Thanks for all the reviews! Here's the next part.

I don't own 'em....

Part three

When Lorelai walked past the diner the next morning, she saw Melanie sitting at the counter, laughing at something Luke had said. And Luke was smiling.

Luke

As much as she tried to fool herself, she missed him. But he had obviously gotten over her, and she wasn't one to give in first. She remembered times when she would sit at the counter and do her best to make him aggravated, only to repent herself with a kiss. Well, not any more. As she watched the blonde lean over the counter to place a kiss on Luke's stubbly chin, Lorelai's eyes started to sting and her vision blurred.

Crap crap crap! No, I won't cry in the middle of the street. I won't!

She looked down at her watch.

"Shoot, I'm going to be late again", and with that she strode off in the direction of the inn without a backwards glance.

"Making it right now," Sookie answered without even looking up from the stove.

"Great. So...how are Davey and Nicky?" Nicky was Sookie and Jackson's 5 month old daughter.

"Fine." She replied, once more, without eye contact.

Lorelai sighed, "Sookie, please stop giving me the cold shoulder. I know you're mad at me for hurting Luke and all, but you're my best friend."

Sookie finally looked up at Lorelai.

"You're right Lorelai, I am mad at you for hurting Luke. That man would have done anything for you. Anything. He loved you Lorelai. Loved you in a way no one else has. And you recipricated those feelings by cheating on him! This past year, I've seen both you and Luke happier than ever before, and then you went and broke his heart. That...it...that makes me sick."

Lorelai had to turn away at Sookie's final statement.

Stupid tears. You'd think that after 3 months of crying, I'd run out of tears.

"Don't you think I know that, Sookie? Don't you think I wake up in the middle of the night and reach for him, hoping it was a bad dream, then cry myself to sleep when I'm hit with reality? Because the reality is, Sookie, that I need Luke. I love him more than anything, and I need him, but I screwed up. I screwed up, and I'm going to have to live with the consequences for the rest of my life."

Sookie looked at her friend sympathetically, her anger melting. Lorelai was a wreak, and Sookie couldn't just sit and watch when her friend was in trouble.

"Shh...it's okay. I forgive you, and I'm sure, if you just made the effort, Luke would forgive you too."

"I don't think so, Sookie. He's seeing someone else."

"Oh yea, I heard about that, some Melanie girl, right? Short, blonde, pretty...?"

"That's her. I saw Luke with her Last night, and then again this morning. He's moved on Sookie, and I should too."

"You love him, don't you?"

"Of course..."

"Well, then, don't give up so easily! We'll find a way to get that flannel-wearing, backwards-baseball-cap, gruff diner owner back in your life...don't worry."

"I don't know..."

Rory was laying on her bed in her dorm, writing a paper for her psychology class in 2 days.

Trying to write it at least...

Her thoughts kept drifting back to her mother and Luke. Even though she hadn't spoken to her mother in almost three months, she had Lane to fill her in on the Stars Hollow's going-ons. She knew her mom walked by the diner every day, which was more often than she did when her and Luke were together, knew that Luke was dating a girl named Melanie, and both Luke and Lorelai were too stubborn to even talk to each other. She also believed that, really and truly, neither wanted to be broken up.

She remembered about two weeks before the break up...

"...and then he was like, Lorelai!"

Her mom's laugh echoed through the phone lines and filled Rory's small Yale dorm.

"So you and Luke are good?"

"Are you kidding babe? We're better than good..." her mom lowered her voice conspiratorially, "I think he's the one."

"The one?"

"Rory! You know, the one that we girls like to fancy is made for us, who we spend almost our whole entire lives, from the moment boys stop having cooties to the day we can't discern male from female, looking for. The guy that..."

There was a knock on Rory's door.

"...and you want to come home to every night."

Rory smiled, "Well mom, I'm glad you found "the one", but I'm going to have to cut this informative lecture short, because someone's at my door...who knows, it could be my "one""

"K babe, g'night. I'll see ya Friday at the dinner from hell."

"Bye mom. Love you."

Rory hung up the phone and headed towards the door, musing as she went. She was happy her mom had found Luke, "the one". Rory laughed at that. For all she knew, her "one" could already have come and gone, it could have been Dean, or Jess, or even Logan. She scoffed at the last one. Her and Logan had dated for about 6 months before deciding to just be friends. No way could he ne "the one".

A little voice inside her head disagreed.

Luke and Lorelai were friends for 8 years before anything happened, now her mom believed Luke was "the one".

Rory shook her head as she opened the door. Forget Logan.

"Hey Rory"

"Luke! What are you doing here?"

"Umm...I wanted to talk to you...can we go for a walk?"

"Sure, lemme just grab my cell."

5 minutes later, they were seated on a bench in the Yale common.

"So Luke...what brings you to this school of higher learning?"

"Actually..." Luke took off his hat, scratched his head, and shoved it back on. It was plain to Rory that Luke was nervous. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Okay..."

She waited for him to continue, and when he didn't, she began looking around at the tall Yale buildings around her. When she turned back around, Luke had placed a small velvet box in her hand. She opened it slowly, glancing up to see Luke watching her face, gauging her reaction. Inside was an exquisite diamond ring, princess cut with tiny oval diamonds surrounding it.

"Oh my god...Luke...yes"

"What?"

"Yes I'll marry you."

"Rory..."

"Sorry.. Luke, it's beautiful, but why are you showing me? Shouldn't my mom be the one you show this to? Or...at least, I hope so.."

"Of course Rory. I just wanted to...I...Iwantedtoaskforyourpermission.

"What?" Luke was definitely nervous.

"I wanted to ask for your permission to ask Lorelai to marry me."

"Aww Luke! That's so sweet! Of course you have my permission! You should know that! Oh my god, mom is gonna flip out! When are you gonna ask her?"

"I'm not sure...when the time is right I guess, but I just wanted to make sure it was okay with you."

"Luke, you seriously didn't need to ask, but thank you anyways, it's really sweet."

She stood up and hugged him.

"Now you just need to ask her."

Of course, Luke never got around to asking Lorelai to marry him, she cheated on him before he got the chance. That was the main reason Rory wasn't talking to her mom. She was extremely mad at her, and she was worried that she might accidentally tell her mom that Luke was going to propose in the heat of an argument. No, she couldn't tell her mom that, it would tear her up inside, and as unbelievable as it was, Rory still loved her mom. She might not like her right then, but she wasn't cruel enough to hurt her mom that way. Rory sighed.

When did life get so complicated?

There's the next chapter, hope you guys like it!