Day One
Lorelai awoke the next morning earlier than usual. The sun was shining brightly through her shades, making sleep impossible.
Slowly she pulled herself out of bed, silently cursing the sun for rising so early. She trekked over to her closet and pulled it open. She was about to pull out a slightly less-than-professional business suit with a skirt that hit her at about mid-thigh when she remembered her deal with Luke.
"No flirting means no flirty outfits," she said to herself in a low voice. She pushed the suit aside and pulled out another one; a black pants suit, and a purple flowered blouse to wear underneath. "This should keep Luke out of my hair," she said. She laid the clothes on her bed and went about her morning routine. Finally she came down to the kitchen where she found Rory making a pot of coffee.
"Morning hun," she said, walking into the kitchen. Rory turned, leaning back against the counter.
"Morning," she said, yawning into her hand.
"Why so tired?" Lorelai asked, walking past her to the cupboard and pulling out two mugs.
"I was up late studying for my Chemistry test. Mr. Komo is notorious for making them as miserable as possible, and since I want to start the semester off well, I wanted to make sure I left nothing out."
"You'll do fine, Kid," Lorelai assured her. She pulled the freshly brewed coffee pot out of the maker and poured them both a cup of the liquid.
"Thanks," Rory said, accepting the cup.
"Although I'm sure you're current sleepiness can be attributed as much to your late night telephone tag with Bible Boy as it is to studying..." Lorelai teased, sipping her coffee innocently.
"I have asked you repeatedly not to call him that, Mom. It's 'Tristan'. T.R.I.S.T.A.N," Rory said, enunciating every letter ever so properly.
"Also known as Spawn of Satan, Evil One, and, as previously mentioned, Bible Boy." Rory rolled her eyes and took a sip of the coffee, choosing to change the subject rather then to continue on with the completely useless conversation.
"You look nice," she said, noticing her Mother's more-professional-than-usual attire. "What's the occasion?" she took a long drink from her cup.
"Nothing, really. I have a meeting with the town spirit committee about an event they want to hold at the inn, but nothing major."
"Then what's with the suit?" she asked. Lorelai shrugged.
"I wanted to look nice? Is that bad?" Rory shrugged.
"You just don't usual dress so…" Rory stumbled for a proper word.
"So what?"
"Professional," she stated. Lorelai sighed and moved to the table, plopping down in a chair.
"Well, it's either this or no coffee for a week," she said. Rory raised an eyebrow and approached the table, sitting in another chair.
"I need a few more syllables here." Lorelai took a long drink from her cup and set it down .
"Luke bet me I couldn't go a week without flirting. Now, he didn't specify, but I think dressing slutty for meetings counts as being a little on the flirty side." Rory just looked at her, slightly amused. "What?"
"You'll never make it a week," she said after a moment. Lorelai's jaw dropped.
"What do you mean I wont make it?" Rory laughed lightly.
"I mean you're a perfectly capable business woman, Mom. But you are known for using your… wiles, to get what you want." Lorelai looked at her incredulously.
"I can't believe I'm hearing this from you. You were supposed to be on my side."
"I am on your side. I just don't know if you can hack it. A week is a long time, and our gutters need to be cleaned out," Rory said, knowing she was hitting all the right buttons. Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"I'll get them cleaned. I'll just do it the way all the other people do it," she said. Rory raised an eyebrow. "I'll threaten that Clancy kid. I think he's already kinda scared of me." Rory laughed and shook her head.
"Look, I wish you the best of luck on your little… endeavor. I've got to go catch the bus, I can't be late for my test."
"Or for your hunky hunky chunk of man meat," Lorelai added with a smile. Rory rolled her eyes.
"Just go back to Bible Boy." With that Rory took the final gulp of her coffee and placed it in the sink. After grabbing her backpack she gave her mom a hug and headed out the door, leaving Lorelai to contemplate her daughters perspective.
Around 8:30 Lorelai made her way into the Independence Inn. She nodded to several guests scattered around before heading into the kitchen to find Sookie and coffee.
"Morning sweetie," Sookie said brightly when Lorelai came into the kitchen.
"Morning Sook," she said, heading straight for the coffee.
"How are you?" Sookie asked. Lorelai shrugged.
"I'm okay. You?" Sookie shrugged.
"Okay," she responded. Lorelai took a sip of her coffee before realizing that Sookie was looking at her with a grin. She put down the mug and flashed a wide, fake grin at her friend.
"What's up, Sook?" Sookie laughed.
"Luke was in here this morning," she said with laughter in her voice. Lorelai sighed deeply and rolled her eyes. "He mentioned a little bet the two of you had going on."
"And he asked you to keep an eye on me?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Sookie laughed.
"I think it's funny, really. He seems to be taking it really seriously. He told Michel to call him the second you did something that normal people would consider flirtatious." Lorelai laughed lightly.
"I don't get it, Sookie. Why doesn't he think I can do it?" Sookie looked at her with a bit of a grin.
"Can you do it?" Lorelai looked at her incredulously.
"Of course I can do it," she responded, a little snappier than she had planned. Sookie just grinned.
"I believe you honey," she said. Lorelai continued to glare at her.
"But…"
"But you are a huge flirt." Lorelai rolled her eyes. "I mean, it's a great thing, you've sealed many a deal with clients over the years by flirting. It's a great skill to have. I don't know if you can just turn it off for a whole week though. A week is a long time, and it seems too natural for you," Sookie explained. Lorelai sighed.
"I don't get it. Nobody has any faith in me. First Luke, then Rory, now you..."
"No, honey. I do. I really do."
"Then why don't you think I can turn it off?"
"Because I've never seen it. But if you think you can do it, then I believe you. I'm behind you on this." Lorelai smiled lightly.
"It's a pretty ridiculous bet, isn't it?" Sookie laughed lightly.
"Most things in this town are, hun. But I understand why you're doing it." Lorelai raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" Sookie shrugged.
"I mean it's Luke. You always jump at the chance to impress him," she said. Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"It's a bet about a completely trivial matter, Sookie. It's not like I bet him I could cure cancer."
"No, but it's still something between you two. And between you and me, I think he would love to see you succeed." Lorelai just shrugged and grabbed her cup of coffee.
"Well, that remains to be seen. Anyways, I have to get get ready for that meeting with Taylor and Andrew." With that Lorelai walked out of the kitchen and into her office, closing the door behind her.
So far it hadn't been difficult not to flirt, but she knew the real test would come when she was faced with two men haggling for the price of renting the conference room. She knew she could do it, but was still unsure about how difficult it may be.
It was one o'clock when Lorelai met up with Taylor and Andrew in her office. She was determined to be entirely professional, and not to give in to her flirtatious nature.
"As the town selectman, I feel I should be given a better price on the room then just an average person. I am the face of this town. That should mean something," Taylor argued, not wanting to pay the $200 fee for the room.
"But that's the price of the room, Taylor. It's always been that price, and will always be that price." Lorelai could feel a headache coming on and just wanted to finish the meeting. Taylor had been nagging and nagging since he came in nearly half an hour ago. Normally she would have used her smile and charm to get him to just agree to the price, but was determined not to spend a week coffee-less.
"If I am going to pay this price I'm going to want a bonus along with the room."
"A bonus like what, Taylor? A dancing porcupine?" Lorelai asked, resisting the urge to throttle the annoying man.
"Like something more than just the room. A buffet, perhaps, for the guests," he suggested.
"You want our best conference room and a buffet for $200?" Lorelai asked. Taylor nodded, feeling entitled. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "We can't do that, Taylor. The buffet would cost you at least another $50, depending on what foods you serve, plus the time it would take to prepare the food." Taylor huffed.
"Fine, Lorelai. We'll pay the $200. But don't expect us to be sending any business your way for quite a while." With that Taylor jumped out of his chair. "Come on, Andrew. We're going to have to sell half of the committee members to make the money for this event."
Lorelai watched as Taylor stormed out and Andrew walked behind him, throwing her an apologetic look as he closed the door behind her him. She dropped her head in her hands, warding off the impending headache. With a glance at her clock she realized it was past lunch time. She grabbed her keys and coat and headed out to Luke's for lunch.
When she entered the diner several moments later she found it practically empty, save a few stragglers here and there. She found her way to the counter and plopped down on a stool, waiting for Luke.
"You look like hell," he said, coming over to her with a cup and pot of coffee. He set the cup down in front of her and poured the liquid into it.
"Thanks. You look like an Angel," she said, taking the coffee from him and taking a long drink.
"What's the matter?" he asked. She sighed deeply.
"Taylor," she said. He nodded understandingly.
"What'd he do this time?" he asked.
"He's just being a pain. He wanted a room for less than half the price at the inn, and got mad when I wouldn't give it to him. Normally I would come up with an amicable option for him, but today they were just escaping me."
"Couldn't flirt your way out of it, huh?" Luke asked with a small grin. Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"For your information he left after agreeing to pay full price. See? I can do business without flirting."
"And you come out of it so well," he remarked. She rolled her eyes.
"Just get me a burger and fries Burger Boy. This mood is your fault. Start groveling." Luke just laughed and turned back to the kitchen, giving Caesar the order and then headed out to serve a customer that had just come in.
The rest of Lorelai's day was relatively uneventful. She had gone back to work at the inn and locked herself in her office, doing paperwork until 6:00 PM when she decided to head home.
'One day down' she thought to herself as she crawled into bed later that evening. She sunk down deep into her sheets and closed her eyes, willing sleep to come.
Despite her tiredness, she couldn't shut her brain off. Between Taylor and the various people who had assured her she couldn't make it a week without flirting, she was sufficiently stressed, and insulted.
Before sleep could take over she allowed her thoughts to drift to Luke, and why she had taken him up on this ridiculous bet in the first place. Sookie had said it was because of her desire to impress him, but she couldn't figure why she did want to impress him. Maybe it was because they were friends and she wanted to prove to her friends that she was more then just a shameless flirt. But maybe it was something more then that. Something more then she was willing to admit.
With that as she final thought she allowed sleep to take over, as she plunged into unconsciousness.
I'm sorry to the Jess/Rory shippers, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It's too painful! Hope you liked it despite the Troryness (Because I love my Trory!). Comments, Queries, Concerns, Bribes, and Abuse welcome :D