Friends Feelings and Finding Out

I woke up and looked around. I couldn't remember where I was at first. Then I remembered Luke, my ankle, and Chris. I sat up and picked up my phone. The little screen on it said that I had three messages. I listened to them. The first one was from Christopher. He was wishing me a happy birthday. Jerk. The next one was from my mother. "Lorelai Gilmore where are you?" blah blah blah. The next one, again, was from my dearest mother. "I went through all this trouble setting up you party and you repay me like this!" I didn't have to listen to the rest. I had completely forgotten about my party. I looked at my watch. 7:30. The party started at 6. I was so dead. I looked around and didn't see Luke. I took off the ice pack (which was now a water pack that was dripping everywhere) and tried to walk over to the door. I took a step on my hurt ankle. It didn't hurt as much anymore. As I was putting the rest of my weight on that foot, Luke walked in and started walking towards me. My ankle gave out and I fell. Luke caught me just before I hit the floor.

"Are you alright?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, I'm good" I said and looked up at him. Our faces were about six inches apart. My mind went temporarily blank and there was a swooping sensation in my stomached. Then he helped me up.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I have to get home." I replied, "My party started at six." Luke nodded.

"I'll drive you" He said. He was so sweet.

"What about my car?" I asked.

Luke thought for all of two seconds and then said, "I'll drive you in your car and then take a cab back". He walked up to me and put his arm around my waste to help me walk. There was the swooping sensation in my stomached again. Do I like this guy? I thought.

I gave Luke directions to my house. When we got there, he helped me to the door.

"Thank you so much" I said.

"Don't mention it" he replied.

"Well let me pay for your cab" I said.

"No. That's ok"

It was good he said that because I didn't have much money anyway. Luke pulled out a small piece of paper and wrote something down. He handed it to me.

"This is my number. Call me and tell me how you're doing" he said.

"I'll do that" I replied, looking down at the number and couldn't stop smiling. I looked up at him and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you Luke. Thanks to you, this hasn't been such a bad birthday after all." Luke just looked at me and said

"You're welcome". I smiled at him and turned around and walked in the door. There wasn't anyone inside except the people who were cleaning up and my mother. She had her arms folded and was staring at me.

"Where have you been?" she said in a calm voice.

"I went for a walk and twisted my ankle so I went to a friend's house. I fell asleep while I was there." I told her.

"What friend?" she asked. I shrugged.

"Just a friend ok?" I started limping across the room towards the stairs.

"Get back here young lady! I am not finished talking to you!" I stopped and turned around to face her.

"Mom my ankle is really sore. Can we finish this tomorrow?" I pleaded.

"NO! It's your own fault you have a sore ankle. You will stand there and discuss why you didn't come to the party. I do this for you Lorelai! Why don't you make more of an effort to come?" I rolled my eyes. She was doing this for me? I don't think so.

"I don't want this mom! I hate fancy parties! All I want to do for my birthday is hang out with some friends and watch some movies! I don't want fancy tablecloths with food that tastes like chlorine! I want chips and onion dip and popcorn and ice cream! If we can afford this-" I waved my arms around to indicate the fancy party things "- then why can't we afford something that I want to do?" My mother just stared at me and I stared back. Then she walked past me and up the stairs.

In my room, I turned on the radio and programmed Luke's number into my phone. As I was doing this, I heard a knock at the window. I looked over and Christopher was there. I got up and limped over to the window and opened it.

"Hey Lor, what happened?" he asked. He was still outside. I was blocking his way into the room.

"What do you want?" I asked coldly, ignoring his question.

"What do you mean? It's your birthday" I rolled my eyes at him.

"I know about the other girl." He looked shocked.

"Who told you? They're lying. I would never-"

"Bull crap!" I interrupted. "I saw you two making out at Office Max!" Chris looked like he wasn't sure what to say at first. Then he tried to make up for it.

"Lorelai I'm sorry. I what I did was wrong. I shouldn't have done it. Please, can we start over?" he said all sweetly.

"No Christopher" I said. "We're through". And I closed the window on him and shut the curtains. I went and layed on the bed. I cried. Just a little bit though. Then I picked up my phone and called Becky. My best friend. I told her what happened.

"You dumped him?" Becky said.

"Uh… yeah. He was cheating on me" I said.

Becky sighed then said, "Yeah but he was so cute. And he did try to start over." I couldn't believe it. She was defending him!

"Whatever Becky. I gotta go. Bye" and I hung up. It seemed like Luke was my only friend. A secret friend.

Two weeks after my birthday I was walking around Stars Hollow. I had kept in contact with Luke and my mother was still mad at me. I was looking at a beautiful gazebo that was in the town when Luke came up behind me.

"Hey" he said. I turned and looked at him.

"Hi" I replied. Then I kissed him and he kissed me back. I was thinking that it was nice when- BEEP BEEP BEEP! I woke up. It was just a dream. I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. I tried to shrug off the felling. I couldn't. I never thought that I would like a guy like Luke. I looked at my clock. 7:00. It was summer and my mother still made me get up this early. I rolled out of bed and changed into a pair of jeans, which were a little tighter than usual, and a t-shirt. Then I went down for breakfast. My mother wasn't at the table but my father was. He was working on some paper work. I sat at the table and didn't say anything.

After a few minutes I asked, "Where's the cook?" the cook would usually come out and ask me what I wanted.

"Your mother gave her the day off" My father replied without looking up. I was so annoyed.

"What am I supposed to eat?" I said.

"Mm-hm" my father mumbled. It just confirmed that he doesn't listen to me half the time. I rolled my eyes and ran upstairs to get my phone and keys. I went back down and right before I walked out the door I said, "I'm leaving. I'll be back tonight." I was gone before I could even find out if he listened.

I was driving down the street on the way to Stars Hollow. I pulled out my phone and called Luke.

"Hello?" Liz answered. Liz was Luke's sister. I met her the week before.

"Hey Liz, is Luke there?" I asked.

"Yeah just a minute. HEY BIG BRO! LORELAI'S ON THE PHONE" she yelled. A second later Luke was on.

"Hey" he said.

"Hey back" I replied. "I haven't eaten and I was wondering if you wanted to meet somewhere and we could get some breakfast" I was hoping he would say yes. I was thinking about telling him how I felt that day. "Um...actually why don't you come over? I can make you some breakfast." Luke offered. "Take him up on that! He's an amazing chef!" I heard Liz yell in the background. "Go away Liz. It's rude to listen to other people's conversations" Luke told her. I laughed.

"That sounds good" I said.

"Great. When you get here just come on up".

I pulled my car up to the front of the hardware store and walked inside. There was a man behind a counter and a couple people looking on the shelves. I headed to the stairs when the guy behind the counter stopped me.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I'm here to see Luke" I replied.

"Am I supposed to believe you?" he accused. I all of a sudden felt very upset. I had to fight back tears. Then Luke came down the stairs.

"Hey Lorelai" he said and I quickly felt better. "This is my dad. Dad, this is Lorelai" Luke introduced. I smiled at Luke's dad. "Come on" Luke said and led me upstairs.

I looked around. "Where's Liz?" I asked.

"Oh she had to leave" Luke told me. "What do you want to eat?" he asked. I thought about it.

"Do you have any apples?" I asked.

"Yeah. You do know apples are healthy, right?" Luke said.

"Apple pancakes sound really good right now" I told him, ignoring his last comment.

"Ok" Luke said. I knew what he was thinking. She's eating healthy? I never ate anything good for me. Luke was always telling me junk food would kill me someday.

I took the last bite of my pancakes.

"That was great" I said. "Liz was right. You really are a good cook" I said. Luke tried to shrug off the compliment by just mumbling thanks and starting to clean off the table. I got up to try and help him. The room swayed. I grabbed the chair to keep my balance.

"Are you ok?" Luke asked. I looked up at him and the room stopped swaying.

"Yeah I'm ok" I said and picked up some dishes to put in the sink. I could feel Luke's gaze on me. I got goose bumps on my arm. I wasn't sure if it was because I might be sick or because Luke was staring at me.