I can't believe you actually bought one of Kirk's My Little Ponies." Rory said.
"Well, we needed a souvenir." Lorelai said.
"And Luke's coffee really was the best coffee I've ever had." Rory said.
"I told you." Lorelai said.
"I will never doubt you again." Rory told her.
"Hey, you didn't forget those cookies Sookie made us, right?" Lorelai asked.
"Never." Rory said. "Want one?" She asked, opening the baggie.
"Yes!" Lorelai said, taking it. "Aww… so good." She said with her mouth open.
"I'm suddenly a big fan of playing hooky." Rory said.
"I told you, kid." Lorelai said. "Just don't do it without me, Kay?"
"We should bring Dad there, I think he'd like it." Rory said.
"Um… Yeah, I think he would…" Lorelai said as they pulled into the driveway.
Rory nodded and yawned a little, as she opened the car door and got out.
"Aw, all those pogo-stick races with Kirk wear you out?" Lorelai asked.
"Mhm." Rory mumbled.
"Did you see his face when you beat him? Priceless!" Lorelai laughed.
"Mhm." Rory said.
"Go to bed." She said as they walked in the house.
"Night Mom." Rory said after kissing her Mom on the cheek.
"Night, babe." She said.
"Don't eat all the cookies!" Rory said as she ran off to her room.
"No promises." She yelled back.
She dropped the cookies, the bag full of random things she had picked up from today, the Luke's To-Go cups, and the My Little Pony on the kitchen table along with her purse and her jacket.
She went into the living room, when the pictures along the mantel caught her eye. There were hundred of pictures all lined up, over the fireplace. Her mother had insisted on putting them there one year. Most of them were just of Rory when she was a baby, but there were some of Lorelai and Chris, too. She studied the pictures.
There was one of her, Chris and Rory, when Rory was 5 years old. It was summertime and they were washing Chris's car before he went out on a business trip. Rory was sporting a lime green bathing suit, water wings, and big, yellow sunglasses in the shape of suns. Lorelai was holding her, and Rory was giving her a big kiss on the cheek. Chris was in the background, spraying his car with the hose.
The next one was a posed one. It was one of those pictures that you have taken professionally. You have to wear really fancy clothes and they always cost tons of money. Her mother had forced the three of them to get the picture taken. It was taken a few years ago, Rory was probably 13. She hated that picture because it looked so fake. Her and Christopher were smiling like they were actually happy, like they were actually in love, like they were happily married.
The last one was their wedding day. It had been this huge event, tons of flowers and lace. Everything looked amazing, but she didn't know more than 10 people there. The picture was of Lorelai, Christopher, Strobe, Francine, Richard and Emily, who was holding Rory. She hated this picture the most, because they both looked miserable. The picture only reminded her of how unhappy she was on her wedding day. It's supposed to be the best day of your life, and it was definitely not that for Lorelai.
She wonders almost everyday, why she went through with it. She wonders why she let her parents control her life back then, and why she still does now. She wonders why she married Chris when she knew she didn't want to. She wonders why he married her when he knew he didn't want to.
She wonders when she last smiled, and it wasn't pretend. She wonders when she last had as much fun as she did today. She wonders when her marriage started falling apart. She wonders if it was ever together. She wonders if they were ever happy. She wonders if they will ever be happy. She wonders what will happen once Rory goes to college and moves out. That was the only reason they got married- because of Rory. When she leaves, would they get a divorce? Would they just pretend that they slept in the same bedroom? Would they be happy by then?
She sighed and knocked the pictures over, so she didn't have to look at them anymore. She walked into the kitchen, flicked off the light and went into her bedroom. She changed quickly and got into bed.
She curled into a ball, on her side of the bed and eventually fell asleep. Alone and on a wet pillow, just as she usually did.
So, there you go… Chapter Numero Uno! Oh man, my Spanish teacher will be proud… Sorry.
So, I'd love feedback, because you know… reviews are like… rainbows…
Wow, OK. I don't know. I'm hyper right now, so I better just go post this before I like fall off my computer chair…
Next Chapter: The DAR is having a function, and what better place to have it than the Independence Inn? Lorelai goes back to the Hollow to check out the Inn for the DAR, but not before stopping by Luke's first. And Sookie gets her life story.