THIRTEEN: HIS NAME IS LUKA, HE LIVES ON THE SECOND FLOOR
A/N: Ooh, chapter thirteen. If I were superstitious, I would skip 13 and call this piece chapter fourteen, but then that would screw up the little navigational bar FF.Net has, coz it would say something like "13. Chapter Fourteen" and life is hard enough as it is without me confusing everybody. Did you know that some hotels actually skip the 13th floor? That's why when you're in the elevator, there's no number 13. Which is kinda weird, because just calling the 13th floor the 14th floor doesn't actually mean that the 13th floor doesn't exist. It's still there, only under a different name. Wow. I think that statement can be applied on so many levels. I'm like, so super philosophical today.
A/N2: Thanks for all the reviews, and I'm sorry it took me so long. I'll try to be more punctual and efficient the next time.
A/N3: Thanks for the (mostly) positive feedback on my beautiful haiku. Some of you thought it was crap, which was mean, and that made me lock myself in a room and cry for many days. Really.
*
"I'm back," Rory called out as she stepped into the house. "Did you miss me?"
Lorelai came bounding down the stairs and hugged Rory. "Oh, definitely. How was your night?"
"Well, mostly okay," said Rory, walking to the couch and sitting down. " Did you know that if you don't say your prayers every night, you'll roast in hell for all eternity?"
"No, I did not know that."
"Well, I do, thanks to Mrs. Kim," said Rory.
"There are not enough words in the English language to describe how freaky that woman is," Lorelai said, taking a seat beside her daughter. "We may have to learn Swahili."
"Put it on our 'to do' list. Right below learning archery and assembling the world's largest Spice Girls memorabilia."
"It's a shame about that Ginger Spice, no?"
"Get over it, mom."
"Okay," said Lorelai, "Hey, I want to talk to you about something."
"Sounds serious."
"Well, it's not really serious," said Lorelai, "It's actually more of a humorous anecdote than anything else. I have this friend called Luk...a. Haha, and well, you know what's funny is that he actually does live on the second floor. But that's not important, because my humorous anecdote isn't about where he lives."
"Your humorous anecdote is very long."
"I'll make it shorter," said Lorelai, "So Luka has this friend …"
"Isn't Luka a girl's name?"
"What?"
"I thought Luka was a girl's name."
"Well, it's not one in my humorous anecdote," said Lorelai, "Anyways, Luka has a friend called Lolly, and they're really good friends, you see, but something …"
"Wait. Luka and Lolly? Where do this people come from?"
"Do you want to hear the story or not?"
"Okay, fine. Carry on."
"Well, to make a long story short, Luka kissed Lolly last night and Lolly wants me to ask you what you think about that."
"Considering I know neither Luka nor Lolly, I don't think I can really form an opinion about the situation."
"Gee, for someone who got accepted into both Harvard and Yale you're not very smart," said Lorelai. "Read between the lines, sister. I kissed Luke last night."
"What?"
"Okay, maybe he kissed me. And I kissed back. Or was it vice versa, I'm not really sure, but the bottom line is I don't know what to do. And I'm hungry and I'm thirsty and we can't go to the diner because I'm afraid to see him."
"How did this happen?"
"It's all your fault."
"I'm to blame for this?"
"If you had given me like a Chia pet, or an ashtray, this wouldn't have happened," Lorelai sighed. "I showed him the present you gave us, and we were like 'aww, how sweet', and then one thing led to another and before you know it… that happened. Oh, yeah, I'm also blaming Miss Patty and Babette."
"What did they do?"
"Their present is to blame as well."
"What was their present?"
Lorelai was about to tell Rory when she stopped midway. "Erm. A shirt."
"Oh, is it pretty? Can I see it?"
"No," said Lorelai quickly, "And stay on the subject. What am I supposed to do with Luke now?"
"I don't know," Rory leaned back against the couch, "I warned you not to get engaged to him. I told you this would end badly."
"But you never said I would end up kissing Luke."
"Nope, that was definitely unforeseeable."
"So, what should I do?"
"Well, this is just off the top of my head," said Rory, "But have you tried talking to him?"
"Oh, no, that wouldn't work."
"Why not?"
"Because… you can't talk to Luke," said Lorelai, "Do you even know the man?"
"Why can't you talk to Luke? You do it every day."
"Yeah, sure, I talk to him everyday," said Lorelai, "About coffee, and meat, and how one day I'm going to die of a heart attack and he's going to stand over my dead body and point and say 'I told you so', but you can't talk to him about stuff like this. He'll close up like… something that closes up when you talk to it, I'm sorry, I'm stressed out and I can't think of an appropriate analogy."
"If you don't want to talk to him, what do you want to do? Avoid him like you usually do?"
"Now, there's a plan."
"Usually, that would work," said Rory, "But you're forgetting that you also said you would marry him, and I'm not really sure, but I think the two of you actually have to be present in the same room for that to happen."
"Oh, I can't marry him now."
"But the diner…"
"Now you're supporting this?"
"You promised him, and if you back out now what's going to happen to the diner?"
"Rory," said Lorelai, "It's one thing to marry him knowing it could never go anywhere, but it's another thing to do it when… we're like this. It's a mess."
"Well, you'd better sort it out soon," said Rory, "And you really need to talk to Luke. He's probably going through the same things in his head."
"What if he doesn't want to talk to me?"
"Then you've got to make him talk to you."
"How do I do that? This is the man who thinks 'um' is over descriptive."
"I don't know," said Rory, "You should know. Tie him down and make him listen or something."
"Ooh, kinky."
"Mom…" Rory sighed. "Look, you'd better talk to him fast, before things get any weirder between the two of you and we have a repeat of that incident where you went about avoiding each other for months."
"Ugh, I hate it when you're reasonable."
"I know," Rory gave a smile, "It's one of my more undesirable qualities."
"Why did I have to kiss Luke, of all people?" Lorelai buried her head in her hands. "Of all the people in the party…"
"Considering the other people in the party include Kirk and Taylor, I think you got off pretty okay."
Lorelai got up. "Fine. I'll go talk to him now. He probably won't want to but at least I can say I tried."
*
Lorelai pushed the door to the diner and stepped inside. She noticed Luke was pouring coffee for one of his customers seated by the window and she walked up to him.
"Hey," she said, cautiously, "Can we talk?"
Luke shot her a sideways glance and continued pouring the coffee. "I'm kinda busy right now."
"Oh, yeah, that's all right. I can wait until you're done."
He finished pouring the coffee, looked at her, and then walked to the counter. "I still have a lot of things I have to get done."
"So, what, you're like so busy you can't take five minutes out of your time to talk to me, is that it?"
"I have my hands full," Luke said, putting down the coffee pot and picking up two plates of food nearby. He served them to the customers sitting nearby, with Lorelai following him every step of the way.
"We really need to talk," she said again.
"I told you, I'm busy."
"Luke, if you don't let me talk to you I'm going to make a scene. I'm warning you before hand, I may cry and bitchslap you."
"Fine," Luke said curtly. He held her arm and dragged her to the storage room. "We can talk here."
"Why are you being so cold to me?"
"I'm not being cold to you," he said, "I'm busy. Have you seen how many people are in the diner today?"
"That's a lie," said Lorelai, "You're avoiding me because of last night. Last night was…"
"Look," said Luke, "I know what you're going to say. It was a mistake, and I totally agree with you. It never should have happened, but it did, and that's that."
"Wow, you're so eloquent."
"I'm not saying that we should forget about it, or act like it never happened," said Luke, "But I don't see how talking about it is going to make things any better. It'll just keep us thinking about it and then we'll both feel like fools, and frankly I think it's better if we just write this one off as a one-time, ridiculous, lapse of judgment."
"So that's how you really feel about it."
"Don't you?"
Lorelai paused. "Yeah. I guess." She didn't know why, but a part of her felt hurt that he was just brushing this aside like it was nothing… or even worse, he was treating it like it was some sort of… stupid mistake. "I guess there's no need for me to be standing here any longer, then. I'll see you later." She spun around and stormed out of the storage room.
Luke stared after her, and some part of him wished he didn't lie to her.
* to be continued *
next time :
My eleven year old cousin takes over for me and writes a chapter. Here is a sample of her brilliant writing :
"yeah luke like Lorelia he said to her 'why lorelia we kis but it is wron.g I luv u lorelia' but Lorilai she is confussed . She not sure if she luv luke she ask rory rory wat is my feling about Look. Do I luv him I think I love him? And rory said I dunno u shld talk to him and then jess he came and he kiss rory and he say do u luv me or dean or thristen more pls tell me…"
Are you excited already? I know I am!
A/N: Ooh, chapter thirteen. If I were superstitious, I would skip 13 and call this piece chapter fourteen, but then that would screw up the little navigational bar FF.Net has, coz it would say something like "13. Chapter Fourteen" and life is hard enough as it is without me confusing everybody. Did you know that some hotels actually skip the 13th floor? That's why when you're in the elevator, there's no number 13. Which is kinda weird, because just calling the 13th floor the 14th floor doesn't actually mean that the 13th floor doesn't exist. It's still there, only under a different name. Wow. I think that statement can be applied on so many levels. I'm like, so super philosophical today.
A/N2: Thanks for all the reviews, and I'm sorry it took me so long. I'll try to be more punctual and efficient the next time.
A/N3: Thanks for the (mostly) positive feedback on my beautiful haiku. Some of you thought it was crap, which was mean, and that made me lock myself in a room and cry for many days. Really.
*
"I'm back," Rory called out as she stepped into the house. "Did you miss me?"
Lorelai came bounding down the stairs and hugged Rory. "Oh, definitely. How was your night?"
"Well, mostly okay," said Rory, walking to the couch and sitting down. " Did you know that if you don't say your prayers every night, you'll roast in hell for all eternity?"
"No, I did not know that."
"Well, I do, thanks to Mrs. Kim," said Rory.
"There are not enough words in the English language to describe how freaky that woman is," Lorelai said, taking a seat beside her daughter. "We may have to learn Swahili."
"Put it on our 'to do' list. Right below learning archery and assembling the world's largest Spice Girls memorabilia."
"It's a shame about that Ginger Spice, no?"
"Get over it, mom."
"Okay," said Lorelai, "Hey, I want to talk to you about something."
"Sounds serious."
"Well, it's not really serious," said Lorelai, "It's actually more of a humorous anecdote than anything else. I have this friend called Luk...a. Haha, and well, you know what's funny is that he actually does live on the second floor. But that's not important, because my humorous anecdote isn't about where he lives."
"Your humorous anecdote is very long."
"I'll make it shorter," said Lorelai, "So Luka has this friend …"
"Isn't Luka a girl's name?"
"What?"
"I thought Luka was a girl's name."
"Well, it's not one in my humorous anecdote," said Lorelai, "Anyways, Luka has a friend called Lolly, and they're really good friends, you see, but something …"
"Wait. Luka and Lolly? Where do this people come from?"
"Do you want to hear the story or not?"
"Okay, fine. Carry on."
"Well, to make a long story short, Luka kissed Lolly last night and Lolly wants me to ask you what you think about that."
"Considering I know neither Luka nor Lolly, I don't think I can really form an opinion about the situation."
"Gee, for someone who got accepted into both Harvard and Yale you're not very smart," said Lorelai. "Read between the lines, sister. I kissed Luke last night."
"What?"
"Okay, maybe he kissed me. And I kissed back. Or was it vice versa, I'm not really sure, but the bottom line is I don't know what to do. And I'm hungry and I'm thirsty and we can't go to the diner because I'm afraid to see him."
"How did this happen?"
"It's all your fault."
"I'm to blame for this?"
"If you had given me like a Chia pet, or an ashtray, this wouldn't have happened," Lorelai sighed. "I showed him the present you gave us, and we were like 'aww, how sweet', and then one thing led to another and before you know it… that happened. Oh, yeah, I'm also blaming Miss Patty and Babette."
"What did they do?"
"Their present is to blame as well."
"What was their present?"
Lorelai was about to tell Rory when she stopped midway. "Erm. A shirt."
"Oh, is it pretty? Can I see it?"
"No," said Lorelai quickly, "And stay on the subject. What am I supposed to do with Luke now?"
"I don't know," Rory leaned back against the couch, "I warned you not to get engaged to him. I told you this would end badly."
"But you never said I would end up kissing Luke."
"Nope, that was definitely unforeseeable."
"So, what should I do?"
"Well, this is just off the top of my head," said Rory, "But have you tried talking to him?"
"Oh, no, that wouldn't work."
"Why not?"
"Because… you can't talk to Luke," said Lorelai, "Do you even know the man?"
"Why can't you talk to Luke? You do it every day."
"Yeah, sure, I talk to him everyday," said Lorelai, "About coffee, and meat, and how one day I'm going to die of a heart attack and he's going to stand over my dead body and point and say 'I told you so', but you can't talk to him about stuff like this. He'll close up like… something that closes up when you talk to it, I'm sorry, I'm stressed out and I can't think of an appropriate analogy."
"If you don't want to talk to him, what do you want to do? Avoid him like you usually do?"
"Now, there's a plan."
"Usually, that would work," said Rory, "But you're forgetting that you also said you would marry him, and I'm not really sure, but I think the two of you actually have to be present in the same room for that to happen."
"Oh, I can't marry him now."
"But the diner…"
"Now you're supporting this?"
"You promised him, and if you back out now what's going to happen to the diner?"
"Rory," said Lorelai, "It's one thing to marry him knowing it could never go anywhere, but it's another thing to do it when… we're like this. It's a mess."
"Well, you'd better sort it out soon," said Rory, "And you really need to talk to Luke. He's probably going through the same things in his head."
"What if he doesn't want to talk to me?"
"Then you've got to make him talk to you."
"How do I do that? This is the man who thinks 'um' is over descriptive."
"I don't know," said Rory, "You should know. Tie him down and make him listen or something."
"Ooh, kinky."
"Mom…" Rory sighed. "Look, you'd better talk to him fast, before things get any weirder between the two of you and we have a repeat of that incident where you went about avoiding each other for months."
"Ugh, I hate it when you're reasonable."
"I know," Rory gave a smile, "It's one of my more undesirable qualities."
"Why did I have to kiss Luke, of all people?" Lorelai buried her head in her hands. "Of all the people in the party…"
"Considering the other people in the party include Kirk and Taylor, I think you got off pretty okay."
Lorelai got up. "Fine. I'll go talk to him now. He probably won't want to but at least I can say I tried."
*
Lorelai pushed the door to the diner and stepped inside. She noticed Luke was pouring coffee for one of his customers seated by the window and she walked up to him.
"Hey," she said, cautiously, "Can we talk?"
Luke shot her a sideways glance and continued pouring the coffee. "I'm kinda busy right now."
"Oh, yeah, that's all right. I can wait until you're done."
He finished pouring the coffee, looked at her, and then walked to the counter. "I still have a lot of things I have to get done."
"So, what, you're like so busy you can't take five minutes out of your time to talk to me, is that it?"
"I have my hands full," Luke said, putting down the coffee pot and picking up two plates of food nearby. He served them to the customers sitting nearby, with Lorelai following him every step of the way.
"We really need to talk," she said again.
"I told you, I'm busy."
"Luke, if you don't let me talk to you I'm going to make a scene. I'm warning you before hand, I may cry and bitchslap you."
"Fine," Luke said curtly. He held her arm and dragged her to the storage room. "We can talk here."
"Why are you being so cold to me?"
"I'm not being cold to you," he said, "I'm busy. Have you seen how many people are in the diner today?"
"That's a lie," said Lorelai, "You're avoiding me because of last night. Last night was…"
"Look," said Luke, "I know what you're going to say. It was a mistake, and I totally agree with you. It never should have happened, but it did, and that's that."
"Wow, you're so eloquent."
"I'm not saying that we should forget about it, or act like it never happened," said Luke, "But I don't see how talking about it is going to make things any better. It'll just keep us thinking about it and then we'll both feel like fools, and frankly I think it's better if we just write this one off as a one-time, ridiculous, lapse of judgment."
"So that's how you really feel about it."
"Don't you?"
Lorelai paused. "Yeah. I guess." She didn't know why, but a part of her felt hurt that he was just brushing this aside like it was nothing… or even worse, he was treating it like it was some sort of… stupid mistake. "I guess there's no need for me to be standing here any longer, then. I'll see you later." She spun around and stormed out of the storage room.
Luke stared after her, and some part of him wished he didn't lie to her.
* to be continued *
next time :
My eleven year old cousin takes over for me and writes a chapter. Here is a sample of her brilliant writing :
"yeah luke like Lorelia he said to her 'why lorelia we kis but it is wron.g I luv u lorelia' but Lorilai she is confussed . She not sure if she luv luke she ask rory rory wat is my feling about Look. Do I luv him I think I love him? And rory said I dunno u shld talk to him and then jess he came and he kiss rory and he say do u luv me or dean or thristen more pls tell me…"
Are you excited already? I know I am!
