Close Chances

Chapter Two

Rory looked up and saw her reflection in the mirror across from the bed. She stared at her reflection and thought about her and Logan. She stopped thinking about her mom and Luke because somewhere in her realization that everything was coming apart, she wondered what Logan was doing.

"Mom, I'm gonna go make us some coffee, OK?" Lorelai nodded and looked down to the floor. When Rory walked out of the room Lorelai fell on her back onto the bed. She put her hands over her face and thought. She thought about how she had put Luke on the spot last night, and how she drove him away.

"What am I going to do?" She once again cried.

Rory picked walked to her room and grabbed her cell phone. She dialed Logan's cell number as she poured coffee into the coffee maker and pushed the 'on' button. She walked outside and stood on the porch as the phone continued to ring.

"Hey, you've reached Logan. You know what to do." Rory fought to stop the tears.

"Hey, Logan. I just wanted to say I miss you. Well…I guess I'll just wait for you call. Call me back ASAP, I really need you right now." She waited a moment before she pulled the phone away from her ear and turned it off. She slowly turned around to face the door. She slid the phone in her pocket and walked inside. Lorelai stood only a few steps away from the open door.

"Who were you calling?" Rory hesitated but she didn't know why.

"Logan…" She tried to think of something else to say but she couldn't think of anything.

"Why did you need to call him?" Lorelai sounded severely irritated.

"I just wanted to talk to him." Rory was both confused and agitated and she didn't know what to do.

"Fine, that's just fine." Lorelai grabbed her coat off of the coat rack and walked past Rory out the open door.

"Where are you going?" Rory called to her mother just as she reached her jeep.

"Work!" Lorelai yelled. She didn't really want to lie to her daughter but she just needed to get out of the house.

"Why would I be mad at her for talking to her boyfriend?" Lorelai sobbed to her best friend, Sookie.

"Honey, you don't need to be so hard on yourself."

"I made Luke leave! What if Rory leaves again, too?"

"Now, Lorelai, you know she won't do that." Sookie put a reassuring hand on her friends shoulder. She really wanted to be there for her but she personally had no experience with this severe heartbreak. All she ever had to deal with was pathetic high school romances. Real world love is far more complicated.

Rory got into her car and drove to the Dragonfly Inn. When she entered she smelled the scent of lavender envelope her and it automatically made her feel better. She saw Michelle at the counter quickly filing through a pile of mail and catalogues. She confronted him with the simple question,

"Where's mom?" Michelle only looked up slightly.

"She hasn't come yet." Rory was shocked. Her good mood suddenly vanished despite the rather strong scent of lavender. She turned and started to walk towards the kitchen when Michelle went back to his vigorous mail sorting. "Sookie called in sick today." He stated simply his French accent as thick as the day Rory had met him.

Rory turned to face Michelle, he wasn't looking at her. Normal Michelle behavior.

'This doesn't make sense.' Rory thought to herself. She walked out of the inn and drove back into town. She passed Luke's Diner, whether it was intentional or not she didn't know. But even from the road the sign on the door still surprised and shook her as much as it had that morning.

She stopped gawking on the sign and returned her attention to the road. She didn't necessarily know where she was going, all she knew was that she had to find Lorelai.

Lorelai wiped away her last remaining tears and looked to the wall of Sookie's kitchen.

"I'm sorry that I barged in on you like this." Sookie shook her head,

"Oh, honey. Don't you worry about it. You know you're always welcome here."

"You're a great friend." The two women hugged and a moment later pulled away from each other. Lorelai took a deep breath and found another thing to make her feel worse. "Why is it always my fault when Luke disappears?" Sookie looked at her in confusion.

"I mean, think about it. The first time he did this it was when I flipped out of him when Rory and Jess got in that accident. And then the night I yell at him because I want to get marred in one single moment, he does it again. It's always my fault."

"Lorelai, you are thinking too much into this." Sookie thought quickly. "The first time he ran off he came back that night and everything was fine. It will happen again. Maybe this time he'll come back and tell you where you're gonna get married." Sookie smiled a hopeful smile and Lorelai laughed slightly. Sookie was successful in her attempts.

"It's still Luke. He's not gonna make such a rash decision so soon." The two girls laughed for a while.

After about a half hour of women chatting Lorelai stood saying that she had to get to work. Sookie agreed and said she'd be coming in soon as well. Lorelai grabbed her coat off the back of the chair and walked out of Sookie's house.

When Lorelai pulled into the driveway of the Dragonfly Inn she was surprised to find the entire town, and Christopher, waiting for her. She slowly got out of the jeep and closed the car door behind her.

"Guys…what's going on."

"Mom! Where in the hell were you?"

"Sookie's." Lorelai said exasperated. "What did you do, turn the entire town into a search party?"

"Yes!" Rory exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around her mom. "You were so upset this morning and then you disappeared and you weren't at work and--" Rory trailed off. The town slowly faded and returned to their daily activates. All except Chris and Rory. Lorelai just hugged her daughter and wondered what exactly Chris was going to say to her. Whatever it was, she was certain that she didn't want to hear it.