A/N: Short chapter following Luke. Next Chapter following Lorelai.
Also note, timeline and show milestones might appear in this fic, but possibly out of order and not related to this fics setting. I'm not sure when its set. Rory is in school though.
Luke drove out of town like the devil himself was chasing him. For some ridiculous reason he kept looking in his rear view mirror, as if he expected her jeep following, and every time he caught himself he frowned deeper. As a result, he was driving on the motorway, a white knuckle grip on the wheel, and his eyes, framed with a deep, deep frown, focused on the road ahead.
He checked his watch. Nine Thirty. She would surely be up by now. And if she was up, she found her bag. Maybe she would think she put it there herself. He rolled his eyes at that thought and wondered if she was mad at him for sneaking in.
"Focus." He muttered through gritted teeth and tightened his grip on the wheel, then almost missing the large sign on the road he glanced in time to see this was his exit.
He tried to keep his mind clear as he navigated the narrow roads for the next hour then finally pulled up at his usual haunt near Bulwagga bay on the south tail of Lake Champlain. He grabbed his bag from the back of the truck and his camping and fishing gear too. He locked the truck, checked the doors then started up the trail towards the camping spot.
It was a few hours later when Luke had his tent pitched and was sitting by the side of the lake, his fishing rod stuck into the ground in front of him. He had his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, fingers buried past his hairline, his ever present hat, askew.
He didn't notice when his fishing line was tugged, as his eyes glazed over and his mind replayed, in horrifying detail, over and over again, everything that happened since he turned around and saw Lorelai standing in the diner yesterday.
That damn skirt. It could always pull him away from the precipice of his fury. And what was she thinking wearing that top? He remembered growling when he pulled it off her and tossed it over his shoulder, and he felt his cheeks heat up with a blush.
He remembered how soft her skin felt beneath his skin. How malleable her lips were against his. Her nails on his back, her leg curled around his hip. But throughout all of this, he didn't remember seeing her face. Were her eyes open or shut? What about her mouth? Did she bite her lip? He was so focused on getting their clothing off he wasn't really paying attention.
Did she gasp? At all? He screwed his eyes shut, both in an effort to try to remember, and push away the memory. So instead of focusing on his failure in bed with Lorelai, he instead let his mind wander to what had him so mad in the first place.
It had not wandered far from the front of his mind, so it was easy to recall the phone call. Liz's voice was firm and demanding when she told him why she had called, but he could hear another voice behind her. No doubt it was that waste of space boyfriend of hers, most likely the reason why she called out of the blue, suddenly so interested in his diner. His diner. Not hers. Not dad's his.
Luke stood up and pulled his fishing line in. He tugged the bait off the hook and tossed it to the water then closed up his tackle box and walked back to his tent. Without bothering to light a fire, as he hadn't caught anything Luke just opened the zipper on the tent flap and crawled in, collapsing on the puffy sleeping bag with a grunt.
"But Luke! Dad left that building to both of us!" He heard Liz's voice in his head and he screwed his eyes shut as the anger started to bubble up from it's simmering position just below the surface. "And I think it's only fair that you let me take half. My half."
"Half?! Half of what?" He had spoken through gritted teeth.
"Half of the building's worth."
"This is Stars Hollow Liz, not Manhattan. The building is not worth much."
He heard a muffled conversation and realised she must have covered the mouthpiece of the phone as she consulted with her co-conspirator. "The diner is."
"What?"
"If you won't let me sell the building to take half, then you can share with me the profits from the diner, or buy out my half."
"Liz…"
"Luke, I've had the will inspected by a lawyer. I'm only trying to exercise my rights to what I own."
Luke recognised the practised tone in what she was saying and how she was saying it. There was no way Liz was doing this on her own. There was no way she was suddenly so interested in his profit margin at the diner, or getting onto the property ladder.
That call had come right after the breakfast rush and it threw off his day altogether. Then when she had called back in the afternoon he told her he couldn't talk, but just hearing her voice on the phone was enough to make a wave of anger swell through him again, then just before closing, her lawyer rang.
That was his tipping point. He had used words like "acquisition", and "breach of contract" and "pertaining to the matter". Luke tried to argue back but his words were twisted by the lawyer and thrown back at him. It was all becoming a very real problem and seemed likely his sister could sue him and force him to sell the diner. His diner! His home! And the worst of it? Luke didn't get the satisfaction on hanging up on the conversation, and instead found himself on the other end of a dial tone.
He had slammed down the phone and paced around the diner. He wanted to rant and rave to expel his anger but the words just didn't come. Something was stopping them. Every time he opened his mouth to shout nothing came out and he ended up pacing with his mouth agape. Finally he could take no more. He grabbed the back of a chair and picked it up then slammed it down over and over onto the ground as he yelled. He turned to the counter and placed his hands flat on the Formica surface, his chin on his chest as he tried to take slow deep breaths.
That's when Lorelai came in.
He didn't hear the bells. He didn't hear her smart greeting. He didn't hear her concern. It wasn't until she placed a hand on the small of his back and stepped right in next to him that he looked up.
Lying in his tent now, his hands locked behind his head he let his mind replay their transition from the counter to his bed in super clear detail.
She had said something, he couldn't remember what, because he wasn't listening. He was looking at her eyes. Clear blue and full of concern. Then he was looking at her lips. Red and pursed, glistening with lip balm. Cherry flavoured he would later discover.
Her hand rested on his back and moved up to his shoulder blades. Her other hand was on his arm, loosely gripping him as she ran it up from his wrist to his elbow. He couldn't honestly put any reason into his next move but without hesitation he turned, swiftly, decisively, cupped her face in both hands and kissed her.
He felt her surprise, her lips parted and she gasped. The hand that was on his back was now on his hip and she gripped his shirt in a tight fist but he didn't wait to see if she was going to push him away or pull him closer. The hand that was on his arm fell onto the counter with a slap but even that did nothing to stop his lips as they moved across her jaw to her ear. This was better. This was what he needed to get his sisters and his sisters lawyers voice out of his head. Now he could focus on something else. Something softer.
When he felt her hand move from the counter and grip his other side he twirled her around, took hold of her hand and led her upstairs without pausing for thought. Up in his apartment he practically kicked the door open, pulled her in, and without giving her or himself a chance to change the pace, he kissed her again. This time both of his hands gripped her upper arms and steered her back towards his bed.
He pulled her top off over her head and tossed it over his shoulder, without hesitation he reached behind her back and unclasped her bra then, with two hands, dragged the straps off her shoulders and down her arms until it dropped to the floor. His hands moved to her hips as his lips explored her neck. He unzipped her skirt and slipped his hands below the trim to slide down her ass and let her skirt drop to the floor. She gripped his shoulders as she stepped out of the debris of clothing and his lips came back to find hers, his tongue exploring her mouth in quick possessive strokes.
Lorelai's legs hit the bed and she dropped with an oomph. Her hands fell behind her and she looked up at him. Luke didn't look back as he gripped the bottom of his shirt and tugged it off over his head, dislodging his hat in the process. He still didn't look when he opened his belt enough to reach the fasten on his jeans then dropped them and they fell to the floor in one motion.
He toed off his sneakers and kicked his jeans aside as he moved towards her. Lorelai dropped to her elbows, then to her back and shuffled up the bed as he snatched the edges of her panties and yanked them off before he crawled over her. He hovered just out of reach, the heat from his body covering her, but nothing actually touching until he lowered his head and kissed her again. His tongue pressed past her lips again and he dropped his body to cover her entirely.
He felt her hands grip his sides. Did she pull him closer? He felt her nails on his back but it wasn't until her leg moved that he pressed his hips against her. She planted her foot on the mattress and splayed her hips enough for him to press a little closer but before he could get as close as he actually wanted he moved away. Did she gasp then?
Luke shifted on his sleeping bag as the memory played out before him and he tried to ignore the discomfort in his jeans that suddenly felt tighter than they did before.
There he was, kneeling on the bed, between Lorelai's legs, her arms were flung over her head, her hair was fanned out on his pillow and her breasts were moving with her fast breathing and the mattress moving as he leaned over to his nightstand. One hand pulled the drawer open and rummaged inside as the other traced down her chest to her stomach, he circled her belly button then moved lower to tickle through the soft hair over her core.
What about then? Was there a gasp? Luke screwed his eyes shut as he tried to remember, but he couldn't hear it.
His fingers moved lower still, as the other hand finally grabbed the box he was looking for and pulled out the elusive foil package. She was wet and ready for him and her hip moved to lure his fingers to her entrance, but he pulled them away and sat up straighter.
Then, she had to have gasped or whimpered then. Hell he'd have settled for a moan, but still he couldn't hear it. And he was sure if had heard a moan from Lorelai Gilmore after he pulled his fingers out of her hot, wet, pussy, he would remember it. Luke felt himself get harder still and his jeans became more and more uncomfortable.
Back in his memory he ripped open the foil packet and swiftly rolled on the condom then without a preamble Luke guided himself to her entrance and slid in, in one long stroke. He dropped his head into the crook of her neck and felt her heel press into his ass.
"And I think it's only fair that you let me take half." He heard his sisters voice as he pulled out and pushed back into her, her breasts were crushed against his chest as his hips rocked against her and he could feel her nipples peaked against him.
That was a good sign right? Luke asked himself as he finally gave in and pulled his jeans open to ease the constriction he was feeling.
Her smell filled his senses and all but overwhelmed him. He pressed his hands into the mattress and leaned back to look down at her face. And that was when he saw it.
She was bored. Bored, beyond, belief. His hips moved against her, his cock slid in and out of her, but her eyes were glazed over and Luke felt his desire dissolve entirely.
Back on his sleeping bag Luke's burgeoning erection softened and he threw his arm over his face with an embarrassed groan.
"Dammit." His other hand balled up into a fist and he slammed it over and over into the ground as he cursed through gritted teeth under his breath.
It wasn't supposed to be like that. All the times he had thought about kissing her. To shut her up, to surprise her, to close that distance between them as she watched him. But instead he had kissed her out of anger. And not even anger directed at her. But his own anger. He had kissed her hoping she would quieten the anger he was feeling. And she had, for the most part, but this was too much anger even for him.
"Half. Half!" He said. "She wants half." He sat up and bent his legs, connecting his hands with his elbow around his knees. Lorelai's face flashed before him and his eyes fluttered closed. How in the hell was he going to face her to apologise. How in the hell was he even going to apologise? He snorted. How do you apologise for shitty sex with their best friend?
Luke buried his face in his hands and cursed again. "Dammit."