Torn – Chapter 7

Jealousy at Large

A/N: Hey, I updated; go me! Thanks to those who reviewed for the encouragement and especially for sticking with this, despite my hiatus. I got a few chapters under my belt since then, so I should be able to update steadily till the end of the school year (after which I'll have plenty of time to focus). Ok, if it's all right with you all, I'd like to take a moment to pimp myself out: I have a few other fics posted in my writing journal (the link's the website in my profile), in case you're interested in reading some of the fics I haven't posted here, for whatever reason. Just thought I'd put that out there. Anyway, please make my week and review; thanks!

On Saturday, Lorelai and Rory sat in Luke's, eating lunch. Lorelai gazed at Luke and Rachel as they worked behind the counter, and Rory studied her mother curiously as she stuffed a french fry into her mouth. Lorelai began to tap her fingers against the table, cursing herself for agreeing to go wedding dress shopping with Rachel. She just kept getting sucked deeper and deeper into the wedding, despite her best efforts to stay as far away from it as humanly possible.

"Still worried about Max?" asked Rory, startling her mother from her thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Are you still worried about Max? You seem a little distracted…"

"Yeah, I, uh… yeah," she sighed. However, inwardly, she was glad that Rory misinterpreted the source of her troubles.

"He didn't call?"

"No."

"And when you called…"

"No answer."

Rory frowned and patted her mother's hand reassuringly. "I'm sorry, but he'll come around. He's crazy about you."

"Yeah, thanks sweetie."

"So," began Rory, changing the topic, "do you need any help at the inn today?"

"Are you offering?"

"I… thought so." She paused. "Was that not clear?"

"Well, that's very sweet of you, but I'm fine. Go hang out with Dean or Lane, okay?"

"Okay, if you're sure… I just figured since you've been so busy lately –"

Lorelai shrugged. "I have been, but I'm not gonna have you go in and work when I won't even be there."

"You're not going back?"

"I will in a few hours. I'm taking the afternoon off."

"Oh, finally! You totally deserve a break, Mom."

Lorelai grinned at Rory. "My boss agrees."

"Good. I would hate to think of the bills for the shrink if she hadn't." Lorelai stuck her tongue out at Rory before taking a bite of her hamburger. "So, what are your big plans for your time off?"

"Oh, I'm going shopping."

"Always a great way to spend a work-free afternoon," Rory replied.

"Totally."

"You going to the mall?"

"No, actually, I'm going to Adrienne's Bridal Shop in Waterbury," replied Lorelai as Rory almost choked on her food. "What?"

"I'm sorry, I just didn't know you were getting married."

"I'm not," replied Lorelai casually as she took a sip of her coffee. "It's for Rachel."

"For Rachel?"

"Yeah, you know, Luke's fiancée."

"Yes, I've heard of her before," Rory deadpanned. "Why are you taking her dress shopping?"

"Because she asked," replied Lorelai with a shrug.

"Okay."

Off Rory's strange look, Lorelai asked, "What?"

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing! What is it that you're thinking in that overactive brain of yours?"

"Well, I'm just thinking it's a little strange."

"What is?"

"Dress shopping with Rachel."

"What's weird about it? I mean, she doesn't know many people around besides me, and wedding dress shopping isn't exactly something you do alone…"

"Yeah, but it's Rachel… Luke's fiancée," Rory clarified.

"Oh my God, that's who she is? No wonder she kept giving me strange looks when I asked her if Hugh Grant was any good in bed."

Rory shook her head. "I so don't wanna know how we got there."

Lorelai merely smirked in response.

"It's just," Rory continued, "you've done a lot for the two of them over the past few weeks. I mean, getting them the inn for their wedding on such short notice and for the price you did… that's a lot, in itself. But now taking off the entire afternoon when you have been frantically working for the past week and a half to take Rachel wedding dress shopping? That's well beyond the call of caring citizen and moving into Spiderman territory."

"What are you talking about?"

Rory shrugged. "It just seems like you're playing superhero."

"I am not playing superhero!" Lorelai replied indignantly. "I'm just supporting my friend, that's all!"

"And who's your friend in this picture – Rachel or Luke?"

Lorelai furrowed her brow. "Both."

Rory snorted. "Yeah right. I know your fake smile when I see it… and lately, it's been directed toward Rachel a lot."

Lorelai huffed. "You know me too well." She paused and took another sip of coffee. "I just want him to be happy."

"I know."

"Well, I can't see any other way. I know it's weird to go dress shopping with someone I barely know and makes me want to throw myself off a bridge, but… I'm out of ideas."

"Maybe there's a reason you hate her so much?"

"I don't hate her."

"Fine, dislike her."

"I don't dislike her, either."

"Well, whatever you call it, the reason is you're jealous of her."

"Again with this? I am not jealous!" she exclaimed in a scandalized tone.

"Uh huh."

"I'm not."

"Sure."

"I'm not!"

"Fine, you're not."

"Exactly." Lorelai paused with a scowl on her face. "You just said that to get me to shut up, didn't you?"

Rory groaned. "Okay, I'm gonna go before this gets to be a repeat of The Odd Couple."

"Oh, that makes me Oscar!"

Rory sighed. "Bye, Mom."

"Uh huh, you're just jealous 'cos Felix is the prude."

"The prude? What are you talking about? At least Felix isn't a slob!"

"Uh huh."

"Oh God, don't suck me into this. I am leaving now."

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Bye sweetie."

Lorelai watched Rory walk out the diner and down the street, until she could no longer see her daughter's figure through the window, as she finished off the last of her cup of coffee. Then, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and counted to ten before exhaling, before walking over to the counter, where Rachel was working. She leaned across the counter and caught Rachel's eye.

"Hey, ready to go?"

Rachel wiped her hands on her apron. "Yup, let me just get my purse and let Luke know I'm leaving."

Lorelai nodded and slumped down onto a stool at the counter, waiting anxiously for their excursion to begin. After all, the
sooner it began, the sooner it would end. She let out a low groan. It was clear that she was crazy for agreeing to this.

Luke banged his head on the inside of the cabinet as he heard the distant sound of a door opening in Lorelai's house. Thinking it was Lorelai or Rory, he continued to work on the broken garbage disposal that Lorelai had asked him to fix, rubbing one hand against his now bruised head. However, he paused when he heard a man call, "Lorelai?" and then footsteps heading toward the kitchen. Before Luke could get his head out of the cabinet, the footsteps ceased. Luke rose, aware of someone else's presence in the kitchen, before turning around. He groaned inwardly when he noticed it was Lorelai's boyfriend. Luke didn't know quite what it was about that man that annoyed him so much, but Luke was already in a bad enough mood as it was – he really didn't want to deal with this guy now.

"Hello – it's Luke, right?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, and you're…"

"Max Medina."

"Max, right. Hey." Luke wiped his dirty hands on his jeans before saying, "I'd shake your hand, but, ya know, they're kinda dirty."

Max cringed. "That's all right."

Luke nodded and, after a minute of staring at Max in silence, turned around to search through his toolbox.

"Is Lorelai here?" asked Max, looking around the room.

"Nah."

"Where is she?"

Luke shrugged.

"Does she know you're here?"

"No."

Max scowled, placing his hands on his hips. "Then how the hell did you get in?"

"Using the spare key."

"You know where the spare key is?" asked Max, unsuccessfully trying to hide his surprise.

"Yeah… it's under the ceramic turtle outside."

"She told you this?"

"In passing, yeah. Wait, you didn't know about the turtle?"

"Well…"

"That's odd…" said Luke, unsuccessfully hiding a smirk, "everyone knows about the ceramic turtle."

"Well, obviously not everyone," Max muttered.

"Uh huh," Luke responded with an eye roll. "I'm gonna get back to work."

Luke bent down and was about to examine the garbage disposal further when Max called his name. He groaned inwardly before standing up once again to face Max.

"What are you doing?"

"Dancing the tango, obviously," replied Luke dryly.

"Did Lorelai ask you to fix her sink?"

"Yeah."

"Do you fix things for her a lot?"

Luke shrugged. "I guess. Depends what your definition of a lot is. Why?"

"No reason… I was just curious." Max paused, glaring at Luke. "So, let me get this straight: if I should walk into Lorelai's house at any given point in time - day or night - and see you in here, I should just assume you're fixing something?"

"Probably," Luke answered carefully, weary of the angry look Max was giving him.

"And," he continued, "I should expect this on a semi-regular basis?"

"I guess – whenever Lorelai needs help."

"I see." He paused. "You know, maybe it would be safer if she actually hired someone – you know, someone more experienced – to do her handiwork. Maybe then you wouldn't have to come over so often to fix things because they would actually get fixed, instead of… oh, I don't know, tinkered with, or whatever you're doing."

"I don't tinker," Luke replied sternly.

"Oh, excuse me, then."

Luke cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Did you come here to ask me questions about spare keys and my repairs or is there an alternative reason for your presence?"

"I just came to talk to Lorelai about some things and, you know, check that Lorelai and I are still on for our date tonight, but I guess I'll just call her. Unless, of course, you think you'll see her first and would rather give her the message," he spat.

Luke sighed. "Okay, I can see you don't want me here, so I'll just go."

"What? Why wouldn't I want you here?"

"I don't know, but you don't."

"Please, Luke. This isn't my house, is it?"

"No, it's not," Luke agreed, his frustration with the man growing by the moment.

"Well then, don't let me stop you and you're… repairs."

Luke balled his hands into fists as he took a step closer to Max. The combined force of his wedding apprehension and his anger toward Max's mannerisms was almost too much to control. However, after a moment of glaring and gyrating his teeth, Luke exhaled a shaky breath and stepped back. "It was nice to see you again, Max."

With that, Luke turned back and crouched in front of the sink, beginning to work once again. With one last suspicious glance at Luke, Max turned on his heel and left the house, slamming the door in his wake. Once he was gone, Luke leaned back on his heels and slammed down his screwdriver, leaving an angry black mark on the kitchen floor. "Damn it," he muttered, before searching for cleaning supplies.

Rachel stepped out of the dressing room and Lorelai, who had been studying a rack of wedding dresses, turned around to look at her.

"Oh my God, take it off!" she exclaimed, horrified.

Rachel laughed and looked down at herself. "Yeah, I thought the ruffles were a bit much…"

"Oh my God," Lorelai repeated. "It looks worse than something my grandmother would give me."

"Okay, I'm thinking I should get out of this…"

"Good idea."

"Back to the drawing board?"

"Hmm…" said Lorelai thoughtfully, pulling a dress off the rack she had been searching through just moments ago, "try this one."

"Thanks," Rachel replied, taking the dress from Lorelai. As she changed, she called from behind the stall, "Hey, Lorelai?"

"Yep?"

"I just wanted to thank you again…"

"Ah, please, I told you - no need."

"Right," Rachel replied, with a laugh. "Okay, I'm coming out. What is this - dress number eighteen?"

"Something like that. Hold on, let me prepare myself to be blown away," Lorelai replied with a sarcastic grin. However, as Rachel walked out of the dressing room stall, the grin immediately left Lorelai's face and was replaced by a sinking feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. The dress was perfect.

"That bad?" asked Rachel, wrongfully interpreting the look on Lorelai's face.

"What?" asked Lorelai, quickly snapping back to reality. "No, no… just the opposite! It's just – I mean…" Lorelai sighed. "It looks amazing," she finally conceded.

"Really?" asked Rachel, studying herself carefully in the mirror. "Do you think I should try on a few more just in case –?"

"No. This is the dress… I wouldn't lie. Believe me, I'm the last person in the world you'd have to worry about lying when it comes to clothing." She moved forward and zipped the dress up, before standing back and allowing Rachel to re-examine herself.

"You really think I should get it?"

Lorelai nodded with forced enthusiasm, biting her lip as she did so. "It's the perfect dress for… the future Mrs. Danes."

Rachel grinned at her, before turning toward the mirror once more, smoothing her hands down the dress. Slowly, the smile disappeared from her face and she turned to Lorelai with a slight frown. "I don't think Luke'll even care."

"What do mean? Of course he will!"

Rachel shook her head. "He's been so weird lately. Like, last night… I tried to get him to think about wedding stuff and he flipped out on me."

"Flipped out? About what?"

"Everything! He doesn't want to think about who to invite or a best man or anything! I was kind of under the impression that, well," she admitted hesitantly, "he didn't even want to get married."

Lorelai gaped at Rachel for a few stunned moments before replying, "I… don't believe that. He's probably just a little overwhelmed. He'll, you know, come around."

"He stormed out of the apartment in his underwear."

Lorelai gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "I thought Miss Patty was kidding about that!"

Rachel shook her head gravely. "He came back really early this morning and hasn't spoken to me since."

"I did notice he was acting a little strange yesterday, but wow, that really doesn't sound like Luke…"

"No, it's not Luke. I don't know what to do," Rachel replied, her fingers absently playing with the price tag hanging from the dress. "Maybe he doesn't want to marry me."

"No, that's not it. He wants to marry you." Rachel shrugged. "Just give him some time to get everything sorted in his mind, okay? You know how Luke gets sometimes… he doesn't really talk to anyone or let his feelings get out in any way. Let him yell at Taylor for a little while and maybe that'll help relieve some of the tension."

"Well… maybe you're right."

"I am right," Lorelai replied forcefully, although, inwardly, she felt a bit less sure. "Let's buy this dress before I collapse, okay?"

Rachel nodded and smiled at Lorelai. "Th –"

"No! Don't say it!"

Rachel laughed as Lorelai unzipped the dress for her. "Right, I won't say it again."

"Good."

A/N: TBC…