Stand Still- Chapter Three: Don't Admit it
Summary: Luke and Lorelai broke up after her parents wedding, then she left Stars Hollow when Mike Armstrong offered her that job. But now shes back in town, 5 years later,to give Luke something, only to find that he is a very changed man and there's something he isn't telling her. What's he hiding and what will she do when she finds out?
Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or any of it's characters. I only write this for fun and don't make any money off of it or anything like that.
Rating: pg13 just to be safe
A/N: Wow a lot of guys had similiar ideas to mine, so I hope you'll be happy with how I wrote them. Another chapter, please review. Thanks to all who reviewed!
jpeysangel: Well the wait's over, here's the newest chapter, enjoy! Don't forget to review!
Elizabeth-Intheblue: Thank you! Well, here it is, I hope the wait wasn't too long! read and review!
oth2007: I can't tell you, It'd spoil the fun. Keep reading and you'll find out soon. R&R!
GGFAN6: Keep reading and you'll find out what happens with Luke and Lorelai soon...Glad you like my story! Your not the only one that doesn't like Rebecca, don't worry... the people of Stars Hollow aren't too fond of her either.
aggieshan08: Hey, no one's married until someone says I do! Just keep reading and you'll find out, I think you'll like how it turns out. haha that rhymes, sorry. Anyways, R&R! I'd love to know what you think.
orangesherbert7: Wow it's creepy how you've thought of so many of the same things that I have thought about. I've written up to chapter five so far, and those chapters will be out soon, I think you'll like them. I think I'll stick with this title just because it's easier and I don't want to take a chance of losing all of the stuff you mentioned before. Thanks though, and yes that is an amazing sonh. But anyway,tell me what you think about this new chapter
muffin aux carottes: Yes, Kirk does help her a little bit, but it's more like he tells her something that gets her thinking... yeah. Don't worry, Rory's defiantly in this story, not until chaptersix though. Tell me what you think about this chapter.
Annick: Thank you so much! Here's more, tell me what you think about it.
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lue: Hey, unfortunately you won't find out how Rebecca knows about Lorelai until chapter three. I've written up to chapter five so far, so you'll get a new update soon. Hope the wait wasn't too long, enjoy and tell me what you thought!
Franala: Glad you liked it! You'll find out her reaction towards the end of the chapter, so enjoy and tell me what you think!
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And on with the chapter...
"Thank you so much for all of this, Luke." Lorelai said as they brought in her last bag.
"It's no problem, stay as long as you want." He told her.
"I won't stay long," she said. She didn't want to leave, not again. But she didn't like the thought of having to see Luke with another woman, especially if him and that other woman weregoing to bemarried.
"Your leaving?" He asked. He didn't want her to, he loved hanging out with her. They were friends, good friends, he didn't want to lose that.
"I don't know what I'm doing." She told him. She tried to read the expression in his face, to see if there was dissapointment, but she couldn't tell.
"Well, stay here while you figure it out."
"Thanks." She smiled.
"So...I have to ask, what is with this?" She asked pointing to him.
"What?" He asked.
"The clothes, Luke. I've been here for three days and you have not once worn a flannel shirt or a baseball hat. You've been wearing sweaters and nice pants and shirts that you would find at some store that you used to never be caught dead in. This isn't you." She babbled on.
"Everyone used to always tell me they didn't like it, even you." He said.
"No! I love your flannel and your hat. You shouldn't change for anybody, Luke. You should only be around the people that don't ask you to change, you know, love you for you?"
"Have you been watching Dr. Phil?" he laughed
"I'm serious."
"I know."
"Is it for her?" She didn't want to say her name, she didn't know why because either way, whether she had a name or not, Luke was getting married. But for some reason it just made it better when she didn't say her name.
"Maybe," he said, that was true, Rebecca never did like his flannel look, but it wasn't anywhere nearthe full truth.
"Well, what other reasons are there?"
"It's hard to explain."
The truth was, that his flannel, they reminded him of her. A few of them even smelled like her, the ones that she would always wear when she slept at his apartment.He had washed them so many times, but somehowher scent stuck to them.When he wore those ones he couldn't get that smell out of his head. So, he couldn't wear them. So he didn't, but then it slowly became that all of his shirts reminded him of her. And his hat. When he saw it, he would always think of that little nickname she would use. Mr. Backwards Baseball Cap. It hurt too much to think about it. So he put all of those things along with some other things in a box that Lorelai would have called his Lorelai Box. He had a Lorelai Box, he wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he had one. When he got engaged to Rebecca, he told himself he'd get rid of it, but then he'd make excuses. And it still sat in the very back of his closet today.
"Ok..." She said.
"Yeah...uh well I better go, but call if you need anything, do you need the number?" He asked.
"Did it change?" She asked.
"No."
"Then no, I still remember it."
"You do?"
"...I dialed your number so many times in the past five years, I wanted to call, I just couldn't." But maybe if she had he wouldn't be getting married to her.
Luke nodded.
"You know, Luke, I still haven't seen this house of yours."
Luke nodded again. He didn't want to say anything. He didn't know how she'd feel if she knew, he didn't even know how he would feel if she knew.
Home sweet home. He walked in the door like he had so many times before. His tool box still sat at the door just like it always had. Bert he thought, that was what Rory and Lorelai had named his tool box. He laughed at the thought. He didn't know why he left it there, he just did. Maybe because it reminded him of Lorelai and Rory because that's where they used to keep it. He just told himself that it was easier this way.
He had walked through that door so many times, but today it seemed so much different. He didn't know why, but it was different. He went upstairs into his bedroom and sat down in his closet. There it was. His Lorelai Box. It was big, but not too big, although you could probably fit a decent size TV inside. He pulled it out and set it down carefully on the bed.
First he took out the many flannel shirts. As he put them on the bed, the smell filled the room. Somehow they still smelled like Lorelai. It had been five years since she worn them, but they still smelled just like her.
"I'm not a mysterious man am i?"
"Well the wardrobe is kind of a head-scratcher"
He laughed, at her and himself. He was so in love with her then, when he saw Jason at the Dragonfly, and the flowers, the flowers he had bought for her. And the wedding, his sister's wedding that he had invited Lorelai to. You could call it their first date. He didn't know why he remembered that moment, probably because it was right before their first kiss.
He shook his head and looked through the box some more. There was his hats, there were three or four inside. He put them next to his shirts and kept looking.
Then he pulled out the invitation to the opening of the Dragonfly. It was where they had shared their first kiss. He was so nervous, and so was she. "stand still," the words rang through his head over and over as he remembered that moment. And then how afterwards Kirk came running down the stairs. This town was so crazy, and even though he'd never admit it, he did love it.
Then he saw the letter, it was a little bit crumpled and some of the original duct tape was still stuck to it. He remembered the day he read it. He didn't open up the diner that entire week. Luke started to get sad just thinking about how devasted he was all those years ago. He read the letter over and over again for hours that day. He tried calling her house but the line had been disconnected. He remembered driving to her house, looking at the For Sale sign sitting in the front yard. But the one thing he noticed was that the Chuppah was gone. He remembered how he looked through all of the dumpsters in the town, wondering if she had thrown it away. He wanted to think that she had brought it with her, but he doubted it. He remembered sitting on her steps until one in the morning when Babette finally told him to go home. He just sat there all day and most of the night, wishing that he would see her car pull up in the driveway again. But it didn't. It never did.
Then he pulled out some other items, things she had given him, a movie that she had made him buy so they could watch it together, a pair of earrings she had left at his place. But then he saw it, the thing that he was sort of looking for. He just wanted to see it. He hadn't looked at it since he made this box.
He pulled the small black velvet box out of the big cardboard box. He took a second before opening it, but he finally did. It was his mother's ring, the one he wanted to give to Lorelai, the one he planned on giving her all those years ago. His father gave it to him a year or two before he died. He said that Mom wanted him to have it, and she wanted him to give it to the woman he loved, the one that he would spend the rest of his life with. And he had wanted to give it to Lorelai. But he never got the chance.
What was he doing? He needed to stop looking through the box. He was getting married. Married. But his fiance wasn't wearing this ring. Why? He didn't even know. He told himself that it was because the ring reminded him of Lorelai, and he didn't want Rebecca's ring to remind him of someone else. But he knew that was just another lie he had told himself. So what was the truth? He had no idea...
"He told me that he always thought we would get married," Lorelai told Sookie.
"He did?" Sookie said.
"Yeah, and I think we had a moment." She said.
"A moment?"
"Yeah, a few actually."
"But he's getting married."
"I know. I don't want to be the other woman, and I don't think Luke would let himself have another woman...but..."
"But?"
"But it's Luke."
"I know."
"This is so confusing."
"I know." Sookie sighed.
"Do you think I should tell him how I feel?"
"I don't know...You know I've always wanted you two together, I always believed it would happen, but...he's getting married."
"But I was getting married."
"What?"
"When I was getting married to Max. He built me that Chuppah...And we had this talk...It was a big part of why I called off the wedding."
"It was?"
"Yes."
"You never told me that before."
"I never told anyone that before."
Sookie nodded.
"Do you think he intended to do that?" Sookie asked.
"Do what?"
"Do you think he was trying to get you to change your mind?"
"I think so." She told her. "It's Luke, Sookie. He's the one, I know it, I always have."
"I don't like this, Luke. Her, being around you all the time, I don't like it. " Rebecca told Luke.
"I know you've said it four hundred times." He answered.
"And your still going to let her stay there even though I don't like it?"
He sighed. "Yes."
She frowned.
"Look, she's my friend." He told her.
"But is there a reason she needs to stay at the diner? The Dragonfly is a perfectly fine place to stay." Rebecca asked Luke for the millionth time that day.
"She shouldn't have to waste her money staying there, when this place is empty and free." He answered for the millionth time that day.
"Well is it permanent? I mean how long is she going to stay up there?"
"I don't know."
"Shouldn't you know?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"She's still figuring out what she's going to do."
"Why doesn't she just go back where she came from?" Rebecca said folding her arms angrily.
"Why do you hate her so much?"
"You really don't know?" Rebecca said begginning to get frustrated.
"No."
"Wow." She rolled her eyes.
"Wow, what? What is it? Why do you hate her?"
She shook her head. She was annoyed and he could tell. They had been fighting about this for atleast an hour, repeating the same things over and over again. She would say that Lorelai should just stay at the Dragonfly, and then he would say that Lorelai shouldn't have to waste money when she could just stay above the diner. She would say she didn't like her. He would ask her why. She would say she didn't want her being around and then the whole conversation over again. They had been going on about it for awhile and she still wouldn't let it go.
"You obviously don't get out much."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Figure it out." And with that the conversation was finally over.
"Hi, Lorelai." Kirk said.
"Hey Kirk." Lorelai said.
"You know I asked LuLu to marry me." He said proudly.
"I heard."
"Yeah, it was probably about two years after you left."
"So you've been engaged for three years?"
"Well see, I saw once in this comic strip, this guy, he took a bath in some butterscotch pudding right before the wedding because he thought it would make him better during the wedding night..." Lorelai cut him off.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, if you let me finish..."
"I really don't have time, Kirk, maybe later."
"Yeah, your just jealous."
"What?"
"Your jealous, you want to be with Luke, but he's getting married, so your just jealous of anyone else who is in a relationship," Kirk said in a 'matter of fact' type of way.
Lorelai rolled her eyes. But maybe he was right. Maybe she was jealous because he was happy and she wasn't.
"Too bad, too. I always thought you two would end up together. But then that wedding and the ribbons, you won, by the way. You had more people on your side. Or maybe people in this town just like pink better than blue...I should take a poll some day..."
"What happened to those ribbons anyway?"
"Luke went around and made everyone take them off, people were terrified. The diner was practically empty for weeks."
Lorelai smiled. She could defiantly imagine that.
"It was a really nice ring, too, his mother's you know." Kirk said.
"What? What ring?" Now she was interested...
"Well, I don't know, I guess I caught him at this sensetive time, he was hurt, he missed you, and I think he was a little bit drunk because he only charged me a dime for the toast, but usually its' a dollar ten."
"Kirk, get to the point."
"Oh, so he showed me the ring that he wanted to give to you. It was his mother's, she told him to give it to the one that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He wanted you to have it."
She was speechless. He had a ring for her? His mother's ring? He wanted to marry her, it was his idea and everything. She had said nothing about it, no conversations, it was completely his idea.
"Do you think he would have gotten done on one knee?" Lorelai asked, but not really meaning for it to be outloud.
"For you? He would have gotten done on two knees, baby." Kirk said in a funny talk show host voice, like he was quoting a line from a movie or tv show, only...he wasn't. He was just being Kirk.
Lorelai stood up, suddenly extremely happy. She didn't know why because after all, that was in the past, things had changed. But she liked the thought of him planning to propose to her, she only wished he had.
So I didn't exactly do what I said I would but I have to save the Babette conversation for a different chapter because during their talk, she will spill a secret, after all that's what she does best. And that secret can't be revealed until later. It will probably be in the chapter after next.
This wasn't exactly how I planned the chapter going, and I know it was shorter, but it had to be. Tell me what you think. Ideas/Suggestions/Comments always. Please review!
I also dropped a few hints in this chapter, mostly Luke hints. See if you can figure it out.
Next chapter: It's the day of the party. Lorelai asks Luke if Rebecca is wearing his mother's ring. Lorelai talks to Miss Pattie and Luke can't find Lorelai at the party. Also, Lorelai has a plan
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