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The Games People Play

2. Dual Double Dates – delinquents, desserts, dreams and disappointments.



That night Rory was curled up on the couch reading, dressed and waiting for Lane to arrive.

Upon answering the doorbell she was surprised to find Luke waiting there as well.

"Wow Luke, You look really nice."

"Thanks Rory, is your mom ready?" He asked.

"Of course her mom isn't ready." Lorelai yelled from the top of the stairs, madly hopping on one foot as she pulled on her high heels, "you should have known better than to be early."

"I'm three minutes late!"

"Whatever. Rory, sweetie, can you give me a hand here for a sec?"

"Sorry Mom, gotta go!"

"Bye Lorelai, Bye Luke." Lane called as she and Rory left the house.

"Luke get up here!" Lorelai demanded. "Since my daughter has deserted me I need you to zip me up."

Luke gulped as he made his way up the stairs.

Lorelai was standing at her dresser putting her earrings on. The back of her dress was half undone. Luke walked over and gently zipped it up.

"You look great." He said, standing closely behind her and watching their reflections in the mirror.

"I don't feel like me." Her hair was up in a stylish twist and simple, elegant jewellery matched her classic, conservative dress. "But you look nice too. Different, but nice."

She turned to face him, "Thanks for doing this for me Luke." She said seriously.

"You won." He responded simply.

"Yeah, I was pretty awesome huh?" Lorelai changed tracks and gloated as she grabbed her purse and checked the clock on her nightstand.

"Okay, we can go now, we'll be suitably late."

In the car, Lorelai adjusted the review mirror so she could apply lipstick. Luke snatched it back.

"See, we're fighting like an old married couple already!" Lorelai said. "Speaking of which, we should get our story straight."

"What story?"

"You know, where we met, how long we've been dating, a suitably disgusting and sappy anecdote."

"We could tell them that after months of you throwing yourself at me, stalking me, showing up and my place of work several times a day and begging I finally took pity on you and gave in."

Lorelai wrinkled her nose at Luke's suggestion and instead made her own, "Or, that you were so insanely jealous when I was engaged to Max, you threatened to kidnap me the night before the wedding and take me to live in Alaska. I really had no choice."

"Or we could just say we were two friends who fell in love."

"Works for me."



Rory and Lane met Tristan and Henry at the mall in Hartford.

They all agree to catching a movie and then getting something to eat.

"So what's showing?"

Rory went through the list, "too gory, too sappy, too intellectual, too stupid, I've seen it, Lane's seen it, eew Britney Spears."

"Picky, picky." Tristan said, leaning over her shoulder to look at the list.

"Well, I'm with you about Britney, but there has to be something decent out there that none of us have seen."

"Well I'm not watching a horror movie."

Lane agreed, "no slasher films."

Tristan and Henry looked disappointed, but to please the girls they suggested the latest Meg Ryan movie.

Both Lane and Rory shook their heads.

"I thought girls liked romantic movies?"

"Well a girl can only take so much."

"Plus, Meg Ryan's like 40 now. Did you see the wrinkles in 'Kate and Leopold?'"

"Yeah, 'When Harry Met Sally' was good, but it's time to move on."

"Okay," Tristan continued to work his way down the list, "how can Rory 'I'm going to Harvard' Gilmore say a movie is too intellectual?"

"It's Saturday night, there is an official ban on thinking too hard."

"Well this one's a comedy."

"Supposed to be a comedy." Lane corrected

"Yeah, another teen sex comedy, they get lamer every time." Henry agreed.

"So what are we left with?"

"Not a lot."

The group continued to argue.



Lorelai and Luke arrived at the club about 10 minutes late. Luke stopped just before they entered the restaurant.

"Do you want me to hold out my arm or something?" he asked.

"Are we at a ball? Are we senior citizens?" Lorelai grabbed his hand and entwined their fingers. "Now we're ready."

Becky and Todd stood up as Lorelai and Luke approached. The four exchanged greetings and introductions. As they went to sit down, Lorelai waiting expectantly, nudging Luke slightly.

"Oh right." He held the chair out for her.

"Thank you, Pumpkin."

Pumpkin?! Luke thought

"You're welcome Sweet-cheeks." Two could play it this game.

"So how did you two meet?" Becky asked as soon as they were all settled.

Thankful, a waiter arrived just then and asked if they would like to order a bottle of wine.

"Absolutely!" Lorelai answered for them all.

The waiter took their order and was back shortly with appetizers.

"You two make such a cute couple!" Becky gushed, "How long have you been dating? Are there wedding bells on the horizon?"

"Oohhhh no, I don't think so." Lorelai said quickly, exchanging glances with Luke.

"Well, I guess after one broken engagement it must be hard to commit again."

"You know me, never been one for commitment."

"So what do you do for a living, Todd?" Luke quickly changed the subject.

"I'm a partner in an accountant firm."

"That sounds…interesting. What about you, Becky?"

"Oh, I don't work, I'm married," she replied in a don't-be-ridiculous tone.

Luke coughed to smother his laughter.

"And how's that going?" Lorelai asked.

"Well running a house can be a very demanding. It's these damn builders, first they tile the whole kitchen in the wrong shade of beige…"

By the time she finally tired of this topic, the main meals had arrived and Becky turned her attention to Lorelai and Luke, digging for gossip.

"It's been so long since I was dating, tell me, how do you two do it? I can't imagine not living with Todd. And you both work too, how do you ever find time to see each other?"

"Well we make time, don't we Sugar-muffin?" Lorelai gazed adoringly at Luke, batting her eyelashes.

"That's right, I see her at practically every meal."

"More than some married couples." Becky commented, glancing at her husband, "Todd's always so busy at the office."

Todd nodded, "a man often has the need to 'work late,' don't you find?" he appealed to Luke for understanding.

"I do know about working long hours." Luke replied, missing the other man's emphasis.

"Right, what is it that you do?"

Becky interrupted before Luke could answer.

"What about, you know?" Becky blushed, "is it difficult to spend 'quality time' together, what with your daughter and everything."

"Oh, Rory doesn't mind. If she comes home to find us doing it on the couch she'll just go to her room and start her homework." Lorelai said lightly.

Her companions looked suitably shocked.

"Do it on the couch often?" Becky asked.

"I prefer the kitchen table." Lorelai quipped.

"She's only joking," Luke said quickly, nudging her, "aren't you, Munchkin?"

"Of course, Lukie-pie." Lorelai leaned over and brushed Luke's hair behind his ear.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to power my nose."

"Ah, me too." Luke followed her to the bathrooms, catching her just before she entered the ladies.

"What do you think you're doing leaving me alone with them?" He demanded.

"Sorry , Pookie, but if I have to listen to one more inane question about our love life or complaint about their builders I am going to hit Becky with the table setting."

"Good aggression you got going there. Believe me, I feel exactly the same way?"

"You think we could sneak out the window?" Lorelai asked hopefully.

Luke shook his head sternly, "just go back there and monopolise the conversation, the way you're so good at doing back in Stars Hollow."

"It's different here." Lorelai complained.

"Hey," Luke raised her chin with his hand, "you know these people would be crazy to look down on you."

"Of course, but just because I don't want to be like them doesn't mean I feel comfortable around them. And just because I feel uncomfortable doesn't mean I want to hide from them for the rest of my life. Does that make any sense?"

"Of course not, but coming from you I wouldn't expect it to."

Lorelai smiled, "well, thanks for the pep talk, Shnookums,"

"This stops after tonight, you do understand that?"

Lorelai grinned mischievously,

"Whatever you say Muffin."

He rolled his eyes, "come on, Cupcake, we've still got coffee and dessert to go."

Lorelai's eyes lit up at the thought as they made their way back to the table.

"But I've got dibs on the foodie nicknames." She insisted.

"That's what you think, Cherry-pie."



"I cannot believe I am watching an animal movie. What am I five?" Lane asked as they entered the cinema, "How is this a good compromise?"

"It was this or 'Return of the dead part 3,'" Henry reminded her.

"Wow it's pretty empty in here." Rory commented.

"That's because most of the target audience is in bed." Tristan said rolling his eyes.

"Ladies first." He said, gesturing up the stairs the best he could with his arms full of all the junk food Rory had requested.

"You're a true gentleman tonight, Tristan DuGrey."

The foursome had the entire back row to themselves and quickly made it more comfortable by raising all the armrests and stretching out.

Twenty minutes into the movie none of them were paying attention. Lane and Henry were practically sharing one seat, talking quietly among themselves, while Rory and Tristan were sitting cross-legged facing each other several seats apart.

Rory was thinking about Tristan's behaviour. He was still teasing her mercilessly, but it was in a cute as opposed to evil way. She smiled to herself as she tossed a piece of popcorn in the air and attempted to catch it in her mouth.

Tristan laughed as it hit her on the nose.

"Watch the pro." He expertly tossed it in the air and scooped it up with his tongue on the way down.

Tristan winked at Rory, "my tongue is multitalented."

Rory sighed to herself, welcome back, evil Tristan.

She threw another piece of popcorn at him, which he again caught in his mouth. He lobbed one back to her, which she caught awkwardly.

"Yes! One-all."

"More like 2-1."

"The first throw was a warm-up." Rory insisted.

"Fine, hit me with it." They took turns lobbing popcorn to each other then tried to do it simultaneously.

"Ready, go!"

Both missed hopelessly, trying to co-ordinate their throwing and catching. Rory's piece of popcorn went down Tristan's shirt. He wriggled around trying to get it out. You're gonna pay for that" he warned, lunging at her and crumbling popcorn down the back of her neck. Rory retaliated by dumping her entire jumbo-sized box of popcorn over his head. Then she had to find a new source of ammunition.

"Ouch!" Tristan cried as a jaffa hit him in the head, "you can't use those!"

"Fine." Rory stole Lane and Henry's discarded popcorn and she and Tristan began frantically throwing it at each other."

"What's going on here?" A stern voice interrupted. Both looked up sheepishly to see an usher standing over them.

"Uh, sorry." Rory began.

"You two- out." He commanded.

Rory and Tristan meekly obeyed, before bursting into uncontrollable laughter just before they reached the exit.

"I can't believe we got kicked out of the movie!"

"Kicked out of a movie?" Tristan scoffed, "Babe, you aint seen nothing yet."

They were soon joined by Lane and Henry, who scolded them for being a 'terrible influence on the susceptible young minds in the cinema.'

"And we missed then end of the movie!" Lane complained, even though she hadn't been watching.

"Don't worry, I guarantee the puppy made it home." Rory promised, " now let's get some food, all this juvenile delinquent stuff is making me hungry."

"Well if you'd eaten your popcorn instead of throwing it at me…" Tristan was still shaking the grains out of his hair.

They all laughed and joked as they found a café near the cinema and ordered cake and coffee.

"Need some help with that?" Rory asked, eying off Tristan's tiramisu.

"You just ate an enormous slice of coffee cake all by yourself!"

"So? Are you calling me fat?" Rory demanded jokingly.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Tristan replied, holding out a forkful of his dessert. "Open wide."

"I can feed myself thank you!" Rory grabbed the fork off him.

"But now I don't have a fork, so you'll have to feed me."

"In your dreams!"

"My dreams involve more than you feeding me cake," Tristan lowered his voice seductively, "how about yours?"

"I never dream about you Tristan, don't flatter yourself." This wasn't strictly true, but Rory was annoyed that the cute Tristan she had spent the evening with was turning back into the evil Tristan she was so famililar with.

Realising his mistake, Tristan mentally kicked himself way to scare her off DuGrey. He quickly rectified the situation by engaging Lane and Henry in their conversation and turning it back to light banter, and Rory smiled thoughtfully at him as she laughed with her friends.



Meanwhile, Luke and Lorelai returned to the table to find Becky and Todd arguing.

"Can't you keep your mouth shut for 30 seconds?" Todd hissed at his wife, "you live with your head in the clouds, with all your socialising and shopping. You've never done a day's work in your life!"

"Well I'm not so naive that I don't notice when my husband's having an affair with his secretary!"

"What do you expect when I marry a bimbo who's more interested in redecorating than in me!"

Other patrons were beginning stare.

"Ooh cool, can we have a fight too?" Lorelai turned to Luke, "why don't you want to talk about our sex life in public, are you ashamed of me or something?"

"Do you think we should leave?" Luke whispered, ignoring her antics.

"And miss all the fun? I'm waiting until they start throwing stuff."

To Lorelai's disappointment, Becky regained her composure and apologised.

"I'm sorry, I think we better call it an evening. Luke, it was nice to meet you, Lorelai, we'll have to catch up again soon," she said thinly.

"Bye Becky, bye Todd." Lorelai waved happily.

"Ah, that was fun." Lorelai relaxed back into her chair and summoned the waiter, "I think I'm ready for that dessert and coffee now."

Luke rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry, Cutie-pie, I've been here before, and I promise, their coffee isn't as good as yours."

"You can stop with the endearments now you know."

"Aw, but it's still tonight, Baby-cakes."

Luke just smiled and looked over at Lorelai's face, illuminated by candlelight. Now this was what he had in mind. Lorelai smiled too, thinking how good Luke looked dressed up all nicely. Even so, she wouldn't change her flannel and baseball cap wearing diner man for anything.

They then sat chatting, Lorelai sipping coffee and Luke tea until the waiter interrupted them.

"Excuse me, but we are closing now."

"Right, sorry." Lorelai reached for her purse, "you better bring us the bill then."

"It's been taken care of by Mr Marshall-Holmes." The waiter said.

"Yay, free meal. More than I ever get from you." Lorelai elbowed Luke as they thanked the waiter and left the restaurant.

"Well this turned out to be a pretty good night after all, wouldn't you say, Honey-bunch? " Luke asked playfully.

"Definitely. We should do it more often, Baby-face." Lorelai replied, reaching for his hand again as they crossed the carpark.



Back at the café…

Rory spotted Dean as soon as he entered.

He was with a group of friends, his arm slung casually around a blonde girl.

His eyes met hers.

"Rory!" he rushed over to her and she stood up to meet him.

"Dean."

Tristan stood protectively behind Rory.

"What are you doing with him?" Dean demanded, "you're my girl, I can't believe you'd embarrass me in front of everyone like this!"

"I told you I was going out with friends tonight. I'm the one who should be asking what you were doing with your arm around that girl."

"Mandy's just a friend. Don't jump to any conclusions."

"You're telling me not to jump to conclusions. That's funny Dean, that's what you do best."

Rory turned to her friends, stopping the argument before it got warmed up, not wanting to make a scene, "I'm sorry guys, I really just want to go home now."

"No problem, I'll take you." Tristan offered.

"I'm coming too." Lane insisted, wrapping her arm around Rory's shoulder and giving Dean an evil look.

"Rory, wait."

"I'll talk to you next week Dean, this isn't the time or the place."



TBC…

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