Really Nice Man
Luke chuckled as he crossed Lorelai's yard, heading for the diner. Revenge can be sweet. About 30 seconds later, as the early morning chill set in, he realized how much he'd left behind in the Crapshack beyond his girls, namely his down vest and his boxers. Maybe Lorelai would bring them when she came for lunch. If she remembered. If she could find them. If she was even coming for lunch.
He shivered as the doubts set in. She knew she wanted to kiss me last night. She seemed certain of her feelings this morning. What will she be thinking by lunchtime? Impulsive could have been Lorelai's middle name; she could be regretting this already.
He knew what Taylor Doose and Kirk were thinking as they stood outside the diner. He could read it in their body language as he approached. Taylor wanted something and Kirk wanted breakfast and companionship. Taylor looked at his watch, then gave Luke a reprimanding look.
"Lucas, you are 12 minutes late. I'd fine you for promising shop hours but not delivering them, but I'm in a mood to be lenient today." Taylor definitely wanted something, because nothing gave him more pleasure than fining Luke's Diner.
"Breakfast is running late today. Eggs and toast you can have immediately, pancakes take an extra fifteen minutes, and what do you want, Taylor."
"Now, Luke, that's no way to greet customers, especially when you're providing bad service." Taylor entered the diner as if he owned the place, looked around, then argued with Kirk over the seat nearest to the cash register.
"That seat's reserved," Luke growled. "Go sit by the window. Your orders will be up soon." He planned to keep that seat open for Lorelai or Rory if they came in. It was a nice bonus to move those two away from his main work area.
"Luke, I wanted to talk to you about your spruce," began Taylor as he checked the seat for dirt, then sat down at a table next to Kirk's table. "I think we should …"
"Spruce? What spruce?" interrupted Luke. Even though he knew full well what Taylor meant, he was going to make him work for it today.
Taylor ignored him as usual. "We need to take before and after pictures to put up on the Stars Hollow website. It will help draw families and businesses to the area."
Luke smirked. If Taylor only knew that the spruce was a tiny change compared to the change in the diner owner and his favorite customer.
"No pictures, Taylor. I'm going to post a 'No Cameras Allowed' sign right next to the cell phone sign."
"Luke, obviously you can't do that. What about all the families who come here for a celebration and want to take a photo as a remembrance? Just last Sunday you had a family here celebrating the grandmother's birthday. It was such a sweet sight, Granny surrounded by all her grandbabies."
"They can go outside and stand next to the people using their cell phones. They can ask the cell phone people to take pictures of them and Granny out for their birthday brunch. No photos."
"What colors did you finally choose? I thought the English Country Garden look would suit the diner best. You could dress all the employees in powder blue and pink shirts with khaki pants."
"Whatever Lorelai chose, but it was NOT the Country Garden, and nobody is going to dress in powder blue anything in this diner."
Luke sighed as the rest of the regulars rolled in. This was going to be a long day.
That prank will not go without reprisal. Luke took complete advantage of the situation-first listening in, then manipulating Rory to make me apologize. And that hug! Lorelai's blood quest faded as she remembered what happened before Rory came home. So many confusing things had happened; she really needed Sookie to help her work through it all. She pulled into her Executive Manager parking space at the Independence Inn, ran up the stairs and in the front door.
Stopping by the front desk, she checked with the team and cleared up the items needing her attention. Afterwards she dropped her jacket and purse in her office and pushed through the double-hinged door into the kitchen.
"Who wants to hear about my night?" she asked Sookie after Michel stormed out of the room, angry that Sookie refused to make him an egg white omelet.
"Oh, me!" replied Sookie, continuing with her cooking.
"Well, it started with Rory's baby chick getting loose in the house." It probably would not be a good idea to start with the paint choosing. Sookie would be all over that.
"Wow, that's very Wild Kingdom of you."
"Yeah. I'm like the Marlin Perkins of Stars Hollow."
"You want some coffee?"
"Please."
"So how's Rory's chick?"
"Uh, better than my lemon lamp."
"What's the matter with your lemon lamp?"
"Luke killed it."
"On purpose?"
"Well I can't prove it, but I will."
"What was Luke doing there?"
"Well I called him when I got home and Stella wasn't there."
"Stella is the chick?"
"Yes."
"I like that name."
"'Streetcar Named Desire'."
"Vivian Leigh or Jessica Tandy?"
"Hello-Tandy."
"Of course. Continue."
"So I evaluated the situation in my usual calm, collected manner –"
"Hmm."
"And then I called Luke to help me track her down."
"That's when he broke the lamp?"
"Yeah, he's not very graceful. You know, he said the weirdest thing."
"'May I break your lamp?'"
"Well he got there and I was looking for Stella and he said, 'Oh, you really do have a baby chick loose in the house,' like I made that up, or-I don't know."
"Well."
"Well what?"
"Well you call someone and you say, 'Can you come over and help me look for my loose chick?' It's a little ..."
"A little what?"
"It sounds a little like the code for, 'I'm not wearing any underwear.'"
"That's not the code for 'I'm not wearing any underwear.'"
"OK."
"Sookie, you're not serious?" It slowly dawned on Lorelai that this is probably exactly what Luke was thinking when she called. Maybe he was thinking it already back in the diner. Are my signals so obvious?
"Look, the first time Jackson and I...you know."
"Yeah."
"Yeah. I called him up and I told him I had a bat in my attic."
"Well, honey, you do have a bat in your attic."
"So, he came over and went in the attic and he knew there was no bat and I knew there was no bat, but we pretended to look for it, and then when we couldn't find "the bat" we went downstairs and we had a bottle of wine …"
"So you're saying Luke thought I made up a crazy story about a chick being loose in the house just to get him in bed?"
"Not just to get him in bed, but maybe he thought you wanted to see him and you didn't know how to say it."
"That's nuts." Nuts, maybe, but it worked.
"A woman asking a man to come over late at night to her house. Come on."
"Yeah. But this is Luke we're talking about."
"Uh-huh. Why did you call him?"
"Because I needed help."
"Yeah. Why didn't you call me?"
I never considered anyone besides Luke. The only other people on my mind were Kirk and Taylor, and they REALLY weren't under consideration. "Because I assumed you would be with Jackson."
"Uh-huh."
"Well I did." Inside my head I have my fingers crossed, making this a little white lie.
"Why didn't you call Rory?"
"Because she would have been furious to find out that Stella was missing." Finally the truth.
"Why didn't you call Patty? She raises chickens."
"Sookie."
"Or Andrew? He lives right around the corner, doesn't he?"
"What is your point?" I thought I could tell her, but this is too much. Did I really throw myself at Luke?
"My point is that you called Luke. Out of all the people in town that you could have called that would have come over and dropped what they were doing, you called Luke."
"Because I had just been with him. We were picking out paint samples. He was on my mind. It was purely a timing thing." You better believe it was timing. Timing and the sexiest man on the planet whispering sweet 'Thank yous' in my ear.
"Picking out samples."
"Yes."
"For Luke's place."
"Yes."
"So you could paint together."
"Once again, yes!"
"Mm-hmm. Which I believe was your idea."
"OK, so now the fact that I suggested painting Luke's diner also means that I wanted to get him in bed. All of a sudden I'm trying to get any poor, unsuspecting person in bed with me. I'm like-I'm Michael Douglas!"
"Lorelai. This -"
"Just-thanks for the omelet."
"No, honey, I'm sorry. I don't want you to be mad. Don't be mad at me." Lorelai, I just want you to realize that you have a thing for him as much as he has one for you.
"I'm not mad, I'm not mad. I'm tired."
"OK. You know, Luke is a really nice man."
"Bye, Sookie." Lorelai rushed out of the kitchen.
The double-hinged door didn't have a chance to complete a full swing before Lorelai was back in the kitchen.
"Sookie, there's more."
"More, like Luke broke your blender? Or like Luke received your signal even if you didn't?" Sookie knew something was up. Her best friend was paddling the denial boat a little too fast today.
Lorelai twisted her fingers together and shifted from one foot to the other. She smiled sheepishly and said, "The second one. Apparently I'm a giant antenna radiating Luke waves."
"Eeek!" screeched Sookie as Lorelai found herself in Sookie's choke hold of joy.
"Oh this is so great! I am so happy for you! You guys finally worked it out!" After allowing Lorelai to breathe again, Sookie began bouncing around the kitchen clapping her hands. "Tell me everything."
Lorelai described the evening in relatively good detail, including Luke's delicious 'Thank You' (but not her lap dance fantasy), the lemon lamp destruction and Luke's associated injury, and the first kiss.
"You kissed him first? I always thought you would," Sookie said.
"Why? Why would you think that Luke wouldn't be first? Guys always kiss me first. I've never had to decide that for myself. That's how I know they're interested."
"Honey, that's the point. Luke isn't like the other guys. He's specially designed for Lorelai Gilmore. He's not pushy like those guys; he's there for you. Jackson was kind of the same way, he was always open to a relationship with me, but he just didn't push it, he let me decide when I was ready."
"How will I know if I'm ready?" Lorelai asked.
"Lorelai, honey, you wanted to know what it was like to kiss him, so you kissed him. You bend over backwards to help him, like paint the diner. Most important, you know that he and Rory are compatible. He adores that child almost as much as he adores you. There's never been anyone more ready than you in the history of love."
As a best friend, Sookie could sometimes be grating and inquisitive. At other times, though, she said exactly the right thing at the right time. This was one of those right times.
"Sookie, I think I'm ready. It's time I made a move."
"With Luke? Yes it is. Way past time."
"Do you think I'm going to hurt him? Do you think he'll hurt me?"
"Honey, it happens in every relationship. Even you and Rory hurt each other sometimes. You just keep loving each other and work through it, just like you and Rory do."
"Do you think we can be happy together?"
"Lorelai, Luke's the whole package. You are not going to understand what happiness means until you are together."
"It's not too fast?"
"It doesn't matter if it's your first kiss, or your first date, or your first 'um-hum,' it's Luke. Whatever time you think is right, you have to add on the four years you've known each other already, so no, nothing is too fast. You could get married next week and it wouldn't be too fast. That's just how well you two know each other. Lorelai, it's time to jump."
"Jump?"
"Jump. Now. Today."
"Yeah, uh, I think I'm going to go out for lunch today."
Sookie smiled, "Sounds good. Tell me all about it later, OK?"
Lorelai's late arrival at work and long discussion with Sookie pushed her lunch out until mid-afternoon. Everyone at the inn seemed to need a piece of her this morning. Michel had been dealing with obstreperous customers who ultimately insisted on talking with the manager. Repairs on the bathtubs in three rooms were underway and more expensive than expected. A Bridezilla had reared her ugly head less than a month before the wedding. It was early afternoon before she started the financial reporting she needed to make to Mia, and Lorelai liked to include a personal note updating Mia on the local goings-on.
Writing Mia's note, Lorelai enjoyed a few minutes of girlish fantasizing about Luke. Yes, there were perfect kisses last night, tucked in among the exploratory kisses where they searched each other's bodies for responsive areas. Even their interrupted tryst held the promise of more. None of that could go into Mia's letter this month, though. Maybe next month. This month she kept it to Rory's schooling and her Donna Reed dinner with Dean at Babette's.
Finally she felt her work was done enough to take a break. Stopping in the kitchen, she said, "Wish me luck!" and got a dimpled grin and a wink in return.
The drive to the diner seemed extra-long, as events always do when the objective is highly anticipated. Even parking proved to be a problem, something about a big sale on porcelain unicorns going on down the street.
She parked, freshened her makeup and hair and smoothed the front of her purple satin shirt. As she got out of the car, she reached into the back and took out the bag with Luke's down vest.
The diner was busy, but not impossibly so. Luke was nowhere to be seen, so she took a seat at the counter, setting the bag with Luke's vest on the ground. It accidentally gaped a bit, showing the vest. Not wanting anyone to see, she bent over to adjust the bag.
At that exact moment, Luke came out of the kitchen, his hands full of plates. Seeing someone on the stool, he barked, "That stool is reserved! Find a table," like he'd said a dozen times that day. Lorelai gathered her things and slid off the stool, looking around for an empty table.
Never questioning that the person would move, Luke focused on delivering the food to his customers. When he finished, he turned to the errant customer and his jaw dropped. "Lorelai!"
Coming over to her, he said quietly, "You don't have to move. That stool's for you today." With a smile he put his hand in the small of her back and guided her toward the stool again.
"Hi," she said, her own smile firmly in place. He was close enough for her to take in his scent, bringing her momentarily back to their tryst this morning, with an added whiff of bacon.
"Hi back," he answered, giving her arm a squeeze, undetected by the other customers before moving around to his usual side of the counter. They stood there, silent, smiling.
In the usual practice of new lovers, this was all they needed for the moment-acknowledging that the other person was indeed right in front of them, plus the uninterrupted moment in which they could enjoy each other's company.
Tom the contractor gathered his belongings and approached the cash register, regarding the couple with amusement. The brief touches between them weren't lost on Tom.
Tom had known Luke since the latter was a child and Tom a young contractor. He'd given Luke some early instruction in wood working and had him out on construction sites as a runner several times, eventually hiring him for part-time work during high school. He'd seen Luke smitten before, but never like this. Luke's on-again, off-again relationship with Rachel had been serious, but after the first couple of breakups, no one took it seriously anymore, except Luke.
Tom knew from Luke's work habits that he was trustworthy and loyal, sometimes to the point of damaging what he was loyal to. Luke's relationship with Rachel was one of those cases. They were never going to be together permanently, he could see, since Tom's wife was Rachel's father's sister, and as family, they knew Rachel better than Luke did. Rachel wrote and called her family regularly, but only contacted Luke when she was lonely or feeling insecure in her career. At those times, the idea of living in Stars Hollow, reflecting on her exciting career, being one of the bigger stars in the Hollow, married to a stand-up guy like Luke was very attractive. That wish always faded, however, and she jumped on the next job or the next fantasy and was soon gone again.
Each breakup was forever, Tom gave Rachel credit for that. Neither Luke nor Rachel had any illusions about a long-distance relationship, but Luke was persuaded each time she returned to take her back. Why Luke took her back Tom never quite understood. Looking at Lorelai, Tom figured that the next time Rachel returned, she might be the one who was disappointed when she left.
Tom ended Luke and Lorelai's moment with his gruff voice. "Hey Luke, if you've got a minute, I'd like to have a chance to part with some of my hard-earned money. That is, if you can tear your eyes away from other matters."
"Tom," Luke answered as he took Tom's ticket and money, making change, "We've got a quaint custom around here. It's called minding your own business." The high color in his cheeks betrayed his embarrassment. Tom merely smiled politely.
Lorelai, who'd been embarrassed more times than she could count, cast her eyes down to the counter for a minute, actually enjoying Tom's teasing, which was harmless and contained, in contrast to the unyielding attention provided too frequently by Babette and Miss Patty. She was just grateful that they weren't present for this moment between her and Luke.
Looking around the room, Luke could see that none of the few occupied tables were obviously in need of anything, so he made a quick round with the coffee pot and returned to the counter, acting as if it were just any other day, when he and Lorelai would enjoy a round of banter until one of them was called away to work or parenting duties.
Pouring her a coffee, he returned the pot to the warming plate and turned to her, leaning on his hands so he could talk quietly.
"Terrible customer service today, I see," she teased, "It took forever to get my coffee."
"I had important matters to attend to," he bantered back, "but now I'm all yours." His crinkled eyes and the smile on his face left no doubt as to his meaning.
"Here's your vest," Lorelai said, sliding the bag on the floor around to the side of the counter, where he deftly picked it up and tucked it under the counter.
"And the other?" he asked, not wanting to identify the piece of clothing by name. His boxers were not going to become a topic of gossip inside his own diner.
"Yeah, I think I might keep that one for a while," she said looking at him impishly.
Luke bent his arms at the elbows, dropping his head down toward the counter while he absorbed that information. "Geez, Lorelai, you're killing me. Please go out with me. Soon."
"Name the day. I can't wait either," she confided.
"Tonight. No, you have your dinner. Tomorrow?"
"Yes." She smiled. "Tonight if you can stay up until the dinner is over. Tomorrow for sure."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll plan something for tomorrow. Tonight, how about KC's? You come here, Rory will get her usual chili fries, and we'll take her home, then walk over to the tavern. That is, if you're up to it. I know those dinners aren't always easy."
Lorelai couldn't help smiling. Those few seconds were Luke in a nutshell. He planned two dates, feeding Rory, getting her safely home, and still had enough thought left over to worry about Lorelai's relationship with her parents. How could I have overlooked this amazing guy during these past few years?
She leaned forward and put her hand on his. "Sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to it."
She paused, sipped on her coffee, then continued. "Do you know any place to buy food around here? I need to eat and go back to work."
Luke slapped his forehead. "Burger and fries, right?" She nodded. "Caesar! Lorelai's usual!"
"Off your game today, Burger Boy?"
"No, just since the last customer came in. She has a tendency to be a little annoying. Today she's more distracting than annoying, though."
"Oh, that's too bad. Maybe she'll improve once you get to know her better, d'ya think?"
"God, I hope so, otherwise I'll go out of business."
"So, KC's has karaoke, doesn't it?" Lorelai tried to imagine Luke drunk enough to sing karaoke. "What would you sing?"
"Nothing. No karaoke. That's why we're going on Friday night, and not Thursday, when Kevin has karaoke evening. What about you?"
She chuckled. "With enough alcohol, I'll sing anything, but the Bangles of course, and Blondie, Metallica, and Bowie." She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out Luke's favorite music. "I'm guessing you're a Jimmy Buffet fan. Is Cheeseburger in Paradise your guilty secret?"
Caesar's "Order up!" saved Luke from a response that would have forced him to confess his wanton youth, maybe even show her his Margaritaville shirt.
"Eat. You have to go back to work, remember?"
After a few more Buffet-head jokes, Lorelai wolfed down her lunch. Before she left her stool, she leaned over and beckoned him to come closer. Luke put his hand down on the counter and she covered it with hers, saying, "If I can light a fire under Michel's ass, I might be able to come by for coffee before we leave for Hartford." Squeezing his hand affectionately, she added, "A little more Luke time would be really good."
"Let me know if you need some rocket fuel," he replied, watching her go out the door.
Lorelai stopped, put her head back inside the door and quipped, "That's what I love about you. You always take care of me, even when it comes to disposing of the bodies." One wink and she was gone, leaving only a smile on Luke's face.
Rory entered the diner as Luke was finishing a phone call. She took the first stool near the cash register and smiled at him when he noticed she was there.
"Kevin, thanks, I really appreciate the favor. We're good for tonight, then, after the diner closes. See you then." Hanging up, Luke turned to Rory.
"Hi Rory, how was school? Ready for some pie?" He poured her coffee and looked over at the pie election. "Looks like cherry and apple are left."
"Cherry, please. How are you doing? Are you and Mom still fighting? That was kind of weird this morning." Rory sipped her coffee, watching Luke as he cut a piece of pie nearly twice as large as normal.
"Nah, we're good. We called a truce and are gonna go to KC's tonight and have a beer after your dinner is over." He turned and started prepping another pot of coffee.
"That's kind of weird, too, Luke. You guys going out for a beer? I don't remember that happening before."
Feeling uncomfortable about his little white lie about the truce, Luke hedged. "Ah, we've done it before, last year maybe. I can't quite remember when. Your mom thought it would be a nice way to thank me for helping catch Stella."
"Catch Stella? Stella escaped? How did Stella escape?"
Oh crap oh crap oh crap. I so suck at lying. "I don't know, Rory. It happened before I got there."
"You came to help move furniture." Rory's puzzled look made Luke even more uncomfortable.
"Yeah, Lorelai wanted to move the furniture. That's it. When I got there, Stella was missing, so I helped find her."
"OK, good. Thanks for finding her. Keeping her alive for a month is really important to my grade." She dug into her pie while her mind tried to calculate how many lies she had been told today. "Great pie, thanks."
Luke looked everywhere except at Rory, fearing that she'd bring Stella up again, but she was done. Rory took another drink of her coffee, then looked up at Luke shyly.
"Luke."
Oh no, she's gonna call me out on my lying. This is gonna be bad. Lorelai's gonna kill me.
"Yeah?" he said, shifting uncomfortably on his feet, trying at the same time to look nonchalant.
"That was really nice of you to invite Dean for softball."
Whew. Luke's tense shoulders relaxed. "It was nothing. We need more players, and one of the high school guys was saying Dean's supposed to be pretty good."
"No, it was nice. Except for school, he hasn't really found his place in Stars Hollow. Being asked to play made him really happy." Her narrowed eyes would have given Luke warning that something else was coming, if he'd been paying attention.
"Ah, it's no big deal. You need to come to the games to root for him, though. We love to have our fans there." One day, maybe both mother and daughter Gilmore would be rooting for them.
"Well, even if it wasn't a big deal to you, it made him happy. At least after he stopped thinking you were about to kill him."
Rory's beautiful baby blue eyes and sweet expression turned into one big, stern reprimand. Luke blushed and stammered, "I- I was just kidding around."
"Yes, I know you were kidding. Dean, however, didn't. He was scared, Luke, and he's from Chicago. They have real gangsters in Chicago but you, Luke Danes of Stars Hollow, scared him." Seeing his discomfiture, she turned up the pressure.
"Sorry." Luke had never made Rory angry before.
"That's not going to happen again, is it, Luke?" She shook her head from side to side, as if she needed to help him figure out the right answer.
Now who's behaving like a gangster? "No. Do you need more pie?"
She smiled at him. "Pie is a good way to buy my forgiveness. Apple this time, please."
Luke was plating her pie when Lorelai came into the diner. Rory wheeled on her stool as her mother approached. Luke stood behind her at the counter, glad to have Rory in-between them when Lorelai found out what he had accidentally blabbed.
Lorelai looked at Rory, saying as if she were talking to a stranger, "Would you mind moving? That seat is reserved for me today." She threw a teasing glance at Luke, who rolled his eyes, grateful for the comic relief.
"How did Stella get out?" demanded Rory.
Lorelai looked accusingly at Luke, who put his palms in the air, pretending to be innocent, but Lorelai wasn't buying it. Before she could call him on it, Rory piped up.
"C'mon, Mom, you've been lying like crazy about last night. I want the truth and I want it now."
Lorelai gave a dramatic sigh. "When I got home from the diner, Stella was missing. I called Luke to come help look for her."
"But you hurt him, how did that happen? Were you really throwing things at him?"
"No, I didn't throw anything at him!" Except myself. "He fell and broke the lemon lamp (and then I kissed him!). Later he accidentally ran into the coffee table."
Luke chimed in on that one. "I did not run into it accidentally. You pulled me into the table! I've still got the bruise to prove it!"
"Didn't we have that talk this morning, guys? You made up, now play nicely." Rory was beginning to lose patience with them. They were irritating, which was pretty normal for them, but she still felt that something weird was going on. Somehow they seem, oh, how best to describe it? Frustrated.
"Let's sit over here, Mom, and leave Luke in peace. I'm sure he's got other customers to take care of." They moved to the window, where Rory could keep an eye out for Dean, in case he should walk by.
"Humph. He won't have any customers if he doesn't serve them. I still don't have coffee. Unbelievable. Lu-uke! I need coffee!"
"Keep your pants on," he grumbled as he walked to customers on the opposite side of the room. It took a second longer for him to realize that Lorelai keeping her pants on wasn't something he was really interested in at the moment, more the opposite. When the customer asked if he were alright, Luke simply muttered, "Hot in here," and went back to the kitchen for some relief.
"Give me some of your coffee," Lorelai said as she pulled Rory's cup toward her.
"No! Wait for your own. I'm thirsty." Rory was adamant.
Lorelai pouted, watching the doorway to the kitchen, debating if she should pour some coffee for herself. After all, she was the girlfriend. Maybe.
Luke finally reappeared, took the fresh pot and a mug and poured Lorelai her coffee. "Made it fresh just for you," he said, speaking more gently this time.
She took the cup, sipped and said, "Mmm, fabulous. Love ya!" Even though she fired the last two words out of her mouth as fast as bullets out of a Kalashnikov, they were not lost on Luke, who studiously avoided looking at her for too long. Too much looking made him forget where he was and what he was doing.
He scanned the diner again. Only two guests were left, each at his own table, and they'd long since eaten and were just relaxing, so Luke took a chance to do the same. He walked over to Lorelai's table and sat down near her, facing Rory. He sighed.
"Long day?" asked Lorelai.
"Felt that way," he answered. "Can't wait for the workday to be over sometimes, to just kick back and relax." Luke purposefully slumped down a little in the chair, his long legs bumping up against Lorelai's. They exchanged a quick glance. Lorelai rubbed one leg slowly against Luke's.
Rory's face lit up as she saw Dean across the street. He waved and came into the diner. When he saw Luke sitting with Rory and Lorelai, he stopped cold.
"Hi," he said nervously.
"Hey," Luke replied. "We couldn't get enough people for a pickup game this weekend; looks like next weekend instead. You up for it?" Luke gestured with his hand to Dean, then casually let it drop to his thigh, giving him access to Lorelai's leg. He began rubbing his knuckles against her thigh.
"Yeah, sure," replied Dean. "Saturday afternoon?" Noticing what was going on under the table, he relaxed a little and smiled. So there is something going on there.
"Yeah, about 1.30. We'll pick teams when we get there, but I could use you on my team any time." Rory glowed with pride for both Luke and Dean, that both of these important men in her life could get along so well. Luke had totally redeemed himself in her eyes.
In Lorelai's eyes, Luke was being unredeemably bad. She liked it. Lorelai glowed too, but with something more wanton than pride.
"Thanks. Sounds great." Turning to Rory, Dean asked, "Can I walk you home?"
"Sure, in a few minutes. I want to finish my pie first."
"Luke, while we're sprucing the diner, shall we give your apartment a touch-up as well?" asked Lorelai, intensely aware of the feelings his touch had aroused.
"Nah, the apartment doesn't need anything. I'm good."
"Why don't we take a look anyway, in case something occurs to you that you haven't thought of yet." She pressed hard against his leg, putting pressure on his foot with hers.
Oblivious, he continued to refuse. Only when Lorelai actually reached down and poked him in the leg, asking one last time, "Luke, let's at least take a look. I bet I can find something up there you haven't thought of yet," did he give in to her suggestion.
"OK," he finally grumbled, "just five minutes. Any longer and I'll have to shoot myself."
Lorelai looked at him, wondering how he could have missed all of her signals. Reminding Rory of the need to leave for Hartford by six-fifteen, she and Luke went behind the curtain.
She practically knocked Luke over while pushing him up the stairs. Starting with his shoulders, she moved her hands down to his waist as he began climbing faster. When she lowered her hands to his ass, he got the message.
Once inside the apartment, Luke grabbed her, thrust his hands into her hair and she gasped for breath between his urgent, driving kisses. He pressed her against the wall next to the door, his hands exploring her hot, yielding body.
Eventually they broke apart, trying to regain control. "You don't have time to start this right now." Luke gripped her arms tightly, continuing, "And I'm not going to be able to stop if we go any further."
"OK," she said, "It's just a few hours more. Not very long. We can make it until then, right?" Weak at the knees, she leaned her head against Luke's chest, drawing strength from his hard muscles and comforting embrace.
"God, I hope so. This has been the longest 24 hours of my life," he groaned.
Dean and Rory left the diner after she finished her pie, walking toward the Crapshack hand-in-hand.
"How long have your mother and Luke been dating?" Dean asked.
"They're not dating. What makes you think that?"
"C'mon. They were playing footsie under the table."
"No way! I would have seen it."
"Sorry, I call it like I see it. It was footsie."
"Well, I still don't believe it. Mom would have said something," Rory said, her doubts increasing nonetheless. She recalled Luke out in the yard last night, and that whole weird thing about their fight. They'd been fighting, she knew that, but dating? Impossible.
Friday night dinner had never seemed as long and drawn-out as it did to Lorelai tonight. Rory was quiet and thoughtful through most of the dinner, reacting politely to questions and chatting with her grandfather about his latest literary acquisitions. Her attention, however, was focused as sharp as a laser on her mother's behavior, but there was nothing to indicate Dean had been correct. Even her leading questions on the way home were smoothly deflected by Lorelai. One niggling doubt remained-what about the fight?
The diner was closed when the girls returned. Lorelai was teasing Rory heartlessly about her Donna Reed evening as they came through the door.
"Your dress was perfect! But that apron, so adorable. Do want some crinolines for underneath your Chilton skirt?"
"Mom, you're ignoring the most important part! I researched Donna Reed, and while she was acting the role, she had real power in the show. That makes her one of the first female television executives."
"Sure, and that's what you and Dean did all evening, talk about womens' rights in the 1950s. Did you take the apron off? After cooking, you're supposed to take it off, so your sweetie doesn't have to think about all the work you put into his dinner. After dinner, you put it back on to clean up while he sits in his armchair, smokes a pipe and reads the paper. Did Dean smoke a pipe?"
Exasperated and desperate, Rory tried to change the subject. "Why are you guys going to KC's tonight?"
Luke was standing at the counter, making change for the last customer. He looked up suddenly, trying to follow Lorelai's answer.
"Well, um, just because. It's nice to go out and have a beer with a friend sometimes," hedged Lorelai.
Two quick steps across the room and Luke was there, adding, "And your mother promised me a beer for finding Stella. I told you that this afternoon."
I'm still not buying it. "Oh, OK. You know, you don't need to drive me home. I can walk," said Rory.
"Luke insists. He doesn't like you going into an empty house all alone late at night."
"Your mom forgot to mention that if I go with you, then I won't have to sit around a bar all evening waiting for her to show up." Lorelai raised an eyebrow at that statement.
"It's still illogical. You two stay here, I drive home and as soon as I walk in the door and don't find any serial killers, I call you. Everybody's safe, and you two can just walk across the street to KC's whenever Luke is ready."
"C'mon, Rory, when has Lorelai ever willingly been logical? It's like a point of pride with her to keep me guessing about her real intent. Drives me crazy." This time Lorelai raised both eyebrows.
Rory chuckled. "Now that's the first true Luke statement I've heard tonight."
Marginally offended that Rory thought he'd been lying all day, Luke decided to not challenge the little godfather, especially since it was the truth.
"My real INTENT?" Lorelai bristled. "You want to know about my real intent?"
"I sure would," mumbled Rory, finishing the last of her fries. "I'm getting in the car and driving home. Why don't you two figure out what you want to do all by yourselves? I'm tired and want to go to bed."
Luke looked exasperated. "I'm going to finish cleaning up." He disappeared into the kitchen.
"Say hi to Dean for me, sweets, and don't stay up too late talking about which one of you is prettiest. Call me when you've killed all the trolls and vampires waiting for you inside the house." Lorelai saw her daughter to the door, flipped the lock after her and then went back to the kitchen to be with Luke.
"Sit over there and don't touch anything," ordered Luke, pointing out a chair at the crew table. "I want to finish up here as soon as possible."
"Soo… that went well," Lorelai posited. This time it was Luke's eyebrow that went up.
"It was a disaster. Rory's been on my case all day. If I'm not lying to her about what we're doing, she's warning me to be nice to Dean."
"But you were nice to Dean today, inviting him to baseball, or softball, or whatever kind of ball it is that you play."
"Slow-pitch softball, but that's not the point. I was kinda, um, not so nice to him last night when I took the lemon lamp outside."
Luke continued cleaning as he told Lorelai the story of the chick, and how scared Dean was when they went behind the house. She laughed delightedly, adding, "It's wonderful how you take care of her in ways that I can't. I threatened Dean once, but he didn't buy it. I like having you on my side."
He walked over to her, held his greasy rubber-gloved hands behind his back and leaned down to kiss her. "Thank you," he said.
"Was that a 'Thank you' like 'thanks for giving me my change' at the store, or a 'Thank you' with a special Luke vibe behind it, like last night when we were choosing paint?"
"There is no Luke vibe, special or otherwise, but yeah, it was the second." He smiled, standing at the sink with an oilcloth apron protecting his clothing from the grease, and his hands in dirty water, Lorelai's heart skipped a beat as he looked at her.
She stood up, wanting to go over to him, when he barked, "What did I say about not moving?!" She dropped her butt back onto the chair and waited.
Lorelai knitted her eyebrows together, trying to deal with a quandary. "I still want to know what you meant when you said 'Thank you' last night, but I get the feeling that when you tell me, I'll want to jump up on you and kiss you until we're both dizzy."
"Then ask later," Luke growled, "and keep your shapely butt in that chair. I am not going to fill out an accident report where the cause of the accident is 'overzealous kissing.'"
"Look but don't touch," she said to herself. "Look but don't touch. Luke but don't touch." She giggled at the joke she made with last sentence.
Inspecting Luke again, Lorelai asked, "Is that the same shirt you wore this afternoon?"
"Nah, I spilled something on it during the dinner rush and had to change it." He pointedly avoided mentioning that he'd also had a shower and tidied up the apartment.
Lorelai's phone clicked, alerting her to an incoming text message. "Ah, good. Rory says she got home fine, had to kill two trolls and stab a vampire with a silver knife, but that's all for tonight." This bit of craziness didn't faze Luke in the least. He just nodded and continued working.
She watched him scrubbing and cleaning the last pots and pans, his arm muscles working in double-time. "You look nice," she said.
"Nice how?" he returned. "My hands are in greasy water up to my elbows, and I'm wearing an apron. Is this another one of those Donna Reed things? I'm not going to wear any pearls."
"Nice like those big strong fishermen I see on TV as they pull the shark over the rail. Yelling and grunting, flexing their big muscles as they lift the giant man-eating fish, hoisting it up on the rope so it hangs head down, still snapping and trying to bite them. Chilling." She smiled devilishly, adding, "The view from behind is spectacular, by the way. And you'd look great in pearls."
Sighing, he poured the last cleaning water out and removed the gloves and apron.
"Well thank goodness I didn't gut any sharks tonight, or I'd have to go shower. Give me five minutes to clean myself up and we can go."