thanks to Jule for reading through it. I'm still lacking a regular beta reader though, so if any of you wanna step in, let me know.
Previously:
"I want coffee!" She explained, looking hopefully at the coffee maker on her right.
"You've got to be kidding me?" Luke said, blinking his eyes .
"No! All day people around me were eating yummy things and drinking yummy stuff! I almost started to believe I died and actually went to hell, so now I'm asking you, my little bright angel: would you pour me some coffee?" she batted her eyelashes with hope.
"No way! You're crazy!" Luke almost exclaimed but stopped himself, remembering that Kirk was still there.
"Yes way! All I want from you, is to be just a bit understanding here and make me suffer a bit less"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No! You're forgetting something; you won't even be able to drink it" He tried to be reasonable; he felt that his head was going to explode sometime soon.
"Oh! That was harsh Luke!" Lorelai made a shocked face. "But I will be able to sniff it!" she replied triumphal.
"There's no way. I'm not getting you coffee, just to throw it away a minute later!"
"I would've never thought you could be so heartless Luke!" Lorelai exhaled loudly.
"Luke?" Kirk's sudden voice stopped them. "I don't know what it wants, but it sounds mad to me. I wouldn't say no if I were you..."
Both Luke and Lorelai stood frozen staring wide eyed AT Kirk, who now went back to his pie.
„Did… did he just say, what I think he said?" Lorelai broke the sudden silence, whispering shocked, as if preventing for anyone to hear her but Luke. "Can he see me?" she asked Luke, ho still stood frozen, not moving even a bit. "Kirk?" Lorelai called him a bit lauder, waving her hand in his direction as if trying to get his attention. But without any reaction he just started to eat his pie more vigorously. "Kirk?!" She tried again, but got no reaction again.
"Do something!" She hissed at Luke, who just blinked at her. "Luke!" she said annoyed and tried to hit his arm as hard as she could, but her hand went right through his, what made her groan irritated.
"Kirk?" Luke finally spoke up, ignoring Lorelai beside him. "What are you talking about?"
Kirk just stopped eating with his fork in the middle of the way to his mouth, a blank expression on his face.
"I can feel, that there's something that's accompanying you, and whatever it is, it seems mad and frustrated to me" He replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Hmm Kirk, how do you know it's not just my own "mad and frustrated" stage?" Luke tried to reason.
"Your "mad and frustrated" aura is different than this "something's"" Kirk shrugged, the fork with the pie, landing safety in his mouth.
Lorelai couldn't stop but giggle at his reply, earning an annoyed eye roll from Luke, who asked even more confused: "'Something'? Something like what Kirk? Can you see something here?"
Kirk looked up once again giving Luke a weird look. "I don't see anyone but you Luke" He replied confused. "But mother said that since I was a little kid, I could sense weird things happening around me, hearing voices and stuff"
"That could explain a lot!" Lorelai joked. But Kirk continued.
"I can sense some… I don't know… life force? It's surrounding you. Your own is less… life full I guess." Before Lorelai could laugh at the last part, Luke shot her a warning look.
"Let me get this straight" He started. "You can't see anyone but me? You can't hear anyone either, but you can sense something other than me?" He listed everything pointing with his fingers.
"That's right" Kirk nodded, finishing the last piece of the pie.
"Freaky…" Lorelai said in a funny whisper, walking from behind the counter and making her way to Kirk.
"Let's say someone can actually see and hear something that no one else can. What should they do? Is there a way to stop it?" Luke asked, part of him thinking that Lorelai was a part of his mind playing tricks with him.
"Luke?" Lorelai asked worriedly, wondering why he was asking that. After all, apart from him she had no one who could help her figure it out.
"I don't know Luke." Kirk replied. "I've never tried to stop it" He shrugged, standing up and making his way to the counter to pay.
"On the house" Luke waved his hand at him.
"Thanks Luke, but you know what mother always told me? It's not about how to get rid of this feeling or how to stop seeing or feeling it. It's about why you are so special that you can have it all in the first place." And with that he left the diner leaving stunned Luke and Lorelai behind him.
"Well… That was quiet interesting" Lorelai said, breaking the silence.
"You're telling me? I just discovered Kirk and I have something in common, and that it's not even a normal thing. Now that's scary" Luke commented with horror in his eyes.
"Oh please! As if anything about Kirk could be normal."
"Yah that makes me feel so much better" Luke rolled his eyes. "So what are we doing?"
"Well, we do have some unfinished business here mister" She grinned at him like a child.
"You're kidding right?" He scoffed.
"You should listen to Kirk Luke! He's been in this business much, much longer than you" Lorelai reminded him.
"I can't believe I'm doing this" He mumbled under his nose, while reaching for the coffee pot and puring the last of its content into a cup, just to set on the middle of the counter, right in front of Lorelai, just for her delight.
"Sniff as much as you want" He grumbled, shutting the lights off and closing for the night.
"Aww, my baby! I've missed you!" Lorelai moaned as the aroma hit her nose.
"Oh Jeez!" Luke replied, going up the stairs to his apartment. "Junkie!" he called from the top of the stairs.
"Mmmmmm… the best smell in the world" Lorelai moaned again, closing her eyes.
***
3 days later.
"Do we really have to watch this boring stuff?" Lorelai grumbled, not even looking at Luke. It was a slow day at the diner and Cesar was going to close up this time, giving Luke a free evening. Now they were both sitting on his couch. While he was comfortably spread out, with his legs on the coffee table, Lorelai just sat next to him crossed legged and pouting.
"Hm." He replied, not moving his eyes from the screen and basically ignoring her complains.
"Luke!" Just watching it makes me tired and my muscles hurt"
"Shut up, will you? Stop whining, you're ruining it for me" He said annoyed, trying to still stay focused on the game.
"See? If it's ruined, then it's not fun, then we should stop!" She suggested, earning a low grunt from him, signaling she was crossing the line. "Why are you so mean to me? Not only am I stuck with you, but now you have to torture me with this" She gestured to the TV screen.
"Of course you're the one being tortured" Luke murmured under his breath.
"What did you say?" She demanded, throwing him an evil look.
"Face it, you're as much stuck with me, as I am with you, It's not like I can go anywhere without you following me" He replied annoyed, while changing the channel, which got unnoticed by Lorelai who got all engaged in the conversation.
"Oh but you're wrong my friend! I'm the bright and shine that entered your 'lifeless life'" She mocked, quoting Kirk, from the previous night. "Everyone would want to have someone as awesome as me in their lives. They all would envy you if they knew" She finished, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Lucky me" Luke replied sarcastically, getting up and making his way to the kitchen area.
"Where are you going?" She demanded immediately, her eyes fallowing his every move.
"To enjoy that little bit of the darkness I hope is still left in my life" He grumbled opening the fridge and getting two bottles of beer. He opened both of them, offering one of them to her, by setting it on the coffee table in front of her, then taking back his place on the couch.
"Very funny Luke" She pouted, rolling her eyes at his gesture.
He just ignored her, taking a sip of his own beer and then said:
"You can't drink it, but from what I know you can still appreciate it somehow" He explained. "Sniff yourself out." Her smile couldn't get bigger.
"You're pretty!" she offered as a thank you. "What is that" She asked pointing to the tv, just then realizing he must have changed the channel at some point, and the ball game was long gone.
"Probably some chick flick, but you're the expert." He replied pretending to be still annoyed, but enjoying the smile that was now framing her face.
"You're prettier!" She said clapping her hands and focusing on the movie.
***
2 hours later.
"How about this one?" Lorelai asked pointing to yet another one of Luke's trophies that was displayed above his bed. For over half an hour she'd been asking him about various stuff spread all over his apartment, trying to learn a bit more about his part. After a few grunts from him and smiles from her at the beginning, she was able to make him comfortable enough to open up a bit.
"Track team state championship" He replied, a distant look in his eyes.
"State Championship?" she asked impressed. "You guys were good!"
"We could hold our own" He said proudly
"I bet the girls were crazy about you" She teased. "A winner in shorts. Irresistible" She giggled.
"Aw Jeez!" Luke called covering his face with his arm. "Those shorts weren't that short! Plus the girls were more into the football team"
"Do I sense jealousy?" she wasn't letting him go that easily.
"You forget I was in the baseball team as well!" He pointed out, reminding her about one of the trophies she asked earlier. "Girls liked the white uniforms better than the shorts" He smirked at her, causing her to join with her giggle.
"So this is when you got your tattoo?" she suddenly asked, using his good mood in her advantage.
"Aw Jeez" Luke called again. "How do you know I have one?"
"I know things, I see stuff" she pointed out, wiggling her eyebrow, reminding him of the morning she saw him in nothing but a towel.
"What stuff?" He asked immediately, also remembering their encounter.
"Stop hyperventilating, Sniffy." Lorelai smirked, seeing his discomfort. "I've seen you at the lake; it was hard to miss it"
"It's a long story" He exhaled, moving to the bed and laying down on his back, putting his arm under his head. He had changed into his sleeping clothes some time before
"Well, it's not like I have other places to be." She commented bitterly, sitting cross legged beside the bed.
"Too bad, because some of us have to get up early tomorrow morning" Luke replied, trying to ignore what her words were indicating, trying to make the whole situation as normal as possible.
"Then make it a good bed time story." She wasn't going to be brushed off. "I won't tell anyone! I promise! It's not like I could anyway" she laughed, but a bit of a sadness dripping from her words.
Not wanting for her to go there, reminding them both about the reality of her state, he exhaled heavily and began:
"I just turned eighteen, my track team won that state championship just a week before, and then a week later my baseball team got into playoffs."
"I bet the fan club was excited!" Lorelai commented, grinning at him.
"You want me to stop?" He asked pretending to be annoyed.
"No, no, no! Keep going! I will be good, I promise, I have a feeling it was leading to a good climax" she smiled brightly, knowing she will get her way.
"I'm not so sure about that" Luke commented. "We won, we went out with a couple of friends, we drunk a lot, a lot more than we should, the next morning, I woke up with the tattoo on my arm. End of story."
"Good bye climax moment" Lorelai waved her hand mockingly. "But then again that sounded kind of spontaneous. I can't imagine Luke Danes being so spontaneous" She thought saying the words out loud.
"Believe it or not, but Luke was a pretty spontaneous guy when he was younger" Luke smirked, remembering how he broke the town bells one night with his friend Kevin.
"Really?" She asked surprised. "Where did he go then?"
"Could we stop talking about me in third person?" He suggested, setting himself more and more into the pillow, the sleep taking slowly over his body.
"It's simple" He continued. "Life happened. I've learned that there's too much you can lose when you're spontaneous and risk to much." He explained trying not to show off to much of emotions.
"But how can you get what you want if you're not risking a tiny bit?" She asked, knowing she had risked a lot in her life to be where she was now, or at least before her accident.
"You can't have everything" Luke replied, looking at the ceiling, breaking the eyes contact they had. "Some things are too important to be lost, especially when you risk to get something that's not meant for you to have." He turned back to her and held her eyes with his intensive stare. After a few seconds he closed his eyes, turning to the side and bringing his pillow closer to his cheek.
"Sorry but I really think I should go to sleep, I have to get up in 5 hours" He finally said wanting to finish this discussion, wondering if his words were hitting to close to the "forbidden territory"
"Yeah, go to sleep" She replied, her eyes focused on the opposite wall in some sort of a daze.
"Night" Luke said, turning off the lamp and hugging his pillow.
"Night" She kept her position on the floor, now hugging her knees to her chest. After 10 more minutes she heard the now familiar snore coming from the body spread peacefully on the bed. She leaned a little bit closer to him, watching how sleep was relaxing his face and limbs. She didn't know what possessed her, but not even trying to resist the urge she leaned closer to him. Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply through her nose, filling up her lings and mind with the aroma that was Luke.
She opened her eyes in shock and moved back. Breathing fast she let the overwhelming feeling wash over her, realizing that maybe coffee aroma was starting to have a serious competition.
TBC...
so what do you think? Still want me to finish it? Cause right now, without the show you guys are my only muse...