What If?
a/n: Gettin' more reviews! Thanks for all the support! Luvs!
Getting to Know Ray.
--Lori made her way to Averie's house trying to disregard all thought of Jess.
--Why was he there? I don't understand! Is he trying to bring me down? Just when I was moving on. Ugh! Okay, Lori, calm down. Everything's fine. Have fun. Lori convinced herself.
--She made it to Averie's apartment. After knocking on the door she was greeted by Kurtis.
"Merry Christmas!" She smiled.
"Yay! You're here!" Averie came from behind her boyfriend.
"Of course! I wouldn't miss the for the world!" Lori beamed.
--Lori made her way into the apartment and found Ray sitting on the couch with Caity.
"Lori!" Caity jumped in her arms.
"Hey, munchkin!" Lori hugged her.
"Merry Christmas," Ray said standing.
"Merry Christmas," Lori let Caity down.
--Ray kissed Lori's cheek tenderly; Lori smiled back at him.
"Get a room!" Kurtis and Averie laughed.
--Lori and Ray sat close on the couch.
"Here," Lori said handing a gift to Averie and a card to Kurtis.
"Oh, snap!" Averie cracked after opening her gift.
--It was a framed picture of her and Lori one night after having a little too much to drink.
"Sorry, I haven't worked much lately. Plus, I just didn't know what else to do for you, Kurt," Lori winked.
"Oh, it's okay. I love it!" Averie hugged her best friend.
"The card was very touching. I almost cried," Kurtis smirked.
"So, whatever!"
--Everyone laughed.
"And ya know, you shouldn't be flashing pics like that around. People know you're underage," Kurtis tried to act serious.
"Bite me!" Both girls said.
--Ray laughed.
--Lori snuggled up to Ray again.
"Now, here's my gift to you," Kurtis said to Averie.
--Everyone looked around to see what he was talking about.
"Ree, you've been my best friend since as far back as I can remember. I love you very much," Kurtis took her hand then go down on one knee, "Will you marry me?"
--Caity came running over with a black velvet box.
"Will you marry us?"
"Of course!" Averie kissed Kurtis then hugged Caity.
--How sweet. I wanna get married. I wanna marry Jess. Stop yourself Lori! Don't let him ruin your night. Lori had to remind herself once more.
"I've got to go tell my parents!" Averie interrupted Lori's thoughts, "You gunna stay here?"
"Uh, okay," Lori agreed still off in thought.
--Averie, Kurtis and Caity left.
"So," Ray started, "How's your Christmas going so far?"
"Good! I got a new cell from my parents. Plus, TONS of clothes. You?" Lori beamed.
"Pretty good. Still trying to get used to the snow," Ray told her.
"Yeah, Kurt said you left down south for a while. I love the snow," Lori glistened.
"I don't see how anyone could. It's so freaking cold."
"Just a crazy straight passed from my mother."
"I've heard you talk a lot about your mom, but you rarely mention you dad," Ray inquired.
"Yeah. We don't talk much. We're only his daughters when it fits in to his 'plans'," Lori said bitterly.
"You have a sister?" Ray asked.
"Oh, yea. Rory. We're twins. We have a younger brother, Keith. Now, mom's pregnant again with twins."
"So, your mom remarried?"
"No, actually just married. Her and Chris were never hitched. Her and Luke got married about 4 years ago. Even though it should have been much sooner. I mean, Rory and me could tell it was meant to be when were kids. We started calling him daddy," Lori laughed at the memory.
"Wow," Ray smiled.
"Well, now that you know MY whole life story. Tell me something about you," Lori pulled away.
"Let's see. Me and Kurt didn't start getting along until I moved to Texas. When we were younger all we did was fight. But now everything's cool. I was engaged once, but she cheated on me. Then I moved back here. Then Kurt introduced me to this really sweet, beautiful woman named Lori," Ray flashed a smile at her.
"Oh, and what do you think about this Lori?" Lori played along.
"She's great! I really want to see her more often," Ray then kissed Lori's lips.
--The kiss deepened. Ray turned more towards Lori, and pushed her down on the couch. His hands softly touched her. This is not right! I can't be doing this now. But it just feels so great! Lori felt his hand going up her shirt. TOO FAR!
"Ray, I don't know if I'm ready for this," Lori pulled away.
"I am so sorry, Lori. I just got carried away," Ray apologized. Damn! Why do I always screw things up!
"It's okay. Nothing to apologize for," Lori smiled as she sat up, "it's just I've just came out of a relationship that I'm not sure I'm quite over."
"I understand," Ray nodded.
--There was silence.
"Oh, crap! What time is it?" Lori asked.
"11:30," Ray answered.
"Shit!" Lori jumped up, "I forgot my clothes too!"
"What's going on?" Ray was confused.
"I'm supposed to be at my grandparents house in 30 minutes and I don't have my clothes here!"
"Why don't you just wear what you have on?"
"Because they don't except this!" Lori stressed.
--Lori began dialing Averie's number frantically.
"I'm borrowing clothes!" Lori dug thru Averie's closet.
"Wait. For what?" Averie clueless on the other line.
"Christmas with elder Gilmores. I forgot my clothes at home. I promise nothing will happen."
"Okay."
--Lori hung up the phone. She pulled out a red sweater and a brown skirt. She then found Averie's brown knee high boots and began getting dressed.
"How do I look?" Lori asked coming out of Averie's room.
"GREAT!" Ray beamed.
"Really?" Lori inquired self-consciously.
--Ray nodded.
"I'm sorry, Ray. I wish I could sta--" Lori started.
--Ray kissed her again.
"Sorry about earlier," Ray apologized again.
"No, big deal. Call me later. I wanna find out more about this Lori. I think she'd like to meet you for coffee tomorrow at a small diner in Stars Hallow," Lori winked.
"Well, I'll be there!" Ray kissed her cheek again.
--Lori hurried to her grandparents' house.
--She knocked on the door; the maid took her coat the showed her to where the rest of her family was.
"Lorilyn, why are you late?" Emily didn't care to call her Lori like everyone else.
"I had a minor set back," Lori tried to get away with just that.
"Now, you can't expect for me to believe that," Emily continued, "where were you?"
"I was at Averie's. I had to give her, her gift," Lori didn't want to explain any further.
"That should have taken all of 5 minutes," Emily started.
"Emily, stop the interrogation. It's Christmas for Christ's sake," Richard interrupted her.
"Lunch is ready," the maid announced.
"I told you to be on time," Lorelai whispered sternly in her ear.
"Sorry, it's just…I'll have to tell you later," Lori explained.
--They sat down to have lunch.
"Mom, Dad. There's something we need to tell you," Lorelai smiled.
--There hadn't been a word spoken in the first minutes of the lunch.
"What is it, Lorelai?" Richard asked.
"We're going to have twins!" Lorelai beamed.
"Oh, really. That's great!" Richard smiled.
"Splendid!" Emily smiled for the first time all night.
--There was more small talk as they completed their food. They made their way back to the formal living room.
--Lori hadn't said much. She was much to distracted by Ray's earlier actions. But she was more confused as to why she couldn't get Jess out of her head.
"I have to go," Lori said quietly as everyone else was talking.
"Excuse me? You show up late, then you want to leave early?" Emily inquired.
"You don't understand. There's something I need to do," Lori walked out, and drove back to Stars Hallow.
a/n: What'd you think? I hope everyone likes it! Thanks again for the reviews! Feel free to leave more! ;-)
Coming up: Lori find Jess's gift…Lori talks to Jess…
MwAh!
