[Cedric]

Titel: Headlights On Dark Roads
Autor: Cedric
Genre: Humor/Romance
Pairing: Lorelai/Max
Raiting: PG-13
Disclaimer: Gilmore Girls sind nicht mein Eigentum, ich verdiene kein Geld hiermit ...
Bemerkungen: Wie (fast) immer in Englisch, die Story spielt in der dritten Staffel.

Headlights On Dark Roads

Chapter One: Yesterday.com

[FONT=&quot]Lorelai was on her way to Hartford, luckily not to visit her parents but to attend a parent-teacher-meeting at Chilton. She didn’t quite know why, but she had a weird feeling. Rory had been acting weird ever since Lorelai said she would go to Chilton tonight. Lorelai had a feeling in her gut that Rory was hiding something from her. Maybe it was a bad grade, though Lorelai couldn’t really imagine that. Rory had been studying very hard those last two years and beside some problems at the very beginning, she had been doing just fine.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Lorelai still was deep in thoughts as she entered a classroom and sat down on a chair. Immediately she noticed the disapproving looks on the other parents’ faces. Just like usually, Lorelai had been in a hurry, when she had left her home in Stars Hollow and therefore, she was just wearing black pants and a B 52’s t-shirt. Nevertheless, she decided to ignore the stares and turned as the door in front of them opened. As she saw the teacher entering the classroom, her heart skipped a beat. So now, that was the thing that Rory had been hiding from her. There he stood, his black suit looking much too good on him, his hair perfectly styled and a friendly smile upon his lips: The one and only Max Medina.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Lorelai couldn’t understand it. She hadn’t known that Max had been back to teaching at Chilton. But obviously there he was, not yet aware that he would soon be facing that crazy woman that once canceled their wedding on short notice. She looked around for some ways to escape that classroom but she already knew that there weren’t any. So she just kept on sitting there, on a tiny chair, unable to move an inch, just staring at the man she once thought she loved. [/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]In the meantime, Max had started his well-prepared little speech which seemed to be second-nature to him, so often had he already pronounced it. He barely looked at the parents who were sitting in front of him. Even though it was his first meeting of this kind since he had been back from California, it seemed like he hadn’t missed any time here at Chilton at all. All in all, there were still the same old faces. He continued with his speech until a neon-green t-shirt caught his eye. As he looked closer, he couldn’t believe that she really was there. That she was really there, sitting in his classroom like nothing had ever happened between them. But still, there she was, Lorelai.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]There was silence. While the other parents looked startled due to the sudden halt to the speech, Lorelai knew perfectly well why Max stood there, immobile, staring at her B 52’s shirt. It suddenly struck her that she had been wearing that exact same shirt the first time they had met. Remorse started to spread inside of her, but at the same time she was really angry. Why hadn’t Rory told her? Why would she let her go, when she knew that Max was here? She could have avoided this. But now it was too late, it was just too late. The silence dragged on, but finally Max seemed to get grip on himself and continued his well rehearsed speech.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]An hour later, Max said his goodbyes to the parents and they started to leave the classroom. Lorelai however, was unable to move. She didn’t really know why she couldn’t, but it seemed like her eyes were chained to Max’s face. And he, too, just kept on standing in front of his desk, staring at her. As the classroom finally cleared, Lorelai plucked up the courage and started to approach him. As they were only separated by one desk, Max asked:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Lorelai, what are you doing here?”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“You know there was this parent-teacher thing going on,” she tried to joke but immediately regretted it as she saw the look on Max’s face.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“I didn’t know you would be here,” she started again, “Rory didn’t tell me. I’m sorry.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Max just nodded, Lorelai did indeed seem to be sorry. And as hard as he had tried to hate her during the last year, he could feel that he would never be able to do that. He could see that Lorelai was just as uncomfortable as him but he could also see that Lorelai tried to give him a smile, hoping for forgiveness.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“It’s alright. It was only a matter of time until we’d meet again”[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot]He looked into her eyes, into her still heavenly blue eyes, which hadn’t changed at all. He tried to say something else but no words would come out of his mouth. And to his surprise, Lorelai didn’t say anything either. She just looked back into his eyes as though her life was dependent on staring into them. Suddenly she came nearer. They were only inches apart now.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Lorelai…,” Max started.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] But he would never finish his sentence because exactly at that moment Lorelai closed the gap between them to kiss him. He was unable to do anything. Neither did he stop her, nor push her away. But as fast as Lorelai had been there, as fast she retreated and with one last look she disappeared behind the classroom door, leaving an astonished Max behind. [/FONT]

[Cedric]

Hmmmm... keine FBs?
Okay... hier kommt noch ein neues Chapter, wenn niemand interesse hat, dann hoere ich auf die Story zu schreiben

[FONT=&quot]Chapter Two: All the right moves[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Rory was bored. You could say that it happens from time to time in school, even to Rory, but right at this moment it was not normal. She was sitting in Max Medina’s Literature class for an hour now and usually she loved it. But today, and as she came to think about it, the whole week, she had been bored. Mr. Medina didn’t seem to be himself, normally he would pace around the classroom, talking about passion, Shakespeare and Dickens but the last couple of days, he had mostly made assignments which included silent work for the students. Rory wondered what had happened to him to make him lose all of his spirits. As the bell finally ended the class, Mr. Medina suddenly came to live.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Ms. Gilmore? Can I talk to you for a minute?”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He waited for the rest of the students to leave the room until he spoke again. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Rory, I… uhm,… I… really liked your paper about David Copperfield that you handed in last week.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Well, thanks,” Rory answered a little confused. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Why would he tell her that now? He could have done it in front of the class, too. She looked closer at him now. He seemed tired, like he hadn’t slept in days. She had a weird sensation in her stomach as she realized why the weary look was familiar to her. Her mother looked just like that. She had asked her about it that very morning but Lorelai had just said she had had a bad night sleep and things at the inn were crazy at the moment. She had believed her because why should she lie to her, right? But yet again, hadn’t she done the exact same thing? Hadn’t she withheld information on purpose from her mother, too? She had had the best intentions, when she had decided not to tell Lorelai that Max was back in Hartford and she indeed had been nervous last week as her mother told her that she would attend the parents-teacher meeting. But as Lorelai had come home that night, nothing seemed to be unusual, so Rory figured that their paths luckily hadn’t crossed.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Alright then, I have to catch my bus, so…”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Hold on, Rory…could you maybe tell your mother that I need to see her?” [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]A short pause, then:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Only because of school, of course,” Max added quickly.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He wanted to kick his own butt. Why did he have to involve Rory now? It was the same vicious circle as a year ago. But the harm was already done now, and he couldn’t do anything about it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Yeah, sure. Am I in trouble?” Rory asked perplex.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“No, no. I just… I just want to talk about her and your options… for Harvard, I mean. I do like to talk to the parents about that first, you know.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Okay, alright then, I’ll tell her. Bye, Max… uhm, Mr. Medina.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Max is still alright,” he answered with a little smile.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]With one last look, Rory left classroom. Max stood there, immobile for a few moments. He had no clue, what he wanted to say to Lorelai. But he knew that he really needed to talk to her. He hadn’t been sleeping for days now because he couldn’t figure out why Lorelai had acted the way she had last week. And he was confused about himself, too. He used to think that he was over her, that she didn’t mean anything to him anymore. But he could see now that he had been lying to himself. He didn’t quite know what it was but he really needed to talk to her, even if it would end up in a fight, he just had to do it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Lorelai was exhausted, Michel had been driving her crazy the whole day and now all she could think of was a hot shower and a crappy movie to watch together with Rory. As she entered the living-room though, Rory was sitting there, without reading a book. That seemed odd to Lorelai and as she looked closer, she could see Rory looking very serious. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“What’s up, honey? What did I do to have you looking at me like I’m from Monsters, Inc.?”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]No smile appeared on Rory’s face. Instead she stood up to face Lorelai.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Mom, I had a very interesting outing in school today. You know, my teacher asked me to tell you that he wanted to see you.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Uneasiness spread out in Lorelai’s stomach. She hadn’t told Rory that she and Max had kissed or even met.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Hmm… why, what’s wrong?”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I wouldn’t know, Mom… But my literature teacher wants to see you and I have a feeling that you already know who that is.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Lorelai didn’t answer immediately. She had worked hard to forget about the kiss last week, or rather not to forget about it but to figure out why exactly she had done it. She could think of the reason why Max wanted to see her now. Remorse crept up inside of her again. Not only did he shock him, but Rory was involved now, again. She should have told her. At least, that she had seen him.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“So, Max, huh?” She finally answered, trying to sound innocent.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Mom, why do I have the feeling that he doesn’t want to talk about me? What happened last week? And why didn’t you tell me that you’ve met him?”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] “First of all, yes, I did see him. Secondly, maybe I didn’t tell you because you didn’t tell me he was back either. You could have told me. No, you should have told me. I could have avoided running into him like that, you know, totally unprepared. Don’t try to protect me, okay? I know you meant well, but I was the bad guy in this case, no need to shield me from the real world.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I’m sorry,” Rory said, looking like she meant it. “It won’t happen again. From now on, I’ll tell you every little detail of what he was wearing, what he was saying… speaking of which, what does he want to talk to you about?”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I don’t know, honey. I promise nothing has happened. We didn’t even talk to each other. So I guess it really is about you.” [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Lorelai felt bad about lying to Rory again. But she couldn’t stand it to talk about what had happened in that faithful classroom. She didn’t even want to think about it. She still didn’t know what got into her, kissing him like that. Sure, she had thought about him from time to time over the last year but she always had believed that she didn’t feel anything for him. But as he was standing there in front of her last week, looking so handsome, so adorable, she couldn’t help herself. It had been stupid, she knew that but she did it anyway. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Work on the next day dragged on. Lorelai couldn’t concentrate on anything. She knew she had to call Max at some point but she pushed and pushed it. Finally, Sookie, who had been eyeing her suspiciously the whole day, approached her, asking what was wrong with her.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I have to tell you something, Sookie. You know, Max is back at Chilton. I’ve met him there, out of the blue. Rory hadn’t told me that he was her teacher again. And I don’t know Sookie, he just looked so good and I couldn’t help myself. I kissed him, Sookie, I kissed him.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Pause.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“You did? Why? Do you still have feelings for him? What did he say?” Sookie asked, almost bouncing up and down in excitement.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I don’t know, Sookie,” Lorelai answered thought- and truthfully, “I cannot wrap my head around it. I mean, I was so cruel to him, blowing off the wedding and stuff… and now I top that with kissing him? What has gotten into me? I think I’m going crazy.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Have you talked to him? I mean, after the kiss?”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“No. He told Rory, he wanted to talk to me about her but I highly doubt that. I mean he reached out obviously, so I have to call him now, right?”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Yeah, you should,” Sookie said, while placing the phone into Lorelai’s hands and then she disappeared without another word.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Lorelai needed a few moments to clear her head but she could see that there was no way to delay the phone call any further, so she just dialed the number, she still knew by heart, and waited. She let out a sigh, as the answering machine answered her call.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Hi, this is Max Medina, I’m not here right, so just leave a message. Bye.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Hi. This Lorelai… Gilmore. Lorelai Gilmore, well, you know. Look, I think we need to talk. See… I’m still taking my business class in Hartford on Tuesdays and I still go to the coffee shop every time. If you want, we can meet there. Ok, uhm, I guess that’s it. Goodbye… Max.” [/FONT]

[Mela]

Interesse besteht!!
Ich habe zwar noch nie eine Lorelai - Max Geschichte gelesen, aber eigentlich fand ich ihn immer ziemlich toll. Außerdem les ich sehr gern mal was Englisches, also würd mich sehr freuen wenn du weiterschreibst, ich fand den Anfang schon mal ziemlich gut.

[Cedric]

Okay, hier kommt nochmal ein neues Chapter...
Danke an Mela

Chapter Three: Round three and already tapped





Nervously, Lorelai entered the little coffee shop across the street of her business college. She hadn't been able to concentrate on her classes today at all. On the one hand, she was dreading the meeting with Max because she still didn't know what to say to him but on the other hand, she couldn't wait to see him again, listen to his side of the story. She realized that he hadn't exactly kissed her back but at the same time, he had been the one who had reached out to her.
She looked around and saw him sitting at the counter, just like on their first date and the first time they had broken up. She approached him and sat down beside him. There were a few moments of silence. They just sat there, looking at each over, pondering what to say.



Finally, Max broke the silence.
"Hi… how are you doing?"
"I'm… fine, thanks."
More seconds passed in awkward silence, Lorelai knew it was her turn to say something, but she was still thinking about the right words to say. Again, Max was the one to speak first.
"Lorelai, I… thank you for coming. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to see you, actually. I've worked very hard to forget about you, you know. No offense. And then you come here, barely uttering a word and then… what happened, Lorelai?"
"Honestly? I don't know. Really, I don't know what has gotten into me. I… I apologize. Sincerely."
"So… it was just an accident? You didn't want to do that?"


Lorelai looked at Max more closely now. He was looking tired. Or was it sadness? She wouldn't know. Last time she had broken up with him, they hadn't seen eye to eye… But now she looked into his green eyes, trying to read something – anything – out of them.


"No, Max. I… I… don't know, okay? I was just so surprised to see you, looking so… so good and as you first saw me, I could see how much you despised me, or how much I've hurt you. I wanted to say something to apologize. But then I realized nothing I'd say would ever undo what I've put you through. And then it just came over me… I…"
"So you just kissed me because you felt sorry for me?"
"No, Max… I…" Lorelai started but Max cut her off.
"Then what, Lorelai? You realized one kiss wouldn't hurt? That you couldn't do any more damage? Or… That you still have feelings for me?"


Lorelai didn't answer immediately, but at those last words, she had bowed her head. She just couldn't look him into his eyes any longer.


"Wow, round three and already tapped," she finally whispered.
First, it looked like Max didn't get the reference to their first date but then a soft smile appeared on his face. Encouraged by this, Lorelai continued.
"I didn't kiss you because I felt sorry for you, I promise. But I can't really tell you why… I… I mulled it over and over this week and still can't figure it out."


Silence.
Max sat there surprised. He had expected many things except for that. He had expected that Lorelai would have an excuse ready, but hearing her stuttering, he actually believed her. Believed that she didn't know. There had never been a time when Lorelai didn't know what she wanted. But now she was sitting there, looking slightly depressed and really tired. Max felt the sudden urge to give her hug but he resisted. Now that would be a false signal. Instead he just sat there waiting for Lorelai to continue and finally, after what were a few dragging moments, Lorelai spoke again.


"You know… what would it change if I still had feelings for you, Max? If I were you, I wouldn't talk to me or even look at me. I've been such a horrible person to you, leaving you like that. And I never explained… I… I just never told you why I couldn't marry you, why I ran away. You have to know… I've always been a good runner. In fact, all I did, my whole life, was running away. First from Rory's father, then my parents, then from you. In fact, there is only one person I'd never run away from and that is Rory and she is the one person I'd never lie to. And here's the problem. I've been lying to her all week about you. First I didn't tell her, I've seen you, kissed you. And when she wanted to know why you wanted to talk to me and yet again, I lied. If I can't even tell her that I've seen you, what more won't I be able to tell her? I know I'm off the point because you clearly don't have any feelings for me left and I…"


"Lorelai, stop right there. Do you really think I hate you? Do you really think I'd said to Rory that I'd like to see you, if I hated you, if I really didn't want to meet you?"
"Well… don't you? Don't you hate me?" Lorelai's voice was not more than a whisper now.
"Honestly? You have no idea how much I wanted to hate you. All this year I tried to hate you or forget about you. But you know, once you love a person enough to want to get married, it isn't so easy to forget. And all this year I tried to figure out why it didn't work. Why you left me the way you did. And you know what? I couldn't think of any reason but one. You didn't love me. But why then, would you have said "yes" to me back then? And why for heaven's sake did you come to Chilton last week and decide to kiss me? And I came here today to get to know your reasons, just to put an end to our story."


"Put an end to…," Lorelai whispered almost inaudible, then she cough slightly, obviously trying to regain her composure, and continued louder, but still in a whisper.


"Max… as I said before, I didn't actually plan to kiss you and I really didn't plan to leave you a week before our wedding. I was just very confused. Maybe I wasn't ready to get married. It all happened so fast. I'm well aware that it had to happen very fast because of the whole Chilton-thing but maybe it simply was too fast. Or maybe I've been lying to myself, maybe talked myself into loving you. I've had various reasons, Max, why I didn't marry you a year ago but looking at them now they all seem to be sleazy. But I've made that decision back then and I've always thought it was the right one. But as I was sitting there last week, without a chance to get away, listening to your passion for an hour, I couldn't stop myself from thinking what if. I'm sorry."


Max sat there, staring at her. Since her message on the answering-machine a couple of days ago, he had made up his mind. He wanted to know the reason why she had left and then kissed him. And that was all. He didn't want to get back together or even thinking of getting back together. But Lorelai's honesty made him insecure now. He knew that he shouldn't think about forgiving her because he would step on dangerous territory then. He knew that he would have a hard time resisting her. But as he saw her looking all downhearted and sorry, he felt his determination fade away. But he had sworn to himself that he wouldn't get soft with her…


"Okay then, is that all?" he finally said as cold as he could manage.
"Yeah, I guess," Lorelai replied, finally looking at him again.
She hadn't expected this meeting to end like this. She thought they would meet to make up, she came here for forgiveness and maybe, but only maybe to clear up their feelings. She had done so, but he hadn't. And by now it seemed that all he wanted was to get away from her. But Lorelai wouldn't let him have that last triumph. So she stood up, reached out her hand, which Max took slightly surprised, said goodbye and hurried out of the coffee shop, feeling the first tear running down her cheek as she stepped into the streets.

[Kiwi-Power]

als erstes: awwww *-*
und als zweites: eigentlich mag ich Max ja gar nicht, weil ich finde er passt nicht zu Lorelai ( ja, ein Java Junkie halt ) - aber da du nicht Chris statt ihm nimmst (oder Jason) und mir der gute Mr. Medina schon Leid tat, als Lore einfach abgehaut is, kann ich damit leben xD
und auch wenn nicht, wärs nicht schlimm, denn die FF ist einfach toll
auch wenn ich ewig brauch bis ich im englischen drin bin - und das kapitel dann schon aus ist - mag ichs so <3 Englisch ist einfach toll und wichtig. und blah
was ich ganz toll find is, das es eigentlich genau da weitergeht, wo es 'damals' aufgehört hat, du verstehst? und auch wenn noch nicht soviel neues dabei war, find ichs toll ( wie schon einige male erwähnt) und werde wohl dran bleiben - wenn du denn noch weiterschreibst?
allerdings bin ich nicht sooft im forum, also weiß ich nicht ob ich ein neues Kapitel gleich mitbekommen werde - wohl eher nicht.

jaw, das wars. ende und aus. oder so.