Chance and Fate.
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Rory Gilmore was in a hurry. She was always in a hurry, or maybe just always late. But this time, this time she was really screwed. Shit, this time her boss
was going to kill her. Seriously kill her. Like never find a job in this humongous city ever again kill her. No, like never see the light of day again kill her. Yep,
that's the one. Definitely the one. He was going to kill her.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Logan Huntzberger was alone. For once in his life he was actually one hundred percent all by himself. He wouldn't be in a matter of minutes, but for now he
was alone. Alone to think about her. Or not. Self-pity, or lack of, was never his style. One more girl out of his not-so-little black book. That was all she was
to him. Nope. Thinking about his next kill was much more his style. Never alone for long.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
As the cars flew down the street in front of her, Rory skimmed the rush hour traffic for a cab. For the cab that she so desperately needed in order to
survive. Not that she would have any issue getting a cab. Or surviving this nightmare of a day. Her boss knew it. Her newspaper stand guy knew it. Hell,
everyone knew it – and if you caught her on a good day, she did too. Yep, Rory was gorgeous. Not merely pretty or pleasant to look at – gorgeous. Traffic
stopped for her. At least usually it did. Today she wasn't having such luck. Rory was just about to take the drastic measure of riding in a city bus when she
saw it. Literally her last hope, it would take a last ditch attempt, it might even wreck the six-inch Jimmy Choos that she had so far managed not to break an
ankle in, but nonetheless there was a cab inching its way towards her down Fifth Avenue.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Logan's cab was slowly making its way to his meeting. The meeting that would officially make his father proud of him. Well, at least a guy could dream.
Logan was already an independent, successful businessman with the charm and looks to match, but his father could never see it that way. Nope, unless he
could move the stars and moon his father would never even recognize that he existed. And even so that would be a stretch. But Logan was happy. He had
made himself into what he was and he never looked back. Until this weekend that is. The weekend when he would get the past slung in his face. Yep, once
this multi-million dollar meeting was finished Logan was rushing to the airport and joining the "family" for his parent's thirtieth anniversary party. Not that his
father wasn't fucking his secretary for twenty-five of those years, and not that his mother wasn't constantly checking in and out of rehab, further reducing the
amount of time she spent with her cheating spouse, nope, all of that was besides the point. In fact, for Logan, the only point was that his sister wanted him to
be there. That was more than enough for him. She was the only woman in the whole world who had always been there for him, and he would do anything in
his power to return that debt to her.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
What the fuck, thought Logan as his cab swung across two lanes of traffic, apparently to pick up another passenger. Two minutes ago the guy couldn't drive
any less aggressively and now… Oh. Now he had spotted a hot girl and something other than his head took over the driving. Only today. Only today
would an occupied cab just pick up another person. Just Logan's luck. All he could do was sit in the back of the cab cursing his luck. That the cab driver
would even think that he had a chance with this girl was laughable at best, although the hilarity of it was lost on Logan when he saw that the girl was none
other than his ex-girlfriend, or worse, his almost fiancée. She who must not be named had just entered the cab. Panting and out of breath, she was still
gorgeous. Or maybe that made her more gorgeous. Whatever it was, she was still gorgeous. Still. And that wasn't even the issue. The issue was that she
was still the most gorgeous girl he had ever laid eyes on. Suddenly one look at her and none of his models could compare. The most gorgeous ever. Ever.
That was the issue. That she could still affect him like that was pathetic. He knew that. He had proposed to her. Fucking proposed to her, and all she could
tell him was that she couldn't shut those doors. She had turned him down in the worst possible way, the heart-breaking way, and she was still gorgeous. She
had rejected him, didn't love him or want to try to love him, just like his parents. And he hated them for it, so why couldn't he hate her? He thought he was
on his way to hating her. Or at least to not loving her, but one look and he could see that she had only grown more gorgeous.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Rory slid into the cab and breathed a sigh of relief. The slight fear of her boss that had existed in the back of her mind could be put aside. It could be
replaced with the more real fear that the cab driver would actually want some money for his services… But with Rory's big blue eyes that could get her
almost anything she wanted, maybe the biggest fear was that she couldn't flirt with the gorgeous man sitting beside her and still hope to get a free cab ride.
Oh well. That's what emergency company charge cards are for, right? Actually, come to think of it, flirting might not be such a bad option. She couldn't see
his face, but from what she could see, the guy beside her definitely had money and maybe he would be willing to give her some of that money in return for
some attention. Not that it looked like he was in need of attention. He was the hottest guy she had seen in a long time. And she couldn't stop the thought
from emerging that he was maybe even hotter than her fia… ex-boyfriend. And for her that was saying something. She had loved him so much, wanted to
marry him so much. Wanted to be a family with him so much. At the time she thought she didn't want that quite as much as she wanted to please her
mother, but time had cured her of that idea. But she couldn't turn back – she had rejected him and in true Rory style she was embarrassed. Hence the fact
that she had missed all the Hartford gatherings of the past two years – avoidance might as well have been her middle name. No one could understand there.
Not that anyone here could understand, or even knew about him, but it was somehow worse at home. In Hartford there was no such thing as love. There
were connections and mergers but no real relationships. That's why, when Logan had left for California, she had hastily jetted out to New York – far away
from him and far away from the place where she discovered that he was her only reason for sticking around.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Look out the window. Pretend to be interested in the buildings. People watch. Don't turn around at all costs. As far as Logan could tell, Rory hadn't
realized that it was him and he was doing everything in his power to keep it that way. Maybe it was for the best this way. Some people would call it fate, but
Logan was far past believing in fate. Fate had given him a crappy family and taught him not to trust anything, that was all fate had ever done for him. Made
him a cynic. Yep. He was just fine without the awkward conversation that would follow if she knew it was him. And there would be a conversation. That he
knew. Because even though she had turned him down so brutally, Rory was nothing if not the sweetest person ever. There was that word again. Ever. She
wasn't ever going to be with him, so he needed to not think about her ever again. In reality, he could shift the meaning all he wanted but he still had the issue
of getting through this hellish cab ride to deal with before the all of the evers could be answered.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The cab driver glided into his double-parked position on the south side of Central Park and glared at the occupants of his cab. As if they were the ones that
weren't being speedy enough. As if he hadn't just taken two hours to get across a distance of about fifteen miles. Which he clearly had. Well, at least the
ride was over. Logan couldn't wait to get done this meeting and get home, forget all about this blast to the past, and move on to the next one, it couldn't get
any more painful than this one. The painful past. Ever since that day, that term was reserved for her. That past was exactly why he had hastily left for
California. A week of awkward run-ins and avoidance of what had happened between them, Logan just couldn't take it anymore. He was better off alone
without her than seeing her everyday, knowing that he could never touch her ever again. They had come so close. For months before that night they had
been nearly inseparable, they had been talking about the future, he had been planning on proposing to her. He had thought that they had a chance of being
happy forever. And after her rejection. After her rejection all he could think about was how much he wanted her back in his life. In his arms. In his bed. His
mind wandered. So close. He just about hadn't gone through with it. He had wanted to, no doubt about that, but something had held him back. Too bad it
couldn't have held him back for any longer because he lost her. But, then again, judging by the aftermath of the proposal, she wasn't ready for any contact
with him, much less marriage. Well, if that was how she wanted it, that was how she was going to get it. Now he just had to get out of this cab
unrecognized.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard a voice. As he was paying the driver for the ride he heard a voice. And finally, as he was about to step out of
the cab the voice got through to his brain. Her voice. He had forgotten about her voice. It was like nothing he had ever heard. It made him want to turn
around. He knew that he shouldn't, actually couldn't based on the reaction that a certain section of his lower body was currently having to her, but
something about that voice made him stop. She needed money. She called him sir. In that one instant he felt both worry and pain course through his body.
Did she really need help? The girl he knew would have died before asking a stranger for money. And that's where the hurt came from. To her, he was just a
stranger, just a sir. Did he mean that little to her? Was he that unmemorable? Had she really felt that little for him? He knew he would never forget anything
about her. Her laugh, her smile, her skin, her hair. Her taste. So why had she been able to forget about him so easily? He had always at least held out the
hope that she was suffering a fraction of as much as him, that she had cared for him in some little way, if not as a lover than as a friend. But apparently not.
Still, something made him need to help her. He needed to know that she was okay. He needed her to be fine.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
She was actually screwed now. To her amazement she had seen that the gorgeous man was getting out at the same office building as she was, and for a
minute her hopes had been high. But then he hastily paid the driver and moved to get out of the vehicle and she had yet to make her move. Okay. So this
was going to be slightly more embarrassing than slowly working her way up to mentioning that she had no money on her. All of a sudden the words were
out of her mouth. She had just asked a complete stranger for money. If anyone could see her now they would laugh uncontrollably at her. Anyone who
knew her had always said that she would end up in a situation like this. After that fateful day she had become a complete scatterbrain. A smart scatterbrain,
but a mess nonetheless. She almost cried when the man made no move to stop his exit from the cab. Any warm-blooded male would kill for a chance with
her, what was the matter with him? He had to have seen her, and sure she stumbled a little in those sky-high heels, but she knew she looked good. How
could he have seen her and not want to help her. In fact, for all he knew she could have been calling him back to take her right then and there in the
backseat of the cab. And no guy didn't want that. Except for the one that she wasn't thinking about. After she rejected him so brutally, there was no
possible way he would ever want that with her again. She could still remember his words, his final goodbye. Even more than that she could remember his
face. The look on his face. Like being close to her for even another second was painful.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Logan was physically in pain. His body wanted nothing more than to turn around and find out what could have been. His mind screamed that nothing could
have been and that he was an idiot. And his heart. His heart told him that he had to see her. That just to see her one more time would be worth all of the
pain that would obviously follow. In his mind it registered that the last time his heart was involved, he had lost her. He turned around.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
After a minute of awkward silence in which time seemed to stand still, the driver must have realized that getting his money would mean wasting his time and
he nodded dismissively towards Rory. She was more than embarrassed and just a little perplexed at the other passenger's behaviour so she took that as her
opportunity to run. That's what she did best after all. She ran from her fears of not being good enough. She ran from her mother's rare moments of
disappointment with her. In the years that they were together she had run into his arms. He had always been her shoulder to cry on. Then the tables shifted.
She ran away from him. Away from telling Logan what she really wanted. She ran from that safe haven that she had built up around her over all those years.
Three years. Three years leading up to her final run. Ever since then she hadn't run, hadn't had anyone to run to. Until now. Now she was running. Running
to get to her meeting, running to hide her embarrassment, and if she was really honest, running to forget the memories that the cab ride had made raw again.
So she ran. This was the point where she would run to him. So this is why she had stopped running. She had no one to run to.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
She was gone. Now if Logan was somebody who believed in fate, he would have believed that this was how it was supposed to be. That her latest entrance
and exit from his life where meant to be. Meant to give him closure. Meant to allow him to finally move on. Not that he hadn't moved on in terms of sex, but
in terms of heart, he clearly hadn't. Nope. Fate meant nothing. His curiosity was peaked, why was she in New York anyway. Now that she was gone the
questions started to fill his brain, slowly filling in for the initial shock. Did she live here? Did she work here? In this building, in his office building? And more
importantly, did any of this really matter? She was, after all, gone. The chances of him ever seeing her again were slim. It wasn't like she was going to show
up for his parent's anniversary party. For one thing, she didn't like Hartford society functions to begin with, and for another, ever since that day she had
avoided them like the plague, when previously they had only been akin to the flu. And he knew only too well that he was the determining factor. He had
tried to run into her at one of the functions for a year after that night. He had actually tried. Put more effort into it than was probably healthy. Had come up
with plans and conversation starters. All for nothing. She had never shown up.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
One time he was close. For the first time since that night he was going to miss one of one of the detested gatherings that his parents beckoned him to. He
had seen the guest list. She must have seen it too. Seen that he wasn't coming. Seen it and decided that she would make an appearance and then not have
to be bothered to come for at least a few more times. That killed him. He had to know if she really hated him that much. So he busted his butt to get his
work done so that he could show up unexpectedly at the function. Everything was going according to plan. He caught a last minute flight home. He rented a
car. He walked in the front door. He might have seen her three times in total that night. He tried to track her down but was later told by a friend that
something unexpected had come up, and that she had left shortly into the night. Him. He was that unexpected "something". She wasn't even going to give
him another chance. That was the last time he had gone home. She really did hate him that much. A part of him died that night. And she was the one to
blame.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Out of breath for the second time that day, Rory looked upwards at the twelve flights of stairs that she still had to make her way up. The elevator had been
overflowing with people getting off of work. Lucky them. Rory had opted for the stairs. More exercise, less time to think. And at the time she had
thought that they might even be quicker, but that prospect was looking grim at this point. Four. Three. Seven. The numbers that she very rarely paid
attention to. The numbers on her phone that were causing her to walk slightly faster up the stairs than she naturally would. Four. Four. Four. Those were the
numbers when she actually found herself slinking into the boardroom for what could possibly be the most important meeting of her life. Or maybe just most
life-changing.
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