"Where have you been!" Seth was screaming at her as she exited the car. "We've been looking for you everywhere, you just vanished! You -"
He went quiet as he spotted Luke.
"Sorry. I kidnapped her." Luke's voice sounded guilty.
Seth's eyes darted between Luke and Lorelai in panic.
She knew why. He feared that she had slept with him. Understandable.
"Sorry. Don't be mad, please," Lorelai tried weakly. "I'm okay."
"I see that," Seth sighed and turned around, yelling, "She's here, Rachel, I found her!"
There was a scream.
"Oh, thank God!"
The next thing Lorelai saw was Rachel storming out of the house. "I can't believe it, Lorelai, why did you just leave?! A girl vanishing at my party ain't really a good reputation! We've almost called the cops and -"
She stepped dead in tracks, looking at something behind Lorelai's back.
Someone. Someone with red lipstick smeared all over his lips.
"Luke," she said, her face turning white. She sounded cold. "This can't be."
"It's not what you think, Rachel," Luke said, stepping forth.
"No? I think you've slept with a girl you've only just met."
"And that didn't happen," Luke said eagerly and Lorelai nodded.
Suddenly it all made sense. Why would Rachel be angry about them having sex? Lorelai knew why. Now she knew who Luke was. Everything made sense now:
Luke was Rachel's ex.
Oh, damn.
"So you just made out," Rachel said and crossed her arms. "You break up with me and throw yourself on the next woman you see? That's not better, Luke."
"You know I'm not like that!" Luke called and Lorelai felt like she should step in.
"Enough! He didn't threw himself on me, it was ... the other way round. And I didn't know he was your ex! I'm sorry, he didn't tell me!"
"Of course he didn't." Rachel's eyes were furious. "It's okay, Lorelai. You didn't know, it's fine."
"Don't be mad at him," Lorelai begged.
"How couldn't I be?" Rachel replied and shook her head. "He broke my heart, Lorelai. He broke up and I told him I loved him. He didn't want to hear it. And now I have to witness this ... craziness. Luke and you deserve each other. For real."
Rachel turned around and walked back to the house.
Suddenly Lorelai noticed that around twenty people were standing outside, watching them and shaking their heads, whispering and pointing at Lorelai.
She wished to be swallowed by the earth.
She looked at Seth, pleading. "Let's go home. Please."
Seth nodded. "I'll go and look for the others."
"Thanks," Lorelai whispered and turned to Luke. "I am so sorry, Luke."
"What for? I should be sorry." Luke smiled apologetically.
They looked at each other for a while, until Lorelai spoke up. "Maybe ... we shouldn't meet again."
"I think so too," Luke agreed.
"It was nice, tonight. Really nice. But it's not right."
Luke nodded. "It's good the way it was."
"Yeah," Lorelai said quietly and stepped up to him, pressing a kiss on his cheek. She didn't care about their audience. "Farewell, Luke Danes."
"Farewell, Lorelai." He looked at her. "What's your last name?"
"This will forever remain a secret," Lorelai said with a wink and turned away, walking to Tyler's car quickly.
She didn't feel as good as she pretended. She could feel all the judging looks on her back.
She hated everyone and everything right now. And herself.
She hated herself a lot.
And she already missed Luke's strong arms and gentle lips.
•
The weeks passed and Luke Danes wouldn't leave her mind.
Summer break was long over and school had started again, but Lorelai's thoughts were filled with the tall, broad young man with long hair and loving look.
He had started college by now and Lorelai had often thought about waiting for him in the hall of the college. But she was scared.
He was a cool, good looking guy. Probably he already had a new girlfriend.
Sandra had quit talking to her after Lorelai had made out with her friend's ex-boyfriend. And thus, Tyler had stopped doing stuff with her as well. Probably because Sandra had forbid him to.
Now only Seth remained as a friend and even this friendship ended one day in September as Emily Gilmore caught him and Lorelai in the pool one night - doing nothing but swimming.
But Seth was a guy, an older guy with a tattoo on his chest! Emily almost got a stroke and screamed her lungs out at the poor boy.
Since then Seth didn't want to meet her anymore.
Lorelai felt as alone as never before.
Now there was no one left to talk to.
It was the same every day now, going to school, studying, doing her homework, ...
Lorelai wasn't dumb. She had always been one of the best students in her year. She had never had any problems with school (only maths was hard for her if she didn't pay attention, but if she did, even maths was no problem) and now she had good reason to focus on school completely.
For the first time she followed a goal:
College.
Not necessarily Yale, Lorelai was still sure she wouldn't make it, but any other college was good enough for her, too.
And then everyone of her class suddenly had a job. Lorelai begged her parents to let her work too. They didn't.
"We have more than enough money to pay for your college, you don't need to work," had Emily Gilmore's answer been. She had not understood why her daughter wanted to work.
Lorelai wrote a letter of application anyway and sent it to the cinema, to the bakery and to the flower shop. There was no job that was bad in her opinion.
Two weeks later she started working at the flower shop. But when her mother found out, she was furious.
They fought and Lorelai ran away. It wasn't the first time she did that but usually she escaped to Seth and Tyler. This time she had nowhere to go.
•
Slowly the night fell and Lorelai had decided to spend the cold October night on the playground. There was a slide and she could sleep in it. She had brought a sleeping bag and was getting ready to fall asleep, as she heard barking.
She kept quiet. She really didn't intend on getting caught but the barking went louder and suddenly a small, white terrier sniffed on her sleeping bag.
"Linda!" a male voice called.
"Shh," made Lorelai, fearing that the person cane closer. She needed to shoo the dog away.
"Come here, Linda!"
Linda didn't go back to her master, so he came closer. Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut, praying he wouldn't see her.
"What did you find, Linda?" the man asked and held this torch inside the slide, instantly holding his breath. "Lorelai?"
Lorelai opened her eyes. "Chr-Christopher?" she squeaked.
"What on earth are you doing?" he said and Lorelai started crawling out of the slide. "I ran away. I had a fight with my Mom and I never want to see her again."
"Oh, Lorelai," Christopher replied and smiled at her. "But why did you gather here?"
"I have no where to go," Lorelai whispered and wiped her eyes. "I have no friends. No one likes me. I only have haters. I'm alone."
"I don't hate you," Christopher mumbled gently and pulled her close, into a warm hug. "And Linda likes you too."
Lorelai chuckled. "She does?"
"Yeah. Linda usually doesn't like other girls but see the way she looks at you."
Lorelai looked down at the small West Highland terrier that was making sheep's eyes at her. She had to laugh.
"Come with me, Lor. I'll smuggle you inside my house. Spend the night there, will you?"
Lorelai nodded thankfully.
Christopher took her hand and then they walked to the mansion of the Haydens. Hand in hand.
•
"Okay. So I'll bring Linda to the living room. They should be there right now, having their late night drink. You can sneak upstairs, into my room. It's the one at the end of the aisle."
"What if I enter the wrong room?" Lorelai whispered and Christopher shook his head. You won't miss it. There's only one room at the end of the aisle, I promise. Just get upstairs quickly, so our maid won't catch you."
Lorelai swallowed. "Okay."
"Don't worry, Lor," Christopher said and smiled at her so gently, that Lorelai had to smile back.
"Alright, Chris. I'm ready."
Christopher opened the door and Linda ran inside. Christopher followed and soon Lorelai heard a high pitched "Lindy!" coming from the living room.
Chris peeked inside and nodded at Lorelai, pulling her into the house. He closed the door, pointed upstairs and then went after Linda, while Lorelai sprinted towards the stairway.
She could hear voices from the living room but she couldn't make out what they said. She ran upstairs, very afraid that the maid would catch her, and followed the aisle to the door at the very end.
Chris had been right, she couldn't have missed it. And as she entered, she knew it was his room.
He had posters on his wall, band posters!
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Anthrax and more. She definitely hadn't thought that Chris had almost the same taste in music as her. And then the posters - her mother would kill her for hanging up posters of long haired men in her room.
She tore her eyes away from the wall and continued looking at the room. It was large, very large. But all in all it looked like a normal boy's room. An electric guitar, a closet, books on a shelf, a bed with neutral gray bedsheets, a desk and a couch. Then there was another door. Lorelai opened it, it led to the bathroom.
Good, Lorelai didn't have to sneak to the bathroom that everyone used.
She placed her sleeping bag on the couch and continued walking through the room, sneaking around. She opened the closet and checked out the clothes he owned.
Then the books
There were classics from Sleepy Hollow to fantasy stuff like Lord of the Rings, to horror novels from Stephen King.
Lorelai took The Stand out of the book shelf and sat down on the couch. She opened the first page, starting to read.
A while later she had already reached page 20, as finally Christopher came back, carrying a tray with bread, spread, fruits and coffee.
"I figured you're hungry," he said and Lorelai looked at him with puppy eyes.
"Oh, give me!" she whispered and Christopher placed down the tray, giving her the plate with food. But Loreli shook her head. "Coffee!" she demanded and Christopher laughed quietly.
"Right, you're a caffeine addict."
"Guilty," she said as she gulped down the whole coffee at once. "Okay. Now I'm ready to eat. But not the fuits. Say, did you sneak the food upstairs?"
"Almost, I just told Erin I was hungry. Our maid. She won't tell."
Lorelai nodded and started shoving the food into her mouth. "I haven't eaten in hours," she mumbled. "I just ran away without thinking about food. I'm so stupid. But usually I go back there, you know? Or at least I go to Seth and Tyler ..."
"Yeah, what about them?" Chris asked and Lorelai shrugged.
"They're not my friends anymore. I don't have any friends left."
"I'm your friend," Christopher said quietly and smiled shyly. "At least I like to think that I am."
"Don't be silly, of course you are," Lorelai spoke and leaned in to peck his cheek. "The book, could I borrow it?"
"The Stand? Sure. It's really good."
"I bet it is. My parents only buy me books like Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice. No bad books at all but just so girly and sooo hard to read. I'm really up for a horror thriller."
"Stephen King is amazing," Christopher said. "I'm eagerly waiting for his new book, Pet Semetary."
Lorelai had to smile. "You like to read. You like good music. I think this is the start of a wonderful friendship, Chris."
"I dearly hope so," Chris replied with blushing cheeks. "Anyway, take the bed. I'll be sleeping on the couch."
"What? No way!" Lorelai called out. "I'm an intruder here and it's your house. I don't want to throw you out your bed."
"You're not. Just get in there."
Lorelai sighed. "Okay ... But at least allow me to sleep in my sleeping bag. You take the bedsheets, okay?"
Chris grinned. "I can live with that. Do you want to take a shower or something?"
"I think that'd be good," Lorelai admitted. "Can I borrow some towels?"
"Sure," Chris said quickly and opened the bathroom. "Just take as many as you need. I think I also have a new toothbrush somewhere. Let me look for it."
"Okay." Lorelai followed him into the bathroom. While he was looking for the spare brush, Lorelai started taking off her shirt. Not that she wanted to turn him on, she just really didn't have a problem with undressing in front of a guy.
"Ha! Found it!" Christopher called and turned around, dropping the toothbrush as he spotted Lorelai in her underwear. "What -"
"I'm about to take a shower," Lorelai explained casually and was ready to unclasp her bra, as Chris stopped her.
"Don't. I'm still inside the room."
"Don't want to see me naked?" Lorelai teased and Chris sighed.
"That's - that's not it. I like you, Lor. I don't want you to do that, okay? Let me leave." He quickly shoved himself past her and out of the bathroom, closing the door quickly.
Lorelai picked up the brush he had dropped and stepped into the shower.
While hot water fell on her skin, she wondered if maybe Chris really liked her. Really liked her. Maybe she wasn't just a crush for him. Maybe there was more to it.
Excitement filled her body as she decided to find out. It didn't feel like when she had been with Luke, it felt different. Different but also good.
And - a big bonus was Christopher's age. He wouldn't get into trouble if they'd ever sleep with each other.
Lorelai rinsed shampoo out of her hair, smiling to herself. Maybe Chris was what she had been looking for all along ...
•
She returned with a towel wrapped around her body and another one around her head.
"Lor," Chris sighed as he spotted her. He was sitting on the couch with a book in his hands.
"What?" Lorelai asked innocently. "I'm just getting dried."
"You're naked below that towel."
"You're naked below there too," Lorelai said and pointed at Chris' pyjamas.
"Yes - but -"
"No buts." Lorelai sat down next to him, looking right into his eyes. "I'm a very direct person, Chris."
"I know," Chris mumbled, putting the book aside.
"So tell me - you said you liked me. What kind of like do you mean? Is it a friendly like or more? Did you mean "I secretly have a crush on you"? Or even more?"
Chris moaned quietly. "More."
"Okay," Lorelai said gently and took his hand. She entwined their fingers and leaned in.
"Lor -"
"Shh," Lorelai said quietly. He closed his eyes, probably thinking that Lorelai wanted to kiss him.
But instead she pulled his hand closer to her and placed it on her thigh, pushing it below her towel.
Chris backed away. "What are you doing?"
"I thought you wanted me, Chris," Lorelai purred and got on her feet.
With on foot she stepped over his legs and sat down on his lap, straddling him. "I'm here, take me."
"You're crazy," Chris said, obviously shaking. "I'm - I've never had sex before, Lor."
"That's fine. I have. It's easy, really."
"No." Chris shook his head. "It's not right. I mean, I want you, you're beautiful and hot and I so want to have you right now. But ... I don't think it's right. Not yet. Maybe - maybe one day." His eyes went up and down her body. "Fuck, you're so hot," he sighed and pulled her down, into a kiss.
Her mind exploded as their lips crashed on each other.
It felt so good and right to kiss him again, the boy she had shared her first kiss with. The boy who seemed to adore her, even love her. The boy who'd never hurt her ...
She sat down in his lap, pulling him against her. Her lips travelled over his jawline, over to his ear.
"Are you sure you don't want to sleep with me?" she whispered. "Cause I'm really, really wet right now."
Chris gulped. "I want to," he said. "But we shouldn't. Let's wait, Lor."
Lorelai pulled away, her heart beating fast. No one had ever rejected her. This was a good sign. He really liked her. "Okay," she whispered and kissed him again.