The first time he realizes he loves her as more than a best friend they're staying in a hotel in Paris.
"And then we can go to the Eiffel Tower, and then age the Louvre." She added excitedly, gesturing widely with her hands.
Chase nodded his head with, mirroring her wide grin. "Yeah, sure, that's a great idea."
"Great! Then we can go and get dinner at some fancy french restaurant that we should probably call and reserve a table for…" Rory continued. "I should probably go and call that fancy restaurant." She ran off to go and find her phone (the one that sat on the coffee table, previously in front of her) and call the fancy restaurant.
He decides against telling her where her phone is.
"Have you seen my phone?" She yells her room. "Nevermind," She yells a second later. "I'll just call it."
Than she forgets her phone was on silent.
"Where is it," Rory moans, dramatically falling to the ground.
"Is this it?" He asks innocently, handing her the phone. Her eyes go wide and her eyebrows shoot up, "You knew where it was the whole time, didn't you." She says, nose wrinkling in what he thinks is discuss.
"Of course not," He says, waving her off. She glares at him once more before snatching the phone from his grasp and stalking off to her room to make the call.
She reappears a second later with a frown on her face. "They're fully booked," She reports, collapsing on the couch next to him.
"There's always french street food or cute cafes," Chase says, grabbing his own phone so that he can correctly recommend some of his own suggestions.
Rory nods her head, smile returning from earlier. "Ohh, that's a good idea… yeah, that could definitely work."
She jumps up from the couch and grabs her purse, "Come on, we've got to get to the Eiffel Tower if we want to spend a sufficient amount of time at the Louvre," Rory says excitedly while grabbing his hand in an attempt to pull him off the couch.
They spend the rest of the day around Paris.
"We'll take whatever the chef recommends," She says, handing the waiter their menus. The guy nods his head. "I'll be back in a second with your drinks."
"Did you just order for me?" Chase asks, disbelief etched across his face.
Rory nods her head, "Yeah, did you want something different, 'because you can order something different if you want," He shakes his head, "Nah, I'm fine, I didn't even know what more than two items were on that menu,"
She laughs and nods her head. "Neither did I." She pauses before talking again. "So how are things with Adelaide?" She asks, nervously biting her lip.
"Ohh, we broke up," Chase responds. "How come?" Rory asks mentally and physically cringing "I mean, if you want to tell me- it's not like you have too because we're like best friends or anything- but...yeah,"
He waves her off, "It's fine, I just kind of realized that I loved her but I wasn't really in love with her- you know what I mean?" He desperately wants to add and I may be in love with my best friend too. But he doesn't.
"Well… it's good that you realized that before you fully committed to something like marriage," Rory says, smiling over at him. He nods his head and they don't mention anything that has to do with dating for the rest of dinner.
The first time she realizes she loves him, they're back in LA on Valentine's Day.
"Come in," Rory yells from her kitchen.
"How can you be so sure I'm not some serial killer or something?" The person at the door asks incredulously.
"Are you a serial killer?" Rory asks, rolling her eyes to herself.
"Nope,"
"Then you can come in."
Chase goes straight to the kitchen, setting a box of of something on the counter. "What are you doing?" He asks at the sight of Rory's kitchen.
She wrinkles her nose at him. "Isn't it obvious? I'm cooking." He nods his head slowly, "You could call it that… maybe…"
She's about to reach over and punch him in the shoulder when she notices the box on the counter. "What are those- wait, is that chocolate?" Chase nods his head. "Yep, I realized I didn't get you anything for Valentines day so I picked up some chocolates on the way here."
"You didn't have to get me anything," She says, shaking her head. "It's not like we're a couple- or anything,"
"So? I can still get my best friend chocolates on Valentine's day." He says, opening the box of chocolates and grabbing one. "At least I didn't get you flowers. That would really make us look like a couple."
"But I didn't get you anything." Rory says, wrinkling her nose.
"If you stop making a mess in the kitchen and come watch whatever cheesy chick flick is playing at the cinema, I'll be happy," Chase says, grabbing her coat and purse and holding them out to her.
Rory rolls her eyes before grabbing her coat and purse from his hands.
The first time he says I love you to her, it's the middle of the night and he thinks that she is fast asleep.
It is also the first time she says I love you back.
"I'm gonna head home for the night," Rory says, attempting (and failing) to stifle a yawn.
Chase shakes his head at her. "You look way too tired to drive yourself home." He tells her. "I'm gonna drive you home," He adds sticking out his hands for her car keys.
She rolls her eyes but obliges.
Without traffic (a phenomenon for LA that Rory has only experience twice) it takes about 30 minutes. With traffic, it could take upwards of three hours.
They were not lucky.
"Why aren't we moving? The light is fucking green!" Chase yells to no one in particular.
Rory nods her head in agreement. "If I wasn't so tired, I would yell with you," Rory informs him. "But since I am, it would be nice if you could be a little less loud…"
It takes them an hour and a half to get to Rory's apartment.
"We're here," Chase announces to a snoring Rory. "Wait, are you sleeping?" He tilts his head, admiring her for a split second. "Hey," He says gently. "We're here."
"Oh hey Chase," She says drowsily. "Are we home yet?"
He rolls his eyes at her. "Yep," He responds, gesturing at her house.
"Nice," She says, stretching out her arms. She steps out of the car, only stumbling once on her way to the house.
Chase unlocks the door and Rory begins to contemplate whether or not she can make it to the bedroom.
"Hey, can I spend the night here?" Chase asks. "I don't really feel like enduring the traffic again."
She nods her head, "Sure,"
It doesn't take long for both of them to get settled in for the night.
Rory falls asleep as soon as she hits the bed. "Goodnight," He whispers to her, fully aware of her state.
"I love you."
He falls asleep before she respond with her own "I love you,"
The first time they say it while both fully conscious.
"I had such an amazing day!" Rory gushes, widely grinning. "Thank you so much for this," She adds, motioning around them happily.
"What exactly did I do?" Chase asks, tilting his head the exact way that he knows Rory thinks is cute.
"You took the day off work so we could spend time together and you set up a picnic and you talked and… Well I think that's about it."
Chase grins, "Maybe I should not try more often,"
She shakes her head and playfully hits him on the shoulder, "Yep. You should definitely not try more often," She replies nodding her head in a mock serious fashion.
And then suddenly, she actually serious.
She bites down softly on her lip, a nervous tick of hers, "I love you much," Rory says softly.
At first he kind of thinks that someone died or she has cancer or something.
Then he realizes he's a complete idiot.
And that she loves him.
"I love you too."