Friends Forever

Lorelai's thirteen and Luke's fourteen

August 1981

"Ah, the Stars Hollow baseball tournaments, one of my favorite times of the year." Lorelai beamed, momentarily tripping over the pitchers mound as she and her new friend Sookie crossed the baseball field over to get something to eat.

Sookie's brow crinkled in confusion. "I thought you hated baseball, not to mention every other sport requiring an athletic ability."

"Oh, I do." she agreed, nodding her head eagerly. "The tournaments themselves are boring, but they always have great food and tons of things to do while you sit around and watch."

Lorelai and Sookie had hung around with each other whenever Lorelai was in town since the summer Sookie had moved in. Lorelai liked to consider Sookie her best friend that's a girl because no matter how nice it was to be able to talk about what outfits looked better and which boy was cuter, no one could ever replace Luke's best friend position.

"Oh," Sookie nodded understandably. "So you go to these every summer?"

Lorelai snorted, walking up to the line for small concession stand. "Please, this is, like, the third time Stars Hollow has ever participated in a baseball tournament since I was born. Usually Luke and I go to these together to mock the horrible players, or to just steal some extra candy from the concession stand but this year he's in it so now I am going to pass on the obligation to you to help keep me from falling asleep."

"And I will follow through on that,"

As they approached the front of the line, Lorelai ordered a hot dog, soda and box of Jujube's while Sookie ordered the same, only substituting the hot dog for a sandwich. When Sookie mentioned she was going to go over and say hi to a couple of her friends from school, Lorelai took the chance to go over and talk to Luke before the game started. By the time she made it all the way over to his side of the field, he and one of his teammates were playing catch. Leaning over the fence, she cupped her hands around her mouth, "Hey, you in the baseball cap, get over here."

When half the team turned toward her, she waved, smiling directly at Luke who was rolling his eyes and beginning to walk over towards her. "I see you made it,"

"Yeah, about an hour later than planned but we can put the blame on my mother."

He nodded, "We always do."

"So, you think you guys got a chance of winning today?" she asked, taking a handful of candy and tossing them in her mouth.

"Lemme have some," he said, holding his gloveless hand out. After she poured some out of the box, he shrugged. "We might. Coach says that their best player got into some sort of accident, so that might give us the upper hand for once."

"You know, I'd feel really special if I got to see Stars Hollow win the first baseball tournament in, like, thirty years."

"And that's why we're going for the win." He paused, taking the soda out of her hand despite her grumbling protests and took a sip. "I thought you came here with Sookie."

She nodded. "I did but then she ditched me for her other friends. So care to explain how this goes again?" she asked, gesturing toward the field behind him.

"I already did at my last practice, and the practice before that and every game you went to last season. You should have listened."

She gasped. "I did so listen; I just need you to recap everything for me. This is more important than one of those idiotic practices you have when you all just sit around grumbling about how hot it is and how you all feel like you're going to have a stroke-"

"'Cause that's not important at all." he interrupted dryly.

She continued, "This is more significant, I want to be aware of what I'm watching."

He shook his head. "Too bad, I gotta get going. Come over and see me after the game, okay?"

She smiled. "Okay, um, break a leg." She paused before noticing that she was missing something. "Hey!"

Halfway across the field already, he turned back, looking at her questioningly.

"Give me back my soda." she demanded.

He tossed it at her, causing her to emit a shriek as the now empty cup almost hit her.

"Jerk," she called after him when he started walking away, though the small smile was still present on her face.

Around the ninth inning, Lorelai was beginning to get restless. She had already read through the only magazine she brought and had handed it over to Sookie to let her have a chance to skim through it. "So, c'mon, tell me- who's your most recent love interest?" Lorelai asked, turning away from the confusing game to face Sookie who was currently flipping through an entertainment magazine.

Sookie looked up at her, surprised by her directness. "Love interest?" she repeated, "Like a guy?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "No, like a candy, see, lately I've been leaning towards Pop Rocks, though I know not to ever drink them with Coke- I'm not going to be the next Mikey, but I don't know, I kind of like the Whistle Pops because my mom can't stand them." She sighed at Sookie's confused face. "Yes, I mean love interest as in a guy."

She shrugged innocently. "What if there isn't one?"

"Then you must be fantasizing about Pop Rocks because that smile on your face says it all. Now spill," Lorelai ordered.

She sighed. "His name is Jeremy,"

"Like Jeremy Jones?" Lorelai interrupted.

Sookie nodded. "Yeah, except I don't think he knows how to play the cello."

"Well, most guys don't."

"And that's a good thing. He was in my science class and my algebra class, too." Sookie said with a wistful expression.

Lorelai grinned. "Aw, is he cute?"

She nodded. "See for yourself."

"He's here?"

She pointed vaguely to the baseball field. "The guy in the field, he's back on the grassy area, number sixteen."

Lorelai stood up, leaning over the people in front of her for a better look. She squinted her eyes before narrowing in on number sixteen. After a few minutes of staring, she sat back down, satisfied. "Well, from what I can tell, underneath that baseball cap he's looking pretty good."

"Isn't he? The other day I passed by him walking towards Doose's and I dropped my wallet and he picked it up, handed it me, smiled and said 'I think you might need this'." she said giddily.

"He did? That's so sweet. I think he might just be a keeper."

Sookie frowned. "And now you're mocking me." she accused.

"I'm not mocking you; I think it's great that you found someone to crush on."

"Yeah, me too," She paused for a minute before looking over at Lorelai, who looked like she was trying to understand what was going on down on the field. "What about you?"

Lorelai snapped her head over to Sookie quickly. "What about me?"

"Any cute guys over in the Hartford area?" she inquired innocently.

She scoffed and shook her head slowly. "I think you know the answer to that."

Sookie sighed impatiently as Lorelai refocused on the game. "Come on, Lorelai, still?"

"Hey, it's not my fault he's so irresistible."

"Listen, I'm not trying to be mean or upset you or anything, but don't you think it's time to give up on Luke and focus on someone else? He obviously only sees you as a friend."

Lorelai looked over at Sookie with a serious face. "I like him, Sookie. And I'm not going to stop liking him just because he says he doesn't feel the same way. I can't just stop liking him after years. It's like breathing-"

"Breathing?" she interrupted skeptically.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Maybe not that severe, but it's up there. And why are you suddenly against me and Luke together? You were always saying how great it would be and how much you wanted it to happen- what' going on?"

"Nothing," Sookie defended quickly. "Like I said earlier, he seems to only see you as a friend. I just don't want you to get hurt."

Lorelai gave her a skeptic look, "How could I get hurt?"

She shrugged uneasily and was about to speak just as the rest of the crowd burst into a deafening applause. She gave Lorelai a confused look and the two of them stood up, leaning over the people in front of them to see what happened. She turned to Lorelai, who was clearly still puzzled. "I think it's over," she clarified.

Lorelai's eyes widened in relief, "Thank God, I thought it was never going to end."

Sookie nodded in agreement. "Same here,"

"So we won?"

"I think we did, or else we wouldn't be clapping."

Lorelai stood up, brushing off her jeans as she hopped down the bleachers and back onto the ground, trying not to knock anyone down in the process. "Why don't we go congratulate Luke and then we'll figure out something for us to do," she suggested.

"Sure, any ideas?"

Lorelai shrugged, "Not really but maybe we could- Sookie, who's that?" she asked curiously, pointing over to Luke who was smiling and talking with a blonde girl around his age.

Sookie's eyes widened considerably as she quickly turned her head over where Lorelai was staring intently. "Who?" she asked innocently.

Lorelai warily pointed to where Sookie was already staring. "That girl over by Luke. And, oh my God, is he flirting with her? Sookie, who is that girl flirting with my Luke?"

"Well, technically he isn't your Luke-" she began carefully, grimacing slightly at Lorelai's evident jealousy.

"Hey, I've known him thirteen years; I think that allows him the title of 'my Luke'. So I repeat, who is she and what do you know about her?" she demanded.

Sookie sighed reluctantly and turned around, gesturing for Lorelai to do the same so Luke wouldn't catch on. "Okay, see, I was going to tell you sooner but I didn't know how and I didn't want you to get upset or to hate me because I thought that maybe this was something Luke would have told you and then I thought that maybe I should wait until he told you but I could tell he never told you because today you were all happy and I had a feeling that once you found out you'd be depressed or something so then-"

"Sookie! Breathe! Calm down and just tell me what's going on," Lorelai interrupted desperately, waving her hands around in a pleading motion.

"She's Luke's girlfriend." she said straightforwardly, wincing as she waited for Lorelai's reaction.

Her eyes widened in sheer surprise. "She's what?"

"Well, I've seen them together a lot lately. You know- at the movies, walking around town, eating pie at Weston's."

Lorelai gasped. "He was eating pie with her at Weston's?"

Sookie narrowed her eyes at her confusedly. "I just tell you that I think Luke has a girlfriend and all you can say is something about pie?"

"No, it's just-" She sighed sadly before explaining, "Eating pie at Weston's was our thing."

Sookie frowned sympathetically as she nodded in understanding.

"What else do you know about her? Are they serious?"

"Her name is something French- like Mary or something."

"Mary isn't French, though."

"I know, I know, I think it was- oh! Marie. Her name is Marie."

"Okay, so, Luke and Marie. Marie and Luke." She paused thoughtfully before shaking her head. "Nope, that doesn't sound that good together, does it? It just doesn't flow. Guess they're gonna have to break up."

"Well, we don't even know if they're officially together." she reminded her.

Lorelai shook her head before gesturing over to Luke. "Sookie, he's smiling at her. When have you ever seen Luke smile genuinely at a girl that wasn't me or Liz?"

"He smiles at me sometimes."

"That's only because he thinks your crazy."

"So just because he's smiling at her means they're together?"

"No, it means Luke likes her. And if Luke likes her they're either together or they're gonna be because by the way she's looking at him, she obviously feels the same way."

"You know, maybe you could try and be a little optimistic about this. He could just be acting polite,"

"But you mentioned the movies and the walking and the pie."

"I know- I was just trying to help."

"Sorry," Lorelai mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"How about we go over there and congratulate Luke, then. And we'll see what he introduces her as and we'll go from there?"

Still mumbling, Lorelai reluctantly looked up at Sookie's hopeful expression. "Fine,"

"Okay, well I'm gonna go over and grab something at the snack stand while you go over there and talk to Luke." Lorelai began to protest but Sookie held a hand up to keep her from talking. "You go over there and talk to Luke and I'll get you an ice cream, my treat."

"I'm not going over there alone," Lorelai scoffed. "I'll just go over with you."

"You're going over there alone and by the time I get back, I don't want to see you and her in the middle of some sort of catfight."

Lorelai laughed dryly. "I'll do my best but you better hurry,"

Sookie nodded and walked away quickly.

With a fake smile, Lorelai made her way over to Luke quickly, adding an extra bounce in her step as she braced herself for the worst. "Hey, you did great." she said, doing her best to sound appreciative.

Surprised by the interruption, Luke turned around to look at her. He smiled briefly before scoffing. "Like you even know what happened," he replied playfully.

Lorelai gasped mockingly at accusation. "Please, you, you know, hit the ball with the bat. And you caught the ball when it was in the air. And then you slid on the dirt and the crowd cheered."

He nodded. "That's exactly what happened."

With a forced smile, Lorelai turned her head to the blonde, who seemed a bit put off by their conversation. "And who's this?"

Before Luke could stutter out an explanation, the girl in question held out her hand politely towards Lorelai, who, in turn, reluctantly shook it. "I'm Marie; I go to Stars Hollow Middle School with Luke. I don't think we've met."

Lorelai discreetly narrowed her eyes before looking around for any sign of Sookie, hoping that she'd hurry up and get over there soon. "Well, I'm Lorelai. I live in Hartford. Luke and I have been best friends for, what?" She turned to Luke with feigned confusion. "Thirteen years?"

"That is how old you are," Luke agreed warily.

Lorelai shook her head, smiling lightly. "Wow, time just seems to fly by, doesn't it? It feels like only yesterday we were kissing behind that tree over there." she said, pointing over to the park behind the bleachers.

Luke's eyes widened. "What?! Lorelai, we weren't kissing, you were kissing me. And it's not like we did that all the time. It only happened once." he sputtered embarrassedly, turning from Marie, who looked a bit surprised, to Lorelai, who was smirking triumphantly.

"If that's what helps you sleep at night..."

He looked over at Marie. "She's crazy," he told her awkwardly.

She nodded in slight agreement, eyebrows raised. "Oh,"

The lull in the conversation was broken when Sookie bounded over, handing Lorelai one of the two ice cream cones. "So Luke, that was a great game."

Luke nodded and shrugged shyly. "Yeah, well,"

Innocently, she turned to Marie, who was looking somewhat uncomfortable. "And who're you?"

"Well, Sookie, we've already established that she's Marie and she goes to school with Luke." Lorelai said tightly.

"Oh, right. I think I've seen you around town. I'm Sookie St. James."

"Yeah, I think I've seen you around too,"

Another awkward silence engulfed the space around them. Lorelai cleared her throat. "So Luke, you, uh, ready to go hit the mall and see a movie?"

"We didn't have plans, though."

"Uh, yeah we did. We do this after every baseball tournament."

Luke looked at her strangely. "The last time we came to a baseball tournament you were nine."

"I know that," She swallowed nervously. "But we did have plans."

"No we didn't," he argued, looking back and forth between Lorelai and Marie.

"Luke," Lorelai sighed, tapping her foot. "I think I would know if we made plans or not."

"I think I would know too, and from what I can remember, we didn't."

"Um, Luke?" Marie interrupted uncomfortably, fidgeting under Lorelai's irritated look. He looked up at her questionably. She leaned toward him, whispering, "We don't have to go tonight, if you already have plans, you don't have to cancel them. We didn't have anything set in stone."

Luke uneasily looked over at Lorelai and Sookie who were watching them intently. "No, it's fine. I can go," He gestured to Lorelai and Sookie, "We didn't have plans. I don't have to go with them, we can still go out if you want." he offered, oblivious to the shocked gasps emitted from Lorelai and Sookie behind him.

"Luke, its fine; hang out with your friends tonight and tomorrow night we can go out instead."

"Are you sure? 'Cause I don't have to go out with them, they won't mind." he insisted, waving a hand in the air carelessly.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.

He nodded. "Yeah, tomorrow,"

She awkwardly patted him on the arm before waving an uncomfortable goodbye to Lorelai and Sookie.

Once she walked away, Luke turned to Lorelai. "Why did you say we had plans?" he asked, perplexed.

Lorelai's eyes widened uneasily. "Because we did," she lied desperately.

"No we didn't."

"Yes we did."

"No we didn't."

"Yes we did."

"No we- ugh, God you're making me sound like a five year old." he said, frustrated.

She narrowed her eyes. "No I'm not."

"Okay," He sighed. "I'm not getting into this again, so I'm gonna go home, shower, change and then we can go out and pursue those supposed plans we have, is that okay?" he asked reluctantly, picking up his baseball things and tossing them into his duffle bag.

Lorelai smiled gratefully, "That sounds like fun- we'll meet up with you at your house. First we're gonna head over to Doose's and grab some snacks to sneak into the theater, 'kay?"

"Yeah, okay. And I won't take that long- half an hour at the most."

"We'll see you then,"

The next day around noon, Lorelai and Luke were sitting in Weston's, waiting for their server to bring over a slice of pie for each of them. When there was a pause in the conversation, Lorelai fiddled with the end of her napkin before looking up at Luke somewhat nervously. "So... what's the deal with Marie?" she asked bluntly.

Luke's eyes widened in surprise. He shrugged, a small blush creeping up into his cheeks. "The deal with Marie," he repeated, pausing to think.

"Yeah, you know- the blonde that was staring at you yesterday like you were David to her Jade."

His face changed from thoughtful to confusion. "David to her Jade?"

She sighed impatiently. "The couple from the new movie Endless Love?"

"When did you see that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sookie and I went to see it last week at the theater. But that's not what we're talking about. Marie, what's the deal with Marie?"

"I don't know if there's a 'deal' with her," He paused as Lorelai let out a silent breath of relief. "Yet,"

Her eyes widened as a knot in her stomach formed. She looked down at her lap, blinked a couple times then looked up at him. "Oh," she said softly, nodding understandably as her breath got caught in her throat.

Luke grinned, oblivious to Lorelai's jealously. "Yeah, I mean, she's great- smart, funny, cute." He played with the fork in front of him, avoiding Lorelai's gaze as he spoke quietly. "I really like her, you know, I'm just not sure if she likes me that way or not."

She sighed before forcing a small smile. "She'd be an idiot if she didn't." she said gently, the knot in her stomach tightening as his face lightened up.

He looked at her skeptically. "Please," he scoffed.

"Stop being modest," she reprimanded, tapping his hand on the table lightly with hers. "You're a great guy and any girl would love to have you,"

He wrinkled his nose up. "Okay, you're getting to sappy on me. Let's change the subject."

She laughed in relief, though the jealousy and hurt was still coursing through her veins. "Good, so, are you looking forward to the new season of General Hospital?" she asked as the waiter brought over two slices of apple pie and set them down on the table.

" General Hospital?" he asked with a laugh, breaking the residing tension between them. "Since when do you watch that? And when do you even have the time to watch it?"

"Well, one of the maids introduced it to me awhile back and it became addictive. Usually they recap it in one of my mom's magazines so I just steal it from her when she's done with it. The storyline's real great, though."

He took a bite of pie then relaxed against the back of his chair, "Tell me about it, then." he encouraged, grinning softly.

She smiled at him before explaining the complications between Luke and Laura ("They are just so meant to be together, despite everything that happened in the past."). She loved just talking freely with Luke, it was something that just came natural after a longtime friendship, she supposed. And regardless of the fact that he didn't want to be with her and wanted to be with Marie- the smart, cute, funny blonde, she was still glad she had him as a friend. Plus, they were still young; they had much more time in the future for that.

I love jealous Lorelai. And there will probably be more of her throughout the story. I had so much fun writing this chapter. And I want to thank Hannah for beta-ing. And all of you who reviewed. You make my day!

Comments? Suggestions? Favorite Parts? Questions?

Reviews are to me as flannel is to Luke.