A/N: This was inspired by Bonnie Raitt's song "Something To Talk About". I think it perfectly fits into the Stars Hollow world, and of course with Luke and Lorelai. If there's any confusion about Lorelai's attitude towards Jess in this fic…I felt that at this point in the series, Lorelai hadn't really cemented her dislike of him yet. She's not a fan, but I'd say she definitely sympathizes with him a little.
I don't own Gilmore Girls or the song, but I've used some of the dialogue from the episodes "The Ins & Outs of Inns" (Season 2, Episode 8) and "Run Away Little Boy" (Season 2, Episode 9) to help tell the story. I also included the lyrics below. If you haven't heard the song, go check it out, it's great!
Other songs featured:
"Shadow Dancing" –Andy Gibb
"Don't You Want Me"—The Human League
"Fields of Gold" –Sting
"Sweet Child O'Mine" –Guns N'Roses
(Just in case anyone wants to listen to them when they show up in the story)
Thank you for reading! :)
People are talkin', talkin' 'bout people
I hear them whisper, you won't believe it
They think we're lovers kept under cover
I just ignore it, but they keep saying we
Laugh just a little too loud
Stand just a little too close
We stare just a little too long
Maybe they're seein' somethin' we don't darlin'
Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about
Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about
Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about
How about love?
I feel so foolish, I never noticed
You'd act so nervous, could you be falling for me?
It took a rumour, to make me wonder
Now I'm convinced, I've fallen under
Thinkin' 'bout you every day
Dreamin' 'bout you every night
I'm hopin' that you feel the same way
Now that we know it, let's really show it darlin'
Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about
A little mystery to figure out
Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about
How about love?
Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about babe
A little mystery to figure out
Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about
How about love?
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON:
Lorelai untangled the phone cord from her fingers, hung up and sighed. She'd just spent an hour on the phone making sure the Independence didn't get overcharged for a linen delivery that was already three days late. That, added onto her morning encounter with a disgruntled guest she'd had to give a discount to, to appease and a half hour Michel rant about said guest meant she needed coffee; really, really needed a coffee. She put the pages she'd been looking at into a neat pile and set off towards the kitchen.
"I take it it's been a long day?"
She knew that voice. "Mia!" Her mood instantly lifted, Lorelai quickly changed directions and met Mia with a huge hug. "You're here! I can't believe it! What are you doing here?"
"What, a boss can't stop in unexpectedly for a surprise inspection?"
Knowing that wasn't the real reason, Lorelai went along with it. "Well of course she can! Should we start the inspection in the kitchen? Sookie will be so happy to see you."
"Uh uh uh," Mia used the hand still holding Lorelai's arm to pull her back. "Just a minute, let me look at you." Lorelai stood still as the older woman's eyes swept over her. Mia smiled softly, "Lovely as always."
Lorelai smiled back somewhat shyly at the woman who had been a pseudo-mother to her since the day they'd met 15 years ago.
"How are you?" Mia continued.
Unlike most people who asked the customary question, Lorelai knew that Mia was looking for a real answer, so she gave one. "I'm good, today's been a little trying," she said sheepishly, "but on the whole I am really good."
"Good. I'm glad to hear it. And Rory?"
Lorelai's mood lifted even further at the chance to talk about her most favourite daughter. "Oh you know, she's still working on the whole sliding down the banister with perfect posture thing but otherwise, she's practically perfect in every way."
"And that fancy school, is she still liking it?"
"Well she hasn't had any more deer into the jeep so I think she's turned a corner."
"A deer ran into your jeep?"
"Oh yes. And it's exactly how it sounds."
"I'm thinking there's a lot more to that story."
"One that I'm sure Rory would love to tell you about herself."
"Oh I can't wait to see her! Where is she?"
"She's somewhere around here. Kitchen's a safe bet." And she was right. When they entered the kitchen they found the staff bustling around doing the prep
work for the next service, and Rory seated at a table in the corner of the room, head studiously bent over a small stack of papers.
"There's my girl!"
"Mia!" Rory exclaimed getting up and half-running straight into Mia's waiting arms. "You're here!"
"I'm here," Mia smiled. With Rory still in her arms she called out a greeting to the rest of her employees, all of whom seemed to stop what they were doing to respond and get a rare glimpse of their boss.
"I'm so happy you're here," Rory continued earnestly.
"I've left you alone with your mother for too long, huh?"
At Rory's nod Lorelai protested in mock-indignation, "Hey! I'm delightful, people love spending time with me!" Mia and Rory laughed, both having missed teasing Lorelai together. The back door to the kitchen opened to let in a Sookie, confused about the lack of movement in her kitchen.
"Hey, what's going on? Why did everyone stop prepping, we're going to run out of time and then we'll be scrambling." She went over to an area where someone had been cutting up the vegetables for the soup she was preparing and started dicing. The rest of the staff slowly returned to their tasks as well. "Then there will be more accidents and then Lorelai will be mad. I've gone a week and a half with no mishaps and I really don't—"
"That is a record," Lorelai interjected.
"Oh hey sweetie I didn't see—Mia! You're here!" With one last slice narrowly missing her finger, Sookie excitedly went over to get her hug. "What a nice surprise!"
"How are you Sookie?"
"I'm great, you know, doing this," she gestured to the kitchen behind her, "I was just out helping Jackson put the potatoes back in his truck, I couldn't accept them, too mealy," she grimaced.
"Jackson?" Mia squinted trying to place the name.
"Our produce supplier," Sookie reminded.
"Ah yes."
"And Sookie's boyfriend," Lorelai supplied.
"That's right I remember now!" Mia smiled warmly at a blushing Sookie. "And how are you two doing?"
In other circumstances the question might have been intrusive or inappropriate coming from an employer, but over the years Sookie and Mia had grown closer and were more like friends now. "We're good. Great, he's great, we're happy," Sookie gushed.
"I'm glad," Mia smiled, "That's the most you can ask for." She turned to Rory again, "And what about you? How are you and Deeean," she dragged his name out suggestively.
Rory blushed as well. "We're good," she said shyly.
"Oh Mia he's sooo dreamy, he's like Rock Hudson and Ashton Kutcher combined! Later he's taking me to the malt shop to share a milkshake," Lorelai teased in a high-pitched impression of her daughter.
"I do not sound like that," Rory laughed.
"It's hard to hear yourself but you totally do."
"Well never mind, will I get to meet him while I'm here?" Mia asked.
"Oh yeah he's around, you'll probably see him a few times," Rory smiled.
"Lorelai? How about you, is there anyone I should be meeting this trip?"
"Nope," she shrugged, "still single. I'm giving the whole spinster thing a test drive."
"Oh I'm sure—"
"Well there's always Luke," Sookie said suggestively under her breath, cutting her off.
"What was that dear?" Mia hadn't hear her, but Lorelai had. She quickly nudged Sookie's arm with her hand, non-verbally telling her to quit it.
"Nothing," Lorelai interjected, "just the ramblings of a crazy person, emphasis on the crazy. But hey, you must be hungry, all that travelling…if it's ok with the boss why don't we all go get lunch in town?"
"Perfect," Mia agreed, "I need an immediate dose of Star Hollow. Sookie are you coming?"
"I don't think I can get away right now," Sookie said, looking back at all the unfinished work awaiting her, "but another time? How long is your trip Mia?"
"Oh I'm here for a little while; we'll definitely catch up another time."
"Perfect, you ladies have fun!"
Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief at her successful redirect and shot Sookie a pointed look on their way out of the kitchen.
Rory led the way into the diner as Mia looked around, eagerly taking in all that had not changed.
"Look at this place, exactly the same!"
"Actually I made him paint it a few months ago," Lorelai informed her proudly.
"Well good for you," Mia replied off-handed as Luke hurried over and swept her up in a big hug.
"Mia, hey," Luke smiled.
"Nice to see you Lucas!"
Luke leaned back to talk at her but still kept her in a tight embrace. He was really happy to see her, it'd been too long. "You're the only person in the world who can call me that Mia."
"I know this."
"I'm saying it for others who plan to try it later," he said and looked pointedly to Lorelai.
"Whatever Lucas," she teased good-naturedly.
"Mia you know anything about toasters?" He asked.
"Not a damn thing."
"Well then sit down let me get you some coffee." The girls made their way to the three-seater table to the right of the entrance while Luke made a beeline to the coffee machine.
"Soo, Mia how's living in Santa Barbara?" Lorelai asked, taking off her coat and settling into the middle seat.
"Horrible, did you know the damn sun shines all the time out there."
"They've written songs about that," Rory said, amused at the unusual complaint.
"Well no one told me that's how it was. Half my wardrobe is obsolete."
"Oh, drag," Lorelai commented lamely, "Hey, you know that vintage-y blue coat—"
"You're not getting it."
"Right." They watched as Jess entered from behind the back curtain.
"Luke's nephew," Lorelai explained.
"Luke that's your nephew?" Mia called out as Luke returned with the coffee pot and three mugs.
"It's Liz's kid," he gestured for Jess to go over and say hello. "Jess this is Mia, she owns the Independence Inn."
"Huh," Jess said.
"That's hello nice to meet ya in slacker," Luke sarcastically translated.
"You don't need me down here do you?" Jess left without waiting for an answer.
"I'm sorry Mia, he's just—"
"No please, forget it. You weren't exactly a talkative boy yourself when you were his age."
"That's right," Lorelai smiled mischievously, "you knew Luke as a boy."
"I can't imagine Luke as a boy," Rory said thoughtfully, trying to picture it.
"Can we, change the subject?" He could already see where the conversation was going, and it was in his best interest to stop it before it got there.
"He would help people carry groceries home," Mia started, ignoring him completely.
"Oh how very boy scout-y of you," Rory surmised.
"For a quarter a bag."
"Oh how very John Birch society-y of you," Lorelai concluded.
"He was never without his skateboard for a time," Mia continued, trying to see what else she could remember about young Luke.
"Were you any good?" Lorelai asked genuinely curious. Luke on a skateboard? That was new information.
"I could hold my own," Luke defended.
"And there was that year, you wore the same shirt everywhere you went."
"I don't remember that," Luke refuted quickly. Of course he remembered. And this was exactly why this conversation never should have started.
"Must have been something flannel," Lorelai guessed.
"No, it was from that TV show," Mia supplied, "that, famous one."
"It's not important," Luke dismissed.
"Star Trek! That's it," Mia remembered.
"Oh my God, Oh my God," Lorelai said through hers and Rory's laughter.
"Stop it."
"You were a trekkie?" Rory asked, wide-eyed.
"I was not a trekkie."
"Oh oh, I do believe that denying you were a trekkie is a violation of the prime directive," Lorelai teased.
"Indubitably, captain," Rory joined in.
Luke sighed. "It was a gift from my Aunt; I wore it to make her happy."
"I've never wanted to make any Aunt of mine that happy," Lorelai replied.
"Did I say something I shouldn't have?" Mia asked in mock innocence.
"Oh no Mia that's ok," Lorelai deadpanned, "I just have to cancel everything I have scheduled for the next three months 'cause I'll still be laughin' my ass off!"
She watched as Luke's rebuttal got interrupted by an upset Taylor who pulled him away to complain about Jess. She put the now full mugs of coffee in front of her table mates, took one for herself and settled in to watch the show. A frequent audience of the Taylor/Luke chronicles, she listened quietly, not wanting to miss the always heated interaction. Somewhere around Luke's "I'm gonna act like you never came in here," Lorelai broke the silence at their table when she snickered. Classic Luke. That was actually a good one; she'd have to use it sometime.
The whole thing ended with a firm "F.I.N.E." and an exasperated, "You are impossible!" A few minutes later Luke was back at their table ready to take their order, his mood back to what it was pre-Taylor.
"Sorry about that," he took a deep breath then let it out in a huff, "alright, what can I get you?"
"Well I seem to be almost out of coffee here," Lorelai said peering innocuously into her mug. She looked back up at Luke with an excited smile, "So I'll definitely take a refill Quark."
Luke's bored face blinked at her slowly. He should've known she wouldn't give up the topic. "Are you done?"
"Uuum, check back in the next stardate, I might be done then! No promises though."
"Better watch out Lorelai, you keep talking like that people will start to think you've switched sides and joined the Klingons."
Lorelai's eyebrows rose. She was impressed and surprised that Luke was joining in.
"And since when do you know so much about Star Trek?" Luke continued, "Aren't you in the process of making fun of me for watching it?"
"I have an eclectic taste in TV and cinema, you know that," she defended, "And besides, watching Star Trek is not the same as wearing the show's merch every day for who knows how long!"
"It wasn't that long," Luke grumbled.
"Imagine the free publicity they got off of you!"
"It's not a big deal."
"There is a line between being a viewer and being a trekkie. Now it may be a fine line, but there is a line. And you my friend, are a trekkie. Accept it and wear it like the delta, you are who you are—"
"Are you going to order or am I bringing you wheat toast?"
"Burger, extra fries, more coffee please," Lorelai changed tacks quickly, the threat of the disgusting bread imminent enough to stop her teasing.
"Burger, chilli fries, more coffee please," Rory piped up.
"Ooh she's going fancy today," Lorelai approved. Rory smiled back happily.
"Mia?" Luke asked.
Mia smiled kindly at him. "A turkey club please."
"Finally, someone not trying to kill themselves with grease and caffeine." With that, he walked back to the kitchen to place the order with Caesar.
"We'll see who's laughing when they find out that lettuce actually causes tooth decay!" Lorelai called after him. She laughed at her own barb and took a sip from her mug. When she looked up again she saw that Mia was quietly watching her. Before she could question it Rory asked Mia another question about Santa Barbara and the conversation took off from there. She'd have to ask what that was about later on.
THURSDAY EVENING:
It had been a fairly good day at the Independence. With Mia around, everyone seemed to be on their best behaviour; even Sookie had managed to go accident free, which meant that it had been a pretty easy day for Lorelai. As manager, she did the rounds with Mia, well most of them anyway, after lunch Mia had gone off on her own while Lorelai retired to her office to get started on some of the paperwork that had piled up in the previous days.
Rory came to the inn after school and after helping out at the front desk, she, Lorelai and Mia all had a leisurely dinner together in the dining room and then walked over to Ms. Patty's for the town meeting. The girls were deep in discussion about how annoyed Taylor would be at their tardiness, when Lorelai spotted Luke coming out of the diner.
"Ah ha!" she yelled.
He jumped, "Jeeze! Don't, sneak up on me like that."
"Yeah, boy I was lucky you had your phasers on stun huh?" Lorelai teased. He fell in step with them and threw her a sarcastic 'you're-so-funny' look.
"Well at least we're not late," Rory said happily, "Luke's never late."
"Actually," Luke checked his watch, "we're, 2 minutes early."
"Hah!" Lorelai gasped.
"We should get a prize for being on time," Rory said.
Lorelai tapped on Luke's arm to get his attention, "Hey Luke, let's go back to the diner and get some pie as our reward for being on time."
"Then you'd be late."
"A funny conundrum, but I want pie."
"You're harassing me now."
"I'm not harassing you, we're you're groupies," Lorelai said, then put on her airhead-groupie voice, "Oh Luke you're so dreamy be my guy!"
"No be my guy," Rory joined in.
"I'm bringin' up the need for more police protection at this thing," Luke responded. He slid the door open, and all four of them entered the dance studio to see the town meeting already in progress.
"I think we're late," Mia said excitedly as a hush fell over the crowd.
"What's goin' on here?" Luke demanded.
"Uh, nothing," Taylor responded.
"Meeting was supposed to start at 8 Taylor; it's a minute to 8."
"Well…"
"Oh you might as well be honest with him Taylor," Miss Patty said.
"Be honest with him about what?" Lorelai questioned, already not liking where the conversation was going.
"Well if you must know, there was a special issue that the business community had to deal with first, so we decided to start early tonight."
"I'm in the business community, and I wasn't told about it," Luke responded. He didn't like where this was going either. When he was met with silence from the man at the podium, he tried again, "Taylor?"
"Alright fine!" Taylor said. He didn't see another way around it so he just went with the truth. "You weren't invited Luke."
"And why is that?" Luke asked, now he was starting to get angry.
"You weren't invited because we are dealing with the Jess situation," Taylor said adamantly.
"The Jess situation?" Unbelievable. Taylor was just unbelievable, Luke fumed.
"Uh oh." Rory said worriedly.
Lorelai grabbed Rory's arm and steered her into the last row of seats. Mia took the one on the end. "If this was the Wild West we'd be pushing the horses aside and diving into the water trough right about now."
Luke was turned around, trying to absorb Taylor's latest harebrained scheme. He turned back suddenly and angrily said, "Damnit Taylor!"
"Luke honey calm down," Ms. Patty tried.
"After all this is all your doing," Taylor continued, "If you hadn't so cavalierly dismissed the issue, we wouldn't have had to do this! I lost business because of what your hooligan nephew did!"
"How was business lost Taylor? If you had to open a little late that day, your customers just came back later."
"Not so! When Mrs. Lanahan couldn't buy her head of lettuce that morning for her lunch she drove straight to Woodbury to buy lettuce from a competing market. Isn't that right Mrs. Lanahan?" After realizing the newly awakened woman wouldn't be of much help, Taylor continued. "Word has it, that she was telling other Doose's Market shoppers that Woodbury lettuce is crisper, that's business flying out the door!"
Luke stalked up to the front podium and took his wallet out. "Ok, fine, how much is a head of lettuce, a buck? Oh let's go crazy, give me 5 heads!" He put the money down in front of Taylor who didn't touch it.
"This goes well beyond a head of lettuce young man. The charges against your nephew are numerous. He stole the 'Save the Bridge' money—"
"He gave that back," Luke interjected.
"He stole a gnome from Babette's garden—"
"Pierpont was also returned!"
"He hooted one of my dance classes," Ms. Patty supplied.
"He took a garden hose from my yard," Fran chimed in.
"My son said he set the fire alarms off at school last week," Andrew informed.
Lorelai joined in and sarcastically yelled from her station at the back of the room. "I heard he controls the weather and wrote the screenplay to glitter." This was getting ridiculous. She watched as Luke had a childish argument with Bootsy, and then watched him stalk to the back of the room, his anger only escalating.
"Look, I've lived in this town my entire life, longer than most everybody here—"
"Beg to differ. I'm 5 weeks older than you that means I've been here 5 weeks longer," Bootsy challenged.
Luke continued, "I've never bothered anyone, I've kept to myself and I've done the best I could. I pay my taxes and I help people when I can! I, haven't, pitched in on the decorative pageantry town stuff because it all seems insane to me, but I don't get in the way of that stuff either!"
"What's your point Luke?" Taylor asked.
"His point is," Lorelai interrupted. She had to do something. She couldn't just sit there while they attacked him! She looked over at Luke, "Do you mind?"
"Be my guest," he gestured to the crowd. Lorelai got up with a sigh and stood next to him to address the other townies.
"His point is, that if there's a problem—"
"And, I'm not sayin' there's a problem!"
"Right, he's not saying there is a problem, but if there is, give him time to deal with it before you storm his diner with torches and pitchforks."
Luke nodded emphatically beside her. "Right. What I'm dealin' with, bein' a problem, that I don't necessarily agree that I even have," he stated, his eyebrows furrowed at the end of his thought. He'd confused even himself with that one.
"Right," Lorelai agreed loyally. It didn't make sense, but she was there to support, not police.
"I didn't get that last part," Taylor said.
"Lay off him because what you're all doing stinks!" Lorelai said.
"I'm, done here! I'm done with all of you. Oh, and, I was gonna stay open late in case anyone wanted to eat after the meeting, forget that." With that, Luke stormed out of the dance studio. A concerned Lorelai watched him go as the rest of the room discussed Luke's outburst amongst themselves.
Lorelai, Mia and Rory stayed for the rest of the meeting and hung around for a short while after so that Mia could catch up with some of the locals she'd yet to see. Lorelai and Rory had been talking to Andrew, but when the conversation turned to the latest shipment of books that arrived, Lorelai took her leave. She'd just gotten back to her original seat and was picking up her coat when Ms. Patty showed up in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere.
"I hope congratulations are in order."
"Who me?" Lorelai asked, even though it was clear who Patty was talking to.
"Yes, you honey, I assume you've got some news to share," Ms. Patty said suggestively.
"What are you talking about, what news?" Lorelai asked with an amused smile.
"About you and Luke…"
Lorelai's face lost all of its amusement. She hoped this wasn't going where she thought it was. "What about me and Luke?"
"You finally did it, didn't you? You and Luke are finally together? Oh I don't even need you to confirm it," Ms. Patty said excitedly, "I could tell from the show you two put on tonight. It's so romantic, you jumping to his defense like that. I remember when Sinjin and I had that kind of passion. Oh I could just feel the heat radiating off of you two tonight."
Too stunned, it took Lorelai a moment to find her voice. "Uh no no, no heat, no passion, no n-nothing, we're not together. We're friends, Luke and I are friends."
"Oh honey please, you don't have to deny it, I was in the room, I saw the way—"
"No no, you saw nothing because there was nothing to see."
Ms. Patty seemed to visible deflate at Lorelai's insistence and the panicked wide-eyed look on her face. That alone was enough to tell her that Stars Hollow's best would-be couple still hadn't figured it out yet. "Oh. Well…there's no time like the present! I'm sure Luke's stomping around that diner and could use some cheering up!" Patty suggested, one eyebrow raised to indicate her meaning. Not that Lorelai needed any help in deciphering that one.
"He'll be fine. I'm sure he wants some alone time."
"Oh don't be so sure honey, he always likes it when you're around."
"Ms. Patty!" a voice called out from across the room.
Looking over, Patty saw the owner of the voice and realized that Chrissy was waiting on her to talk about the next performance they were putting on. "I'm sorry Lorelai, I've got to go, but we'll finish talking later."
"Oh I think we've said all we need to about this!" Miss Patty just waved over her shoulder in response, not bothering to look back. With a huff, Lorelai grabbed the rest of her things, and pushed the conversation with Patty out of her mind. Mia and Rory wandered back over and together they all left the dance studio.
Rory had gone to see Dean, and Lorelai had just parted ways with Mia on the corner of Pine. She stared off in the direction of her house and wondered what had just happened. All she'd meant to do was finally tell Mia that she and Sookie wanted to open their own inn and take the licks sure to be sent her way. She'd imagined how the conversation would go a number of times before, and in no scenario did Mia take the news so well. She was going to sell the Independence. Lorelai was going to lose her home. She started walking again, her mind still half-dazed. There was no way she could've foreseen the relieved smile that lit up Mia's face. Had Lorelai been holding her back? All this time Mia had the option to make—what she could only assume was a good chunk of money, on the inn and she'd declined because she "couldn't do that to Lorelai"? Could Mia's life be easier now if she'd sold the inn earlier? Was Lorelai responsible for negatively altering the life of the first person who'd truly accepted her? …The first ever member of her chosen family? She was starting to get a headache thinking about all of it. All she wanted to do was go home and take a nice long relaxing bath. She was on her front lawn already, a couple more feet and she'd do just that.
"Lorelai!" A scratchy voice called out.
Broken out of her daze, Lorelai stopped and turned to see Babette leaning on her porch rail seemingly waiting for Lorelai to get home.
"Hey Babette, nice night out, huh?" She called back politely. Thinking that would be the end of their interaction, Lorelai started towards her front door.
"Oh I'll bet you're havin' a nice night," Babette replied. The suggestiveness of her tone was clearly evident and it made Lorelai redirect her steps towards her neighbour's porch.
"Hmm?"
"You and Luke sugar!"
"Not this again…" Lorelai muttered.
Babette continued, not hearing her, "I can't tell you how happy I am for you two lovebirds!"
"Babette—"
"Why didn't you tell me? I'm just around the corner from your house!" she chuckled, "Oh maybe you were trying to keep it secret? A clandestine affair and all…"
"Oh no—"
"Sneakin' around can be fun but let me tell you, if I had a hunk of a man like Luke I would want to let everyone know he was mine. That's what I did when I first snagged Morey! I practically hung a "hands off" sign around his neck!" she chuckled again.
"Babette Luke and I are not together," Lorelai said quickly, finally getting a word in.
"Oh please sugar, you don't have to keep the charade up, I already know! What, with the way you defended him at tonight's meetin'?"
"How do you even know about that? You weren't there!" Even though she'd lived in Stars Hollow for 15 years it still sometimes surprised her how fast news travelled.
"I got a play-by-play from Patty, she was payin' close attention."
"Oh I'm sure she was," Lorelai mumbled sarcastically, then spoke louder so Babette could actually hear her. "I'm sorry to say, but I think you need to check your sources because they're giving you faulty information. Luke and I are just friends, nothing more."
"But what about tonight? You expect us to believe nothin' is goin' on between you two when you get up in front of the town and defend Jess? No one would defend that gnome-thief unless they had to. It was totally see-through doll!"
"I defended Luke…and Jess by extension, I guess, because everyone was being ridiculous. Luke has enough trouble with Jess as it is, he doesn't need the whole town coming after him every time Jess steps one foot out of line!"
A quiet moment passed where Lorelai actually thought she might have gotten through to the Hollow's second biggest gossip. But no such luck. "Sure sounds like love to me," Babette said plainly with a shrug.
Seeing that she was getting nowhere Lorelai sighed, called out "Goodnight Babette," and walked back to the sanctuary that was the crap shack.
FRIDAY EVENING:
Lorelai walked unhurriedly into her house and threw her keys and bag onto the desk in the corner of the living room. She took off her coat and glanced at the answering machine. There were no messages waiting for her. At least that was something. It was 6:15 and she was only just getting home from work. The paperwork she was even able to get done—and it wasn't much—had taken so much longer than it should have. She couldn't focus. It was almost a full day later and the talk she had with Mia was still fresh on her mind. She kept thinking about the prospects of what selling the Independence would mean. The inevitable changes that were coming…everything she would lose. She just couldn't seem to push the thoughts away. It made her cranky and irritable and she tried, she really tried to rein it in, but the wait staff needed an extra hand setting up the table cards for the luncheon event happening in the dining room, so she'd had to leave her office and was forced to interact with other humans. And, well, she couldn't contain the maelstrom of thoughts and they ended up spewing all over Sookie. Lorelai was the slime machine at the teen choice awards and Sookie was the unsuspecting celebrity that got covered in goopy green slime while they were in their fancy award-show clothes; except this time the whole thing was a lot less amusing. She wandered into the kitchen and looked aimlessly for a snack while she waited for Rory. They were supposed to leave in a few minutes for Friday night dinner. Man, if there was ever a night she didn't want to have dinner with her mother… She felt horrible; it wasn't Sookie's fault that Lorelai couldn't handle what was going to happen to the Independence. They'd been friends for so long, had gone through so much together, and all it took was a few careless words to cause their first fight ever. She should have apologized right away; she knew that now, instead of letting it fester. But she was just too scared, worried, upset…she was a lot of things. With a sigh she closed the fridge door. She could hear Rory coming in and they had to get going.
The drive back to Stars Hollow was quiet. Lorelai didn't have the heart to tell Rory what was going on yet and Rory wisely decided to give her mom the space that—based on the look on her face—she so obviously needed. She knew she'd be in the loop soon enough…as soon as Lorelai had a chance to process whatever was going on. So when they passed by the diner and saw Luke cleaning up in the dimmed light, and her mom got out and told her to head home without her, Rory listened. Maybe Luke could help…he usually did.
The bell above the door rang out as Luke exited the kitchen wiping his hands on a dish towel.
"Oh hey."
"Hey," Lorelai said quietly, "Got any coffee left?"
"You're just in time, I was about to toss it," Luke replied. He could sense that she wasn't in the mood to be pestered and simply poured the rest of the pot into a mug and brought it over to the table in the middle of the diner where she was seated. He took the spot across from her and toyed with the dish rag, waiting for her to speak. When she didn't, he broke the silence.
"Everything ok?"
"Oh, uh, yeah," she flashed him a smile, her eyes returning to the full cup.
"Are you sure?"
"Mhm, just you know, came back from Friday night dinner."
"Looks like it was a rough one…"
She shrugged in response, letting him believe that that was the reason she was upset. It was better than having to explain what a terrible friend she was…and she wasn't ready to talk to another person about the inn. She'd tried to earlier with her mother. Why, she didn't know. It was pretty pointless; Emily had literally given her no response. Not that she exactly expected one, but still.
"Would pie help?"
Lorelai smiled sheepishly. "No, I don't think so. Thanks though."
"No pie?" Luke said incredulously, eyebrows raised. "That must've been some dinner."
"It's been some week," she replied tiredly.
"What do you mean?"
She sighed heavily. "Just uh, a lot of changes going on this week. Well, it's not exactly happening this week and it's not a lot of changes per say, but one major, humongous change that will effectively end up changing everything."
"Ok… I'm not sure I followed that," Luke said slowly.
"That's ok, I'm not sure I'm making any sense tonight anyway."
"You want to talk about it?" She shook her head. "Ok." They sat quietly for a moment as Luke watched Lorelai get lost in her own thoughts and wondered what he could do to help. Her voice broke the moment.
"So how was your day?"
"Oh you know, burgers, pancakes, coffee refills…tryin' to keep Jess in line. Actually I did have to listen to Kirk talk about how he wanted to start "flexing his creative muscles" so we all have that to look forward to," he deadpanned.
Lorelai smiled genuinely—her first of the day. She loved sarcastic Luke. "What does that even mean?"
"I can only assume he's going to take dance lessons at Patty's and then you'll all have to sit through it at the next recital she puts on."
"What do mean "you'll all"? You'd have to sit through it too!"
"You know I never go to those things."
"Are you telling me that you'd skip out on the chance to see a grown man twirl and pas de bourrée away his feelings in the physical expression of dance?"
"Kirk's not a grown man."
"He is, he's just a grown man who happens to still live with his mother and isn't allowed to ride his bike past the town sign," Lorelai said mischievously.
"Like I said, not a grown man."
"Well, legally—"
"Legally, sure. But not in any of the ways that really count."
Lorelai's smile grew, her eyes twinkling playfully, "The ways that really count? So dirty. Tell me, what are the ways?"
"Jeeze," Luke rolled his eyes. Lorelai laughed quietly at the typical reaction and Luke felt a sense of pride at having—at least temporarily—changed her mood for the better.
"Well if I have to see Kirk dancing alongside a bunch of children then so do you!"
"Why does either of us have to see it we could both just not go?"
"And miss out on Stars Hollow's social event of the year, no way buster! You're going."
"No way," Luke scoffed, "I'm busy that day anyway."
"You don't even know what day it is—"
"Believe me I'm busy that day…actually I'm out of town that day," He said, coming up with a new excuse on the spot. "It doesn't take long to load my fishing gear into the truck."
"You're impossible," Lorelai laughed, "Where's your town spirit?"
"Don't have any remember, I'm the designated town grump."
"Ah you're not that grumpy," she dismissed with a wave of her hand. Luke raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Alright so you can be grumpy sometimes, but I prefer to think of that as part of your charm."
Luke smirked, "Thanks, I think."
"Oh hey, I was watching the news the other day and they said there's a lot of rain heading our way."
"…ok, thanks for the forecast update?" Luke responded slowly when she didn't continue on.
"No, I mean, it got me thinking. Do you have any free time tomorrow? I was thinking of waterproofing the chuppah. And by I, I mean you because I have no clue how to do that."
"Oh yeah, I have some time tomorrow," Luke said congenially, "What time do you want me to come by?"
"Whenever you want, I'm going to be hanging around at home all day. It's my day off and Mia said she's got the inn covered if anything comes up."
"Ok, how about I just call before I come over then, that ok?"
"Yup. Are you sure you can do it tomorrow? Sunday works too; I know I'm asking last minute."
"No tomorrow's good. Caesar's already on the schedule so unless it's busier than it usually is on a Saturday I should be covered."
"Great, thank you," she said contentedly. In the lull, Luke surveyed the half clean diner and made a mental list of what still needed to be done. Lorelai saw him try to stifle a yawn and decided to take her leave. She'd taken up enough of his time.
"I think I'm gonna take off. Rory's probably wondering what's taking me so long…" She pushed her chair back and put her purse on her shoulder.
"Oh yeah, sure."
Lorelai walked to the door, her hand touching his shoulder as she past him. "Thanks for the coffee Luke."
"See ya later," he responded. He heard the bells chime and the door close and then he raised his hand to the shoulder hers had been on. She didn't touch him like that very often, but when she did he tended to try and savour it…pathetic as that sounded. He rolled his eyes at himself and got up to finish his closing down routine. He picked up Lorelai's cup and was surprised to find it basically full. She'd sat there for more than a minute with a full mug at her disposal and hadn't downed it? He frowned as he walked the cup to the kitchen sink to rinse it out. Something wasn't right with Lorelai. Never mind the coffee thing, he'd known just by the look on her face when she walked in. He hadn't wanted to push because she said she didn't want to talk about it, but now he was concerned and wondered if he should have. Maybe she'd tell him what was going on tomorrow and then he could find a way to help. Yeah, he'd definitely find a way to help. Satisfied with his new resolve, Luke got back to work.
SATURDAY MIDDAY:
At the crapshack, Lorelai sat at the kitchen table, trying to sort out the pile of mail spread out in front of her. Or at least that's what she was supposed to be doing. In reality she'd been staring at the edge of an envelope for the last couple of minutes, her mind elsewhere. Her haze was broken when Luke came into the kitchen.
"Ok, I'm pretty much done."
"Thanks for doin' this," Lorelai smiled, "I didn't want the rain to destroy your beautiful chuppah. And I looked and looked in the Yellow Pages and I didn't see a chuppah water-proofer listing anywhere."
"How 'bout chuppah goat-figure repair man?"
Lorelai gasped. "Gilbert!"
"What?"
"The goat, we named him Gilbert. He's headless, can you fix him?"
"Yeah I, got some glue here. I can fix him," Luke said offhandedly.
"Good," Lorelai smiled then got up from the table, "I'll make some tea."
Luke sat down, a piece of Gilbert in each hand. He examined the carving and made his voice casual as he said, "So, Sookie stopped at the diner this morning…"
Lorelai stopped short but quickly regained her footing, grabbing the kettle and bringing it to the water cooler. "Oh."
"I asked her how your plans were going with the new inn—she very awkwardly changed the subject to women's basketball."
Lorelai let out what she hoped sounded like a humorous breath and Luke continued. "She's never shown much interest in sports before."
"No?"
"What's goin' on with that?"
"Oh, well, you know, women's basketball's getting super popular," She walked back to the stove and put the kettle on the burner. "That's good I think, the tall girls need an outlet." Luke met her eyes and gave her a questioning look. She knew he wasn't buying it. Lorelai sighed softly as she turned the stove on. "We had a fight," she explained, "A big humongous fight. She's never gonna speak to me again."
"What happened?"
Lorelai sighed again and walked back to her seat. "I just flat out panicked about the enormity of what we were getting into and it clobbered me and I clobbered Sookie and I'm such a jerk. Hey if I cry will it freak you out?"
"Totally."
"What if I whimper?"
"How 'bout you suck it up?"
"Mm, I'll try."
"I don't get it, you're as ready as you've ever been," Luke said his eyes squinted in confusion, hand holding Gilbert's head to his body so the glue held.
"Oh Luke," Lorelai said with a self-depreciating smile, "Do not underestimate the complete and total lack of confidence I have in my abilities."
"What? You're the most confident person I know. Obnoxiously so."
"Thank you."
"I mean in a good way. You're, good at what you do and you know it."
"No no n-no, I-I'm good at doing what I have to do. When I—when I had to get a job I got it, when I had to find a house for us and a life for us I got it, when I had to get Rory into Chilton, I did it. But I don't have to leave the Independence Inn. I don't have to go into business for myself. I don't have to walk out on that limb and risk everything I've worked for."
"Then do it."
"What?"
"Just stay where you are."
Lorelai scoffed, "What is this, reverse psychology?"
"Naw just, just stay at the inn, you're happy there."
"Oh so you think I can't hack it."
"Of course you can hack it."
"Great," She said sarcastically, "Lip service. That's what I need."
"Hey, if I start to cry will that freak you out?"
"Oh," Lorelai groaned, "I couldn't stay where I am if I wanted. Mia is selling the inn." She looked down feeling a little vulnerable, as she admitted, "And that hit me hard too, maybe harder than the other thing. I'm, gonna be without a home."
"What do you mean?" Luke said plainly, "This is your home."
"No I mean, a home-home...a, a memory home." She took a breath and explained, "The inn is where Rory took her first step, it's where I took my first step. It's more of a home to me than my parent's house ever was."
"You're just scared. Just like everybody else when they're takin' on somethin' big."
"Well then what does everybody else do to get through this feeling?" She implored.
"They, run in the back, throw up, pass out, then smack their head on the floor," Luke said frankly.
"What?"
"That's what I did on the first morning I opened the diner." Lorelai smiled at the visual he created. "Look th-there is no button to push to get ya through this, you just gotta jump in and be scared, and stick with it until it gets fun."
"How long 'till the diner got fun?"
"'Bout a year."
"Wow," she breathed out uneasily, "And there's no button?"
"Nope."
"How 'bout a lever, can I pull a lever?"
"Nope."
"Turn a knob?"
"Nope."
"You just jump?"
"You just jump."
Lorelai sighed nervously before smiling at him. "I wanna do it."
"You should do it. Check it out," he held up the goat to show her.
"Gilbert you're not worse for the wear," she commented affectionately.
"I'll go reattach him," he got up from the table, "How'd this happen anyway?"
"Oh somethin' must have smacked into him with a hedger."
"Uh huh, well no one'll ever know. Oh and uh, women's basketball is in season, you might wanna run that news past Sookie. Maybe you can, go to a game or something."
She got the unspoken message: Make up with Sookie. "Yeah, or something. Thanks." He nodded and walked back outside.
A short while later, Luke returned to the kitchen. "Alright, I think that's it."
"Thanks Luke," Lorelai looked up at him from her spot at the table, "Gilbert and I appreciate it."
Luke nodded simply in acknowledgment and started packing up his things. "I'll get out of your hair."
"Oh no wait, you didn't drink your tea," Lorelai jumped up and started to pour him a cup, "Sit down, take a load off."
Luke shrugged and sat. He didn't have to be back at the diner right away and a cup of tea sounded nice.
"How do you take it?"
"Just black is fine…thanks." He took the mug from her while as she returned to her seat and took a sip. "Mm, peppermint."
"That's the kind you like right?"
"Yeah." He drank some more and let it sooth his throat as they sat quietly for moment. "So Mia's selling the inn, huh?"
"Looks like it," Lorelai said sadly.
"I can't believe it, that place has been around forever…at least my whole life."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, we used to go over there to eat sometimes, play near the pond." At Lorelai's questioning look he continued, "My mom and Mia were really close."
"Really?" He nodded in response. "I mean I knew she knew you as a kid, but I thought that was just from being a townie."
"No, she used to be at my house all the time. Her and my mom would sit in the living room or in the backyard with a drink and talk…or go shopping together. Sometimes they used to take me and my sister to town events."
"Your dad didn't like the festivals?" Lorelai asked, smiling at what he was sharing with her.
"Naw, he went sometimes but it wasn't really his thing."
"Ah, that's where you get it from."
Luke rolled his eyes good naturedly and continued on. "And after my Mom passed away she always looked in on us…made sure to do mother-daughter type things with Liz, you know, before she started rebelling against the world. And when I started working at the hardware store with my Dad, she used to find reasons to get me over to her house or to the inn…do odd jobs, earn some pocket money."
Lorelai noted the air of quiet respect he spoke with. "She's important to you."
"Yeah, Mia's great."
"She is at that. I don't know what I would have done without her." They shared a look of understanding. Mia had been there for both of them, still was, and she held a special place in both of their hearts. Lorelai sighed sadly, "I don't know what I'm going to do without the Independence."
Luke nodded in understanding. "It's one of those places you think will always be there."
"And now it'll be gone. Guess it's true what they say, you can't go home again huh?"
She said it half-heartedly and Luke knew exactly what she meant because it was one of the things they had in common: they were both sentimental. Letting go of your home wasn't easy. He'd had to do it years before, after his Dad passed. He couldn't afford to keep both the house and the business, so he'd done what he had to, but that didn't make it any easier. It was scary venturing out on the ledge like that. But if anyone could do it, he knew it was Lorelai. "It'll be ok you know."
"Will it?" she asked, genuinely wanting an answer.
Luke nodded assuredly. "You're not buying your inn tomorrow. The Independence isn't even up for sale yet, right?"
"Right."
"You'll have time to get used to the idea, say a proper goodbye."
Lorelai sat in quiet contemplation for a moment before shaking her head and smiling ruefully at him. "I don't know. I can't even begin to wrap my head around it right now."
Luke watched her eyes sadden further as she turned contemplative again. Even though he wasn't sure how it was possible, he remembered her confessing to a lack of confidence in herself and spoke before he could think twice about it. "You're a very brave person," he said earnestly, "I hope you know that. I have no doubt that you can do anything, whether you have to or not. You're gonna be just fine."
Lorelai's eyes met his, surprised at both the words he said and the softness of his voice. The sincerity in his eyes made her feel warm; made her lose her words. She looked away shyly as they came back to her. "Thanks Luke."
He blushed slightly at speaking so candidly and nodded once in response. When the quiet went on a beat too long, he drained the remnants of his cup, pushed his chair back and got up. "Thanks for the tea. I-I'm gonna head out." He grabbed his toolbox and addressed her one last time, "I'll see you later."
Lorelai mumbled a "See ya" to his retreating back and heard the front door close behind him as he left. Her eyes remained on the empty hallway that Luke had just walked through—her heart beating fast as she lingered in the moment they'd just had. And it definitely was a moment. She could admit it…that is, if the only person she was admitting it to was herself. Moments between her and Luke weren't new or even infrequent, they just happened sometimes. And so what, she thought, consciously pushing the lingering moment away—so she had an intimate moment with Luke, big deal. They were friends, it didn't mean anything. She had a lot going on right now; what with Mia selling the inn and her fight with Sookie…understandably, her head was all over the place. She didn't have her usual guard up, so of course there was a moment with Luke. That's just the way it was sometimes.
Lorelai resolved to stop thinking about it and got back to sorting through her mail.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT:
Luke closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. He put the coffee pot back on the burner and took refuge in the kitchen, his hands braced against the counter, head bowed in disappointment? Nausea? Frustration? A weird mix of all three? Yeah, it was all three, he concluded. Why did he have to hear that? Why did the corner table choose that exact moment to request a refill? Because somebody had it out for him, clearly. Lorelai was dating again? Sorry, not just dating, causally dating. What the hell did that mean anyway? Doesn't matter what it means, a voice in his head replied, she's got somebody new. Again. He'd missed his chance again. Luke ran a hand across his face as the defeat set in. He'd been waiting. Lorelai had been engaged not that long ago and—not wanting to be her rebound—he'd decided to wait before asking her out. Only now it seemed that he'd waited too long and he was out of the running. If he'd ever evenbeen in the running, he scoffed. Luke's eyes clenched as he remembered what he'd said to her. You look all dressed up, he internally mocked. Stupid. He was stupid. He was usually pretty good at reigning in those kinds of comments in her presence, but of course today of all days he'd slipped up. She dressed up for a casual date and he was the loser bringing her fries, too cowardly to tell her just how beautiful she looked, and too enamoured to keep his mouth shut. With a sad sigh, he pushed himself off the counter and went about preparing the next order. With any luck he'd be able to hide out in the kitchen until she left.
SATURDAY MIDDAY:
Mia, Rory and Lorelai were seated at the stools along the counter of the diner, all heavily engrossed in Rory's lamenting. She had a rehearsal for her school performance of "Romeo and Juliet" that night and Dean had insisted on attending. As they ate, Lorelai and Mia tried to reassure her that all would go smoothly—Lorelai even offering up a dose of retail therapy, but their conversation derailed when someone called out her name. All three turned towards the voice and were met with a young man in a baseball hat and a middle aged couple.
"Yeah?" Lorelai inquired.
"Hey it is you! This is Lorelai," the man pointed out to the couple, "She's the girl I told you about!"
"Oh—Paul!" Lorelai said in recognition. "I'm sorry; I didn't recognize you with the hat."
"Yeah"
"What are you doin' here?"
"Well, I'm, gettin' some coffee."
"In Stars Hollow?"
"Well you know, you talked so much about the town the other night, and especially Luke's place so…my mom's crazy for coffee, I thought I'd bring 'em up here for breakfast."
"The other night?" Rory asked her mom quietly.
"Uh, uh, yes," Lorelai smiled, giving Rory more of an explanation with her eyes than with the words she was saying, "Paul's my friend from the other night, the uh, casual Wednesday. Mhm."
"Oh," Rory dragged knowingly.
Turning back around, Lorelai introduced everyone. "Oh Paul I want you to meet my daughter Rory. And this is Mia."
"Hi," he said happily, "Nice to meet ya. Hey, these are my parents Dory and Sid."
"Nice to meet you," Dory said.
"Pleasure, really." Sid chimed in.
"Oh yeah, me too," Lorelai replied lamely. Her mind was ping-ponging between the awkwardness of the situation, the disbelief that it was actually happening and what she knew was going to come out of Rory's mouth as soon as this ordeal was over.
"You ordering?" Luke interjected stonily.
"Luke, are-are you Luke? Is this Luke?" Paul asked Lorelai.
"Yes that's Luke," she confirmed.
"Oh man!" Paul said excitedly, then continued on with a flourish, "Mom, dad, that is Luke."
Thoroughly weirded out, Luke threw them what he hoped was a polite smile.
"Oh we've heard so much about you!" Dory exclaimed.
"Darn shame about that Rachel," Sid chimed in again.
"Who the hell are these people?" Luke asked Lorelai, shooting her a look that she couldn't quite decipher. Bad, this is bad, she thought.
"Uh, Paul is my friend, from business school."
"Yeah, we went out the other night," Paul filled in, to Lorelai's horror. As Paul went on, she felt Luke looking at her but refused to meet his eyes. "And uh, you know, she talked about uh, few people in this town, you being one of 'em so, nice to meet ya."
Luke smiled a sarcastic "Yeah," in return.
"Um…ok! Three coffees to go then!"
As Luke got their order ready, Lorelai turned back to her dining companions and prompted the inevitable. "Something funny?"
"No," Rory said, barely containing her laughter.
"You're just smiling for no reason?"
"I'm a happy person."
"Hey, I've gotta run, mom wants to go antiquing," Paul addressed the trio again, "So, it was nice meeting you, and uh I'll see you in class Lorelai."
"Bye, bye now, bye," Lorelai called after them. She saw Luke throw her another look as they walked out of the diner but she pointedly turned back to Rory and Mia, ready to defend herself against the mocking coming her way. "What?"
Mia bit her lip not wanting to say anything, though her amusement was written all over her face.
"Nothing," Rory replied.
"Say it."
"I've always wanted a little brother!" Rory laughed.
Lorelai sighed, "He looked older the other night!"
"How much older could he possibly look?"
"A lot! He's usually a little scruffy and then the, baseball hat hides the funky hair, thing."
"He should've been holding a yoyo and a lollipop and wearing a beanie with a propeller on it." Mia threw a hand at Rory's arm in mock chastisement, but unable to contain her grin.
"He's in his twenties!" Lorelai affirmed. She hid her face in her hands as the teasing continued.
"He must have been a very good boy to deserve such a happy day. I bet they let him ride a pony."
"Aren't you supposed to go help Lane?" Lorelai asked, tired of her daughter's smugness.
"Thanks for cheering me up," Rory took her burger to go and left beaming.
Mia watched as the door closed behind her. When she turned back, Lorelai was staring at her intently, apparently waiting for her to comment. Mia simply picked up her drink and took a sip, hoping it hid some of the smile on her face. "I'm not saying a word."
Lorelai sighed heavily, and grimaced when she saw Luke making his way back behind the counter. He shot her that look again. "What? You wanna say something too?"
"No."
"Please don't hold back on my account."
"I wouldn't."
"Good."
"Would you guys mind moving down a of couple stools," Luke asked the two little boys beside Lorelai, "make me more comfortable."
"This is me leaving," Lorelai pulled some money out of her purse and put it on the counter next to her half-eaten plate without checking how much it was.
"Hey, how do I know what the cut-off is?"
"And no tip, I wonder why?"
"I mean, at least if you had one of those height bars like at amusement park rides…"
"Bye now," Lorelai said firmly, then turned to her boss, "Mia, are you coming?"
"I think I'll finish my food first dear," Mia smiled sympathetically at her. With another sigh, Lorelai hurried out.
Luke watched her go and Mia watched him. She watched his shoulders droop sadly…watched the way his teasing smirk turned into a frown and then a grimace when a customer calling out to him made him realize that he was in public and people could see him frowning. He walked away to attend to the customer and Mia went back to her meal. She'd talked to Sookie about it at lunch the other day and knew she wasn't too far off the mark in assuming there was something between them. It was interesting—she thought, mentally cataloguing the instance—the way Luke and Lorelai acted and reacted to each other…it was very interesting.
SUNDAY MIDDAY:
Ok, so it hadn't blown over yet. She'd been hoping that the news would make its way through town in 5 minutes like it usually did and then fizzle out by the next morning. But no, Lorelai going on a date with a younger man was apparently still the hottest goss in the Hollow. First Rory, then Luke…Sookie, Miss Patty, even Bootsy was weighing in! Stupid Kirk and his sneaky camera skills. Having managed to skip town—and the subsequent backlash—following her called-off wedding, Lorelai hadn't been the source of town fodder in a while and it was throwing her off her game. Luke, of all people, was successfully landing all kinds of zingers, never mind the rest of them. If she wasn't so baffled by why her casual date was such a big deal, she'd have commended Luke on a grade-A Doogie Howser reference.
"Hey," Lorelai said, trailing Luke as he delivered their plates to where Sookie was still sitting.
"I'm workin'," he said shortly, "Us older guys do that."
"Why are you bein' so mean to me?"
"I'm not bein' mean."
"Yes you are, you're being mean."
"Sookie am I bein' mean?"
"Well, I wouldn't pay you to put on a red nose and work a birthday party right now," Sookie replied.
"Thank God for that."
"Why are you so mad at me?" Lorelai tried again.
"I just, think it's embarrassing," Luke said, unable to hold his tongue or his exasperation in. He walked back behind the counter hoping to lose her but of course she followed.
"Wha-what is so embarrassing?"
"You runnin' around with that kid."
"I wasn't running, he's not a kid. We had, dinner," Lorelai explained, then, trying to lighten the conversation, she smiled and joked, "If you say Chuck E. Cheese, I'll break your nose."
He finally stopped long enough to look her in the eye. "Hey I'm not gonna say anything. You go live your life as you please. I got work to do."
Lorelai watched Luke disappear into the kitchen and then let out a confused breath. What the hell was that about? They were teasing…verbal sparring just like she'd said. Lorelai did something mock-worthy, so she was getting mocked. That's the way things went, right? So then why did Luke look at her like that? Like he had 10 different levels of pissed simmering just below the surface…
Lorelai slowly made her way back to her seat and took a sip from her mug. Her plan was to sit there, eat her food and quietly visit with Sookie. She was not going to bother Luke. She didn't know what she did to warrant that reaction from him, but she definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of it again.
That night, Lorelai and Sookie made their way back into the Chilton hallway as they waited with Mia for Rory, Dean and Lane to meet up with them. Lorelai handed Mia her coat from the school coat check and passively listened as Sookie and Mia talked, chiming in just enough to make them think she was paying attention to their conversation. Instead, she was thinking about what Sookie had said to her.
What was with everyone lately? This was hardly the first time she'd heard the you-and-Luke-belong-together spiel, but these days it was happening so frequently. Usually when those words were coming from Sookie, Lorelai put it down to good-natured teasing…only this time Sookie was much too earnest with her teasing and, if she were frank, it didn't really sound like teasing at all.
Sookie was crazy; Luke didn't have a thing for her. They were friends. Really good friends…so of course he probably cared for her, just as she cared for him. She scoffed internally thinking about Sookie urging her to look him in the eye. She looked him in the eyes all the time, and the last thing she saw there was anger. Lots of anger.
Rory, Dean and Lane showed up and they all walked out to the parking lot. As they drove back to Stars Hollow Lorelai resolved to make things right with Luke. It was silly to let bad feelings linger over something as stupid as a casual date with a younger man…if that's what he was even mad about. It didn't matter, whatever it was, she was going to make things right between them.
Finally at the diner, Lorelai sent the rest of her group to find a table while she went over to the counter. Luke was stationed at the end near the back staircase fixing his watch.
"Hey."
"How'd it go?" Luke returned. He'd heard them come in and didn't need to look up to know that it was Lorelai standing in front of him.
"Oh, you know, I think Shakespeare will recover."
"That's good," Luke replied lamely, pretending to be deeply engrossed in fixing his watch. He felt like an idiot for running his mouth about her date earlier, and was determined not to make the same mistake again.
"Hey are you good at dating?"
He looked up and met her eyes in surprise and confusion. "What?"
She chuckled nervously, "Dating, do you have that down?"
"Ok if this is about that kid, then…"
"No it's not about anything, it's just a question."
"Well I don't know if I have it down considering I live with my nephew, I'd say probably not."
"I don't have it down either," Lorelai confessed, "I've never been very good at it really, never even really liked it. It's too much, 'what if' I, I like things I can count on."
Luke nodded, he didn't know where she was going with this conversation, but he could understand that.
"I mean, uh, actually with Max…" Lorelai continued, deliberately casual in the mentioning of her ex-fiancé.
Luke couldn't help the startled look on his face as he held her gaze. They didn't talk about Max, or her love life at all really. He'd always been curious about what happened—why the wedding was called off, but as she went on, he found that even his curiosity didn't change how uncomfortable he felt hearing about her relationships with other men. His eyes dropped to where his hands had resumed fiddling with the watch.
"…it was the first time I was finally like: hey, here it is! That one person who will always be there for me. And then, I turn around and, it's suddenly: oops, wrong…keep moving," she sighed.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I don't have very many people in my life who, are, in my life. Permanently, forever."
Something in her voice made Luke look up again. He could see the thinly veiled vulnerability in her eyes and knew immediately that what she was saying was important to her.
"They will always be there for me, I will always be there for them, you know?" Lorelai continued, determined to get her point across, despite how unguarded she felt, "There's Rory, and Sookie, Mia, this town and…you," She smiled somewhat timidly, "I mean at least I think I've got—"
"You do," Luke confirmed.
His voice was steady and absolute in the way he always was. Lorelai's eyes dropped to the counter in relief, a small smile adorning her face as she nodded a soft, "Good." She shrugged and met his eyes again, this time more confidently. "Just checking."
Luke smiled warmly at her, touched by her unexpected but heartfelt words. He knew that wasn't easy for her to say, and he understood. Their relationship was important to him too. The sentimentality of the moment lingered as Luke took to fixing his watch again and asked about her evening.
"Tell me about, Romeo and Juliet."
"Well…it's so depressing 'cause everybody dies, but the clothes were so cute."
"Life can be funny that way," he chuckled.
She laughed too. "And Rory…well I don't want to say that she outshone everyone else but…"
"But?" Luke smirked.
"But I know a star when I see one," Lorelai beamed. Luke laughed again. "I mean, it's not like she had a lot of competition. At one point there were cavemen that somehow grunted iambic pentameter so..."
Luke's brows furrowed in amusement. "Sounds like an interesting show."
"Oh I definitely lost some IQ points tonight."
"I'm sure Rory made it all worthwhile."
"She always does." Lorelai flashed a smile before turning serious again. "Hey, are we good?"
"We're good," Luke confirmed.
"Good."
Luke sent another warm smile her way. They were good, he thought, they were friends, always would be. Even if it never turned into anything more, they at least had that. And he was grateful for it.
"Just checking," Lorelai repeated.
Luke rolled his eyes good naturedly then tilted his head to gesture to the group of people she had come in with. "Think they're ready to order?"
"It's a safe bet."
"I'll bring the coffee and meet you over there."
"Bless you," Lorelai said appreciatively, and then walked to her seat.
MONDAY MONRING:
Mia and Lorelai were doing paperwork in the office at the Independence. It was mostly Lorelai's space now, but whenever Mia was in town they shared it. They sat on the couch, both absorbed in the work they were doing. Mia was about a quarter of the way through her half of the invoices when she decided to break the quiet that had settled in around them.
"I'm so happy I got to go to Rory's performance last night. I miss going to her school events."
"I'm glad you were there too."
"She's grown up so much! In my head she's still that 7 year old practicing her recorder for the Christmas concert."
"Well I am grateful that that particular interest never stuck. I love her but the girl should never pick up an instrument." Mia laughed but fully agreed. Rory's talents lie in the written word. "But I know what you mean though. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she's in high school now, and can drive and has a boyfriend she can hang out with instead of me," Lorelai said blandy. Mia chuckled. "I wasn't crazy about the boyfriend thing at first but I have to say, Dean's turned out to be a nice kid."
"Is he really? Or was that all for my benefit?" Mia asked sceptically. She had kids; she knew that Dean could be a completely different person when he thought no one was watching.
"No no, Dean's a nice kid. Believe me, there was a vetting process."
"And he treats her well?"
"He does."
"Good."
"They did go through a rough patch a little while ago—"
"Oh?"
"It's a long story, but the highlights are: Dean broke up with her, Luke tried to pull a Tyson—"
"Oh my—" Mia's eyebrows raised at that, "That must have been quite the scene."
"I pulled him away before he could do any real damage. You'll notice both of Dean's ears are intact."
"Ah."
"Now they're all Joanie loves Chachi, so all's well that ends well I guess."
"Well I'm glad Luke was there to defend her honour anyway. He's a good man, very protective."
"He is, especially of Rory," Lorelai nodded in agreement. She went back to the paperwork before her, thinking their chat was over.
But Mia wasn't done yet. She sensed an opening and took it. "I do have to say I was surprised though."
"About what?"
"You and Luke."
Lorelai finally looked up again. "Me and Luke?"
"I thought for sure you'd be together by now."
"Ugh," Lorelai groaned, her head falling to the side in exhaustion at the topic, "Not you too! We're friends. Luke and I are friends!" She said emphatically, then under her breath, "I swear I should just get that tattooed on my forehead."
"Now sweetie here me out," Mia paused to make sure Lorelai was listening before she continued. "I saw the two of you talking at the counter last night—"
"And?"
"And, you looked pretty cozy to me," Mia said suggestively.
"That was nothing," Lorelai dismissed, "I was just making sure we were ok because he was so mad at me earlier."
"Ah yes! I saw how jealous he was of your date with that young man."
"He wasn't jealous, he was mad—which, frankly, is par for the course with Luke whenever he finds out about my dates, that's why I don't usually tell him about them. I'm still not sure why he got so hung up on this particular one…because it was nothing, less than nothing. It was one fairly boring meal with a classmate. I may as well have gone out with Michel it meant so little to me!"
"You do hear yourself right?"
"What?"
"You just said that Luke gets mad whenever you have a date…how do you explain that?"
"That's just Luke being Luke. He's my friend, he looks out for me. It's that protective thing you were talking about."
Mia looked at her kindly, not buying any of it. "Lorelai, I think it's more than just him looking out for you. I've seen the way you are around one another…the banter, the laughter…the way you simply look at each other is enough to give you both away."
"Mia, I—"
"I think there are real feelings there. I've known both of you since you were children, so I know how stubborn you and Luke are, but I think—if you gave it a chance—it would work."
Lorelai gave a defeated sigh, but hoped she looked indifferent, because inside, her heart was racing and she had no idea how to calm it down. She'd had some version of this conversation with a lot of different people over the years. And every time she'd been fine—uncomfortable, sure, but fine. She'd talk her way out, or fudge the truth if she had to, and go about the rest of her day. But she couldn't lie to Mia, never could—Rory either, but at least her daughter sometimes let her live in the delusion that she had been able to deceive her. Mia didn't do that. When Lorelai first showed up at the Independence looking for a job, she was a new mother and didn't have any friends so Mia had become her confidant. They were honest with each other and could talk in a way she never could with her own mother. Mia knew her, really knew her, so when she spoke, Lorelai listened. Her words held more weight. Even if she was saying something Lorelai had heard a thousand times before.
"I—we're, friends," Lorelai said quietly, "I promise. He doesn't like me like that. And if there was something going on with us I would've told you."
"I hope so."
"You know I would."
"Just—I think if you let it happen…it could be great for both of you. I only want you two to be happy."
"I know," Lorelai pulled Mia into a hug, "And I love you for that."
"I love you too," Mia leaned back a brought an affectionate hand to Lorelai's face, "Just think about it, ok?"
"Ok," Lorelai agreed. The topic dropped, they returned to their paperwork.
MONDAY NIGHT:
It was 11:30 and she was in bed. She'd lasted only one full movie and a half of another before having to call it a night. She couldn't focus on what she was watching and her incessant fidgeting was getting on Rory's nerves—not that she'd said that, but it was obvious when her daughter made no objection to cutting their movie short.
Lorelai went through her nightly routine by rote then climbed into bed only to find that she was anything but tired. As she lay there, her mind flooded with all the thoughts she'd continually tried to push away throughout the day. She'd promised Mia she'd think about it, and now was as good a time as any, she told herself. She was alone, in the safety of her bedroom, with no distractions…
Luke. Luke Danes. Friend Luke, diner Luke. Trekkie Luke—as she'd recently found out. She smiled at the mental image of a young Luke so obsessed with the show that he dressed in—well, in her head it was a Starship Enterprise crew member uniform. Man did she love Mia for revealing that hilarious tidbit! Actually, all of it had been interesting, the shady grocery bag business, the skateboarding…Luke was an interesting guy. She knew that, but he almost never volunteered information about himself, so when she learned anything new it always felt like a big deal. Some of it just got stored in the "Luke Danes: Life and Times" part of her brain, some of it became fuel to mock him with. She knew that sounded mean, but it wasn't intended to be and Luke never took it seriously. They teased each other all the time. She didn't know how people managed to turn their innocent joking into something not-so-innocent but—ok so maybe sometimes their teasing was more akin to flirting, but it was harmless. Flirting meant nothing unless it was followed by an invitation to go on a date, or a kiss, or a relationship, right? Right. Maybe she'd even concede that there was chemistry between them…but it wasn't that kind of chemistry. He wasn't Harry, she wasn't Sally; like any two friends, they just got along really well.
Unbidden, her mind took her back to that night a few months ago. She and Luke, beer, paint swatches, ambience, empty diner, her hand on his arm, hiding—crouched down behind the counter…Luke smiling, his eyes soft and breathtaking. Lorelai felt herself flush at the memory, her heart rate rising. Was that the look Sookie and Mia were talking about?
Her brows furrowed in sudden confusion. He couldn't really have feelings for her, could he?
TUESDAY AFTERNOON:
That question circled around in Lorelai's head until the wee hours of the morning. When she finally did fall asleep it was restless. As a result, she'd woken up late and had had to go straight into the inn.
At some point in her morning she decided to go to the diner for lunch. That stupid question wouldn't leave her alone. Every time she'd managed to concentrate on something else it would rear its ugly head and steal her focus again. So, determined to get her brain space back, Lorelai made her way to the diner for a late lunch.
She walked in and sat down on her usual stool at the counter. Even though she saw that Caesar was available to take her order, she decided to wait for Luke to be done with the table in the corner. She needed to talk to him…see how he interacted with her. She needed to know if that night they spent choosing paint colours was a fluke. Did he really look at her that intensely? And if he did, was it something that happened all the time? Or was she imagining things…blowing it out of proportion? Probably. Or not. She wasn't really sure which to hope for.
"Lorelai?"
"Hm?" Her gaze snapped to the flannel-clad man now standing in front of her.
"You ok?" Luke asked, his face a mix of concern and bewilderment. "You were pretty out of it just now."
"I am fine, finer than fine, good even," she smiled.
"I asked if you wanted coffee twice and you didn't answer."
"Well maybe I don't want any coffee."
Luke scoffed humorously, "Yeah right."
"Really," Lorelai deadpanned. "I'm tired of the lectures; you're probably tired of giving them. Wouldn't it be nice if I took your suggestion and had a cup of tea for once?"
Luke leaned his forearms on the counter in front of him and looked at her frankly. "It would be nice, but I wasn't born yesterday, so I'm not buyin' it."
"Well believe it or not Ripley, but I am having tea today."
Luke squinted, trying to figure out if she was joking or not. He couldn't tell though and took her words at face value. "Ok, well, here's something I never thought I'd ask you: what kind of tea do you want?"
"Earl Grey please, good sir," she replied in what she knew was a terrible British accent. Lorelai watched him stand up, grab a cup and a teabag. She stopped him before he could pour the hot water in.
"Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm messing with you."
He abandoned the cup, turned around and rolled his eyes at the smile on her face. "Knew it."
"I totally had you going for a minute there."
"You didn't."
Lorelai sighed wistfully, "Oh Luke. I thought we were past the days when I could trick you so easily. You should know me better by now."
"I think I know you pretty well," he smiled.
"Oh yeah? What am I thinking right now then?"
"I said I know you Lorelai, I'm not a psychic."
"Come on, try your hand," she beamed back. Lorelai watched Luke's eyes soften, a ghost of a smile on his face that turned into a smirk.
"You're thinking: I better get my order in quick before Luke runs out of patience and I have to go to Al's for lunch."
Lorelai chuckled. "Burger, fries and a coffee, please," she enunciated to make sure there were no misunderstandings.
Luke's smiled widened as he let out a humorous breath. With a nod, he set her up with a coffee then walked back to the kitchen to prepare her meal. Lorelai watched him go and only after he was out of sight did she realize the shallowness of her breath. She'd seen something…when his eyes got soft, the way he smiled at her…affection? Attraction? She didn't know, but it was definitely something. And it was something she'd seen a lot, but had never really paid attention to before. He looked at her like that all the time.
It took about 10 seconds for her brain to go into overdrive.
"Luke?" she called out.
"Yeah?"
"Can you make that to go?"
"Sure thing."
THURSDAY NIGHT:
Three days. It had been three days since that talk with Mia that sparked the maelstrom of thoughts ping-ponging around in her brain. Three days of examining every interaction she'd ever had with Luke. Three days of confusion. Lorelai lay on the couch in her living room. No TV, no CD's, Rory was at a movie with Lane—it was just her and her thoughts.
After a lot of deliberation, Lorelai had come to the conclusion that Luke might kind of-sort of maybe have more-than-friendship feelings for her. She'd watched him these last couple of days. Taken into account how he treated her, spoke to her, and correlated that with certain instances over the years that she'd disregarded at the time, but that—in hindsight—she shouldn't have. What she'd observed hadn't been anything new…where he was brusque with other customers, he was patient with her. He was kind and generous…he paid attention to her, listened to her ramble on about inane things that she knew he could care less about. These were all things he'd been doing for years, and she wouldn't have thought anything of it if it hadn't been for his eyes. They told a different story. She blamed Sookie and Mia. If they hadn't brought it to her attention she could have gone on happily oblivious to those looks. But now; she couldn't not see them. They were what all her thoughts came back to.
Lorelai sighed. The only reason she wasn't fully freaking out was because there was still a margin of error. She could be wrong. Maybe Luke didn't like her like that at all and just thought of her as a friend. She was not ruling out the possibility that she'd exaggerated his actions and words and took them to mean something they did not. The only way to know for sure would be to hear it from him directly…
But, she thought cautiously…assuming he did have feelings for her…what did that mean? Would their friendship change? Would she be able to look at him the same way? Would she even want to? Did she have feelings for him? That one made her pause. Because that was the million dollar question, wasn't it? Her heartbeat picked up as the thought set in. If she were being objective…she knew what it looked like. She wasn't as unaware as everyone thought and she wasn't an idiot, she was just scared. Denying any kind of romantic feelings between she and Luke had started off as something she'd simply told others, and over time had become something she'd internalized. And not because she found him repulsive, far from it, it's just that he was her friend first. Not only just a friend, a friend she'd come to rely on. He was one of those people she always wanted to have in her corner, in her life, just like she'd told him the other night. Luke was a part of her chosen family, and to Lorelai, that was sacred. She knew she got defensive whenever the topic of the two of them being together came up, but she was terrified of messing with the relationship they already had. Still, she couldn't deny her own part in all of this…if she was examining Luke's behaviour it was only fair to examine her own as well.
She flirted, a lot sometimes. And so what if she found him very attractive? Objectively speaking, he was. The eyes, the smile, the ever-present stubble…He was smart and funny and kinder than most gave him credit for. In the words of '90's icon Cher Horowitz; Luke was a Baldwin. And so maybe she didn't really like seeing him with other women—not that she'd ever admit to that out loud. It was easy to remember how she felt when Rachel had popped up out of nowhere and simply reasserted herself as Luke's girlfriend. Watching how comfortable she was around the diner, around town, with Luke….it created a strange nagging feeling in the pit of Lorelai's stomach that didn't go away until Rachel had left for good. And Ava…when was that, a few weeks ago? Just the thought of Luke with that brazen Chilton booster club mom made her uneasy. So much so that she'd ended up making a fool out of herself asking him not to date her. She hadn't made the connection then, but it made sense now. Could it have been more obvious that she was jealous? Lorelai put a hand to her stomach trying to calm the butterflies she felt. She wasn't supposed to get jealous over a friend's love life…maybe subconsciously she'd been thinking about Luke in a more-than-friends kind of way for some time now… If Sookie or Rory or anyone had acted towards a guy the way she had been, she'd have thought they had feelings for him….so why wouldn't the same apply to her? Just because these feelings were coming from her and were directed towards Luke didn't make them untrue or invalid, right? Right.
Maybe she should just do it; she thought, go out with Luke and see—once and for all—if there was anything beyond friendship between them.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON:
Lorelai walked into the diner and took stock. Save for 2 tables, the place was empty. She'd timed it perfectly; the afternoon lull would give her a chance to talk to Luke privately. Still, as she took a seat at the counter, she did another quick scan of the room. Thankfully there were no notable townies at either table. She breathed out a sigh of relief that she'd have some kind of privacy, but it did nothing to calm her nerves. She couldn't keep her hands still, no amount of slow even breathing was helping...because she was there for a reason, and the reason was terrifying.
"Hey," Luke greeted her jovially, "what are you doin' here? It's early for you, or late, depending on how you look at it."
"What, a girl can't stop by her favourite watering hole for an afternoon coffee?"
"Afternoon coffee isn't a thing. I've heard of afternoon tea maybe, but…" He trailed off when he noticed how distracted she seemed. He set her up with a mug full and watched as it stole her attention.
Lorelai clutched the cup tightly hoping to gain strength from the mystical liquid through osmosis. After a deep breath, she looked him in the eye. "Hey Luke, do you have a minute? To talk, privately."
Luke took in her constantly tapping fingers, the abnormality that was the still-full cup of coffee before her. His brows furrowed fleetingly as he wondered what was going on with her. "Sure," he gestured towards the front door then followed her out. They stopped on the sidewalk a few feet away from the diner's entrance, close enough that he could keep an eye on the place. She turned back, facing the diner, facing him and he waited, but when she didn't speak within the first couple of seconds, he jumped in. "So what's up?"
Lorelai hesitated. Thoughts of just saying something flip then bolting almost won the standoff going on in her head, but she knew what she had to do. And she knew it had to be done today, right now, before she lost her nerve. "I've been doing a lot of thinking recently, which I won't bore you with, but, it made me realize some things."
"Ok."
"You know, just things, about my life, what I want, don't want—"
"Uh huh."
"And I was thinking…" Lorelai gathered her courage and looked him directly in the eyes, her heart beating wildly, "I know what I said the other night, and I meant it. You're my friend—best friend really, and I don't want to jeopardize that but I think we should…maybe—"
Luke waited patiently for her to continue.
"Would you maybe want to have dinner with me?"
"Sure," he shrugged, "we can talk about whatever this is over dinner." They didn't usually plan out times to talk; normally she just showed up and told him what was going on whenever she was ready to. But if she wanted to set an official time that was fine with him. "Come by the diner later and I'll make us something."
Record scratch. The words were leaving her mouth before she could think about it. "Uh no, um—I meant, like a date."
"A date?" He couldn't help the surprised look on his face. His mouth suddenly felt very dry, and only one thought circled around in his head: What was happening? "A-as in you and me?" he gestured between them.
"Yes," Lorelai confirmed, hating how breathless she sounded, "as in you and me, going out—"
"Yes," Luke interrupted.
"Yes you understand what I'm asking or yes you want to—"
"Yes I'd love to go out with you," he smiled.
Lorelai let out a relieved breath and smiled back. "Ok, good. Good, you said yes. So…so we're going."
Luke's eyebrows furrowed as he remembered, "Wait, aren't you going out with that kid?" Because I don't want to get in the middle of anything."
She chose not to comment on the 'kid' part of his question. "No, I'm not. I'd never ask you out if I was already dating someone—"
"Right, I'm sorry," Luke quickly apologized, feeling bad for even having that thought. He knew her better than that.
Lorelai tossed a hand dismissively; she knew he meant no harm in the question. "It was one date with someone who hugged me goodnight. It's never happening again."
"Ok," he said simply, believing her immediately.
"I don't even know what Paul was doing in Stars Hollow that day, I mean; you're not supposed to see your casual date around town after said casual date, right? That negates the whole premise of being casual—"
"Lorelai."
"Sorry, I ramble when I'm nervous."
"I know," he smiled shyly and looked down at his feet. She felt relief in knowing that he was nervous too.
"So are you uh, free, tomorrow night, for our date?"
"Yeah, I'll make sure my shift is covered."
"I'd say tonight, but—"
"Friday night dinner," Luke finished for her.
"Yeah, exactly," she smiled.
"I'll um, think of somewhere we can go. Pick you up at 6?"
"Sounds good." They smiled shyly at each other for another moment before Lorelai spoke again. "I have to get back to work."
"Oh yeah, yeah, I should too."
"Ok."
"Ok." They both took off in opposite directions; Lorelai towards her car, Luke to the diner, but he stopped her before she got into the Jeep.
"Lorelai!"
"Yeah?" she called back.
"Thanks for stopping by." He smiled in a way that made his eyes crinkle and Lorelai felt something flutter inside her. She returned the smile and threw her hand up as a goodbye. He did the same.
Luke watched her drive off before he re-entered the diner. He walked in slowly and closed the door behind him, his hand lingering on it as he tried to absorb the events that just took place. One minute he was refilling a salt shaker and the next he had a date with Lorelai. A date with Lorelai. Well there was something he never thought he'd say. Of course it was something he'd wanted, but the logical side of his brain was always quick to remind him that there was little to no chance of it actually become a reality. Except that it had. He couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his face if he wanted to. The whole thing was unexpected and so amazing. He felt light, like a weight he didn't even know was on him had been lifted. This was good, he thought as he did a cursory sweep of the tables to make sure no one needed anything. This was very good. He made his way back to the half-filled salt shakers behind the counter and started brainstorming ideas of places he could take her.
SATURDAY NIGHT:
Lorelai swiped the mascara brush across her eyelashes one final time and declared herself ready. It was a little after 6 and she was expecting Luke to show up at any time. She checked her purse to make sure everything she needed was in it then made her way downstairs. The knock on the front door came when she was putting on her strappy black heels. After a last look in the mirror to check her hair, Lorelai went to let him in. What she was met with made any quip she was about to rattle off die on her lips. Luke stood there in a leather jacket, with a maroon dress shirt tucked into dark slacks…dress shoes—she didn't think he knew what those were—and the belt she'd picked out for him. It looked like he'd shaved that morning because there was a 5 o'clock shadow along his jaw and neck. He looked…great; very handsome, very sexy. She fought the urge to run her fingers through his hatless hair.
"Uh, hi," she said breathlessly.
"Hi," Luke returned, equally in awe, "You look," he raised a hand to gesture at her outfit, "uh, amazing."
She was wearing a dark blue V-neck wrap dress that hit just below her knees. It had a slit that went up her right thigh that gave it that little-black-dress look she was going for. Blushing under the genuineness of his praise, Lorelai tugged at her dress hoping it looked like she was simply fixing its placement, instead of the nervous gesture it really was. "Thank you. And um, right back atcha."
Luke blushed too. "Should we—?"
"Yes absolutely," Lorelai answered, she got her coat off the rack, closed the door behind her, then followed Luke down to the truck. It took her a moment to realize what he was doing as they both walked around to the passenger side, but then he opened her door. Like a true gentleman. It had been a very long time since she'd come across one of those. She flashed him a shy smile and a soft "Thank you" as she slipped into the seat. Lorelai sat there, heart fluttering, watching as Luke went around to the driver's side. She could do this, she told herself, breathe, it was only Luke.
The ride over to the restaurant did little to sooth their nerves. The talking helped. Luke told her about his latest encounter with Kirk, she teased him about the ancient-ness of his truck radio. They were making an effort to converse as normally as possible—though both were keenly aware that they were in uncharted waters and weren't completely confident in their own ability to navigate through.
It took them about 45 minutes to get to the restaurant. Lorelai didn't know what to expect. All Luke had told her was that it was a seafood place just outside of Hartford. Luke held the door open for her as they walked in, and Lorelai was surprised to find that it was a pretty upscale place. Maybe not something up to her mother's standards, but definitely something she wouldn't have thought Luke would choose. She was suddenly very happy she'd scrapped the idea of jeans and chosen to wear a dress instead.
"This is a really nice restaurant."
"Yeah I've always wanted to come here," he replied as they followed the hostess to their reserved table, "tonight seemed like a good time to try it out. I think you'll like it, I've heard the food's really good." Luke took Lorelai's coat and hung it up on the nearby hook along with his own. When he got back, Lorelai was already seated and talking to their waitress.
"I'll have a glass of pinot grigio please."
"And for you sir?" the waitress asked.
"I'll have the same, thanks."
"You drink wine?" Lorelai asked when they were alone again.
"Sometimes," he smiled, "you know I'm more of a beer guy, but, I know white wine is supposed to go well with seafood and this is a seafood place so…"
"Huh," Lorelai said, smiling as she opened her menu and started perusing it, "Curious."
"Anything look good?" Luke asked a minute or so later.
"I've narrowed it down to 5 entrées and an appetizer."
Luke chuckled, "Well hey, let's order the appetizer first and buy you some time." They put the order in as the waitress set their drinks down on the table. Luke lifted his glass, and with a nervous breath he voiced one of the thoughts that had been on his mind since she'd asked him out. "Here's to uh, you and me, finally doing this."
Lorelai clinked her glass against his, the word 'finally' ringing out in her head. "I'll drink to that." Feeling a sudden shyness at the implication behind his words, she welcomed the slight bitterness of the wine and was happy when he spoke again.
"So what's Rory up to tonight?"
"She's actually at the Independence, having a sleepover with Mia."
"Oh yeah? Mia must be over the moon."
"Rory too. They used to do that sometimes when she was a kid. When I left them earlier they were trying to teach the dessert chef how to make this ice cream sundae they invented when she was 5. So I think they're both in for a bit of nostalgia tonight."
"Sounds about right for the two of them…though I'd feel better if Mia snuck some carrots or broccoli into her dinner to balance things out.
"She could put them in there but that doesn't mean Rory would eat them. She is excellent at avoiding vegetables."
"That's not something you're supposed to be proud of," Luke smiled.
"What can I say, she leaned from the best!" She watched Luke roll his eyes good naturedly then asked, "How about Jess, what's he doing tonight?"
"Hell if I know. If I had to guess I'd say picking up spray paint to graffiti curse words along the side of the pre-school. You know, just to really cement that hoodlum status he's been jonesing for."
Lorelai chuckled at his sarcasm. "Poor kid. I can't believe they called a town meeting over a stupid prank."
"I can. It was Taylor's doing I'm sure…And, thank you, by the way. I don't think I said that the other night."
"For what?"
"Being on my side, trying to help…"
Lorelai waved a dismissive hand as she took another sip of her wine. "They were being ridiculous. They need to cut him a little slack. I mean it's not absurd to think that Jess is going through a bit of a rough time."
"How do you mean?"
"He's a kid, and he's just gone through a huge change…moving to a new town with people he doesn't know, a new home, a new school…New York City living doesn't exactly transition easily to small-town Connecticut."
Luke felt a sense of relief go through him. Since arriving in Stars Hollow Jess had rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, and he was sure that Lorelai had witnessed his bad attitude and snark, maybe even been on the receiving end of it. But at least she was giving him a chance. He was glad there was at least one person in town that he didn't have to defend his nephew to. "I know. I've been trying to make him feel welcome, get to know him better but, he's pretty independent and I'm not really sure how to get him to talk to me."
"Well teenagers aren't generally the most forthcoming bunch. It's almost as if something short circuits in their brain—makes them cagey—as soon as they hit adolescence."
"Rory?" Luke asked, surprised.
"Happens to the best of them," Lorelai replied, thinking of the few times Rory had tried to hide something from her. It always came out in the end, but she remembered the first time it happened, and how sudden the transition from sharing-every-thought-with-mommy to sharing-selectively-with-mommy had felt. She smiled kindly at him, "Give it time Luke, it'll get better."
A few minutes later the waitress returned with their appetizer in hand. Luke watched surreptitiously as Lorelai dug into the calamari with gusto, trying to hide his smile. He always found it adorable and somewhat baffling that she got so excited about food.
"How is it?"
She finished chewing the bite in her mouth then replied, "If the rest of the meal is this good, this place might have to be added into the Gilmore roster of fine eateries."
"That good huh?" At her nod, he dished some of the calamari out into his plate, cut a piece off and took a bite. "Ok," he instantly agreed, "that's good."
A short while later, the shared plate between them was empty and the waitress cleared it from their table. After placing their entrée orders, Lorelai drank her wine and took a better look at her surroundings. The place was decorated in warm brown, cream and dark grey colours. It was modern and upscale in its furnishings but still felt comfortable. Their table was parallel to a wall of windows that separated the indoor seating from the wide patio that wrapped around half of the building. At one end of the patio was an outdoor bar and on the other end, Lorelai could see a small platform that was meant to be a stage, she surmised, based on the band setting up on it. Beyond the patio railing was a view of the Connecticut River; tree-lined and—from her point of view—still. She liked this place, she decided. Now that she was feeling more at ease and was not solely focused on the fact that it was Luke she was on this date with, she could appreciate the ambiance of the restaurant. The lowered lights and flickering tea candles on each table added a—probably intentional—layer of romance, but the music coming softly out of the overhead speakers were the songs she heard on the radio; popular hits that most could sing along to. It didn't match and she loved it. She looked back at Luke, watching him fidget with the cuff of his sleeve, a part of her psyche acknowledging how good he looked in that shirt, how well their date was going…
"Hey Luke?"
"Yeah?"
"This is nice."
He returned her smile. "It is nice."
After a beat, Lorelai continued, her voice soft, "So um…tell me something I don't know about you."
"Uh," Luke laughed self-consciously, "Like what?"
"I don't know…this is a first date…it's usually the get-to-know-you date, and—"
"And we already know each other pretty well," he filled in.
"We do, but I'm sure I don't know everything…I mean, who's to say you don't moonlight as a P.I.?"
"A P.I. huh?" he said in amusement.
"You're a fairly private person," she defended.
"And busy. You think I'd spend the little spare time I do have trailing people and staking out places just to take a couple long lens photos?"
"Ooh, very Twin Peaks. You seem to know a lot about the job Luke."
"Where are you going with this?"
"I don't know yet."
His eyes squinted playfully, "Have I told you you're crazy?"
"Only once or twice…a day," They both chuckled, and Lorelai tried again, "Come on, if you don't tell me something, my imagination's going to run wild with the possibilities of the secret life you lead."
Even though he felt a little silly, Luke gave in, knowing she wouldn't give up. "Uh, ok, well uh…Mia told you that I used to skateboard."
"Uh huh, among other things."
"Well I uh," he smiled ruefully, "I learned to skateboard for a girl."
"You did?" Lorelai asked, surprised and thoroughly amused.
"Yup. Chelsea Daren. I thought skateboarding was kind of stupid, but she thought it was cool. She used to hang out with one of my friends who was really into it and he convinced me to learn so I could get her attention."
"Ah," Lorelai nodded sagely, "you fell for the peer pressure."
"Wasn't the first time, wasn't the last."
"Hmm. So, did you get the girl?"
"Nope," he laughed, "turned out she liked some guy on the debate team."
"Aw no!" Lorelai laughed too, "So you picked up a whole new hobby for nothing?"
"I guess. But I ended up liking it so I kept with it for a while."
"Can you still do it?"
"I haven't tried in at least 15 years, but I'd assume it's like riding a bike, you never forget. I think that was the first time I realized I shouldn't try to change myself for a girl, better to just be me."
"A lesson most of us learn the hard way."
Luke hummed in acknowledgment as he took a sip of his wine.
"Maybe one day I can get you back on a board so I can see what Chelsea Daren missed out on."
"Uh, that's a strong 'maybe' leaning towards a 'no'. I don't think I grown man doing an ollie is as appealing as you think."
"Um, I'll be the judge of that, thank you."
Their conversation was put on pause as the waitress brought out their meals. After they'd both had a few bites, Luke picked it back up. "So what about you?"
"What about me?"
"What's something I don't know about you?"
"Oh! That. Um, I don't know, I think you already know most of the important stuff."
"So tell me something not so important then…or—I don't know too much about what you were like before you moved to Stars Hollow…"
Lorelai chuckled as memories of her adolescent years surfaced. "Um…I was different back then; I don't think you would've liked me much—"
"I doubt that," Luke interjected firmly.
Lorelai gave a flattered smile and continued on. "It was pre-Rory you know, so, I was really leaning into the whole teenage rebellion thing, and, I wasn't very happy. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel…I knew college was going to be my way out so I kept my grades up, but other than that, school wasn't a place I enjoyed being…and that was before the whole teenage pregnancy thing."
"You didn't like any part of it?"
Lorelai's mouth twisted as she considered her early high school experience. "It was more like I got through it by making my own fun."
"Ah," Luke nodded his understanding.
"I had a few friends, but never really fit in with the other kids and home wasn't exactly a refuge…"
"So how'd you get through it?"
"Oh a lot of ways...I used to sneak out a lot."
Luke couldn't help but laugh at the proud but mischievous look on her face. "You did?"
"Oh yeah, I mean, by the time I was 10 I knew all the ways out of the house. Besides the front and back doors there are 12 total, in case you're wondering."
"You were sneaking out of the house at 10 years old?"
"Kind of. At first I'd just go out to the backyard, get some fresh air…revel in a little alone time away from Tracy and Dexter and the rest of the "High Society" ensemble."
"Sure," Luke said genially, not bothering to ask what that was a reference to.
"But when I got older I'd actually venture off the property, you know…go to a friend's house, or maybe dip into my dad's not-so-secret stash of scotch and go to a party I wasn't supposed to be at…"
"Lorelai Gilmore: the poster child for misunderstood youth everywhere, huh?" Luke teased.
"Hey they don't call me the black sheep of the family for nothing," she joked back.
There was a beat of quiet between them as Luke took a sip of his wine and thought about how much more exciting his life would've been if he'd met Lorelai sooner. "I don't know, I think you're wrong. I think we might've been friends back then."
"Oh yeah?"
"I've been known to slip out after curfew."
"Luke Danes, the original rebel without a cause," she beamed, "And here I thought I'd have been the bad influence on you."
"Never got caught either."
"Well you sir are better than I. I got caught a few times, usually when I was coming back home."
"See," he shook his head in mock disappointment, "You could've used my help. If only you'd known me back then."
"If only I were that lucky," Lorelai smiled.
"Getting caught didn't stop you?"
"Hell no, I just got more creative." Lorelai took a contemplative sip of her wine as old feelings of living under the Gilmore roof resurfaced. "The house always felt stifling, you know? There was always someone watching, waiting for me to do something improper or make a mistake. Everything was planned for me, nobody asked for my input and nobody really wanted it…"
Luke said nothing, only taking a bite of his food as he waited for her to continue.
"That's probably why sneaking out always felt so good. Even when I was a kid…just getting outside in the fresh air, being able to breathe, or to—I don't know, sit, however I wanted to sit—was so nice."
"Just wanted that little bit of freedom, huh?"
"Think I needed it." She hadn't meant to steer them into a serious conversation, but it was Luke and she was comfortable with him, so those things tended to happen. "Who knows, maybe if I hadn't rebelled so much I wouldn't be the well-adjusted-completely-sane woman sitting across from you today." She saw his eyes light up before she heard his laughter. Lorelai watched him for a moment, his smile igniting her own. She wondered how much happier she would've been if she'd had Luke in her life back then. "Think of all the shenanigans we could've gotten into if we'd teamed up."
"Shenanigans?"
"Mischief, fun…general tomfoolery," She explained, then sighed dramatically, "But alas, time and tide wait for no one, we grew up and became boring mature adults."
"I don't know," Luke said simply, "the last thing I'd call you is boring." Their eyes met, and he knew from the way her face softened that he was doing a poor job of disguising the rush of affection he felt for her. He loved that he was getting to know her in this new capacity, learn new things about her… Lorelai was by far the most interesting person he knew. She was adventurous. Not in the rock-climbing-cliff-diving way, but in her own unique way. She was smart, and bold, and quick-witted. She had a good head on her shoulders but wasn't afraid to take chances. She was great at telling stories and had the rare ability to make the most mundane of things interesting, fun even. He'd always admired that about her.
Lorelai couldn't stop the smile on her face if she wanted to. Luke was…making her feel a lot of things. Good things. Stomach-fluttery things. Kathleen Kelly finding out that NY152 was really Joe Fox all along type things. What was it she said? "I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly." Yeah, Lorelai thought; that. "Right back atcha."
Between the wine and the steady conversation, the rest of their meal flew by. Neither Luke nor Lorelai were as nervous as they'd been at the start of the evening and it showed. There was laughter and coy glances…their everyday banter easily transitioned to blatant flirtation—and they were both more than ok with that change.
As they lingered over the last of their wine, Luke noticed Lorelai's foot tapping along to the beat of the music. She'd been doing that for the last two songs. The overhead speakers had been turned off in favour of the band out on the patio. Their music was muffled by din of the restaurant but it was still audible. And every time the door to the patio opened they heard a clear burst of the band's set. Luke had made no plans for them beyond dinner, but he was definitely not ready for the night to end. After some very quick thinking, he broke the lull in their conversation.
"Hey do you want to dance?"
"What?" Lorelai asked, completely surprised by his offer.
"Dance. Do you want to?"
"Dance…like on the patio?" she pointed, "You and me?"
"Yeah, out on the patio, the band sounds pretty good, right?"
"As far as I can tell," Lorelai quipped, trying to rid her face of disbelief.
"So?" Luke asked when he realized that that was all she was going to say.
"Oh uh, yeah, yeah, let's do it." Luke dancing? No way was she saying no to that.
Luke led the way out onto the patio. They both shivered slightly as the cool night air hit them.
"Oh I love this song!" Lorelai said excitedly tugging on Luke's arm. She followed him to the middle of the dance floor.
"You know this song?" Luke asked over his shoulder. He didn't.
"Of course I do! This is Andy Gibb at his finest. "Shadow Dancing" was one of my favourites in junior high." She listened for a moment to the smooth melody. "This is a different version though," she laughed, "I almost didn't recognize it without all the disco strings." The band was playing a stripped down cover of the hit song. It was intimate and little sultry. She'd never heard it performed in such a manner and found that she really liked it.
Finally finding a place where they wouldn't be bumping into anyone else, Luke stopped and turned to face Lorelai, holding out his hand. She laughed self-consciously at the gesture, and felt silly for doing so. This was really happening, she thought, they were going to dance, her and Luke. No big deal. After nervously tucking her hair behind her ear, she slipped her hand into his. Luke's other hand found her waist as hers went to his shoulder.
They fell into rhythm quite easily. Luke took the lead, moving them around the dance floor with ease. The butterflies in Lorelai stomach took flight. His eyes caught hers and she spoke without thinking.
"You can dance," it wasn't a question.
"Yeah," Luke replied simply.
"Huh," Lorelai responded, unable to come up with anything more eloquent.
"What, did you think I'd be stepping on your feet or something?"
"No, no," she said on quiet sigh, "I, didn't think that."
Luke smiled to himself watching her eyes shyly drop away from his, knowing—and enjoying—that he'd managed to catch her off guard.
They danced. Lorelai stole glances at him. She was—once again—surprised, by Luke, by what was happening...by how it was making her feel. She thought this whole thing should be strange…shouldn't it? It shouldn't feel so…good. She knew him pretty well, yet never have would have guessed dancing to be in Luke's wheelhouse. He should be rigid and uncomfortable…she should have had to use charm and wit and persuasive manoeuvres to even get him on the dance floor. But it wasn't like that at all. This whole thing was his idea. And though she wanted to tease him, she really couldn't. He was entirely too good at this. He carried himself with confidence, moved naturally, like he felt the music. It was completely unexpected and incredibly sexy. Lorelai stole another glance and found that Luke was already looking at her. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, hoping he couldn't tell what she was thinking.
The next thing she knew, the song was over and Luke let her go to applaud the band with everyone else. She took a deep breath and joined them. That was it, she guessed, disappointed that the musicians hadn't taken cue from Iron Maiden and played for another 8-10 minutes. She wasn't ready to stop, but didn't want to push her luck.
The band launched into "Don't You Want Me", another classic and Lorelai turned back to Luke. "So should we—"
Before she could finish the sentence, Luke had wordlessly taken her hand again and was leading them along to the new beat. She smiled her delight, happy that he wasn't ready to go yet either.
Luke returned her smile. He was having so much fun…which was strange, because he was dancing in public, and the songs were a little more up tempo than he was generally comfortable with, but it was fine, he could handle it—so long as Lorelai kept looking at him like that. He couldn't help but think of how surreal this all was. He was here with Lorelai; they were on a date. An honest to God date. How this happened, why it was happening now…well it didn't really matter, he thought. He'd wanted this for…a long time now, so all that mattered was that it was happening. Luke took a step back in their allotted space and spun Lorelai, laughter bubbling out of them both.
Seeing Luke so relaxed made Lorelai feel giddy. She joined in with others in the crowd and loudly sang the "Don't you want me baby?" refrain along with the singer.
Luke watched on, his eyes crinkled in amusement as the question repeated again and again. Did he want her? She had no idea how much.
"We're gonna slow it down a little bit," they heard from the stage. As an acoustic rendition of "Fields of Gold" started, Luke took a breath and gingerly slid his hand down Lorelai's side to the small of her back, pulling her in closer. He brought their joined hands in to rest more comfortably against his chest.
Lorelai's heart beat faster as Luke changed their position. She ended up flush against him, her hand naturally coming to rest along the back of his neck. All at once Lorelai became very aware of her body. She felt every movement she or Luke made, each sensation heightened by their proximity and whatever it was that was humming between them. Their eyes met fleetingly before Lorelai rested her chin on Luke's shoulder. Her eyes closed as she concentrated on the feeling of being in his arms.
A few minutes later, applause for the band slowly burst the bubble that had formed around them; it seemed the song was over. A quick scan of their surroundings showed just how crowded the patio had become—too crowded in Lorelai's opinion. She asked Luke if he wanted to walk along the boardwalk with her. He agreed and went to get their coats from inside. Once sufficiently bundled, they took the stairs off the patio that led directly to the boardwalk.
They fell into step quietly, each taking in the activity around them. There were some couples and a few families out enjoying the evening. Crickets chirping in the distance, the sound of Lorelai's heels clicking every time they connected with the wooden slats below. The boardwalk stretched out in front of them, lining the Connecticut River. The quiet was nice, she didn't want to break it, but she also did want to break it. Talking was good, talking would keep her from over analyzing everything, when she should be—Lorelai's thoughts were interrupted as she felt Luke's fingers brush against her own. She thought it might have been an accident, but then it happened again, and she was sure it wasn't. Luke's fingers reached for hers in a tentative way that she found endearing. Moments ago they'd been practically pressed up against each other. He'd been the epitome of confidence; leading her around the dance floor as if that wasn't a completely remarkable occurrence. Yet now, simply walking beside her, he'd grown shy, unsure. The man was a mystery, she thought. Lorelai entwined their fingers and gave his hand a gentle squeeze, hoping her smile reassured him that he'd made the right move.
They walked for another minute or so before Lorelai veered right and led them over to the railing. They were a ways down from the restaurant but the patio lights still twinkled, the band could still be heard. Faint strains of their rendition of "Sweet Child of Mine" broke the stillness of the night. Luke and Lorelai were side by side, leaned against the railing, looking out over the lapping water. Lorelai took a deep breath of the crisp night air, internally chastising herself for putting them in a position where they weren't touching.
"It's beautiful out here tonight."
"It is," Luke agreed, noticing how the moonlight made the water shimmer. It was a clear night, a little on the cold side, but not too windy or crowded—pretty good for almost-winter, actually.
Lorelai turned to face him, her arm leaning against the rail. Luke mirrored her stance.
"Sooo dancing, huh?" She watched an embarrassed smile form on his face. "Who would've known Stars Hollow had an undercover Fred Astaire in its midst?"
"Does that make you Ginger?"
"Oh absolutely," Lorelai replied deadpan, making them both chuckle. "But really, how do you know how to do that?"
"Everyone can dance."
"Sure, but not everyone dances as well as you do." Luke blushed, his eyes dropping away from hers for a moment. "So what was it? 5 years of secret lessons with Miss Patty?"
"Oh God no," he said firmly, then let out a humorous breath, "No, I uh, I guess I'm just a natural."
"I'll say." There was a beat of silence in which Lorelai looked out over the water, her hand rubbing along her forearm, attempting to warm up.
"You're shivering," Luke commented.
"Yeah," she breathed. He could see her attempts weren't working so Luke moved in closer, brought his hands up to her arms and rubbed from her shoulders to her elbows, hoping the friction would generate some heat.
Lorelai watched him; her face softened by the genuine concern he showed. The action was just…so Luke; sweet and caring…
It took him a moment to realize she wasn't shivering anymore. Their eyes locked, and time stretched as the air around them changed. In the next moment his lips were on hers, soft and firm. They fell in sync immediately, the kiss taking on a life of its own. Luke's fingers threaded her hair, holding her still as every bit of what he was feeling poured out.
They broke apart. Her hands fell from his neck to his chest as Luke rested his forehead against hers. Somehow his hands were on her hips. Lorelai absently wondered when that happened, but knew she'd never come up with the answer. She'd lost all rational thought the moment their lips touched. Her mind was still in a bit of a fog. All she knew was that she and Luke had kissed and it had been very, very good. "Wow," she breathed.
"Yeah," he responded, just as breathily. Before he could get anything else out, Lorelai kissed him again. It was shorter but just as earthshaking. When the kiss ended their eyes remained closed, their foreheads coming together again as they lingered in the moment. His mind was reeling with the enormity of what had happened. This was big. A huge step for them. But he knew Lorelai and making a big deal out of it would do nothing but freak her out. Probably. It wasn't worth the risk. Instead, he simply leaned in, and kissed her cheek. Straightening, he slipped his hand back into hers and tugged it, non-verbally asking if she was ready to head back.
They walked quietly. It was neither uncomfortable nor anxiety inducing, just quiet. Actually, Lorelai was glad for the verbal breather, needing to let the last few moments of their night sink in. They'd kissed. She and Luke. Finally. Finally; she wondered why the word didn't ring out in her head as it had earlier in the night, why, this time—this step they'd taken—felt inevitable. She'd never been kissed like that before. It was warm and heady and…entirely lovely. Definitely a foot-popping kiss. Except that both her feet had been firmly planted. Which was good, she reasoned, because she'd felt like she was floating and besides Luke's touch, they'd been the only things keeping her grounded.
"Oh Luke look!" Lorelai said excitedly, interrupting their quiet.
"Hm?"
"Over there! An ice cream cart, how did I miss that before?"
"I don't know, usually you've got a homing beacon for those kinds of things."
"I know! Don't tell Rory it's broken, she'll be so disappointed."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"Come on, let's go!" Lorelai said, already leading him over there.
"You want ice cream now? It's getting kind of cold out."
"One thing has nothing to do with the other. Besides, I didn't have any dessert at the restaurant. Hi," she said to the man behind the stand, not giving Luke a chance to answer, "I'll have a…uh…scoop of chocolate and a scoop of cookie dough please, thanks."
"Certainly Miss, and for you sir?" The man asked, already starting Lorelai's cone.
"I'll have a scoop of the strawberry please."
Lorelai's head snapped over to him. "You're having ice cream?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"I thought you didn't do dessert."
"I do dessert. I even occasionally do desserts that you would approve of."
"Huh. Curiouser and curiouser. If I weren't seeing it with my own eyes I don't know that I would've believed it was true."
"Well believe it," Luke said, handing over the appropriate amount of money.
The man gave them their cones and after a quick thank you, they meandered over to a wooden bench just a few feet away. As they sat down, Lorelai looked at Luke appraisingly, watched him enjoy his dessert—something that seemed so uncharacteristic of him. "What else don't I know about you," she asked plainly.
Luke smiled secretly, "You'll just have to wait and find out."
Lorelai accepted that answer with a nod. She leaned back and took a lick of her ice cream before responding. "I kind of can't wait."
Flattered, a beam overtook Luke's face before he could even think to play it coolly.
They sat on the bench for the duration of their cones; looking out over the water, talking. Luke told her about his dad's boat and offered to show her one day. Lorelai heartily accepted the invitation, ever eager to get a glimpse beyond the baseball cap. Unfortunately, ice cream didn't last forever. It was getting late, and neither could bring themselves to admit out loud that they weren't ready for the night to be over, so they walked back to the truck and started towards Stars Hollow.
Luke shut off the engine and made his way to the passenger's side door. He helped Lorelai out of the truck and held onto her hand, interlocking their fingers. As they walked up to the house, Lorelai took note of how un-date-like their date had been. In fact, there were many times during the night when it hadn't felt like a date at all. Beyond the initial and expected nervousness at the beginning of the night, the whole evening had been…well, easy. There were no awkward or uncomfortable moments she'd had to tactfully joke her way out of, no pressure to tame her quirks, or worry about how he would get along with Rory…if even the simple fact that she was a single mom would be too much for him to handle… Their un-date like date was—rare. And she'd been in the game long enough to appreciate just how truly amazing that was.
They climbed the last porch step and turned to face each other, their hands disengaging as Lorelai tucked her hair behind her ear. Meeting his eyes, she gave voice to her thoughts. "I know this is new and you're not really supposed to say things like this so soon, but, um, that was one of the best dates I've ever been on."
"Yeah?" Luke asked in a charming lopsided smile.
"Yes," she confirmed, smiling self-consciously at the admission. "I mean, I didn't once feel like I had to pretend."
His brow furrowed fleetingly, "You pretend on dates?"
"You know you do the whole; overly-enthusiastic-about-one-of-their-hobbies thing or, I don't know," she shrugged a shoulder, "all that early dating stuff everyone does before things start to get real."
"Right," Luke nodded in understanding, "I've done that before."
"But I didn't have to do that with you. It didn't even cross my mind."
"Good," Luke smiled, "I wouldn't want you to pretend to be something you're not. You're pretty great just as you are."
Lorelai's head ducked shyly at the compliment. "Do you think maybe it's because we've been friends for so long?"
"Maybe it's because this is how we were always supposed to be." Luke's eyes darted to her lips then back up again. His hand found her waist and drew her closer. "I uh, don't want to make the same mistake as the last guy." His lips landed on hers and they lost themselves in that kiss. Lorelai's arm swung around his neck, her other hand on his back pulling him even closer. She moaned when she felt Luke's tongue tracing her bottom lip, asking for permission which was instantly granted. They lost minutes to that kiss, and another to catch their breath afterwards. They shared a longing look, each knowing their moment wasn't going to go any further. With a nod and one last squeeze to her hand, he left. Lorelai took the last couple of steps to the front door but was stopped before she could go inside.
"Lorelai!" He was about halfway to the truck but the light from the porch still illuminated his face. At her expectant look, he swallowed thickly. "This is the best date I've been on. Bar none," he managed a shy smile, "Goodnight."
"Night Luke," Lorelai said faintly. She watched as he got in the truck and reversed out of her driveway before going inside. She closed the door behind her, her hand lingering on the glass, heart beating wildly. She felt like the heroine in an '60's rom-com saying good evening to her beau. Any moment now the lights would take on a pink hue… the music would swell…
SUNDAY MORNING:
Luke poured the mix onto the grill and watched as the batter began to bubble. He waited the appropriate length of time then flipped the half-cooked pancake and waited again. It wasn't the most thrilling aspect of his job, in fact on some days, the task proved tedious. But not today. Today his mind barely registered what he was doing; his body working on auto pilot. Luke wasn't one for daydreaming, but he was coming dangerously close to it. He'd gone a date with Lorelai. An honest to God date. As a rule, he didn't think he was particularly good at the whole dating thing, but last night was the exception. It had been…well, perfect—which was strange for him to think, he knew, because there had been dancing and ice cream involved. But he really hadn't minded the ice cream and though dancing wasn't something he made a habit of, it was a reason to hold Lorelai in his arms and he couldn't be mad about that. Luke blushed at the thought then rolled his eyes at himself for having that reaction. He wasn't usually prone to such sentimentality…at least he didn't think he was…there was just something about Lorelai that brought it out in him. Now, it seemed, all those mushy thoughts were crowding his brain, spilling out of his mouth. He knew there were a few times last night where he'd probably been a bit too open with his feelings…at least for a first date. But he had no regrets; not when he finally had a chance to be with her.
They'd been friends for a while now, and the diner was Lorelai's pit stop before and/or after most events…so he'd heard the after-date discussions with Rory and Sookie: tales of men who didn't call back or whose words and actions fell flat. The ones who made no effort or ran when they heard she was a mom. They were chumps, all of them. None of them knew how lucky they were to take her out, have her attention, affection… They didn't appreciate what they had. But that wouldn't be him, he thought determinedly. He didn't care how sappy it would make him sound, Lorelai was amazing, and she should be reminded of that. Often. He wasn't so full of himself that he didn't recognize his own set of faults, but he was going to try his hardest to be the type of guy she deserved. He wasn't going to mess this up.
Luke added the fresh batch of pancakes to the plate and went out to deliver them. He'd just set it down when the bells over the door rang. He looked up reflexively and saw Lorelai standing near the door, smiling at him. He smiled back.
"Enjoy," he mumbled absently to the lady at the table. His eyes dropped casually as he went back behind the counter. Lorelai met him there.
"Hey."
"Hey," Luke replied, already pouring her a mug of coffee.
"What, no lecture?"
"Nope. Today's a special day."
"It is, huh?" A smitten smile crept onto her face. She could tell he was trying to project nonchalance, but his lips were adorably quirked up, giving him away.
"Mhm"
"Well in that case, I think I might take advantage of your generous mood and ask for another cup to go."
Luke brows furrowed. "You're not staying?"
"Only for a few minutes. I'm supposed to meet Rory and Mia at the inn. We're spending the day together; going shopping, getting our nails done…then Sookie invited us over for dinner."
"Oh. Ok," Luke replied, his mood slightly deflated by the news. But he understood. Wordlessly, he plated a sprinkle donut and slid it over to her. She cocked an eyebrow at him in question.
He shrugged, "You have to eat something."
"Thanks." There was a beat in which Lorelai pinched off a piece of the donut and ate it. She licked some excess icing off her thumb and felt Luke's gaze on her. She licked her lips involuntarily at the heated look that passed between them when she finally met his eyes.
Another beat had Luke clearing his throat. "So um—"
"So I had a really great time last night," Lorelai interjected.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Me too. We should do it again," Luke said boldly, beating her to it.
"We should." She smiled brilliantly over the rim of the mug before taking a sip.
"Soon."
"Ok."
"Are you free tomorrow night?"
"Uh, yeah, yeah tomorrow night works." She'd make it work.
"Ok, then it's a date," he beamed. It was nice, he thought, getting to say that to her.
"What did you have in mind?"
"You up for a movie?"
"I am always up for a movie."
"I'll even let you pick."
"And they say chivalry's dead," Lorelai said sweetly, a hand going to her chest.
Luke rolled his eyes, his lips twisting in amusement.
"Ok," Lorelai said, before downing the rest of her coffee, "I think my time's up…I'll take that to-go cup now if you don't mind." When Luke turned to get her coffee, Lorelai took a few bills out of her purse and stuck it under the mug she'd just drained. She took the proffered cup from him, slung her purse onto her shoulder and grabbed what was left of the donut. "See ya Luke," she smiled.
"See ya," he replied, lifting his hand in a half-wave. He watched her exit the diner, realizing too late that he hadn't kissed her goodbye.
Outside, Lorelai settled in behind the wheel of the jeep, waiting while it warmed up. Taking a sip of her coffee, she looked towards the diner. She was parked across the street. The glare from the sun made it so that she couldn't see him, but she knew he was there. Just like he always was. Only this time they weren't just customer/proprietor, or even just friends. They were…whatever they were. Friends-plus. Yeah, Lorelai thought as she pulled away from the curb, friends-plus.
"I am caffeinated, invigorated and ready to rock and roll!" Lorelai said exuberantly as she walked up to the front desk at the independence.
"I can see that," Mia said amusedly, "I take it it's been a good morning?
"Rolled off the right side of the bed and all that," Lorelai beamed, "How are you?"
"Also ready to rock and roll."
"Rory was ok last night?"
"An angel as always, we had a wonderful time!"
"Good, I'm glad. She's missed you."
"I've missed her too. We'll have to see if we can have another sleepover before my flight out."
"Now you're just spoiling her," Mia smiled in response. Lorelai continued, "Where is my mini me?"
"Oh she's a chip off the old block. I had a hard time waking her up this morning, something about the day of rest?" Lorelai chuckled. "She's running late, we've got some time. Let's sit," Mia gestured over to the couch in the lobby. She rounded the front desk and led Lorelai over there, sitting as she spoke again. "You seem awfully happy this morning," she'd noticed the perma-smile on Lorelai's face, "A night off of mom-duty must have done you some good."
"I did have a really nice night."
"What did you end up doing? I hope you got out a little."
"I did go out actually."
Mia waited for more of an answer but it never came. "To where?" she dragged leadingly, gesturing for Lorelai to continue.
"To a uh, this seafood restaurant just outside of Hartford."
"A seafood restaurant huh?" Mia asked, now catching onto what Lorelai wasn't saying. "And who did you go with?" Her silence was damning, and only made Mia more curious. "I know Sookie spent most of her night here… There was a guest with some food allergies so she came in to modify the menu."
"I-it wasn't Sookie…I went—"
"With a date?"
Lorelai bit the inside of her cheek. She hadn't been planning on telling anyone yet…This thing with Luke was...new. It felt special and she wanted to protect it. Besides, she wasn't exactly eager to hear all of the I-told-you-so's that were undoubtedly coming her way. But, on the other hand…she had no desire to lie to Mia and she did want to tell someone about it. Last night had been one for the books—seemingly dreamlike in the light of day. Telling someone would make it real—and boy did she want it to be real. With a deep breath, she just came out with it, "I went out with Luke."
"Oh," Mia said innocently. She hadn't been expecting that. She remembered the conversation they'd had about Luke and wondered if maybe she'd gotten through to Lorelai…but it was best not to draw conclusions, she decided, and to tread carefully—lest she say anything that would ultimately work against her cause. "Well that's very nice, I'm glad you two got to spend some time together. Lucas is very good compan—"
"It was a date," Lorelai blurted, interrupting.
Mia's eyebrows rose, a slow smile creeping onto her face. "A date?"
"Mhm."
"Really?"
"Yes. I went on a date with Luke," Lorelai said clearly, unable to hide her smile or the way she knew her face was lighting up.
There was a suspended pause before Mia let out a relived sigh and pulled Lorelai into a tight hug. "Oh I'm so happy! When did this happen, how did this happen? Tell me everything!"
Lorelai laughed. Her eyes scanned the lobby to see if anyone was paying them any attention. Apparently Mia's small outburst had turned not even one head. "Well I-I don't know if we have enough time right now…"
"Just the highlights then!"
"Ok, um," Lorelai laughed again, "Well, I thought about it and decided it was time to figure out if there was anything more than friendship between us."
"Uh huh"
"So I asked Luke to dinner," Mia's gasp didn't go unnoticed, but Lorelai continued on, "And as I was saying before, we went to a seafood restaurant. Amazing food. Sookie would plotz."
"Mhm"
"It was a pretty fancy place, right along the river, beautiful view."
"Sounds romantic."
"It was…there was an ambiance to it, definitely. It's not the kind of place I expected Luke to choose but…" she trailed off before meeting Mia's eyes and smiling. Her voice soft as she continued, "And it was really nice, you know? We talked and laughed and it was easy…it felt—" Her eyes got distant in memory, a gentle smile adorning her face.
If Lorelai's disposition was anything to go by, Mia guessed that the night had been much better than simply nice. "It felt?" she prompted, bringing Lorelai back to the present.
"It felt…comfortable and…right." She sighed sheepishly and shrugged a shoulder, "I don't know if that makes any sense—"
"It does."
"Honestly I don't know why I ever thought there weren't feelings between us. Because there are. A lot of feelings," she confessed, blushing at her own candidness.
"Oh honey I'm so glad," Mia said earnestly, "You and Lucas make a wonderful pair."
"I think so too." Her eyebrows came together as something occurred to her. "Hey Mia?"
"Hm?"
"How come you never set me and Luke up?"
"Set you up?"
"On a date or a blind date or...I don't know, you've known both of us for so long."
Mia looked at her for a moment, remembering back to all those years ago, and then spoke honestly. "Lorelai when you showed up at my door…you were so young—fierce and smart as a whip—but young."
Lorelai nodded in agreement. She had been young, not just in age but in life experience as well.
"For a long time my only concern was making sure you and Rory were ok…and Luke, well, Luke had his own things going on; his father, his sister, Rachel. I actually thought about introducing you two once when Rachel had left…but by then Luke was getting the diner going, you were saving up for a house. I figured the timing wasn't right for either of you. And then the next thing I knew, you'd met each other on your own. Once you became friends I thought it would happen organically. And it has," She smiled.
"Well it's started at least." Lorelai replied, satisfied with Mia's explanation. Those years in the potting shed, she'd been hyper focused on building a life for her and Rory. That didn't leave much room for dating. She doubted she'd have been receptive to a set up anyway. "I'm not sure what Luke's thinking, or if he even wants…a relationship, right now…" Lorelai said stiltedly, only just realizing that they hadn't talked about their feelings or anything of the sort really. She'd asked him out, he'd accepted and they'd gone on one spectacular date without the topic ever coming up.
Mia's head tilted to the side. She spoke plainly, "It's Luke."
"Yeah"
"Luke is the relationship type, you know that."
"I don't know that. I don't really know his dating history."
"He was with Rachel for years."
"That just means he was committed to Rachel. That doesn't mean—"
"Lorelai, don't dwell on a problem that doesn't exist. You and Luke together is a good thing. And it will continue to be good. You'll see."
Lorelai smiled at the certainty in Mia's voice. And she had to agree. She and Luke were good together, their friendship strong. She'd been worried that dating would ruin that, and that fear still existed, but…if last night was any indication, being together—romantically—would only make what they already had, that much better.
"Now, finish telling me about your date."
Lorelai laughed at the not-so-subtle redirect away from the serious and back to the excitement of the previous night. She was more than happy to oblige. But before she could get two words out, Rory was bounding down the staircase, calling out to them.
"I'm ready!"
By unspoken agreement, the topic of she and Luke was dropped, mutually understood that it would be picked up again later. "Hey chickie, you ready to spend an obscene amount of money?"
"How obscene are we talking?" Rory asked, getting the "Pretty Woman" reference immediately.
"Oh, reeeeally offensive." Lorelai threw an arm around Rory and turned back to where Mia was putting on her coat. "Ready Mia?"
"I'm ready," she fell into step with mother and daughter.
"Alright, let's go girls!' Lorelai said cheerfully.
"Shania? Really?"
"Hey I'm telling you, that song will outlive us all."
"Luke took you dancing?"
"He didn't take me dancing, there was a band at the restaurant and we danced."
They were sitting around Sookie's kitchen table, plates full of delicious baked rigatoni in front of them. They'd barely sat down before Mia was urging her to fill the girls in. So she did. And there were gasps and questions, and wide-eyed stares, and squealing. Lots of squealing. Mostly from Sookie—Rory wasn't the squealing type. Their food was getting cold she knew, but the meal had been forgotten as soon as she'd told them the news.
Sookie had gone through a range of emotions but settled on a mix of delight and relief. She'd been waiting for this day for a very long time. If it hadn't happened soon she was seriously considering locking them in a room until they figured out how perfect they were for each other. It might sound like an extreme measure, but it was hard to watch them pine for one another day in and day out only to repeatedly deny that they were doing so. And all the while they dated the wrong people, caused themselves unnecessary heartache… Now Sookie was no expert in relationships, but she knew two people destined to be together when she saw them. Their date sounded amazing, Lorelai looked all smitten…the only thing she was having a hard time with was the whole dancing thing. When she imagined Luke on a dance floor, he'd either be fixing it or…no, that's it, he'd only be there to fix it. "And Luke can actually dance?"
"Like you wouldn't believe." Lorelai sighed softly, getting lost in the memory of being in Luke's arms, swaying along to the music. "I'm telling you, I could've danced with him all night."
"Like in 'My Fair Lady'?" Mia asked.
"Just call me Eliza."
"Oh, hallelujah!" Sookie exclaimed, not for the first time that night. "I was beginning to think you'd never realize your feelings for him!"
Lorelai blushed. "Yeah it's about time, huh?"
"I'll say," Sookie scooped some pasta onto her fork, "And how do you feel today?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is there any regret, shame…second thoughts?" She just had to make sure.
Lorelai answered succinctly. "No, none."
"Have you spoken to him today?" That was Mia.
"I stopped by the diner this morning."
"Couldn't help yourself, huh?" Sookie smirked.
Lorelai's face tinged pink again, but Mia spoke before she could answer. "And did he…also roll off the right side of the bed and all that?"
Lorelai let out a humorous breath. "I think so, yeah, in his own Luke-way. We made plans for tomorrow night so—" She was cut off by another Sookie squeal. "I mean I do wish I had dragged him into the back and given him a proper hello like I wanted to, but other than that—"
"Ugh!" Rory's whole body cringed in disgust, "Don't ruin Luke for me! I still have to be able to look him in the eye you know, he has the coffee!"
"Right, sorry." Lorelai apologized seriously, "Can't sully the coffee source." After a sip of her wine, she turned—somewhat nervously—to her too-quiet daughter. Beyond her initial surprise at the news, Rory hadn't said much. She sat quietly—pensively, and listened to the conversation. She had on her deep-in-thought face. Which Lorelai knew wasn't always a good thing.
"I can see the gears turning hun, what are you thinking?" A beat passed in which Rory said nothing. Lorelai took that to mean her daughter was trying to think of a way to express her displeasure at the situation. She didn't want to say what she was about to…but, Rory came first. "You know nothing's official yet honey. I can call things off with Luke if you're uncomfortable. It's not too late."
"I think it is too late," Rory said simply, her face unreadable, "Look at you; you're practically gushing talking about him."
"It's not too late. Your opinion is the most important one to me. If you say no then I'll respect that. And Luke will respect that. I'll tell him—"
"No need," Rory beamed wickedly, "I'm fine with it."
Lorelai shook her head ruefully, utterly relieved that Rory had been messing with her. "Not funny kid."
"Sorry, I had to," Rory replied, not looking the least bit sorry.
"So you're fine with it?"
"I love you and I love Luke," she shrugged, "this has been a long time coming."
"It has," Lorelai agreed.
"I am surprised you're not freaking out about this more…"
"Oh I had my moment," Lorelai reassured her, "When I realized Luke might have feelings for me…and then I had another moment when I realized I might have feelings for him too."
"Might?"
"They've since been confirmed."
"Good," Rory smiled, "I'm glad. It's about time you found a respectable young man to take you on."
"Gee, thanks, Mrs. Bennet." With a shared smile, mother and daughter returned to the plates before them. Lorelai was mid-bite when Sookie interrupted their quiet moment.
"So tell me, what song did you dance to? …Because I'm having trouble picturing Luke getting down to anything in the realm of "Boogie Nights."
MONDAY NIGHT:
Luke squinted in the half-lit theater trying to find Lorelai. She'd gone ahead with their popcorn and drinks to find a seat while Luke went back to the concession stand to get the M&M's he'd forgotten. Their second date was going just as well as their first. They'd already gone for dinner; to a pub this time. They had beer and shared a bunch of appetizers; it was fun and low-key; relaxed. The conversation flowed easily, and while they hadn't yet revisited the whole mind-blowing kissing thing, there had been several heated moments throughout the night that had Luke wanting to revise his stance on PDA.
Dinner and a movie—as far as dates went, he knew it was a bit generic. But eating and movie-watching were two of the things Lorelai loved doing the most, so…it was actually kind of perfect. He spotted her in the middle of the theatre and made his way over, handing her the candy before removing his coat.
"Ah, thank you!" Lorelai said happily. She immediately poured the chocolates into her popcorn and gave the bag a good shake. Luke looked on in bewilderment but opted not to comment. Only Lorelai, he thought amusedly.
Luke snuck a peak at her while he got settled in his seat. He'd been doing it all night, but couldn't really help it, she looked so great. She was in a red top…it looked like silk but he wasn't sure; fabrics weren't exactly his forte. It was sleeveless, so her arms were bare, and the neckline was a little lower than what he usually saw her in. It definitely wasn't weather appropriate, but he wasn't complaining. And the jeans…Luke watched subtly as Lorelai crossed one high-heeled leg over the other—the jeans made her already long legs look endless. The words were out of his mouth before he thought to curb them. "Have I told you how good you look tonight?"
"You have," she smiled at the suddenness of the compliment.
"Well, it's worth repeating. You look…really beautiful," his voice softened with sincerity.
"Thank you," she replied just as softly.
He seemed to be moving in slow motion as he tucked a stray curl behind her ear. His hand lingered, eyes fixed there as well. When he finally looked up, he found that she was already watching him. She saw the smile in his eyes before it formed on his lips—before she heard him absently murmur,
"Beautiful."
She couldn't look away. His eyes, it was always his eyes, she thought. They were dangerous. A girl could get lost in them if she weren't careful. Feeling a tell-tale blush coming on, Lorelai laughed self-consciously. "You don't have to make leading lady dialogue for me, I'm a comic."
"What?"
"Fannie Brice."
"Who?"
"'Funny Girl?'"
"Who's a funny girl?" He asked, now thoroughly confused.
"Uh, nevermind," Lorelai said, breaking their gaze as she closed her eyes tightly, silently kicking herself for ruining their moment with a "Funny Girl" quote of
all things. She stuffed some popcorn in her mouth to prevent more idiocy from coming out.
"Is that from a movie?"
"Mhm."
"Oh," Luke smiled, happy that he'd guessed correctly, "well we'll have to watch it sometime. I don't think I've seen it."
"I believe that."
"I haven't seen much actually. Which I'm sure you'll attempt to remedy."
"Attempt?" she scoffed, "Please, you're talking to a movie connoisseur here; I'll have you quoting the greats in no time." A beat passed in which they both watched the pre-movie trivia showing on screen. Luke spoke first.
"So "Flash Gordon" huh?" Luke said, turning their conversation to the movie they were about to watch.
"Oh yeah," she said enthusiastically, "I was so happy to find it. This place is great for showing older movies but I never thought I'd see a cult classic on their marquee—I couldn't resist." She took a sip of her drink then continued, "And, you know, it's got that '80's sci-fi –esque thing going for it so I figured you'd at least be interested in that aspect of it, being a trekkie and all."
Luke rolled his eyes good naturedly at her teasing but left the trekkie comment alone. "Well if you've seen it before we could've watched something else."
"Oh you can never watch "Flash Gordon" too many times."
"It's that good huh?"
"It's one of our favourites! When we lived in the potting shed, money was pretty tight. I couldn't keep up with Rory's reading habit, so I used to tell her the plots of movies as bedtime stories. "Flash Gordon" was a go-to for a while. Then when she was—" she looked over to find Luke smiling at her wordlessly, "What?" she asked.
Luke shook his head, his lips turned down in a soft considering frown, his face emanating something like admiration. "Nothing, you're just…incredible."
"What?" Lorelai asked again, completely caught off guard.
"Just…how you managed all those years…what you did for you and Rory…it's amazing. You know that right?" He wasn't sure if she did. She always talked about that time in her life casually—like it was nothing. He knew it wasn't nothing. He knew how scary it was to have big responsibilities at a young age, how hard it could be—and he didn't even have a kid to take care of.
"I just did what I had to do."
"Yeah but you did it well."
"Thank you," she replied softly, heart pounding. Luke had said similar things to her before, and every time he did—without fail—a feeling of warmth would course through her body. Luke wasn't the type to just throw around compliments all willy-nilly. He was a man of substance—his praise always genuine. She knew that he meant the things he said, so a comment like that—from Luke—meant a lot to her.
Luke saw the theatre darken in his peripherals. "I think it's starting."
She nodded and they both turned towards the screen, breaking the moment and switching over to movie mode.
"So what did you think?" Lorelai asked as they made their way out of the theatre. They'd gone to space and back and she had thoroughly enjoyed the journey.
Lorelai didn't really know what to expect from sitting in a dark theatre alone with Luke, but she didn't take him for the fake-yawn manoeuver type. And she was right, he wasn't. Halfway through the movie he'd simply put his arm around her shoulder—confidently, casually…like they'd been together for 20 years and that's just how they sat. At his touch, a tingle went down her spine. It was a good feeling so she chased it—got the armrest between them out of the way and moved in closer, her head naturally fell to rest on his chest. It was only after she was leaned against him that she heard how fast his heart was beating, and knew that he wasn't as unaffected as he seemed. She'd tried to calm the resulting butterflies in her stomach but it was no use. She figured she might have to get used to them, dating Luke.
"It was better than I thought it was going to be. A little gaudy but—"
"I think the word you're looking for is camp," she playfully corrected.
"Oh right, right, of course, camp." Luke acquiesced good-naturedly, "All in all, not the worst."
Lorelai beamed. "Wow, that's pretty much a glowing review coming from you." She couldn't help but tease him.
"I mean it was ridiculous…but I think it was supposed to be."
"Well I'm glad it didn't induce a rant. I'm taking it as a win."
"You should," Luke replied, zipping up his coat. They pushed their way out the front entrance of the building and fell in step on the sidewalk. The truck was parked a little ways down from the theatre, but neither was in a rush to get there. Luke took a hold of Lorelai's hand as they meandered quietly. A beat passed before he spoke again. "So things are good with Sookie?"
"Sookie?"
"Yeah, you said something about clobbering her…I guess that all got sorted out?"
"Oh," Lorelai said in understanding, "Yeah, we're good now. She's back to being the Shirley to my Laverne."
"Good. You seemed upset about it before."
"I was. I don't like fighting with Sookie. I mean, that was our first major fight, but it still sucked."
"Well you two are very close; it was bound to happen sooner or later."
"I guess," Lorelai chuckled humourlessly, "Why does it always happen that way? It's so easy to lash out on the people you care the most about."
"Maybe because you know they'll still be there no matter what."
"You think that's why we argue so much?" She half-joked, nudging him with her elbow.
"Banter," Luke corrected, then spoke seriously, "and yeah, I do. It's like you said the other night, we'll always be there for each other…and that's not always a given, you know, relationships, friendships…they can be pretty fragile—at least in my experience...doesn't necessarily take much to break them. But knowing that a person's not going to leave just because you get mad at them or make a mistake, or, I don't know," he smirked, catching Lorelai's eye so that she knew he was joking, "tease them relentlessly…that's a nice kind of security to have."
"Well that's—awfully wise of you Mr. Danes," Lorelai replied softly, thoroughly impressed by the thoughtfulness of his words. She wondered—not for the first time that night—why it'd taken her so long to realize her feelings for him when they were so glaringly obvious to her now.
"Not really," he said sheepishly, "you see something happen enough times; you start to notice a pattern."
"Looks and humility—and they say all the good men are taken."
"Well I am, taken…right?"
"Right." And that was that, she thought, smiling happily. Less than ten words and it was understood: they were together, in a relationship…screw casual dating. It wasn't for her anyway.
Luke welcomed the relief that rushed through his body. He let out a contented breath and returned her smile. He thought he'd lost his chance when she got engaged, but he hadn't. They were really going to do this; his smile widened at the thought.
"I told the girls about our date," Lorelai said suddenly. Now that they were official and kind of on the topic, she thought he should know.
"The girls?"
"Rory, Sookie and Mia."
"Oh."
"Rory would've found out anyway, and Sookie and Mia would've killed me if I hadn't…I hope that's ok, I know you like to keep things pretty private."
"Yeah well those three are different," he replied congenially. Honestly, he'd be surprised if she hadn't told them.
"I figured I should give you a head's up so you're prepared for when Sookie tackles you."
Luke paused, trying to correlate Lorelai's words with the numerous conversations he and Sookie had had in the past on the same topic. She'd always seemed to be in favour of them getting together, but he wanted to make sure. "Would this be a good tackle, or…?"
"Now what exactly constitutes a good tackle?" Lorelai asked facetiously, unable to pass up the opportunity to tease him, "Doesn't one simply run at something and knock it over?"
Luke rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean."
"I do—funnily enough—speak your specific brand of diner man." She smiled mischievously at him and waited for his eyes to roll again like she knew they would, before continuing. "Not to worry, they're all very excited about you and me."
"Even Rory?"
"Even Rory. Apparently they've been waiting for this day to come."
"Oh I know."
"You do?"
"Sookie's not exactly known for her subtly."
Lorelai chuckled. "Very true. Though she's not nearly as bad as Miss Patty or Babette—they've been giving me unsolicited advice about you for years."
"You too, huh?"
"I see they've been working both angles."
"Can't say that I'm surprised."
"They're nothing if not persistent."
"I'm sure they bother you more than me though, the whole town grump thing comes in really handy sometimes."
"Oh I'm sure," Lorelai laughed along with him, "I've even had Taylor drop a few hints."
"Taylor?" Luke asked incredulously.
"Every once in a while."
"Yeah he definitely knows better than to say anything to me."
"Well no, he wouldn't, he values his life."
"Let me guess, he's against it?"
"Wholeheartedly."
"Figures."
Lorelai feigned a sigh as if she were exhausted by the situation. "The Stars Hollow rumour mill needs a new source of gossip. Think we should leak information about Bootsy and that new cashier at Le Chat Club?" she joked.
"Bootsy's got a girlfriend?"
"Well I don't know, but it would take the heat off of us."
"You know they're going to get even nuttier when they find out."
"Probably."
"It's going to end up being some big announcement or something."
"Let's just not tell them then," Lorelai suggested, "We'll keep, doing this," she gestured to them both, "and they'll find out whenever they find out."
"Yeah?" He knew Lorelai was used to being pretty open with the townsfolk, but he'd prefer to keep everyone out of their business.
"Yeah. I don't know about you, but I'm not really up for all the hoopla." Finally at the truck, they slowed to a stop and faced each other.
"Hoopla?" Luke smiled lopsidedly, thoroughly amused by her word choice.
"That's what it'll be," Lorelai said frankly, eyes locked with Luke's. She didn't realize he was backing her up against the passenger side door until she felt it behind her back. "I don't know if you've heard, but we're kind of a big deal."
Luke nodded as he leaned in, "We are." He parted her lips with his own and kissed her deeply. He took his time, enjoying the taste of her; had her lingering even as he pulled away. "We'll keep it to ourselves."
"Ok," she murmured, kissing him again.
"Ok," he answered a moment later when they broke for air. And then there was no more talking as Lorelai pulled him back in.
THE NEXT MONDAY:
A week had gone by—a week and two more dates; and no one knew. Luke and Lorelai even taken advantage of another Rory and Mia sleepover to have a sleepover of their own, and still…no one was the wiser. They couldn't believe their luck. There had been no gotcha moment, or quiet murmurings…no thinly veiled hints—well, no more than usual. And they weren't even sneaking around, just being discreet. Lorelai figured they'd have a few days in their only-room-for-two bubble before someone noticed an overly affectionate nudge or a heated look pass between them and the news would be out for public consumption. To Lorelai, it defied logic—she felt as though her newly cemented feelings for Luke were written all over her face; the change in their relationship seemed monumental to her. Though she guessed the change was too subtle for others to take note. After all, most of the townsfolk had been seeing the romantic chemistry between them for years.
Currently she was perched on a stool at the diner counter. So far, her day had been pretty hectic. She'd ending up working through most of her lunch break and decided to use the remaining minutes to stop by the diner. She needed a burger and a dose of Luke before getting back to the paperwork cluttering her desk. She got there in the middle of the lunch rush which meant she wasn't getting as much face time with Luke as she would've liked but she was content to be in his vicinity, watch him dash around tending to customers.
After delivering a tuna melt to the table by the front window, Luke returned to the counter to steal a few moments with his girlfriend. They chatted easily about their days; bantered as usual…it wasn't until Luke went to deliver another order that Lorelai really took note of those around her. She heard the old men a few stools down arguing over politics, an out-of-towner wondering aloud about where to find the best antiques—Caesar's singing pouring out of the kitchen… But above all of that she could hear three distinct voices; Miss Patty, Babette and Eastside Tilly. The epicenter of town gossip was stationed fittingly in the middle of the room—as they so often were. It was one of their favourite spots to compare information and exchange stories. But today, they lacked their usual vivacity. They sat there dully picking at their food. It took her about 30 seconds of eavesdropping to realize just how bored they were. It made sense, she thought—ever since her casual date and the buzz of Jess' crime spree had worn off, the town had been remarkably drama free. There were no supposed affairs going on, or major public arguments, no new town ordinance that Taylor was trying to pass; the rumour mill was really running dry.
Luke returned to his spot behind the counter and instead of picking up their conversation, Lorelai nodded her head towards the ladies at the center table, silently motioning for him to listen in as well.
"Wow," Luke said in bewilderment a few moments later. From what he could hear, they were discussing the new washer dryer set the Banyans got delivered yesterday—hardly their usual subject matter…hardly worth mentioning at all really.
"I know," Lorelai responded, "weird right?"
"Very weird."
"Order up!" Caesar called out. Luke went to over to the window to get the food, then placed the take-out bag in front of Lorelai. As he poured her a to-go cup, they heard the ladies' conversation turn to the weather. The weather.
Lorelai couldn't help but feel bad. Here she was with grade-A gossip—gossip that they'd been relentlessly hoping for for years—and she was just sitting on it. She looked over at Luke wondering how he would feel about officially going public. "Should we help them out?"
In the last week Luke had been torn between keeping his private life private, and wanting everyone to know that he and Lorelai were now he and Lorelai. Besides, he reasoned, they'd all find out eventually, what difference did it make if eventually was right now. "Sure," he smiled.
Lorelai bit her lip, slightly nervous but completely ready for what they were about to do. She put on her jacket and slung her purse across her shoulder then met Luke's eyes with her own. They shared a knowing smile. Leaning across the counter, Lorelai kissed him goodbye. They only had one shot at a big public declaration, so she intended to make it memorable; no sweet, soft peck would do. She kissed him firmly, took her time to thoroughly enjoy it. To her surprise, Luke was right there with her. He deepened their kiss, softly massaged her tongue with his own. Lorelai allowed herself to sink into Luke's lips for a moment before she pulled back. Any longer and they'd be making a much bigger statement than intended.
The silence in the diner was almost palpable as Luke and Lorelai shared a smitten smile.
"See you later hun."
"See ya."
With an affectionate rub to Luke's forearm, Lorelai grabbed her bag of food and to-go coffee and left. As the door closed behind her, she heard the diner come back to life with a distinct "Oh thank God!" from Babette and a relieved "Finally!" from Miss Patty.
Lorelai walked towards the jeep, a self-assured smile on her face—confident that all of Stars Hollow would know by sundown.
-END-
