Lorelai bounced into the diner and onto a stool at the counter in front of a busy Luke. When he saw a familiar devious glint in her eye, he put down the cup he was drying and braced himself. She was clearly scheming some fresh annoyance for him. They stared at each other for a long moment; her mischievous smile widened as his eyes narrowed in suspicion at her uncharacteristic silence. Without breaking the silence or eye contact, she took the empty mug in front of her and lifted it towards him. He had warned her he would no longer be her caffeine enabler after a certain hour and she came in that night to test his resolve. Instead of filling the proffered mug, he snatched it from her and put it on the shelf behind him. He raised his eyebrows in challenge. Her jaw dropped with surprise only for a moment before lifting back into a smile. She locked on his eyes again and reached for the mug he had just been drying to hold it out to him. He snatched that too, making a show of placing it next to the first. She glanced around then reached to her right, toward the the dirty dishes recently left behind by another customer, and grabbed the already used mug. He took it from her as she lifted it, rolled his eyes, and pivoted away to put it in the bussing bin behind him. When he turned back to her, she was rifling through her purse. The thought that she may have given up her coffee quest turned into a smug smile on his face as he watched her search her bag. With a happy gasp, she found her quarry and turned her face to his again. Smiling wickedly, she lifted a large ceramic mug from her bag and presented it to him. His mouth dropped open and as his eyes widened, so did her grin.
"Seriously, Lorelai?" He groused as he took the cup by the rim to shake at her "You seriously had the forethought to bring your own - wait, is this..?" He paused and caught a closer look, "It is! This is from the diner, this is My mug!" She tried to suppress her laughter as he careened into full rant mode. "That's stealing! You're stealing to support your habit now! You're like an after school special, ya know." He turned from her, pacing on autopilot as the frustration fueled the stream of consciousness flowing from him. "First it's like innocent experimenting. A little pick me up here and there. No big deal, you can stop whenever you want. Next thing you know, you're a junkie!" he set the mug in front of her and threw his hands up "Desperate! Doing whatever it takes for a fix," Without awareness, he grabbed the carafe from the coffee maker and waved it around. She pushed the mug a little closer to him, her eyes tracking the sloshing coffee pot, waiting for the muscle memory in his pouring arm to take hold, "stealing from your friends and God knows what else you'd do if I..." Something behind her caught Luke's eye and he trailed off, the caffeine she craved still held aloft. She spun on her stool to glare at whatever it was that had foiled her manipulations. "Taylor what the hell are you doing?" Luke shouted.
He slid the coffee pot onto the counter as he rounded it to confront the man who was moving furniture and stretching a measuring tape across the room. Lorelai smiled, grabbed the abandoned carafe, poured generously into her stolen cup and settled in to watch the show.
"Well," Taylor explained with an exasperated sigh "we have to make sure there is enough space for the participants and that the proctor can see -"
"Participants? proctor? The hell are you talking about? Stop touching stuff!" Luke barked as he shadowed Taylor through the diner, undoing any change the interloper made.
"The contest!" Taylor continued, "The trivia contest? Don't you know about - Oh Luke, you should really come to the town meetings."
"Which town meeting?"
"All of them!"
"No Taylor, I mean at which town meeting did you discuss... whatever the hell this is!"
"The last one."
"I was at the last one! I left after YOU said we were done. To prep the diner for the after-meeting crowd. Which included you if I remember right."
"Well I guess there may have been one last thing" Taylor rushed on as he noticed Luke's fist clenching "Aaaanyway, the people wanted a little fun, a little town commeraderie."
Luke scoffed, knowing 'the people' had nothing to do with Taylor's decisions. "So I had the idea to let everyone show how much they love Stars Hollow through trivia! We just need a couple of venues to host the testing, and a couple people to watch for cheaters, and we're all set!"
"Fine Taylor, but what's that got to do with me?"
"Well, the diner was suggested as a venue and I thought it was a wonderful idea. The people thought you'd be fine with it!"
"No. No way. You're not corralling a bunch of kooks in here to take up all my tables, not order any food, and drink free refills while they ponder the ridiculous history of this ridiculous town for God knows how long! Get out!"
"C'mon Luke, everyone's participating, KCs and Weston's are on board" Taylor protested as Luke herded him out the door. "Sounds like you've got more than enough space then."
"Well if you won't host, you could at least be a proctor"
"Ha! Be lord among the idiots? I don't think so." Luke pushed Taylor out the door, slammed it shut, and turned to Lorelai who was leaning back against the counter, sipping and smiling.
"Unbelievable. Why would he ever think I'd go for this? And 'the people'. The people said it would be fine? Who would ever...?" He caught Lorelai's gaze as she smiled into her cup
"You didn't. Did you tell him to use the diner?" He accused as he crossed the floor to stand over her. His quick movement and sudden closeness startled her into the truth "Of course not. We told him you wouldn't go for it, but you know Taylor. He's stubborn."
Luke dropped his head with a sigh then noticed the mug in her hands. He pushed his fingers on the rim to tilt it slightly toward him, appraising the contents, "Yeah, stubborn. I know something about that." He glanced over to the now empty pot she had next to her and rolled his eyes. "You know you're not supposed to pour your own."
"OK, make some more and I'll let you pour it for me."
"Lorelai" he grumbled as he leaned across her to grab the pot.
"Please Luke? Please please please? I need it." She begged. His face nearly brushed hers as he straightened. Their breath caught and they froze, looking into each other's eyes. Just then, the doors opened with a jingle and Babette charged in. "Lorelai, honey! How are ya?"
Lorelai cleared her throat and dropped her chin to her chest, "Great Babette. You?" Luke skirted the counter and busied himself making more coffee.
"Great, doll. We just heard that the trivia isn't happening here, so we're gonna meet at KCs instead. Have a few drinks, a few laughs. You coming?"
"Sure, Babette, I'll be there."
"How about you, Luke?"
"No thanks." He scoffed.
"Ah c'mon doll" Babette rasped, "might be fun. Just think, if you were to win, that might get Taylor's pants in a bunch."
Luke smiled at that, but walked away.
"Work on him, would ya?" Babette asided to Lorelai then continued "OK see ya later doll!" And left with another jingle.
Luke returned to his post and refilled Lorelai's cup. She regarded him carefully
"It's been a while since I've been to KCs." She supposed aloud. His responding nod was noncommittal.
"Like a couple weeks I think" she continued, "what about you?"
He shrugged and nodded, "Yeah, a while." She needled "Like a couple weeks?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"You were at KCs a couple weeks ago, really" her voice dripping with incredulity. "Yeah, or so."
"Really."
"Yeah, Lorelai. I go to KCs sometimes" his voice ratcheted up with frustration.
"With who?"
"I go to watch a game every so often."
She scoffed "I meant go Out to KCs. Like with People."
"There are people there."
"I Meant people who Planned to be there With you, Luke."
"It's the same people Lorelai! It's a small town, all the people I'd plan with are already there."
She took a beat and changed tack. "Well anyway", she waved a hand, "I told them. I told them you'd never host and you wouldn't join in either. You just don't really like fun, that's all."
"Hey, I like fun. Just because I don't dive into the deep end of Taylor's insanity doesn't mean I'm not fun."
"Ok so what do you do? Like for entertainment?"
"You know, whatever."
"What, like go for a couple drinks with friends, let loose?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Oh? And when was the last time you did that?"
"I don't know, recently."
"Oh, yeah sounds like a blast; real memorable." She retorted sarcastically.
He groaned and grasped his hatted head in both hands.
Lorelai softened her tone, "I'm just saying, you're always here working or upstairs by yourself."
"Yeah, so what?"
"Is that how you want it? You being alone?"
He froze a moment, his mouth slightly agape. With a deep sigh and a slump of his shoulders he groaned, "I don't know Lorelai, what do you want from me?"
"I want you to come out and have fun with us. A few drinks, a few laughs." She finished with a light Babette imitation.
He sighed again and braced his palms on the counter in front of him. He'd walked right into that one. He rolled his neck and looked up his lashes at her. She smiled and it undid his resolve. He schooled his features before the upturned corner of his mouth could break into a full blown smile and said "We'll see."
She bounced out of her seat with a "Good! See you then!"
"But I'm not taking the stupid quiz." He insisted. She grabbed her bag, turned on her heel and walked out, still holding the mug of coffee.
"Lorelai, the mug!" He called after her, "We have to go cups!" But she didn't look back or even break stride.
The door jingled shut and he realized the diner was empty. Had it been the whole time? He went to the door and flipped the closed sign and clicked off the lights. In the safety of solitude, he unpacked what just happened. That was normal after a visit from Lorelai; she went so fast. He hardly had time to appreciate her until she was gone. He thought about the mischief in her bright blue eyes, the snug fit of her clothes, the scent of her hair still lingering from when he had leaned across her. So dangerously close he could feel her breath on his cheek. He was usually very careful. To keep temptation at bearable levels, he had to be vigilant about keeping distance between them. But with annoyances on multiple fronts, he let his guard down. He blamed his lizard brain, his male libido, his lack of companionship for his body's involuntary reaction to her. She was gorgeous, obviously, but he knew they were just friends. He needed that friendship and tried his best to keep his hormones from ruining it. Sometimes she didn't make it easy.
Lorelai would have skipped home from the diner if she wasn't afraid of spilling her hard won coffee prize out of the wide mug. She'd gotten what she wanted out of Luke twice over. All the way home, and while grooming herself for bed, and even after slipping under the blanket, she schemed on how to get even more out of him.