Relationship History

Grace and Luke - How Did That Happen?
A not-so-brief history of Luke and Grace. - Written by Diminished9th

Grace and Luke’s interest in each other might seem unexpected, but there’s been something between them since the beginning. If you watched closely enough, you saw the attraction smolder and grow.

The Fire and the Wood

Luke and Grace already know each other when we first meet Grace. Joan enrolls in AP Chemistry, and is assigned to Grace and Adam’s group. Luke, of course, is also in the class, man of science that he is. The class is assigned a group take-home test, so Joan, Adam and Grace meet at Joan’s house to work on it. Grace is obviously aware of Luke’s intelligence at this point, because she suggests asking Luke for the answer. It’s interesting, however, that when Luke comes into the kitchen, Grace won’t talk to him, but tells Joan, “Ask him.” Why won’t she, who will stand up to anyone, ask him?

As the three of them work out the problem, Grace says that wood doesn’t actually burn, what burns is the gas that is released from the wood when it heats up. Luke, who is making himself chocolate milk, is totally turned on, and says, “It is so hot that you know that.” Grace gives him a small scowl, but says nothing. Then Luke tries to open a cookie jar, but the lid is too tight. Grace notices, snaps her fingers, and motions for him to hand her the jar. She effortlessly opens it, and hands it back to an embarrassed Luke.

Touch Move

Next, Grace complains to Joan about Luke’s aftershave that smells like “pickled eggs.” Again, not willing to talk to him herself? In Chem, she makes the comment, “Do you smell that, it’s like essence of pimp!” Luke, who is in front of her, self-consciously smells his shirt. While Joan is trying to ascertain Grace’s sexuality, Grace throws a piece of paper at Luke and it bounces off his head, so he turns around and gives her a dirty look. Grace looks back as if surprised at his reaction, like she hadn’t expected him to be annoyed, or call her on it. Joan brings up “hot” wrestlers with lots of muscles and large forearms, and Grace adds “small cerebral cortex.” Heh. Luke’s cerebral cortex is anything but small.

Bringeth It On

On another study night, Luke walks into the kitchen as the other three are finishing up their assignment, and casually mentions that he is meeting Friedman at the Homecoming game, and does anyone want to come. He glances at Grace as he asks this. Grace responds that she has better things to do than watching a bunch of cheerleaders flash their panties at a bunch of jocks, and leaves. Sorry, Luke, denied.

We see them next in chemistry. Glynis mentions the upcoming Science Fair, and nervously asks Luke if he wants to partner with her. Luke hedges, and tells her that he’ll think about it, leaving her disappointed. The next day, Friedman and Luke are in Chemistry, working on a lab. Luke asks where Glynis is, and Friedman tells her that she’s recovering from the Girardi smack-down. Friedman says that he might be persuaded to work with Luke, unless Luke wants to work with "Avril La Grace" to which Luke snaps back and says, “Grace Polk is a lot smarter than people think!” The entire class hears, and Grace's eyes flicker, embarrassed, but not mad. Friedman tells Luke that Luke likes Grace and that liking a lesbian is a sign that he is gay.

Later, Grace approaches Luke about Joan’s trying out to be a cheerleader, and tells him that Joan needs an intervention. Luke tells her he needs to get to class. He’s really very flustered around her, and can’t get away fast enough. This is the first scene where we see just the two of them interact, and it’s already evident that they fit well together. While Luke’s interest is evident, it’s less evident how Grace feels, but even then they looked really good together, despite how different they are.

Luke’s confusion over his feelings for Grace is evident, and he decides to ask Kevin that if a moose sniffs a flower that is elk-like, does that mean the moose is really an elk? Kevin asks Luke if he wants to try a science metaphor, to which Luke blurts, “Does it mean I’m gay if I like a lesbian?” Kevin tells him that liking a girl is liking a girl, and how does he know she’s a lesbian? Then they then proceed to discuss what Luke thinks about when he is…alone. His list includes Condoleezza Rice (for her influence that is second only to Henry Kissinger), Sigourney Weaver in Alien, Christina Ricci, Batgirl... They confirm that Luke is a “moose,” and Kevin tells his little brother never to make him walk Luke through that again.

At the cheerleading tryouts, Luke sees Grace watching and joins her. He asks her why she is there, as cheerleading is not something Grace would normally care about. Grace tells him that she’s an optimist and hoping someone (Joan) won’t show. Luke asks why does she care, because, empirically speaking, she wouldn’t care…unless Grace was emotionally invested. Luke says, “You like my sister,” obviously bothered by the idea. Grace turns to him, and says that she doesn’t like anyone, but in her better moments, Joan doesn’t make Grace want to puke.

Grace is visibly bothered when Joan does show up, but as she does the cheer, both Luke and Grace smile at it, appreciating Joan’s telling off the cheerleaders. When she finishes, they both stand and cheer, and Grace tells Luke, “Definitely a better moment.” Friedman comes over and tells Luke that his sister his hot. Grace tells Friedman that he is an ass, and walks away. Then Friedman asks, Luke, “Diablo at Dave’s. You in?” Luke looks at Friedman, then the direction that Grace left, trying to make a decision.

Grace is next with Adam, sitting outside the school. Luke walks up behind them, gathers his courage, approaches and says, “Would you do me the honor of applying with me as my partner for the 2004 Arcadia High science fair?” Adam looks up, and says, “Sure.” Luke, taken aback, says, “Well, I meant….” Grace sees that Adam is talking to someone, pulls hear earphones out of her ears, looks at Luke, and asks if he said something. Luke’s confidence flees, and he stumbles his way through asking her again. She asks, “Isn’t that thing months from now?” and he says it’s going to be a whole feeding frenzy (using Glynis’ phrase). Grace tells him the she doesn’t plan ahead, looks down briefly, and says, “Ask when it's closer.” Adam, who has been drawing, stops and looks at her, clearly surprised that Grace Polk, his friend of 13 years, is not completely shutting this guy down. [Shadowcrawler: Also, he's probably surprised she hasn't broken his arm.] Luke is also stunned that she didn’t flat-out reject him and says, “So you’re saying that it is possible?” How cool is it that he asked her, even though he expects to be denied? The guy is a stud. Grace responds, “In theory, if you stop acting like such a loser.” Way to try to backpedal, Polk, it’s not fooling anyone. Luke totally ignores the fact that she just insulted him, gets a big goofy grin on his face, and walks off, one happy guy. Grace fiddles with her earphones, looking after Luke with a small smile until she catches Adam’s expression. The smile disappears, and the defenses return as she repositions her earphones.

Death Be Not Whatever

Next, the gang is in Chemistry, and Lischak is lecturing on energy. She asks a question, which Luke answers, and then Joan leans over and talks to Grace about Rocky. Joan tells Grace that Rocky is obsessed with death, and says, “Isn’t that strange?” Grace replies, “No stranger than being obsessed with this stuff, like Atom Boy.” OK, let’s consider this. The teacher is giving a lecture about energy, her friend next to her is telling her about a little boy’s obsession with death, and Grace’s crack has to do with Luke! Why would anyone think she liked him? Luke turns halfway in his chair, and says, “I heard that,” a little exasperated, but also clearly enjoying the banter.

St. Joan

One morning, the Girardi’s are in the kitchen, and Joan announces that she needs to go meet Grace. Luke asks if he can walk with them, and Joan laughs at him. It’s debatable whether Grace would have minded all that much.

Drive, He Said

Joan and Grace are standing in the hall one day, after Joan trashes Adam’s art piece, and Adam walks by. Joan calls to him, and Grace turns around and looks at him. Luke is down the hall, and also looks at Adam. This scene is clearly about Joan and Adam, and Luke thinks that Joan is pregnant, at this point, but it’s possible that Grace and Luke are also looking at one another…

OK, maybe that’s stretching. [Shadowcrawler: Actually, I always thought that Grace was secretly shining on Luke, who was too preoccupied with his sister's 'pregnancy' to notice her staring at him.]

The Uncertainty Principle

Next we see Luke in a quandary, and eliciting his big sister for advice. He asked Grace once, and her answer yes, but it was contingent. So, does he have to re-approach her all over again? Joan thinks that Luke asked Grace to the semi-formal, and is stunned that Grace would agree to that. Joan clearly can’t wait to razz her “anti” friend about going on a date to a school dance. She makes a comment to Luke about gowns not being made out of fatigues, which confuses Luke. Joan says, “You asked Grace Polk to the semi-formal.” Luke responds, “I asked her to be my partner in the science fair.” Joan looks at him and says, “Wow. Science really is like sex to you, isn't it?” and Luke is completely thrown. Joan tells Luke to take the direct route and get dressed up and go grope each other in the gym. Luke denies that this has anything to do with groping. When did Luke go into denial about this?

In Chemistry, Lischak reminds the class that Science Fair applications are due that day, eyeing Luke in particular. Grace walks in at this point, and Lischak says she wonders why Grace even bothers. Grace probably came to chew out Joan about taking Ramsey to the dance, which she does. Once class ends, Grace hangs around (again, why?), and Luke approaches her. He completely stammers over getting the question out, and Grace assumes, like Joan, that he is asking her to the Crystal Ball, and asks “what is with these sanctioned mating rituals that make everyone drool over each other like zombies?” Luke quickly assures (disappoints?) her that he’s not talking about the Crystal Ball, and then brings up working on the science fair. She tells him that she already agreed to that, and why was he getting all sweaty.

This is pretty telling about Grace because she never committed to doing the science fair, but she evidently planned on doing it all along. Is this like passive-resistance, only the opposite? Grace pulls the pencil from Luke’s ear to sign the application. She says she won’t be a lot of help, but whatever, as long as she doesn’t have to wear a dress. Luke replies, “Me too,” royally embarrassing himself and looking really flustered. Grace just looks at him, then replaces the pencil in his ear, and whispers, “it’s OK, man.”

They meet at lunch later to discuss the science fair. Luke uses a cookie and Grace’s grapes to illustrate the solar system model of an atom and explains that Heisenberg says that model is wrong, and eats the grapes (to prove his point?). Grace tells him to quit eating her grapes, and tries to act bored, but doesn’t do a very good job of it. She sees the plans for the rail gun, and suggests that they build that when Friedman comes over. Friedman says he assumes they won’t be going to the dance, based on the assumption that Grace wouldn’t wear a dress. Grace tells him that his assumptions suck, and they’ll see him at the dance. Then she chases Friedman away, threatening him with a wedgie.

Luke is silent through Grace and Friedman’s tiff, and when Friedman runs away, Luke asks, “Are we going to the Crystal Ball?” Grace looks like she’s been caught, and says, “I must’ve been caught up in the testosterone,” and rushes off. Luke is obviously pleased. It’s not hard to conclude that Grace always wanted to go with Luke, used Friedman’s goading as an excuse.

At the dance, Luke is sitting at a table, and Grace walks in behind him, wearing her leather jacket over a pink (!) dress and wearing makeup. She heads straight over to Luke, and makes a comment about the sucky music. (“Another Postcard,” by Bare Naked Ladies sucks? [Shadowcrawler: Yes.]) Anyway, Luke stands up (his momma raised this boy right), looks at Grace in her dress, and simply says, “Wow.” Grace is surprised, embarrassed, and slightly pleased by his reaction, and says, “Yeah. Don’t talk about it.” She can’t keep her eyes off of him, either. Luke asks if she want to take her jacket off, and she snaps, “Cool it, horn dog, I’m not there yet.”

Friedman, who is dancing with Glynis, spins her out of control, and Glynis lands in Luke’s arms. Glynis smiles up at Luke like and idiot, Luke isn’t too sure what to do, and Grace clearly notices Glynis’ reaction to Luke. Couldn’t there be just a small, teeny, tiny bit of Grace that’s saying, “MINE”? Probably not, not yet. She’ll regret it. Friedman comes over to reclaim Glynis and Luke asks Grace if it seems like high school will never end. She nods as they stare at the fiasco that is Friedman and Glynis. [Shadowcrawler: It's like watching Artie Ziff and Big Bird.]

A little later, Grace has gone off and gotten drinks for herself and Luke, leaving Luke alone with Friedman (and Glynis, who is on the sidelines). Friedman makes a crack to Luke about Grace looking hot without her “femi-nazi” clothes. Luke asks, “Why am I friends with you?” Luke, sweetie, we’ve all been asking ourselves the same thing for a very, VERY long time! Grace comes back just in time to hear Friedman say, “Ok, seriously, invest in Birkenstocks now because you're doomed to a life of lesbian worship.” She stops, set the cups down on the table, grabs Luke, and kisses him. Long. Nice, very nice. Then she peals off his sports jacket, takes off her coat, and hands it to Luke before going to the dance floor. Luke passes Friedman and hands him Grace’s coat and joins her on the dance floor. Glynis is devastated. [Shadowcrawler: But we don't care.]

It has to be noted that Friedman is a major sleaze ball, but at least his sleaziness makes Grace react favorably. Grace is always rather bothered when people imply that she’s gay. It seems that what she objects to is people making assumptions about her based on the way she dresses and acts. It’s interesting that Friedman’s comments about her sexuality causes her to react so out of character: agree to go to the dance, kiss Luke. One could conclude that she’s overcompensating, but it’s only Friedman that makes her react that way, and only when Luke is around. Maybe she just really doesn’t want Luke to think that. If only Luke were that smart, but he’s not.

Jump

The Girardi’s are in the kitchen on a Sunday morning, and Luke announces that Grace is coming over to work on the science fair project, so could the family keep it down (Huh? Like the Girardi’s are such a rowdy bunch.). Kevin injects, “then you could make out with her?” Luke responds, “Grace kissed me once as a political statement. I don't expect it to happen again.” It’s possible that Grace told him that it didn’t mean anything, but it seems unlikely. It seems more likely that Luke came to that conclusion himself, probably to keep himself from getting hurt.

Later that morning, Grace enters Luke’s room, and Luke tells her he’s entered new equations for their project. Their science project is evidently a computer-generated model, and Grace is less than thrilled about it. She says, “You promised we’d build something.” Luke obtusely asserts that they did, and Grace says, “A real something, not a virtual, theoretical cyber-model,” and flops back on his bed. Luke then says. “Look, I've-- I've really enjoyed our collaboration. I--I feel our intellects and approaches really complement each other, and I was... you know, hoping you felt the same way.” Grace is still lying on the bed when he says this; she covers her face, clearly annoyed. She sits up and looks at him, and says, “Stop, stop. You're embarrassing me with your dirty talk,” in a mockingly husky voice. Luke is really embarrassed, and looks away, not knowing what to do.

The Girardi home is raided by the FBI that same day, and Luke’s computer, along with the project, is confiscated. Later on, Grace comes into the garage, where Luke and Kevin are, having gotten a message from Luke about the computer. They bicker about whether they’re going to give up, or go to plan B. Grace still wants to build the “cannon thing.” Luke says, “Could you possibly, by any stretch of the imagination, be referencing the rail gun?” Kevin tells him, “quit talking like the queen of England.” Grace grins at that.

Luke then goes to school and sees the project that Glynis and Friedman are working on. Friedman thinks he’s spying, but Luke tells him about the FBI raid. Glynis sweetly (*gag*) offers to let him join up with them, but Luke tells her the Grace wants to build something. Glynis looks rather disgusted, and says “Overnight?!” Yes, Glynis. Overnight. As in working alone together throughout the entire evening and into the wee hours of the morning. As in hands off, girlie! Back, back, BACK!!

Sorry.

Luke is visiting Kevin in the hospital, after Kevin’s basketball spill, and talks to him about his next move. He can try to build the rail gun with Grace, or he can salvage his dignity and work with Friedman (note, he just said Friedman, NOT Glynis! But I digress.[Shadowcrawler: He also said 'dignity' and 'Friedman' in the same sentence.]) Kevin tells him it’s no contest. Luke says, “Yes. Of course. Yet...all I see is contest.“ Kevin tells him to get over his fear of women or look at porn over the internet for the rest of your life. Luke tells him that not everything is about sex, and Kevin says “Well, not everything is about science.” Hee!

That night, Grace goes back to the Girardi’s after receiving a message from her father—the rabbi­—that Luke wants to spend the night together building a gun. Luke tells her that if they work through the night, they night be able to build a functioning rail gun, which, if they are lucky, will move a steel object a few inches. When Grace asks how big a steel object, Luke moves to the table and unveils a motor, which gets Grace really, really excited (not touching that one). [Shadowcrawler: I bet Grace watches Monster Garage.] Luke reminds her that the rail gun will most likely not work, and they’ll get laughed at by the scientific community, as that term applies to Arcadia High (read, nerdy zit-heads like Friedman). Grace walks over to Luke, stands very, very close to him, and replies, “So what you're tellin' me, dog, is there's no downside. Hmm?” Then she walks away, taking off her coat.

The next morning, when they finish, they wind up standing very close to each other, and Luke looks down at Grace. She finally brings her gaze up to him, and they’re both caught there, looking at each other. There’s definitely a moment there where Grace is clearly waiting for Luke to kiss her. Instead, Luke says, “Remember when you kissed me at the semiformal?” Grace says, “Yeah, forget it,” and then leaves. Clearly Grace wishes he’d kept his mouth shut, but it’s also as if his question gave her an “out” to the situation, which she took. Chicken. Luke smiles—cockily! Luke is *not* cocky, but here he is a little—and he says “Can’t un-ring a bell, baby.” One of the best lines ever. He KNEW he had her!

At the science fair, Luke and Grace set up the rail gun, and Luke hands the switch to Grace, allowing her to do the honors (what a sweetie!). She looks up at him, then throws the switch. Nothing happens for a few minutes, then the needle that measures the power starts going crazy. Luke yells “Get down!” and Luke and Grace hit the floor. The motor flies off the rail gun towards a water tank. Glynis is in front of it, and if the Chemistry teacher hadn’t ran to push Glynis out of the way, the motor would have hit her. We’re glad she’s safe….right? The motor hits a model of a dinosaur which tips over a bin of feathers, and causes them to fly EVERYWHERE. Then we see Grace and Luke stand up, look at the mess they caused, burst into wide smiles, and laugh.

Recreation

One day after the science fair, Grace sees Joan and Adam in the hall at school, and tells them about the anti-drug assembly that’s going on. Joan is less than excited, but Grace is pretty eager, saying it gets them out of homeroom. OK, unless things have changed in ten years, assemblies were as bad as, if not worse than, class. And why wouldn’t she just go ahead and skip both? We see her enter the assembly late, and make her way past a row of students so she can sit in the middle on the aisle by the slide projector. Again, why is she not sitting in the back, incredibly bored? Luke is operating the projector is why. The good “doctor” segues into talking about romantic love, and Luke’s eyes flicker down to Grace, who’s playing with her bangs, looking bored and uncomfortable at the same time. When the assembly ends, Grace quickly turns around and glances at Luke before leaving.

Later, Joan walks by Grace, who’s sitting on the stair railing, and Grace starts into her about her and Adam. Grace tells Joan that since Joan kissed him, Adam thinks they’re a couple, and Joan needs to do something about it. Hmm. Grace could probably take her own advice here, except that Luke has already seemed to come to terms with their kiss. Idiot. [Shadowcrawler: The kid is the stupidest genius...]

Joan solicits Luke’s help to plan the party. Luke is dubious, until Joan says a party includes people of the opposite sex, like Grace Polk. Luke admits interest without appearing at all flustered. How many 15 year old guys don’t get flustered when talking about girls they like? Luke is just cool.

Later at school Luke and Joan are discussing the fact that they’re not cool, so how are they going to spread the word. They see Grace at her locker, who asks them about the party and if she’s invited. Luke tells her, “Of course,” and Grace says, “I hate parties.” Luke assures her that it’s a different kind of party. Friedman and Glynis come over to discuss the party, and Glynis says that 20 seniors are coming. Who put her in charge?

At the party, the number of people there overwhelms Luke and Joan. Joan is surprised that people are having a good time, and Luke asks her isn’t this what she expected. Joan slips, and tells him she just does what she’s told. He looks at her questioningly, but forgets about her weird comment when Joan points out that Grace just came. They go over to Grace and Adam, and Joan volunteers Luke to play butler. Luke isn’t too thrilled with that, but he does take Grace’s coat without comment. Grace notices the tension between Joan and Adam, says she needs salt, and leaves with Luke following, still holding her coat. Of course, they’re not unobserved; the gawky, geeky Glynis follows Luke’s every move with her eyes.

Luke is then seen desperately trying to keep people out of the fridge, away from the “people food.” Glynis comes over to him, and suggests that he order pizza. She says, “Sometimes, it soothes the savage breast.” No, that’s not a typo. The words are spelled very similarly, but how in the world could someone say “breast” when they meant “beast”? If she wasn’t already unbearably annoying, she became so in that moment.

Love is blooming between Glynis and Luke, I’m sure. YUCK!

Luke turns to Grace and asks if she can help, and she replies, “apparently not.” She seems to be having a good time playing cards with people. Maybe she’s sickened (like the rest of us) by the sight of Glynis throwing herself at Luke, and is afraid of what she’ll do if she gets too close. [Shadowcrawler: There would probably be bloody, little pieces of Glynis scattered about the Girardi kitchen.]

Stretching again?

Later, Friedman and Glynis apparently found a photo album of Joan and Luke when they were little. They’re sitting on the couch, along with Luke, looking at it, and Luke looks miserable. The gratifying thing for everyone else is Grace is leaning over the back, between Luke and Friedman, and Glynis is clear on the other side of Friedman. Grace is obviously amused by the pictures, and when Luke tries to take away the album, she reaches out her hands to stop him. He’s still not happy about it, but he lets them look at it more. Can she be any more obvious?

After the police break up the party, Luke is lying on the couch, with a compress on his head, and his eyes closed. Grace is standing behind the couch, getting some food, and takes advantage of his closed eyes and looks at him for a few seconds.

State of Grace

When the high school gets new metal detectors, Grace sets off the alarm and has to remove her belly button ring. Everybody else watches, Joan in disgust, and Luke in shock. The creepy thing? Friedman and Luke have the same expression.

If you hate pain, quit reading. I wish I could quit writing.

In chemistry, Friedman asks Grace if getting her navel pierced hurt. Grace tells him to not talk about her navel, and he says that some people find pain erotic. Joan calls Friedman foul (truer words were never uttered), but he answers saying eroticism is a part of life. Glynis pipes up, telling the rest that the oddest things can arouse powerful feelings. Luke looks over at her, and she becomes flustered. OK, during the entire conversation between Friedman and Grace, Luke studiously kept himself from looking at Grace, which was probably smart (though decking Friedman would’ve been good too), so why does he have to give this look of slight interest to Glynis? Luke looks slightly uncomfortable by her interest. Oblivious would’ve been better. Grace looks over at Glynis, amused by her obvious attraction to Luke. Maybe she’d be less amused if she thought a hookup was possible. Grace then tells Joan and Adam that she’s going to sneak off campus for lunch, and asks who wants to join her. Here’s a thought, Grace. Take Luke!!!

But that didn’t happen. Instead, Friedman tells Luke to forget about Grace, and that he’s throwing him against the one gate that’s locked because he’s afraid to walk through to the garden. Luke tells him he’s not afraid to go through the gate, and then Friedman asks why does he always pass the gate that’s open. Does anyone else find this analogy just wrong? They can the gate talk and Friedman tells Luke that Glynis is wacky for him. Luke says that he can’t just transfer his feelings, but Friedman insists he can. Luke tells Friedman that he can take care of his own love life, and don’t we all wish that he believed that!!! Friedman walks off, and Glynis walks by, smiles and Luke, and Luke gives her a little smile and wave. Oh, Luke.

The day of Joan’s debate, Friedman and Luke see Glynis sitting on the stairs, preparing to oppose Joan. Friedman tells him to go, and Luke says he has doubts. Friedman, the maggot, tells Luke that he was wrong about Grace, so Luke's instincts have no validity. Luke approaches Glynis to wish her good luck in the debate, and Glynis notices that Luke is flushed and his breathing is rapidly shallow. They discuss the biological effects on their bodies as they slowly inch towards one another. As someone once put it, at this point they need to kiss just to get it over with. They finally kiss—awkwardly, it needs to be said—which lasts way too long. Glynis FINALLY pulls away, gives him one last look, and dashes down the hall. Luke turns to watch her with a small smile, which fades when he see Grace leaning against a wall, watching them. Grace manages to pull a smirk before she turns and leaves, but not before we see a little bit of hurt in her eyes. Luke looks pretty deflated after she leaves. Luke, you fool!

Night Without Stars

The next time they’re in Chemistry, Lischak is discussing liquid heating up, the molecules pounding into one another, and asks Luke what happens when they can’t stand it anymore. Luke, who’s in a funk, asks her to repeat the question, but still doesn’t know the answer. OK, liquid heating up and molecules getting excited is something Luke probably learned when he was five. Grace comments that the smarter they are, the harder they fall. Are her insults getting less and less….insulting? She’s pretty subdued, although she tries to be sarcastic about the point of knowing the boiling point. [Shadowcrawler: I'd say catatonic is more like it.]

Once class ends, Friedman razzes Luke about not knowing the answer, and Glynis jumps in, saying it’s her fault because she coughed and she should have anticipated it and there was a tickle, and my gosh, woman, will you please shut up! Which is the same thing Luke says. “It wasn’t your cough, Glynis, leave me alone!” Glynis bursts into tears and runs away. Grace razzes Luke, saying, “Stepping on the bunny, Girardi!” Is she jealous? Hurt? Why does she comment here? Oh, right, she *always* has a comment about Luke. Glad to see some things haven’t changed. Luke runs after Glynis, Friedman runs after Luke (Friedman has way too much invested in Luke and Glynis’ relationship), and Grace asks Joan, “What’s up with your brother?” Well, gee, Grace, let’s think about it for a moment, shall we?

Later Luke, Kevin, and Helen are in their kitchen. Kevin is giving Luke a hard time, saying that dating is beyond Luke, but if he wants pointers, Kevin will be happy to give some. Luke declines saying, “I have an extremely satisfying relationship with someone, both intellectually as well as physically.” Helen is stunned, and after both Kevin and Luke leave the house, Joan comes down the stairs. Helen asks Joan if Luke has a girlfriend, and Joan said, “Yeah. Glynis.” There were tears the night that aired. Since when did one kiss a girlfriend make? If that were the case, Luke would’ve had a girlfriend a long time ago!

Double Dutch

As Joan and Grace are walking downtown to the library, Joan is complaining about Adam and Iris being a couple, and mentions that even Luke, who is always more pathetic than she is, has hooked up with Glynis, making her look like a bigger loser. Grace’s face instantly changes from amused and sarcastic to uncomfortable and bummed when Joan mentions her brother. Joan, of course, is oblivious. Hello, Joan, do you pay attention to your best friend? Don’t go on about Luke and Glynis around her! Grace then makes an attempt to be positive and says the Adam and Iris won’t last, and one can’t help but think she’s been telling herself the same thing about Luke and Glynis.

As painful as this is, it must be mentioned that we see Grace walk past Luke and Glynis in the hall at school, who are holding hands. Luke doesn’t even seem to notice Grace, and he smiles and kisses Glynis. More tears fall from the viewers. We don’t see Grace’s face when she sees them, but it doesn’t take a lot of work to imagine her expression.

Luke spends a day with Will at the station, so we don’t have to endure him and Glynis, but we do have to endure Glynis moping around, missing him. Dude, it’s a day! Later, when Will and Luke have a heart to heart and sort things out, Will asks Luke about Glynis, and asks, “Do you really like her?” Luke laughs, nods, and says, “yeah.” Barf! [Shadowcrawler: In that scene, I like to pretend Luke actually said 'no, but she's the best I can do right now because I'm a moron and blew my chance to sieze Grace four episodes ago.']

Requiem for a Third Grade Ashtray

Grace, Joan, Adam and Iris are stocking up for a study session at the local convenient store, and an upcoming Chemistry test comes up in the conversation. Grace mentions that the Chemistry shouldn’t be a problem, because she has Luke’s notes. Joan asks, “Luke lent you his notebook?” Grace looks up at Joan and says, “I still have pull,” with a small smile. That’s good to know, and it’s good to know that Grace is pleased with that fact and isn’t afraid to use it! Obviously the pull was strong enough that he completely forgot that it had his space camp essay in it that was due soon. Of course, when he looked at his palm pilot he remembered he needed to get it in so he could spend the summer with Glynis. Come on, Luke, lending Grace the notebook is way more urgent than making sure you get to space camp.

Were there any secrets about Luke in that notebook for Grace to read?

Do The Math

Joan recruits Luke’s help in finding out who Richard Girardi is. When Luke refuses, Joan blackmails him by saying that she’ll tell their mother that he and Glynis are “Knocking boots.” Gah, the image!! Luke responds, “That would be spurious, manipulative fiction.” We’re going to believe him; it causes less trauma. [Shadowcrawler: Grace only gets like, two minutes of screen time in this episode. Which is way lame. And totally stupid, since at that point in the series' run (and for the duration thereafter, really), Grace was the most popular character.]

Anonymous

Adam and Joan finally hook up, and Joan freaks out about it, wondering why he dumped Iris for her. Grace is disgusted, and says, “Oh, see, this is why I'm not getting sucked into the whole dating ritual. You got what you wanted, and you're more of a mess than you were before. “ OK, so it’s not that she’s not interested in anybody, or that all the guys around completely disgust her. She has contemplated dating, just…rejects the idea. Hey, it’s something, it shows its been on her mind.

And of course, the next words out of her tell us who’s been on her mind. “Luke and the ostrich seem pretty happy, though,” Grace says as they pass the couple at his locker. She watches them for a few seconds, less than thrilled at the sight, and mentions that she didn’t think they’d last so long. Joan asks her if she even cares. Grace is startled by the question, but blows it off, saying, “Have I ever?” then makes a sudden getaway. [Shadowcrawler: I love how empathetic and sensitive Joan is toward her best friend right here.]

But she’s wrong; life isn’t perfect in geek paradise. Glynis obviously has a lot of expectations regarding Luke’s behavior and activity. She gives Luke a lot of dirty looks during a conversation they’re having with Friedman. OK, she might have a point since Luke goes into a trance as Friedman talks about a Catholic school, all girls in pleated skirts. Later, Friedman tells Luke that he got carpel tunnel from unhooking a bra strap. Luke, a really decent guy, especially for a 15 year old, gets a little heady over the idea. Guess his relationship isn’t as physically satisfying as he led on, huh?

Luke and Glynis have a date at the park, but Luke suggests they go play videos with Friedman. Glynis says fine, but she’s obviously upset that he’d want to do something other than what she wants. Luke caves, and agrees to go to the park. [Shadowcrawler: My first thought: I bet Grace would go play House of the Dead.] Later, Luke meets Friedman to play videos, and admits that he’s feeling pressure from Glynis. Heh. “Like...someone puts a pillow over your face and you can't breathe.” His words.

Vanity, Thy Name is Human

On the way to school, Luke tells Joan that he forgot to call Glynis until late the night before, and Glynis was sulky. He’s completely baffled, and complains about not being able to relax in relationships. That day in chemistry, Luke tells Glynis that he needs to have room for both her and M-brane Theory, but she gives him the cold shoulder. When Lischak tells the class about the cosmetics class, Glynis signs up, with a snotty look to Luke. Glynis goes to school the day after the class all made up, and gets a lot of attention. Luke notices, and isn’t sure how to react.

In the bathroom, when Joan and Glynis are preening, Joan tells Glynis that Luke is all about her. Joan has a blind spot a mile wide, doesn’t she? Glynis says she worries she can’t compete with his first love (M-brane Theory) and that he loves her only for her mind. Ok, Glynis. First, you’re right, you can’t compete with his first love, but we’re not talking about science. Second, are you so sure he loves you?

Grace and Joan are sitting on the steps in the hall, talking about Joan’s throwing down against the oppression of the eyebrow pencil, and Luke, Glynis, and Friedman walk up. Grace and Luke try hard not to look at each other, but fail, and both look pretty miserable. Joan gives Glynis a pep talk about not being a slave to society's fake, sexually exploitive view of external beauty. When she leaves, she walks right between Luke and Glynis. Grace follows her, taking the same path between the couple. That had to be satisfying.

Luke watches Grace leave. He tries to postpone it, but he finally tells Glynis that he wants her to be happy, and he needs to get out of the way so she can explore the new side of herself. Glynis walks away in tears, and Luke looks pretty down. Luke told Glynis that the reason he’s breaking up with her is that their relationship was based on a shared intellectual buffet, and one of the constants in that equation changed. OK, Luke is a really decent guy, so it’s hard to believe he couldn’t recognize that Glynis was still as smart as she’d always been just because she wore makeup. Seems pretty shallow.

Whatever. I’m over it.

The Gift

While everyone is running laps in P.E., Glynis tries to talk to Luke about why they broke up. Luke tells her that some equations don’t have definitive solutions, and they are such an equation. Glynis calls him a cold and heartless determinist. Luke runs backwards to Grace and Joan and tells them that Glynis is too intense, and he needs to switch study groups for the final. Joan rejects the idea, but Grace asks if they’ll be able to use his lab notes. He tells her, “of course,” and she says, “He’s in.” Yeah, the guy is a genius and he probably has great notes, but there’s more motivation than lab notes there. Joan shoos him away so she and Grace can finish their conversation, and Grace gives Luke a friendly little wave. Boy is it good to see them interact again! [Shadowcrawler: Preaching to the choir, dude.]

Later, Luke runs into Helen, and blows up at her when she gets to be a little too motherly. He apologizes, and she says he seems to be a jumble of feelings and he doesn’t want to look at them. She asks him that since he’s a scientist shouldn’t he examine things he doesn’t understand. Luke says no, because feelings cannot be reliable scientific determinants. Helen reminds him that feelings affect perception, and Heisenberg said that perception affects reality. Luke is surprised that Helen knows about Heisenberg, and Helen tells him, “I listen to you,” which causes Luke to open up. Luke says that he and Glynis made sense, but now he’s hurt her, and he’s sad and angry, and he doesn’t know what to do with all these feelings that he knows will make him look like a fool. He says that he needs a logical reason why he bought the geode he pulls out of his bag. Helen looks at it, tells him that it’s beautiful, and says, “For Glynis?” Luke looks at her, as if saying, “that would make life easy,” and then answers, “For Grace.”

Squeals finally replace tears throughout the world.

After what has been entirely too long, Luke and Grace actually talk. They meet to study for the Chemistry exam. Joan and Adam are supposed to meet with them, but they’re off doing the gift thing that Joan is so bent on. Grace tells Luke that gift-giving is just a ploy to keep capitalism going. Luke is noncommittal, and Grace assumes he got something for Glynis, and makes a comment about how they were only together for about three weeks. (Joan also made a comment to Luke earlier about him not holding onto Glynis for a month, but come on! Luke and tweety bird were together for almost half a season. A. Very. Long. Time. So, unless the season is supposed to be around two months, Luke and Glynis were together for longer—excruciatingly longer—than a month. [Shadowcrawler: That's one thing that really grates my nerves, those two comments. At this point in the series, the episode-to-episode continuity was absolutely fantastic. Now, No Bad Guy and Night Without Stars had terrible in-episode continuity, but I digress.]) Luke said he thought about getting her Richard Feynman's lectures on Physics, but it seemed so…. Grace helps him out, and offers, “Lame?”

She is really entertained by Luke as he rambles about how a gift should just happen, not be over-thought. After a bit, Grace clues in, and asks him if he’s already interested in somebody else. Luke dodges the question, but Grace figures he is, and suddenly she’s not so amused anymore. She’s so thrown by it, that she lets slip that Joan and Adam are taking their relationship to the next level. Luke kind of freaks out about that, but after a minute takes out the Geode and hands it to Grace. Grace takes it, and slowly realizes that she is the somebody else! She gets a goofy grin on her face, and tells him this is weird. He agrees, tells her he doesn’t care, and then they focus on their Chemistry. The class kind.

Silence

After spending the day at the hospital, where Joan was admitted for Lyme Disease, Luke walks Grace home. Grace tells Luke he didn’t need to walk her home, but Luke says that going home with Kevin seemed ungentlemanly. That gets Luke rambling about walking and smart versus intelligence, and the stars. Grace, having enough, suddenly stops and asks Luke why did he give her that rock. Luke tells her it’s a geode, then says it’s a gesture of friendship, possibly courtship. Grace laughs (not unkindly) when he says, “courtship,” and tells him that the word is out of date. Then she asks him if he broke up with Glynis because of her. Luke says, “no, don’t be ridiculous.” Grace nods and agrees that that would be ridiculous. After Grace begins walking again, Luke asks why would that be ridiculous.

Grace lists a lot of reasons, none of which are at all the real reason. She tells him that she’s friends with his sister, and older than him, has a reputation to protect, is anti, and never even going to fall in like. Luke doesn’t buy any of it, and keeps on her about it, telling her that if she’s so anti, she should like the idea of them. When he goes into a spiel about how love is irrational and there’s a chemical reaction that occurs that eliminates all reason, Grace finally tells him her last reason, the biggest lie of all. Grace yells, “I’m not into you, got it?” Luke stops rambling, looks as if he believes her, but then her eyes give her away with a look of defeat. They move towards each other and kiss passionately, sweetly, beautifully.