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?"

"Yeah, it's me. I was hoping you'd be back from your track meet," she said, turning to face the door of the large house, hoping no one was coming after her. She had no desire to see Tristan right now. Or ever again for that matter. Not after what she had just witnessed.

"Where are you?"

"I'm in Hartford," she sighed.

"At your grandparent's?"

"No, I came to this party, and my ride can't take me home now, so I really need to get home," she said, leaving out details that she knew he deserved.

"Give me the address," he simply said, needing no further explanation. She'd have to thank him for his haste later.

Luke hurried down the stairs, trying to be quiet as there were still some people hanging around after the movie, drinking coffee and talking. He said nothing as he passed his uncle and Rory, not wanting to explain where he was going, as he still wasn't sure what was going on with Lorelai. She sounded weird—her voice was a mixture of anger and impatience. He just hoped she was safe until he got there.

Jess noticed his nephew move through the bookstore at top speed, but said nothing. He was too busy talking to Rory, who was sitting on the couch with her feet up under her as she drank her post-movie coffee. Every so often, she'd glance over at her friend Sookie, who was looking much more comfortable on her date with Jackson. They'd moved a little closer to the other, and were talking animatedly.

"That's so nice, isn't it?"

"What?" he asked, moving his eyes to see she was smiling at Sookie.

"To see two people figure out they're supposed to be together," she said happily.

"I guess so. It's nicer when you feel it for yourself," he said with thoughtfulness.

She turned and focused her attention back on Jess, who continued to amaze her at times with his sincerity. She leaned closer to him and kissed his cheek.

"You're so getting lucky later," she mused, causing a large grin to cover his face, before standing up suddenly.

"That's it, we're closed. Everybody out!" he called; gathering strange looks from the handful of people that were left. It wasn't the first time Jess had ever ordered people out of his store at a moments notice, but this time was unusually abrupt. Sookie looked to Rory who blushed, and she nodded in realization. Rory headed over to her as Jackson gathered their jackets.

"So, he asked me to come over to his place, for coffee," she emphasized the last word to Rory.

"Coffee, huh?"

"Yeah," she paused sneaking a look at him before turning back to Rory, "I think I really like this guy," she confessed.

"Have fun, and I want full details tomorrow," she smiled at her friend and gave her a quick hug before Jackson came up to help Sookie on with her jacket. Rory watched the last of the people leave and Jess lock the door. He turned out the light and approached her slowly.

"So, you need to clean up?"

He looked directly at her, but otherwise seemed to be completely ignoring her. The focus of his gaze made her almost uncomfortable, having nowhere else to shift the intense attention onto.

"Jess?"

"Huh?"

"Cleaning?"

"Later," he said simply as he ran a hand down her arm and interlocked her fingers into his own. She watched him as he moved, this simple motion that spoke volumes to her. He moved away from her, but since he was now connected to her she moved with him. He led her up the stairs and into the vacant apartment. Once inside, her eyes again locked with his, and he moved backwards towards his bed. He moved in to kiss her, but missed her mouth as her head shot to the side to look around his shoulder.

"What is that?" she asked, trying to step around him, but he put his hands around her waist and held her in place.

"I'm sort of busy, here," he reminded her.

"Jess, your bed—it's," she started.

"Rory, shh," he smiled, trying to move into her mouth again.

"That's not your bed," she reasoned, trying to look at it again.

"Yes, it is," he insisted, sighing and let her move past him and jump on the bed. She bounced a couple of times, as if to test it out.

"You know, I plan on putting a lot of wear on the bed, you don't need to ruin the box springs without me," he smirked, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched her continue to bounce around on his new full sized bed.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to jump on your bed?"

"My mother told me a lot of things," she grinned, and began beckoning for him to join her by curling her index finger towards her from his direction.

"Like what?"

"Like, it's improper to keep a lady waiting," she arched a brow and waited for his response.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, moving over to the bed and almost knocking her down as he moved over her. At the last moment, he supported her in a backwards lean, until she was pressed into the new mattress, and him pressed into her.

Luke pulled into the neighborhood, trying to imagine Lorelai hanging out with people that live here. She definitely wasn't the uptight rich socialite type, but then again she seemed to fit in no matter where she was. He figured she was there because of someone she went to school with, but what he hated was the idea that she was probably originally here on a date. A date gone wrong, he feared and was hoping at the same time. But first, he had to find the house.

She was waiting in the cold, realizing that not only did she forget a jacket, but also her duffel bag was still in Tristan's car. Groaning, she gritted her teeth, willing herself to just stand still and wait for Luke.

"There you are," came his normal voice coming up behind her. She remained motionless, hoping if she ignored him, he'd go away.

"Lorelai?" his concern at her non-response was evident, so he walked around in front of her, but she averted her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she bit, still not meeting his eyes.

"Right, I believe that," he joked.

"Don't worry about me, Tristan. I'm going home, just go back to your party."

"What are you talking about?" his tone was annoyed as she was jumping down his throat.

"I saw you with her, Tristan. You made your intentions quite clear," she said with a sardonic laugh.

"Who, Summer? We're just friends," he said with a straight face.

"You aren't dating Summer?" she asked, her hands now on her hips.

"Wait just a minute, aren't you dating someone else?"

"Yes, someone I told you about," she said pointedly.

"You told me it was fine if we dated other people, forgive me for just dancing with a friend," he began, "Who's picking you up, anyhow? Your mom?" he asked, knowingly as he started to get angry.

"You weren't just dancing—that was foreplay!" she yelled, not caring if anyone could hear her. Plenty of people were milling about outside despite the cooler temperatures, most of them too drunk to notice.

By the time Luke pulled up in the street—at the obviously overflowing party house, Lorelai and Tristan were yelling at each other in the front lawn. He got out and walked up to Lorelai, ignoring Tristan.

"Lore? You ready?" he asked, as she turned to look at him gratefully.

"Yeah, I'm ready," she nodded, sending one last glare Tristan's way.

"What about your stuff?" Tristan asked, still not moving. He was talking to Lorelai, but glaring at Luke. This was who she was dating? He'd met Luke before and this guy didn't seem to be her type at all. She hadn't noticed him much when Tristan had been around at any rate. Now this guy was getting territorial, staring him down over her? This guy obviously had the wrong idea.

"I'm leaving, Tristan," she shook her head, moving to walk towards the car.

"You don't want your clothes?" he tried again, knowing his words would put Luke's mind into overdrive.

"Get your stuff," came Luke's voice.

It was more demanding than she'd ever heard him sound before, and she couldn't really blame him the way Tristan was staring him down and talking about her clothes being in his car. Not that she could deny it, but it wasn't how Tristan was so good at making it sound. She looked into Luke's eyes, which at this point were unreadable, and frowned.

"Get your stuff, and we'll go," he assured her.

She nodded and followed Tristan to his car. He handed her the duffel bag and she took it wordlessly. She immediately met Luke at Jess' car and got in next to him. She shut her door and figured he'd start the ignition, but instead they just sat there. She glanced over at him, his firm grip on the steering wheel, and his attention focused somewhere on the dashboard.

"Luke?" she ventured quietly.

"Yeah?" his eyes still not leaving whatever they were caught on.

"Thanks for coming to get me."

"What happened?" he now turned his gaze to meet hers, and she felt helpless to look away. She couldn't look away, and she couldn't not answer him. She took a deep breath and began her tale.

"Tristan and I, we went out today. We went for massages—that's why I had clothes in his car," she paused to see if her words made his expression softer, "then we went to this party. We danced, and then I went to the bathroom. When I got back, he was grinding up against his ex-girlfriend."

Luke nodded, "So, then you called me," he finished for her.

"Yeah. You were the first person that came to mind, I just had to get out of there."

He nodded again, but still she couldn't read his expression. She felt like an eternity went by before he spoke again.

"I know you were still dating him, you were honest with me about it," he began, "But I have to tell you—I'm not going to come pick you up when your date with someone else goes awry. I really like you, and I feel I've been upfront with you about that."

"Luke, I'm sorry, I just had to--," she began, her tone pleading. She knew he was right; it was a crummy thing to do. She wasn't being fair to Tristan or Luke. She hadn't meant to, but she was trying to reap all the benefits and screwing them both over in the process.

"Maybe you should take some time alone and figure out what you want."

His comment left a deafening chasm in the car, with its epicenter somewhere between the bucket seats. He couldn't be serious. She realized at some point during the night that she wasn't handling all this too well, but he wanted to stop seeing her? She could feel her chest constricting, and breathing was suddenly something she needed to focus on to keep doing.

"If that's what you want," she said in a voice she didn't recognize as her own. It was small, it was confused and she wanted to crawl under the seats. He started the car and they drove off, leaving the loud drunken crowd growing smaller behind them.

When Luke dropped her off at home, after the longest ride home ever, she thanked him again and got out of the car. There was no response, no kiss, no nothing. Just the sound of him putting the car into reverse as she made her way up the porch steps. She let herself in, and she prayed that Jess was staying at home tonight. She could hear rustling in the kitchen, then her mother's voice singing along to the radio softly. She threw her bag into her room, causing Rory to turn and look at her daughter.

Rory noticed the look on her daughter's face, as if it might crumble and fall apart, and moved to her. She put her arms around her, and held her close.

"Honey, what's wrong?" she coaxed.

"Well, I finally got them in the same place," she managed, the tears starting to collect along her bottom eyelashes.

"What happened?" she let her wonderful night with Jess slip to the back of her mind as she focused on Lorelai as the events of the weekend unfolded from Lorelai's point of view. Her perfect evening on Friday with Luke, her good time and her demise with Tristan tonight. How she realized that she can't handle it all, and now she's left without either as it all unraveled in a matter of minutes. Rory continued to hold and soothe her as Lorelai's tears fell down her cheeks. As much as she wanted to take away the pain, there was nothing she could say to do so tonight.

AN: yes, I knew she was being a big hypocrite---you see, I had a plan. And I still do. Thanks for reviews, as always!