Day 2- Tuesday
"Aww no, no no no. I'm not doing this," Luke stated firmly as Lorelai dragged him down the street towards Miss Patty's dance studio, "They're wearing sequins!" he exclaimed unhappily as a couple in highly extravagant costumes entered the studio for their salsa class.
"You promised," Lorelai whined as she attempted to pull Luke from where he had planted his feet firmly into the ground.
"I did not promise," Luke shot back, "I said yes to get you to shut up and stop doing your Pee-Wee Herman voice in the middle of the diner. I'm revoking it now," he stated seriously.
"Luke, you can't!" Lorelai replied desperately, "Miss Patty's not going to let me get out of it and if I walk in there without a partner, I'll look like an idiot."
Luke smirked, "And you think having a partner will prevent that," he replied smartly.
"Oh, shut up," Lorelai glared back at him, "I don't want to beg, but I will… please, please, please please, please…" she repeated rapidly while looking imploringly into Luke's eyes while employing her signature hair twirl.
"Fine," Luke begrudgingly gave in, knowing he was going to eventually anyways, "But no costumes and I don't want Miss Patty within five feet of me. And you are not bringing this up ever again," he added sternly.
A grin broke out across Lorelai's face, "Yes, I promise! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best husband ever," she responded excitedly as she happily gave Luke a kiss.
Luke still did not look pleased, "Why do I always let you drag me into this crap?" he mumbled to himself.
"Because you think I'm gorgeous, you want to kiss me, you want to hug me, you want to love me…" Lorelai began to sing happily as Luke reluctantly allowed her to lead him towards the dance studio again.
"I can still turn around and leave you know," Luke threatened.
Lorelai immediately quieted, "Sorry, shutting up now," she complied as they entered the studio.
Miss Patty immediately greeted them at the door, "Lorelai, so glad you could make it! And you managed to finagle a partner I see," she said as she eyed Luke appreciatively.
"Yep, thanks for inviting us, Miss Patty," Lorelai responded as she stepped between Miss Patty and Luke, remembering what her husband had said earlier.
"Of course, honey. You can go ahead and set your stuff over there," she motioned to a corner of the room, "We'll start in a few minutes."
As Luke and Lorelai turned to make their way over towards where Mis Patty had pointed, Luke let out a groan, "You've got to be kidding me."
Lorelai followed his gaze and took in the scene of Kirk contorted into a strange position which must have been some sort of stretch while Lulu held one of his arms back to assist him.
Before Lorelai could have a reaction beyond her mouth gaping open, Kirk noticed them and an annoyed expression (or at least as close as Kirk could get to one) took over his face, "Ah dang it, we've got newbs," he said to Lulu, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Lulu just shook her head in response.
"Standing right here, Kirk," Lorelai replied, also annoyed.
"Sorry, Lorelai," Kirk responded but did not sound very genuine, "It's just that anytime a new couple joins the class, we have to greatly reduce the pace, and Lulu and I are looking to be more challenged."
Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Oh, just you wait and see, Kirk. It's gonna be like Danny and Sandy joined the class in no time."
Kirk looked confused but just went back to his stretches until Miss Patty called for everyone to take their places, "Ok, welcome everyone. We have some beginners tonight so we're going to start out by working on some simple timing," she started as she got everyone's attention.
"But Miss Patty…" Kirk began to whine.
"Kirk, I've already told you, you know how to salsa dance, so you don't need to come to class anymore," Miss Patty interrupted, annoyance evident in her voice.
"But this is the only place Mother lets me practice," Kirk responded seriously.
"Well, the music will be playing, Kirk, so do whatever you want," Miss Patty replied dismissively and then turned her attention back to the rest of the class, "Now, I'm going to give a quick demonstration of the footwork you need to know, but the most important thing to remember is the salsa follows an eight step count," she began to talk in teacher mode, "Of course, that's what's most important to remember, but the passion is what really brings the salsa to life!" she added enthusiastically.
Lorelai could practically feel Luke rolling his eyes next to her, but now that she was here, she was excited to give it a try. Miss Patty turned the music on, and Kirk and Lulu immediately bounded into a full on dance with admittedly impressive skill. The choreography was pretty simple; left foot forward, back to neutral, right foot back, and back to neutral again. Luke was reluctant but picked the steps up pretty quickly while Lorelai on the other hand, kept falling out of rhythm and crashing into him.
"Sorry," Lorelai grimaced as she stepped Luke's foot for what seemed like the thousandth time after she had forgotten to pause for a beat again.
"It's really not that difficult," Luke replied teasingly with small smile. He would never admit it, but he was actually enjoying himself.
"Ok, Twinkle Toes," Lorelai shot back.
Luke gave her a look, "Don't call me that," he grumbled.
Just then Miss Patty walked over, "My, my Lucas, you're a natural, but I'm afraid your partner may be holding you back. Why don't you try a few counts with me?" she asked with a grin.
"Hey, I may suck but he's my partner," Lorelai replied miffed, as she pulled herself closer to Luke.
"Sorry Patty, but I don't want to see the disaster if she's left on her own," Luke added, in a good mood to play along with the banter and in no way shape or form ever allowing Miss Patty to get that close to him.
Miss Patty shook her head, "Fine, suit yourself, but you're wasting your potential, Lucas," she then turned to address the rest of the class, "Alright we seem to have the basics down well enough, now it's time to add some turns!" she announced enthusiastically.
Luke smirked as Lorelai let out a groan.
An exhausted Lorelai collapsed in a heap next to her water bottle when Miss Patty finally allowed the class to take five, "Why did I think this was a good idea?" she moaned.
"That's a great question," a slightly winded and sweaty Luke replied.
Lorelai closed her eyes and began chanting under her breath, "Beat Rory, beat Rory, beat Rory…" in an attempt to motivate herself.
"Glad to know I'm just a pawn in your game," Luke replied sarcastically.
"No, Luke! I'm sorry, I do really appreciate you agreeing to do this. I know this is the kind of thing you hate, and it means a lot that you'd do it for me," Lorelai replied more seriously as she had started to feel a little guilty about dragging Luke here, "I should do something with you that you like, like I don't know, fishing?"
"Please don't," Luke responded immediately as he imagined what fishing with Lorelai would look like. He loved her, but fishing was his time to decompress…alone.
"But now I feel bad, Luke. I have to do something," Lorelai continued determinedly.
"Lorelai, really, don't worry about it. I love you and I love spending time with you and seeing you happy," he replied sincerely, "And besides, this isn't so bad," he added, but instantly regretted it.
A grin spread across Lorelai's face, "Did I just here Luke Danes say he was having fun at a salsa dance class?"
Luke's expression turned dark, "No, that's not what I said. Do not put words in my mouth," he replied seriously.
Before Lorelai could respond, Miss Patty called out that the break was over.
"Noooo," Lorelai began moaning again.
"You're fine," Luke replied unsympathetically.
"You try doing this in heels," Lorelai shot back petulantly, still making no move to get up. Just then, there was a buzz on her watch, "Yes! 600 points!" she exclaimed with fresh enthusiasm in her voice and immediately jumped up with renewed energy. Luke just shook his head.
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Rory lay comfortably curled up on the couch between her husband and daughter as they watched TV together. She was starting to feel a little sleepy when she felt a buzzing on her watch. "No!" she exclaimed when she looked down to find a notification of her mom finishing a dance workout, whatever that meant.
"What?" Marcus asked, confused by his wife's sudden exclamation.
"Mom did a dancing workout," Rory said with a skeptical look on her face, "I thought the novelty had already worn off and she was back to being lazy today," she added frustrated.
"So? You walked today," Marcus replied.
"Yes, but I still haven't reached 600 points yet. I was going to do another one, but when Mom hadnn't done anything and I had already caught up with her, I didn't think I had to," she explained, "She already beat me yesterday, I can't let her get any further ahead," she continued.
Laila started laughing, "You and LaLa are so silly, Mommy."
"I second that," Marcus agreed.
"It might be silly, but I'm in too deep now. She'll never let me live it down if she wins," Rory replied, but grimaced at the thought of moving from her spot on the couch.
When Rory didn't move, Marcus gave her a look, "So, are you gonna go get your 600 points?" he asked with a smirk.
"Give me a minute," Rory responded petulantly, "But it's freezing and dark outside," she whined.
"Why don't you ride my stationary bike?" Marcus suggested.
Rory looked skeptical, "That sounds hard."
"It doesn't have to be. I use it for recovery most of the time," Marcus replied.
"Well… I guess it's better than having to go outside," Rory admitted.
"Come on," Marcus stood up and held his hands out to help pull Rory up. Rory reluctantly accepted his help and followed her husband upstairs to the bonus room he used to workout.
As soon as Marcus had Rory set up and going the bike, she was already questioning her sanity in allowing Lorelai to rope her into this competition, "I feel stupid," she complained.
"Hey, do you see me holding a gun?" Marcus asked with a smirk.
Rory sighed, "I know," she conceded, but with her competitive side awakened, she may as well have been held at gunpoint to reach 600 points.
After what felt like twenty minutes, Rory glanced at the timer to see that it had really only been two. She groaned, "How long do I have to do this to reach 600?" she asked Marcus.
"I don't know. Believe it or not, I've never participated in one of those dumb competitions, so I have no idea what 600 points means. If you increase the speed or resistance, that should reduce the time," he suggested.
"No!" Rory immediately answered, thinking there was no way she could keep up with that given how tired she already felt.
Marcus held up his hands in surrender, "Just a suggestion, I'll leave you to it," he said, backing out of the room.
After 25 minutes, a very sweaty and tired Rory stumbled off the bike as soon as her watch buzzed to alert her that she had reached 600 points. She trudged slowly towards her bedroom, already feeling the heaviness start to set into her legs, as she thought about taking a nice, cool shower.
When she entered the room, Marcus was already in bed reading a book, "Woah, hey Maverick, tough day in the fighter jet?" he joked as he took in the amount of sweat dripping from his wife.
"Haha," Rory replied sarcastically as she gathered her pajamas to get ready for her shower.
"I'm being serious here," Marcus continued with a grin on his face, "Flying a fighter jet's a serious business, a little sweat's nothing to be ashamed of. I mean, I assume that's the only way anyone could look like that" he finished teasingly as he looked at Rory.
"I'm glad you're enjoying this," Rory replied sarcastically as she turned to leave the room.
Marcus couldn't resist getting one more joke in before his wife was out of earshot, "I don't know why I was ever against this competition you've got going; it's getting you to exercise and now Tom Cruise is in my bedroom!"
Rory just rolled her eyes and shut the door to the bathroom. Just as she was about to take her watch off and get into the shower, she felt a buzz and glanced down to see a reply from her mom (well technically it was still Oscar) with three of the red sweating face emojis with the tongue sticking out. These autogenerated replies were way too accurate.
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Current Standings-
Lorelai: 1,200 (600 for day)
Rory: 1,086 (600 for day)