Chapter 3: The Ice Rink

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"You wanna be Randy to my Tai?" Lorelai asked him.

"I'll just watch," Luke replied.

She took a lap around the ice rink and skated back toward him, and he reached out for her as she braked in front of him.

"I'm a little rusty," she admitted sheepishly.

"You look great," he told her, then nodded toward the ice. "Try it a little more."

Lorelai skated off and Luke sat down on the bench. He leaned back and stretched his legs out in front of him, watching contently as she happily skated in circles around the ice.

Lorelai was doing her best not to let the emotional struggle going on inside her head show on her face. She was smiling, giggling, being her adorable self, all the while trying to ignore the sickening feeling of guilt in her stomach.

He had surprised her with this wonderful act of kindness. He built an ice rink in her front yard just to try to remind her how happy snow makes her. That's all he wanted… to see her happy. And how did she repay him? She had lied right to his face. And now, as he sat there on the bench staring at her and reveling in her happiness, she felt like the most horrible person in the world.

After a few minutes of skating around, she saw Luke stand up from the bench. "I'll be right back," he told her, and Lorelai smiled and nodded.

As he started walking toward the house, her smile faded and she exhaled a deep breath. She skated over to the edge of the rink and stepped off of it, then sat down on the bench. She nibbled distractedly on her bottom lip as she stared out at the ice.

A few minutes passed before she heard the front door open. She glanced over to see Luke walking down the porch steps carrying a mug, and she cocked her head to the side. "What do you have?" she asked him with a smile.

Luke sat beside her on the bench. "Figured you could use some coffee."

Lorelai's smile widened and she gratefully took the mug from him. "Thanks."

"Now remember, coffee's hot," he teased. "Don't burn your tongue."

Lorelai smirked, then took a large sip and nodded her approval at its taste. "Mm, very good."

"You feeling better about snow yet?" he asked her.

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, your reconciliation plan worked. I think we're gonna call a truce now, me and snow… put things behind us, focus on the future."

Luke smiled. "Good."

Lorelai rested her hand gently on his scruffy cheek. "Thank you for doing this, it's amazing," she said sincerely.

"You're welcome." Luke leaned in and kissed her, then nodded toward the rink. "You done skating?"

Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, I'm gonna take a little break." She held out her mug toward him. "Can you hold this a second?"

Luke took the mug from her. He watched her remove her skates and put her shoes back on, then handed the mug back to her. They sat quietly for a few moments as she sipped her coffee, thoughts running rampant in her head. She knew the right thing to do was to immediately come clean, but her nerves were making her reconsider. The devil on her shoulder was trying to convince her that what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

As Lorelai stared intently at the ice rink while debating her next step, Luke could tell that something was on her mind, and he gently rubbed her knee. "You okay?"

Lorelai quickly nodded. "Yes, I'm good, everything's good." She paused a moment, then reluctantly shook her head. "No, actually, I take that back." She set her mug down on the ground beside the bench and exhaled a deep breath. "Um, I have to tell you something."

Luke stared at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

Lorelai swallowed hard and glanced down, feeling too ashamed to look him in the eye. She fidgeted with her hands in her lap as she admitted, "I was lying."

Luke narrowed his eyes at her. "Lying about..." he prompted her to finish the sentence.

"What I did last night," she replied, still not making eye contact with him.

Luke's body tensed up, and he hesitantly asked, "What did you do last night?"

Lorelai finally lifted her gaze to look at him as she quickly explained, "Look, I was nervous to tell you only because I didn't want you to read anything into it, not because there was something to hide. Because nothing happened, I swear... it was completely innocent, one hundred thousand percent."

The more she talked, the more nervous he started to feel. "What did you do, Lorelai?" he asked more firmly.

Lorelai took a deep breath. "Christopher's father died and I went over to see him at his mom's house... you know, to see if he was okay, to comfort him. I brought a bottle of tequila and we drank and talked for awhile, just like two old pals catching up."

Luke's face remained unchanged for a moment as he stared at her, processing what she'd said. Finally, as if it suddenly registered, he cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brow. "So, you were drinking with Christopher last night," he stated. "And then you lied to me about it."

Lorelai placed her hand on his arm. "Luke…"

He quickly pulled away from her. "Don't," he told her.

His reaction made her heart drop into her stomach, and she frowned. "Luke, I'm so sorry."

"Did Rory go, too?" he asked her tersely.

"She did, but we went separately," Lorelai replied. "She stopped by to see him first, and then I got there as she was leaving."

Luke inhaled sharply and stood up from the bench. He walked a few feet toward the house, then stopped and stared at it with his arms folded across his chest. Lorelai was still for a few seconds before she stood up and took a couple of steps toward him.

"Luke, I swear on everything in this world that it was completely innocent," Lorelai said softly. She gave him a moment to respond, and when he didn't, she clenched her fists and pleaded, "Please say something. Talk to me, yell, scream, whatever. Just don't go silent... please."

Luke turned around to face her, his lips pursed, his anger evident on his face. "I'm in this, Lorelai… but I can't be in this alone."

"You're not in this alone," she assured him. "I'm in this, too, Luke."

"You're not in this all the way," he rebutted. "If you were, then you wouldn't keep sneaking around with your ex behind my back."

"There's no sneaking around," Lorelai asserted.

"Oh, no?" he retorted. "What about when you had lunch with him at the inn?"

"I told you about that," she reminded him. "I told you that very same day and you said you were fine with it... I didn't hide that from you."

"You told me afterwards," he pointed out. "That means that I was an afterthought, Lorelai." He shook his head at her. "And you are never an afterthought for me. You're the first thought, sometimes you're the only thought."

Lorelai sighed and shrugged helplessly. "It was just a casual lunch. Rory was there, Gigi was there, the entire Dragonfly Inn staff was there… it didn't seem like a big deal to me."

"That's my point," Luke told her. "It wasn't a big deal to you, so you didn't even think about how it would make me feel. And you brought it up so casually, like you didn't even consider it could maybe be a topic that we should have talked about."

"That's because it's all totally innocent, Luke," she reiterated firmly. "He's just an old friend… me hanging out with Chris is the same thing as me hanging out with Sookie." After the words had come out of her mouth, she cringed at how crazy they sounded.

Luke scoffed. "That's not true and you know it."

Lorelai quickly shook her head. "I know, I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that."

Luke folded his arms across his chest as he pressed, "So, you'd feel the same way about me getting drunk with Nicole as if I was getting drunk with Kirk?"

Lorelai shook her head again. "No, I wouldn't, I get it, you're right," she assured him. "Yes, he's Rory's father, he's an old friend, but he's also an ex that I have a long history with. I get that me hanging out with him could be weird for you."

"Hanging out with him is one thing, but the worst part is you lying to me about it." Luke shook his head in disbelief. "What am I supposed to think when you lie right to my face like that?"

"That I didn't want to screw this up!" Lorelai exclaimed loudly, unable to hold back her emotions. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice as she continued, "We're good, Luke... what we have is so good, and I didn't want to cause an issue that didn't need to be caused. I'm sorry, it was a stupid decision, I know that."

"Yeah, it was," he agreed. "I don't really like the pattern I'm seeing, Lorelai. How many other times have you seen him since we've been dating that you haven't told me about?"

"None," Lorelai declared adamantly, but then she quickly grimaced and reluctantly admitted, "Well, I guess… maybe there was one other time."

Luke's eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me."

"He called me in a panic when Sherry left him," Lorelai quickly explained. "He needed some help with his daughter, I just went over to his apartment to help him figure some things out."

"You went to his apartment," Luke repeated, then shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe this." He turned and walked up the front porch and through the front door.

"Luke, wait!" Lorelai quickly followed him into the house and to the living room where he was standing behind the sofa. "Luke, nothing happened. There's absolutely nothing between Chris and I, I promise you. We had a kid together, we're friends now, that's it. I'm in this with you, Luke… I can't even explain to you how much I'm in this!"

He shrugged at her and shook his head uncertainly. "You're hiding stuff from me, Lorelai. That doesn't look good."

"I just didn't want you to get upset and jealous when there's not a reason to be, okay? I was trying to protect you, to protect us, and that was the wrong move... I get it, I'm sorry. Just give me another chance, okay? Please?"

Luke folded his arms across his chest as he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his emotions. Lorelai pulled off her winter cap and scarf and dropped them on the couch before continuing her pleas for forgiveness.

"Look, I know that me keeping that stuff from you was bad, but you have to believe me that nothing happened. I swear on my life, if there was surveillance video of all of my interactions with Chris since you and I started dating, there wouldn't be one second on there that I'd feel nervous about you seeing, that's how innocent it all was." Lorelai cocked her head to the side and placed her hands on his arms. "Believe me, please?" As he continued to silently stare at her, she uncrossed his arms from his chest, took one of his hands in hers, and began lightly stroking his palm. "At least tell me that you don't hate me."

Luke took another deep breath and let it out slowly. "Of course I don't hate you," he finally spoke.

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

"I don't hate you," he repeated. "But I'm not gonna lie, I am upset with you, and disappointed."

"Well, at least now you have something in common with my mother," she commented, hoping it wasn't too soon to try to lighten the mood.

"You can't lie to me about stuff, Lorelai," Luke told her, his voice adopting that New York accent that sometimes slipped into his vernacular. "You can't hide things. That's not how a relationship works. There has to be trust going both ways."

"I know," Lorelai said softly.

"I'm all in," he reminded her.

"I am, too."

Luke put his hands on his hips. "Yeah, you say you're in, but actions speak louder than words."

"Well, you know I'm a words girl," Lorelai reminded him. "I use a lot of words, that's my thing. And you, you're better at the actions… you're the yin to my yang."

"Well, then, maybe we have to mix it up," Luke said. "You gotta back up the words with actions, and I gotta back up the actions with words."

"I can do that." Lorelai stepped closer to him as her voice softened. "Luke, I'm really, truly in it," she told him earnestly, then took a deep breath and huffed it out nervously. "This is all kind of new to me… being so into a relationship that I have this incredibly terrifying feeling hovering over me all the time that I might do something to screw it up."

Luke nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I know that feeling."

Lorelai reached for his hands and squeezed them. "I know I made a mistake, but I just need you to not give up on us yet, okay? I'm in this a hundred percent, please, please believe me... and I'm gonna work so hard not to mess it up." She shook her head slightly and her eyes began tearing up. "Because I can't lose you, Luke… I can't."

Her words struck a chord with him and his anger was starting to dissipate. He believed the sincerity and the emotion on her face and in her voice, and he responded by opening his arms to her. She stepped into them and buried her face against his chest, feeling comforted as his strong arms wrapped around her.

Luke kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back, and muttered the one thing she really needed to hear. "I believe you."

Lorelai let out a sigh of relief and squeezed her arms tighter around him. "Thank you."

"And I trust you, but we gotta get on the same page here," he continued, and she looked up at him with an agreeable nod. "No more hiding stuff, no more lying, no secrets… we're open books."

"Open books," she agreed without hesitation. "Open me up, flip through me, read every word, write in the margins, put a bookmark in me..." She grimaced and quickly continued, "I didn't mean that to sound dirty, but you know what I mean." She inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm just trying to say, I want us on the same page, too."

"Okay, good." Luke kissed her and then held her in his arms for a moment as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

When they separated from the hug, Lorelai looked up at him. "So, we're good, right?"

Luke nodded. "Yeah. We're good."

They kissed again, and then Lorelai glanced toward the staircase before looking back at him with a raised eyebrow. "Do you wanna maybe officially end this argument upstairs?" she asked hopefully. "I still need to give you a proper thank you for building me that ice rink."

A shiver of arousal rushed up his spine. "A proper thank you, huh? What does that entail?"

Lorelai smirked sexily. "You'll see."

She pulled him toward the staircase and they headed up to her bedroom. Clothes were strewn as they made their way to the bed and fell onto it. With Luke on his back and Lorelai on top of him, they kissed passionately for a few minutes while their hands explored each other's bodies.

Lorelai kissed her way down Luke's body until she was kneeling on the bed between his legs. She gave his hardness a few strokes with her hand before she took him into her mouth. Her lips moved sensually up and down the length of him as he grunted his pleasure and stroked her hair with both of his hands.

When she eventually released him from her mouth, she moved up over his body and straddled him with her knees. He gripped her waist to steady her as she lowered herself down on him, groaning loudly as he filled her. She placed her palms against his chest and began rocking her hips against his in a rhythm that he quickly matched.

She rode him eagerly for a few minutes before she started to lose steam. She leaned forward and placed her hands on the mattress on either side of his head, resting her upper body against his. His arms wrapped around her tightly as he took the lead, thrusting up into her hard and fast as she whimpered his name over and over.

When she had regained some energy, she pushed herself back up and reclaimed control, rocking against him quickly. He caressed her stomach, breasts, arms, legs, letting his fingers trace over every beautiful inch of skin he could reach, and her entire body was throbbing with arousal.

As his hand moved to caress her between her legs, Lorelai leaned her head back with a loud moan toward the ceiling. "Oh, Jesus, Luke." She locked her gaze with his as he moved his thumb in firm circles against her clit. "Oh, my God… right there… don't stop..." she breathlessly muttered in between groans, and Luke rubbed her clit until waves of pleasure rushed through her shuddering body.

She collapsed on top of him with a satisfied sigh, and he rolled their bodies over so she was beneath him. As he started stroking into her, Lorelai grabbed onto his sides, her nails digging into his skin as she moaned with every deep thrust. He reached his climax quickly and groaned her name loudly as he came inside her.

His face hovered over hers, their gazes locked as they shared a tired smile. He brushed her hair away from her face and lightly traced his finger along her lips before he leaned down to kiss her. She smoothed her hands up his muscular back to his shoulders, returning the kiss for a few moments until he pulled away.

He moved off of her to lie beside her on the bed, and slipped his arm behind her head. They were quiet for a bit, her hand caressing his as they relaxed on their backs.

Lorelai stared up pensively at the ceiling, thoughts flying through her head. She thought about how wonderful Luke had always been to her and Rory. She thought about their friendship over the years and their dating relationship, and how this particular relationship felt so different from any other that she'd been in. She knew why that was, and decided that she wanted to share that piece of information with him.

Her heart began to race as she took a deep breath, cleared her throat, and quietly said, "Um... Luke?"

"Yeah?"

Lorelai took another deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. "While we're doing this whole, uh, open book thing and being super honest with each other, there's actually one more thing I want to tell you." She could feel his body tense up beneath her, and she lifted her head to look at him.

He looked anxious, and he exhaled a breath before he nodded toward her. "Go ahead… tell me."

Lorelai sat up on the bed to face him, pulling the bed sheet up around her body to cover herself. "Okay, well, you know how we were talking about how you're better at actions and I'm better at words? I think that's true to some extent, but I also think that sometimes I don't always say all the words I should say. I mean, I know I babble and say a lot of things, and you usually go along with it even if you don't understand what I'm talking about, which is so cute, and - "

"Lorelai," Luke interrupted her. Usually he was fine to follow her rants and tangents through to completion, but he was already nervous about what she was going to say and needed her to get to the point.

Lorelai grimaced slightly. "Okay, right, sorry. I'm just trying to say that sometimes I say a lot of words, but don't always say the words that are really important. Because sometimes you think something and you know it's important to say it, but you're not sure if you should say it or not because it seems scary to say, but - " She cut herself off when she saw the apprehension on his face and she frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling… I'm really not good at this."

It was obvious that whatever she wanted to say was flustering her and making her nervous, so he reached out and squeezed her hand as he calmly told her, "You can tell me anything, it's okay. Whatever it is, just say it and then we'll talk it out."

Lorelai nodded. "Okay." She stared down at the blanket for a moment, then took a deep breath, lifted her head to meet his gaze, and declared, "I love you."

Luke's eyes widened with surprise and he sat up in the bed. There was silence in the room as they stared at each other, both processing the moment.

Lorelai had never said that to him before, and likewise, he'd never said it to her, but not for a lack of wanting to.

Luke finally broke the silence by asking, "That's what you wanted to tell me?"

"Yes." Lorelai suddenly buried her face in her hands, mumbling, "I'm sorry."

Luke confusedly pulled her hands away from her face. "Why are you sorry?"

Lorelai shook her head with uncertainty. "I'm not really sure. For springing that on you, I guess."

Luke leaned closer to her. "Don't be sorry." He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her tenderly as her hands moved up to cradle his face. He pulled back slightly, smiling at her. "I love you."

Lorelai tightened the hold she had on his cheeks and smiled before nervously nibbling on her bottom lip. "Yeah?"

Luke smiled. "Yeah." He rubbed her upper arms affectionately as he kissed her again. When their lips separated, he took her hands in his. "I've wanted to say that a few times, but I didn't know if it was too soon, or if it would scare you, or if … " His voice trailed off and he shrugged. "I don't know."

"I get it," she replied with a nod, then playfully teased, "With all that pining you did for me, you've probably been wanting to say it for eight years."

"I wasn't pining," he said dryly.

Lorelai smiled and kissed him, and they lay back down on the bed. She snuggled up comfortably against him as he wrapped an arm around her. His hand moved up and down her back as she traced her finger aimlessly across his stomach. "That's why this relationship is so scary," Lorelai said softly. "That's why I feel both overwhelmingly happy and sick to my stomach around you."

Luke snickered. "Such a compliment."

Lorelai smiled. "You know what I mean, though. Happy to have you, but terrified at the thought of losing you."

"Yeah, I get it," he replied understandingly. "And that kinda goes both ways... that feeling."

Surprised, Lorelai lifted her head to look at him. "You get that sick feeling, too?"

"Yeah."

Lorelai's lips curved into a relieved smile. "Okay, good. I think it's probably a good sign that we both get it, right?"

Luke nodded in agreement. "I think so."

Lorelai stared at him for a moment before hesitantly asking, "Can I ask you a very important question?"

"Yup."

"Wait, let me try to sway your answer first." Lorelai leaned in and kissed him passionately, then slowly pulled her lips away from his as she whispered hopefully, "Will you get on the ice rink with me at least once?"

Luke smiled and gave her an agreeable nod. "Tonight."

Lorelai gasped excitedly. "Really?"

"Really. I'll come back tonight with skates and I will get on the ice with you."

Lorelai grinned happily. "Thank you." She kissed him, then rested her head back against his chest with a content sigh.

. . . . .

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The End

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Author's Note: Thanks so much for reading! :)