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Chapter 5

"Uaaah… Luke!" Lorelai shouted out of breath, carrying a box full of paint utensils.

Luke came back from the kitchen, "What's all this?" he said, placing the box on the counter.

"Well, very important things. Different kind of brushes, rollers, tarps… I don't know, a lot of stuff we're going to need, says Lonnie from the market." Lorelai said, nodding.

"Uh-huh…well, if Lonnie says so." Luke looked into the box, "But didn't you forget anything?"

"Anything?" Lorelai raised her eyebrow.

"Something important? We have brushes and rollers but what do we do with them without…"

"Aaah… the paint."

"Exactly."

Lorelai pointed to the dozen of cans right in front of the Diner, "All here and waiting for a strong man to bring them in." Lorelai offered him a grin. "Do you know one?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" Lorelai shook her head, "Wrong answer."

"Don't you think you bought too much paint?"

"Too much? Nooo… you can never buy too much of anything."

Luke rolled his eyes, "Says who?"

"Me!" Lorelai pointed at herself.

"I thought as much." He walked behind the counter again.

"So, when do you close?"

He glanced at his watch, "Don't know. Maybe earlier. It's kind of empty anyway at the moment."

Lorelai turned her head and saw Kirk sitting on a table all alone. "What about Kirk?" she asked, turning back to Luke.

"He's sitting there for three hours already. A glass of orange juice was all he ordered." Luke told her.

"Really? He looks sad. Did you ask why he's sitting there the whole afternoon, staring into the space?"

"No. What am I? His shrink? I have no time for this." He threw the towel over his shoulder and proceeded to clean the tables.

"Kirk. Everything okay?" Lorelai walked over to him.

Kirk looked up at her. "No!"

"Oh, why not?"

"My blind date didn't show up."

"You had a blind date?" Lorelai asked, curiously.

"Kind of. Yeah. We talked in this chat room almost every day and then she asked if we could go for a drink. I said, why not and so we send us pictures of each other. I'm all dressed up and have a new haircut, all for her. And now, I'm sitting here for three hours and she doesn't show up."

"I wonder why." Luke mumbled while he was wiping the tables.

"I heard that. " Kirk said.

"Good."

"I'm really sorry, Kirk. But call her. Do you have her number?"

"Unfortunately not. I gave her mine."

"Bad thing."

"Yeah, it's okay. It's always like that. I'm getting used to it." He got up, "I heard you want to close earlier. So it really happens today? The big change?"

"Yeah" Luke said, nodding.

"I was wondering if you need help. I painted a few buildings in Stars Hollow the last year." Kirk offered.

"No, thanks" Luke said, shortly.

"Okay, just asking. Bye Luke. Bye Lorelai." Kirk said, before he left the Diner.

"Bye. Awww… poor Kirk." Lorelai started and turned to Luke. "So, where's this strong man you're talking about earlier?" she gave him a smile.

"Just left the Diner." Luke smirked.

"Ha-ha! Very funny, Mister backwards baseball cap." she said, with her hands on her hips. "Could you bring them in? I'll start covering everything with the tarps." Lorelai suggested.

"Yeah okay." Luke went outside and dragged the cans of different colors into the Diner.

"You know, I was wondering…" she started but stopped as she took off her sweater.

"What?" Luke put the cans on the counter and looked at her. He noticed her light blue shirt with the 'hot chica' print on it and all he could do was smile.

"If you have a CD player down here because I brought some CDs."

"Uhm…yeah, I think Cesar has one in the kitchen." he told her, putting the chairs onto the table.

"Okay, cool." She walked into the kitchen and came back with the CD player. She set it down onto the counter and put in her CD. Then they covered everything with the tarps until they were ready to paint.

"So, where do we start?" Lorelai asked with a roller in her hand.

"I'll start with the wall over there."

"Good desicion." Lorelai nodded. "It's the smallest."

"Ha-ha." Luke laughed and started painting.

She watched him for a while, grinning. "Uhm, what do you think you're doing, Mister?"

Luke stopped and turned round, "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, you do it wrong."

"I do what wrong?"

"The way you're rolling the roller. It's not right."

"Lorelai…"

"Listen to me, because I'm an expert." Lorelai stated.

"Are you. Really!" Luke nodded, "Then let me see."

"Sure, buddy. Watch and learn." She took the roller out of his hand, dipped it into the paint and rolled it up and down the wall. "See. That's the way it's supposed to be." She glanced over her shoulder to look at him and found him staring at her with a quiet intensity.

He was watching every single movement she did. He found it both relaxing and entertaining to look at her. So he hooked his thumbs in his front pockets and did just that.

After a while, he started. "So, let me see if I got that right." He stepped up behind her and grabbed her hand, painting together with her. "Is that right?"

"Uhm…" she shuddered when she felt his body so close to her, "…yeah." She turned her head so that she could meet his eyes.

"I'm a fast learner." Luke said and smiled at her.

"Indeed." She smiled back at him, nervously. "So, now that you're a professional yourself…" she slowly eased back from him, "…I leave you alone with your wall because… because I get too much distracted over here."

"How comes?" Luke asked with amusement and watched her go to the other side of the Diner where she started to paint.

After a while she stopped and turned to look at him, found him staring at her again. "Hey, I didn't say we can take a break."

"I'm not taking a break."

"Funny because I have the impression that you do nothing. That's your plan? Leaving all the work to me? So that's your thank that I was all willing to help you with your Diner?" she pouted.

"Is it that obvious?" Luke asked, laughing.

"Yes, you're an open book. So transparent." She pointed with a finger at him. "Bad bad Luke!"

"I'm not bad. Just a man. " He countered, smiling.

"Yes, you are. And being a man is no excuse."

"Yes it is. And no, I'm not."

"Yes you are." Lorelai repeated again, trying to hide a grin.

"No." he shook his head, laughing.

"Don't laugh. I'm serious. You… you're bad… or evil? I can't decide because I'm not sure which word fits better with your shirt. Does the devil wear flannel? Maybe I'll use both. Yes, that's it. Both. And I'm going to think of a new nickname for you. What about "Mister I'm-always-grumpy-and…."

SPLASH!!

Lorelai looked at her shirt and her mouth fell open. "Luke!"

"Yeah?" he said, ever so innocently.

"Now you're really in trouble, Mister." She took one of the brushes, dipped it into the paint and splashed back at him.

"Lucky strike, that's all!" he said, indicating the paint on his flannel shirt.

"So, now you're not only a half devil, you're mean too. That's it." She dipped the brush into the paint again and headed towards him.

"Lorelai, what are you doing?" Luke mad a few steps back.

"Why?"

"Stay away from me. " He said laughing, holding out a hand.

But it was too late. The brush landed on his face, leaving a blob of paint on his cheek.

Lorelai giggled, "Gotcha!"

"Woah, ooookay! So you really want this?"

"What?" she asked grinning. And now it was her turn to make a few steps back.

"You're so going to beg for mercy when I'm done with you." His lips twitched into an amused smile while he headed towards her.

"What? Luke! Don't do anything stupid." She saw the determined look in his face. "Luke…" she walked around the table to bring some space between them. "I said, don't!" she added laughing.

"Don't what?"

"Don't do what... whatever you're going to do because…"

"Because?"

"I swear I'll scream." She ran away from him, still laughing.

"Really?" he shrugged, "I don't care." He dipped the brush into the color again

"No no no no! You and your brush, stay away from me! Please!"

"See, you're begging already. But it's too late!" he said and began to chase her through the Diner, around the tables and the counter, while they were splashing more and more paint onto each other.

Suddenly Lorelai stumbled over a can of paint and both of them landed on the floor. Lorelai landed on her back with Luke on top of her.

They were still laughing when Lorelai began, "Was that really necessary?"

"Landing on top of you? Yeah, better than on the hard floor." Luke laughed.

"Ha-ha, that's not what I meant." She answered grinning.

"You're dirty!"

"Yeah, something tells me that I'm not the only one here."

"Well, then…" he said and they looked at each other for a while.

"Luke…"

"Yeah?"

"You're heavy…maybe you could…"

"Oh, sure. I'm sorry." He rolled off her on his back, trying to catch his breath again.

She sat up and grinned. "God, look at us. We're dirty!"

"You said that already."

"No, I mean really dirty." She touched her hair and noticed that she had paint in it, too. "And my hair. I must look horrible."

"No, you're not."

"Sure, nice try!" she answered, grinning.

"Really!" Luke sat up too and reached his hand up to her cheek. "See, it's just color."

The simple touch of him caused a quick bounce of her heart. She closed her eyes and didn't tug his hand away.

He decided to let it rest there for a while when he felt her leaning into his touch. Slowly she opened her eyes again and smiled at him. God, how he loved that smile.

Before she could say anything he rubbed his lips over hers, ever so softly. Somehow she was sliding into the kiss without a single murmur of protest. So he kissed her again. Slower and deeper this time until she was helpless to resist and threw her arms around his neck to drew him closer to her. And somehow she noticed how much she wanted this. She wanted him. Luke.

After they pulled apart, Lorelai whispered. "Hi."

"Hi yourself."

"Tell me why do we always end up like this?" she asked smiling.

"Well, seems like you can't let your hands off me." Luke responded and toyed with a strand of her hair.

"Sure, that's it." Lorelai said, laughing. "Okay, I think we should go back to work here."

"Probably, yeah!"

Both got up and Lorelai looked around, "See, and you were afraid I bought to much paint!" she grinned before she took the roller and continued with her work.

To be continued...
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