Authors Note: Thanks for all the awesome reviews you guys have been giving me! It means a lot! Here's another chapter for you...and....I just always want to remind you guys, I'm a complete Luke and Lorelai freak. JavaJunkie's all the way. Don't forget that ;-) Enjoy the chapter, and please, please review! I'm going to try and update more often because I have more chapters already written, but I just need the feedback to see if it's worth it! Thanks guys!

Just a Reminder: ASP's...a few things are mine though. Those weird, make believe things. Ya know...

Chapter Twelve: Dancing, Jealousy, and Love

It was around 4:00 when Lorelai got off work on Thursday. She hit the mall right afterwards to get an outfit for the dance that night. She decided on a dark red halter dress, simple but cute because it matched her new shoes. 'A 37 year old going to a dance' She thought. 'It's still very fun.'

She went home and straightened her curly hair. She parted it, and put it half up. She got dressed, did her makeup, and was ready for Luke to arrive towards 6. They weren't going right away though. It was Thursday, but her mother was having a small cocktail party that Lorelai and Luke both had to attend, but only planning on attending for an hour, hopefully.

"You're late" Lorelai said answering the door before Luke could ring the bell. "Let's go"

"You look gorgeous if that makes up for anything." He said leaning in and giving her a kiss.

"Thanks...you look great too."

They drove to her parents house and arrived at around 6:30. Before they got out of the car, Lorelai just stood there, thinking, 'why is my mother having a cocktail party? What are the circumstances of this thing?' They got out of the car and headed to the door.

"I have a feeling I'm going to need you to drive home because I'm going to be a little too drun--"

"You're late." Emily said, pulling open the door before they rang the bell.

"How did she do that? She's just like you." Luke said while walking right behind Lorelai who was following her mother to the dining room.

"Like mother, like daughter. Wow, I did not just say that because believe me I am nothing like my mother."

"You have an escort. It's the iceman."

"Mom! His name is LUKE. You know that." Lorelai thought for a moment. She hadn't told her mom that her dream of them finally becoming a couple has come true.

"Hi, nice to see you again." Luke said, breaking the ice.

"You too. I'm glad to see you could join Lorelai." She said smiling towards Lorelai. The smile that screams, 'I'm right, I always was right, and I'll always be right.' "Lorelai, may I see you in the kitchen please?" She asked.

"Why not mom..." She said, she glanced at Luke and mouthed that she'd be right back. She followed her mother to the kitchen and stood there, expectantly.

"You brought the ice–Luke." Emily quickly corrected herself.

"Yes mom, I brought Luke."

"Have you two finally come to your senses and realized that you're meant to be together?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes, and bit her lip for a quick second. She didn't want to tell her mom that she was right, but sooner or later, she'd find out. "Yes mom, we're dating."

"I KNEW IT!" She yelled. "How long has it been?" Her mom was smiling. Smiling largely. It had been a while since she's seen her mother smile, and it made her feel good. Maybe things would be okay...

"A few weeks. But if I don't get back in there soon, there might not be an 'us' anymore. So please, excuse me..." Lorelai said while walking out of the kitchen.

"Lorelai, wait." Emily called after her. Lorelai turned and stared at her. "You're father and I have decided to see a marriage counselor. We've both agreed to try and work things out. I'll give you details later though, now you go run along to...Luke."

Lorelai smiled, she was relieved that things might actually be okay. "I'm so happy for you mom. That's great. Really, it is." She said leaning in and giving her a hug. "I hope everything works out fine."

"Good, thank you. I'll see you later."

Lorelai hurried around trying to find Luke. She ran into a few people, including her dad, who she talked with for a little while, and a couple family friends. Finally she found Luke sitting on a chair, with two drinks in his hand.

"Here this is for you." He said, handing her the glass.

"Cheers" She raised her bottle to his, and took a long sip.

"Sorry that took so long."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, my parent's have decided to see a marriage counselor. Whether or not that will help, I just don't know, but I'm hoping so." She took another big sip of her drink, finishing it off. She motioned towards the liquor stand and they walked over there.

"This calls for Gin." She said, reaching out to get a glass.

"And...?" Luke asked.

"Gin. Me and my dad both...it's a thing in the family, straight gin is just fine with us."

2 glasses of gin, and 1 glass of white wine later, Lorelai was tipsy, you could say. Luke wasn't bad. He thought it was sort of funny seeing Lorelai like this. He had never seen her anywhere near being drunk, and although she wasn't, she still wasn't her normal self. She was laughing, a lot, and her talking level exceeded even more...if that's possible.

It was almost 7, when Lorelai and Luke decided it was time to leave. Luke knew there was no way that he was going to get out of the dance, even if he tried.

"So mi lad, are you...ready?" She said in a singsong voice.

"Yeah, as ready as I'll ever be."

After saying all their goodbyes, the two departed the party. Luke hopped in the car after assisting Lorelai, drove back towards Stars Hollow.

"So you okay?" He asked her.

"Oh sweetie, this aint nothin. You've never seen me drunk before. Which you won't, because as you can tell I'm not the biggest drinker. Just on special occasions."

"Was this at least close to being a special occasion?"

"Yeah, I'd say so. I've been under a lot of stress lately. Rory leaving, the Inn and it's hecticness, and my parent's aren't making it any better. I just...I thought that if there marriage couldn't last, then who's could? My parent's always seemed so perfect for eachother. I was so shocked when I found out that they were separated and to find out that there going to try and work things out really lifted some weight of my shoulders. I'm just really relieved."

Luke sighed. Unsure of what to say he nodded his head. "I understand. I hope things will get better."

She turned to him, and smiled. "I do too."

They got to the dance by 7:45. Traffic was pretty bad, but it's not like they missed the whole thing. And Lorelai's chances of getting Luke to stay till 10 we're slim to none. When they pulled up into a parking spot, Lorelai closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb. She had another headache, and wanted to go inside, but didn't want to get bombarded with questions from everybody. Luke glanced over at her and saw that she didn't look to good.

"You sure you want to go? I mean I'll be perfectly fine if we don't. No hard feelings whatsoever."

"Nice try, but no. You're still coming in there with me. Let's go."

They walked into the dance which was in the gym of Stars Hollow High, which reminded her a lot of the dance marathon. Although she never actually won those, it still brought back some memories. The gym was packed, with both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Kirk was behind the stereo systems, and Taylor was not to far away from him.

"I can't believe that you got me to come to this."

"It's not going to be as bad as you think. I'll dance with you when there are slow songs, otherwise, I'll just dance with Sookie. Or maybe Kirk. Maybe I'll give myself into him this time, who know's!"

When they spotted Sookie and Jackson who were already out on the dance floor, Lorelai immediately ran over to them and began to dance, where as Luke stood on the sideline watching.

A couple dances later, a slow song came on. Lorelai ran up to Luke and got him to dance with her.

"This isn't so bad, no is it?" She whispered.

"I'll live."

"It reminds me of the night of your sisters wedding. When I first found out you could dance like this!"

"I knew it was a mistake to ask you."

"No...it wasn't."

They danced silently for the rest of the song. When it ended, they sat down on the bleachers. It was almost 8:15, and Luke was already sick of being there. Lorelai sat down and put her head in her hands. Her head was killing her. She took an aspirin earlier, but it didn't seem to help.

"Hey guys" an unfamiliar voice said.

They both looked up, and to there surprise, it was Jen. 'Wasn't she supposed to be on business?' Lorelai thought to herself. Luke looked stunned to see her. Lorelai felt a twitch of jealousy run through her when she looked Jen over. She looked really pretty...and well that made her envious.

"Jen is that you?" Babette asked.

"Babette! Hi, I see you haven't changed! You look great!" She said eyeing her up and down.

'She's even polite to the crazy people' Lorelai thought. 'What is she, superwoman?'

The four of them talked a little while, with the interruptions of a few people saying hi to Jen. They talked about her business trip, and how she was headed back home but stopped at Luke's, and was surprised to see nobody was there. So she had asked somebody what was going on tonight, and ran over to the school. It was when a slow song came on that Jen began to smile. She looked over at Luke who was staring at Lorelai who had her head once again in her hands.

"Uh, Lorelai?" Jen asked.

"Yeah?" She said looking up.

"Do you mind if I steal Luke for one dance?"

'Do I' she thought to herself. She forced a smile, "Of course!"

Luke glanced over uncomfortably at Lorelai. He gave her a, 'why would you say yes' sort of look. It was only with Lorelai that he danced. He didn't want everybody to this he was the new Wade. 'Before you know it, you'll be sleeping with Brittany' Lorelai thought to herself as she watched Jen and Luke walk to the center of the dance floor.

As soon as he put his arms around her, Babette and Patty ran up to her and started asking her questions as to why Luke was dancing with her. The sentence, 'are you guys on the rocks?' came up a lot. As soon as they left, Lorelai watched them intensely. Watching every move, every laugh, every smile. As much as she told herself that Jen was nothing, she still felt jealous.

When the song finally ended, they both walked up to Lorelai. Jen smiling, Luke...not so smiling. Lorelai stood up to greet them.

"Thanks for letting me borrow him." Jen said

"No problem!"

"Uhm, hey I'm going to run over to the diner real quick. Just check up on things, but I'll get you a cup of coffee if you want, to ya know...help your head."

"Ah, you're so sweet." She leaned in and kissed him on his neck.

As soon as Luke left, Lorelai sat right back down on the bleachers. She watched Sookie and Jackson dance, while Jen mingled her way around the gym.

"Bored?"

Lorelai looked up to see a very unfamiliar face. He looked about her age, tall, dark hair, green eyes, and...very cute.

"Headache."

He laughed a little. "My name is Justin. You are...?"

"Lorelai." He sat down next to her and watched her look around. His first thought was that she was beautiful. He had seen her around, but never talked to her, he had no idea who she was though.

"So, are you new around here?" She asked.

"Yeah, I just moved here a few day's ago, from California."

"Why the sudden change of location?"

"My mom lives around here. She's been sick lately, and I just felt it would be easier for me to be around with her. She needs some help...so, I'm here to help her."

"Oh well, I'm sorry to hear about your mother. But you moved to a pretty...unique place. Good luck."

"Weird people?" He asked, staring at the people dancing.

"Very weird. I'm sure, starting tomorrow there will be rumors that you and I are dating."

He laughed a little. "Now that wouldn't be so bad would it?"

'Wow, this guy is quick,' she thought. "Well, they'd probably all kill you for coming near me."

"Why is that? Don't date?"

"Oh no, I date." For some reason, she didn't want to mention Luke. Not at all because she was interested in this guy that she met less than 5 minutes ago, but because she didn't want to tell him the whole story of the 'coming together' of them. "I just, I have a boyfriend, and...everybody in town has always wanted us to be together, and we completely ignored it for 8 years, but...finally...they got their wish."

He looked a little disappointed, but nothing big. What could he expect, he JUST met this girl. "Well then that's good, right?"

"Yeah, it's great. Speak of the devil himself..." She said eyeing Luke who was walking up the bleachers to her. He looked confused, he shot glances at both Lorelai and Justin. Lorelai glanced over at Luke, she could tell he looked...slightly jealous, and didn't want him to be so she got up and gave him a quick kiss. "Glad your back. Ready to dance again?"

He put his arm around her, and looked at the guy still sitting down, watching them.

"Oh, this is...Justin." Lorelai said to Luke. "He just moved here about a week ago, so I was just warning him about the craziness of the town. Let him know what he's entering!"

"Luke Danes," Luke said bending down to shake his hand.

"Nice to meet you. Justin Graham."

They walked down, and Lorelai drank her coffee very quickly. She walked over to the trash can to throw her cup away, and took Luke to the center of the dance floor. Right then, a slow song came on, and Luke danced especially close to her this time.

"So, who's the guy?" Luke asked.

"I don't know. He just moved here, that's all I know."

"Hitting on you?"

She pulled away and winked at him. "Maybe..." She turned back and put her mouth to his ear. "But that's none of your business." He grinned to himself.

At about 9:30, the two walked back over to Lorelai's. When the got inside, they went directly to sit on the couch.

"My feet hurt." She said, propping them on top of Luke's lap.

"I'm not massaging your feet if that's what your hinting towards."

"Never," She said grinning slyly at him while putting her feet back down. She crawled on top of him so that she was straddling his lap, facing him. A piece of hair fell in front of her face, Luke reached up and pushed it behind her ear. Lorelai grabbed his chin, and slowly kissed him. She pulled away and just smiled at him. She loved looking at him, and he felt the same. "I'm so happy." She said.

He put his arms around her back and pulled her in to kiss her again. "I am too."

"Everything just seems so...perfect, doesn't it?" She asked.

"Yeah, it really does."

She leaned in and began kissing him. The feeling of his tongue sent shivers through her, still. It was something about the way he kissed her. He started exploring her back, slowly moving down to her waist. She pushed herself off of him so that she was sitting on the side of him, not breaking the kiss. He worked with her, and turned so that he was facing her. He leaned back, and she leaned on top of him. Luke's hands felt around her back, and side, while she worked her hands over his face. Finally, she pulled away and rested her head on his chest. She suddenly felt nervous. She glanced up the stairs. 'Oh hell' she thought. She got up and stood next to Luke who was still sitting on the couch.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" She asked, still nervous....hoping he'd make this easy for her.

"Yeah." He got up and Lorelai grabbed his hand, squeezing it lightly. They walked up the stairs and began kissing the second they entered the room. They both knew where this was going. Lorelai pulled away first, and grabbed Luke's face. "I love you Luke, and I just want you to know that." She said.

"I love you too."

He kissed her but she immediately pulled away and turned around so that her back was facing Luke. He lifted up his hands, and slowly untied the neck of her halter dress. As soon as the knot was untied, her dress slid off, revealing her in only her bra and underwear. She felt so nervous. Not because she was scared it was to soon, or because she didn't want to do this, but because she never imagined something feeling so correct. It was a new feeling for her. She knew this was what she wanted. She turned around a kissed him quickly. She pulled off his coat jacket, and started to unbutton his dress shirt. She slid it off of him, as they finished the rest themselves. Everything was so gentle about Luke, which actually surprised Lorelai. She never imagined Luke like this. Everything seemed so right between the two of them. And this only made things better, more realistic, and even more comfortable.

Up Next: A Very Random Encounter

Please review! And don't worry about Justin or Jen. They're just in their because I'm bored. Nothing more! I don't even remember if we see them again...maybe.