Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story idea.
~~
Luke was in the kitchen fixing himself a sandwich when Rory came out of her room at about five that evening.
"Hey," she said.
He looked up from the counter and smiled at her mussed hair and sleepy expression. "Hi. Are you still hungry?"
She thought about it. "When was I hungry?"
"At the hospital you mentioned hunger right before 'boys are dumb.'"
Rory blushed and said, "Oh, yeah. I remember now."
Luke put the sandwich on a plate and slid it across the table to her.
"Thanks," she said. "When did we start having food around here?"
"Since I started helping your mom with the grocery shopping," he answered wryly. He made himself another sandwich, put a bowl of chips on the table between them and sat across from her.
"So do you want to talk about the Adonis?"
Rory ducked her head, rolled her eyes, and gave a self-effacing laugh. "Jeez, did I tell you everything?"
"You told me enough. There was a guy and he asked you to play football?" Luke teased.
She shook her head. "What was I thinking?" She munched on chips.
"It's no big deal," answered Luke, smiling. "We've all done crazy things to get the attention of someone else."
"I guess. I just…I never thought I'd be that girl, you know? Mom and I mock those kinds of girls. When did I turn into one?"
"Hey, at least it was just football. Remember when she tried to learn to fish?"
They both laughed out loud. "And she got up at four that morning for her 'date'!" added Rory as they continued to chuckle.
"See? There's always someone worse off."
"Hey, you ended up with her."
"Well, someone had to take the fall," said Luke with an air of hardship.
Rory giggled.
"Before I forget, the pharmacy delivered these about an hour ago." He handed her the prescription pills. "But you can only have one if you swear the other stuff has worn off."
"I swear. My arm is killing me."
He was so happy that she was back to normal that he couldn't help teasing her some more. "Well, stop breaking it and maybe it will stop hurting."
"Sadist."
"Boy-crazy."
Rory threw a chip at him.
"Can't handle the truth?"
"If I weren't in so much pain I would be able to come up with a great come-back."
"Sure. Want to watch TV until your mom gets home?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
They settled on the couch, Luke at one end, Rory at the other, Lulu asleep in a chair, and put Animal House in the VCR.
Halfway through the movie, Rory curled into a ball and fell asleep. Luke pulled the afghan down from the couch back and covered her up with it. He couldn't understand why Lorelai hadn't called. It was almost six o'clock. He tried to concentrate on the movie. Toward the end, Rory stretched her legs out into his lap and he looked at her affectionately. He was so thankful that nothing had happened to her. For the first time since seeing her at the hospital that afternoon, he noticed that she was wearing the charm bracelet. He smiled. She was fine. A broken wrist and a bruised ego were all she had to worry about.
At seven, Luke heard Lorelai's jeep in the driveway. He carefully slid out from under Rory's legs and walked out to the porch.
"Hey!" called Lorelai.
He put a finger to his mouth and said, "Shh."
"What?" Lorelai stared at him in total confusion.
He walked to wear she stood at the trunk of the jeep and said, "What happened to your cell phone?"
"Oh, I forgot to charge it up last night, so I turned it off in case we had an emergency on the road so there'd be enough juice left to call for help."
Luke nodded as she asked, "Why, what's wrong? What're you doing here, anyway?"
Luke hesitated. "Okay, I don't want you to get all worked up, but Rory's inside. She had a little accident at school."
Lorelai paled. "What?! Oh my God and I turned my cell off! Is she okay? What the hell happened?"
"She's fine. She broke her arm again, that's all."
Lorelai stared at him. "She what?"
"She can tell you all about it. The hospital called me at the diner because she needed someone to drive her home. She was on some pretty strong painkillers. She's on the couch right now. You can see for yourself that she's fine."
Lorelai headed for the house at a dead run. She burst into the entryway and headed straight for the living room. Rory rolled over and opened her eyes. "Mom, your back."
Lorelai looked first at the cast and then back at Rory's face. "What the hell happened to you?"
"I broke my arm again."
"So I hear. How did you break your arm?" Lulu was prancing around Lorelai's ankles pleading for attention. Lorelai picked up the kitten and sat down next to Rory on the couch.
Rory explained. "So let me get this straight," repeated Lorelai. "You have a broken wrist because you wanted this guy to like you?"
"I know," moaned Rory. "I'm so pathetic."
Lorelai sighed. "No, you're not pathetic, but next time you should remember that Gilmores have no athletic ability. I don't care how cute the boy is, do not attempt sports of any kind."
"Lesson learned, trust me," acknowledged Rory glumly.
"Are you staying the night?"
Luke entered the house in time to hear this question and interrupted. "The nurse said she needs to be with someone until noon tomorrow. Just in case."
Lorelai beamed at Rory, "So you're staying the night!"
"Looks that way," replied Rory.
~~
Later that night, the three of them sat around the coffee table playing Monopoly (even though Luke had one eye on the Red Sox/Yankee game on TV).
"Why are we playing this again?" asked Luke as he landed for the third time on Boardwalk.
"This is the sick game," Rory reminded him. "This is the game we always play when one of us is too sick for work/school, but not bed-ridden."
"Awww, yeah," answered Lorelai. "And it looks like you owe me some cash. I'll take my four hundred big ones, if you please."
Luke looked at the pile of money in front of him. "I'm afraid I may be a little short."
Lorelai whooped. "You know what that means? You lose!"
Luke pushed the cash to her across the table and turned his full attention to the game.
"You know," commented Lorelai to Rory, "it's not as much fun to gloat when the gloatee pays no attention to the gloater."
Rory yawned and smiled. Lulu was asleep in her lap. It was good to be home.
Something happened on the TV and all of a sudden Luke cried, "Aww, come on! He was out!"
Lorelai and Rory looked at each other and cracked up.
"What's so funny?" asked Luke.
"You," answered Lorelai. "You're getting so worked up!"
"Hey, it's the Yankees and the Red Sox at Fenway in a seven-game series that will determine which team will go to the World Series. It's a big deal."
"Okay, sure," she answered, shaking her head.
"Look," said Luke, "The Red Sox have been cursed ever since they traded Babe Ruth to Yankees back in the nineteen twenties. They have never won a World Series since they traded him. Now, not only have they made it to the playoffs, but they're playing the team they traded Ruth to."
Lorelai rolled her eyes again and said, "It sounds like English, but it comes out gibberish. Who wants ice cream?"
"What a silly question," giggled Rory.
Lorelai smiled and said, "Hee! You're right! What was I thinking?"
She skipped into the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with two bowls of ice cream. Luke was still watching TV, but for some reason it appeared that he was explaining something to Rory about the game.
"What is going on here?"
Two head swiveled toward her and Rory said, "Nothing."
"It doesn't look like nothing," replied Lorelai. She handed a bowl to Rory and said, "It looks like you're trying to learn about baseball. Didn't you get in enough trouble with football?"
Rory rolled her eyes. "No, it's a good thing. I'm not ever going to try to play sports again, but this way, I'll at least be able to have a conversation about it."
Lorelai took a huge spoonful of her ice cream and shook her head.
"So, after three outs it's the other team's turn to bat," continued Luke. "And after nine innings whoever has the most runs, sorry, whichever team has had the most guys run around the bases, wins."
"Got it," said Rory with a wrinkle in her forehead. "And who's winning now?"
"The Sox are up by four."
"And that means…?" replied Lorelai.
"I thought you weren't interested," said Luke, eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just tell us."
"It means the Red Sox are winning by four."
"And that's a good thing," said Rory hesitantly.
"Yes," replied Luke.
"Why again?" asked Lorelai.
"Because we hate the Yankees."
"Right," said Rory.
"And why is that?" asked Lorelai.
"Because they ruin baseball. Steinbrenner's got more money than God and with no salary caps you can pretty much buy yourself a Pennant."
Lorelai and Rory looked at each other. "Once again, sounds like English…." Lorelai sounded impatient.
"Baseball players make a ton of money, okay?" The girls nodded intently. "Unlike football players, there isn't a limit on how much they can make. That means that as long as owners of teams can afford it, players can make ridiculous amounts of money. Owners scoop up all the best players in the league, pay them huge amounts of money, and the rest of the teams get hosed."
"So money wins," concluded Lorelai.
"Every time," said Luke.
"Which bites," said Rory.
"You know it," said Luke.
The three of them forgot about Monopoly and finished watching the baseball game.
