Disclaimer: As always, I do not own the Gilmore Girls, or any of the characters, or any of the brilliant plot ideas. Please don’t sue me. I don’t have any money to speak of, so it would be disappointing.
Rating: PG-13, maybe… maaaaaybe R….
A/N: Here’s chapter two! I hope that everybody likes the story so far!! The title of the story will make sense eventually…in case anyone’s confused…
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Chapter 2: A Scary Discovery
Lorelai squealed unhappily, her hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel of her Jeep. She had left her parents’ house over two hours ago, but the downpour had forced her to drive much more slowly than she would have liked, especially tonight.
Her cell phone had been ringing off the hook for the last half-an-hour—probably Rory calling to check up on the aftermath of this week’s Friday night dinner—but Lorelai was too afraid to take her eyes off of the road to answer.
“Stupid mother nature,” Lorelai grumbled. She peered through her windshield, trying to find the lines marking the lanes of the highway. “Of all the days to be crappy out, it had to be today.”
Friday.
She hated Fridays to begin with. The obligatory dinners at her parents’ house were enough to ruin the day all on their own. But tonight had been ten times worse. Not only had she been forced to eat some kind of disgusting, fish-related entrée, but she had to eat it without Rory to roll her eyes at across the table. Lorelai was seriously thinking about calling up the president of Yale. Because of him, her daughter was spending way too much time studying, and not nearly enough time with her mother, mocking Emily Gilmore’s scary dinner dishes.
But the strange food hadn’t been the worst part of the evening. Not by a long shot. The elder Gilmores were barely speaking to each other. Emily was still upset with Richard for spending so much time on business, and Richard was angry because Emily was angry. So Lorelai spent over an hour keeping up a one-way dialogue with herself, on a multitude of subjects—everything from the logistics of the Bennifer breakup to the outrageous price of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey at the grocery store.
And then Jason had arrived.
And after listening to Jason and her father discuss business for another hour, she’d had an epiphany. She had realized that she and Jason had absolutely nothing in common. Beyond sharing quirky jokes and funny stories, what had they ever really talked about? Had she ever shared her concerns with him—about the Inn, about Rory, about life in general? No. Could she see herself marrying Jason? No.
So she had broken up with him. Right there in front of her parents, who were, to put it mildly, shocked at the revelation that she had been dating Jason to begin with.
Jason, on the other hand, hand been relatively understanding. Things had been tense—forced—between them lately, and Lorelai guessed that he had been expecting a breakup eventually.
So now, her parents weren’t talking to her, Rory was gone, and all Lorelai wanted was to get home, crawl into bed, and hide under the covers for the rest of her life.
Her eyes remained focused on the road, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the familiar sign informing her that Stars Hollow was only three miles away.
She was exhausted. Her eyes hurt, and she suddenly found herself craving a cup of Luke’s coffee. Maybe, if she was really lucky, the diner would still be open, and Luke would be willing to listen to her rant about the terrible night she’d had. Somehow, it seemed like he was always there when she needed someone to talk to. In fact, she’d noticed that Luke had been staying late at the diner on Friday nights, almost as if he was waiting for her to come in. Almost as if he enjoyed listening to her Friday night dinner rants.
Lorelai laughed. She knew that Luke stayed open late when he was busy. Thinking that he stayed open to talk to her was just a crazy, self-centered thought on her part.
Or was it wishful thinking?
The thought caught her off guard. Everyone in town seemed to think that she and Luke were destined to get together. She’d always laughed it off, saying that they were just good friends, and nothing more.
And for awhile, that’s what she’d believed, too.
For awhile.
But lately, for some reason, there was a tiny voice in the back of her mind asking “What if?”
What if Luke wasn’t married?
What if Luke did have feelings for her?
Lorelai shook her head. Luke was married. And he didn’t have feelings for her. He’d known her for years, and if he felt anything more than friendship for her, he would have made a move by now.
Right?
Lorelai groaned. It didn’t matter. It was irrelevant. Because Luke was married.
Directing her attention back to the road, Lorelai noticed that the rain had started to taper off significantly. She took in a deep breath. Maybe her night was finally looking up.
Even as the thought crossed her mind, her eyes came to rest on the trunk of a very large oak tree in the middle of the road, blocking two of the four lanes. Lorelai groaned, all thoughts of coffee vanishing from her mind as she slowed to a stop in front of the tree.
At least, she thought, it looked like the lane for oncoming traffic was clear. If she was cautious, she could edge around the tree without much trouble.
Lorelai scanned her surroundings, grateful for the break from the stressful driving conditions. It was then that she saw the truck in the ditch. She shook her head, feeling sorry for the owner of the truck, who had likely been forced to walk the remaining three miles to Stars Hollow for help.
Lorelai sighed, then threw her car into reverse, hoping to navigate around the fallen tree, when something about the truck clicked in the back of her mind. Something familiar. She looked at the truck more closely. She recognized the vehicle—the color, the style, the twenty year old paint job. And she froze as it dawned on her who the owner was.
“Oh God…” she said. Her heart was beating quickly now, and she could feel the panic building in her chest. She jumped out of her car, moving down the gentle incline of the ditch to the drivers side of the truck, almost afraid of what she would find.
“Oh God… Luke…”
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