A/N: Thanks to those who have reviewed so far!

Chapter 3

Dropping off Rory at the airport was one of the hardest things she had ever done. As she watched her leave, waving to her as she passed through the security gates, Lorelai felt a pain gnawing at her. She watched Rory walk away until she was lost in the bustling airport crowd, wondering when she would see her again.

On the way home, the emptiness consumed her. The pain of saying goodbye to her daughter turned into fear. She wasn't afraid for Rory: she had faith in her daughter's abilities, and she knew that she would be able to accomplish whatever amazing thing she set her mind to. She was afraid for herself. She had never been this alone. Rory had always been there, someone to turn to. Even when she had gone to Yale, it was only a half hour away. And she had always had Luke in her life; whether as a friend, boyfriend, or fiancée—he had always been there. But she couldn't go to him now. She had walked away from him, again. He probably would never want to see her again.

A voice inside her knew this was wrong. No matter how much she screwed up, Luke was always there. He had always forgiven her. In the past, when she had gotten angry, when she had said stupid things to him, he had always stayed in her life. And even after everything, after she had broken up with him and after her failed marriage with Christopher, he had still kissed her. But this time she couldn't go back. She had to be either "all in" or "all out." This time, there was no "in between." She couldn't go back to him and pretend nothing had happened. But did he even want her to go back to him at all? He hadn't come after her. He could have called her, he could have shown up at her house. But he didn't. And to her, that was all she needed to know. Wondering whether she wanted to go back to Luke was useless. He clearly did not want her to.

She shook her head, just wanting these thoughts, these doubts, to disappear. Life would go on. She had been independent from an early age, and she could certainly handle it now. She headed to the Dragonfly, hoping to resume her normal routine. Hopefully, a long day of work at the inn would be able to distract her from her thoughts.

"Lorelai!" greeted an enthusiastic Sookie as Lorelai pushed open the swinging door and entered the Dragonfly's kitchen.

"Umm…hi Sookie." Lorelai replied, confused as she watched her friend practically bouncing with giddiness.

Sookie pushed away the onion she had been mincing, wiped her hands clean on a towel, and sat down on a kitchen stool as she pulled up another one for Lorelai.

"Come on, sit down, tell me everything!"

Lorelai sat down, clearly still confused. "Like what?" she asked.

"Well, the last time I saw you, you were going to find Luke. To thank him for the party. I didn't see you after that, what happened?" she was so close to the edge of her seat that it looked as if she was about to topple off.

Lorelai felt the pain in her stomach returning. She didn't want to talk about the kiss, about everything she had given up again. She wanted to tell Sookie, but not now. Not when everything was so fresh in her mind and she hadn't yet sorted through it herself. "What do you mean? I went, I saw him, and I thanked him."

"I'll bet you "thanked" him." Sookie replied, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "And so, what happened? How long did this "thanking" go on?"

"What? No, that's not what I meant." Lorelai quickly corrected her friend. I saw him, and I said 'Thank you.'"

"So you guys didn't…"

"No!" She interrupted. "We're still just friends, Sooks. Nothing's changed."

"Oh." Sookie replied, clearly disappointed. "Sorry, I just assumed, that, after everything he did for you— I thought it would mean something."

"It's not that simple. He didn't do it for me, Sookie. He did it for Rory."

Later, as Lorelai was manning the front desk, she let her thoughts once again return to Luke. I just want to see you happy. His words had echoed through her mind since last night. She knew that she herself didn't completely believe what she had told Sookie. Yes, Luke cared about Rory and had wanted to make sure the town gave her a proper farewell, but Lorelai knew that, in some way, the party had partly been for her. Which made it even harder for her to understand him. Why was he "all in" one moment, and then letting her walk away the next?

"I have an idea!" Sookie announced, interrupting Lorelai's thoughts. "Are you free tomorrow?"

"I guess so," Lorelai replied. "Why?"

"We're having a girls' night out! We'll go dancing, or clubbing, or we'll go see a movie, anything!"

"Oh, Sookie, you don't have to. Just because Rory left and I'm still not dating Luke—you don't have to feel sorry for me. I'll be fine."

"Who says this is for you?" Sookie replied, even though both of them knew it was. "I need to get out of the house too. Jackson's started this new experiment with his vegetables. I swear, once he gets an idea in his head, he doesn't think of anything else. I'll tell you the whole story later, but let me just give you leave you with these words: 'electrocuted pickle.'"

"I'm hooked!"

Sookie laughed. "Anyway, will you? Come on, it'll be fun. Just us girls. Living it up, raising the roof, painting the town red, partying like it's 1999…"

"Sure, Sookie." Lorelai interrupted, hoping to end her friend's list of clichés. "It sounds great. I'll be there."

"You will?!" Sookie exclaimed excitedly. "Yay, that's great! Oh, we'll have so much fun. Okay, I'll see you on Saturday!"

"Wait, Saturday?" Lorelai asked, surprised. "You mean today's Friday?"

"Yeah," Sookie replied. "You okay, honey?" She was clearly concerned by Lorelai's shocked expression.

"Oh, yeah, umm…I'm fine. I guess I just didn't realize that it was already Friday."

"Okay, well, I've gotta get back to the kitchen for the lunch rush. Ooh, I'm so excited about tomorrow!" Sookie left for the kitchen, enthusiastically bouncing with every step.

It was already Friday? Lorelai had been so wrapped up in Rory's leaving and Luke's kiss, she hadn't even bothered to remember the day. She sighed, resting her head in her hands. Friday could only mean one thing…