Hey! It's update time again!
Sorry for this late update… I just got back from work, now I'm working Sunday to Sunday, I think my employers have me mistaken for a slave… I should probably clear that up…
Really, the things we do for the greens…
As always, you're reviews make my life much more colorful, I appreciate them immensely! And, if possible, keep them coming!
I wanna thank to my PERFECT betas: Mrs.DionysiusOGall and OzDust, you're both too good to me…
Enjoy!
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Chapter 7 - Wonder Woman 3.0 to the rescue!
A FEW MINUTES LATER—DRAGONFLY'S BAR
"And Johnny…if you could just make sure to keep a constant flow of these babies," Lorelai pointed at her…(who was counting, right?) shot of tequila. "You'll make me a very happy lady!" Johnny just smiled and nodded affirmatively; he had been listening to her various rants for the last couple of minutes; he should probably get a raise…
"See, I knew there was a chance I would find you here…" came a very familiar voice from behind her.
"Chris!" She turned around on her stool, slowly, because the world was already shaken without the mix of sudden movements to deadly tequila… "You're here!" She cheered then remembered he wasn't coming and hadn't RSVPed. "You're here?" She twisted her nose questionably, 'Bewitched' style.
"I'm here, flesh and bones." He smiled charmingly. "My business trip was canceled and I decided to come see what you've done with the place. Great place, by the way."
"Thanks, I love it here too!" She spoke drunkenly, then covered her mouth, regretting the way she had just sounded… "I mean," she tried to focus; "it is a great place." She breathed out, now satisfied with her response.
"So, is that your private stash of the good stuff? Or can a new, simple guest have some too?" Chris asked after observing Lorelai's deadly grip on her tequila shot glass; he sat next to her.
"I guess you can have a little bit…" She demonstrated to him how much he could have using her fingers, the thumb opposite to the pointer; she left very little space between the two.
"Okay. I'll have one!" He smiled at her.
"Johnny, the man here, wants the good stuff!" Lorelai announced Chris' request to the bartender. "So… What am I gonna do with you?" She turned serious, as serious as anyone can be after consuming a respectable number of tequila shots.
"What do you mean?" he asked after his first shot; utterly confused by her question.
"Well… You didn't RSVP… I wasn't expecting you to come, and when you just show up at any inn or a hotel you can't just expect that they'll have everything ready for you!" She breathed it all out.
"So what you're trying to say is…" Call him slow, but he had still not understood what she was trying to say.
"There's absolutely," she staggered a bit on the last word. "No room for you here!" She looked apologetically at him. "You can't stay here… Therefore I ask myself: what am I gonna do with you?"
"Oh. Sorry I didn't call earlier…" he said slowly, then stood up from his seat, the tequila having some effect on him now. "I can stay at a different hotel…" he said in more of a question-like way than a statement.
"No!" Lorelai yelled instead of using a regular tone; that made Chris sit down again. "I mean," her head was starting to get very blurred, "I want you to stay here… And you can't…" Where had her logic gone? "But… You can stay at my house." She smiled proudly, her logic had returned. "I'll get the keys!" She tried to stand up, but couldn't; there was something stopping her… She felt heavy, she closed her eyes; maybe the alcohol hadn't been such a good idea. She opened her eyes to see that the heaviness came from Chris; he had been the one holding her down, his hands on her arm.
"I can't stay at your house, I came with Mindy, she's sleeping in the car," he explained.
"That would be weird…" She had given up on standing up; there was no reason to do so now.
"Indeed!" He smiled apologetically at her. "But, we'll think of something…"
"Right." She tried to reorganize her brain enough so that she could actually put it into use.
"Right…" Chris was also trying his best to think of something; there was just a big blank where his idea should have been.
They both sat in a comfortable silence, the two trying to think through a drunken stupor; of course, Lorelai was having a little more trouble with that…
"Ok, I have a room for you!" How hadn't she thought of this idea before? "C'mon, let's get your keys!" She stood, followed by Chris; they went to the foyer and to the reception desk. Lorelai went behind the desk and fumbled through a drawer; she found what she was looking for and handed it to Chris.
"An envelope's gonna solve my homeless condition?" He was, to say the least, very lost; why had she given him an envelope? What good could a letter do for him? But that's when he realized that the envelope didn't hold a letter; it had a key inside. Now things were starting to make some sense!
"It's a key!" She smiled broadly; she felt like she had just solved an important crime.
"I can see that…" He laughed at her enthusiasm. "Which door does this key belong to?"
"To my room upstairs," she said in a duh-way, "you can have it!"
"But where are you going to sleep?"
"I can go home," she stated simply, as if it had been obvious.
"You're not going home like that! I won't let you!" He pointed at her at the exact same time that she leaned on the desk for support--she was feeling a tiny little bit dizzy.
"Then I'm the one homeless now…" She looked down, faking sadness.
"So you keep your room and I will find a hotel nearby, it's no problem."
"Do not fear my friend, I, Wonder Woman version 3.0, have already found a solution! Go ahead; get settled in your room, I'm not homeless anymore!"
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A FEW MINUTES LATER—IN ROOM LUCKY # 7 ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE DRAGONFLY INN.
Luke was pulled out of his light sleep by a soft knock on the door. He hadn't actually slept yet; he kept tossing and turning on the bed, the argument with Lorelai was on repeat in his brain and after re-watching it a hundred times, he still didn't know where they stood and what the true degree of her anger towards him was. He heard the knock again, a little louder this time. He got out of the comfy bed and walked the short distance to the door. He opened the door to find a drunk-looking Lorelai leaning on the door; she kind of tripped her way into the bedroom.
"Hi Luke!" she said cheerfully, and then sat on the bed, right where he had been sleeping. She couldn't help noticing Luke's boxers and t-shirt combo. Yummy... He was a friend, but she wasn't blind; she could see that he was good-looking.
"Hi?" Had she forgotten about their fight? He knew she had been drinking, and he didn't know how to deal with her. He closed the door and turned the bedside lamp on. "Do you want your bag?" He had brought her Penelope Pitstop bag up to his room earlier, but she never came to get it, so now that she was going to bed, she obviously needed it, that's probably why she was here… He reached for the pink bag on the floor and handed to her.
"My pretty bag…" she said, holding it and following the patterns on it with her fingers. "But that's not the reason I'm here, although it is very important that I have my bag."
Was she going to bring their argument back up? Luke knew that it was officially the next day already; he had only thought that when she said they would talk later, she had meant that they would talk 'after a good night of rest and when the sun was out'.
"I need to sleep here!" She pointed at the bed she was already sitting on, by way of explanation.
"What?" Of every scenario he had imagined, that one was definitely not included. Was she out of her mind? "Don't you have your own room?"
"Yes, I do. No, I don't; I mean… I did, but now I don't, you know?" She had thought that that had been made very clear, but she could tell from Luke's face that he would disagree with her on that. She would have to elaborate a little more. "Chris's here and he didn't confirm he was coming, so I had no room for him and now he has mine. See, he couldn't just stay at my house cuz he brought Mandy, the new love of his life; and I can't stay at my house cuz he didn't allow me to leave cuz I'm a little too drunk to drive, so… now… uh…"
"You're here. I got it, it's ok, and it's your Inn anyway…" Luke had only been glad that she wasn't mad at him anymore, she was here, after all. "And I have to agree with Chris on not letting you drive home like that." He smiled at her drunkenness.
"He might be right about that…" She smiled back; she was starting to feel tired. Lorelai reclined into the bed and closed her eyes; she wasn't going to fall asleep, she was just resting her eyes…
"Lorelai…" Luke said gently into her ear. She couldn't just fall asleep without even changing into her pajamas… "Lorelai…" He nudged her shoulder; she reopened her eyes at that.
"Mmmm?" She closed her eyes again.
"Lorelai, you can't fall asleep in your clothes…" He tried to reason with her again. She only blinked back, not being able to keep her eyes open. Luke sighed deeply; he had to help her before she fell asleep, because after that, it would become impossible to wake her. "How about… I'll help you up, take you to the bathroom and then you change into your PJs?"
"Ok." She offered him her arm, so he could help her up--and so he did. Luke put his arm around her waist and pushed her up on her feet. "Here, now you're up." Lorelai immediately felt dizzy and quickly (as quickly as her drunken body allowed) grabbed hold of Luke's neck, holding onto it for dear life.
"I'm feeling a little dizzy…" Lorelai laughed, embarrassed, into Luke's chest, still keeping her grip on him.
"I see that… but do you have to squeeze me like that? I need to breathe…" Truth was, Luke wasn't feeling so comfortable with Lorelai (wearing that dress) holding him this close… She was just his friend, friend, friend… He just had to believe that…
"Actually… I do… I'm afraid I'll fall on the hard, wood floor if I don't…" She tightened her grip, only making Luke more nervous. Since Lorelai was holding into him; he decided to reach for her bag with the hand that wasn't around her waist, but when he tried to bend down to get it; Lorelai's extra weight made them both fall to the ground. Lorelai never let go of him so she ended up landing on top of him.
"Ouch!" he said as his back crashed against the floor.
"I told you it would hurt to fall on this floor…" she said matter-of-factly, now really close to his face. Luke was handsome this close up; she looked into those eyes and at the strong jaw… She reached out and gently traced his jaw. Then she suddenly realized what she had done. "Just checking if you're ok..." she tried to explain to a perplexed Luke; what a lousy cover up…
"I am, I'm ok." He tried not to read into what she had just done: had she just caressed him? No, of course not… Friends, they were friends. How many more times would he have to repeat this to himself? But, even though they were friends, which he knew and wouldn't repeat to himself any longer, he had no strength to fight the hypnotic powers her eyes exerted on him. He was hopelessly staring into her beautiful blue eyes. He was allowed to think that his best friend was…beautiful, right?
"Good…" she interrupted his thoughts. "But are we going to remain on the floor or are we getting up anytime soon?" She had sobered up a bit; she was even able to finish her sentences now…
Luke grasped Lorelai and using all his mighty male strength got them both up. After he checked that no one was hurt in the process, he handed the bright pink bag to Lorelai and guided her to the bathroom. She went in with bag in hand and closed the door. Her little bathroom break would give him enough time to calm down; was he going to sleep in the same bed with Lorelai Gilmore? Was that what she meant to do? He needed to put some pants on; he wasn't going to last long if he was this close to his…friend again. How was he going to sleep now?
She opened the door, her hands caressing her temples; she could feel the beginning of a huge headache. She was wearing her black cotton top with her pink drawstring, elastic waist short with "Very Sexy" back graphic detail. Luke glanced her way but then quickly continued what he had been doing. She couldn't quite tell what it was; neither did he…he just really had to look in the opposite direction from her…
"Let's sleep, I'm sooo tired!" She ran to the bed and was quickly under the covers, she snuggled into the pillows, they smelled like Luke...
"I was sleeping there..." He pointed to the side of the bed that she had decided to take over.
"Not anymore Lucas..." she answered sleepily, a mischievous smile on her face.
Luke walked to the other side of the bed; he knew that was an argument he was not going to win. He moved the covers and lay down as carefully as humanly possible; he was not going to touch her. How he was going to sleep without moving was a mystery to him, but it would have to be done... He stayed still, staring at the ceiling until sleep came and dragged him away to dreamland.
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SATURDAY—DAY TWO OF THE REUNION
Luke opened his eyes; bright sunshine encountered his pupils. He narrowed his eyes to see where the impertinent light was coming from: the window. There was no need to be a genius to figure that out… He had to close the drapes, or maybe just closing his eyes would do the trick. He could use a few more minutes of rest; last night had certainly been eventful... First the poker game (which he still couldn't believe they hadn't finished), then the argument with Lorelai, then Chris's arrival (he had never liked him...) then Lorelai's appearance at his door and then... Was Lorelai still in bed--gulp--with him? Luke had blocked out that last piece of information; he had to, in order to be able to sleep last night. He slowly opened one eye, peeking through it, but unfortunately the direct bright light coming from the window was making it impossible to see anything. He opened the other one. What he saw would have made him speechless if he had to talk right now, but luckily, Lorelai was sleeping so he wouldn't need to explain why his left arm was protectively holding her sleeping form. He was totally ok with never ever mentioning a word about it to her either; he could just pretend it hadn't happened.
They were in the middle of the bed, which meant that both had moved during the night. They were holding each other so close that the king-sized bed seemed like King Louis the Fourteenth's bed. Luke figured he should probably disentangle his arm from her waist and also remove her arms from his chest; yeah, he knew he should do that. Only he didn't; the feeling was too good and he didn't want the moment to end. If she happened to wake before he did it, he could just pretend to be sleeping, right? He enjoyed a few more seconds of closeness with his friend and then figured he was just being silly. He removed her delicate arms from his chest, immediately missing them, and then carefully drew his own arm out from the warmness of her body, pushing her gently further away from him. She moved a little, probably trying to find a new comfy position and somehow, ended up facing him. Of course, they had a respectable distance between them but Luke couldn't help but stare and smile. She had obviously rubbed her eyes during the night because her mascara was all smudged on her face... He observed her for a while longer and then decided to take a shower. After that, he would, maybe, try to wake her. He knew she would have a hell of a headache today, after all the alcohol she had obviously had the night before... It would probably be wise to come back bearing coffee and aspirin when he decided to wake her.
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TWO HOURS LATER
Luke had already taken his time on a long shower, gotten dressed and gone downstairs to have breakfast. He found very few people doing the same, only the ones that had remained sober or partly sober the night before. He imagined that the others were probably still sleeping or just suffering from some badass hangovers. After he finished his granola cereal with milk and orange juice, he grabbed a few things for Lorelai: aspirin, a huge cup of coffee and some pancakes (hangover food...). He arranged all in his arms and went upstairs to wake Lorelai.
When he entered their room, he found everything in the exact same place. However, Lorelai, sleeping, hadn't stayed in the exact same place; she had now taken over the entire bed. She was sleeping so peacefully that Luke felt bad about waking her, but the sooner she took the aspirin, the smaller her future headache would be. He dropped her coffee, aspirin and pancakes on the bedside table without making much noise; he knew it was better for his own safety that she be gently awakened, not startled to death by the loud noise of something crashing... He sat on the bed next to her and gently stroked her shoulder.
"Lorelai?" Luke said in a kind tone, but that didn't seem to affect her. "Lorelai?" he repeated.
Lorelai had been dreaming of something so wonderful, that once she opened her eyes, she was sure it would slip her mind: she was never able to remember her dreams. She had heard someone trying to pull her away from her dream, but just didn't feel like waking. Now that she was starting to regain consciousness, she could feel the aching throbbing in her head…
"Lorelai?" Luke tried one more time; he heard her mumble in response. "What?" He wasn't fluent in mumble-language.
"Five more minutes…" Lorelai was able to speak coherently, a classic sentence nevertheless…
"I just want to give you this aspirin…" That did nothing to catch her attention. "I brought you some coffee…" He decided to bring out the big guns; she seemed to respond to that.
She sniffed the air and then smirked; he was telling the truth. She opened one eye and peeked at him: he was smiling, amused at her immediate reaction to anything related to coffee.
"Good morning," he greeted her.
She rubbed her eyes and then opened them; she was a little awake now.
"Morning…" she said in a raspy small voice; her throat hurt a little. She rested one hand on her throat, the other on her forehead; she was hurting all over… Agh…
"See, that's why you need the aspirin…" He kept talking in a low, gentle voice, so it didn't worsen her headache.
"Right…" She managed to sit on the bed. "I think I took a trip to Margaritaville… only I didn't drink margaritas…" She still had her hand on her forehead, pressing her palm against it to see if it relieved the pain. "So, I guess I went to Tequilaville…" She tried to smile, but moving any muscles seemed too much work right now…
"Drink this." He handed her a glass of water that he'd brought from the bathroom, and the pill.
"Thanks." She used all her will and smiled at him, and then she drank the whole thing.
"It's important that you drink a lot of liquid, you are a little dehydrated now."
"Then hand me the coffee!" Besides the feeling of someone crushing her skull and consequently not thinking straight, she was still able to tell that coffee was a liquid, and Luke said she needed a lot of liquid so, therefore, he was recognizing her need for coffee.
"Ok," he gave her the mug. "But the only reason I won't fight you on that is cuz I know you're suffering a lot already!" Luke chuckled softly.
"So my pain is funny to you?" She feigned offense, after she drained the mug empty.
"Not really," he answered in a serious tone, and then locked eyes with her.
She smiled at him. "Good."
"I have something else for you," He showed her the plate of pancakes, "hangover food."
"Oooh so good! I'm hungry!" She yanked the plate from his hands and immediately started to eat.
"Such a lady! Your mom would be proud…" He teased her manners.
"Oh, shut up!" She continued eating. "I need to ask you something…" She turned serious.
"Okay…" Luke never knew what to expect when she became serious.
"Yesterday…" Lorelai started; she really wanted to apologize for the way she had entered his room yesterday and taken it over, like it was hers…Which it was, since she owned the inn, and the room was in the inn, but that was not the subject at hand… "I'm sorry…" she said quietly.
"You don't have to apologize to me, let's just call it even?" He looked deeply into her blue eyes. "I wasn't much of a gentleman yesterday either…" He smiled amicably.
"K', we're even!" She smiled back. "Thanks for accepting me as a new roomie…"
"I don't think I had a choice in that matter…" He grinned, reminiscing about last night's events.
"Ha, ha, ha! You're so funny, my friend!" she answered sarcastically; he kept grinning just to tease her more. "I did tell you why I came here…last night…right?" Panic was starting to grow inside Lorelai; she must have explained why she suddenly appeared at her friend's door in the middle of the night, right? Of course she did, she usually didn't do stupid things when drunk… it wasn't her style… So she had no doubt in her mind that she had not done anything to regret last night, ok, maybe just a little…
"Chris's back." Luke's tone hardened and he stiffened, then sat straighter.
"I did tell you then…" Disappointment clear in her voice, Chris had that power over her; he could always ruin something good, even unintentionally. "That's so Chris-like to just show up and expect everything just ready and waiting for him… He didn't even call to warn me… I hate when he does that… He was my friend, but I guess that died a long time ago… I can never count on him, you know?" She gave Luke a meaningful glance; he reached for her hand.
"Don't worry about him." He tried to calm her. "You know he's not worth it…"
"He came with a girlfriend." Her eyes were full of tears now.
So was that what this was all about? Chris had come with a girl and made Lorelai this upset. Luke didn't understand her sometimes; he thought she was over him…
"You still like him?" He held his breath; he couldn't tell why the answer to that seemed so important to him…
"NO!" She was surprised that he had asked such a direct question. "I guess… I'm just…jealous…"
That did nothing for Luke but confuse him. First, she says she doesn't like Chris, seems even scandalized by his question, then she tells him she's jealous. Jealous didn't mean that she didn't like Chris anymore, in fact, it sounded like quite the opposite…
"Jealous?" Luke figured that of all the questions running through his mind, this was the least-compromising question he could ask her. He didn't want her to think that he liked her…
"Yeah, he has someone…and I don't." She looked at her hands; she felt a little weird having this conversation with Luke… But he was her friend and she would have talked this over with Sookie, who was also her friend so…she had no reason to feel weird…
"Oh" Realization dawned in Luke; he felt relief for some reason… He was just glad she wasn't hung up on that loser anymore; that was it. "You know… Everybody already thinks we are married…" He hinted his idea to her.
"You are not gonna bring that up again…" She looked at him, already upset.
"No, that's not it… I'm saying that they already think that you and I…are a couple," Luke said quickly.
"What are you hinting at, Mr. Danes?" She smiled mischievously at him; she had already understood what he wanted to say but wanted to hear it from him.
He could tell from her smile that she had understood what he was struggling to say and that she wouldn't let him get off so easily…
"I mean… Since everybody thinks we're together…"-Gulp- "We could just…not tell them anything…and they'll say something to Chris, so he'll think we are… ya know…" There, he'd said it. He presented her with an idea, a solution for her jealousy, and this time he was the one that came up with the crazy idea, so at least he wouldn't be mad at her if people commented about it…
"Are you suggesting we lie?" She feigned offense then smiled innocently at him, batting her eyelashes as a final touch.
"No, not lie…" he guessed; he had just suggested that they lie… She was right…
"Of course, we'll simply forget the truth…" she said, amused by his shyness.
"That's what we could do…if you wanted to…" He had finally caught her sarcasm although he didn't catch an answer in all the gibberish she'd just said…
"Well…you're the one suggesting it, so you can't be mad at me later on…" She became completely serious again.
He nodded affirmatively, waiting for her final answer.
Lorelai's face contorted with concentration; she couldn't reach a conclusion, could she lie to everybody? Chris? Sandy? Although that would show Chris, she hated how he always thought she was single and waiting for him. At least that way he wouldn't think that, and she wouldn't be 'poor, single Lorelai' anymore, in his eyes, theoretically. He didn't have to know the truth about her life and she just wanted him to see that she was one hundred percent over him, for good, and that was no lie.
"Ok." She made a quick downward motion of the head.
"Ok." Luke could not understand why he suddenly felt…happy. Was it just because now he was sure they had made up? Or was it because he knew that Chris was out of the picture? He sure didn't like the guy; after all the hurt he had brought to Rory (throughout her childhood and even now…) and Lorelai (he knew he had been responsible for some of her heartache.). He was obviously happy because of that… His thoughts were interrupted by Lorelai's voice.
"So we're now officially," she paused dramatically, "Partners in crime!" She wanted to tease him; she knew how he felt about any commitments, even fake ones…
"Done." He gave a heartfelt smile, offered his hand and they shook hands to seal the deal.
"Since we're done here…" she teased him. "I'm gonna take a shower and after that we can start our eeevil plan, muah-muah-muahhhhh!" She gave her best imitation of Cruella's wicked laugh.
Luke just rolled his eyes, as expected…"You don't look like you have a headache…"
"Oh, it's the incredible healing power of pancakes, aspirin and a jumbo-coffee combo!" She beamed at him. Luke used all his willpower to not smile back but in the end, as always, he gave in.
Lorelai grabbed her ridiculously pink bag and entered the bathroom, while Luke turned on the TV to wait for her.
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For all the lovely readers out there:
THANK YOU!
P.S.:I have a special request though, I wanna ask for your prayers or positive thoughts on Mrs.Dionysius' mom; she's very ill. I'm a believer on the powers of our positive energies and I hope it can do her some good.