Kiss with Open Eyes

Chapter 15: It's Love, Make it Hurt.

Disclaimer: You know it's not mine.

Summary: They just keep dancing around each other. He feels guilty, and she knows it's wrong, but the music is playing, and they can't help but dance.

A/N: Hey guys, what's up?

Sorry it's been such a long time in between chapters. Last week was my vacation week, and I was busy partying & stuff… you know how it goes. So, yeah, I couldn't update then. And then this week, I don't know… I just didn't really feel like writing… So yeah, I'm sorry.

I'm going to try & get the next chapter up by tomorrow or Monday… So, I hope that makes up for it.

Review.

Sometimes he would stare for too long. Sometimes she'd kiss him and only taste guilt. Sometimes she was sure that everyone could see right through her. Sometimes she thought everyone knew. Sometimes it just hurt so badly. But it was just nice to be needed, to be wanted. It was nice to be held, kissed, loved. It was nice to have something real, even if was fake at the same time.

The past two months were a complete blur. Chris had been working like crazy. Rory had been busy with school & the Franklin. Lorelai had gotten the job at the Inn, so she had a solid excuse for being in Stars Hollow.

She'd go to Luke's for breakfast. She'd go there on her lunch break. She'd go after work.

Sometimes it'd be crowded, and she'd just watch as he moved around the diner, and yelled at customers. Sometimes it would just be her and Kirk, and they would just banter normally. Sometimes they'd be alone, and go upstairs.

She just did it, she never thought. She knew if she thought about it, she might stop, and she really didn't want to stop

There was just something about Luke. She knew she would never just do this with anybody. She would never cheat with just anyone. She'd never lie to her daughter for just anyone. Only Luke.

He was just… worth it.

She'd lie. She'd be paranoid. She'd keep secrets. She would hurt. But, he'd always be worth all of it.

"Did I ever tell you about my friend, Hippo?" Kirk asked Lorelai, that night at the diner.

"No, Kirk, I don't think you have." She replied, sipping her coffee, and looking at Luke out of the corner of her eye.

"Hippo was very big." He told her.

"Never would have guessed." Lorelai replied.

"Once, he sat in the sink, and sang Wild Thing with a tennis racket." Kirk explained.

"Wow." Lorelai said.

"I think he was intoxicated." Kirk said.

"Maybe." Lorelai replied.

"But then, he stole my girlfriend from me… He said that she wasn't really my girlfriend, but she let me have half her peanut butter sandwich once." Kirk explained.

"Nothing says love like a peanut butter sandwich." Lorelai nodded.

"I was there." Luke said, coming over to them. "You stole half that sandwich."

"Did not." Kirk argued.

"Lucy Callahan, right? In second grade… She cried." Luke told her.

"No she didn't." Kirk said.

"Kirk, you've never had a girlfriend." Luke told him.

"Yes I have."

"The lesbian doesn't count." Luke told him, and Lorelai giggled. She loved this town.

"What about Stacey Brown?"

"Kirk, she went to a mental hospital." Luke told him.

"She did not… It was a therapeutic school." Kirk said, unconvincingly.

"Kirk, do you have any conceivable reason for getting up in the morning?" Luke aksed.

"I like to read the police log in the newspaper." Kirk told him.

Luke sighed.

"My mom says I'm cool!" Kirk told them, before getting up and leaving. Before shutting the door, he stuck his tongue out at the diner owner.

"Finally." Luke said, beginning to shut the blinds, and lock the door.

"Poor Kirk." Lorelai said, watching him.

"He'll be fine… He doesn't feel emotion."

"Just because he doesn't show it, doesn't mean he doesn't feel it."

"Whatever." Luke shrugged, and walked towards her. "Can you stay a while?" He asked her, hopefully.

"I am as free as a bird." She sang.

He eyed her skeptically. "I can stay a while." She told him.

"Good, c'mon."

She smiled, took his hand, followed him upstairs, and forgot.

Lorelai rolled over, and sighed. Sex with Luke was always amazing. And it always seemed to get better each time.

"What time is it?" She asked, after she caught her breath.

"9:10." He replied, after glancing at the clock.

"I better go." She told him, beginning to sit up. He stopped her, and she turned to look at him.

"We still on for tomorrow night?" He asked her.

"Of course." She said, smiling, before leaning down to kiss him.

"Good."

"Yeah, Rory's going out with Dean tomorrow… I said I'd pick her up around 11." Lorelai explained.

He nodded, and was about to say something, but was interrupted.

She went away for the holidays
Said she's going to LA
But she never got far
She never got there,
She never got there, they say

The KKK took my baby away
They took her away, away from me
The KKK took my baby away
They took her away, away from me

"My phone." She said, turning to grab it from the night table.

The caller ID was flashing, "Chris," and she sighed. She pressed ignore, and turned back to Luke.

"What time should I come by?" She asked him, hoping he wouldn't say anything, but knowing she wouldn't be that lucky.

"Who was it?" He asked her.

She cringed, and didn't answer. She knew he'd be upset.

"It was Chris, wasn't it?" He asked.

"Yeah." She told him, softly.

He sighed. "It's been 2 months, you know."

"I know."

"You said you'd tell him." Luke said.

"I know." She repeated. "I will."

"Really? Because I don't think you will. I don't think you were ever planning to."

"I was. I am." Lorelai argued.

"I hate sneaking around." Luke stated.

"So do I." Lorelai told him, begging him not to be mad.

"When are you going to tell him?" Luke asked.

"I'm not sure." She said, truthfully.

He sighed.

"I'll tell him… It's just hard, you know?"

"Yeah." He said, with a sigh.

"I'm going to tell him, Luke. I am." Lorelai said, hoping he'd believe her.

"OK." Luke sighed again.

"I just need to figure what to say… how to handle this… It's complicated."

"OK." He repeated.

"Are you mad?"

"I'm not mad." He told her, unconvincingly.

"Yes you are."

"I'm not mad… You have to go… Rory's waiting." He told her.

"We still going out tomorrow night?" She asked.

"I don't know." He told her.

"Luke… please…" She begged.

"Yeah… Come by around 7." He told her.

"Bye." She said, regretfully.

"Yeah, bye."

Lorelai walked into the house. Rory was sitting at the kitchen table. Papers were scattered all over the table, along with three huge textbooks. That girl had been studying like the crazy for the past few weeks.

"Hey hun." Lorelai said, as she dumped her purse on the floor, and hung up her jacket.

"Hi." Rory said, without looking up. She had stopped asking where she had been, a few weeks ago.

"What are you studying for?"

"Chem test and a little bit of Martin Van Buren on the side."

"Ah, Old Kinderhook." Lorelai said, opening a water bottle and sitting across from her daughter.

"Did you know that OK actually stands for Old Kinderhook?" Rory asked.

"What?"

"It's true… When Van Buren was running against William Henry Harrison, it was the first election with campaigns… Harrison had all these slogans and everything… Tippecanoe and Tyler, too… you know. So all the democrats began saying stuff like "You'll be alright with Old Kinderhook" and all that stuff… so eventually, they shortened it to, "you'll be OK." Interesting, huh?"

"Definitely." Lorelai nodded.

"So, how was work?" Rory asked, taking a tiny break from studying.

"Good… how was school?" Lorelai asked, wanting to talk to her daughter. They hadn't been talking as much lately, and that bothered her.

"OK… Paris is going crazy, like usual… Mr. Medina assigned partners for this school project we have to do… and guess who I'm with?"

"Paris." Lorelai said.

"Of course." Rory nodded.

"Fun."

"Loads of fun." Rory said, sarcastically. "Oh, hey is it OK if I hang out with Dean on Saturday?"

"Sure. What time will you be home?"

"Probably late." Rory said. "The Black, White & Read is having a marathon night."

"Ooh, what's playing?"

"I don't know, Dean won't say." Rory said.

"Mean."

"Very." Rory agreed.

"Well… I'm working late tomorrow, I could probably pick you up around 11?"

"Sounds good."

"Good."

"OK, well, I better get back to studying…"

"OK…"

"Just a clue?" Rory begged Dean, as they walked towards the Black, White & Read.

"Nope." Dean said, smiling, with his arm wrapped around his girlfriend. The past two months had been pretty good for the two of them. Lorelai had talked with Dean, and had come to like him as Rory's boyfriend. He still hadn't met Christopher, but him and Rory had been hanging out every single weekend, and talking on the phone. Life was good.

"A tiny one?" Rory begged.

"Nope."

"Please."

"Rory, I'm not telling. Just wait for the movie."

"But Kirk never starts it on time."

"You'll survive." Dean laughed, as the line moved a little.

"Why won't you just tell me?" Rory whined.

"It's a surprise." He told her.

"Fine." She pouted, and he hugged her a little.

"Hey, isn't that Sookie & Jackson?" Dean asked. Rory looked up and saw the couple walking towards them.

"Hey guys." Sookie said.

"Hey… Do you know what's playing tonight?" Rory asked.

"Yeah-" Sookie began.

"Don't tell." Dean stopped her. "It's a surprise."

"OK…" Sookie said. "Where's your Mom tonight?" Sookie asked Rory.

"Isn't she at the Inn?" Rory asked.

"Oh… I thought she got off at 6… Maybe I was wrong. Yeah, I probably just got confused… That happens sometimes… Yeah, you know, I think I just got mixed up." Sookie babbled on, realizing she had just screwed up some type of lie Lorelai was telling Rory.

"Oh, OK…" Rory said.

"I'm sure I just got confused, Rory." Sookie repeated, seeing her face.

"Yeah… right."

"Next thing you know you'll be saying UNICEF is a scam." Lorelai laughed, as she and Luke drove back towards the diner. They had gone out to dinner in a small place in Woodbury, where they were sure no one they knew would ever go.

"WEll..." He said.

"Luke!" She gasped.

"No one can keep track of all those little kids with all those orange boxes!"

"Oh my God." Lorelai said, laughing.

"I'm just saying." He said, laughing along with her.

Lorelai looked over at him. His eyes were on the road, and he was smiling. She loved that she could make him smile. She loved that he could make her smile.

"Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

He turned to look at her. The expression he was making, showed surprised and awe. She smiled and looked at him, to make sure he knew she was serious.

He didn't have a chance to respond to her, though, because as they went through the intersection, a driver who apparently missed that day in pre-school when you learn what a red light means, hit the side of Luke's truck.

Love does always seem to rhyme with a hideous car crash.

Alright, I'll tell you right now that neither Luke nor Lorelai dies. I promise. No one gets amnesia or anything… It's just… Well, you'll see where I'm going with this.

I know it was short, and not full of much… I know, I know… and it wasn't a very good chapter to read after waiting almost 2 weeks. But I'll try to get the next one up tomorrow or Monday. I'll try very hard.

Just thought I'd mention I updated Connect the Dots.

Also: Gwen & Gavin are expecting twins… Thought it was funny, b/c you know how Luke and Lorelai are just like them… Just thought I'd mention it.

Other things I was thinking of naming this chapter:

Love is an Excuse to get Hurt. Love Rhymes with a Hideous Car Crash. The 2nd Hand Catches us Like it Always Does. Love is a Gun, Separating Me from You. She's Wrapped up in Guilt.

Next Chapter: (Not sure on the name yet)

Lorelai has a dream. What would things be like if she had never married Christopher? When she wakes up, Rory wants an explanation, & Lorelai asks Emily a question. Meanwhile, Luke is in the waiting room & he witnesses a scene from the family he is destroying.

Please review!