THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
April's birthday party brings an unexpected twist that changes Luke's and Lorelai's lives forever. Late sixth season.
Disclaimer: I don't own Luke's Diner. I just like the coffee.
Chapter Thirty-seven: A Magical Evening
Lorelai dropped Luke off at the diner and went on to work for a few hours. She watched the clock carefully and was back at the school at 12:40. A minute later the door swung open and April came out, accompanied by a teacher who stood near her as she negotiated the two steps in front of the school. They stopped for a moment and the teacher spoke briefly to her, leaning in with her hand on April's shoulder. The girl's head was down and she nodded once. Then the teacher gave her a pat and turned to go back into the building as April came towards the van. When she got close enough, Lorelai could see that she did not look happy. Oh, boy, she thought.
She got out and opened the van door so April could climb in as usual. "Hi," she said brightly as April came near. "How was your day?"
April gave her a sullen glance and said nothing as she dropped her crutches on the floor of the van and pulled herself in. She settled herself in her seat and clicked on her seat belt, all without a word.
Lorelai did not move, standing at the car door observing her. "April?" she said softly.
April glanced at her then, and said quickly, "Lorelai, could we just go, please?"
"Honey, what happened?"
"I'll—I'll tell you when we get home, I promise. But for now could we just please go?" There was an agonized edge to her voice.
"Okay," Lorelai said simply, shut the door and went around to get into the driver's seat. She started the car and drove away, noting in the rear-view mirror that the teen was looking down at her lap and a few tears were traveling down her cheeks.
Lorelai respected her wish and remained silent during the drive home. When they arrived, she helped April down and onto her crutches and walked behind her as they went into the house where Paul Anka greeted them enthusiastically. When they got inside, April went to the couch and collapsed on it. Lorelai dropped her purse and keys, went to get a box of tissues and sat down in front of April on the coffee table.
"Okay. Spill," she commanded.
April gasped back a sob. "This bunch of boys in the class ahead of me. . .before I even got to my first class, they started acting like jerks," she got out, her voice breaking.
"How? What did they do?"
"Oh, they started calling me stupid names like 'Gimpy' and 'Limpy' and saying that now I had four legs to match my four eyes. Every time I came out of class, a couple of them were there and they followed me around. Then some others joined in when they heard them. Every class," and her tears overflowed.
Lorelai, gritting her teeth, handed her a Kleenex, and let her cry a little while. Eventually she gathered herself enough to continue. "My friends caught on real fast and started surrounding me when I went from class to class, talking really loud to drown them out. Some of my friends yelled at them, too. It just kept getting worse and worse, because the louder my friends got, the louder they got, and they got madder and madder that we were ignoring them. Finally, just as I got to my last class, one of them said. . ." Her face screwed up again and a few more sobs escaped. "One of them said, 'Your mother must have been as stupid as you to drive into a tree.' " She buried her face in her hands and sobbed afresh.
"Oh, honey!" Lorelai cried. She moved immediately to the couch and put her arms around the crying girl, who turned into her shoulder and clutched at her. "I'm so sorry that happened." The little creeps, she inwardly seethed.
When April's sobs began to subside, Lorelai asked softly, "Do you know who they were? What their names are?"
April took a last sniff and blew her nose. "Yes," she said. "But it doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters!"
She shook her head. "No, no, listen to me. When the guy said that, we were right at the door of the classroom and my teacher overheard him. It's a male teacher, Mr. Bojarski, and he stopped the kid and took him straight down to Mrs. Flynn's office."
"Well, that's good," Lorelai told her. "At least he got caught and he'll probably be punished."
"But that's a problem, too," April said, still weeping a little. "If he gets punished, they'll all be mad and they'll take it out on me and it'll just get worse."
"Well, you don't know that. Let's wait and see before you start worrying."
April stared for a minute at the sodden tissue in her hand and looked up at Lorelai pathetically. "Why'd they do something like that? I never did anything to them. Why were they so mean?"
"I don't know, honey," Lorelai murmured, pressing her head against the girl's. She thought about it for a minute. "I think kids your age just get really scared of anybody or anything that's different. They can't admit they're scared, so they lash out to give themselves some distance from what scares them." She leaned back to look at April. "Your dad told me you had a conversation like this in the hospital. When you first started calling your friends and they were acting weird."
"Oh, some of them did that today, too," April muttered. "The ones that weren't at the party last Saturday."
"Well, you remember what you and your dad talked about? That it's scary for a kid to see another kid lose their mother, and that's why they didn't know what to say to you? I think it could maybe be the same with these guys."
"Maybe." April considered this for a minute. "But it was still mean."
"It was most certainly mean," Lorelai agreed.
They sat quietly for a little bit. Then April said, "After all the fuss I made about the cafeteria, I didn't even get to go. I went and stayed in one of the bathrooms during the lunch break."
"So you didn't get any lunch? You want something? A sandwich?"
April shook her head. "My friends gave me some bits and pieces of their lunches. And I'm not very hungry anyway."
Just then the phone rang and Lorelai got up to answer it. "Hello? Oh, hello, Mrs. Flynn," she said and April turned to watch her. "Yes, April just told me about it. She said one of the teachers overheard what the kid said and took him down to your office. What happened then? Uh-huh. . .uh-huh. . .I see. But April's a little worried about retaliation. What? What happened?" A long pause and Lorelai got a pleased look on her face. "Really? Wow, that's amazing. Yes, I agree, that might take care of the whole thing. . .you are? Okay, I guess that's okay. . .well, let me talk to April's father and we'll see what he thinks. . .uh-huh. . .yes, Mrs. Flynn. Thank you very much. You take care." She hung up the phone and grinned at April.
"What happened?" April asked breathlessly.
"Well, the guy that the teacher caught gave up some of his buddies. They've all been talked to, their parents are being called and they're getting a few days' detention."
"Oh," April said in a small voice.
"But the really cool thing is what happened during the lunch break, when you weren't there." Lorelai said. "A bunch of your friends, boys and girls both, went over to the kids that gave you a hard time and surrounded them and scared them good. They didn't fight with them or anything, they just stood in a circle around them and told them that what they did wasn't cool. They said that if they did it again, they'd make sure that the teachers know and they'd get a really hard time from the students, too. As they were doing this, a lot of other kids that had heard the story came over and joined them until most of the school was standing around these guys—up real close—all saying the same thing." She grinned. "Mrs. Flynn says they scared these guys out of a year's growth. I don't think you'll have any more trouble with them. But Mrs. Flynn said the teachers will be watching closely and if anybody does anything like this again, you're to tell them."
"Wow," April said, awed. "I can't believe they did that for me."
Lorelai smiled. "Kids can have a pretty good sense of justice."
April sat thinking about it and finally smiled a little. "Wow," she said softly.
Lorelai watched her with satisfaction. "So, aside from that, how did it go?"
"Oh, pretty good," April said. "I seem to be caught up with my classes. I just was distracted by those losers." She looked Lorelai full in the eye. "Do we have to tell Dad?"
Lorelai took a deep breath. She knew she couldn't keep this from Luke, but was also eager to maintain the delicate trust that was starting to grow between them. "I think he has to know, April. Don't you?"
April sighed. "I just don't want him to feel angry or hurt for me."
"Well, you can't help how he feels, honey," Lorelai said softly. "But we really can't keep things like this from him, either. He's gonna ask you how your first day went and he'll be able to tell that something's bothering you."
"I guess so," the teen sighed again. "Do you think you could tell him?"
"Sure, if you want me to."
"I wish you would."
"Okay, it's a deal."
April smiled. "Thanks, Lorelai," she said. She almost looked like she was going to hug Lorelai but stopped herself at the last second.
Lorelai smiled at her but then suddenly remembered something and said, "Hey, don't forget, Julie's coming over for PT at three o'clock." She looked at April closely. "You look done in. Why don't you lie down until she gets here?"
"I think I will," the girl said, her voice dragging. She worked her way into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.
Lorelai waited a while until she was sure April was asleep and then went upstairs to her room to call Luke. As she had expected, he was enraged when he heard the story. "Why, those damned little bastards!" he shouted. "Who are they, Lorelai? I'm gonna go over to that school and knock their heads together!"
"No, you're not," Lorelai told him firmly. "They're kids, and no matter how mad you are, you can't do that. Besides, the school is handling it. And wait till you hear what her classmates did," and she told him that part of it. He calmed down while listening and was stunned about how April's schoolmates had supported her. At the end he sighed deeply. "Jeez, Lorelai, can't that poor kid catch a break?"
"I know," she replied. "But Luke, look at the bright side. She talked about it instead of keeping it in! She's talking!"
But April did not really continue talking. Despite the support she was shown by her schoolmates and the school staff, her mood dropped noticeably over the next few days and she returned to some degree to her isolative pattern of behavior. She was a little more relaxed with Luke and Lorelai than she had been during the first two weeks of the post-hospital period, but they could see she was worried and upset. They both talked to her to try to encourage her and cheer her up and while she listened and was grateful, it did not improve her mood very much.
Luke took her to school on Wednesday and later reported that when he pulled up in front of the building, a large contingent of her schoolmates were waiting for her at the door. They hurried to the van, surrounded her as she made her way into the building and gave every impression that they did not plan to desert her anytime soon. He and Lorelai were pleased at that and tried their best to point out to April how amazing that was. But eventually they had to accept that they had done their best, as had the school, and she was just going to need time to work it through and get over it.
"I hope what that asshole kid said doesn't get her back to feeling guilty again," Luke said to Lorelai as they were discussing it in their bedroom.
"Well," she sighed. "She sees Kate on Friday. Looks like she'll have plenty to talk about."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Despite their concern about April, Luke and Lorelai did have one very pleasant episode that week.
On Wednesday morning, Luke slipped up to the apartment and called the Dragonfly, asking for Lorelai. When she came on the line he began, "Uh, hi. Is this Lorelai Gilmore?"
"Yes," Lorelai said, immediately puzzled. She thought it was Luke's voice but couldn't understand why he was asking for her the way he was.
"Hi, Ms. Gilmore, I don't know if you remember me but my name is Luke Danes and we met at that singles party last week."
Laughter began to bubble up in Lorelai's chest. "Umm, well, I'm not sure if I remember you," she said teasingly. "Were you the guy with the Mohawk, the nose ring and the tattoos?"
"Well—I do have a tattoo, but it was covered at the party. I was the one wearing the baseball cap."
"Baseball cap?" Lorelai paused. "What team?" she asked.
"Oh, no team. Just a blue baseball cap."
"Oh, yes, I remember that cap. Nice cap. Somebody with good taste must have picked it out for you." Lorelai could barely contain her laughter.
Luke was enjoying the exchange, too. "Oh, yes, the person who picked that cap has excellent taste," he agreed.
"So—what can I do for you Mr. Luke Danes with the tattoo and the blue baseball cap?"
"Well—I'm a little shy so this is hard for me to say—but I really enjoyed talking to you that night and I think you're about the prettiest girl I've ever seen and I wondered if you'd like to go out to dinner with me Saturday night."
"Well, I don't know," Lorelai said, teasing him along. "It would depend on what kind of food you're offering."
"Oh, I'll take you any place you want."
"Well, you need to know that I will only eat things that aren't the tiniest bit good for me. I'm a junk food junkie. Is that okay with you?"
"Oh, that's perfectly okay, if it means I get to go out with you," Luke said. "I'm sure I can find a nice row of vending machines where we could spend the evening."
Lorelai giggled. "Well, that sounds just fine," she replied. "Okay, Mr. Danes, it's a date."
"Wow!" Luke enthused. "I got a date with you! Oh, this is fantastic. I can't thank you enough for agreeing to go out with me. I promise, you'll have a great time."
"Oh, no thanks are necessary. I like to give a treat to the little people once in a while," Lorelai said grandly.
"That's very, very kind of you," Luke said. "Oh, and by the way, after dinner I'm gonna have a special surprise for you if you're a good girl."
"'Good girl?' That takes in a lot of territory. What do you mean by good?"
"Oh, I can't tell you that. You'll have to figure that out by yourself. Okay, can I pick you up at seven?"
"Sure you can. If I don't get a better offer by then, that is. If I do, I'll leave ya a note taped to the door."
"Oh, that would be fine, just fine. Thank you so much, Ms. Gilmore. See you Saturday."
He hung up before Lorelai could add anything further to the charade and she stared at her phone in disbelief. "What the heck is this about?" she muttered to herself as she dialed the diner number. After a couple of rings, the man himself picked it up and briskly said, "Luke's!"
"Hey, Luke," Lorelai said. "I was just calling to say not to expect me to be around Saturday night."
"Oh? And why is that?" he said gruffly.
"I have a date."
"Oh, okay," he said. "Who with?"
"Oh, some guy I met someplace. He just called me. He sounded pretty sexy on the phone, so I might not get home until Sunday afternoon sometime."
"Okay, that's cool," he said. "Whatever makes you happy, Lorelai. You know that."
Lorelai could no longer hold back her laughter. "So what's really going on, you nut?"
He paused. "Do you realize what Saturday is?" he asked softly.
"Ummm—no. What is it?"
"Go look at a calendar."
She flipped open her schedule book which was on her desk and perused it briefly. She gasped and tears came into her eyes. She picked up the phone and said, "Oh, Luke. Saturday is June 3rd."
"I just wanted you to know that I didn't forget," he said gruffly. "We won't be doing what you originally planned for that day, but we can still do something special."
Tears began to fill her throat and eyes. "Luke Danes, you are just so damned sweet!"
"I'm not sweet," he growled.
"Yes you are, and I'm going to keep telling you so, over and over again until you believe me," she scolded.
"And I'll enjoy that argument very much," he chuckled.
"So is there really a surprise? And have I already guessed what it is?"
"Oh, I doubt that."
"Well. . .is it animal, vegetable or mineral?"
"I would say. . .sort of mineral."
"Mineral?" Lorelai did not expect that answer. "Okay, now I'm really intrigued. Is it. . ."
"No, no more questions," Luke said firmly. "You can guess all you want but you'll never get it and I won't tell you."
"Oh, all right, all right. Spoilsport," she muttered. She smiled at his chuckle and then straightened up, serious again. "Hey, what about April?"
"April," Luke said, "is being invited over to Leslie's house for a sleepover. Carol Von Bergan called me to commiserate about what happened yesterday. She thought it might be nice if April and a few of their friends slept over Saturday night. Leslie is asking April today." He paused. "So your crack about being busy until Sunday afternoon might turn out to be true," he said huskily.
"Wow," Lorelai enthused. "Alone twice in one week!"
"Things are definitely looking up," Luke chuckled.
Their plans for the weekend helped a lot to balance their concern about April. Every night she reported that she hadn't been bothered again at school, but admitted that she couldn't get the incident out of her mind and had begun feeling the old guilt about her mother. She nodded in agreement when they suggested that she be sure to bring it up with Kate during her session that week.
Luke took her to the appointment, as Lorelai was busy at the inn wrapping up some last-minute details for the weekend. He felt a little ridiculous sitting alone in the waiting room which was decorated with kid-friendly pictures and most of the magazines were child or family oriented. He decided that in the future he would try to bring paperwork or a book with him.
April left Kate's office looking a little more relaxed, but on the ride home would only say that she had talked with Kate about the whole thing and the counselor had been helpful. She was still a little moody that evening but a little bit better nonetheless.
Before Saturday's social events began, the ladies of the family had an important date to keep. Lorelai had made an appointment for them to go to the bridal shop that carried the dresses they wanted. It was in New Haven so Rory met them there.
They were delighted to find that the shop had samples of all three dresses they had picked out in all their sizes, so they could try them on. The store also had lengths of the sample fabrics in the right colors, which they laughingly draped over themselves. The dresses were pronounced satisfactory, their measurements were taken and the orders were placed.
While they were being measured, Lorelai wandered over to the section with the bridal gowns and began looking through them. She had formed some idea of what she wanted from the magazines she had been perusing but found nothing that pleased her. She had thought long and hard about it and had definitely decided that she did not want to use the dress she had originally bought. It was too much of a reminder of the unhappy winter and spring she had gone through and she didn't want to start out her marriage on that note.
While she was looking, Sookie wandered to her side, watching her. "So you're definitely getting a new dress?" she asked softly.
"Yep. Too many bad memories associated with the other one."
"What will you do with it?"
Lorelai considered. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe sell it. Or maybe pack it away. Rory liked it and she might need one in the next few years." She smiled at her friend. "Hopefully, we're going to have plenty of storage space in the near future."
"True. Do you see anything here?"
"No, not really."
"Well, don't wait too long." Sookie squeezed her arm. "Anytime you want to go shopping, just let me know."
They finished their business, Rory departed to return to school where she was beginning to get ready for her finals, and the rest of the group returned to Stars Hollow.
It was late afternoon, so, as planned, they stopped in Woodbridge to drop April off for her party and sleepover and swung back to town, where Lorelai let Sookie off at her house. She continued home to get ready for her date and was surprised to find the house empty. But then she came across a note from Luke, telling her he was going to get ready for the evening at the apartment. She grinned at this news. "Boy, he's really going all the way on this," she chuckled.
She hurried upstairs to take a luxurious, scented bubble bath and to get her hair in shape. She took her time with her primping but was still ready, in a little black dress that she knew drove him wild, at five after seven when she heard his truck drive up and the knock at the door.
She opened it immediately and smiled shyly. "Hello, Mr. Danes."
"Good evening, Ms. Gilmore," he responded. They just stood and smiled at each other for almost a full minute until he shifted and held out a box to her. "Oh, what's this?" she said, puzzled but pleased.
"Open it."
She did so and discovered a wrist corsage of white flowers that tied with a ribbon and contrasted beautifully with her black dress. "Oh, how nice!" she cried.
"I wanted to give you flowers that you could wear tonight but a regular corsage seemed like it would be a little out of place. So I got these."
"They're beautiful, Luke," she said, her eyes shining. "Will you put it on for me?"
He did so, caressing her wrist and raising her hand to his lips when he was done. "Are you ready to go?" he smiled.
They decided to take the Jeep and headed for a restaurant in Manchester. "Sookie knows the chef and recommended it," Luke explained. It was an Italian restaurant, replete with atmosphere, including red-checked tablecloths, dripping candles set in wine bottles and heavenly scents emanating from the kitchen.
Luke ordered wine and they toasted with the first glass. "I have a surprise for you," he said eagerly. "Another surprise."
"You mean this isn't the surprise you told me about? The mineral surprise?"
"No, that comes later," he chuckled. "This one I didn't expect." He gave her his full smile. "Taylor came in today. The town elders have accepted our offer. The house is ours."
"Luke!" Lorelai exclaimed. "That's so great! And they didn't fuss over the price?"
"No, they were perfectly happy with it. And a little annoyed at Taylor for trying to drive the price up." He took a sip of wine. "I talked with your father this morning and he's getting the wheels in motion. He had started the paperwork; now he just has to add our names. I have to talk to the bank to confirm our share of the financing and we should be able to close next week. We can start moving in right after that. I was thinking we could be in around the first of July and maybe celebrate the Fourth right there in our new home."
"But closing next week!" Lorelai had to work to keep from shrieking. "Wow, that's soon." Her brow puckered in a worried frown.
"What?" Luke asked, noticing her change of mood.
"Well, we've just got so much to do now. . ."
"Don't think about that tonight," he urged her. "Tonight's a night to be happy, not worried."
He got her to relax and by tacit agreement, they did not talk about practical matters all evening, not even about April's problems. Instead they treated the evening as if it was a first date, talking about all manner of things, telling each other stories from their childhood and reveling in the good feelings between them.
They finished dinner and went to the car. "Now do I get my surprise?" Lorelai asked eagerly.
"In a little while," Luke chuckled. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number that Lorelai couldn't see. "Hi. Yes, we're on the way. About a half-hour." He clicked off the phone, grinned at her and started the car.
Lorelai kept teasing to know where they were going. "If I guess will you tell me?" she finally asked.
"No, and you won't guess, so don't even try."
"But Luuuuuuuke. . ."
He reached out and took her hand. "Please, Lorelai. I want to surprise you. Please let me."
His gentle request mollified her and ended her questions.
A little while later they turned onto a street that Lorelai felt she vaguely recognized and Luke pulled to a stop in front of a small church.
Lorelai stared out the window. "This is the church where I was going to have the wedding," she said, puzzled and more than a little curious.
"Yep," Luke said succinctly. He walked around to her side, opened the door and took her arm, wrapping it around his elbow. He began to walk them towards the church, but then veered to the left to a little path on one side.
Lorelai's brain was buzzing a mile a minute. "Luke, what is this?"
He smiled and said nothing. They approached the community hall behind the church. "Are we going in?" she asked. He grinned at her and steered her onto a path going around the community hall.
And then she heard it. Carnival music. She stopped short and stared up at him, her mouth open and her face lighting with excitement. "No!" she exclaimed.
"Yes," Luke affirmed and pulled her along with him down the remainder of the path.
They turned around a corner to the back of the building and there it was—the carousel Lorelai had been so excited about as a feature of their wedding reception. All the lights were blazing, the music was blaring and the carousel was moving. But there was no one riding it.
Lorelai stared up at Luke, her mouth open. "It's ours for the next hour," he told her, smiling at her astonishment. "Just for us."
Lorelai stood stock-still, clinging to his arm. "Luke Danes," she choked out over her tears, "you are just so damned sweet!"
"Tell that to anyone and I'll deny it with my dying breath," Luke chuckled. He nodded to a smiling attendant who was slowing the carousel to allow them to get on. He pulled her with him and they climbed up the short staircase to the platform. "Pick your steed, my lady," Luke invited.
They walked around looking at the horses, all of various sizes and colors until she stopped at a snow-white one. "Here," she said. Luke took her waist in his hands and lifted her to sit on the horse sidesaddle, facing him. The attendant cranked up the mechanism and the carousel began to move.
Lorelai's face lit up with delight and her smile was as dazzling as the lights around them. "How? How did you think of this?"
"Well, when we picked out new wedding date a few weeks ago, you said that the thing you regretted the most about finding a new venue was missing the carousel," he said. "I just figured that tonight, of all nights, you deserved to get a chance to ride it."
She placed her hands on his shoulders and beamed down at him. "I love you so much," she whispered.
"And I love you," he told her, smiling back.
They stayed there, smiling into one another's eyes as the carousel went round and round in the moonlight.