So, Bad Spinach Glares…
He knew it.
She knew it too.
They both knew it.
I mean, it was right there. So close to their faces that it was nearly invisible.
Unfortunately, most of the time they were both too self-conscious to actually do
something about it.
All this time and they tried to shrug it off, hide it, whatever, but it was always still there.
"LUKE!" Lorelai Gilmore begged as she dragged herself into Luke's Diner for
the billionth time. She came here everyday for two reasons:
The coffee.
And the owner.
Mostly it was the coffee. She was a caffeine addict. She would have 6+ cups of
coffee daily. She even dragged her genius daughter down to her level. She didn't care;
she just wanted the kick it gave.
Sometimes it was the diner owner-Luke. And don't get me wrong-they were
friends.
JUST friends...for now at least.
She came up to the counter, plopped down at a stool, put her purse down, and looked up at him.
"Whadaya'll have today?" Luke asked. Luke was the tough, masculine, wears-a-flannel-shirt-and-backwards-baseball-cap-everyday kinda guy. They were his "uniform." He looked down at the order pad, trying not to make eye contact with Lorelai. He knew that if he did he'd get into one of those zone-out things where he just stares at her radiant beauty and makes a fool of himself in front of HER.
"Hmmm, lemme think about that…..coffee coffee coffee! In a TUB!" She said things like this everyday, but they always came in a cup-darn it.
Ever since Lorelai moved to the quiet town of Stars Hollow the local busy body, Miss Patty, had tried to put them together. Now she was clever. Once she arranged a couple of guys to bid on a basket that Lorelai made at a town function, and of course, she knew Lorelai would hate it, and she KNEW that Lorelai would go run to Luke to get him to pay for the basket. It was all one big trap. But neither of them minded, they were "friends."
Friends always fix things around the other person's house, got to the other's dead uncle's funeral when no one else attended, or put up with their crazy rants and personalities?
Right?
"It's gonna kill ya." They both said simultaneously. Luke said this everyday, and Lorelai KNEW he said it everyday, only she said it sarcastically, in a mocking way; the only way she talked anyway. She enjoyed making fun of him.
"Fine. But you're going to die." He huffed and walked over to the sacred coffee pot and poured its liquid into a large blue mug.
"Mmmm, thank you. But, if coffee is allegedly going to kill us all, why do you serve it?"
"Popular demand-"
"DIRTY!" she interrupted.
"Let me finish! If I stopped serving coffee this town would go crazy. Not saying that it isn't already, but people would be rioting outside, you being the leader." He gruffed.
"Hey Missy, why so perky today?"
"None of your business." I'm mad 'cuz you don't know how I really feel.
"Hmph. The happiness keeps on coming. Well, whatever it is that is bugging you-I hope you fix it. Alright? And don't forget! Movie night? Remember? Flannel Man? Ooh! Good new name!"
"Yeah, yeah. 5 o'clock. And don't call me that ever again." Oh yeah. He remembered. How could he forget? The other day, the woman he had longed for for so long invited him to her house, alone, to watch a movie of all things.
"Exactly. I gotta get back to the Inn anyway. Bye!" She announced. Truth was-she was dead nervous. She was seriously wondering about Luke's alleged "feelings" for her. So, when she tells Rory, her 19 year old daughter, about he came over, AND NOTHING HAPPENED, there would be major room for gloating and I-told-you-so-ing. She had been extremely brave inviting him over like that. She thought that this could be their big chance; you never know what can happen during a movie.
Honestly. After Jason, she promised herself she would take every chance that came along, and now, she would lead him along, make the first move, but he had to do the rest. Very old-fashioned, but cool.
She knew it though. She had mutual feelings for him. She tried to hide it, deny it, but he never played along really. Hopefully, if she led, he'd follow.
He watched her as she flipped her hair back in that memorizing way she always did. She picked up her purse and strutted to the door.
He continued to watch her. God, he was acting like a love-struck teenager. He and Lorelai were just friends. Men had fought over Lorelai. Actually, HE practically fought over Lorelai with her now ex-fiancée, and lost. He didn't care what Miss Patty said, the town was like one huge mental hospital. Full of psychos and crazy eccentric people. Just look at Taylor and Kirk. He picked up the coffee mug.
She touched this. He thought. WELL OF COURSE! Whatwas he thinking? He brought the mug over to the sink and placed it down.
That's when it really hit him.
He was officially in love.
CHAPTER 2
The doorbell rang at five minutes past 5. Lorelai, who had set up the living room area with various amount of chips, cookies, pizza, ice cream-for her, and a salad she actually BOUGHT from Doose's after her refuel at Luke's-for him. But there was something that was going to prevent them from watching the movie. She had to tell him even though she was really embarrassed.
She opened the door.
There he was, standing in her doorway. Hands shoved in his pockets, completely casual. He seemed so calm; why couldn't she be calm too? She was practically shaking with nerves.
"Hey" He muttered in that deep voice she loved.
"Hey, come on in!" Relax! You can do this!
"I told you I am NOT watching one of those stupid-sappy-love movies!" he ordered. Actually, he could care less. He was gonna get to sit on the same couch as her. For an extended period of time none the less.
"Well, you got me there! Guess I'll have to go tell Scarlett and Rachel MacAdams to go back to their make-believe love movie land place." Oh yeah, smooth. "But we do have a bit of a problem…." She offered to take his jacket. Luke sauntered into the living room.
"Oh my-" He was commenting on the vast quantities of food covering the coffee table.
"Yeah, well, we can get to that later..." she started. JUST TELL HIM! She screamed. "Well. Uhh, there was an incident with uhh, an old tape of "Flashdance", and an issue of COSMO from 3 years ago, and Zsa Zsa Garbor, and… stupid wires!"
"Is your TV broken?" he questioned, staring at the TV with all of the wires pulled out.
"No!" she said sarcastically, again.
"Oh, I can fix that. If you want…I can you know, go too…"
"NO!" she interrupted. She stressed over this night. No way was it gonna fall apart. "I mean, if it won't take a long time to fix it…."
"No…. just gotta connect the..." He started to move the TV around putting the puzzle of the TV wires back into the appropriate spots.
"Thank GOD!" she said. She had hoped that that came out as a thought.
"Are you done yet?" she bantered. This had been going on for the past 10 minutes.
"No."
"How 'bout now?"
"No."
"How 'bout now?"
"No."
"How 'bout n-"
"No."
She waited a few seconds.
"How 'bout now?"
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes."
YES! Finally! They thought at the same time.
"So what is the movie for tonight?" he really wanted to know.
"A classic. Ghost." She reported.
"Errr, a scary movie?"
"No no no. Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore are a young couple in love. Unfortunately Patrick Swayze can't tell Demi that he loves her, until he dies, and becomes a…."
"A…...?"
"GHOST!"
"Naturally."
"Come on! You'll love it!"
You bet I will. He thought.
CHAPTER 3
Neither paid actual attention to the movie. They were so unsure of what to do. They sat side by side on Lorelai's couch. Not moving. Well except for when Lorelai was constantly moving food from the table to her mouth. When the credits came she hit the STOP button on the remote and started to blabber to fill the silence.
"I love that ending! It's happy, and sad all in one neat package. Did you like it?"
"Well. Uhhh…" Truth was, he didn't watch any one the movie. His mind was wandering the whole time. "Yeah."
"And your favorite part being….?"
"Must you know?"
"Yes."
"Uhh, the end I guess."
"The end you guess? Did you actually even wat-" she didn't finish the sentence. "Well, anyways… what do you want to do now? It's only, err… 8 o' clock."
"Well, I can, uhh. Go…" what am I crazy? It's like, 8 o' clock. No way am I leaving.
"Are you kidding? It's 8. Let's be crazy tonight and make it to 8:30! Might have to get the cops on our wild party. Umm, wanna... Oh! Let's go for a walk!"
"Are YOU kidding?"
"No! Come on!" She pulled him by the hand out the door.
They both strolled side by side through the somewhat empty streets of Stars Hollow.
"Isn't it nice out after dark this time of year? It's like, warm, but not hot, but like, breezy. And you don't need to worry about a jacket or anything." She said to fill in the awkward silence.
"Yeah."
"Hmm, the town is so, beautiful, when it is light up from the pre-summer-ness."
"You're beautiful." He said not realizing what he just said. He didn't notice until a few seconds later. Lorelai was behind. She had stopped dead in her tracks.
OH. MY. GOD. They thought at the same time
What the hell did he just say? Is he serious? No way. He so does not like me like that. I thought this was just a "me" thing. He picks now to say this? Were we not just alone in my house?-Lorelai
Oh God! Uhh, what am I supposed to say to her now?-Luke
CHAPTER 4
"I mean it." He stuttered walking up to her.
She just stood there. Frozen, mouth open, her eyes glancing at him. She was bewildered, confused, and so incredibly happy and sad at the same time. Love was scary.
"How?" she asked.
"How? Are you serious? God, you raise a kid, who turns out to be amazing, with NOTHING to your name, you've got an inn in the works, and you're smart…and, funny, and proud. You don't care about what people thought about you. You were you…beautiful… And I mean it." Oh, god. I blew it.
They both watched each other for a moment. Still in awe with what was going on.
When she finally decided to move, what came out of her mouth was unexpected.
"NOT AGAIN!" She screamed and turned around and ran to the gazebo. Why she didn't run home she didn't know. It was the first thing she saw. She continued screaming, "HOW COULD I HAVE MESSED THIS UP?"
I gotta run, as usual.
CHAPTER 5
What is she doing?
"Lorelai! Get back here! I am sorry! God, I was too forward! I…I take it back if you want!" He started to chase after her. Being the high school track star that he was, he caught her in no time. They were both pacing in the gazebo, both sacred and confused. One was on the verge of tears.
"NO! No. I don't want you to take it back! It's just, God. No one has EVER, EVER, said that to me like that. Yeah, Chris and Max said that like, once, but, not with that... seriousness and intensity." She paused and looked right at him. "You really mean it?" PLEASE SAY YES! PLEASE SAY YES!
"Every word." He whispered.
"Oh my GOD! You have been pining! Just like Mom, and Rory, and Sookie…OH MY GOD, they were all right? I mean yeah, I heard about it, but I didn't actually think that, you know, it was real…" she faded out.
They had one of their "moments." They just stood there, in the middle of the gazebo in the town square. Staring at each other in a daze. Completely unsure of what to do…yeah right.
KISS ME DARN IT! Lorelai screamed in her head.
Do I?-Luke thought.
KISS ME YOU IDIOT! What are you waiting for? A bus to come flying through the square and smash and break every bone in your- her thought was interrupted with his words.
"Fine, then I'll do it!" With that, he grabbed her face and kissed her. It was short, rushed, but sweet. BUT IT FINALLY HAPPENED.
No flipping way this is happening. Oh, have I been missing out.-Lorelai
Am I really doing this? Oh yeah, I am.
When the kiss ended they each pulled away, in amazement.
Still staring.
SAY SOMETHING! REACT! DO AN IMPRESSION! SOMETHING! She thought.
What do I do now? Did she like it? Or… what am I thinking? Wait, what if she, is scared?
"Woah…" she finally said, breaking the silence.
"Yeah." He muttered.
"So…" she hesitated. "Do we… are we?" she pointed to herself and then him.
"Do you want to be?"
"Yes." She said confidently.
"Yes?"
"Yes."
"We really need to stop doing this." She joked, in her natural way.
"Hmph. So…"
"So, my turn." That was soo Dirty! She grabbed his face and this time, kissed him. It was much easier this time. It was slower, more romantic, and never ended. Well, until-
CHAPTER 6
"OH MY GOD!" an annoying voice screamed behind them.
They broke apart, humiliated.
"KIRK!" Luke bellowed.
Kirk, in movies, would be portrayed as the "town idiot." He lived with his mom, never had much of a social life, was accident-prone, and held numerous crazy jobs weekly. There he was, standing right next to the gazebo, apparently, the whole time. He had a camera.
"Wait till this goes onto Kirk jumped around excitedly.
"WHAT do you think you're doing? SPYING ON US?" he was really mad now.
"You're forgetting about us hun." Miss Patty stepped out from behind some bushes, full of guilt, followed by Taylor, Babette, and many other familiar town figures.
"Oh my..." Lorelai gaped. "Crazy town."
"Give me the camera, Kirk."
"No way! I could make a small fortunate off these pictures! I especially love the one where it looks like you ate some bad spinach and just both stare blankly into space!"
"GIVE ME THE CAMERA KIRK!" he ran down the steps of the gazebo. Kirk started to run down the street for his dear life, followed closely by Luke.
Lorelai just sat down on the bench, laughing. Did that really just happen?
"So…"
Lorelai looked up. Miss Patty and Babette were standing, err, leaning against the gazebo with smug looks on their faces.
"So, what?" she asked.
"For God's sakes! How was it?" Babette cried.
Lorelai's jaw dropped. The two of them wanted an answer.
"He's a good kisser." She said shyly.
Both ladies screeched. This was a good thing.
Lorelai smiled as she looked back at the street that Kirk and Luke ran down. Luke came out of an alley something black and broken in both his hands. Kirk followed, he was crying.
"NOOOOOO!" he pleaded dramatically.
Lorelai smiled as Luke came back to the gazebo. She mentioned to the two
women to "Leave them alone now." Thankfully, they obeyed.
"So…" he hesitated.
"Where were we?" she asked smugly.
"Right about-"
"Here."
For the third time, they kissed; only this time it was mutual. Some time into it Miss Patty turned on the gazebo lights, and the rest of the town's people disappeared. They didn't even notice.
I mean, after all, it was right there.
THE END!