Chapter 5- You're no Antonio Banderas


Lorelai groaned and sat up on the couch. She pressed the glow feature on her watch. 5:26 it read. She had been awake for awhile now and had given up on falling back to sleep. Luke was snoring so loudly she didn't know how he could even sleep. Lorelai got up from the couch and walked over the kitchen counter. She picked up the coffee pot and quietly tried to fill it with water from the tap.


"Screw it," she said, out loud. "If he can wake me up, I can wake him up." She turned the tap on as far as it would go. She then, just as loudly, put coffee in the maker and turned it on. She heard a muffled grunt coming from the bed and turned to look at Luke.


"Geez Lorelai, could you be any louder?" he said, as he yawned and stretched.


"I don't know, could you snore any louder?"


"I don't snore," Luke grunted.


Lorelai scoffed. "Uh, I hate to break it to you Buster, but you sawed enough logs to put Husqvarna out of business."


"Whatever," Luke said, getting up and walking over to her. "I'm up now, you feel like breakfast?"


"Always," Lorelai grinned and walked over the window. She pulled open the curtains and looked out. "Oh Luke, it's pouring out!" she cried. The sky was dark with storm clouds and the rain was coming down hard. Luke came over to stand next to her.


"Wow, it's really coming down." He said.


"Thank you, Captain Obvious."


Luke ignored her. "I wouldn't be surprised if we got some thunder and lightning.


"Ugh," Lorelai moaned. "So what are we going to do today?"


"Well, we're going to have to stay inside. It's too dangerous to be out on the water, and not much fun anyway. We'll find something to do."


Lorelai pouted. "I guess so. What's for breakfast?"


"Pancakes sound good?"


"Mmmm, your pancakes may just brighten up this day. Ooh, coffee's ready!"


***


"I fold," Lorelai slapped her cards down on the table.


"Lorelai, you can't fold. We're playing gin."


Lorelai frowned. "Oh. Well, I'm bored! Let's play something exciting!"


"Like what?"


"How about strip poker?" she suggested.


"You're kidding." Luke stared at her.


"What? We're both adults. I don't have anything you haven't seen before, and Rory wasn't exactly conceived in the dark."


"I'm not playing strip poker with you Lorelai." Luke shook his head.


"Why not, we wouldn't have to get naked. We could just play until one of us was in their underwear, or we get bored, whichever comes first.


"Why do you want to do this so badly?" Luke asked her.


"Because I'm bored! And it's the only idea I had. Have you got a better one?"


"Not really" he admitted.


"Then you'll play?" she asked, hopefully.


"Fine," he sighed. "But nobody, not even Rory, ever finds out about this, understand?"


"Yay!" Lorelai giggled and started shuffling the cards.


***


"I can't believe I never asked you about your tattoo before."


Luke shrugged. "It's just something I got when I was young and foolish. It's no big deal."


"Hmmm...." Lorelai said quietly. "Well, it's kinda sexy."


Luke looked at her and grinned. "Sexy?"


"Yeah, kinda....so? I said you were sexy. That doesn't make you Antonio Banderas."


"Uh huh, well just because you think I'm sexy doesn't mean I let you win." He placed his cards down on the table. "Full house."


"Damn!" Lorelai threw her cards down.


"Well, you've run out of socks to take off, so what's it gonna be? Pants or shirt?" Luke wiggled his eyebrows at her.


"I wouldn't gloat, Buddy, you're the one sitting there in nothing but jeans."


"Yeah, but I'm sexy, remember?"


Lorelai glared at him. "God, if your head swells any bigger, there won't be any room in this cabin for me."


"Stop stalling," Luke said.


"Fine," Lorelai said, taking off her shirt. "Go big, or go home." She threw her shirt at him. "Your turn to deal."


Luke gulped and looked away. He couldn't believe he had Lorelai Gilmore sitting across from him wearing nothing but jeans and her bra. He swallowed and tried to meet her eyes. "Uh...I think you win. I don't really want to play anymore." He got up from his chair and pulled on his t-shirt and shoes. "I'm going to go get more wood from the shed." He opened the door and went outside into the pouring rain.


Lorelai leaned back in her chair. "Ummm....ok...that was weird." She reached for her shirt and pulled it on. "Did I say something wrong?" She got up and went to the counter to pour herself more coffee. As she did so, she spotted the flannel shirt Luke had been wearing earlier. "He's outside in only a t-shirt! He'll catch pneumonia!" She put down the cup, picked up the shirt and opened the cabin door.

The rain was coming down even harder now and the storm clouds overhead made it dark and hard to see. "Luke?" Lorelai called out into the yard. There was no response. She shivered as a gust of wind hit her. She pulled Luke's shirt on over her own and called out again. Still nothing. "You're lucky I care, Luke," she grumbled and ran out into the rain.

She was soaking wet by the time she reached the wood shed. She looked in and could see Luke with his back to her. He was sitting on a pile of logs and staring at his feet. He was soaked from the rain as well. He didn't even have his hat on and his hair was plastered to his head. He hadn't noticed she was standing there and she took the chance to really look at him. He looks so sad, she thought. She wondered what had happened in the past few minutes to make him look like this. She walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Luke," she whispered.


He looked up at her. "Lorelai, what are you doing out here? You're soaked."


"So are you. I wanted to bring you your shirt, but I got it a little wet."


"A little?" Luke half-smiled.


"Well, ok, a lot. Do you still want it?"


"No, you wear it. You need it as much as I do, even if it is too big for you."


"You noticed, huh?" Lorelai laughed as she held up her hands covered by the too-long sleeves. She looked at his still sad eyes and stopped laughing. "Can I sit?" she asked, serious now.


"Sure," Luke said, moving over.


Lorelai sat beside him on the logs. "Luke, what's wrong? And don't say 'nothing', 'Cause I know it's something."


"It's noth..." Luke started to say and Lorelai looked at him. "I don't know. Maybe it's just the weather. I just....Lorelai, I really don't want to talk about it."


"Okay," she sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. They sat like this for a moment until Lorelai turned her face toward his. "Luke, I know I've been a bit preoccupied with Rory leaving and the Inn and everything, but I want you to know that I'm here for you, whenever you need me. You can talk to me, you know.


He turned and looked into her eyes. "I know," he whispered. Their faces were inches apart. Lorelai's eyes went to Luke's mouth. He noticed this and moved closer. He's going to kiss me, she thought. I want him to... They closed their eyes and their lips were about to meet when suddenly there was a large crash of thunder and lightning lit up the shed. They both jumped up and Lorelai screamed. Luke grabbed her hand and yelled "Let's get back to the cabin!" He pulled her out into the storm.

They ran through the wind and rain, with thunder booming all around them. Luke still held Lorelai's hand. They were shivering and out of breath by the time they reached the cabin.


"It's quite scary out there! We should stay away from the windows. I'll go get the fire going while you get changed and dried off." Luke said, finally letting go of Lorelai's hand.


"Okay," she said, not wanting to look at him. She walked into the bathroom and shut the door.


Luke sighed and ran his hands through his wet hair. We almost kissed back there, he thought. I almost kissed Lorelai, and she almost kissed me back. Why did she almost kiss me back? Does she feel the same about me as I do about her, or was it just the heat of the moment? "What do I do now?" He said to the room. He sighed again and walked over to the fireplace.


***