Chapter 5: Town Troubles

So, I am proposing that two new ordinances be enforced: one that regulates lewd behavior," Taylor paused for emphasis, shooting Lorelai a harsh glare, "and the other that regulates extremely loud noises…"

Lorelai and Luke both shot straight up in their chairs, both yelling "what?" at the exact same time.

"Taylor…" Luke continued, extreme annoyance dripping from his voice.

"Luke, will you please be seated. This new rule applies to all Stars Hollow citizens, stop making yourself the center of this issue."

"I'm making myself the center of this issue? I am!"

"Luke, please. The only one you are hurting is yourself here." Taylor gave him a pointed look, much like one you would give a five year old who was misbehaving in class.

Luke was fuming, his face three shades of red as he frantically looked around for somewhere to vent his frustrations. Coming up with nothing, he shot Taylor a glare and stormed out the back door. "Luke…" Lorelai yelled toward the direction of his retreating back. He didn't answer, so she turned her attention back to Taylor. "What are you doing Taylor?"

"I'm just trying to make life in Stars Hollow better for all its citizens, is that so wrong?"

"What's wrong is that this kind of thing doesn't need to be brought up at a town meeting! No one is complaining about 'lewd behavior' or 'loud noises' but you!"

"Lorelai—" she cut him off before he could finish.

"Taylor," she mocked his tone. "Give me the name of one person, and Kirk doesn't count, who complained to you about either of those things happening."

"Well," Taylor hesitated.

"See, I knew it. Quit messing around in everyone's lives Taylor! It's not like Luke and I need extra problems." Lorelai stood then, and walked out the same way Luke had. Taking a deep breath of the night air to calm herself, she set out to find where he had gone. Luke had always been a predictable guy. Opening the diner at the same time everyday, closing it everyday, paying his bills on time…she could set a clock by his routines, but when he was pissed, all that changed. He did rash things like spending a hundred thousand dollars to buy the building next to the diner, or kicking a car and getting arrested, so she really had no clue where he might have gone or what he was going to do after Taylor's little speech at the meeting. Thank God this town is small she thought to herself, deciding to make a quick sweep to see if she could find him walking anywhere.

20 minutes later

Lorelai had been searching the town inch for inch but had come up with nothing, no Luke in sight. Deciding that random searching was doing her no good, she turned and headed in the direction of her house. Once there she could call him to find out where he was (her cell phone had died earlier in the day), and they could just talk everything out. She just hoped he hadn't already gone and done something he would later regret. As she walked up her driveway, a shadowy figure became apparent on her front steps. She'd recognize that man anywhere—it was Luke.

She made her way to him quietly, the only sound coming from the crunching of grass under her feet. "Hey," she whispered softly as she sat down next to him on the middle step. He was staring at his shoes, playing with a short stick. "You alright?"

Lorelai waited patiently for him to speak, but he waited so long that she almost thought he wasn't going to answer. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Lorelai wasn't buying it. "Are you sure? Because you seem kind of upset…" He didn't speak. "Luke come on, talk to me."

He sighed and threw the stick into the darkness. "Taylor just gets to me, you know that."

"Yeah I know that, everyone knows that."

"I just hate how he thinks that everything that goes on in this town is his business! I mean I know that the whole loudness thing was getting around town anyway, but it wasn't that big of a deal, it would have died down in a few days."

"Or months…" Lorelai said under her breath, giving him a small smile.

"But it would have died down. There was no reason for him to bring it up like that and embarrass you and us like in front of everyone."

"I completely agree, but we both know how Taylor gets. I'm sure his little speech didn't get him anywhere with the rest of the town either. No one wants a noise ordinance or anything; I don't think we have anything to worry about." Lorelai wrapped her arm around his shoulders, giving him a gentle squeeze. Something was still bothering Luke though, she was sure of it.

They both sat in silence for a few minutes, just staring off in the distance. Luke was thinking, she could tell by the look on his face. His brow was wrinkled, his eyes still and staring, his hands wrung together in his lap. "Lorelai, can I ask you a question?" he spoke quietly without looking at her.

"Of course, anything."

"Why did you run away from me that night at Babette's party?" He still wasn't looking at her.

Lorelai was slightly taken aback at his question, but what else could she do but answer? "Well, I think it had a little bit to do with being completely drunk, but also because I was…scared."

"Scared because everyone in the town was watching us?"

She wasn't quite following why he was thinking of this now. "Well I guess that was part of it, but really it was because it was you and me. Luke and Lorelai, best friends for years and we were kind of crossing that line we had going."

Luke nodded to himself but was silent for a moment.

"Luke, why are you asking me this?"

He finally turned his eyes to hers and she saw for the first time how anxious he looked. "Tonight at the meeting just made me wonder a few things, like if the town knowing we're together bothers you."

Lorelai was shocked, "Why would you even think that Luke? I don't care what the town thinks, and I love the fact that you and I are together now! Seriously I want to just run around telling the whole town that I snapped you up before anyone else had the chance."

"Well it was just that when you heard that everyone was talking about you being loud and, you know, stuff like that about us you got really annoyed."

"I was just annoyed that nothing in this town is too private for the rumor mill, that's all. I don't ever appreciate having my love life talked about by people I don't want to talk about it with, and I really didn't think that you'd like it any better because you've always been such a private person. That was the reason I was annoyed by it."

Luke nodded again, looking off into the distance with a pensive expression. He was satisfied with her answer; it seemed a good enough explanation. He had just needed a little bit of confirmation that she was really as in this relationship as he was. They had been having so much fun since the whole getting together thing had happened that it seemed too good to be true, and from Luke's past experiences, things that seemed to good to be true usually were. He had watched Lorelai date tons of guys over the years he had known her. Some lasted months, some lasted weeks, and a couple didn't even last through the first date, but she never seemed to stay with one guy for long. He didn't want to be one of those guys. The ones that couldn't catch her, couldn't keep her interested long enough to make anything work between them. She meant too damn much to him for him to ever let her go if this thing they had going on was just for fun. Of course he couldn't say any of this out loud, couldn't ever just come clean with her. He'd perfected the art of hiding his feelings for so long that it was like betraying himself to open up that much. For now he'd have to settle for knowing that she was with him at that moment, and that if he had anything to do with it, she would be with him for a long while to come.

As Luke sat pondering his feelings, Lorelai's eyes were glued to his face. He usually wasn't the easiest person to read, but right then, sitting outside with her, he was like an open book. She could see the worry, the inner struggle, everything that was going on in his head and she really just wanted to hug him and tell him that everything was going to work out in the end. She really wasn't sure that she was at all ready to even admit that to herself, but just seeing him look so forlorn was making her feel worse than she ever thought possible. "Luke," she said quickly. "Look at me."

He was slightly surprised to hear her voice when she spoke, almost forgetting that she had been sitting beside him that whole time. "Yeah?" he said softly.

"You know that this isn't just a fling for me, right?" His eyes widened in surprise, and she leaned in for a soft kiss. Pulling back, she noted the relieved look he was now sporting, almost a complete turnaround from only seconds before. "Hey, I'm thirsty," she said, changing the subject quickly. "Want to go inside and have some tea or something?"

"Yeah sure, I'm thirsty too." They stood up together, and Lorelai threaded her fingers through his, leading him inside. He didn't think she could see the genuine smile he wore as he followed her through the door, but she caught his reflection in the hall mirror. Lorelai gripped his hand tighter, a smile creasing her own face as she realized for the first time that Luke meant so much more to her than she had ever thought, and she suddenly didn't want to ever let go of his hand.