A/N: Thanks again for the reviews! Since this is a short chapter, I'll be posting the next one as well.
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Chapter Four: 180-Proof
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"I heard you had a talk with the new girl," Sookie said the next morning when Lorelai came in to work.
"Have you been calling Miss Cleo again?"
"Jackson and I ate dinner at Luke's last night, and Luke mentioned you three had an encounter at the market."
Lorelai was instantly curious. "What did he say?"
"That you'd end up killing yourself one of these days with the crap you eat."
"And?"
"Oh, you mean you want me to tell you what he said about the new girl."
"Jay."
"Her name's Jay?"
"Yeah." Okay, if Luke hadn't mentioned her name to Sookie, then he couldn't have said all that much about her.
"Funny name."
"Spill it, Sookie."
Sookie shook her head in mock exasperation and gave one of her soups a stir with a long wooden spoon. Lorelai quickly checked the burner to make sure Sookie didn't catch on fire. "He just said that the two of you were talking, and he came over and you all had a nice little chat."
"Luke said 'nice little chat'?"
"I don't know, I'm paraphrasing, I forgot my tape recorder." Lorelai gave her an apologetic look and motioned for her to continue. "So I said, 'oh, good, you two are talking again.'"
Sookie stirred the soup again. Lorelai was going to set the woman on fire herself if she didn't hurry up with the story. "And?"
"And he said something Luke-ish, like 'Yeah' or maybe he shrugged. I don't recall it exactly. Basically a 'no big deal' reaction."
"Are you sure it wasn't 'I couldn't care less'?"
"It lacked that hostile vibe."
Lorelai let out a sigh of relief. "What did he say about Jay?"
"He said she was nice, and not half as insane as most of the people in this town, so she pretty much made a positive impression on him."
"Huh," was all Lorelai said as she analyzed that in her head.
Sookie pointed the wooden spoon at her. "That was a 'huh' of jealousy."
Lorelai glared at her. "Was not." She licked the creamy soup that was dripping off the end of the spoon. "Damn that's good." She licked it again.
Sookie groaned. "Now I have to wash it." The spoon was tossed in the sink, and Sookie turned back to Lorelai. "What did you think of her?"
"She was nice," Lorelai admitted. "Though she's almost like a female version of Luke. They both bought wheat germ. I don't even know what wheat germ is, I just know it's something that crazy health-food conscious people buy. Maybe it's a germ that infects people with the need to eat grains and forsake meat."
Sookie ignored the wheat germ tangent and decided to play her cards dangerously. "Sounds like they'd be a nice match."
"Jay and Luke?" Lorelai shook her head. "She doesn't like Star Trek." That was lame, she told herself. She made a mental note to build up her argument later.
Sookie shrugged. "I don't know…they both apparently share the same tastes in food, and sports, and she is pretty. She teaches science, so she's got to be smart, and Luke doesn't like stupid people."
"Nobody likes stupid people. Except other stupid people, but they don't count anyway. Some of them can't even count count. Y'know, one, two, three." Lorelai knew she was babbling; but maybe if she babbled enough Sookie would forget what they were talking about.
"I still think it's worth a shot. So unless you have a reason for opposing it, I think it would be a nice gesture of community to invite her to Rory's 'welcome home' party on Sunday. Half the town's going to be there anyway."
"Why would I have a reason?" Lorelai mimicked.
Sookie just gave her a sorrowful look. "I swear, you two are never going to get it."
That damn jealousy insinuation again. Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest. She was a big girl, and she could prove that she wasn't jealous. "I think it would be a great idea to invite her."
See, proof. Plenty and plenty of proof.
"And we can arrange for them to get locked out on the porch together, maybe get a little conversation going…"
"Why wouldn't they just knock on the door?"
"Fine, we'll come up with a better plan." A big grin lit up Sookie's face. "Just think, at their wedding toast, they can raise their glasses of carrot juice and say, 'We owe this all to Sookie'!"
The image of that scene in her mind made Lorelai queasy. "I hope you can hear them over the angel midgets singing and dancing under the giant mushrooms."
Sookie shook her head. "Never gonna let me live that one down, are you?"
"Angel midgets under mushrooms!"
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end ch. 4
It's time to party…