Thanks to presssecretary for the beta.
Rory woke up to a huge burst of sunlight shining on her face, much to her annoyance. She glanced out the window and realized she had forgotten to close the blinds the night before. However, when she looked at the clock and saw that it was practically early afternoon, she leapt out of bed. Never in her whole life had she been able to sleep past seven, and now she was spending her summer sleeping until noon every day? Oh well, she thought, at least sleeping kills time.
She got up and foraged in the kitchen for coffee. Luckily, she found a can with enough left in it to hold her over, at least until she was dressed and could go out and get some more. She poured it into a mug, and almost spit it out when she tasted it. "Ugh," she muttered aloud, "this doesn't taste like Luke's." Unfortunately, it was all she had, so she decided to drink it anyway. She rummaged in the fridge and found some eggs, managing to whip them up into some type of meal. However, when she put them on a plate and attempted to sit down and eat, they looked like a special effect from a horror movie. "This doesn't look like Luke's," she muttered again.
Defeated, Rory took her gross supermarket coffee and sat down in front of her computer. The newspaper she had picked up the day before still sat, unopened, on her desk. She glanced at it and figured that reading about war and crime and stuff would probably make her feel worse, so she turned on her computer instead. 'You have 1 new message,' it told her, and she was happy just to have some sort of human contact, even if it was done through what was essentially a piece of plastic and some blinking lights. She read Lorelai's message, and immediately felt the tears threatening to spill over once again. What had she done wrong, she thought, that her once enviable relationship with her mother had gone from spending hours talking about movies and boys to four word e-mails dripping with subtext? And then it occurred to her that maybe she hadn't done anything wrong. Maybe this was the way it supposed to be when you were in college… 'but I'm not in college,' she thought, and angrily closed her computer once again.
Desperate for something to read, anything to take her mind off trying to talk to her mother, she opened the newspaper and happened to land on the classifieds. 'Oh well,' she thought, 'now's as good a time as any.' She skimmed through the help-wanteds, only seeing ads for things like "math teacher" and "assembly line worker." Finally, her eyes landed on a big, bold ad in the corner.
WTXX – Hartford's news station
Local entertainment reporter seeks bright, eager and energetic intern. Duties include logging tapes, running errands, keeping track of what's hip and new in entertainment. If you find a unique story, you get to cover it. Perfect opportunity for journalism students.
You must be outgoing and willing to go that extra mile. Introverts need not apply. This internship is unpaid, and you must be receiving college credit. No exceptions.
Deadline to apply is June 10. Send a resume and cover letter to the e-mail address listed above.
Rory read the ad over and over again until she couldn't see anymore, not knowing what to do with the information in front of her eyes. It was if someone had made a list of all the things she sucked at and waved it in front of her face. Unable to take it anymore, she grabbed a highlighter and started furiously circling every ad she could find for a waitress, retail associate, or anything having to do with selling or publishing books. She knew she was under qualified for most of the publishing jobs, and way over qualified for the waitressing jobs, but was encouraged by the fact that there may indeed be something she could do, at least to pass the time.
Finally, she put the paper down, satisfied with her research for the morning. She picked up the phone to start calling some of the ads, but thought better of it. She'd never been one for randomly calling people she didn't know and then having to talk to them. Heaving a heavy sigh, she put the paper down and decided to put on her bathing suit and get some sun. She didn't notice that as she slammed her coffee cup down and walked away, some had splashed over, spilling right onto the e-mail address for the internship.
Later, Lorelai was at home, putting the finishing touches on a masterpiece she was creating for Luke – plating food, lighting candles, turning on the stereo. It occurred to her that what she was doing was eerily similar to the night Rory had dressed up like Donna Reed and cooked mashed potatoes and string beans for Dean. This thought made her giggle uncontrollably, which only made her want to call Rory more, which only made her want to cry. She pushed the thought out of her head, remembering what else had happened that night, and ran upstairs to change. She decided to wear the black dress again, only this time without the heels, because, well, 'it's a little too wife-in-the-50's,' she thought. 'Luke can just deal with seeing my bare feet,' she figured, and went to put the finishing touches on her hair and makeup. When she realized she hadn't bothered to put on underwear either, she figured Luke could just deal with that too.
Lorelai was surprised when the doorbell rang several minutes later – were they still doing that polite thing? Then she remembered that Luke didn't have a key (she wasn't sure why), and that Luke being Luke, he probably thinks she actually locked the door. She opened it and leaned against it seductively, watching Luke's eyes get wider and wider.
"Are you going to come in or not?" she purred.
Luke was able to collect himself long enough to say, "Hey gorgeous," and slam the door behind him while they kissed. And kissed. And kissed some more. Luke didn't know what it was about that dress, but he knew he could not be responsible for where his hands ended up once she put it on. He suspected Lorelai knew that too. When his hands made their way down to her butt, he gasped a little.
"Lorelai," he growled.
"What?" she said sweetly.
"You're not wearing any underwear," he said, into her ear.
Lorelai pretended to be shocked. "I'm not! Must be laundry day," she said, while she unbuttoned his flannel and threw it on the floor. She grabbed his hand, in an attempt to drag him up to her bedroom. However, Luke stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of the kitchen table.
"Did you… cook?" he asked, in disbelief.
"Yes," she lied, "but it can wait till later."
Luke didn't actually believe her, but the thought left his head just as quickly as it entered, because Lorelai's hands were already under his shirt, her lips on his neck. As she dragged him up the stairs, she said, "Oh, man. This marriage thing is going to be so much fun."
"My thoughts exactly," echoed Luke.
Later, they ate by candle light at the kitchen table, Luke in his boxers and a T shirt, and Lorelai in a bathrobe. She sat down and propped her bare knee up on the table, ripping a piece of bread into shreds.
"Classy," said Luke.
"You're one to talk, Mr. I'm drinking a Bud Light in my underwear."
"So this is what it's going to be like now? We never have to get dressed again?"
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Lorelai giggled, and tossed a piece of bread at him.
"So, where did this food really come from?" he asked.
"I told you, I made it."
"Oh yeah? What's in it?"
"Well there's the thing over here, with the stuff… I got it from Sookie."
"You made Sookie cook when she just had a baby? I would have made dinner for us."
"First of all, I wanted to surprise you. Second, calm down. I did not make her cook. I simply went over there and asked for some simple recipes, and she just happened to have this stuff in her freezer."
"Wait a minute – you didn't happen to tell her we're getting married while you were over there, did you?"
"Well, I wasn't going to, I figured maybe we should keep it to ourselves for a couple of days, you know, so we could –"
"—I got it."
"But she saw the ring, and figured it out."
"Ah. My day makes so much more sense now."
"What are you talking about?"
"All afternoon, people kept coming in, looking at me, giggling, and then giving each other money. I swear, this town is part of some reality show that only Taylor knows about."
This sent Lorelai into hysterics. "Stars Hollow really needs a multiplex," she cried. "You know what they were doing, right?"
"Trying to annoy me?"
"Probably that too, but they were betting on how long it would take us to finally get married," she said, barely able to contain the laughter.
Luke was not amused. "Ah, geez," he said, which for some reason, just made Lorelai laugh even harder.
"Will you stop that?" he exclaimed, "This isn't funny."
"Yeah, it really is," she said. She looked at him again, eyes shining, and thought she saw a glimmer of a smile. Just for that, she tossed another piece of bread at him. Lorelai had no idea why she was finding all of this so hysterical, but she was enjoying herself immensely. 'I could get used to this,' she thought.
"You are so weird," grumbled Luke.
"Yeah, well, you're stuck with me," she said, smiling brightly.
As bizarre as this conversation was, Luke was glad to see her smiling again. Despite their newly engaged state, Lorelai had been so sad the last couple of days, and he knew she was thinking of Rory and her parents. He tried to cheer her up as best as he could, but after that one night when she had proposed, Lorelai refused to talk about Rory anymore. He had no idea whether the two had spoken, or even exchanged e-mails. He wondered briefly whether he should try to talk to Rory again – maybe take her out to a nice dinner or something, but couldn't come up with any answers.
Lorelai finally calmed down when she realized she hadn't eaten anything yet and that she was starving. The two watched their plates for a little while as they ate, enjoying the silence. At least Luke was. Lorelai hated silence, and knew that if she didn't change the subject soon, he was going to ask her about Rory again.
"So," she said, "when do you want to have the wedding?"
"How about right now?" suggested Luke. When Lorelai looked up at him, she realized that he wasn't really kidding.
"I think we missed the last flight to Vegas, Ross."
"How about tomorrow then?"
"Ok, J. Lo, where are we going to have a wedding tomorrow?"
"I don't care."
"Luke! Could you at least pretend to be interested? I know you're not into champagne fountains and the Romanovs and all that, but a wedding, even a small one, takes at least a little bit of planning."
"Fine. How about in two weeks? That gives us enough time to invite all ten people we know, but not enough time for your mother to rent out the Plaza."
"Brilliant. Should we have it in the town square?"
"How about the Dragonfly?"
"That's perfect! So… two weeks. That's… June 10, I think. Sookie will do the food, Lane can do the music -- "
"-- Have you told Rory yet?" Luke asked, knowing he was venturing into uncomfortable territory.
"No."
"Is she going to be invited?"
"Yes, I'm going to invite her," Lorelai said, a bit petulantly.
"When?"
"Luke, I'd really rather not talk about this right now."
"I think maybe we need to, Lorelai."
Lorelai regarded him for second, seeing the concern in his eyes. She knew he meant well, but she just couldn't put her thoughts into words. Not yet.
"I just… I can't," she said, sighing.
Without another word, Luke got up and walked around to her side of the table. He pulled her up and into his arms, resting his chin on her hair. "It's going to be ok, really," he said, kissing the top of her head.
Lorelai pulled away a little bit. "Would you stop saying that? It's irritating," she said, but smiled at him.
Later, as Luke began packing up his apartment, he thought about Lorelai and Rory. He and Lorelai had agreed to live in her house, for the time being at least, until he could find some way to get the Twickham house back from Kirk. He wondered whether Rory would feel comfortable having him live there, and then wondered if she was ever planning on living there again. She was almost 21, he mused, she probably wanted to move out on her own soon anyway. But he couldn't help but think that she probably needed Lorelai more than she was aware of. He hoped they would both come to their senses and figure out how to relate to each other again, or that at the very least, that he could somehow convince Rory to go back to school. He was okay with Rory choosing whatever career she liked, whatever boyfriend she liked, whatever status in life she liked. But something both he and Lorelai could not deal with was Rory dropping out of school. She had made it through Chilton with flying colors, he thought, and she could certainly find her way through the rest of Yale. She just needed a little push.
As he was absently putting odds and ends in boxes, not really paying attention to what he was throwing where, he suddenly looked down at all the crap he had accumulated over the years of living in that tiny apartment. Besides the memories and tchotchkes left behind by his dad, he realized that he had little pieces of Lorelai, and Rory for that matter all over the place too. He picked up what looked like a child's coloring book from the top of one of the boxes, and started to flip through it. Upon second glance, he realized it was a storybook written by a child. He had no idea where it came from. He certainly had not been a writer, and he at least knew how to color within the lines. His sister couldn't really put a sentence together until she was thirteen, so that was out of the question, too. He flipped to the end, where it said, "by Rory Gilmore." The back cover also had a note.
To Luke:
I wrote this story for you because you always give me coffee, even though you say I shouldn't be allowed to have it.
Love,
Rory Gilmore
Luke laughed to himself, remembering when Rory went through the phase where she referred to herself as 'Rory Gilmore' all the time. He remembered Lorelai getting so annoyed by it that she had to order extra brownies every time she came in, just to get through the day.
As he continued to rid his shelves of miscellaneous trophies, pictures, books, and just general stuff, he came across a folder full of photos. He recognized them immediately as Rachel's – some in black and white, some in color, almost all containing some perspective on Stars Hollow that only she could see. Not wanting to open that can of worms, he quickly shoved the folder to the bottom of a box. However, one fell out and landed right on top – the one she had taken of him and Lorelai at the firelight festival. He picked it up, and looked at it in awe. 'We're such idiots,' he thought. They were clearly gazing at each other in a way that he knew he had never looked at Rachel, or anyone else for that matter. Right away, he understood how Rachel had seen it so clearly at the time, even though he hadn't.
He sat down at the kitchen table and stared at it a little while longer. He was amazed that a picture taken by his ex girlfriend could make him this happy. Finally, he turned it over, wrote on the back of it, and stuck it in an envelope. He put it aside, and decided to call it a night.
The next morning, Lorelai appeared at the diner a little before seven, bleary eyed and in desperate need of coffee. The diner was crowded, and the only place she could find to sit was next to Kirk at the counter. She sat down and rested her head on the counter.
"Hey!" shouted Luke.
"Ahh! No coffee yet!"
"How many times have I told you not to do that?"
"I can't understand you because I've been sitting here for three whole minutes and I still have no coffee."
Luke shook his head in annoyance, and poured her a cup of coffee, which Lorelai downed in record time.
"I need more."
"Jeez, will you slow down?"
"Luke, if we're going to do this every morning for the rest of our lives, it's just going to make every day feel longer."
Luke surrendered and just put the coffee pot down in front of her.
"Here. Go nuts."
"Thank you."
Suddenly, they both realized that Kirk had been watching this exchange with a great deal of interest, shifting in his seat and fidgeting.
"What, Kirk?" they said at the same time. Spooked by their ability to speak in unison, they glared at each other.
"Well, I know you two are getting married," said Kirk.
"Yes we are, Kirk," said Lorelai, not even trying to hide her annoyance.
"Lorelai, Luke, I would like to offer you my services," said Kirk, sounding very official. He gestured towards a now-empty table and said, "May we sit down and talk?"
Lorelai and Luke looked at each other, barely able to contain the laughter that erupted once they made eye contact. "Sure Kirk," said Lorelai, "let's do that."
She let him lead the way, dragging Luke behind her. "What are you doing?" he whispered in her ear.
"Let's see what he wants. This could be fun," she replied.
Luke and Lorelai sat next to each other across from Kirk, Luke looking very impatient.
"I would like to perform your wedding ceremony," said Kirk, very seriously.
"You want to do what?" said Luke.
"You see, I recently became an ordained minister—" this elicited a small snort from Luke, followed by a slap on the arm from Lorelai.
"Yes, continue, Kirk," she said, trying to be polite.
"I recently got ordained on the internet, so I could offer my services to my friends here in Stars Hollow."
"Aww," said Lorelai, "it's like our own Joey. I always wanted one."
"Our own what?" asked Luke.
"You see, Luke –"
Kirk cut her off, "—may I?"
"Go ahead, Kirk," said Lorelai.
"On the television show Friends, episode number 162, entitled 'The One With the Truth About London,' the character Joey becomes ordained on the internet so he can officiate at the wedding of his best friends, Chandler and Monica. You two are the best friends I have, and I would like to do the same for you."
They looked at each other again, and had to try not to laugh, at which point, Lorelai decided to just stare at the table for the rest of the conversation. As weird as Kirk was, she didn't want to offend him, because she knew how empty his life was, and she knew how weirdly attached to Luke he was. She supposed she couldn't blame him, because after all, she had a bit of an attachment to Luke as well, but at least hers would be legal soon.
"You want to marry us, Kirk!" Luke exclaimed.
"What he means is, we just haven't decided exactly what type of wedding we're going to have yet," said Lorelai, as genuinely as she could muster.
"Not a problem," said Kirk, "I can do all sorts of weddings, all different religions. I do Bar Mitzvahs and christenings too."
"How resourceful of you, Kirk," said Lorelai, and then, "we'll think about it, ok?"
With that, they exchanged thank yous, and Kirk was on his way. Lorelai looked over at Luke, and they both cracked up.
Once they regained their composure, Lorelai stood up. "I have to go," she said, "we'll talk about this later." She gave him a quick kiss, and flew out the door, leaving Luke wondering what the hell just happened. Had Kirk just offered to officiate at their wedding because of something he had seen on a television show? And did Kirk just call him his best friend? Sometimes he really thought it would be easier to just buy a bunch of straightjackets wholesale and get it over with.
Several hours later, Lorelai was contentedly traipsing around Manhattan, already laden down with shopping bags, munching on a pretzel. She had been disappointed when Luke told her he had to work that day, but soon realized it was better this way. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a day all to herself to go wherever she wanted, buy whatever she wanted, and eat whatever she wanted. So far she had spent the morning browsing places like Sephora and Victoria's Secret, stores no one else would ever want to accompany her to (even Rory found it creepy to help her pick out underwear). Besides, she had to buy a wedding dress (she needed something to wear over her Victoria's Secret purchase), and she couldn't exactly bring Luke with her on that errand anyway.
By mid afternoon, Lorelai found she was losing her spirit. She had already been through several hot dogs, two frozen coffee concoctions, three slices of pizza and a pretzel, and had browsed through every famous New York department store, wedding gown boutique and even the discount stores. She had bought a new winter coat (half off!), several scarves (a dollar apiece at H & M), cute sandals to wear on her honeymoon (even though she had yet to convince Luke to go on a honeymoon with her), and stocked up on bagels at Dean & Deluca, but no wedding dress yet. Her feet hurting and her spirit crushed, she trudged down 5th Avenue, stopping to look in the windows of a huge, corporate bookstore that Rory would hate. Something in the window caught her eye, and she had to have it. It was one of those instructional books with a stupid title like "Jewish Weddings for Dummies," or something equally cheesy, but she didn't much care. What struck her was that there was a picture on the cover of a chuppah. Not just any chuppah, though. Her chuppah. She swore it looked exactly like the one sitting on her front yard.
She went inside, marveled at the size of the place, and went in search of the book, which she found on a display table near the door. On her way to the register, she passed another section of the bookstore, one she would never even think about looking at unless it was to mock it mercilessly, but this time, it caught her eye. She browsed the shelves, not quite sure what even made her stop in that section, until she found it. The perfect wedding present for Luke, she thought, as she picked it up and started flipping through it. The fact that it was going to annoy him and probably send him off on a rant… well, that just made it more fun.
Late in the afternoon, Rory trudged back home after a day of fruitless job searching. She walked into the pool house, in desperate need for some coffee. However, when she looked in the cupboard she didn't find any. Hoping that Luke had snuck some into her freezer when he was there, she looked there too, but didn't find any. She was dying for a Luke's fix right about now. Well, she thought, she could either suck it up and drive to Stars Hollow, or she could go to the supermarket and drink substandard supermarket coffee. Determined not to lose her resolve, she got back in the car and headed towards home. She wasn't entirely sure what she would find there, and she had no idea where Lorelai was hanging out these days. She really just wanted to get coffee from Luke, but decided that if she ran into her mother there, she would just have to deal with that too.
When she got there, Luke's was strangely empty for a weekday, pre dinner. Rory was thankful for this, and hoped not too many people would notice her car outside as she walked in. Luke was where he always was, behind the counter, looking like he was trying to fix some appliance or other. Rory sat down at the counter and watched him, until he finally looked up and noticed her.
"Rory! Don't do that, you'll scare a person to death!"
"Sorry."
"You… uh… your mom's not here."
"I can see that."
"She went to New York for the day." Luke heard Rory breathe an audible sigh of relief. "Does she know you're—"
"—no. And I'd like to keep it that way, please."
"So you guys are still –"
"—yes, we're still."
Luke just nodded, and turned around to pour Rory a mug of coffee. Her eyes lit up the second he put it down in front of her.
"Thanks," she said, "you have no idea how much I miss this."
"Can I get you something else?"
"A cheeseburger would be great."
Luke went into the kitchen to make Rory's burger, wondering what the hell she was doing there. She certainly had not driven all the way to Stars Hollow just to get a cup of coffee, he surmised, but he didn't know what to do with her. Should he try to talk to her? Should he call Lorelai and make her come take Rory home? Should he just let her hang out there until she got bored and left? He didn't have any answers, so he did what he did best – fed her.
Rory ate her burger in silence, though she seemed to be enjoying it. Luke went back to fixing the toaster, watching her out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to want to say something, but thought the better of it. Finally, as she was finishing off her burger, she said, "Hey Luke… could we… do you think… never mind."
"What was that?" Luke had to laugh a little at her sudden loss for words. He didn't think he'd ever seen a Gilmore have a such hard time forming a sentence.
"Well I," started Rory, and then stopped again.
Luke tried to figure out what she was doing, but frankly he was kind of losing his patience with her. If she wanted to talk to him, why couldn't she just say it already?
"For godsakes, Rory, what is it?"
"Can we talk?" she said, a bit shyly, as if she were afraid of his response.
"Of course. Let's go upstairs. Bring the coffee."
Rory followed Luke up to his apartment, and it occurred to her that the last time she'd been there was when Jess was there. Wow, that felt like a really long time ago, she thought. She sat down at the kitchen table, and surveyed the room. It looked a lot … more sparse than before. Upon second glance, she realized it was not just because Jess had taken all of his crap, but half of Luke's stuff seemed to be missing too.
"Where's all your stuff?" she inquired, even though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.
"Oh…uh… I'm just doing some spring cleaning, you know, getting rid of anything made before 1985, that sort of thing."
Uh huh, thought Rory, sure you are. She was pretty sure she knew the real answer, but if Lorelai wasn't going to tell her, than she sure as hell did not need to hear it from Luke either. She looked down into her coffee, knowing that Luke knew she wasn't buying it, but pretending to anyway. She surveyed the room again, and noticed all of Luke's trophies, sporting equipment, and various pictures on the walls. Luke sure had an interesting life, she thought, and then realized that she knew nothing about it. She had always just assumed that he had no desire to talk to her, or anyone for that matter, about it. She never thought that all she had to do was ask.
"Luke, where did you go to college?" she asked.
"I didn't."
"Why not?"
"Well, my dad was sick, and my sister was pregnant, so –"
"—what about your mom?"
"She died was I was seven."
"I'm sorry, Luke. I didn't know."
Luke just nodded, sitting down across from her. "Anyway, I stayed here to help out with the store and taking care of Liz. I was never any good at that school stuff anyway – not like you."
Rory regarded him for a second. "I'm not that good at it," she replied.
Luke could not believe he had just heard Rory say that, but decided to continue his story anyway. "I'm not sure I would have gotten into college anyway. I spent most of high school playing sports and making out with Carrie under the bleachers."
This got Rory's attention. "Carrie? Crazy Carrie? The woman with the boobs?"
"Yep, unfortunately."
This sent Rory into hysterics, laughing so hard she was almost crying. "Oh my god," she yelped, "Mom hates that woman!" She continued cracking up.
"Yes, I know. You tell her about this and I kill you."
Rory laughed harder, which made Luke smile. What was with these Gilmore women, he thought. He was the grumpiest person on earth, yet he could so easily make these girls smile.
Rory finally regained her composure, and stared down into her empty coffee cup again. She switched back into serious mode again and said, "Luke, do you think I can do this?"
"Do what?"
"I don't know. Life. Journalism. Yale."
"Rory, don't be ridiculous. Of course you can. You can do anything you want," he said, and then added, "you got that from your mother."
Rory looked up at him, and saw the pride in his eyes that appeared whenever he talked about Lorelai. It took her a second to realize that he was looking at her with the same pride.
"Thanks Luke," she said softly, and got up to leave. On her way out though, she noticed a familiar blue T shirt hanging in his closet. "Hey!" she exclaimed, "that's my shirt!"
Luke remembered Lorelai wearing that shirt not too long ago… actually he remembered Lorelai taking off that shirt not too long ago – but Rory didn't need to know that. "So take it," he said, sad to see it go.
"She'll notice it's missing."
"I'll tell her I lost it. If you want it back, take it."
"Thanks."
Rory took the shirt off the hanger and folded it over her arm. She gave Luke a timid hug, and was out the door. Luke followed her downstairs and watched her leave.
Meanwhile, Lorelai sat at an outdoor café, drinking something that she didn't remember the name of, but she knew it had three shots of espresso in it, and watching the city go by. She was starting to get discouraged. A whole day in New York, and she still hadn't found a wedding dress. She had given up on midtown and made her way down to the Village, hoping to find something in one of the funkier shops, but still no luck. She surveyed her purchases one last time, making sure she hadn't lost anything along the way. She had managed to buy inordinate amounts of clothing for herself, a wedding present for Luke, and – she almost forgot – a CD for Rory. Much to her own dismay, she had ventured into the music section of the bookstore she had been shopping in, attracted by a sign that said, 'Broadway Soundtracks – 50 off.'
She wasn't sure how appreciative Rory would be of her little gift – they had never been the kind of family who sent each other greeting cards, trinkets, or even CDs with supposedly relevant lyrics. In fact, they made fun of families who did that. But in light of the Lorelais' recent inability to hold a conversation, she thought it was worth a shot. She was completely out of ideas for how else to reach her daughter, and she had to do something to break the ice before her wedding. She hadn't heard from her since the short e-mails they had exchanged, and so far, the chances of the two getting to really talk before the wedding were not looking good. At the very least, she thought, Rory could have one more thing to sell on ebay if she ever got kicked out of the Gilmores' house and went broke.
Looking at her watch, Lorelai realized that if she wanted to make it home before the train started getting overrun with commuters, she had to hurry up. She gathered her belongings, left a generous tip, and started heading towards the subway. She had no idea what she was going to do about a wedding dress – it wasn't like she was going to find one in Stars Hollow, and she didn't want to venture into Hartford for fear of her mother finding out. Just as she was about to descend the stairs into the subway, she spotted a vintage shop across the street, with cute bags and shoes in the windows. It didn't look like they had anything in the way of dresses, but she figured it couldn't hurt to look.
Lorelai went into the small shop, and realized that it was a thrift shop dedicated to selling clothes, shoes, and bags that had once been owned by celebrities. Unfortunately, most of the stuff was a complete monstrosity, and she could see why even movie stars wouldn't want to have this stuff in their closets anymore. She finally spotted the only thing resembling a dress in the back corner. It was a white lace disaster, and she thought it looked like it belonged in a museum entitled, 'Items from 1982 that we hope we never have to look at again.' However, something about it attracted her. There was something about the cut, or the length, or the fabric that made her think that with the right purchase from a fabric store and a sewing machine, she could do something amazing with this dress.
She brought it up to the register, and as she paid for the dress, the clerk told her, "Thank you for buying this. We've been trying to get rid of this forever."
"I can't possibly imagine why," said Lorelai, with her usual hint of sarcasm.
The clerk didn't look too pleased with her joke, but added, "Madonna wore this dress."
This sparked Lorelai's curiosity. "I hope it wasn't to her wedding to Sean Penn, cause well, that didn't end well."
The clerk clearly did not appreciate Lorelai's sarcasm, but told her anyway, "I think she wore it on tour. Maybe for a performance of 'Like a Virgin.' I'm really not sure…. Look, do you want the dress or not?"
"Yes, yes, I want the dress. Calm down," she told the clerk, and giggled when she thought about where it came from. The thought delighted her immensely. She couldn't wait to tell Rory that she was wearing Madonna's "Like a Virgin" costume as a wedding dress. That was, if they ever spoke again.
Lorelai glanced at her watch again, and realized that now she really had to hurry up. She quickly paid for the dress and rushed off and into the subway, desperately trying not to lose any of the shopping bags she was schlepping.
Later that night, Lorelai walked into Luke's apartment as he was packing more stuff, and dropped her bags on the floor. He was carefully arranging some trophies in a box when she snuck up behind him and squeezed his shoulders, startling him. Luke turned around, about to rant to her about how much he hated it when people did that, but never got around to it, because she flashed that smile of hers. Luke hated that she could get away with stuff that easily, all because of that smile.
"You know, you can't just..." he started, but Lorelai stopped him with a kiss.
"Hi," she said when they finally pulled away, "good evening to you too."
Luke glared at her and decided that the safest thing to do was go back to packing.
"God, I'm wiped," Lorelai complained, as she took off her tight blouse and started rummaging through his closet. "Hey, where's my shirt?"
"What shirt?"
Lorelai stood in the doorway to the closet in just her bra and jeans, with her hands on her hips. "The T shirt I left here the other day. It's blue… I think it says 'porn star' or 'sexy mama' or something like that on it?"
Luke glanced over at her in amusement. "I haven't seen it."
"Well gimme a T shirt to wear, then," she said, as she started rummaging through his drawers.
"I think you look fine like that."
"Very funny," she said, as she pulled a 'Yankees' T shirt out of his drawer and put it on. "Oh, man," she muttered, "Rory's so going to kill me. That was her shirt."
Luke wasn't sure if he was meant to hear that last part, but thought it better not to respond anyway.
Lorelai helped herself to a beer from his fridge, and lounged on his couch. She looked into the shopping bags she had brought from the city, and pulled out the book she was looking for. She put on her glasses and began to read, looking very studious and official. Luke glanced over at her and couldn't help but smile. She caught his glance, and cocked an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Nothing. You're adorable."
Lorelai's stomach was doing that fluttering thing again, and she hid her face in the book to hide the 12 year old giggle that she couldn't help from happening. Luke shook his head at her and went back to work.
"What are you reading anyway?" he asked.
"I think we should have a Jewish wedding," said Lorelai, as if he was supposed to know what she was talking about.
"What does that entail?" said Luke, from somewhere in the back of his closet.
"It entails us getting married under a chuppah, which we were already doing anyway, walking down the aisle to music from Fiddler on the Roof, which is kind of appropriate when you think about it, and you breaking a wine glass with your foot. Then we eat lox and gefilte fish," Lorelai explained, adding her own interpretation to what she was reading.
"Why would I break a glass with my foot?"
"It says something in here about the destruction of some old famous temple, but it just sounds fun."
"It sounds painful."
"You get to wear shoes, genius."
"Oh, well then. You've convinced me."
"Oh come on, Luke."
"Again, a very convincing argument. But let me get this straight. First, you want Kirk to officiate –"
"—aww, let him. Think about it this way – either he officiates, or he has to be your best man. Which means he gets to throw you a bachelor party."
Luke glared at Lorelai for a second, and then realized she was right. The thought of Kirk trying to throw any kind of party was nauseating, never mind the idea of a bachelor party which he didn't want in the first place.
"Fine. But you want to have a ceremony based on a religion that neither one of us has ever practiced?"
"Hey, you started it with the whole chuppah thing."
"If I remember correctly, I never said anything about that chuppah being for you and me. In fact, I think it's kind of ugly."
"Oh, please. You're the one who spent hours carving little goats onto it."
Luke had no response. As usual, he was losing at the 'pretend he wasn't in love with Lorelai for a lot of years' game, and was kind of losing his patience with it anyway. "Fine. But I am not participating in any kind of group activity which involves singing in another language, dancing, or being publicly drunk in any way."
"Well, you are the town grump. We wouldn't want to ruin your reputation."
Lorelai watched Luke painstakingly arrange odds and ends into boxes for a few minutes, wondering what the hell he was doing and why it was taking him so long to do it. Finally she slammed the book closed and popped up off the couch. "Here," she said, "let me help you."
She walked over to his closet, grabbing a big box on the way, grabbed all the hanging shirts and unceremoniously dumped them in the box. "Closet's done!" she cried gleefully.
"Lorelai!" cried Luke, "what are you doing? You can't just do that. I had a system."
"Ok, Monica, what do you need a system for? You're moving down the street. You're going to unpack this in, like, five minutes anyway."
Luke just shook his head and continued what he was doing. They continued packing in silence for a little while, Lorelai haphazardly throwing things in boxes, Luke organizing them two seconds later. Every once in a while, they would look up at each other and smile, or Lorelai would walk past Luke and pinch his butt, or Luke would find something else that reminded him of her. Finally, while Lorelai was looking through some of his things, she said, "Hey Luke."
"Yeah?"
"Are you sure you're ok with this?"
"With what?"
"Leaving this apartment. Packing up all your dad's stuff."
"Are you crazy? This place is the size of a postage stamp. I have absolutely no attachment to it as a home."
Lorelai looked up at him, trying to decide whether to believe him or not. Luke caught on to this, and added, "I still own the building. It's not like someone else is going to live here. I'll use it as an office, the way it was intended to be."
He sounded a little too cheerful for Lorelai's taste, and she looked at him skeptically. "And that's ok with you?"
Luke walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders, looking her straight in the eyes. "It's time," he said. Lorelai just nodded, and they continued packing, occasionally looking up and sharing a smile.