She was close, so close, and Luke was going crazy. The scent of her body and hair filled his nostrils and it was taking his mind – he could make out something sweet as well as something earthy, a scent he would have never expected coming from Lorelai. She smelled like nature, like trees and like peaches. For a sublime moment he didn't care about the town folks standing outside, peeking into his diner, taking pictures. He didn't care, because he was kneeling on the floor with the one and only Lorelai Gilmore, close to her, so close he was in fact almost covering her. Only moments before she had touched his arm and whispered "Trust me."
Trust me.
If she only had an idea how much he trusted her. She wasn't exactly a reliable person, yet he would trust her with his life.
They stayed like this for a few more seconds, so close he could smell her scent, until the curious townspeople finally decided to call it a day. Luke wouldn't have noticed, all he could look at was Lorelai. "Thank you," he said lowly and the woman below him chuckled, turning her head back to him.
"You're welcome," she replied. And then she was quiet. Lorelai Gilmore, quiet. In fact she seemed stunned while Luke was scanning her face. She was beautiful, so beautiful he sometimes stopped breathing when looking at her. She was that kind of beautiful that made him wonder if she was actually good looking or simply that drop-dead gorgeous to him because he had fallen in love with her so hard, that she could have a third eye and he wouldn't notice. He didn't care so much about looks, not anymore, not since High School. Not since Rachel. But Lorelai, that damn Lorelai. She had just waltzed into his diner some years ago, blabbed his ear off and left a stupid horoscope with him, a horoscope he still kept, as if it was a declaration of their love. Nowadays she was all he could think of.
While he was still scanning her face, Lorelai started smiling widely. "What?" she whispered and Luke couldn't help but smile as well.
"Thank you for everything, Lorelai," he said gently and moved closer. Just a bit. Just a tiny bit, only an inch, so little she probably hadn't even noticed he had moved. And, judging by her non-fading smile, she definitely hadn't.
"You're my friend, Luke. Don't mention it."
Friend. That stung a bit, but after all she was right. He was her friend, she was his friend. They were friends, nothing more, nothing less.
"So – you wanna stay down here, safe behind the counter but on this dirty diner floor?" Lorelai asked, a slight hint of jest in her voice. "Hiding from nosy folks, in case they come back?"
"Do you wanna get up?" Luke asked and Lorelai snorted.
"And leave this safe space? You don't know me very well after all, Luke. I'm disappointed."
Luke smiled at her and to his surprise she smiled back immediately. It was a gentle smile, not that broad grin he usually got. It was an honest smile that was laden with so much kindness, it made his heart ache. Lorelai was such a wonderful, amazing, talented, infuriatingly gorgeous woman. Luke hated every minute he was apart from her and part of him thought that she felt the same. Who else was visiting his diner once, twice, sometimes three times a day? Who else headed straight to the bar to talk to him before ordering?
It seemed they couldn't live without each other. They kept rotating around each other, chasing each other, like the sun and the moon, belonging to each other but never able to really be with each other. Luke wanted to change this so desperately, a sudden bolt of courage seemed to take all his logic thinking away. In the heat of the moment he leaned down. Waited for a moment, but Lorelai didn't jolt away. She didn't move at all.
And Luke closed the gap between them by gently pressing his lips on hers.
Lorelai responded immediately. She parted her lips, letting him kiss her. Her hand flew into his neck, pulling him closer. Only seconds later he felt her tongue between his lips, pushing further, and he deepened the kiss with a leaping heart. Lorelai hadn't pushed him back. On the contrary, she was kissing him now, deeply so. Luke sat up, pulling her with him. His lips never leaving hers, he pulled her against him. Their chests crashed against each other as he wrapped his arms around her, bringing himself so close to her, he feared she would instantly break the contact because of too much contact. Or because they were moving too fast.
But Lorelai let it happen, more than that, she kissed him so passionately, that he feared this wasn't even happening. That he was dreaming. But not even his wildest dreams could conjure the sounds that came from Lorelai that moment. She was a goddess. She was breathing in such an aroused way, he could not help but pull her down again. But this time he made sure that she was going down first, making her back hit the diner floor. Luke now hovered over her, pressing her down.
He didn't know if it was the sudden contact with the floor or the fact that he was on top of her, but suddenly Lorelai grabbed his shirt and pushed him away. He looked down at her confused face. Her eyes darted between his eyes and his lips and Luke moved back down slowly, giving her time to prepare to be kissed again. But Lorelai held him back.
"I – I should go," she whispered. Her voice sounded strange, thick with something that almost sounded like regret.
"Sure, sorry," Luke muttered, immediately getting off of her. He offered her his hand to help her get up and while pulling her back on her feet, he said "sorry" again. Lorelai didn't react. She didn't look at him, didn't say a word while getting into her jacket. Luke swallowed hard. What had he done? Had he managed to destroy their friendship? "Sorry," he repeated and Lorelai laughed quietly.
"It's okay," she replied but still didn't look at him. "Let's meet at ten to buy the colours tomorrow?"
And then, without another word, she left the diner, leaving Luke in a bewildered mode that slowly but steadily started turning into self loathing the longer he stared after her.
He had kissed his best friend, and she had practically fled the diner.
Lorelai's mind was turning. Luke had kissed her and she had kissed him back. Then he had pressed her down on the ground. Luke had been on top of her, pressing his body against hers. Luke had showed her how much he had wanted her – and the worst of all was, she had liked it. She had liked it very much.
Luke was a good kisser, gentle and passionate. He had been fierce and slightly rough, too, a good way of rough. As he had pressed her down on the ground, for a moment she had thought they were going to do it right there. On the floor of the diner, behind the counter. For a moment she had hoped so, moments before realising that this wasn't quite the best place to have sex. Other than that, she doubted he had condoms stored in the diner. No, it was probably good that she had interrupted them before either of them could have had the idea of undressing the other.
She couldn't think straight while walking home. Slowly everything came back to her and she started to realise that Luke had kissed her. Luke, her Luke, had kissed her. And that she had very much kissed him back. The damp burning between her legs only proved her suspicion to be right – there was more than just friendship between them.
Confused and really not sure what to either do or think, she stumbled into her house. Where did they stand now, Luke and herself? How would they go on? Would they talk about what happened, pretend nothing had happened at all or act on what happened? Lorelai really wanted to lie down and sleep over everything but a certain chick that had escaped its cage forced her to cancel these plans.
The phone rang. Luke sighed and walked over to the phone, wondering who would call him that late. The answer came fast: a crazy woman who drove him crazy.
"Luke, Stella got out and I don't know – do I put seed on the floor, do I make make cheeping sounds, or do I pull a Lucy Ricardo, or walk like a chicken, so she thinks I'm her mother?"
"Who the hell is this?" Luke retorted, even though he would know her voice out of a thousand voices.
"What do you mean, who is this? It's Lorelai," Lorelai replied, sounding impatient. "Who else would call you looking for her baby chick?"
Luke had to smile. "You're right, I'm the idiot. Go on."
"Could you come over here, please, and … and help me?"
Help her. Finding a baby chick? Sure. "Uh … yeah. Okay," he replied, not quite able yet to understand what was happening. Lorelai actually wanted him to come over to her house after they had kissed? "I'll be right over," he promised and Lorelai called "Okay, hurry!" into the phone before ending the call.
Luke had to calm down after this phone call. Leaning against the counter, he started to think. Lorelai calling him, looking for a baby chick – that was too crazy, even for her. She could have called him under the pretence she was looking for a cat, he would have totally bought that. "Baby chick" was just too insane. It was a booty call. It had to be.
"Hurry" she had said. Boy, she seemed to really need it.
"Okay," Luke whispered and finally managed to tear himself away from the counter. If Lorelai really needed it that badly, he could not let her wait any longer. He tried to imagine her all horny, sprawled on her bed in her underwear. Her blue eyes dark and hungry, looking up and down at him. His mouth went dry at the image. She was waiting for him, ready to sleep with him. Him, Luke Danes.
He had never run upstairs so quickly, let alone looked through his drawers so quickly. Condoms were a rarity at his place, naturally because he didn't need them. Ever. Who could have known he'd need them today? And with Lorelai of all people? He really hoped she had some. Sure she'd have some, other than him she was dating. He ignored the fact that, following logic, she wouldn't have sex in the home that Rory lived in, and fled his apartment and diner. He decided on taking the car, way too eager to see her again. Kiss her again. Make her happy. It didn't matter if she had condoms or not, what else did he have ten fingers and a tongue for?
The sheer imagination of him, touching and licking Lorelai Gilmore made him almost lose his mind. He had to concentrate hard on driving his car, not wanting to risk a car crash on the way to his greatest dreams – making love to the most beautiful woman he knew and he would ever know.
She was everything. His wildest dreams, his every night dreams. His sun, his stars, the only thing that both kept him awake and let him slumber like a baby. He couldn't remember how and when he had fallen in love with her, only that one day he had woken up and realised that he waited for her every day visit.
He got out in front of her house, walking over to her entrance, as he saw her through the window, running around in her living room. Wondering, he strolled over to the side entry nobody ever used, and knocked.
She didn't have time to ask herself why he knocked on the door that led to her living room. In panic she hurried over, opening the door. She grabbed his jacket and pulled him in – but before she was even able to pull him inside, he had already pressed her against the door.
Only a second later his lips were on hers. His hands were on her waist, right below the hem of her shirt, drawing gentle circles on her skin with his thumb. Lorelai couldn't even react, she was frozen in surprise and, oddly, shock. Shock that he would kiss her in front of her house, with an open door, where everyone could see her. She definitely enjoyed the kiss itself, it was simply the place they stood in that caught her off guard. Yet his lips felt amazing. Again. And his hands on her skin … wow. For a moment, Lorelai gave in. But then she remembered Stella.
She was sure that only seconds had passed, yet it felt like Luke had been kissing her for minutes before she was able to collect herself and push him away.
"What are you doing?" she gasped and Luke's face fell.
"What do you mean? You called me." He sounded hurt and Lorelai felt bad immediately.
"Yeah, to look for Stella. I'm sorry but I couldn't think of anyone else, I can't tell Rory, she is her school project after. And I knew you were still awake, since I only saw you about ten minutes ago – so why?" She ran her hand through her hair, looking at him apologetically. "I mean, why did you –?" She couldn't say it. Slowly she began to realise why Luke had kissed her on the doorstep. They'd kissed about ten minutes ago. Of course he would think she wanted more if she called him with the plea to help her find a chicken. He must have thought this was a booty call. Damn, he looked regretful. "Luke," she sighed and grabbed the collar of his jacket again, really pulling him inside this time. She closed the door so Stella couldn't escape. If she hadn't already. "I think we have to talk later – but could you please help me finding Stella first? She's small and yellow and makes little 'cheep cheep' sounds. She's really cute but fast. Don't step on her, please!"
With these words she let go of her friend and got back down on her knees, looking under the couch again.
"For the record, you really do have a chick loose in here?" Luke asked and Lorelai could sense that he was still hurt.
"Yes," she sighed. "I am so sorry, Luke, there was no one else I could call. I really need to find her quickly, Rory can't lose her. It's for her school, you see?"
"Fine, I'll help," Luke decided. "Tell me what I can do."
"Well, the last sighting was here, by the In Style magazine." She pointed at a few magazines that laid scattered on the coffee table. "But then she burrowed through the Glamour and jumped over the Cosmo, knocked over a bottle of nail polish. All I can tell you at this point is that, if there was any doubt if this chick was a girl, there isn't anymore."
"And you called her Stella?" Luke asked with a smirk on his face. Lorelai felt relieved – she hated upsetting Luke and she really, really hated that he thought she didn't want to kiss him. Damn, she wanted it, it was almost sick how much she wanted it. It was just not the right time.
"Yeah, I called her Stella but I don't think she answers to the name yet – oh, there she is!" A sudden chirping sound emerged from under the couch. And both Luke and Lorelai got on their knees, beginning their baby-chick hunt.