Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, just the story idea.
A/N: One reviewer mentioned not having enough townspeople and so I thought I'd see if I could rectify the situation. Tell me what you think.
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On the following Monday evening Lorelai slouched on one of the stools at the counter of the diner waiting for Luke to close up so that they could walk to the town meeting together. She was guzzling coffee and thinking about what she'd almost admitted to him at the mall on Saturday. If that waitress hadn't shown up, she would have told him that she loved him. Lorelai couldn't decide if the interruption had been a good thing or a bad thing.
Her confession was completely spontaneous. She hadn't planned on saying it and she certainly didn't know what his feelings were. It had just slipped out. Almost. Thank God for that waitress.
Luke re-emerged from the kitchen and handed her a to-go cup. "Trade you," he said as he exchanged her empty mug for a full paper cup and lid.
Her eyebrows lifted accordingly and she said, "Wait a minute, you never give me coffee without me having to beg for it. What are you up to?"
"Nothing," he replied with mock innocence. "Shall we go?"
"Okay, but I've got my eye on you, mister. Don't think you can hoodwink me. I'm the hoodwink master. Mistress. Whatever," said Lorelai as they left the diner and headed toward Miss Patty's.
They were right on time and Lorelai pouted. "But Luke I hate being on time for these things. This is going to ruin my reputation," she whined.
"Okay, I'll go in and you can sit outside for a few minutes." He smiled at her.
"You are so not funny, you know that?" They entered the dance studio and took seats toward the back.
At seven sharp Taylor banged his gavel on the podium and said, "Let this meeting come to order!"
Old Business was taken care of pretty quickly and Taylor moved on to New Business within about fifteen minutes.
"Taylor," said Miss Patty, "I've got some new business."
"All right, Patty, the floor is yours."
"Thank you. I have it on good authority that Luke Danes was seen this past Saturday exiting a jewelry store at a Hartford mall. I just want to openly acknowledge that these two are finally getting it on and wish them the best of luck."
Lorelai smote her own forehead and gaped at Luke, who was blushing so hard his scalp was turning red. "Did you know about this?" she whispered furiously to him. "Oh, God," was his only reply. He put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. "Did she really just say 'getting it on'?" he asked.
"Miss Patty, as fascinating as this is, how does it qualify as New Business?" Taylor's sarcasm indicated his impatience.
"Well, Taylor, the wedding will probably be a town event. I was thinking we could hold it at the gazebo. Lorelai, any thoughts?"
Sookie, who'd been sitting up front with Jackson, stood up and shrieked, "Oh, my God, Lorelai he proposed? You didn't tell me!! This is so exciting! We are going to have so much fun planning this!"
Any reply Lorelai might have made was drowned out by the commotion. Jackson stood up and tried to get Sookie to sit back down and everyone started talking at once.
Kirk piped up above the noise, "Lorelai, could I be your ring-bearer?"
"You do know that you have to get town permission before using the gazebo for a wedding, right?" Taylor was all business.
"Hey, congrats, kids," shouted Babette. "You know, Morey'll give you a discounted rate to play at the reception."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Luke finally shouted. He and Lorelai were both standing now. "We are not getting married."
There was silence for a moment and then Taylor said, "Well, then I think we'd all like to know just what your intentions are, Luke."
Luke gaped at Taylor and Lorelai put a hand on his arm. "My intentions? My intentions!? Not that it's anyone's business, but my intentions are to continue to see her until one of us chooses otherwise."
"Uh oh," said Babette sorrowfully.
Miss Patty straightened her back and said, "I see. So, you don't see a future with Lorelai."
"What?" shouted Luke.
"Well, you just said that you'd see her until one of you decides to stop. You didn't say until we break up or until we get married. Clearly, you don't see yourself married to Lorelai."
At this Lorelai said, "Look, I really appreciate how protective and…weird you all are. But, this is between Luke and I. Please. Just let us handle it, okay?"
There was silence again and then Kirk said, "So does this mean I can't be your ring bearer?"
"Gah!" shouted Luke before he stormed out. Lorelai followed him but not before saying, "Thank you very much!"
Lorelai caught up with him halfway back to the diner. "Hey! Is that why you gave me the coffee? You knew Patty knew something, right? You were trying to soften the blow, weren't you?"
Luke unlocked the diner door and said, "I heard her mention something about the jewelry store to Babette earlier. I didn't know it was going to turn into a three-ring circus. But yeah, I was trying to 'soften the blow' of having our lives discussed publicly."
They stepped into the diner and Luke closed and locked the door behind them. They stood there in the dark and leaned against the door together in silence.
Lorelei tried not to think about Patty's observation. Instead she swiveled her head toward Luke and said, "Hey. You okay?"
He nodded. "Sometimes I really hate this town."
She tugged on his arm and said, "Forget about it. Bunch of crazies. Come on, let's go upstairs and 'get it on'," Lorelai couldn't help giggling as she repeated the infamous words.
"Ugh," groaned Luke. "I can't even believe Patty knows what those words mean. I will never be able to look at her straight again."
"It'll be fine. In a week they'll have something else to talk about. Trust me."
Luke slowly nodded and said, "I wish we could just get out of here sometimes. It's like living under a microscope."
The mood for the evening seemed to be ruined, but Lorelai decided to make one more stab at salvaging it. "I know, but Luke, you knew this was coming, right? I mean, that first night at my place, I think your exact words were 'my truck is parked outside your house and all your neighbors are gonna know and that means the whole town is gonna know.' Or something to that effect." He nodded.
"So, can't we just get past this? Does it have to ruin what we've got?"
For the first time his eyes met hers. "What do we have Lorelai?"
"What do you mean?"
He shook his head, not wanting to have to spell it out for her. "Us. What is this? We see each other regularly, just like before, but we've added sleeping together to the mix. What are we? What is this?" He searched her eyes looking for the answer.
She looked away, terrified. Could she tell him? Would he even want to know how strong she thought her feelings were? What if he freaked? What if he wasn't ready? What if it was too soon? "I have love spots!" she finally shrieked. "Okay? Happy? Is that what you wanted me to say? I've got 'em! I can't help it! It's your fault, anyway. You have to be so nice and good. Rory has to love you. Damn her, anyway, and damn you, too, while we're at it!" She crossed her arms across her chest and huffed a huffy sigh.
Luke stared at her. What the hell was she talking about? What in God's name was a love spot? Why couldn't she ever make sense?
"Can we just back up for a minute?" She didn't answer, just continued to cross her arms tightly, as if she were shielding her heart, and stare at her shoes in the darkness.
"Did you just say you have…love spots?"
"Yes," she answered sullenly.
"And those would be…what?"
She sighed. Did she really have to explain it? God, she felt so humiliated. It was painfully obvious that he didn't have love spots for her. This was her worst nightmare. Confess your love and have it lie there on the floor while the person you were confessing to looked at it as if it were a steaming pile of Lulu poo. Oh, God, Lulu. Now she would be from a broken home. This wasn't fair. She should have known better. Rory had been right all those years ago. It was never a good idea to start a relationship with someone you see everyday. How could she ever eat at the diner again? She'd starve to death and they'd find her wasted body weeks later curled up under her couch where she would have been scrounging for crumbs of past meals when she finally gave in and expired. She sniffed a sniff of self-pity. She wondered if Luke would miss her when she was dead. Probably not, the selfish bastard.
Luke's voice broke into her neuroses. "Are you going to answer me? What is a love spot? And did you just say that Rory loves me?" He sounded incredulous. "Please catch me up because I'm feeling very lost."
"What's the point? You clearly don't have love spots for us!" Lorelai tearfully unlocked the door and yanked it open. She didn't care that she was being irrational. She was stinging from both the public rejection at Miss Patty's and the private rejection right here. "Have a nice life!" And with that she stalked home. Luke stood in the doorway of the diner and watched her go. What the hell just happened?
