Authors Note: Okay guys...this chapter has been a long time coming. If you know what I mean. And...sorry about the lack of updating, I've been trying to write as much as I can without having writers block. But I hope you guys enjoy this chapter more than the last...please review! I want to make sure I've still got readers out there, and that this isn't pointless! Just double checking...it means a lot to me! So thank's in advance. Special thanks to all the past time reviewers...without said, you all know who you are.
Just a Reminder: I'm just messin around with them for now.
Chapter Ten: Recovering Quickly
"I really don't want to see my parents."
"You never do. But be nice...at least this time okay?"
When the maid opened the door, Lorelai and Rory walked in and sat down in the living room without any sights of Emily or Richard.
"Hello girls." Emily said, walking into the living room.
"Hello...Emily." Rory coughed, "Mom" Lorelai corrected herself.
"Hi Grandma!" Rory said trying to ease the moment.
"Where's dad?" Lorelai asked.
"He's in his office. He'll be out any minute. So how are you two girls?"
"Well, I lost in strip poker last night, so I'm still recovering from that...but otherwise, I'm fine."
"Lorelai, I hope you know that is not funny. And you are not setting a very good example for your daughter."
"Oh, well Rory was the one who beat me, so I think she's okay mom."
"Lorelai. Rory." Richard greeted them while walking into the room.
There was tension in the room. Through out all 4 of them. Nobody wanted to mention there encounter at the Inn, so the subject remained forgotten. As they settled in the dining room for dinner, there wasn't much talking going on.
"So Rory, what are your plans for the summer? Have you thought about that trip to Europe?" Emily asked, hopefully.
Rory shot a very uncomfortable look at Lorelai, who didn't know what to do. She gave her a unhelpful look, and Rory cleared her throat, staring nervously towards Emily.
"Actually Grandma, I have...and I don't think that right now would be the best time to do it because I already had plans with my friend Lane to go on a little road trip, but I'm not sure how things are looking after that. So, we can still see." Rory slightly lied.
"Liar," Lorelai whispered, and only Rory heard her, shooting her a look across the table. She glanced at her Grandma who looked sad.
"Oh, well then. When are you leaving." She asked sternly.
"Tomorrow...actually."
"So soon. Where are you headed?" Richard asked.
"Chicago."
"A very nice city. How long will you be there?" He asked.
"Probably about 3 weeks. We want to have enough time to travel and see things."
The rest of the night was...quiet. The talking was to a minimum which was good because they didn't want there to be any fights. It wasn't until around 9 that they left and headed straight home to finish packing. Lorelai had only talked to Luke earlier in the morning, so she grabbed the phone and went up to her room to talk to him.
"Lukes"
"Why don't you say that with more...enthusiasm. More like, Good evening, Lukes! How many I help you!"
"Good evening, Lukes! How may I help you?" He said mocking her.
"Hey...no mocking allowed." There was an awkward silence for a second. "I...missed you today." Lorelai said quietly.
"Yeah, I think this was the first time I haven't seen you in a day...ever. How was your day?"
"Uneventful and boring. And then, I had to go to my parents for dinner, which was more boring than watching Summer Catch with Freddie Prince Jr., but actually more exciting than listening to Michel talk to one of his relatives. How was your day?"
"Not bad. Pretty busy. Kirk and Patty came in today to take pictures of me. To see if there's any physical difference with me since we've been dating."
"Our town is just plain crazy. Anyways, I have a favor to ask of you. Rory and Lane are leaving tomorrow at around 8. I was wondering if you could bring over some coffee, and you know...say goodbye to her. Or just keep me emotionally balanced, but either way you want to put it is fine."
"Yeah sure, I'll see you then, ok?"
"Yeah, bye."
"Goodnight."
Lorelai helped Rory finish packing for the rest of the night and then went straight to bed.
"Mom! Get up! It's 7:45, and Luke's going to be here in 15 minutes, and then I'm leaving. Don't you want to see me before I go?"
"No, just leave a picture on my night stand, bye babe."
"Get up!" Rory yelled while pulling the covers off of her. Suddenly the doorbell rang so Rory ran down to get it. It was Lane with all of her luggage, ready to take off.
By 8:00 exactly, Lorelai made it downstairs. "Do you guys really have to go?" She whined.
"Yes mom. But it's not that long."
"3 Weeks? I don't know what you're talking about, but 3 weeks is...well its...its..." she began trying to describe it, when the bell rang, "oh look at that Luke's here." She said walking up to the front door. She opened it and saw Luke standing with 3 cups of coffee and 3 muffins.
"You're pretty!" She said grabbing a cup of coffee and a muffin from the bag causing him to almost spill the coffee and knock down the muffins.
"Wow, calm down. They'll still be there in a minute." He said, walking them to the kitchen.
It wasn't until about 8:30 that the 4 of them were standing in the driveway, getting ready to say goodbye.
"Stay good." She said, hugging Rory, "don't drink or smoke to much, and try not to get frisky with the bell boys."
"Goodbye mom" Rory said pulling away.
"Oh, and don't eat anything that smells weird. Or looks weird, and don't buy clothes for me unless you're 100% sure that it's going to fit because I don't want to have to make you go back and get me a the right size."
They all said goodbye to eachother, and Rory and Lane jumped in the car.
"Oh and Rory!" Lorelai called, before she closed the door.
"What??" She asked getting annoyed.
"Don't stay at any hotels called Holiday Inn!"
She rolled her eyes and shut her door, waving while she drove out of the driveway. Lorelai walked over to the porch steps and sat there frowning.
"I'm depressed." She said quietly.
"She just left, Lorelai."
"I know, but I miss her already. This is how it's going to be for the next 3 weeks. Learn to live with it, unless you are planning on leaving me."
"Well, actually...I was."
"What!" She screamed
"I'm kidding, calm down. You know I'd never to that. Not after how long it took for me to get you. Nuh-uh. I'm not going anywhere." Luke said, reassuring her.
"Hey, you could have had me earlier. You just never made a move."
"Okay, whatever you say." He said, rolling her eyes knowing that he had made moves in the past, but she just never caught on.
"Hey, what do you say we go out tonight? Let's go to that restaurant out in Hartford that you like."
"Oh! The one by the park that we went to after the dinner party last week?"
"Yeah"
"Ok! But can we go there afterwards? I like that place!" She said smiling.
"Sure. I'll pick you up at about 6, ok?"
"Ok, are you leaving me now?"
"I've got to get back to the diner. Want to come?"
"No, I'll just stay here and cry or something."
He laughed a little and leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on her lips. "I'll see you later. Stop by if you're in the mood."
"Oh, I don't know how cheery I'll be..."
"Yeah, well, I'll talk to you later. Bye."
'Nuh-uh. I'm not going anywhere' replayed in her mind. 'Good,' she thought, 'because I don't want him to go anywhere.'
The rest of the day went by slowly. Lorelai didn't do much but take a few naps, watched a couple movies, and by around 5:00, went to write Rory an email.
So, you left approximately...well, I'm too lazy to count how many hours ago you left, but the bottom line is you still haven't called. What if you are lost, or you got in a car accident? Great, now I'm going to have these horrible thoughts for the rest of the day. I miss you already, kid. What am I possibly going to do for three weeks? I'm going out with Luke tonight. Dinner and a 'walk through the park', how cliche does that sound? Well, we're not into different. Actually I am, but Luke's not. Luke's weird. He smells funny. Actually he doesn't, that's a lie. He smells good and I've gone into a complete trance of writing weird things to you. I've got to sign off this thing. Call me? Love, the woman you once called mom.
When she finished her email to Rory, she went upstairs and began to get ready for her date. She wore a matching black pant and coat suit that she wore for important business meetings for the Inn. But she didn't want to get all dressed up when in reality it wasn't that fancy of a restaurant. She put on a strand of little pearls that her mom gave her, which was probably the only thing that she liked from her mom. She left her straightened hair down, and wore a pair of high heels. She glanced at her watch that read 5:55.
"Oh my" She said out loud. "I'm actually ready on time."
Luke didn't get there till about 6:05, purposely trying to be late.
"You didn't have to come 5 minutes late. I was ready 10 minutes ago."
"That's hard to believe." He looked at Lorelai, and thought that she looked...sexy in her suit.
"Look at you in your business woman outfit." He joked.
"What? You don't like it?" She said pouting.
"No, I do, I do." He said, giving her a hug. "Ready?"
They got in the car and drove to a restaurant in Hartford. The dinner was good. They talked about the gossip of the town, which was obviously them, a little talk about Jason and Christopher which was a little uncomfortable at times, but mostly, it was about Rory and how much Lorelai was going to miss her for the next three weeks. When dinner was done, they went straight to the familiar Elpine Park. It was already almost 8:15, so of course, it was dark, and yet again, Lorelai couldn't see much.
"Here we are." Luke said while holding Lorelai's hand and walked her into the entrance of the park.
"This place is so pretty at night."
They started walking for a little while until Lorelai started to complain about how her feet hurt.
"Let's just walk a little further; I don't see a bench around here."
"That's okay," Lorelai said while taking off her shoes. She grabbed Luke's hand and started to run into a empty patch of grass with nothing around them.
"Lorelai what are you doing?" He said, trailing after her.
She smiled back at him and continued running until they were at the grass.
"Sit" She said.
Luke wasn't sure how he should sit, so he sat down on the grass with his hands holding him up. His legs were spread out and Lorelai sat inbetween them, leaning against him. He removed his arms from the grass, and placed them around Lorelai's stomach pushing a little weight against her, so that he wouldn't fall over either. Her head was lying just above his chest, slightly against his shoulder. They sat in silence for a long time.
"What did you mean earlier?" She whispered.
"When?"
"What did you mean when you said sure, whatever you say after I said you could have had me earlier but you never made a move?"
"Oh, uh, I don't know."
"Yes you do. What did you mean?"
Luke sighed quietly and thought for a moment. "Well, I guess there were times before that I 'kinda' asked out you, and you didn't really respond. Or times where I 'almost' kissed you, but didn't. You just didn't seem...I dunno, interested."
"When?"
"When what?"
"When did you 'ask me out', or 'try to kiss me'" She said, mocking him.
"Well, there was that time when we were playing cards at the diner when Sookie and Jackson were out on their first date. And you were talking about how you were jealous of what they had, and I said that maybe sometime we should, ya know...go out, and you just stared at me, and then Mrs. Kim came running in and you went with her to find Rory and Lane."
Lorelai smiled to herself, fully remembering the night. "I was going to say yes. And I bet you don't remember that the next day, I went into the diner and you said that I ran out before you had the chance to ask me something. And I knew what you were talking about, and I was ready to say yes when you asked me again, but you said you didn't have time to kick my ass in poker. And I wasn't expecting to hear that, so I quickly acted stupid and just said oh yeah. But I knew what you were doing."
They both sat in the silence for a little while. "And the kiss?" Lorelai asked quietly.
"The day you came over to pick out paint samples. We were sitting behind the counter and I was going to kiss you but then Taylor and everybody else came outside the diner to take pictures. And then, you leaned over to look at them, and I leaned against you, and when they left, I said thanks, and you turned around and I was going to kiss you again, but you said you had to go."
Lorelai suddenly felt bad. She remembered that night also, and especially that moment. She felt sort of guilty for leaving, but she didn't want to tell Luke that now.
"I guess sometimes you don't get to say or do things that you want to, and you obviously just learn to regret it."
Luke thought for a moment. Lorelai rested her head on his shoulder, still sitting in the same position. Luke leaned in and whispered in her ear.
"Lorelai?" He whispered.
"Hmm?" She mumbled.
"I love you." He said, and immediately bit his tongue afterwards, terrified at what he just said.
Lorelai quietly gasped, and slowly sat up, still inbetween his legs, but turned her head and faced him. She looked, shocked. Her eyes, tearing up slightly, but Luke couldn't tell. She looked at him with amazement, and respect. She knew how nervous he must have been. She appreciated him saying it.
"I love you too." She said quietly, smiling at him.
He was relieved. And happy. Sure they have only been dating, or even just getting more serious for the past week, week and a half, but he felt it was so right. After she had just talked about regretting not saying things. He knew it was the perfect moment. And it's not like they knew each other for 2 weeks, they've known each other for over 8 years.
They just stared at each other for a little while. Finally, Luke leaned in and kissed her passionately. She turned her body so that she was sitting on her knees in between his legs. She slowly pushed him down so that he was lying completely on the grass. She lied on top of him, not breaking away from the kiss. This kiss was special. More special than their first kiss, and more special than the kiss after their fight over Chris. They both felt so calm, collected, and in the moment. Finally, she pulled away, and lied next to him, resting her head tucked on his chest. He had his arm around her, and kissed her head. They lied there for over 30 minutes, just enjoying the moment, and each others company. Lorelai never wanted to be with somebody so much more than this. This was nothing compared to Max or Jason. Or even, sadly but truly, Christopher. Although he was her first love, this was so much more special. Luke felt like he was the luckiest guy in the world. This is what he's always wanted. He's never wanted something so much, more than Lorelai. His wish finally came true.
It wasn't until about 9 that they had moved from the position they had been lying in. Lorelai adjusted her head so that she was gazing up at him. He returned the gaze with a smile. She stood up, looked towards the sky, and started spinning in circles. Suddenly she felt like she was 5 again. Although Emily and Richard would never let her feel so free, even at age 5, she still felt the feeling of being a little kid.
"Uh, Lorelai?" Luke said sitting up and staring at her curiously.
"Hmm?" She said giggling.
"Want to explain what you are doing?"
Lorelai continued spinning, not saying a word. After a few moments, she decided to talk. "I used to have a friend name Sally. I used to hang out with her all the time when I was a little kid. She was the only friend's house that I could go to because my parent's and her parent's were old friends. They were the only parent's they trusted me with. I was once talking to Sally and her mom, who I like to think I resemble because, well besides the fact that she was a cool mom, she let us eat junk food when we weren't supposed to. She used to always tell us that whenever her boyfriend at the time told her he loved her, she'd go home and spin in circles, laughing hysterically. She said before it got to late, she wanted to spin in front of him, and show him how much him saying I love you meant to her. She used to say, 'girls, whenever you are with that special somebody, and they say I love you, spin in front of them so that they know how much they mean to you'. So, here I am showing you how much you mean to me." She broke out in laugher, and Luke just sat there, staring at her. Finally, she fell down, collapsing next to him.
"Want to spin with me?" She said continuing laughing.
"I think I'll have to pass. And as...special as that story may be, I think it's a 'girl thing.'"
"Oh come on Luke, spin with me. Please, please, please?" She begged.
"Just this once."
They stood up and she held his hands as they spun in a circle like they were little kids, together. After only a few seconds, Luke stopped the spinning.
"As fun as this may be, I think I'm going to be sick."
"So that means you don't want to spin anymore?" She said pouting at him.
"You know how much you mean to me. I don't think spinning endlessly in circles shows you more or less how special you are."
Lorelai had been in a funk A good funk, though. She never felt this free, and loved in her life. Something about the moment meant so much to her. Why else would she be spinning around in circles? But there's always an end for everything, so they got into the car and Luke drove back to Lorelai's house. He walked her up to the porch, and hugged her tightly. Lorelai was still hyper, and in the moment.
"Stay with me tonight." She suggested, smiling largely at him.
"What...uh, what do you mean?" He asked hesitantly.
"I don't know. Just, stay over for the night. I don't want to be alone."
"Well, alright. You sure?"
"I'm sure."
They went straight upstairs and Lorelai changed into her PJ's. She wore a little tank top, and a pair of short cotton shorts. She went into the bathroom, got ready, and walked back out to see Luke sitting uncomfortably on the bed, in his boxer shorts and teeshirt. He was completely covered, no reason to be uncomfortable. Lorelai and Sookie's conversation flashed threw her mind one last time. She knew that they weren't going to, 'sleep with each other.' That's not why she made the offer. And she knew that he felt the same way. She just wanted to be with somebody. She didn't want to be alone in a big house. She felt it was...right.
They got under the covers, and Lorelai scooted in towards Luke. The lights were out, and it was pretty dark in the room except the glare from the moon that Lorelai saw coming through her window. She rested her head on his chest, and he wrapped his arm securely around her, and kissed the top of her forehead. She quickly turned around so that she was on her stomach and lifted herself up a little. She pushed her weight down on the bed, one hand on each side of him, slightly raised in the air. She kissed him quickly, and laid back down in the previous position.
They were quiet for a second. Lorelai was falling into a trance, and finally becoming sleepy, but she just wanted to make sure that Luke knew she was completely serious with her intentions.
"I...love...you." She said sleepy, inbetween long pauses.
"I love you, too." He whispered.
Up Next: The Word That Changes Everything
