Hey guys...what can I say, I have had a JJ fic in mind for a while now. And yesss technically I don't have enough time to write anything besides BTR because of university but I was in the moment what can I say. I'm predicting this to be a 8 part fiction...but I've been so wrong in the past that you should just ignore that haha.
It's set at the end of the second season after the wedding when Luke and Lorelai aren't talking and Rory is away in Washington. Y'all remember it don't you? Thought so !
Disclaimer: No I don't own these characters, that would be Amy Sherman-Palladino, Warner Brothers and co... I'd like to own Luke tho...and Lauren Graham but hey I don't...yet...lol kidding!
1 -Not Normal
It had been four weeks since Lorelai had made her last attempt to apologise to Luke for their fight after the accident with Rory and Jess. Then the whirlwind mistake that was her and Chris had started…and soon ended. After the wedding Sookie had left for her honeymoon, Rory had left for Washington and the only other person she could turn to wasn't speaking to her. Lorelai pretended she was fine, pretended she didn't miss her daughter as much as she did, pretended that her best friend ignoring her didn't hurt but truthfully it was what hurt the most. Her new morning routine was Weston's or else she had something at the Inn instead. Although coffee didn't seem to taste as good when her grumpy diner owner wasn't serving it.
'I hate Mondays', Lorelai thought when she opened the front door and walked the few steps to get her mail before leaving for the Inn. When she got to the mail box she spotted the moving van parked next to Beanie Morrison's old place, a man and a woman carried some boxes from it towards the house.
"Hey doll check out the new broad" Babette said putting down a can of polish, a cloth and one of her garden gnomes before walking over from her garden.
"Who's moving in?" Lorelai asked curiously.
"I heard from Patty that she's a writer from New York"
"Oh cool, Rory will love that"
"I saw her as she was driving up, she looks friendly"
"Married?"
"Nope single, although whoever that is helping in with the boxes has a great ass"
'Well at least I'm not the only young single woman now' Lorelai thought to herself, even though she knew there were other single women in town the past few weeks since Rory had left she had never felt more alone. Sookie was back from her honeymoon but her and Jackson were busy being newlyweds so she didn't want to bother them.
"Cool well it'll be nice to have a new face around around the place"
"You're tellin' me. So how's Rory?"
"Rory's great, learning how to rule the world in Washington"
"She's gonna go far that girl"
"I think so." Lorelai said smiling proudly as she thought about her daughter.
"Ah the whole town is rooting for her"
"She knows that, Anyway I gotta get to the Inn"
"You going to the diner today?" Babette hinted as she had done ever since the town had noticed Lorelai's sudden avoidance of the diner and equal interest in Weston's coffee.
"No not today"
"Aw Luke's been as grumpier than ever since you two have stopped talking. Are you sure you kids can't work it out?" Babette said, only looking out for the two of them. The whole town had been suffering since their fall out; Luke had been grumpy with everyone, well much more so than usual.
"We'll see, anyway see you later Babette" Lorelai said taking another glance over at her new neighbour before she flicked through her mail. 'Bills…great like my mood isn't bad enough'
Luke walked around the diner, lifting up the empty plates and cups, wiping down the tables and going through his usual routine…his new usual routine. It had been four weeks, twenty-eight long days since Lorelai had set foot in his diner. He'd see her at Weston's, walking by the diner, at the town meetings or just around town and every time he saw her he wanted to apologise for how he treated her. More than anything he wanted to invite her back to the diner. His new routine without her was much more boring when he knew he wouldn't see her that day, knew she wouldn't be purposely trying to annoy him or just begging for coffee as usual. He was jealous of Weston's, that she graced them with her presence everyday, probably flirted to get coffee like she would have done with him if he hadn't have been such an idiot. His stubbornness was a blessing and a curse, this time it had been a curse. He knew that from almost the second she had left the diner four weeks ago after saying 'I want Luke back'He was kicking himself for not swallowing his pride and forgiving her. Since that day he'd probably read the letter she wrote him a thousand times and even tried to start writing one to her himself but he'd never been one with words so he never finished it. All that resulted from his attempts was a bin full of scrunched up paper.
Usually when he flicked the sign to 'Closed' on the diner he would keep the door unlocked as he cleaned up because Lorelai didn't tend to pay attention to the sign and would walk in anyway. He pretended to be bothered by her late visits but they both knew he liked them and he just needed to act like a grump to keep in sync with the reputation he was known for. These days he would lock the door when he put up the 'Closed' sign because he knew she wouldn't be coming by anytime soon. Although that night when he'd finally got rid of Kirk and was going to lock the door he saw Lorelai walk into Doose's down the street and somewhere inside he decided that he would leave it open and wait. 'Maybe if she see's it's still open she'll come in and I can apologise' he thought, a small piece of him still feeling optimistic.
After a few minutes he decided to bite the bullet and go into the market and "accidentally" bump into her… just like they had done weeks ago but he'd been so obstinate that he'd left her standing there. Left her standing in the market with that hurt look on her face that had cut through him like a knife; but at that time he was still angry and hurt.
Pulling the door open he didn't notice the woman walking into the diner until he'd nearly knocked her over.
"Woah" the tall brunette said when she stumbled off the step.
"God are you okay I never saw you" Luke said putting his hands on her arms to steady her and help her back up.
"Mmm a girl loves to hear that"
"Sorry" he said sheepishly before taking a second to notice the woman in front of him. She was petite with shoulder length chocolate brown hair and brown eyes. He assumed she was new to the town as he hadn't seen her around…although the past month he hadn't really been paying much attention to recent town events.
"Do you work here?" she asked,
"Well I own it but yeah"
"Oh well in that case I will forgive you for nearly killing me if I can get some coffee?"
"Uhh sure, I'm closed but it's the least I can do" Luke said, taking a last glance over at Doose's before he turned and walked back into the diner, his optimism going out the window at that point.
"I'm Jennifer by the way" she introduced herself.
"Luke" he replied.
"Coincidence that this is called Luke's?" she inquired, looking around at the diner. It wasn't much for its interior design and looked a mix between a diner and an old hardware store but it seemed comfortable, rustic in a cute small town way that she had been so eager to experience.
"I started it, used to be a hardware store"
"Explains the sign outside" Jennifer commented as Luke poured her some coffee.
"So you don't have a coffee maker at home?" Luke asked, wondering why she had come by so late…he only had room for one coffee addict in his life, well her and her daughter.
"Well I just moved in and I haven't unpacked yet so I figured I'd see what the local coffee is like, and now I don't think I'll need to unpack, this is great"
"Good so I'm forgiven then?" he said, smirking slightly.
"You are" she said shooting him a smile. Already deciding to come for breakfast the next morning, good coffee and this Luke was very cute, a little rough around the edges but she found it sexy.
Lorelai who had just left Doose's with a bag of junk food for the movie marathon she had planned all day was walking to Weston's to get some coffee before she went home. As she walked down the street she couldn't resist looking in at the diner, thinking that just seeing Luke wiping down the counter as he usually did at that time of night would ease her mind…show her that not everything had changed. Although the scene in the diner had quite the opposite effect on her, she saw Luke behind the counter talking to some woman at the counter …smiling at some woman at the counter. 'He doesn't care…why would he; I'm just a customer' she thought as she felt her stomach twist. She didn't like that there was a woman there even though the diner was closed, she thought he only did that with her. She didn't like him smiling at her…he was supposed to be grumpy and down like she was. If anyone else knew what she was feeling they would think she was jealous but Lorelai being Lorelai would never admit it. 'Why would I be jealous? We're just friends…actually we're not even that anymore' she thought looking back inside at Luke before quickly turning around and started walking home. Suddenly not in the mood for coffee, it just reminded her of him anyway.
You know what to do...oh yes baby read and review ;-)