Somebody For Someone
* * * * * * * *
Lorelai opened her eyes and adjusted them to the bright room. She glanced over at Luke, who was asleep next to her, breathing quietly. They had somehow managed to squeeze themselves onto the couch without it being too uncomfortable. Her head rested itself against the arm of the couch and faced the coffee table, her back to Luke, while he was positioned in between Lorelai's back and the couch. Trying not to wake him, she slipped out from underneath the covers and slid quietly into the kitchen. She hadn't noticed, but her hands were trembling as she sat down at the table. Sighing, she got up to make herself some coffee and Luke some tea for when he woke up. After all, he did bring her dinner the night before. Turning on the teapot, she smiled in recollection of the sweet thing he had done for her.
She sat down again, the small grin still on her lips. "He always thinks of me." She whispered quietly.
Directly after she spoke, she saw Luke hobble into the kitchen, looking confused and disoriented. His flannel shirt was half-unbuttoned while his hair, the cap gone, appeared ruffled and frizzy.
Lorelai grinned as Luke plopped down onto one of the kitchen chairs.
"Ha, you have bed head." She laughed. "So is that why you wear that baseball cap all the time, to hide your hair?"
He glared at her. "No, that's not why. I wear it because I like it." He said while attempting to smooth out his hair. "It gives me a little character."
She shook her head. "Excuses, excuses. So, uh, are you hungry? We still have some left-overs from last night, I could stick some burgers in the microwave."
Luke groaned and shook his head.
Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Oh, Luke, now don't tell me you have something against microwaves, too."
"No, I just can't imagine eating burgers for breakfast." He retorted, still flattening his hair.
"I didn't ask you to imagine it, I asked you if you wanted any." She smiled and poured his tea. He thanked her and sipped it, nodding approvingly.
"Wow, this is good." He commented.
"Yes, well, I can boil water if that's what you mean."
He shook his head. "No, really, it's great."
"Thanks." She said and went into the refrigerator to get some food. After it was heated, she sat back down again.
She cleared her throat thoughtfully. "So, uh, how'd you sleep last night?" She stammered.
He looked worried, but forced a smile. "Um, good. You?"
"You snore."
He blushed and looked down. "Sorry."
She laughed and hit him playfully on the arm. "I'm just kidding. You were actually pretty quiet."
"No, I meant that I'm sorry for falling asleep. I didn't mean to, it was just an accident." He apologized, his voice a little wavery and nervous.
Lorelai shook her head. "Why are you sorry? You're allowed to stay here whenever you want."
"Well, I'm just....I don't know, but I'm sorry." He got up from the chair. "So, I guess I better get going, the diner should've opened hours ago."
Lorelai nodded, but then jumped up while he was almost out the door. "Wait, Luke!"
He turned around. "Yeah?
"What about my heater? You said you'd fix my heater." She smiled at him warmly.
He thought for a second, then nodded. "Okay, but I gotta go get my toolbox."
She nodded and watched him walk down the front steps before closing the door behind her.
* * * * * * * *
"What's that thing?" Lorelai asked while sitting on the basement floor with a dish of ice cream, watching Luke as he fixed her heater.
He made a face as her held up a greasy pipe. "Uh, I'm not too sure."
"Well, put it back, it looks important."
Luke nodded and reattached it to the heater. "So, when's Rory getting back?"
Lorelai groaned. "Ugh, not for like fifty years."
"Really." He said, unconvinced.
"Well, Tuesday actually. But, it feels like fifty years." She stirred the ice cream around in her dish, looking depressed again.
"If you didn't want her to go, then why'd you let her?" He asked.
She looked up from her dish and smiled. "Aw, I couldn't do that to her, Luke, you should've seen how happy she looked. I mean, she doesn't get to see him that much and she sees me all the time, so I figured why not let her go."
Luke banged on the heater a few more times. "You're a good mom."
"And you're a good, um, diner owner." She laughed. He just smiled and shook his head, concentrating intently on fixing her heater.
A few minutes later, Luke announced, "All done."
"Oh, thank God!" Lorelai exclaimed as she stood next to the heater, basking in it's warmth. "So, I guess I can cancel that frostbite survival kit I ordered earlier."
"Yup, you can." He said as he lifted his toolbox off of the floor. "So, I should get going, I guess."
She turned around and nodded. "Oh, yeah, I guess." Lorelai said in a deflated tone, thinking about how she'll have to spend the rest of the day alone, again.
Luke looked at her for a second. "So I guess I'll see you later."
He studied her facial expression for a moment before clearing his throat. "Or, uh, maybe we could go somewhere, you know, somewhere else."
"Like where?" She asked, her eyes brightening.
"Uh, I don't know. Wherever." He said, still not believing that he had asked her to go somewhere.
"Hmmm, you're not just taking pity on my lonely, pathetic existence, are you?" She asked.
"That's exactly what I'm doing, so where do you wanna go?" He asked, walking up the stairs with Lorelai in tow.
Once back in the living room, she looked up at the ceiling and thought for a moment, before turning to face Luke again. "The diner."
He looked surprised. "The diner? But, you just ate."
She laughed. "Hey, has that ever stopped me before?" She smiled and grabbed her coat off of the rack. "Anyway, I need coffee."
"But, you just had coffee about two seconds ago." He insisted, not advancing toward the door, where she was heading out.
She stopped walking and turned around. "Once again, has that ever stopped me before?"
He sighed heavily. "Come on, Lorelai, I really don't feel like opening the diner this late. Let's just go somewhere else."
"You don't have to open, we'll just go in for a sec and you can make me coffee a little something to eat. Then, we can go wherever you want. Okay?" She asked, pleading impatiently with her eyes.
He looked at her a moment before allowing a small smile to grow on his face. "Yeah, okay."
She made a giddy sound, which caused Luke to shake his head. "You scare me sometimes."
* * * * * * * *
"Fascinating." Lorelai gasped, almost inaudibly, while watching Luke take some freshly baked muffins out of the diner's oven. "Ooh, my turn!"
"Just don't burn yourself." He warned, while handing her a metal tray, which was scattered with uncooked muffins. "It's very hot."
She rolled her eyes and smiled. "I think I'm aware of that. Hey, do I get to wear the cool-looking glove thingys?"
He rolled his eyes and handed them to her. "They're called pot holders."
"Pot holders. Dirty." She smiled as she put them on.
"Do say that about everything?" He asked, confused. "Just be careful."
After finishing her task of cooking the muffins, Luke and Lorelai sat at a table in the closed diner with the large plate of muffins in front of them.
Lorelai bit into one of them and moaned. "Mmmm, this is so good. It must be one of yours."
Luke picked one up also and slowly bit off a little piece, immediately making a distorted face. He swallowed painfully with a large gulp of his water. "And this must be one of yours."
"Gross?" She asked.
"Extremely." He replied, pushing the plate over to her side of the table.
"Well, that's what you get for letting me use your stove." She replied while devouring her muffin.
"You promised me you'd follow the recipe exactly." He reminded her while watching her sip her coffee.
Her eyes widened in surprise. "Hey, I did follow it exactly. I just thought it could've used a little extra sugar. That's all." She said defensively.
"How little?"
"Mmmm, maybe just an extra cup or two." She smiled innocently.
Luke shook his head. "These are supposed to be blueberry muffins not sugar muffins. Next time follow the recipe."
Lorelai smiled excitedly. "There's going to be a next time?"
Luke stared at her for a second. "Only if you promise to cook normal muffins instead of these disgusting surgery things disguised as normal muffins."
Lorelai groaned. "Ugh, do I have to?"
"If you want there to be a next time, yes, you have to." Luke said while smiling inwardly to himself. "Do you promise not to waste good sugar and good batter next time?"
Lorelai hung her head. "Yeah, yeah, I promise."
"Good. Now, where do you wanna go?" Luke asked her.
Lorelai thought for a second before answering. "Well, when I'm really bored I usually come here, but the next best thing would have to be the mall." Excitement rose in her voice at the mere thought of it. "Oh! It's almost Christmas! The sales will be everywhere, right and left. So many sales, so little time, Luke, what do you say, huh? Can we go to the mall?"
Luke groaned. "That's what you do in your spare time?"
"The one and only thing." She grinned and grabbed her purse. "Come on, Luke, you know you want to."
"Absolutely not. No way." He replied.
Luke stood up and began to bring the empty plates over to the counter. Lorelai followed him and tapped his shoulder.
He turned around to face her. "No."
Lorelai smiled at him. "But, they have flannel. Lots and lots of flannel. It's almost like a flannel heaven, Luke, you'll love it. They might even have some buy one get one free flannels because you can never really have too many. Well, you can't, anyway."
"I'm not going shopping." Luke grumbled as he began to wipe the counter where he spilt some sugar. "What else do you like to do?"
"Annoy you mercilessly." She grinned and sat down on a stool.
"I'm not going along with that plan either. What else?" He asked.
"Can we do what me and Rory would usually do on winter break?"
He stopped wiping and looked at her for a second. "What would you and Rory do?"
"Yes or no?" Lorelai asked, wearing a mischievous grin.
"I can't okay an activity if I don't even know what it is." Luke replied.
"Yes or no?" Lorelai repeated.
Luke sighed. "This can't be a good thing."
"Yes or no?"
Luke dropped his head then brought it back up. He sighed and gave in. "Fine, yes, we can so what you and Rory would do."
"Great, we'll go buy some flannel. You wanna drive?" Lorelai grinned and hopped off of the stool.
Luke sighed and grumbled. "Yeah, I'll drive."
Lorelai grinned excitedly and followed Luke out of the diner.
To be continued...