Gilmore Handbook Rule 10
When songs have eerie similarities to your life situation, it's not a freakish coincidence.
Lorelai was greeted onstage with cheers and applause. She was slightly tipsy. Not tipsy enough to completely forget what went on the next day, but tipsy enough to sing in front of Stars Hollow. "Honey, it's another embarrassing moment for your diary!" she said, directing the comment to Rory.
As the music began, Lorelai put down her drink. Clearing her throat and letting out a nervous laugh, she smiled at her daughter. "Happy graduation!" she said. Rory smiled back.
"If I... should stay," she sang, letting out yet another nervous laugh, "I would only be in your way…"
Thoughts of Rory's recent trials flashed through Lorelai's mind. She so badly wanted to protect Rory from the world, keeping her in Stars Hollow forever, but she knew she had to let Rory go. She was a bright, sweet, and talented girl who would make it far.
"But I know I'll think of you each step of the way, and I-I-I will always love you," Lorelai sang. It was true. She would always love Rory, no matter what. After all they'd been through, Lorelai knew the feeling would be mutual.
"I will always love you…" Lorelai looked out into the crowd and saw Luke walking into the bar. Luke? She knew she'd be entirely nervous now… and the song somehow morphed from a goofy graduation tribute to a serious serenade, telling Luke exactly how she felt. She knew the Handbook, she knew the rule… it wasn't coincidence. Luke smiled back at her as she continued to pour out her heart.
"Bittersweet memories, that's all I'm taking with me, so goodbye please don't c-cry…" she was on the verge of losing composure. She saw Miss Patty and Babette turn to Luke, so she knew that everyone realized exactly what was going on. This would certainly be the talk of the town for a long time, and there was simply nothing she could do about it. She felt helpless, yet determined to give Luke a hint as to how she felt.
"We both know I'm not what you need," she sang, thinking the opposite in her head. Now she was just confusing herself. "And I will always love you, I will always love you."
She took another look at Luke, making sure he knew what she was trying to say. He seemed to get the hint, as the expression on his face was one she hadn't seen in quite awhile. It was pure happiness. Not the fake happiness she'd plaster on for him, or he would for her, just to avoid breaking down. This seemed truly genuine.
She took a deep breath and belted out the last part of the song. "I hope life treats you kind,
and I hope you have all you dreamed of, and I wish you joy and happiness,but above all I wish you love, and I-I-I will always love you, I will always love you,I will always... love you."
Lorelai left the stage, worried about nothing more than getting out of there before she broke down. That was an embarrassing experience, yet an experience she felt like she needed, partially as a catharsis, and partially to give Luke a hint about what was going on in her jumbled up brain.
"See, now if I knew that rule, and I knew everything that was going on in your head… jeez, Lorelai," Luke said, shaking his head.
Lorelai tried not to laugh. "I don't think I could have been more deliberate, Luke, barring you overhearing me talking to Babette and Miss Patty… it was completely directed at you," Lorelai replied softly.
Luke turned to her. "I guess that's why you're attempting to teach me these rules, then."
Lorelai nodded. "It's only for your own good. And you know, you weren't Master of the Obvious when you were pining for me, either."
He thought back to the night Lorelai sang karaoke to him. He'd heard her talking to Miss Patty and Babette, and somehow, he didn't want to believe what she had said to them. He thought back to all those years he had thought about being with her, and when he finally made his move. "Yeah, I guess not."
Rory piped in. "See, I knew that was to you the whole time. And I know another time Mom secretly got freaked out about musical interludes…"
Lorelai gasped. "You wouldn't!"
Rory smiled an evil smile. "Watch me," she teased.
"Ooh! Oh! Stop it there," Lorelai shrieked. "U2!"
She and Rory were stuck in traffic, on the way to Friday Night Dinner in Hartford. Rory, as the sole occupant of shotgun, had the rights to the radio as Lorelai drove. Neither one knew how the rule was instituted, it just became a rule. Rory was kind to Lorelai most of the time, allowing Lorelai to listen to what she wanted to unless there was something hundreds of times better on another station.
"It's over," Lorelai pouted, looking at Rory.
"As everything has to be at one point or another," Rory replied, adjusting the volume. "Ooh, Lane hates this song."
Lorelai strained to listen to the song that was starting. "Is this Vertical Horizon?"
"Yeah… it's called 'Everything You Want'. I must admit, this is a good song. Have you heard it?" Rory asked.
Lorelai sat back, putting the Jeep in park and taking her hands off of the steering wheel. They weren't going anywhere for awhile. "Yeah, I just don't know the words. I make up the words to songs I don't know, to make it look like I know what I'm singing."
Rory smiled. "This song reminds me of your relationship with Luke."
Lorelai jerked her head toward her daughter. "Luke? Where the heck did you come up with Luke?"
"Just listen, here comes the chorus," Rory urged.
Lorelai obliged. Sitting back and watching the stationary traffic ahead of her, she had no choice. How on Earth could a song describe her relationship with LUKE? Luke was someone she had always thought of as her best friend, but a song like this didn't really portray Luke as her best friend. It painted a picture of Luke as someone she had never thought of him to be before that very moment.
"He's everything you want, he's everything you need, he's everything inside of you that you wish you could be. He says all the right things at exactly the right time, but he means nothing to you and you don't know why."
Lorelai's eyes widened. Was it true? This was absurd. Luke… the man with the backwards baseball cap, the flannel shirt, monosyllabic and hermit like tendencies? It couldn't be Luke.
"You're waiting for someone to put you together, you're waiting for someone to push you away, there's always another wound to discover, there's always something more you wish he'd say."
She turned to her daughter, her jaw dropped and her confusion gone. Rory simply motioned to the radio and put her index finger to her lips, insisting that Lorelai listen to the rest of the song.
"He's everything you want, he's everything you need, he's everything inside of you that you wish you could be. He says all the right things at exactly the right time, but he means nothing to you and you don't know why."
"Rory," Lorelai tried to protest.
Rory responded with a fierce "SH!" and pointed, forcefully this time, to the radio.
"But you'll just sit tight, and watch it unwind, it's only what you're asking for, and you'll be just fine with all of your time, it's only what you're waiting for."
Lorelai shook her head in disbelief. It was another one of those stupid songs that pulled at her stupid broken heartstrings. They'd been toyed with so many times over the years, and she was not prepared to take it anymore… or was she?
"Out of the island, into the highway, past the places where you might have turned, you never did notice, but you still hide away, the anger of angels who won't return."
Then came the chorus again. The chorus that told her, over and over, that Luke was who she wanted and needed, but he meant nothing. Then the end of the song eliminated any confusion Lorelai could have had.
"I am everything you want, I am everything you need, I am everything inside of you that you wish you could be, I say all the right things, at exactly the right time, but I mean nothing to you and I don't know why."
Lorelai sighed and looked at Rory. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath, turning down the radio and riding the rest of the long, excruciating drive to Hartford in silence while Rory reveled in her pride of introducing the song that would change Lorelai's view on her relationship with Luke.
"A part of me has this odd desire to hear that song that left you speechless," Luke teased.
Lorelai opened her mouth, staring at Rory, still shocked that Rory could reveal what she had sworn was sacred to Luke. "You just told sacred, secret, confidential information!"
Rory shrugged. "Get used to it. It's not just going to be me and you anymore. He's gotta know some dirt."
"Oh, well, if that's how you play this game," Lorelai laughed nervously, "I'll tell him all of your embarrassing stories!"
"That's fine, because I'm sure there's not that much Luke isn't aware of," Rory replied, assuring both herself and Lorelai that she wasn't threatened.
Luke shook his head. "Is there going to be bloodshed in this living room? If so, I need you to move it outside."
"No, no, we're fine. It's just going to be a war of the words," Rory teased, flipping the book to the next page.
