Chapter 10: Distractions

That morning Lorelai opened her eyes to one of the only welcoming sights at five-thirty in the morning, a half naked man. She bit her lip as she concentrated on the mental picture she was making of his back; every muscle seemed perfectly proportional to the next. She told herself this was highly improper and she should chose her eyes straight away, but where's the fun in that. She had seen him in this state of undress before at the lake and it had elicited the same response; however, this time the reaction was much strong. When she watched Luke at the lake helping Rory; she saw him as a terrific looking guy, who was generously helping her daughter. That time she just what to know what it would be like to hug him and feel his strong arms rap tight around her. The emotions she was dealing with now were much more licentious, and just was the thoughts in her head were getting really good; she was interrupted.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you," Luke apologized as he put a blue flannel shirt over his tight t-shirt.

"No problem," Lorelai squeaked out trying to purge the thoughts running through her head. "Are you done in there?" Lorelai asked pointing to the bathroom.

"Oh yeah," Luke nodded.

"Would you mind if I take a quick shower?" Lorelai asked.

"Sure. Towels are in the cabinet over the toilet and anything else should be in the shower," Luke answered trying desperately not to think of the beautiful woman, who would soon be naked in his shower.

"Thanks," Lorelai said quietly slipping out of his warm bed and into a cold shower.

So it wasn't yet six o'clock in the morning and Luke and Lorelai were already quite separately dealing with about the exact same emotion, each having quite unsuccessful results. Luke had gone downstairs hoping the distance would help clear his mind; he also needed to start opening the diner. So far he had put coffee in the pancake mix and dropped a half a gallon of milk on the floor, yet his mind wasn't anymore focused.

Lorelai wasn't having much better luck; finding herself only momentarily distracted by the cold water. Once she was wrapped in a dry towel she had a whole new dilemma: clothes. She put her undergarments and jeans back on, but decided maybe she could borrow a clean t-shirt. This is how she found herself standing partially naked in the same spot as Luke not twenty minutes later. That thought didn't help her wandering mind much; neither did the fact that she now smelled like the man in question: having used his soap and was wearing his shirt. "Coffee" she thought, "Coffee should wake my mind out of this stupor." She trudged bare foot downstairs in his over sized t-shirt for her first cup of coffee.

Luke nearly dropped the plates he was carrying when her saw her. "Is she tried to torture me?" was his first thought. He cleared his throated and asked, "Find everything alright?"

"Oh yeah, I borrowed a shirt. I hope that's ok. The other one seemed a little dirty after I slept in it and all," Lorelai explained.

"No problem," Luke nodded, "It looking better on you anyway," he said as he poured her an initial cup of coffee.

"I don't know how many people would agree with you," Lorelai smiled over the rim of her mug.

Luke blushed, just a little, and went to switch the diner's sign from closed to open; although he'd much rather spend the morning alone with his present company. He just didn't know how good of an idea that was.

"How many people come in this early?" Lorelai asked as she watched him move about the room pulling chairs of their respective tables.

"It's usually pretty full by six-thirty," Luke shrugged.

"So you get up and do this everyday?" Lorelai bit her lip again watching as he effortlessly lifted chairs.

"Yeah, that's kind of the definition of a job," Luke joked. "Don't you get up early for your shifts at the inn?"

"Not this kind of early. I usually don't get up until Rory practically pushes me out of bed at like seven-ten," Lorelai explained, "And even then I don't start making any sense until I've had a least two cups of coffee."

"Wow," Luke thought about her statement for a minute and then stopped right beside her to pull the other counter stools down, "Then why in the world are you up now?"

Lorelai looked up into at his stance, arms crossed over his chest and his eyes drilling holes into her own. "This just isn't fair," she thought.

Their eyes remained locked for immeasurable amount of time both unable to read the thoughts going through the other's head. However, before these thoughts could be any more fully developed the bell over the diner's door rang out in the thick silence. The spell was broken, so they both turned their heads to see who had interrupted them this time.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Kirk started to apologize, "but I've been using this new furry alarm clock form the cat store and it didn't purr this morning. It's a prototype."

"Kirk it's not a problem. In fact, if you ever just want to skip breakfast here and sleep in that would be absolutely fine," Luke said stepping away from Lorelai and the temptation that surrounded being that close to her.

"I could never do that to you Luke," Kirk answered with such devotion and honestly in his face that Lorelai wondered if she wasn't the only person in the room who had ever that an inappropriate thought about Luke. "Did she have competition for Luke's affection?" Lorelai thoughts were turning to the ridiculous. However, she found that question to be totally unwarranted when she saw Luke's reaction to Kirk's declaration. It was a mixture of shock, fear, and disgust; all booked ended by an eye roll.

"What do you want Kirk?" Luke asked sinking back into his diner persona he had been crafting for the last fifteen months.

"Banana-chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and a cup of orange juice," Kirk answered. When Luke went into the kitchen to make his breakfast Kirk turned to Lorelai and gave her a weird look, "That shirt looks familiar."

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After listening to Kirk talk about the theories and science behind "the back to the future trilogy" for a little over half an hour Lorelai noticed how busy the diner had gotten. All of the tables were full and all but two stools were taken; Luke was running around try to get to everyone as fast as he could. The next time he past in front of her to deliver toast to a customer at the other end of the counter she tried to get his attention. "Hey Luke."

"Do you need more coffee?" he asked a little stressed.

"My only advice is to stay aware, listen carefully and yell for help if you need it." Lorelai said.

"What?" Luke asked clearly lost.

"It's from a book Rory read last year," Lorelai offered. "Do you want some help?"

"You really want to help?" Luke asked a little amazing.

"Yes," Lorelai answered with a dazzling smile.

"Fine, but you'll need to put shoes on," Luke remarked remembering her bare feet, "in fact you shouldn't even be in the diner like that."

"Is that any way to the help?" Lorelai questioned as she went upstairs to retrieve her shoes.

Once she had found her shoes and checked on Rory and Jess, she looked around the small apartment and was struck by something in the counter. Lorelai walked down the stairs, through the diner, and right behind Luke with a huge smile on her smile.

Luke turned around and got a good look at her discovery. "What are you wearing?"

"I thought this was part of the uniform," Lorelai faked innocence; she had found his old high school baseball cap in the corner of the apartment hanging on the wall rack. She was current wearing, this navy cap with SH embroidered on, it in typical Luke fashion.

Luke didn't know what to say, so he just rolled his eyes and tried to ignore her obvious implication.

"So what should I do first?" Lorelai asked huge smile returning.

"Why don't you offer refills of coffee," Luke started with the basics.

"Cool coffee. That I know," with that Lorelai was quickly making her first round of the diner.

Lorelai helped Luke at the diner the entire morning; truth be told she was having a lot of fun. Jess and Rory finally came downstairs around ten-thirty and watched their respective guardians work, every once in a while having to slide or move around each other in close proximity.

"Five bucks," Jess whispered in Rory ear.

"What?" Rory asked a little confused about what Jess was talking about.

"Those two will be dating before the end of the summer," Jess said using Lorelai's "duh" tone he had heard so much this summer.

"That's a suckers bet," Rory smiled back.

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The next few weeks flew by; Jess and Rory continued to see each other practically everyday. Some people were even saying they were starting to look alike, whether this was true or not they didn't seem to care. Lane would join the two whenever she could, but with her mother strict rules it wasn't near as often as she would have wished. Despite their rocky start Jess and Lane seemed to get along quite well now. The three would hang out together talking, watching a movie, or just listening to music.

The weeks were not quite as enjoyable for the adults. The diner was surprisingly busy for July, or so it seemed to Luke. However, this was only his second summer to have the diner, so he wasn't quite accustom to the travel's calendar. The busy times he knew from working at his dad's hardware store were completely useless now.

The summer had been beautiful so the inn was swamped with weddings, parties, and just general summer tourists. What made matters worse is two maids had quit right after July fourth. Actual one was fired for stealing and the other found out she was pregnant and so felt it was safer for her find a different job. Finding good loyal employees was harder than in seemed, so while Mia went through countless interview; Lorelai and the other maids had to keep up the slack. To state the obvious, this meant Lorelai had very little free time.

Come on peoples its verbal foreplay, but it won't be too much longer. It's been written, saved, and survived the first round of proof reading (It's not sounding so romantic anymore). True be told I wrote most of chapters eleven and twelve (they are both longer) before I finished ten. Crazy no?

So this chapter was a little short, sorry.

Tunes: "Pink Bullets" by the Shins.

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