"No..." Lorelai continued, as she turned to make her way out of the establishment.
But Lorelai found that she couldn't take another step. Luke was standing in front of her now, backing her to the counter.
"Luke, what...?" Lorelai's mind was racing. What was going on? What the hell was Luke doing?
"Lorelai, I...I..."
Luke stood, still blocking her path, breathing heavily. He was staring at her, no: through her. Quite blatantly, in fact. Lorelai had heard the phrase "undressing her with his eyes" many times, and even been at the receiving end of Luke's eyes, but...but this, this was something in a class of its own.
Butterflies, she thought. Butterflies and dragonflies doing somersaults in her tummy.
Stop it! She commanded herself. It's Luke. You're just friends. He probably just wants to give you...
"The song was for Rory!" she got out in a rush.
"Really."
"Yes, for Rory. Because of graduation. Luke?" she continued in spite of herself.
Luke continued to stare at her. His eyes, normally clear-blue, were indigo-blue-dark and unreadable.
"Luke, please? I need to get home." Lorelai was intrigued but still, panicked. Maybe he was finally going to unload all his pain at her betrayal onto her.
"Lorelai," Luke huskily said, and took a step toward her, closing the distance between them to mere inches. She had not been this close to him in over a year.
"How could you do this to us, Lorelai? All those years I waited for you..."
Here it comes, she thought.
"All those years and then you...and April...and married Christopher...and now...tonight...the song...you're here."
Lorelai heard his words as if she was underwater, snippets of clarity and fuzziness.
"How can we be just friends when I still love you?" she clearly heard him say as his hands reached for her.
"Luke. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done what I did. God knows what you must have thought."
Guilt flooded through him. This was all his fault, all because he'd been careless with Anna, and then compartmentalized April, yet here she was, actually asking him for forgiveness.
Luke cleared his throat. "Lorelai, you have nothing to be sorry for."
Lorelai bit her lip and then lifted her face to his with a determined expression.
Her hand reached up to stroke his jaw line, reveling in its familiarity.
Say it. You sang it, you can say it, she thought.
She was still looking at him.
Tell him. Say the words.
"Lorelai," he said, "I love you. Never stopped. Not once."
Oh, god, I don't believe this, he loves me still...Lorelai mused as his hands gripped her shoulders and he stepped forward, pushing her harder against the counter.
"Just tell me this, Lorelai?" Luke asked in a husky voice. "Do you still...?"
"Love you?" Lorelai whispered.
I should be angry with him, Lorelai thought, but how can I when he is nuzzling my ear and thank god, thank god, thank god...But this is Luke, and she--they--couldn't, shouldn't...
"Lorelai. You owe me an answer." He placed small kisses along one ear, tracing her entire lobe with his soft lips. She idly sank forward into him, hovering in the space between counter and Luke, as he made his way to her other side.
He was bent close over her, his hands moving to her waist, and in one fluid motion, hoisted her up onto the counter.
"Luke." Good. Her voice was steady. "Luke. I didn't know that you'd decide to show up."
"Why?" he asked her, as he barked a short laugh. "What, you would have switched to a different song?"
"Yes," she replied, her voice still steady. "I'm sorry if the song...hurt you...you don't need me to..."
"Do you know what I really need?" he hoarsely whispered as his grip on her tightened.
Lorelai was frantically thinking. Thanks to the unintended consequence of her song, he knew everything. This...this was all wrong. He should be furious because she slept with Christopher. He should be angry because she married him. But if that was what he was feeling, he sure had a funny way of showing it. His voice was murmuring in gravelly tones about how much he loved and wanted and needed her, how much he'd missed her, and how he just needed, just wanted, a chance to show her exactly what he meant by that. How he could be a really great boyfriend, fiancé, whatever, how he had learned to handle more than one thing in his life.
Luke now gently cupped her face in his hands and kissed across her face...forehead, left eyebrow, right eyebrow, the space between her brows, the tip of her nose, left cheek, right cheek, all the while trailing his soft lips with the slight pleasant rasp of his stubble.
"Lorelai?" He questioningly sighed her name as he began kissing along her jaw line.
"Luke, please, we can't do this."
He abruptly stopped, halfway down her left side.
"Why not?" he firmly stated, looking at her.
Lorelai intended to respond but was interrupted.
"Oh," he added, "You not divorced yet?"
"I, no, it's not that. And yes, yes."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Luke asked.
"This. We can't, just do it." When did her voice begin to shake, she wondered.
He just watched her.
"I meant," Lorelai continued, "Yes. I'm divorced. And..." her voice trailed off..."I still, I still love you."
Luke's hands were back at her waist. "You do? You do!" he whispered.
"Luke, please." Why did her voice sound so far away?
"Is that a request?" he murmured.
What the hell was wrong with him? What the hell was wrong with her? If they were to be just friends, he'd have to keep his hands off her. But why were her hands now cupping his jaw line? Why couldn't she resist him?
"Please what?" he reiterated, looking her in the eyes. She'd seen that look before. On their great first date. In the limo. A couple of times in her office at the Inn, after hours when guests and staff were dormant. His eyes were dark and wide, burning with intensity.
She vaguely realized that someone--she!--was slipping her top off, and her necklace was now on the floor.
When she couldn't answer, Luke continued. "Please Luke, do this?" He placed a kiss at the hollow of her throat. "Or please, Luke, stop? Or please Luke, don't stop. Tell me what you want, Lorelai."
His right hand left her waist and was at her cheek, his thumb lightly tracing her bottom lip.
Lorelai's eyes closed of their own volition. If she continued to look at him, she'd lose herself in him, right there and then in the diner. She kept her eyes closed. Her clothes were still on, the situation was still salvageable, she told herself.
But when she spoke, her voice belied her intent. "I want you, Luke."
She didn't need to open her eyes to gauge his reaction. Deep down, she knew that he really meant it when he said he'd never really stopped loving her. Because it was true for her too, in spite of a marriage. In spite of playing mommy to Gigi. Lorelai sighed, a sense of peace coming over her as she realized that she was Liz to his Burton and they could never go back to the way things were before they'd been together.
And for the first time in over a year, Luke's lips finally touched hers again. Her hands, which had been cupping his face, now fiercely gripped handfuls of his shirt.
"Love you. Always. Want you," Luke whispered between kisses.
And then Lorelai kissed him back.