Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.
Lorelai stared at the floor and clutched her knees so hard her knuckles were turning white. Her palms were soaked. She'd never gotten this worked up over a guy before. Neither Christopher nor Max had ever made her feel so sick to her stomach at the thought of their rejection.
Luke hadn't said anything and she just couldn't look at him.
The reason Luke hadn't said anything was because he was too busy gaping at her. Had she really just said what he thought she'd just said? Was this real? No, it couldn't be. Couldn't be. He had to have misunderstood her.
Finally, Lorelai lifted her head and stole at peek at him. "Say something," she demanded softly. "Are you mad? Do you never want to see me again? Am I banned from the diner for stalking you?"
Luke shook his head and tried to get a hold of his thoughts. Lorelai felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. Before she could move, though, he said, "No, you're not banned from the diner. No, I'm not mad and yes, I want to see you again."
She gave him a tentative smile. "Is this too out of left field?"
"It's close," he admitted. "I mean, I was expecting you to say something like one of your parents was sick or I don't know, anything but that."
Lorelai's face fell as she explained, "I'm sorry. It all started with that night you stayed over. I feel like I've been in denial about this for a long time and that night just opened my eyes." Her hands were still firmly clutching her knees and she brought her eyes back down to rest on the carpet.
Luke, sensing her discomfort, said softly, "Well, if it helps, I've been having some feelings of my own."
Relief flooded through Lorelai as her head shot up and her eyes searched his. "Really?" Her voice sounded strange to her, high-pitched and squeaky.
He nodded, almost sheepish in his admission. "Yeah."
She tentatively touched his knee with her first and second fingers. "I know this might ruin the friendship we've got, but having these feelings and not being able to tell you about them and not feeling like I can hide them makes me want to avoid you. So the status quo wasn't doing anything for the friendship anyway."
His fingers brushed over hers and he said quietly, "I know."
"So what should we do now?" Lorelai asked hesitantly.
"What do you want to do?" Luke countered.
"I asked you first."
"I'd like to spend some more time with you," he said. "Now that we've both admitted that there's something there, I think we should see where it goes."
"You mean like date?"
"Well, dating is for people who don't know each other. We know each other already, so I wouldn't necessarily call it dating."
"What would you call it?"
"I don't know," he said impatiently, "but not dating. I hate dating."
"Okay, fine," she agreed.
They sat for a moment in an awkward silence. "Luke?"
"Yeah."
"I had a dream about you." At this, Luke turned toward her, squeezed her hand and raised his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah." She turned toward him, too, and they sat face-to-face on the couch. "We were kissing and you were wearing boxer shorts."
Luke tried to remember to breath. "What were you wearing?"
She smiled, leaned in close and whispered, "Nothing."
He kissed her then and she kissed him back hard. Her breathing sped up and her heart pounded as she tried to remind herself that this was Luke! Lorelai slid her hand up to his neck and she could feel his pulse hammering away beneath his skin. She opened her mouth and slid her tongue against his and he lay back on the couch and pulled her on top of him.
His arms went around her waist and his hands explored her back, shoulders and arms, while her hands tugged his shirt from the waistband of his jeans. Luke pulled his mouth away from hers long enough to say, "This couch isn't very big."
Lorelai kissed him again, smiled and said, "My room is available and my mom won't be home for hours."
They got up and headed for the stairs.
Later, as they lay under the covers, waiting for their breathing to return to normal, Lorelai said, "Yeah, that was pretty much my dream."
Luke chuckled. "Well, I'm here to make your dreams come true."
Lorelai giggled. "You're good." She stroked his stubble. "Very good."
He smiled at her and kissed her again. "This is the best non-date of my life."
She laughed. "Me, too."
He settled on his back and she rested her chin on his chest. "Hey, Luke?"
His eyes were closed and a smile was just barely there at his mouth. "Hmmm?"
"You know what's weird about this?"
"What?"
"Nothing."
He opened his eyes and said softly, "I know."
"What are you thinking?"
He closed his eyes again and said, "I'm thinking about your neighbors."
"Babette gets you hot, eh? I guess that's good to know."
He rolled his eyes and said, "No. I'm thinking that my truck is parked in front of your house for the whole town to see. By tomorrow morning everybody'll know and I'm dreading it."
Lorelai thought about this. "What are you saying? You're embarrassed to be seen with me?"
"No, of course not. I'm just not used to being at the center of the gossip mill. And as soon as Babette sees my truck, it'll be all over for us. The whole town will know and we'll never have a moment of peace again."
Lorelai sat up. "So, what…you're breaking up with me before we're even officially together because of potential gossip?"
Luke raised himself up onto his elbows. "First, I'm pretty sure what we just did makes us 'officially together.' Second, no, I'm not breaking up with you. I just don't like to be the center of attention."
Lorelai pressed herself against him. "What if it's my attention?"
Later, Luke rolled over onto his side and pulled Lorelai against him chest. Lulu jumped up onto the bed and walked up to stare at them.
Lorelai was eye-to-eye with Lulu. "Luke?"
"Hmmm?"
"I think Lulu wants a threesome."
Luke laughed and reached an arm out to pet the cat.
"I'm going to ignore that and just pray that you're kidding." He rolled out of bed and pulled on his boxer shorts.
She watched. He saw her staring and said, "What?"
"I'm just feeling a little smug because I was right about the shorts. In my dream you were wearing just boxer shorts and obviously, my subconscious guessed right."
He leaned over the bed and kissed her. "I'm glad you're smug. Do you have plans for tomorrow night?"
Lorelai heaved a sigh. "Unfortunately, I do. Tomorrow's Friday, so I'll be busy for dinner. However, I'd be very interested in dessert, but only if you're on the menu."
He grinned at her. "I believe that can be arranged."
