It took until precisely 9:27 pm for the guys to walk through the door. Lorelai had managed to down another cocktail in the interim.
Now that she knew her friend's plan, Sookie's excitement was fading and tinged with a bit of regret. She hoped, maybe, Lorelai would change her mind once she actually met Luke.
It didn't take Ed long to spot Sookie in the booth.
Ed said casually to Luke "Hey, let's grab a couple of beers and look for a place to sit."
Luke looked around, shook his head and replied, "This place is packed, Buddy. I don't think we're going to be sitting tonight."
Ed felt a little bad deceiving Luke.
They grabbed their beers and then Ed feigned surprise, "Oh look there's Sookie, let's go say hi."
Luke quickly replied with annoyance, "I thought we came out because you needed to talk to ME." He wasn't in the mood to socialize with anyone.
Ed ignored him and kept walking towards Sookie and her friend.
Sookie's nerves were getting the best of her - afraid of what Lorelai was going to say. She told herself it was too late to stop the potential train wreck she had created and began calming her inner panic.
"Hey" she said kind of reluctantly to the guys.
Ed expected a bit more of an enthusiastic greeting after all the effort it took him to get Luke there.
Lorelai, of course, turned around to see who her friend was talking to. She immediately, and without hesitation, recognized HIM - tall, dark and extremely handsome. Normally, there would have been a swarm of butterflies fluttering in her stomach. However, the alcohol calmed them. She immediately wondered if this was a purely coincidental meeting or something Sookie had masterminded.
Sookie smiled and said calmly, "Hey, Ed. Hey, Luke. This is my friend, Lorelai."
Luke immediately found himself doing a double take. He knew instantly who she was. She was the annoying woman who ran into him last night at Doose's. There was no forgetting those piercing blue eyes. He also recognized her unique name but couldn't place why it seemed so familiar.
No one could miss Luke's intense gaze on Lorelai and the blush that spread across her cheeks.
Sookie decided to continue her introduction, in the hopes that Lorelai wouldn't contradict what she was about to say.
"Um, Lorelai, this is Ed" - pointing to the gangly man - "and this is Luke" - pointing to the flannel God that was before her again. Sookie then gestured at her friend and said, "And guys, Lorelai works at the..."
Lorelai cut her off.
She said "Hi." as a gorgeous smile spread across her face. "Sookie was about to say that I work in hospitality."
Sookie thought to herself "Hospitality? I guess that's not really a lie."
"Oh yeah," Ed replied with interest, "what exactly do you do? Are you a chef like Sookie?"
Lorelai's thoughts were beginning to get a wee bit jumbled from the alcohol and she hadn't really thought through the details of her make believe persona ahead of time.
Luke waited for her reply with curiosity.
Finally, with what she thought was a coherent answer, Lorelai blurted out "No! I don't cook!" - with a little too much insistence and bravado.
Sookie would have been offended if Lorelai wasn't her best friend and she didn't know her better. Luke easily took offense.
Lorelai stumbled through, "Travel. I, uh.. I travel a lot. You know, I go from place to place. I mean, hotel to hotel, checking them out...I mean evaluating them and uh...I write about them."
She thought Rory might be proud of her for throwing in that writer part.
Sookie's eyes began bugging out. She was hoping Lorelai would take a second to shoot her a glance and understand her pleading "PLEASE STOP!" look. But Lorelai was in her own imaginary world.
All Luke needed to hear was the word "travel" - after the disparaging remark about cooking - and he immediately dismissed the beautiful woman.
Sookie half heartedly asked, "You guys want to sit down?"
Ed, who was completely clueless to what was happening, readily accepted the invitation - thinking he was keeping with Sookie's plan. Sookie moved quickly to Lorelai's side of the table and sat next to her. Luke just remained standing - ready to be anywhere but here.
Lorelai noticed and asked a bit more snarky than she probably meant, "Aren't you going to sit down, too?"
Luke's scowl said it all but he proceeded to take the seat next to Ed.
The waitress soon approached and asked if they wanted another round of drinks. Lorelai answered an instantaneous "yes" for all of them. Sookie cringed just a little bit more in her seat.
Lorelai continued to dominate the conversation for the next hour. It was a mixture of tiny bits of truth with large heaps of lies. At one point one of the guys asked her if she lived in Stars Hollow and she answered that she had just bought property here "strictly as an investment." Sookie and Ed both noticed Luke's eye roll to that conceited remark.
After being silent for so long, Luke decided he'd at least try and engage in some small talk with Lorelai - maybe it would make the paralyzed hands on his watch begin to move and possibly shut her up for a minute.
"So, you and your whipped cream sure high tailed it out of Dosse's last night." he half gruffly remarked.
She gave him a slightly embarrassed look.
Luke thought she SHOULD be embarrassed with how high brow she was acting.
Again, not thinking all that clearly, she replied sarcastically, "Well, if you had been a little more careful, there wouldn't have been a problem.
That got Luke's blood boiling.
Raising his voice more than he should have, he yelled, "Are you kidding me? You came barreling in there, knocked the milk out of my hand and then ran away without even an apology!"
"NO WAY!" Lorelai yelled back. "You got in MY way and..."
Sookie knew she needed to try and get Lorelai alone to try and diffuse the situation.
"Hey, Lorelai?" she interjected hopefully.
"Yeah?" Lorelai replied with a bit louder than necessary.
"Could you go to the ladies room with me?", Sookie asked pleadingly.
Lorelai rose from the booth and stumbled through her first step but caught herself quickly. It was the first time Luke really got a good look at her. He couldn't deny that she was absolutely stunning - but he also couldn't help thinking she'd probably be alone the rest of her life unless she could find someone as obnoxious as herself to be with. And he also wondered if ANYTHING would make her stop talking.
Sookie took hold of her arm and led her away. She hurried them both into the bathroom and abruptly shut the door.
"What are you DOING?" Sookie tensely asked.
Confused, Lorelai responded foggily, "What do you mean? I'm just having fun. I told you I was taking the four hours off. No harm in that. Rory's not here. You seem mad."
Sookie scratched her head and quietly confessed, "I thought you'd like meeting Luke."
Lorelai smiled and replied with a slur, "Ah Ha! So, this was a set up! I couldn't figure out if this was all just coincidence. I KNEW it wasn't! But how did you know who I was talking about?"
"That was easy." her friend replied knowingly. "Good looking, blue eyes, LONG eyelashes, flannel, baseball cap and more importantly...skim milk...it could only be Luke. This is Stars Hollow, Lorelai - everyone could be reduced to three adjectives. I knew it at eyelashes and skim milk, to be honest."
Lorelai just smiled and shook her head.
"Do you think you could lay off the lies?", Sookie asked nicely.
Lorelai replied dismissively, "Oh Sookie, I'll probably never see them again. I'm not hurting anyone. I'm just having fun."
Sookie pointed out the obvious, "But, we all live in the same town, Lorelai. You definitely WILL see them again and..."
Lorelai's free flowing mouth interrupted with, "Luke is SO hot! What kind of work did you say he did? Do you think he's into me?"
Sookie didn't have the heart to tell her. She softened her reply with, "Yeah, um, he just got out of a relationship. And, uh...I think he's taking a break from women."
"Even me?" she innocently whined.
Sookie thought to herself "especially you" but just sadly nodded back to her friend.
Lorelai didn't seem all that crushed. "Wanna get another drink?" she asked giddily.
Sookie replied with concern, "Don't you think you've had enough?"
With annoyance Lorelai slurred, "Why are you trying to wreck my night out? I thought you wanted ME to have fun? Come on Sookie...let's go DANCE!"
Sookie couldn't get into anything about Luke's dating history with Lorelai in her inebriated state. Her new plan of attack was to either get Lorelai and herself out of KC's or Luke and Ed out of KC's. She knew when defeat was staring her in the face.
Placating Lorelai, Sookie responded, "Dancing...yeah, that sounds good, Hon. Let's just go say good-bye to the guys are then we'll get the heck out of here!"
Lorelai still had some sense about her and insisted, "No, we can just dance here, Sook."
Lorelai scooted out the bathroom door and tripped onto the dance floor, leaving Sookie in the dust.
"New plan." Sookie said to herself. "I'll say good-bye for us and then grab her off the dance floor and leave."
Trying to keep one eye on her friend doing a mean Macarena, Sookie weaved through the crowd to make her way back to the guys at the table.
Wanting to make a quick getaway, she directly addressed them, "So hey, we're going to get going. It was great to see you guys."
Ed looked perplexed. Luke looked relieved. Both might have muttered "You too" but it was so loud and she was so anxious to get away from them, that Sookie heard nothing.
Sookie approached Lorelai on the dance floor. She tapped her on the shoulder and shouted, "All set. Let's get out of here now."
"No!" Lorelai loudly insisted. "We came to dance, Sookie. Let's dance! I was just dancing with..."
Lorelai's sentence ended abruptly since she had no idea who she had been dancing with and whoever it was was now gone.
"Oh, see. You scared him away." she whined.
Sookie took note of the red jello shot in Lorelai's hand. Shaking her head she asked,"Did Mr. Wonderful buy you a present?"
"No!" Lorelai sloppily insisted. "The couch bought it for me."
Sookie needed no further explanation. She understood that Lorelai had used the change from under her couch cushions to buy the drink.
Persuasively, Sookie tried, "Okay, well...that's very frugal of you. How about if you finish that one and then we get going?"
"I think I wanna have another." Lorelai chirped. She reasoned, "I don't get out that much, you know."
"Yeah, I know." Sookie answered empathetically.
Lorelai started heading towards the bar. Sookie shook her head and followed behind. It was clear she was becoming more unsteady on her feet as she bumped into more than one patron as she passed. She was completely oblivious to the "Heys!", "Watch it! and "Stupid Bitch" comments that were being yelled at her as people's drinks began to spill.
Sookie reached out and took a firm hold of Lorelai's arm. She started to pointedly lead her towards the exit. Lorelai yanked her hand back saying, "Not YET, Sookie!" Sookie spotted Bill, the bouncer, heading straight for them. She knew what would come next.
Bill discreetly signaled the bartender to stop serving Lorelai. He then calmly approached her and stated firmly, "I think you've had enough fun for tonight. I'm going to have to ask you to head home now."
Drunken ire filled Lorelai as she quipped, "You can't tell me what to do!"
Sookie responded with embarrassment to Bill, "Yeah, I swear we're on our way out. We just seem to be taking the LONG way out. I'm SO sorry."
Just as Bill was about to lend a helping hand, Sookie heard a deep voice behind her ask "Need some help?"
She was SO thankful to see Luke and Ed standing behind her. She responded with a helpless but grateful nod.
Bill retreated once he saw the guys taking over. Luke moved in front of Lorelai. Ed and Sookie stayed behind her.
Lorelai's glassy eyes sparkled a little when she noticed Luke.
"Heyyyyyy" she slurred as she fell into him. She stopped herself by bracing her hand against his muscular chest. Wordlessly, he immediately wrapped one hand around her tiny waist, pulled her tightly into his side and started walking her slowly out of the bar.
"We're taking your car, Sookie." Luke loudly insisted with annoyance. "No puke in my truck."
Sookie and Ed jumped ahead of Luke and Lorelai and quickly unlocked all the doors.
In a hushed tone, Ed said to Sookie, "Don't think this is gonna work out."
Sookie rolled her eyes and snapped, "Ya think?"
As Sookie headed to the driver's seat, Luke boldly asserted, "Nope. I'm driving. You've been drinking. Sit in the back with her. She might need you."
Luke mistakenly let go of Lorelai thinking she could maneuver herself into the back seat. Instead, she hit her head on the car roof and began stumbling backwards. He caught her quickly and impulsively brushed back her dark curls to survey the damage to her temple. A large red welt was already forming. He tried to block any sympathy that was stirring inside him.
Not taking any chances, he scooped her up and gently placed her into the back seat.
He barked, "Sookie, do her seatbelt." Then added, "Your friend is gonna need a lot of ice for that thick head of hers!"
Lorelai was oblivious to everything - the bump, the man, the car, the conversation - her drunken stupor was quickly transforming to drunken pass out.
Luke questioned Sookie, "We going to your house?"
Sookie knew that Rory was due home early from Lane's. She also knew Lorelai would want to be there when she got back.
"No." Sookie dejectedly replied. "Could you drop us at Lorelai's, please?"
"Whatever." Luke snapped. Sookie heard him add, under his breath to Ed, "Can't wait to see the investment property."
Ed couldn't help but laugh.
Gruffly, Luke asked, "Address?"
"37 Maple" Sookie sighed.
"37 Maple?" Luke questioned. He must have heard her wrong.
"Yeah." Sookie softly replied as she gently propped her friend's head with her sweater against the car window.
Ed recalled, "Hey, isn't that right next door to Babette and Morey?"
"Uh huh." Sookie exhaustedly acknowledged again.
And that's when it hit Luke and began making sense. A sampling of the endless quotes from the past years filled his head.
"There's someone I want you to meet, Lucas. Her name is Lorelai. I think you two could be good friends. Come by the inn soon." Mia had told him.
"Single mom. All alone. Could you imagine?" Miss Patty gossiped.
"My new neighbor, Luke. Her eyes, Doll. You should SEE them!" Babette rasped.
He didn't let on to Sookie that he knew the whole night had been a lie. They drove in silence to the aging yellow house on Maple.
Sookie gave up pretending for Lorelai. It didn't matter any more. All she cared about now was getting Lorelai to bed and taking some aspirin for her splitting headache.
Bluntly, Sookie said "I think I'm going to need help getting her inside. She's passed out cold and as light as she is, I can't lift her."
She noticed Luke's tone had softened when he responded, "Yeah, it's ok, Sookie. We'll get her inside for you."
Ed grabbed the keys from Sookie, opened the front door and turned on the lights. Sookie released Lorelai's seatbelt and gathered up her purse. Luke reached in and gently scooted her limp body towards him. She reactively burrowed her head into his warm chest giving him a fresh view of the large welt that grazed her head. The sympathy he had pushed away before began to ooze. Gingerly, he walked the short distance through the yard, unable to clearly see his way, - as the main porch light was burnt out.
Ed stated the obvious, "Geez, it's really cold in here."
Autumn nights in Connecticut could be like that.
As Luke gently placed Lorelai on the couch, he softly suggested to Sookie, "Turn the heat up a little."
Sookie knew Lorelai's budget was tight. Oil was expensive. Usually the girls slept with triple blankets and kept things cold. They referred to it as "indoor camping." She didn't want to embarrass her friend so she acquiesced and kicked the thermostat up a few notches.
"Wow, this place needs a LOT of work." Ed boldly remarked.
Sookie got defensive. "Hey, she just bought it. That's what you do when you buy a house. You fix it up."
Luke was silent as he took it all in. He couldn't help but take inventory, "Porch lights, door locks, plaster, paint, window sealant..."
His mind quickly wandered back to the woman on the couch. He couldn't help but notice how gorgeous she was when she was silent.
Knowingly, he said, "I think you should put some ice on her head. And, I don't think you should let her sleep too much. You've got to wake her up every few hours, Sookie. She could have a concussion."
Sookie nodded and went into the kitchen. She found an old "Boo Boo Bunny" in the freezer and brought it back to the living room. Luke and Ed were still standing there because there no place else for them to sit.
"What the Hell is that?" Ed questioned.
"Boo Boo Bunny." Sookie answered matter of factly. Placing it gently on her friend's head, she quietly revealed "She has a kid. That's why she has this."
Ed looked surprised. Luke didn't seem phased.
Sookie stared at Lorelai and felt really bad about how awful she knew her friend was going to feel in the morning.
Gratefully, she addressed Ed and Luke, "Hey, thanks so much for getting us home. I don't know what I would have done if you guys weren't there. I'll set an alarm and wake her up every hour or so. Take my car and I'll just get it at the diner tomorrow."
She put the keys in Luke's hand. He didn't know why he was so hesitant to leave. Protectively, he said "Sookie, if you think she needs to go to the hospital, call me. I'll drive you."
No one noticed Ed's raised eyebrow.
Sookie dismissed him with "It's okay. Lorelai's Jeep is here."
Luke stated the obvious and insisted, "I don't think you'll be able to move her by yourself. Call me if you need me. Really." Feeling self conscious over his insistence, he added "Or call an ambulance."
Sookie just nodded and led the men to the door. She waited until she saw the headlights of her car moving away. She then set an alarm and allowed herself a few minutes to down some aspirin and wash up. Making her way back to the living room, she lifted Lorelai's long legs and plopped down on the couch. Her friend barely stirred. She knew this was going to be one long night.
