Author's Note: Thanks again for the reviews! I'm having fun writing this
so I hope ya'll are enjoying it.
*** Wednesday arrived before Luke knew it. He was extremely nervous. He had gotten the hard part out of the way by evening asking Lorelai out, but now he actually had to attend the date. He took a look at himself in the mirror- -no hat and no flannel. He had even taken the time to shave. Maybe he should have asked her out to a restaurant? Maybe it would be less weird with people around. But then it would be more like a date. He felt more comfortable doing what he did best and that was cook Lorelai dinner. He straightened the belt Lorelai had picked out for him and ran his hands down his black turtleneck to smooth out any wrinkles. This was it. He was finally going to have a date with Lorelai Gilmore.
Lorelai was frantic. Luke would be over in mere minutes for their date and she had already changed three times. What do you wear to a dinner date at your own house? She had finally settled on a thin three-quarter inch sleeve button down and a pair of jeans. Plain, but not too overdone, she hoped. She heard a knock downstairs and knew it was Luke. She took one last look in the mirror and ran downstairs. Her heart was racing as she opened the door. There he stood looking particularly un-Luke-like without a hat and flannel. She noticed that he wore the belt she picked out for him and a thin black turtleneck with his jeans.
"Hey," he said casually as he stood on her porch.
"Hey," she said just staring at him. She noticed they were both staring at each other when she finally understood that he was waiting for her to ask him in. "Oh, duh, come in," she said pulling his arm, and with it, him into the house. "Can I help you with the bags?"
"No, I'm good, thanks," he said with a smile as they walked into the kitchen. "So, I haven't seen you in a few days. I was glad to see you in the diner this morning. I thought maybe you might cancel or something," Luke said tentatively.
Lorelai took a seat at the kitchen table and started to dig out the contents of one of the bags Luke had laid there. "Oh, yeah I've been busy at the Inn. Sorry, I didn't mean to make you think that I was going to cancel. I just have a lot going on," Lorelai finished hastily.
"Yeah, I know," Luke nodded his head as he started to get started on dinner. "So, how are things with your parents? You mentioned things weren't going so well."
Lorelai shifted in her seat to a more comfortable position. Maybe this wouldn't be as weird as she thought. They were talking just like they normally did. Her heart finally slowed to a regular beating pattern as she spoke to Luke. "No, they aren't really going so well. My parents are actually separated. My mom," a lump started to catch in Lorelai's throat, surprising not only Luke, but her as well. "My mom actually isn't living with my dad anymore." Lorelai quickly tried to regain her composure and added, "Can you imagine Emily Gilmore at a hotel?"
"Wow, I'm really sorry Lorelai," Luke looked her in the eye even while he was busy cooking. "They'll probably work things out," he added.
"Yeah. Yeah, they probably will," Lorelai forced herself to agree. "I just can't believe that my parents aren't living together anymore. I must sound like a 10 year old who wants her parents together, but it's just weird."
"It'll get better. I'm sure of it," Luke reassured her. "Now come here and taste this sauce, let me know if it needs anything."
Lorelai got up out of her chair and stood by Luke's side in front of the stove. He dipped the spoon into the sauce and held it out for Lorelai to taste. Lorelai wasn't sure if it was the warmth emanating from the stove or from Luke's body but she felt very safe and very comfortable in that moment.
She used her finger to wipe some of the excess sauce from her lip. She licked her finger and said, "Perfect. The only thing that sauce needs is me eating it."
"Good," Luke said with a smile. He placed the spoon back into the pot and set the timer on the stove.
"Well I'd say we've got about 15 minutes until the garlic bread is ready."
"15 minutes? But I'm hungry now," Lorelai whined. "Ya know, I know of a diner just down the street and service is much faster than 15 minutes," Lorelai teased.
"Yeah, well that diner serves burgers and fries, not a fine fettuccine alfredo," Luke responded.
"And what is wrong with burgers and fries?" Lorelai inquired.
"Nothing, but people shouldn't live on all that grease and caffeine," he added pointedly. "Besides only very special people get to sample the famous Danes' fettuccine alfredo," he added suavely.
"Oh how did I get so lucky?" Lorelai responded in a mock melodramatic tone. It was at that moment that they realized they were standing very close to one another and when Lorelai took on her melodramatic tone she had inadvertently pushed out her chest, which was now just centimeters from Luke's chest. Normally this position would have only affected Luke, but now that they were on a date it seemed their position was more precarious.
"Just lucky I guess," Luke let the moment pass without drawing attention to the awkward moment. Lorelai silently thanked him for letting that one go. Even though they were on a date the awkward romantic things usually happened at the end of the evening. Lorelai brushed past Luke and moved to the cabinet to grab a plate for the garlic bread.
"I am you know," Lorelai said over her shoulder.
"You are what?" Luke inquired.
"Lucky. I mean I know I've been on orange alert in terms of stress level lately, but when I think of the agony that Trista had to go through to pick Ryan over Charlie and the horrible stress of a hundred helicopters at her wedding, I consider myself fortunate." She meant to be serious. She meant to tell him that she felt lucky that he was there, but as usual she used humor to mask her true feelings.
Luke looked at Lorelai with a confused expression. 'I have no idea what you just said," he replied with a laugh. "In fact," he said approaching her, "I think I should be perfectly up front with you when I say that I don't really understand half of the things you say so if I ever just smile and nod, please just go with it."
"I understand, but remind me to buy you the most current issues of People, Us, Rolling Stone and the National Enquirer tomorrow, kay?" she responded gamely.
"Will do." The timer rang on the bread and Luke snapped into action draining the noodles, plating the bread and dishing out sauce. Lorelai just watched him work. She had never seen him in chef mode before and she had to admit she kind of enjoyed it. He had a face that he made that made her wonder what Luke must have looked like as a child. He furrowed his brow and his tongue stuck slightly out of the corner of his mouth as if he was in deep concentration. She thought it was extremely cute, but also endearing. It made her realize just how hard he was trying.
Luke walked over to the table and presented Lorelai with a plate full of fettuccine. "Bon appetite," he said proudly.
"Thank you," Lorelai said with a smile. "Uh, Luke, I know I eat a lot but did you happen to know that I don't house the 53rd Infantry when they're on leave?" Lorelai asked as she noticed the giant pot of noodles and sauce still left on the stove.
Luke sat across from Lorelai at the table. "Yes, I do know that. I know you like leftovers. You and Rory are always heating up something in a Styrofoam package and I thought this might be a little bit healthier for you."
Lorelai took this in. Did he know she was subsisting on Pop Tarts and fruit lately? She sometimes felt like Lane and the band. Man oh man how she missed the leftover Chinese her and Rory used to consume so readily. She was flattered that Luke was already looking out for her. He was always giving her grief about her eating habits, but she was touched that he had thought to make her leftovers, one of her favorite food groups.
They ate dinner and talked about everything they normally discussed. Lorelai, while initially uneasy about having an official date with Luke, suddenly felt very normal. Luke asked about Rory and how school was going. They discussed Taylor's unfortunate run in with a strong breeze in which his toupee flew down the street inspiring the dogs Kirk was walking to chase after it. Lorelai felt more comfortable than she thought she would. She was looking across the table at Luke and she suddenly realized how right everything felt.
"I am stuffed," Lorelai said upon finishing her meal. "I don't think I could eat another bite."
Luke stood up to take their plates to the sink. "Oh, then I guess we can skip dessert," he said over his shoulder.
"Dessert?" Lorelai perked up. "You know when I said I didn't think I could eat another bite I was talking about dinner food, not dessert food." She stood up and ran over to Luke. "So you actually brought dessert dessert? Not fruit or yogurt or fat free pretzels?"
"You'll just have to wait and see," he said evasively while he rinsed their plates. Lorelai turned toward the sink and playfully bumped Luke away with her hip while pulling the plate out of his hand. 'You know I'm a really good at rinsing. You can even ask Rory. If rinsing were an Olympic event I would take home the gold. So how about if I finish rinsing and you can get dessert ready?" she said with a smile.
Luke wiped his hands of on the dishtowel next to the sink. "Is there anything you won't do for sugar?" he asked incredulously.
Lorelai cocked her head to the side and pretended to contemplate his question. "Um, no," she finally responded. "Now scoot," she happily used her wet hand to flick water in the direction of Luke's face in an attempt to prompt him to get the dessert out.
"Did anyone ever tell you you're bossy?" Luke asked good-naturedly.
"Only everyone I've ever met," Lorelai replied and stuck her tongue out at him while his back was turned.
Lorelai continued to wash the dishes until Luke extended a bowl out in her level of vision. She excitedly turned off the water, wiped her hands on her jeans and reached for it as Luke pulled it up over his head. She made a face at him and attempted to grab at the bowl. "Luke," she whined. "Quit teasing me. What's in the bowl?"
"Hold on a minute," he said, still holding the bowl out of her reach. "I wanted to compromise with you on this one so let me explain it before I show it to you. Now sit," he ordered.
"Who's the bossy one now?" Lorelai pouted. But she did as Luke asked and sat down at the table.
"Okay, you like fat and grease and sugar and artery hardening food and I like healthy food like fruit and vegetables," he started.
"Luke if that is a bowl full of vegetables you seriously have no concept of what dessert means," Lorelai said. "Ha-ha," he said approaching the table with the two bowls. "So anyway, I thought I'd compromise with you on dessert and this is what I came up with." He placed the bowl in front of her as he sat down. Lorelai looked at the contents of the bowl. It was vanilla ice cream topped with an assortment of berries.
"Luke, I appreciate that you tried to compromise with me, but vanilla ice cream? The blandest ice cream flavor of the bunch?"
"Well the berries give it a sweet flavor. You don't hate fruit that much Lorelai," he reasoned. Besides, you didn't look at below the berries."
Lorelai took her spoon and moved the berries out of the way. It was at that moment that she noticed a small square of angel food cake topped with chocolate syrup underneath the vanilla ice cream and berries. Lorelai's face exploded with a look of sheer joy. Luke took her expression in and grinned to himself. It never ceased to amaze him how excited Lorelai could get over something so insignificant. She displayed the joy of child upon finding chocolate and cake underneath her vanilla ice cream. That was one of the first things started to notice about Lorelai. The sheer delight she brought to a seemingly mundane situation.
"Thank you!" Lorelai grinned. "But, I can't believe you're gonna eat this."
"I'm not. Mine is just ice cream and berries, but mostly berries," he responded with a smile. Luke placed on hand on the table and continued to eat his dessert. Lorelai noticed movement and she suddenly had the urge to simply hold his hand. She slowly picked up her right hand and placed it over Luke's.
"This was really nice," she said.
"Thank you," he responded, flipping her hand palm up and intertwining his fingers with her.
"You're welcome," she replied suddenly very aware that she was holding Luke's hand. It made her unsure of herself. Lorelai didn't really understand it because she rarely felt unsure with men. She seemed to always be the one in charge of herself and her emotions, but with Luke she wasn't sure of anything. He made her head spin with infinite emotions.
Luke loved the way Lorelai's hand felt in his. To him her hand felt like an extension of his own. She had taken him by surprise by grabbing his hand so suddenly but he enjoyed ever minute of it. "So, are things going to be ready for the party at the inn on Friday?" he asked.
"Yep," Lorelai nodded while eating. "There are few last minute things that are being done this week but it should be finished. Speaking of the party, I was hoping you'd let me recognize you for your help with the Dragonfly," she said.
"No," Luke said immediately. "Lorelai, no one needs to know about the loan. It wasn't a big deal," Luke shrugged.
Lorelai, who had finished her ice cream, put her spoon in the bowl and placed her other hand on top of Luke's. "Luke, it was a big deal," Lorelai tried to make him understand. "Without you the Dragonfly wouldn't be opening, it's that simple. I'd like everyone to know how terrific you are, not they don't already know."
Luke sighed and leaned forward placing his other hand onto theirs. "You know I'm not comfortable with things like that Lorelai. The people in this town already know too much of my business," Luke said as he used his fingers to make lazy circles on the top of Lorelai's hand.
"Okay, you compromised on dessert so I want to compromise on this too," Lorelai said thinking. "What about if I say I'm thanking someone who is anonymous? That way I can say thank you in front of everyone, but no one has to know it's you." "I don't know," Luke said skeptically.
"I won't even look at you," Lorelai added.
"Oh alright, go ahead." Luke conceded.
Lorelai slapped his hand lightly and smiled. "Good, see, that wasn't so hard!"
"Yeah well, just be sure to keep my name out of it," he said.
"Yes sir," Lorelai said. "My lips are sealed," she took her hand and made a zipper motion over her lips. They sat there for a moment with their fingers still intertwined until Lorelai broke the comfortable silence. "Luke, I hate to do this, but I still have some last minute things to get ready for the opening and I was kind of hoping to get some it done tonight," she admitted feeling bad about basically asking him to leave.
"Oh sure, no problem," Luke said letting go of her hands and standing. "Is it anything I can help with?"
"Not unless you do a killer whip stitch," Lorelai said standing to walk to him to the door.
"Right," he said nodding his head. "See this is one of those times where I'm just going to smile and nod and pretend I know what you're talking about okay?" he said jokingly as they walked to the front door.
"Whip stitch is a sewing thing. Maybe I'll get you Sewing 101 along with your trashy magazines," she said as they approached the door.
"Hey, you told me yourself those magazines are a valid source of important news," he laughed as he put his hand on the doorknob.
They stood there for a moment, neither sure of what to do. Luke had hoped Lorelai would give him some sort of signal. The handholding was good but he wasn't sure if that was a signal that she was ready for an actual kiss.
Lorelai stood close to Luke waiting for him to make a move. The evening had been great. She felt bad asking him to leave but she did a good 4 hours of inn work ahead of her. What was taking him so long to just kiss her? Lorelai supposed that she would have to be the one to initiate a kiss and she leaned in just as Luke decided to give up hope of a good night kiss and he leaned his head back. They both saw the other move in an opposite direction and tried to amend what they'd just done. Luke moved forward and Lorelai moved her head backwards again. Lorelai giggled nervously as it looked like their lips would never connect. Luke's face flushed slightly at this awkward, horrible moment. Finally he made a grand movement towards Lorelai and gently kissed her lips. It was quick, faster than either would have liked but Luke couldn't even tell if she wanted him to kiss her so he opted to keep it short and sweet. It was neither awful, nor earth shattering, just awkward.
Luke looked at Lorelai sheepishly and said, "Well, uh, goodnight I guess."
Lorelai didn't know what to make of the kiss. The night had been so comfortable and normal and then the kiss was--what was it? Weird? Awkward? It was actually both. She knew it wasn't because of their lack of chemistry. Lorelai felt it when they brushed up against each other in the kitchen. She felt it when they held hands over dessert.
"Yeah, you have a good night too. Thanks for dinner," Lorelai said a little enthusiastically as though she was trying to make up for something.
"Yeah, so have a good night" Luke said as he walked off the porch and waved goodbye.
"Night," Lorelai said as she waved back and shut the door. Lorelai leaned her back against the front door and put her hand to her mouth. Luke got into his truck and sat before starting the engine. 'What the hell was that?' they both thought.
***
TBC
*** Wednesday arrived before Luke knew it. He was extremely nervous. He had gotten the hard part out of the way by evening asking Lorelai out, but now he actually had to attend the date. He took a look at himself in the mirror- -no hat and no flannel. He had even taken the time to shave. Maybe he should have asked her out to a restaurant? Maybe it would be less weird with people around. But then it would be more like a date. He felt more comfortable doing what he did best and that was cook Lorelai dinner. He straightened the belt Lorelai had picked out for him and ran his hands down his black turtleneck to smooth out any wrinkles. This was it. He was finally going to have a date with Lorelai Gilmore.
Lorelai was frantic. Luke would be over in mere minutes for their date and she had already changed three times. What do you wear to a dinner date at your own house? She had finally settled on a thin three-quarter inch sleeve button down and a pair of jeans. Plain, but not too overdone, she hoped. She heard a knock downstairs and knew it was Luke. She took one last look in the mirror and ran downstairs. Her heart was racing as she opened the door. There he stood looking particularly un-Luke-like without a hat and flannel. She noticed that he wore the belt she picked out for him and a thin black turtleneck with his jeans.
"Hey," he said casually as he stood on her porch.
"Hey," she said just staring at him. She noticed they were both staring at each other when she finally understood that he was waiting for her to ask him in. "Oh, duh, come in," she said pulling his arm, and with it, him into the house. "Can I help you with the bags?"
"No, I'm good, thanks," he said with a smile as they walked into the kitchen. "So, I haven't seen you in a few days. I was glad to see you in the diner this morning. I thought maybe you might cancel or something," Luke said tentatively.
Lorelai took a seat at the kitchen table and started to dig out the contents of one of the bags Luke had laid there. "Oh, yeah I've been busy at the Inn. Sorry, I didn't mean to make you think that I was going to cancel. I just have a lot going on," Lorelai finished hastily.
"Yeah, I know," Luke nodded his head as he started to get started on dinner. "So, how are things with your parents? You mentioned things weren't going so well."
Lorelai shifted in her seat to a more comfortable position. Maybe this wouldn't be as weird as she thought. They were talking just like they normally did. Her heart finally slowed to a regular beating pattern as she spoke to Luke. "No, they aren't really going so well. My parents are actually separated. My mom," a lump started to catch in Lorelai's throat, surprising not only Luke, but her as well. "My mom actually isn't living with my dad anymore." Lorelai quickly tried to regain her composure and added, "Can you imagine Emily Gilmore at a hotel?"
"Wow, I'm really sorry Lorelai," Luke looked her in the eye even while he was busy cooking. "They'll probably work things out," he added.
"Yeah. Yeah, they probably will," Lorelai forced herself to agree. "I just can't believe that my parents aren't living together anymore. I must sound like a 10 year old who wants her parents together, but it's just weird."
"It'll get better. I'm sure of it," Luke reassured her. "Now come here and taste this sauce, let me know if it needs anything."
Lorelai got up out of her chair and stood by Luke's side in front of the stove. He dipped the spoon into the sauce and held it out for Lorelai to taste. Lorelai wasn't sure if it was the warmth emanating from the stove or from Luke's body but she felt very safe and very comfortable in that moment.
She used her finger to wipe some of the excess sauce from her lip. She licked her finger and said, "Perfect. The only thing that sauce needs is me eating it."
"Good," Luke said with a smile. He placed the spoon back into the pot and set the timer on the stove.
"Well I'd say we've got about 15 minutes until the garlic bread is ready."
"15 minutes? But I'm hungry now," Lorelai whined. "Ya know, I know of a diner just down the street and service is much faster than 15 minutes," Lorelai teased.
"Yeah, well that diner serves burgers and fries, not a fine fettuccine alfredo," Luke responded.
"And what is wrong with burgers and fries?" Lorelai inquired.
"Nothing, but people shouldn't live on all that grease and caffeine," he added pointedly. "Besides only very special people get to sample the famous Danes' fettuccine alfredo," he added suavely.
"Oh how did I get so lucky?" Lorelai responded in a mock melodramatic tone. It was at that moment that they realized they were standing very close to one another and when Lorelai took on her melodramatic tone she had inadvertently pushed out her chest, which was now just centimeters from Luke's chest. Normally this position would have only affected Luke, but now that they were on a date it seemed their position was more precarious.
"Just lucky I guess," Luke let the moment pass without drawing attention to the awkward moment. Lorelai silently thanked him for letting that one go. Even though they were on a date the awkward romantic things usually happened at the end of the evening. Lorelai brushed past Luke and moved to the cabinet to grab a plate for the garlic bread.
"I am you know," Lorelai said over her shoulder.
"You are what?" Luke inquired.
"Lucky. I mean I know I've been on orange alert in terms of stress level lately, but when I think of the agony that Trista had to go through to pick Ryan over Charlie and the horrible stress of a hundred helicopters at her wedding, I consider myself fortunate." She meant to be serious. She meant to tell him that she felt lucky that he was there, but as usual she used humor to mask her true feelings.
Luke looked at Lorelai with a confused expression. 'I have no idea what you just said," he replied with a laugh. "In fact," he said approaching her, "I think I should be perfectly up front with you when I say that I don't really understand half of the things you say so if I ever just smile and nod, please just go with it."
"I understand, but remind me to buy you the most current issues of People, Us, Rolling Stone and the National Enquirer tomorrow, kay?" she responded gamely.
"Will do." The timer rang on the bread and Luke snapped into action draining the noodles, plating the bread and dishing out sauce. Lorelai just watched him work. She had never seen him in chef mode before and she had to admit she kind of enjoyed it. He had a face that he made that made her wonder what Luke must have looked like as a child. He furrowed his brow and his tongue stuck slightly out of the corner of his mouth as if he was in deep concentration. She thought it was extremely cute, but also endearing. It made her realize just how hard he was trying.
Luke walked over to the table and presented Lorelai with a plate full of fettuccine. "Bon appetite," he said proudly.
"Thank you," Lorelai said with a smile. "Uh, Luke, I know I eat a lot but did you happen to know that I don't house the 53rd Infantry when they're on leave?" Lorelai asked as she noticed the giant pot of noodles and sauce still left on the stove.
Luke sat across from Lorelai at the table. "Yes, I do know that. I know you like leftovers. You and Rory are always heating up something in a Styrofoam package and I thought this might be a little bit healthier for you."
Lorelai took this in. Did he know she was subsisting on Pop Tarts and fruit lately? She sometimes felt like Lane and the band. Man oh man how she missed the leftover Chinese her and Rory used to consume so readily. She was flattered that Luke was already looking out for her. He was always giving her grief about her eating habits, but she was touched that he had thought to make her leftovers, one of her favorite food groups.
They ate dinner and talked about everything they normally discussed. Lorelai, while initially uneasy about having an official date with Luke, suddenly felt very normal. Luke asked about Rory and how school was going. They discussed Taylor's unfortunate run in with a strong breeze in which his toupee flew down the street inspiring the dogs Kirk was walking to chase after it. Lorelai felt more comfortable than she thought she would. She was looking across the table at Luke and she suddenly realized how right everything felt.
"I am stuffed," Lorelai said upon finishing her meal. "I don't think I could eat another bite."
Luke stood up to take their plates to the sink. "Oh, then I guess we can skip dessert," he said over his shoulder.
"Dessert?" Lorelai perked up. "You know when I said I didn't think I could eat another bite I was talking about dinner food, not dessert food." She stood up and ran over to Luke. "So you actually brought dessert dessert? Not fruit or yogurt or fat free pretzels?"
"You'll just have to wait and see," he said evasively while he rinsed their plates. Lorelai turned toward the sink and playfully bumped Luke away with her hip while pulling the plate out of his hand. 'You know I'm a really good at rinsing. You can even ask Rory. If rinsing were an Olympic event I would take home the gold. So how about if I finish rinsing and you can get dessert ready?" she said with a smile.
Luke wiped his hands of on the dishtowel next to the sink. "Is there anything you won't do for sugar?" he asked incredulously.
Lorelai cocked her head to the side and pretended to contemplate his question. "Um, no," she finally responded. "Now scoot," she happily used her wet hand to flick water in the direction of Luke's face in an attempt to prompt him to get the dessert out.
"Did anyone ever tell you you're bossy?" Luke asked good-naturedly.
"Only everyone I've ever met," Lorelai replied and stuck her tongue out at him while his back was turned.
Lorelai continued to wash the dishes until Luke extended a bowl out in her level of vision. She excitedly turned off the water, wiped her hands on her jeans and reached for it as Luke pulled it up over his head. She made a face at him and attempted to grab at the bowl. "Luke," she whined. "Quit teasing me. What's in the bowl?"
"Hold on a minute," he said, still holding the bowl out of her reach. "I wanted to compromise with you on this one so let me explain it before I show it to you. Now sit," he ordered.
"Who's the bossy one now?" Lorelai pouted. But she did as Luke asked and sat down at the table.
"Okay, you like fat and grease and sugar and artery hardening food and I like healthy food like fruit and vegetables," he started.
"Luke if that is a bowl full of vegetables you seriously have no concept of what dessert means," Lorelai said. "Ha-ha," he said approaching the table with the two bowls. "So anyway, I thought I'd compromise with you on dessert and this is what I came up with." He placed the bowl in front of her as he sat down. Lorelai looked at the contents of the bowl. It was vanilla ice cream topped with an assortment of berries.
"Luke, I appreciate that you tried to compromise with me, but vanilla ice cream? The blandest ice cream flavor of the bunch?"
"Well the berries give it a sweet flavor. You don't hate fruit that much Lorelai," he reasoned. Besides, you didn't look at below the berries."
Lorelai took her spoon and moved the berries out of the way. It was at that moment that she noticed a small square of angel food cake topped with chocolate syrup underneath the vanilla ice cream and berries. Lorelai's face exploded with a look of sheer joy. Luke took her expression in and grinned to himself. It never ceased to amaze him how excited Lorelai could get over something so insignificant. She displayed the joy of child upon finding chocolate and cake underneath her vanilla ice cream. That was one of the first things started to notice about Lorelai. The sheer delight she brought to a seemingly mundane situation.
"Thank you!" Lorelai grinned. "But, I can't believe you're gonna eat this."
"I'm not. Mine is just ice cream and berries, but mostly berries," he responded with a smile. Luke placed on hand on the table and continued to eat his dessert. Lorelai noticed movement and she suddenly had the urge to simply hold his hand. She slowly picked up her right hand and placed it over Luke's.
"This was really nice," she said.
"Thank you," he responded, flipping her hand palm up and intertwining his fingers with her.
"You're welcome," she replied suddenly very aware that she was holding Luke's hand. It made her unsure of herself. Lorelai didn't really understand it because she rarely felt unsure with men. She seemed to always be the one in charge of herself and her emotions, but with Luke she wasn't sure of anything. He made her head spin with infinite emotions.
Luke loved the way Lorelai's hand felt in his. To him her hand felt like an extension of his own. She had taken him by surprise by grabbing his hand so suddenly but he enjoyed ever minute of it. "So, are things going to be ready for the party at the inn on Friday?" he asked.
"Yep," Lorelai nodded while eating. "There are few last minute things that are being done this week but it should be finished. Speaking of the party, I was hoping you'd let me recognize you for your help with the Dragonfly," she said.
"No," Luke said immediately. "Lorelai, no one needs to know about the loan. It wasn't a big deal," Luke shrugged.
Lorelai, who had finished her ice cream, put her spoon in the bowl and placed her other hand on top of Luke's. "Luke, it was a big deal," Lorelai tried to make him understand. "Without you the Dragonfly wouldn't be opening, it's that simple. I'd like everyone to know how terrific you are, not they don't already know."
Luke sighed and leaned forward placing his other hand onto theirs. "You know I'm not comfortable with things like that Lorelai. The people in this town already know too much of my business," Luke said as he used his fingers to make lazy circles on the top of Lorelai's hand.
"Okay, you compromised on dessert so I want to compromise on this too," Lorelai said thinking. "What about if I say I'm thanking someone who is anonymous? That way I can say thank you in front of everyone, but no one has to know it's you." "I don't know," Luke said skeptically.
"I won't even look at you," Lorelai added.
"Oh alright, go ahead." Luke conceded.
Lorelai slapped his hand lightly and smiled. "Good, see, that wasn't so hard!"
"Yeah well, just be sure to keep my name out of it," he said.
"Yes sir," Lorelai said. "My lips are sealed," she took her hand and made a zipper motion over her lips. They sat there for a moment with their fingers still intertwined until Lorelai broke the comfortable silence. "Luke, I hate to do this, but I still have some last minute things to get ready for the opening and I was kind of hoping to get some it done tonight," she admitted feeling bad about basically asking him to leave.
"Oh sure, no problem," Luke said letting go of her hands and standing. "Is it anything I can help with?"
"Not unless you do a killer whip stitch," Lorelai said standing to walk to him to the door.
"Right," he said nodding his head. "See this is one of those times where I'm just going to smile and nod and pretend I know what you're talking about okay?" he said jokingly as they walked to the front door.
"Whip stitch is a sewing thing. Maybe I'll get you Sewing 101 along with your trashy magazines," she said as they approached the door.
"Hey, you told me yourself those magazines are a valid source of important news," he laughed as he put his hand on the doorknob.
They stood there for a moment, neither sure of what to do. Luke had hoped Lorelai would give him some sort of signal. The handholding was good but he wasn't sure if that was a signal that she was ready for an actual kiss.
Lorelai stood close to Luke waiting for him to make a move. The evening had been great. She felt bad asking him to leave but she did a good 4 hours of inn work ahead of her. What was taking him so long to just kiss her? Lorelai supposed that she would have to be the one to initiate a kiss and she leaned in just as Luke decided to give up hope of a good night kiss and he leaned his head back. They both saw the other move in an opposite direction and tried to amend what they'd just done. Luke moved forward and Lorelai moved her head backwards again. Lorelai giggled nervously as it looked like their lips would never connect. Luke's face flushed slightly at this awkward, horrible moment. Finally he made a grand movement towards Lorelai and gently kissed her lips. It was quick, faster than either would have liked but Luke couldn't even tell if she wanted him to kiss her so he opted to keep it short and sweet. It was neither awful, nor earth shattering, just awkward.
Luke looked at Lorelai sheepishly and said, "Well, uh, goodnight I guess."
Lorelai didn't know what to make of the kiss. The night had been so comfortable and normal and then the kiss was--what was it? Weird? Awkward? It was actually both. She knew it wasn't because of their lack of chemistry. Lorelai felt it when they brushed up against each other in the kitchen. She felt it when they held hands over dessert.
"Yeah, you have a good night too. Thanks for dinner," Lorelai said a little enthusiastically as though she was trying to make up for something.
"Yeah, so have a good night" Luke said as he walked off the porch and waved goodbye.
"Night," Lorelai said as she waved back and shut the door. Lorelai leaned her back against the front door and put her hand to her mouth. Luke got into his truck and sat before starting the engine. 'What the hell was that?' they both thought.
***
TBC