Chapter 7
Next morning...
"What was that your mother offered us for breakfast?" Rory asked and wrinkled her nose when they left Lane's house.
"Soy bread." Lane told her.
"God, and can't believe I ate that."
"Well, I have to eat that everyday." Lane frowned.
"No, you mean you're pretending to eat it."
"Rory, you know that's not possible when my mum watches me during breakfast."
"Oh. Yeah, you could be right then." Rory rubbed her stomach. "I need coffee. Now!"
They crossed the street, when they saw a crowd of people in front of Luke's Diner.
"Kirk, what's this about?" Rory asked him.
"The Diner is closed."
"What? But it's past eight." She looked at Lane and back to Kirk.
"Who you're telling this. I stand here for almost two hours already. And I need my pancakes."
"Is there a message or something?"
Kirk shook his head, "No. Just the 'closed' sign."
"Oh. Well, I'm sure Luke has his reasons."
"Where do I get my pancakes now?" Kirk asked.
Lane shrugged, "I'm sorry."
"Be brave Kirk." Rory patted on his shoulder.
xxxxxx
They entered the house and headed straight into the kitchen for coffee. "Seems like my Mum is still asleep. You want coffee, too?"
"Uhm, Rory!" Lane whispered bewildered.
"What?" Rory stopped and turned around when she saw Luke and Lorelai sleeping on the couch. "Oh my god."
Luke was laying behind Lorelai and had his arm protectively around her. Their fingers linked.
"You didn't tell me..." Lane started, whispering.
"There's nothing to tell." Rory walked to the sofa and tapped on her mother's shoulder.
"Luke, no. It's too early." Lorelai mumbled and pulled his arm closer around her.
"Mum!"
A second later, Lorelai opened her eyes and looked at her daughter. Her expression confused. "Oh god, Rory!" she noticed Luke's arm around her and tugged it away to sit up. "It's not what it looks like."
"Lorelai..." Luke murmured and tried to pull her back to him.
"Oh really? Then how does it look like?"
"It's uhm..." suddenly she perceived Lane, "...Lane."
"Hey Lorelai." Lane waved at her, smiling.
"That's not happening." She pressed her fingers to her eyes. "What time is it?"
"8.30 am ."
"What? Oh god." She turned round to Luke to wake him up. "Luke!"
Slowly he stirred and mumbled something when she tried it again, "Luke…"
"Hmm?" he opened his eyes and smiled, pulling Lorelai down into a gentle kiss. "Hi."
"Morning Luke!" Rory threw in.
"Rory!" he jumped and sat up straight. And it didn't take long when he saw Lane, too. "Geez. What's going on here? Town meeting or what?"
"Your Diner, Luke. You have to open your Diner."
Luke glanced at his watch, "Goddamn it!" he got up and picked his cap up from the floor. "Why is it that late? We were watching this movie and…"
"…then we fell asleep." Lorelai finished.
"Apparently." He put on his baseball cap. "I should go now!" he said and looked at her.
"Okay." she started, smiling. "Yesterday was nice."
"Really nice." Luke emphasized and slanted a look at Rory and Lane. Their presence made him a little uncomfortable. "Do I… uhm… do I see you later?"
"Sure." Lorelai nodded.
"Okay. I'm looking forward to it." He whispered and walked to the door.
"Luke."
"Yeah?"
"Backdoor. Babette. Remember?"
"Oh, right. Sorry I forgot." They walked past Rory and Lane into the kitchen.
Lorelai hesitated and pulled him into a small kiss. "Bye!"
"Bye!" he smiled and closed the door behind him.
Then she walked back into the living room, shifted her gaze at Rory and Lane before she headed upstairs.
"Won't you tell me what's going on here?" Rory started, following her mother upstairs.
"Not yet, Rory. I'm late." Lorelai told her and headed towards her closet, rummaging through her clothes.
"It's just. I'm away for a night and you and Luke seemed to be… well, is it serious between you now?" Rory asked, watching her mother.
"What do you think about this skirt?"
"It's nice. Mum…"
"Yeah but does it go with this blouse?" she took her blue one out of the closet. "The red one would be nice too and it'd go with my new boots. They're fabulous." Lorelai scratched her head.
"Red blouse, black skirt and what color are those boots?" Lane asked and Rory shot her an annoying look. "What? I'm just trying to help."
"Yeah and I appreciate that." Lorelai nodded, "They're black."
"Good."
"So, now that we've solved this…." She turned back to Lorelai. "Is it serious with you and Luke."
Lorelai looked at Rory and sighed, "Well…"
"You know we have rules, do you? "
"What do you mean?"
"You made them. No men in the house."
"Yeah, but it's just Luke." Lorelai told her.
"And Luke's not a man?"
"Hmm, well… what I know, he definately is." Lorelai grinned, biting her lower lip. When she noticed her daughters look she sat down on the bed, "Look, you know we've painted the Diner yesterday. Then I asked him to join me for a movie. He said yes. We watched 'Gone with the wind' and must have fallen asleep. That's it." Lorelai smiled when she thought back what else happened on the couch.
"I know that look."
"What?" she asked, ever so innocently.
"Your look when you're talking about Luke. I can almost see a glow around you."
"A glow?" Lorelai laughed.
"Yes." Then she studied her mother suspiciously. "You have feelings for him, right? Real feelings. "
"What? Uhm… I…" she played with her fingers, trying to hide a grin.
Lane's eyes grew wide, "Lorelai, is that true?"
"Well… maybe…"
"Awww, that's so great!" Lane sat down next to Lorelai and grinned.
"Yes it is. The way he looks at me…" she sighed, smiling. "…makes me forget everything around me."
Rory smiled, "So, do we get our coffee for free now?"
"You bet." Lorelai got up, "Okay kids. I really have to get ready here."
"Sure okay." Lane said and Lorelai headed into the bathroom.
xxxxxx
"Yes I understand what you're saying." Michel stood behind the reception desk, talking to one of the guests on the phone. "Yes, I got that too." He looked up when Lorelai came in and watched her hurrying behind the desk. "Yes. Yes. I understand." He took a glance at his watch and frown. "No. Uh-huh. Of course I'm trying to help you." He rubbed his temples. "Yes. Yes. Okay. Bye!" he ended the call and turned to Lorelai. "You're late."
"I know."
"You know what today is?"
"Well, today is... uhm... Saturday?" Lorelai smirked and looked through the mail.
"Very funny. Don't tell me you forgot the dinner for the art association tonight."
"Dinner? Who booked a dinner for tonight and didn't tell me?" Lorelai asked puzzled.
Michel leafed through the reservation book, "Ah, that would be you."
"What?" she grabbed the book, "You're right. That's my handwriting."
"Yes, that's what I'm saying."
"God, it totally slipped my mind. Fifty people and I haven't planned anything yet. Okay, I have to talk to Sookie about the menu. Could you check if we have enough clean tablecloths? If not, call Manny. And talk with the waiters about the arrangement of the tables, so that we know which and how many flowers we gonna need. And…" she thought for a moment, "…that's all for now."
"Thank god."
Lorelai looked over her shoulder when she headed towards the kitchen, giving him a faked smile. "I'll be right back."
xxxxxxx
It was 10pm when Lorelai arrived at home. She walked into the kitchen and found Rory's door open. So she peeked around the doorframe and found her sitting on the bed, reading a book.
"Hey." Lorelai said and sank onto the bottom of the bed.
"Hi. You're late." She put the book down and looked at her mum.
"I know. And I'm so dead." She fell down on the bed and closed her eyes.
"How was the dinner? Everything went fine?"
"Yes. Wait, no. Michel had some kind of dispute with one of the association members."
"About what?"
"He told Michel what a funny accent he has. You know Michel doesn't like it when people criticize him about his articulation. And that's how it began." She sighed, "Oh god, I'm starving."
"Have you had dinner?"
Lorelai shook her head, "No lunch, no dinner . I think I'm dying."
"You haven't eaten anything the whole day?"
"Well, Sookie wanted me to try her mushroom soup. Yeah, that's it."
"Wow. Okay, there should be some leftover Chinese food in the fridge."
"Okay." She sat up, "Would you mind to carry me upstairs into my bed?" she looked at her daughter, pouting.
"You're a big girl. You can go on your own."
"Well, I know that but my feet don't see it the same way."
"Go to bed, mum."
She sighed again, "Okay, 'Night."
"Good night."
She closed the door to Rory's room and took a box of Chinese food out of the fridge before she headed upstairs. After a quick shower she changed into Luke's flannel shirt and laid down on her bed.
She wasn't able to see Luke the whole day though she promised to come to the Diner for lunch. But because of all the work she had with the planning of the dinner, she had absolutely no time. Not even to call him. And now she felt bad about it. Really bad. Maybe it was ridiculous, she thought, but she really missed him. It wasn't the first time that she hadn't seen him for a day but now it seemed to be different because they are different. But she liked that. And she knew it was a good thing.
Smiling, she grabbed the phone from her nightstand and totally unaware of the current time she dialed Luke's number.
After the fourth ring, Luke answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's me."
"Oh, hey."
"I'm sorry, I haven't thought about the time. Did I wake you up?"
"No. I was in bed but I didn't sleep." Luke told her, looking at his watch.
"Oh okay." She stopped for a moment before she continued, "Luke, I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I promised you to come to the Diner."
"It's okay."
"You know, we had this event planned for today at the hotel, which totally slipped my mind. And then I was busy the whole day with the organization and everything. I just came home twenty minutes ago."
"Then you had a rough day, huh?"
"You could say so." She said and smelled on the shirt she was wearing. "How was your day?"
"Fine."
"Something interesting happened?"
"Well, the usual things. I poured coffee, made sandwiches and grilled burgers. Stuff like that."
"Sounds good." She said, laughing.
"Ah well, I forgot something."
"What? That you threw Taylor out of your Diner?" she asked, grinning.
"No." he hesitated a moment. "I missed you."
"Aww…" this made her smile, "…well, I missed you too."
"Me or my coffee?" Luke asked, laughing.
"Hmmm... both, but I missed you a little bit more."
"A little bit?"
"Yep."
"How much is that?"
"So much that I'm wearing your shirt at the moment." She looked down on her and smiled.
"Really? That's an honor, I guess."
"Yeah, it should be. And... I think i'm going to keep it."
"Who says you can?"
"Well, I said that."
"Okay." A smile covered his face. "I'll see you tomorrow then, right?"
"You bet."
"Bye Lorelai."
"Bye." She said and put the phone back on her nightstand. With a smile she turned to the side and slowly drifted off to sleep.
xxxxxx
to be continued...
Please tell me what you think. Oh and I promise the next chapter is going to be better. wink to Debbie :D