Author's Note: Bonjour, my friends! I hope you all are doing great!
So here it is! My first soiree into Gilmore Girls fanfics!
Just to set these up: Team Dean! All the way!
Rory and Dean will still have their ups and downs. I'll probably throw in a few of my own twists, mwa ha ha. Can't resist some good relationship growth and fluff. I don't know what I'll do about Jess and Logan. We'll find out when I meet them in the show.
Alright, though sidenote: who loved Jared's scene in A Year in the Life! I know it was short, but it was so beautiful! He really was the best boyfriend alive! It was obvious that they were on really good terms and had kept up with each other. I loved her description of him.
Everytime I see Dean on the show, I want a guy like him so badly. In season 1 especially, he was so protective, caring, considerate, and kind. I literally shouted at my sister, "Can I keep him?"
Set after Rory and Dean attend the dance and before they break up...the first time.
Without further ado...
Luke glanced up as the bell rang, signaling the arrival of a new customer. God, he hoped it wasn't Kirk. That guy had been in three times already bugging Luke about putting up those damned flyers. Who cared if Fergie was doing a free charity concert in Stars Hollow's town square? Those flyers could have been warning everyone that the world was ending, and they still wouldn't be displayed in his window.
Good, it wasn't Kirk. Actually, it was one of his favorite customers.
Rory Gilmore shrugged off her heavy, purple coat. She crossed the diner to a table by the window, slinging her coat over the back of her seat before sitting in it. Rory leaned on the table and gazed out the window.
Out of routine, Luke picked up a pristine, glossy white mug and the coffee pot. He was glad that he had just made a fresh pot.
"Coffee?" Luke asked, setting the mug in front of Rory. He started pouring the coffee before she even answered. He knew what her reply would be.
"Please," she replied with a bright smile.
"Is your mom coming?" Luke asked nonchalantly. He wondered if he needed to bring another mug. And make three hundred more gallons of Lorelai's oxygen.
"Um, no," Rory answered. Alright, no extra work for the poor coffee pot. "Not now, but maybe later." Nevermind, he'd start it now so he could prepare. Rory turned resumed her staring out the window.
Luke gazed out of the shiny, spotless glass too, trying to see what she was so interested in. There was a blue car stopped at the stop sign. Kirk was sticking one of his Fergie flyers on the streetlamp. Miss Patty's dancers were doing some complicated-looking splits. After a minute, he was still stumped. And he was starting to look stupid and stalkerish.
"Are you looking at birds or something?" Luke asked Rory. There was a sparrow sitting on top of the gazebo in the square.
Rory faced him. "No, the birds here are weird. They're always having singing competitions, and when I try to join in, they get all quiet," Rory joked.
Luke chuckled lowly. It was in moments like these that Rory was most like her mother. "Alright then, what are you looking at?"
"I'm waiting for Dean," Rory explained. Right, boy. Luke nodded knowingly. "He's about to get off work, so he'll come up this way." Glancing out the window again, Luke found Rory's line of sight was uninterrupted all the way to Doose's Market.
"Ah, and he'll be wanting coffee too," Luke stated, walking back behind the counter. He grabbed another mug and filled it. Stealthily, he also mixed a packet of sugar into Dean's mug. He had noticed Dean once grimace slightly at the taste of Luke's coffee.
Luke always made his diner's coffee the way the Gilmore Girls liked it. After all, the two of them were his best customers. Rory and Lorelai had never added a grain of sugar or a drop of milk to his coffee at all. (The recipe would have been changed immediately if they had.) But Dean seemed to like his coffee a bit sweeter, so Luke remembered to add a pack of sugar to his.
Not that Luke had been paying any attention to Dean when he came in. It wasn't like he eavesdropped on Rory and Dean's conversations to make sure that Rory was being treated correctly. He would never do something like that. That would actually be stalkerish.
Not at all. He would never.
"Hey," Luke turned from the counter to see Dean sit down across from Rory. The tall boy leaned forward and gave his girlfriend a kiss. Even Luke's gruff demeanor appreciated the love those two obviously had for each other.
Absently, Luke wondered if either of them had said I love you yet. He knew that they had been together for awhile now.
"Hey yourself," Rory greeted him. She was beaming now, and her face was practically glowing with happiness. Dean made Rory feel special, and Luke was glad for that.
Luke sidled over and set the coffee in front of Dean. When the kid looked up, presumably to ask for a packet of sugar, Luke winked at him, letting him know he already covered it.
"Thanks," Dean said, smiling politely at Luke.
"Sure," Luke replied. "Anything else I can get you two?"
"No, thanks," Rory answered. She gazed into Dean's brown eyes. The way she looked at that boy, it was like they were the only two people on Planet Earth. "We're all good here."
Luke walked away, back again behind his counter. Taking a rag, he began to wipe down the counter.
Every once and awhile, he glanced up at the kids by the window. Whatever they were talking about (it happened to be Anna Karenina), Rory was animated. She was laughing, smiling, and glowing. Luke was glad. He had the upmost respect for Rory and her mother. If that Dean ever did anything to hurt Rory, Luke vowed to never serve him again.
But for now, everything was all good there.