Pirate Day
A/N: I can't seem to stop writing lately! Rayc Petite, I may just be bipolar :P. Angst, fluff...I write it all at the same time. In all seriousness, though, I love writing my stories randomly like this; it saves me things like filler chapters that I don't want to bother with. Patience is not one of my virtues when it comes to writing. This is the earliest of all of the stories so far. Not too long after the season six finale. A few months, maybe even a little over a year. And I promise, guys, that I won't keep you in suspense for too long. I do have a fic written already that explains Wallow. I'll post it soon-ish. Once again, if you're wondering about any other time in their lives, just ask me and I'll write it out. And once again, please review. I'll love you forever. Read on!
"Ahoy, matey!"
She could hear his smile in his words, and it comforted her. "Hey, babe. Channelling Captain Hook today?"
She gasped dramatically. "You don't know?"
"Afraid not."
"It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day!"
"Ah. That is something you would know."
"Thank you," she said, treating his words like a compliment. "You poor thing. Everyone should be aware of Pirate-Talk Day."
"I am truly sorry, Ace. I would have gotten a parrot if only I'd known."
She giggled. "Seriously. You're deprived."
"I definitely am."
"You should come back home. I don't know how you're surviving without me."
"Trust me, Ace, neither do I."
"I wonder what 'I love you' is in pirate language," she mused. "Hey, can you Google it?"
"Not near a computer right now," he laughed. "Sorry."
"Where are you?" she asked curiously.
"Underground."
"You mean the underground, right? Not like, under the ground."
"Technically, Ace, I am under ground." At her exasperated sigh, he continued, "Yeah, the underground."
"Where are you going?"
"Lunch meeting. Hey, Rory?"
"Yeah?" she asked brightly, tracing patterns on the sheets. She was lying in bed; it was only seven in the morning.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Why do you ask?" she asked pleasantly, but in a tone that said don't ask me again.
"God, Ace. You sound like Emily Gilmore."
Rory winced and made several faces before saying, empathetically, "No!"
"Sorry, sorry."
"Better be." She twirled some hair around her finger idly. "I miss you, that's all."
"That's all? I'm flattered."
"I can't wait to see you again," she said wistfully, ignoring him. "Colin and Finn took me out to get drunk last night."
"Oh, god. Ace, where did you wake up this morning?"
She smirked at his panicked words. "Safe and sound in my own bed."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"As in, without Finn?"
"Yes again."
"Finn didn't even make a pass at you?"
"Of course he did. That doesn't mean I slept with him." Finn was the source of too many running jokes. Rory sometimes had a hard time keeping track of them.
"Finn, you are so dead…" muttered Logan, unsure of whether or not she was kidding.
"Don't worry, honey," she said soothingly. "The nice guy who brought me home already punched him."
"Don't joke," Logan said sharply.
"Sorry, matey. Want to make me walk the plank?" She asked teasingly, relaxing a little. Talking to him was such pure relief.
She missed him every moment or every day. Yesterday, the bartender had checked her out as he handed her her martini and leaned closer to her. "You have incredible eyes," he'd said.
"Thanks," she'd said sweetly but guardedly. She was used to those looks, those wandering eyes.
"I've never slept with a girl with eyes that gorgeous."
"How sad for you," she'd said dryly, leaning away a little.
He narrowed his own eyes, which were dull but hungry. "I'd like to have the experience."
"I wish you nothing but luck in all your future endeavours."
"You're a funny one," he'd said with a near-menacing chuckle. He pushed his way into more of her personal space. "I'd like to have the experience withyou."
"As much as it devastates me to inform you of this…I have a boyfriend."
"Course you do."
"Uh, no. Really, I do. We've been together for quite a while now. It's a commitment thing. Complete with strings and all that jazz."
"Strings? Guitars have strings. You're a beautiful girl, not a guitar."
"How nice of you to notice. But my point is: I'm not about to cheat on him."
"Come on, baby. What that boyfriend of yours doesn't know can't hurt him."
Her eyes had flashed when he'd called her 'baby', but Finn appeared at side before she could say or do anything.
"Doll, there you are. I've missed you and those baby blues. My girl's got great eyes, doesn't she?" he'd asked the bartender, all smiles though his tone was cold.
"Oh, he's noticed already," Rory'd said, narrowing her eyes, which seemed to be the main topic of conversation that evening.
"Good man," Finn had said cheerfully, and then leaned in to kiss her to enforce that he was her 'boyfriend'.
Much to her surprise, she'd found herself kissing him back, slipping her tongue between his lips. Finn, who was well aware of how serious she and Logan were getting, pulled back. "Love…?" he'd asked, his eyes searching hers.
She'd burst into guilty, angry, embarrassed tears and let Colin and Finn gather her up and get her home. She'd rambled drunkenly and tearfully about how much he'd reminded her of Logan at that moment, how much she missed her boyfriend. She'd sobbed as they entered her apartment building, babbling about cheating on Logan and what a horrible person she was.
She'd thrown up several times and had lain on the bathroom floor, weeping silently, as Finn gently assured her that one kiss did not, in any way, qualify as cheating. She'd allowed Finn to carry her to bed and tuck her in.
She woke up at six o'clock that morning, nauseous but starving. Finn had walked over to her, looking sleepy but alert. He'd repeated what he'd said to her the night before, handed her a cup of coffee, and dropped a kiss on her forehead before leaving the apartment, shutting the door quietly behind him.
She'd lazed in bed for a while, sipping coffee. She'd tried to read but a book, for once, could not distract her. She'd tried watching TV, calling Lane, and writing the article she needed to send to the YDN. But nothing could make her feel better. When she at least felt a little less hung over, she got up and made herself a bagel. After polishing it off, she curled back under the covers, and called her boyfriend.
"No, Ace," Logan laughed on the other end of the line as an automated female voice recited "Putney. Mind the Gap." in the background. "You don't have to walk the plank. I'll forgive you this once, but only if you swab the deck."
"Shiver me timbers!" Rory replied.
"I'll have you know that at least three people just looked at me like I was insane, Ace."
"I must be rubbing off on you," she said proudly, reaching over to run her index finger over his face in the picture of the two of them she kept on her nightstand.
"Believe me, Ace, I wish you were."
"Your mind's in the gutter, Huntzberger. And I still maintain that it's unfair that you have a nickname for me while I don't have one for you."
"Master and Commander was a perfectly good option."
"No! First of all, it's a movie. Second of all, your ego does not need inflation. And thirdly, it sounds dirty."
"Who's mind is in the gutter now, huh?"
She just smiled. Talking to him allowed her to slip into blissful oblivion.
But only for a few minutes.
"Sorry, Ace, but I've got to go. I'm supposed to be at my meeting in about thirty seconds."
"Good luck," she said softly.
"Thanks, babe," he said lovingly. "Hey, listen."
"All ears."
"Last night sucked. I missed you so much. I'm going to see if I can sneak a trip in soon, okay?"
"Did Finn call you?" she asked with a sigh. "Because, really, Logan, if it's going to interfere with your work…" she trailed off. Her words had no feeling behind them, anyway. She wanted him home.
"What are you talking about? What about Finn? I'll talk to you soon, okay? Love you."
The dial tone sounded loudly in her ear, but she gazed at her phone affectionately. Finn hadn't called him. That meant…that meant that he did honestly miss her just as much, and that he was as anxious for a visit as she was. That, above all else, made her feel better. Her head, heavy until that moment, seemed light all of a sudden. She jumped out of bed and made her way over to the TV. It was time to watch an episode of The Twilight Zone. Rory had never been an overly romantic person, but at the moment, she felt like hugging a pillow to her chest as she waited in suspense, maybe even swooning a little. Never before had her blissful oblivion lasted after Logan had hung up.