AN: Ahhh 1 exam down 4 to go, plus watching some shows. Anyone who hasn't seen "The 4400" yet, do so. I watched the first season yesterday and it was just great. And I finally got my copy of Charmed season 6 in the mail. Oh and the date on when the bill had to be paid... 06.06.06 LMAO! I also bought a juice expiring on that date... It's fun :P On with more story related bits. I'm glad to see several more reviews for chapter 8 coming in after I posted chapter 9. And glad to see playing nicely again.
sarahb2007 - Glad to see you're enjoying the story. You want hints? What kind of writer would I be if I revealled my plans for you. It would ruin the joy of finding out as the story comes along. All I can say is that you'll just have to follow the story. Whatever happens will happen when it happens. Do I know when it is? Yes. Will I tell you? No. :P
GGRox07 - Hi, nice to see you back. Is the story building up to something? Would it be a story if it wasn't? Wait in suspense like everyone else.
scubaluver - I guess my phrasing can once in a while be awakward. I mean I think speak and even dream in english a lot of the time, but I'm still a norwegian in the core and sometimes norwegian words, phrases and sentence structure will come out. I try to avoid it the best I can, but we all have our slip-ups. I'm sorry that you saw the chapter as a filler. Thing is that even though things seem slow and uneventfull it's part of the process. In other stories I've written I've made a jump from event to event and I found myself wanting to do something different. I want to tell the stuff inbetween as well. Although nothing is truly a filler. Each chapter is in it's own way important to the story, but it might take you some chapters to find out exactly what.
smileyGGfan - Where are you! Are you lying injured in a ditch somewhere? Please post a review soon, I'm getting worried when my little novelist isn't anywhere to be seen. I miss you! pout
Lorelai was walking towards the diner, taking the longest route known to man. She didn't know why she was so nervous about going in there on her own. The last couple of weeks she had been in there several times and even managed that great friendly banter bit with Luke. But she had had Rory with her every single time. She had never looked at her daughter as neither trouble nor a burden ever in her life. Not having her at sixteen, not raising her on her own at seventeen and especially not now. She always thought of her kid as an exceptional child and was never reluctant to tell her exactly that, but the one power Rory posessed that the teen wasn't aware of was she managed to keep her mother completely grounded on certain matters. Whenever Lorelai felt the need to either give in or run away, she fought the urge for Rory's sake. Luke was more in Rory's life than Max had been and just look at the trouble that had caused.
So it was for Rory's sake Lorelai was now doing this. If she couldn't get her friendship with Luke back to normal for her own sake, she would do it for Rory. She could now see Luke's across the square and the dilemma began. Either she could take the fast route, rip the bandaid and just take the trip through the town Gazebo, or she could chicken out, take the long route and probably make Patty, Babette or possibly both believe that she and Luke were fighting.
- Come on, Gilmore, she muttered. - Baby steps.
As if her feet had heard her they began taking her across the square, through the town Gazebo, one step at a time. Leaving her no time to think out an opening quip, they took her through the door into Luke's Diner. Just her luck, there was no one else. The one time she actually wished for Kirk's presence and he wasn't there to cause distractions in case she messed up. There was no chaperone of any kind to make sure she behaved, nor was there anyone to witness in case she slipped up. Perfect recipy for disastard and she was stuck. If she turned and walked out, Luke would know something was up, so that wasn't even an option.
- Do what you came here to do, she whispered to herself.
Luke hadn't yet looked up, he was busy wiping the counter. He did that a lot nowadays, Lorelai noted. Maybe, if she managed to get back that laid back friend thing they used to have going for them, she could ask him why. He still hadn't looked up, as if he hadn't even registered that someone was in fact in the room with him. Lorelai was unsure on what to do. Should she make a noise, like a hark, a cough, say something... register her presence in one way or an other? Or should she take advantage of the situation and see exactly how jumpy Luke could get? Before she had managed to make up her mind, Luke finally looked up. His face was completely unreadable and the only reaction she got was a sigh. Normally a sigh would indicate something, a mood, but it told her nothing. Was he annoyed? Tired? Angry? Had she done anything lately to make hime either? Of course she had, she was Lorelai Gilmore, everything about her annoyed him. But what specificely had it been? Then it finally hit her.
- I'm unarmed, she joked, raising her hands. - See? No flashlight. No magnifying glass. My days as a food inspector are over. Honest.
This caused Luke to break into a smile. Man, he should do that more often...
- No, he chuckled. - I'm just to finally see someone who doesn't give a damn about hockey.
- Poor baby, she teased. - Had a rough day?
- It's just all those people with their pennants and buttons, coming in all the time...
- Okay, you do know the concept of how customers equals money, right?
- ...and all they can ever talk about is frickin' hockey, Luke continued, ignoring her comment. - Seriously, you'd think the town's never been in a semi-regional playoffs before.
- But hasn't it been like fourty years, Lorelai asked, raising her brow.
- For the hockey team, sure. They pretty much stink anyways, but back when I was on the track team, we went to state three times in four years and won it twice. Think they put up banners or carried buttons for that? They couldn't care less.
- Now see, sweetie, Lorelai replied. - That's cause track is for dorks. I am really sorry you had to find out this way.
Luke rolled his eyes at her and motioned for her to sit down, while turning around to get the coffee pot.
- I assume, he said, as he poured her coffee. - That you came with the intention to eat something not even qualified as real food.
- Always, Lorelai grinned. - I want... a cheeseburger, no veggies.
- Please tell me Rory got you to eat at least one fruit, vegetable... something.
- Well, I've had strawberry, Lorelai replied.
Luke gave her a suspicious look.
- Pop-tart, Lorelai admitted. - But hey... apples, there's been apples.
- As in holding an apple in your hand and eating it, Luke challenged.
- Okay, okay, so it was apple pie, Lorelai scoffed. - But I still think that counts.
- Pie has jam in it, the jam is already filled with sugar, which takes away the whole healthy aspect of the apple in the first place, then the pie itself is filled with sugar and you're worse off than you were before, Luke lectured.
- It's still chunks of fruit and I've eaten it, so I think I deserve props for that.
- When you eat a fruit, a whole fruit in front of me, then I'll give you props. Until then...
He left the rest of his words just hanging in the air.
- Where does this leave the whole feeding me issue, Lorelai queried.
- A cheeseburger comes with a set of vegetables. If you want one you'll have to order the whole thing. No picking anything off, no flashlight, no magnifying glass. You eat what you get.
- Vegetables are no friends of mine, Lorelai stated. - The one time I tried eating healthy, Rory and I stayed up sick all night long. I'm not looking to repeat that.
- First of all, I wouldn't call anything coming from Al's healthy. I'm not even gonna go into your obvious lack of common sense when you first decided to eat there in the first place. Secondly, I even know for a fact that not even your parents are letting you off the hook on this.
- How did you?
- Rory.
- Traitor, Lorelai pouted.
- Here, Luke said, placing an apple in front of her. - Eat this and I'll make you a cheeseburger without vegetables. No lecture.
- I'm a grown woman, you can't tell me what to eat, she objected.
- No, but I can withold your coffee, Luke replied, calmly.
- You wouldn't.
- Try me.
- Fiend, Lorelai exclaimed. - Sadist.
She looked down on the fruit in front of her and sighed in defeat.
- You got anything smaller?
Luke simply ignored her and went back to wiping the counter once more. Feeling more and more hungry by the minute, she finally bit into the apple. What felt like ten minutes passed, though it was probably two minutes tops, maybe less. Time always felt longer when nothing happened. Suddenly a strange thought crossed her brain and she chuckled.
- What, Luke asked, looking up.
- You know, I haven't eaten one of these since I was pregnant with Rory.
- There's actually been a time where you volunterely ate fruit, Luke asked, brow raised.
- No, not fruit, just apples. They were my pregnancy food. I downed like twenty apples a day. Worst of all, I'm not even exaggerating.
- Then how come Rory's not big on apples, Luke pondered.
- Have you ever seen kids eat pickled ice cream? Olives dipped in mustard?
Luke gave her a look.
- Hey, that's what most women end up craving. If cravings really meant anything kids would have very weird tastebuds. Just because my cravings were more... normal?
She chuckled again.
- Funny how out of all people, I'm the one ending up craving apples.
- Makes sense, if you think about it, Luke said. - You don't normally eat fruit or vegetables unless you're forced to, so when you're pregnant your body signals that it's lacking in important food groups and thereby makes you crave it.
- Really, Lorelai asked. - Pickled ice cream is an important food group? Hmm... you learn something every day. Hey, maybe you should start serving it. After all we've now scientificly proven it's importance to a growing body. Maybe we could put in a requirement, one bowl of picked ice cream a day to keep the doctor away...
- Lorelai, Luke groaned and shook his head in annoyance.
She only giggled in reply. Annoying Luke was like opening a present on christmas morning, you could simply never have enough. Things fell silent. Luke obviously had nothing more to say on the subject of pregnancy cravings. How on earth had the conversation even taken that turn? Sometimes even she marvelled at the random thoughts popping up in her brain, then she looked down and saw what was left of the apple in her hand...
- Oh, Lukey, she said, dangling the evidense of Lorelai Gilmore consuming a whole fruit in front of him. - I've finished my part of the agreement and I'm collecting my reward.
- All right, Luke sighed, surprisingly ignoring the fact that she had called him Lukey. - I did promise you.
By the time he placed what Lorelai was happy to confirm to be a vegetable-free cheeseburger, all conversations had come to one screetching halt. Or well... screetching would indicate there being any sort of sound made and there were no sounds in the diner, other than the noise of Lorelai carefully chewing each bite taken of the burger that was. And it wasn't really that comfortable silence either. Luke seemed to occupy himself by doing what seemed to be unimportant, bordering on filler tasks to keep himself busy. Lorelai was eating, so logically she was occupied, but both her and Luke knew that didn't mean a thing. Not even when eating was Lorelai one to be quiet. She searched her brain for something to say, a thought, an idea, a story. If this had been a normal night, what would she be talking about?
- Hey, want to hear something funny, she finally asked.
- Funny how, Luke asked, suspisiously.
- Well it involves Emily Gilmore and the words purple jogging suit.
- Your mom wore a purple jogging suit today, Luke asked, raising his brows.
- No, Lorelai giggled, trying to picture her mom letting herself be caught wearing a jogging suit in public, or even just around the house, not to mention a purple one. - Although that would've been an interessting story as well. Do you want the short version or the long?
- Lets start with the short, Luke said, putting away the rag he was holding, placing both hands on the counter to give her his full attention.
- Okay, like I said, mom wasn't wearing the purple jogging suit. She did however hide in some bushes for a couple of hours.
Luke raised his brows and leaned closer as if he needed to hear better what she was saying.
- Let me get this straight. Emily Gilmore, your mother, hid in some bushes for a couple hours, because of a purple jogging suit?
Lorelai nodded, nervously. This wasn't an uncommon closeness between them. She could recall several moments prior to this where they had been in the same position. However all of them had happened long before anything had changed. Then again, to Luke nothing had really changed. He didn't remember it. He was still in very much belief that they had gotten drunk, had a heart to heart and she had somehow managed to stumble her way home. And she was the reason he believed that. He would've known differently if she had just not panicked and just stayed put. Would he still have gone out on that date with Nicole? Would she still be dating Alex? Now, that closeness felt wrong. Or more accurately it felt right, but in a very wrong way.
He had a girlfriend, she had a boyfriend. And she wasn't even interessted in Luke. She wasn't. She was just still confused about drunkenly taking comfort in him when she was upset. That was it. And no matter how confused she was she just couldn't let herself ruin her relationship with Alex, no matter how big the chance of ending it soon was, more importantly she couldn't let herself ruin the one relationship she'd seen Luke in since Rachel. And most important of all, she couldn't let herself ruin her friendship with Luke. No matter how much she wanted to just lean in and kiss him. Keep talking, Gilmore.
- I got you hooked, now, don't I, she joked, replacing the nervous smile with what she hoped he would think was a teasing one.
- I think I'll have to demand the long story now, he confirmed.
- Okay, so I'm having dinner with mom, dad and grandma.., she started. - And mom were... I'd say not herself, but in a way more herself than she usually was. I know that sounds weird, but try to follow me here...
She found herself diving into the detailes on the story of her mother hiding in the bushes, spying on her grandmother and the stranger in the jogging suit. Whenever she found herself meeting his eyes, she darted her gaze somewhere else. Because looking into his eyes reminded her of what she wanted to do, but couldn't. What was it with when things were forbidden, they somehow became even more tempting? Was that it? Was it the whole thing with him being forbidden fruit that made her more aware of him? Or was it that she hadn't really looked into those eyes before?
TBC