How You Picture Things
Authors Note: Chapter 4, how exciting!I have actually had this chapter ready since Thursday but this place has been having issues... Anyway, I have to say once again I am loving the reviews. Remember reviews make me happy and happy people write more. I read that in the latest issue of some very official medical journal. I didn't even realize I was being mean by leaving the last chapter where I did but some of your reviews were pretty funny. Oh and a little side note from chapter 3 the Troop Beverly Hills thing might have been taken from my own life experiences ha ha. Okay on with the show.
Spoilers: None.
Premise: Set after "Jews and Chinese Food" But before, "So Good Talk." The whole town wants Luke and Lorelai to get back together so they decide to do something about it.
Chapter 4: "Downward Facing Dog and Other Colossal Things"
"Leave me be, I don't want to argue, I'd just get confused and I'd come all undone." Time, Sarah McLachlan
"Well, you can take the mattress and the blanket. I will just sleep on one of those blue thingies we have been sitting on." Luke calmly answered Lorelai's question.
"Luke, those things are not at all comfortable. You shouldn't have to sleep on one of them." Lorelai responded.
"They're fine." Luke shrugged.
"Ya they're fine for downward facing dog, but not for sleeping." Lorelai declared.
"What the hell is downward facing dog?" Luke asked bewildered.
Lorelai knew that now was probably not the time for jokes, but she could not help but respond "Well Luke, it's this really kinky thing where you get really low down and…"
"Lorelai," Luke said in a tone that warned her not to continue. What in the hell does she think she is doing? Luke thought. She is being Lorelai. That is what she is doing, but man doesn't she know that this is a very delicate situation we are in?
"Relax! I am kidding, Luke. Downward facing dog is a yoga position. It is also so not the point. The point is I am not going to make you sleep on a yoga mat with no blanket."
"You aren't making me do anything, Lorelai. I am offering." Luke reasoned.
"Luke, forget for one second the uncomfortableness of those stupid mats. It's like 40 outside and it's only going to get colder. You will freeze without a blanket." Lorelai logically stated.
"Well, do you have a better idea?" Luke asked looking at Lorelai squarely and almost a bit suggestively in the eyes. Hell, if Lorelai could walk that fine line of what was acceptable behavior between the two of them with her little joke, then he could certainly do it with a look.
The look that Luke gave Lorelai made her all kinds of nervous. A simple look made a million thoughts float around in her overactive head. What the hell was I thinking joking about sex with Luke? I do that and now he just throws out this smoldering super intense look all casually. I mean that was one intense look he just gave me. What does this all mean? Where should he sleep, on the mattress with me? Am I reading too much into a look? I am a little scared! Okay I need to play it cool, hot shot. Okay don't call yourself hot shot, even if it's only in your own head. Great now I am thought rambling...
"Yeah, I will take the mat and you take the mattress and blanket." Lorelai said without really thinking. She was just trying to back down from the risky path she felt her and Luke had begun to travel.
"Now, you have got to be kidding me. You just finished explaining to me that no one should have to sleep on one of those mats, and that it's freezing outside. What you are now unaffected by temperature? You should have told me I was dealing with Super Lorelai. I mean you could have used your magical super powers to get us out of this place hours ago. It's a God damn wonder you didn't say something sooner…" Luke ranted.
Lorelai looked at Luke as he was talking and silently wondered where this was all coming from. By the time he was finished with his rant Lorelai had gone from disorientated to really pissed off.
"Hey, stop it! I was trying to be nice. I have been holding my tongue with you. I have been letting you do, or say, or not say, or look, or not look, however you wanted. I have been feeling like I deserved what ever I had coming, but that is enough of that. I swear I am beginning to think you are bipolar. One minute you are so sweet and nice and the next minute you are this colossal ass." Lorelai yelled.
"I am an ass? I am a colossal ass?" Luke yelled. "That's rich Lorelai. Yes that is it exactly, our entire relationship I have been a colossal ass. I am the colossal ass that builds you a freakin' ice rink, makes you a shelf for your toothpaste, and buys you a stupid TV. Oh and now I am the horrible guy who offered you a mattress and a blanket. You are right. What was I thinking? I am such a bastard!" Luke bitterly roared.
Lorelai was so angry that she barely noticed that Luke was talking about their relationship like it was in the present tense.
"No, Luke you are the colossal ass who wouldn't listen to me when I tried to explain to you what the hell happened at the wedding. You are the one who came to my house and yelled at me about a children's production of Fiddler on the Roof. You are the ass of a guy who didn't even have the decency to call or leave a note before you stole your boat out of my garage." Lorelai screamed straining her voice.
Luke didn't know how to respond to that. He realized that she was right and it made him a little sick. He had been so concerned with what she had done. He was so caught up in how much he was hurting. He wasn't really fully aware that during the course of their break up he had been behaving like such a jerk.
He had no come back for Lorelai and the adrenaline he had built up while he was yelling was still pulsing through his veins. So after a moment he quickly changed the subject.
"I hate this stupid town with everything inside of me!" Luke frustratedly said, as he simultaneously rubbed the temples of his head with his fingers.
"Well, that's one direction to take this thing in." Lorelai sarcastically replied and then oddly enough she almost laughed. Luke's comment made her realize the absurdity of the entire situation that they were in. They were literally being held captive by an entire town. They had to sleep in a dance studio. They had nothing to distract themselves from each other. This whole situation was absurd no wonder they were yelling at each other. When she became conscious of all this all the anger she was feeling just a second before began to rapidly deflate.
Without the anger to cloud her head Lorelai's emotions were now all mixed up. In one way it had felt good to get all that stuff off of her chest. In another way she felt horrible for yelling at him like that. Despite what she had said Luke was a good man. Hell, that's why all this hurt so much because faults and all he was the best man. He was the best man that Lorelai didn't have him anymore. She figured her safest bet was to just get back to the original subject and try let the whole thing go.
"Listen Luke, let's just share the mattress and blanket. Despite are little yelling escapade just now we are adults. It doesn't have to be this huge deal." Lorelai announced.
"Are you sure? I am not so convinced it's the best idea for us to be in such close proximity with each other." Luke said in a much calmer tone, referring to the fight they just had.
"I promise I won't accidentally have sex with you. If that is what you are worried about." Lorelai quipped. Great there I go again with the inappropriate comments. Lorelai thought just after the words left her mouth. We were just fighting one second ago. What the hell is wrong with me? I am so not playing it cool.
"Aw jeez, Lorelai that is not what I meant. I meant we were both just so angry and…" Luke embarrassedly tried to explain.
"I know Luke. Listen I am willing to put it all aside if you are. I can do that. The question is can you?" Lorelai inquired innocently
She hadn't meant anything by her comment but to Luke it came out almost sounding like a challenge. So Luke decided If Lorelai could sleep next to him without any kind of problems then he certainly could do it too.
"I can do that." Luke answered with more confidence then he actually felt.
"Well, good then that is settled." Lorelai pronounced.
Luke and Lorelai simultaneously looked down at the mattress. They both knew one thing for sure this was going to be one long night.
It was Midnight at Miss Patty's dance studio and the place was as quiet as can be. The only interruption to the silence was the occasional sound of a cricket from outside, and the slight sound of ticking from the one and only clock in the room. It had been exactly one hour since Luke and Lorelai first climbed into their makeshift bed. They both laid flat on their backs and neither one of the pair was anywhere close to being asleep.
Lorelai was far too busy to sleep because she was making a very conscious effort to stare at the ceiling, and not steal a look in Luke's direction. Luke was also too busy for sleep because he was concentrating on his effort to make sure that he did not accidentally touch Lorelai. His endeavor was not the easiest task because they were sharing a fairly small blanket on the tiniest of beds, so making sure they didn't accidentally brush up against each other was a full time job. Luke and Lorelai were both concentrating so intently on the person that was lying next to them that neither one of them could manage to be anything but wide awake.
"Luke," Lorelai whispered.
"Yes." Luke quickly responded.
"Are you awake?" Lorelai asked.
"Yes." Luke answered.
"Are you sure?" Lorelai asked her voice still in a whisper.
"No, actually I am not sure. Am I awake? Are any of us ever really awake? Have I fallen into the Matrix?" Luke joked.
"Hey, when did you start having a sense of humor?" Lorelai inquired.
"It's always been there somewhere." Luke grumbled.
A short silence followed before Lorelai once again tried to start a conversation.
"Hey, Luke," Lorelai started again.
"Yes, Lorelai," Luke asked with a slight agitation in his voice.
"Well, it's just…" Lorelai quietly trailed off.
"It's just…" Luke prompted.
"I am sorry about yelling at you earlier." Lorelai said so gently Luke almost didn't hear her.
"You don't need to be sorry. You were right I have been a jerk, or as you so delicately put it a colossal ass." Luke sincerely stated.
"Most of the time you haven't been a jerk though. I mean if the situation was reversed I don't know if I could have been as nice as you have been. I mean I have been a giant mess all night long and you have been so understanding. Plus, you were right about what you said. You were the guy who did all those nice things for me. For God sakes Luke you built me my own ice rink and I am just the idiot who…." Lorelai quietly confessed.
"You aren't an idiot." Luke cut Lorelai off before she could continue. Then he shifted his body to the side to look at her. "Believe me, I am the idiot."
Lorelai turned her body as Luke spoke and for the first time since she entered the bed with him she was face to face with Luke.
"Maybe we can just leave it at we are both idiots." Lorelai said almost inaudibly.
It wasn't until after Lorelai spoke that she noticed how close she was to Luke's face. Luke on the other hand had immediately noticed their close proximity. Looking deeply into Lorelai's eyes Luke quietly exhaled. He was so close to her that Lorelai felt a warm tingle on her cheek from the action. Luke instinctively began to move closer to her.
"Idiots," he hoarsely whispered mere inches from her face.
"Idiots," Lorelai quietly repeated shaking her head and closing her eyes tightly.
Lorelai didn't know if she could endure this torture anymore. He was so close to her and she was one second away from leaning in and closing the remaining space between them. Before Lorelai even had the chance to put her plan into action she felt Luke's lips quickly crash on to hers.
Luke didn't know what he was doing but he knew he couldn't stop if he tried. The feeling of once again having Lorelai's lips on his was intoxicating. The only thing he could concentrate on was finding a way to be even closer to Lorelai. He desperately wanted to feel her again. He desperately wanted to make himself feel in one piece again.
Lorelai was so amazed to have Luke's lips on her own that it took her a second to return the kiss. Once over the initial shock of doing something she truly believed she would never be able to do again, she began to respond to Luke's insistent kiss. Lorelai opened her mouth to make the kiss deeper and Luke's lips simultaneously parted to let her in.
Lorelai never wanted to see the end of this moment. She was trying to savor every second and sensation she was having with Luke. Once they established their rhythm they began to really sink into their kisses. Each kiss they shared was long and demanding. The only time their lips would leave each other was to gasp for air and then dive right back in. Everything that had been pent up between the two of them was being released in their exchange.
Luke hands then made their way to Lorelai's waist and he gently pulled her to him, so that her body was flat up against his. Luke snaked his hands around Lorelai's stomach finally resting his hands directly on the warm skin of her back. He firmly held her to him as they kissed making sure that every part of their bodies was in contact with each other. Lorelai released a small moan into Luke's mouth as she reveled in the feeling of their bodies encountering each other.
Lorelai couldn't ever remember being kissed by Luke like this before. The kissing was just as wonderful as it always was, but the sense of need, the intensity of what was happening was palpable. Not even their first kiss at the Dragon Fly could compare to what Lorelai was experiencing now. Without question their first kiss had been amazing. Yes, there was a twinge of need in it, but that kiss was more about a want, and a sense of relief of finally being on the same page. This kiss however was pure need, pure desire, and pure passion. Before this very moment in each others arms, neither Luke nor Lorelai were aware that the level of intensity they were reaching even existed.
(A/N 2: See I am nice, I didn't cut it off before they kissed )…)