19.06.2007, 22:19
Na dann will ich einige "Suchtis" hier mal nicht länger warten lassen 
Danke für die reviews!
Chapter 11: Accidentally
The night had been long and horrible for both Luke and Lorelai. Neither had slept and both had tossed and turned all night long.
Luke had been even grumpier in the diner than usual and Sookie had asked Lorelai several times what was wrong with her, since her friend hadnât been her bubbly and cheerful self.
But Lorelai hadnât answered and just mumbled something about a headache.
In the evening she had her business class and her ânon-dateâ with Max. She contemplated if she should really stop at the coffee shop, but then she thought that maybe some attention and affection, opposed to Lukeâs cold shoulder, would do her some good.
She was relieved when he wasnât home when she changed and dressed a bit fancier than she normally did for her business class.
When she entered the small coffee shop Max was already sitting at the counter, waiting for her. She sat down two stools beside him and took the menu out of the holder.
âLorelai?â Max said and feigned surprise.
âMax! Hi!â, she played along.
âSmall world, huh?â he asked and smiled at her.
âAbsolutely! What are you drinking?â she asked.
âCoffeeâ, he replied
âPlain coffee?â, she asked surprised.
âI wanted some cream but that prompted a very elaborate foam conversation. And the look of disapproval I got when I said I didn't want foam, just cream, rivaled the one I got from my dad when I told him I wanted to be a teacherâ, he explained.
âWow, so it's been a tough outing for you, huh?â Lorelai laughed and found it nice how easy it was to talk and joke with him.
âWell it's getting betterâ, Max laughed as well and then silence followed.
âShould we cut the cute and just get right to it?â Lorelai asked, wanting to know what he wanted and expected from this.
âI think we should dateâ, he told her bluntly.
âWhy?â she asked him.
âBecause I think we both want toâ
âWell I want to be in the Bangles but that doesn't mean Iâd quit my job and get a guitar and ruin my life to be a Bangle, does it?â
âThe Bangles broke upâ, he said and she was pleasantly surprised that he knew stuff like that. âLuke doesnât even know who the Bangles areâ she thought.
âYeah, that's not the pointâ, she said.
âWell it's got to be part of the point if there's no band anymoreâ, he deadpanned
âI repeat my question: 'why should we date?'â she asked again and gave him a flirty smile.
âBecause we're clearly attracted to each otherâ, he said and mirrored her smile.
âI'm attracted to pie. It doesn't mean I feel the need to date pieâ, she replied.
âOK then because we are â¦â he started and had to think about it.
âYes?â she laughed.
ââ¦of similar heightsâ, he shrugged and had to laugh at the stupid argument.
âWow! Round one and already tappedâ, she grinned, but thought about Luke again. How he was taller than her and that he was just tall enough so she could wear heels but not so tall that he looked strange.
âLook I know that you are concerned about the appearance of us datingâ he started.
âYes I amâ, she agreed. âBecause Iâm getting married to my best friend, who isnât attracted to me in a few monthsâ
â Well I can tell you that I am the soul of discretion when it comes to delicate relationshipsâ, he promised her.
âDated a lot of Chilton moms, huh?â she grinned and wasnât surprised that she wasnât jealous.
âNo, I meant any relationships -- work, familyâ, he said.
âOh so you have things to hide in all aspects of your life -- very interestingâ.
âDo you have any hemlock back there? Arsenic, something quick?â Max asked the waitress and Lorelai laughed whole-heartedly
âRory is my life. She's my pal, my everything. And I would never, ever do anything that would hurt herâ, Lorelai decided to cut right to the chase.
âI understand, but Roryâs not a baby anymoreâ, Max said.
âDon't say that! She's eight! She's eight and her favorite hobby is making necklaces out of gum wrappersâ, Lorelai joked.
âOK, when my uncle was a young man, there was this girl who lived across the street from him and he was completely in love with her -- but he never talked to her. But he knew in his gut that this was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life withâ, Max started a story.
âThis is gonna be sad isn't it?â Lorelai interrupted him
âLet me finishâ, he said and lay his hand on her arm.
âIt's gonna be sadâ, Lorelai stated.
âSo anyhow my uncle watches this girl, waiting for the right moment to approach her. Next thing he knows, he gets draftedâ.
âOh, going for Kleenexâ, she joked and started searching her purse, but he stopped her by taking her hand in his.
âNo. Now he thinks 'this is perfect. I'll come back, I'll have a career, I'll have served my country, I'll be worthy of her love.' When he gets back -- she's gone. Moved away. No one knew where and he never saw that girl again. Now my uncle, he didn't say much to me, but the one thing he did say was that if there's something in your gut that you know you feel is right you gotta go after it, no matter what. What do you say?â he asked her after finishing, her hand still in his, while he stroked with his thumb over the back of her hand.
âMaybe dinner wouldn't be so badâ Lorelai sighed and got out one of her business cards and wrote down her cell-phone number.
âDinner? You mean we could sit together? Even drive together?â he teased her.
âJust take the cardâ, she laughed and handed it to him.
âI might frame the cardâ.
âJust use the cardâ, she told him.
âI definitely willâ, he told her and got up to leave. Lorelai stopped him when he was a few feet away.
âHey, that story about your uncle -- is it true?â she asked.
âGoodbye Lorelai Gilmoreâ, Max grinned and left the coffee shop with a smile.
Lorelai remained in the shop for a while longer. She ordered a cup of coffee herself and contemplated her situation while she sat there and drank her favorite beverage.
Max was good looking and he had a really sexy voice, that much she had to admit. He was also fun to hang out with. At the same time though she couldnât get Luke out of her head.
The argument, or actually the non-argument, of the day before was still in her head. He had already left that morning when she had got up and she hadnât found the courage to go to the diner.
She had missed him this morning and she was having withdrawal, not only because of the lack of his coffee.
She loved the routine they had developed; she loved the family they had become, although now she had to admit that this was all just in her head.
She and Luke werenât a couple and it seemed like they never would be. She asked herself if her mother would also keep paying for Chilton if she decided to date Max. Or if she and Luke should maybe make an arrangement about the terms when one of them was dating somebody else. Would the date be able to sleep in the house? Would they go to the apartment above the diner? She knew that she and Luke would have to talk about that sooner or later, but then again the mere thought that Luke could date someone else and hold HER then like he was holding her now at night, made her sick to her stomach.
~*~
When she arrived at home she parked the jeep and was surprised when Rory ran out and hugged her.
âHey, what happened?â Lorelai asked and hugged her daughter to her.
âWhere were you?â Rory asked and pulled back to look at her mother.
âAt my business class, like every Wednesdayâ, Lorelai told her.
âBut youâre three hours late! Luke is going crazy!â Rory said and hugged her again, before she stepped back completely.
âLukeâs worried?â Lorelai asked.
âYeah he was home waiting for you, but then you didnât show up and he called me at Laneâs asking if you were come home later, but I didnât know anything. He called me at least ten times asking if you had called me and I think he even tried your cell-phone, but as always you turned it off during the classâ, Rory explained while they walked into the house. Lorelai immediately went into the living room, then upstairs, while calling for him.
âHeâs not here anymore mom. He had to close the diner and said heâll be back later. I gave him a quick call when I heard you pull upâ, Rory said and Lorelai sat down on the bed, glanced over her shoulder to his side of the bed. She felt horrible because of her date with Max.
âHey momâ, Rory interrupted her thoughts.
âYeah?â
âDid you and Luke have a fight? He was really weird todayâ, Rory said.
âNah, not really. He was just in a mood after the Chilton thing yesterday. I think Iâll go and see him at the diner and see how he isâ, she decided and got up from the bed.
âOkay, Iâm going to sleep thoughâ Rory said and gave Lorelai a kiss on the cheek.
~*~
The sign was already flipped to close by the time she arrived at the diner, but as usually that didnât stop her. She just walked right in and the sound of the bells gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling. It always felt like home when she entered the diner, everything was so familiar.
Luke came out of the kitchen when he heard the bells ring and knew already that it was Lorelai. No one else would come in when the sign was flipped to close.
âHey Lukeâ, she smiled at him a bit unsure.
âHey. Coffee?â he asked, because he lacked anything else to say.
âDo you even have to askâ; she smiled and sat down on her usual stool.
âSo, Rory said you were worried about me. I just stopped at a coffee shop after the classâ, she explained and took the first sip of coffee, which was so much better than the coffee she had at the coffee shop.
âYou always do, but youâre always home earlierâ, he shrugged.
âYeah⦠I am⦠I met someone there⦠accidentallyâ, she said and avoided his eyes. But Luke knew her so well; that he knew that she was lying. Combined with the fancy clothes and the short skirt she wore, he knew she had been on a date and hadnât met someone accidentally.
âOkayâ, he nodded nonetheless and decided to let it rest. She obviously didnât want to tell him, so he wouldnât ask. He cleaned the diner while she sipped her coffee and told him stories from the Inn. They left the diner together and walked back home in silence.
âWe have to be quiet Roryâs already asleepâ, Lorelai whispered while she opened the door. Quietly they hung up their coats and Lorelai trailed behind him, anxious to know if he would sleep on the couch again or if he would come back to their bed upstairs. She was afraid to ask him, so for once she kept her mouth shut.
She smiled when he walked up the stairs and waited by the door when he got his clothes and went into the bathroom. She was still standing in the doorway when he came back out and walked to the bed. Her smile got wider.
âWhat?â he asked her when she wasnât moving but observing him.
âNothing. I was just. waiting for you to get out of the bathroomâ, she said and walked to the closet to get her clothes for the night. She dressed as fast as she could in the bathroom, brushed her teeth and washed her face before she went back out, relieved when he was still lying on his side of the bed, reading.
âStill the same boring book?â she asked him and got in on her side.
âYup, still the same book. Unlike some people Iâm so beat in the evening from working that I canât read for hours and hoursâ, he said and raised his eyebrows.
âHey, Iâm beat as well, I just have more energy than youâ, she shot back and lay down. This felt right. It felt right that he was back on his side of the bed. It felt right that he was reading his boring baseball book and she could tease him about it. It felt just really really good that he was back, even if it had been just one night without him by her side.
She had the urge to snuggle up to him, lay her head on his chest and burry her nose in his shirt to breathe him in. But he wasnât interested in her and she wasnât a woman who threw herself at the men she wanted.
She was really aware now of the fact that she somehow wanted Luke as more than her best friend, every morning when she woke up safe and happy in his arms made that clear to her. She wanted him to want her-which he didnât.
âYou tired?â he asked her
âYeahâ she nodded and didnât tell him that she hadnât slept last night.
âOk, me too. Good nightâ, he said, put the book on the nightstand and switched off the light.
âGood nightâ, she said and waited for his breathing to become deep and even, so that she could snuggle up to him, when he was finally asleep, accidentally of course.
TBC
Danke für die reviews!Chapter 11: Accidentally
The night had been long and horrible for both Luke and Lorelai. Neither had slept and both had tossed and turned all night long.
Luke had been even grumpier in the diner than usual and Sookie had asked Lorelai several times what was wrong with her, since her friend hadnât been her bubbly and cheerful self.
But Lorelai hadnât answered and just mumbled something about a headache.
In the evening she had her business class and her ânon-dateâ with Max. She contemplated if she should really stop at the coffee shop, but then she thought that maybe some attention and affection, opposed to Lukeâs cold shoulder, would do her some good.
She was relieved when he wasnât home when she changed and dressed a bit fancier than she normally did for her business class.
When she entered the small coffee shop Max was already sitting at the counter, waiting for her. She sat down two stools beside him and took the menu out of the holder.
âLorelai?â Max said and feigned surprise.
âMax! Hi!â, she played along.
âSmall world, huh?â he asked and smiled at her.
âAbsolutely! What are you drinking?â she asked.
âCoffeeâ, he replied
âPlain coffee?â, she asked surprised.
âI wanted some cream but that prompted a very elaborate foam conversation. And the look of disapproval I got when I said I didn't want foam, just cream, rivaled the one I got from my dad when I told him I wanted to be a teacherâ, he explained.
âWow, so it's been a tough outing for you, huh?â Lorelai laughed and found it nice how easy it was to talk and joke with him.
âWell it's getting betterâ, Max laughed as well and then silence followed.
âShould we cut the cute and just get right to it?â Lorelai asked, wanting to know what he wanted and expected from this.
âI think we should dateâ, he told her bluntly.
âWhy?â she asked him.
âBecause I think we both want toâ
âWell I want to be in the Bangles but that doesn't mean Iâd quit my job and get a guitar and ruin my life to be a Bangle, does it?â
âThe Bangles broke upâ, he said and she was pleasantly surprised that he knew stuff like that. âLuke doesnât even know who the Bangles areâ she thought.
âYeah, that's not the pointâ, she said.
âWell it's got to be part of the point if there's no band anymoreâ, he deadpanned
âI repeat my question: 'why should we date?'â she asked again and gave him a flirty smile.
âBecause we're clearly attracted to each otherâ, he said and mirrored her smile.
âI'm attracted to pie. It doesn't mean I feel the need to date pieâ, she replied.
âOK then because we are â¦â he started and had to think about it.
âYes?â she laughed.
ââ¦of similar heightsâ, he shrugged and had to laugh at the stupid argument.
âWow! Round one and already tappedâ, she grinned, but thought about Luke again. How he was taller than her and that he was just tall enough so she could wear heels but not so tall that he looked strange.
âLook I know that you are concerned about the appearance of us datingâ he started.
âYes I amâ, she agreed. âBecause Iâm getting married to my best friend, who isnât attracted to me in a few monthsâ
â Well I can tell you that I am the soul of discretion when it comes to delicate relationshipsâ, he promised her.
âDated a lot of Chilton moms, huh?â she grinned and wasnât surprised that she wasnât jealous.
âNo, I meant any relationships -- work, familyâ, he said.
âOh so you have things to hide in all aspects of your life -- very interestingâ.
âDo you have any hemlock back there? Arsenic, something quick?â Max asked the waitress and Lorelai laughed whole-heartedly
âRory is my life. She's my pal, my everything. And I would never, ever do anything that would hurt herâ, Lorelai decided to cut right to the chase.
âI understand, but Roryâs not a baby anymoreâ, Max said.
âDon't say that! She's eight! She's eight and her favorite hobby is making necklaces out of gum wrappersâ, Lorelai joked.
âOK, when my uncle was a young man, there was this girl who lived across the street from him and he was completely in love with her -- but he never talked to her. But he knew in his gut that this was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life withâ, Max started a story.
âThis is gonna be sad isn't it?â Lorelai interrupted him
âLet me finishâ, he said and lay his hand on her arm.
âIt's gonna be sadâ, Lorelai stated.
âSo anyhow my uncle watches this girl, waiting for the right moment to approach her. Next thing he knows, he gets draftedâ.
âOh, going for Kleenexâ, she joked and started searching her purse, but he stopped her by taking her hand in his.
âNo. Now he thinks 'this is perfect. I'll come back, I'll have a career, I'll have served my country, I'll be worthy of her love.' When he gets back -- she's gone. Moved away. No one knew where and he never saw that girl again. Now my uncle, he didn't say much to me, but the one thing he did say was that if there's something in your gut that you know you feel is right you gotta go after it, no matter what. What do you say?â he asked her after finishing, her hand still in his, while he stroked with his thumb over the back of her hand.
âMaybe dinner wouldn't be so badâ Lorelai sighed and got out one of her business cards and wrote down her cell-phone number.
âDinner? You mean we could sit together? Even drive together?â he teased her.
âJust take the cardâ, she laughed and handed it to him.
âI might frame the cardâ.
âJust use the cardâ, she told him.
âI definitely willâ, he told her and got up to leave. Lorelai stopped him when he was a few feet away.
âHey, that story about your uncle -- is it true?â she asked.
âGoodbye Lorelai Gilmoreâ, Max grinned and left the coffee shop with a smile.
Lorelai remained in the shop for a while longer. She ordered a cup of coffee herself and contemplated her situation while she sat there and drank her favorite beverage.
Max was good looking and he had a really sexy voice, that much she had to admit. He was also fun to hang out with. At the same time though she couldnât get Luke out of her head.
The argument, or actually the non-argument, of the day before was still in her head. He had already left that morning when she had got up and she hadnât found the courage to go to the diner.
She had missed him this morning and she was having withdrawal, not only because of the lack of his coffee.
She loved the routine they had developed; she loved the family they had become, although now she had to admit that this was all just in her head.
She and Luke werenât a couple and it seemed like they never would be. She asked herself if her mother would also keep paying for Chilton if she decided to date Max. Or if she and Luke should maybe make an arrangement about the terms when one of them was dating somebody else. Would the date be able to sleep in the house? Would they go to the apartment above the diner? She knew that she and Luke would have to talk about that sooner or later, but then again the mere thought that Luke could date someone else and hold HER then like he was holding her now at night, made her sick to her stomach.
~*~
When she arrived at home she parked the jeep and was surprised when Rory ran out and hugged her.
âHey, what happened?â Lorelai asked and hugged her daughter to her.
âWhere were you?â Rory asked and pulled back to look at her mother.
âAt my business class, like every Wednesdayâ, Lorelai told her.
âBut youâre three hours late! Luke is going crazy!â Rory said and hugged her again, before she stepped back completely.
âLukeâs worried?â Lorelai asked.
âYeah he was home waiting for you, but then you didnât show up and he called me at Laneâs asking if you were come home later, but I didnât know anything. He called me at least ten times asking if you had called me and I think he even tried your cell-phone, but as always you turned it off during the classâ, Rory explained while they walked into the house. Lorelai immediately went into the living room, then upstairs, while calling for him.
âHeâs not here anymore mom. He had to close the diner and said heâll be back later. I gave him a quick call when I heard you pull upâ, Rory said and Lorelai sat down on the bed, glanced over her shoulder to his side of the bed. She felt horrible because of her date with Max.
âHey momâ, Rory interrupted her thoughts.
âYeah?â
âDid you and Luke have a fight? He was really weird todayâ, Rory said.
âNah, not really. He was just in a mood after the Chilton thing yesterday. I think Iâll go and see him at the diner and see how he isâ, she decided and got up from the bed.
âOkay, Iâm going to sleep thoughâ Rory said and gave Lorelai a kiss on the cheek.
~*~
The sign was already flipped to close by the time she arrived at the diner, but as usually that didnât stop her. She just walked right in and the sound of the bells gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling. It always felt like home when she entered the diner, everything was so familiar.
Luke came out of the kitchen when he heard the bells ring and knew already that it was Lorelai. No one else would come in when the sign was flipped to close.
âHey Lukeâ, she smiled at him a bit unsure.
âHey. Coffee?â he asked, because he lacked anything else to say.
âDo you even have to askâ; she smiled and sat down on her usual stool.
âSo, Rory said you were worried about me. I just stopped at a coffee shop after the classâ, she explained and took the first sip of coffee, which was so much better than the coffee she had at the coffee shop.
âYou always do, but youâre always home earlierâ, he shrugged.
âYeah⦠I am⦠I met someone there⦠accidentallyâ, she said and avoided his eyes. But Luke knew her so well; that he knew that she was lying. Combined with the fancy clothes and the short skirt she wore, he knew she had been on a date and hadnât met someone accidentally.
âOkayâ, he nodded nonetheless and decided to let it rest. She obviously didnât want to tell him, so he wouldnât ask. He cleaned the diner while she sipped her coffee and told him stories from the Inn. They left the diner together and walked back home in silence.
âWe have to be quiet Roryâs already asleepâ, Lorelai whispered while she opened the door. Quietly they hung up their coats and Lorelai trailed behind him, anxious to know if he would sleep on the couch again or if he would come back to their bed upstairs. She was afraid to ask him, so for once she kept her mouth shut.
She smiled when he walked up the stairs and waited by the door when he got his clothes and went into the bathroom. She was still standing in the doorway when he came back out and walked to the bed. Her smile got wider.
âWhat?â he asked her when she wasnât moving but observing him.
âNothing. I was just. waiting for you to get out of the bathroomâ, she said and walked to the closet to get her clothes for the night. She dressed as fast as she could in the bathroom, brushed her teeth and washed her face before she went back out, relieved when he was still lying on his side of the bed, reading.
âStill the same boring book?â she asked him and got in on her side.
âYup, still the same book. Unlike some people Iâm so beat in the evening from working that I canât read for hours and hoursâ, he said and raised his eyebrows.
âHey, Iâm beat as well, I just have more energy than youâ, she shot back and lay down. This felt right. It felt right that he was back on his side of the bed. It felt right that he was reading his boring baseball book and she could tease him about it. It felt just really really good that he was back, even if it had been just one night without him by her side.
She had the urge to snuggle up to him, lay her head on his chest and burry her nose in his shirt to breathe him in. But he wasnât interested in her and she wasnât a woman who threw herself at the men she wanted.
She was really aware now of the fact that she somehow wanted Luke as more than her best friend, every morning when she woke up safe and happy in his arms made that clear to her. She wanted him to want her-which he didnât.
âYou tired?â he asked her
âYeahâ she nodded and didnât tell him that she hadnât slept last night.
âOk, me too. Good nightâ, he said, put the book on the nightstand and switched off the light.
âGood nightâ, she said and waited for his breathing to become deep and even, so that she could snuggle up to him, when he was finally asleep, accidentally of course.
TBC