Author's Note: We are so sorry that it has once again taken so long for us
to get the next chapter up. I (Lauren) am to blame for that. I really am
sorry. I've been extremely busy lately and things have been kind of tough,
so that didn't leave me much time to write. Anyway, I want to thank
everyone who is still reading this! You guys are the best and we truly,
truly appreciate all of your support. Ok, so I think that's about it. this
chapter picks up right where the last one left off.
Disclaimer: We own none of the rights to Gilmore Girls. If we did, do you really think that Lorelai and Luke would still be "just friends" at this point?!
~*~
Luke stood on my doorstep, looking like he wanted to kill someone.
My bright, smiling expression flew from my face and was replaced with a look of pure shock. "Luke?! What happened?! What's wrong?"
"Jess left. We got into a big argument and he's gone. This is bad. This is really bad," Luke said as he stepped into my house. He was definitely freaking out.
"What do you mean he left?! Where did he go? Back to New York?" I was confused.
"No. He said he would never go back there, but that since he obviously wasn't wanted around here, he was going to see someone who did care about him," Luke said pointedly, but I didn't understand what he meant.
"Ok, so where is he?!" I asked just as the doorbell rang, yet again. Luke looked at me with confusion and then seemed to notice my outfit for the first time.
"Oh. I didn't realize you had a date tonight," Luke said and then a strange thing happened. An odd look passed across his face. It almost looked like pain. Of course, it was gone as quickly as it had arrived.
I turned around to get the door with a look of confusion over my face. I opened the door to see Jake standing there.
"Hey Lorelai."
"Ummm. hey Jake. Listen, I think that it might be good if we reschedule our date. My friend, Luke, is here and his nephew just ran away. I need to help find him."
Jake's face fell and I felt so guilty. "Oh, I see. I guess you really don't want to go out with me then."
"No! No, that's not it. I swear! I really, really wanted to go on this date, but I have to stay here tonight. I'll call you tomorrow, ok?"
Jake nodded, looking a little happier. "Alright. Bye Lorelai." He kissed me on the cheek and left.
I turned back around to face Luke. He was looking at the ground. "I'm sorry I ruined your date, Lorelai. I just freaked out about Jess and I thought you should know that I have a feeling he's going to Washington."
My mouth dropped open in shock. I hadn't even considered that was where Jess was headed. "How could you let him go there?! How could you?! God, Luke! We both know that he's a bad influence on Rory! Do you know that she skipped school to go see him in New York?! She did! And because of that she missed my graduation! I can't even tell you how that made me feel! And now you tell me that he's going to go see my daughter in Washington and you didn't stop him? Are you insane?!" I was screaming and crying and, to be honest, I'm not even sure that it was completely about Jess just running off. I think it was more of a build-up of emotions from the time of Rory's accident.
"Lorelai, the last thing I need right now is you freaking out at me! I'm scared, all right?! I admit it! My nephew is out wandering around somewhere alone! And besides that, you know damn well that I wouldn't want anyone to hurt Rory ever. So don't tell me that I didn't try and stop him! Just don't!" Luke was screaming.
We both stood there for a moment, breathing heavily after our screaming. Neither one of us wanted to talk first because we were both afraid of what to say. "Well what are we going to do?" I spoke softly because most of my energy had been used up during my screaming.
"I don't know. I think I'm just going to leave." He turned to go and said, "Oh, and I'm sorry about your date."
"No, Luke. don't go. We need to fix this."
"I can fix it by myself. Just call Rory and warn her."
"No not that!" He gave me a strange look. "I mean, yes, we need to fix that. but we need to fix. well, we need to fix things with us."
Luke sighed in obvious frustration. "Lorelai, look. just forget it."
"No, I will not just forget it! Luke. what we had. what we had was great. I came into the diner for coffee every morning, you stood there and absolutely refused to give it to me 'cause you said it would kill me and I always acted like I hated you for that. I begged. You refused. Finally, after much pleading, you gave in and I praised your very existence and your excellent coffee. This is how the coffee cycle functioned. And as much as I would hate when you fought with me over coffee, I also kinda liked it cuz it kinda showed me that you cared about me and you didn't want me to die from a caffeine overdose. But now, I go into the diner and ask for coffee and you give it to me! You don't even attempt a pathetic argument! You just hand it right over! To me, that's like you saying 'Here Lorelai, I hate you anyways, so just take the damn coffee and die a painful death. It's not like I care.' I mean, it's like if I were to ask for a knife to kill myself with, you would say 'Oh, sure, here take it.' And I know that you have a right to be mad at me, cuz yes, what I did was insensitive and totally wrong, but I don't understand why you want to throw away everything we had just because of one fight!" I was out of breath and a tear escaped my eye.
"Lorelai, I don't want you to die," Luke said in exasperation. His words didn't help much and I began to cry lightly. His face twisted and he looked very uncomfortable. "No. don't cry."
"Well, did you ever think about how I've felt all these months? I know I made a mistake! I obviously never want you to go to hell! And you know what, I know that I might have freaked about Jess, but how would you feel if it was anyone else, anyone other than your nephew, that put Rory in the hospital?! You would have killed them! Even if it was an accident! So try for two seconds to think how much I freaked out and how angry I was at the kid! Even if it wasn't his fault! He was there and he was horrible to me from the beginning so I'm sorry if him crashing my daughter's car and breaking her didn't give him some brownie points with me!" I turned away from him and put one hand over my face and the other on my hip. Then I spoke again, but this time timidly, "Just go. I know you obviously don't want to hear me talk anymore. So just leave. I'll call Rory. Good luck finding Jess."
I turned around again and saw Luke standing wide eyed. First he stared at the door and then me. We both knew that he had to make the choice now. He had to choose whether we would be friends or not.
~*~
Well, you had to expect that I'd leave some sort of cliffhanger! lol Any suggestions and comments are welcome. I'm sorry if this is totally out of character. I'm doing the best I can here. haha Right, so please review and I'll try and write the next chapter to this quicker than last time. Remember that reviews can really inspire a person to write more. lol
Disclaimer: We own none of the rights to Gilmore Girls. If we did, do you really think that Lorelai and Luke would still be "just friends" at this point?!
~*~
Luke stood on my doorstep, looking like he wanted to kill someone.
My bright, smiling expression flew from my face and was replaced with a look of pure shock. "Luke?! What happened?! What's wrong?"
"Jess left. We got into a big argument and he's gone. This is bad. This is really bad," Luke said as he stepped into my house. He was definitely freaking out.
"What do you mean he left?! Where did he go? Back to New York?" I was confused.
"No. He said he would never go back there, but that since he obviously wasn't wanted around here, he was going to see someone who did care about him," Luke said pointedly, but I didn't understand what he meant.
"Ok, so where is he?!" I asked just as the doorbell rang, yet again. Luke looked at me with confusion and then seemed to notice my outfit for the first time.
"Oh. I didn't realize you had a date tonight," Luke said and then a strange thing happened. An odd look passed across his face. It almost looked like pain. Of course, it was gone as quickly as it had arrived.
I turned around to get the door with a look of confusion over my face. I opened the door to see Jake standing there.
"Hey Lorelai."
"Ummm. hey Jake. Listen, I think that it might be good if we reschedule our date. My friend, Luke, is here and his nephew just ran away. I need to help find him."
Jake's face fell and I felt so guilty. "Oh, I see. I guess you really don't want to go out with me then."
"No! No, that's not it. I swear! I really, really wanted to go on this date, but I have to stay here tonight. I'll call you tomorrow, ok?"
Jake nodded, looking a little happier. "Alright. Bye Lorelai." He kissed me on the cheek and left.
I turned back around to face Luke. He was looking at the ground. "I'm sorry I ruined your date, Lorelai. I just freaked out about Jess and I thought you should know that I have a feeling he's going to Washington."
My mouth dropped open in shock. I hadn't even considered that was where Jess was headed. "How could you let him go there?! How could you?! God, Luke! We both know that he's a bad influence on Rory! Do you know that she skipped school to go see him in New York?! She did! And because of that she missed my graduation! I can't even tell you how that made me feel! And now you tell me that he's going to go see my daughter in Washington and you didn't stop him? Are you insane?!" I was screaming and crying and, to be honest, I'm not even sure that it was completely about Jess just running off. I think it was more of a build-up of emotions from the time of Rory's accident.
"Lorelai, the last thing I need right now is you freaking out at me! I'm scared, all right?! I admit it! My nephew is out wandering around somewhere alone! And besides that, you know damn well that I wouldn't want anyone to hurt Rory ever. So don't tell me that I didn't try and stop him! Just don't!" Luke was screaming.
We both stood there for a moment, breathing heavily after our screaming. Neither one of us wanted to talk first because we were both afraid of what to say. "Well what are we going to do?" I spoke softly because most of my energy had been used up during my screaming.
"I don't know. I think I'm just going to leave." He turned to go and said, "Oh, and I'm sorry about your date."
"No, Luke. don't go. We need to fix this."
"I can fix it by myself. Just call Rory and warn her."
"No not that!" He gave me a strange look. "I mean, yes, we need to fix that. but we need to fix. well, we need to fix things with us."
Luke sighed in obvious frustration. "Lorelai, look. just forget it."
"No, I will not just forget it! Luke. what we had. what we had was great. I came into the diner for coffee every morning, you stood there and absolutely refused to give it to me 'cause you said it would kill me and I always acted like I hated you for that. I begged. You refused. Finally, after much pleading, you gave in and I praised your very existence and your excellent coffee. This is how the coffee cycle functioned. And as much as I would hate when you fought with me over coffee, I also kinda liked it cuz it kinda showed me that you cared about me and you didn't want me to die from a caffeine overdose. But now, I go into the diner and ask for coffee and you give it to me! You don't even attempt a pathetic argument! You just hand it right over! To me, that's like you saying 'Here Lorelai, I hate you anyways, so just take the damn coffee and die a painful death. It's not like I care.' I mean, it's like if I were to ask for a knife to kill myself with, you would say 'Oh, sure, here take it.' And I know that you have a right to be mad at me, cuz yes, what I did was insensitive and totally wrong, but I don't understand why you want to throw away everything we had just because of one fight!" I was out of breath and a tear escaped my eye.
"Lorelai, I don't want you to die," Luke said in exasperation. His words didn't help much and I began to cry lightly. His face twisted and he looked very uncomfortable. "No. don't cry."
"Well, did you ever think about how I've felt all these months? I know I made a mistake! I obviously never want you to go to hell! And you know what, I know that I might have freaked about Jess, but how would you feel if it was anyone else, anyone other than your nephew, that put Rory in the hospital?! You would have killed them! Even if it was an accident! So try for two seconds to think how much I freaked out and how angry I was at the kid! Even if it wasn't his fault! He was there and he was horrible to me from the beginning so I'm sorry if him crashing my daughter's car and breaking her didn't give him some brownie points with me!" I turned away from him and put one hand over my face and the other on my hip. Then I spoke again, but this time timidly, "Just go. I know you obviously don't want to hear me talk anymore. So just leave. I'll call Rory. Good luck finding Jess."
I turned around again and saw Luke standing wide eyed. First he stared at the door and then me. We both knew that he had to make the choice now. He had to choose whether we would be friends or not.
~*~
Well, you had to expect that I'd leave some sort of cliffhanger! lol Any suggestions and comments are welcome. I'm sorry if this is totally out of character. I'm doing the best I can here. haha Right, so please review and I'll try and write the next chapter to this quicker than last time. Remember that reviews can really inspire a person to write more. lol