A/N: Darn text formatting, my parentheses won't show up. The title of this is SUPPOSED to be:
Joy To (Our Little Corner Of) The World
Sorry this chapter is so short – originally I was going to have this part and the dinner together in one chapter but the dinner is getting rather lengthy so I thought I should separate them out and this was the only logical place to stop.
Please R&R!
Lorelai was in the process of putting on pantyhose as the doorbell rang.
"It's open!" she yelled from the top of the stairs.
Luke opened the door and walked in, still limping slightly. He was dressed in a dark blue button-down shirt and black pants. "Hey," he called up to her. "You're not ready yet? I thought I was running late."
Lorelai came running down the stairs, all the while putting her pumps on her feet. "I've learned that I can arrive up to 10 minutes late with no consequences. 15 minutes gets me a snide comment or two, and 20 minutes or more gets ugly. I'm thinking tonight is one of those times when the snide comments might be preferable over 5 minutes of the cross-examination that we'll be enduring so I'm shooting for a 7:15 arrival." She paused to acknowledge Luke and give him a quick kiss. "And now you're probably going to break up with me once you've seen how completely insane my parents make me."
"Nothing I haven't already seen," replied Luke, "though a little Prozac might be a good thing right about now."
"Let's go," said Lorelai as she put her coat on and grabbed her purse. They both headed out the door and got into Lorelai's Jeep.
Lorelai rummaged through her purse and pulled out some index cards. "Here," she said. "I've made some lists of topics for conversation, to deflect the heat away from you and me," she said as she started the car.
"I'm not going to read this," said Luke indignantly.
"Trust me, you'll be thanking me later," said Lorelai. "When my father starts asking you about your annual net income from the diner, and getting on your case for not going to business school you'll realize that you'd much rather be talking about the political situation in Haiti."
"Prozac is sounding better and better," Luke commented.
"Oh and if they invite us over for dinner on Christmas Eve, tell them you already have plans."
"Oh, hey, that reminds me, Liz called today. She invited me down to New York for Christmas Eve," Luke informed her. "I guess Jess is coming too. So it's actually true that I have plans"
"Christmas Eve?"
"Yeah. Just for the evening."
"And Jess is coming?" Lorelai asked.
"Is there an echo in here?"
"No," Lorelai replied coldly.
"Is this a problem?" Luke asked.
"No, not at all," Lorelai replied, angry. "It's just our first Christmas together, and now we won't be together."
"Come with me," suggested Luke. "I'm sure Liz would love to see you."
"Um, hello? Remember my daughter?"
"What?"
"Rory? Jess will be there, she can't come, and I'm not about to leave her alone on Christmas Eve."
"Ah, shit," said Luke. "Well we'll have Christmas Day anyway."
"Only a short time in the morning because my parents expect us over there by 11:00 for brunch," said Lorelai.
"So tell them you can't come," suggested Luke.
"Ha! You try telling that to my mother. Deaf ears, I'm telling you. It's Miracle Worker all over again," said Lorelai. "Why don't you tell Liz you can't make it?"
"Lorelai, I already told her I'd be there. She's cooking up a huge feast, she said something about 20 different kinds of cookies, I think she's already started cooking for it and it's still two weeks away."
"So you're making me choose between you and Rory on Christmas Eve?"
"I'm not making you choose anything," said Luke, getting annoyed. "I was just telling you that Liz invited me down."
"And you accepted."
"Yes, I accepted."
"Which brings us back to the choice," said Lorelai, throwing up her hands. "I should change my name to Sophie."
"Look, you never told me you were planning something, what the hell was I supposed to do? Not make any plans at all in the hopes that you'd want to spend some time with me? Liz is my sister for Gods sake."
"You didn't even ask me. You could have at least checked with me before agreeing to it," said Lorelai as she pulled the car up to her parents' house.
"This is exactly why I hate Christmas," Luke said. "Goddamn family obligations, social obligations, everybody getting pissed off at everybody else. Fine. You don't want to have to make a choice? You're not invited. Spend it with Rory. Problem solved," Luke said as he angrily got out of the car. He walked over to the door and rang the bell before Lorelai had a chance to say anything else.
