Title- Here Without You
Pairings- Luke and Lorelai (JavaJunkie all the way)
Set in the fourth season, after 'Afterboom' and before 'Luke can see her face'
Summary- Liz has cancer and she and TJ broke up. Who will be her savoir? And how will Lorelai react? It will start out a story then turn into a series of letters and each chapter will be in a different person's point of view.(Luke and Lorelai have been friends for 11 years.)
Disclaimer- If I owned it, there wouldn't even be an April or Christopher.
Chapter 11- Lorelai (June 7th 6 P.M)
"Sookie!" I cried frantically into the kitchen.
"Yeah, Hun?" She replied, distracted by her cooking.
"I don't wanna go out there." I whined- mostly to myself, due to the fact that no one was listening.
"That's nice; can you pass me the spoon?" Sookie asked me, again distracted.
"Here," I said, quickly shoving some type of cutlery at her. I've been freaking out, my dad has been trying to reach out and talk to me lately. I know he's been missing my mom, hell I don't even know why they can't just make up and get back together. This night will be hell.
"This isn't a spoon!" Sookie said exasperated, breaking me from my thoughts.
"Oh," I said, noticing I handed her some type of giant spork. "Well, Luke should be here soon, and my dad. I better get out there." I told her, gesturing towards the door to indicate that I was leaving.
Sookie sighed, most likely annoyed with me. "Yeah, that's fine I'll see you later."
I walked out of the kitchen slowly. I still hadn't told my dad Luke was coming so he'll probably be mad at me for some etiquette reason. I passed my office and slipped in to check my hair and make-up. The silence was deafening at the moment and as I applied another coat of lip gloss, the door opened swiftly, causing me to drop the tube of gloss and almost fall over.
"You okay?" Luke asked me, trying to stifle a laugh as he walked over to me.
"God! Knock next time or something," I breathed out, still trying to catch my breath.
"Sorry, here." He handed me the tube of double bubble lip gloss, making a disgusted face as he read the label.
"Thanks." I said, accepting it and tossing it into one of the drawers in my desk. "How'd you know I was here?"
"I asked Michel and he said you were somewhere around here, so I decided to check." He said with a simple shrug, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.
"Of course," I mumbled, smoothing my some-what frizzed up hair with my hands. "Was my dad out there?" I asked, doing my best to not visibly cringe.
"Tall? Mustache? Suit and Tie?" He asked vaguely.
"He's here?" I groaned and immediately deflated from all hopelessness.
"No, I was just wondering what he looked like," He said with a small smirk covering his features.
"Don't do that, please. This night is going to be stressful enough; I don't need you adding to it." I noticed the bag hooked on his left shoulder. "Do you want to go upstairs and put that away?" I asked, pointing to it.
"Sure," He shrugged and gestured for me to lead the way.
We walked out the room and I slowed down a little to allow him to catch up. "I already put my bag up there," I informed him, smiling, thinking of how I'd get to spend another night with Luke.
"Wait, you were serious about that?" He frowned.
I looked at him with a smile and kept silent. Out of the corner of my eye I swear I saw him smile a little, but I might have been hallucinating. We entered the lobby area and I noticed my father, dressed in a suit, as usual. "Hey," I said quietly, nudging Luke as we got closer.
He looked at me and saw me gesturing to my father. "What room should I put this in?" He asked me.
"Seven, and hurry up." I told him with a tight smile. He nodded and headed towards the stairs and I did my best not to look at his butt as he walked up away, trying to focus on the main reason he was here- my father. "Hi dad," I said walking up to him.
"Hello Lorelai," He said in his polite tone. "Are we having dinner soon?" He looked different, as if the summer so far had aged him a little.
"Um, yeah, we're just waiting for someone." I said, awkwardly shifting from my left foot to my right, willing Luke to hurry up.
"Someone else?" He asked, seeming a little surprised.
"Uh yeah, dad you remember Luke from the diner?" I asked, waving Luke over quickly as he began to descend from the stairs.
"Mr. Gilmore." Luke said awkwardly, shaking his hand.
"Hello Luke," He said, then looked at me. "I thought he moved." He asked me quietly; though I was sure Luke could hear still.
I rolled my eyes and looked back at Luke. He seemed to be clearly amused as to me and my fathers relationship, though I was surprised he remembered my meltdown about Luke. "You remembered?" I asked, with a small laugh of disbelief.
"Well you did make quite a scene at dinner a couple weeks ago, you and Rory." He reminded me.
"Oh, well, Luke decided that he wanted to come and have dinner with us so here he is, let's go have dinner. Sookie has some amazing chicken cooking." I said, smiling tensely and trying to get the focus off the night of my many breakdowns.
"You know Lorelai; it is rude to invite a guest without consulting the other company of his or her arrival." He said from behind me as I latched my arm onto Luke's elbow and steered him into the dining room.
"Well this is going to be a fun night," He whispered into my ear, causing his hot breath to send chills down my spine. It was crazy that a simple gesture from him could do that to me.
"And it's just starting. By the end of the night you better be ready to give me a massage because I am going to be so tense." I whispered back kidding, as I led him to the table in corner.
Luke pulled my chair out for me- an odd gesture, but sweet nonetheless- and I thanked him as I noticed my father watching us from the corner of my eye. As we sat down I handed my father one of the menus and grabbed one for myself. Hoping that maybe he would take awhile to figure out what he's want to eat, but of course, he didn't even look at the menu. "So how long have you two been together?" He asked solemnly.
I froze and snuck a side glace at Luke, who had the equal deer in the headlights look etched on his face. "We're, um, not together," I said, trying not to stumble on the words. Because we might have been together, if I hadn't run that night. I tried to force that memory out of my mind, no matter how amazing it was, I still didn't like to dwell on it that much- I mean, he never brought it up, given the fact that I ran, I know I should be the one to speak up, but still.
He gave me a doubtful look. "Lorelai," He started with a sigh. "I am not your mother, I know things, it's obvious."
"She's right, sir, we're just friends," Luke added as an attempt to get the focus on the 'what could be' part of out relationship.
He still had the same look on his face and nodded slowly, probably not believing us. "Right," He mumbled, reaching out and grabbing the menu I had set in front of him. "So, what is good here?"
I opened my menu and skimmed it, trying to remember something that he would like tolerate enough to eat. "The rolls are good," I said weakly. I hadn't really had that much time to taste much of Sookie's recent cooking masterpieces lately.
"I didn't mean as an appetizer, Lorelai," He said tiredly. "I meant as a meal, you work here, you should be able to recommend certain dishes."
I shot Luke an 'I told you so' sort of Luke, trying to prove my reason of being this stressed. He offered me a weak but reassuring smile and took a look at the menu. "You know, Sookie makes amazing chicken kiave. It comes with some really nice steamed vegetables." He said knowingly.
I sent him a grateful look and looked at my dad to see his reaction. "That sounds nice, Luke, at least some one here can make a nice recommendation." He directed to me in a flat voice.
"I know, what would we do without you Luke?" I asked in a mock-sweet voice. He scowled at me and sent me a look that said 'Shut up, I'm here because of you'. God, me and Luke were so good at talking with just the looks on our faces we could join the FBI. This was going to be a long night.
Thankfully, our food was served quickly and we were already eating our dessert, the dinner was eaten mostly in silence except for some of the strange comments I made and when Luke tried to do his best not to laugh. "So, Luke, how is your brother?" My dad asked conversationally.
Luke looked at me quizzically then back to my father. "My brother?" He asked, confused.
I sighed and rested my head in my hands. For once, could my dad actually know what was going on in my life and try and be polite to my friends? "It's his sister, dad." I butted in, "His sister, Liz."
"Well why did you tell me it was his brother?" He asked in a slightly mad tone.
"I didn't." I said, trying to defend myself. I looked at Luke with a distressed face and he gave me a weak, yet amused smile.
"Then why would I think it was his brother who was ill?" I seriously could not believe he was mad at me for his mistake.
"Dad," I said trying to remain calm and not scream due to the tension building up. "I didn't say it was his brother, I didn't even say anything about Luke at dinner that night. Rory was the one who was talking, not me. And I am positive she didn't say brother."
"I know Rory was the one talking, she was the only one who said anything at dinner that night, unless of course you count the hour you and your daughter were sobbing in the hallway."
God, why couldn't I have a normal father? "So Luke how is Liz?" I asked, trying keep an even voice.
"She's doing well, the doctor said the cancer isn't as bad as it could be, so I take we take it as a good thing," He said, while reaching under the table and squeezing my thigh, causing me to jump a little. He let it rest there and I could feel a flush rising in my cheeks, trying not to make eye-contact with him.
"Well that's a good thing isn't it, Lorelai?" My father directed to me, causing me to try and force all the Luke thoughts out of my mind and pay attention to my dad.
"Yeah, definitely," Though I really had no clue what we were talking about.
"You know, Lorelai," My father said tiredly, "It's not polite to invite people to dinner and then not pay attention to the conversation." I knew that if I looked him in the eye, he'd be able to see the daggers they were shooting.
Instead, I looked over at Luke and gave him a forced smile. He gave my thigh another reassuring squeeze, causing my mind to fog over. And to add to that he started to rub his thumb in little circles and my forced smile actually started to turn into a lazy, love-sick one. I immediately looked down, trying not to show the blush in my face. I don't blush, Lorelai Gilmore does not blush.
How the hell could he keep such a calm face and keep up a conversation while his hand was on my leg, driving me crazy? "Isn't Sookie's pot roast great?" I asked, interrupting whatever my father and Luke was talking about, all I knew was that by the look on Luke's face, he really didn't want to talk about it.
"I have the chicken, Lorelai." My father said in a monotone voice.
I rolled my eyes and tried to casually check my watch. It was almost nine o'clock and I couldn't think of a polite way to kick my dad out. I kept trying to get Luke to say something about him being tired so we could leave, but he wasn't playing along. I started to yawn just a little over-dramatically and stretch my arms out and only after about my sixth yawn my father noticed.
"Lorelai, are you okay?" He asked, leaning in and peering at my face.
Luke grabbed my outstretched wrist with the hand that was settled on my thigh, causing a sudden coldness to rush through me. "She's fine," Luke said, mostly directed to me, pulling my hand down and slipping his hand into mine under the table, squeezing it tightly.
"Yeah, dad, I'm fine, just a little tired." I said, starting to feign a yawn again but stopping once I saw Luke's stern look.
My dad looked at his watch and his eyes widened in surprise. "Wow, is it really that late? I'm sorry if I have taken up this much of your time." He said, standing up and me and Luke following suit, in the process of it, Luke dropped his hand, allowing the wave of coldness to overcome me again. "It was nice to meet you, Luke." He said, shaking Luke's hand.
"You've met him before," I muttered, causing Luke to glare at me.
"Lorelai, you know that you shouldn't mumble things under your breath," My father scolded me.
"So, we'll keep in touch?" I asked a little too cheerfully, completely ignoring him. I grabbed Luke's hand and started to lead him to the empty lobby.
Once we reached the lobby, I went behind the desk and grabbed my purse. "Do you want me to walk you to your car?" My father asked me, causing me to freeze in my spot and shoot Luke a nervous glance.
"Oh, no, I have to, um, stay here for a couple more minutes." I stuttered, gripping the strap on my purse nervously.
"Its fine, I can wait." He said, remaining in his spot.
"No dad, go ahead, Luke is amazing when it comes to walking people to their cars. I mean, once, he actually managed to get a woman to her car and inside of it successfully and he even-" I said in a mock serious voice, but was then interrupted by my dad.
"Its fine Lorelai, I was just trying to do the proper thing." He said in a solemn voice. "I'll talk to you soon, goodbye." He waved a short goodbye to Luke and I released a heavy sigh.
"God, that was a nightmare," I whined dramatically, burying my face in his chest.
He gruffly pushed me off. "It wasn't that bad," He said starting to make his way up the stairs.
I made my way through the door, dropping my purse on the desk in the corner and plopped myself down on the bed. "And what did he mean that 'he'll talk to me soon'?" I asked worriedly, burying my face in one of the pillows.
"Maybe that means he might actually be calling you," Luke said, walking over to the chair that his bag was set on and opening it up to get his stuff. "I'm getting changed; you can use the bathroom next."
"Okay," I groaned, pushing my self up slowly and walking over to the chair opposite of the one his bag was on. I unzipped my pink hello kitty bag and take out a blue tank-top and a pair of pink cotton shorts with the word 'sexy' printed on it. I don't know why I chose it, considering the fact that Luke was the one that was who was going to see me in it. But maybe that was the reason.
As I was contemplating my shorts, Luke stepped out of the bathroom, causing my thoughts to waver at the sight before me. Luke in boxer shorts and a t-shirt that showed his chest and arms just right. Albeit the fact I've seen him like this last time, I didn't really have a chance to really look at him. "You okay?" He asked, looking like he was trying not to laugh.
I shook my self out of my Luke thoughts and stood up, trying to remain casual. "Me, yeah, I'm fine, just thinking about the dinner," And the way his hand felt on my leg, rubbing small soft circles. I quickly stood up and tried to shove all those thoughts out of my head, "I'm just gonna get changed," I said to Luke, who had settled on to what has been claimed to be 'his side' of the bed.
"Sure," He nodded, and reached over for the remote, turned on the Tv and began to flip through the channels.
As I came out of the bathroom, I felt a sort of sad pang in my stomach when I noticed he wasn't drooling over my as I did to him. "So what's on?" I asked, plopping myself onto the bed next to him, sprawling out completely and throwing an arm over the top of his chest.
"Nothing," He said flatly, readjusting my arm to the middle of his torso. He handed the remote to me, placing it in my other hand. "You pick,"
After a couple minutes of flipping through, I decided nothing was worth watching. I looked over at look and smiled. "Guess what?" I said, trying not to let my mischievous smile show.
"No," He said, not even looking at me and taking the remote back from my hand.
"You don't even know what I was going to say," I said trying to feign hurt.
"It's something I don't want to hear, I know that." He grunted, occasionally pausing his changing of the channels to watch a short clip of something.
"I brought movies," I said, sprinting up, leaning my weight on his chest with both my hands, causing a deep grunt to emerge from the back of his throat and his to push me off him.
"Movies?" He asked cautiously as I sat up and leaned over to the chair I set my bag on, giving him a clear view of the 'sexiness' shown.
I grabbed the bag and brought it back to the bed, sitting back against the pillows and crossing my legs. As I pulled the two movies out, I noticed he was looking at me, shaking his head. I looked back at him and smiled, leaning over to the chair again and setting the bag down. "Like what you see?" I asked, turning back to him.
"Very modest," He said nodding with a strait face, though I could see a smile under his features.
"That's exactly why I bought 'em." I said proudly, handing both movies to him. "Pick one,"
"Real great choices," He mumbled. I thought they were though, albeit the fact that Love Story might be a little to touchy for him.
"They are, so what one?" I prodded on, settling my self on me knees, looking at him with anticipation. I don't know why but movie night with Luke is always fun.
"How come you always choose chick flicks for us to watch?" He wondered aloud, not even looking at the DVD's set before him.
"Because those are the best kind." I said slowly, trying to sound as if it were the most obvious thing. I grabbed both movies and held them up in front of Luke. "'Love story', or 'The way we were'? You have to pick one and I know they both are equally great but you have to pick one."
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "The way we were, I guess." He mumbled, throwing his hands up in mock defeat.
"Good choice," I said, nodding my head decisively and patting his knee. I lean forward and place the DVD into the player. Behind me I could feel Luke smirking at me, staring at my ass. "Okay, you can stop looking at my butt now," I said, looking up to watch his reflection in the mirror above the Tv. I watched his face flush and him look down shyly.
I settled back against the pillow and wriggled my nose up due to the light. I leaned across Luke and flipped the light switch off that was set on the table next to him, the reclined back to my former position, only this time a little closer to Luke and wrapped my arm around his elbow, nuzzling my cheek to his forearm and breathing in his masculine scent.
"Good night, Lorelai," He said, moving down so his head was right above mine and my chin rested slightly on his shoulder.
"Night Luke," I mumbled into his shirt, allowing my mind to wander throughout all my Luke thoughts. Because we aren't crossing the line completely. Just toying around it, and this is as close as we can get while still being comfortable without the awkwardness. It was a nice thought, and I had to admit, being this close to Luke was a nice thing without all the consequences.
Authors Note- Sorry for the long update. I've been busy, lately. But I am satisfied with the final outcome. I think the next chapter might skip a month or two ahead. Not sure, but I have idea's planned out.