Chapter 20

Laying in the dark, they snuggled up close to each other, both having a huge smile on their faces. It happened. Finally.

With her head in the hollow of Luke's neck, Lorelai slowly ran a finger over his bare chest. "Oh gooood, that was so incredible." Lorelai sighed contently.

"Thanks, but Luke's fine with me." Luke responded grinning.

Lorelai let out a small laugh. "Well, okay… Luke. Good to know."

"Yeah, I just thought I'd let you know." He reached for her hand, intertwined his fingers with hers.

"Hm-hmm. Thanks."

"I never thought it would be like this. So… intense, you know?" Luke said, while he was caressing Lorelai's back with his other hand. Lorelai nodded slightly.

"Even in my dreams…"

She lifted her head to look at him, "You dreamt about this? I mean about us? "

"Well, yeah."

"Aw… what did we do? Was it dirty? Oh I bet it was, right?"

"Lorelai."

"What? I'm just curious. Uhm, just tell me what I was wearing. Uh uh… I bet I didn't wear anything at all, right? Huh, I'm right, am I?"

"Ah geez. I shouldn't have told you."

Grinning, she laid her head back down, so that her lips almost touched his neck. After a moment of silence she started again. "Luuuke?"

"Yes?"

"Don't you think it's time for…" she started but Luke interrupted her.

"Again? Woman, you're killing me. Three times weren't enough, huh?" Luke said, laughing.

"No." she hit him playfully on the chest before she continued. "I meant it's time to eat something because I'm starving."

"And I know why."

"God knows why but I lost a lot of calories in the last hour. Hmm, so what about all this food in your fridge? I so want a midnight snack right now."

"I'll go get us something." He slipped into his boxer shorts and made his way over to the kitchen. A few minutes later he came back with a tray full of food.

Luke sat back down on the bed, leaning against the headboard of the bed.

"Where's my coffee?" Lorelai sat up frowning, when she couldn't found her beloved coffee on the tray.

"It's after midnight . You can't drink coffee in the middle of the night." He told her and poured some orange juice into a glass.

"Why not?"

"Because you won't be able to sleep later."

"Who says I want to?" Lorelai flashed him a grin but it vanished when she looked at the glass of orange juice he held out to her. "What's that?"

"Something healthy with vitamins. It's good, drink it."

She eagerly shook her head. "You know what? I'm not thirsty anymore."

"Ah geez." He let out a sigh and put the glass back on his nightstand.

She looked at him for a moment before she sat between his legs, leaning back against him. "Aw, yes. That's nice." She tilted her head back a little. "Is it comfy for you, too?"

"Absolutely." Luke embraced her with his strong arms, placing his hands on her belly.

She reached over to the tray and grabbed a snack to put it in her mouth. "Mmhhh."

"You like it?"

"Yep." She reached for a little tomato. "What's with the coffee you made earlier?"

"You can have orange juice."

"Nah, thanks. I'm fine." She stroked his forearm gently. "Luuuuke?"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering…" she stopped for a moment and glided her fingers up over his well-built biceps. "How come that you are so built? I mean, you can barely see it under all your flannel but as a lucky girl, what I am of course, I got a chance to see you without it and… and there's nothing to complain about. On the contrary, I like that view a lot better than your flannel-backwards-baseball-cap look, though it makes you incredible sexy. Hmm, maybe that's the reason why I come to the Diner that often, to see you. Your coffee is without a doubt a deciding factor. I think we both know that but it's different when you can drink your coffee and have an incredible body to look at. What do you think about serving coffee shirtless…"

"Lorelai…"

"Anyway, point is. Your muscular strong arms don't come from wiping the counter or filling the coffee machine, do they?"

"Very funny." He laughed and began to tickle her.

"What? What are you doing? It was a simple question." Laughing, she tried to push his hands away.

"Yes, I know and you're such a tease." He grabbed her waist to tickle her more and more until Lorelai couldn't stop laughing anymore.

"Luke…. please… stop that now. Or… or..." She tried to shove his hands away, still laughing.

"Or what?"

"Or you'll regret it, I swear." She tried to grab his hands. "That's not fair. Now you know the right places to tickle me."

"How true. Here for example." He tickled her waist. "Or here, am I right?"

"Luuuuke. Please, if you're not going to stop… we'll never do this again. So, think about it, Mister."

"Do what again?" Luke asked, grinning.

"What we just did."

"And that was…?" he whispered and rolled them over so that he was laying on top of her.

"Oh c'mon, Luke. You were with me a few minutes ago, were you?" she grinned, her eyes focused on his. "At least I had the impression you were." She added, biting her lower lip.

"Yes, I was. Definitely." Luke was leaning over her, both of his elbows were propped on either side of her head.

"See, then you know what I'm talking about." She stopped for a moment before she continued. "So, you haven't answered my question yet. Do you go to the gym or something?"

"Yes, when I find time."

"Must have a lot of time." She grinned, still looking into his eyes.

"Stop that or I'm taking you with me the next time."

Taking me? Where?" she asked innocently.

"To the gym. A little work out together is more fun." He bent down to kiss her neck and up to her jaw.

"Fun? For who?" she whispered, closing her eyes at the sensation of Luke's mouth on her skin.

"For us."

"You got to be kidding. You're so not taking me to the gym." She reached up and ran her fingers through Luke's hair, holding him close to her.

"We'll see." He mumbled against her neck.

"Hm?"

"Oh nothing." He whispered and started to kiss her passionately.

xxxxxxx

Next morning

It was 9am when Taylor came into the Diner sitting down on a stool at the counter. Whistling, Luke came out of the kitchen, a towel over his shoulder and with two plates in his hands which he carried to a table. He asked the customers for more coffee before he walked back behind the counter.

"Hey Taylor , what can I get you?" he asked in an unusual good mood.

"Morning Luke. I'm not here as a customer. I'm here because I want to talk to you about something."

"Okay, shoot."

"It's uhm… there's going to be this festival next week and I wanted to ask… if… well, they're not very big… and I just have a few of them, so it shouldn't be a big problem…"

"What is it, Taylor ?"

"I have these flyers…" he put them on the counter in front of him, "… and I wanted to ask you, if we can place them on your tables to inform the people of Stars Hollow about what's going on in our town and won't miss this big event." Taylor looked at Luke, waiting for a reaction but he couldn't see anything, so he continued. "Luke, it's just a simple question. I don't ask you to help organizing anything because I know that you wouldn't do it anyway. I just want you to help me with taking the flyers and leave them on…"

"Sure." Luke nodded and grabbed the coffee pot to make his way over to the tables, filling empty mugs.

"Sure?" Taylor moved around to look at him. "You mean, it's okay? There's no arguing or something?"

"No, why? Just leave me the flyers on the counter."

Taylor watched Luke with wide eyes and open mouth. He couldn't believe it. This was probably the first time that a question from him haven't lead to a heating argumentation. "So, it's really okay?"

"Yes. You sure I can't get you something?"

"Uhm, no thanks."

"Okay." He walked back behind the counter to make fresh coffee.

Just a few seconds later, Lorelai came down the stairs and into the Diner. Luke looked up and their eyes met, both smiling.

"Morning." She walked over to him, giving him a kiss.

"Morning yourself." He filled her a cup of coffee and handed it to her.

"Thanks." She took it with a smile. "Why didn't you wake me up? I wanted to see Rory before I go to work."

"I thought you'd need some sleep since we didn't get a lot last night." He whispered grinning totally unaware that Taylor was watching them.

"Actually, you're right. But you left me in your bed all alone at… what time was it?" she shrugged and continued. "And I woke up at six and was all freezing and everything because you weren't there." She pouted, looking at him.

"I'm sorry. You know, duty called."

"I know. I just thought that you would've Cesar open for you."

"Next time. I had no chance to ask him before." He told her, wiping the counter.

"Oh, okay."

"You want some pancakes?" Luke offered, throwing the towel over his shoulder again.

"No thanks. I should go. I'm late anyway." She leant in and gave him a small kiss. "Thanks for the coffee and everything else." She grinned at him.

"You're welcome."

"Bye." She walked to the door to leave.

"6.30." he called after her.

Turning around, she gave him a confused look. "What?"

"I pick you up at 6.30 tonight." He repeated, walking over to the register.

"Luke. we can't go out tonight. Today is Friday. Dinner with my parents, remember?"

"I know." He nodded.

"Then why?" she asked but suddenly she remembered. "Oh no, what does that mean?"

"That I pick you up at 6.30 and I'm coming with you."

"No. No no no." she repeated, shaking her head. "No."

"Lorelai. Your mother invited me for dinner. How does it look like when I'm not coming with you? I don't want to make a bad impression right at the beginning, you know?" he reasoned, looking at her.

"It's okay. She knows that you're busy in your Diner."

"I asked Cesar. He'll close up for me."

"But…" she took a glance at Taylor who watched their conversation eagerly before she walked back to Luke, grabbed his arm and pulled him with her into the store room.

"What is it?"

"You don't have to do this, Luke."

"To join you for dinner? But I want to."

"No, you probably think that you have to but that's not true. I'm going to tell my mother that your Diner was all crowded and you found no one to stand in for you. That's it. Problem solved."

"Problem solved? Lorelai, that's not how it works. If this is going to work between us…"

"If?" she looked at him frowning.

"No, I'm sure it will. Of course it will but point is. We can't do this forever."

"Do what?"

"Lying. To your mother."

"Uhm..."

"I mean, she's going to invite me again. Eventually. Don't you think? And how often I can tell her the excuse with my Diner? That's not going to work." He let out a sigh, looking at her.

"I know. It's just… I don't want to put you through this. Dinner with my parents is horrible. Actually everything, involving my parents, is horrible. Believe me, I'm not kidding here. Life-long experience, you know? Give my mother time to get used to the idea of us being together and join me for dinner next week. Is that a deal?"

"Are you serious?"

"Yes." She nodded, walking over to him.

"And she won't be mad at me and hate me forever because I dare to not coming to the 'oh so famous' Friday night dinners?" Luke asked, frowning.

"I don't think so."

"You don't think so? Well, that sounds great."

"I'm just kidding. Look, let me deal with my parents alone tonight. Please."

Hesitantly, Luke answered. "Okay. If that's what you want."

"Yes." She grabbed his face and pulled him in for a kiss, shoving him back against some shelves so that a glass fell down on the floor. She pulled apart and looked at the floor, innocently. "Ops."

"Yes, ops. " Luke rolled his eyes, trying to hide a smile.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"I know, I know. Good think that it was empty."

"Yes." She gave him a quick kiss again before she walked to the door. "I better go now. Do you want me to call you after dinner?"

Taking the broom, he began to clean the floor. "Uhm, yes. Or you can come over or something."

"Maybe." She gave him a grin. "Bye."

"Bye." He smiled back at her before he continued with his work.

Lorelai walked out of the store room and left the Diner, leaving a curious looking Taylor at the counter.

xxxxxxxx

To be continued...

Okay, thanks for still reading my story. Wah, it's so long already, isn't it? :p
Hm, well, please tell me if you liked this chapter. Thanks. :)