DISCLAIMER: I own neither the show nor the characters of the Gilmore Girls. Just the messed up way in which I am portraying them.
Lorelai hurried back and forth between her room and the downstairs bathroom. Rory sat at the kitchen table, flipping through a magazine, glancing up every once and while in amusement as her daughter ran around trying to get ready.
"So, who is it tonight?" Rory called out as she saw Lorelai disappear into her bedroom.
"Luke," she called back before she let out another exclamation. "AHA!"
"What AHA?"
"Found my bracelet!"
"I told you I didn't take it, I don't borrow your stuff and not return it like someone who shall remain nameless that also lives here," Rory informed her.
Lorelai stuck her head out of her room while still securing her bracelet onto her wrist.
"You mean Jess, right? I always pegged him for a cross dresser," she giggled.
"Nice try," she shook her head.
"So, what is the situation tonight?" she asked sitting down at the kitchen table across from her mother, popping a marshmallow from the bag that Rory was mindlessly munching out of into her mouth.
"Tell me we aren't really having to coordinate our dates," Rory groaned.
"Well, I would like a heads up before I walk in to find Jess roaming around in his boxers," she gave a for instance.
"Hmm. Good call. Though he doesn't walk around in his boxers much," Rory began, letting a rather evil smile spread over her face.
"Ew, I'll take that to mean that he's always completely dressed," Lorelai made a face.
"Well, as long as you are, that's all I care about."
"Seriously, what are you doing tonight? 'Cause I think it's a smidge early for Jess to see you in your sweats with your hair. . . like that," she pointed.
Rory reached up and felt that her hair had been hastily pulled back and secured by a pencil, but had now fallen half down. She looked down and nodded.
"Well, I'm going to change, go over to the bookstore and try to get Jess to come with me and Sookie to the Fall Festival."
"Good luck, Jess hates town things," she pointed out.
"So he keeps telling me, but I'll wear him down. I have my ways."
"Ew, again, stop," Lorelai pleaded, holding her hands up over her ears.
"So, you and Luke are going to the festival?"
"Before we hit lovers lane, yes," she gave her own evil grin.
"So, you'll be home by eight-thirty?" Rory mocked back.
"Hah. Now, tomorrow I have to be up by eleven, Tristan is picking me up at noon," she explained.
"Wow. You waste no time, huh?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Rory noticed Lorelai took greater offense to her comment than she'd intended. She put her hand on Lorelai's and shook her head.
"No, I was joking. This is perfectly healthy," she reassured her.
"I feel bad," she bit her lip.
"Well, that's because you're my kid. Sorry," she shrugged, giving another smile.
"I guess I should finish getting ready, Luke'll be here any minute."
"Ooh, do I get to scare him?"
"It isn't Halloween," Lorelai gave her mother a look.
"Not yet—just one more week, though. I meant could I give him the motherly speech."
"Mom, please," she pleaded, hoping Rory wouldn't cause her any more stress than she was already under on this date. She disappeared into her room, not letting her mother retort further.
Five minutes later, there was a knock at the door, and Rory hurried to answer it, still chewing on a marshmallow. She opened the door to find Luke standing on their doorstep, looking quite nervous. He was dressed in nice jeans, a button down shirt that looked like it might be Jess' and a light jacket.
"Hey, Luke, come on in. Lore's almost ready," she smiled warmly and ushered Luke into the front room.
"Thanks," he responded, looking around as if for the first time, even though he'd been in the house before.
"Can I get you something to drink?"
"Nah, I'm good."
"Good," she paused, trying to decide if she should say something to Luke. He looked so nervous and she knew that he's a good kid, but still she had made a promise to herself to talk to all of Lorelai's dates. Finally it got the better of her, and she had to say something.
"Listen, Luke, I want to say something to you," she started in overprotective-mother voice.
"Rory, not to be rude, but I just listened to Jess for a half an hour about how I'm not to do anything to Lorelai, where we are and aren't to be and who will kill me if I disobey. I know you're her mother and you mean well, but really I think he has it covered, please consider this lecture given," he spoke honestly.
"Oh. Really?" she was surprised that Jess had talked to him. Jess wasn't big on the rules, especially for Luke, who he'd told her he considered 'raised'.
Luke nodded, looking rather pained.
"Well, you aren't planning on treating her badly, are you?" she smiled, almost joking.
"No, I'm not," he looked her dead in the eye.
"Well, then, lecture given," she agreed, noting the seriousness of his tone.
He nodded and looked up behind her. Rory turned to see Lorelai approaching. She was dressed rather causally as they were going to be spending all evening outside doing various activities at the festival. She smiled at Luke, and gave her mother a quick peck on the cheek before they left the house. Rory smiled, knowing her daughter was in good hands. She looked down quickly at her own clothes and then ran upstairs to change.
Luke and Lorelai walked to the town square to check out this year's festivities. Luke had never been to the festival—or any other town event. He wasn't that excited about the event, but Lorelai had really seemed to want to attend, and he had a track meet on Saturday, so the night's plans were decided rather easily.
"What do you want to do first?"
Luke looked around, seeing the common fall activities. There was a line for a hayride that had a sign that read "To the Maze!", a booth where you can bob for apples, tons of food and drink stands, some amusement park games like Whack-A-Mole, ghost storytelling at Ms. Patty's dance studio and pumpkin carving.
"I have no idea," he said, looking at everyone in town participating around them.
"You okay?" she asked, looking at the expression on his face.
"Yeah, it's just, I've never seen anything like this," he explained.
"It is small town life. Ooh, let's get a caramel apple and hit the hayride!" she suggested, just seeing the caramel apple stand.
"Sure," he nodded, happy to just do whatever she wanted and enjoy the night air.
Rory approached the closed bookstore and smiled. She knew Jess was still in there closing up, but had turned out his lights to ward off anyone who might come and try to persuade him to participate. Taylor Doose had been in there most of the day, trying to get him to put up fall decorations. Rory decided his hiding wasn't due to her and knocked lightly at the door.
Jess appeared at the glass door and shook his head. She gave a small pout of her lips and he rolled his eyes, unlocking the door before quickly ushering her in and relocking the door.
"You know, you're becoming quite a hermit," she giggled.
"I like the dark, it soothes me," he retorted.
"I soothe you," she reminded him, arching an eyebrow.
"Is that a promise?" he asked in a low voice, pulling her up against him.
She forgot her point, and all levity was out the window. Suddenly it wasn't fall, there was no festival, it was just them alone with a bedroom upstairs. . .
"Jess," she pleaded, her senses returning as he let his grasp on her ease up.
"I'm not going to that insanity plea," he pointed towards the window.
"Come on, we'll get jack-o-lantern face paintings, and eat crap—they have caramel apples and pumpkin ice cream!" she tried.
"Nope," he shook his head, as he folded his arms over his chest.
"Sno-Cones?"
"It's October."
"So?"
"Aren't Sno-Cones a summer thing?"
"I don't know. They have deep fried candy bars, too," she licked her lips happily.
"Okay, see now I don't think you're kidding," he pointed his finger at her, stepping back away from her slowly.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing. I've just always read where you aren't supposed to make any sudden moves around crazy people," he smirked.
"Come on, Jess! One hour. They have hayrides," she tried to entice him.
"Sitting in the cold with sticks up your butt? No thanks," he passed.
"If you come for one hour, no hayrides, I will take you back to my house and be all reclusive with you," she negotiated.
He eyed her, trying to weigh the evils with the good. "Just you and me?"
"Well, Sookie will be with us for the hour part, but I'll make sure we're alone at my house," she promised.
"Fine," he gave in, rather quickly she thought. "But I demand literary compensation as well," he said knowingly.
"Jess! I'm not done with it yet!" she whined.
"That's not my fault," he tsked.
"It's a deal-breaker," he shook his head, holding up his hands in finality.
"Fine. You can have my copy of The Windblown World, but I want it back as soon as your finished," she held out her hand ready to strike a deal.
His hand met hers and they shook firmly on it. A smile broke over her face and he knew he was in trouble. This woman was wearing him down quick. And somehow he didn't mind as much as he figured he would.
Luke and Lorelai were sitting on the bales of hay, making their way out of town far enough to reach the maze, which had been set up out of bales of hay by dedicated committee members. Or who ever Taylor threatened enough to do it this year. Lorelai was munching on her caramel apple, and Luke was finishing his apple that he'd conned Gypsy into giving him from the apple-bobbing booth. She looked at him in the dark of the night and smiled. He smiled back and she felt her heart soar. This was the perfect night, they were getting along so well—she thought perhaps she should call Tristan later and cancel their plans for the next day. Deciding not to think about one guy while with the other, she put it out of her head and took Luke's hand as he helped her down off the flatbed and into the maze.
"Should we stick together or split up?" she asked, looking left and then right.
"Well, uh," he looked from one direction to the other, "I could put you on my shoulders and you could just see where to go from above," he offered, smiling.
"First of all, that takes all the fun out of it. Secondly, Mom and I tried that last year," she smiled sheepishly and tossed her apple core out into the field. "They kicked us out."
"Ah, I see. You've learned. Is it set up the same every year?"
She shook her head. "Nah, they do always change it up. Gotta give us small town folk a bit of a challenge, you know," she smiled before taking off to the right without consulting him again. He smiled and took off after her, but couldn't see where she had gone after she rounded the corner. Now he wasn't just looking to escape, he was looking to find her, too. He hadn't counted on a hay bale maze to be very confusing, but it was almost as bad as the house of mirrors. Everything looked the same and at some points he could barely tell where he'd just come from. He looked from right to left, trying to make any distinguishing features stand out. Instead all he saw was more hay. Several people passed by him, holding onto each other's clothing as if not to get separated. He decided to try left this time, and nearly came out of his skin as he rounded the turn. Someone had jumped on top of him, scaring him half to death in the dark and confusing surroundings. They ended up on the leaf and stray hay covered ground, her giggles giving her away at once.
"Gotcha," she smiled, pulling some straw out of his hair.
He leaned in, putting his hand at the nape of her neck, pulling her to meet him halfway. The smell of dried leaves and cut hay filled their senses, mixing with the pheromones and making them lose themselves. She sat up better, almost in his lap where she landed when he went down under her. She kissed him for what seemed like forever and a mere second at the same time before pulling back and looking into his eyes.
"Yeah, you got me," he admitted, hinting at something more, and causing her to blush in the moonlight. He stood, pulling her to her feet as well, and took her hand securely in his.
"I think it's time we stick together. You're too dangerous left alone," he mumbled, as he took off to the right this time to get out of the dead end they'd fallen into. She smiled and fell into step beside him.
Sookie and Rory stood in line for drinks while Jess went to get some food. They had a considerable wait, which was fine with the two friends.
"So, tomorrow night?"
"Yeah, we're going to the movies. You are going to be there, right?" Sookie asked nervously.
Rory smiled at her friend. She was so happy that Sookie and Jackson were finally going on their first date. They'd been flirting for years, and Rory knew they would hit it off, if only one of them would be brave enough to do the asking. Finally Sookie had gotten up the courage and made the plans.
"Of course I'll be there. I'm helping Jess out with the store tomorrow," she smiled.
"So, how's that going? You're over the freak out?"
Rory's face grew serious, remembering the not so distant fight they'd gotten into. "Yeah, we're good now. I can't believe I even thought those things. Things with us are perfect," she sighed happily.
"Uh-oh. Don't say perfect, never say things are perfect!" Sookie urged.
"What? Why?"
"That's when the universe lowers the boom," she said in a foreboding tone.
"The boom?"
"The boom," she agreed.
"I don't like the sound of this boom," Rory said, half joking, but half hearing her friend out.
"Well, just beware of the boom," she said, stepping up to place their drink orders.
An hour later, as promised, after making definite time plans for the following night with Sookie, Rory and Jess departed for the Gilmore house, stuffed with carnival food.
"I shouldn't have had that last elephant ear," she complained as she unlocked the door.
"Rory, you ate one of everything—the elephant ear wasn't going to tip the scales," he mocked.
"Why did you let me eat so much?" she grumped at him.
"Oooh, someone needs a nap," he said jokingly, trying to pick her up as they got into the house. She batted him away and tried to run into the living room. She ended up collapsed on the couch, kneeling on her knees with her forehead against the next cushion.
"Now, there's a different position. You know, I think you might have trouble seeing the TV like that," he commented, looking from her to the television. She sat up and glared at him.
"Hey, you're supposed to be nice," she reminded.
"I signed nothing," he said, sitting next to her and kissing her lightly.
"Well, I guess you don't want that book," she said haughtily.
He smiled and buried his face in her neck while mumbling his response, "I already have it in my apartment."
"Thief!" was all she got out before he pushed her back on her back and moved over her on the couch.
Luke and Lorelai opted to walk back to the house after they finally got out of the maze. It'd taken them over an hour and a half, which surprised Luke to no end—it hadn't looked all that big from the outside. Lorelai joked that it was just his ingrained male directional ability. No sense of where to go, and no sense to ask for directions.
They continued to hold hands on their way home, talking about his track meet tomorrow and her classes. They talked easily, about everything imaginable, and Lorelai loved that about him. They were almost to her house when he asked the unanswerable question.
"So, what are you up to tomorrow?"
She didn't want to lie to him. He didn't realize by asking such a simple question would cause her such agony over the answer. When she didn't answer after a few moments, he looked her way.
"Lorelai, did you hear me?"
"Oh, yeah, I heard you. I'm busy tomorrow," she said distractedly.
"O-kay," his tone was that of slight confusion as he picked up her unwillingness to answer. Something was up with her he knew; their date was perfect to this point.
Now at the house, they stopped, standing in front of the porch. Luke didn't press the issue, figuring she had her reasons for being tight-lipped. He gave her a smile, a gesture she returned and leaned closer to her. She met him halfway, enjoying the feel of his hands gently gliding over her hips as he kissed her. Both were wrapped up in the other in seconds, wondering what in life could be better than this.
AN: as always, thanks for reviewing. I love your comments, concerns and general proof that you're reading this story. Hehe. Anyhow, next chapter will be date with bachelor number two, and of course some lit stuff. I found I agreed with nature-girlie, I like seeing both relationships evolving along side each other.