Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I have any association with the Gilmore Girls or any of its characters. Dreaming about them is a totally different thing...

Chapter 3

Luke was in his driveway, working under the hood of his truck. He got home from doing the tasks around the inn for Mia nearly two hours ago. He hoped he'd see Lorelai, but he didn't. She didn't seem to be around. He didn't want to seem like he was looking for her- even though he was- or desperate so he didn't ask about her. He just did what he had come to do and then went home and worked on his truck.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened or what?" Kevin asked.

Luke jumped when he heard someone talking to him and hit his head on the hood. "Ah jeez!" he shouted as he rubbed his head. He looked over the hood and saw Kevin. "Jesus Christ Kevin, don't do that! I could have killed you."

"Whatever. So are you gonna tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Luke asked as he wiped the grease off his hands with a nearby rag.

"Tell me what happened with that chick the other night. That chick from the inn."

"Please stop calling her 'that chick'. She has a name."

"I wasn't paying attention." Luke rolled his eyes. "Come on man, what happened?"

"Nothing."

"So you just totally bailed on me after school for no reason?"

"I did not bail on you."

"You took off right when the bell rang without so much as a word to me to go to the inn to see…"

"Lorelai."

"Who?"

"Lorelai, she's the girl at the inn. She told you her name."

"I probably wasn't paying attention."

"To what she was saying."

"Nonetheless, you bolted to the inn to see her. Or did you just forget we were supposed to go fishing with Jackson and Andrew today."

"Oh crap. I totally forgot. I'm sorry man. I got caught up. I'll make it up to you guys. I swear."

"Make it up to us by giving us details."

"There are no details."

"You mean to tell me that you didn't do anything with her in the pottery shed?"

"I'm sorry Kev, but unlike you, I have dignity."

"Are you gonna ask her to come to the party with you?"

"You really know how to take no for an answer don't you?"

"Come on, you can double with me and Sarah."

"Are you insane? I can't double with you and Sarah!"

"Ok, you really need to chill out. For the last time, you and Rachel broke up months ago. No one expects you to stay single forever. Not even Sarah. She doesn't hate you because you're not with her cousin anymore."

"We didn't break up."

What?"

"Rachel and I. We didn't break up."

"Does she know that because I don't think she does."

"We talked about it the other day. We're on a break."

"That's wuss for 'I'm chicken to ask the new girl out.' I know you like her, so just ask her out."

"I do not like her."

"Yeah right! You met her twice and you talk about her like you've known her all your life. Stop denying it. If you like her, go for it. You're a great guy and women would be lucky to date you."

"Says the man that's already found the woman he's going to spend the rest of his life with."

"Some of us are born lucky and others have to get lucky." Kevin patted Luke on the shoulder. "Get lucky Luke." Luke shook his head. "I gotta go home for dinner. I'll see you tomorrow."

Luke sighed. He shut the hood and headed inside the house, thinking about what his friend had said to him. Maybe he should go for it. But then again, he was Luke Danes. He thought about all the practicalities before he did anything. The biggest factor in his relationship- should there be one- was her baby. Lorelai was going to have to do what was best for that little girl and she might decide what's best for her is her real father. He didn't want to take the risk of getting attached to the girl if Lorelai was just going to rip her away, but oddly enough, he wanted to be bold. For once in his life, he wanted to be a risk taker. His head began to hurt from trying to figure out what he wanted to do. He decided he'd just leave it up to Lorelai. If she wanted him to make a move, he'd make a move. The ball was in her court.


Lorelai let out an exasperated sigh as she walked into her make-shift home. She put Rory in her crib. She was a little frustrated that she didn't get to see Luke today. She finished her second round just in time to see him walk out the front door. She was going to call out to him, but she didn't want people to think she was desperate. It wasn't like she liked him or anything. She just needed to ask him about his offer. Sure. That was it.

Lorelai stared down at her daughter. "What do you think?" she asked the baby. "Should I call him? He was the one that offered to show me around town. It's just a friendly gesture right? He did give me his phone number. I'm being polite by calling to schedule a day for him to show me around town. And I need to know the town. So I should call him right?" Rory's blank expression turned into a smile.

Lorelai wanted to think that her one month old daughter really understood what she was saying, but she knew Rory just thought Mommy was playing with her. Nonetheless, she got her "answer." Lorelai walked over to the bed and picked up the phone. She looked at the piece of paper Luke had scribbled his name and number on. Suddenly, she found herself unable to dial the number. She would pick up the phone to call Luke five more times and each time, she would hang up before her fingers got near the dialing pad. Three times she dialed the first three numbers and twice she had gotten to the sixth digit before chickening out. With a frustrated sigh, she slammed the phone down.

"Urgh!" she groaned. "Why is this so hard? It's just a friendly phone call."

She took a deep breath and picked up the phone again, completing the dialing process. The phone rang three times before someone answered it.

"Hello?" a female voice asked.

"Hi, uh, is…is Luke home?" Lorelai stuttered.

"Let me check." Lorelai could hear the woman put the phone down and then there were voices in the background. "Luke!"

"What now Liz?" Luke yelled in the background.

"You have a phone call."

"Who is it?"

"I don't know. Another girl." Another girl? Lorelai thought, feeling a little jealous and silly.

She heard Luke pick up the receiver and a second later, his voice came through the receiver. "Hello?" he asked. Lorelai expected herself to say something, she wanted to say something, but when she opened her mouth nothing came out. So, Luke spoke again. "Hello? Anyone there?"

Lorelai immediately hung up. "Ok, that went well," Lorelai said sarcastically to herself. She debated with herself about giving it another try. Each time she actually mustered up the courage to call Luke, she hung up when she heard his voice on the other end. "Urgh! What's wrong with me? Just pick up the phone, call him, and don't hang up. Simple as that Gilmore."

She picked up the phone once more, repeating "I will not hang up" over and over in her head as she dialed the number. The busy signal blared through the receiver.

"You've got to be kidding me," she said to the phone. "I finally decide not to hang up and it's busy? Stupid karma."

Lorelai fell back onto her bed. She lazily reached for a pillow, put it over her face, and let out a well deserved scream.


Lorelai woke up feeling tired. Partially because Rory kept her up half the night. The other factors were work and Luke. If it was at all possible to wear yourself out from trying to call someone, Lorelai made it possible. In the past few days, she found out it wasn't as easy as you'd think to pick up a phone and just call a guy. Every time she was about to call him- or when she called and hung up- she felt nervous. She questioned his motives for offering to show her around town. Was it just a ploy to get her to call him or was he really sincere? Whatever the answer may be, she decided to put in the back of her mind today. Today she would not think of Luke Danes.

Lorelai pushed Rory's stroller down the aisle with a basket in her hand. Since she had the day off, she thought it would be a great opportunity to pick up some groceries. She only picked up the essentials she knew she would need to last the rest of the week- diapers, wipes, and some food for her. She picked up some cereal and headed to the counter. The man at the counter looked like he was in his late thirties, maybe forties. There was grey in his hair and beard. She figured he was Mr. Doose by the manager pin on his cardigan sweater.

"That'll be twenty thirty-two," the man said.

Lorelai dug around in her purse for money, but couldn't find the money. "Where the heck is my wallet?" Lorelai asked herself as she continued to dig through her purse.

The man behind the counter began to get impatient. "Young lady, there are other people in line."

"I know. I have the money here somewhere."

Luke heard Lorelai's voice and quickly made his way to the front of the store. He saw she was having some money problem and ran over to the counter. "There you are," Luke said. Lorelai looked at him questionably. "I was looking all over for you. I didn't mean to take so long."

"Do you know this young woman Luke?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry Taylor, she's with me."

"I didn't realize you were dating another girl."

"Uh…yeah." Luke handed Taylor a bottle of motor oil. "Well, uh, how much do I owe?"

"Your new total is twenty-four sixteen." Luke handed Taylor some money. "Thank you Luke and you and your new lady friend have a nice day."

"Sure. Thanks." Luke grabbed the grocery bag and helped Lorelai out of Doose's. "Ok, rule number one: don't walk into Doose's or any other store without money."

"I thought my wallet was in my purse sweet heart," Lorelai remarked.

"Ah jeez. I had to do something. Taylor was about go crazy."

"What did he mean when he said another girl?"

"Huh? Oh nothing. Taylor's just exaggerating. He's a putz. Honestly, I don't date a lot." Feeling uncomfortable about the conversation, Luke decided to change the subject. "You never called. Not that I was waiting. I just didn't see you at the inn and I thought you'd call instead."

"Oh yeah. I, uh, forgot."

"I tend to do that sometimes too. It's usually because I have a busy schedule. I don't have much free time with baseball, track, work, fixing my truck, school. Hey, are you going back to school?"

"I don't think so."

"You should. Just because you have a baby doesn't mean you can't have an education too."

"Well, what about Rory?"

"Patty watches my nephew while Liz is at school. I'm sure she wouldn't mind watching Rory too."

"I'll think about it."

"But of course, if you were going to go back to school, you'd need to know where the school is."

"Didn't you just say you don't have any free time?"

"No. I said I don't have much free time. I have free time, it's just mostly at night. So, would you like me to give you a tour of the town?"

"Sure."

"When?"

"How about now?"

"Actually, I'm busy right now. I have to change the oil in my truck." Luke looked up and noticed Miss Patty standing outside her studio whispering something to Babette as she pointed at them. "Hey you see that lady over there in front of the dance studio?"

"Yeah."

"That's Miss Patty. The blonde short woman with her is Babette. They're the local gossip queens and by the looks of it, we're gonna be this month's big scoop."

"What? Why?"

"One, we made a pretty big scene back at Doose's meaning Babette probably was in the store when I said you were my girlfriend. And two, you're pushing a stroller. God only knows what they're thinking about that. We should probably go our separate ways before those two make this out to be more than a friendly meeting."

"Wow. You're breaking up with me before we even started dating."

"What about tomorrow night?"

"What about tomorrow night?"

"Do you want me to show you around town tomorrow night?"

"Uh, sure."

"Good. I'll figure out details later so give me a call tonight."

"Ok, I'll talk to you later then."

Luke smiled at Lorelai and headed in the direction of his house. He paused and faced her again. "Oh and this time, try to stay on the phone long enough to actually talk to me."

Lorelai could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. She couldn't believe he knew. "I'll try." Luke waved to her before running down the street. The whole way back to the inn, all Lorelai could think of was Luke Danes.


A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update my stories. I had a lot to deal with this past week and I barely had time to write. I'll try to get another update sometime in the next few days.