Chapter Three: I Can't Be Your Second Choice
When she woke up the next morning she felt better. Things were clearer now. Lorelai felt more stoic than she had last night. She had cried. And she had gotten angry. Now she was empty and stoic. She had accepted that her life didn't include Luke anymore.
Looking at the clock she realized that she was late for work. She had slept in Rory's room and hadn't set the alarm clock. She threw the covers aside, rushing out of Rory's room and to the bathroom. She quickly brushed her teeth and tried to make her hair look decent. As she emerged from the bathroom she looked at the mess of the living room. Looking at it she felt nothing. She didn't feel anything this morning.
Lorelai rummaged through Rory's closet. She didn't want to go upstairs. She didn't want to go into her closet and find something to wear. It would all remind her of Luke. Rory had a black skirt and a black top. It looked decent enough for work.
As she shut the door to the house behind her, she looked up to find Luke standing in the front yard.
She descended the stairs, focused on getting to her Jeep.
"We need to talk." He followed her to her car.
"I'm late for work. I don't have time for this."
"Lorelai, this is important. We need to talk about last night."
She opened the door to the car and turned around to look at him. "We already talked, Luke. We talked last night. There is nothing left to say."
"You ambushed me. I didn't have time to think."
"You've had tons of time to think, Luke. You've had weeks to think."
"You didn't give me enough time to make a choice!" he protested.
"I gave you all the time in the world! I can't be the second string, Luke. I don't want a life where I am always standing at the window while you're outside playing with your daughter. I get that she's your kid and you want to be part of her life. But I should be just as important a part of your life as she is. And I'm not, Luke. I'm not. You made your decision last night."
"Lorelai, please…"
She shook her head. "I have to go." Closing the car door behind her, Luke could hear the sound of the engine as she put the car in reverse. He stood there watching her leave.
Sookie giggled when she saw Lorelai coming into the kitchen looking tired and a bit disheveled.
"Why are you so perky today?" Lorelai asked, picking up an apple and taking a bite.
"Did you and Luke have a late night?" she asked. Lorelai looked up at her with an expressionless face. "Flat hair, Rory's clothes, no make-up …. I just thought maybe you had a wild night…" Sookie giggled again.
"Luke and I broke up." She took another bite of the apple.
Sookie's face dropped. "What? Honey, what happened?"
"We broke up. That's all there is to it. No wedding. No relationship. We broke up."
"But you and Luke …." She looked up at Lorelai. "You're Luke and Lorelai. You guys can't break up."
Lorelai laughed uneasily. "Apparently we can."
"What happened?"
"I gave him a choice. He turned me down."
"What kind of choice?" she asked.
"I told him that I was tired of waiting to get married. I wanted to elope and he said no."
"Oh, Sweetie, I'm so sorry." She came around the counter to hug Lorelai.
"I thought that he was the one. I really thought that it was right this time."
"I know," Sookie said soothingly. "We all did."
Sookie could tell that her best friend was about to start crying. "Why don't you go home? You don't need to be here today. Michel and I've got it covered."
"I can't go home."
"Why not?"
"Everything there reminds me of him. And I don't want to think about him. I just want to move ahead."
"Okay, well … the plumber said we have a leak in three bathrooms and the wood underneath the floors is rotting."
Lorelai smiled. Sookie always knew how to take her mind off of her troubles.
