"He likes you," Chris said as soon as the door fell close behind Luke.
"I like him too, Chris," Lorelai challenged her boyfriend. "We're friends."
"No, he likes you," Chris tried. "He really likes you. When he looks at you there's something in his eyes that I don't like at all."
"We're friends, Chris, and there's no need to be jealous," Lorelai said again, louder this time. "Were you jealous when I was friends with Seth and Tyler?"
"That was different," Chris defended himself. "I wasn't together with you yet and, come on, they both weren't interested in you."
"Luke isn't interested in me either."
Of course Lorelai knew how wrong she was but she had to say it, otherwise Chris wouldn't want them to ever meet again. "And he wouldn't dare to seduce me anyway, look at our age difference."
Chris gave up. "You're right," he sighed. "I should simply trust you."
"Yup," Lorelai breathed. "And to prove that you trust me I want you to let me go to the cinema with him the day after tomorrow."
Christopher's shoulders went down. "Who am I to forbid you?" he said. "Of course you may. I do trust you, Lor."
Lorelai nodded. "Good," she said. "You should go now. Today didn't go well."
"Sorry," Chris mumbled and Lorelai shrugged.
"Yeah, whatever. I'll see you tomorrow, Chris."
She received a kiss on her cheek. "See you, love."
She closed the door behind Chris and sighed loudly. It hadn't gone well indeed.
Chris had permanently stared at Luke and Luke hadn't been able to concentrate. Everytime he had made a mistake, Chris had let out a snort.
And everytime Chris had snorted, Luke had shot daggers at him with his eyes. Lorelai had tried her best to calm down both of them but at some point Luke simply hadn't dared to say anything anymore.
Only "I think we're done for today", which Lorelai hadn't wanted to hear.
"One more page," she had encouraged him. "You're doing great, Luke!"
"No, I'm not," Luke had answered and stood up. "Ask your boyfriend."
And that had been it. Luke had left, hadn't even said goodbye to Lorelai. She feared that maybe this encounter had been the end of their friendship and swore to herself, if that had happened, she wouldn't forgive Chris so easily.
She went upstairs and threw herself on her bed, staring at the ceiling for at least ten minutes. She decided to call Luke, but had to wait for his return first.
How long would it take him to get home by bus? She felt bad somehow, he didn't even own a car and she kept him with her after a long day of college. He probably wouldn't be at home before half past six.
Then he'd cook for his sister and himself, maybe help his dad in the shop, then he'd study for school and finally go to bed at midnight, as he had already told her.
Lorelai felt bad but she couldn't help him. He didn't have to spend time with her. It was his choice.
Of course she wanted to spend time with him too. Madly. She had been broken that night in August, after the party, when they had agreed to never meet again.
And oh, how happy she had been that day she had caught him working in the garden!
With a shock Lorelai realised that she was thinking of Luke instead of Chris. How Luke felt, not how Chris felt.
Angrily she took a pillow and pressed it on her face, screaming as loudly as she could.
Chris! Not Luke, Chris!
It's didn't seem to help. Luke just wouldn't vanish from her mind.
The heart wanted what the heart wanted.
•
Lorelai hadn't called anymore.
Her parents had returned home and they had had lunch and Lorelai didn't want her parents to know about her friendship with the gardener.
But the next day, on Luke's birthday, she called right as she got home.
At first she went to the city after work, suddenly knowing exactly what she wanted to give him: a new baseball cap. A blue one. Blue, matching his eyes ...
At home she wrapped the cap in neutral gift paper, hoping she hadn't bought it in vain.
Then she waited until her mother left the house (God knew where she was going, Lorelai frankly had no idea what her mother was doing all the time but she assumed she was going shopping again) and grabbed the telephone book, looking for Stars Hollow and the hardware store.
She found a "William's Hardware", figuring it must have been this one. Sadly she couldn't remember what the sign had said but Lorelai had to try.
"William's Hardware, Elizabeth, hello?" a female voice said at the other line and Lorelai held her breath for a second.
Elizabeth! Liz!
"Yeah, hi, Lorelai here," she said quickly after releasing her breath. "Is Luke at home?"
"Still at college but he'll be back in an hour or so," Liz replied. "Lorelai, eh? His Latin teacher?"
"Exactly." Lorelai wondered how much he had told his family about her.
"Nice. I'll tell him to call you back, yeah?"
"No!" Lorelai called. It would be a disaster if Emily picked up. "I'll call again. Thanks, Liz."
"Sure, bye," Liz replied, sounding quite unimpressed. Then she hung up.
•
Luke was having a very bad day.
His English exam had went really bad (for God's sake, wasn't talking the language enough already? Why did they have to analyse some old English texts written by some poets who were long dead already? And Luke didn't care that it was Shakespeare) and at sports he had fallen and landed on his head, which had knocked him unconscious for a while. Now he was on the way home with a wrap around his head.
The happenings from the day before didn't make it better. Damn this Christopher and his luck of calling Lorelai his.
This day just sucked. Luke was grumpy and he definitely didn't have any energy for dinner tonight.
On his ride home he stared out of the bus window, his thoughts with Lorelai. Wonderful, beautiful, gorgeous Lorelai.
On days like these he recalled their first meeting. Alone the thought of it made him feel better.
He had just been there, leaning against the wall, hating everyone and everything and then his eyes had met those shiny blue ones and all of a sudden his bad mood had vanished.
And she had smiled ... oh my, this smile. Like a million watt lightening her face.
And then she had come over to him, talking like a waterfall and really not minding about his bad mood or the fact that he was a stranger to her.
When they had parted, he had felt worse than when he had broken up with Rachel.
Luke hadn't lied, he had felt a connection to Lorelai. As if she was a missing puzzle piece. The other half to him.
Well, it fit, she was bright and bubbly, he wasn't. She talked a lot, he didn't. She loved coffee, he didn't.
She was the perfect addition to him.
If they were together, it would be like sunshine and rain. Like day and night.
If they were together, everyone would ask Lorelai why on earth she was together with someone like him.
He wouldn't care. He'd be the sweetest and most caring boyfriend ever. He'd definitely outshine Christopher McMoron.
Lorelai and he shared a connection. That was that and he knew she felt their connection as well. She wouldn't look at him like that if she didn't. She wouldn't be so weak around him if she didn't, almost giving in to kiss him.
She had to feel it, too.
After a long, almost painful bus ride, the bus finally stopped in Stars Hollow. Luke got out and walked to his house, praying that no one would see him. Everyone in Stars Hollow knew that it was his birthday and Luke just wanted to spend it in peace.
Luckily only Miss Patty caught him while crossing the dance studio.
Safely he returned home, but was caught by his sister in the anteroom right away.
"Hey, birthday boy," she greeted him. "Your girl called twice already."
"My girl?" Luke asked, dazzled.
"Yeah. The one with the unusual but pretty name."
Blood shot into his face. "Lorelai?"
"Ding ding ding! One hundred points. Ya better get back to the hardware, otherwise she'll call again in vain."
Luke didn't wait a second. He stormed out right again, quickly back to the store of his father, where he almost fell inside. "Did she call again?" he shouted, not caring who was inside.
"Calm down, son," William Danes shouted back. Then he turned to his customer. "Sorry. He's lovestruck."
"I'm not," Luke replied, ashamed. Then he crossed the store and sat down at the stairs that led up to his father's office.
He waited patiently, listening to his father talking to his customer.
He it had to wait for five minutes (which felt like five hours), then the telephone rang again. Luke jumped up and ran to the phone, almost letting the earpiece fall down as he picked up fast.
"William's Hardware, Luke," he breathed and the girl on the other line giggled. Then she started to sing.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you ..."
Luke's closed his eyes. Her voice was gorgeous.
"Happy birthday, dear Lukey -"
Luke groaned.
"Happy birthday to you!"
"Thanks," he said as she had ended. "Though I would prefer if you'd never call me like that again."
"Sorry." She was laughing happily. "It just sounded better because of the two syllables. Also I didn't want to sing in the beginning but when you picked up ... I just started."
"It was amazing. Your voice is amazing." He looked at his father, who had risen a questioning eyebrow at him.
"How are you?" Lorelai asked and and Luke sighed.
"Failed an English exam and fell on my head during basketball."
"Ouch. Is it bad?"
"No, not really. I'm not allowed to join sports for a week, though. And that's bad, since sports is my main subject."
"That sucks," Lorelai agreed. "But at least you survived."
"Yeah," Luke mumbled.
"Hey," Lorelai said quietly. "We are still friends, aren't we?"
"Of course," Luke replied immediately. "Why would you think we weren't?"
"Because ... Chris."
"I don't care about him. Nothing could keep me away from you." He clenched the phone, knowing that his father was listening.
"Okay. Good. Do you want the hit the theatre tomorrow instead of studying?"
"Yeah, I'd love to! Which movie?"
"You decide. You're invited."
"Oh." Luke grinned. "So its a date."
"Not a date, Lukey."
"Okay, noted." He couldn't wipe the grin out of his face. "Tomorrow after work?"
"Yep. Could we meet there, though? I'm with Chris before that."
And the smile was gone. "Sure."
"You're the best, Luke. Hey, I wish you loads of fun tonight. I've already talked to your sister and dad before, they sound nice."
"Thank you," Luke replied, not sure what to answer to this. He couldn't talk openly next to his father. "At five at the theatre, then."
"Yes, I'll see you."
"Yup, see you tomorrow. Bye, Lor."
"Don't do that," Lorelai said quickly. "Bye, Luke."
They hung up, Luke's face hot and his heart beating. His father had finished talking to his customer and was now coming over to him.
"I've already talked to Lorelai before you came," he informed him. "She sounds really nice. She didn't want you to call, though."
"Yeah, her Mom ... it's complicated."
"Strict mother?"
"You have no idea," Luke sighed.
"And ... You're having a date tomorrow."
"A friendly date, yes."
"And ... Nothing could keep you away from her?" Now William was smiling at his son, who groaned lightly.
"Yes, dad. If you knew her, you'd understand me. She's the embodiment of perfect."
"Oh, wow. It hit you goddamn hard. Reminds me of the time when I was after you mother."
Luke smiled sadly. "How exactly did you woo her?"
"I didn't. We just spent time together and she eventually fell in love with me." William nodded at Luke. "If she's the right one, she'll notice. I for my part think she must be a good catch - she makes you smile."
"Yeah?"
"I haven't seen you smile in a while," William said sadly. "And now you do. You always do when you think of her, am I right?"
"I guess so."
"Then she's a good gal. Try not to mess it up like you did with Rachel."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks. But Lorelai isn't like Rachel, so ..."
"Of course, she is special! She is - what did you say? Amazing?" William laughed.
"Okay, dad, I'll head back home. See you later."
"Bye, son," William laughed and looked after Luke, who was obviously and madly in love.
•
"So, tell us about her," Liz begged as Luke placed the pot with chili on the table.
"Elizabeth," William warned. "We'll meet her soon enough, right?"
"Yes, sure," Luke mumbled and sat down, watching his sister putting way too much chili on her plate.
"Just the looks, tell us how she looks!" she tried again and Luke had to smile.
Only thinking of those azure blue eyes or her chestnut curls made him dizzy. "She ... has blue eyes. And when she smiles, it seems like her eyes are shining."
"Aww," Liz made. "Is she blonde too, like Rachel?"
"Her hair is dark brown," Luke replied. "And curly. And long."
"How old is she?" Liz asked on.
"Seventeen, like you," Luke said.
"And her birthday?"
"I don't know, actually." Luke went quiet. There was a lot he didn't know about her yet. "I'll ask her tomorrow on our ... date." He figured it was the easiest thing to keep back the fact that Lorelai was in a relationship.
After all, he planned to win her heart anyway and thus take her away from Christopher.
"Aww, that is so sweet," Liz gushed again, obviously happy. And once again Luke was stunned about Lorelai's abilities to be liked by everyone - even without having met them.
•
Lorelai was there first. She had gone to the theatre right after she had finished studying with Chris (at least that was what they had told everyone else they had done that afternoon).
She had the gift for Luke hidden in her backpack, along with two bottles of water (no way she'd buy those insanely expensive drinks at the cinema) and was now waiting for Luke anxiously.
When he arrived a little after five, Lorelai was shocked that her heartbeat almost took her breath away.
"Hey," he called happily as he spotted her and Lorelai swallowed.
"What's up with your head?"
"I fell at sports, remember?" He gave her a short but tight hug.
"Ah, right." She grinned at him. "Want your present now or inside?"
"My -? Lorelai, you didn't have to get me anything."
"Sure I did. So tell me, now or later?"
"Lets get inside first," Luke responded, a little dumbfounded. He definitely had not expected her to give him something.
"Okay, fine. Which movie did you choose?"
"How about Risky Business? My sister said it's funny."
Lorelai swallowed. "I'm not allowed to see that movie, yet."
"So what, you're seventeen. Seventeen is not too far away from eighteen. My sister has also seen it."
"Hm," made Lorelai and shook her head. "Sorry, Luke, but I don't think they'll let me inside. They - uh - check IDs here." Dammit, just tell him, Lorelai! "I am only ... my birthday is in April."
"Okay, so you don't want to see a sex movie, I get that."
"It's not about the sex," Lorelai muttered. "It's because -"
"You don't have to tell me," Luke interrupted her, gently smiling. "Let's just watch the Twilight Zone movie."
Lorelai's eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah! That's an idea."
Together they walked inside, both excited to spend two hours alone together ... in the dark.