For the first time in
what seemed like years, Sawyer walked out a door and into the street.
No ocean, no beach, just cold hard pavement. It felt like being
released from prison and realizing that you were finally free.
"I should've asked that Kirk where there's a decent cup of coffee in this town." Thought Sawyer, as he walked down the road. But there was no way he was going back into that house, at least not until he needed to. That guy just freaked him out.
As Sawyer walked through the neighborhood, he felt eyes following him every step he took. Looking around, he saw that an older blond woman was staring at him. When she saw him look back, she smiled coyly. Sawyer nodded in her direction as she winked at him and headed down the street and disappearing around the corner.
'Strange town, makes me almost miss the island.' Turning a corner, he saw a sign for Luke's Diner in the window of what he thought was a hardware store. 'Well, at least they'll have coffee and something other than boar meat.' He
Thought, heading toward the diner.
"Are you serious? He flirted with you?"
"Yeah! I was in my yard, watching the neighbors try to move a table through the door, and along comes the most gorgeous man I've seen in this town for years!" Exclaimed Babette, talking to Miss Patty, who sat across from her in Luke's Diner. "Then, when I was standing there watchin' him, he turned and smiled at me, and then, he winked! I'm telling you, if guys like this keep showing up in town, I'm gonna have to get myself a divorce!" She said loudly
"So what's his name?" Asked miss Patty, leaning forward.
"Oh, I don't know yet, doll face, but I'll find out soon!"
Just then, the door opened and in came Loralei.
"Luke! I need coffee!" she called out to the guy in flannel behind the counter. He looked up and tried to look annoyed, but was failing miserably.
"What would you do if I decided to stop serving coffee here?' He asked gruffly.
"Well," started Lorelei, her eyes shining mischievously, " I'd seduce a bunch of body builders, make them kidnap you, and then I'd make you live in my basement as my coffee slave, forcing you to pour pot after pot of coffee into my I.V. until I had enough of the wonderful, life-giving liquid inside my body to make me immortal!" Lorelei answered happily. Look rolled his eyes at her before reaching for a mug. "Fine, but there are now new rules. Starting today, you are only getting five cups of coffee outta me, got it?" He announced, pouring her first cup.
"But… Luke, don't you want me to become invincible and rule the world?" She pouted.
Luke raised an eyebrow at her. "I'd rather see Taylor take over the world, starting with this town." He replied.
"Mean!" Answered Lorelei, already devising a plan to get more than her allotted amount of coffee.
"Oh Loralei, I've finally found you the perfect man! He's new in town, you'll love 'im!" Called out Babette, gesturing for her to come and sit down.
"Really? What's he look like? Possibly a more clean-cut Aragorn?" Loralei joked, moving to their table. "No," answered Babette, glancing around to see if anyone was listening, "but he's a fox! She exclaimed. "He's got blond hair, and the greatest smile you've ever seen, and his body looks incredible! Sugar, when I introduce you to this one, you're gonna lock the two of you in you're house and never come out!"
"Ooh, dirty!" Loralei knew that these two meant well, but the guys that they liked to pick out for her tended to be nothing like what she was looking for. Still, it was sweet.
"So, what's his name?" She asked, before yelling out to Luke to bring her more coffee. "Well, we don't know yet, but we're gonna-" Miss Patty stopped in mid-sentence as the door of the diner swung open and in walked Mr. Anti-Aragorn himself.
As Sawyer walked into the diner, the group of chattily women in the corner suddenly fell silent. Glancing at them, he inwardly groaned when he recognized the crazy blond woman who stared at him in the street. Because of the silence of the diner, he heard as she whispered to the pretty brunette next to her. "That's him. I told ya he was a fox, didn't I?" He smirked, felling the eyes of every woman in the diner slowly appraise him. He could tell by the looks on their faces that most of them whole-heartedly agreed.
Making his way up to the counter, he took a seat and opened a menu. Looking up at the flannel man behind the counter, he saw him glare at everyone in the diner, prompting all of them to proceed with their conversations, which they did. After asking sure that no one was still staring at Sawyer like a piece of meat, flannel man walked over to him. " What can I getcha?" he asked gruffly. After glancing at the menu one last tie, Sawyer answered, "how 'bout a cheeseburger and coffee."
"Sure, be out in a sec." Flannel guy turned and grabbed a coffee cup from under the counter and set it in front of Sawyer before heading back into the kitchen.
As soon as he left, the pretty woman from the blond stalker's table sprung into the seat next to him, coffee cup in hand. "Hi, I'm Loralei. You know, you really don't look crazy enough to be in this town. Are you an axe-murderer maybe?"
It's not often that a Gilmore admits that they're wrong. It's even less often that Loralei admits it. But when the door of the diner opened and a tall, scruffy blond god walked in, she would have been more than happy to admit it.
As he headed up to the counter, Loralei couldn't help but stare at him; he was just the kind of guy that demanded your attention. One he sat down and gave Luke his order, and Loralei a chance to hear his southern accent embracing each word, it was all she could do to stay in her chair and not run over and start flirting shamelessly. As soon as Luke left, she jumped out of her seat and onto the barstool next to the new guy, not forgetting her coffee cup, of course. "Hi, I'm Loralei. You know, you really don't look crazy enough to be in this town. Are you an axe-murderer maybe?" She asked. Hey, normal conversation was no way to get a guy!
The man raised his eyebrows and gave her the sexiest smile that she had ever seen in her long history of receiving sexy smiles. "I'm Sawyer." He replied, " and it is very nice to meet you Loralei. So, to what do I owe the pleasure of being attacked by the prettiest woman in town?" He asked with a smirk.
" Oh, I haven't even begun to attack you, yet." Loralei flirted a little. " The only reason I'm first is because I'm faster that those two." She said, looking over at Miss Patty and Babette. " And I'm also a member of the official Stars Hollow greeting party, when I feel like it."
"Oh, so I'm just special enough to make you feel like it?" Sawyer teased. "Yup. You and Bono."
Just then Luke came out with the food, and looked a little more than annoyed to see Loralei sitting with the new guy. "Here ya go." Luke said, setting the plate down in front of Sawyer before moving to refill his coffee.
" Luke, what's this? There's a bottom to my cup! I've never seen the bottom of my cup before! I don't like it, Luke, fix it!" Loralei exclaimed, gesturing wildly and the evil before her. "This is your third cup, got it? Two more and I'm cutting you off." He warned, making the banishing the awful emptiness that was her cup.
" You are so mean, Luke Danes! If you think drug withdrawal is something bad, wait until you see me! Do you want to be the one helping me make it to the bathroom to puke up my guts? Huh? Because unless you give me my coffee, I will crawl over here every time I get sick and go all 'Exorcist' on you, spinning head and all!" Loralei threatened. "Two more cups, Loralei."
Sawyer couldn't help but smile at their banter. 'This town is insane, but I think I could get used to a few things around here. Especially this one.' He thought, looking over at Loralei. "So, what kind of name is Sawyer? Is it just a last name, or did your parents read a few too many Mark Twain books before you were born?" She asked, downing half of her coffee.
"Loralei, don't bug my customers. It took me half an hour to convince that family from New York to come back in here after you started talking to them. Plus, I had to give them a free meal." Pleaded Luke. "Well, that little girl really did look like a young Carrie, and I just wanted to see if I could get her to use her powers for a sec." Whined Loralei. "And, hey! Sawyer here isn't bugged by me, are you Sawyer?" She asked, winking at him.
"Is she bugging you?" Asked Luke, secretly hoping she was. "Nope, she is most definitely fine." He drawled, both of them catching the double meaning. Loralei actually blushed, and Luke, who was beginning to hate this guy, went to greet Lane, who just walked in.
Lane practically bounced around the diner, excitement wafting off of her. "Whoa! It's the energizer bunny! What's with you?" Asked Loralei. "Nothing much." Answered a beaming Lane. " I just maybe might be dating Zach." Loralei gave her a surprised smile. "what! When did this happen? Zach?" Lane nodded, trying not to smile. "Yep. He pretty much just came out and asked me. It was pretty exciting. Of course, he was a little worried that it'd be weird after Dave and all, but we're gonna try it out! Hey, who's this?" Lane asked, nodding at Sawyer and switching subjects faster that a hyperactive toddler. "Oh, this is Sawyer, who was just about to tell me his first name." She replied, smiling at Sawyer. "Okay, let me guess. Well, since you prefer to use your last name, I'm gonna guess that you're first name is something really awful and embarrassing. Umm, Ooh how 'bout Jules? Or Harry? Oh, I got it! It's Lillian, isn't it? You look like a Lillian." She guessed, looking triumphant.
"It's Frank." Sawyer told her. " I've just always been called by my last name, so that's what I tend to introduce myself as." Then noticing the disappointed look she got when he told her that he didn't have a funny name, he added, " But you can call me Lillian if you want to." At that, her face lit up, and she replied, " I knew it! I told you that you were a Lillian! But now I need a secret name too, okay? That way, when people hear us talking, they'll be all confused and get a funny look on their faces, like this," she told him, demonstrating said look, before sending Lane to secretly re-fill her coffee. " All right." Sawyer replied, laughing at her craziness, " Why don't I call you Java Mama?"
Loralei processed the name a moment. " You know what? I like it! Luke!" She yelled excitedly, "I have a new name!"
" A what?" asked Luke, trying to understand the gibberish that tended to pour out of her mouth. " A new name! I am now to be known as… Java Mama!" She announced proudly.
"Okaaay. I suppose tomorrow Rory will be in here saying that her name's now ' Coffee Queen'."
" Blasphemy!" gasped Loralei, aka Java Mama, "that's my official title! Not even Rory gets her hands near that baby!"
"…Right" Luke answered; leaving the craziness that had taken over his counter.
" So, who's Rory? Your girlfriend?" asked Sawyer, surprisingly worried. "No, she's my daughter. But don't feel bad, you're not the first to think that." She replied, patting his arm reassuringly.
"You're daughter? Oh, so you're-"
"-Married?" finished Loralei. " No, I just had her when I was younger. You wanna see a picture?" she asked, handing him a photo of her and a shorter, younger version of herself. " She's beautiful." He told her, handing back the picture. "Don't get any ideas, mister. It's bad enough that she's more perfect than I ever was, but if she starts dating guys my age, I think I might die."
" Well, you don't have to worry about that. I'm think that I might be starting to have a thing for the other woman in the picture. Sawyer drawled. Loralei blushed again; wondering when the last time was that she'd met someone who'd made her blush twice in one sitting.
"Hey, have you seen the town yet?" Loralei asked, trying to hide her red cheeks. " Nope. I just got into town this morning. Haven't had time to do much but find a decent cup of coffee." He replied. " Well, I'm not doing anything today, so if you wanted, I could show you around. Unless you have other stuff going on or need to be somewhere or something." She said hurriedly, afraid he'd say no.
Sawyer smiled, the day looking up. " I've got all the time in the world."
"Alright then!" Beamed Loralei. " Now I will introduce you to the wonder that is Stars Hollow." She said as she walked out the door and into the sun, Sawyer right beside her.