"God, this has been one hectic, bizarro day for me," she breathed out.
"Yeah?" he responded, pretending to be listening.
"Yeah," she said. "This morning with the being late and my mother with her existing. Oh and this father, this father from Chilton, he uh drove out to the inn all the way from Hartford just to ask me out."
His head immediately shot up and he found himself never having been more attentive to her than he was in that moment.
Play it cool, man.
"Really? You going?" he asked nonchalantly.
"No," she shrugged. "He's got a kid in school with Rory and the whole thing just seemed a little weird."
"Oh, good."
"Good?" she questioned.
"Yeah. I think it's good that you turned him down."
"Ohhkayy," she replied apprehensively.
"I mean he's probably old, right?" Luke continued.
"Old?"
"Yeah, I mean he's got a kid in high school."
"Well so do I," she retorted.
"Yeah but you were young when you had Rory. Most people aren't that young. Most people are uh—"
"Old," she finished.
"Yeah," he replied.
"Like this guy who asked me out…"
"But you're not going?" he asked to confirm.
"No, I'm not going," she said to him through twinkling eyes.
She returned her attention to her coffee and he made his way to the storage room in the back. A few moments later, she found herself walking toward the back room as well. When she entered the room, she was greeted by the sight of Luke bending down to lift a box of ketchup bottles.
His jeans were tight and the view of his butt stirred, in her, a feeling she'd never felt toward him before.
"Hey," she said, startling him.
"What the hell did you do that for?" he asked.
"What the hell did I do what for?"
"Sneak up on me like that." He rolled his eyes at her. "Give a guy some warning."
"Oh now what kind of fun would that be?"
"The kind of fun where I don't have a heart attack and I live to see tomorrow."
She took a few more steps into the room, letting the curtain close behind her, and began absently toying with the objects on the shelves, observing their labels.
"Hey, so Luke…"
"What?"
"Why do you seem so against the idea of me going out with this Chilton dad?"
"I'm not so against it. I just think it's good that you're giving Rory space around there to find herself and her way. Dating one of her classmates' fathers could make that tricky."
"Right, right," Lorelai agreed. "And that's the only reason you're against it?" she inquired.
"Yep."
"Alrighty then. We'll be back later for dinner. Save us some boysenberry pie. Please and thank you."
She turned on her heels to exit the room, just barely able to hear him say "That's not the only reason."
"What?" she asked, turning back around.
He cleared his throat. "That, uh…that's not the only reason I think it's good you're not going out with him."
"It isn't?"
"No," he said simply.
"So for what other reasons do you think it's good that I don't date this guy?"
"Well," he said as he walked toward her "for starters, if you're not dating him, then I can do this…"
He reached his hand below the hem of her skirt and unapologetically caressed her inner thigh. Moving his way up, he found himself massaging her through her satin panties. She closed her eyes and fell back against a metal shelf rack, grabbing onto his shoulder for balance.
"Luke, what are you—"
"Shhh," he said, taking her right earlobe between his teeth and tugging on it.
He continued to rub around underneath her skirt but just as he was beginning to slip his hand underneath the fabric of her underwear, she moved her hand down to grab his and push it away. They both took a series of moments to catch their breaths.
"Luke, what the hell was that?" she asked, suddenly even more aroused by the sight of the tightening in his jeans.
"I don't know."
"Listen. I have to go pick up Rory from school. And I have no idea what it was that we were just about to get into. But I really want to find out."
Woah. I definitely didn't expect her to say that.
She began to make her way to the exit and turned around one last time.
"Hey Luke?"
"Yeah?" he raised his head, trying his best to process all that had just happened…all that was about to happen.
"Close early tonight."
He gave her a questioning look but she simply winked and walked back out into the diner, grabbed her things, and went outside to her car.
This is going to be the longest ride to and from Hartford. Ever.