He led her back into the living room.
They had wine, talked some more, and then switched on the television to watch Casablanca.
Lorelai was lying more on top of Luke than next to him, and Luke enjoyed that. He hugged her, pulled her close and enjoyed watching the movie with the - he was sure by now - love of his life.
By the end of the movie Lorelai had almost fallen asleep.
He had to shake her gently, after which she looked up at him, her face drowsy and her eyes not able to stay open.
"I love so much right now," he chuckled and pushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear.
"Why so?" Lorelai asked sleepily.
"Because you are perfect. Your silky pyjamas and no make up at all ... you're a natural beauty."
"Wait til you see me naked," Lorelai mumbled and Luke stared at her with an open mouth.
"I think it's a bit too early to do that already," he said gently. "But I could pick you up and carry you upstairs, as you're already almost falling asleep on me."
"Try carrying me upstairs," Lorelai chuckled gently. "I'm way too heavy."
Luke kissed her forehead and carefully picked her up in a bridal style. "Not heavy. You're just tall." He rubbed his nose against hers. "There's a difference."
Lorelai answered with another gentle laugh and then their eyes melted into each other's, which made Luke unable to breathe for a moment.
He held her tight against his body and brought her to the stairway. It was indeed easy, as she wasn't completely unconscious and thus helping him by making herself lighter.
"Where to, princess?" Luke asked.
"Down the aisle and into that one room on the left side," Lorelai mumbled into his neck and kissed it afterwards. "Thank you."
Luke kicked the door open with his foot, carried her to the bed and placed her down gently. "I should go now."
"No, wait," Lorelai whispered and pulled him down, next to him. "You can stay. Chris won't return until tomorrow and Rory won't come home this night either. Stay with me."
"Lorelai, I'd love to," Luke said gently, "but I should head home as long as it's dark, so no one will see me sneaking out of your house in the morning, hm?"
"Oh, you're right." Lorelai giggled a little. "Then stay with me for a while and head home later. What do you say?"
Luke smiled. "Okay."
"Come here," Lorelai ordered and patted on the free spot next to her.
Luke obliged and as soon as he had lay down, her lips found his.
Luke gave in, unable to do anything else. Unwilling to do anything else.
This evening had gone great so far, and even though he and Lorelai had agreed to have an affair only, it was better than nothing.
At least he got to be with her.
And she got to be on top of him.
Luke moaned as her lips sucked his throat and her hands roamed his chest. Found the buttons of his flannel and popped them open like nothing.
Her hands now touched his skin and it felt as if a million electric shots went through him thanks to only her touch and her kisses.
She pulled away. "Are you okay?" she whispered. "You're not fully there, are you?"
"Not fully," Luke admitted and Lorelai got off of him. "I think I first have to sleep a night over everything."
Lorelai's face fell. "But you - you said you're willing to try. You said - You said you wanna try."
"I do, I do," Luke said quickly. "Really, babe. "But we should slow it down. Even though you're in an open marriage, you're still married. What if people notice that we are fond of each other? And then there's Rory - I suppose she doesn't know?"
"Of course she doesn't," Lorelai muttered. "I doubt she even knows what an open relationship is. And if she knew that her beloved parents are having such ... oh, dear god."
"So what if, hypothetically, you and I would start dating for real, what if this thing what we're having is real?" Luke asked and Lorelai bit her lip.
"Then Chris and I would get a divorce and we'd just tell Rory that we've found new partners. Because Chris also has on-off thing with a woman and they could finally make it official. We wouldn't tell anyone about our open marriage. Maybe we'd tell Rory one day, when she's like thirty or so."
"Okay. Hm. What about your parents, would they approve of me?"
Lorelai smiled. "Not in a million years."
"Great," Luke muttered but Lorelai laughed and took his hand.
"Babe, relax. It is my life. This is my choice. And if this thing with us is real -" she smiled at him, "then we'll make it happen. Alright?"
"Alright," Luke answered and leaned in, kissing her again.
Until he remembered something.
"Can I ask you something private?"
"Sure, anything," Lorelai said sweetly.
"Will you ... while you and I are in a relationship - affair I mean ..." he took a deep breath. "Will you continue sleeping with Christopher?"
He expected laughing, but instead Lorelai looked kind of hurt. "No," she said loudly. "I'm not a slut. Chris has been in a few relationships already and back then we've never even kissed. No, Luke. I only belong to you now."
"Oh, okay." Luke couldn't hide his relief, so Lorelai went on.
"I think I can count how often Chris and I have had sex during those last six years. Let me see. There was this one time last year at Thanksgiving, that spontaneous drunk sex, Christmas, my birthday, ..." She went quiet and stared into the air. And after a while she looked back at him. "Fifteen times within six years. Maybe more and maybe less, of course I can't remember every time we've slept with each other. But believe me, Luke, ever since I've met you ... zero times."
A warm feeling spread in Luke's chest. "Really? Because of me?"
"Yeah. Chris tried about a week ago, but I said no. He asked if it was because of a man, so I said yes. He then asked me until I told him about you."
"He actually wants us to be together?" Luke asked. He slowly started to like the guy.
"He wants me to be happy. That's what I meant with that we love each other. We do ... like best friends. Friends with occasional benefits." She chuckled. "He's had a girlfriend too a while ago. Lucy. Which is funny, cause it sounds almost like Luke."
"It doesn't," Luke insisted but Lorelai ignored him.
"I've met her. She's really cute. Quite tiny and blonde, completely the opposite of me. I think Chris was really in love with her but he never even asked me for a divorce. I still don't know why, I would have said yes. Of course Lucy had enough after about a year and she broke up with him. She accused him of lying and that he was still loving me. He came home after the breakup and he - he cried. I have never felt so sorry for him. Back then I noticed that I want him happy as well. And back then we agreed to split, if we'd ever meet a Lucy again. And here you are ... my male Lucy."
"Don't call me your male Lucy," Luke said, quite taken aback from her story.
Maybe he was her male Lucy.
"Okay, then I'll just call you Lucy," Lorelai mumbled and rubbed her nose against Luke's chest.
"Don't you dare," Luke replied gently and Lorelai chuckled.
"Do you want to know anything else?" she asked and Luke shrugged lightly.
"Only how such a perfect woman like you could fall for someone like me."
"I'm not perfect," Lorelai replied immediately but Luke shook his head.
"I'm my eyes you are. True, your coffee consumption could be less but -"
"Haha," Lorelai mocked.
"In my eyes you're perfect," Luke repeated. "And I'm ... me. Serious and grumpy diner owner. I'm not rich, not fancy, I don't own a nice house, no pool and I own a damn old truck instead of a fancy white Mercedes."
"Love is about more than materialism," Lorelai said widely. "Do you really think I care about things? I don't, Luke. I've told you about my sense of humans. Well, from the first time we've met I could sense your kindness and that you are a good person. I fell in love with your qualities." She grinned lightly. "And your good looks."
"You think I'm good looking?" Luke was stunned. "Better than Christopher?"
"Chris is very handsome," Lorelai said casually, "but we've been friends for so long. Married for so long. I can't really see him like the man he was before. He's just there now. It's hard to explain. Like, imagine you grow up with someone very beautiful. Say, your mom is really beautiful, but since she's your mom and you've known her your whole life, you can't see her beauty from a neutral view. Do you know what I mean?"
"You acknowledge that Christopher is handsome but you can't see it anymore, because he has been with you for about fifteen years now," Luke summarised. "I think I understand what you mean."
Lorelai nodded and kissed Luke's chest gently. "I think you're very good looking. You have a great body and a face that s very pleasant to look at. Also I kinda like that rough and wild style, that gruffy but soft personality of yours. I think I've needed that in life. A little bit of adventure, you get me?"
"I get you," Luke replied with a smile. "And adventure you'll get, my dear."
"I hope so," Lorelai sighed. "So, how'd you fall for me?"
"Oh, dear," Luke breathed out. "I guess it won't sound as nice as when you put it but ... the first time I saw you, I was completely stunned by your beauty. I knew what my taste of women was and when I saw you, it was like I was looking at all the attractive traits of a woman combined in you. The eyes, the hair, the body, the smile, the voice, the charisma, the humour and even the melancholy ... somehow I immediately knew that I needed you."
"Aww," Lorelai mumbled and hugged him, pulling him closer to herself. "I didn't know I had that effect on you."
"You made me feel completely dumb. And I almost died when I found out you had a family. I can only say, I'm glad that you and Chris are in an open marriage."
"You're glad I was unhappy?" Lorelai asked and Luke shook his head quickly.
"No! I never wanted you to be unhappy but - wait. You were unhappy?"
"Today I am more than happy," Lorelai whispered. "And I know that many happy days will follow. This feels right, Luke. This thing with us. Are you in?"
Luke nodded, his mouth dry. "I already said so. I'm in, Lorelai. I am completely in."
•
Luke was smiling.
He was so over the moon with everything happening around him, he just couldn't stop being in a good mood.
It was affecting everyone, because Luke being that happy was indeed something rare.
And something that worked a circuit in the whole town.
Somewhen in the late afternoon Christopher stepped by. "Hey, buddy," he greeted Luke and Luke, kind of surprised by this nice greeting, nodded at him.
"Hey ... friend."
Chris sat down at Lorelai's usual spot and ordered a coffee to go. "So, I heard you had a great time last night?"
Luke nodded shortly. "It was great. Thanks for everything," he said, lowering his voice. "I owe you."
"Oh, please." Chris waved it off. "I just want her to be happy. Say, you got lucky, didn't you?"
Luke almost dropped the coffee. "Didn't Lorelai tell you? I thought she told you everything."
"So I thought," Chris replied. "But apparently not. Seems you're important to her, otherwise she would have spilled everything. You know, she and I have this little thing going on, whenever we had sex with someone, we told each other everything, like friends do. But when I came home just an hour ago and told her about my amazing night, she just kept smiling and not saying a word. I just assumed you two had done it as well."
"Its actually none of your business," Luke said calmly.
"I know it isn't. It's just ... if she and you want to really start dating, I have to know. So I can get out of the way. You know what I mean? We have to find a way to keep Rory away from it and eventually, if the thing between the two of you is the real thing, we'll have to talk about our futures and decide how Rory's gonna fit in it. And we'll have to set up a story so no one assumes that Lorelai has been cheating on me." Chris sighed. "Look. I'm happy for you two but I kind of hoped that it would be just a loose thing. Not for my sake, but for our sakes. It's good the way it is right now and if something changes, it's going to be really complicated."
Luke nodded. "I understand. But I'm afraid it's not a loose thing."
"I know," Chris replied. "And again, I'm really happy for you. But it just happens to make things complicated. Thanks for the coffee."
He placed the money for the beverage on the bar and grabbed the cup.
"See you, pal."
"See you," Luke muttered and waited until Chris had left the diner. "Buddy."