A/N: Thank you to all who have read and reviewed, and thank you to R.M. Jackson for the beta. Without your metaphorical pom poms (and foam fingers, in Reggie's case), this story would be merely a plot bunny. Thanks for your support, and your feedback is greatly appreciated!

That Friday morning, Lorelai arrived at the inn after trading her usual day off with another manager, just so she could avoid the question of Parents' Day from Sookie. Lorelai knew she wouldn't be able to handle it without a rant, or without hearing the 'two months' theory once again. She thought that Friday would be a good day to get back to work with minimal questions and in turn, a much better disposition.

"You know, Sookie, if it rained coffee, my life would be complete," Lorelai mused, walking into the kitchen at the inn and grabbing a coffee mug. She kept her distance from her scatterbrained and accident prone friend, as Sookie was wielding a knife to chop some celery for the day's soup. "I'd be outside, just lying on the ground with my mouth open and waiting for the clouds to release some liquid gold. It's almost like that Shel Silverstein poem, but I'm not lazy, I'm just a coffee addict. Not as fun of a poem as 'Lazy Jane' but it will do. Is there coffee to fill this mug, or are you going to just let me ramble all day?"

"I just made a fresh pot, you're in luck," Sookie answered without looking up from what she was doing. "How was Parents' Day?"

Lorelai groaned. She'd thought of some clever answers to reply to Sookie's inevitable question. She had made a list of movie references to come up with the best response while she played hooky the previous day. "To quote R.E.M., it was the end of my world as I knew it."

"You broke up," Sookie said sympathetically. "You must be absolutely devastated."

"And I feel fine. Jeez, Sook, let me finish the quote, will ya?" she teased. "And how did you know?"

Sookie put the knife down and put her hand on Lorelai's shoulder. "Rory may have mentioned it in passing on her way to school this morning. I'm really sorry, honey."

"Sookie, I'm fine. Really. Just another excuse for me to buy myself a new pair of shoes and a new dress and get myself back on the market, if you will. Only I'm in the market for the RIGHT guy this time," Lorelai insisted.

"Well, I can help," Sookie started, putting down the knife and brushing her hands together to remove remaining celery chunks.

"You have your own dating service, don't you? You hide the men in the cabinets. They're there right now, as we speak. If I opened them, there would be one in that cabinet, and that one, and those over there. They check me out, it's very stalker-ish. More like a secret spy operation," Lorelai teased, pouring herself a cup of coffee and placing the pot back where she found it.

Sookie grinned. "Well, uh, I don't want to rub in your lack of love life," she started. "But I was thinking."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Just tell me, Sook."

"Okay, well… on an unrelated tangent, before I forget to tell you, Jackson called."

Looking at the excitement on Sookie's face, Lorelai knew that the outcome was good. Taking a sip of coffee, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "He called! How exciting. When are you guys going out? Do you know where you're going to go?"

Sookie put down the knife and grabbed a wooden spoon. She walked over to the soup, stirred it for a moment, and looked back at Lorelai. "Tonight," she said with a smile. "I'm not sure where he's going to take us. He's got this element of surprise going for him, it's adorable and it's driving me nuts."

"How excited are you? You have that 'Publishers Clearing House just came and gave me a giant cardboard check' look on your face," Lorelai pointed out. She took another sip of coffee, trying to let Sookie know that she was surviving the breakup with Max by being as supportive and interested as possible.

Dropping the spoon into the pot, Sookie turned around. She giggled, tugging at one of her band-aids. "I am too happy for words," she started. "I mean, I've known Jackson for so long now, that it really doesn't seem weird at all. Not even the slightest bit."

"Not even a smidge?"

"Not even a half of a smidge," Sookie continued. She let out a sigh and pressed her hand to her mouth. "Okay, I'm rubbing it in now. I need to learn when to stop, I'm sorry."

Lorelai put her hand on Sookie's shoulder. "You have just as much of a right to be happy as I do to be sad. And just because things didn't work out between me and Max, that doesn't mean that you have to treat me like I'm broken."

Sookie smiled. Gasping, she turned around and stirred the soup once again. She craned her neck to see Lorelai and stir the soup at the same time, and continued to talk. "I'm going to have to tell you all about it, so I guess I'll have to take notes!"

"I'm glad you're excited," Lorelai mused, absently clicking her heel against the floor. "So what were you thinking before when you said you could help?"

Pouring the chopped celery into the soup, she shook her head. "Never mind. It wasn't important anyway."

"Tell me," Lorelai pleaded. "You can't just sit there, tease me with the thought of how to find the perfect man, and then just leave me hanging with no answer."

Sookie sighed. "Maybe if you stop doing the two month dance…" she said sweetly.

Lorelai groaned. "I know the two months thing, Sook. I've tried ignoring it. It's there, mocking me like my metaphorical devil-angel battle on my two shoulders."

"Well, honey, try taking it one day at a time instead," Sookie replied. "And besides, maybe if it's the right guy, you won't pay attention to how long it's been."

"Whatever you say," Lorelai said, rolling her eyes and leaning against the counter. "Did the Thompsons get their menu to you?"

Sookie shook her head. "No, and their party's next week, and I'm starting to stress out about it, too. So if they call you, will you do something about it for me?"

"Should I threaten bodily harm or revocation of their reservation?" Lorelai teased.

"Well, I'd try something less extreme, we want them to have their party here," Sookie replied, lifting the soup spoon to her lips and tasting it. She grinned and tossed the soup spoon in the sink, nearly hitting a member of the wait staff in the process. "And they're paying a hell of a lot of money for such an event. Let me know what happens. And if you need to talk about this whole Max thing…"

Lorelai shook her head. "Sookie, I'm fine."

"You got it, dude. Go make sure Michel isn't taking a sledge hammer to the front desk," she said, shooing Lorelai out of the kitchen.

When Lorelai walked out to the front desk, Michel immediately closed an internet window and busied himself with inn related work. "The Thompsons called to confirm their menu, this is what they wanted," Michel said, his French accent becoming thicker as he became more flustered.

"Thanks, Michel, bring it to Sookie," Lorelai said, not bothering to approach Michel about the suspicious activity she had walked in on.

Michel quickly left the room, leaving Lorelai at the desk. Looking at the computer screen, she pulled up the window that Michel had minimized and let out a squeak. It was Michel's profile page of an online dating service website. She clicked out of it and remembered to make a mental note of the situation to mock Michel when she had more energy to do so.

She sighed. Dating seemed to be thrown in her face since she ended it with Max. It always happened like that. After she broke up with someone she became conscious of it, and she always felt stupid. It wasn't something that was purposely brought up, and it wasn't something that people did to torture her, but it just happened to be more noticeable after a breakup.

Rolling her eyes, she reached for the phone. She was in serious need of some comfort food and a mother daughter night to feel somewhat sane again. Sure, she was skeptical as to whether the Max thing was going to work out or not, but she still felt a little lost after dating someone for any period of time and not going out with them anymore. This was where her 'feeling lost' had started to kick in.

She quickly dialed Rory's cell phone number and held the phone to her ear, waiting impatiently for Rory to pick up. "Mom, I'm in the middle of a study group," Rory answered.

"Want me to stop by Doose's on the way home so tonight can be an extra special movie night?" Lorelai asked, trying to make the idea sound interesting to Rory.

"I hate to rain on this lovely parade, but I have three exams tomorrow," Rory replied.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Why do you have to be so school oriented and smart? Why couldn't you just stumble across a suitcase full of money, make us both really rich, and go party so the paparazzi follows us to the point when we're offered millions to model?"

"Or I could just rob a bank," Rory proposed. "Mom, I'm sorry, are you in a wallowing mood?"

"No, I don't need to wallow, I'm in the post relationship funk. You know, the 'everyone's mocking me and noticing that I don't have someone' stage."

Rory sighed. "I'm so sorry, Mom, go to Luke's… I'm sure you can convince him to feed you something artery clogging and delicious at the same time."

Lorelai put her hand to her forehead. "Yeah, I'm sure he will."

"I'll be home late, the Chilton library is open 24-7 all this week for exams," Rory replied. "And then I'm going to the movies with Lane and Dean."

"Fine, study hard, and mock the movie like Mommy taught you," Lorelai replied. "Did you get food?"

Rory laughed. "We ordered pizza and Paris refused to tip the delivery guy because he was thirty seconds late."

"Hopefully he didn't spit on your pizza," Lorelai grumbled.

"Oh, she waited until she shoved them into my hand to decide whether or not to give him more," Rory explained.

Lorelai nodded. "Have a good night, I'll see you later. Don't burn yourself out."

"Bye, Mom," Rory replied.

Lorelai placed the phone on the desk, taking a seat behind the counter for a few moments before deciding it was perfectly okay to leave. She left a list of the things that needed to be done before the night was over and taped it to the computer monitor before walking out of the inn. She opened the door to the Jeep and put her head on the steering wheel, letting out a groan.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" she asked out loud. "You're acting pathetic. Go eat some food and shake it off, Gilmore."

She made her way to the Crap Shack and parked the Jeep. She fumbled in her purse for her keys as her stomach growled. She sighed. Hopefully there was something for her to eat in the refrigerator from one of the week's takeout nights. She opened the front door, dropped her purse on the couch, and walked into the kitchen, throwing her jacket onto the nearest chair. Opening the refrigerator, she stood in front of it, allowing the cold air to blow on her for several minutes as she stared at the empty shelves. Surely she was wasting energy, but her post-relationship funk was getting to her. The o-zone layer could wait for her to get some food.

Slamming the refrigerator door, she picked up her jacket, walked back into the living room to get her purse, and started the trip to Luke's. She had no patience to make something, no ingredients to do so if she had the patience, and Luke would surely still be there. Another venting session could be therapeutic if Luke wasn't in a particularly grumpy mood. She listened to the clicking of her heels on the pavement as she neared the diner. She got lost in her thoughts for a moment, feeling less and less tense as she neared the diner. As she opened the door, she let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't feeling frustrated or angry, and she was sure that the diner was just where she needed to be.

"Say, how about you put coffee in one of those giant Poland Spring bottles they use in the offices, and just give me a straw to drink it from?" Lorelai suggested, seating herself at the counter. She took off her jacket and gave Luke a smile as he reached for the coffee pot behind him.

"Where's Rory?" Luke asked.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Studying. Making all the other kids jealous of how intelligent she is."

"She got midterms coming up or something?"

"Something to that effect, the library's open 24-7 all week," Lorelai said, grabbing the handle of the coffee mug and dragging it toward her.

"You must have something better to do tonight than to sit here and drink coffee," Luke replied.

"Actually, I don't. I have no commitments, I'm a vagrant wandering the streets looking for a purpose to exist today," she answered, taking a gulp of the coffee.

"So you decided to come here and share your eternal loneliness with me?" Luke confirmed.

"Because then I won't be lonely. I'll have some company. What's new, how's life, what's up, what's cooking…"

"You done yet?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded. "How are you?"

He shrugged. "I didn't burn anyone's burgers today, so overall, things are going well."

"How are the Red Sox doing?" Lorelai asked.

"Do you care?" Luke shot back, taking a dish towel and wiping the counter clean.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Of course not, I'm just trying to make conversation."

"You must be extremely bored to be talking about baseball," he replied.

She took another sip of coffee and placed the mug down on the counter. Letting out a sigh, she smoothed out her skirt and tucked a hair behind her ear. "Uh, so, Sookie and Jackson are going out on their first official date tonight."

"Are they?" Luke replied, seemingly uninterested.

"Not that I'm not happy for Sookie, I mean, she's my best friend. But I'm just a little jealous of her today. Not going to do anything drastic, I just feel like… I don't know, that the world is pointing and laughing at me for letting Max go."

"The world is pointing and laughing at you?" Luke asked.

Lorelai nodded. "It's like everyone I know has a relationship, or is looking for one, and today, it seems more obvious than ever. Is that weird? It's like when you're tight on money for the month, all the good stores seem to be having sales and it's almost taunting you, saying 'you can't spend any money, but we're going to have a sale for all the people that can'."

"You're just more conscious of it," Luke replied.

She nodded in affirmation. "Exactly my point."

"What?" Luke asked.

"See, because I can't have it, it's already on my mind more, and I notice it more when other people have it. Then I get grumbly and jealous, and perky Lorelai goes on vacation."

"Why don't you ignore it?" Luke replied. "Do something productive with your life."

"I don't want to do something productive to fill my time, I want to feel normal, like everyone's not mocking me about it," she explained.

Luke put down the dish rag. "So that means that you've come here to have me help you feel normal again?"

"Well, a cheeseburger and fries would help me start to feel normal-ish again," she replied, taking another sip of the coffee Luke had poured a few minutes earlier. Luke went into the kitchen to start making her order.

She tapped her fingernails on the counter, amused by the sound it made. After about five minutes had passed, Lorelai had progressed to tapping to "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and the Ghostbusters theme. Luke emerged from the kitchen with her food, and Lorelai practically grabbed her plate from Luke's hand.

"Careful," Luke warned. "It's hot."

"I'm just so in the need for comfort food, you know?" she asked, shoving a bite of cheeseburger in her mouth.

"Sure," Luke replied, shaking his head and walking around the counter to clean off the empty tables.

Lorelai quickly polished off the cheeseburger and fries, sipping the last of her coffee and watching as Luke poured a refill. She grinned. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Luke replied. "So I'm guessing by the speech that you're still working on getting over the breakup?"

She nodded. "It's not one of those things that just… you know, works out. I can't have both, Luke."

"Both of what?"

"You know, I can't seem to keep that spark with someone, and then make things work out. I can't put two and two together and make things work out. See, with half the guys I've dated, I lose the spark. Things start to get boring and I want out. With the other half, the spark stays, but I go. I chicken out at about the two month mark because I can't take the commitment. I start worrying about whether or not it's right."

"Well, if it's the right person, you wouldn't have to worry about either of those things," Luke started.

Lorelai snorted. "Sookie told me the same thing. I just hate how I can't seem to find that right person. It's frustrating. I'm LOOKING and I can't find him, he's there, somewhere, laughing, saying 'come on, Lorelai, I'm right here,' but I can't find him."

"You'll find him," Luke replied. "You'll find him."

"Sometimes I wish people would make important life decisions for me," Lorelai replied. "Not even really make them for me, just point me in the direction of some sort of answer, you know? Neon lights, possibly a disco ball?"

Luke nodded, returning the dishtowel to its place behind the counter. "I get it."

"Okay, so do something to distract me from wallowing in my own self pity," Lorelai insisted, banging her hands on the counter.

"Like what?" Luke asked.

She shrugged, taking another sip of coffee. "I'm not sure, you're the provider here, I just sit and take it all in."

"I'm not going to perform a karaoke show for you," Luke replied.

Laughing, Lorelai put the mug down on the counter again. "Truth or dare?"

"What?" Luke replied.

"Pick one," Lorelai answered.

"I'm not playing truth or dare. Why would I play that stupid game?" Luke asked.

Lorelai laughed. "Tic-tac-toe, then?"

"Why do you feel the need to have me entertain you?" Luke asked, crossing his arms.

"In case you haven't caught on already, I'm a sad and lonely single woman now, I need someone to spend my time with, because my daughter is busy making Harvard University recruiters proud," she replied, tugging at the sleeve of her sweater.

"I'm not your entertainment chairman," Luke grumbled. "I'm required to feed you. What gave you the idea that I was required to do otherwise?"

"Aw, Luke, don't get grouchy on me, I came here because I knew you'd make me food to cheer me up. But now you're putting me back in my stupid post-Max funk and I'm sad. You weren't supposed to make me sad!"

"I'm not trying to," Luke replied. "I'm just confused as to what you're here for."

Lorelai nodded. "I just figured you'd be good company."

"Why am I letting you torture me?" Luke replied.

She shrugged. "Because you feel bad for me? You always let me torture you."

"Okay, fine, what do you want me to do?" Luke asked.

"Finally managed to get the hint, huh?"

Luke picked up the dish towel again, wringing it in his hands. "Hey, now, if you're going to criticize, I'm quitting."

She giggled at the good-natured way he replied to her teasing. He wasn't entirely annoyed with her, he was actually pleasant company. Letting out a sigh, she picked at the chipping paint on her mug. "I don't know, I just like hanging out with you. There's rarely a time when I don't like talking to you."

"Well, good," Luke replied. "You know, we should… do this again sometime."

"What, sit here and banter back and forth? Gladly, I'll bring some nail polish for you next time," she teased, reaching for her purse. "We can bond some more."

"No, uh," Luke replied, his head turning to the doorway as Mrs. Kim barged in.

"Mrs. Kim, hi," Lorelai said with a smile.

"You need to come now," Mrs. Kim insisted, grabbing Lorelai by the arm.

"What, what happened?"

"Is everything okay, Mrs. Kim?" Luke asked, taking Lorelai's empty coffee mug.

Mrs. Kim responded by rambling incoherently about Lane, Rory, and where they were. Lorelai gave Luke an apologetic smile as she was pulled out of the diner, trying her hardest to pay attention to Mrs. Kim's concerns and process what had just happened in the diner at the same time. Luke was about to ask Lorelai out, and she knew it. She groaned. She knew she was subtly flirting, but she did that all the time. Had he picked up on it? Of course he had picked up on it, he was about to ask her to dinner or something.

Lorelai wasn't over Max, and she wasn't ready to jump right into a relationship with Luke, especially a relationship that probably wouldn't have existed had she not been subconsciously flirting anyway. Lorelai tried to shake off the moment she just had in the diner. Luke was LUKE. There was nothing there, it would never work out. She shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind, vowing to get some closure the next day at the diner as she listened to Mrs. Kim. Maybe she was just going crazy.