Hola~
awww.. thanks so much for your reviews!! =)
-Ggirl
*****************************
About 2 months later
Late August
7:48 AM, Monday
Helga's Lorelai walked into Helga's, the last place on Rory's and her list. 'Hope this is the place,' Lorelai thought as she entered the brightly lit bagel shop. "Welcome!" A booming voice greeted her as she stepped up to the counter. She didn't see anyone around her. "Uh.. hi," Lorelai said, her eyes looking from side to side. Where was the voice coming from? "I Helga! I make coffee!" A large woman wearing a big flowery housecoat came from the kitchen. "Oh!" Lorelai smiled at the bubbly woman. "Coffee. Great. Can I get a large?" She liked the place already. After all, 'Helga' had announced the moment she came in that she made coffee. "You know, coffee bad," Helga said, leaning over the counter. "But I sell." The woman turned around and got a large Styrofoam cup. "This size?" "Yeah, thanks," Lorelai said, digging around in her purse for her wallet. Luke-esque. The woman had just mentioned that coffee was bad for her, but she still gave it to her. "You know," Helga suddenly said, looking straight into Lorelai's eyes. "How old you? Thirty?" "Sure, why not," Lorelai said, smiling. Let the woman think she was younger than she really was. "When I your age, I had big lump on my left shoulder." She jabbed a finger into Lorelai's shoulder. Lorelai grimaced from the pain. "Very, very, very big lump." "Ahh," Lorelai said, nodding painfully. "That big, huh." The woman nodded. "Very big. And I go to doctor. And doctor look at lump and say, 'Oy! That a big lump.'" Lorelai nodded, wondering if she was out of her mind, or if the woman was. She had just started liking the place. She had spoken too soon. "And I say, 'Oy! How I fix?'. Doctor look at me and say, we have to do bopsy." Lorelai was confused. "Bopsy?" "Bopsy." "The bunny?" Lorelai joked. "What bunny?" The woman leaned against the counter. "Where bunny?" "Huh?" Lorelai asked, furrowing her brow. "I like bunny. You skin and cook in little bit olive oil," The woman said, making waving motions in the air. Lorelai's eyes widened. "So your lump," She interrupted. "Oy, yes, big lump on shoulder. And I was very, very, very.. Uh.. How I say? Very...," The woman looked at Lorelai. "You know?" Lorelai had no clue. She nodded. "Yes, very, very.." "Yes! Exactly! You know!" The woman beamed and jabbed another finger, this time in Lorelai's gut. Lorelai grimaced. "You too skinny. I feed you rabbit! Come back to store one day, I cook best in fae-mily!" The woman said showing her tooth-less smile. "And you eat rabbit.. You skin and cook in little bit olive oil.."Lorelai started to back away. "Yes, I love rabbit.. I uh...have to go to work.." "Very big lump. Do bopsy. And lump go away! Then I marry," The woman continued to talk to Lorelai, even as she was slowly backing up towards the door. "Marry good boy. You know nice, good boy who make you happy? Maybe even marry if you have big lump?" 'Luke,' Lorelai immediately thought. 'No, Craig. What am I thinking? Luke?!' "Nice to meet you!" Lorelai called out and spun around. "You forget coffee!" The woman called out to her as Lorelai left the store. Helga looked at the coffee cup that she held. "Oy, coffee bad anyways." ***************************** 7:58 AM, Monday
New York City "Rory, we can't go to Helga's," Lorelai whined into her cell phone. "What? But that was our last place," Rory said sadly. "Well, we only have a week left in our two months," Lorelai said. "I can't believe we never found a good coffee place. We raked the New York City area with a fine comb." "Luke's is unrivaled," Rory replied. Lorelai got uncomfortable at the Rory's mention of Luke. "I guess." "Mom," Rory suddenly said, clutching her bag tightly as she stepped into the office "Yeah?" Lorelai replied, turning sideways to let a man pass her. "You two are gonna make up once you go back to Star's Hollow right?" "Rory..," Lorelai sighed. "I don't know." "It's been almost two months," Rory said. "I know." "You don't miss him?" Lorelai hesitated. "His coffee," She admitted. "And nothing else," Rory stated. Lorelai was quiet. "Oh, it's Mr. Hilton, I have to go, hon!" She quickly turned off the cell phone. Rory just smiled as she shut off her phone. ***************************** 7:37 PM, Monday
Craig's Apartment Her day at the hotel hadn't been so bad, because the DAR dictator had insisted on doing everything with poor Mr. Hilton, instead of her. Lorelai would usually be insulted by the woman's haughtiness, but heck, if it meant she didn't have to spend time with the woman, the hell with pride. 'What a nice day,' She thought happily as she walked into Craig's apartment building. They had a date tonight, and so she had decided to just drop by right after work. "I have a key under the doormat," Craig had said over the phone. "And I think there's some leftover cheesecake in the fridge." "I'll see you later," Lorelai had said. She took the elevator up to the penthouse. Lorelai smiled as she stepped off the elevator and into the hallway where his penthouse was. She reached under the doormat. 'Bingo!' She thought as her hand hit something solid. She unlocked the door and walked into the apartment, which smelled like pasta. It smelled really good. 'Craig must have gotten home early. And wow, he was successful with the cooking thing this time,' She thought and smiled. She threw her coat on the leather couch and started towards the kitchen. "Hey, Marth-." Lorelai stopped in her tracks. The woman at the stove was not Craig. Oh, no, she was DEFINITELY not Craig. She was pretty: blonde, petite, and dressed very fashionably in a cashmere sweater and tight jeans. She just stared at Lorelai, her spoon stopped in midair while stirring. "Oh, hi," the woman said, surprised. "I'm..." "Um," Lorelai interrupted. "I.. I gotta go..." She ran out of the kitchen, grabbed her jacket, and dashed out the front door. Brushing away her tears away, she scolded herself for not believing in Luke. 'He was right,' She thought angrily. 'I've been so stupid!' Lorelai angrily pressed the elevator button, but it wasn't coming fast enough. Lorelai dashed towards the stairs. 'I have to get out of here.' She ran down the stairs, and just as she was going between the 2nd and 3rd floors, she bumped into someone. "Lorelai?" Lorelai looked up to see Craig. "You..," Lorelai said angrily, tears flowing down her cheeks. "What's wrong?" Craig asked, worried. He reached up to brush her tears away. "Was it the DAR woman again?" She slapped his hand away, to his shock. "Why? Are you sleeping with her too?" "What?!" Craig asked, shocked. "What are you talking bout?" "Well," Lorelai said furiously. "When you go upstairs, you'll see what I'm talking about." With that, she pushed past him and ran down the stairs. "I can't believe you did this to me!" She yelled at him. "Lorelai!" He called after her. "I don't understand..." Lorelai blindly ran through the lobby of the apartment building embarrassed by her tears and by her stupidity. 'I'm so stupid!' She thought angrily. She needed to talk to someone. She needed to see Luke. ***************************** 10:34 PM, Monday
Star's Hollow When Lorelai looked out the window, she saw that it was raining very heavily. 'Great,' She thought. Lorelai hadn't thought of bringing an umbrella. Then again, she hadn't exactly planned this trip either. The bus came to a stop and the passengers all started to get up. They were all bunched up in the little aisle so Lorelai decided to wait until the rest of the passengers left. After most of the others got off the bus, Lorelai stood up from her seat and buttoned her coat. She grabbed her bag and walked off the bus, mumbling a "Thanks." over her shoulder at the bus driver. The rain was coming down harder than she had thought it would be and it was pelting her in the face. Lorelai dashed across the middle of town, trying to shield her head from the rain as she ran. As she approached the familiar diner, her confidence faltered. She slowed down, and her arms hung weakly at her sides, her arms slowly swinging the bag she clutched. The rain was pouring down her face ('Probably messing up my makeup,' she thought). She was .. so scared to go in. But why? This was just Luke right? Or at least, that's what she had been telling herself for the past few weeks. ***************************** 10:36 PM, Monday
Luke's Diner "Burgers!" Caesar called out from the kitchen. Luke grabbed the plates from the window and rushed over to the table to deliver them. Setting the dishes down in front of the respective customers, he muttered, "Enjoy." and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. A late night bus had just come in so Luke's was full of late night diners. The rush was intense. 'It's just not the same without Lorelai though,' He thought nostalgically. She would always be there at the busiest of nights, helping him or just bothering him. Flashing one of her distracting smiles, Lorelai would breeze into the diner wearing a 'Hot Mama' shirt and take orders in that crazy diner language that she had probably made up herself. God, he missed her. Luke looked out the window. It was pouring outside. 'Looks like what I feel inside,' He thought dryly. "Hey, Daydreamer!" Kirk called out from his usual corner table. "Do you have any more Equals?! I need a lot!!" Luke groaned at the sound of Kirk's voice. "Don't have a fit, Mariah Carey," He grumbled and grabbed some Equals from the counter. As he approached Kirk's table, he looked out the window again. A familiar face looked back at him. Lorelai. Luke stared back at her, standing in the rain. Her clothes were totally soaked through and her lower lip was quivering. He threw the Equals in Kirk's table and ran out the door. "Heyy!!!" Kirk yelled after him as some of them dropped into his soup. ***************************** 10:37 PM, Monday
In front of Luke's "Lorelai," He breathed, the rain pelting his face. Luke held up a hand to shield his face from the rain. "What are you doing here?" "I came to see you," She said quietly. "I..." "Come inside," He yelled. "It's raining too hard." It was hard to hear her over the downpour. "I just wanted to say one thing," Lorelai said. Her eyes were sad, and it hurt Luke to see her like this. His heart ached for her. He wanted so badly to wrap his arms around her. "Can we go over there?" She pointed to an area a little ways down the road. Most of the stores in town closed early so that area was pretty dark. "I don't really want to see Taylor and them right now...," She trailed off. Luke nodded and they walked over. "What's wrong?" He asked. He wiped away some of the water that was running down his face. "Are you sure you don't want to go back to the diner? It's raining pretty hard.. I could get you coffee and .. " Lorelai shook her head slowly. "I only wanted to say.." He couldn't really hear her over the rain. "What?" Lorelai looked at him, an intense look in her eyes. She took a step closer to him, until he could just barely feel her shivering against him. He resisted the urge to brush away the wet strands of hair that kept falling into her face. "I missed you." The three words hit him in the face harder than the pelting rain. "What?" Did he just hear her correctly? She missed him? The sound of her voice was so sad and sincere.. And so full of longing and remorse. "And.. I'm sorry about everything," Lorelai looked so wistful. "No, it was my fault," Luke argued. "No, it wasn't." Lorelai hung her head sadly. An uncomfortable silence befell them. Luke willed himself to say something. "I missed you too," Luke said awkwardly. 'Oh the hell with it!' He grabbed her and hugged her to him. She was startled by his sudden move and her arms hung weakly by her side. But she slowly recovered from the initial shock and soon found herself reveling in the warmth of his arms. She brought her arms up and wrapped them around his neck. "A lot," He suddenly whispered into her hair. Lorelai was startled by his gentle words. She pulled away and looked at him. "Luke, I..," She started. She was cut off by his lips pressing against hers. *********************************** Next chapter: To New York.. or not to New York? How does Lorelai react to the kiss? Who was that woman?
7:48 AM, Monday
Helga's Lorelai walked into Helga's, the last place on Rory's and her list. 'Hope this is the place,' Lorelai thought as she entered the brightly lit bagel shop. "Welcome!" A booming voice greeted her as she stepped up to the counter. She didn't see anyone around her. "Uh.. hi," Lorelai said, her eyes looking from side to side. Where was the voice coming from? "I Helga! I make coffee!" A large woman wearing a big flowery housecoat came from the kitchen. "Oh!" Lorelai smiled at the bubbly woman. "Coffee. Great. Can I get a large?" She liked the place already. After all, 'Helga' had announced the moment she came in that she made coffee. "You know, coffee bad," Helga said, leaning over the counter. "But I sell." The woman turned around and got a large Styrofoam cup. "This size?" "Yeah, thanks," Lorelai said, digging around in her purse for her wallet. Luke-esque. The woman had just mentioned that coffee was bad for her, but she still gave it to her. "You know," Helga suddenly said, looking straight into Lorelai's eyes. "How old you? Thirty?" "Sure, why not," Lorelai said, smiling. Let the woman think she was younger than she really was. "When I your age, I had big lump on my left shoulder." She jabbed a finger into Lorelai's shoulder. Lorelai grimaced from the pain. "Very, very, very big lump." "Ahh," Lorelai said, nodding painfully. "That big, huh." The woman nodded. "Very big. And I go to doctor. And doctor look at lump and say, 'Oy! That a big lump.'" Lorelai nodded, wondering if she was out of her mind, or if the woman was. She had just started liking the place. She had spoken too soon. "And I say, 'Oy! How I fix?'. Doctor look at me and say, we have to do bopsy." Lorelai was confused. "Bopsy?" "Bopsy." "The bunny?" Lorelai joked. "What bunny?" The woman leaned against the counter. "Where bunny?" "Huh?" Lorelai asked, furrowing her brow. "I like bunny. You skin and cook in little bit olive oil," The woman said, making waving motions in the air. Lorelai's eyes widened. "So your lump," She interrupted. "Oy, yes, big lump on shoulder. And I was very, very, very.. Uh.. How I say? Very...," The woman looked at Lorelai. "You know?" Lorelai had no clue. She nodded. "Yes, very, very.." "Yes! Exactly! You know!" The woman beamed and jabbed another finger, this time in Lorelai's gut. Lorelai grimaced. "You too skinny. I feed you rabbit! Come back to store one day, I cook best in fae-mily!" The woman said showing her tooth-less smile. "And you eat rabbit.. You skin and cook in little bit olive oil.."Lorelai started to back away. "Yes, I love rabbit.. I uh...have to go to work.." "Very big lump. Do bopsy. And lump go away! Then I marry," The woman continued to talk to Lorelai, even as she was slowly backing up towards the door. "Marry good boy. You know nice, good boy who make you happy? Maybe even marry if you have big lump?" 'Luke,' Lorelai immediately thought. 'No, Craig. What am I thinking? Luke?!' "Nice to meet you!" Lorelai called out and spun around. "You forget coffee!" The woman called out to her as Lorelai left the store. Helga looked at the coffee cup that she held. "Oy, coffee bad anyways." ***************************** 7:58 AM, Monday
New York City "Rory, we can't go to Helga's," Lorelai whined into her cell phone. "What? But that was our last place," Rory said sadly. "Well, we only have a week left in our two months," Lorelai said. "I can't believe we never found a good coffee place. We raked the New York City area with a fine comb." "Luke's is unrivaled," Rory replied. Lorelai got uncomfortable at the Rory's mention of Luke. "I guess." "Mom," Rory suddenly said, clutching her bag tightly as she stepped into the office "Yeah?" Lorelai replied, turning sideways to let a man pass her. "You two are gonna make up once you go back to Star's Hollow right?" "Rory..," Lorelai sighed. "I don't know." "It's been almost two months," Rory said. "I know." "You don't miss him?" Lorelai hesitated. "His coffee," She admitted. "And nothing else," Rory stated. Lorelai was quiet. "Oh, it's Mr. Hilton, I have to go, hon!" She quickly turned off the cell phone. Rory just smiled as she shut off her phone. ***************************** 7:37 PM, Monday
Craig's Apartment Her day at the hotel hadn't been so bad, because the DAR dictator had insisted on doing everything with poor Mr. Hilton, instead of her. Lorelai would usually be insulted by the woman's haughtiness, but heck, if it meant she didn't have to spend time with the woman, the hell with pride. 'What a nice day,' She thought happily as she walked into Craig's apartment building. They had a date tonight, and so she had decided to just drop by right after work. "I have a key under the doormat," Craig had said over the phone. "And I think there's some leftover cheesecake in the fridge." "I'll see you later," Lorelai had said. She took the elevator up to the penthouse. Lorelai smiled as she stepped off the elevator and into the hallway where his penthouse was. She reached under the doormat. 'Bingo!' She thought as her hand hit something solid. She unlocked the door and walked into the apartment, which smelled like pasta. It smelled really good. 'Craig must have gotten home early. And wow, he was successful with the cooking thing this time,' She thought and smiled. She threw her coat on the leather couch and started towards the kitchen. "Hey, Marth-." Lorelai stopped in her tracks. The woman at the stove was not Craig. Oh, no, she was DEFINITELY not Craig. She was pretty: blonde, petite, and dressed very fashionably in a cashmere sweater and tight jeans. She just stared at Lorelai, her spoon stopped in midair while stirring. "Oh, hi," the woman said, surprised. "I'm..." "Um," Lorelai interrupted. "I.. I gotta go..." She ran out of the kitchen, grabbed her jacket, and dashed out the front door. Brushing away her tears away, she scolded herself for not believing in Luke. 'He was right,' She thought angrily. 'I've been so stupid!' Lorelai angrily pressed the elevator button, but it wasn't coming fast enough. Lorelai dashed towards the stairs. 'I have to get out of here.' She ran down the stairs, and just as she was going between the 2nd and 3rd floors, she bumped into someone. "Lorelai?" Lorelai looked up to see Craig. "You..," Lorelai said angrily, tears flowing down her cheeks. "What's wrong?" Craig asked, worried. He reached up to brush her tears away. "Was it the DAR woman again?" She slapped his hand away, to his shock. "Why? Are you sleeping with her too?" "What?!" Craig asked, shocked. "What are you talking bout?" "Well," Lorelai said furiously. "When you go upstairs, you'll see what I'm talking about." With that, she pushed past him and ran down the stairs. "I can't believe you did this to me!" She yelled at him. "Lorelai!" He called after her. "I don't understand..." Lorelai blindly ran through the lobby of the apartment building embarrassed by her tears and by her stupidity. 'I'm so stupid!' She thought angrily. She needed to talk to someone. She needed to see Luke. ***************************** 10:34 PM, Monday
Star's Hollow When Lorelai looked out the window, she saw that it was raining very heavily. 'Great,' She thought. Lorelai hadn't thought of bringing an umbrella. Then again, she hadn't exactly planned this trip either. The bus came to a stop and the passengers all started to get up. They were all bunched up in the little aisle so Lorelai decided to wait until the rest of the passengers left. After most of the others got off the bus, Lorelai stood up from her seat and buttoned her coat. She grabbed her bag and walked off the bus, mumbling a "Thanks." over her shoulder at the bus driver. The rain was coming down harder than she had thought it would be and it was pelting her in the face. Lorelai dashed across the middle of town, trying to shield her head from the rain as she ran. As she approached the familiar diner, her confidence faltered. She slowed down, and her arms hung weakly at her sides, her arms slowly swinging the bag she clutched. The rain was pouring down her face ('Probably messing up my makeup,' she thought). She was .. so scared to go in. But why? This was just Luke right? Or at least, that's what she had been telling herself for the past few weeks. ***************************** 10:36 PM, Monday
Luke's Diner "Burgers!" Caesar called out from the kitchen. Luke grabbed the plates from the window and rushed over to the table to deliver them. Setting the dishes down in front of the respective customers, he muttered, "Enjoy." and wiped his forehead with his sleeve. A late night bus had just come in so Luke's was full of late night diners. The rush was intense. 'It's just not the same without Lorelai though,' He thought nostalgically. She would always be there at the busiest of nights, helping him or just bothering him. Flashing one of her distracting smiles, Lorelai would breeze into the diner wearing a 'Hot Mama' shirt and take orders in that crazy diner language that she had probably made up herself. God, he missed her. Luke looked out the window. It was pouring outside. 'Looks like what I feel inside,' He thought dryly. "Hey, Daydreamer!" Kirk called out from his usual corner table. "Do you have any more Equals?! I need a lot!!" Luke groaned at the sound of Kirk's voice. "Don't have a fit, Mariah Carey," He grumbled and grabbed some Equals from the counter. As he approached Kirk's table, he looked out the window again. A familiar face looked back at him. Lorelai. Luke stared back at her, standing in the rain. Her clothes were totally soaked through and her lower lip was quivering. He threw the Equals in Kirk's table and ran out the door. "Heyy!!!" Kirk yelled after him as some of them dropped into his soup. ***************************** 10:37 PM, Monday
In front of Luke's "Lorelai," He breathed, the rain pelting his face. Luke held up a hand to shield his face from the rain. "What are you doing here?" "I came to see you," She said quietly. "I..." "Come inside," He yelled. "It's raining too hard." It was hard to hear her over the downpour. "I just wanted to say one thing," Lorelai said. Her eyes were sad, and it hurt Luke to see her like this. His heart ached for her. He wanted so badly to wrap his arms around her. "Can we go over there?" She pointed to an area a little ways down the road. Most of the stores in town closed early so that area was pretty dark. "I don't really want to see Taylor and them right now...," She trailed off. Luke nodded and they walked over. "What's wrong?" He asked. He wiped away some of the water that was running down his face. "Are you sure you don't want to go back to the diner? It's raining pretty hard.. I could get you coffee and .. " Lorelai shook her head slowly. "I only wanted to say.." He couldn't really hear her over the rain. "What?" Lorelai looked at him, an intense look in her eyes. She took a step closer to him, until he could just barely feel her shivering against him. He resisted the urge to brush away the wet strands of hair that kept falling into her face. "I missed you." The three words hit him in the face harder than the pelting rain. "What?" Did he just hear her correctly? She missed him? The sound of her voice was so sad and sincere.. And so full of longing and remorse. "And.. I'm sorry about everything," Lorelai looked so wistful. "No, it was my fault," Luke argued. "No, it wasn't." Lorelai hung her head sadly. An uncomfortable silence befell them. Luke willed himself to say something. "I missed you too," Luke said awkwardly. 'Oh the hell with it!' He grabbed her and hugged her to him. She was startled by his sudden move and her arms hung weakly by her side. But she slowly recovered from the initial shock and soon found herself reveling in the warmth of his arms. She brought her arms up and wrapped them around his neck. "A lot," He suddenly whispered into her hair. Lorelai was startled by his gentle words. She pulled away and looked at him. "Luke, I..," She started. She was cut off by his lips pressing against hers. *********************************** Next chapter: To New York.. or not to New York? How does Lorelai react to the kiss? Who was that woman?