Notes: Sorry for the delay! And THANK YOU to all you wonderful, amazing reviewers! Every single one of you make my day when I open my Inbox to see a review or two sitting in there. So thanks! And keep 'em coming!
Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.
Chapter Seven: A Night at the Movies
I waited until Luke had started his truck before I shut the door. I then proceeded to lean back against it because I wasn't sure my legs would support me one more second without at least a little aid.
I had kissed Luke.
On the cheek, but still. I had kissed him. I had never kissed him before. We had hugged only a few times -- Luke wasn't exactly a touchy-feely kind of guy -- and now I had kissed him.
Yes, I sounded like a broken record, or scratched DVD, or whatever in my head, too, but I didn't care.
I felt like I was on the all-time best sugar high. Like I had just consumed a gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, followed by a box of Red Vines, and a few packages of M&M's, washed down with about ten wads of cotton candy.
Only better. And that, my friend, is a tough feeling to beat.
"Mom?" Rory's voice came from the living room, and I pushed myself away from the door since my knees seemed to have passed their Jell-O phase.
"Hey, kid."
Rory's face popped out from behind the book she was reading, and she scooted over on the couch to make room for me. I gladly took the space, waiting for her round of questioning to begin.
"So, how was it?"
"Well...it was fine."
"Did anything happen?"
"There was food. Talking. Oh, and there was this thing where I went insane and kissed him."
"You what?" I think her eyes bulged out of her head.
"On the cheek."
"God, you need to be specific about things like that! Otherwise, it's very misleading."
"I knew I should have gone into politics."
She ignored me. "How was it?"
"How was what?" I was evading her question. I knew that she knew, but I didn't really care. I didn't really want to go into the sugar high comparison, but I really couldn't think of anything else to describe it.
"Mo-om."
"It was...amazing." I couldn't keep the smile off of my face. "I can't really even describe it. I mean, I shouldn't have kissed him at all since it was just supposed to be this friends only thing...but I really just couldn't help it. He also told me that he straight-out that he didn't want anything with Alli, and that he hadn't had fun when they went out last night."
"Wow." She was smiling almost as much as I.
"Yeah." I was still grinning.
"So, what does this mean?"
The grin faded, but only a little. "It doesn't mean anything. We're still Luke and Lorelai, friends only, nothing more. I mean, there wasn't any indication that he wanted tonight to mean...you know, that."
"Oh, yes. Other than admitting confidences to you, sharing personal details about himself, and letting you kiss him, you mean?"
"Well, it's not like he kissed me."
"Luke doesn't show his feelings well. You know that."
"Yeah, kid, but I also know that I don't want to ruin a perfectly good friendship.
"'Don't want to ruin the friendship.' The oldest excuse in the book."
"Well, in this case it's true."
--
The alarm woke me up way too early. I couldn't bring myself to move until I caught a whiff of coffee brewing downstairs. My drug was almost ready. So I dragged myself out of bed, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. Rory was already sitting at the table, munching on a Pop-Tart.
"I've been thinking."
"I should hope so. Otherwise that fancy school of yours is a complete waste," I teased as I inhaled the delicious, amazingness that is coffee.
"Haha. Anyway. I've been thinking that you should start spending more time with Luke."
"What do you mean? And why?"
"I mean, outside of the diner. Watch a movie. Take a walk. Anything."
"Still didn't answer the 'why.'"
"I still think Luke has feelings for you." I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off. "No matter what you say."
She ignored my pouty face and continued while I poured myself a second cup of coffee.
"And since the feelings are mutual, you should start spending more time with him outside the diner. Ask him to come over and watch a movie tomorrow night."
"So...your solution to my not wanting to do anything about it, is to ask him out?"
"It wouldn't be a date," she clarified. "Just a friends thing. I'll be going over to Lane's that afternoon, and spending the night. You can just say that you wanted someone to watch a movie with, and since I'm not here and you guys had such a good time the other night, you thought of him."
"I don't know," I hesitated. "We've never really 'just hung out' all that much."
"Exactly. And the more time you spend together, the more chances that Luke will do something to finally make you see that I'm right," Or vice versa was implied, but thankfully, she didn't say it. "And even if he doesn't, you guys are friends. You'll still enjoy it."
"Maybe." I thought about it for a couple minutes as I got up and waited for my own Pop-Tarts to toast. "That might actually be a good idea."
"Yes!" She grinned. "And if you want, you could even give him a few subtle clues. You know, like-"
"Let's not push it," I interrupted, smiling.
"All right. But think about it."
--
I did. In fact, it sort of took over my thoughts for the next thirty-five hours or so. Thoughts that were sometimes friendly, sometimes innocently romantic, sometimes...well, quite dirty.
And then it was finally time. I was at Luke's for dinner, alone, since Rory was at Lane's. I had been sitting at the counter for the last thirty minutes -- the last five of them under the pretense of deciding which dessert I wanted to order. But I was really just psyching myself up for the whole non-asking-out ask out.
I took a ginormous mental deep breath and dove in.
"Hey, Luke?"
"Yeah?" He looked up from his position behind the counter.
"You wanna come over and watch a movie tonight?"
He blinked, and before he could even respond, I started in on my slightly ramblish explanation. "I mean, feel free to say no. But Rory's over at Lane's house, and I want to watch a movie with someone. And we had such a great time the other night that I thought of you. Again, you can say no, and I'll just watch it by myself. So, whatever. If you want to."
"Sure."
Now it was my turn to blink. "Really?"
"I had a great time, too. I'd love to come over. If saying that entire paragraph without taking a breath didn't cause enough brain damage to make you fall into a coma, I mean," Luke said, the last sentence dripping in sarcasm.
"Great!" I hoped I had curbed my enthusiasm enough, because on the inside, I was turning cartwheels. Seriously. I felt like I had sufficient energy to cartwheel all around the town. Twice.
"Wait," Luke said.
...and my heart sank.
"The movie has to be decent. I'm not watching one of those 80's chick-flicks or something that you and Rory seem to be so fond of."
My heart floated back to its normal position now that it knew he wasn't backing out.
"What about The Breakfast Club?"
"Chick-flick."
I sighed. "You're just biased. You really don't know a good movie when you see one."
"Well, I've seen that one, and I'm saying it's a no."
"All right, movie snob," I said with a playful grin, "What would you suggest?"
"I don't know."
"You have to have something you'd like to watch."
"Nope."
"Fine, then. How about Daredevil?"
"Daredevil?"
"Ben Affleck. Jennifer Garner. Crappy animation, but good action."
"All right."
"Okay." I stood up from the stool, and dropped some cash onto the counter in front of me. "See you in a couple hours."
He nodded, turned, and went back to work.
Forget cartwheeling around the town. I felt like back-flipping around the entire world.
--
So...note to self.
Next time, when considering movie to watch with good friend slash object of your intense passion, at least try to remember if there are any particularly, er, interesting, love scenes.
Like the one I knew was going to be happening in about two minutes.
How could I not have remembered this? Luke was sitting beside me on the couch, the room completely dark except for the flickering of the television screen. Only a few inches away.
Think non-romantic, non-sexy thoughts. Uh...cheese. Tornadoes, pencils, clowns, Kirk.
Kirk. That was it. Think about Kirk. And Taylor.
It worked for about twenty seconds.
And then the whole really needing to kiss Luke thing came back. And it was even stronger.
I reached over and took a drink of my soda, keeping my eyes on anything but the man beside me. Okay, so I couldn't help my peripheral vision, but I really tried not to concentrate on that.
Until I saw him glance in my direction when the scene started. He squirmed -- just the tiniest bit, since I had firmly laid down The Crap Shack's Rules of Movie Watching beforehand -- and I tried not to do the same.
As the scene went on, I couldn't help it. I didn't have enough self control. I glanced over just once for the tiniest iota of a moment...
...only to find that he was doing the exact same thing.
Our eyes met and held for one second...two...three...
I lost count then. I also may have forgotten how to breathe.
I didn't move a muscle, and neither did he. The sweet, hypnotic tension of the moment wound around us more and more tightly...until it was shattered into a million splintered bits by the obnoxious clang of the doorbell.
TBC...
NEKKID Milo or Scott or Jared or Matt -- whichever you prefer -- shall be sent to you if you hit that pretty little button:D