A/N: Yes, I realize it's been a little over 3 months since I last updated. I blame the economy. I hope that you're all still interested in this story because I assure you that I will see it through to the end. That's one thing I'm good for. And, I'll let you in on a little secret…there are only 2 chapters to go after this! Well, possibly 3, but certainly no more than 3. If you're lost, and can't remember where we left off, I don't blame you! But that is precisely why I kept the chapters a reasonable length. So, if you'd like to go back and read through again, I'll wait…
Ready?! Okay!
Many thanks to Filo: my patient and encouraging beta. And thanks to the gang (you know who you are) for the writing sessions.
April 19, 2004
The rumours started circulating on a Tuesday. Where they originated from was a bit of a mystery, although, Gypsy's name was often included in the rumblings that passed from ear to nosy ear. But the rumours gained strength and momentum, as rumours often do, and by the time they reached Lorelai Gilmore, they were nearing the point of complete absurdity. Still, there could be found a token of truth from within.
The main players in the story that had been swelling like a tornado for the past week, were Luke and Nicole. Needless to say, Lorelai was indeed curious to know the validity of the information that she had received…much later than usual. She blamed her long hours at the inn, and was averse to admit that it might have something more to do with the fact that she hadn't darkened the diner's door in over a week – the hub of all activities gossip-related.
Now, it was Monday, six days into the rumour course, and ten days post-AK – commonly referred to as: Almost Kiss. Lorelai hadn't forgotten the night that Luke had unassumingly entered her home in an effort to fix her dear Samson, and she'd nearly slammed him on the table and removed every last ounce of dignity the man possessed. Well, she hadn't quite been able to get past the kissing stage, but the table was definitely the next move on her agenda. And now with these rumours floating about, she couldn't pretend that there wasn't a spark of hope inside her, just waiting to take flight.
Lorelai walked briskly through the foyer of the inn and entered the kitchen a moment later, a determined look on her face. "Sookie," she boomed. "You in the mood for a burger?"
"Uh…sure?" Sookie said, bewildered.
"Great. Here's what I need you to do…"
--
Sookie was in the diner and sitting at the counter exactly 30 minutes later. Luke gave her a pleased, albeit curious smile. It wasn't often that Sookie graced the diner in a solo fashion, and for her to do it now, considering the state of the inn, and the rapidly approaching opening date, Luke certainly had cause for suspicion.
She leaned forward on her elbows, watching Luke poise his pen over paper to take her order. "So…what's new?" she asked in a perky voice.
Luke gave her a half puzzled, half annoyed look. "Nothing."
"Nothing eventful happening in your life?" she pried further.
He thought for a moment. "Had a kid spill apple juice this morning. There's ten minutes of my life that I'll never get back."
"O-kay."
"What can I get ya?" Luke asked impatiently.
"Um…hmm, maybe a salad. Hey, where's the salad that what's-her-name made you add to the menu?"
"Nicole?"
"Yeah, Nicole," Sookie said suggestively, dragging out the lawyer's name.
Luke wasn't taking the bait. "Do you want a salad or not?" he grumbled.
Sookie sighed, defeated. "Just give me a burger. And don't skimp on the grease!"
--
Lorelai nearly bowled Sookie over when she returned to the inn. "So, what'd ya get, Squiggy? What's the dirt?"
Sookie gestured for Lorelai to follow her into a more private area. She stopped when they reached the newly constructed library. "Well," she said in a voice barely above a whisper, "Luke was giving me the old 'shifty eyes' manoeuvre practically the whole time I was there. And when he said the word Nicole, he sounded kinda peeved. Oh, and he said salad all angry, too. And we know he likes salad." Sookie's detective work was a thing to be marvelled.
Lorelai stared at her friend, dumbfounded. "That's all you got?!"
She swallowed nervously. "Well, you know Luke. He clams up."
Lorelai groaned. "Sookie, you…I mean, how can you? Gah!" she erupted in frustration. "We're on the verge of something huge here. Luke and Nicole are allegedly on the freeway towards Splitzville, and all I wanted from you was a little confirmation. I need a little help here, Sook!" Before Sookie could get a word in edgewise, Lorelai continued in a much calmer tone. "No, you know what? I don't care. If he wants to tell me, he'll tell me. Otherwise…I just don't care."
Sookie gave her a dubious look.
Lorelai closed her eyes and massaged her aching head. "So, I care. Big deal."
Sookie smiled knowingly. "I really wish you'd stop avoiding him. How do you expect him to tell you anything when you keep avoiding him?"
"Sook, you know I can't see him. I get all crazy whenever I'm around him. My hormones go into overdrive."
"But you can't just stop seeing him. What if he never breaks it off with Nicole? Are you going to remove him from your life completely?" Sookie asked seriously.
Lorelai took a heavy breath and glared at her friend. "You're annoying," she told her.
She giggled. "Then I must be doing my job right."
--
April 21, 2004
On Wednesday, Lorelai's hide and seek jig was finally up. She ran into Luke in the most unusual of places: the diner.
She was desperate for a cup of Luke's coffee; it'd been twelve days since her last fix. As she stood on the sidewalk outside the establishment, she calculated the odds of her managing to sneak inside without a confrontation with the proprietor. She glanced through the window, watching as Luke moved from table to table with coffee pot in hand. When he returned behind the counter, he set the coffee pot down, grabbed a stack of paper from the shelf below, and disappeared behind the curtain.
Her heart pounded. She inhaled a quick breath and gently pushed open the door. The obnoxious sound of the bells overhead made her jump, much to the amusement of the familiar townies residing at the corner table.
"Whoo, someone's got a case of the jitters!" Babette hollered.
Lorelai sighed, and plastered on a smile as she walked towards 'Hello Magazine'.
"You know, there's only one cure for the jitters," Miss Patty informed Lorelai as she approached.
"I can't wait to hear it," Lorelai pointlessly responded. Patty never needed an invitation to speak.
"Sex, dear," she remarked. Lorelai snorted.
Babette agreed, "Yeah, sex'll cure whatever ails ya."
"It's been a while, hasn't it? How long has it been?" Patty asked Babette.
"Well, Jason's been outta the picture about three weeks now. Four, if you take into account the week after that whole Floyd thing."
Lorelai's jaw dropped to the floor as she stood by and witnessed the two women conversing back and forth about her sex life. She felt like a fly on the wall.
"Four weeks," Patty considered. "How dreadful."
"But it just so happens that there's a new bachelor in town," Babette pointed out.
Patty's eyes lit up. "Ooh, yes. A match made in heaven." Both she and Babette turned to Lorelai, cunning smiles adorning their faces.
"Bachelor?" Lorelai finally asked, breaking the awkward silence. "Wh-who…who's the bachelor?" She hoped it was Luke. She prayed it was Luke.
The man of the hour chose that very moment to re-enter the diner, bringing the 'bachelor conversation' to an abrupt halt. He glanced up and noticed Lorelai standing next to Babette and Patty's table. She caught his eye, and smiled nervously.
"Uh, I'll talk to you gals later," Lorelai told the busybodies as she shuffled slowly toward the counter, and Luke.
"Match made in heaven," Patty repeated under her breath, turning her chair to get a better view of the unfolding scene.
Luke smiled at Lorelai as she situated herself on a stool. "Coffee?" he asked her.
"Please," she said.
He filled a mug with the steaming liquid and set it down in front of her. She smiled in appreciation. "So," he began casually, "I haven't seen you around much lately."
She shrugged, her eyes focused on the countertop. "Well, the inn…it's taking up a lot of my time."
"Yeah." Luke nodded in understanding. "Is that all?"
Lorelai lifted her eyes to meet his. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know. It just feels like you've been, uh…avoiding me."
Lorelai fidgeted with the mug in her hands. "That's crazy," she said, her voice cracking slightly.
"So you haven't been avoiding me?" Luke challenged.
Lorelai narrowed her eyes. "Is there a reason that I should be avoiding you?" She was giving him an opening. If there was even the slightest chance that he was a conscious part of that almost kiss, then this would be the golden opportunity to fess up.
Luke raised an eyebrow, obviously impressed by her tactics. He cleared his throat and abruptly switched topics, "I, uh, heard Saturday is supposed to be a clear, sunny day."
"Super," Lorelai returned sarcastically. "I'll buy a pink parasol."
"I was thinking about swinging by the inn, for that horseback riding thing…you know, if the invitation is still on the table."
She blinked in surprise, mentally kicking herself for allowing him to catch her so off guard. "Of course it's still on the table. Why wouldn't it be on the table?" she answered defensively.
"I don't know. I was just checking." Luke backed away from the counter and fought to suppress his amusement. That seemed to aggravate her further.
"Well, no need," she said harshly. Taking a final swig of her coffee, she rose to her feet and marched toward the door. "I'll see you Saturday!" she barked over her shoulder.
"See you Saturday," Luke called back, smiling.
Babette and Miss Patty chuckled in the corner, having received a day's worth of entertainment in the span of ten minutes.
--
By the time Lorelai reached the inn, Sookie was waiting for her on the porch steps with open arms. Lorelai's hysterical call from her cell phone minutes earlier was enough to warrant an extended vacation at the Betty Ford Clinic, let alone a major venting session with her dear friend and confident.
Sookie hooked her arm around Lorelai's and helped her up the stairs and into the sitting room, where they relaxed next to each other on the plush couch.
Lorelai sighed, dropping her head into her hands. "Sookie, I'm such an idiot. I need to go back and apologize."
The chef rubbed her friend's shoulder soothingly. "It's okay, Sweetie. Just let it all out."
"What am I so upset about? I don't even know. I mean, I guess I'm ticked off that he doesn't realize why I'm really avoiding him. Or maybe he does realize it, but that just ticks me off even more because he's not saying anything. How could he not know why I'm avoiding him? We almost kissed! I wasn't hallucinating…it really happened. He's either a complete dolt, or he just wants to pretend it never happened. But he could at least acknowledge that it did, in fact, HAPPEN!"
Sookie almost felt the need to applaud after Lorelai's emotional rant. She didn't, however, but someone else did…
"That was Oscar-worthy," Gypsy remarked from the foyer, making her way towards the star of the show.
"Oh God," Lorelai groaned. "We really need to start locking the front door," she said to Sookie.
Gypsy stopped next to the couch and smiled. "The place is looking great."
"That's nice," Lorelai muttered. "Gypsy, what are you doing here? Don't you have, like, a business of your own to attend to?"
"I'm on break."
Lorelai chuckled. "Of course you are."
"You know, you're lucky that I showed up," Gypsy declared, taking a seat on the armrest of the couch.
"I'm feeling pretty lucky," Sookie said, giggling. Lorelai shook her head. If there had been a Gypsy Fan Club, Sookie would have been the President.
"Okay, Gypsy. I'll take the bait. What do you know, and how much will it cost to get it out of you?" Lorelai demanded.
"Luke and Nicole are getting a divorce," the mechanic replied without missing a beat. You could hear a pin drop in the room. She waited a minute for Lorelai to digest the information before adding, "And I'd like a copy of the master key to the inn…so I can keep an eye on things for you."
Lorelai gave her a wary look. "Is that why you're always showing up?" she wondered. "So you can keep an eye on things?"
Gypsy shrugged. "I just want to make sure Tom's crew is doing everything right." Lorelai smiled warmly at the heartfelt declaration. Gypsy's Fan Club was about to increase by one member. Gypsy coughed nervously, having exposed too much of herself. "I need to get back. Just didn't want you doing anything stupid before you knew the facts."
Lorelai and Sookie looked on as Gypsy stomped to the front door and waved haphazardly upon exiting.
"Did she say Luke and Nicole are getting a divorce?" Lorelai asked Sookie, her eyes wide in amazement.
Sookie nodded, smiling at the length of time it took her friend to comprehend the information.
Lorelai's face lit up in a huge grin. "Guess I better have a key made."
TBC…
