From This Moment On
It sort of continues where 7.22 left off. Hope you guys like it.
Chapter 1 – I left my heart in San Fransisco
She knew it could happen, she knew there was a possibility for her to be here. The thing was that she didn't know it would come this fast, this soon.
San Francisco.
It was where he lived, where he worked, where he slept, where he ate, where he did all the things she loved about him. And perhaps this was also the place where he had moved on.
Ever since they had broken up, Rory had no contact with Logan in any way.
When she had spoken with her grandmother over the phone, she had mentioned Logan, or more specifically her grandmother had spoken with Shira who was raving about how well Logan was doing in San Francisco, how he had gotten settled and enjoyed his job.
Her grandmother had apologized for bringing up the subject, but also told her that she thought that most likely she would have liked to known how Logan was fairing. She hadn't pried for more information about Logan, and why she had said no to his proposal. Her grandmother didn't even wonder when at graduation Logan walked away from her. Everyone knew the answer and knew it was already difficult enough for her to deal with. She appreciated the sentiments and the sympathy, but she wasn't sure if she was deserving of it.
By know she still hadn't figured out who was to blame for the break up.
Was it Logan who was at fault? At first the thought had come to mind, why didn't he give their relationship a chance? They had given the long distance relationship thing a try a few months earlier, and that worked out. It had worked out perfectly. They had even come out stronger because of it. The thought that giving her an ultimatum was a bad decision had also come to mind. Why had he done that? An ultimatum?
But now she had to admit that by now she was doubting that thought badly, the thought to blame Logan. She had to admit that partially blame also lay with her, with the both of them.
It wasn't like she regretted saying no, a lot of doors remained open, a lot of opportunities lay there, waiting to be taken. It had lead to the opportunity to follow Barack Obama throughout the country, a wonderful opportunity for a starting journalist like herself. If she had gone to California she probably wouldn't have gotten this opportunity, perhaps it wouldn't even have been offered to her. There was the fact though that at the time of her saying 'no' there was no offer there, but going with Logan to San Francisco, that would have changed a lot of things. It would have closed a lot of doors, a lot of great opportunities. Sure, there were fantastic papers there, she had even submitted a few resumes at those papers, but the fact was that if she had gone to California, it also meant that it would become her home.
She knew that Logan had no intention to hold her back, but had she gone with him to San Francisco, she could have never taken this opportunity, or any other big opportunity for that matter. Because engaging yourself to a man, to Logan, it would also mean that you would have to build a future together. Not that they weren't already doing that during their relationship, but when you get engaged it obviously leads to marriage and in a few years starting to have a family. Things she would have loved to share with Logan, things she had dreamt of sharing with Logan. But getting engaged, getting married, also meant creating a stabile environment, or at least the start of a stabil environment. She didn't want to limit herself to only one place, she had always wanted to travel the world as a journalist, to see things, to write about that and to just enjoy the world as it was. She knew that Logan was also aware of this, she had mentioned it often and they had discussed it. Apparently reality and discussing the possibility at that time were two different things, often things seemed better in their minds at that time, then when reality kicked in and things took a turn.
But on the other hand, the no also meant that the relationship was over, a two year long relationship that had grown deeply over the years. She hadn't expected that when she first said no to his offer, his proposal, their relationship would also end. She thought that they could continue their relationship, even if it were long distance.
She could understand his ultimatum and reasonings to some level though, going back to long distance would be a step back. They had moved on from the long distance relationship, especially when he returned to New York and she was in New Haven, it had worked. The distance between them was much shorter and it became much easier to see each other, but the distance between her staying at the east coast, and him in California, was again a big distance. They would fall back into the London period, despite that the distance was still smaller when compared to London, but they would take a step back. Logan was right about that.
He was also right that their relationship had to move forward, she had graduated, he had a new job, they both had a new start in their life, and together they had to take the next step. But marriage, that wasn't a step she was ready for.
It had hurt her deeply to turn him down, but for some reason she also didn't quite understand why he had planned everything without telling her, such big decisions about their life. He should have told her, especially since he had told her a few weeks earlier that he would factor her in, and that he'd follow her around. Then again, the situation had changed slightly when Logan found a job, but they had never discussed what would happen if Logan found a job before she would. Apparently their communication wasn't that great yet.
The bottom line though was that she missed him. Period.
"Excuse me," a voice interrupted her thoughts, Rory looked up from her seat in the bus. The bus that would take her San Francisco.
"Yes?"
"Can I sit here?" the woman asked.
"Sure," Rory smiled as she removed her bag from the seat next to her. The woman sat down and grabbed her laptop, but not before Rory noticed the huge diamond ring on her finger. "Congratulations."
The woman send her a confused look.
"You have a beautiful ring on your finger, I figured you got engaged," Rory smiled.
"Oh yes, thank you. My fiancee asked me about a month ago," the woman.
"And you said yes," Rory sighed and the woman nodded. "Is he a journalist as well? Because you travel a lot, you must miss him."
"He owns his own restaurant, he's bound to stay in Boston," the woman replied sadly.
"Wow, it must be hard to have a relationship like that," Rory commented.
"It's not that difficult. It's as difficult as you make it out to be. We talk to each other over the phone a lot, and I manage to make a trip to Boston sometimes if I have the time," the woman replied. "We manage to get through it. And there's always the holidays." And she turned back to her laptop.
It was funny how remarkable this situation was. This woman was managing to make it work.
The situation was different though, since they were able to make a long distance relationship work and both were open to that idea.
A few hours later they finally arrived in San Francisco, all the reporters had two days off since there was no campaign trail this weekend. So Rory decided on calling her mother, something she did about 2 or 3 times a week, and if she didn't call, it was her mother who would call.
"Hey mom," Rory said somewhat sadly.
"What's wrong hun?"
"I've arrived in San Francisco," Rory said as she remained on the street, in front of her hotel where she would be staying the next few days.
"I'm sorry," Lorelai sympathized.
"It's okay. It's just painful. Knowing he's around here somewhere, it just still hurts. I thought the pain would go away, slowly and painfully. But it's still the same," Rory sighed.
"It will be less painful hun. One day," Lorelai offered some comforting words.
"That's what you told me a month ago as well," Rory told her mother.
"Sometimes I'm wrong kid. It happens,' Lorelai slightly joked, and a small chuckle came from Rory.
"It's just that during my day off today and tomorrow I might just run into him. I know that San Francisco is big, but there's the chance you know. And often things like that happen when you least want it to, and right now I can't face him. It would hurt, be painful, be awkward and just plain uncomfortable on many levels. Or maybe I'm just being worked up about nothing," Rory rambled.
"It could happen," Lorelai said softly. "So how else are things down there?"
"It's pretty here. Sun is shining brightly, lots of people on the streets," Rory summed.
"That's San Francisco for you," Lorelai replied dryly.
"And music is playing loudly at a cafe across the street," Rory commented sadly. "They play 'I'm walking on Sunshine'"
"Seems to fit the weather," Lorelai joked lamely.
"Paris sang that," Rory commented sadly.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to prevent that from happening. The things that Paris can do is simply astounding," Lorelai remarked.
"Paris sang that when she and Doyle got together during our second year at Yale. When she sang that song she talked about how we both found our men and then Logan came by," Rory told her mother. "Isn't it silly how the most silliest things can remind you of somebody, or certain situations."
"I'm sorry kid. Today I'm incapable of cheering you up, and I'm totally lacking on jokes. I blame Michel who put decaf in the coffeemaker at the Inn," Lorelai said.
"Decaf. How dare he!" Rory replied.
"It's like giving sugar to a diabetic," Lorelai commented. "Dangerous."
Rory stiffled a small laugh. "Speaking of coffee, I could use some. I'll talk to you later mom."
"Sure thing hun. Bye."
The line went dead and Rory put her phone away, and headed to the small coffee kiosk at the other side of the street. She could definitely need some right now.
She ordered her coffee and turned around when she came face to face with the person she had wanted to avoid at all costs while she was here.
"Rory?" Logan's voice rang through her head.
Time to face the music.
Author's note:
Sorry for the cheesy ending, but they just had to run into each other.
Read and review please!