Friday night dinner was a disaster. Christopher had agreed that since he was still staying with them that he would join them at dinner like Emily had asked him to and promised not to tell them anything about Luke since Lorelai told him they weren't ready to tell her parents yet, a promise he did keep luckily. But one evening with her parents and Christopher's parents, what could go wrong?
For starters, his parents started belittling Rory from the second they met her. Then after they were finished making her feel uncomfortable, they switched over to Lorelai, which she actually preferred since she wasn't looking to slap a couple elders across the face if they kept mistreating her daughter. They dug into her for getting pregnant at sixteen and destroying Christopher's life, giving her the same lecture she had heard seventeen years prior to now when they first found out. They didn't get much out before her father jumped into the conversation, very sternly kicking them out of his house. She took his actions towards them as a good thing, thinking that he was sticking up for her.
That was until she went to talk to him afterwards, learning that it was strictly for the sake of the Gilmore name that he defended her. Hurt by everything that had happened she attempted to take a break away from everyone on the balcony in her old room, but Christopher came up and offered her some booze. She declined, asking him if they could skip dinner and go home, which he said he'd be more than okay with before the three of them left and headed back to the house.
Luke heard the front door opening as he sat on the living room couch watching a baseball game on television, leaning forward to grab the remote and mute it as he watched them all walk inside. "Hey, you're back early. How'd it go?" He asked, watching as Lorelai hurried upstairs without a word. "Lorelai." He called out, standing up and walking over to the staircase. When she didn't stop he looked back at Christopher, the only person left in the room since Rory had already vanished into her bedroom.
"It did not go well." Christopher replied. "Any amount of time spent with my parents can be defined as a traumatic experience."
Luke didn't need to hear anymore, he just knew that she would need him to talk to. He ran up the stairs and over to Lorelai's door, looking in at her as she sat on the end of her bed with her face in her palms. He walked over and sat beside her on the mattress, placing his hand on her back and rubbing it gently. "Lorelai, what happened?" He asked, softly.
Lorelai pulled her hands away from her face and sniffled. "Basically, the second we got there Christopher's parents started verbally attacking us. They went on and on about how me getting pregnant with Rory messed up their prize child's chance of getting into the Ivy Leagues, or even having a good life for the matter, because apparently to them I seduced him into throwing his entire future away. Then my dad jumps in and nearly gets into a fist fight with his father, insisting that he apologizes to me for everything he had said, even going as far as to kick him out when he refuses. And I just thought, wow, I can't believe my father is actually defending me." She said, sniffling as she tried to hold it together. "But he wasn't really standing up for me. He only cared that the Gilmore name was being tarnished." She said, tucking her head into his shoulder as she cried.
"I'm so sorry, Lorelai." He said, holding her tighter as he stroked her hair with his other hand. "I can't believe they acted like that, that they would treat you like that."
"I can believe it." She stated, moving her head a little so she wasn't talking into his shirt. "I don't know why I thought things would be different now. It has been sixteen years, but still, I felt like a teenager sitting in that room with them. They always have a way of making me feel so small."
"Lorelai, listen to me." Luke said sternly as he tilted his head down to look at her as he spoke.
"Whatever they are making you feel about yourself, all those awful things they said to you, they are not true, not even the slightest bit. Okay? You have done such an amazing job raising your daughter all on your own. You are so strong, and so independent, and so driven. You're just incredible. And if they can't see that, then they're the ones who need to work on themselves."
Lorelai stared back at him, her heart feeling like it had missed several beats. "Thank you." She said, watching as he gave her a sympathetic smile. She turned away, wiping her nose with a tissue she had balled up in her hands. "God, I must look like a mess."
Luke shook his head. "Not a chance." He said, reaching a hand over and wiping away a tear from her cheek.
Lorelai gazed over at him a few moments longer before standing up. "I'm just gonna go wash my face, I'll be right back."
"Okay, I'll be here." Luke said, his words having more than one meaning. She smiled at him before walking out of the room, heading to the bathroom to get herself cleaned up. Not more than a minute later he heard a knock on the door frame, looking over and seeing Rory walking into the room. "Hi, Rory."
"Hey, Luke." Rory said, looking around. "Where's mom at?"
"Bathroom." Luke said, watching her give a simple nod before standing there without saying another word. He noticed the expression on her face, seeing it was similar to the look of hurt that her mother had. "Rory, are you alright? I heard about everything that happened."
"Kind of." Rory said, trying her best not to cry. "That Friday Night dinner will definitely be one for the books." She said, walking over to the bed and sitting down next to him after he patted on the mattress.
Outside in the hallway Lorelai walked back towards the bedroom, stopping just shy of the doorway when she heard them talking.
"You know that they don't have anything against you as a person, right?" Luke asked.
"That's what my grandma said too." Rory said with a shrug. "But it's hard not to think that after everything they said."
"Those kind of people are just different than us. They need everything in their lives to look perfect, and their kids having a baby at sixteen doesn't look good to all their stuck up friends." Luke explained. "But if they were like your mom, or me, or hell, even the crazy people in this town, and they got to know you, and saw what an amazing kid you are, they couldn't imagine a world without you in it."
Rory smiled. "Thank you, Luke." She said, leaning over and giving him a hug.
Lorelai waited for Rory to pull away, then she walked into her room. "Hey, kid." She said, rubbing her shoulder as she stood beside her.
"I'll go downstairs while you two talk." Luke said, standing up and letting Lorelai replace his spot on the bed. "Hopefully Chris hasn't changed the baseball game to hockey again yet."
"If he has you can get in a very manly slap fight." Lorelai suggested.
Luke smiled at the both of them, walking out of the room and leaving them alone to discuss things.
"How are they doing?" Christopher asked, noticing Luke coming down the staircase.
"They'll be fine, they are strong." Luke said, taking a seat on the couch next to him.
Christopher smiled weakly. "I feel bad about leaving tomorrow."
"You stayed a week already. I think Rory is pretty happy about that. Besides, you have to get home and start looking for a job."
"Thanks for not telling them about that." He said, gratefully. "I promise I'll tell them tomorrow before I leave. And I won't screw it up this time, I'm going to get my life together and be there for Rory."
"I know you will." Luke said with a nod. "She is definitely the kind of person you want in your life."
"Yeah, she is. And thank you for being there for her, for both of them." He paused. "I admit I felt pretty jealous seeing you with them at first, but now I'm just glad they have someone who will always protect them."
Luke smiled before he leaned forward and reached onto the coffee table, grabbing the television remote and holding it out to Christopher. "I guess since it is your last night here, you can put on the hockey game."
The next morning Lorelai woke up to the smell of fresh coffee and breakfast foods, yet another thing in the endless list of perks from having Luke at the house. She found her way downstairs to the kitchen, seeing her daughter already seated at the dining table while the boys stood in front of the stove cooking pancakes.
"You have to flip it already." Luke told Christopher.
"It's not ready yet." Christopher insisted. "If I flip it now it won't cook evenly."
"You are gonna burn it."
"I will not burn it." He said, finally flipping it over.
Luke looked down at the black coated pancake. "That looks burnt to me."
"It is the first pancake, you always throw out the first pancake."
Rory chimed in. "That's true."
"I never do." Luke said.
"Really?"
"I own a diner. If I threw out the first pancake every time I made them I'd be out of business by now." Luke said before turning back to Christopher and taking the spatula out of his hands. "Why don't you go fill the cups with juice while I cook the rest of them."
"You are sticking me with juice duty?" Christopher said, offended.
"Well, I don't think you could find any way to burn the juice."
Lorelai cleared her throat, everyone finally noticing her standing there. "Morning." She said, smiling over at them.
"Morning." They both said.
"Are the boys fighting again?" Lorelai asked as she took a seat next to Rory.
"Just your classic pancake flipping debate." Rory said.
"It will still be a minute till the pancakes are done, unless you are in the mood for a crispy one." Luke said, moving the well done pancake off the griddle and pouring out several more piles of batter.
"You have the home advantage, okay?" Christopher said, walking over and grabbing the orange juice out of the fridge. "You know how quickly the burner gets hot."
"He sure does!" Lorelai joked.
"I told you exactly when to flip it." Luke said, flipping over his pancakes as he spoke. "And you used that same excuse the other night when you let the gravy boil over onto the stove."
Rory smiled as she leaned toward her mother. "I think I'll miss this most when dad leaves." She whispered. "It's quite the show."
"It really is." Lorelai said, smirking over at Luke as he moved his perfectly cooked pancakes off the griddle.
Luke carried the platter of pancakes, bacon, sausage and hash browns over to them, setting it down in the middle of the table while Christopher set everyone's cups at their seats, the both of them taking a seat with the girls. They all ate their breakfast and chatted casually among each other, then once they were finished they were about to clean up when Christopher spoke.
"I wanted to tell you both something before I leave." Christopher said, getting both the girls' attention. He waited a moment while Luke excused himself, figuring that he would want to tell them on his own. "My business that I have been talking about didn't really pick up, which I was an idiot for thinking it could, the whole thing was a bit of a gamble."
"Dad, I'm so sorry." Rory said.
"Thank you. But it was my mistake and I wanna take full responsibility for it. And I wanted you to know that I'm going to get another job, a real one. I've been calling around and I already have a few interviews. Not any place I would have seen myself working, but they all pay well, and they have consistent schedules."
"Doesn't sound like something you will be fit for." Lorelai joked.
"Yeah, I know, but I'm gonna make it work. And I'll visit more, anytime I get the chance. But don't worry, I'll make sure I have hotel reservations set up so I'm not camping out on your couch every time."
"Well, I happen to know of an inn that you could get a great discount at."
Christopher smiled, then looked over at his daughter. "And Rory, I'm gonna get a new cell phone. A permanent one so you can call me every week and let me know how everything is going with school and that boyfriend of yours, who I'm still not too happy about."
"I'd like that." Rory said, smiling.
"Okay, well, I should get going." Christopher said, getting up from his chair.
"We'll walk you out." Lorelai said as she and Rory stood up, the three of them walking out into the living room so Christopher could get his bag.
Luke got up off the couch, walking over to them. "It was nice finally meeting you, Christopher."
"You too." Christopher said, holding out his hand. While Luke was shaking it he leaned a bit closer, speaking quietly. "Take care of the girls."
"You know I will." Luke said, patting on his shoulder with his free hand before they let go.
Christopher followed the girls outside, walking over and standing in front of his motorcycle. "That's a great guy you got there, Lor." He said, giving her a quick hug. "I'm glad you found someone to look out for the both of you."
"It was nice seeing you." Lorelai said, smiling at him. "Make sure it doesn't take another sixteen years to come around again." She joked.
"I will." He said, turning to Rory and giving her a hug. "Bye, kid."
"Bye, dad." Rory said, giving him a tight squeeze. "Thanks for coming here."
"It will be hard to keep me away now that I've been here."
"Good." Rory said, pulling away from the hug with a grin on her face.
Christopher hopped on his bike and put his helmet on. "Bye, girls." He said, starting up his bike and driving away.
Lorelai put her arm around Rory as they watched him drive off. "You sad to see him leave?"
"Yeah, a little. But I think this is the first time I'm not worried he won't call or show up when I need him to."
Lorelai smiled at her daughter, hugging her tightly before they walked back into the house.
After they got breakfast all cleaned up it was time for the weekly visit with April and Anna. They had spent most of the time at the house chatting, even playing a few board games till it was time to go to the diner for lunch.
"You're painting the whole place?" April asked as they finished up their sandwiches.
"That's the plan." Luke said.
"Isn't that going to take you a really long time?"
"Luckily he has two fabulous helpers." Lorelai said, gesturing to her and Rory.
"But even with three people it will take hours. You have to take down stuff and tape up all the frames. And are you covering the tables or moving them out of the way?"
"Wow, you know a lot about painting." Luke said, surprised.
"I helped mom paint my room a few weeks ago, so I'm pretty much a pro now."
"Huh, that's strange how she has your confidence." Rory said, smirking over at her mother.
"You know, we could help." April suggested.
"Honey, you have your play date with Missy tonight." Anna said.
"I'm not supposed to be there till five. We could stay a little longer and help them get set up."
"April, you and your mom probably have stuff to do before you go." Luke said, not wanting to mess up any of their plans.
"We don't. I got all my homework done before we came." April said, turning to her mother. "Can we stay and help? Please? Just for a little while."
Anna looked over at Luke. "If you don't mind."
"We could use the extra hands." Luke said. "And it sounds like you two know more about the setup than we do."
"Yes!" April said, hopping down from her stool. "I'll start taking stuff down. I'm gonna need an empty table near the shelves." She said, going over to a table with a few people sitting at it. "Can you guys get up and bring your food to a different table? I need to use this one." She said, shooing them all away from the table.
"Kicking customers out of their seats? I can see the family resemblance." Lorelai said, bumping her elbow into Luke.
"I hope it's okay she wanted to stay longer." Anna said. "I know you had plans for just the three of you."
"Oh, no problem at all." Lorelai said, waving a hand. "We see enough of each other already, and we love hanging out with the both of you."
"And it looks like she is going to be a hard worker." Luke said, turning in his stool and looking over at her as she climbed up onto a chair and started grabbing things off the shelf to set them on the empty table.
"What does this mean?" April asked, holding up a photo with a dancing pork chop. "I lost my head over a good chop, you should too." She read.
"It was something my dad, your grandpa, had hanging in the kitchen at my old house." Luke explained.
"Why didn't you tell me that when I was teasing you for it?" Lorelai asked, looking over at him.
"Would it have stopped you?"
"Yes, it might have, ever so slightly."
"Is anyone gonna get up and start working?" April asked.
"I guess that is our cue to get working." Rory said, all of them standing up.
Luke got out some empty boxes then Rory started helping April take stuff down while Anna put everything they set on the table into the boxes. Luke and Lorelai got out the tape and started putting borders around all the frames and windows, everyone trying their best not to get in the way of customers, though not succeeding most of the time. After a few hours they had everything they could do while the diner was still open done, everyone heading back over to their stools and taking a seat while Luke walked behind the counter.
"That was exhausting, I don't want to paint anymore." Lorelai said, plopping her head down onto the counter.
"I'll give you brownies for helping." Luke said, causing her to sit straight back up.
"Brownies?" She asked.
"I told Caesar to have a fresh batch ready when we got done." Luke said, grabbing a pan full of freshly baked brownies off the service ledge.
"I'm ready to paint, get these customers out of here!" Lorelai said, reaching out to grab one when Luke swatted her hand away. "Hey!" She said, offended.
"Wait till I get plates." He said, grabbing four small plates from behind the counter. He set a brownie on each of them then slid everyone a plate.
Rory took a bite, closing her eyes as she chewed. "Totally worth all the work."
"Definitely." April said, stabbing her fork into the dessert again after she finished her first bite. "Dad, can I have a few extras to bring to Missy's?"
"Sure." Luke said, grabbing a to-go container from under the counter and placing a few into it. "Here ya go." He said, sliding it over to her.
"Thank you." She said, smiling at him as she took another bite
"Any chance I can talk any of you into drinking milk with those?"
"Two percent or skim?" Lorelai asked.
"They taste the same."
"That means you are trying to give us skim, so no."
Anna leaned forward, looking over at Lorelai. "Does he try to switch your food out for healthy substitutes?"
"He tries, but he does not succeed."
"She can always tell." Rory pointed out.
"One of my favorite dinners to eat is tacos and he would switch out the beef for ground turkey every single time."
"You knew I did that?" Luke asked.
"Yes, I did. But honestly, I liked it better that way and didn't want to admit it, so I just let it slide."
"Wait, you made us tacos the other night." Rory said, thinking back "You didn't do that with ours, did you?"
"No." Luke said, unconvincingly.
"You did!" Lorelai said, offended. "Oh, the trust, Luke. How are we going to make it if you're constantly trying to keep me healthy?"
"You'll be happy when you manage to live past sixty."
Anna smiled as she finished up the last bite of her brownie, standing up and setting a hand on April's back. "We should get going."
"Yeah, Missy is really particular about us getting there on time." April said, wiping her face with a napkin. "One time when we were seven minutes late because I forgot my math notes I had to hear about it the whole time I was there."
"She doesn't sound like that nice of a girl." Lorelai said.
"She isn't, but she has every episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy on DVD."
Anna chuckled. "And you have been friends since you were babies."
"Yeah, that too." April said, hopping down from her stool.
Luke walked around the counter and over to them. "I had a great time seeing you again." He said, wrapping his arm around his daughter. "And thank you both for helping us set up for painting, you made it a lot easier on us."
"It was fun." April said, smiling up at him, "I can't wait to see it in a few weeks once it's all painted."
"A few weeks?" Luke asked, looking at Anna.
"Oh, sorry." Anna said. "I was gonna tell you that while April is on break from school we are going out to New Mexico to visit my mom."
"You get to go on a trip?" Lorelai asked April, getting a nod in response. "Lucky."
"I'm really excited, every time I go I find the best rocks for my collection."
Anna chimed in. "And I come home with a backache from hauling around a suitcase full of them."
"Plus, grandma knows I have trouble sleeping away from home so she sets up my room with a bunch of glow in the dark stars and makes me hot cocoa every night."
"Lucky again." Lorelai joked.
"Well, I'll miss seeing you while you're gone." Luke told April.
"I'll miss you too, but I'll call you every day."
Luke smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."
"Bye, dad." April said, giving him a hug.
"Bye, sweetie." He said, rustling her hair as they pulled away. He stepped over to Anna and gave her a quick hug. "Tell your mom I said hello."
"I will." Anna said, smiling as she pulled away from him. "Her reply back might include some profanity though."
"It wouldn't be your mother if it didn't."
"Bye, Luke." Anna said, then they all finished saying their goodbyes before the both of them left.
Luke walked behind the counter and looked over at Lorelai and Rory. "How about you both head home and get some rest while I handle the dinner rush. I can give you a call once everyone is cleared out and we can get started on the painting."
"Sounds good to me." Lorelai said as she and Rory stood up from their stools. "But you are forgetting the part where you have two delicious cheeseburgers waiting for us when we get here."
"And extra fries." Rory said.
"And onion rings." Lorelai said, walking towards the door.
"And milkshakes." Rory said, following Lorelai.
"I think it would be cheaper if I hired painters instead." Luke said, watching them smile back at him as they left the diner.
Three hours into painting they had managed to get most of the shelves and one side of the diner done. Luke and Lorelai were both about three beers in when Rory cut them off, not wanting to see any sloppy painting. The girls were now working on the last of the shelves next to the hallway and Luke was working on the wall next to them. Rory stood on a chair getting the higher shelves, while Lorelai sat on the floor getting the ones below her.
Rory dipped her paintbrush in the cup of paint she was holding and moved it towards the shelf, forgetting to wipe it on the side of the cup and causing a blob to fall off before she reached the shelf and landing on Lorelai's arm.
"Hey!" Lorelai said, glancing at the paint on her arm then up towards Rory. "You painted me!"
"It was an accident!" Rory defended.
"Really?" Lorelai said, dipping her brush into the pail then slinging it towards her.
Rory grabbed her neck where the paint hit her, wiping it away. "Hey!" She said, looking down at her now blue hand.
"Lorelai, really?" Luke asked, looking over at the both of them.
Lorelai grinned. "It was an accident."
"Ha!" Rory exclaimed, letting her jaw drop. She looked in her near empty paint cup, not seeing much of anything inside it she stepped down from her chair and walked over to the paint bucket Luke was using and dipped her brush in.
"Don't you dare." Lorelai said, noticing what she was doing.
Rory smirked, flipping her wrist and sending the paint flying towards her mother, hitting her on the cheek. "Sorry, it was an accident."
Lorelai stood up from the floor, dipping her paintbrush in the bucket. "Oh, now this is war."
"Girls, don't do this." Luke warned. "Just say sorry and let it go so we can get back to painting like adults."
He had hardly finished his sentence when Lorelai flung the paint at Rory, the two of them suddenly entering into an all out paint throwing war. Luke asked them both to stop several times, his words having very little effort on them as they kept flinging paint back and forth, hitting each other every time.
Lorelai lifted a completely soaked brush and shot it towards Rory, who shifted quickly to avoid it which caused the paint to hit Luke in the side of the face instead. "Oops." She said, looking over at him.
Rory looked behind her at a now painted Luke. "Ohh, you hit Luke." She said, turning back to her mother. "You are gonna be in so much trouble."
"You are the one who ducked!" Lorelai said, defensively.
Luke looked over at the both of them, not saying a word. He took a deep breath as he wiped the paint off his cheek, watching the girls as they anxiously waited for his reaction. He bent down and cupped a handful of paint out of his bucket, standing back up and launching it all at both of them. They both opened their mouths in shock, staring over at him. "There, now we are even." He stated.
Lorelai glanced down at their paint drench clothing, his handful being more than the full amount of what they had done to each other before he threw it. She reached over and grabbed the paint cup that was still in Rory's hand, smirking as she filled it to the top with paint.
"Lorelai, I said we were even." Luke said, holding his hand up.
"No one is ever even in a paint war." She said, splashing him with the whole cup.
Luke stared over at her as paint dripped off him, his whole body taking the hit. He reached down without taking his eyes off of her, picking up his paint bucket and walking towards her.
"Okay, okay, we are even." Lorelai shouted, moving backwards away from him.
"You are never even in a paint war." He echoed her words, still walking towards her.
"I was kidding about that, you can be even." She insisted, but he didn't stop. "We're even." She said again, her back bumping into the table behind her and leaving her with nowhere left to go.
Luke stood in front of her and lifted the pail above her head, pouring out what was left inside onto her. "Now, we are even." He said, smirking.
Lorelai reached on top of her head where her bandana was and touched the small amount of paint that had come out before looking at Luke. "There was barely anything in it!"
"I had already used most of it when Rory started throwing it at you, then my handful was basically the last of it."
"I was worried you were going to make me look like those people at the kid's choice awards."
Luke leaned toward her and set the empty paint can on the table behind her, causing her breath to hitch from how close he was standing. "I'm not that cruel." He said, moving back just a couple inches.
Lorelai smiled as she reached up to his neck, wiping the paint on it away with her thumb. "Not as cruel as me anyways." She said, pulling her hand away while she kept eye contact with him. "I would have done it."
"I don't think you could have done it either." Luke said, staring back at her.
Rory glanced over at them and cleared her throat, causing them to break apart more and look back at her. "Are we going to get back to painting? It's getting kind of late."
"Ah, yeah, we should probably do that." Lorelai said, stepping past Luke awkwardly and heading back over to her spot.
The clock ticked to one o'clock in the morning as Luke, Lorelai and Rory sat on the floor of the diner, all glancing around the room at the freshly painted walls.
Lorelai leaned back on her elbows and let out a breath. "Man, that was a lot of work."
"I know." Rory agreed. "I didn't expect it to take that long."
Luke chimed in. "Well, it wouldn't have if we didn't have to redo the parts you threw paint at."
"You did most of the damage with your handfuls of paint." Lorelai said.
"It was one handful, and I got most of it on you two."
"Either way, it's a good thing we got so much paint."
Luke smiled, taking a sip of his beer as he gazed around the room. "It does look nice though."
"It does at that."
Luke tilted his head, noticing a bit of different colors on his shelf. He leaned forward to look at it better before glancing back at both of them. "Did you two paint your initials on the bottom of my shelf?"
"How do you know we did it?" Lorelai asked, grinning.
"What other 'LG' and 'RG' was here helping me paint?"
Rory elbowed Lorelai. "I told you we should have written the letters backwards."
Luke shook his head then smiled at them. "I guess if I'm going to have anyone's initials on the diner, I would want it to be those." He said, earning a smile back from both girls.
"Should we clean up so we can get home and get some sleep?" Rory asked.
"We definitely need it after all that work." Lorelai said, getting ready to sit up when Luke stood up quickly and gave them both a hand to help them off the floor.
At home that night Lorelai tossed and turned in her bed, struggling to fall asleep. She thought after everything they did at the diner she would have zonked the second her head hit the pillow. However, that had not been the case since she had already been home over an hour and was still awake. She slid over from the middle of the bed to the left side, the side she had been sleeping on the last week while Luke was staying in her room. She glanced over at his side of the bed, his former side of the bed that is, and she couldn't help but feel like something was missing. She had never in her life shared her bed with a man, yet somehow it now seemed near impossible to not have him sleeping beside her. She decided that having some warm pop tarts might help, so she climbed off her bed and started to head downstairs. When she got to the staircase she noticed the light of the television flickering in the living room and assumed Luke must have fallen asleep with it on, but as she got halfway down the stairs she saw him awake on the couch with his elbow propped up as he watched the screen.
Luke heard her hit the last stair and glanced over, surprised to see her awake as well. "Sorry, did the tv wake you?"
"No, I can't even hear it upstairs."
"What are you doing up then?" Luke asked as he sat up on the couch and set a foot on the floor, leaving one bent against the back cushions.
"Just having some trouble sleeping." She said with a shrug. "What are you still doing up?"
"Same." Luke said as the both of them looked at each other, knowing the real reason neither of them could fall asleep. "You wanna watch some television? The stuff on is horrible, but it's still better than sitting in the dark and staring at the ceiling."
"Sure." Lorelai said, walking over to the couch.
Before Luke had time to move to give her more room, she sat next to his leg and laid her back against him. He was surprised by the sudden contact, but played it off well as he set his arm on the back of the couch casually and rested back onto his pillow so she could lay her head back on his shoulder comfortably.
They didn't mind the closeness between them. In fact, it was quite relaxing to feel each other's heart rates beating through their chests. The both of them were immediately relaxed, and while they tried to stay awake during the infomercial to see if you could get a second George Foreman grill for free if you called now, they weren't able to. They both drifted into a peaceful sleep and stayed that way.
During the night Rory stepped out of her room to use the bathroom, walking out into the living room when she noticed the television on. She looked over at the couch and saw Lorelai wrapped up in Luke's arms, both fast asleep. She smiled, wondering to herself if those two were ever going to get a hint that they belonged together, or if they would just remain in denial for the rest of their lives. She reached down on the coffee table and grabbed the television remote, clicking it off before leaving the room.