Torn – Chapter 4

Lorelai the Saint

That afternoon, Lorelai entered the inn's kitchen, and headed straight for the coffee pot, muttering the words, "need coffee," under her breath repeatedly. After taking a long gulp, Lorelai headed over to the other end of the kitchen, where Sookie was stirring a large pot of pasta while talking to Rory, who was sitting in the chair beside the oven. The two of them immediately stopped talking when Lorelai came over.

"Ugh, you guys would not believe what just happened. So, I was behind the desk, ignoring Michel's wining, as usual, when the Alberts – you know, the guests staying in room seven – asked if…" she trailed off, looking at Rory and Sookie suspiciously. "Was I interrupting something?"

"No," replied Sookie nervously. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, first of all, when I came in here, you two had your 'we're in the middle of gossiping so get the hell away till we finish' looks on your faces and Sookie, Hon, you're about to knock over that pot…"

"What? No," Sookie protested, "I was just –" However, she couldn't finish what she was about to say, because the large pot of pasta went tumbling as her hand came in contact with the handle. Sookie bit her lip and looked down at the mess by her feet meekly. "Oops."

Lorelai grabbed Sookie's forearm and pulled her away from the mess as two other chefs quickly began to mop up the pasta. Lorelai looked over at Rory, who was trying futilely to suppress a grin. Lorelai glared at her daughter and then at Sookie, before saying, "All right, what's going on here?"

"Nothing," replied Rory, now on the verge of laughing, as well.

"We were just chatting!"

Lorelai snorted. "Since when do you two just chat with those looks on your faces?"

"What looks?" asked Rory innocently. "Mom, I think you're beginning to see things."

"You know, I heard paranoia is one of the signs of aging…"

"Or insanity," Rory added.

"Thanks for that," Lorelai deadpanned. "Now, seriously, tell me who you're talking about!" She paused. "It's me, isn't it?"

"No way, Mom."

"Yeah, you're way off there. We're chatting about, uh…"

"Taylor!"

"Taylor?" repeated Lorelai skeptically. "And what about Taylor were you two supposedly sharing?"

Rory and Sookie exchanged desperate looks. "His new, umm…" Rory trailed off. "Okay, I give. We were talking about you."

"HA! I knew it! You can't get anything by me! I am Lorelai, the unbeatable; Lorelai, the unstoppable; Lorelai, the –"

Rory sighed. "This could go on for a while."

"Fine," Lorelai pouted. "I'm done."

"Thank God."

"All right, so what were saying about me?"

"Uh," began Sookie, "how beautiful you are?"

"Ha ha, nice try! While it's the truth, I know you were talking about something else! Something you wouldn't want me to hear you say," she added suspiciously.

Rory turned to Sookie. "We should just tell her. She'll never give up otherwise."

"Yeah… okay, go ahead. Good luck, Chickadee!"

"Hey! Why do I have to tell her?"

"Because you –"

"Ah! Someone tell me, I don't care who!"

"She's going mad not knowing," Rory told Sookie.

"Yeah, I know… can't you see the vein in her forehead?"

"Oh, you noticed that, too?"

Lorelai grabbed a wooden spoon from the counter and pointed it at Sookie and Rory. "If someone doesn't tell me what you were talking about this minute, things are gonna get ugly."

"Okay, okay, no need to get all Norman Bates on us, here, we'll tell you," coaxed Rory. "We were talking about you… and Luke."

"Ah," Lorelai replied quietly, the wooden spoon slipping, unnoticed, through her fingers.

"It was nice of him to bring you coffee and donuts," Sookie supplied.

"Argh, Rory, you have such a big mouth!" she exclaimed, recovering slightly from the anxiety that had arisen upon the original mentioning of Luke.

"Sorry, Mom, but Sookie would've found out anyway."

Lorelai placed her hands on her hips. "And why do you think that?"

"Because Sookie's your best friend – you would've told her. You tell her everything."

"Hmm, yeah, you're probably right. Well, I'm gonna get going."

"What?" cried Sookie. "You just put us through all that and now that we told you, you're leaving?"

"Uh, yes," replied Lorelai, a puzzled look on her face. "You told me who you were talking about, just like I asked; what else is there?"

"Well, aren't you going to ask what we were saying?"

"No."

"Well, we were talking about how he's crazy about you," continued Sookie, ignoring Lorelai's response.

"Please. Don't go around saying things like that in this town – people may begin to believe it."

"They already believe it," Rory informed her.

"They all know."

"Yeah, yeah, they know about the thing between the two of us, I got it."

Sookie and Rory exchanged exasperated looks. "Come on, Mom. Why would he walk all the way over to our place during the breakfast rush just to give us muffins and coffee?"

"Because… we are his best customers and he doesn't want to lose our business."

"Or because he loves you!" added Sookie.

Lorelai snorted. "Uh huh. Seriously, don't go around spreading things like this. Luke's engaged now. You have to respect that he has a reputation to hold up to."

"I know," Sookie replied sheepishly.

"You know what else we were discussing?" Rory asked, ignoring her mother's warning.

"Why do I have a feeling I don't want to know?"

"The way you kept smiling afterward… you're smitten."

"Smitten? Who says 'smitten' anymore? And I am not smitten with Luke," she added forcefully.

"Uh huh," said Rory, as both she and Sookie giggled.

"Stop!"

"You're smitten and you're jealous!"

"What?"

"Yeah," Sookie continued. "You're smitten with Luke and jealous of Rachel!"

"What?" she repeated, outraged. "You two are crazy!"

"Lorelai and Luuuke, sitting in the tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Sookie sang in a high-pitched, mocking voice.

"First comes the looooove," Rory continued in the same tone, "Then comes the marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage..."

"That's not all, that's not all, the baby's… WEARING FLANNEL!"

With that, Sookie and Rory broke into a fit of hysterical laughter, holding onto each other as they practically wept. Lorelai, for her part, went quite pink in the face, and she glared at them for a minute, before yelling, "Okay, I'm leaving! I don't want this crazy to rub off on me!" Lorelai continued glaring at them, until she finally gave up, turning around and storming out of the kitchen in a huff.

As the laughter died down, Sookie turned to Rory and put her arm around the girl. "She is so smitten."

"Oh, believe me, I know."

"Poor Lorelai…"

"Yeah…"

With that, Sookie and Rory began to sing again, as Sookie put on a fresh pot of pasta for the dinner special.


That night, Lorelai entered the almost-empty diner, took a seat at a table by the window, and stared absently outside. Rory and Sookie were talking nonsense, weren't they? Luke only brought her donuts and coffee because he didn't want her to be mad at him. He didn't want me to be mad because we're friends, she decided. And what were they saying about her being smitten? She was not smitten with Luke! And jealous of Rachel? She couldn't possibly be jealous of Rachel if she wasn't smitten with Luke. No, Sookie and Rory were way off. As Lorelai continued contemplating the earlier conversation, Rachel approached her table and asked, "What'll you have?" startling Lorelai out of her reverie.

"Ah. Oh, um, coffee. Lots of coffee. In fact, why don't you hold the water and just bring out the coffee grinds? That oughta do the trick faster, don't you think?"

Rachel laughed. "Anything else, aside from lots of coffee?"

"Hmm, pie would be good."

"Great, coming right up!" Rachel retreated behind the counter, quickly gathering Lorelai's food and bringing it over to her table. After setting the plate and cup in front of Lorelai, she frowned. "Hard day?"

"Yeah. More long than hard, though."

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks, I'll live." She smiled up at Rachel. "The coffee's help enough."

"Well, that's good." Rachel paused, about to turn away, before biting her lip and moving closer toward Lorelai's table. "Hey, if you're not too tired, do you think I could talk to you for a sec?"

Lorelai hesitated, before forcing herself to be friendly and say, "Sure, pull up a chair."

"Thanks," said Rachel, as she sat across from Lorelai. "All right, well, the thing is…" Rachel looked down at her hands as she placed them on the table. "I've been thinking about this wedding a bit and wow! There's a lot I need to think about."

"Every little girl's dream," she reminded Rachel.

"Yeah, well… when I was younger, I was too busy dreaming about getting away from here than planning out my wedding."

"Oh, believe me, I know the feeling. I was too busy planning ways to ruin the wedding my mother had planned for me to think about my own."

Rachel laughed. "Well, at least I'm not alone. Anyway, when this all started to get really crazy, I thought to myself: who do I know who knows anything about planning weddings? First, I thought of this woman who plans weddings in India, but I realized, wow – the phone bill would be massive. So then I realized that, well, you plan weddings… or, you know, the receptions, anyway. So, you must know a thing or two about them?"

"Yes, I am a fountain of knowledge. Feel free to use me," she replied, before taking a sip of coffee.

"Really?"

"Sure! Ask me anything... I can't promise I'll know the answers, but it can't hurt to ask."

"Wow, you're amazing! Do you think you could possibly look over some brochures with me? My eyes started bleeding around the 50th…"

"Of course, I love looking at brochures! If nothing else, they're great to mock."

"Oh, there's a lot of mock-worthy material, believe me."

"Great. So, when do you want to do this?"

"Well," Rachel began hesitantly, "I was thinking tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Wow, that's… soon."

"Yeah… well, we're actually gonna get married in two months, so I have to get a move-on."

"Oh… two months?" she repeated, shocked. "That doesn't leave a lot of time to, you know, order a toaster…" Off Rachel's confused look, Lorelai added, "For your wedding present."

"I know it's fast, but Luke wants to get it over and done with as quickly and painlessly as possible. I have to say, I agree with that."

"Yeah, so do I, but I'm not sure what kind of place you're going to find in two months… but I bet Pizza Hut'll take you on! You know, two-for-one type deal."

Rachel grimaced. "I'm doomed."

"Well, no, not exactly," Lorelai replied, carefully avoiding Rachel's eyes. "I mean, I might have an idea…"

"What's that?"

She paused, taking a deep, steadying breath. Was she really offering this? "Have it at the Independence Inn."

"What?"

"Yeah, I can get you guys in on short notice… you'll just have to work around our schedule. Plus, you know, I can get you a good deal."

"Oh, Lorelai, that's amazing! But I couldn't possibly –"

"Please, I'd love to help you out; on one condition, of course."

"What's that?"

"I don't have to buy you that toaster."

Rachel gaped at Lorelai for a few moments, before nervously laughing. Lorelai forced a smile onto her face, despite the fact that, inside, her mind was screaming. Why had she offered her inn? She had barely heard herself speaking until the words had come out, and, by then, it had been too late to take them back. On the one hand, it felt nice to offer. After all, she wasn't only doing this for Rachel – it was for Luke, too. And yet, she couldn't help but feel slightly perturbed by the fact that she was suddenly not only encouraging this marriage, but basically making it happen. Well, there was nothing she could do now, except curse her kindness…

"If you're sure…"

"I am. Discuss with Luke and report back to me ASAP, okay?"

Rachel nodded. "Lorelai, I can't even begin to thank you…"

"Don't," she replied quietly, trying to hide her disappointment. "Just say yes."

"Well… okay, I'll run it by Luke."

"Okay, great. Well…" she paused awkwardly. "I'm gonna go. Wonder-Lorelai saves the world from evil again."

"Oh no," Rachel said as Lorelai began to fish in her wallet for some money. "Your pie and coffee's on me."

"Oh, um, you sure?"

"Yes! It's the least I could do."

"Well, hey, thanks. I should do nice things for you more often then."

"No need, you've already done so much for me."

"Rachel…"

"No, seriously. Thank you so much, Lorelai. I don't know where I'd be without you, but it sure as hell wouldn't been here."

Lorelai bit her lip, wishing for nothing but to leave the diner and forget that this whole exchange ever occurred. "Yeah... don't mention it."


When Luke entered his diner later that night, he was surprised to see that it was closed and there was no Rachel in sight. Puzzled, he headed up the stairs and slowly entered his apartment. He was surprised further when he found his apartment to be completely dark, aside from a few candles placed on various tabletops. In addition to the lighting, he heard some soft music playing in the background. After his eyes adjusted to the dimness, he saw Rachel sitting on the couch, reading a book. She apparently hadn't heard him enter. He approached her quietly, bending down so that his lips were close to her ear and said, "You know, you're gonna ruin your eyes reading in the dark like that."

Rachel jumped and whirled around in her spot, almost knocking Luke over as she did so. "God, Luke, you scared me half to death!"

He laughed as she placed a hand over her chest, before sitting down next to her. "Sorry."

"Uh huh."

"So, what's all this?" he asked, gesturing around the room.

"Oh, I thought some ambiance to celebrate would be nice. I brought out some wine, too."

"To celebrate…?"

"Oh, I have some good news!"

"Yeah?"

"Okay, so remember how I was flipping out about the wedding and how I couldn't find a place to have it?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I found a place."

Luke sighed. "How much is it gonna cost me?"

"I'm so glad that's all you care about. Men."

"It's not."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Right. Anyway, it's around here, actually. You've been there before."

"Oh yeah? Where?"

"Uhh," Rachel paused, grimacing slightly. "The Independence Inn."

Luke quickly stood up and began to pace. "What?"

"Why not? It's beautiful there."

"It's expensive."

"We're getting a discount."

"It's still expensive."

"Luke."

"I don't want to have it there."

"Lorelai offered."

He paused. "Oh."

"If it makes you feel uncomfortable, we can have it somewhere else. I just don't know where else we could possibly get on such short notice…"

He sighed and sat down again, removing his baseball cap to run his hands through his hair. "It's weird, that's all."

"Why is it weird, Luke? I mean…" she hesitated, looking down at her book, a hint of sadness present in her voice, "if you don't have feelings for Lorelai, it shouldn't be weird."

"I don't have feelings for Lorelai."

"Then what's weird?"

"I don't know," he replied quietly. He paused pensively for a moment, before sighing. "Okay, let's do it."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Because I don't want you to feel uncomfortable at your wedding."

"I'm positive."

Rachel studied him carefully for a moment, before grinning brilliantly. She leaned over and kissed his lips softly, putting her arms around his neck to pull him closer to her. As Luke ran his hands softly up and down Rachel's back, he could not stop himself from thinking about Lorelai. Why had she offered to let them have their wedding at the inn? Before, a part of him had hoped that perhaps the reason she had originally reacted so badly to news of his engagement had been because she was jealous. Well, I was obviously wrong about that. If she had really been appalled by the idea of his marriage, she would have let him know, instead of offering to help them. After all, she was Lorelai; she didn't let things go easily. Luke sighed inwardly, cursing himself for having such thoughts, especially while Rachel was kissing down his neck and he was beginning to remove her shirt. Instead, he walked Rachel over to his bed while kissing her passionately, simultaneously trying in vain to clear all thoughts of Lorelai from his mind.


A/N: TBC soon. Please read and review, thank you. :)