A/N- Sorry I took so long. I included a little update on the last chapter
or so to refresh everyone's memory. I a bunch of new ideas so don't fret,
there is more to come. Really. Honest. Just ask my beta. Which reminds.
THANKS J. !!! I took a lot of your suggestions, so I give co-credit
especially on this one!
**************************
REFRESH
"Luke. That's what's wrong." Lorelai exclaimed.
"Ohhhh...So he's back." Sookie raised her eyebrow and winced.
*
"You-I-We-.....I'm angry at you!" Luke looked at her with disbelief.
"What? Why?" He exclaimed, looking confused.
"You left!" Lorelai shouted back. Luke rolled his eyes and clenched his fist in exasperation.
"We've already gone over this!"
"I know, and yet you STILL don't seem to get this." Lorelai replied and started off towards the gazebo.
*
"FINE! Well I think I like you!" Lorelai declared indifferently.
"Well I like you too!" Luke shot back.
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
* "I--- I'm not angry!" She tried. Luke turned around and rubbed to back or his neck, glancing up at her.
"No?"
"No... I'm not angry. Not at all. I'm opposite angry. I'm anti-angry." She plied. "I'm a hippie, and angry is Vietnam." Luke smiled a little.
"Okay."
"You're not........are you?" Lorelai said carefully, urged on by Luke's expression.
"Angry?" Luke asked.
"Yeah."
"No." He shrugged, but he couldn't keep the corners of his mouth down.
"Good." Lorelai said with a little relief. She grinned at him. "I'm glad you're not Nixon."
*
"You should.......... probably go..." Luke said, looking at the clock on the wall behind him. Lorelai's face fell.
"Oh... yeah." Luke noticed this and shook his head quickly this time.
"No. No, I mean, I'm not trying to get rid of you for once." Luke said playfully, trying to calm her down. Lorelai scowled at him, but he continued. "It's Friday, so I thought you'd have to be at your parents's......" Lorelai's eyes suddenly opened wide.
"My parents...... With everything, and I forgot..... I will never live this down. I'm already going to be late, and I'm not even dressed yet or anything." She started to rifle through her purse for the keys to the Jeep.
"You look good in that." Luke shrugged, trying to be casual. Lorelai stopped and smiled at him.
"Thank you Luke." Luke shrugged, but was smiling a little. "Sorry to chat and bolt."
"Nah, I understand." Luke said easily, touching her arm lightly. "It seems to be a bit of a pattern with us lately anyways. I'll get you some coffee to go."
"Ugh. You're a god. Thank you." Lorelai grabbed the curtain, then turned back around to Luke, who was following her out. "I'll be back, after dinner. I promise."
END REFRESH
****************************
****************************
Rory waited patiently outside the dorm, glancing up the street to see if Emily or Richard was coming yet.
"Need a ride somewhere?"
Rory turned around and smiled at Marty as he walked up behind her. "No. Since I gave you your car back after the baseball game I have to get a ride to dinner from my grandparents. They should be here soon."
"Did you want me to wait with you?" Marty offered.
Rory smiled and nodded. "Sure...So, how has your week been?"
"Rough. I got a test back in my anatomy class. I forgot that the knee bone connected to the femur, not the thigh bone." Marty grinned, shaking his head.
"Preschool songs can be so misleading." Rory nodded in agreement, smiling back at him.
Marty laughed a little. "So, I had fun at the tournament....even though we didn't really get to finish."
"Yeah, sorry about that. I swear our town events aren't always that All My Children. And my mom isn't usually involved in things like this....It was just......" Rory shrugged.
"Entertaining, if you weren't involved." Marty tried.
"Exactly."
"So what exactly was going on with that?"
"It's just Luke, and my Mom.....There's just this thing...and it's...well, complicated. Oh. And my ride's here." Rory nodded as a silver sedan with Richard in the driver's seat pulled up to them. "So, I'll be seeing you?"
"Yeah." Marty glanced down at the ground and dropped his hands in his pockets. As Rory grabbed the door handle he looked back up. "Uh, hey Rory? Did you want to come with me, out to dinner next week? I found this really great cafe place off campus with a couple of my suitemates, and I thought you might want to go. They have a band playing there on Friday, and you could update me on the Stars Hollow soaps scene."
Rory searched for her words for a minute.
"Oh, well, yeah. That would be, uh, good." She stuttered, then pointed at the car. "I have to.....go. So I'll talk to you on Monday. Or Sunday. Or later. Or...Bye." Rory finished quickly, pulled the car door open and ducked inside with a short wave. Marty nodded back at her with a nervous smile and sat down on the bench as the Richard pulled away. Rory bit her nail and looked back at him as they drove on.
"Anything wrong, Rory?" Richard asked, seeing her distracted.
"What? Oh, no, everything's fine....I'm just...fine. Good, really." Rory shook away her pensive thoughts and smiled.
"All right. Then I suppose you'd still be interested in a little something I found hiding in the back of a bookshelf in the upstairs guest bedroom. I read these myself when they came out, not very difficult, but very interesting and quite clever." Richard took one hand off of the wheel and pulled a paperback novel out of the centre console.
"'My Family And Other Animals'?" Rory smiled, reading the title.
"I think your mother might appreciate it as well." Richard smiled and glanced at Rory sideways.
**************************
Lorelai grabbed her coat off the hook in the front hallway and walked quickly out the door, and across hr porch, talking loudly into her cell phone.
"No, no Earl, I can't wait for the moldings to come in by Friday. I need them on Monday, like you promised." She slid into the Jeep and turned the key in the ignition, twisting in her seat to back out of the driveway. "Why Monday? Because you said it would be here Monday, so being the foolish person I am, I scheduled the nice men who will be installing the moldings for Tuesday.......No....No, I can't just reschedule....Because I'm on a schedule..... No, I have to be done the moldings this week.....Well I'm very sorry about your parrot....No.....Yes, early Tuesday is fine. Very early Tuesday......Five....as in the morning five?.....You're really killing my buzz here Earl......Fine. Five it is....Yes.....Thank you Earl. You are a beautiful man. Thank you. No, I really have to go. I'm late for a meeting.... No. Don't worry about it. Bye."
Lorelai snapped her phone shut and bent down to grab the box of Altoids from her purse, but suddenly saw something dart across the street. She dropped the phone and grabbed the wheel with both hands again, slamming her foot against the brake and swerving to the left. The cat slunk across the street. Lorelai sat back in her seat and sighed, casting angry glances at the cat, pulling over and bending down to pick up her phone.
"Oh, no," Lorelai groaned, seeing the phone under the brake pedal. She picked it up and flipped it open, but the screen was crushed and when she tried to turn it on it merely flickered for a minute and shut itself down. "Great. Wonderful."
Lorelai shook her head and pull back onto the street, her speed creeping up as she reached the highway. As she approached the turn off for Hartford, she tapped her free foot nervously, glancing down at the clock. "Come on......two more miles." She glanced at the clock again. She was only fifteen minutes late...it would be okay if she just.......
She heard the wail of the siren and groaned, pulling over to the side of the road. The officer climbed out of her car and approached the Jeep, and Lorelai smacked her head down on the steering wheel and lowered the window.
************************
Emily tapped impatiently on the side of her glass, glancing out at the front hall.
"Where is your mother?" She frowned.
Rory glanced at her watch.
"I don't know. I talked to her on Wednesday and she didn't say anything. Maybe she had something on at the inn."
"Well she should have called. She's half an hour late, for heaven's sake. If she's not here in five minutes, we're starting dinner without her." Emily said sharply. She snatched her drink up off the side table, and the doorbell rang loudly. "Well finally." Emily snapped, handing her drink to Richard, who had been sitting beside her. "Richard, why don't you and Rory go ahead into the dining room."
"Okay, Grandma." Rory agreed quickly, glancing nervously at the door. They left the living room and parted in the hallway as Emily moved to open the front door.
"Hello, Lorelai," Emily said icily. "Nice of you to join us." She stepped aside to let Lorelai in. Lorelai pulled her jacket off quickly and handed it to the maid, and tugged on her dress. Emily stood primly beside her.
"Rory's here."
"Good." Lorelai nodded warily.
"You're late." Emily stated, starting off down the hallway.
"I know-" Lorelai started, following after her.
"Over half an hour late." Emily continued.
"I know Mom, and I'm sorry, I just- Wait, no living room tonight?" Lorelai said, confused, as Emily walked towards the dining room.
"You could have joined us if you had been on time."
"But...." Lorelai looked desperately back at the drink cart, over her shoulder, reaching back and pawing towards it wistfully, but Emily led her into the dining room.
"There's wine with dinner Lorelai." Emily sighed impatiently. "Hopefully you can wait a few more minutes for that."
"Ooooh, wine. Okay." Lorelai frown turned quickly to a smile as she sat down quickly across from Rory. The maid emerged from the doorway with a bottle of wine and stepped to Richard's place to pour a glass, but Emily held up her hand.
"I think you should probably pour Lorelai's first, Guerta. Otherwise she might ruin the tablecloth when she dives across the table after Richard's in impatience."
Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"I wouldn't dive across the table Mom. Everyone knows the best way to do it is to trip the maid and grab the bottle from her when she falls." Lorelai motioned a trip and grab movement.. Rory laughed across the table and tried to hide it in her glass of soda, but Emily just pursed her mouth and shook her head at Lorelai before starting into her salad.
"So why were you late." Emily questioned Lorelai, not looking up from her plate.
"I had this really horrible day, just one of those days where things keep going wrong and keep going wrong, and it won't stop. It was terrible." Lorelai shook her head, and rubbed her temple as if just talking about it made her head hurt.
"What happened?" Rory asked, especially concerned, what with all the drama that had been going on lately in stars Hollow.
"Well, something CAME BACK up." Lorelai emphasized, looking purposefully at Rory, whose eyes opened wide as she nodded in understanding. Rory nudged her under the table, signaling their need to talk as soon as possible. "And I had to work through a disagreement, and I was so distracted by it I forgot it was Friday and--"
"Who did you disagree with?" Emily interrupted.
"Well, it wasn't so much a disagreement as--" Lorelai said evasively.
"Was it someone at the inn?"
"Uh, no, and it--"
"Was it Sookie?" Emily pushed
"No, no it wasn't Sookie, Mom...." Lorelai returned, as Richard and Rory watched the exchange apprehensively.
"Then who was it?" Emily demanded.
"Why do you have to know?"
"Well, I just find it less than courteous to arrive late, without so much as a phone call, act foolishly, and bring up topics at the dinner table that you refuse to discuss."
"Luke. I had a fight with Luke. Do you want a play by play, or maybe a transcript?" Lorelai said, exasperated.
"So do you know when you guys are going to have the inn opening?" Rory tried, hoping to veer the topic off course.
"What did you do?" Emily demanded,
"Nothing!" Lorelai exclaimed, looking offended.
"Then why were you fighting?"
"I killed his hamster." Lorelai sighed.
"You're being childish." Emily said severely, obviously not amused.
"You're being invasive." Lorelai replied, equally ill-tempered. They stared each other down for a minute.
"So what reminded you to finally show up?" Richard said through the awkward silence.
"Luke did. So I ran home, and I almost got hit by a car and I got changed, and right while I was leaving I got a call about the inn, and then I almost hit a cat, and I dropped my cell phone and crushed it when I was trying to brake, so I couldn't call you, and then I was trying to get here kind of on time and I had a bit of a delay."
"Delay?" Emily commented dubiously.
"I got a speeding ticket."
"Ouch." Rory commiserated.
"And I was almost here. Two more miles and I would have been home free!" Lorelai groaned.
"Well, isn't it a shame you didn't get away with breaking the law." Emily retorted.
"If only I was a celebrity...or the cop had been a man...." Lorelai said wistfully.
************************************
Lorelai and Rory climbed into the Jeep and started back towards Stars Hollow. Rory glanced over at her.
"So now you can take your car back to Yale with you this week." Lorelai said, concentrating on the road.
"Yeah,. That's good."
"You may have to get some gas. I drove your car a few places."
"Why."
"Because the jeep had no gas." Lorelai stated matter-of-factly.
"So you're really that cheap." Rory accused her jokingly.
"Yes." Lorelai nodded. The car grew silent for a little while.
"So he's back." Rory said firmly.
"Yes."
"And....." She continued, trying to prompt some details out of her mother.
"I like Luke." Lorelai said slowly, biting her lip and checking her mirrors.
"Like Luke like ' I like Kirk,' or like Luke like 'I like Bono."
"Hey, you know what, I'm very happy to say that neither of those describe the way in which I like Luke." Lorelai pointed a finger at Rory.
"But if it were leaning towards one or the other?" Rory pushed.
"Bono." Lorelai said decisively.
"That's good!....." Rory replied happily. "Does Luke know this?" She added cautiously as an afterthought.
"Definitely yes."
"I'm guessing that there's an amusing anecdote behind that 'definitely yes'." Rory continued curiously.
"We had a fight in the middle of the town." Lorelai confided.
"Alright then." Rory waited for the rest of the story.
"And we kind of yelled it at each other, in this whole 'I hate you!' 'Me too' 'I like you!' 'Me too!' kind of thing, and I ended up having to go back to the diner and tell him that I wasn't mad anymore."
"Well."
"Yeah..." Lorelai said, taking a deep breath.
"So, what are you guys now?"
"We're...uh....nothing really? It's still.....with Nicole, and- Oh, I keep forgetting to call Digger?"
"You should probably do that soon." Rory winced.
"I guess I'll have to call him when I get home." Lorelai wrinkled her nose.
"No, cause then you'll be all moody for the movies! Call tomorrow." Rory pleaded.
"I don't want to forget again!"
"Will it be quick?"
"Like lightening." Lorelai promised with a smile.
"Fine." Rory caved.
" Hey, when we get into town, why don't you go ahead and pick all the movies and junk food this week, favourite daughter."
"Only daughter. You have to talk to Luke then ?" Rory said plainly, seeing right through Lorelai.
"I kind of promised I'd come in after dinner."
"Hey, am I going to have to work out a signal for you two? Knock twice and wait for you to do the call of the swan if it's alright for me to come back. Goose if you need ten more minutes?"
"Not even. There's nothing like that. But I'll be sure to hang a sock on the open/close sign of the diner if that even becomes an issue." Lorelai grinned and pretended to dangle an imaginary sock.
"Awwwwww. Ick." Rory grimaced.
"You brought it up," Lorelai pointed out.
"You took it too far." Rory shook her head and Lorelai smiled.
*********************
"I'll meet you back here in ten." Lorelai said, standing in front of the diner.
"Make it fifteen." Rory disagreed.
"So twenty?" Lorelai settled.
"Exactly." Rory nodded and headed off towards Doose's.
Lorelai grabbed the doorknob and leaned back, but instead of stepping inside, she ended up standing apprehensively in the open doorway. She was startled by a loud voice behind the counter.
"In or out. Do you know how much it costs to heat this place?"
"You're not paying to heat the whole neighbourhood, eh?" Lorelai watched as Luke appeared quickly from behind the counter.
"Lorelai. I probably should have guessed." Luke returned.
She walked over to the counter and sat on a stool, clasping her hands together in front of her and leaning forwards a bit.
"That's all right. Everyone has off days....Rory's picking up some movies." Lorelai said, looking up at Luke.
"So she's back for the weekend. That's good." He nodded, watching her.
"Yeah, just for tonight, and then she's back to Yale after dinner tomorrow."
"Well, lots of studying to do, I'd guess."
"Of course......"
"I called Nicole." Luke said suddenly, but firmly.
"Okay, well, that was an unexpected, and oh so subtle segueway." Lorelai replied, looking a little taken aback.
"She said she'd send the papers over soon. Express mail, to be exact." Luke said shortly, looking as though it hadn't exactly been a pleasant conversation..
"Yeah, you guys didn't really get that whole clean break-up thing going, did you. I mean, most people do it n a restaurant, or in private, not in front of the entire population of their city. I mean it could be worse than breaking up in front of twenty six people..." Lorelai joked sympathetically and Luke gave a little laugh.
"NO. No, it wasn't the best break up ever, but I guess it could have been worse.." Luke shook his head ruefully and shrugged, grabbing the coffee pot and turning back to pour some for her.
Lorelai tilted her head to see the look on his face.
"We did cause quite the scene though, didn't we." Lorelai said quietly.
Luke looked up her with a little smile on his face and nodded. She went to reach for the mug but Luke lifted his hand up and pushed her gently back down to the countertop, letting his own hand rest on top. They both stared as Luke's thumb tentatively rose up and slowly ran across the back of Lorelai's hand. Lorelai lifted one hand up and crossed it over, covering up Luke's.
"We can't do this." Lorelai shook her head, looking at his fingers.
"I know." Luke said evenly, like he was agreeing with a dinner order, but he started rubbing her wrist gently with his thumb.
"Not even accidentally." Lorelai said hesitantly.
"Should there be a ten foot buffer involved?" Luke said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.
"It might be a good idea. Just until everything else is resolved." Lorelai said half jokingly.
"We have to. It's the right thing to do. For everyone involved. "Luke sighed and nodded, knowing it was the right thing to do.
"And it'll be good....for us.... It'll give us a chance to adjust to this...new situation."
"Okay." Luke nodded.
"You have to let go of my hand, though." Lorelai smiled at him shyly.
"What if I say no?" Luke shrugged.
"I guess there wouldn't be much I could do." Lorelai smiled back at him with a little laugh.
Luke shook his head with a grin and pulled his hand away slowly. "Yeah, I guess not. Go have fun with Rory." He waved her away and drew his own hand back to his pockets.
"Can I just- "Lorelai said hopefully.
"Go have uncaffienated fun with Rory." Luke clarified.
Lorelai frowned at him. "Well, at least I know some things never change. Crank." She glared at him, wrinkling up her nose.
"Crazy." Luke retorted lightly. "Go home."
"Maybe I won't come back." Lorelai declared passionately.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Luke waved at her, looking down at the receipts by the cash register.
Lorelai gave up on her act and leaned back on the counter.
"Can I at least get pie?" She pleaded, swaying from side to side.
"If you say 'But hold the pie and just put coffee in,' I'm cutting you off for a week." Luke threatened as he cut two slices of pie and slid them into a takeout container.
******************************
"So?" Lorelai demanded, poking at the movie bag.
"Tonight's theme will be......" Rory announced as Lorelai smacked her hands against her legs to make the drum roll. "Elizabeth Taylor. Extra chocolate to whoever can guess what tonight's triple feature will be." Rory waved a bar of chocolate in front of Lorelai enticingly.
"Oh! Okay....obvious first, the beginner, National Velvet." Lorelai stated, rolling her eyes at the easiness.
"That was a gimme." Rory protested.
"Okay, second's a classic..........Cleopatra." Lorelai decided, pointing over at Rory
"And the last?"
"Is always the Krazy Konnection Bonus Round.... Elizabeth Taylor......Richard Burton.....Richard The Lionhearted.....Okay.....Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves?" Lorelai deliberated.
"Ohhhh, good try, but no. Elizabeth Taylor.....diamonds.....diamonds are a girl's best friend...." Rory lead.
"Moulin Rouge!"
"Exactly!"
"Yes! Perfect!" Lorelai exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
"Why perfect?" Rory questioned.
Lorelai grinned at her and pulled out the styrofoam case from inside the Luke's bag she had with her. She popped it open and displayed the contents. "Cherry Pie." Lorelai stated.
"Okay." Rory said, furrowing her brow in confusion. Lorelai sighed in impatience, waiting for her to pick up on it.
"Moulin ROUGE. Red. Like the cherries in the pie. Red. Rouge. English. French. It all matches." Lorelai explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Suuuure." Rory nodded in fake understanding.
"Because, I mean, if I had gotten peach, or apple, or blueberry, it wouldn't have worked. But I specifically got cherry, which is red. So it's perfect."
"Unhunh." Rory continued, placatingly.
"You still don't get it." Lorelai frowned.
"Oh no, I get it......" Rory said teasingly.
"Hey!" Lorelai's jaw dropped in protest. "That was a good connection I made!"
"Sure Robin Hood."
"Fine, you don't appreciate the pie-rony of it all, then you get none!" Lorelai snatched the pie to her chest.
"I cannot believe you just made a pie pun!" Rory started laughing, but Lorelai just pointed a finger at her accusingly.
"Hey, you are not helping your cause there!"
"Pie-rony?"
"Shut up." Lorela scowled, trying not to laugh.
**************************
"You go get it started. I just have to make a call." Lorelai said, handing the bag of food to Rory.
"Jason?"
"Jason." Lorelai nodded and picked up the phone on the way to the kitchen. She dialed his number, plunking herself down in one of the kitchen chairs, and waited as it rang.
"Hello, Jason Stiles speaking."
"Hi.....Jason." Lorelai said slowly.
"Lorelai." She heard his tone drop as he heard her voice.
"Yeah. I know, it's been like...."
"A week. I didn't think you were going to call." Jason filled in for her.
"I know. That wasn't fair of me. I just-" Lorelai started.
"Can you come to dinner tomorrow?" Jason interrupted.
"Wow, uh, blunt. Okay, Jason, I just don't think that--" Lorelai struggled, looking for her words.
"I know. I just wanted to talk to you. I understand, but I wanted to clear the air between us." Lorelai noticed his business like tone was more prominent than usual in his voice, which was understandable.
"Wow. This is abnormally healthy. Are you sure about this?" She replied
"Yes. How about six thirty at Gianosa?" Jason said quickly.
"O.....kay. Yes, six thirty is fine. But, are you sure this is, I mean, I was horrible, I didn't call, and you heard about...." Lorelai was quickly getting lost in this conversation, not quite sure what was exactly going on.
"We'll talk about it tomorrow. I'll meet you there?" He continued.
"Tomorrow." Lorelai said faintly.
"Tomorrow. I've got to finish a few contracts before I got to bed, so I have to go."
"Okay. Bye....." Lorelai tried.
"Good night Lorelai."
Lorelai turned off the phone and walked back to the living room. "I think Jason just asked me out again."
"What?" Rory exclaimed, twisting in her spot to look at Lorelai as she hung up the phone and walked over to the couch.
"Yeah I know.....I'm confused. Very confused. Bush trying to understand long division confused." Lorelai stressed sitting down next to Rory.
"So, pretty confused."
"He seemed fine." Lorelai said, as thought this were a strange thing, like flying pigs, or a talking bagel.....at least like a talking bagel to people who didn't know her.
"Okay." Rory said, still confused as well.
"And we're going to dinner. And I don't want him to think that this is a date, or a date like thing, or anything like that!"
"Oh." Rory said, slightly alarmed at how the phone call had turned out.
"I know! I'm a horrible person." Lorelai buried her head in her hands.
"Well I know how you feel." Rory sighed.
"Like there's a beaver gnawing at your leg. A beaver named Guilt." Lorelai clenched one fist and glared off into space.
"That sounds about right." Rory replied.
"What's wrong with you?" Lorelai asked, looking at Rory quizzically.
"I think Marty may have asked me out." Rory winced.
"Marty's nice...." Lorelai tried. "But what exactly happened that you THINK he asked you out?"
"I was waiting for Grandpa to pick me up, and he came up and waited with me, and he asked me to go with him to this café off campus next Friday night with him."
"And this is bad?" Lorelai clarified.
"Yes! I mean, I like him, he's a great friend." Rory said helplessly.
"But just a friend." Lorelai smiled kindly.
"Exactly." Rory agreed, looking up at her mom.
"You're going have to tell him." Lorelai admitted, shaking her head.
"Like you told Jason?" Rory reproved.
"Slightly more complicated there." Lorelai stated.
"I don't want to hurt his feelings." Rory sighed and drew her eyebrows together before leaning back against the couch pillows.
"Yeah, but if you don't tell him, then it's going to hurt even more." Lorelai reminded her.
"Boys suck." Rory grumbled.
"Yeah, and they're weird, and they smell funny." Lorelai replied with a fake grumbly voice.
Rory cracked a smile and shook her head at her Lorelai before continuing the strand.
"And they do gross things."
"And they always say the wrong thing." Lorelai added.
"Yeah!" Rory agreed enthusiastically.
"But the right ones can be nice." Lorelai said after a moment, grabbing a throw pillow to hug and rubbing her thumb over the back of her hand..
"Yeah, if you can find them." Rory said dejectedly.
"So you'll tell him?" Lorelai said softly, not wanting to push too much.
"And you'll clear things up with Jason?" Rory returned.
"Crystal." Lorelai nodded back.
"Alright. Are we ready then?"
"For National Velvet? Always. Who doesn't love a Liz Taylor/ Horse movie." Lorelai scoffed, pushing the play button on the remote.
"The icky boys." Rory replied logically.
"Awww, that's my big mature girl." Lorelai grinned, wrapping her arm around Rory's shoulders.
**********************************
**************************
REFRESH
"Luke. That's what's wrong." Lorelai exclaimed.
"Ohhhh...So he's back." Sookie raised her eyebrow and winced.
*
"You-I-We-.....I'm angry at you!" Luke looked at her with disbelief.
"What? Why?" He exclaimed, looking confused.
"You left!" Lorelai shouted back. Luke rolled his eyes and clenched his fist in exasperation.
"We've already gone over this!"
"I know, and yet you STILL don't seem to get this." Lorelai replied and started off towards the gazebo.
*
"FINE! Well I think I like you!" Lorelai declared indifferently.
"Well I like you too!" Luke shot back.
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
* "I--- I'm not angry!" She tried. Luke turned around and rubbed to back or his neck, glancing up at her.
"No?"
"No... I'm not angry. Not at all. I'm opposite angry. I'm anti-angry." She plied. "I'm a hippie, and angry is Vietnam." Luke smiled a little.
"Okay."
"You're not........are you?" Lorelai said carefully, urged on by Luke's expression.
"Angry?" Luke asked.
"Yeah."
"No." He shrugged, but he couldn't keep the corners of his mouth down.
"Good." Lorelai said with a little relief. She grinned at him. "I'm glad you're not Nixon."
*
"You should.......... probably go..." Luke said, looking at the clock on the wall behind him. Lorelai's face fell.
"Oh... yeah." Luke noticed this and shook his head quickly this time.
"No. No, I mean, I'm not trying to get rid of you for once." Luke said playfully, trying to calm her down. Lorelai scowled at him, but he continued. "It's Friday, so I thought you'd have to be at your parents's......" Lorelai's eyes suddenly opened wide.
"My parents...... With everything, and I forgot..... I will never live this down. I'm already going to be late, and I'm not even dressed yet or anything." She started to rifle through her purse for the keys to the Jeep.
"You look good in that." Luke shrugged, trying to be casual. Lorelai stopped and smiled at him.
"Thank you Luke." Luke shrugged, but was smiling a little. "Sorry to chat and bolt."
"Nah, I understand." Luke said easily, touching her arm lightly. "It seems to be a bit of a pattern with us lately anyways. I'll get you some coffee to go."
"Ugh. You're a god. Thank you." Lorelai grabbed the curtain, then turned back around to Luke, who was following her out. "I'll be back, after dinner. I promise."
END REFRESH
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****************************
Rory waited patiently outside the dorm, glancing up the street to see if Emily or Richard was coming yet.
"Need a ride somewhere?"
Rory turned around and smiled at Marty as he walked up behind her. "No. Since I gave you your car back after the baseball game I have to get a ride to dinner from my grandparents. They should be here soon."
"Did you want me to wait with you?" Marty offered.
Rory smiled and nodded. "Sure...So, how has your week been?"
"Rough. I got a test back in my anatomy class. I forgot that the knee bone connected to the femur, not the thigh bone." Marty grinned, shaking his head.
"Preschool songs can be so misleading." Rory nodded in agreement, smiling back at him.
Marty laughed a little. "So, I had fun at the tournament....even though we didn't really get to finish."
"Yeah, sorry about that. I swear our town events aren't always that All My Children. And my mom isn't usually involved in things like this....It was just......" Rory shrugged.
"Entertaining, if you weren't involved." Marty tried.
"Exactly."
"So what exactly was going on with that?"
"It's just Luke, and my Mom.....There's just this thing...and it's...well, complicated. Oh. And my ride's here." Rory nodded as a silver sedan with Richard in the driver's seat pulled up to them. "So, I'll be seeing you?"
"Yeah." Marty glanced down at the ground and dropped his hands in his pockets. As Rory grabbed the door handle he looked back up. "Uh, hey Rory? Did you want to come with me, out to dinner next week? I found this really great cafe place off campus with a couple of my suitemates, and I thought you might want to go. They have a band playing there on Friday, and you could update me on the Stars Hollow soaps scene."
Rory searched for her words for a minute.
"Oh, well, yeah. That would be, uh, good." She stuttered, then pointed at the car. "I have to.....go. So I'll talk to you on Monday. Or Sunday. Or later. Or...Bye." Rory finished quickly, pulled the car door open and ducked inside with a short wave. Marty nodded back at her with a nervous smile and sat down on the bench as the Richard pulled away. Rory bit her nail and looked back at him as they drove on.
"Anything wrong, Rory?" Richard asked, seeing her distracted.
"What? Oh, no, everything's fine....I'm just...fine. Good, really." Rory shook away her pensive thoughts and smiled.
"All right. Then I suppose you'd still be interested in a little something I found hiding in the back of a bookshelf in the upstairs guest bedroom. I read these myself when they came out, not very difficult, but very interesting and quite clever." Richard took one hand off of the wheel and pulled a paperback novel out of the centre console.
"'My Family And Other Animals'?" Rory smiled, reading the title.
"I think your mother might appreciate it as well." Richard smiled and glanced at Rory sideways.
**************************
Lorelai grabbed her coat off the hook in the front hallway and walked quickly out the door, and across hr porch, talking loudly into her cell phone.
"No, no Earl, I can't wait for the moldings to come in by Friday. I need them on Monday, like you promised." She slid into the Jeep and turned the key in the ignition, twisting in her seat to back out of the driveway. "Why Monday? Because you said it would be here Monday, so being the foolish person I am, I scheduled the nice men who will be installing the moldings for Tuesday.......No....No, I can't just reschedule....Because I'm on a schedule..... No, I have to be done the moldings this week.....Well I'm very sorry about your parrot....No.....Yes, early Tuesday is fine. Very early Tuesday......Five....as in the morning five?.....You're really killing my buzz here Earl......Fine. Five it is....Yes.....Thank you Earl. You are a beautiful man. Thank you. No, I really have to go. I'm late for a meeting.... No. Don't worry about it. Bye."
Lorelai snapped her phone shut and bent down to grab the box of Altoids from her purse, but suddenly saw something dart across the street. She dropped the phone and grabbed the wheel with both hands again, slamming her foot against the brake and swerving to the left. The cat slunk across the street. Lorelai sat back in her seat and sighed, casting angry glances at the cat, pulling over and bending down to pick up her phone.
"Oh, no," Lorelai groaned, seeing the phone under the brake pedal. She picked it up and flipped it open, but the screen was crushed and when she tried to turn it on it merely flickered for a minute and shut itself down. "Great. Wonderful."
Lorelai shook her head and pull back onto the street, her speed creeping up as she reached the highway. As she approached the turn off for Hartford, she tapped her free foot nervously, glancing down at the clock. "Come on......two more miles." She glanced at the clock again. She was only fifteen minutes late...it would be okay if she just.......
She heard the wail of the siren and groaned, pulling over to the side of the road. The officer climbed out of her car and approached the Jeep, and Lorelai smacked her head down on the steering wheel and lowered the window.
************************
Emily tapped impatiently on the side of her glass, glancing out at the front hall.
"Where is your mother?" She frowned.
Rory glanced at her watch.
"I don't know. I talked to her on Wednesday and she didn't say anything. Maybe she had something on at the inn."
"Well she should have called. She's half an hour late, for heaven's sake. If she's not here in five minutes, we're starting dinner without her." Emily said sharply. She snatched her drink up off the side table, and the doorbell rang loudly. "Well finally." Emily snapped, handing her drink to Richard, who had been sitting beside her. "Richard, why don't you and Rory go ahead into the dining room."
"Okay, Grandma." Rory agreed quickly, glancing nervously at the door. They left the living room and parted in the hallway as Emily moved to open the front door.
"Hello, Lorelai," Emily said icily. "Nice of you to join us." She stepped aside to let Lorelai in. Lorelai pulled her jacket off quickly and handed it to the maid, and tugged on her dress. Emily stood primly beside her.
"Rory's here."
"Good." Lorelai nodded warily.
"You're late." Emily stated, starting off down the hallway.
"I know-" Lorelai started, following after her.
"Over half an hour late." Emily continued.
"I know Mom, and I'm sorry, I just- Wait, no living room tonight?" Lorelai said, confused, as Emily walked towards the dining room.
"You could have joined us if you had been on time."
"But...." Lorelai looked desperately back at the drink cart, over her shoulder, reaching back and pawing towards it wistfully, but Emily led her into the dining room.
"There's wine with dinner Lorelai." Emily sighed impatiently. "Hopefully you can wait a few more minutes for that."
"Ooooh, wine. Okay." Lorelai frown turned quickly to a smile as she sat down quickly across from Rory. The maid emerged from the doorway with a bottle of wine and stepped to Richard's place to pour a glass, but Emily held up her hand.
"I think you should probably pour Lorelai's first, Guerta. Otherwise she might ruin the tablecloth when she dives across the table after Richard's in impatience."
Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"I wouldn't dive across the table Mom. Everyone knows the best way to do it is to trip the maid and grab the bottle from her when she falls." Lorelai motioned a trip and grab movement.. Rory laughed across the table and tried to hide it in her glass of soda, but Emily just pursed her mouth and shook her head at Lorelai before starting into her salad.
"So why were you late." Emily questioned Lorelai, not looking up from her plate.
"I had this really horrible day, just one of those days where things keep going wrong and keep going wrong, and it won't stop. It was terrible." Lorelai shook her head, and rubbed her temple as if just talking about it made her head hurt.
"What happened?" Rory asked, especially concerned, what with all the drama that had been going on lately in stars Hollow.
"Well, something CAME BACK up." Lorelai emphasized, looking purposefully at Rory, whose eyes opened wide as she nodded in understanding. Rory nudged her under the table, signaling their need to talk as soon as possible. "And I had to work through a disagreement, and I was so distracted by it I forgot it was Friday and--"
"Who did you disagree with?" Emily interrupted.
"Well, it wasn't so much a disagreement as--" Lorelai said evasively.
"Was it someone at the inn?"
"Uh, no, and it--"
"Was it Sookie?" Emily pushed
"No, no it wasn't Sookie, Mom...." Lorelai returned, as Richard and Rory watched the exchange apprehensively.
"Then who was it?" Emily demanded.
"Why do you have to know?"
"Well, I just find it less than courteous to arrive late, without so much as a phone call, act foolishly, and bring up topics at the dinner table that you refuse to discuss."
"Luke. I had a fight with Luke. Do you want a play by play, or maybe a transcript?" Lorelai said, exasperated.
"So do you know when you guys are going to have the inn opening?" Rory tried, hoping to veer the topic off course.
"What did you do?" Emily demanded,
"Nothing!" Lorelai exclaimed, looking offended.
"Then why were you fighting?"
"I killed his hamster." Lorelai sighed.
"You're being childish." Emily said severely, obviously not amused.
"You're being invasive." Lorelai replied, equally ill-tempered. They stared each other down for a minute.
"So what reminded you to finally show up?" Richard said through the awkward silence.
"Luke did. So I ran home, and I almost got hit by a car and I got changed, and right while I was leaving I got a call about the inn, and then I almost hit a cat, and I dropped my cell phone and crushed it when I was trying to brake, so I couldn't call you, and then I was trying to get here kind of on time and I had a bit of a delay."
"Delay?" Emily commented dubiously.
"I got a speeding ticket."
"Ouch." Rory commiserated.
"And I was almost here. Two more miles and I would have been home free!" Lorelai groaned.
"Well, isn't it a shame you didn't get away with breaking the law." Emily retorted.
"If only I was a celebrity...or the cop had been a man...." Lorelai said wistfully.
************************************
Lorelai and Rory climbed into the Jeep and started back towards Stars Hollow. Rory glanced over at her.
"So now you can take your car back to Yale with you this week." Lorelai said, concentrating on the road.
"Yeah,. That's good."
"You may have to get some gas. I drove your car a few places."
"Why."
"Because the jeep had no gas." Lorelai stated matter-of-factly.
"So you're really that cheap." Rory accused her jokingly.
"Yes." Lorelai nodded. The car grew silent for a little while.
"So he's back." Rory said firmly.
"Yes."
"And....." She continued, trying to prompt some details out of her mother.
"I like Luke." Lorelai said slowly, biting her lip and checking her mirrors.
"Like Luke like ' I like Kirk,' or like Luke like 'I like Bono."
"Hey, you know what, I'm very happy to say that neither of those describe the way in which I like Luke." Lorelai pointed a finger at Rory.
"But if it were leaning towards one or the other?" Rory pushed.
"Bono." Lorelai said decisively.
"That's good!....." Rory replied happily. "Does Luke know this?" She added cautiously as an afterthought.
"Definitely yes."
"I'm guessing that there's an amusing anecdote behind that 'definitely yes'." Rory continued curiously.
"We had a fight in the middle of the town." Lorelai confided.
"Alright then." Rory waited for the rest of the story.
"And we kind of yelled it at each other, in this whole 'I hate you!' 'Me too' 'I like you!' 'Me too!' kind of thing, and I ended up having to go back to the diner and tell him that I wasn't mad anymore."
"Well."
"Yeah..." Lorelai said, taking a deep breath.
"So, what are you guys now?"
"We're...uh....nothing really? It's still.....with Nicole, and- Oh, I keep forgetting to call Digger?"
"You should probably do that soon." Rory winced.
"I guess I'll have to call him when I get home." Lorelai wrinkled her nose.
"No, cause then you'll be all moody for the movies! Call tomorrow." Rory pleaded.
"I don't want to forget again!"
"Will it be quick?"
"Like lightening." Lorelai promised with a smile.
"Fine." Rory caved.
" Hey, when we get into town, why don't you go ahead and pick all the movies and junk food this week, favourite daughter."
"Only daughter. You have to talk to Luke then ?" Rory said plainly, seeing right through Lorelai.
"I kind of promised I'd come in after dinner."
"Hey, am I going to have to work out a signal for you two? Knock twice and wait for you to do the call of the swan if it's alright for me to come back. Goose if you need ten more minutes?"
"Not even. There's nothing like that. But I'll be sure to hang a sock on the open/close sign of the diner if that even becomes an issue." Lorelai grinned and pretended to dangle an imaginary sock.
"Awwwwww. Ick." Rory grimaced.
"You brought it up," Lorelai pointed out.
"You took it too far." Rory shook her head and Lorelai smiled.
*********************
"I'll meet you back here in ten." Lorelai said, standing in front of the diner.
"Make it fifteen." Rory disagreed.
"So twenty?" Lorelai settled.
"Exactly." Rory nodded and headed off towards Doose's.
Lorelai grabbed the doorknob and leaned back, but instead of stepping inside, she ended up standing apprehensively in the open doorway. She was startled by a loud voice behind the counter.
"In or out. Do you know how much it costs to heat this place?"
"You're not paying to heat the whole neighbourhood, eh?" Lorelai watched as Luke appeared quickly from behind the counter.
"Lorelai. I probably should have guessed." Luke returned.
She walked over to the counter and sat on a stool, clasping her hands together in front of her and leaning forwards a bit.
"That's all right. Everyone has off days....Rory's picking up some movies." Lorelai said, looking up at Luke.
"So she's back for the weekend. That's good." He nodded, watching her.
"Yeah, just for tonight, and then she's back to Yale after dinner tomorrow."
"Well, lots of studying to do, I'd guess."
"Of course......"
"I called Nicole." Luke said suddenly, but firmly.
"Okay, well, that was an unexpected, and oh so subtle segueway." Lorelai replied, looking a little taken aback.
"She said she'd send the papers over soon. Express mail, to be exact." Luke said shortly, looking as though it hadn't exactly been a pleasant conversation..
"Yeah, you guys didn't really get that whole clean break-up thing going, did you. I mean, most people do it n a restaurant, or in private, not in front of the entire population of their city. I mean it could be worse than breaking up in front of twenty six people..." Lorelai joked sympathetically and Luke gave a little laugh.
"NO. No, it wasn't the best break up ever, but I guess it could have been worse.." Luke shook his head ruefully and shrugged, grabbing the coffee pot and turning back to pour some for her.
Lorelai tilted her head to see the look on his face.
"We did cause quite the scene though, didn't we." Lorelai said quietly.
Luke looked up her with a little smile on his face and nodded. She went to reach for the mug but Luke lifted his hand up and pushed her gently back down to the countertop, letting his own hand rest on top. They both stared as Luke's thumb tentatively rose up and slowly ran across the back of Lorelai's hand. Lorelai lifted one hand up and crossed it over, covering up Luke's.
"We can't do this." Lorelai shook her head, looking at his fingers.
"I know." Luke said evenly, like he was agreeing with a dinner order, but he started rubbing her wrist gently with his thumb.
"Not even accidentally." Lorelai said hesitantly.
"Should there be a ten foot buffer involved?" Luke said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.
"It might be a good idea. Just until everything else is resolved." Lorelai said half jokingly.
"We have to. It's the right thing to do. For everyone involved. "Luke sighed and nodded, knowing it was the right thing to do.
"And it'll be good....for us.... It'll give us a chance to adjust to this...new situation."
"Okay." Luke nodded.
"You have to let go of my hand, though." Lorelai smiled at him shyly.
"What if I say no?" Luke shrugged.
"I guess there wouldn't be much I could do." Lorelai smiled back at him with a little laugh.
Luke shook his head with a grin and pulled his hand away slowly. "Yeah, I guess not. Go have fun with Rory." He waved her away and drew his own hand back to his pockets.
"Can I just- "Lorelai said hopefully.
"Go have uncaffienated fun with Rory." Luke clarified.
Lorelai frowned at him. "Well, at least I know some things never change. Crank." She glared at him, wrinkling up her nose.
"Crazy." Luke retorted lightly. "Go home."
"Maybe I won't come back." Lorelai declared passionately.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Luke waved at her, looking down at the receipts by the cash register.
Lorelai gave up on her act and leaned back on the counter.
"Can I at least get pie?" She pleaded, swaying from side to side.
"If you say 'But hold the pie and just put coffee in,' I'm cutting you off for a week." Luke threatened as he cut two slices of pie and slid them into a takeout container.
******************************
"So?" Lorelai demanded, poking at the movie bag.
"Tonight's theme will be......" Rory announced as Lorelai smacked her hands against her legs to make the drum roll. "Elizabeth Taylor. Extra chocolate to whoever can guess what tonight's triple feature will be." Rory waved a bar of chocolate in front of Lorelai enticingly.
"Oh! Okay....obvious first, the beginner, National Velvet." Lorelai stated, rolling her eyes at the easiness.
"That was a gimme." Rory protested.
"Okay, second's a classic..........Cleopatra." Lorelai decided, pointing over at Rory
"And the last?"
"Is always the Krazy Konnection Bonus Round.... Elizabeth Taylor......Richard Burton.....Richard The Lionhearted.....Okay.....Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves?" Lorelai deliberated.
"Ohhhh, good try, but no. Elizabeth Taylor.....diamonds.....diamonds are a girl's best friend...." Rory lead.
"Moulin Rouge!"
"Exactly!"
"Yes! Perfect!" Lorelai exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
"Why perfect?" Rory questioned.
Lorelai grinned at her and pulled out the styrofoam case from inside the Luke's bag she had with her. She popped it open and displayed the contents. "Cherry Pie." Lorelai stated.
"Okay." Rory said, furrowing her brow in confusion. Lorelai sighed in impatience, waiting for her to pick up on it.
"Moulin ROUGE. Red. Like the cherries in the pie. Red. Rouge. English. French. It all matches." Lorelai explained as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Suuuure." Rory nodded in fake understanding.
"Because, I mean, if I had gotten peach, or apple, or blueberry, it wouldn't have worked. But I specifically got cherry, which is red. So it's perfect."
"Unhunh." Rory continued, placatingly.
"You still don't get it." Lorelai frowned.
"Oh no, I get it......" Rory said teasingly.
"Hey!" Lorelai's jaw dropped in protest. "That was a good connection I made!"
"Sure Robin Hood."
"Fine, you don't appreciate the pie-rony of it all, then you get none!" Lorelai snatched the pie to her chest.
"I cannot believe you just made a pie pun!" Rory started laughing, but Lorelai just pointed a finger at her accusingly.
"Hey, you are not helping your cause there!"
"Pie-rony?"
"Shut up." Lorela scowled, trying not to laugh.
**************************
"You go get it started. I just have to make a call." Lorelai said, handing the bag of food to Rory.
"Jason?"
"Jason." Lorelai nodded and picked up the phone on the way to the kitchen. She dialed his number, plunking herself down in one of the kitchen chairs, and waited as it rang.
"Hello, Jason Stiles speaking."
"Hi.....Jason." Lorelai said slowly.
"Lorelai." She heard his tone drop as he heard her voice.
"Yeah. I know, it's been like...."
"A week. I didn't think you were going to call." Jason filled in for her.
"I know. That wasn't fair of me. I just-" Lorelai started.
"Can you come to dinner tomorrow?" Jason interrupted.
"Wow, uh, blunt. Okay, Jason, I just don't think that--" Lorelai struggled, looking for her words.
"I know. I just wanted to talk to you. I understand, but I wanted to clear the air between us." Lorelai noticed his business like tone was more prominent than usual in his voice, which was understandable.
"Wow. This is abnormally healthy. Are you sure about this?" She replied
"Yes. How about six thirty at Gianosa?" Jason said quickly.
"O.....kay. Yes, six thirty is fine. But, are you sure this is, I mean, I was horrible, I didn't call, and you heard about...." Lorelai was quickly getting lost in this conversation, not quite sure what was exactly going on.
"We'll talk about it tomorrow. I'll meet you there?" He continued.
"Tomorrow." Lorelai said faintly.
"Tomorrow. I've got to finish a few contracts before I got to bed, so I have to go."
"Okay. Bye....." Lorelai tried.
"Good night Lorelai."
Lorelai turned off the phone and walked back to the living room. "I think Jason just asked me out again."
"What?" Rory exclaimed, twisting in her spot to look at Lorelai as she hung up the phone and walked over to the couch.
"Yeah I know.....I'm confused. Very confused. Bush trying to understand long division confused." Lorelai stressed sitting down next to Rory.
"So, pretty confused."
"He seemed fine." Lorelai said, as thought this were a strange thing, like flying pigs, or a talking bagel.....at least like a talking bagel to people who didn't know her.
"Okay." Rory said, still confused as well.
"And we're going to dinner. And I don't want him to think that this is a date, or a date like thing, or anything like that!"
"Oh." Rory said, slightly alarmed at how the phone call had turned out.
"I know! I'm a horrible person." Lorelai buried her head in her hands.
"Well I know how you feel." Rory sighed.
"Like there's a beaver gnawing at your leg. A beaver named Guilt." Lorelai clenched one fist and glared off into space.
"That sounds about right." Rory replied.
"What's wrong with you?" Lorelai asked, looking at Rory quizzically.
"I think Marty may have asked me out." Rory winced.
"Marty's nice...." Lorelai tried. "But what exactly happened that you THINK he asked you out?"
"I was waiting for Grandpa to pick me up, and he came up and waited with me, and he asked me to go with him to this café off campus next Friday night with him."
"And this is bad?" Lorelai clarified.
"Yes! I mean, I like him, he's a great friend." Rory said helplessly.
"But just a friend." Lorelai smiled kindly.
"Exactly." Rory agreed, looking up at her mom.
"You're going have to tell him." Lorelai admitted, shaking her head.
"Like you told Jason?" Rory reproved.
"Slightly more complicated there." Lorelai stated.
"I don't want to hurt his feelings." Rory sighed and drew her eyebrows together before leaning back against the couch pillows.
"Yeah, but if you don't tell him, then it's going to hurt even more." Lorelai reminded her.
"Boys suck." Rory grumbled.
"Yeah, and they're weird, and they smell funny." Lorelai replied with a fake grumbly voice.
Rory cracked a smile and shook her head at her Lorelai before continuing the strand.
"And they do gross things."
"And they always say the wrong thing." Lorelai added.
"Yeah!" Rory agreed enthusiastically.
"But the right ones can be nice." Lorelai said after a moment, grabbing a throw pillow to hug and rubbing her thumb over the back of her hand..
"Yeah, if you can find them." Rory said dejectedly.
"So you'll tell him?" Lorelai said softly, not wanting to push too much.
"And you'll clear things up with Jason?" Rory returned.
"Crystal." Lorelai nodded back.
"Alright. Are we ready then?"
"For National Velvet? Always. Who doesn't love a Liz Taylor/ Horse movie." Lorelai scoffed, pushing the play button on the remote.
"The icky boys." Rory replied logically.
"Awww, that's my big mature girl." Lorelai grinned, wrapping her arm around Rory's shoulders.
**********************************