Author: MrSchimpf, please read & review, this is my first fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own the trademarks on "Gilmore Girls", they are the property of Warner Bros. Television, Dorothy Parker Drank Here, Hofflund-Polone, and Amy Sherman-Palladino. I'm just using the characters to tell a story.
Summary: Rachel, Luke's old flame, comes back to Stars Hollow to try to get Luke back, but then learns about Luke and Lorelai's feelings for each other.
Inspired by these episodes: Star Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers, and The Breakup Part 2.
Category: Luke/Lorelai from Rachel's point of view.
Alternate Universe: Yes, I veered off of the original storyline of the show a little, and I doubt this is the way the writers are setting up Luke and Lorelai.
Rating: PG for minor cursing.
Going Back
I think the reason I went back is I wanted to see Luke again. He still hasn't changed one bit since I left, except he's changed his cap. He still looked the same, and still gave the same kind of advice that made me love him years ago. He's the reason I turned into a vegetarian; His saying "Red meat will kill you" all the time finally got into my head, and I never visited a McDonald's again. Well, except the time I was in India covering the earthquake last year, you don't see many hamburgers there with the sacred cows and all. But I digress. He was the best guy I ever met, he just had that "shoulder to cry on" quality I like. I could unload all my fears and problems on him, and he would listen and offer me advice. I still don't know why I never kept touch with the guy while I was traveling, I guess I loved my job too much to take a break from it. When I took the impromptu trip to the Hollow, it was only the third "vacation" I took in six years. Not that traveling around the world and taking pictures for money was a vacation, but this was the only time I felt I could relax without having to be by a phone 24/7, ready to take some photos in Vladivostok or something. I was finally truly on vacation for once, headed back to where I left my love, and hopefully, have him fall back in love with me again.
When I first got into town, I asked the first person I saw if Luke was still in Stars Hollow running his diner.
"Yea, he's still there", he said, pointing towards the familiar building that still had the "Williams Hardware" sign from long ago when Luke's father had a hardware store. The man continued, "Just look for the woman who has single-handedly kept him in business for five years by eating there every day." I asked who she was.
"Why, Lorelai Gilmore of course. She runs the Independence Inn on Hartford Post Road. We love her like one of our own, even though she drinks her body weight in coffee daily."
Ah yes, Lorelai Gilmore, the adopted daughter of the Hollow, now running the inn. She was from the rich Gilmore family over in Hartford, and when she was 16 came to Stars Hollow to raise her child. I knew the story quite well. She got pregnant from her boyfriend Christopher, and her parents wanted her to marry the guy, even though Lorelai objected, saying the marriage wouldn't be happy. She then refused any financial support from her elders, choosing to take a job as a maid at the inn and living there to make ends meet. She named her daughter after herself in a Demerol daze, but everyone called her offspring Rory for some odd reason. Everyone in town became her friend, raising Lorelai Jr. in their own unique way, and making the senior Lorelai one of their own. When I left town to take the gig with the AP, she had worked her way up to desk clerk, and had just closed on the beautiful home near the statue of Montgomery the Rooster, where she and Rory could live in peace. I had never talked to her, Luke didn't even know her yet, but I envied her life. I wished I could've had everything handed to me like that out of sympathy, but Lorelai's story was a unique case of "right place, right time". Someday, I wish to talk to Lorelai and make her life a cover story in Time or the New Yorker. Who knows, maybe they'll even make a television series about the life and adventures of her and Rory and air it on a major network like the WB someday. But for now, she's just Lorelai Gilmore, the envy of all of Stars Hollow.
In the Diner
The woman finally introduced herself as Lorelai. So this was the woman who everyone loved in town, who had the huge coffee gorilla on her back. We got to talking, and we had a conversation that was all over the map. She talked about coffee makers malfunctioning at her inn, while I told the story of how I got back to the Hollow, and of one of my photojournalism jobs in the Mideast. Let's just say that all three of us were surprised to see each other, and couldn't find a good topic we could agree on. Finally, Lorelai made up an excuse to get out of there, so then it was me and Luke, together again after six years. I had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
After I ordered some onion rings and a soft drink, Luke went off to fill my order. We still needed some time to figure out our thoughts before we talked again. I was expecting him to have changed a little, but he was still Mr. Stubborn. The dad's sign was still out front, the counters and tables were in the same places, and the menus had aged a little. The only things that had changed were his hat, and a new paint job. It still smelled like fresh latex paint in the room, I always loved painting walls. That was one of my after-school jobs in high school, being a painter. It was hard work, but it paid well, and I loved it. That's how I bought my first Cross pen and Nikon camera, which I both still use to this day. Which reminds me, when I get back to Chicago, I need to repaint the walls in my apartment, I miss the smell of latex paint, it's just a soothing smell to me for some reason.
When Luke came back with the onion rings, we started to talk. He asked me how I was doing, I told him I felt wonderful, my job was great, and I was being paid well. He then went on about the last six years in Stars Hollow, all the people in town like Kirk, Mr. Doose, the dance teacher Miss Patty, how they're all going to get killed by red meat someday, why they were nuts about making him show his town spirit, and why he doesn't allow cell phones in the diner. I just love listening to Luke's voice again, it's so reassuring and calm, I wish he would've just taken me into his arms right then and there and whispered in my ear and kissed me just like he used to do.
Then after that, he started talking about Lorelai and Rory. He told me how great the two were, how alike they are even though they were mother and daughter, how the mother had hooked Rory on caffeine, how they ate there everyday, and how much Lorelai bugs him sometimes. He talked and talked and talked about the two women for thirty minutes, until I finished my onion rings (I eat slow, I enjoy food that way). The way he talked about these two, you would've thought that he was a member of the Gilmore family, he knew everything about these two, even the amount of beef, and gallons of coffee the two Gilmores consumed last year! I finally had to ask him the question I had in my mind since he started talking about them.
"Uh, Luke? Are you going out with this woman?" His jaw dropped.
"Of course not, Rachel, we're just good friends, she comes in here everyday, I give her mass amounts of coffee, she drinks and pays for it, and leaves. And then at night, her and Rory come in and eat, pay, and go. That's all we are, just friends."
"Come on Lukey, you're talking about her daughter like you were her second father, I see more than a friendship here," I said. "I haven't said a word in fifteen minutes, and here I am, ready to become friends with you again, and you're talking nonstop about one of your customers! Who comes here every day! With her daughter! Who you want to turn into a vegetarian, just like me!" Luke then tried to deny the accusations.
Then, thinking about the paint smell, I suddenly came to a conclusion. "I might be wrong about this Luke, but I think Lorelai helped you paint this place with the amount of time she spends here!" Luke gave me the I-think-you're-right look. "She did, didn't she?" It was so damn clear that he had fallen for this woman so much, I could see a big orange sign in my mind saying "LUKE IS OVER YOU!". Right then and there, I knew I wasn't going to get Luke back, it had been too long, his heart was set on someone else, on Lorelai. He just was too stubborn to admit it.
I decided to say goodbye to Luke for now, and told him to meet me at the festival later. When I walked out of the diner, he had a defeated look on his face that said I was right about the two of them. I didn't need verbal confirmation, I just knew from his face.
Learning More
Several headlines stuck out in my mind when I was reading. One in the town gossip section said, "Diner owner gives out free hot chocolate; Drives woman to hospital to see her father." Another one said, "Town celebrates Gilmore daughter's 16th", "Rummage sale success; Muddy River bridge saved". And then of course there was "Ms. Gilmore helps local diner owner spruce up", confirming the fresh smell of latex in Luke's. It looked like Lorelai was everywhere with Luke during the last year. This was the biggest non-couple I had heard of since the Clintons, they didn't even have a clue that they both had crushes on each other! I read the story about the rummage sale, and was shocked by what had been written in the rumor section of the article about what would be sold.
"Luke screamed at Lorelai Wednesday when she walked in wearing a rhinestone-studded sweatshirt that had formerly been owned by his ex-girlfriend Rachel McCann. He was so angry at her for coming in wearing the shirt he closed early that day. Later, according to sources, Ms. Gilmore gave Mr. Danes the shirt back, feeling guilty for wearing it and not knowing about the shirt's past."
It's amazing, in six years, the Call had turned into a gossip magazine! And my name was in it because Luke was angry about a long-forgotten shirt I don't care about being worn by one of his "regular customers". He still had feelings for me because he got angry about the shirt. Then again, he all but confirmed his crush of Lorelai in the diner earlier. What the heck was I supposed to think? Did he still love me like he did six years ago, or had he finally found closure and moved on? I felt so conflicted, what was I to do?
Letting It All Sink In
Decide to pay a visit to Luke for some dumb reason, so jump next plane
for Connecticut.
I walk into the diner, where Luke and Lorelai are talking.
Luke gets really nervous upon seeing me, is speechless.
Me and Lorelai get into really awkward conversation.
Lorelai makes lame excuse and leaves.
I order food, talk to Luke about my life for five minutes.
Luke talks about the people of Stars Hollow for five minutes.
Luke then talks about the Gilmore girls for thirty minutes straight.
I figure he's taken. He says he's not.
I try to basically say you love Lorelai don't you Luke!
He denies it again.
I point out the fresh paint, and Luke admits Lorelai painted the diner.
I leave, confident he's not in love with me anymore.
Read a bunch of newspaper columns confirming the obvious.
Then read article saying he was mad that Lorelai wore my shirt.
Left the library, and here I am.
Through that chronology of today, it was clear, Luke was more in love with Lorelai than he was with me. The sweatshirt thing was probably just opening up his painful memories of the day I left for faraway. I felt like leaving for Chicago right that minute, forgetting Luke, forgetting Stars Hollow, forgetting everything. I felt like I no longer fit in here.
But then I remembered how much fun I had here in the Hollow way back when. The drives on Mapletree Lane in the fall, seeing all the leaves change color. The way the town square always looked neat and tidy, no matter the season. The way the snow fell in this town, and why it always looked wonderful no matter how much of it came down from the sky. And of course, the way Luke made me, the awkward journalist from Danbury, feel when I came into this town in 1993. I immediately felt at home in this town, I thought I'd never leave. But then I did, and I lost Luke forever.
I had no hatred for Lorelai, even though it seemed like she was going to take my ex. She should be lucky to get a guy like him. He was very protective of me when I was with him, helping me out when times got rough. It seemed he already was doing that for Lorelai, closing up the diner and taking her to the hospital in Hartford when her father had angina, blowing up the balloons at the birthday party, helping Lorelai out by putting the sign out despite his lack of town spirit, and then the rumor about them trying to find a missing chick in Lorelai's home. And then being the protector of Rory, the most important thing Lorelai has.
I wished for that life, but my life took me somewhere else, mainly the Balkans. I wish I could say to her that I saw he had feelings for her, do you have feelings for him? But judging from our conversation earlier, she probably learned about me only after the sweatshirt incident, and was not about to confront me about how I felt about Luke. I had a feeling she had the same emotions for Luke, but also the same insecurities as him.
Considering the Obvious
That was the one thing they truly had in common: Rory. He treated her like a daughter, telling her that the caffeine addiction she caught from her mother was bad, the stuff about the red meat, and how he hoped that her boyfriend Dean would treat her right, or he'd show him a thing or two about respect. He was truly the authority figure in the odd way this town raised Rory, and no one dared mess with that authority.
Consider the fact also, that Lorelai trusted him with Rory so much. She could've been just another woman, going out with many men, trying to find Mr. Right, hoping that Rory would accept the guy, and that things would turn out right in the end. She could've done that. But she was Lorelai Gilmore. She wasn't any other woman. Her and Rory spent so much time in the diner, eventually, Luke became more of a father figure than Rory's biological father ever did. Rory was ready to accept Luke, I felt. It was just too perfect of an opportunity to pass up, getting Luke and Lorelai together. It just seemed like the right thing to do. Not only would Rory not mind me setting them up, but I would look really good to the townspeople, finally getting these two to confess.
Playing the Yenta
What the hell was I getting myself into? I knew I shouldn't be doing this, it went against everything I ever felt for Luke, trying to match him up with another woman. But then again, I did jump a flight to Hartford at the last minute today, so I've done crazier things in my life. I just hope that everything would come out at the end.
to be continued...