Authors Note: The story is almost done, well, four more chapters, and I'm sorry this isn't the camping chapter, but the next one is. Thanks for the reviews everybody...I promise to be more exact when the story is over, and just to let you know, I've already started a new story, called Punch Drunk Love-thanks for the title movie people, lol.
Here's a little teaser: He always wanted to admit his feelings. Just not this way. But with her. Anyway would work. (Think about the title, all you smart people!)
Thanks for all the reviews, keep em coming please!! Feedback is the best, besides you guys of course! :o) Enjoy the chapter...
Just a Reminder: I don't like the word disclaimer. But hey, either way I say it, there not mine.
Chapter Seventeen: Preparing For a Change
While driving to the Dragonfly, Lorelai quickly analyzed her life. Things had been great before she messed up with Max. And then, things were miserable. But now, everything seems to be so much better, and richer. Everything count's more and everybody's happier. Rory is hopefully working out her problems, her parent's are great, the Dragonfly is great, and Luke is great. 'Life is good.' Except for one little thing.
"Sookie!" Lorelai called when walking into the kitchen.
Sookie looked over and gave her a half smile, trying to seem somewhat cheery. "Oh hey, how are you?"
"I'm...okay. How are you?"
"Tired. I need a break."
"Good. Let's get out of here for a little bit."
Michel had just walked in and gave Lorelai a dirty look. "You just got here. And, oh look, I think the clock say's that you are late."
"Come on Michel. I need to talk to Sookie. We'll be back soon. It's not like it's that busy right now. Lighten up."
"I think I'm brighter than ever. On the other hand, Sookie needs to lighten up."
"What? No breakfast for Michel this morning?" Lorelai asked.
Sookie shook her head, grabbed two disposable cups and filled them each with coffee. They walked outside and drove over to the gazebo. It didn't matter where they were, but Lorelai wanted to talk to her. As they sat down in an awkward silence, Lorelai glanced over at the diner and saw a sheer image of Luke. She couldn't help but smile. She glanced over at Sookie who didn't look to happy.
"What's the matter?"
Sookie sighed and thought to herself for a few moments. "Oh nothing...I'm just...I don't know. I haven't been acting the same."
"What do you mean?"
"For one, I get no sleep. Davey is always crying at night, and I always want to let Jackson get as much sleep as he can, but he always insists on taking care of him in the middle of the night. I'm already up though, so I just stay up, and can't find myself to fall back asleep. And Jackson and I haven't gotten to spend much time together, and well...we haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together either."
Lorelai interpreted Sookie's facial expression. It's as if she was, sad...and even a little mad. But that's why Lorelai wanted to go out and talk with her for a bit, because they haven't been talking lately. Everyone and everything has been so busy.
"I know, Sookie. And I'm sorry. We've both been crazy with the Inn, and you have Davey, and I have Luke, who of course in no way replaces you. That's why I wanted to come talk to you for a little while. Check up on things, and see how you have been. I've missed you lately. It's like we haven't talked in a million years. And it's not like this conversation will make up for anything, but we're partners in this business, so of course we have to talk. But we're more than that, we're also best friends." There was an awkward silence. "I'm sorry Sookie. I'm sorry if it seems like I've been ignoring you lately."
"Oh that's not it, Lorelai. I know we've both been a little out of place. So how is Luke?"
Lorelai had to smile. "He's...great." She emphasized great a lot.
"I'm glad, sweetie. You deserve to be happy."
"Thanks. It's just, after I messed things up with the whole Max thing, I never thought that he could trust me or even want to be with me again. I was to say the least bit, surprised he forgave me."
"Oh honey, you could get married and have children with another guy and he'd still forgive you. He loves you so much. Everybody know's that, and you should too."
"Well, I'm glad for the future reference. But, I'm not planning on getting married to somebody else."
"Have you thought about marrying Luke?"
Lorelai thought for a bit. Going over the scenario. "Have I thought about it? Yes. Do I think he's going to propose? Not anytime soon. And I know this may sound really corny, but...I think he's the one. And by him being the one, I don't have to rush things with him. It could be years before we get married, but that's okay. Because I know he'll always be with me. It's just...this feeling. Ya know?"
"I know exactly what you mean. That's the way I felt on my second date with Jackson."
"Yeah, there's just something about Luke that set's himself apart from the rest of the guys that I've dated. I think that the whole 8 years of waiting had something to do with it."
"That's good to hear."
"Ooh, guess what! I'm going camping tomorrow. Can you believe that?"
"Why on earth would you go camping?"
"I don't know, Luke asked me if I wanted to and of course at first I said no, but then I thought it might be fun. It's not like I'm going to do anything he wants me too, but still. I can annoy him. It'll be fun."
As they talked for a little longer, catching up on things, they headed back to the Inn. The day had been short and boring. Luckily, Lorelai got to leave around 2:30 and headed straight to the mall. She had to check out a store that's specifically for camping and the outdoors. Lorelai had never stepped foot in there, so it took her a long time to find everything she needed. She got herself some necessities for staying in the woods for 2 days, and then she just got clothes that she thought would be cute to get. Around 4, she headed over to Luke's bringing in every single bag with her.
There were only a few people in the diner so Lorelai took the liberty of putting all her bags on two separate tables. As Luke walked out from the kitchen his eyes widened. He looked back and forth between the bags, and Lorelai who was smiling largely.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"Now what makes you think that!"
"Lorelai, what are in all of those bags?"
"Isn't it obvious. The bags say, "The Great Outdoors" in big bold letters, babe. It's obviously the stuff for our camping trip tomorrow."
"Lorelai, we're going for 2 days. Not 2 years. How many things could you have gotten?"
"Well, I got us both everything we needed. But I have to go, so come by tonight. Bring your stuff and we'll just leave in the morning. Oh and by the way, the other people are going to be so jealous of us."
"What other people are you talking about."
"Ya know, the people that's cabins are near are's. Maybe we can have some like big bonding fire, where we can all eat s'mores. Yummmm."
"What cabin do you think we're staying in?"
"Luke. You're joking right? Why else would I agree to come if I didn't know we were going to be staying in a cabin. Where on earth are we going to be staying?"
"In a tent."
"What? I'm not staying in a tent. There will be coyotes and bears and skunks."
"Skunks?"
"I don't know. I guess so. Who's going to protect me?" She said pouting slightly.
"Good question."
She walked over and smacked him playfully, but not too quickly pulling him into a hug afterwards.
"I will." He whispered in her ear.
She pulled back and kissed him. Letting her tongue explore, she quickly got shivers. Kissing Luke felt like a first kiss, every time. That was one of the special parts about them. Nothing felt old. She pulled away and leaned into his ear.
"I love you." She whispered.
He kissed her forehead, and looked deeply into her eyes. "I love you too."
When she got home, she ran to the phone and dialed Rory's cell phone.
"Hello?"
"This is the police. We have your mother, Lorelai Gilmore in the Stars Hollow Police Station and we need you to come bail her out."
"How are you mom?"
"Bored. How are you?"
"I'm great! Things have been so fun mom. Really, we should come here together. Shopping... unbelievable. You just wait till you see me!"
"I can't wait to see you! Just what...8 more days!"
"Yeah, I hate to say it but I'm ready to come home. I mean, as much fun as I'm having, I really miss you, and I have to talk to a few people."
"Well enjoy it while you are there. Have you worked things out with Dean? Have you even talked to him yet?"
"I wrote him a letter, and I sent it out yesterday but I told him to send anything back to the house, so he might respond, I don't know. He called me once, but I didn't answer, and he left a message saying that we should talk about things, but I really don't want to talk to him because I'm afraid of what he'll say."
"Rory, do you love him?"
"No. I realized that I don't, mom. And that it was wrong for me to sleep with him, for all the wrong reasons. And I'm scared that he's going to tell me he loves me, and then I'm going to hurt him even more than he already is...with Lindsay and all. So I think it's best if we kept away from eachother for a while. But enough about Dean, I'm getting a headache. When are you leaving for the cabin?"
"Uhm, get this. We're staying in a tent."
"Ha-ha-ha, you've gotta be joking."
"Nope. The only joke is me going camping. I still can't believe we're going to do this. We leave tomorrow though. Luke should be over in a little bit with his stuff, and he wants to leave early tomorrow morning."
"Oh, well...you guys have fun. Call me if you even have connection out in uh...wherever you are. Speaking of which where is this camp site?"
"I have no idea, past Litchfield though...it's in it's own little corner of the world. It's like an hour away or something."
"Okay, we'll, don't die. And...stay healthy...and tell Luke I say hi, and good luck!"
"Goodbye Rory."
"Bye mom!"
Lorelai spent the rest of the night packing and getting ready to go on their little getaway. There was one last thing she had to do though...
"Hello?"
"Hello mom."
"Lorelai? Oh how are you?"
"I'm really wishing that I didn't eat that last piece of pizza, but life goes on. And yourself?"
"Yet another thing I can't relate too. Everything's wonderful. Why are you calling? Is something wrong?"
"Nothings wrong, I just had to ask you a favor. Well, sort of a favor. It's not like your saving me from anything, but I guess technically it is a favor because I'm asking you to let me out of something that I shouldn't be let out of but..."
"Lorelai, what is the point of this pitiful story?"
"Well, Luke and I are going camping tomorrow...which means I won't be able to come to dinner."
"You're going to have to come up with a better excuse than that, my girl."
"No mom, I really am going camping." She said seriously.
Emily started to laugh into the phone. "Why on god's earth would you go camping?"
"Goodbye mom. I'll call you when I get home!" Lorelai said quickly.
"Just this once, Lorelai. We'll see you when you return."
As soon as she hung up, Luke walked in the front door holding one little duffle bag. Eyeing him suspiciously, Lorelai started walking outside the door. Luke put down his bag, and followed after her.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
"I'm going to get the rest of your things from the car."
"This is all I have."
"Men." Lorelai grunted.
She walked over to the swing on the porch, and took a seat. Luke sat down next to her and she cuddled against him. Turning her head and looking up, she began kissing him.
"Hi." She said quietly.
"Hi...are you ready for tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I have a lot more bags than you do, though!"
"I'm scared to find out how many more..."
"Come see." She took his hand and they walked back into the house, stepping into the kitchen where Lorelai had 3 medium sized bags sitting on the floor.
"Lorelai!"
Pouting, she walked in back of him and put her arms around his waist. "What? I have a lot of things."
"You're crazy, you know that?"
"Thank you. I talked to Rory today, she said hi and good luck."
"With what?"
"Me!"
"Oh right...well, when is she coming home?"
"Week from tomorrow. I'm so excited she's coming home. I'm kinda getting sick of spending all my time with you."
"Glad that the feelings mutual."
"Hey! You're not supposed to say that!"
"Yeah, whatever, let's eat something."
"Fine, cook me something good my little chef."
"I'm not your little chef."
"Cook me something good my big chef. Better?"
Luke sighed and stared blankly at Lorelai. "There's no point in even trying anymore."
They cooked dinner, and ate at the kitchen table, talking about what Lorelai had gotten at the store. She got up and excitingly went through one of her bags and pulled out 2 shirts.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but these are both for me. I didn't think you would want a shirt, but...if you do...we could always go back tomorrow before we leave."
"I think I'll live."
"Okay, so this is the first one." She held up a dark green tee-shirt that said 'ITS BETTER IN THE WOODS' in brown.
"Dirty!" Luke said sarcastically.
"Ah! You said dirty! So you really do love me. Okay, and this is the second one." She held up a grey tee-shirt that said 'UNDER THIS SHIRT IS THE WORLDS GREATEST FISHING GRANDFATHER' in black. Giggling a little, she turned to Luke who looked at her like the stupidest person on earth.
"Lorelai, you're not a grandfather. Let alone, you're not a man either...and to top it off, you don't fish."
"But Luke, it's cute!!"
"Whatever you say."
As they finished up dinner, they headed up to Lorelai's room so she could pack a few last minute things from the bathroom. Luke changed into his night wear and Lorelai changed into a small, slinky, black slip.
"Hello fisherman." She said seductively.
Luke began to look her over. 'God, she looks good.' He thought. 'When doesn't she?' She walked over to him and sat on the bed next to him.
"Cute jammies." She said sarcastically, pointing at his boring attire.
"Back atcha." He said slowly touching the small of her back.
She leaned in and kissed him deeply. Closing all spaces between him, he leaned back against the bed, and she leaned on top of him...enjoying there night before hell in the woods.
Up Next: It's Better In The Woods
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