Disclaimer in Chapter 1
A/N: There are a couple things in this fic- some big and some small- that actually ended up in the season premiere. I didn't read spoilers, and the first 180 pages of this fic have been sitting on my hard drive since July 1, when I started this story. I thought I would have finished it by the season premiere but the best laid plans…
Anyhow, any similarities to the 3rd season are coincidental. But let's just say when I saw Taylor's first appearance I had a "they stole my idea!" moment. And I was sad. But alas, I stole THEIR characters, so I'll toss off another hackney axiom and say all's fair in love and war…or fic.
Rory note: A few people have mentioned that they think Rory's finished 11th grade in season 2; does anyone care to hear my insane theory why I think the show might be doing revisionist history, and why the 10th grade thing makes more sense to me? Here goes!
Until they come out and say it on the show, I have her finishing 10th grade in this fic. I'm basing this on a few facts, because I don't recall them ever saying what grade she was actually in- and if I'm just having a brain spaz, please point out a specific ep to me!-, and so have tried to figure it out using clues given on the show.
If she had been in 11th grade in S2, then she would have been taking the SATs. Instead, Rory was complaining about her PSAT scores in Season 2's episode "Secrets and Loans" and I remember taking those in 10th grade. Also, Harvard requires 3 SAT II Subject Tests (ah, how I so loved subject tests) and they recommend that applicants begin taking these as well as the regular SAT in the spring of their junior year. (Which means Rory should have been taking them already, and not the PSATs).
Also, if she had been in 11th grade, then she would have been at least starting on her college applications, because that's when you're supposed to start on them and I don't think Rory would have forgotten about that. Especially since Harvard is her school of choice, she'd probably consider doing the Early Action where you apply earlier and they give you a decision earlier. From the Harvard application booklet:
**Receipt of the Common Application and the Harvard Application Supplement by October 15 for Early Action and December 15 for Regular Action would be helpful. The materials from your teachers and counselors are due by the final deadlines: November 1 for Early Action and January 1 for Regular Action.**
Yale also has the same deadlines.
Of course, the show is FICTIONAL (sigh) so they could be less interested in the real life schematics, and it's written I'm sure by people who haven't had to take the SATs or apply to college in many years, so they might unintentionally be making mistakes.
The only thing that's confusing is that she turned 16 in the beginning of Season 1, which means she'll be 19 at graduation- although that can be explained because her birthday's just past the start of the school year (October or November if you judge by air-date and the seasonal setting of the episode), and I know that for many schools kids have to be 5 when they start pre-k, and if they haven't turned 5 by the first day of school in the end of August or September, they have to wait until the next school year, which makes them the oldest kids in the class.
So I sat there for awhile and debated the age thing vs. the school issues thing, then figured that since shows sometimes go back and rewrite history (like how the 90210 kids were in high school for 5 years) the people in charge of the show might have realized that putting Rory in 10th grade instead of 11th in Season 2 would give them another year of mother/daughter Lorelai/Rory interaction before shipping her off to college. I also reread the entire transcript for Rory's Birthday Parties and they never actually give her age in there, or refer to it as her 'sixteenth birthday' in the actual episode itself. Which might be handy to them if they are intending revisionist history. This kind of crap always happens on TV shows, especially when they get more popular- they'll renege on previous canon in order to suit their current needs. And one of those needs might be milking the Rory/Lorelai unit for another year; even if they send her to a closer school than Harvard, it will be an alteration in a formula that's currently working really well.
If anyone can find me solid- and most importantly, recent- evidence from the mouths of the producers/writers, I'd be very thankful. Until then, I'll just see what they're doing this season, and change it if they do say Rory's in senior year. I'll also work on lowering my anal attention to details. As they say on the MST3K theme song: Just repeat to yourself 'it's just a show, I should really just relax.'
-Chapter 3-
Lorelai groaned when her alarm went off. This was it. This was The Day. The last time she'd see Rory for six entire weeks. That was forty-two days. How could she go forty-two days without Rory?
She grumpily turned off the alarm. When she moved to get out of bed, she felt something shift next to her. She looked to the side; Rory was lying next to her.
"Hey," she said, shaking Rory gently.
Rory slowly opened her eyes. "I couldn't sleep in my bed," she explained groggily.
Lorelai tried to keep the mushy mommy feelings from gushing out. She brushed the hair off Rory's face. "You better get up, sweetie, if you want to get some breakfast before Paris gets here."
"Ooh, breakfast." Rory was instantly up.
Forty five minutes later, they were arguing over where to eat.
"Luke's," Rory said firmly.
They were standing on the sidewalk near the square. "No," Lorelai said, not up to the task of facing Ice Man Luke at the same time Rory was about to leave her. "Let's hit the bakery. Cupcakes for breakfast!"
"I want real food."
"Cupcakes are real food!"
"I want to say bye to Luke and Jess," Rory said.
Lorelai nodded. "I'll wait out here. Then we can get cupcakes."
"No. You're going in with me, and you're going to eat with me."
"But he's so not Luke-ish," Lorelai protested.
"For me?" Rory pleaded, and gave her the big eyes.
"Stop using the puppy eyes, it's not going to work." Rory widened her eyes even further. "Fine," Lorelai conceded. "Now quit it; you look like one of those freaky Precious Moments dolls." They walked the twenty feet to the diner.
"Sorry." Those dolls really were scary. Rory opened the door, and looked over her shoulder at her mom. "I'll warm him up for you."
"Gonna give him the eyes?"
"They never fail." Rory dropped her bag at a table; when Luke saw them, she gave him a big wave and smile. He actually stopped what he was doing and looked behind him to see if she was waving at someone else. He pointed at the coffee pot and Rory nodded.
A few seconds later, Luke came over with two cups of coffee. "Hey, Rory," he said. He put the other cup in front of Lorelai. "Hey," he said, a few degrees colder.
Lorelai was torn between the snarky comment that she was a paying customer or giving him a big smile in hopes of melting his iciness. She compromised with a neutral, "Hey."
"Since this will be my last Luke's diner meal for six weeks, I plan to make it a good one," Rory told him. "I think I will have pancakes,"
"I'll make 'em blueberry if you want," Luke offered.
Rory smiled. "That would be most excellent. And a danish, please. And some bacon." She felt like going all out.
"You got it." His smile faded as he looked at Lorelai. "And you?"
"Oh, uh, just pancakes and sausage." Luke left, and Lorelai pouted. "He didn't offer me blueberries."
"I'm sure he wasn't doing it to spite you."
Lorelai changed the subject. "What time is Paris coming by?" Since Paris' was driving herself, she had offered Rory a ride down to D.C. with her. Rory suspected they'd be planning their first governmental acts the entire way.
"Nine. Which you already knew."
"I know." Lorelai glumly stirred her coffee.
"Mom, if you want to take me yourself, you can."
Lorelai shook her head. "No, we're both big girls. I don't need to drive you there and watch you walk away, and wave goodbye to you like on your first day of school."
Rory smirked. "Now that's just a lie. You didn't watch me walk away, you followed me into the class and Mrs. Roberts had to practically call security to get you to leave."
Lorelai grinned at the memory. "It was kinda funny when she first thought I was one of the high school kids loitering in her class. I mean, really? What kind of kid ditches high school to go to pre-k?"
"The slow kind."
"I don't look slow!"
They were giggling when Luke brought over their plates; for a second, he forgot to be distant to Lorelai and smiled. "Here you go." When they looked up at him, he dropped the smile, hopefully before they noticed. Where the hell was his resolve?
Lorelai picked up her fork; when she looked down at her plate, she was surprised to see blueberry pancakes. She told herself it didn't mean anything, but the fuzzy little warm feeling stayed with her nonetheless.
* * *
Rory was just finishing her danish when she saw Paris' BMW pull up outside Luke's. "Oh no."
"Did you forget to pack something? Like the entire Barnes and Nobles store?"
"No. Paris is outside."
Lorelai turned to look out the window. Sure enough, Paris was getting out of her car. "But it's only," Lorelai looked at her wrist before she remembered that she didn't wear a watch. One of these days, she really was going to have to get one.
Rory checked her watch. "Eight forty-five."
"I knew I birthed you for a reason." Lorelai prepared herself for another exciting episode of Paris Theater.
Paris walked into the diner, and the bell somehow tinkled more ominously than normal. "There you are," she said when she spotted Rory.
"It's uh, not nine yet. And how'd you know we were here?"
"This town is the size of my swimming pool. Besides, your strange neighbor with the gnomes told me you might be here."
Rory took the last bite of her danish. "You said nine."
"I said we would leave at nine. Which would indicate that we would have already put your stuff in the car and gotten on the road."
"Wow. Can't argue with that logic," Lorelai piped in.
"I'd like to be there when the check-in starts, in order to procure the best dorm room and get the background information on all the other participants."
"Fine." Rory finished off her coffee and stood up. "But all my stuff's still at the house."
Paris glared. "If you get moving now, we can still be on the road by nine."
Lorelai turned to Paris. "Have you ever thought of going into the Army? Just think of all the new recruits you could reduce to tears."
There was actually a gleam in Paris' eye for a moment.
Rory picked up her bag. "Let me say bye to Luke." Paris just gave her a look that said 'make it quick.' Rory walked over to the end of the counter, where Luke was putting more danishes out.
"You leaving?"
"Yep."
He grabbed a bag and tossed some danishes in it. "A few for the road."
"Thanks." She took the proffered bag. "I just wanted to say bye. Six weeks seems like a really, really long time. I think the longest I've ever been gone from here is two days. I might actually miss Taylor and Kirk."
Luke smirked. "I wouldn't count on it."
"Probably not. But I know for sure I'll miss you." She impulsively hugged him. Luke wasn't used to hugs. He awkwardly hugged her back. "Is Jess around?" she asked after pulling away.
"No."
Rory felt a twinge of disappointment. "Can you tell him I said bye?" she asked, trying to sound casual.
Luke nodded. Rory took a deep breath, and gave him The Eyes. "Oh God, what now?" he asked. The Eyes had been her way of getting him to give her the biggest cookie or brownie or piece of pie when she was younger.
"Don't be too hard on her."
Luke didn't say anything. Rory crossed her arms over her chest. The Eyes were not working. It was time to go for the Stern Pout. Luke was also familiar with the Stern Pout; she'd inherited it directly from Lorelai. "I'll try," he surrendered. He'd never managed to build his defenses against it.
"Thanks." She headed back over to the table, catching the tail end of a conversation between her mom and Paris.
"I don't watch T.V."
"But you need to watch this show. You and Simon would be a match made in…someplace that's not heaven."
"Simon as in Simon from American Idol?" Rory butted in.
"Yep."
Rory inclined her head as she thought about it. Simon and Paris; it would be amusing. It would be scary as all hell, but amusing. "I agree."
Paris stood up. "I'm sure I'd find this conversation more fascinating if I actually knew what you two were talking about. But since I don't, let's quit wasting time and go."
Lorelai left money on the table and shot a surreptitious glance Luke's way. "What did you say to him?" she asked Rory.
"I just told him goodbye," Rory replied innocently. They walked outside to Paris' car. Paris overcame her self-involvement for a brief instant and got in, letting them say goodbye in privacy.
Lorelai was suspicious, but decided to let it go. "Do you want me to follow you guys back to the house? I could help you put your bags in the car. I'm very skilled in baggage handling. And packing," she lied.
Rory smiled. "You are the absolute worst at it and you know it." She looked at her watch. "It's eight fifty-one. I guess we'll just say goodbye nine minutes early."
"Okay," Lorelai managed to say. How could she get into cry mode so fast?
Rory hugged her. "If you cry, then I'll cry, so please don't cry," she whispered.
"I wasn't crying. I was just practicing my Oscar acceptance speech." She hugged Rory tighter.
"Best actress?" Rory's voice cracked.
"Nah. Best actor. I'll be getting a sex change while you're gone."
Rory laughed through her tears. Lorelai let go of her. "We're so silly," she admonished, wiping under her eyes, then under Rory's. "It's not like you're shipping off to Rwanda."
"Good thing. Postage would be exorbitant."
"I'll miss you and your big words. Now get in the car before I handcuff us together and you'll have to chop off your own hand like Hannibal to get away."
Rory kissed her cheek. "Love you."
"Love you too." She watched as Rory got in the car. Paris pulled away, and Rory waved goodbye through the window. Lorelai waved back until the car turned onto another street.
Luke could see them saying goodbye outside; he could see the pain on both their faces. Lorelai's back was to him when Rory finally left, but he could see her face in his mind, biting her lower lip and trying not to let more than a few tears fall.
He wanted to go out there and comfort her.
He wanted her to hurt.
His pettiness won the initial battle, and he turned his back to the window, refilling coffee cups around the diner. He went behind the counter and put the pot down. He felt like an ass. He grabbed a paper cup and filled it, then headed out the door. Lorelai wasn't there; he looked down the street but she was already gone. He tossed the cup in the trash and went back inside.
* * *
It was a small club, the stage barely twenty feet across, the floor in front of it jammed beyond capacity. The women in the crowd outnumbered the men four to one, and all were dancing and gyrating and shimmying in the tiny spaces between each other. Lorelai was also dancing, but there was a presence behind her, a solid, non-moving presence, like a wall.
The lights flickered and changed colors, their frenetic energy mimicking that of the crowd. She could hear the beat of a familiar dance song, bringing her back to the days of high school, to the half of her life that was without Rory. Rebel Yell. Billy Idol. Lorelai grinned; she had rebelled and yelled with the best of them.
She could see the singer on the stage, only it wasn't Billy Idol. Oddly enough, it looked like Simon LeBon. Why the hell was the Duran Duran guy singing Billy Idol songs?
She turned around; the wall behind her wasn't a wall. It was Luke, stoic as always.
"Why's Simon LeBon doing Billy Idol stuff?" she asked him, yelling to be heard over the music.
"What?" he yelled back, unable to hear her.
She stood on tiptoe, putting her hands on his shoulders to steady herself, and pressed her lips to his ear. She repeated her question, then leaned her head back so he could answer.
Luke just shrugged. "Damned if I know," he answered, and kissed her.
She wasn't surprised; she responded as if it was natural, kissing him back, wrapping her legs around his waist, locking her arms around his neck. She clung to him as the sea of people pushed against them, his big hands sliding down to hike up her skirt.
"Everyone'll see," she whispered in his ear.
"Let 'em," he whispered back, before mooing in her ear.
Why was he mooing? Lorelai grunted, and rolled her hips against his. Was he purposely tormenting her? And why wouldn't he stop mooing?
"Damn it!" she cursed, when she realized the mooing wasn't coming from Luke, but from the alarm clock with the barnyard animal noises that was currently set on the cow track.
Then she realized what she'd been dreaming about. She was about to have sex with Luke at a Billy Idol- well, kinda Billy Idol- concert.
"Damn it!" she cursed again. If only her clock had been set for a few minutes later.
Saturday night she'd had the first Luke dream. She had dismissed it, blaming the whole thing on watching Raiders of the Lost Ark before going to bed. She'd also dismissed the second dream, two nights later, where Luke was a lumberjack; it must have been from the Monty Python lumberjack song.
But this third dream, she couldn't ignore, no matter how hard she tried.
She dragged herself out of bed, reflecting on the current situation her life was; Rory had been gone for a week now, a week that had passed by in a mopey haze. The only bright spots were her phone calls to Rory.
Without Rory, she couldn't bring herself to walk in to Luke's at all. Then, on Thursday, Christopher had called. She hadn't wanted to talk to him at all, but she picked up the phone hoping it would be Rory. When he told her that he and Sherry were getting married, it still managed to surprise and upset her, even though her brain had known it was coming. She barely managed to congratulate him and end the conversation in a normal, everything is fine by me voice. And of course, her mother still insisted on Friday night dinners, even though Rory was neither present nor in school at the moment, so Friday had been another amazingly horrible night. Emily, though no longer incensed over the Christopher incident, was still in mourning for the perfect family situation that had died before it had even gotten started.
When Lorelai walked into the kitchen at the Inn, Sookie knew right away from the expression on her face something was up.
"Okay, this Luke dream thing is going way too far," Lorelai said.
So that was it, Sookie thought. "You have another one?"
"Yes."
Sookie waited for Lorelai to elaborate. When she didn't, Sookie practically pleaded with her. "You have to tell me! Were there monkeys?"
"No, there weren't monkeys. That would be gross."
"Well, unless you give me details, I will be forced to make up my own, and I'll throw in some monkeys," Sookie threatened.
Lorelai explained the Simon LeBon/Billy Idol concert, then got to the Luke part. She looked around the kitchen, but it was early and the other cooks weren't in. "Okay, so we were kissing, and he lifts my skirt up, and the damn alarm goes off."
"I'm not Freud, but this one's super easy to interpret. You've got the hots for Luke."
"No I don't!" Lorelai denied, without much sincerity.
"Hello? You were about to have dream sex with him."
"So what? One time I had a dream make-out session with Al Gore, that doesn't mean I have the hots for him. It just meant I was very concerned with the election process."
Sookie kept a straight face. "With or without the beard?"
"With," Lorelai admitted. "It was kind of funny, actually- we were making out in the race car shaped bed in his treehouse."
"And this is somehow connected to the election process?" Sookie questioned.
"Well, the kissing was to symbolize his connection to the people, and the race car was for his fast-paced election campaign, and the treehouse was um, the source for the paper would be used for misplaced ballots," Lorelai quickly made up.
"That's some imagination you got. But it won't distract me from the Luke issue."
"There is no 'Luke issue,'" Lorelai firmly stated. "He doesn't like me, and I need a man, that's all my dreams mean."
"Of course he likes you, silly."
"No, he tolerates me now and just barely at that."
Sookie put down the knife she was using to chop mushrooms. "What happened after you sent him the apology letter? I thought for sure that would have fixed it."
"I know. I must have overestimated the healing powers of Garfield." Lorelai thought about the details. "Let's see…I made a rhyme about donuts, and I thought it was pretty clever and Real Luke would have thought so too, but the Imposter Luke that's currently taken over just seemed annoyed. And I did more apologizing, and he said he wasn't angry and didn't have a grudge. But you should have heard him, Sookie. I mean, I know what he said, but it was the way he said it- all clipped and cold and not mean, but definitely not the Real Luke."
Sookie thought about it. "Maybe he isn't mad."
"Well if he's happy then he sure has a crappy way of showing it."
"Maybe he's depressed."
"So if I bring Luke some Prozac he'll be nice again?"
"Well, not depressed like that. But he wants you so much, sweetie, and you want things to be the way they were."
Lorelai nodded. "Well, what's wrong with that?"
"You're not thinking about what he wants. He doesn't want to go back to being just Luke."
"Who does he want to be if he doesn't want to be Luke? Michael Jordan?"
"No, he wants to be Luke, the guy who Lorelai loves."
"So you think Luke's not being nice to me because he wants to get together with me."
Sookie was practically beaming. "Yes!"
Lorelai gave her a skeptical look. "That makes no sense."
* * *
It was 6:04 in the morning and Luke was ready to break the jar in order to get the pickles out. Not that he needed them exactly at that moment, most of his customers didn't eat pickles with their breakfast, and he could get the lid off if he put a little extra effort into it, but god how satisfying it would be to just smash the damn thing against the counter.
Unfortunately, his cathartic vision of destruction was interrupted by Sookie.
"You hungry?" he asked her, though he was pretty certain she wasn't here for food.
"No, I came to talk."
"Great, my favorite hobby." He gritted his teeth and twisted the pickle lid.
"It's important, Luke."
He looked up from his twisting and saw that she was right. This was No Nonsense Sookie; her face should be plastered on every package of that pantyhose so everyone would get the point that there was No Joking Here.
"What?" he grunted and twisted harder.
"This thing with Lorelai needs to be fixed. All she does is sit on her couch and watch T.V. and eat junk food." Sookie's gaze wandered from his face to the pickle jar and back again. "Who eats pickles for breakfast?"
"Pregnant women and social outcasts. And so what, that's all she ever does. How's it any different?"
"It's different and you know it. And it's your fault so I would suggest you fix it."
"Just like how I fix everything for her."
"Right," Sookie nodded firmly. Then she shook her head. "No! I mean, yes you do fix things for her and help her but this shouldn't be sarcasm and bitterness! She misses you, Luke! You were- are- one of her best friends and now all of a sudden, you're acting like a stranger and her Luke is gone. It isn't her nature to be depressed and you've managed to make her that way for a month now."
Sookie paused only so she could take a deep breath and continue her ranting. "And she's too proud to admit that she misses you, and you're too stubborn to forgive her even though she's apologized many times, and it's making me really frustrated and angry, which makes Jackson frustrated and angry, and so on, and it's turning into one big circle of angry and sad and frustrated people and I don't want to live like this!"
In her wild gesticulations, she managed to knock over two ketchup bottles and a salt shaker on the counter. She hurried to pick them up before Luke noticed, since his gaze was still on the pickles.
"So get over it. I have." He twisted the lid even harder. Stupid pickles, why wouldn't they open?
"No you haven't! You still love her, and I know she loves you back, and if the both of you would just come to your senses this nightmare would be over."
Luke shot her the Death Look. "Did she tell you that?" He didn't deny that he loved her, though.
Sookie looked a little confused. "The whole 'she loves you' part?"
"Yeah, that part."
"Not in actual words," Sookie admitted slowly. "But I can tell, through her actions. And those are worth more than words, right?"
"I think her actions have made it pretty clear that you're wrong." He gave one last ditch effort on the pickles, and there was a satisfying pop as the vacuum gave. Not as satisfying as breaking glass, but he'd take it.
Sookie experienced some of the anger she'd mentioned just seconds before. "Fine. Then I hope you don't mind if I choose the epitaph on your headstone, since you're dying alone and will have no family or loved ones to do it. I think it might read, 'Luke Danes: Bitter, Stubborn Loner.'"
"And you think if I forgive her it'll say, 'Luke Danes: Beloved Husband'?" His sarcasm didn't deter her.
"Maybe. But if I were you, I'd rather take a chance rather than take the certain path to Lonerville." Sookie thought that was a rather good note to end on- maybe it would get him to think, and if she stayed any longer a full scale argument might break out and she'd be late to work. She grabbed a pickle and took a large bite before heading out the door.
"Pregnant or outcast?" Luke shot at her as she exited. He still wanted to smash the damn pickle jar but then he'd only have to clean it up since no one else was on shift at the moment. With an exasperated sigh, he grabbed a pickle and settled for biting it really hard.
* * *
"Hey, kiddo!" Lorelai said when she answered the phone.
"How'd you know it was me?"
"My incredible psychic powers," Lorelai informed her. "Well, that and the caller ID."
"Ooh, you got caller ID and I'm not there to enjoy it!" Rory whimpered.
"I decided to splurge and get it when I ran out of the shower because I heard the phone ringing and thought it might be you, but it turned out to be Taylor. For the life of me I can't remember what he was calling for, but all I knew was that there was absolutely nothing right with talking to Taylor while I was naked and wet."
"You've now brandished that image into my brain."
Lorelai smirked. "I'll pay for your therapy. So tell me about your day."
"It's Saturday, so all we have is a forced socialization dinner thing to go to in an hour. I spent the day reading a book and got some coffee. You'd like the coffee shop that's a few blocks away. A little yuppie, but the coffee more than makes up for it."
"Better than Luke's?"
"Of course not."
"Not like I even remember what Luke's coffee tastes like," Lorelai mumbled.
"What is wrong with you two?" Rory burst out.
Lorelai stared in disbelief at the phone before putting it back to her ear. "Are you suddenly suffering from voice immodulation disorder?"
Rory apologized. "It's just that I thought you two would have made up by now." Apparently, her parting words to Luke and the Big Eyes had failed.
"I think the town has a bet going. I put ten bucks on 'never.'"
Rory shook her head. "Betting against yourself is not a good move."
"But I'm going to win. It's impossible to talk to him anymore. It's like he just tunes out anything I say."
"Maybe you can't get through to him with words. Words aren't always enough."
"This from my little book worm? Sweetie, without words your life would lose 98 percent of its meaning."
"Words in books are fine. But sometimes, two people are beyond words, and you have to say what needs to be said in another way."
"Are you suggesting I communicate to Luke through Interpretive Dance? I'm not sure he'd like that, he's not really one for culture."
"I seem to recall that you referred to Interpretive Dance as 'the evil spawn of Martha Graham and LSD.' So you're not really one for culture either."
"I don't remember saying that but it does sound like me. Except for the culture part. Me, I'm full of culture, I've got culture coming out my ass…I mean, my derrierre. In fact, this morning I had yogurt for breakfast, since I am persona non grata in the diner and am forced to forage for my food like our primitive ancestors, and the yogurt said it was full of culture, and since said yogurt is currently lodged in my stomach and refusing to digest, I am highly cultured."
"Mom," Rory said, and the tone of her voice was clear even through the miles separating them.
"I know, honey, bad time for a bad joke."
"Look, when you see Luke, what's the first thing you want to do?"
"Throw plates at his head and scream, 'Why don't you like me?'"
"I don't think that'll work."
"Yeah, I've already tried, it doesn't."
Rory was quiet for a moment. "Mom?"
Lorelai groaned. "Now you're using the serious mommy-tone. Which is totally not supposed to be in your tone repertoire because you're not a mommy."
"That's what you think."
"Gah! Don't even joke like that."
"Heart attack or stroke?"
"Both."
"Okay, let's get back to the subject matter at hand."
"Yes, Professor Rory."
"Sorry, but I've got that dinner thing in a bit. So here's what I think: just go see him. You've been afraid to step foot in the diner but I think it's time you suck it up and go back in there.
Wear his resolve down until he forgets he was ever mad at you. If he doesn't see you, he's just going to keep the last memories of you fresh in his mind."
Lorelai grimaced. "Not some of the best memories of all time."
"Exactly. So go make new ones. Even if new memories are just you going, 'Coffee to go…'"
"They're still better than 'Go to hell,'" Lorelai concluded.
"And on that satisfactory note, I've got to go."
"Bye, sweetie." Lorelai hung up the phone and looked around the living room. It wasn't like she had anything better to do. She picked up the videos that needed to be returned and walked to the center of town.
Kirk was behind the counter when she walked into the video store. She handed him the videos, which he took and checked in.
"Will you be renting more videos tonight?" Kirk asked.
Lorelai looked at him curiously. "Oh, uh, I don't know. Maybe. Why?"
"Because I was going to close early and if you are going to browse, I suggest you browse quickly," he answered, a smug smile on his face.
Lorelai looked at him even more curiously. Since when was Kirk smug? "May I inquire as to why you are closing early?"
"You may," Kirk said, and his smile got even bigger. "I have a date, and I want to be on time."
Lorelai nodded, trying to keep the surprise she had inside from showing on her face. "Yep, better not give her time to change her mind."
Kirk's smile disappeared. Lorelai waved her hands apologetically. "No, sorry, that was a joke. Just joking. Ha."
Kirk glared miserably at her. "If she cancels, I'm blaming you."
Lorelai nodded. "I'll take all the blame." Kirk still looked miserable. "If it makes you feel any better, I haven't been on a date in over a month."
Kirk cocked his head to the side. "Actually, that does make me feel better. Now go browse…quickly."
Lorelai went off and picked her movies. As Kirk handed her the receipt, he said, "If you do want a date, you know where I live."
Lorelai smiled through the pain. "Duly noted." She gathered the videos and walked out; she could see the diner across the street. Since Rory had left, she'd figured out the work schedule and had managed to grab a quick bite to eat in the few hours when Luke wasn't working a couple times; but it was Saturday night, and Luke was working. She could either follow Rory's advice or go back home.
She steeled herself and headed toward the diner. It was busy, and she didn't know if that was good or bad. Luke would have his hands full and couldn't devote his full attention to being frosty towards her; however, there were more people there to witness anything that might happen.
The only open seats were at the counter. She sat down, and looked around for Luke.
"He's in the back," Caesar told her when he came up to take her order. There was another server working the tables who Lorelai didn't even recognize. It made her painfully obvious of her absence.
"Oh, I wasn't looking for him. I was checking to see if you guys had enough coffee stocked up," she lied. Caesar just gave her a skeptical nod. Lorelai gave up. "Is he in a good mood?"
Caesar shrugged. "I don't really monitor his moods."
"Okay, then just get me a coffee and a burger, and do me a favor and don't tell him I'm here."
Caesar got her the coffee and put her order in. Lorelai sipped the coffee and tried to think of what to say when she saw Luke.
Or rather, when Luke saw her, since she caught a glimpse of him lifting boxes and moving inventory in the back. When Caesar put her burger in front of her, she barely noticed. She was still watching Luke. Her heart was beating fast; she couldn't even bring herself to eat the burger. Everything inside her felt fluttery and nervous.
She couldn't take it anymore; tossing some money on the counter, she got up and left the diner in a blind daze.
* * *
-end ch. 3-
And on a personal note, that Al Gore dream actually was mine. But I'm from South Florida, and it was right around the time of that election 'fun' we had. So I blame the elderly.