Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Hi everyone! Hope you all had a nice holiday! So: here is the fifth chapter for you. We hope you enjoy it! There's a lot of action going on so beware! It may seem slightly OC for certain parts, but what's fun about normality? Here's the chapter a lot of you have been wondering about. Finally, your questions are being answered! Thanks for all the great feedback! We're both so glad you guys are enjoying the story! Please review, we love to hear from you guys! Let us know what you think…especially of this chapter! Have fun, and attention: it's long!
(PS-Just to let you guys know, currently, it's late November/beginning of December)
Chapter 5: "The" Kiss
Meanwhile, Luke was furiously walking down the street. He had his head down, gripped hands, and was mumbling things to himself. He looked up to see where he was when he looked at the street sign; apple.
"God damn, stupid fruit streets!" He said aloud as he turned around after realizing he went in the completely wrong direction after leaving Lorelai's. He turned around and headed back towards her house, only so he could get to the other side of the block.
He quickly walked past Lorelai's house, hoping she wouldn't see him outside, and before getting away successfully, he heard a voice call his name.
"Oh Luke, sweetie, what are you doing out here, it's absolutely freezing!"
"Funny you should ask…you're out here too." He said walking up to Babettes front steps.
She was lying on a blanket on the porch with Maury who looked like he was asleep.
"Right, but I've got a big, strong man to protect me from the cold…not to mention, we have a blanket. We're actually sleeping out here tonight, great stars."
"Well, that's great, really, just great. Goodnight Babette." He continued walking past Babette's house.
"Uh, Luke?" Babette called.
He turned around and walked back to her. "What?"
"Lorelai's house is that way sweetie." Babette said pointing her finger at Lorelai's house.
"I know, I'm--"
"Losing your mind, I know. You know sweetie, you really are a smart man."
"Huh?"
"Preparing in advance. It's always a good thing."
"What are you talking about?" He had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.
"You didn't bring your truck. You knew you guys would be drinking--which, hey, what's a better way to get 'in the mood'," she raised her eyebrows, "so you didn't bring the car. Drinking and driving is a horrible thing."
"Aint that the truth." Maury mumbled from the ground.
Luke stood standing with his hands on his hips ready to speak but she kept going.
"Though walking isn't the best idea. And where exactly are you going? Did Lorelai send you out on an errand?"
"Babette, I'm not going back to--"
"That girls crazy. Now come here Luke."
She got up from the blanket with Maury and walked down the steps to Luke. She put her arm around him and walked him towards Lorelai's front door.
"There you go. Now go in there and tell her you'll get more liquor tomorrow, doll. Remember, drinking isn't necessarily the best thing, though it's pretty damn good." She patted him on the back and left him alone.
"Stupid people!" He said quietly to himself as he watched Babette go back to the porch. Realizing that she wasn't going back inside, he decided to walk into Lorelai's house. After all, she'd probably get suspicious if she saw him knock.
Third Week of September
It was around 4 when Miss Patty, Babette, Gypsy, Andrew, and Kirk...who came just in time before getting scolded by Patty were drinking coffee at the dance studio.
Patty decided to hold off on the dance lessons for the day because this was a much more serious problem.
"Now. As we know, we've come to a serious matter..." Patty began.
"Yes I know. Cat Kirk has done it again..."
"What has Cat Kirk done, Kirk?" Babette asked out of curiosity.
"He's peed on the carpet. And my mother says if he does it one more time, he's out of there. And, uh, I'm going with him."
"It's about time, Kirk. That stupid cat of yours deserves to be dead already." Gypsy pointed out.
"Now, now folks. We're not here to talk about Kirk and Cat Kirk. We'll save that for another time. This is a much more serious matter."
"It is at that." Babette said.
"Well then what is it?" Andrew asked, annoyed. "I've got a store to attend to, ya know?"
"We know that Andrew. But I'm afraid business can wait. We've came across some...suspicions lately."
"Yes we have..." Babette said, taking a sip of her coffee and shaking her head. "It's so unfortunate too."
"Well you see, over the past few days, Babette and I have noticed some things about Luke and Lorelai."
The crowd moaned in frustration.
"Why can't we let them have a normal relationship?" Andrew asked.
"Now Andrew, what would be the fun in that?" Patty lit a cigarette and waved it in front of him. "Without us, who knows where those two would be right now."
"Down the drain if you ask me." Gypsy mumbled.
"Anyways, we've noticed a few things about them. They're way less 'together' lately--"
"I know." Kirk interrupted. "Yesterday...or maybe it was the day before that," he paused, thinking carefully, "yes; it was the day before yesterday...I was at the diner, close to the five o'clock hour. I was dining at Luke's, normal ham on rye, when Lorelai walked in. She looked a little flustered, so naturally, being the kind guy that I am, I asked, 'Lorelai, are you feeling okay?--"
"You weren't being kind, Kirk. That's just you. You've had a crush on Lorelai for the past 6 years." Andrew pointed out.
"You promised you wouldn't mention that in front of anybody. Especially these two." Kirk pointed his fingers to Patty and Babette.
"Like we didn't know?" Babette said.
"Anyways, on with the story. I asked, 'Lorelai, are you feeling okay? You look a little red in the face.' Well, apparently she wasn't," he shook his head, looking extremely sad. "She said not to mess with her or else something about her lawn guy shoving his main tool up my...well, you get the idea."
"His hose up ya ass, darlin." Babette said so kindly.
"Thank you for clearing that up. So then, she sat at the counter and Luke came up to her. I noticed he didn't give her a kiss hello, so I said something along the lines of, 'Hey Luke, why didn't you kiss your girlfriend hello?' And he threatened to kick me out before leaning down and giving her a kiss, one much like a kiss I may give to my mother before bed."
"Now that's a nice mental image." Andrew said, rolling his eyes. "So what do you want us to do about it?"
Miss Patty continued speaking. "I thought that since we all love them so much, that for the best of them, we should make schedules...where we observe them...and if we notice anything weird, we could mention something."
"Maybe they're breakin up." Gypsy started, "Maybe Mr. Cocky finally got a taste of his own medicine. That or Lorelai finally realized who she was sleepin with."
"Aw now come on, those two have loved each other for 8 years. We can't watch them fall apart over--well let's face it--probably nothing serious." Babette said.
"Exactly." Patty continued. "Which is why I think we should do the following," she pointed her cigarette to the person she was talking to, "I'll watch them on Mondays...Andrew, you've got Tuesdays, Kirk you're on Wednesdays, Gypsy...Thursdays, and Babette, you're on Fridays."
"Wednesdays, huh?" Kirk thought. "Yes, I believe I'm free. Though I applied for the cat-petting job at the local animal hospital, so that may conflict a bit, assuming I get the job."
"You know what they say when you assume, Kirk." Gypsy said hastily.
"No, actually I don't."
Gypsy rolled her eyes. "Is that all, I've got to get back to my shop."
"Me too." Andrew said.
"Once you guys sign this document." Patty handed them a sheet of paper. After mumbling things to themselves and rolling their eyes, Andrew and Gypsy agreed to keep their eyes out for Luke and Lorelai on said days. Though they thought it was crazy, it was better than arguing with Patty or Babette.
Kirk happily signed, as well as Babette and Patty.
As Kirk, Andrew, and Gypsy left the studio, Miss Patty looked over to Babette.
"God, we're good." Patty said laughing.
Babette nodded her head in agreement. "Aint that the truth."
He put his hand on the door knob, and opened it up before trying to come up with a stupid escape route.
He walked in just as Lorelai was prancing past the door to go to her room. She turned around abruptly, stunned to see he was back. She looked down at herself and observed her attire…his plaid shirt, nothing else. How sketchy that must look.
She swallowed and looked up at him, guiltily, as she watched his eyes roam up and down her body.
"It's laundry day." She said pathetically. After a few moments of him not answering, she spoke again. "What are you doing back here?"
He walked past her and sat on the couch.
"I've got to sleep here. Stupid people in stupid Stars Hollow," he began, taking his coat off and throwing it on the chair. "I was on my way back to the diner, and I realized that I was going the wrong way. So I turned around and walked back past Babettes house and she and Maury are sitting out there like a couple of lunatics. I tried telling her that I was going back to my apartment but she thought that I was drunk! She thought you and I had been drinking, and having sex, because after all, 'what better way is there to get in the mood?' So she guided me over here and told me to tell you that I'm not getting any more liquor tonight!" He said, angrily, talking a breath after his rant.
"I…uh, didn't want any more liquor, thanks."
"I wasn't going to get any!" He shouted.
She walked over and sat on the chair putting his coat over her bare legs.
"So what was that about having to sleep here?"
"Well she and Maury are sleeping outside tonight! So I can't go out there now because she'll probably think I'm a psycho and call the cops on me, afraid that I might hurt myself or something ridiculous like that!"
Lorelai walked over to the arm of the couch that Luke was sitting next to and sat on it apprehensively.
"Well, I'll go get you some blankets…psycho."
She began walking up the stairs when she heard Luke say something.
"I'm sorry about before." He said quietly, referring to when he stormed out. He didn't really want to stop pretending because he didn't want to leave Stars Hollow…or Lorelai.
She nodded her head and continued walking up the stairs to get some blankets.
She came down a few minutes later with the blankets and the two pillows that Luke used to sleep on. He recognized them right away from the pillow cases. They made the bed, and when it was finished, both sat on the couch.
"Did you say hi to fluffly and furry?" She said looking over at the pillows she previously named.
"I was actually saving that for later…" Luke said sarcastically.
"Remember when I couldn't decide if I wanted fluffy to be fluffy, or furry to by furry?"
"I remember."
"White…" she thought for a moment, "reflects the name fluffy so much better. Gray is definitely Furry's color."
"I remember you made me do eenie-meanie-minie-mo to decide which got what name."
"…And you didn't even know how the rhyme went."
"I didn't. But you did teach me it."
"I sure did!" She said smiling proudly at her tactics, "Say it for me."
"No."
"Aw, come on Luke, you big party pooper." She hit his arm playfully.
"You promised you'd stop calling me party pooper after that night…"
"Ah yes. The night that you so casually pooped on my modeling party at the mall. I swear…I can never try clothes on in front of you."
"Sorry but I didn't need 20 other men undressing my girlfriend with their eyes."
She laughed at the memory of the time at the mall with him. "I tried on one cocktail dress."
"That could be considered a wash cloth. Did you see the amount of fabric used to make that dress?"
"Of course I did. I tried it on…"
"It hardly went below your butt."
They laughed together at the memories. Sharing happy moments like this was wonderful. Getting along so great, even though they just had a fight a mere 20 minutes ago.
"We had some good times…" Lorelai said quietly.
"Yeah, we have." Luke said equally as quiet. "Well, I'm going to go to bed now."
She looked up and smiled. "Goodnight."
Before she could turn her head to get up, she felt Luke's lips on hers, kissing her quickly.
She looked at him, surprised that he would kiss her when they were in private.
"I'm sorry." He said quickly. "I'm just so used to kissing you goodnight. Blame it on instincts." He said hoping she'd understand.
She understood more than enough.
Before he could get another word in, Lorelai's lips were pressed hard against his. Her hands were placed loosely on his thighs.
Everything in her body told her to continue kissing him. She wanted this more than just about anything. To be with him again, in an intimate way, but her head told her to stop. She pulled away quickly before her tongue did otherwise.
She looked at him for a long moment. She examined his face. Wanting to see if he was disappointed, mad, happy, sad…She wanted to know if he'd say something. Do something to stop her from his sexual tension taking over, but he didn't say a single thing, and his plain expression read absolutely nothing.
She had no idea what to do.
She looked down at her hands on his thighs and swung her head back up.
"Oh hell." She muttered out loud before pressing her lips against his again. This time everything was moving quickly. Her head was spinning as her tongue entered his mouth for the first time in weeks. Her body collapsed at his touch as his hands worked there way around her waist, pulling her closer to his body.
She didn't refuse. She lifted her hands from his thighs and placed them around his shoulders. She lifted herself up and threw herself on his lap, straddling his legs. She moaned at his gentle touch around her waist, as she moved herself closer to his body if that was possible.
This was everything she had dreamed of doing. And being as close as possible to him was all she wanted.
As she continued kissing him furiously, she took her hands and grabbed Luke's which were on her sides. She wrapped his arms around her waist tightly and leaned closer in again, pressing her chest against his and her hands pushing his hat onto the floor.
They continued sitting there making out like a pair of crazy teenagers for a few minutes, staying in the exact same position. After a few minutes, Lorelai broke away and looked up the stairs. Luke watched her every move, not once giving her a negative look.
She got off of his lap and stood in front of him. She leaned down, kissing him again, and pulling him up from the couch, not once losing contact with his lips.
He securely wrapped his arms around her waist yet again as she walked backwards towards the stairwell, climbing slowly but steady up the stairs. As they continued their feverishly acts, she started quickly unbuttoning his flannel shirt and knocking it off his shoulders as it fell on the stairs.
She continued backing up the stairs, clearly aware of where the night was headed.
She made it to her room and pressed Luke against her closed door. Never once taking her lips off of his, she released one of her hands from his shoulder and searched for the door knob. After a few seconds of failure, but not wanting to open her eyes, or even take her mouth away from Luke's because the way he was kissing her at the moment made her practically melt, she got the door open.
She pushed him on her bed and climbed on top of him. Since the time she pressed her lips against his while pulling him off the couch, she never took hers off of his. His kisses made her feel special, wanted, desired.
Luke pulled away from her and as he groped her sides and bottom, kissing her neck in tons of different places. She worked her hands down to his pants and started undoing his belt, her nails beginning to work their way under his jeans.
"God, it's been so long." She said messing with the buckle.
It was then that Luke snapped out of the phase. He removed his lips from her neck and looked at her as if she was crazy. He pushed her off of him, carefully, but suddenly, and stood at the foot of the bed.
"What are we doing?"
She looked at him, amazed he was backing away. Utterly hurt, she looked at him sadly.
"We were being intimate with each other again." She said simply, as if he was supposed to know. Which, he was.
"We can't do this. We can't be together like this. We broke up for a reason you know! How are we supposed to just forget that? It's not like we're really together!"
"We…we aren't Luke." She had no answers. No answers at all.
She rubbed her hand against her neck where his lips previously were, wishing she could be on top of him again as he kissed her.
"We can't keep doing this, Lorelai! We can't keep pretending."
"But Luke--"
"No. We can't. What do you expect? To pretend for the rest of your life? Don't you want to be able to move on?"
"I don't want to move on." She said quietly, looking down.
After all, it was the truth.
"Well you can, because I'm going to. I can't keep doing this with you. I know I said it before, but I mean it this time. I'm done with the pretending crap."
He walked down the stairs and kicked his shirt off the step. He turned the light out in the hall and laid on the couch, rubbing his eyes and sighing.
Meanwhile Lorelai, stunned at what had just happened, walked slowly to her door and peered down into the living room. The lights were off and Luke was on the couch.
As badly as she wanted to go downstairs and lay on top of him, kissing him softly until he fell asleep, apologizing for everything and just being with him, she knew the idea was pure fantasy. Never in a million years could that happen.
She walked to her bed and turned the lamp off beside her. She crawled under her covers, sleeping on the far left side of the bed where they hadn't quite reached.
She tried falling asleep as quick as possible, not wanting to think about a thing that had just happened, but that was also just a fantasy.
To forget something so easily…only miracles could grant that.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
It was close to 2 am when Lorelai finally gave up on trying to fall asleep. From the second she got under her covers until now, all she could think about was Luke and what had happened only hours before. She could still feel his lips on hers and often she'd brush her fingers across her lips just to make sure she was imagining this all. He really wasn't there. Her thoughts were coinciding to the fact that she didn't really believe he was there in the first place…on her couch.
So she got up and put her robe on cause the flannel wasn't enough. She creeped out of her room and down the stairs, walking quietly over to the couch.
Sure enough, he was there.
She almost wished that he wasn't. Because that would mean everything that happened before was just a dream. Though she wouldn't take back being with him for those minutes if she could, her thoughts were still too confusing.
Coffee could do the trick.
She walked to the kitchen after watching him for a few minutes and made a pot of coffee. After patiently waiting for the coffee to finish, she poured herself a cup and started walking towards the stairs when she caught something from the corner of her eye.
It started snowing again.
She took it as a sign. She retreated back over to the chair across the couch and sat down. She sat on her knees, facing the window, and watched the snow for a few minutes before hearing something.
She turned around and saw Luke turn over on his side, facing away from her. She watched his blanket fall off of him and walked over to the floor, picking it up.
She placed the blanket on him careful not to wake him and sat back on the chair.
Watching him sleep reminded her of all the good times…
Last Week of July
It was close to 10 pm. Lorelai was by herself in the darkened diner downstairs attempting to make Luke tea. Luke had been sick for the past day and spent most of his time in bed while Lorelai attended to him just about the whole time.
She stayed at his house the night before, not evening really caring if she caught whatever he had, fed him breakfast, lunch, dinner, and spent all her other free time by his side, talking, watching TV, sleeping, whatever it may be.
She walked back upstairs, tea in hand, and kicked the door open. She walked over to Luke who was on the far right side of the bed. She sat down on the edge of the side of the bed next to him and gave him the tea.
"Here you go."
"Thanks." He took the tea from her and took a sip before putting it on the bedside table.
Still sitting next to him, she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek, sitting back up afterwards.
"Luuuuke…"
"Yeah?"
She leaned down again, hands assembling the buttons on his shirt, and gave him another kiss on the cheek. This time she laid her upper half on his as her legs stayed grounded to the floor.
She pressed her left cheek to his right, whispering in his ear. "I have a secret."
"What?" He kissed her ear causing her to shiver.
"You know that soup I made you?" This time she kissed the top of his ear.
"Yeah? The most amazing soup I've ever had?"
"That's the one."
"What about it?"
"Well…I didn't make it like I said I did…"
"No!" He said pretending to be shocked. "You liar."
"I'm sorry!" She sat up and looked down at him. "I went to the Inn and Sookie had it made! So I took some and…well…my original plan was to feed you Campbell's because it's mmm-mmm-good, but…I thought you'd appreciate Sookie's better."
"Very thoughtful thinking of you. You know, if you made soup, I'd probably be even sicker."
She hit his chest playfully. "That's not nice."
She leaned down one last time and gave him another kiss before getting up and walking to the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee.
"So, want to watch a movie?" She asked walking back to the same spot on the bed as before.
"Actually…I'm getting pretty tired. I thought I would just go to sleep."
"Alright…here," she pulled the covers over the rest of his body and leaned down to give him a kiss goodnight. "Goodnight babe."
"Lorelai…" He said as she walked over to the couch.
"What?"
"You don't have to stay here. You can go home, ya know."
"Are you saying you want me to leave?" She said acting sad.
"No, you just don't have to be here while I sleep. There's nothing for you to do."
"Well there's nothing for me to do at my house either. I'd be lonely."
"You'll be lonely here too…"
"No I won't. I'll finish up my paperwork I started earlier, maybe watch a little TV, and then crawl in bed with you. If I went home, there'd be no crawling in bed with you, would there?"
"I guess not."
"So, shush and go to sleep. I like takin care of ya."
"You're crazy. But I appreciate it."
"I know you do. Now go to sleep."
While doing her paperwork, she looked over and saw Luke sound asleep like a little baby. He always fell asleep so quickly. She put her pen and paper down and walked over to the bed, slipping out of her clothes and putting on one of the pairs of clothes she left purposely at his house. She climbed in bed and turned to him, watching him sleep.
It wasn't intended to be done in a stalker way, whatsoever, but she always caught herself doing it.
Something about the way she felt being next to him fascinated her beyond belief.
The next morning, Lorelai's eyes slowly opened adjusting to the sunlight beaming in through the windows. She recognized the fabric covering her...the blanket from downstairs. But how did it get up here to her room?
She turned around and realized she fell asleep on the chair. But when she glanced at the couch, she saw the blankets neatly folded up with the pillows placed on top of them.
Just like that he was gone.
She took her time to digest everything. As if her brain hadn't thought about it enough, she replayed last nights images through her mind. The last thing she remembered was sitting in the chair watching Luke sleep. At some point she must have fallen asleep and at the early hours of the morning, he must have put the blanket over her, cleaned up any signs that he was there, and left to go back to the diner.
With it being Saturday, she didn't have the Inn to run too. She had no where to go, and even if she wanted to go to the diner, she knew she couldn't. Not after he said that he was done pretending. Because what if she did go there, and he made a scene if she kept pretending? That would be bad. Not only would everybody know they broke up, but they'd all know that they have been pretending for the past 5 weeks.
So she slowly got up and retreated herself to her shower upstairs wanting to wash away the smell of him off of her because all it was doing was reminding her of their time spent together last night.
--------
It was a busy morning at the diner. Luke had opened about 45 minutes late because he over slept at Lorelai's. He woke up at around 5, looking around, and the first thing he saw was Lorelai sitting in the chair looking uncomfortable. He wanted to wake her and tell her that she'll have a back ache in the morning, or her neck will hurt because of the way she was sleeping on it, he wanted to warn her, inform her, look out for her, but couldn't. Not after there breakup, and not after there huge fight last night because she was no longer his...in any way, shape, or form.
The most he could do was protect her from the cold. He walked over before getting his stuff together and placed the blanket over her. He had the urge to wake her up and ask her what was going through her mind...after what had happened last night with the two of them. But he knew he shouldn't. Still angered about what happened last night, he thought it was best to leave.
Before he walked out the door, he considered going back and waking her up to tell her he'll continue pretending. But as he watched her sleep, he realized how hard it had been for him. To be with her, but not really be with her. The thought of losing her forever made the pretending situation seem worth it, but after all, maybe losing her is what he needs most.
He served the customers in his normal gruff self. He was somewhat expecting her to come to the diner, because knowing Lorelai she would pretend that nothing happened last night, including him telling her that he was finished pretending. But he knew that she wasn't that stupid. She wasn't going to come in. She was going to respect his wishes and forget everything between the two of them.
The least she could do after everything was respect his wishes.
He heard the bell rang and looked up...it was Sookie. He knew that Sookie had no idea about the two of them, and it wasn't like he was going to bring it up. But Sookie hardly comes without Lorelai, so it was unusual seeing her.
"Hey Luke." She said sitting down at the counter.
"Hey Sookie."
"How are you?" She asked. "You look tired."
"I'm fine..." He said rolling his eyes. "How are you?"
"I'm just fine...really...fine." She said picking up the ketchup bottle and hitting it against the table.
"You sure? Or do you normally like slamming ketchup bottles against counters?"
"Well I'm not allowed to do this at home."
"Pick up ketchup bottles...and bang them against counters?" He asked lamely.
"Pick up anything at that matter. Jackson's afraid I'll strain a muscle, somehow then leading to harming my baby!" She snapped.
"Ah..."
"You know what happened last night? I wake up in the middle of the night...it must have been 1 or 2, so I wake Jackson up of course because…I'm bored and who the hell else am I supposed to talk to? He starts yelling at me because he hasn't gotten enough sleep in the past week, and he claims he was sleeping like a baby. As if he would know what that feels like!"
"Yeah..."
"So, after he's finished yelling at me, he starts apologizing like crazy, saying he's tired and worn out and just needs his sleep. I swear…that guy has SUCH mood swings!" She practically yelled.
"That's really too bad..."
He didn't know how to deal with her. Pregnancy hormones weren't something Luke majored in.
"But I swear, he's so sweet. I asked if he'd make me eggs, because I've really been craving eggs lately, and he got up with me and we walked to the kitchen and I sat at the table..." at this point, Sookie was sniffling, wiping the tears from her eyes with a napkin, "and watched him...make me my eggs..." all of a sudden she was literally sobbing, "and I realized how sweet he is for making me eggs at 2 am. Me, eggs, at two am." She finished, wiping her eyes yet again.
Luke sat back, afraid of the scene in front of him.
"Can I uh..." he began coughing, unaware of what to say, "Make you some eggs?"
Sookie started crying again. "That's so sweet of you. I bet you make Lorelai eggs all the time when you cook her breakfast."
"Actually I uh--"
"Speaking of Lorelai, did she tell you about the party? Are you coming with her?" She asked, still crying a little.
"Actually I'm going to have to work."
Sookie picked up the ketchup bottle again and slammed it against the counter. "What?!" She screamed.
"I'm...uh...I'm supposed to be..."
"You better be there. I invited you and it's only polite that you come."
"I know, I really, I uh, I'm sorry I'm just going to go back in the kitchen and make those eggs especially for you!" He smiled brightly at her hoping the eggs would make up for him not coming.
Sure enough it did. It brought tears to her eyes. "That's so sweet of you. Thank you so much Luke, really."
He came out a few minutes later with a plateful of eggs and toast on the side, afraid if he brought her something else, she'd get upset and cry about it.
"Here you go."
"Thanks Luke." She said quietly, looking down at her eggs. "But, I uh, I don't want eggs anymore." She made a face of disgust and pushed the plate away from her. "That's just, uck, not now....so!" She took out a piece of paper with names scribbled on it and a pen, "I'm marking you and Lorelai down for the party. I'm trying to get an estimate of people so I can make the right amount of food."
"But I uh, can't come."
"You!..." she said slamming her pen on the counter, "will be there. At 7:00 sharp with Lorelai. And if you're not, you better believe that Jackson will be on your case the next morning, do you hear me?"
He swallowed, nodding his head. "I hear you."
"Good. Now I'm going to go."
She picked up her purse and walked proudly out of the diner leaving Luke standing there amazed.
Crap, he had actually said he'd go. That was the last thing he wanted to do. Not with everybody there, watching him and Lorelai when they were supposed to be over. But Sookie...he was afraid of her...
------
Back at home, Lorelai was watching TV because she had nothing better to do. After flipping through the channels a bit, she walked over to get the phone and dialed Rory's dorm number.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Hey babe."
"Oh hey mom...gimme a minute." Rory walked over to her room and closed the door before sitting on her bed. "Sorry, Paris is watching one of her debates on TV and I couldn't hear."
"Oh that's alright. How's Paris doing anyways?"
"You know, she's still Paris..."
"Right, right. So, Rory...I've got to talk to you." She said turning the TV off and settling on the couch.
"I'm all ears."
"Well, you know how...you are my best friend...and my daughter...right?"
"Yes, I do believe I know that."
"And, you see...there's a difference between those two terms. A daughter is somebody I care for, someone I supply food for, and a home, and the absolute best taste in clothes."
"Right..."
"And a best friend is someone you complain to about your hair, and boys, and other friends...right?"
"Uh huh..."
"So, right now, we're going to have this conversation in strictly a best friend sort of relationship, okay? I...I need you to listen to things you're probably never going to want to hear coming from my mouth, but I really need to talk to somebody about this and it looks like you're the only one I can talk to."
"Are you okay?" Rory asked concerned.
"Just…agree with me on that okay? Best friends only, starting...now."
"Alright."
"Okay...something happened last night with Luke." She said quickly.
"Ah man, what have I gotten myself into?"
"Just remember...you're the only one that knows about Luke and I so you really are the only one I can talk with about this..."
"I know, I know...keep talking."
"Well last night, I was at the diner and we were having a good time, talking, and surprisingly, we were alone...until I realized it was getting sort of late so I said that I was going to go home when he offered to walk me. So...he walks me home, and it starts snowing on him so I invite him in to dry off and have some tea with me. So I make him the tea, and I pull out a box of pizza and a plate for me, and then all of a sudden he goes Mr. Freeze on me and gets up, telling me that he's going to leave and that he's sick of pretending and that he's done with it."
"Well that was rude; you should have offered him a piece of pizza."
"Rory, seriously."
"Rar...sorry."
"So, I go upstairs and change into...uh, his flannel shirt," she said quietly.
"Ah..."
"So as I'm walking back to the stairs, he walks back in the house and starts ranting about how Babette saw him walking the wrong direction, and when he turned around something about him being drunk, so she kindly directed him in the right direction of our house and he said he had to sleep over because he was convinced if he tried leaving again, Babette would call the cops on him."
Rory laughed a little before speaking. "I'm still listening..."
"So, we're talking, and I'm making the couch up for him, and were laughing about some stupid time we spent together, and then when he says he's going to sleep...he says goodnight, and kisses me. Now, I know you don't want to hear this, but believe me, there's more to come, so get prepared...but anyways...it wasn't like a long, passionate kiss. It was just a quick peck goodnight."
"A peck she says..."
Lorelai ignored Rory's smirky remark. "So he starts apologizing about how he's so used to kissing me goodnight, and I just...ah, I know you're not going to want to hear this, I just wanted to...kiss him, so I did."
"Eeee..."
"Yeah...eee is right. I kissed him, and backed away to see if he was looking at me weird, or something bad like that, and he wasn't...so...I leaned in and kissed him again."
"Really wishing I didn't have to hear this..."
"Well stay tuned...because, the kiss turned into a Tale of Rory and Jess; the early years, and I know I shouldn't have just said that but I did and I'm sorry, but it's the truth. We were like a couple of crazy teenagers who haven't seen each other for a month. And I'll try and skip out on all the details that will probably make you sick, and avoid telling you about how amazing it felt to be with him again, oh oops--I just did, and all that stuff. I'll just skip to the part where I lead him up to my bedroom," she heard Rory squeeing, probably of disgust from imagining her mom bringing Luke up to her room, "and I thought...we were going to...you know, but all of a sudden, he pushed me to the side and started yelling about how we can't be doing this again, and how he's serious this time about stopping the pretending stuff, and that we're through."
"Oh, mom..."
"And I don't know what to do, Rory. I mean, last night, being with him was everything I had imagined it to be like...if we were to ever be romantically involved again...and to have him just shove me aside and tell me to move on...I don't even know what to think of that. And right now, I don't know what do about him because he left before I woke up this morning, so I don't know if we're really through with the pretending, or what he'll tell the town...all I know if what he told me."
"Which was?"
"That he thinks we should stop because we can't pretend for the rest of our lives. He told me I should move on because he said he is. And you have no idea how much I don't want to move on… how much I really want to be with him again."
"Then why aren't you going after him and stopping him? He's falling head over heels for you...he'd do anything, and with a little convincing, I'm sure you can win him back."
"It's not that Rory."
"Well how come?"
"Because, Rory. I don't get everything I want because of my hair flip…this being a perfect example. It's not that easy hun."
"Well... do you want best friend advice or daughter advice?"
"Best friend."
"Well...maybe you should just move on, mom."
"But..."
"I know you miss him. And I know you want to be with him again but...I don't know if that's going to happen from the way you sound."
"I know." Lorelai sounded disappointed.
"Was that too harsh? Do you want daughter advice now?"
"No, what I needed was that."
Rory heard a knock on the door and Paris screaming at her to get off her cell phone because a very important part of the debate was coming on.
"Mom?"
"Yeah kid?"
"I hate to do this to you but I've got to go."
"Alright."
"But, I'll call you back in a little bit..."
"K, bye Rory."
"And mom?"
"Uh huh?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, babe."
"Bye."
Lorelai hung up the phone and threw it to the side then saying, "goodbye."
Maybe moving on is what she needed. Just maybe.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
By the time Tuesday night rolled around...Lorelai had still not seen or talked to Luke. She had successfully avoided him, and though missed him terribly, thought maybe she could do this. Not see him. And maybe it would be okay because the town just might not notice. But that's a damn lie because people in Stars Hollow amaze you. They are much more observant than you'd think.
It was close to 6:45 when Lorelai arrived at Sookies. She came a little early hoping that she could help out last minute but leave it to Sookie and Jackson to have everything done...and early.
Sookie was putting the last touches on the food while Lorelai sat at the table nibbling on something Sookie had made.
"Everything looks great sweetie...really."
"Are you sure? Cause I feel like there's too much pink."
Lorelai looked at the food arrangements on the table and saw not one piece of pink anything...beside the one thin border line on the white napkins.
She narrowed her eyes and turned to Sookie.
"I think the pinks just fine, really."
The doorbell rang and Lorelai offered to go greet the guests. Babette and Maury got there first, followed by Patty, Michel, Kirk, Lulu, Andrew and his wife, and a few friends from the Dragonfly.
Everyone got there by about 7:15 and the party started right then.
The food was out, music playing in the background, and not to mention, the huge punch bowl which was just about 99 alcohol and the other liquor sitting behind it.
By 7:30 just about everyone was already singing show tunes...flirting with each others husbands and wives...and such forth except for Sookie on behalf of the baby she was representing in her stomach.
They all sat around the living room, talking and sharing stories about the fact that they wanted kids.
"I always thought that I'd get knocked up by my first husband...we were always the most...well, you know how it is...but, that never happened!" Patty said laughing hysterically at whatever she and the rest of the party thought was amusing.
Sookie sat back and laughed at how drunk everybody was.
"Well, I..." Lorelai said, taking a sip of one of her many martinis of the night, "can't even tell you what it's like. Well, too bad I have a horrible long term memory because we all know it was so long ago that I birthed Lory--"
"It's Rory sweetie..." Sookie corrected.
"Light, Lory." She slurred, laughing at herself. "I remember I was more worried about never sleeping with another guy then having Lory in the first place."
"Lulu and I are actually trying to reproduce." Kirk said out loud.
Everybody just about coughed up their drink, except Kirk and Lulu.
"Thatta boy, Kirk. I always knew you had it in you!" Lorelai punched him in the arm which was her friendly way of saying congratulations because right now, the thought of saying such a long word hurt her head.
"Maury and I are strictly cat people...aint we darlin?" Babette asked, turning to Maury who was taking some strange shot of whiskey with Jackson and Andrew.
"Uh huh." He mumbled.
Sookie got up laughing and everybody turned to see where she was going.
"Where ya goin honey?" Lorelai asked attempting to stand up but gravity wasn't acting very friendly.
"You sit down. I'm going to get all you crazy drunk people more food."
By 8:00, the party was still kicking. Everyone was still drinking, which seemed to be a comedy hour for Sookie who was enjoying watching everybody be crazy.
Lorelai, Babette, Lulu and Patty were playing a round of Twister. Lulu and Lorelai were the last two standing. They supported on each other for balance because if somebody tapped them with even a stick, they'd probably collapse.
When it was Lorelai's turn to move, she kicked her foot to hard and took down both her and Lulu. They laid on the ground laughing hysterically.
"You're really flexible...do you know that?" Lorelai asked.
Kirk butted in. "I know that real well."
Lorelai started laughing and covering her ears. "Kirk, I swear to God the next time you mention anything having to do with you and Lulu in bed together, my foot and your ass are going to become real close friends." She said sitting up and looking around the room, resting her head on the back of the couch from sudden dizziness.
"We are quite the party people, dontcha think?" Lorelai said to everyone as they all mumbled a yes, or nodded their head and got back to whatever they were doing.
Around 8:10, Luke walked in the door and absolutely nobody noticed. He watched from the door as every drunken person there continued what they were all doing not even hearing him come in.
'Damn.' He cursed himself for even coming in the first place. How could he possibly think that they'd all be sober? Nobody would notice if he was there or not.
He watched Lorelai from afar. He watched her laugh at whatever Lulu was saying, throwing her head back, and clapping her hands in excitement.
"Tell me more!" He heard her call out.
As he watched her and Lulu continue talking, he looked to the corner to see Andrew and his wife fighting probably about something stupid, Babette, Michel, Maury, Kirk, Jackson, and Patty talking in their own little corner while you could tell Patty was flirting with Maury and Babette didn't seem to care.
The only person he didn't see was Sookie.
"Luke!" Sookie said walking up to him from the kitchen. Nobody heard her.
He began walking towards her, and took her into the kitchen.
"Ah, a sober face!" Sookie came running up to him.
"So I take it your the only sober one here, huh?"
"There all completely trashed."
Luke took a look at the selection of drinks in front of him.
"Maybe that's why!" He pointed his finger to the table.
Sookie glanced over and laughed. "I'm just being a nice host..." she glanced at the clock realizing what time it was, "hey, you're late..." she said with a bit of anger in her voice.
"I know, I'm sorry. I got caught up at the diner and...I thought Lorelai might have told you." Bull. He hadn't talked to Lorelai but Sookie didn't know that though.
"She's been drunk since, oh I don't know about 7:20 so chances are; it completely slipped her mind. Did you go say hi to her yet?" She asked pushing him in the doorway to the living room. "Go out and say hi, I'll be out in a few minutes."
As she disappeared into the kitchen again, Luke sat at the entrance watching Lorelai who was now surrounded by all the girls. He glanced in the corner and saw Michel screaming obscene French profanity, Kirk and Andrew discussing something that looked awfully important, and Jackson talking about fruits and vegetables to nobody in-particular.
He looked over towards the girls again. They were all listening to Lorelai tell a story. He stepped a little closer so he could hear what she was saying.
"But I mean he's a completely different person when were together...a few weeks ago, we had just finished doing...the horizontal hokey pokey, and we were in bed together," there was a chorus of aw's through out the woman and his cheeks instantly turned a flush red. He was surprised nobody noticed him. He wanted to interrupt so badly, but something stopped him. "And I told him that I was cold so he got up and, ah what was it, what did he do..."
It was then that Babette noticed Luke.
"Why don't you ask the man of the hour, himself? He's standing right beyond ya, gorgeous."
Lorelai turned her head quickly and gazed up at look, smiling brightly.
"Luuuuuuke!" She cooed from the floor. She scooted over to his legs and hugged the bottom of them. "Help me up, will ya?" She lifted her arms up for him to grab and he picked her up, holding her a little while she adjusted herself.
"I misssssed you!" She jumped in his arms as he apprehensively wrapped an arm around her waist, mainly for support. She gave him several kisses on his cheek before pulling him down on the floor. "We were just talking about you, burger boy. I was telling them the story when we were in my bed and I was cold and you did the cutest bit but I can't think of what it was now...do you remember Lukey?" She said, dragging her finger on the side of his face.
He looked like a sun burnt tomato. As if saying a tomato wasn't bad enough. "No, I don't." He said coldly.
Maybe the one good thing would be that none of them noticed the anger in his voice or really...in his attitude.
He didn't want to be there. Not with her at least. Not even by her. But he had an obligation to Sookie. And Lorelai would have to be crazy to believe that he wanted to be there. Or stone cold drunk.
"Luke my boy!" Jackson called from the corner. "Get over here! We were wondering when you'd arrive!"
"We were?" Michel asked.
"Of course we were. Luke is one fine influence on how to treat a lady, aren't you Luke?" Kirk asked.
At this point, Lorelai was trying to adjust herself in his lap but he scooted her to the side and got up.
"Uh, yeah, right. Just give me a...--Sookie are you coming out here?!" He called out desperately.
"Just a sec!"
"Will you guys excuse me?" Luke asked the crowd.
A few yes' and no's were spread across the room before Luke retreated himself to the kitchen.
"It's like a frikken zoo out there!" He said to Sookie.
"Oh, I know." She started laughing. "It's really humorous too. If you ask nice enough, Kirk may sing his rendition of You Drive Me Crazy."
"Cause that's something I want to see..."
"Here. I'm fine by myself. Take a drink." She said pointing to the selection.
"Actually...I'm okay. And, you know, it's not like any of them would realize if I were here or not, so what do you say about me leaving...now."
Sookie put the knife down she was previously using to cut something and stared at him.
"And leave me with a house of drunken fools? Yeah right."
"Well, what am I supposed to do with them?"
"Hey, it's your girlfriend in there. You can go take care of her. Haven't you seen her drunk before?"
"Unfortunately, yes. And on more than one occasion."
"Well go attend to her. She'll realize if you're missing."
"But I---"
"Go." She said cutting him off and pushing him out the kitchen once again. "I'll be out in one second, promise."
"Fine. You better be."
As he walked back into the room, Lorelai asked if she could get him a drink.
"Come on Luke, you'll need it. Believe me. Check out the crowd."
Luke looked around at everybody in the room but decided to pass on the drink.
"Uh, no thanks."
"Come on Luke, here." She handed him her drink. Luke took an awkward sip of it and handed it back to her. "I'm fine."
"Fine." She took a sip of her conjunction. "You're missing out."
"That's just fine."
It was then that Sookie came in holding yet another tray of food and placed it down on the table, laughing as she looked around.
"I feel like I'm at a 6th grade dance. Why don't you men mingle with the woman? Go, scoot!" She told the guys sitting in their own table.
Everybody got up for a few minutes, refilling their drinks, getting more food, and adjusting themselves on couches and chairs.
"Much better." Sookie said looking around.
"This reminds me of this party I was once at when I was a kid." Lorelai stared before being interrupted.
"And truthfully Lorelai, absolutely nobody cares what you're going to have to say." Michel said rolling his eyes at her.
"Just because you've never been to a party besides this doesn't mean you have to ruin it for the others, Michel. Hasn't your mother taught you anything?! Anyways, I remember we were playing spin the bottle and I had to kiss this guy named Randy. Now, Randy was a nice fella...well bread, then again, who wasn't back then...and we went into my friend Claire's closet. And he told me that he'd love to one day have children with me. And all I can think is that if he was the father of Lory, wow she'd be a different kid."
"And what was the point of that story, doll face?" Babette asked.
"She wanted to spread her fertility offers of course." Patty said. "But what do you say girls...and guys. Spin the baby bottle! It's only tradition to play at a baby shower. Sookie? What do you say?"
"Oh!" Sookie clapped her hands excitedly. "I'm in!"
"Are you saying that my chances of kissing Lorelai right now are at a high stake?" Kirk asked as Lulu laughed at his comment because she was too drunk to realize how inappropriate it was.
"And if you're lucky, she won't bite you." Michel said loudly.
Lorelai pouted in return to all of this and gathered everybody around the table. Half the audience didn't care what they were doing. The other half didn't even realize.
"I'm sitting across for you, baby!" Lorelai said winking at Luke as he rolled his eyes and grumbled.
"Sookie, it's only polite if you go first." Patty guided the baby bottle that Sookie had gotten as one of her gifts on the table. Sookie, being the only sober one there besides Luke looked around the group and laughed. "This ought to be interesting."
She spun the bottle and after several moments, it landed on Jackson.
"Aw, now that's not fun." She complained walking over to Jackson and giving him a kiss before sitting down close to him and leaning against him as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Lorelai looked around the table at her and smiled.
"Kirk, you're next." Sookie said to Kirk who was sitting on her other side.
"Alright folks." He leaned over and rolled up his sleeves ready for whatever may come. He turned the bottle and after a minute it landed on Patty.
"Oh no." He said, as Patty laughed hysterically.
"I uh, I think there's been a mistake. I've got a girlfriend."
"I've seen you in diapers Kirk."
"Was that necessary Patty?" He shot a look of hate towards her.
"Go do your business will ya Kirk?" Lulu asked annoyed.
He walked over and sat next to Patty. As he was about to kiss her, he pulled away, afraid. "I'm...I'm sorry. My mom just said never to do this and, well, I don't want mother to find this out." He leaned in as quick as humanly possibly and kissed Patty.
"Playboys going to be calling you, buddy." Lorelai said.
"Oh be quiet Lorelai. And it's your turn."
Lorelai leaned over the table and spun the baby bottle. For her it seemed like hours before stopping. She was getting dizzy just from watching.
Finally, it landed...on Luke.
"Aw babe look at that." She said walking over towards Luke. "We are destiny."
She sat next to him on her knees and put her arms around his waist, inching her face closer and closer as the rest of the crowd watched like they've never seen them kiss before.
Before completely leaning in, she glided her fingers lower and lower down his stomach, smiling viciously.
As she slowly got closer to his face, he put his hands on her waist and pushed her off of him.
"Get off!" He said louder than intended.
"What?!" Everybody asked.
"I don't want to kiss you!"
"Oh, my...Luke!" Patty screeched. "What's the matter? She's a beautiful young lady!"
"I don't want to kiss her because I don't like kissing my ex's...unlike some people!" He said looking over at Lorelai. He placed his hands on his hips and stared at her angrily as she looked around the room at everybody's reaction.
She attempted to stand up but her body and head disagreed with that idea.
"Wait...what?!" Sookie, the only other sober one who knew exactly but at the same time, nothing that was going on at the time, asked.
"Yeah, Lorelai's not your ex sweetie...I'm drunk but even I know that!" Patty said.
"Oh yes she is my ex. My ex-girlfriend of oh...how long has it been now Lorelai?" Lorelai looked down, face suddenly ultra bright red, playing with her nails and pretending she had no idea what was going on.
Being as drunk as she was didn't even help her out in this situation.
They were caught.
"She's been my ex for a good month plus...why don't you tell them why Lorelai? I'm sure they'd all be fascinated to know!"
"Luke..." she said so quietly hardly anybody--but Luke--heard her.
"Don't 'Luke' me. I told you I was done pretending. I told you from the start that I would do this but strictly because I can't afford leaving Stars Hollow. Well guess what, I'm sick of pretending. I told you that twice on Friday. I don't know how many more times I'm going to have to say it before it gets through your head, but I won't even count this as a time of telling you because you're too drunk to know what's going on. So are the rest of you. So have a nice party. I'm leaving. And don't expect to talk to me because now that everyone else knows the truth...there's no reason to pretend we're friends. Because we're not. We're far from friends. And Sookie..." he said turning to her, "have a nice party."
He grabbed his coat from the banister and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
Everybody sat there, quietly looking at Lorelai who sat there, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, eyes glancing back and forth between everybody. She was so embarrassed...humiliated...there weren't really words to describe how she felt. But now, everybody new.
Whether or not they'd remember tomorrow was a different story...but Patty has one damn good 'drunken-memory.'
You better believe the rest of the town would hear about this.
Though nobody really knew why they broke up...well...sort of. Maybe, just maybe they had the slightest idea at this point.
Second Week of September
"Alright, Gigi's finally asleep." Chris said walking into the living room, sitting down next to Lorelai on the couch.
"Good."
"And thanks again for letting us stay tonight. It's raining pretty hard now and the traffics probably horrible."
"Good."
"You know, I don't think I've heard you say another word since you've gotten back from your parents."
"Well, good."
"You alright?"
"Tipsy. But I'm alright."
"I can tell. Glad to see you're still the same as you were in high school." He said laughing, remembering the times they'd get drunk and spy on their neighbors from the porch.
"I'm not the same kind of girl I was in high school."
"No? Drinking, being with guys, getting into trouble." He said laughing again.
"Drinking...occasionally...but I'm no lush...being with guys...I've only got my guy...and getting into trouble...only sometimes." She said winking and hitting him on his leg, keeping her hand above his knee.
"You know Lorelai; I bet I could get all of those categories to be accurate."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I just know you really well. I know how you are."
"You knew how I was. You don't really know the current me."
"Prove it." He said strictly.
"Prove what?" She asked confused.
"Prove to me that you've changed. That you're no longer the same crazy girl I went out with in high school."
"Correction…slept with in high school."
"We dated to you know…"
"Okay…"
"So prove it?"
"How?" She asked again, suddenly becoming angered with his games.
"I'm going to kiss you. You can back away if you want."
"You wouldn't dare." She said, tone thick with seriousness.
"So then back away. You said you changed."
"You know I'm dating Luke."
"I know. But if you're the same girl I know…"
"Why would you even want to kiss me?" She asked.
"I just want to prove that I know you better than anybody else."
"And why does that even mat--" She started but was quickly cut off by his lips.
He secured his hand on the back of her head so she couldn't get out without putting up a fight. But she wasn't resisting whatsoever.
She leaned forward into him, her hand moving from his leg to his waist, grasping around him so she didn't fall on top of her. She felt his tongue run across her bottom lip, wanting to experience more and she let him. She opened her mouth, moaning quietly as his tongue entered her mouth.
As they continued for a few more seconds, Lorelai suddenly became clear with her thoughts. What in the world was she doing?! This was the most twisted thing that's ever happened in her life. This wasn't Luke. This was Christopher. Rory's father. Her ex that she was currently sucking faces with while her boyfriend probably sat upstairs alone in his apartment waiting for her to call.
How could she be the sock-woman?
She pulled away abruptly, eyes wide, and stood up, tipping over slightly before gaining her balance.
"What were we doing?!?" She practically screamed.
Chris stood up and pulled her in again.
"This." He said, kissing her passionately on the lips before pulling away.
"Are you serious right now?!" She pushed him away from him and walked towards the side of the couch.
"Christopher, I have a boyfriend!"
"I know Lor..."
"So then what was that? Why were you kissing me?!"
"You know what I did. Too prove myself right. And, correct me if I'm wrong but it certainly seemed like you enjoyed that."
"I can't believe you. I trusted you. I trusted you with my happiness. And you know I'm not a sucker for cheating. Believe me, I'm not. And to know that you knew I was happy and took complete advantage of that, ruining my happiness cause you had the urge to kiss me? That's unbelievable Chris. You're much more immature than I thought."
"If you are so pissed, why didn't you pull away quicker?"
"I don't know Chris! Maybe cause, I don't know, my alcohol level isn't necessarily at 0. Reaction time is delayed when you've got alcohol in you. Didn't you learn that from your health class? Oh wait, you were two busy shoving your tongue down some girls throat during health class, I'm sorry. And not to mention, I was stuck in the Headlock of the Year. You deserve a metal for that, mister."
"Still. You could have pulled away a little quicker...and also…I warned you. You knew I was going to kiss you."
"You know..."
He cut her off. "I wanted to prove a point to you, and me. We have history, Lor. We do. And through out everything, I think that now is the best time for us to start the something we've all wanted. Me, you, Rory..."
"Chris I'm not yours!" She screamed, practically jumping. "I'm somebody else's girlfriend! Not yours! And I hate to break it to you, but I never was yours! And over the past 5 years or so...especially right now, I haven't been yours. Don't you think that says something? Don't you think Sherry getting pregnant happened for a reason?"
"Fate doesn't always--"
"I don't want to listen to your crap. I'm over you Chris. I really am. And just because it took me an extra few moments to pull away, doesn't mean I wanna carry your next baby, hun. It doesn't." Her words weren't 100 accurate since she was a. a little drunk, and b. he did say he was going to kiss her, and she was completely aware of what happened for most of the part, but that didn't stop her from yelling. She needed him to leave, now.
"But--"
"So what I need from you is to get out of here. Now. You and Gigi both. And don't come back. Raise her on your own because I can't help you anymore. I really can't. You've crossed the line this time, Chris. You really crossed the line."
"Fine, I'm--"
"I don't want to listen to you. I want you to get the hell out of my house before I do something I really don't want to do. And besides you leaving, I've got to go talk to my boyfriend, who will hopefully still be my boyfriend after I tell him about this."
"Well if the guy loves you, he will." He said rudely, going to get Gigi from Rory's room.
"Thanks Dr. Phil, but I think I can handle this on my own."
She watched him gather his things together and left with Gigi in the pouring rain.
Poor Gigi, she thought, alone with him. That's not a safe combination.
But there was to be no more help. No more contact. No more anything. Cause he blew it.
As soon as she heard the car pull out of the driveway, she ran around the house looking for her keys.
The sooner she'd tell him, the easier it'd be. She thought over and over.
"Damnit!" She screamed while still looking for her car keys that were mystery misplaced, and no where to be found. "Screw this!"
She ran upstairs and looked on her bed but didn't find them. So she went into her closet, pulled on a baggy sweatshirt, leaving the hood on, and ran downstairs before putting on her shoes. She opened the front door, looked outside in the pouring rain and started running towards the diner, careful not to trip.
Lost in thought, she made it there quicker than figured. She walked in and just about everybody turned around and stared at her. Soaking wet and out of breath. Luke walked out of the kitchen and looked at her curiously.
"Are you okay?"
"Come outside with me!"
"Uh, I've gotta business to run, and not to mention, it's pouring outside."
She walked over the counter and grabbed his hand, dragging him with her.
"Run with me."
She glanced to see if there were any cars coming. As she took in the darkness, she grabbed his hand and ran across the street, up the stairs, and into the gazebo where it was dry.
"What the hell are you doing? Are you drunk or something!"
"Kiss me." She said strictly. He didn't move for a few moments so she threw herself against him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, pulling him closer to her.
She took her lips off of his and rested her head on his shoulder, still holding on to his waist.
"Lorelai what's this about?"
She backed away, suddenly not wanting to be so close to him and covered her mouth. She couldn't say it. She couldn't hurt him. She wanted to close her eyes, so she wouldn't see his look of disappointment and sadness, but she didn't. She took her hands off of her mouth and put them in the front pocket of her sweatshirt.
"Luke, something happened."
"What? What happened? Was it Rory? Is she--"
"It's not Rory, Luke."
"Well will you tell me so I don't have to have another heart attack?"
"I...I can't...I can't even--"
"What is this Lorelai?" He said, looking angrier, taking a step closer to her only so she could back away once more.
She stood there trying with all her might not to cry. She bit her lip and titled her head, staring at him oddly. How could she hurt him?
"Fine, listen. I'm going to go. I've got a diner to run. I guess this can wait." He started walking towards the steps when he heard her speak.
"Chris kissed me!" She blurted out.
Luke turned around, eyes wide, hands on his hips.
"He what?"
"He kissed me." She said quietly.
"And you pulled away right?"
After a moment of not answering, Luke's jaw dropped and he walked over towards her.
"You didn't pull away?"
"Not...as quick as I could have."
"What is that supposed to mean, Lorelai?" He shouted.
She held her arms around herself, suddenly becoming extremely cold.
"It took me a minute to...realize what was happening."
"What happened?" He wanted answers.
"Chris was over and we were talking about me not changing since high school, and he kissed me. He flat out kissed me. And I was caught in the moment, and not to mention, I was...well am a little tipsy." She didn't want to include all the details.
"This just happened?!" He asked loudly.
"I kicked him out and ran here because I couldn't find my car keys."
"Well that's just great." He said pacing back and forth, laughing pathetically. "I knew I couldn't trust you with him."
"Me? You couldn't trust me? He was the one who kissed me!"
"And you were the one who 'took a minute' to pull away."
"Well, I told you. I didn't know what was happening, and he made me feel..."
"I don't want to hear how he 'made you feel'. I really don't."
"I'm sorry Luke. I really am sorry. I wanted to come here right away and get this straightened out. I didn't want to fight with you."
"Well what kind of 'kiss' was this, Lorelai?"
"What, you want me to pull out my middle school base knowledge? First base is--"
"I mean was it a peck on the cheek...or lips...or was it a kiss...that I would give you?"
"Well..." she thought about it, fully aware of what kind it was but just didn't want to tell him. "To be honest, it was a kiss you would give me."
He rolled his eyes and groaned out loud.
"Unbelievable." He said, continuing his pacing.
"I didn't mean for this to wind up as a full frontal fight. Calm down."
"Calm down? How would you feel if I told you that after spending the past few weeks, side by side to Nicole, helping her raise her kid? You wouldn't feel too good would you?"
"Well...no..."
"No, you wouldn't. Especially since you hate Nicole. And to tell you the truth Lorelai, I don't like Chris. I don't like him at all."
"I know you don't..."
"So, how would you feel if I told you that I kissed the woman who I was spending all my time with?"
"I'd feel pissed." She said honestly. "Really pissed."
"Well you can only imagine because I'm not stupid enough to go waltzing around, kissing Nicole."
"I know Luke...but it's not like I initiated this!" She threw her hands up in the air. "I was the victim! He kissed me, and after taking a few moments of realizing what was going on, I pulled away! And I screamed at him to leave because I said that I wasn't available. I said I'm somebody else's girlfriend. Your girlfriend." She pleaded.
"Not anymore, you're not."
"What?! I can't believe this! You are 'breaking up with me' because he kissed me?"
"Lorelai...it's not about him kissing you. I warned you from the start, I didn't think you helping Chris was a good idea. I told you I was uncomfortable with it but you did it anyways. And I didn't want to stop you from doing what you wanted because I would have felt bad about it. Because that would only make you feel bad for making me feel bad. And I don't want you to feel that way. But, I've warned you numerous amounts of times. I told you before that I knew he wanted something from you...more than your babysitting help. So the very fact that you had to explain to him that you were somebody else's girlfriend...that's ridiculous. It proves me right, 100 percent."
She really couldn't say much. He was right. He had warned her and she didn't listen. And to hear him tell her he spared his feelings because he didn't want to make her feel bad...that killed her. But she couldn't let him leave that easily. There had to be something she could do.
"If you haven't noticed, he's a very, very sore spot in our relationship. Whenever you would lie to me before, it was because of him. Whenever you cancelled plans with me, it was because of him, and whenever I asked you do to something I didn't want you to do...it was always because of him. And really, I've had enough of that."
He paused taking a breath before starting up again. "I'm sick of the lying, canceling, and now, the cheating. I was sick of it from the beginning but I didn't want to end our relationship because of how happy you made me. But you know, maybe you haven't made me as happy as I thought you were. Cause if you made me so damn happy, I don't think you'd be kissing other guys. I don't know why I'd be happy about that. But maybe I was just stuck in your trance...after waiting 8 long; tiring years for you, knowing that I finally got you was all I needed. But you've really ruined that. This isn't Lorelai and Christopher's relationship you're ruining, cause truthfully, you're only making it better for the two of you. It's our relationship you're hurting. And I'm sick of it. So you can go pursue your relationship with him since obviously it means that much to you."
"But Luke, I was tipsy, and wasn't thinking, and I didn't..."
"What so now every single time you tell me you've been drinking, I'm supposed to automatically persuade you to not go kissing random guys."
"He wasn't a random guy, Luke. It was Chris."
"I know that Lorelai! Which probably means you enjoyed the kiss...didn't you?"
"I..." Her head was pounding and the rain came down quicker than before.
"You did. Admit it. At least tell me the stupid thing was worth it."
She stood there, thinking about his question. Of course she didn't enjoy the kiss. But she didn't want to make it seem like it was worth nothing if this was going to be the cause of their breakup.
"It was a nice kiss." His face dropped. "But that's not because I like him. It's just...it was a good kiss." She felt horrible lying to him.
"Well that's great. Go run after him. Who knows, maybe he'll want to try that kissing thing again."
"But I told him to leave Luke," she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "I told him to leave because he crossed the line."
"Yeah, well so did you." He said walking away, not even bothering to run.
It was like Déjà vu again, minus the rain. She got up from the crowd, head spinning and looked for her shoes by the door. She couldn't find hers so she just slipped into somebody's big boots and ran out the door.
She knew he probably didn't drive here since the diner was only about 2 blocks away so she looked both ways down the street and finally saw him walking quickly back in the direction of the diner.
She started running, head bobbling, trying to catch up to him. The shoes were too big and her head hurt too much to be doing this but she was.
"Luke!" She called when she was within reach of him. "Wait up!" She finally reached him and placed her hand on his arm, turning him around.
"What?!" He practically shouted.
"What happened back there..." she said out of breath from all the running. "Oh my, my head hurts." She said closing her eyes and when she opened them again, she realized that he had started walking away.
"Wait, Luke!" She called after him, grabbing his hand and walking him over to the curb. She sat down and looked up at him.
"I just need...to sit...but...talk to me. What happened back there?!"
"What do you mean what happened back there?! I didn't want to kiss you! I thought I made that clear. Just like the way I made it clear that I wanted to stop pretending with you last night."
"I thought...that you weren't serious. What are you going to do about the diner?!"
"I'll figure it out. But I'd rather leave this crappy town then spend one more day pretending your mine."
He started walking away and she knew had to go after him unlike the last time.
"We don't have to pretend then Luke. We don't. Why don't we talk about...really getting back together."
"Lorelai, we broke up!"
"I know, but Luke!" She screamed, attempting to get him to stop walking. "Stop it for a second, gosh!"
He turned around and placed his hands on his hips. "What?!"
"I'm sorry Luke! I'm sorry about everything. I'm sorry about lying to you before...and I'm sorry for canceling plans with you before...and I'm sorry for kissing Chris. Or letting him kiss me. Whatever the hell it was. I'm sorry for hurting you, I really am. I may never forgive myself for hurting you. And if it makes you feel any better, I may never be happy again, knowing that I hurt you the way I did. But I know how much I hurt you Luke...I hurt myself too. And I know I'd never repeat those actions...if you gave me another chance."
"I don't want to give you another chance Lorelai. I'm really done. Our time...it's overdue."
He began walking away and as a few more tears slipped her eyes, she screamed out to him from down the street.
"I lied Luke! It wasn't a good kiss!" He stopped walking but didn't hurt around. He wondered if she was talking about the night of the breakup, when she admitted that it was a good kiss. Believe it or not, the current circumstance reminded him of the breakup and that scene was on his mind.
"It was nothing like kissing you!" She shouted.
He stood here for a few moments, taking it all in. She knew he wasn't going to turn around, so she tried making this easier for him.
"I just wanted you to know that." She said loudly.
And with that, he began walking further and further away.
She watched him walk until he was out of sight. She turned around, squeezing her head with her hands, sniffling.
She walked back to Sookie's and sat on the curb because she wasn't sure if she could make it back inside.
The night was getting cold.
If we said that was the end of the story would you be mad?! Well luckily, it's not! So...what did you think?! Review please!! For Luke and Lorelai's sake at least...hehe.
xoxo.