Gilmore Handbook Rule 37

Pouting to get your way is not just for five-year-olds.

"Good morning, Luke, I will have the delicious eggs with twice the normal amount of bacon, and some bacon on the side, and Rory will have her usual," Lorelai insisted.

Luke had to take a double take. She called him LUKE. Not DUKE, but LUKE. Wow, was that a step. He nodded. "How do you want your eggs?" he asked.

Lorelai contemplated. "Can you make me some sunny-side up, some scrambled, and some over-easy? We'll try poached and hard boiled another day. Ooh, and maybe eggs benedict, and omelets, too! I have yet to decide my favorite way to have my eggs, and I'm thinking I should probably start egg-sperimenting."

Rory giggled. "That was a good one," she said.

Lorelai grinned. "Thank you. I thought so. So, Luke, what do you say to my sunny-scrambled-over easy egg breakfast?"

Luke rolled his eyes. "I can't make you three different types of eggs. That's going to take way too long and you probably won't eat them anyway with all the bacon you're going to be eating. That would completely defeat the purpose of you ordering them in the first place. You could try one a day and it would have the same effect."

Rory nodded. "Sorry, Mom, but he's got a good point," she said, looking up from her book to agree, then down at her book again.

Lorelai pouted. "Please?" she asked.

Luke had never seen the Gilmore pout before. Lorelai's lower lip seemed to go there naturally. How, Luke had no idea, but it stayed there. He had a feeling that it would stay there until he gave in.

"Lorelai…"

Lorelai pouted even more. "Please?" she begged in a tiny voice.

Luke shook his head, more in disbelief than to deny Lorelai her eggs. He couldn't believe her strange ability to get him to do exactly what she wanted him to do. He sighed, and shrugged. "Fine. Fine. Eggs scrambled, sunny side up, and over easy. Coming right up."

"Yay!" Lorelai clapped. "This is so exciting!"

Luke walked away, rolling his eyes, knowing that it would be near impossible to say 'no' to Lorelai Gilmore ever again. She knew how to get inside his head. She knew to use the pout, and Luke would cave. Maybe he could build a tolerance to the pout… but he was thinking it wouldn't come easy.

"That pout…" Luke started.

Lorelai grinned. "Is the best Gilmore feature besides our eyes, yes, I agree. It gets me whatever I want. It makes me somehow convince you of things I would never be able to get you to think about otherwise. I love it."

Luke shook his head. "You are so manipulative," he said.

"I love manipulating people. It's rather fun," Lorelai replied, rubbing her hands together as though she had an evil plan.

"Do you do this on a daily basis?" Luke asked, stunned.

Lorelai smiled. "It all depends on what's going on that day. Mostly it's just manipulating you," she teased.

"Are you saying I'm easily convinced?"

"Uh, yes," Lorelai said, cutting right to the chase.

Luke rolled his eyes. He made a mental note to ignore the pout from then on, but then again, he probably wouldn't be successful at it, anyway. But, he had to pretend he had some shred of dignity in him. He shook his head. "Okay, name another time I gave in. I bet I didn't just agree without some sort of self defense."

Lorelai thought for a moment, then grinned when she came up with yet another scenario. "You'll remember this one," she said.

Rory had been away for three days, and Lorelai was going crazy. She missed Rory so much. What could she do? She could go shopping. But then again she'd have to shop all by herself. She could watch TV… but she'd be all by herself. Man, this 'all by herself' thing was getting to her. She suddenly got an idea. She could have Luke keep her company! Brilliant.

She walked to the diner and walked in nonchalantly, waiting to be noticed. It took a few minutes, but Luke finally saw her sitting at the counter. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I have a shirt, I'm definitely wearing shoes, so… service?" Lorelai quipped.

Luke groaned. "I'm not in the mood for this, Lorelai, it's been a slow day, and I'm already irritated."

"Then I have a plan," Lorelai announced.

"Don't you always," Luke grumbled.

Lorelai grinned. "You can take me to laser tag," she announced.

"No," Luke replied without thinking.

"The arcade?"

Luke shook his head as a response.

"The mall?" she asked. When his glare intensified, Lorelai pouted. "Well then, how about the batting cages? Compromise. Luke, I miss Rory, really badly, and I just need some company. Please? I won't keep you for more than two hours and I'll buy you lunch."

Luke's face softened a little. "You don't have to buy me lunch," he said with a sigh. "But if you want to go to the batting cages, you need to change your shoes."

"I'm on it, meet you here in ten minutes," Lorelai announced.

Luke rolled his eyes. He'd so obviously been tricked by the pout once again.

Lorelai pumped her fist. "Ha. Told you there was another time," she said proudly.

"When hasn't there been a time when you've tried to manipulate someone using the pout? Even Taylor knows you've used the pout," Luke pointed out.

Lorelai consented. "This is true, but how often does it work on Taylor, huh? I'd say never. He's too stuck on his town bylaws that there'd never be a reason he'd go with me on the pout."

"And when did you develop this panacea, this world saving pout?" Luke replied sarcastically.

Lorelai gasped. "You really don't appreciate this kind of stuff, do you? I'm guessing you will never understand its full importance in your life."

"I really could live without that epiphany, thank you," Luke muttered.

Lorelai sighed. "Luke, you're almost done here. Then you can get your hat back and go to bed, or do the manly things you like to do. Like have spitting contests to see how far…"

"How many more rules do you have?" Luke asked, pretending to be impatient.