Thanks for all the reviews! This is my first GG fic, and I'm still getting the hang of everything, so feedback was really appreciated... I wasn't really sure of a lot of things : mainly, where Rory is, the time setting, or who Lorelai's bf would be.. So I kinda just threw things in there. I added in that Rory was studying abroad, and the boyfriend's still up in the air. I'm leaving it up to you guys though, so if anyone wants someone specific, let me know... I'll work it in, but it's gotta be in the next chapter! If not, I'll just throw in someone random... I usually hate that, but I'm not sure what else to do since I didn't pick a time setting...
Let me know of anything I can fix or change... I'm still getting used to this site too, so if anyone could tell me how to edit chapters or why I can't always log in, that would be so helpful! Anyway, without further ado...
Chapter Two : I do... for real!
":Okay, settle down now, everyone settle down..." Miss Patty stood in front of the small crowd of volunteers, ready to start the meeting just as Lorelai walked in.
She quickly found Luke and went to sit down in the empty seat next to him, just as Carrie beat her to it.
" Well, well, well... if it isn't Butch Danes. I had no idea you would be here..." Carrie cooed, leaning closer and closer to an uncomfortable Luke.
" Yes, it is a surprise now, isn't it Carrie? But Luke would do anything to make me happy.. So there you have it. You're in my seat, hun," Lorelai said, patiently waiting for Carrie to move as Miss Patty continued to try and settle the group.
" I don't think these seats were assigned, Lorelai," she said somewhat disgustedly.
" Oh, you might be right there.. Yeah. But Luke was clearly saving that seat for me, so if you'd mind just scooting down or something..."
" Lorelai, there's no where else to go. And Luke didn't say this seat was saved for anyone, so clearly you're wrong."
" Oh, yeah, I can see that justification," Lorelai said sarcastically as Luke helplessly looked up at her. She gave him a look, and immediately he spoke up.
" I was, uh, saving that seat for Lorelai, Carrie. I'll maybe see you around or something," he stuttered as Carrie gave him a disappointed look.
" Jealousy really doesn't suit you, Lorelai. I'll see you around later, Luke," Carrie winked, and then walked off as Lorelai immediately took the now unoccupied seat.
"Ugh, jealousy! I swear that woman would fit right into the title, Desperate Housewives. Isn't she married?" Lorelai rambled, wondering why she was, indeed, jealous of Carrie sitting with Luke. " I mean, I wasn't jealous. It's just I DID sign you up for this after all. You wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for me-"
" That's not something you want to remind me of.."
" My point is, obviously we're going to sit together. I signed us up so I wouldn't have to be in the play alone. I was not jealous," she finished.
" I never said you were.." Luke smirked.
" But Carrie did," she said, muttering the name like it was dirt.
Luke started to answer, but just then Miss Patty started speaking.
" Okay, dears. We're going to start off by going over the scripts and the main points of the production... Then Taylor over here will assign roles."
" Yay!" Lorelai whispered, clapping her hands excitedly. " We're getting scripts Luke!"
" Quiet, Lorelai. This is bad enough without you being all overexcited about it.."
" Oooh, mean AND dirty!" she laughed as she was handed some scripts. She took one and passed it down.
" Ah, jeez," Luke muttered as he opened to the first page.
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" Can you believe it, Luke! We're the best they've got. One day, we're gonna take over this little town with our greatness... I mean, sure. It's a little cheesy.."
Luke gave her a look.
" Okay, it's a lot cheesy. But it'll be so fun. And you get to play lead with yours truly. You made Kirk so mad, Luke! That had to be a bonus."
They were walking back to the diner after their never ending meeting. Apparently signals had been crossed, because Miss Patty wanted to give auditions, while Kirk argued he hadn't had time to rehearse. Taylor wanted to just assign parts, to which Kirk was just as angry. He insisted Taylor hated him, and would cut him automatically.
" Wasn't tonight so exciting Luke?"
" Oh yeah... the best."
" You don't look excited..." she pouted as he unlocked the door to the diner and let her in.
" I'm not jumping up and down if that's what you want," he grumbled, putting on a pot of coffee for her.
" A smile would be nice. What's wrong? I know it's not exactly your thing, but seriously... you're giving the Grinch a run for his money with this whole bitterness thing."
" I don't know about that... I'm just kinda tired. I didn't think the meeting would take that long," he answered, throwing his script down on the counter. " I didn't like how eager Taylor was to give me the lead either. Jeez, it's almost 12, I have deliveries tomorrow... I'm gonna kill Kirk."
" Oh, well in that case.. I'll take my coffee to go. I'll warn Kirk, and thank Taylor. We can rehearse some other time," she smiled, waiting for him to get her coffee and praying he wouldn't think twice about giving it to her, even if it was near midnight.
" Rehearse?"
" Yeah... we're the leads, Luke. We have to rehearse together. We can't get up there and make idiots of ourselves in front of the entire town... especially not if we plan to take over and rule it some day."
" I thought that was the whole point of this thing?"
" To rule the town! I don't think Taylor would approve."
" The whole point of me going was so that you didn't look stupid alone..you're not alone anymore. We can look stupid together," he replied, pouring her coffee while silently debating if he'd like rehearsing with Lorelai. It DID entail more alone time with her, and that was never a bad thing.
" Luke Danes, I am appalled. You seriously want to ruin Taylor's play simply because you think it's okay to look stupid, as long as we look stupid together?"
" When you put it that way, yes," he answered, handing her the coffee.
" Yeah... it does sound appealing when you add that it's Taylor's project. But seriously, just once?"
" Okay.. Just once," he answered, knowing that wouldn't be the end of it.
" Good, once a week until the play starts. Thanks for the coffee, see you tomorrow," she said, grabbing the cup and rushing for the door.
" Once does not mean a week, Lorelai!" he shouted after her, smiling.
" Of course it does, Luke. See ya tomorrow."
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Lorelai couldn't figure out why sleep hadn't come to her yet. Normally at this time she was whisked into a fantasy dream world where she was queen and multitudes of hot guys fed her mallomars every time she snapped. But not tonight. Tonight she was wide awake. No movie could hold her attention; she couldn't think of a single thing to critique, and even when she put in From Justin To Kelly, she just wasn't up to it.
All she could think of were the events of today. Sure, it was a normal day. She had her breakfast, went to work, came home, avoided cleaning, ate junk, and had the meeting at Patty's. Then coffee again at Luke's. Luke. Something about him today was different. He didn't have a haircut... wasn't wearing a new cap. No, he always wore the one she bought him. So what was it? He didn't act any differently. He gave her her coffee. They bantered and flirted. She talked him into doing something he didn't want to do. All was normal; except it wasn't. There was something about him that she couldn't get out of her mind. And as frustrating and annoying as the nagging feeling was, she was comforted with her thoughts of Luke. Luke thoughts... that's different.
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" Ready to rehearse, buddy!" Lorelai was sleep deprived, but she'd had 4 cups of coffee this morning and her energy was far from wavering. She sat on the stool at the counter of Luke's, wide-eyed and downright cheerful. Luke, however, was the complete opposite.
"What in the hell are you on this morning? No more coffee for you.." he grumbled, before she could even order.
" I've had four cups, Luke. You can't honestly tell me you'd deprive me of my fifth? And to think I was saving the best for last..."
" Last? You were honestly going to go the whole day with five cups of coffee?" He looked at her suspiciously.
" Well... by last I meant before rehearsal.." she grinned.
"That sounds more believable," he half-smiled, then asked in all seriousness, " How many cups do you go through a day?"
" You don't even wanna know, my friend."
" Right. Ready?" he asked, grabbing his script from under the counter.
" Nooo, you haven't given me my coffee, you forgetful old man," she looked at him in horror as he walked in the opposite direction of the coffee. " You weren't serious, were you?"
" Of course I was."
" Luke, depriving me of coffee when I haven't slept well is dangerous to your health. And we all know what a health freak you are... give me the coffee and you'll live an extra ten years, I swear," she rambled as he shook his head and poured her a cup - to go.
"Where are we rehearsing?" she asked, as he walked to the end of the counter and she sipped her coffee.
"Not at the diner. I was thinking upstairs, but we could go to your place..."
" What's wrong with the diner ? It has all the food... all this wonderful coffee.."
" It also has customers. Rude ones. Who stare at anyone doing something out of the ordinary, like rehearsing for a play, that, by the way.. I didn't sign up for. I don't want to rehearse for. And I really don't wanna rehearse for it in front of the town, because you know once one person sees it, they ALL come to see it..." he ranted.
" Well, I don't know if our performance will be that entertaining... but I do see a point. Upstairs is fine.. As long as we're rehearsing - nothing dirty now, Luke," she grinned.
" Ah, jeez. Let it go, Lorelai."
" Never!"
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Luke couldn't sleep. He couldn't eat. He couldn't concentrate on anything. In fact, Caesar had sent him to bed last night and finished work, including the dinner rush, alone. How could he be this nervous over a play?
Maybe it was the fact that he was marrying Lorelai.
Sure, it was fake. And sure, it was stupid to be nervous. But he was. Even after all of those rehearsals, he was nervous. Rehearsal. Just thinking about them made him queasy. Sure, she had said once a week, but Lorelai had quickly convinced him to rehearse nearly every chance they had. She was determined to perfect her performance, and she wouldn't stop til his was too. And now here it was, the day of the play, and the end of rehearsals.
But they'd never fully rehearsed the wedding scene.
At the first rehearsal, they sort of just stumbled upon it. They didn't kiss though; they both sort of laughed it off and agreed to go back to it.
The next rehearsal, they skipped it completely. And the next, and the next. Until about a week ago, when Lorelai insisted they return to it, because, as she had put it, " We can't look like idiots in front of the entire town!"
So they rehearsed the wedding again. They practiced over and over until it was perfected. They practiced until they knew the play better than they knew each other.
They practiced until they had nothing else to practice but the kiss. And then they had awkwardly decided that it wouldn't be good if they perfected the kiss, because the town would know something was up. And the last thing they wanted was the town thinking that they had kissed before. And Luke had stupidly agreed; God he wished they could have practiced that kiss.
Lorelai couldn't figure out what about kissing Luke made her so nervous. At first, she was nervous of the whole wedding scene. The idea of "marrying" Luke was both nerve-racking and surprisingly exciting to her. But kissing him? Really kissing him? She wasn't sure if she was up for it. Sure, it had crossed her mind before... what would it be like to kiss Luke? But those thoughts were always pushed to the back of her mind, never thought of or spoken of to anyone else. Now, she'd have her answer in front of the entire town... God, she wished they would have practiced that kiss.
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The townspeople had gathered into the square early that morning, but Lorelai barely noticed the crowds; she was beyond nervous now, and she just needed a familiar face. God, she hated that Rory was studying abroad.
"Lorelai!" she turned around at the sound of her name, and let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Sookie.
"Sook! God, it's so good to see you... I'm so nervous."
" Nervous! Why! You've been excited for this stupid thing for weeks!"
" I know but.."
" But what?" she ushered Sookie into her makeshift dressing room.
" But I'm getting married! I'm marrying Luke, Sookie!"
Sookie laughed. " But not for real.. Yet!"
" I'm going to ignore that last part and save my call for the crazies for a later date... It's just that I've practiced and practiced and I don't wanna ruin the play just cause I'm a little scared to kiss Luke."
" You're scared to kiss Luke?"
" Of course I'm scared to kiss Luke! Would you wanna kiss Luke!"
"I'm married, Lorelai."
" Exactly.." she said, taking a seat in front of the make up mirror.
"Exactly? You didn't prove a point, you're going insane."
"I know, I know. But.. Ugh! I don't know. I don't know why I'm nervous, or why I'm going insane," she answered, picking up various applicators and trying to do her makeup. She was shaking so badly though that she nearly missed every time.
" If it's any consolation, I'm sure he's just as nervous," she said, taking the applicator from Lorelai. " Let me.." She applied Lorelai's make up perfectly, and just as she finished, Miss Patty came in.
" The show's starting! Let's go girls!"
" Break a leg, Lorelai!" Sookie shouted as Miss Patty nearly dragged her out.
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The curtains closed for intermission, and both Lorelai and Luke had forgotten about their nerves. The wedding scene was up next, and they had no doubt it'd be flawless. The kiss was still troubling them both, but as they were ushered to their spots, they forced it to the back of their mind.
The music started playing and the crowd was asked to stand. The audience's seats were conveniently placed so that they could be the guests at the wedding ceremony. Lorelai took a deep breath after readjusting her veil and walked down the isle to the awaiting "minister," who was, not surprisingly, Kirk.
Luke watched as Lorelai walked towards him, and he felt his breath catch in his throat. She looked even more gorgeous than usual, dressed in a strapless wedding gown that fit perfectly, she walked carefully towards him, holding a bouquet of deep red roses. Her hair was curled and framed her face, making her blue eyes seem even brighter. A small tiara kept her veil in place, and her smile made his heart beat ten times faster. Never before had he felt this way; and yet, it was all "pretend."
It felt like ages until she stood next to him, and he pushed her veil out of her face, just as they had practiced; though at rehearsals, they had used a table cloth, one she complained constantly about because it "blocked her vision."
Kirk cleared his throat and immediately began... " Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today.."
Luke barely heard the words being uttered by Kirk. His eyes couldn't look anywhere but into Lorelai's bright blue ones. And she wasn't too eager to look anywhere else either. He vaguely heard her whisper, " I do," and knew he had to respond soon.
" I do..." he answered with just the right amount of emotion. He noticed the crowd with tears in their eyes, and almost forgot it was all for a show.
" I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride," Kirk announced happily, and Lorelai held her breath.
She closed her eyes just as Luke's lips met her own, and immediately she felt a spark. She kissed him back, hard, and pulled away from the most perfect, albeit short, kiss she'd ever experienced.
The crowd clapped excitedly, both for the kiss and the signal of the end of the play, and as Luke and Lorelai took their bows along with everyone else, they saw Kirk and Taylor arguing animatedly. The applause died down as people noticed the disagreement, and everyone struggled to listen.
"I'm sorry Taylor, I thought you knew..." Kirk was apologizing repeatedly. " I could have sworn I told you..."
" Kirk, how in the world would I know that some idiot gave you the power to legally marry couples in Connecticut!"
All of Stars Hollow was quiet as attention was turned to Luke and Lorelai.
"Did we just get married?" Lorelai asked Luke in quiet shock, suddenly uncomfortable with the fact that all eyes were on her. Taylor noticed this and rushed over as the other actors rushed off stage to watch.
" Listen... Luke, Lorelai... there was a slight misunderstanding. I promise things will be worked out.."
" Did you just have Kirk legally marry us, Taylor!" Luke looked ready to pounce, and Lorelai grabbed his arm in case he lost all inhibitions.
" Well, see.. The thing is, I didn't know Kirk had gotten a marriage license. Those aren't very common, you know.. And you have to go through a lot of legal things to attain one, I had no idea that Kirk had..."
Lorelai looked about ready to faint, " So we just said I do... for real!"