Just Pretending... Right?
by Sarah Dawson
Chapter Three: Fun With Emily and Richard
Spoilers: Maybe, like, season one and the first episode of season three. But that's all.
Pairing: L/L
Disclaimers: Yes, I own everything to do with Gilmore Girls. Right now the entire cast is upstairs cleaning my room. Oh, I wish. My writer's block is way too bad to have created an entire TV show. I own nothing but the computer on which this was typed, and even that's actually my parents'.
A/N: Okay, just a note; I usually hate it when authors just put the same author's note in each chapter, but technically it doesn't matter because really I've already posted this chapter and I'm just editing. So ha! And this is useful information!
Just to catch you up, this takes place in some make-believe season where Luke, Lorelai and Rory aren't dating anyone and well, since they're practically the only people in the story, that's all you need to know. Yeah, and the whole story's just undergone a huge change, so if you're a bit confused as to why everything's different... there ya go. ~sarah
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"Rory, help!!" Lorelai yelled from her bedroom. She was standing in the middle of just about her entire wardrobe, which was thrown all over the floor.
Rory poked her head into her mother's room, then entered cautiously. "Geez, what happened in here?"
"Dearest darling daughter, you've got to help me!" she begged. "I have, like, no time before Luke gets here because he's late, and I still can't make up my mind about what to wear!"
"Ooh, want to look nice for the first date? I totally understand, Mom." Rory replied with a wicked grin.
"You need to stop hanging out with Jess so much, his meanness is starting to rub off on you." Lorelai muttered, disappearing into her closet once again.
Rory sat down on the bed, looking around at all the clothing strewn everywhere. "Meanness?" she mused aloud.
"Focus, Rory!" Lorelai demanded, emerging from the closet with another zillion outits. "What should I wear?? I mean, it's a country club thing- actually, it's says casual, but," she snorted. "Yeah, right. So anyways, I have to be conservative and all, but I still want to look..."
"Sexy?" Rory supplied, starting to sift through the piles of clothes. Lorelai nodded. "Okay, I've got it." she announced. "Wear the long khaki skirt with the low-cut, long-sleeved, light blue button-up shirt, with the light suede jacket. Pin your hair back, put on eyeliner, a bit of mascara, and lightish red lipstick, and you're good to go. Oh, and take your- well, my- light tan purse." Rory instructed, gathering the aforementioned items. "Classy, yet still a bit sexy."
Lorelai rushed to grab the outfit and stepped into the closet to change. "Thank God! Ooh, you're my favorite daughter!" she called happily.
"How many other daughters have you got stashed away?"
"Only a few, but I packed them off to boarding school once I found out you were the only one with my fashion sense." Lorelai stepped into the room and did a little twirl. "How do I look?"
"Luke will love it!" Rory replied with a smirk. The doorbell rang, and she rushed to get it before Lorelai could respond.
"Hey, that was not nice." Lorelai pouted, heading down the stairs.
Rory opened the front door, revealing a baseball-cap-less, flannel-less Luke. He was dressed in the belt and pants that Lorelai had bought him, and a navy collared shirt, looking extremely awkward. "Hey Rory." Luke greeted her, shifting uncomfortably. "Is she ready yet?"
"Hey Luke! Actually, pretty much. You must be very smart, coming ten minutes late. Especially considering she wouldn't have been ready if you had come on time." Rory smiled, then turned to yell up the stairs. "Mom! Your date's here!!" Luke reddened slightly.
Lorelai hopped down the stairs, pulling on her heels. "Hold onto your hats, I'm right here." she grumbled. "Oh, hi. You must be Luke's twin brother, the flannel-less, cap-less, version of Luke. Ooh!" she squealed. "You're wearing the clothes I bought you!" She clapped her hands, then turned to Rory. "Bye kiddo, don't wait up!" she said, kissing her cheek.
"Have fun, you crazy kids." Rory grinned, closing the door behind them.
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"So." Lorelai began, shifting towards Luke. "We gotta talk."
"Why?" Luke asked suspiciously.
"We never decided on anything yesterday- What if someone asks us how we met? Or how long we've been dating or something? We'd both end up telling them something different and then they'd figure us out!" Lorelai cried indignantly.
"You watch too many movies."
"Movies are based on real life!"
"Fine. What did you have in mind?" Luke sighed, raising an eyebrow.
Lorelai's eyes lit up. "Ooh, I get to make up the story! Okay, how about we'd been friends for years, and then I got a life-threatening disease, and right before I died, you confessed you'd been desparately, madly in love with me all along, so you kidnapped me from the hospital and took me to Africa where this tribal medicine doctor gave you this cure, except you didn't have any-" she rambled on, getting caught up in her story.
"Oh yeah, that would work. Except your mom saw you a week ago, and you weren't exactly about to die!" Luke interrupted, rolling his eyes.
Lorelai pouted. "Fine, you got anything better?" she challenged.
There was a small pause. "Just tell 'em that after so many years of being friends, and everyone telling us we should be together, we just decided to go for it, and we've been dating ever since." Luke replied gruffly.
Lorelai paused and stared at him for a moment. She'd never heard Luke talk that much before now, and not with actual meaning. Not without him ranting about red meat, or coffee, or Jess or something, actually. And he was he avoiding her gaze? No, that was silly, he was driving! She pushed the thought away and turned around to face the front. "Sounds like a plan."
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Lorelai and Luke were still standing outside the entrance to the country club. Lorelai didn't seem like she wanted to go inside, and he was just following her lead. Maybe this meant they weren't going to have to do this after all-
"It's not too late to back out, you know." Lorelai's voice broke into Luke's thoughts. "I mean, of course my mother would be furious, and they're would've been no point in driving all the way out here to Hartford just so we could turn around now, and I would really like to get this over with, but-"
"Lorelai! Oh Lorelai! Over here!" A woman called out from behind the two, cutting off Lorelai's babbling. Lorelai groaned softly and plastered on a fake smile before turning around to face her.
"Mindy! Hi!" Lorelai replied in a sugary tone.
"Fancy seeing you here! We've all missed you so much." Mindy and her date walked up to Lorelai and Luke. "You haven't been to the club in ages!"
"Oh, well you know, I was busy." Lorelai answered, suppressing a grimace.
"I can tell!" the woman answered slyly, winking in Luke's direction.
He and Lorelai blushed furiously. "Um, can we go in, please?" Luke whispered to her, obviously uncomfortable.
Lorelai nodded gratefully and grabbed his arm. "Well, it was nice seeing you again Mindy, enjoy the party!" she exclaimed, pulling Luke into the club away from a bewildered Mindy and her guy.
They were faced with what looked like an overwhelming amount of people who resembled Emily and Richard Gilmore, in the sense that they were stuffy and boring. Lorelai groaned. "God, deja vu." she muttered, clutching Luke's arm like a lifeline. "Maybe we can get away before my-" she was interrupted by the arrival of Emily swooping down on them like a vulture. "...parents get here." she sighed. "Hi Mom."
"Lorelai." Emily sniffed, her eyes taking in her daughter's appearance. "You're late."
"Traffic." Luke supplied, trying to avoid a disagreement.
Emily swiftly turned her attention to Luke. "You must be Luke. At least you aren't wearing anything you would wear in that diner of yours." She paused. "Are you?"
"Mom! That was extremely rude! Luke is my-" She caught herself and gave a small frown. "Erm, date...?"
"I knew it. I don't see why you wouldn't just tell me you were seeing the ice man. There's really no point in lying to me." Emily announced. "Now, come with me, we're about to start eating." She walked off, expecting them to follow her.
"Ugh." Lorelai moaned, closing her eyes briefly. "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't expect her to- well I did, but not like that..." she apologized.
"It's okay." Luke assured her. "Let's just go and get this over with."
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"So Luke, you're in the food business?" Richard prompted him as they were eating their meals.
Luke grimaced inwardly. He'd been waiting for the interrogation to start. "Actually, I own a diner." he replied.
"Oh, you run a fast food chain?"
"No, I... own a diner. And it's not exactly a fast food place, either." he corrected, shooting Lorelai a confused look.
"Luke makes the best burger and coffee in town, Dad." Lorelai piped up, attempting to rescue him.
"Do you make the food yourself?" Richard continued.
"Well, yes. My nephew and cook also help out sometimes." Luke answered uneasily.
Richard quickly switched gears. "How long have you been dating my daughter?" he questioned suddenly.
Lorelai choked on her champagne. "Dad! Not even a 'How you doing?' or a 'Have you ever robbed a bank before?' first??" she sputtered.
"Have you ever robbed a bank?" Richard asked suspiciously.
"No! Of course not!" Luke replied quickly, glaring at Lorelai.
"How long have you been dating my daughter?" he repeated somewhat threateningly.
"Uh... a month?" Luke paused as Lorelai nodded, relieved.
"And are your intentions honorable?" Richard pressed.
"Uh... yeah?" Luke stuttered, pleading with Lorelai with his eyes.
"You know what, Dad? Let's let Luke rest for a minute, okay? You've got the whole night to ask him these very important questions, but right now, me and Luke are going to go dance, okay?" Lorelai stood up. Luke followed her lead and she led him onto the dance floor.
Wrapping her arms around him awkwardly so they could dance, she sighed. "I am so sorry. My dad's way overprotective. You should've seen what he did to Dean." she muttered, resting her head on his chest.
"That's... okay." Luke replied, having trouble concentrating with Lorelai so close. "I think it's kinda nice, actually."
"Really?" she cocked her head at him, a small smile tugging at her lips.
"Yeah." Luke answered quietly, continuing to dance.
"Where'd you learn to dance, Luke? I'm shocked!" Lorelai commented, surprised with Luke's skill.
Luke paused for a moment. "Rachel made me learn awhile ago." he replied, avoiding her eyes.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to, um..." Lorelai trailed off.
"No, it's fine." he said gruffly.
"Um, Luke? If you don't mind me asking... Why did Rachel leave? I really she was trying to make it work this time..."
Luke stopped dancing for a moment and looked away. He had almost forgotten why... No, there was no point lying to himself about it. He remembered it vividly, every time Lorelai walked into the diner. Not because Rachel had hurt him, but for an entirely different reason.
"Luke?" Lorelai asked with concern.
Oh. Lorelai. "She... she was just being Rachel. Fear of commitment, whatever." He sighed inwardly. God, he hated lying to her, but he didn't really think he was ready to tell her now. Or maybe never.
Lorelai paused. "Oh. Never mind, sorry to bring it up." She dropped the subject as they resumed dancing. She knew he was lying to her. He wasn't very good at it. Besides, she'd known him too long for him to be able to hide something like that from her. She wondered briefly why he wouldn't just tell her, but didn't want to push it, especially when they were having such a good time. Not bickering, or anything. It actually kind of felt nice, dancing with Luke. She frowned slightly. Where did that come from? She recalled her dream from the previous summer with slight confusion. Married to Luke with twins on the way. Her mind worked in strange ways.
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TBC... Happy reviews make happy authors and happy authors make happy stories!... Feedback can also be sent to Raspberries424@aol.com!
by Sarah Dawson
Chapter Three: Fun With Emily and Richard
Spoilers: Maybe, like, season one and the first episode of season three. But that's all.
Pairing: L/L
Disclaimers: Yes, I own everything to do with Gilmore Girls. Right now the entire cast is upstairs cleaning my room. Oh, I wish. My writer's block is way too bad to have created an entire TV show. I own nothing but the computer on which this was typed, and even that's actually my parents'.
A/N: Okay, just a note; I usually hate it when authors just put the same author's note in each chapter, but technically it doesn't matter because really I've already posted this chapter and I'm just editing. So ha! And this is useful information!
Just to catch you up, this takes place in some make-believe season where Luke, Lorelai and Rory aren't dating anyone and well, since they're practically the only people in the story, that's all you need to know. Yeah, and the whole story's just undergone a huge change, so if you're a bit confused as to why everything's different... there ya go. ~sarah
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"Rory, help!!" Lorelai yelled from her bedroom. She was standing in the middle of just about her entire wardrobe, which was thrown all over the floor.
Rory poked her head into her mother's room, then entered cautiously. "Geez, what happened in here?"
"Dearest darling daughter, you've got to help me!" she begged. "I have, like, no time before Luke gets here because he's late, and I still can't make up my mind about what to wear!"
"Ooh, want to look nice for the first date? I totally understand, Mom." Rory replied with a wicked grin.
"You need to stop hanging out with Jess so much, his meanness is starting to rub off on you." Lorelai muttered, disappearing into her closet once again.
Rory sat down on the bed, looking around at all the clothing strewn everywhere. "Meanness?" she mused aloud.
"Focus, Rory!" Lorelai demanded, emerging from the closet with another zillion outits. "What should I wear?? I mean, it's a country club thing- actually, it's says casual, but," she snorted. "Yeah, right. So anyways, I have to be conservative and all, but I still want to look..."
"Sexy?" Rory supplied, starting to sift through the piles of clothes. Lorelai nodded. "Okay, I've got it." she announced. "Wear the long khaki skirt with the low-cut, long-sleeved, light blue button-up shirt, with the light suede jacket. Pin your hair back, put on eyeliner, a bit of mascara, and lightish red lipstick, and you're good to go. Oh, and take your- well, my- light tan purse." Rory instructed, gathering the aforementioned items. "Classy, yet still a bit sexy."
Lorelai rushed to grab the outfit and stepped into the closet to change. "Thank God! Ooh, you're my favorite daughter!" she called happily.
"How many other daughters have you got stashed away?"
"Only a few, but I packed them off to boarding school once I found out you were the only one with my fashion sense." Lorelai stepped into the room and did a little twirl. "How do I look?"
"Luke will love it!" Rory replied with a smirk. The doorbell rang, and she rushed to get it before Lorelai could respond.
"Hey, that was not nice." Lorelai pouted, heading down the stairs.
Rory opened the front door, revealing a baseball-cap-less, flannel-less Luke. He was dressed in the belt and pants that Lorelai had bought him, and a navy collared shirt, looking extremely awkward. "Hey Rory." Luke greeted her, shifting uncomfortably. "Is she ready yet?"
"Hey Luke! Actually, pretty much. You must be very smart, coming ten minutes late. Especially considering she wouldn't have been ready if you had come on time." Rory smiled, then turned to yell up the stairs. "Mom! Your date's here!!" Luke reddened slightly.
Lorelai hopped down the stairs, pulling on her heels. "Hold onto your hats, I'm right here." she grumbled. "Oh, hi. You must be Luke's twin brother, the flannel-less, cap-less, version of Luke. Ooh!" she squealed. "You're wearing the clothes I bought you!" She clapped her hands, then turned to Rory. "Bye kiddo, don't wait up!" she said, kissing her cheek.
"Have fun, you crazy kids." Rory grinned, closing the door behind them.
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"So." Lorelai began, shifting towards Luke. "We gotta talk."
"Why?" Luke asked suspiciously.
"We never decided on anything yesterday- What if someone asks us how we met? Or how long we've been dating or something? We'd both end up telling them something different and then they'd figure us out!" Lorelai cried indignantly.
"You watch too many movies."
"Movies are based on real life!"
"Fine. What did you have in mind?" Luke sighed, raising an eyebrow.
Lorelai's eyes lit up. "Ooh, I get to make up the story! Okay, how about we'd been friends for years, and then I got a life-threatening disease, and right before I died, you confessed you'd been desparately, madly in love with me all along, so you kidnapped me from the hospital and took me to Africa where this tribal medicine doctor gave you this cure, except you didn't have any-" she rambled on, getting caught up in her story.
"Oh yeah, that would work. Except your mom saw you a week ago, and you weren't exactly about to die!" Luke interrupted, rolling his eyes.
Lorelai pouted. "Fine, you got anything better?" she challenged.
There was a small pause. "Just tell 'em that after so many years of being friends, and everyone telling us we should be together, we just decided to go for it, and we've been dating ever since." Luke replied gruffly.
Lorelai paused and stared at him for a moment. She'd never heard Luke talk that much before now, and not with actual meaning. Not without him ranting about red meat, or coffee, or Jess or something, actually. And he was he avoiding her gaze? No, that was silly, he was driving! She pushed the thought away and turned around to face the front. "Sounds like a plan."
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Lorelai and Luke were still standing outside the entrance to the country club. Lorelai didn't seem like she wanted to go inside, and he was just following her lead. Maybe this meant they weren't going to have to do this after all-
"It's not too late to back out, you know." Lorelai's voice broke into Luke's thoughts. "I mean, of course my mother would be furious, and they're would've been no point in driving all the way out here to Hartford just so we could turn around now, and I would really like to get this over with, but-"
"Lorelai! Oh Lorelai! Over here!" A woman called out from behind the two, cutting off Lorelai's babbling. Lorelai groaned softly and plastered on a fake smile before turning around to face her.
"Mindy! Hi!" Lorelai replied in a sugary tone.
"Fancy seeing you here! We've all missed you so much." Mindy and her date walked up to Lorelai and Luke. "You haven't been to the club in ages!"
"Oh, well you know, I was busy." Lorelai answered, suppressing a grimace.
"I can tell!" the woman answered slyly, winking in Luke's direction.
He and Lorelai blushed furiously. "Um, can we go in, please?" Luke whispered to her, obviously uncomfortable.
Lorelai nodded gratefully and grabbed his arm. "Well, it was nice seeing you again Mindy, enjoy the party!" she exclaimed, pulling Luke into the club away from a bewildered Mindy and her guy.
They were faced with what looked like an overwhelming amount of people who resembled Emily and Richard Gilmore, in the sense that they were stuffy and boring. Lorelai groaned. "God, deja vu." she muttered, clutching Luke's arm like a lifeline. "Maybe we can get away before my-" she was interrupted by the arrival of Emily swooping down on them like a vulture. "...parents get here." she sighed. "Hi Mom."
"Lorelai." Emily sniffed, her eyes taking in her daughter's appearance. "You're late."
"Traffic." Luke supplied, trying to avoid a disagreement.
Emily swiftly turned her attention to Luke. "You must be Luke. At least you aren't wearing anything you would wear in that diner of yours." She paused. "Are you?"
"Mom! That was extremely rude! Luke is my-" She caught herself and gave a small frown. "Erm, date...?"
"I knew it. I don't see why you wouldn't just tell me you were seeing the ice man. There's really no point in lying to me." Emily announced. "Now, come with me, we're about to start eating." She walked off, expecting them to follow her.
"Ugh." Lorelai moaned, closing her eyes briefly. "I'm so sorry about that. I didn't expect her to- well I did, but not like that..." she apologized.
"It's okay." Luke assured her. "Let's just go and get this over with."
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"So Luke, you're in the food business?" Richard prompted him as they were eating their meals.
Luke grimaced inwardly. He'd been waiting for the interrogation to start. "Actually, I own a diner." he replied.
"Oh, you run a fast food chain?"
"No, I... own a diner. And it's not exactly a fast food place, either." he corrected, shooting Lorelai a confused look.
"Luke makes the best burger and coffee in town, Dad." Lorelai piped up, attempting to rescue him.
"Do you make the food yourself?" Richard continued.
"Well, yes. My nephew and cook also help out sometimes." Luke answered uneasily.
Richard quickly switched gears. "How long have you been dating my daughter?" he questioned suddenly.
Lorelai choked on her champagne. "Dad! Not even a 'How you doing?' or a 'Have you ever robbed a bank before?' first??" she sputtered.
"Have you ever robbed a bank?" Richard asked suspiciously.
"No! Of course not!" Luke replied quickly, glaring at Lorelai.
"How long have you been dating my daughter?" he repeated somewhat threateningly.
"Uh... a month?" Luke paused as Lorelai nodded, relieved.
"And are your intentions honorable?" Richard pressed.
"Uh... yeah?" Luke stuttered, pleading with Lorelai with his eyes.
"You know what, Dad? Let's let Luke rest for a minute, okay? You've got the whole night to ask him these very important questions, but right now, me and Luke are going to go dance, okay?" Lorelai stood up. Luke followed her lead and she led him onto the dance floor.
Wrapping her arms around him awkwardly so they could dance, she sighed. "I am so sorry. My dad's way overprotective. You should've seen what he did to Dean." she muttered, resting her head on his chest.
"That's... okay." Luke replied, having trouble concentrating with Lorelai so close. "I think it's kinda nice, actually."
"Really?" she cocked her head at him, a small smile tugging at her lips.
"Yeah." Luke answered quietly, continuing to dance.
"Where'd you learn to dance, Luke? I'm shocked!" Lorelai commented, surprised with Luke's skill.
Luke paused for a moment. "Rachel made me learn awhile ago." he replied, avoiding her eyes.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to, um..." Lorelai trailed off.
"No, it's fine." he said gruffly.
"Um, Luke? If you don't mind me asking... Why did Rachel leave? I really she was trying to make it work this time..."
Luke stopped dancing for a moment and looked away. He had almost forgotten why... No, there was no point lying to himself about it. He remembered it vividly, every time Lorelai walked into the diner. Not because Rachel had hurt him, but for an entirely different reason.
"Luke?" Lorelai asked with concern.
Oh. Lorelai. "She... she was just being Rachel. Fear of commitment, whatever." He sighed inwardly. God, he hated lying to her, but he didn't really think he was ready to tell her now. Or maybe never.
Lorelai paused. "Oh. Never mind, sorry to bring it up." She dropped the subject as they resumed dancing. She knew he was lying to her. He wasn't very good at it. Besides, she'd known him too long for him to be able to hide something like that from her. She wondered briefly why he wouldn't just tell her, but didn't want to push it, especially when they were having such a good time. Not bickering, or anything. It actually kind of felt nice, dancing with Luke. She frowned slightly. Where did that come from? She recalled her dream from the previous summer with slight confusion. Married to Luke with twins on the way. Her mind worked in strange ways.
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TBC... Happy reviews make happy authors and happy authors make happy stories!... Feedback can also be sent to Raspberries424@aol.com!