Fire Meet Gasoline
A re-write from near the end of season six, onwards, with more angst and some adult content. Maybe. I haven't decided yet ;)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gilmore Girls. ASP 4eva.
She knew she didn't want to do this anymore. Why wouldn't he just go away? It was too late. She had given him her ultimatum two days ago. After she decided she didn't want to wait around for Luke anymore, she went to the one person who she knew would never turn her away - Christopher. Hours of her crying on his shoulder flew by, followed by a seduction attempt on his part, followed by a pint of ice cream. Nothing else happened. Lorelai knew that, but she also knew that all she wanted right now was for Luke to back off.
"I slept with Christopher." She lied through her teeth. Not two seconds went by before Luke stormed back into his truck and drove away, as she watched him do so.
"I'm a cat with no legs!" Rory faux-whined as the phone rang.
"We can't answer it," Lorelai responded as she sauntered back from the kitchen "we're out of the country. No ice cream. Unbelievable. One time I feel like cooking there's no ice cream to fry..."
"Lor, hey, it's me." Christopher's voice echoed through the hall through the answering machine "Just still trying to reach you. I've been calling because I'm kinda confused, I opened my door this morning only to be punched in the face by Luke. Now either he's insanely possessive, or, he's got the wrong idea about last night. Anyway, just please call me back. I need to talk about us, I need to know where we stand. Okay. Bye."
The blood drained from Lorelai's face as she looked at her daughter's stunned expression. She definitely did not expect Luke to confront Christopher.
"So..."
"You slept with dad." Rory said coldly, crossing her arms.
"No, I didn't, it's complicated but..." She sighed as she sat down on the other end of the sofa. "Basically, I lied to Luke. I told him I slept with Christopher when I hadn't."
"Mom, why?! What on earth would possess you to do that?"
"Rory," Lorelai responded sternly. She was at fault here, but she really wasn't in the mood for a discussion about it right now. "I was done. I am done. It took him two days to decide that he actually wanted to be with me, so I'm sorry, but I don't want to be with someone who has to think about whether or not he wants to be with me when I had done nothing to warrant being treated that way! HE pushed me out, he was living a double life. I got tired of it. Then this morning he turned up with his truck full of crap, telling me he was ready! He wouldn't listen to me, he wouldn't go away. So I told him what I knew would make him go away."
By this point, her mother was crying hysterically. "Oh, mom..." she scooted closer towards her and gently placed her hand on her shoulder. "...I'm sorry. I was being judgey."
"You were." Lorelai sighed, "but I deserve it. I don't know what would be worse, if I had actually slept with Christopher, or lying about it. I feel like I just introduced a fire to gasoline. Hey there, fire, my trusty friend! Meet my other friend, gasoline, he'll help you be more efficient at your job of destroying everything!"
Going all the way to Walmart just to avoid any chance of seeing Luke was a new low for her. Although, considering what she came to buy, it was probably best to avoid the people of Stars Hollow altogether. She stopped at the end of the freezer aisle and shuffled what she was already carrying in her hand, opened the freezer door and grabbed a pint of Half-Baked Ben & Jerry's. She shuddered at the feeling of the cold carton against her already-cold skin, thanks to the extreme overuse of air conditioning in the supermarket. As Lorelai shut the freezer door, she caught a glimpse of a checkered flannel shirt in the corner of her eye and sighed deeply, dreading the worst. She looked up, and there he was.
"Hey." Luke said, unenthused, darting his eyes to the ground.
"Well, I guess both of us avoiding Doose's didn't work out that well, huh?" She joked, hoping he wouldn't look at what was behind the ice cream she was holding.
"Well I wasn't avoiding Doose's...it's just the closest market to Liz and TJ's house." He responded matter-of-factly. He was blatantly hurt, angered, upset...but he was trying to act like he didn't care at all. She knew him too well, this was his thing. All she wanted to do was tell him the truth and let him love her... but it was too late. She couldn't go back now. Her eyes tightened as she felt them starting to well up.
"Right, because you're not affected by this. You're not mad. I forgot."
"No, I..." He hesitated, shoving his hands in his pockets. Just looking at her was difficult. "I was mad. I was really mad. I know I was a jerk. I was just...mad."
"I was the jerk. I was such a jerk." She told him, pursing her lips as her eyes stung even more with the threat of tears.
"I'm not mad anymore," Luke sighed, once more darting his eyes to his feet, and then back up to Lorelai "well, that's not true, but I won't be...you know, eventually. Really."
"Yeah?" She asked hopefully. Was he really going to forgive her soon?
"Yeah."
"Okay."
"It's not your fault. It's not my fault. It's just, we're not right together, you know? You're you, I'm me. I just… want to stop pretending we're something else. You don't belong with me. You belong with someone like Christopher. and I just... let's just stop fighting it, okay? And you go back to being Lorelai Gilmore. I'll go back to being the guy in the diner who pours your coffee."
Wow. She knew he was mad, but she hadn't realised exactly how upset he was. Did he just write off their entire relationship? Three whole years?
"My hand is getting cold." Lorelai said bluntly, gesturing slightly towards the ice cream she was holding.
"Okay." Luke nodded, putting his hands back on his shopping cart, ready to go.
"Okay." She sighed as she stepped past him and walked down the aisle, towards the checkouts. She looked down at her hands and thanked the universe for not letting him see the pregnancy test she had been holding behind the ice cream.
