Day 3
Lorelai awoke feeling refreshed. She pulled herself out of bed and walked over to her closet, pulling out a pair of dark wash jeans, a blue t-shirt and a white blazer. She was finally starting to realize that she didn't have to dress stuffy so as not to be flirtatious. She just wanted to be herself today. She knew that if she was herself, minus the flirting, then things would start to work out again.
After completing her morning routine she bounded down the stairs more energetically then anyone should at that early hour. When she reached the bottom step she nearly bowled over Rory who was walking by the staircase.
"Geez, where's the fire?" Rory asked, unnerved.
"The roof?" Lorelai asked with a grin, walking past her and going into the kitchen.
"What's got you so upbeat?" Rory followed her into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Lorelai shrugged and poured them both a cup of coffee.
"I dunno. I just feel good today." she smiled and sat down in another chair. Rory smiled and took a sip.
"So how's the bet going? Did you blow it yet?" Rory grinned. Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"As a matter of fact, Missy, I've been doing exceptionally well."
"Really?"
"Really. In fact, I think I'm perfectly capable of doing just about anything without resorting to flirting."
"Anything?"
"Anything."
"It's danish day, what if you don't get one?"
"Then I will calmly negotiate with Kirk. No problem there. He's easy to handle." Rory chuckled. "Dirty?" Lorelai asked. Rory nodded. "But seriously kid, have a little more faith in Mommy. I may have gotten off to a rocky start, but I think now I may actually be getting good at all of this non-flirting stuff."
"Glad to hear it," Rory said with a grin. She had known from the beginning her mother was entirely capable of not flirting for what she wanted, but it was always more fun to tease her. Lorelai smiled.
"Does this mean you're on my side now?" Rory laughed lightly.
"I was always on your side. It's just so much more fun to pretend to be on Luke's side to get a rise out of you." Lorelai scowled at her.
"You and Sookie, all you non-believers. Even Luke has more faith in me."
"Isn't he the one you're supposed to be proving this to?" Rory asked. She sat up and put her cup in the sink and leaned against the counter. Lorelai shrugged.
"I think it started out that way, but now I'm not so sure. I think I need to prove it to myself now. Luke kinda helped me see that." Rory raised an eyebrow, Lorelai felt compelled to explain. "I was upset last night so I called Luke, don't ask me why. But he really made me feel better about everything. He said he has faith in my business skills and he made me understand that I should too."
"That's so cute," Rory said with a wide grin. Lorelai rolled her eyes.
"It is not 'cute'. It's one friend cheering up another friend."
"No, it was Luke cheering up Lorelai. It's a far different concept." Lorelai sighed and decided not to argue about it. She stood up and placed her cup in the sink.
"Here's another concept for ya, Kid. If you don't run right now you're gonna miss the bus, and then who's gonna be there to cheer up Bible Boy when his precious Mary isn't there promptly at nine?" Rory looked at the clock on the microwave startled and quickly grabbed her bag and ran to the door.
"I've got the Franklin after school today. See you at five!" she called back on her way out the door, slamming it behind her. Lorelai chuckled lightly at her daughter before returning her thoughts to what she had said.
She was right, Lorelai realized. Luke and Lorelai were never 'just' friends. Luke consoling Lorelai was not just one friend consoling another, it was just that: Luke and Lorelai.
She didn't know where all of these thoughts about the state of their relationship had come from, but they were all very exhilarating.
Taking her newfound excitement about life, and realizations about the state of her relationship with Luke, Lorelai grabbed her coat and slipped on her shoes before heading out to work. She hoped nothing would bring down her mood today, it was just too good.
Lorelai walked into the inn at 8:45 and found Michel standing behind the front desk arguing with a guest.
"But I paid for the room, therefore I paid for the things in the room, therefore I paid for the liquor in the mini-fridge!" the man screamed.
"Sir, the liquor in the refrigerator was not part of the package. Everybody knows that. It is an extra which is painfully overpriced, and if you choose to drink all of the liquor, you will be left with an outrageous room fee. You are required to pay the full fee!" Michel snapped back. Lorelai groaned inwardly and headed over to fix the mess.
"Hey, what's the problem here?" she asked, coming behind the desk to stand next to Michel.
"This man refuses to pay for the fourteen bottles of liquor which he and his lady friend drank during their stay. I've tried to explain to him that it was not part of the package, but he just wont listen to me," Michel explain, frustration evident in his voice.
"I paid good money for my room, and that means I paid for everything in my room. I paid for the bed, the pillows, the TV, and for the contents of the mini fridge!" the man yelled.
"Sir, please calm down," Lorelai began, "I realize that you paid a lot of money for your room here at the Independence Inn, and we greatly appreciate your business. However the liquor in the fridge wasn't a part of the package that you paid for, so the consumption of the liquor entitles you to pay for it," she explained. The man scowled at her.
"This is the worst service I've ever had at a hotel. The absolute worst."
"Sir, please try to understand, if I could help you I would, but the liquor which you consumed was not included in the price you paid for the room. I realize it may seem like it should have been, and we'll have to make that more clear in our pamphlets, but unfortunately since this is the case we're going to have to ask you to pay for it." Lorelai took a deep breath before continuing. "I realize that this is an inconvenience for you, so as our gift we would like to offer you a 20 percent discount on your next stay here at the Independence Inn." The man looked as though her was going to explode again, but then his expression changed.
"Well… I don't know. This is still outrageous to me," he began. "Well, alright. Fine. Although I doubt I'll be staying here again anytime soon." He pulled out his credit card and paid with a huff.
"I'm sorry we couldn't be more accommodating for you, Sir. I hope you enjoyed your stay otherwise," Lorelai said with a smile. The man shrugged grumpily.
"It was okay… Until now," he added with a huff. Lorelai nodded her understand.
"Thank you for being so understanding Sir. I hope you'll come back some time and stay with us again." With that the man turned and stomped out of the Inn, with a small apologetic seeming woman on his tail. When they were finally out of earshot both Lorelai and Michel let out a breath.
"Oy with the poodles already," Lorelai said with an exaggerated sigh. Michel rolled his eyes.
"I wont ask," he said, turning back to the computer monitor in front of him. Lorelai nodded.
"Good plan." With that she left the front desk and headed to her office, feeling proud to have handled the situation so well.
While the rest of the day was fairly uneventful, Lorelai was still in a bubbly mood when she left that evening. Realizing she hadn't had dinner yet she headed to the diner where she found Luke lazily wiping down the counter which was already spotless. Taking a seat in front of him, Lorelai was a little concerned when he didn't stop or even recognize her presence.
"Luke?" she asked. He didn't look up. "Luuuuke," she said, dragging his name out this time. "Hey, Luke," she said, this time putting her hand on his to stop the incessant wiping. He jerked his hand away suddenly, startled.
"Geez, Lorelai. When did you get here?" he asked, clearly coming out of oblivion.
"Well don't I feel loved," she said with a fake pout. He sighed.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
"No, really? I thought that was your complete awareness face." Luke rolled his eyes.
"Coffee?" he asked, grabbing a mug and the pot before waiting for her answer.
"You mean the nectar of the gods? Drink of all things holy? Heavenly brew of sweet ambrosia in a cup?" Luke rolled his eyes. "Coffee's good," she said with a grin. He poured the hot liquid into a cup and slid it over to counter to her. "Hey, can I also get a cheeseburger and chili-fries?" Luke called the order out to Caesar.
"You're going to die young," he said in his normal gruff tone.
"So why are you so crabby tonight?" she asked. He shrugged.
"I'm not crabby."
"You are crabby. If you were any crabbier I'd be catching you in a net and releasing you into the Atlantic." Luke just shrugged.
"Just a long day, I guess," he said, not wanting to reveal to her that she had interrupted him from a very enticing train of thought… about her. She smiled and nodded.
"Mine wasn't so bad, actually. I think I'm finally figuring out this whole non-flirting thing. You're going down, Burger Boy!" she said with a grin. He just grinned, feeling slightly uplifted now that she was here.
"It's only been three days. You've got plenty of time to screw up," he picked. She feigned a hurt look.
"And after all of those nice things you said last night," she said. He shrugged.
"Yea, well, don't want you to get too cocky," he said.
"With coffee in the balance, I'm gonna need to maintain my spirit," she said, pumping a fist in the air. He laughed lightly and turned back to the kitchen where Caesar was ready with her order.
"Here you go, Junkie. Enjoy your death," he said. With that he walked out from the counter with his pad to serve a customer that had just walked in. Lorelai just smiled as he walked away, enjoying the fluttery feeling their banter had left in her stomach. It was often that she felt giddy about a guy, but the fact that this was Luke made it even more special.
But still, she was a little wary. It would have to be at least another four days before she could do anything about her feelings, and even then she didn't know how he would respond. Although she had a hunch he was into her to, and had been assured of that numerous times by various townspeople, and Sookie and Rory, she was still unsure of what exactly Luke's feelings toward her were.
Deciding it was useless to think about, she settled into her seat and took a big bite of her hamburger, enjoying her death immensely.
So I decided to carry on with it on a day by day basis. I figured the story was worth a few more chapters. Hope you liked it, let me know