Disclaimer: All the characters in this little story belong to someone who's not me…go figure!
Chapter 2: Want coffee? Get by that Gilmore first!
When Rory got home at 9:30 AM she was very surprised to find her mom already dressed and ready for the day. Lorelai was actually in the kitchen putting dirty dishes in the sink- an unfamiliar picture to Rory. What was wrong here? And the smell of breakfast hanging around in the air? There was something entirely wrong about that one for sure.
"Hey Mom" Rory greeted Lorelai and put down her shopping bags on the kitchen table. Lorelai, not having noticed Rory, jumped and almost dropped a plate.
"Jeez---You almost gave me a heart-attack…" Rory could see that Lorelai had not noticed her earlier when she had opened the front door and had walked into the kitchen.
"Well, aren't we a little jumpy this morning" she said with a smirk "or maybe just deaf? I mean, didn't you hear me come in?"
"Well, no, apparently not. I had my mind on other things" Lorelai answered.
"What things?" Rory asked casually.
"Huh?" Lorelai seemed to tense up a bit.
"What things did you think of?"
"Well, you know, just things…um, things like normal things one could think of in the morning…" Lorelai silently scolded herself for not coming up with a quick answer immediately. She had been thinking about Luke- obviously, but the thoughts were of a more personal nature. Not meant for Rory's ears. Yeah, definitely not. You don't discuss your sex-life with your kid, do you?
Rory however had sensed her mother's tension and she had a hard job not bursting out laughing at seeing her mother act like an animal in a trap. Luckily Rory's synapses worked just fine this morning. The smell of food, food which was not burnt, could only mean that Luke had made breakfast.
"Mom, did you think about Luke?"
"Yes" Lorelai replied sheepishly, like a child being caught after stealing a cookie.
"Mom, did Luke make you breakfast this morning?" Oh, Rory was enjoying making Lorelai uncomfortable.
"Yes" Lorelai had lowered her eyes to the ground trying to avoid Rory's gaze, who could not hold back her laughter anymore
"Mom, did you and Luke make hot and steamy love last night?" she mocked Lorelai making an obscene gesture and putting the emphasis on the 'hot and steamy'.
"Rory!" Lorelai cried out, not believing that her daughter could mock her so casually.
"Sorry mom, but you made it too easy. I mean, come on. You're a grown-up, well, at least part of the time, and I'm a grown up, and you are entitled to have an adult love-life especially with a nice guy like Luke, and it's not like you have to hide that he's spent the night or that you have to be embarrassed about it. I mean, I wasn't oblivious to the fact that the two of you would have sex eventually. Actually I was kind of expecting it to happen earlier. I mean, come on- all the flirting and kissing and teasing- I can't believe you guys took that long!"
Lorelai didn't know what to say to that. Rory was right and after all she couldn't explain why she acted so childish earlier. I mean she was a grown-up after all, talking to her grown-up daughter who had her own sex life. Oh, not a pleasing thought, especially if Lorelai thought about the nature of this sex life. Losing your virginity to your married ex-boyfriend kind of topped Lorelai's balcony-encounter with Chris. It was out-raging. And this was her little Rory. Her precious daughter.
Lorelai sighed. She obviously still needed some time getting used to the fact that Rory was leading a life now in which Lorelai had almost no say anymore and Rory was making her own choices and mistakes.
"Rory, I am sorry- I don't know what got into me"
"Oh, you don't have to be sorry. I thought it was rather funny." Rory turned around to get the rest of her things from the car. She still had the bags with her clothes and toiletries on the back seat.
Lorelai switched her attention back to the dishes and turned on the faucet, but then looked up again with a confused look on her face.
"Rory?" She shouted at her daughter who was just coming through the front door with her bag.
"Yeah?"
"What day is it?"
"Saturday, why?"
"Well, if I remember right, weren't you supposed to come back Sunday?"
"Yeah. I decided to leave one day early."
"Oh" Lorelai simply said. She didn't need to ask her daughter why she had come back home early. Sherry could really annoy the crap out of you. "Okay, I was kind of worried that I had missed a day"
"Why? Were you worried that you and Luke might have slept through a day because of the massive exhaustion?" Rory teased her when passing through the kitchen and entering her room.
"Hey" Lorelai replied upset. "Stop making fun of me!"
"Sorry" Rory said sticking her head out of the door of her room. "it's just so much fun because you're so easy to embarrass with this subject"
"Oh I am not"
"Yes, you are"
"No am not"
"Yes, you are, now stop denying and get back to work!"
"Young lady, hold your horses there. I am still your mother."
"See" Rory laughed "You're making it too easy. Wow, Luke really made you soft"
Lorelai didn't give a response but tried to throw a wet dish-cloth at her daughter, which, due to the lack of talent in sports in the Gilmore family, landed in front of Rory's feet making a huge wet spot on the kitchen floor. Rory simply laughed at that and turned back into her room and Lorelai let out a frustrated sigh before she turned back to her dishes. She hated it when Rory was on top of her.
A few hours later an exhausted Lorelai entered the diner and started looking around for her guy. Luke however was nowhere to be seen, but since she knew that he was working today she didn't bother going upstairs to the apartment but simply sat down on one of the stools at the counter. He was probably in the storage room or he would come down soon, so it wasn't use the energy going upstairs. Except of course if she could convince him to stay upstairs and do something entirely different than working, but then again, no. The lunch rush was about to start and the only one serving customers was Cesar, so he wouldn't give in. Thinking of it Lorelai was still kind of exhausted. Later, yeah later, she smiled.
"Hey what're you smiling at?" she heard Luke ask who had quietly come over from the storage room.
"Guess!"
"No" Luke replied harshly but with a smirk on his face. He'd never give in immediately. Later, sure, after some serious begging and a long rant of hers, but not immediately. He had after all still some male pride. Even though he would come and do whatever she wanted from him as long as she gave him her pouty face and her begging rants. Dog-like Jess had once called it.
"Why not?"
"Did I apply to Jeopardy? I'm not guessing. I was only asking a question, if I don't get an answer, fine. I don't need one." He turned away to get the coffee pot in order to pour her some.
"Oh you want to know!" Lorelai said triumphantly.
"Ah, yeah and why is that?" Luke asked still facing her with his back.
"Well, because you asked. Why would you ask if you didn't want to know? You're not exactly the man of words, if I may say so. Of course with exceptions, but however, you asked so you want to know."
"Ah jeez" Luke exclaimed "fine, why did you smile?"
"Guess!"
"Oh no" Luke said preparing himself for a long guessing session when to his luck Kirk entered the diner and walked straight up to the counter.
"Luke- I'll need a turkey-ham sandwich with out the ham. And a coffee please." Kirk said in his usual stiff manner.
"A turkey-ham sandwich without the ham? Why don't you simply order a turkey sandwich?" Luke asked annoyed. Kirk's orders were really annoying him, especially when they took him away from bickering with Lorelai.
"Because I want exactly the amount of mayonnaise and mustard on my sandwich that you put on the turkey-ham sandwich which is more than you put on a simple turkey-sandwich." Kirk replied dead honest.
"So why don't you just order a turkey-sandwich with more mayo and mustard then?"
"Does the way I order make a difference?" Kirk asked clearly confused by Luke's proposal.
"Fine, whatever" Luke mumbled "trying to reason with a crazy person…" and turned back to the kitchen to give Cesar Kirk's order and then went back to Lorelai who had giggled all throughout his conversation with Kirk.
"Well," he began "are you having anything else or did you just drop by?"
"Does it make a difference?" she replied playfully moving in to put her arms around his neck and looking at him expectantly.
"Well, no, I'm glad you here" he said before closing in on her to kiss her. A great kiss. A great lunch kiss in public. Just perfect. Lorelai had determined that every kiss with Luke was perfect. They were all different but all perfect for the special occasion and place. Like the good-morning kiss, the teasing before-coffee-kiss, the lets-go-make-love-kiss, the what-are-you-doing-tonight-kiss and right now the lunch-in-public-kiss. All perfect. Aaahh.
After a few moments and after Kirk had cleared his throat a few times in order to get their attention they pulled away from each other and Luke looked at her playfully.
"So what are you doing tonight?"
"Sorry, I still lack my coffee!" Kirk kicked in, but he wasn't paid attention.
"Hm, why? What's on your mind?" Lorelai asked giving him an explicit look.
"I don't know." He said hesitantly " You know, dinner maybe and what about getting a video and watch it together and then you know, whatever it might lead too, you never know" he responded smiling.
"Sounds great, but I kind of think that I have to spend the evening with Rory."
"Excuse me, does anyone care to give me my coffee?" Kirk asked helplessly.
"She's back?" Luke asked surprised "I thought she wasn't coming back until tomorrow"
"Yeah, but she left one day early" Lorelai explained "and now she's back at the house reading, eating massive amounts of junk-food and doing the brooding thing she's done all summer. You know the one where she doesn't want to have anything to do with the outside world. Kind of creepy, anyways, she said she might want to have a movie night later, and since we haven't done that in a while I think I should take the chance and try talking to her, you know. I sometimes worry. She just isn't herself anymore."
"Yeah, I wonder why." Luke said and Lorelai swallowed. She hadn't had the heart to tell Luke yet. She knew that he would be disappointed of Rory and well, very mad at Dean and she didn't want any of that. Of course she was mad at Dean and she'd surely like to see Luke beat him up, but she knew it wasn't any of their business. Rory had to deal with it, not her or Luke.
"Hey, am I invisible?" Kirk exclaimed frustrated.
"Okay, sounds good. Well, maybe if you like you can come over afterwards" Luke suggested.
"And have a pyjama-party?" Lorelai teased.
"Something like it, yeah" Luke answered.
"Hey, you two, I want my coffee" Kirk cried in despair.
"Okay, see you later then" Lorelai said, drinking a last sip of her coffee and giving Luke another short kiss before getting up and leaving the diner. Luke watched her dreamily as she stepped through the door and passed over the square and then walked around the counter to take orders of guests who had sat down at one of the tables by the window.
Kirk let out an exasperated sigh and let his head fall down on the counter.
A.N.: Okay this is mainly a room-filler. Just regular stuff you know. I hope you enjoyed it anyways. Thanks for the great reviews I've gotten so far. Pink- Thanks for your suggestions, I'll keep them in mind, though I can't promise you a new guy for Rory. I'm not so sure about that part yet! Anyways I greatly appreciate any reviews. Hope to get some more, as I already said, suggestions are very welcome! Bye, Janine
