Disclaimer: Gilmore girls belong to the WB & the Palladino's.
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! It mean's a lot to us and we're so happy that you're enjoying the angsty-joy ride you've signed yourselves up for. We appreciate the feedback, so please continue to review! It encourages the updating to occur quicker! And just to let you all know, all of your questions will soon be answered!
Chapter 3: Please Leave
Her smile was brighter than memorable. "Yeah, it's been a while hasn't it?"
"Uh," eyes still widened and lost on words, "it sure has been."
She laughed politely at how shocked Lorelai looked. "Hey, I'm just glad you remember me!"
"Rachel my friend…you are unforgettable."
"Glad to know it." She looked around the Inn, admiring it all. "Congratulations on the Dragonfly Inn."
"How did you know we opened it?"
"Well, for one, it's not longer called, or in the same location as the Independence Inn..."
Lorelai laughed pathetically, completely in shock as to why Rachel was here.
"And secondly, I read an article about the place in a magazine on hotels recently."
"Oh yeah, I think I know what you're talking about."
"So, congratulations again."
"Thanks, though I owe most of my appreciation to you. If it weren't for you, who knows if Sookie and I would have ever thought about re-opening this place."
"Glad I could help." She said nodding her head.
The level of awkwardness increased as the normality of their conversation continued. Lorelai's mind raced with questions while Rachel stood there casual as ever.
'Please don't let this be like last time.' She thought as a pit sunk to the bottom of her stomach. 'What if she came back to get back together with Luke?' Sure they were 'still together' but what if Luke realized how crazy the idea was when he saw Rachel again. God knows the poor guy can't function when he's within a 20 mile radius of her.
"Wow, so…huh, what brings you to this neck of the woods?"
"Well for the past few years, I've been steadily writing for a paper in New York."
"Huh, I can't see you as the big city girl."
"You know, at first I couldn't picture myself there either. I always imagined myself living in an earthier environment. New York is full of buses and taxis, and thousands of people running around, stampeding over each other constantly. It's extremely hectic; the things you hear."
"They do have good stores though." Rachel laughed. Of course Lorelai was thinking about shopping.
"I'm sure they do. But I've been writing for a paper down there and I recently just finished an environmental piece; the factors of summer and fall."
"Interesting…"
"I know, it sounds boring but it was actually very fun to write. I observed the town within the two seasons, the environment itself, the people, the business…all sorts of things."
"I'm sure you did a great job with it."
"Thank you. I like to think it was pretty good. I took a few shots that actually won a prize recently."
"That's great, really."
"It is; thanks. So anyways, now I'm writing a piece on winter within small and large cities. I already wrote the first part within New York. It just snowed there about 2 weeks ago and I got all the work done that I needed, but now I need to move onto the 'small' part of the story."
"And what says small better than Stars Hollow…"
"Exactly. So, I'm here…though the weather isn't what I wanted it to be…"
"Ah, the snow. You need the snow, don't you?"
"It would be helpful, that's for sure."
"Well, you're in luck! It's supposed to snow Thursday!"
"I know I saw that on the internet. And I know it's only Monday now, but I was hoping that I could actually get a room, here."
"At the Dragonfly?"
"Of course. I mean, I don't know any other hotels around here, and I'd love to give you the business, not that you need it or anything…but I figured we could hang out a bit, it'd be nice to get some information from you for my article."
"Oh well," she plastered on a smile a little larger than called for, "I'd love to help. Let me just see what I've got open…"
"Great. Thank you so much, really Lorelai. This is going to help me out a lot."
"No problem at all. Let me just check some things on the computer..."
Lorelai started fiddling around with the computer as Michel walked to the front desk just as the phone began to ring.
"Michel, will you get that?" Lorelai asked. "I'm doing something."
"And I'm not?" She looked over at Michel who was eating an egg-white omelet that Sookie made especially for him.
"Michel, the phone. And how many times have I told you not to eat on the front desk! You put the food under the desk so nobody see's it. Gah."
Michel rolled his eyes and answered the phone.
"Dragonfly Inn, Michel speaking...yes she is here today...no she is busy at the moment..."
"Is it for me? Cause if it's for me I'm not busy." Lorelai said reaching for the phone but Michel stood back so she couldn't get it.
"She's doing very important things...yes, very...yes, very...are you deaf? I said very important things...okay hold on..."
He handed her the phone, "it's your boyfriend." He said dully.
Lorelai's heart skipped a beat, and Rachel's eyes raced over at Lorelai, smiling. Smiling curiously that is.
"Hello?...what?...well when did she get there?...fine, ask her to wait for me...please...I know you're not my personal message-man, Luke..."
Rachel's eyes widened. Luke? As in Luke Danes? Ex-Butch Danes? Trekkie for life, I'll never admit my feelings to Lorelai because I'm to damn stubborn to admit my feelings, Luke? Amazing. They had finally gotten together. She was completely surprised that they were dating. Sure she didn't come back to get back together with Luke but still a pang of jealously hit her hard. Sort of like the way Lorelai felt when she met Rachel for the first time.
And funny as it is, the same way Lorelai felt seeing her, here at the Inn, now.
"Fine, let me talk to her...thanks...hey babe how are you?...really?...you're kidding!...did you tell him I'm fat?...blasphemy!...oh-oh, my...you don't say...alright well sure I'll be over in about 20 minutes I've just got to wrap some things up over here...see you soon...tell Luke thanks…what? Oh fine, put him back on…hi…" she started laughing, "really, tell him to stop…sure well tell him I'm taken by the hot diner owner…I know he knows who you are…fine just tell him I'm seeing somebody…I know…so what?...just don't clarify who it is…okay fine." She punched a few buttons in on the computer, laughing again, "I know you do…you told me that before, remember? Alright, sure…see you soon, bye."
She hung up the phone and glanced back at Rachel who was still waiting at the front desk.
"Sorry about that."
Rachel studied her quizzically, smiling awkwardly. "Correct me if I'm wrong...but...did I hear the words Luke and boyfriend in the same sentence?"
Lorelai looked up, acting as if she was thinking very hard. "I do believe they were in different sentences, but one could be substituted for the other?" She offered.
She smiled brightly. "How long has it been?"
Lorelai looked around in thought. "...oh, I don't know it's been about 6 months."
"Oh." Rachel sounded disappointed and Lorelai questioned if it was because she, Rachel, wanted to get back together with Luke. "So it's a fairly new thing, right? I mean it's not like you were dating before and broke up right?"
Did she actually doubt how steady they were? If they could actually work?
"Uh, no it's the first time." She said skeptically.
"That's incredible." She said more or less to herself, yet out loud.
"What is?"
"That it took him 4 years to admit his feelings to you. I definitely thought it'd be a little sooner than that at least..."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" All of a sudden it was as if all tables had turned and Lorelai was incredibly confused.
"Did Luke ever tell you why I left 4 years ago?"
"No..." she said apprehensively.
"Four years ago, I came back here expecting to get my life together and on track...with Luke. As you know, I was living with him for a while and things were good..."
"Right but you left..." Lorelai butted in.
"Yes, I left because I noticed that Luke didn't want to be in a relationship…with me. He didn't want to start things over with me when clearly; the one he's wanted to be with all along was you."
Lorelai's eyes narrowed. "What exactly are you talking about Rachel?"
"I'm talking about how 4 years ago, on the night that I left; I told Luke I was leaving because I knew he wanted to be with you. I told him not to wait too long before telling you but obviously he didn't listen." She laughed a little.
She was completely surprised. Sure she knew Luke may have had a little thing for her. She was upset that Luke never actually made a move, but surprised that Rachel was the one who saw it, and admitted it to Luke. Luke's Rachel. The one who wanted to be with him...at the time.
At least she hoped it was just at that time.
"So you're saying that you left because you thought Luke wanted to be with me?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying. And I'm not just saying that. I know that. If it wasn't true, he wouldn't have let me leave."
"Wow."
"Yeah, wow. That's why I'm a little confused as to why he never got the courage to ask you our before 6 months ago!"
"Well I guess there were some miss-haps on both of our sides. I have dated a few guys over the past few years...and so has Luke." She didn't even want to bring up the marriage. "But hey, what do you say I'll get you a room and we'll go over to Luke's in a little bit?"
"Well...I don't want to intrude or anything."
"No intruding committed! Come on let's go get you settled in and then we'll go over there."
"Well, alright."
Lorelai showed her where her room was and let her settle in, changing clothes and reapplying her makeup. Lorelai did the same just in case Rachel looked better. She wanted to look her best for Luke, after all.
"Ready?" Lorelai asked when she saw Rachel coming down the stairs.
"All set."
"Alright, let's go."
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
They took Lorelai's jeep and took the long way to Luke's so Rachel could see some of the town.
"Still hasn't changed." She said laughing a little.
"And it probably never will."
Rachel stared at the window, breathing in the fresh air. "Probably not." She said as they pulled into a parking spot in front of the diner.
As they walked out of the jeep and towards the stairs, Lorelai saw Luke in the kitchen with his back faced to them. She was nervous. What if Luke actually wanted to be with Rachel? After all, she was his first love...And who knew what Lorelai was to Luke at this point. They walked in and took two seats at the counter.
"Luke!!" Lorelai screamed into the kitchen.
"Hold on!" He screamed back, not bothering to turn around.
He walked out a second later with two plates and set them in front of a couple in the back, then making his way behind the counter. He didn't even notice Rachel. He was too busy checking Lorelai out.
"Hey!" She said raising her eyebrows, leaning over and giving him a kiss. "Look how Rory's matured."
He turned quickly to Rachel who was sitting there smiling at Luke in complete fascination. 'Did he actually show some signs of PDA?' she wondered.
His eyes widened and jaw dropped. Lorelai leaned across the counter and closed it for him, laughing a little. "Rachel." He muttered out after a few shocking seconds.
Rachel smiled at him, holding back her laugh because of how surprised he looked.
"Well, I'd say Rory's a little bet better looking but hey, I'll take it."
'That's because Rory's my kid and got her good looks from me.' Lorelai thought to herself suddenly becoming very jealous of the way Luke was staring at Rachel.
"What are you doing here?" He finally asked.
"Wow, not even a hello, how are you doing?" Lorelai butted in.
Rachel laughed. "No, it's okay. I'm here for an article I've got to write about winter in small towns."
"So you chose this mental asylum?"
"Well, it sure is small. And I know everybody around here loves winter."
"We sure do!" Lorelai said, clapping excitedly.
"Not all of us love winter." Luke said dully.
"Hey no one asked you." Lorelai hit him playfully.
"Yeah so, Lorelai's letting me stay at the Dragonfly."
"Oh well," Luke used his hands searching for the correct words, "it's great to see you."
She smiled sweetly at him as he smiled back. Meanwhile Lorelai looked like she could stab something sharp in her eye. "It's great to see you too."
Lorelai coughed slightly, attempting to convince them into come back to life.
"Both of you." Rachel said quickly. "It's great to see both of you."
"Well, we're glad you're here." Lorelai smiled brightly.
"Yeah, how long do you think you'll be here?" Luke asked finally able to talk normally. Maybe it was because Lorelai was playing with his hand...was she actually marking her territory? He wondered if she told Rachel about the two of them 'dating.'
"At least till we get some snow." Lorelai smiled at the word.
"Snow, why snow?"
"Well, I'm doing a piece about winter. And you can't photograph cold weather unless you've got snow...and hey…what's research without photos to back it all up?"
"Oh, right."
"And I looked online a few days ago and saw you guys were getting snow soon."
"Thursday!" Lorelai said cheerfully.
"Right...so if it goes that way I'll be here for about a week. You know so I have enough time to get all the information I need."
"What kind of information do you need?" Luke asked.
"I just need to see all the people in the winter, in the snow, the happiness, or sadness, whatever it may be."
Luke nodded his head thinking about how pathetic the article sounded.
"I actually have a favor to ask you guys."
"What is it?" Lorelai said as she got up and walked behind the counter pouring two cups of coffee. Luke looked at her, annoyed, rolling his eyes.
"Well, I don't want to be in your way, Lorelai, with me staying at the Inn."
"Oh, it's not a problem at all." She said sipping her coffee and pushing the other cup over to Rachel.
"So I thought that I could take pictures of you guys."
"What?" Luke asked.
"Well, since you guys are dating..." She said, smiling at Luke. "I figured it would be good pictures to take. Just a few of you guys in the snow. You can say no if you want, its fine, maybe I can get Maury or Babette..."
Luke raised his eyebrows. 'That would be interesting.' He thought.
"There's no need for that! We'd be happy to help."
"Really? Uh, that's really great. Thank you guys."
"We would?" Luke asked turning to Lorelai.
"Of course we would silly."
"I know you're not the kind of guy to take pictures Luke, but it would really help my article. Then I'd be out of here before you know it."
Luke stuck his hands in his back pockets and leaned back.
"Hey, let me take you guys out to dinner tonight. Or if you're not free tonight, tomorrow. I'd love to spend sometime with the two of you…catch up on things."
"Aw, that's very sweet of you."
"What do you say? Are you guys free tonight?"
Lorelai looked over at Luke. "Yes we are!"
"Alright great! What do you guys say 7:00?"
"7:00 is perfect!"
"Great! Well I'm going to go back to the Inn, get some things unpacked and settle in for a bit."
"Oh here I'll drive you back." Lorelai said getting up.
"No, no it's fine. I'll walk back. I've got my camera in your car, so I'll just grab that and head on back."
"Are you sure? It's pretty cold out."
"I'm positive."
She stood up and put her coat on then turning to Luke and smiling. "It's nice seeing you again." She said honestly.
He nodded, swallowing hard. "You too."
"I'll see you tonight then?" She asked more towards Luke.
He didn't exactly want to go to dinner with the two people that were (at some point) most important in his life but what excuse could he use? He had to flip a burger or two?
"Tonight." He repeated, solidly.
"Great. I've got a rental car so I'll pick you guys up. Where do you want me to get you?"
"Just come to the diner. That should work out fine." Lorelai said.
"Alright great. I'll see you guys later."
"Alright, bye!" Lorelai said.
"Bye." Luke added before she left.
As Rachel closed the door, Lorelai spun her seat back to the front towards Luke.
"So!" She said smiling. "Looks like you were glad to see her." Jealously was taking over more or less.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
The air was crystallizing, getting colder by the second. If they were lucky, it'd snow before Thursday. Lorelai sure hoped so.
The wait had been long enough. Longer than needed, and even longer than expected.
Maybe one of the reason's she desired snow so much, this time, this year was because of the luck she was having.
It wasn't necessarily good.
Sometimes she'd wish things would go back to the way they were. Hell, forget sometimes—always. She'd do just about anything to have Luke wrap his arms around her in the loving manner he did it with. She'd do anything to kiss him without anyone watching, sharing a passionate feeling she experienced only with him.
She'd do anything to watch him sleep or to hold his hand during the movie they were watching at whatever time it was.
She'd do anything to lay on top of him, holding his hands above his hands kissing him softly in her bed when there were absolutely no lights on, not even the moon shining through the window because it was just too late for that.
They had spent the whole night talking.
But letting go was a painful process she had to get used to. She had to grasp the factors of reality.
No matter how painful they were.
As she approached the diner at a quarter to seven she scanned the diner not spotting Luke.
She walked behind the counter and stuck her head in the kitchen.
"Hey Caesar…is Luke around?"
He turned around and smiled slightly. "He's upstairs."
"Great, thanks."
She walked up the stairs and stood by the door thinking about the happy memories they shared in his apartment.
There was the time where Luke carried her in his arms because she fell asleep with her head on the counter. She complained she hadn't had enough coffee to keep her awake. He knew she was sick. He brought her up to his apartment and put her on the couch because his bed with full of crap that Lorelai took out of his closet during the day. He did a few things before scooting her against the back of the couch before climbing in next to her, putting the comforter on the both of them.
There was the other time when it was raining. They had just gotten back from a movie. It was pouring outside and Lorelai took her shoes off in the car because she refused to get them wet. Therefore he was the one who had to get out of the car first, quickly running to her side of the car and letting her jump on his back as he ran them into the diner. It was cold when they got in because the heat wasn't on, and there bodies were soaking wet just from the 10 second walk to the car. He quickly ran up the stairs with her on his back and fiddled with his keys for a good few moments while she was running her hands along his neck and down his stomach.
He finally got the door open and slammed it behind him.
But now, all she had to do was knock on the door knowing this wouldn't be a time to remember. She was just going in to hurry him up; knowing Rachel would be there soon.
She knocked on the door. "Luke? It's me, can I come in."
"Ouch, damnit!" She heard him yell. He opened the door for her, "come on in."
"Uh, you okay?"
"Yeah, just stubbed my toe."
She walked in, observing his apartment. It looked messier than usual. Interesting…
"You about ready? Rachel said she'd be here at seven."
"Yeah, I'm just looking for a different shirt. This seems to have shrunk. As if that's possible."
"Well, it actually is possibly seeing as its completely shrinkable material." She said grabbing the shirt from his hand, feeling the material and looking at the tag.
"I couldn't picture you as a material girl."
"Are you kidding? I'm the queen of shopping."
"I know that. I didn't know you look into the materials."
"Well when I buy an eighty dollar shirt and in shrinks in the wash, you better believe I look at the tag."
She got up and headed too his dresser placing her hands on the knobs of the third drawer down, glancing at him before moving. "May I?"
"Yeah, what the hell."
She opened his drawer and instantly pulled out a dark blue shirt that he often wore when going out with Lorelai. She always loved it because it brought out the color in his eyes. Simply beautiful.
She threw it over to him. "Here, put that on."
He glanced down at it before nodding his head and quickly taking off his bare gray tee-shirt he was wearing. Lorelai couldn't help but watch him take off his shirt. She felt so grateful that he did that in front of her. Not because she loved seeing his body, which by the way, she did, but because she felt glad to know not everything was uncomfortable between them.
He quickly put on the new shirt and grabbed his keys.
"Thanks." He said glancing at her. "Ready?"
"Let's go."
He opened the door for her and placed a hand on her back as she walked out of the door.
"You look nice." He said, truthfully.
"Thank you." She said quietly before the entered the diner.
Miss Patty and Babette were in the diner when they walked down. They smiled at the two of them before whispering.
Lorelai walked past there table next to the counter just as Patty was whispering, "I wonder what they were doing up there…"
At seven on the dot, Rachel walked in. Luckily Patty and Babette had just left or else who knows what would be on the main page of the Stars Hollow Webpage the next morning.
"Hey guys!" She said putting her purse down. Luke's eyes traveled down her body as Lorelai's eyes focused on his.
'Of course she had to wear that cute shirt…' Lorelai cursed herself for not wearing Luke's favorite shirt of hers. Black, slinky, with a very plunging neck line though this one ranked pretty damn close.
"Hey, love the shirt." Lorelai threw in, hoping to break the ice between herself and her jealousy. She couldn't let Luke see her in any way at all, jealous.
She smiled and looked over at Luke. "Hey."
"Hey." He said, eyes still fixated along her body.
"You guys ready? I made us a reservation at Sniffys."
Lorelai's mouth fell open. Sniffys Tavern…of Love? As in, the Sniffys. The place Luke took her on there first date. Where she became so close to Mazie and Buddy.
Tears almost flooded her eyes. She didn't want to go there. She'd do just about anything to not go there. She'd rather go to Emily's. This was just becoming too much for her…
"Oh, good. Well, hey mind if I use the bathroom real quick, Luke? Before we leave to go to Sniffys." She said cold-heartedly and quietly.
He looked at her, understanding how she felt as she stared at him coldly. All he could do was nod his head.
So what if a few tears spilled on her way up to the bathroom? A little Kleenex could fix that.
But Kleenex certainly couldn't fix the way she felt. She felt betrayed and really for no reason. Who cares if they were going to Sniffys? The place they had their first date? The place they left that night, knowing nothing would ever be the same again. They place they went to just about once, sometimes even twice, every single week. Who care's?
Lorelai. And even Luke did a little as he said nothing to Rachel while she sat down at the counter going through her purse, looking for something.
Lorelai came down moments later avoiding all contact with Luke. "Ready."
"Alright great let's go." Rachel said, getting up from her seat not even noticing the hostility passing through the room.
About twenty-five minutes later, they arrived at Sniffys. Rachel mostly talked about her article, and previous articles she's written over the past few years while Luke and Lorelai both mumbled an appreciative, 'oh that's great,' every few minutes.
As they slowly got out of the car, Rachel looked over at them, finally noticing the silence between them.
"You guys okay? I've barely heard a peep out of you."
"Peep." Lorelai said sarcastically, trying to fake a smile.
"I see you haven't lost your wit, Lorelai."
"My wit has yet to be lost."
Luke walked over to Lorelai and loosely held on to her hand. But the one thing Lorelai wanted most right now was to be as far away as Luke as possible. She didn't want to be here with him especially, but what could she do now, run? That'd be real mature. This was supposed to be their place. Maybe she was being a little too possessive.
Rachel observed them holding hands and couldn't help but smile.
"And about you two…" Luke and Lorelai both glanced up at her. "I want to know all the details."
Luke rolled his eyes, and Lorelai nodded, smiling politely. "Oh you'll get them." Lorelai said under her breath as they walked up to the door.
When they walked in, Lorelai squeezed Luke's hand even tighter. He rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand as they walked up the host stand.
"We have a reservation for seven o'clock under the name Rachel."
The host looked through her book and nodded. "Right this way, please."
They walked to a booth and Lorelai slid into one end while Rachel sat across from her. Luke stood at the foot of the table looking rather uncomfortable before sitting next to Lorelai.
"Lucas?" A voice from behind called. "I didn't know you guys were coming tonight! I would have gotten you and Lorelai's table ready. Here, get up, I'll switch you guys over."
"No, no, it's fine." Luke said standing up and smiling, greeting Mazie with a big hug. Lorelai slid out of her seat and gave her a small hug and kiss on the cheek. Over the past few months, they had become real close.
Mazie squinted her eyes, looking at Rachel who was sitting, admiring the scene before her.
"Is that Rachel?" She asked loudly.
"Hi Mazie!" She said, getting up and giving her a hug.
"My God, it really is you. I haven't seen you in years! How have you been?"
A large pit fell to the bottom of Lorelai's stomach. Large, indeed.
"I've been great. I've been living in New York for the past few years, working up there, it's been really nice."
"Oh, that's great. Well, what brings you to Connecticut?"
"Oh I'm actually writing an article for work and I have some things to do within Stars Hollow to complete it."
"Well make sure you send us a copy. We'll hang it up on the wall like we did with your other one that included the restaurant!" Mazie said, pointing towards the wall.
Lorelai shook her head pathetically and took her seat, as Luke followed.
"Sit, sit." Mazie told Rachel. "Too bad, Buddy's not here tonight though he'd love to see you. All of you. You two haven't been over in a while, everything's okay I assume?"
"Everything's great Mazie."
"Lorelai, the Inn's still busy, right? You get a break every now and then though, right?"
Lorelai smiled, appreciating the spotlight. After all, she always loved being the center of attention. "I'm still getting a break."
"Alright, well, what do you guys want? I'll just get you all your food. Rachel?" She asked turning to her.
"Can I just have a turkey burger?" Lorelai almost puked at how disgusting that sounded.
"No problem. And you two? The usual?"
"Yep!"
"Yeah, that'd be great Mazie."
"Alright, I'll be back with some drinks."
As she walked away, Rachel took a sip of her water that was on the table and smiled at the two of them.
"So, you guys come here a lot I take it?"
Luke looked over at Lorelai. "Yeah, we do."
"It's a nice little place." Lorelai said before taking a sip of her water as well.
"So, I want to know. Luke how did you finally come across asking Lorelai out?"
"I uh, asked her out."
"Ha. Lorelai, I think I'd have to get details from you."
Lorelai looked at Luke, forceful face in tact, not a corner of her lip rising. Better yet, it almost as if it was frowning.
"Well, he asked me out after his sisters wedding." She said, pinching his cheek harder that she probably should have. "Didn't you, sweetie?"
She wasn't just pretending…it seemed as if she was actually pissed.
"Ouch."
"Oh, I'm sorry did I hurt you?" She leaned over and kissed his cheek several times. "Better I hope."
Rachel laughed as the color flushed to Luke's face.
"And, huh…let's see. We were supposed to go to a movie that next weekend. But before that, I had a test run at the Inn. We invited some people to stay for the night so we could work out all the kinks…"
"That sounds like a good idea."
"It was. And, Luke came and my ex-boyfriend Jason was there, telling Luke we were supposedly still together, even though we weren't, were we Pookie?" She talked like a baby, patting him on the leg.
"Uh, no you weren't."
"And we started fighting about how he thought Jason and I were still together, and then all of a sudden, the next thing I notice is that we're kissing!"
"Wow."
"Yeah, wow. It just happened. And ever since then, I knew everything would be perfect. Did you, Luke?" She asked, cooingly.
Lorelai looked over at Luke who looked extremely uncomfortable. Mazie had brought them there drinks sometime in-between Lorelai's ramble, and he took a large sip of his beer that Mazie finally let him order.
"I knew it." He said.
"That's so great. Really. Luke, I told Lorelai that I left because I knew you wanted to ask her out." Luke put his drink down, coughing slightly.
"You what?" He asked.
"I told her that I left because I knew that you wanted something to happen between the two of you."
Lorelai glanced over at Luke who looked rather embarrassed. She was having one hell of time embarrassing him also. Half of her was just trying to show Rachel that they really were still together, happy as ever. The other half was all jealousy. She was still pissed that they were at Sniffys and that Mazie loved Rachel. She even had her article up.
Luke never told her that. Luke never told her he brought anyone else but her here. That's why she was so mad. It was supposed to be their place.
"Oh." Luke said lamely.
"I just can't believe it took you 4 years to ask her out…"
"Oh uh, yeah." He didn't know what to say so he glanced around the room. "Hey look Rachel your articles on the wall still."
Lorelai coughed loudly. "That's what Mazie said."
Rachel turned around and looked at the article in the back, hanging on the wall. "Ha, that's funny. That's where I mentioned when we came here with my parents."
"Oh yeah." Luke said suddenly remembering the incident. "How are your parents?"
"Oh, there great. I actually went to go visit them a few weeks ago."
"Tell them I say hi, will ya? I still have the baseball card from your dad."
"Get out. That's extremely old. He'd be glad to know you still have it."
"I'm glad I do. I've had that for about 12 years."
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Yeah like my horoscope which you've had for what 8 years? I guess I've got competition don't I?" Lorelai snapped a little harsher than she intended too.
Luke's eyes widened and he took another sip of his beer.
"Horoscope?" Rachel asked.
"Long story." Lorelai said quickly before something bad started.
"Luke, remember the time that we went skiing in Colorado?"
"You went skiing in Colorado?" Lorelai asked hastily.
"Yeah."
"You never leave Connecticut."
"I went to Maine…"
"Yeah but that's about all. You hate going places."
"Yeah this was a while ago."
"Yeah," Rachel butted in, "we went skiing and that's when Luke sprained his ankle. We had to stay in the cabin for two days straight because it hurt him so badly."
'Great, two days of endless sex. That's nice to know.' Lorelai thought.
"Aw, you never told me you sprained your ankle." Lorelai turned to Luke. She needed to loose the attitude before Rachel became suspicious.
"That's nothing compared to when he broke his finger." Rachel said as Lorelai's mouth fell open at all these new things she was learning.
Luke laughed, remembering the moment. "That's when I was making dinner for you and I slammed it in the drawer."
"I still remember the phrase you screamed when that happened!"
Luke laughed as Lorelai rolled her eyes, playing with her napkin.
"Luke remember when you cooked me dinner and TJ--"
"—oh and remember how I didn't open the next day and you told Taylor to leave or go to hell because we were so tired from being up all night," Lorelai practically chocked, "trying to fix my finger without actually going to the hospital."
Did he actually just cut her off? Amazing.
It's funny because in this sort of situation, she'd assume that he'd actually try to work with her. Try to make it seem like things were okay between them by reminiscing over there past memories like she done for him. Like how she, Lorelai, and others have defended him in the past…
First Week of September…
Emily, Lorelai, Luke, and Rory were all sitting at the dinner table. This was Luke's first time joining all 3 of them together at the famous Friday night dinners.
He had gone alone with Lorelai few times, but tried as hard as possible to avoid them at all costs.
This time, Lorelai begged him to go with her because she knew Rory would be late.
Falling for her, like he did every time, he accepted her demand, threw on a button down shirt and a nice pair of pants, and escorted her to her mothers.
"Myra!" Emily shouted from the dinner table. "Myra for God's sake, will you please bring out the food! We're famished out here!"
"Hey, at least you said please. Thatta girl." Lorelai said.
Emily rolled her eyes and ignored Lorelai's previous comment.
"So girls, I got a call from Christopher the other day." Lorelai's heart quickened, eyes gazing at her mother with anger, stomach falling down low.
"That's cool. Hey Myra, you coming out anytime soon? I think I might have to start nibbling on this disgusting salad." Lorelai shouted.
"Yeah, this is sort of bad, Grandma." Rory added trying to change the subject.
"That was rude girls. Anyways, like I said, I got a call from Christopher the other day."
"That's cool, mom."
Lorelai stared at Luke who looked coldly at her, picking up his fork and stabbing into his salad.
"He was telling me that he bought Gigi, oh what was it," she started laughing to herself, "some God awful toy that she absolutely adores. It's some walking, talking doll and he said that she always calls it Lar-lai because it has curly brown hair."
"Glad to know a plastic figurine reminds Chris' kid of me."
"Oh don't be silly. She knows its not you, she just thinks it looks like you, therefore, she calls it a slang version of your name. She's beginning to talk. He's been trying to teach her how to say daddy, but she's still stuck on the dada phase."
Lorelai, continuingly to get uncomfortable dropped her fork, trying to make a fuss without words.
"I swear, he's such a great father." Emily said as Lorelai was taking a sip of wine but was interrupted with the choking taking place.
"What?" Lorelai asked aloud.
"He takes such great care of that kid. And he has a nice steady job so that he can afford to take care of her, and with you helping him Lorelai, he has everything he'll ever need."
Luke tried as hard as humanly possible to ignore the steady job comment.
"I'm not going to be around forever, mom. I'm just helping him out temporarily."
"I know that Lorelai, but still, you're helping out so much. It must be hard to work so much. It can't be nearly as easy as working at an Inn, or a diner."
Not only was she offending Luke, but she was also offending Lorelai.
"He loves where he is working, and he's making more money than ever before. He sets aside special times everyday to spend with Gigi in between being at work, and working from home."
"Mom…" Lorelai warned her.
"What Lorelai, I'm just saying he's a great father. I wish he was around more for Rory."
Luke's eyes averted towards Emily. She noticed quickly and simply raised her eyebrows.
"I'm sorry; excuse me for just a second…" Luke said getting up and heading towards the bathroom.
"Luke!" Lorelai called after him before getting up herself and following him.
As they both disappeared out of the room, Emily tried making small talk with Rory.
"So, how is school Rory? Tell me all about it."
"Grandma…"
"Yes Rory?"
"Why did you do that?"
"Do what Rory?"
"Why did you completely just offend Luke by flaunting all this Christopher crap?" Rory snapped.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"Just now! What you did. You said Christopher was such a great guy, and how he has a steady job and how you wished he was around me. You hurt Luke, Grandma."
"Oh now I don't think I hurt the guy."
"I do Grandma. And I think that was rude, seeing as how you're wrong to begin with."
"I'm wrong about what?"
"About the things you said, Grandma! So what if dad has a good job? He probably doesn't get to spend a lot of time with Gigi which is why he has to set aside time. Which is also exactly why mom and I have to watch her so much. He's never around."
"Oh he is too."
"No, he's not. And I don't know why you said you wish he spent time with us. I don't need to spend time with him. As you can see, over the past few years, small denominations of time with him are all I need. He was never around before; I don't need him to be around now."
"I just thought it'd be nice to have a steady fatherly figure in your life. That's all. I just want what's best for you."
"That's what Luke is there for!"
"What?"
"Luke. He is my steady fatherly figure. He's the one that's always been around. Even before him and mom started dating. Now, with them dating, it just makes more sense. But still, he's always been the one that's there for us. Not dad. And Luke's the one that's still around for us. I still don't even see dad. He say's he'll come visit me at school but he never does that. Just last week though, Luke brought up a small bookcase he built me for my room because my other one's crammed."
"Rory…"
"No Grandma. I just want you to listen. All you do is talk down to Luke and I think it's rude. I think you should apologize for being mean to him. You have no idea how much he does for us, or how much we love having him around. You have no idea how much of a father he was to me for the past 19 years."
Rory stared at her coldly as Luke and Lorelai came back in the room not saying a word at all.
The night's hostility level was to a minimum after that.
…but this time, Luke wasn't trying to work with Lorelai. He was too busy recalling all the happy memories with Rachel.
They began eating and every few minutes, Luke and Rachel would think of some time they once spent together, laughing and talking.
Lorelai shoved her face the whole time.
Mazie bought there food though Rachel insisted she wanted to pay.
"Don't expect to pay here. They only time she ever let Luke pay was on our first date and that was because it was our first date."
Rachel laughed, left the tip, and they all headed in the car.
Rachel pulled into the parking spot in front of the diner and glanced at the gazebo.
"Do you remember when we built that crappy snowman the one winter it snowed over 10 inches in one night."
"That was crazy." Luke said shaking his head.
"I made you make it with me even though you refused for a good hour before giving in."
'It would have taken him 5 minutes to give into me.' Lorelai thought to herself.
"And it winded up getting torn down my Taylor the next morning."
"Intruding town property without the correct permit."
Luke laughed shaking his head.
"We had some fun times, don't' you think?" Rachel asked.
"We have."
Rachel looked over at Lorelai.
"I'm sure you guys have great times together now."
"Yeah, we do." Lorelai said quickly.
"Alright well. I guess I'll let you guys go now. Thanks for coming with me tonight. I had a great time with the two of you."
"It was our pleasure." Lorelai said.
"Lorelai, I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll be there all day…"
"Alright well great. Luke, I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow also."
"Great."
They got out of the car and Rachel drove off. Lorelai quickly turned around and stomped off to her car.
"So, uh…I guess I'll see you later?" Luke asked, following her to her car.
"I don't know."
"Oh, well okay."
"Yeah, okay is right."
"What's the matter? You seemed a little pissed tonight, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem a little pissed right now too."
"Well correct me if I'm wrong but you seemed a little close to Rachel tonight."
"What? What the hells that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know. Why don't you go ask Rachel what it means?"
"Lorelai!"
"What Luke!" She turned around looking angry at him.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Sniffys is our place!" She practically screamed. "You never said you went there with anybody else. You even told me I was the first person you took there!"
"I said you were the first important person I took there." He corrected her.
"What all of a sudden Rachel wasn't important to you? Great, I'm real eager to hear what you'll tell your next girlfriend about me…for all I know, you'll probably say that we dated for a week and it was pointless!"
"What the hell! Rachel was important but we weren't even dating when I brought her there! That was years before we ever started dating! If you didn't remember, we went to high school together. And you know damn well that you weren't pointless! You were everything to me! Don't be stupid."
"Whatever Luke."
"God what did I do wrong?"
"You acted like you didn't even know me tonight. Did you really think that I wanted to go to Sniffys tonight with you? Do you even remember what happened at Sniffys…after Sniffys…do you remember any of that?"
"Of course I remember that!"
"Well I thought it meant something to you but obviously it didn't."
"It did! It did mean something! Where are you getting all this from?"
She wasn't making much sense…there had to be some reason for all of this.
A single tear rolled down her cheek but she pinched herself to keep from crying in front of Luke.
"It just hurt, Luke." She said quietly.
"What hurt?"
"Everything! Going there with you and Rachel," she said sniffling, "going to Sniffys…the same place we went on our first night…and watching you and Rachel talk about all the happy times you guys spent together, it just all hurt."
"Well, I didn't mean to hurt you, Lorelai…but hey, I'm not the only one that's done the hurting…"
"I know. But you did. And to hear her say all these things I never even knew about you? I thought you opened up to me, I thought we were a very open couple; I thought I knew everything about you, but obviously I was wrong."
"What so I didn't tell you that I broke a finger? I'm sorry I didn't know that telling you that was a rule in the 'Dating Lorelai Gilmore Handbook.'"
"Real cute, Luke."
"Well…"
"No. You asked why I was pissed and I told you. It hurt me going there tonight and to know that you are A-Okay with going there, 100 peachy…that hurts even more. You'd think you could muster up a few emotions, but clearly, that's too much to ask for."
"Just cause I'm not crying, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, okay? Have you ever thought about that? Maybe doing this stupid pretending thing hurts more than you thought. And just because I'm not actually showing you I'm sad by crying about going to a stupid restaurant doesn't mean it's not hurting me Lorelai!"
She laughed pathetically at him, shaking his head. "That's nice to know Luke. I'm glad that not only am I nothing but an emotional wreck to you, but to know that you think Sniffys is just a stupid restaurant, that's real nice. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to leave and go home before I cry even more because God knows the judgmental express might attack me if he see's me shed one more tear. So have a nice night, and when you don't see me in the morning, just pray that I'm still alive, because who knows, I may die now, being the emotional drama queen that I am."
She walked up to the car door and grabbed her keys from her purse. She looked around for the correct one and when she finally found it, she dropped her keys in the street. She picked them up and before opening the car; Luke said something she couldn't quiet here.
"What?" She said harshly. "You're going to have to talk louder than that if you expect me to hear you. Sorry I don't have turbo-ears."
"I said I'm sorry, Lorelai. I didn't mean to offend you when I said you were crying. I was just trying to make a point. And Sniffys isn't just a stupid restaurant. I was just as uncomfortable as you were tonight."
"Well you looked pretty damn comfortable with Rachel."
"I was just trying to make things seem normal. I didn't think you'd take it the wrong way. And I didn't mean to offend you tonight."
She looked up at him attempting to forgive him. Instead, she got into the car and rolled down her window.
"Well you did, so that's too damn bad."
A/N 2: Just remember, the more drama there is only means the better make up there may be.
wink
Happy Holidays everyone!!