Title: Clutter
Author: alianora
Email: alia@silverspiral.net
Website: http://www.silverspiral.net
Summery: Luke cleans out his closet
Spoilers: Concert Interruptus
Disclaimer: Would that Luke belonged to me. But he doesn’t.

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Luke kept that door closed most of the time.

Admittedly, he does not have much room in his apartment, and he could use the extra space, but he has gotten so used to not opening that door, that he had almost forgotten what was in there.

But when Lorelai started nagging him about contributing something to the rummage sale, he started thinking about that closet.

He did open it, once in a while. And there were some useful things in there. A stepladder, extra towels, things like that. So he just pushed past everything else to grab what he needed, and did not pay too much attention otherwise.

It was not like anything in there was in the way, much.

But she had asked, and gotten him thinking, and it would be really nice to be able to keep his hand carving tools somewhere other than the shed outside.

So here he was. Standing in front of a closet with some garbage bags. Remembering when this stuff had taken over his closet in the first place.

They had never really moved in together. But one time, she had come back from a photography assignment, and just unpacked. And that was that.

Sure, she was gone a lot, but she always came back. And she always unpacked at his apartment. Until the last time. When she had gone on assignment, and a month later, he had gotten a call from Cairo.

She was sorry, but she had been offered a promotion, and could he send her the rest of her photography equipment?

Oh, and she was moving to Washington.

Well, Rachel never had been good at confrontation.

As childish as it was, Luke refused. He shoved her things into the closet and closed the door. It was a dare, almost, for her to come and pick up everything herself. He knew if he could just get her there, everything would be fine.

After six months, he finally stopped expecting her to sweep through the door for her things. Or him.

But he was stubborn, and some part of him refused to believe she would not come. So her clothes stayed, and he kept finding odd things of hers in strange places. A toothbrush, a tape, a pair of panties.

And everything he found ended up in that same closet.

After a while, he did not find anything left of her in the apartment. And somehow, that’s when he realized she really was not coming back.

And he stopped opening the door.

And it was not like he needed any of her things. He was used to them being there, that was all.

But, as much as Luke liked for things to stay the same, even he knew that having an old girlfriend’s clothes in your closet five years after the fact might ensure that you never had sex again.

So, the rummage sale.

He did not even really look at anything. He just stuffed everything into a couple of garbage bags and dragged it to Lorelai’s house. Where, he knew, everyone else’s junk would bury it, and he would never see any of it again.

And he was ok with that.

And when he went home, he was not going to find himself standing in front of an empty closet, examining empty hangers.

He was just going to shut the door, and go to bed, and not think about the things she left behind.

END