The Not So Huge Grey Area Part 8
The sun was just beginning to rise when Lorelai felt a bright light on her face. She didn't know what time it was, but she was sure that their tent should have been blocking a large portion of the sun. She sluggishly opened her eyes and was shocked to see a uniformed police officer standing at the entrance of the tent. He had a flashlight which he held no qualms about shining directly into their faces.
"Can you two come out here, please," he said in a solid tone.
"Sure, Officer," Lorelai said nervously. She began to push Luke. "Uh, Luke, dear, we have company." She smiled at the policeman as she continued to shove Luke.
"What?" Luke asked a little disoriented. He rolled around, clearly oblivious to the seriousness of why he'd been woken up.
"Remember that comment about Bubba?" She spoke softly and kept her eyes on the cop.
"Mmm," he responded. It almost seemed like he thought that by keeping his eyes shut, he wouldn't really wake up.
"Well, um, that is rapidly becoming a possibility. Wake up!" She shoved him hard.
"What?!" He finally opened his eyes to look at Lorelai, but his attention was immediately redirected to the Officer.
"Step outside, please," the Officer repeated. If Luke wasn't awake before, he definitely was now. He moved his lips, but no words came out.
"You do have the right to remain silent," Lorelai whispered to him jokingly.
"I'm glad you can still maintain your humor here," he whispered back. They both got up and stumbled out of the tent, bumping into one another. The Officer stepped back and looked them over. He held a no nonsense tone as he spoke.
"Do you guys realize that this is a restricted area?"
"It's a park," Lorelai stated. Luke threw her a glance that told her that getting smart probably wasn't the best move.
"Yes' sir. We do realize that," Luke said quickly in an effort to make up for Lorelai's comment.
"This park," he said glancing at Lorelai "is not open for public use between the hours of 9 and 8." He looked behind them to their tent. "And there is no camping here."
"Yeah, uh, that---" Luke began, glimpsing back at the tent. Lorelai jumped in.
"…Is because my husband here," She moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his middle, "Lost his wallet in Dorney Park. Have you ever been there?" The Officer just stared at her. "Well, it's a wonderful park. Anyway, we didn't have any money for a hotel, but we did happen to have some old camping equipment in the backseat of our car…" Luke stood as still as a board. He was becoming more humiliated with every word that Lorelai spoke because he was sure it'd just end them in more trouble. He also felt nervousness settling in his stomach from the way her body was pressed against his side. Lorelai, however, seemed completely comfortable as she continued to screw with the Officer's intelligence.
"…It was late; we didn't want to sleep on a bench, so…we came here to this beautiful park." The policeman stared at them for a long moment before tossing a quick glance back to the spot where their tent was set up.
"This is a restricted area. Next time, please find other last minute lodgings." He looked them both in the eye making sure everyone was on the same page before he turned to walk away. "Oh, and by the way," he said turning back, "do you know how long they're going to have the 50 off sale?"
Luke and Lorelai turned at the same time to discover the larger than life sales tag on the bottom of the tent. They turned to look at each other before turning back to the Officer. Lorelai opened her mouth to speak and Luke prepared himself for the array of ridiculous things that were about to come spilling out. Luckily, the Officer spoke first. "You guys have a nice day," he simply said as he headed for the gate.
They stood there for a long time before either of them spoke.
"I hope you're proud of yourself. You made us look really stupid," Luke said. This caused Lorelai to jump immediately on the defense.
"Me? You should be thanking me right now. At least I tried to fix the situation," she said almost laughing.
"By doing what? You lied to him and he knew you were lying to him. We could have been arrested just because you felt the need to be funny."
"I wasn't being funny! That could have really happened. People lose money all the time in amusement parks."
"I mean, he saw the tag," Luke said unbelievably. "He probably saw it before we even came out of the tent." He started smiling and shaking his head at the likelihood. "You," he said pointing to Lorelai, "Are going to be the death of me one of these days."
She smiled and threw her hands out to her sides. "But what a way to go, though, right?"
"Let's just go," he said exasperatedly. He realized that they had just dodged a very huge bullet. He walked over to the tent to begin packing up everything when large sprays of water started hitting him in the face. Lorelai screamed and started running in circles looking for cover.
The park sprinklers had come on and were mercilessly spraying everything, including them. Realizing there was nowhere safe to run, she ran over to and behind Luke, which proved pointless because the sprinklers were everywhere. He just stood there. From the first moment that the water sprayed him, it was almost like he'd been expecting it. He stood stoic looking at the oncoming water. "Of course," he said calmly. He moved to the side to find Lorelai still screeching and cowering behind him.
Suddenly realizing that they had a tent, she sprinted over to it to get shelter. Before she could climb in, though, she felt an arm wrap around her waist.
"Uhn, uhn," Luke said. He had reached down and with one strong arm, picked her up and spun her around. His mouth was close to her ear, and she could clearly hear laughter in his words. "You wanted adventure, remember?" He said.
"Luke, put me down!" She yelled. She started to gently hit his arm in an effort to get him to release her. This fazed him none as he walked steadily toward the main area of sprinklers with her in his arms. "Luuuke!!" She yelled, laughing wildly as she held out her hands in front of her face.
"No, no," he breathed out in between chuckles, "Put your hands down. Adventure waits." With that last statement, he dropped his forehead to her shoulder as laughter overtook him, slowly taking away his strength. His grip on her loosened and she was able to shimmy free. There was not one part of her that wasn't dripping wet. She turned around and squared off with him.
"You are so going to pay for that," she said through clenched teeth.
"Oh, am I now?" He asked. He laughed at her level of wetness, not realizing that he was just as, if not more wet than she was. She leapt at him, and he took off running, but she wasn't far behind. They ran like two children throughout the park, laughing and yelling empty threats to one another. If finally sizzled down to Luke leaning on his knees and Lorelai trying to find a sneaky way to get to him without him doing the dodging thing that she felt all boys could unfairly do.
"Luke, we have to go," she said after another missed attempt. But, she still wasn't backing off.
"I know. What's your point?" He asked while keeping an eye on her.
"Let me get youuuuu," she whined, causing Luke to laugh again.
"I can't do that. But, we can call a truce so we can get out of here," he offered.
"I don't want…" She lunged again and missed…again, "to call a truce." She tried several more times with the same result. Finally, she crossed her arms over her chest and contemplated her choices. Throwing her hands up, she complied. "Truce."
"Truce?" He asked.
"Truce, dammit!" He laughed at her frustration before walking slowly toward her. Realizing that she was genuinely calling a truce, he held his arms out to her to solidify the agreement. She softened and met him halfway in an embrace. They'd never hugged before. There was too much of a question mark there to have that kind of a friendship. Even openly affectionate Lorelai had always known that. Deep, deep down, she'd always known that if she went there, the question mark might start to fade away.
Though she and Luke had never embraced, she had, in the past, hugged male friends. She was well-aware of the unwritten rules. If you were going to hug a male buddy, certain body parts were not supposed to come in contact. Unless, there was some hidden agenda, you were to hug him with his and your feet about a foot apart. If the feet are that far apart, other things would be too. It would mean no disrespect, but it was the proper way to embrace that male buddy.
As Lorelai and Luke came together, they both knew that it wasn't a romantic thing. They were friends, and it was a truce hug for goodness' sake. That's what made the occurrences that more natural.
They both smiled—the first step in the truce—before Luke wrapped both arms around her waist as if he'd done it countless times before. Lorelai, at the same time, reached up and wrapped her arms securely around his neck. There was no space. That friendly gap was not there. Even if the friendly gap had had a baby, it would have had to take up residence some other place because frankly, where Luke ended and Lorelai began was anyone's guess.
Luke tightened his arms a little, prompting her to do the same. That brought them even closer, even though that seemed impossible. Feeling her that close to him, Luke began to recall the feelings that, at one time, made him almost ask her out. There was no denying that she was a one of a kind kind of special, but after Rory's school play, she'd made it clear how much his friendship meant to her. Not wanting to ruin that, he had backed off and given her what she needed—his friendship, and nothing more. He had learned to appreciate that side of her even more since then.
The discomfort that one might feel in similar circumstances wasn't present when they pulled away. It was truly like they'd done it millions of times.
The sprinklers continued its assault as they walked side-by-side back over to their equipment. Everything that could get wet had gotten wet, so they walked leisurely through the water like it was nothing.
They had everything packed in no time at all, and they made their way out of the park.
"Hi, how are you?" Lorelai said numerous times to passing strangers. Everyone looked wide-eyed at them as they squished their way through downtown. Just when the water was beginning to take its toll and Lorelai was starting to get cold, they were able to catch a taxi.
Upon reaching their hotel room, Lorelai nearly knocked Luke down as she grabbed some stuff and scampered off to the bathroom for a hot shower. The ride back had made them realize how stupid it was to go running through water in the early morning. No amount of heat in the taxi had kept them both from freezing.
While Lorelai was in the shower, Luke thought it best to strip off all of his clothes and put on something dry until she finished and he could shower. If he didn't, he'd be an icicle by the time she was done. When he heard the shower start up, he quickly slipped out of his clothes and pulled on a pair of boxer shorts. No sooner than he had his underwear pulled up, the bathroom door opened and out walked Lorelai in a bathrobe.
"I left my shampoo in my other bag," she said rushing out. Luke stood looking somewhat shaken. She looked over at him, making sure to look him in the face. She'd seen him decked only in his boxers when she came out, and she looked away immediately, wondering why after so many flannel-filled years of knowing him, he all of a sudden wanted to walk around half-naked. "What's wrong with you?" She asked.
"Geez, Lorelai, you were supposed to be in the shower!"
"Yeah, I know, but I forgot my shampoo," she reiterated, pulling it from her bag.
"If you would have come out two seconds earlier…" he said waving his hands.
She instantly pushed away the visual that her mind had beautifully created on a moment's notice. "Then, what?" She smiled. "I would have seen your grey hair?" He was looking down, but his head snapped up at her question.
"What? How did you---?"
"I didn't. You just told me," she said smiling wider. He narrowed his eyes at her.
"Clever," he said. It was clear that he was embarrassed.
"Don't worry, Luke," she started as she walked toward the bathroom, "If I had come out here and you were in your birthday suit, I seriously doubt I'd have noticed a stupid grey hair." With that, she closed the door, leaving Luke on the other side turning 20 shades of red.
-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
Luke had slipped on a T-shirt and was waiting patiently for Lorelai to come out of the bathroom. He had toweled his hair and it had actually started to air dry while he sat waiting for her very long shower to be over. The TV was on in the background, but he paid it little attention as he sat gazing at the picture that he and Lorelai had taken together.
Lorelai came out of the bathroom followed by a huge gust of steam. "I could live in that shower," she said to Luke. She noticed his attention directed downward. "What are you looking at?" She asked.
He held it up so that she could see it. She nodded and turned toward the mirror.
"This really is a great picture," he mentioned. Lorelai decided to hold her tongue for fear of bringing back memories about what the guy had said. She hoped that Luke had long forgotten about what he'd insinuated. Her nervousness grew as he continued to stare at the picture.
"Do you mind if I keep this?" He asked still staring at it. She turned from the mirror.
"You want to keep it?" Lorelai had assumed that she'd keep it by default, in addition to actually wanting to keep it.
"Yeah," he answered softly. "I mean, it's not like I have any pictures of you. And I could have a reminder from yesterday. I had fun."
"I could tell." She'd placed her hairbrush down and was leaning against the dresser. "I had a good time, too. But, I'm really glad you enjoyed yourself." She shifted under the intense gaze that he was giving her. "You can keep the picture," she added.
"Thanks." He looked down and lightly rubbed his thumbs across the front of the frame. Lorelai watched him do this silently. He brought the picture over to the nightstand and sat it carefully upright. "Well, I guess I'll go shower now." She watched him walk past her, but after he was in the bathroom, her eyes fell automatically to the photo.
-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
When Luke was dressed, the first thing that he did was go and check on the jeep. They'd had a whole day to fix it, so he assumed that it was waiting to be picked up. Upon making it over there, however, he discovered that they were not completely finished. They needed permission to continue once they found out the part was a little more than quoted. However, they couldn't get anyone on the phone when they'd called. Luke immediately regretted giving them the hotel phone number as opposed to Lorelai's cell number. He called Lorelai from across the street before authorizing the work. The men would need another two hours or more. Other cars had come in and had gotten placed ahead of the jeep.
Since the jeep would be unusable for a couple more hours, they went ahead and got the room for another night since checkout was so near. Luke knew that Lorelai wouldn't go for having to sit outside on 10 bags of luggage looking like an evicted tenant.
Luke entered the room and discovered Lorelai sitting Indian-style at the head of his bed. She was watching an 'I Love Lucy' episode. He glanced at her bed. The maid had made it up, but he was pretty sure that the mattress was still wet.
"You think we should've switched to another room?" He asked her.
"Nah," she said looking away from the TV, "We haven't had much luck with water lately, so it's probably best to stay in a room that's already been affected."
"Who can argue with that logic?"
"It's best to not even try."
He gave her a full smile before turning to her program. "What is this?"
"Luke, please tell me you've seen 'I Love Lucy'."
"Wish I could."
"You don't know what 'I Love Lucy' is?" She asked mouth agape.
"Shocking, isn't it? I mean, it is one of the more monumental happenings in American history," he said sarcastically.
She closed her mouth and rolled her eyes at him. "So not the point. It's a classic. It's like saying you haven't seen 'Scarface' or 'Forrest Gump'."
"Forrest who?" Her mouth dropped back open as she regarded him like he had a foot growing out of his face. He started to chuckle lightly.
"Are you playing with me?" She asked.
"One great way to pass the time."
"Mean."
They sat and watched the rest of the episode together—Lorelai on the bed and Luke at the table. She even realized he had a comedic sense of humor as he amusedly responded to Lucy's antics. When the show was over, Lorelai climbed off of the bed.
"I'm going to run to the store for a minute," she said.
"Ok, I'll come with you." He stood up and prepared himself to leave with her.
"No, I'll be fine. It's right around the corner."
He looked worried. "Are you sure? We don't really know this area." She smiled at him.
"You're so sweet. I'll be fine, though." She walked over and patted his chest reassuringly before exiting.
When she came back, she carried a tall box in one hand, along with a bag of random items. Luke was in the same chair he'd been in when they watched the show. He noticed the things in her hands.
"Is that a cake?" He asked as he studied the box.
"It sure is." She sat everything on the table.
"Why'd you buy a cake?" He asked like dubiously.
"Well," She started taking out forks, candles, etc. "I was able to use my wonderful astuteness to determine that it was your birthday a couple of days ago." She began placing candles in the center. "And you never had a cake. No cake meant no wish, and you can't have a birthday without birthday wishes." She tore open the lighter package to light the five long candles. He stared at the cake which read, 'Luke, 39 years young'.
"Lorelai, you didn't have to do this."
"I know," she said looking down at him. "I wanted to." He looked back down to the cake box.
"Where'd you get it? Last I checked, they didn't sell birthday cakes at convenience stores."
"I got it from the bakery over…" She pointed like it was within eyeshot. "…near the car shop. You don't remember seeing it?" He shook his head as he watched her light the candles. "Well, I had a few samples while I was in there, and if those are any indication, this cake is going to taste amazing.
He looked down to his hands. "I haven't had a cake since I was a kid."
She continued on. "And I know you don't particularly like foods with, you know, taste, but I was hoping you'd make an exception just this once because it'd really be a crime to not try this."
She looked down to Luke. He brought his head up quickly meeting her gaze. With a smile, he replied, "Of course I'll try a piece."
"Good." She walked behind his chair and placed her hands on his shoulders. Leaning close to his ear, she whispered, "Now, blow out your candles."
He hesitantly inched his left hand up and brought it over her right as it lay on his shoulder. Lifting it up gently, he brought it over his head, and she moved over to his side. He looked up at her and laced his fingers through hers. She welcomed the gesture by rubbing her thumb along his hand. He stood up and moved closer to the cake. He stared at it a moment before leaning down and blowing each candle out one by one.
Their hands were still intertwined. "What did you wish for?" She asked him.
"I can't tell you my wish," he said looking at the swirls of smoke coming from the former flames. "It won't come true if I tell you," he added softly.
Lorelai brought her other hand up to her face as she released a series of giggles. He looked at her quizzically. Before he could say anything, she brought her hand down and said with a wide smile, "That was the cutest thing I've ever heard." She laughed softly again. "I would have never thought something like that would come from you." She regarded him as a multitude of thoughts swam in her head. "You are just full of surprises, aren't you? I mean, first the Jergens, which by the way, completely works," she said as she brought her left hand over their joined hands, "And now this. I'm learning so much."
"I'm glad," he said detached. He focused back on the cake. Lorelai watched his long lashes blink as he stared at it. All humor left.
"What's wrong? Did I get the wrong kind of cake? Would you have preferred a whipped topping?"
"No, the cake's fine. Actually, it's more than fine…it's perfect. Thanks."
"You're welcome," she said as she rubbed his arm. The way that Luke was staring at the cake, it wasn't hard to determine that something was bothering him. Lorelai didn't want to push him to talk about whatever it was, so she let her hand rest comfortably in his while she idly drug her other hand up and down his arm—just letting him know she was there.
It hadn't felt strange at all when Luke had taken her hand. It was, maybe, the third or fourth time it'd happened in the last couple of days, and each time it felt more than natural. Lorelai sensed a deeper connection being formed with him. Oddly enough, it was on an intimate level, and it wasn't giving her the desire to flee or disengage in any way. She was open for exploration, curious as to where and how far it'd go. Not that she was necessarily wanting or expecting anything, but just knowing that it was Luke made the whole thing comfortable and inviting.
He continued to stare at the cake. He brought his lips in and rubbed them together slowly, completely lost in his thoughts. Turning to look at her, he said, "Lorelai, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure. Anything."
"Do you believe in soul mates?"
The question threw her at first. "Um," she looked down from his face and began scanning the room as if the answer would pop up somewhere. "I guess. I mean, I think that two people can be in love and be a nice fit for one another." She had reestablished eye contact by this point. "Why?" She was almost anxious to hear his reasoning as the word quietly escaped her mouth.
He regarded her silently. "My Mom used to."
Anytime Luke would bring up one or both of his deceased parents, Lorelai would instantly start to ache. It was a subject that could not be turned into a joke or wittedly commented upon. She would start to feel helpless and useless to the situation, but she'd still want to be there for him.
She turned around and led him over to his bed so they could sit and talk. He sat down on the end, and she sat next to him. She turned to face him as she tucked one foot under her bottom. Holding his hand, now, in both her hands, she urged him to continue.
It took him a while, but he did. "Every birthday my Mom would buy these huge cakes." He smiled at the memory. "It was only me, Liz, and my Mom and Dad, and she'd still buy these gigantic sheet cakes." He paused. "She'd sit me down in front of it and tell me to make a wish." He glanced at her and continued. "Every other kid my age was wishing for…" He fanned his hand trying to come up with some pointless, easily breakable 70's toy.
"Over-manufactured wastes of hard earned money?" Lorelai offered.
"Exactly." Lorelai smiled as she pictured a 7-yr. old Luke with those thoughts. He continued on. "Well, I was wishing for happiness. I'd look at my parents, and even as a little kid, I knew I wanted what they had." He shook his head unbelievably. "An 8-yr. old. I would blow out my candles and with for my soul mate…at 8-yrs. old." He allowed his words to settle. "I know it's dumb."
Her response was immediate. "No, that's not dumb, Luke. It trumps my please-let-someone-kidnap-me-from-this-hellhole wish any day." He laughed, which served as encouragement for her because laughter was her expertise. "Only I couldn't make the wish over the cake because Emily Gilmore felt that blowing out your own candles was one step above eating off of a garbage can lid."
"Sounds like a kid's paradise."
"More or even more less."
He stood up and they finally released each other's hand. "Well, this cake," he began as he walked over to the table, "…is great; I really do appreciate everything you've done for me."
She followed him over. "You don't have to thank me. I'm not doing anything that I don't want to do." His response was a smile. She pulled a plastic knife from the box of utensils. "Do the honors." She extended the knife to him. He took the knife from her and cut her a large slice.
"We're not even at the diner, and I still end up serving you," he said as he placed it on her plate. Surprisingly, he cut himself a piece just as big as hers before sitting down beside her.
The cake was decadent, but Lorelai couldn't fully appreciate it as she sat thinking about what Luke had said. She didn't expect him to answer her, but she asked anyway. "Is that what you wished for before—to find your soul mate?" She placed her fork down as she waited for his response.
"No," he answered hesitantly. "It would have been kind of pointless to do that."
"Why do you say that?"
"I'm pretty sure I found her a long time ago." He didn't look up from his cake as he said this. Therefore, he failed to see the hurt and disappointed look that crossed Lorelai's face.
-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
When Lorelai had met Rachel, she felt instantly threatened. She really was an Elle McPhearson kind of pretty. She never forgot when she made a complete idiot of herself upon meeting her. The look on Luke's face was something she'd never seen before—shock, yeah, but there was also adoration…and love?
When Rachel made it clear that she was in it for the long haul with Luke, Lorelai felt that she would become isolated from him. Whatever friendship they had would start to diminish and that possibility made her sad. That was the one feeling that she readily acknowledged because the jealousy that came with it couldn't be explained away so easily. Therefore, it was disregarded, as much as it could be, anyway.
Upon hearing that Rachel had left, it surprised her at how relieved she was. Of course she wanted Luke to be Ok, but ding-dong, the ex was gone. She figured, out of sight, out of mind. And since Luke didn't seem to be too sad, she felt that Rachel's leaving was just meant to be.
Hearing Luke say that he'd found his soul mate years ago cleared up any doubt that Lorelai had about what Rachel really meant to him. She naturally assumed it was Rachel since they had such a grandiose history.
The realization hit hard and it felt like someone had slammed a big steel door in her face.
TBC…..
