A/N: Hello all, so sorry for the delay in posting this. I first wrote this chapter weeks ago and as I was reading it back to myself I found it sooo boring so that version went to the scrap heap. Then life got busy and weeks went by before I had a decent amount of free time for any writing. I hope after the long wait this chapter isn't a disappointment because I'm much happier with it now.
As always these characters are not mine and I'd love to hear what you all think about this chapter. P.S. this is the concluding chapter to my little story. Enjoy!
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"Hi sweets I'm home, how did you get on with that paper?"
"Great I'd just finished it when I rang you, the peace and quiet around here tonight helped. Did I miss anything good at the town meeting?"
"Erm the meeting… yeah ...Hey do you feel like ice cream, I feel like ice cream. I'll go and see if we have my two favourite boys in the freezer"
"Mom you're babbling, what are you avoiding telling me?" Rory said slipping into the parent voice she sometimes adopted when her mom needed to snap out of something.
"ThetownthinksthatmeandLukearetogetherandwekissedandnowithinkweactuallyare" The words practiacally exploded out of Lorelai's mouth all on one breath. She looked sheepishly at Rory as the young girl processed the splurge of speech just thrown at her.
"Ok I think you need to back up and explain some more of this. Why did the town think you guys were together?"
The girls sat together on the sofa with a tub of Phish Food between them as Lorelai filled Rory in on the events of the last couple of days ending with her heated makeout session at the diner.
"Ok mom before you go any further with this story I want to remind you not to tell me anything that may scar me for life. Save all the gorey details for Sookie if you need to share them with anyone"
"You're such a spoil sport" Lorelai said laughing. She didn't actually intend on give any 'gorey' details away to anybody. She felt quite protective of her encounter with Luke, this was special and call her selfish but she didn't want to have to share that moment with anybody else but Luke. Rory observed her mother carefully as she was momentarily lost in her own thoughts. It was rare to see her mom so unguarded, she had a soft dreamy expression on her face.
"You look happy" Rory finally said, this brought Lorelai out of her thoughts and back into the room.
"I am kid, or at least I think I could be. Would you be ok with me and Luke dating?" She looked nervously at her daughter as she waited for her response.
"Mom I love you both and I want you to be happy, but equally I don't want either of you to get hurt. I don't think you should ignore this thing with Luke but I just want you to be careful. This is Luke, our Luke, if things go sour you can't just cut him out of your life."
"I know and I think that's what kept me from admitting a long time ago how I felt about him. But I'm not sure I can go back to being friends with him without at least trying to be something more first."
"Well I'm not going to stop you, just promise me I'll never run into a half naked Luke in our kitchen and I'll be happy"
"Mmm a half naked Luke, cooking me breakfast now that is a delicious thought" Lorelai giggled as Rory made a disgusted face and threw a cushion at her mother.
"And on that disturbing note I'm going to read in my room and try to banish that mental image you've just given me."
…
With Rory's seal of approval Lorelai felt much happier about the prospect of her date with Luke. She spent the whole of the next day as a bundle of excited nerves and rather than be distracted from her work all day she seemed to power through all her tasks as if she was running on adrenaline. In a first for her she was even ready early for her date that night, but of course she didn't want to seem too eager so she paced her bedroom waiting for Luke to arrive so she could make her entrance on the stairs like all the best Hollywood stars would. A knock. That was definitely a knock. She rushed to the window and sure enough Luke's truck was parked at the end of her drive. With one last look in the mirror as she passed she nodded to herself, pleased with the look she had put together for the evening. It was feminine but not overly dressy she wore her best jeans, the ones which made her ass look fantastic, with a pretty shirt and heels.
As she came down the stairs she spotted Luke and Rory talking in the living room and my oh my did he look good. He'd ditched the flannel for an open necked blue shirt and some dark grey slacks. Oh yes I'm going to like dating Luke she thought.
"Hi" she said simply, almost shyly as she reached the bottom landing on the stairs. Luke smiled widely as he noticed her, she looked beautiful but then again when did he not think she looked beautiful.
"Hey, you ready?"
"Yep I'm all good. Ok bye sweets" She said giving Rory a quick hug "I've left money for pizza on the kitchen table, try and have the party wrapped up and the keg gone by the time mommy gets home" she said with a laugh and a wink and then she was being ushered out the door by Luke.
"You err" cough "You look beautiful" Luke said as he backed the truck down the drive.
"Thanks, you clean up pretty well yourself. I can't remember the last time I saw you without your flannel armour" Keeping his gaze on the road he raised an eyebrow and replied "My armour?"
"Yeah it's like Clark Kent and his glasses. You put your flannel on and poof you're grumpy diner man. Take it off and you're sexy dating Luke. We can't have Miss Patty see sexy dating Luke she'd have a corornary, hence the need for flannel armour." Luke bristled slightly at this, he didn't want Lorelai to try to start changing him into the metrosexual types she normally goes for. He'd do pretty much anything for Lorelai but if she didn't like him without changing him what chance would they have long term.
"You don't like my flannel?" He asked, trying to sound more casual than he felt.
"Of course I do, it's part of you, but I love that I get to see this other side of you too. It makes me feel kind of special." Mollified by her answer Luke relaxed again, "So you think I'm sexy?" He asked with a smirk.
…
They sat across from one another in a secluded corner of the restaurant, this corner held lots of potential for a romantic encounter. Unfortunately none of that potential was currently being fulfilled. The candle flickered between them as wax slowly dripped down the side and onto its holder made from a former wine bottle. Everyone around was chattering merrily, everyone except for Luke and Lorelai that is. The banter in the truck had been so promising, it had been thick with the sexual tension that usually surrounds their what went wong? It was like a switch had been flipped the moment they sat down at their table. They suddenly became very aware that they were on a date and they both froze up, the pressure ramped up in intensity.
"Let's speed date" Lorelai blurted unexpectedly. Luke tore his eyes away from the dripping wax to look at her.
"What? I know the conversation isn't exactly flying, but you can't just get up and go talk to another guy in the middle of our date Lorelai!"
"No not like that! Let's pretend this is a speed date and we don't know each other, what would you say to me?"
"But we do know each other, this is stupid." Luke scratched the back of his head, he was frustrated at himself that the date was not going at all like he'd hoped it would.
"Come on Luke this might help clear the cobwebs off our conversation. My words per minute have reached an all time low here, I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms."
"Fine okay. Erm, my name is Luke and I live in Stars Hollow, have done all my life. I have my own business, a diner which I opened in my father's old hardware store after he died." Luke paused and smiled as an idea came to him of what to say next. " The diner is pretty special to me, it's the place my life changed forever because it's the place I met a crazy caffeine addict with the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen." Lorelai sucked in a huge breath as the meaning of his words sunk in. She was floored that she meant that much to him, she was speechless but this time it was for a much better reason.
"The day we met, I don't know if you remember, but you were bugging me for some coffee and I told you to be quiet and wait you turn. Then you asked me when my birthday was and lord knows why but I told you, next thing I know you pass me my horoscope torn out of the newspaper and underneath you'd written 'You will meet an annoying woman today. Give her coffee and she'll go away' You told me to keep hold of that horoscope, put it in my wallet, and carry it around with me one day it would bring me luck" He pulled a small scrap of paper from his wallet and held it out to Lorelai. "So did it work? Has it brought me luck?"
Lorelai stared at the horoscope in her hands "I can't believe you kept this for all those years, this is incredible" She brought her eyes up to meet his and her hand sought out his across the table top. "I think your lucky charm might have worked" she replied with a smile, her eyes full of wonder as she gazed into his. Just like that the cobwebs had been blasted away, they spent the rest of the meal talking and flirting their earlier mutism all but forgotten.
…
"So" kiss "when" kiss "do" kiss "we" kiss "tell" kiss "people" kiss "about" kiss "us?" Luke's well intentioned good night kiss had long since turned into a steamy makeout session on Lorelai's front porch. She was pressed up against the wall next to the front door, her hands were in his hair and his were busy exploring her curves. "Do we have to tell them? Can't we just see if they notice?" Luke replied quickly before his lips started trailing across Lorelai's jaw and down the column of her neck. "There may be a good chance half the town already knows if Babette has looked out her window in the last ten minutes" Luke sighed and hung his head his mood slightly dampened at the thought of being the subject of town gossip once again.
"Man I hate how nosey everyone is in this town. I don't want anyone to have the satisfaction of winning the money in that damn pool!"
"So maybe we don't tell them? We let them work it out for themselves and we refuse to tell them when this all started? We can tell Taylor to make sure the money goes towards something for the town, that'll get him on our side at least."
"Normally anything that would make Taylor happy would torment me, but in this case I think it's the lesser of two evils. Smart and pretty, you sure you're still interested me?"
With a seductive smile Lorelai pulled Luke in for another teasing kiss "Oh most definitely".