Truth or Dare or Lorelai?

coffee and comics

 It was a busy, cold morning at Lorelai's house. Her alarm clock went off. she was awake before Rory. It wasn't unexpected. She'd been worried about Chris. She dashed downstairs and woke up her daughter. 

"Rory! wakey!" 

"Mom! What?" 

"The student-government thing! I can't believe you don't remember!" 

"Of course I remember!" Rory's backpack was resting on her chair, attesting to this. Rory literally jumped out of bed and pulled on her Chilton uniform. That was the good thing about private school-it cut down on the time you needed to decide on an outfit. 

"Look, do we have time for Luke's?" Lorelai asked from outside Rory's door. 

"Just a donut!" 

"Ok. Brush your teeth. Go go go!" Lorelai was still in her pajamas. She answered Rory's questioning look. 

"I'll change after I drop you off." Lorelai made coffee while she was waiting and handed it to  Rory in a David Bowie mug-the one with the Aladdin Sane lightning bolt on it. Lorelai was frugal, but always loved a classic rock reference, so her guilty pleasure was merch. Rory thanked her and they dashed out the door to the Jeep. They drove into town, to Luke's. Lorelai went to grab a donut from the case. Luke turned and saw her. 

"Hey! Hands off!" 

"We're in a hurry!" Lorelai shouted back.

"Why didn't you ask!" 

"We're in a hurry." 

"What's happening?" Luke asked as he walked up behind the counter and handed them the donuts. 

"Rory has to run freshman orientation." 

"It's my worst nightmare," Rory muttered as she drank the coffee. 

"Mine too," Luke grumbled as he poured Lorelai a cup. Rory gave a weak smile. "Here, tell you what--I'll let you have a mocha as a pick me up, on the house. With whip cream." 

"Can I have one?" Lorelai asked playfully. 

"No, cause you're not presenting in front of a group of elitist children who couldn't care less."

"Ahh! Not the high-school flashbacks!" Lorelai said.

Rory laughed. "Thanks, Luke."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," he said. 

Rory drank her warm mocha and walked out the door to the bus stop in the square. Lorelai noticed Luke checking her out, but pretended not to. She was still in her pajamas: A black v-neck long sleeve and sweatpants, with her blue winter coat.

"So, you into the grunge look now?" Luke asked.

"No. Have you tried getting dressed before coffee? Not gonna happen. I could have died." 

"Died...getting dressed." 

"Fallen into the closet. Knocked my dresser over. Tripped down the stairs. Slipped on ice. Burnt my mouth on coffee and not been able to drink it anyway. You name it." 

"You alright?" Luke asked. He looked slightly disturbed. "You're usually so...peppy." 

Lorelai chuckled softly. "It's just Chris." 

"Enough said," Luke said. "What happened?" 

"Oh! Well, I'd need a lot  more coffee for that," Lorelai said sadly. 

"Oh. Well, you don't have to talk about it."

"It's ok. Thanks though." 

"Next time he comes here, he'll have to go to Al's for coffee-not that a chai latte is coffee."