A Bicycle Made for Two
Lorelai walked out onto the Dragonfly's porch, pulled out her phone and dialed while glancing nervously over her shoulder. "Hey. It's Lorelai. It's me. Hi," she said with a chuckle. "Are you busy?" she asked. "Um, no, no, no. I just had a, uh, I had a quick question," she blurted. "It's kind of a favor, really. Um, my car is totally shot, and I need to buy a new car, and I just don't know anything about it, and I thought maybe sometime," she rambled quickly as she tucked her hair nervously behind her ear. "And if you don't have time, it's really no big deal, but ma… Today?" she asked, surprised at how quickly he agreed. "Oh, yeah. I mean, it doesn't have to, sure. Yeah, we'll go look," she said in a stunned voice. "Um, I don't know, like 1:30? Can you pick me up at the inn? Hey, thanks. Bye," she said softly as she closed the phone and blinked in surprise.
Luke hung up the phone and stared at it as if he had never laid eyes on it before. He turned back to the empty diner, cursing the mid-morning lull for giving him too much time to think between now and then. She needs my help. She wants my help. She asked for my help, he thought with a pleased smile as he began to wipe down the perfectly clean counter.
XXXX
He had picked her up at the Dragonfly, surprised to find her ready and waiting on the front porch. She was down the steps before he had even pulled to a stop, and reached for the door as soon as he did. He smiled and said, "I guess you're ready."
"What? Oh, yeah, well, I didn't want to waste your time," she said as she climbed up into the truck and pulled the door closed behind her. She turned to him and said, "I really appreciate this. You know how hopeless I am about cars and stuff."
"No problem at all," he assured her. "Anyplace in particular you wanted to look?" he asked.
Lorelai shook her head and said, "I have no idea what I want."
"Okay, well, I know a couple of places," he said as he rubbed his chin nervously.
"Good then, let's go look," she said with a nod.
They were quiet as Luke pulled away from the inn, and headed out of town. After a couple of minutes he glanced over and said, "I was gonna put the radio on, but it's been pretty static-y lately."
Lorelai shrugged and said, "Oh, I'm fine. I don't need music."
"Yeah?" Luke asked dubiously. "Okay," he said with a shrug.
"Thanks again for agreeing to come," she said sincerely.
"No problem," Luke said again.
"And again, I mean, it didn't have to be, you know, today," she babbled.
"Oh, no, you know, the diner was slow, and you can't keep riding that bike around," he said with a smirk.
"Why does everyone act like I'm a really bad biker?" Lorelai whined.
"No, hey, I didn't mean it that way," Luke said quickly.
Lorelai shook her head and said, "I'm just kidding."
"Oh," he said blankly.
"It was a joke," Lorelai said lamely.
"Okay," he answered uncomfortably.
Lorelai cast her mind about for something to say and finally came up with, "So, um, April left, right? "
Luke nodded and kept his eyes glued to the road as he said, "Yeah, but she'll be back in June."
Lorelai smiled and asked, "Oh, for the big boat trip?"
"Right, right," Luke confirmed.
Lorelai smiled at him and said, "That's gonna be fun."
"Yeah," he agreed.
"Are you excited?" she prodded.
Luke chuckled and said, "Yeah."
"Oh, good," Lorelai said as she looked out the window. After a moment of awkward silence, Lorelai turned back to him and said, "You know, I don't mind a little static."
"I was gonna say, it actually doesn't work that bad," Luke said quickly as he tried to tune in a station.
Some sappy eighties power ballad came on, which seemed to satisfy her. He watched out of the corner of his eye as she nodded along to the song and stared at the passing scenery. He wasn't sure why, but he really hadn't expected it to be this awkward. He thought it might be at first, but he figured that they'd start talking, or she'd start teasing him or something and things would go back to the way they used to be. Especially after that painful start in the diner that morning, with everyone looking at them the way Lorelai looked at Krispy Kreme's rolling off of the conveyer, he thought with a sigh. He thought that once it was just the two of them, it would be easier. That's why he jumped when she asked. Boy was he wrong. At that moment, he would have killed to have Patty or Babette squeezed in between them, he thought with a mental shake of his head. And that was so wrong, on so many levels, he thought sadly.
XXXX
She knew she was killing him. It was killing her too. Every moment was pure torture. She wasn't kidding about the Jack Bauer thing. He was both the Luke she knew, and a whole new Luke, all at the same time. He was so calm, so polite, so patient, very un-Luke like. He opened doors for her and then read off the features of each car, debating whether they were worth the money or not, expounding on various safety options, deriding some of the extras that everyone thought were so important, but she could tell his feigned patience was beginning to wear thin.
Luke was completely baffled. He had thought this outing would be a no-brainer. He'd drive her to a lot, Lorelai would fall foolishly in love with something, bright, sporty, shiny and completely impractical, she'd sign on the dotted line, and he'd follow her back to Stars Hollow. But every car she looked at had something that didn't 'feel' right about it. For a person with no idea what she wanted, she had some pretty set pre-conceived notions about what various car styles said about the vehicle's owner. He caught himself glancing over at his old truck once and wondered what it said about him. He chuckled inwardly, knowing damn well what it said, but, then realized that the description seemed to suit Lorelai more now, than it did him. When did she become so cautious? Who was this indecisive woman? Why is she acting so resistant to change?
And then he spotted it, sitting on the far corner of the lot. He led her over to a brand new Jeep Wrangler. It was even the same color as her old one. He proudly opened the door for her and then waited, leaning against the side of the car staring at her as she sat and stared at the interior with a frown. "Well?" he asked, trying to hang onto the last shreds of his patience.
"Well," Lorelai said dully.
"You've been talking about your Jeep all day," he pointed out.
"I know," she said with a nod.
"Comparing other cars to it," he reminded her.
"I know," she said as she stared down at the upholstery.
"Here it is," he said gesturing to it.
Lorelai looked up at him with a pained expression and said, "I'm sorry."
Luke shook his head and said, "But I don't understand. It's the same car."
"It's not the same car," she insisted.
"What do you mean?" he demanded.
"What do you mean?" she shot back. "It's different."
"It's not different. It's just a newer model," he said impatiently.
"No, it's different. The steering wheel, the seats are different, the cup holder," she pointed out.
Luke shrugged and said, "Okay there have been improvements."
"They made some changes," she retorted.
"Improvements," he growled.
"Says who?" she asked snidely.
"What exactly is bugging you?" he asked.
Lorelai got agitated and said, "It's not bugging me per se. It's just, it's different. I don't get that feeling."
Luke dropped his arm in frustration and muttered, "Oh, for god's sake."
"What?" she demanded.
"You're being ridiculous," he hissed.
"Why?" she asked incredulously.
"You don't buy a car based on a feeling," he told her in an exasperated tone.
Lorelai shook her head and said, "No, you don't buy a car based on a feeling," as she opened the door and climbed out of the Jeep.
Luke wagged his head, gestured to his chest and said, "It's not just me. It's the whole rest of the population."
Lorelai stopped and looked at him archly as she asked, "Really? You took a poll, and you know how everyone else buys their car?"
"I don't have to. I already know what they're gonna say," he told her.
"Well, I am the person buying the car, and so the only opinion that matters is mine," she said primly as she began to walk away from him.
Luke snapped. "Oh, that is so like you. I mean this is bathroom tiles all over again," he said, his voice quivering with barely constrained frustration.
Lorelai said quickly, "I was right about the tile."
"No, you weren't," he argued.
"The tile was too big for the bathroom," she said stubbornly.
"Tiles are not too big for a bathroom. You buy the amount of tiles based on their size that fit into the room you are tiling!" he said gesturing wildly as he spoke.
Lorelai shook her head and said sadly, "So narrow-minded."
"That's not narrow-minded. Okay? It's sane," he said as he dusted his hands agitatedly. "And, here's a news flash for you, okay? Sports cars don't think they're better than other cars. Okay? Hatchbacks don't have SUV inferiority complexes," he ranted clenching his fists at his sides.
"Now who's ridiculous?" she asked tauntingly, relishing the rant.
"And sedans aren't afraid to get dirty!" he added.
Lorelai cocked her head and said, "You know what I think it is? That you're hungry."
Luke looked at her as if she had sprouted a second head and said, "What? No!"
Lorelai gave him a knowing nod and said, "Sometimes you get like this when you're hungry," knowing it would rile him even more.
"I'm not," he said stubbornly.
Lorelai began rooting around in her cavernous purse as she said enticingly, "I think I have some cookies in here, some Oreos."
"I'm not and besides I wouldn't eat anything that came out of that bag," he said derisively as she pulled out a baggie of cookies.
Lorelai shook them at him and said defensively, "They're in a wrapper."
"I can't believe you still haven't cleaned that thing out," he said as he gestured to her purse.
"Please," Lorelai scoffed.
"How much time do you lose a day looking through that thing? Five, ten minutes?" he ranted at her. "Multiply that by a year. I bet you'd gain a month if you just took an hour and cleaned it out, but no… what?" he asked stopping as he saw her looking at him with a small, pleased smile.
"Nothing," she said quickly.
Luke pointed at her accusingly and said, "You're smiling."
"What? No. You've got low blood sugar," she said dismissively.
Frustrated beyond belief, Luke started again, "I do not have," but caught himself. He stopped and asked, "Okay, are you gonna buy a car or not?"
Lorelai pretended to think for a moment and then said, "Not," in a sassy tone.
"Okay can we get out of here, then?" he asked impatiently.
"Gladly," she replied.
As he led her over to the truck he said, "And we're not listening to any of that crap on the radio."
Lorelai gaped at him and said, "It's not crap!"
Luke nodded and said, "Yeah, it's crap."
"It's Air Supply," she corrected. She looked at him and said, "You know what you need a milkshake."
"We're not stopping for a milkshake," he warned tersely.
Lorelai stopped and held out her hand as she said, "Okay let's rock, paper, scissors."
Luke shook his head emphatically, and said, "No, no, no."
Lorelai blinked as she asked innocently, "So you forfeit?"
"No, I…" he started to protest as he opened the door to the truck for her.
"Well, that's how it goes. If you don't play the game, then you forfeit," she insisted.
"Let's get you in the car," Luke said as he tried to usher her into the seat. "Okay," he said placatingly.
"That means a giant milkshake for you, my friend," she told him.
"We're not stopping," he told her as he closed the door. "We're not stopping," he repeated as she kept talking about the milkshake.
"Chocolate," she called as he crossed in front of the truck. "That's gonna set you up," she said with a nod.
"We're not stopping. Not gonna happen," he said in a darkly forbidding tone as he threw himself into the seat and jammed the key into the ignition.
Luke pulled out of the lot, squealing the tires with impatience, and suddenly, Lorelai felt it bubbling up before she could stop it. She looked over at him and burst out laughing, leaning her head back against the seat as she let it out, clutching her hand to her stomach. Luke glanced over as if he were checking to see if she had finally cracked. When he looked at her, it took his breath away. There she was, that girl. The one he fell for so long ago. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, as he let the sound of her laughter wash over him. "I'm sorry," she gasped as she wiped her eyes. "It was just so ridiculous, me and you, so polite, that fight," she said helplessly.
Luke felt his lips beginning to curve as her words sank in. He looked over at her and realized that he hadn't heard her laugh like that in forever. And like a knife twisting in his gut, he realized that forever meant a long time before they had even broken up. As her laughter faded into the merest giggle, he glanced over again, and met her dancing eyes. With a slight inclination of his head, he swung the truck into the next drive through and pulled up to the speaker. He turned in his seat and asked, "Chocolate?"
"Please," she said with a happy smile.
When they asked for his order, he called out, "Yeah, I need one large chocolate shake and a small vanilla shake." He looked back at her and shrugged slightly. After all, it was the least he could do, and hopefully, that smile might stick around a little longer.
After picking up their drinks at the window, Luke pointed the truck toward Stars Hollow, resting his small shake between his legs as he drove. He stole sidelong glances at Lorelai as she sipped, never removing the straw from her mouth. She leaned forward and looked at him questioningly before she touched the radio. When he nodded, she turned it on, but started to switch over to the rock station that was more to his liking. When she found it, they were playing an old Journey song. Lorelai looked up at him with a grin as he grunted, "God, no," and switched to another station.
"Uh, NPR?" she said with a laugh. "I don't think so, my friend," she said as she chewed on her straw and began to search again. She finally found an oldies station that was playing some Motown and looked at him questioningly. When he nodded, she settled back against the seat with a smile of contentment.
They drove home in silence, letting the music fill the cab, and the milkshakes soothe their nerves. As they entered Stars Hollow, Luke asked, "Inn or home?"
"Inn, please," she answered.
When he pulled up in front of the inn, he put the truck in park and turned toward her as he said, "We can try another lot tomorrow." Lorelai nodded, the smile slipping from her face. "That is, if you want to," he said as the awkwardness enveloped the truck again.
Lorelai gave him a tight smile and said, "That would be very nice of you. I'll think about what I want tonight. I know I'm just being silly," she said quietly.
"I know you liked your car," he said sympathetically.
Lorelai pressed her lips together as she nodded and reached to open the door. "I just want things to be normal again," she said as she slipped from the truck. She closed the door and said through the open window, "Thanks, Luke. I appreciate you putting up with me."
"I'll call you tomorrow, we'll go look some more," he told her.
Lorelai nodded and said only, "Thanks," as she backed away from the truck and held up her now empty shake cup in salute.
Luke lifted his from the seat and held it out to her. "Here, you want the rest?" he asked.
Lorelai smiled as she shook her head and said, "Nah, you drink it. It's good for you."
Luke shook his head and smiled as he turned the wheel and pulled away.
XXXX
Lorelai had heard the knock on the door, but was busy rescuing the tater tot course from the oven, so Jackson answered it. She dumped the tots onto a plate, and filled a small bowl with ketchup for dipping. She carried the plate into the living room to place it on the coffee table and was surprised when she glanced over and saw that it was Luke that Jackson was chatting with, and not Joe. She smoothed her hand over her ponytail nervously and then went to join Jackson in the doorway.
"Hi," she said with a smile.
"Hi," Luke answered.
Jackson glanced between the two of them and said, "Oh, well, good to see you, buddy," as he tried to duck out of the way with his plate of chicken nuggets.
"Yeah, you too," Luke called after him, determined not to ask why Jackson was here, and why he was in his pajamas, and why his pajamas had pictures of him in wrestling gear all over them.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Luke took a deep breath and said, "Okay, here's the deal. I borrowed Kirk's computer, and Zach got me on this Craigslist thing, and I found a 1999 jeep wrangler for sale. The guy actually doesn't live too far from here, so I went to see it. It looks like it's in pretty good shape. So I ran the VIN number. It's got a clean history, no accidents, no failed emissions," he told her. "And the guy said he kept it up pretty good, and there's nothing really wrong with it. So I took it for a test drive, and it drove fine," he said with a shrug. "So if you want to keep your old car, for whatever crazy feeling it gives you, okay? Then buy this guy's car, send it to Gypsy, she'll take the engine out, put it in the old car, which makes absolutely no sense because you'd basically be paying the same amount of money to fix your old car as you would be paying to get into a new one," he finished breathlessly.
The smile blossomed on Lorelai's lips as she said, "But I'd still have my car."
Luke nodded and said, "Yeah, Gypsy said it'll take about two weeks to finish." He dug a scrap of paper from his pocket and said, "Here's the number for the guy, Larry. That's his name." He looked at her pointedly as he said, "I already negotiated him down fifteen hundred bucks. Tell him you're Lorelai, Luke's friend. He'll know," he said with another shrug.
Lorelai smiled at him and said, "Thanks, I will."
Luke sighed and adjusted his cap as he said, "It's still a completely ridiculous idea."
"I know," she said, but clearly she didn't care.
"Alright," Luke said as he turned to leave. He called back over his shoulder, "And, you know, in the meantime, if you're still riding that bike around, come by the diner. I'll put some air in your tires."
Lorelai leaned out of the door and called back, "I don't need air in my tires."
Luke turned as he opened the door to his truck and yelled, "You need air, and you need a light and a bell so people know you're coming."
"What if I don't want people to know I'm coming?" she yelled back with a grin.
"I'm putting on a bell!" he shouted to her.
"No, you're not!" she shouted back happily.
Luke shook his head and yelled, "What do you have against bells?"
"I don't like 'em," she called back stubbornly.
Luke climbed into his truck and slammed the door. He rolled his eyes as he called out of the open window, "Well, you don't have to like them. They're a safety feature."
"I want a horn!" Lorelai demanded.
"Fine you want a horn, I'll get you a horn. Are you happy?" he asked waving his arm out the window in exasperation.
Lorelai pressed her lips together and nodded, her eyes sparkling with happiness. "Jeez," he muttered, looking up at her. He felt his heart flip flop in his chest as he saw her smile so he quickly started the truck and backed down the driveway, taking one last look at her standing there in the doorway. He put the truck in gear and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as he headed back to the diner. He stared straight ahead as he murmured to himself, "Playing with fire, Danes."
Lorelai closed the door and pressed her hand to it, unable to wipe the smile from her face. That was Luke. The real Luke. Her Luke. Oh God, it felt good to have him back, she thought as she ran her hand over the smooth wood of the door. She'd take it, in any way she should get it. "It's gonna be okay," she whispered to herself as she turned and went to join Jackson on the couch, fingering the slip of paper in her pocket. Lorelai, Luke's friend.