Chapter 62
It was a pretty relaxed weekend for Shelby. As relaxed a weekend being sick could be, anyway.
Her body still ached a little on Saturday, but by this point, was extremely bored and did not want to sleep or watch TV anymore. So, instead, she laid on her back, holding her GameCube controller on her stomach while she played Luigi's Mansion. She had her own file she had started, plus a second file Shelby played whenever the twins were over and would let them take turns playing. Turns out, Luigi's Mansion was a ghost-capturing game where the player had to capture a bunch of ghosts and turn some of them back into portraits. Luke of course had a lot of issues with that, especially when Luigi's weapon of choice was a vacuum, and made no sense to him.
Shelby still threw up a couple times, but not as much as the day before, and was able to hold food down better, as long as it was something easy on the stomach. She really enjoyed eating all the soup she wanted. The boys were bummed they couldn't come over and play video games with Shelby. It was a pleasant break with not having anyone else over. Luke wasn't sure how parents with more than one kid could do it on a regular basis. One was definitely enough, and the one he had was easy to manage, thankfully.
By Sunday, though, Shelby was feeling a lot better, and Monday morning, she was able to go back to school. Mr. Harris worked with her on the tests she missed on Friday, and Shelby could take the spelling test with Ms. Kelly, who also used the words to help practice her speech. Miss Kelly highly praised the progress the kid was making. Luke, though, gave all the credit to Jess. He tried to work with Shelby, too, usually in casual conversation, but it was mostly Jess who was the real hero of helping Shelby with her sounds. The real challenge was that blasted T ending sound that she still seemed to struggle with. Shelby was coming along on the ST, SL, SK, etc sounds, at least.
That week, since Luke thought Jess seemed to be doing well with helping in the diner, suggested Jess do the ordering. Thinking back, Luke probably would have had more success if he told Shelby to do it when it had completely slipped Jess' mind and Luke ended up serving Kirk a lettuce sandwich. So he had to run to Doose's to grab a few things to tide them over until the next day when Luke could do the ordering.
The following Saturday, despite Ethan and Alan wanting desperately to come over and play, Shelby had offered to help the Gilmore girls clean out their garage first when Lorelai had told Lane, her band could use it to rehearse their music.
While Shelby was over at the girls' house, Luke was having to deal with the beginning construction Taylor was having done on his new shop he was renting from Luke, and in the process, driving Luke crazy until finally he stormed over to say something and ended up wanting to punch Taylor in the nose.
Fed up, Luke tried to walk away, greatly exasperated. That is, until Taylor caught him before he headed back to the diner.
"By the way, Luke," he said. "I noticed you haven't returned any of my lawyer's calls about the lease agreement."
Luke turned back around to stare at the guy, still wanting to punch him in the nose.
"Now, we have to set up an appointment to see that those papers get signed."
"Forget it," Luke told him, shaking his head. "I'm not going through any lawyer. You want those papers signed, you pick them up and you walk them over to me." He held a finger up as he said, "then I'll sign them."
Taylor did the same with his own finger. "Luke, this is business. It needs to be done properly and legally."
Throwing a hand out to the side, Luke came back with, "It's a standard release form, Taylor. I bought it at Office Depot."
"All the more reason to have a professional take a little look-see," the older man shrugged as Luke rolled his head and shoulders back. "There's a reason they say good lawyers makes for good neighbors."
"Who the hell said that?!"
"Oh, everybody says that," Taylor said. "Okay, now back to work." He then turned back to annoy Tom once more, who kept telling him to get away from his saw. Stealing one last look at Taylor, Luke just walked away before he actually did end up punching him.
Lorelai dropped Shelby off once they finished around early afternoon. When she excitedly mentioned there were bugs living in Lorelai's garage, Luke told her to go take a shower and to put her clothes immediately into the washer so he could wash them, not wanting an infestation of any kind in not only the apartment but the diner, as well, and offered Lorelai to spray the place next time he could.
To make it up to them, the twins stayed the night Saturday, spending most of it playing the GameCube, getting to stay up later than they normally did since Luke kept the diner open a little longer.
Not a surprise to Luke, Taylor did not walk the papers over to the diner for him to sign. Instead, Thursday, he sent his lawyer, still wanting to do things the way he wanted. She asked Jess who had been standing there when she came in.
"Oh, Lucas," he called in a singsong tone before walking away, thinking she was from the IRS.
"I'm Luke Danes," he said, walking over.
"Luke Danes," she corrected herself, apologizing. "Well, hello, Luke Danes. I'm Nicole Leahy." She was searching around in her bag. "I'm Taylor Doose's attorney."
When Luke heard who she was, he sighed. "Aw, jeez."
Nicole pulled out the papers Taylor was supposed to bring over. "He wanted me to bring..."
Luke held a hand out as he assured, "Yeah, the lease agreements. Yes, I know. I told him to walk them over here," he gave a slight shrug of the same hand, "but hey, what's the fun of being Taylor, right?" Luke searched around at the floor before looking up at her.
"I'm sorry if this is a bad time," she apologized, sincerely. "It won't take me very long."
"No, no," he said. "Fine. Whatever. Let's get this over with." Luke turned and headed around the counter, offering her some coffee.
Nicole happily accepted the offer as she took a seat at the counter, setting her things down. "I really just need to witness your signature, is all," she explained as Luke poured her a cup. "It's actually just a formality."
Being his usual grumpy self, he said, "In other words, completely ridiculous and unnecessary."
"Uh-huh," she agreed.
"Okay." Luke pushed the cup towards her before setting the coffeepot back in its place.
"Mr. Doose really likes things to be formal. And neat... And in triplicate," Nicole waved her hand around her paperwork. "He just loves things in triplicate." She gave him a smile before taking a drink of her coffee. "Mmm," she nodded in satisfaction. "That's a really good cup of coffee." Nicole then set it down to the side, which Luke thanked her for, awkwardly, and quickly changed the subject.
Lowering his gaze to sign the papers, he said, "So, tell me something." Luke signed the first page before flipping to the next page. "What's it like being Taylor's lawyer?"
"Well, actually, I'm not exactly Mr. Doose's lawyer. Or only lawyer," she quickly added. "He's one of our select clients, so all of our attorneys deal with him on a rotating basis. It's my month."
"My condolences," he told her.
"Yeah, my father always told me that does not kill you makes you stronger."
"You're gonna be really strong."
Nicole snickered before picking up her coffee to take another sip. "He's not that bad."
"Seriously, if you run into somebody pinned underneath a truck, pick it up. It's gonna be a piece of cake."
While Luke was signing what he needed to sign, Nicole happened to look over behind him. He glimpsed her wave a hand up as she said, "hi, there." Then she asked him, "She yours?"
Luke looked back behind him to see Shelby hugging the wall. "Yep, that's Shelby." He gave the kid an encouraging smile before turning forward again. Not too long after that, Luke felt her grab onto his jeans, hiding behind him. "New faces make her anxious. "
Nicole nodded. "I see." She gave Shelby a kind smile who was peeking around her dad's legs.
"Okay. Looks like that's the whole nine yards." He dropped the pen he was using and nudged everything back towards Nicole.
"Great," she told him, taking it. "You and Mr. Doose are officially in business together." Nicole quickly said, "I'm so sorry," at Luke's look of discomfort. "I meant that as a good thing."
He assured, "It's okay," holding a hand up.
Nicole stood up off the stool. "Well, I will let you get back to work." She started to reach for her wallet to pay for the coffee until Luke told her it was on the house. Nicole suggested letting Taylor pay for it since it was business, which was even better in his book. She then turned to leave, saying bye to Shelby.
Once Nicole was gone, Jess came over. "Well, that was an interesting show."
"What are you yammering about?" Luke questioned of his nephew.
"Guess Gloria Allred wants to go slumming."
"Shut up," Luke told him, annoyed, and walked away.
Jess followed. "She was totally coming onto you."
"She was not," he denied.
"Couldn't you hear her panting when you were signing those things?"
"Didn't see it." Luke quickly moved to a different spot, but Jess just continued.
"She laughed at your jokes. We both know there's gotta be some ulterior motive to people that laugh at your jokes."
"I laugh ah Dad's jokes," Shelby could finally say. Her tone was still soft, but the guys could still hear her.
"You also find a sponge with an annoying laugh, funny," he pointed out while leaning against the back counter. Shelby just stuck her tongue out at him. Jess flicked her in the head playfully, which she flinched out of his reach before tackling her cousin. However, all Jess had to do was grab onto her and wrap an arm around her neck, in a gentle sleeper hold.
"Will you two knock it off," Luke finally scolded the both of them and made them let go of each other. Getting back to the point, he told Jess, "and besides, even if there was something, which I'm not saying there was, she's a suit. Not my type." He then turned around to make a note in his writing pad.
"Yeah," Jess agreed, stepping towards the front counter to put an extra salt and pepper shaker away underneath, "especially since she's not a monk."
Luke defensively turned on him again. "Oh, I don't go out much? Is that what that's supposed to mean?"
He shook his head once before fully facing his uncle. "Take a look at a calendar. When was the last time you went out on a date? A year? Two years ago?" Jess folded his arms in front of him tightly as he leaned back against the back counter again.
"Last month, wiseass. I went out with Joanna Cooper."
"You gave her a ride home," he pointed out.
"A ride home is the end of a date," Luke argued.
"Only if you go out on a date first."
"I'm not gonna discuss this with you." Luke then walked away again.
"Suit yourself." Jess stood up and continued to follow him. "I have to go meet Rory, anyhow. You see, I'm gonna go pick her up. Spend a few hours, actually be with her, then give her a ride home. That's called the end of a date."
"Or, I could stay open a few hours, which means you're here till ten. That's also called the end of a date," he said, stubbornly.
Jess just shook his head at nothing as he said, "Hopeless," and gently slapped his uncle on the back before leaving. Even after he left, Luke moved down the counter one last time before stopping to stare at nothing in particular.
Luke then caught a look from Shelby. He gave her a kind smile who gladly returned it.
Lorelai stopped by for dinner that evening. Rory was supposed to be meeting her there and was late. Thankfully, Shelby was able to entertain the woman until Rory could get there. When Luke returned to their table to top off their coffee, he noticed the Gilmore girls had a stack of books and his own kid had a confused, but hurt look on her face.
"What are you two doing to my kid?" he asked of them, pointing out the look.
"Nothing, my mom's learning how to fish," replied Rory, like she hadn't even noticed until he pointed it out.
"You're what?" Luke also held a confused look, minus the hurt part.
"I'm learning how to fish," Lorelai repeated with a continuous nod.
"Oh, sorry. Wrong inflection," he said with a nod. "You're what?"
"Go away," she told him.
"Why are you learning how to fish?"
"Um..." Lorelai paused, looking over at Rory, who focused on her food. "It's just something I wanted to do. Some friends of mine fish. And I thought, if they could do it, I can do it." She waved her hand at him.
"Okay." Luke rolled his head away, not totally buying it. That's when he noticed the confused, hurt look Shelby had evolved more towards hurt. He then remembered the kid trying to persuade Lorelai and Rory to come with them on a fishing trip, to which they both politely declined. Neither one was into the whole catching fish thing.
"And what if I am a really great fisher? I mean, what if that's my calling, the thing that I'm meant to do?" She briefly shrugged her hands upward as she continued. "All this time, I've been sitting here with the gift of fish, and I am squandering it. It's like if Mozart walked right by the piano store and never played a note."
"So you're gonna fish to fulfill your destiny," he stated with a nod.
"That's right."
"And you're gonna learn to fish to fulfill your destiny from a book?"
"Yes."
He looked over at Rory to ask, "And you sanctioned this?"
"Yes," she replied confidently.
"Okay, Thelma, Louise, possibly there's another way to learn to fish," he told the two of them.
"The fishing channel," Lorelai told Rory in realization.
But Luke pointed out, "I fish, and taught Shelby how to fish."
"Oh yeah, I've seen those boots thingies outside drying off," Rory remembered.
"Those would be called waders."
"And I'm sure I'll be reading about waders soon in one of these cliffhangers, here," Lorelai waved her finger in circles at the book open in front of her.
"If you want, I can show ya a few things. Get ya started, make sure you don't strangle yourself with your own line. The basics."
"Are you sure you don't mind?" she asked.
"I can come over tomorrow after work," he nodded. "And I'm sure Shelby there would be glad too. Right, Shell?" Surprisingly, all Shelby responded with was a nod.
Lorelai thanked both of them, but told Luke she didn't want to learn the gross parts that came with fishing, like gutting them.
Shelby was strangely quiet for the rest of the time they were there, not jumping up to hug either of them good-bye. Once they left, Luke finally confronted his little buddy about it.
"What's wrong, kiddo?" He kneeled beside her chair. Shelby sat with her knees brought up towards her with her heels hanging off the edge of the chair. Luke grabbed onto her right arm and gently rubbed it. "Is it because Lorelai's learning to fish when she wouldn't go with us that one time?"
That time, she at least nodded while staring at nothing.
"I'm sorry, kiddo." Luke leaned forward to kiss the side of her head. "I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it. She's probably trying to impress a friend or something." He looked at her, sideways. When Luke noticed her eyes were watering, he reached up to wipe a tear away as it escaped. "Wanna help me teach her since you're a pro at fishing now?"
Again, she nodded.
Luke smiled, moving some hair out of her face. "Come on. I could use some help cleaning up."
Shelby finally looked up and slid off of her chair before wrapping her arms around her dad to hug his neck. Luke rubbed a hand along her back, gently, before she let go and started collecting the ketchup and mustard bottles.
The next day, Luke got everything needed, packed in his truck for the fishing lesson. On the way to Lorelai's, he stopped by the school to pick Shelby up when school let out for the day. Once he pulled up to her house, Luke unloaded everything and blew up a child's small swimming pool with the same air pump he used to blow up the air mattress he had first gotten for Jess, and filled it with water.
"How come we're no' going to the lake?" Shelby asked, curious.
"Because Lorelai's not ready for the lake yet," he answered.
"You never made me fish in a swimming pool," she pointed out.
"Well, we technically didn't exactly have that luxury since you were living in that foster home, and we didn't have a whole lot of time to work with."
"So, if we did, would I have 'tarted in a swimming pool, too?"
"Yes, we would have. Thankfully, the fish was biting that day anyway, so it worked out."
Shelby looked inside the bucket her dad had sitting nearby where there were trout inside. Once everything was ready, Luke grabbed the two adult fishing rods as he walked over to honk the horn in his truck. Shelby already was holding hers, practicing casting it into the pool, and reeled her line back in.
When Luke turned back around, Lorelai stepped out onto the front porch. Apparently, she had done a little shopping.
The two of them stared at the woman, strangely.
"Wha's she wearing, Dad?"
"I don't know, but she looks ridiculous," Luke replied.
"I look adorable," Lorelai corrected him before making her way down the steps. "No one ever told me that if you fish, you get to buy an outfit. I'll do just about anything if I can buy an outfit." She seemed very pleased with that fact.
Luke and Shelby both exchanged strange looks between each other.
"I'll just let that go by because we have a lot to do here," he told her.
"Okay. I'll just get my purse before we go." Lorelai turned to head back into the house.
"Go where?"
She stumbled a little as Lorelai made to turn back around. "To the lake."
Shaking his head, Luke said, "You're not ready for the lake."
"Then what am I ready for?"
Luke pointed over at the swimming pool.
Lorelai looked appalled as she gasped. "You're putting me in the kiddie lake?" she protested. Lorelai followed him and Shelby over there.
"Gotta crawl before you can walk," he stated, setting the poles and tackle boxes down beside the pool.
She shrugged her hands up, "Well, this is not at all embarrassing. There's not even fish in it." At that point, Luke grabbed the bucket with the trout and dumped them into the pool. "Hey! Oh, they're so cute. Hello, hi boys." While Lorelai pointed out how they seemed like a trout chorus, Luke moved everything over to where he set the tackle boxes on a couple of folding chairs.
"I wouldn't get too attached," he pointed out.
"Hi, Gomer," she named one of them.
"There ya go." Luke didn't recall Shelby ever naming any of the fish they caught.
"Oh, don't be scared, Pinky."
"And now there's Pinky," he sighed, setting one of the fishing poles on the ground.
Lorelai gently tapped his arm. "Pinky Dowdy from fourth grade. See her eyes darting back and forth, all panicked?" She kneeled down. "She got that way from dodgeball. It's okay, Pinky. Nobody's gonna hurt you. Hey, Pete. Stop crowding Pinky. It's okay, Pinky, just go over there behind Shirl." Slowly but surely, she rose back up.
"Okay, now that everybody knows each other, take this." Luke handed her the fishing pole he was still holding.
"What's that?" she asked, looking at it in her hands.
"Shell?" He let Shelby answer.
"I's your rod and reel," she told Lorelai.
"Oh, rod and reel," Lorelai sounded nervous. "I don't know if the guys are gonna like this."
"Well, we can skip the lesson and just take the trout out for some beers," Luke told her, sarcastically. "It's up to you, really."
A snicker was heard coming from Shelby in the back of her throat.
"No, I'm going to learn," Lorelai told him, ignoring the kid.
Nodding, he started the lesson. "Okay, I already went ahead and threaded your line through the guides here, and put a hook on it."
"What kind of bait is that?" Lorelai pointed to the hook.
"It's a cork."
"Remind me not to let you cater any of my parties," she said, half jokingly.
"It's to cover the hook," he explained before moving along. "Okay, this little metal thing is the..."
"The bail," Shelby finished. "I's the important par' tha' keeps your line on the spool."
Lorelai repeated what she said, making sure she had it. Both Luke and Shelby took turns explaining the step-by-step process of casting one's line into the water before letting Lorelai try on her own, releasing at eleven instead of at two o'clock. She tried again, this time, making it into the pool.
"Hey! I made it in the pool! I made it in the pool."
"I see that," Luke told her while Shelby praised her like Luke usually praises her.
"Thanks, Shelster. At least somebody's excited," she teased.
"I'm very excited," Luke pointed out.
"Well then, jump around or something."
"Okay, alright. Now you're going in the pool," he threatened.
"Be nice, Dad," Shelby scolded her dad, which Lorelai sang, "somebody's in trouble," and gave Shelby a wink.
Luke just ignored the girls. "Okay, what do ya think?" he asked, clapping and rubbing his hands together. "Ready to take the cork off and try your luck?"
Lorelai stammered as he went to grab the other pole. "I'm ready, but they're not."
"No problem." Luke grabbed the fishing pole, taking it back over, letting Shelby cast her line before doing the same.
Lorelai shook her line around which Shelby told her she was going to scare the fish away from the line. "Man, you need a lot of stuff for fishing."
"Well, normally, you don't bring your own lake," Luke pointed out.
"Right, right."
"So, tell me why you're doing this?" he asked, curious.
"Because you told me to."
"I mean, tell me why you're learning to fish," he corrected her.
"Oh. I told you. Some of my friends are going..."
"What friends? Sookie?" he questioned.
She looked at him, as if caught off guard. "What?"
"Is Sookie going fishing?"
"Well," she started to say.
"Or Rory," he shrugged. "Rory suddenly get the overwhelming urge to dig for worms and stand in the middle of a lake at five A.M.?"
Lorelai forced a smile as she said, "Yes."
Luke just smiled, knowing she was lying.
"Okay, fine." She looked ahead long enough to say, "I met this guy."
"Ah," Luke stated as if it became clear, but he somehow had a hunch.
"And he's kind of a outdoorsy guy."
"Oh, just your type," he said in sarcasm.
"No, not exactly," she shook her head while forcing a slight laugh. "But he's nice. And, uh, he was talking about fishing, and I think I said something like, oh hey, that sounds great. And so he invited me and so here I am."
Luke shrugged as he stared ahead at the pool this time. "I got it."
"Hmm." There was a brief pause. Only a few birds were heard from somewhere nearby until Lorelai said, "sorry I didn't tell you."
He looked over at her. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I don't know. I just felt stupid," she shook her head at the pool, "getting rooked into the thing in the first place, and then... and..." Lorelai continued to shake her head. "Plus, you don't want to hear about my personal life."
Things got quiet again. Luke had begun swinging back and forth on his heels. He wasn't sure why this seemed to bother him, but it did. As long as Lorelai was happy, that's all that mattered, right?
Finally, he asked, "So, this would be your first date, or...?"
"Second."
"Second date." Luke nodded toward the pool.
"He took me to this coffee-tasting place."
His eyebrows rose. "Coffee-tasting. Just your type." Both of them forced a slight chuckle. "Well, I think that's great."
"Thank you."
"When are you going?" he asked, curious.
"Sunday morning," she replied.
He nodded some more. "Well, hard to be a fisherwoman without your own pole," he pointed out. "You can borrow one of mine if you want."
"Really?"
"I got an extra little tackle box, too. If you want," he quickly added.
"That'll be great." There was another long pause before Lorelai asked, "Can you and Shelby do me one more favor?"
"Sure."
"Put a cork on your hooks."
"Sure." He had to nudge Shelby gently in the back of her legs with his knee before handing his pole to Lorelai, to fetch a couple of corks. Shelby had gone quiet the whole time, not really saying much else for the rest of the lesson. Even when Lorelai mentioned a childhood law that states kids should play soccer. It was Luke who inputted she wanted to try every sport at some point, including golf.
"Oh, you should let me know when that time comes. I'm sure my father would love to give her a lesson," Lorelai replied, mostly joking.
"I will do that," he nodded, going along with it. "How's that sound, Shell?" But all he saw was a slight shrug. Not even a smile.
Sunday came. Only Rory had come for breakfast since Lorelai had left early that morning for her fishing date. Luke happened to notice later that day, the same woman from before, Nicole, he was pretty sure was her name, talking to Taylor. He waved and cheesily smiled when she returned it and frowned when Taylor also waved to him.
Luke set the plate of food he was holding in front of the person who ordered it, offering to top off his coffee as well before stealing another look at her. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Shelby had made her way over, carrying the rag she was using to wipe down tables and tapped his arm.
Motioning for his ear, Luke kneeled to her level so she could whisper, "You should be happy, Dad." It seemed like Shelby was encouraging him to go ask Nicole out.
Luke couldn't help smile at his little buddy. Reaching towards her, he kissed her cheek before standing up to hurry outside, and try to catch Nicole before she left, telling Jess to fill the guy's cup.
"Uh... Miss... Leahy?"
Yeah?" She looked over at him. "Mr. Danes. Hey, how are you?"
"Good, good," he stepped off the sidewalk, "and it's Luke."
"Okay, Luke. What can I do for you?"
"I wouldn't cross there," he pointed at the street behind her.
She glanced out the corner of her eye before asking, "Why not?"
He shrugged, "Taylor's a stickler about jaywalking, and he's town magistrate. I'd hate for ya to be disbarred."
"Well, that would be a bad way to end a career," she nodded at nothing and thanked him.
"Sure. So..." Luke hesitated, never any good at these types of situations. Procrastinating, he asked, "did the release forms all work out? I mean, was my signature okay? 'Cause sometimes I'm kind of in a hurry, and my hand just takes off without me." He moved his hand through the air as if he was writing before replacing it right back into his back pocket where the other hand was.
"Your signature seemed very steady."
"Good, good. 'Cause you never know." He shook his head at the ground. Nicole was about to turn to leave when Luke suddenly interrupted her. "Listen," he removed his hands, now swinging them together. "I was thinking about that cup of coffee you had at my place the other day. I felt bad making Taylor pay for it. Not that I ever feel bad sticking it to Taylor." Luke forced a chuckle. "I just thought it might get ya in trouble with a client. Hate to see ya disbarred, again." He nodded his head.
She had looked away but turned back to him to admit, "To be honest, I actually paid for the coffee myself."
"Oh."
Nicole nodded.
"Oh, well then, at least let me pay you back for it," Luke told her.
She stared him. "You want to give me seventy-five cents?"
Luke shook his head, "No," and snorted a little. "No. No. What I meant was..." He tried desperately to work up the courage. If his own kid could do it, then he most definitely should be able to. However, there was somewhat of an internal struggle, sort of holding him back and not just the nervousness. But, finally, he said, "ah, what the hell."
Sliding his hands back into his back pockets, he asked, "Would you like to have dinner with me sometime?"
Nicole suddenly straightened up in surprise. She smiled. "Yeah."
He stared at her with even more surprise. "Really?"
"I'd love to have dinner with you."
"Great. Okay." Luke couldn't believe this was happening. He took a deep breath in, letting it out. "Well, I have your card. Why don't I give ya a call this week, and," he nodded, "we'll make that happen?"
"Sounds good," she smiled towards the ground.
He nodded some more. "Yeah, sounds good." Pointing at the street again, Luke warned, "Watch those crosswalks." She thanked him before he headed back to the diner. As he was walking back, he noticed Shelby had been watching from the window who suddenly acted like she was wiping down the table nearby. Though, she wasn't the only one watching. Apparently, Jess was too. Him, Luke told to shut up.
He shrugged with a smirk. "I said nothing."
Luke took the coffeepot from him. "Well, don't," and walked away. As he set the coffeepot back into its place, the realization finally sunk in. This really was happening. Luke was going on a date. Technically, he hadn't been on a date since... Well, since Rachel. A feeling of butterflies fluttered through his stomach as he thought more about it. He couldn't believe he was doing this.
An actual date with somebody his own age...
