When Luke got up the next morning he dressed and went downstairs as quietly as he could. He stood in the empty kitchen and listened to the stillness of the house for a moment. He thought about sticking round until she got up, maybe cooking her some breakfast as a gesture of thanks but realising it was only five thirty in the morning and she might not be up for hours he grabbed a pad and pen from the table by the door and wrote a message on it then left it by the kettle and went to the diner to get to work.
Lorelai listened to him leave and waited until she could no longer hear his truck before getting up. She went upstairs and showered tried not to notice how he had made the bed, spread his new clothes out on the end of the bed and opened a window for fresh air. But she couldn't help it. She smiled at the sight of it all and went over to her chest of drawers. She emptied out the top shelf, spread her clothes among the other drawers then slipped his tee shirts and underwear in, then made room in her closet for the rest of his clothing.
She dressed herself and went down to the kitchen to make coffee only then spotting the note he had left for her.
"Lorelai, gone to the Diner. Luke." she snorted at the note. "Succinct." She stuck it to the fridge and sipped her coffee even as she finished getting ready for work then left the cup in the sink and left.
Luke was brushing work rubble out of the diner into a wheelbarrow on the street when he spotted Lorelai's jeep coming down the street. He straightened up, pulled off his work gloves and approached the jeep as she pulled up but instead of Lorelai getting out, it was Sookie.
"Luke!" she yelled and she came running over and grasped him in a bear hug, trapping his arms by his sides. "I'm so so sorry!"
"Thanks Sookie."
"It's just awful!"
"Yeah."
"I can't imagine what you must be going through."
"Yeah, thanks."
She held him for a moment longer then slowly released him but held onto him at arm's length as she looked at the shell of all that remained of the diner. "Oh, it's just plain awful."
"It's not so bad, the structure is good, it's mainly cosmetic."
"I brought food."
She hurried back to the jeep and opened the back door then pulled out a tray of sandwiches and left it on the bonnet. "Come and get it!" she yelled out and slowly the contractors came filing out of the diner to surround the food. Sookie took some aside and brought it over to Luke.
"She told you to yell that out didn't she." He said when she passed him a sandwich. Sookie smiled and nodded her head.
"How are you holding up?" she asked after he took a bite of his lunch.
"I'm ok, it's going well. We cleared out a lot of the damaged materials so by tomorrow I should be able to start putting in the new stuff."
"And you are staying at Lorelai's house?"
"Yeah." He glanced at her sideways and awaited for her to push him for more but she was just smiling at him and said nothing more. "What? It's not like that. She is just helping me out."
Sookie nodded again but her smile got wider.
"Sookie. Don't."
"So listen, I want to invite you around to mine for dinner tonight."
"No, no you don't have to."
"Luke, I've already told Jackson, he is going to BBQ. He already bought enough meat to feed a small army."
Luke sighed. "Ok, ok. That sounds great."
"How does about 8 sound?"
"Great."
"Good. See you then." She went back to the jeep and shooed all the workers away, handed out the last of the sandwiches then tossed the tray into the trunk again and drove off. Luke watched her leave and wondered if Lorelai had put her up to it. He finished his sandwich and returned to work.
When Sookie returned to the Inn she came in through the back entrance, directly to the kitchen and found Lorelai leaning against the counter sipping coffee.
"How was it out there?"
"It was fine. They have it nearly cleared out. Luke said they will start putting the new stuff in in tomorrow."
"Wow that's happening fast."
"I guess when it's your only place of business and your home, speed is in your best interest." Lorelai nodded solely and sipped her coffee again. When Sookie spoke again she didn't hear and asked her to repeat it. "I said I convinced him to come round to the house for a BBQ tonight. And you have to come too."
"Oh Sookie, no!"
"What! He has lost everything Lorelai! I just want to help make him feel better."
"By feeding him meat."
"Yes!" Sookie clapped her hands. "I know he isn't a fan of red meat so I have this chicken marinating in a Louisiana sauce that will go perfectly with sea salt and lime potato wedges."
"Sookie it sounds amazing, but I was planning on giving Luke some space to process things tonight. I was going to go see a movie in town, get home late and go straight to bed so he has some time to not be working, not be with people and just process everything that's happened in the last few days."
"Process?" She waved her hands at her friend. "He can process when he is finished dinner. Please Lorelai, let me do this!"
"Okay. Okay but it can't be a late night."
"Fine, fine."
"What time?" She put her now empty cup into the dishwasher.
"Eight."
Luke was sitting in her kitchen when she got home. He had clearly showered and changed and was wearing a different shirt from the one he was wearing the night before, which made her smile. She wasn't sure why, it just did. He was scribbling a note on a pad when she walked in.
"Oh hey, you're back."
"Yeah, crazy day at work."
"I was just leaving you a note."
"Oh?"
"Sookie came by the diner today."
"Oh right, the BBQ, yeah she wrangled me into it too."
"Oh, it wasn't your idea?" he asked before he could stop himself.
"No, no I thought you'd prefer to maybe sit on the porch with a beer than go back out again tonight."
She was moving around the kitchen, peeling off her coat and jacket, her scarf and shoes as she spoke then made her way to the coffee pot to pour a cup for herself.
"That does sound tonnes better."
"You don't have to go Luke. Stay here. Relax." She went into Rory's room and he could hear her rustling behind the open door as she undressed. When she emerged she was wearing a pair of jeans and a red tee with a picture of a record player on the centre of it. It looked a little too small for her, stretched across her chest and rising just a little over the rim of her jeans as she moved but he guessed that was intended. "I'm going to call round, gobble up whatever free food is on offer, and then I might take in a movie. So you'll have the place to yourself."
"No, its fine. I'll go."
"Are you sure?" She sat at the table across from him and put on her slip on sneakers then grabbed a cardigan from the hooks behind the door. "Let's walk, it's lovely out tonight."
Luke nodded. He didn't have a coat with him so he just followed her out into the balmy evening and they strolled down the street towards Sookie's house.
Sookie pulled the door open before they had a chance to knock and ushered them in. Luke stepped aside and let her in first and they followed Sookie out to the back yard where they had a garden table set up with snacks. She urged them both to sit down then hurried inside and came out with a cold beer for Luke and a glass of white wine for Lorelai.
"Aww no fair, he gets beer!" she said as she took the wine and sniffed it with a look of disdain.
"This wine is a light fruity blend of citrus and apple that will just go perfectly with the chicken tonight."
"Oh! Fine then!" She smirked at Luke and stuck her tongue out at him before sipping her wine and settling back into her chair.
Jackson had the food almost ready when they arrived and only ten minutes later he had served it up and they were eating. Sookie was under strict instructions not to ask Luke about the diner, the renovations and where he was staying which didn't leave too much topics on the table for discussion. They talked about the Inn about the funny and difficult guests they had that week, about cooking disasters and Michel's antics. Luke knew what they were doing and even though he felt a little left out, not knowing anything about what they were talking about, he was just happy to be left to his own devices.
He finished his dinner, had another beer and sat back to take it all in. Lorelai glanced over at him and smiled before turning her attention back to Sookie who was talking about a fight she had with a meat delivery guy that morning. Jackson was already up and cleaning the BBQ off so Luke stood to offer help. He was ushered away and handed another beer and he couldn't protest anymore so he let them boss him around. When a lull fell over the conversation, Sookie nodded her head towards Luke and Lorelai shrugged. She moved her head back towards the kitchen and Lorelai shrugged again. Jackson who was oblivious to all the ministrations cleared the table around them and Luke just stared at the sky with a faraway look in his eyes.
"So…yeah…we should go." Lorelai spoke loudly enough to get his attention but he didn't notice until she stood up and grabbed her cardigan off the back of her chair.
"Oh, we're going?" He stood up with her. "Thanks for dinner Sookie. It was amazing."
"Any time!" she said as she walked them towards the front door. "Safe home!" she called out after them as they walked down her drive, if only for want of something else to say.
They walked back towards town in silence. He had his hands in his pockets and his pace was slower than his usual speed. She folded her arms across her chest and matched his speed.
"I promised myself I wouldn't ask you this anymore but…" she nudged him with her elbow making him look at her. "Are you doing ok?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine."
"Luke."
"What, I'm fine."
They walked on further and she realised they were going to pass his diner. They had inadvertently taken a different route home that would take them through the square. She wondered if they should veer off in a different direction but he seemed fixed on walking right up to the diner.
"It looks so desolate at night." He muttered his words but she caught them and didn't ask him to repeat them. He walked up to the door and took a few steps in. She waited on the street for him and gave him the space she promised she would. He walked through the rubble, kicked some of it aside and looked around at the charred remains of his life. When she spotted his shoulders slump she decided to break her own promise and stepped inside. She stood beside him, linked one of her arms around one of his and hugged his close.
"You've managed to get quite a lot of work done."
"A lot more to do."
"How much can you keep? I see the till is gone. Did you manage to save it?"
"I dunno, it was burned pretty bad."
"It was an antique though, they built those old tills strong." She spoke as if she was an authority on antique tills and squeezed his arm as she spoke to reassure him.
"Yeah, maybe." His voice was low and distracted. "C'mon, let's get out of here." He turned to walk out and she followed suit, still holding onto his arm. They walked down the street for a block before she noticed she was still clinging onto him and with a smile she released him. He shrugged and took his hands out of his pockets and walked a half step ahead of her, providing her with the chance to watch him covertly as they walked. With every stride his right hand swayed back and her left hand strayed forward and more often than not, their fingers collided. He would apologise, her too then they would try to walk on but inadvertently it would happen again.
After three or four collisions, she rolled her eyes and when their hands bumped again she grasped his fingers with her own. She held onto two of his fingers in the clasp of her hand and kept walking. He looked down at their joined hands for a moment then turned his wrist and took her hand completely in his. He moved his fingers and interlocked them with her own and gripped her tighter, all without saying a word.
When they walked up her drive he only let go of her hand so she could open the door without a struggle. She peeled off her cardigan and hung it up on the wall by the door. They walked into the living room and he stood by the bottom of the stairs.
"So, I'm going to crash." She said and she threw her thumb over her shoulder towards Rory's room.
"You're going to bed?" He glanced at his watch to see it was only ten minutes to ten. "It's so early. Isn't there a movie you wanted to watch?"
"A movie?"
"You know, series of moving pictures, some with music, some with dialogue, and some even with both."
She smiled. "Yeah there are a tonne of movies on my to-watch list. But not tonight, you stay up, watch what you like."
He moved over to the couch and sat down as she spoke. He picked up her remote and stared at it, took a few attempts at turning the TV on but was unsuccessful It was painful for her to watch and he knew it. She sighed and came over to sit next to him. "No, you're doing it all wrong. Look, this button is for power, this one for volume and this one for channels. Movie channels start at 601 and go on to 720, everything else is trash TV."
She reached over to the coffee table and grabbed another remote. "This magical machine is for the video player…you need to first put a tape into that black box beneath the TV…"
"Just pick a movie and watch it with me. It would be a lot easier than me trying to learn all this…trickery!"
She looked at him and smiled. He was watching her with a plan expression on his face, giving away nothing.
"Don't you want to…" her voice trailed off.
"What?" he urged her to continue.
"Don't you want to crash, on your own, take some time to process everything that's happening. Away from everyone."
"You?"
"Everyone."
"No. I don't. I want to sit here. Watch a movie. With you." He smiled at her and for the first time since all this happened she thought it was a genuine smile. She returned the smile and nodded then got off the couch and crouched in front of the TV where her movies were stacked.
"So, what are you in the mood for? How about the Towering Inferno? Backdraft? St Elmo's fire?"
"Lorelai." He warned her.
"What? Too soon?" She picked a movie and put it in then pressed play and raced into the kitchen. She returned with a couple of beers and a bag of crisps.
"You can't be hungry after that feed at Sookie's."
"No, I'm stuffed." She kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet under herself.
"What are the chips for then?"
"I said I wasn't hungry, but I'm not dead!" She cast him a disparaging glance as she settled in and opened the chips. She offered him some but he refused. She sipped her beer and ate her chips and waited for the credits to start rolling.
"What are we watching?"
"Shhh! It's starting."
"What is it?"
"Shhh!" she nudged him in the ribs.
"What! You talk through every movie, you won't take 5 seconds to tell me what this movie is called? Or what it's about?"
"It's Poltergeist. 1982 staring JoBeth Williams who is AMAZING looking in this movie! Makes me mad with jealousy every time I watch this."
"Why?"
"Because wait till you see her. She has legs that come up to here," she moved her hand to her neck to gesture the point where she thought her legs stopped. "Her hair is fabulous and she is oozing with sensuality throughout the entire movie. I mean her house is haunted, her kids are being terrorised by some random demons in another dimension and she is just sitting there oozing sexiness for every second of the flick."
She was talking animatedly, moved around the seat as she spoke, gesturing her arms widely and rubbing her hands over her body to emphasise her words making Luke laugh.
"Shhh, this is a horror movie! You aren't supposed to laugh."
"I wasn't laughing at the movie."
"So you were laughing at me?" She looked over at him with a mock look of horror on her face and he smiled.
"I wasn't laughing at you either." He nudged her with his shoulder and the music from the opening credits saved him from her glare for much longer.
This time as they watched it was he who watched her. He watched her laugh and squirm, jump at the scary moments and hide behind a pillow for most of the third act. She mimicked words, commented on every time she thought JoBeth looked good and nudged him until he agreed. And he enjoyed every minute of it.
He had seen this movie before. He had brought dates to this movie. It was the perfect date movie. Fun, scary and staring an actress that, as Lorelai had quite correctly put it, oozed sensuality in every scene and he wasn't sure why but it made all the women he brought to see this movie want to do the same. All the women, he chuckled, both of them.
She glanced over at him to see what he was laughing at. "Shhh! This is a very important part!"
"Sorry," he mouthed and nodded back to the movie and sipped his beer.
They watched the rest without interruption and as the ending credits rolled, she turned off the tape and the TV.
"Phew… that was a rollercoaster!" She tossed the pillow she was holding in her lap aside and took a few deep breaths.
"Good movie." He said as he finished his beer and put his bottle on the table in front of them then sat back into the couch.
"Good? It's a great movie! Man… that JoBeth Williams."
"I know, she is pretty amazing!"
"Get in line buddy, I saw her first."
"Yeah but I think I might have a better chance with her than you."
"Oh really?" She arched her eyebrows ad half turned to face him.
"Don't get me wrong, you're amazing and all, but I think if JoBeth Williams walked in here right now, she'd pick me."
"Oh you are so cocky!"
She swatted his chest but it only made him smile wider. They sat in silence for a moment, each of them looking everywhere but at each other. Eventually she stood up. She collected the empty beer bottles and the bag from the chips and carried them into the kitchen. He heard her pottering around in the kitchen and took a moment to get up, and stretch out his muscles. When she came back in he was standing at the bottom of the stairs, one hand on the bannister, and one foot on the bottom step.
"Off to bed?"
"Yeah. Early start tomorrow."
"Okay, well sleep well Luke." She turned to walk away from him but he called out to her.
"Lorelai…" she turned on her heel to face him and smiled, her hands deep in the pockets of her jeans. "I think I'm going to kiss you."
"Um…huh?" she looked at him for a moment. One hand strayed up to her neck as she spoke. "Um, When do you think you'll know?"
He smiled took in the sight of her. The shocked look on her face, her tee shirt stretching across her chest and rising high enough to show off the pale skin of her stomach. In her stockinged feet she seemed smaller than usual and he thought about walking over to her now and kissing her, pushing her up against the wall and pressing his body against hers but something was stopping him.
And he knew what it was. He couldn't start kissing her while he was crashing in her bedroom. He wanted to wait until he was out from under her roof so nothing could be construed as expected. He closed his eyes over as if to make sure the image of her standing there would not disappear and then he smiled, shrugged and walked up the stairs leaving her in a shocked haze in his wake.
Lorelai watched him ascend the stairs, and heard the bedroom door close and still she couldn't move. She had to physically hold onto the wall and practically pull herself through the house into Rory's room. She collapsed on the bed and his words swam around her keeping her from sleep. Luke on the other hand undressed and climbed into bed and fell in to a heavy sleep with a self-satisfied sigh.