Title: Rory Gilmore, This Is Your Life!
Chapter 11: Inadvertent Kisses
Summary: Rory runs off to New York. (Whoa, déjà vu. Did this not happen in the show?) Lorelai taunts Luke by singing Jimmy Buffet songs. (Did that happen in the show too?) New plot device shows up. (Okay, I know that happened in the show. Their names were Max, Jess, and Sherry.) Greg acts normal and succumbs to sibling rivalry. Or at least sibling being-mad-at-them-ness. Sherry dies.
(The last one was a lie, dammit. That'd be good.)
Spoilers: Sherry dies. Didn't I already tell you that?
Disclaimer: Sherry dies. (God, why is it so much fun to say that? Why?)
Distribution: Tell me first. You know where to reach me.
A/N: I left you hanging with a Boyfriend Boxes chapter. How'd I do that? Luckily I'm starting this one on the same day, so you're not hanging on too much.
The Italicized section in this chapter is flashbacks. So, anything that's in italics and lasts more than a word or two is a flashback, made mostly by Luke.
Boyfriend Boxes: Are kept at Lorelai's, in Rory's closet. When Rory opens the closet, the BBs can see her ring and stuff. Kind of. You can't take any of it too literal. Anyway, hope that clears it up for you, confused.
Jess: Will be back at some point. I promise.
~~~~
Lorelai opened her eyes and groaned. Bright. It was bright. Mind-numbingly bright. Holding her pounding head, she sat slowly up in bed. Blinking profusely, she looked around and realized that the sun was streaming in through the wrong window. Or at least, the window was on the wrong side of her bed. Finally focusing her eyes to the devastating brightness, she looked around her at the slightly familiar apartment. Was it…Luke's?
Suddenly shocked with the realization that Lorelai was, in fact, sitting up in Luke's bed, in his bedroom, in his apartment, she jumped from the bed. And then realized that she wasn't wearing her normal bedtime attire. She was wearing an extra-large button-down Jimmy Buffet shirt—it looked to be the same one she'd pulled out of Luke's closet to taunt him with those many years ago. And speaking of taunting, there seemed to be a faint nibbling in the back of her mind…she'd taunted somebody…Luke, maybe? Or Christopher? Because she was sure she remembered Christopher, somewhere last night.
As Lorelai continued looking around the apartment she noticed the recycling bin piled almost to the top with beers. Had she drunk those? Shaking her head—and then grabbing her forehead to stop the aching that the movement had caused her—Lorelai reached for her clothes from the night before, the same ones she'd worn to dinner at her parents'. It seemed like she'd come over here without changing, but…at what point had she gone from the conservative dressy outfit to the Buffet shirt? She couldn't remember, and it was driving her crazy.
Slipping into the skirt, she jammed her feet into her shoes and made her way to Luke's apartment door. After a few minutes of mind aching thought, she walked over to the window of Jess' empty room, the one that led to a large tree branch connected to a nice sturdy tree that lowered to the ground. Still wearing the Jimmy Buffet shirt and carrying last night's jacket, she pulled the window up and climbed out onto the tree, using the latent skills she'd perfected at the age of fourteen, sneaking out of her parents' home.
As she finally slid to the ground, Lorelai glanced around to make sure that no one was looking, and then started to run home, heading the back way.
~~~~
"So you guys are heading into Hartford today?" Rory asked into the phone.
"Yeah. Steve wants to find the bar we hit last night, Dave wants to see if the three record stores he remembers are carrying the band's newest CD, and there's no way I'm letting either one of them do that kind of stuff alone." Greg answered. Rory smiled.
"Okay. Don't forget, you're in charge of the honeymoon details, and all three of you need tuxes."
"I haven't forgotten. How could I forget?"
"So, where are we going?"
"It's a secret, sweetie, it's a secret."
"Tell me!"
"Then it wouldn't be a secret."
"I need to know what to pack," Rory pointed out.
"Yes, I know, and Lane will help you with that."
Rory gasped. "Lane knows where I'm going on my honeymoon and I don't?"
Too late, Greg realized his faux pas. "Uh…no?"
"Oh, that's believable. Why did you tell her and not me?"
"So she can help you pack."
"Oh. Well, I guess that's okay."
"I'm glad that meets with your approval."
"You better be. Wait! Does Dave know?"
"No. Just Lane and me."
"Oh, okay. Don't tell anyone else!"
"I promise."
"Good."
"Okay, I've gotta go now, sweetie."
"Okay, I'll talk to you later."
"I love you."
Rory's smile got so big she felt like her face might explode. "I love you, too. Oh, and…you're gonna be in Hartford pretty much all day, right?"
"Right. Why?"
"No reason. Talk to you later."
"Okay. Bye."
Rory smiled as she hung up the phone. She was desperately in love with a fabulous guy. And since he was gonna be out of town all day, she could drop into work! Cool!
~~~~
Luke glanced up from his order pad when the bells over the door rang. Seeing who it was, he blushed and immediately turned his attention back to the couple in front of him. Lorelai performed a similar move, turning away from Luke and walking to the counter, keeping her eyes downcast the entire time. Taking as long as he possibly could to avoid her, Luke finished taking the couple's order and gave it to Caesar in the kitchen. Then he turned around and noticed Lorelai, just sitting at the counter, playing with a pen from her purse. His mind flashed back to the night before.
"Lukey! Lukey!" Lorelai called from downstairs, standing in front of the diner. She continued rattling the door, and before long, Luke ventured from the kitchen and opened it, annoyed.
"Whaddya want, Lorelai?"
"Christopher came, Lukey." She started, waving her empty beer bottle around. "And he brought his stupid new wife and their stupid new kid. I hate them all."
"I know," Luke said, for lack of anything better to say.
"Can I come in? I need more beer."
Luke, realizing that she was still standing on the diner steps, stood aside, and she walked in, bypassed the counter, and started up the steps to his apartment, ranting.
"Christopher's a bastard. I can't believe I ever believed I was in love with him, although you have to admit he did a pretty good job of trying to convince me that he'd changed. He did change, that bastard. And then he got back together with Sherry, just cause she was pregnant. I hate them all."
At this point, Lorelai had reached Luke's apartment, and realized that she had no key and the door was locked. She pulled feebly at the door and then looked at Luke, who was standing right behind her.
"Could you open this? My buzz is fading."
Luke nodded and she stood off to the side as he pulled a key out and unlocked the door. He pushed the door open and stood aside, allowing her to enter first. She smiled at the gesture.
"Thank you. You're such a gentleman. Not like Chris, that bastard." Lorelai made her way to the refrigerator and pulled out a beer. Then she stood up and looked at Luke. "Oh, you need one too."
"No, I—"
"No, I insist." Lorelai pulled a second bottle from the fridge and threw it to Luke, who caught it. "I can't drink alone. It'd be too pathetic."
"So, why not talk to Rory?" Luke asked as he walked over to her and opened first her bottle, and then his own. She shook her head as she took a sip.
"Rory wouldn't understand. For one thing, she's in love with Greg, and I don't wanna take anything away from her right now. For another, she likes Christopher. I'm not sure how, but she does." Lorelai shook her head again. "That girl baffles me."
"I'm sure she does." Luke felt like such an idiot. He never knew what to say when Lorelai started raving, and now she was drunk and raving. Finally, he just decided to say whatever came to his mind.
Sitting on the couch next to Lorelai, he said, "Rory baffles me too."
Lorelai nodded. "She's too smart for her own good."
"But at least she's happy."
"Unlike some people I know," Lorelai said softly.
"Me, too," Luke agreed. Lorelai nodded slowly, and then turned to Luke.
"You're nice, you know that?"
Luke, surprised, could only nod.
"Yeah. You're very nice." Lorelai smiled, and then leaned in. "I've always wanted to kiss you," she murmured.
And then their lips hit. Made contact. Lorelai kissed Luke with all of the fervor she could stand. Luke, after a split second, kissed back with just as much fervor, his hands reaching up to cup her face. Lorelai even set her beer down and wrapped her arms happily around his neck.
After a few minutes, she broke off.
"Well. That was nice."
"Yeah."
"Luke? Earth to Luke!"
Luke shook himself from his thoughts as Kirk waved his hand in front of Luke's face.
"Where's my muffin? I ordered it a full two minutes ago."
"Calm your ass down, I'll go get it." Luke stalked to the counter and pulled a muffin from in the case. Walking back over to Kirk's table, he set it down on a plate. "There. You happy?"
"No, actually—"
"Shut up, Kirk!" Luke walked away from the other man, fully annoyed, and made his way behind the counter.
"Kirk annoying you again?" Lorelai asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
"Yeah. He does that."
"Uh-huh. You, uh, you want some coffee?"
"Sure."
Luke nodded and started to pour some coffee for Lorelai. She cleared her throat a few times.
"Uh, I wanted to ask you."
"Yeah?"
"How, uh…how did I end upstairs this morning?" Lorelai leaned as close to Luke as she dared and whispered.
"You don't remember?"
Lorelai shook her head. Luke breathed a silent sigh of relief, and then wondered if he really was relieved that she didn't remember that she'd kissed him.
"Uh, you showed up at the diner right after I closed, babbling about Christopher."
"Oh, Chris. Yeah. He, uh, showed up last night, and I guess I freaked out."
"Yeah. But you just marched right past me and headed upstairs for a beer."
"Oh, I had lotsa beer last night."
"Yeah, you did."
"Uh, how did I end up in your shirt?" she leaned closer, and whispered again.
"You spilled beer on your jacket, and looked through my closet, and pulled out the Jimmy Buffet shirt."
"And did I taunt you at that point?"
"By singing horribly? Yeah. And then, you passed out on the couch, so I moved you to my bed and slept on the couch."
"Ah. Well, thank you for that."
"You're welcome."
"Did anything else happen?" Lorelai thought she vaguely remembered wrapping her arms around Luke's neck.
"Uh…." Luke paused, and was he blushing? He was. Luke was blushing. "No." He shook his head, poured the rest of the coffee pot into Lorelai's cup, and walked off. Lorelai stared after him in astonishment. Luke had blushed. Why? What had happened?
~~~~
When Rory stepped off the bus in New York City, she decided to bypass the subway station in Port Authority and walk the eight blocks to the next station, just to see a little of the city. As she walked from 42nd Street to 34th, she passed three magazine kiosks, each proudly displaying her magazine. After passing the third one, she couldn't take it anymore, and she ended up purchasing one. Her latest article was featured on the cover, with a big three quarter page picture of Cher, who had recently gotten married and decided to commemorate the wedding by going on tour.
As Rory was sitting on the 14th Street Local train, reading an article about the latest Clark Kent/Superman movie, she realized that a little girl was staring at her. She looked up into bright green eyes under a mess of blonde curls. She smiled.
The little girl shrieked and buried her head into her father's sleeve.
"Grace? What is it, sweetie?" the girl's father asked. Rory froze at the voice.
"She's being a big baby," a matching little girl on the other side of her father said snidely.
"Chastity! That's not nice," the man scolded. "Grace? What's the matter?"
Grace just shook her head and, without lifting her face from her father's sleeve, pointed to Rory. Grace's father looked into Rory's face and his mouth dropped in shock.
"Rory," he said, sounding choked.
"Paul," she nodded. "Are those your girls?"
"Uh, yeah. Twins. Grace," he gestured to the girl still snuggled into his shirt, "And Chastity." He gestured to the girl on his other side, who stuck her tongue out at Rory. Rory laughed.
"They seem very nice."
"Uh, they can be. So, are you still with…what was that magazine called?"
"various identities," Rory answered, holding her magazine upright so Paul could read the title. "And yeah. Actually, I just interviewed her." She pointed to Cher.
"Cool. You been to her concert?"
"I've got tickets to go. I think my fiancée and I might go."
"I would've thought your mother would have been the one to take," Paul said, completely ignoring the fact that Rory had said "fiancée".
"Yeah, either her or Greg." The train pulled to a stop, and Rory glanced at the signs posted on the wall. 7th Avenue. Too soon for her. She was wondering if she should get out anyway when Paul stood up.
"This is us," he said, carrying Grace in one arm and holding Chastity's hand. "Nice to see you again, Rory."
"You, too, Paul." Rory smiled as the three walked away, and then breathed a sigh of relief as the doors closed. That was, what, the fourth time she'd come in contact with an ex-boyfriend in the two weeks she'd been engaged? What was that about?
~~~~
"What the hell are you thinking?" Greg yelled in the middle of a busy Hartford street.
"I don't know!" Steve yelled back. "Maybe I just wanted some fun!"
"You can't expect that that fun is gonna be getting a hooker in the middle of the day!"
"Well, it would have been fun if you hadn't shown up!"
"Steve! Dammit, listen to yourself!"
"I sound normal to me!"
"Then that's a problem!"
"What crawled up your ass?"
"I don't know, maybe it was you!"
"Okay, guys, this conversation is starting to get a little weird. Let's try to calm down a little and maybe move indoors…." Dave tugged on both guys' arms, but they pulled away and continued screaming.
"Ever since you got engaged, you haven't wanted to do anything fun!"
"Getting married is a big responsibility, something I don't expect you to know anything about!"
"Hey, I have plenty of responsibility!"
"You just graduated college and you still have no idea what you want to do with your life!"
"Just because you knew what you wanted to do with your life at sixteen doesn't mean the rest of us can do it!"
"But you haven't even tried!"
"Guys…." Dave tried desperately again.
"Fuck off!" Steve yelled.
"Hey, don't tell him to fuck off!" Greg yelled at Steve.
Dave sighed and waved at a particularly high-society older woman as she hurried by.
~~~~
"Dave and I are trying," Lane announced as soon as Paris walked into the Gilmore living room.
"Trying what?" Paris asked, sitting on the couch and stealing a handful of popcorn from the bowl sitting on the coffee table between Lorelai and Lane.
"Trying to have a baby," Lane clarified, grinning from ear to ear.
"Wow. I can't imagine being so secure in a relationship that I wanted to bring someone else into it."
"Me, either," Lorelai said. "Rory certainly wasn't planned. Although, I guess, you could look at mine and Rory's relationship, and say that I thought was secure enough to bring Max into it, but then I guess I wasn't."
"Max Medina?" Paris asked.
"Uh-huh. You knew that, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Just wanted to clarify."
"Well, he's been one of the only Maxes I know, and certainly the only Max that I got close to bringing him into mine and Rory's relationship."
"Would you say that Rory brought Greg into your relationship, or you into her and Greg's relationship?" Paris asked.
"Huh."
"I think she brought you into her and Greg's relationship. You know, 'Meeting the Parents' and all that." Lane said thoughtfully.
"Speaking of 'Meeting the Parents,' when was the last time you checked into Mama Kim's?"
"Oh! Uh, I should be there now."
"Seriously?" Lorelai asked. "Cause I was just kidding."
"Yeah, so was I. Shall we go get a movie, or pick one out from your numerous collection?"
"Rory said she wanted to watch the Matrix trilogy." Lorelai said.
"Speaking of Rory, where is she?" Paris asked. Lorelai and Lane glanced at each other and shrugged.
"Lost," Lorelai said.
~~~~
Nicole Bezou slid out of the taxicab and into the town of Stars Hollow. She looked around in wonder. It was almost exactly like the small town she'd written about, which was based on the small town she'd grown up in. Thrilled with her decision, Nicole decided to find the local coffeehouse, and she was sure that if she asked she could find who she was looking for: Rory Gilmore.