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They walk to the door and Luke holds open the door for her. Lorelai smiles and walks out in front of him. They walk to her house in silence and except for the glances they shoot at each other, they stare straight ahead the entire walk.
They reach her house and Luke walks with her across the yard to the porch.
Luke: Well you're home.
Lorelai: Yeah, I'm home.
Luke: Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow.
Lorelai: Yeah, tomorrow.
Luke repeats his action from the night before; he leans forward and kisses her on the cheek. Lorelai smiles at him when he pulls back.
Luke: Goodnight Lorelai.
Lorelai: Goodnight Luke.
Luke turns and walks away. And just like she did last night, Lorelai watches him walk farther away until she can't see him anymore. She turns and goes into the house.
Chapter 9: The Day Before Europe Part II
The next morning, Lorelai woke up and went into the bathroom to take a shower. Twenty minutes later, she walks out of the bathroom in just a towel and heads into her room. She grabs her robe from a hook on the closet and puts it on. She grabs the towel from the floor and hangs it on the hook in the robe's place. She heads back into the bathroom with her brush and blow-dries her hair. It takes about an hour for her to completely dry her hair. After her hair was completely dry, she went back into her room and looked through her closet for something to wear. She found her bangles shirt and throws it on the bed. She then grabbed a pair of her old jeans. She put them on and then put her shirt on. She then headed downstairs to the kitchen to put some coffee on. Then she headed into Rory's room to wake her up.
Lorelai: Rory, sweetie, time to wake up.
Rory shifted in bed, then rolled over and opened her eyes.
Rory: Good morning.
Lorelai: Well good morning, sleeping beauty.
Rory smiled at her mom.
Lorelai: Come on, get up. We have a lot to do to get ready for our trip to Europe tomorrow.
Rory (sits up): I'm excited about leaving tomorrow.
Lorelai: I know so am I. Now get your butt into gear and get up.
Rory: Ok, ok. I'm up.
She gets up and heads into the kitchen. Lorelai follows her into the kitchen. Lorelai goes to the cabinet by the coffee pot and grabs two coffee mugs from the cabinet. She pours coffee into the mugs and then heads one of them to Rory.
Rory: Thank you. (She takes a drink from the mug.)
Lorelai: You're welcome. (She takes a drink from her own cup.) Do you want some breakfast?
Rory: Maybe in a little while. I want to take a shower first.
Lorelai: Ok. I'm going to go watch T.V. We can go to Weston's or Luke's once you're ready.
Rory: Ok.
Rory goes into her room and grabs her robe from her closet. She heads upstairs to take a shower while Lorelai heads into the living room to watch T.V. Thirty minutes later, Rory comes downstairs in her robe rubbing her hair with her towel. Lorelai was reading a magazine and the T.V. was off.
Rory: Nothing good on?
Lorelai: Nope.
Rory: Ok. Give me another twenty minutes at the most and then we can leave.
Lorelai: Ok.
Rory heads into her room and then comes out a few minutes later wearing jeans and a pale blue shirt that read angel on the front. She headed upstairs to dry her hair. About fifteen minutes later, she headed downstairs with her hair in a ponytail.
Rory: Let me grab my shoes and we can go.
Lorelai: Ok, I have to grab my shoes too.
They head their separate ways, Lorelai going upstairs while Rory heads to her bedroom. A few minutes later, they head out the door and towards the center of town.
Rory: You came in late last night. How was your night with Luke?
Lorelai: It went really great.
Rory (smiles): Really? Did something happen?
Lorelai: Well…I know that Luke is going to ask me out when we get back from Europe.
Rory (gasps): Are you serious?
Lorelai (laughs): Yeah, I'm serious. Do you honestly think that I would joke about something like this?
Rory: No. This is just really exciting. I mean something is really going to happen with you and Luke.
Lorelai: Yeah. Something is definitely happening.
Rory and Lorelai smile at each other both excited about the events of the night before. They reached the center of town and looked at each other.
Lorelai: Well, where do you want to go, Luke's or Weston's?
Rory: As much as I love Weston's, I would much rather have Luke's food.
Lorelai: Alright then let's go.
The girls walk across the street to Luke's Diner. Rory opens the door and goes inside. She holds the door open for her mom. They go to their usual table and sit down. Lorelai looks around and sees Luke putting money from a customer into the register. He looks up and sees her and Rory sitting at the table. He smiles when he sees Lorelai looking at him. He finishes putting the money into the register and then heads over to take Lorelai and Rory's orders.
Luke: Hey. I didn't expect to see you two in here this morning.
Lorelai: Well we don't have any food in the house considering we leave for Europe in the morning.
Rory (laughs): Hi, Luke.
Luke: Hi, Rory.
Lorelai: Hey Luke. Can we get some coffee? (She smiles at him when he rolls his eyes at her.) Pretty please Luke.
Luke (smiles at her): Ok. One day I'm going to convert you to tea.
Lorelai: You wish.
Luke notices Rory smiling at the two of them.
Luke: What are you smiling about?
Rory: The two of you. You two are so cute together.
Luke (looks at Lorelai): So she knows what's going on with us?
Lorelai: She knows what you are going to do after we get back from Europe, but other than that I haven't really had a chance to talk to her.
Luke: Oh.
Rory: Hey guys. I'm still here.
Luke and Lorelai: Oh sorry.
Luke: So what do you want to eat?
Rory: Pancakes please.
Lorelai: Same thing for me.
Luke: Anything else?
Lorelai (looks at Rory who shakes her head): Nope that's all.
Luke: Ok. I'll be back in a few minutes.
Luke goes into the kitchen to put the order into Caesar. He then comes back out, grabs two coffee mugs and the coffee pot. He then heads over to Lorelai and Rory's table. He puts the mugs down and fills them both with coffee. After filling their mugs, he goes to other tables to take other orders.
Lorelai: Luke is going to come over tonight. He's going to buy some calling cards so that we can call each other while we're in Europe.
Rory: Cool, at least we don't have to say goodbye to him this morning.
Lorelai: Yeah.
Rory: I'm glad that you and he will be able to talk while we're gone.
Lorelai: I'm glad you're ok with this.
At that point, Luke walks back over to their table carrying their plates in his hands.
Luke: Here you go. (He puts the plates down in front of them.)
Lorelai: Thanks.
Rory: Thank you. Luke, mom told me that you're coming over tonight. I'm glad you're coming over.
Luke: I'm glad I'm coming over too. I wanted to say goodbye to the two of you. Well I'm going to let you two eat your breakfast.
Luke walks away and Lorelai and Rory start eating their breakfast. About ten minutes later, they are finished with their breakfast and their second cups of coffee. Lorelai goes up to the counter where Luke is standing. She hands him some money to pay for her and Rory's breakfast. After paying for their breakfast, they walk out of the diner and start heading back to their house.
Once at the house, Lorelai and Rory head into the living room and start looking at their lists. They over their lists to make sure they have everything they need on the trip. They spend the next couple of hours packing up the rest of their things that are lying around the living room. At about 12:30, Lorelai hears her stomach growl.
Lorelai: Hey are you hungry?
Rory: Yeah.
Lorelai: How about we order a pizza? With the two of us, we can finish it off and not have to deal with leftovers.
Rory: Ok, that sounds good.
Lorelai gets up and grabs the phone from the table. She calls the pizza place and orders a supreme pizza for delivery. The guy at the other end tells her it will be ready in thirty minutes. She says thank you and hangs up the phone. She and Rory continue to work on packing things for the trip until the doorbell rings. Lorelai gets up and grabs money from her purse. She goes to the door and answers it. She takes the pizza from the delivery guy and hands the money over. She closes the door and heads back into the living room. Rory goes into the kitchen and grabs drinks from the fridge.
Rory: Do you want to watch a movie?
Lorelai: Sure. What do you want to watch?
Rory: I don't know. How about I just pick something?
Lorelai: That sounds good to me.
Rory heads over to the entertainment center and looks through the movies. She grabs one and sticks it into the DVD player.
Lorelai: What did you put in?
Rory: "Shrek 2." Is that ok?
Lorelai: Sure I love that movie.
The movie starts and the girls settle on the couch to watch the movie. A little more than two hours later, the movie was over.
Rory: That is such a good movie. No matter how many times I seen it, it's always really funny.
Lorelai: Yeah, you're right. What do you want to do now? We've finished packing everything we can for now. We have the rest of the afternoon to goof off and do whatever.
Rory: I don't know. Do you want to watch another movie?
Lorelai: Sure.
Rory: You pick this time since I picked "Shrek 2."
Lorelai: Ok.
Lorelai goes over to the entertainment center and looks through the DVDs. She chooses one and pops open the DVD player. She takes out "Shrek 2" and puts in the other movie. She sticks "Shrek 2" back into its' case, puts it back on the shelf, and joins Rory on the couch.
Rory: What movie did you pick out?
Lorelai: "Clueless."
Rory: Oh cool. Good choice.
Both girls settle back to watch the movie. After almost two hours, the movie is ending. Both Lorelai and Rory wipe tears of laughter from their eyes as the movie ends.
Lorelai: That movie always makes me laugh no matter what kind of mood I'm in.
Rory: Yeah, me too.
They sit in silence for a few minutes until Lorelai gets up and grabs the pizza box from the coffee table and heads to the kitchen. Rory gets up and grabs their empty cans of soda and follows her mother into the kitchen.
Rory: I'll take the trash out so it's not sitting in here the whole time we're in Europe.
Lorelai: Ok. Thanks sweetie.
Rory: You're welcome.
Rory takes the bag out of the trash can and the pizza box from her mom and heads outside to the trash cans. She throws the trash into the trash cans and then heads back into the house. Once she is inside, she goes into the living room where her mom is sitting on the couch.
Rory: Hey, what are you doing? (She sits beside her mother on the couch.)
Lorelai: Oh nothing really. How about you, you doing anything?
Rory: Nope, I'm doing the same thing your doing which is nothing. (She looks at the bags for the trip to Europe.) I can't believe we're almost completely packed.
Lorelai: I know neither can I. I keep racking my brain trying to think of anything we might have forgotten and I can't think of a thing.
Rory: Ditto. I keep thinking about things we might have forgotten and then I look at our lists and realize we've already packed it.
Lorelai: Yep, same here. (A few seconds of silence pass between them) I'm really excited about tomorrow.
Rory: I know. So am I. I'm going to miss everybody though.
Lorelai: I know me too.
Rory: Well I'm going to go read for awhile. I'll pack the book just before we leave tomorrow.
Lorelai: Ok.
Rory heads off in the direction of her bedroom leaving Lorelai alone with her thoughts. She thinks of Luke and everything that has happened within the past few days. She smiles at the thought of him then heads upstairs to her bedroom to read for awhile. About an hour later, she heads downstairs to see if Rory is hungry yet.
Lorelai (calls out): Rory? (She heads into Rory's bedroom.)
Rory: Yeah.
Lorelai: Are you hungry?
Rory: Yeah, I'm hungry. Is there anything to eat here or are we going out again?
Lorelai: I don't know if there is anything left, let's go check.
Both girls head into the kitchen and over to the fridge, Lorelai opens it and both girls peer inside.
Lorelai: There's some Chinese left over. Let's eat that so we don't have to throw it out tomorrow.
Rory: Ok. (She pulls the Chinese out of the fridge and puts it on the table.)
Rory heads over to the cabinet and grabs two plates inside. She then grabs some silverware from the drawer, while Lorelai gets two bottles of water from the fridge. The two fill their plates up and then head to the living room with their plates, silverware, and drinks. They sit on the couch with their food, turn on the T.V. and begin to eat. About fifteen minutes later, the two had finished their dinners and the show they were watching was nearly over.
Rory: I'm going to go back into my room and read some more before Luke gets here.
Lorelai: Ok. I think I'm going to go upstairs and grab my book. I'm probably going to read down here until Luke gets here.
Rory: Ok. (She heads to her room.)
Lorelai gets up and heads upstairs to her room. She grabs her book from the table by her bed and then heads back downstairs. She goes to the couch, sits down, and makes herself comfortable before opening her book. She reads for about an hour until the phone rings. She grabs the cordless phone from the coffee table and answers it.
Lorelai: Hello?
Luke: Hey Lorelai.
Lorelai: Oh hey Luke. When are you coming over?
Luke: That's why I was calling. It hasn't been that busy here so I'm closing early. It will take me at least thirty minutes to clean up around here. Can I come over after that?
Lorelai: Sure. That sounds good.
Luke: Ok. Well I'll see you in about thirty minutes.
Lorelai: Ok. Bye.
Luke: Bye.
Lorelai hangs up the phone.
Rory (yells): Was that Luke?
Lorelai (yells): Yep, he'll be here in about thirty minutes.
Rory: Ok.
Lorelai gets up and puts her book in her luggage for Europe. She tries to straighten up the living room, but with the entire luggage, it is almost impossible. She straightens as much as she can then she sits on the couch and watches T.V. She hears Luke's truck pull up about ten minutes later. She gets up and heads to the front door to let him in.
Lorelai: Rory, he's here.
Rory: Ok.
The doorbell rings and Lorelai answers it. She opens the door to find Luke in his usual uniform of jeans and a plaid shirt.
Lorelai: Hey Luke.
Luke: Hey Lorelai.
He steps past her into the house and spies the pile of luggage in the living room.
Luke: Wow!
Lorelai: Yeah, tell me about it.
Luke laughs.
Lorelai: Come on in and get comfortable.
Luke follows Lorelai into the living room and they sit on the couch.
TBC
Authors Note: This chapter is broken up into two parts because 1) it was going to be really long and 2) it would have taken me a lot longer to post the chapter if I had tried to keep it all in one chapter. The next chapter is titled exactly the same except that it will have part two typed after the chapter instead of part one. I am writing the second part of this chapter now, but it may be another couple of days before I get it posted. Since my computer mouse is not working on my personal computer, I have to go to the library to type the chapters up. Again, thank you for being patient with me.
April Sunshine