Thanks for the reviews.
"Lorelai," Luke mumbled as they broke their kiss for mere seconds.
"Hmm?" Lorelai hummed before sending a blazing trail of hot, wet kisses down Luke's jaw line, occasionally slipping down onto his scruffy neck. Luke steadied his hands on her hips as he tried not to get suckered into her game. He wanted more than this, he really wanted more than this, and that's what he was going to get.
"Lorelai, stop." He said, a little more defiantly.
Lorelai's reaction was instant, she broke the kisses and pulled back to stare at him, "Stop?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah," Luke said, out of breath as he rubbed his thumbs along her thighs simultaneously, "Stop," he said softly.
Lorelai scrunched up her face in confusion and moved to sit next to him when he stopped her. She folded her arms in front of her and sat in the same position she had been for the past few minutes. She looked at him meanly and started to speak.
"Luke, wh-," she was cut off by Luke's fingers rubbing along the soft fabric of her clothes and his deep, sexy voice interrupting her.
"It can't be like this, Lorelai, and you know it," he said softly, "I mean, technically – I'm still with Nicole," he told her.
"Well that's a mood killer if I ever heard one," Lorelai said, taking a hold of Luke's hands and moving to his side, leaning her head on the back of the couch as she stared at him intently.
"I mean, call me old fashioned, but I can't do this when I'm still technically cheating on my 'wife', if that's what you could even call her," Luke said with a snort.
"Yeah, I guess…" Lorelai said with a disappointed smile. "But, what about after?" she asked cheekily.
"Well, Nicole says the divorce will be finalized in a few weeks," Luke told her carefully.
Lorelai gasped softly and frowned, "Weeks?" she whispered. "So now we finally have this great time where we can be together, and we can't?" Lorelai asked.
"I know, but just think of it as I don't know… the calm before the storm, right?" he asked. Lorelai made a weird face at the metaphor. "I mean, we lay low right now, get to know each other a little more, keep living our lives, and then when the divorce is finalized, we can finally be classified as a couple, or… whatever you want to be called, right?" Luke asked, hoping she wasn't rethinking everything.
"So, how many weeks?" Lorelai asked softly.
"I don't know, two or three?" Luke told her.
"God," Lorelai let out in a sigh. She looked at Luke and his hopeful stare and smiled her brilliant smile – the one that reached her eyes. "Okay," she said happily.
"Okay?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, I mean, how hard could it be?" she said confidently.
"I don't know, but I guess we'll soon find out," Luke said with a laugh, placing one hand on her knee as they looked at each other intently for a few minutes before Lorelai broke the silence.
"So, since you lack interest in Casablanca, how about we change to something new?" she asked excitedly.
"Sure," Luke said in a husky voice.
Lorelai got up and changed the DVD from Casablanca to Hard bodies and Luke watched her intently the whole way. He noted her graceful moves, her delicate touches and the way she was never too aggressive with anything she ever did. He smiled when she turned to look at him, slumped in the living room chair.
"Maybe this is going to be harder than I thought." Luke mumbled.
"What?" Lorelai called from her stance.
"I said… what movie you puttin' in?" he said, hoping it covered it up.
"Oh," she smiled, "Hardbodies,"
Half way through the movie Lorelai had moved to sit in front of the couch and Luke laid stretched out on top of the couch. Luke watched the movie as he absentmindedly played with Lorelai's hair, occasionally rubbing the back of her neck.
As his movements became more soft and less insistent, she knew that he'd fallen asleep. She smiled and noted that he'd made it through at least three quarters of the movie before zonking out. She turned to him and smiled, getting up quietly and heading to the hall closet for a blanket.
"Mom?" Rory called after slamming the door.
Lorelai walked into the living room and crossed a finger over her lips, "Hey, hey. Shh," she whispered.
They both walked over to Luke, Lorelai with a goofy grin on her face as Rory whispered, "Tell me he didn't fall asleep during Casablanca,"
"No, we made it through Casablanca," Lorelai lied, "He fell asleep during Hardbodies,"
"How do you fall asleep during a classic like Hardbodies?" Rory asked, shocked.
"There's no accounting for taste," Lorelai said, alluding to herself what that statement could mean on so many different levels.
"He looks comfy there, doesn't he?" Rory asked.
"Yeah, he does,"
A few days later, after accepting the invitation to cater the party from hell, Lorelai was in full swing planning mode. The nervousness in her gut wasn't going away as Sookie tested out all the ways she could make broccoli tart, because her mother still hadn't called.
When Sookie had finally convinced her to call her mother, she did and spent minutes trying to convince Emily that there was a flyer, and she simply misplaced it, that she was a professional company, not her daughter and her friend.
She hung up the phone and turned to Sookie.
"Aah! Horrible woman!" Lorelai screeched at Sookie.
"You, uh, forgot to ask about the menu," Sookie reminded her.
Suddenly, there's a slam of the front door and Rory walks into the kitchen. She looks briefly over at her mother and Sookie before calling, "My dorm room has turned into a Three Stooges movie. Shove pop tarts under the door in two hours, please,"
Lorelai got up quickly to follow Rory to her room and winced.
"You quiched my room," Rory said sadly.
"They're not quiche, they're broccoli tarts," Sookie piped in.
"Then you tarted up my room!" Rory protested.
"I'm sorry, honey, I didn't know you were coming home today. Sookie's just trying some things out for Grandma's party," she explained.
"How am I supposed to study when it smells like broccoli?" Rory asked.
"Well, study in the living room," Lorelai suggested.
"This is not living room study. This is serious bedroom study. I have a ton of work to do," Rory whined.
"Well, hey, here's a crazy thought, isn't there some place at Yale you can study? Don't they have like a hundred libraries?" Lorelai asked.
"Yes, but they don't have that right vibe. They're too quiet and too big and drafty. Very, very drafty," Rory said.
"At least they don't smell like quiche," Lorelai joked.
"Enough with the quiche, okay?" Sookie said meanly.
"I can't believe I came all the way home and there's nowhere to work," Rory whined again.
"Well, it's just temporary," Lorelai told her.
"Until the sewing machine comes," Rory retorted meanly.
"Oh hey… you know how many kids in India would love to come home to a room full of quiche?" she yelled at Rory as she walked out of the room, turning to Sookie only to be met with a glare, "Sorry, tarts," she said.
"Tarts are totally different!"
"I know, honey, I know," Lorelai said quickly.
Lorelai and Sookie went back to the table. Lorelai sat down and the phone rang again.
"Hello?" she asked quickly.
"Lorelai, it's Luke," he said gruffly.
Lorelai's previously worn out face lit up excitedly, "Hey," she said softly. Sookie watched on as Lorelai's excited voice chatted into the phone. "Whatsup?" she asked.
"Nothing, I was just calling to see if you were coming into the diner today? haven't seen ya all day," Luke said, killing himself for being so needy.
"Oh yeah, I'll probably come by tonight for tea," she told him.
"Oh, well great," Luke said uncomfortably.
"I'm glad you called," Lorelai said, trying to lighten the mood, knowing that he was embarrassed just for calling to hear her voice.
"You are?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, I am…" Lorelai told him truthfully.
"Good, that's good," he said softly. "So I'll see you tonight?" he asked.
"See you tonight," she confirmed.
She hung up the phone and fought hard to keep the dreamy smile she had waiting at bay. She looked up at Sookie and the once again harsh expression made it's way back onto Lorelai's face.
"Ah! I'm going to kill my mother," she said, trying to change the subject and looking back down at her notes.
"Who was on the phone?" Sookie asked.
"Uh…" Lorelai stammered.
"Do you have a new boy?" Sookie interrupted.
"No," Lorelai said quickly – it was the truth, she didn't, not yet anyway.
"Oh my god! You do! Who is it?" Sookie asked.
Lorelai heaved a heavy sigh and looked up at Sookie briefly. She hadn't even told Rory yet, she and Luke wanted to keep it on the down low until he was divorced, but she had to tell someone, and what was a best friend for anyway? she reasoned to herself.
"Okay, if I tell you, you can't tell anyone, I haven't even told Rory and it's a big secret and if any of the town gossips found out, it would be utter chaos, do you hear me?" Lorelai warned.
"Umm, okay," Sookie said, unsure if she wanted to hear it now.
"I'm dating Luke," Lorelai blurted out, wincing as she waited for Sookie's reaction.
"Luke." Sookie deadpanned.
"Yeah, you know, plaid, jeans, scruffy face, diner Luke?" she asked.
"I know which Luke you're talking about, but how? isn't he still married?" Sookie asked.
"That's why it's a secret, we're not gonna actually get into it until their divorce is finalized," Lorelai explained.
"Oh my god," Sookie said excitedly, the realization just setting in, "You're finally with Luke!" she squealed.
"Well, not yet, but yeah," Lorelai said happily.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so happy for you," Sookie squealed as she dropped the broccoli tart back on the tray and hugged Lorelai tightly – oven mitts and all.
Lorelai sauntered into the diner that night and smiled as her favourite flannel-clad diner man met her at the counter. Stevie Wonder could see the smile on his face as he watched her take her usual seat at the counter.
"Hey," Lorelai said quickly, placing her bag on the stool next to her as she smiled brightly at him. "Lookin' forward to seeing me were ya?" Lorelai teased.
"You know I was," Luke joked. "From my lame phone call before,"
"It wasn't lame, believe me I had to fight the urge to call you ten times today," she said, trying to make him feel better.
"Really?" Luke asked, not believing her.
"Really," Lorelai told him. "So, I think I'll have a chocolate milkshake and a BLT for a change," she said seriously.
"Really? no coffee?" Luke asked. "No burger?"
"Yeah…" Lorelai offered.
"You do realize that a BLT has lettuce and tomato in it, right?" Luke asked.
"Oh, well, skip the lettuce and tomato then," Lorelai said pleasantly.
"So you just want bacon in a sandwich?" Luke asked.
"Well, you can put it in a bun," Lorelai said, nodding her head.
"Bacon in a bun?" Luke asked, "Appetising,"
"Maybe you could add a burger patty to it? and cheese? and fries?" Lorelai joked.
"So you want a cheeseburger with bacon?" Luke asked.
"Well, skip the bacon and just give me a cheeseburger," Lorelai told him seriously. "And can you make it a coffee milkshake?" she asked.
"What?"
"Well, do you have coffee flavoured milkshake stuff?" Lorelai asked.
"No… I don't," Luke told her seriously.
"Well just make it regular coffee then," Lorelai said quickly.
"So you want a burger and coffee?" Luke asked.
"Sure, you could call it that," she said.
"You've got to be kidding me," Luke said, still unable to wipe the smile from his face.
"What?" she asked innocently.
"Nothing, you're just… nothing," he smiled.
Lorelai watched him write the order down and give it to Caesar in the back.
After all this planning, after everything she'd done, Lorelai could not believe that she and Sookie were no longer catering the launch party. What had she done to deserve it? Sookie was counting on that money, she needed it. And Lorelai couldn't have said she didn't want it either, it would've been nice to be able to go shopping for once, or get something nice for herself, but as Rory would say – they're both totally skint.
"Number fourty two, seeya," Sookie moaned as she threw away the broccoli tarts.
"You don't have to throw them all out Sookie," Lorelai reminded her.
"I didn't. I've got twenty in the freezer," Sookie sighed.
"Great." Lorelai deadpanned.
"And so do you," Sookie said quickly.
"Even better," Lorelai said sadly.
"I already had that money spent. It was going towards a down payment on a safer car. Now little Davey will have to fend for himself rolling around in the back of Daddy's truck," Sookie whined.
Rory walked through the front door and called, "Mom?" in a sad tone.
"Kitchen," Lorelai called out to her.
"Hold on, Davey! Daddy's coming to a sudden stop," Sookie joked.
"You're being dramatic," Lorelai said kind of meanly.
"But I'm so disappointed, I mean, all that planning, all that time, all that broccoli," she whinged.
Rory walked into the kitchen behind Lorelai.
"I lost my tree," she said sadly.
"What?" Lorelai asked, completely confused.
"My tree, my study tree – it's gone. Someone stole it." Rory said.
"Someone stole a tree?" Sookie asked.
"No, the tree's still there, but when I went there today, there was this guy sitting there reading trucking magazines and he would not give it up, so now I'm back where I started," she said with a huff.
"You'll figure something out," Lorelai said distractedly.
"Yes, I will figure out what my alternate profession will be because now I can't stuffy, I'm gonna flunk out of Yale and I'm gonna have to give up all hope of being a foreign correspondent. This sucks."
"You're telling em? I'm eating broccoli tarts for the next four years," Sookie told her.
"Well, what am I gonna do?" Rory moaned.
"You are going to suck it up!" Lorelai said meanly.
"What?" Rory asked.
"You're in college now, Rory. If your study plan doesn't work, then come up with another one. Just figure it out, but stop complaining because you're not two. And Sookie, in pioneer times, kids traveled across the country in covered wagons and survived. Somehow I think little Davey will live without his minivan."
"Mom, why are you mad?" Rory asked.
"I have something I have to do. I'll be back in a little while, and have these damn tarts out of her by the time I get home!" she yelled.
Sookie and Rory sat looking at each other.
"Grab a fork." Sookie said quickly.
Lorelai stormed through the door of Jason Stile's office, interrupting his conversation with his secretary abruptly.
"Well, hello, Digger Stiles," Lorelai said meanly.
"Lorelai Gilmore, you sure grew up good," Jason said rudely.
"Oh, did I, Digger? Thanks. Listen, why didn't you return my calls?"
"'Cause I hadn't seen you yet," he said.
"Four times. You never called me back," she sneered.
"I'll call you back now. What's your number?"
"976-bite-me." she deadpanned.
"Okay, did you get that, Ms. Lomay? Because I know how much you like having numbers in your files," he said condescendingly.
"We need to talk," Lorelai told him.
"In my office?" he asked.
"Great," she said as she walked off.
Jason looked at his secretary and said, "You know what? You can go,"
"All right. Goodnight, Mr. Stiles," she said before getting up to leave.
"Goodnight," he said. He turned to Lorelai and said, "Would you like something to drink?"
"Oh, no thanks," Lorelai said sarcastically.
"So how you been?"
"Great, you?" she asked.
"No complaints," he replied, going along with it.
"Okay, small talk over. I want you to know something - you can't just waltz into people's lives and take over," she said meanly.
"I don't waltz at all. It's embarrassing and a little gay," Jason joked.
"You know, people were hired for this party, people who were counting on this money," Lorelai almost yelled.
"What party?" Jason asked, genuinely not knowing.
"The launch party," Lorelai reminded him with a sneer.
"Oh, that," Jason said.
"Yes, that," Lorelai started, "And I want to tell you something else - my mother has been planning these stupid parties for years, and it was completely out of line for you to walk in there and just crap all over the whole thing and make her feel obsolete and useless.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Jason said, holding his hands up, "Hold on there. I never knew about the party. They never told me about the party," he defended.
"Well, of course they never told you about the party because they're inconsiderate and self-centered, and they have been that way for many years, so they have dibs. But the minute you found out about the party, you should have canceled your plans," she said, truly believing her own words.
"It was too late for that. And I never called your mother obsolete, I just called cocktail parties obsolete," he told her.
"Same thing," Lorelai said harshly.
"I don't see how," Jason retorted.
"Jason, my mother is a corporate wife. Her job is putting these parties on, and you put her out of work. You know that, your mother does the same thing. Imagine if you took these functions away from her. What would she have left?" Lorelai asked.
"More time with the pool boy?" Jason quipped.
"You embarrassed my mother and made her feel small," Lorelai said, unwilling to believe that she was defending her mother for once, "You unceremoniously canceled something she had been working on for days,"
"But I didn't know," Jason defended once again.
"And then she had to come to my house, and fire me!" Lorelai yelled.
"Fire you? Why would she fire you?" Jason asked, cluelessly.
"Because I was the caterer," Lorelai told him defiantly.
"Get out of town!" Jason said.
"Yes, I have a partner in a small catering company," Lorelai told him proudly.
"You cook?" Jason asked.
"I plan!" Lorelai shot back.
"Well, I had no idea how much chaos my little weekend was causing," Jason said.
"No, you didn't, because you didn't think. You never thought. Back in summer camp, you never thought. "Hey, if I stand up in this canoe, maybe it'll tip over." That was the extent of your thought process," she yelled.
"You're still mad about that," Jason snorted.
"I was fully dressed," Lorelai strangled out.
"I remember, green T-shirt, no bra…" Jason said quickly.
"What?" Lorelai sneered.
"Trust me, I was the hero of cabin five for the rest of the summer," Jason laughed.
"You will apologize to my mother!" Lorelai told him.
"Absolutely," Jason promised.
"And," she started, "You will let her throw that party!"
"Sorry…"
"Digger!"
"Umlauts!" he retorted, "The party is off. Now this is business. I will apologize to Emily, but that is the best I can do,"
"I can't believe you just called me Umlauts," Lorelai gasped.
"You called me Digger three times before I called you Umlauts once. I think that shows great self-control," he told her.
"Let my mother have her party!" Lorelai yelled.
"No, I can't do it, but what I can do is take you out to dinner tomorrow night," Jason tried to segue smoothly.
"I'm sorry, how do those two thoughts EVEN coincide?" she asked.
"You'd have to be in my head, but trust me, there was a track," he quipped.
"I am not having dinner with you," she told him.
"Why not?" he asked innocently.
"Because you just had me fired, you just insulted my mother," she said sarcastically.
"It's interesting, I didn't know you and your mother were so close," Jason pointed out.
"We're not," Lorelai said quickly.
"You're being awfully protective of her," he said.
"Well, every family has a Fredo," she told him.
"Yeah, and Fredo's family put two in the back of his head," Jason reminded her.
"My relationship with my mother is none of your business," she told him.
"Then have dinner with me,"
"No!" she yelled.
"Because I'm seeing someone!" she yelled before storming out of the door.