Title: Exam Scores Don't Define You
Author: Jessica LA
Rating: "T", for language and implied intimate contact
Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to or relating to "Gilmore Girls" or the people who play them, or wrote the scripts.
Claimer: I only own the bad idea, the bad spelling, grammar mistakes, nicknames, and of course, the well worn and watched "Rogan" scenes.
Characters: Lorelai "Rory" Gilmore, Logan Huntzberger, and Lorelai Gilmore
Pairings: Rogan (duhh!) and implied Lorelai and Christopher (Balcony Buddies).
Summary: Rory Gilmore gets her dreaded college exam scores back, but can't bring herself to open them. She doesn't know for the life of her, why this exam scores are so different than previous ones she has received. Could it be these exam scores are that close to defining her future? And who can possibly talk some sense into Rory, that they are nothing by exam scores and no matter how "ace-d' they are, they don't define her future, she determines and defines her own future?
One-shot Started: July 13, 2015
One-shot Finished: July 13, 2015
Author's Note: Well, I do know how college exams work briefly…as an ONLINE student, but not as an on-campus student, so bare with me. So, um, here it is, but before I get started I need you all to know that it's going to update any story BUT "Highway Don't Care" right now? Okay? I am having some personal difficulties right now. BUT I do promise to update whenever I can. Anyways, I hope that you like this one-shot; please let me know what you think, by reading and reviewing. Thanks! And now, ONWARDS…
Exam Scores Don't Define You
-By Jessica L. Ayers-
Lorelai "Rory" Gilmore sighed nervously and returned her attention to the white, A4 envelope that lay on her desk, next to the picture of her and her boyfriend of almost, three-years, her college sweetheart, Logan Elias Huntzberger. The envelope contained the piece of paper that could change her options in life. Most kids called it the 'Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) Exit Exam Results'. She called it plain 'H-E-L-L, HELL'.
Logan, who has been working in New York City with his father's company, the Huntzberger Publishing Group (HPG), at it's headquarters, had arranged to not only to come down and visit her for their planned week long break from school and work, but to be there for her when she opened it: to either comfort her or celebrate with her. That was before the heavens had opened up and decided to rain non-stop for the past five days. Almost the entire main route to Yale in New Haven from the Big Apple in New York had been flooded causing Logan to have no way to get to her in her time of need. So her lover was stuck in NYC while she was trapped in their New Haven apartment with that evil envelope. Rory was determined that she was not going to chicken out and she was not going to allow herself to leave the apartment until she had opened it, which is why her mother and best friend, Lorelai Gilmore, had made the decision to come to her instead.
"Ror, honey?" Lorelai asked tentatively, "Are you feeling okay?"
"Uh," Rory replied absentmindedly; her attention still focused on the envelope. I can do this; this isn't that hard. Just pick it up and open it.
"Ror, you've been staring at that damn envelope for two days," Lorelai continued, somewhat apprehensively, "Maybe, you'll feel better if you open it?"
Rory's head turned towards her mother and scowled, firmly shaking her head 'no'.
"Honey, even Paris managed to work up the courage," the mother tried to encourage her daughter, "I'm sure that if they can do…hell, if Finn could do it last year – sober – than you –"
"I can't do it, Mom," her mini-me interrupted her.
"Yes, you can Rory! You've got this in the bag, or in this case, the envelope…no bag…no, envelope. Oh whatever! You know what I mean! Rory, you're the smartest girl I know, and I'm not just saying that because I'm biased and you're my daughter – which I am and you are," Lorelai told her as she sat down on the bed and reached for her daughter's hands, "You know you got this! Hell all your friends, my parents, Logan's parents, grandfather and sister, your dad and his parents, and even Logan says you've got this!"
"It's too hard. It's stronger than I am, Mom. I'm scared," the college student whispered with a shaky breath.
Lorelai groaned and rolled her bright blue eyes before saying, "This is getting ridiculous, Ror! Just take a deep breath and rip it op–".
Lorelai stopped mid-sentence when she heard a loud knock on the door, having no idea who it could be. Her and Logan's friends, Finnegan Morgan II, Colin McCrae, and Stephanie Vanderbilt had been around to see them yesterday, only to have Finn duck sharp flying objects courtesy of Rory after he had tried to touch her envelope. Honor Huntzberger-Jacobs and Shira Huntzberger had come around later that night with the grandmothers, Emily Gilmore and Francine Hayden, trying to help Lorelai encourage the stressed out young woman to open the white, A3 envelope, only to have them all be scared by the look Rory had given them. News had traveled fast and, in concern for everyone's safety, Lorelai had decided it would be best if everyone stayed out of Rory's way until she'd either open it, calmed down, or until Logan showed. Lorelai agreed with the rule she set down, but she just couldn't abandon her best friend and daughter in her time of need, which is why she had called Rory's dad, Christopher, the night before and asked him to bring her an overnight bag.
After getting up and walking across the spacious apartment her daughter shared with her boyfriend, Lorelai felt relief flood through her at the sight of said boyfriend standing in the doorway, completely drenched. Water soaked his blonde hair and droplets clung to his thick eyelashes and soft lips. His shirt, tie, and blazer were plastered against his chest like a second skin, outlining his perfection, and his pants were tighter than she thought possible as they too outlined his perfection. Realizing she was staring, and at her daughter's boyfriend at that, she quickly looked away in embarrassment before she pleaded as he walked in and closed the door behind himself, "Logan! Oh thank God, you managed to get here! How? Oh, never mind, that doesn't matter at the moment nor does the amount of money or who you had to bribe to get here! Which I will demand to hear that story later and it better be funny! Will you please do something about my daughter?! I've tried everything. Hell, your friends, your parents and sister, my parents and even Chris' parents have tried everything! Rory's gone completely nuts….well more so than normal, I think if she doesn't open that damn envelope soon she's going to go comatose – if she hasn't already!"
Logan just gazed at his girlfriend who he could just make out, sitting cross-legged on their bed in his Yale hoodie and a pair of his Calvin Kline boxers, staring with glazed over blue eyes at the envelope on the desk. He smiled slightly at the sight of her and then turned back to the woman, who he had come to know and love as a second mom.
"I'll leave you two alone," Lorelai whispered quietly, gathering up her purse, cellphone and overnight bag, and said, "I hope you have better luck than we've had. Although I'm sure you will, since, you know, you're Logan, and she's Rory, but then you knew that, and I'm babbling. And I'm just going to head out, I promised Chris I'd go over to his tonight and have a movie night with him and Gigi. Will you call us and let us know how it goes? And tell her we love her, no matter what?"
The Huntzberger Heir just laughed slightly and nodded before turning his attention back to his girlfriend as her mother slipped away.
"Ace," he spoke softly with love in his voice, but she heard him clearly. She would always hear him call her name. She looked up sharply and her expression changed from that of frustration to that of surprise, amazement, shock and finally joy. She jumped up and leapt into his waiting arms, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck and her legs tightly around his torso, pulling him closer, if humanly possible.
"You came home!" She exclaimed happily before fusing their lips together in a passionate kiss of lips, tongue, and clashing teeth.
Pulling back, Logan and Rory both let out a laugh before he said, "I'm getting you all wet, Ace."
Her crystal blue irises widened as if realizing the state, he was in for the first time, and then she beamed at him as she said, "You got all wet, just for me."
"Like I'd miss you opening your results after helping you study over the phone, in both our apartments, FaceTime, and hearing about how stressed you've been from Finn and his drunken ramblings in between his statements of wanting to sleep with every red head in the world and wishing my girlfriend was a red head," Logan teased her.
Rory rolled her eyes and frowned slightly as she warned him, "Don't go thinking I've passed because I've probably failed everything."
Logan's response was just to shake his head in disbelief before kissing his girl gently. Putting her down and taking her hand, he guided her onto their bed. She looked at him in puzzlement when he remained standing.
"Sit down," she told him gently.
Logan shook his head, smiling gently as he said, "I'll soak the bed."
"Don't care," Rory replied firmly, "If you're not in this bed then I won't be. So you either sit your ass down here now, or I'll-"
Logan laughed at her order and did as she requested, and then smiled as she immediately curled up on his lap, not caring about his rain-soaked shirt and blazer. He raised his eyebrows when she began to undo the knot in his tie followed by the buttons of his shirt, saying sweetly, "You have to get this shirt and blazer off or you'll catch pneumonia."
"Uh huh," he said with a smirk, not believing her in the slightest causing her to giggle.
"Whatever; I just like seeing you in our bed, shirtless. It gives me nice memories when you're gone. Is that such a crime, my Master and Commander?"
Logan just grinned in amusement and said, "You, my dear Ace, deserve first prize for the ability to try and change the topic; this time the topic being your results. However, it's not going to work."
"Logan, you're not being fair," she huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest and pouted.
"No, I'm just being your concerned boyfriend who wants to put you out of your misery by simply opening these results so we can get down to the real matter at hand, which is celebrating these results, in bed, naked," he corrected his girlfriend with a naughty smile, amused by her behavior.
"No, if you where being a nice boyfriend, you would skip the results and celebrating part all together, and just get me naked and in bed, making love to me all weekend and week long, taking my mind off of that damn envelope," the brunette replied.
"Trust me, Ace baby, I have every intention of ravishing you all weekend and week long, possibly longer if I'm not needed at work, but first we're going to open your results."
"I can't," she told him, simply.
"Okay…then we will do it like you did for me. I will open yours since you had to open mine," he offered as he gently moved her off his lap to stand up and walk over the desk.
She looked at him with uncertainty for a moment before nodding her head reluctantly. Rory watched anxiously as he picked the envelope up and opened it before saying, "How many C's and D's did I get?"
"You didn't," Logan told her simply, but she didn't see the wide smile on his lips and the happiness in his eyes, for he kept the scores in front of his face.
Rory felt a rush of cold flow through her. She, Straight A Rory Gilmore, had not managed to pass anything?! No, it couldn't be that bad, it just couldn't!
"Aren't you going to ask me how many A's you got?" Logan prompted her with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Fine, I'll bite, how many?" Rory asked, biting her nail not caring that she was ruining her newly done French Manicure, knowing there was no chance of her getting any A's. She sure had been a straight A student in high school, hence the nickname Straight A Rory Gilmore, but this was college, a higher level of education, and with Yale being one of the top Ivy League colleges, if not the top Ivy League College, so you could bet your ass on both of their inheritances, that the courses were harder.
"A lot, like always. As if you could get anything else, Ace!"
Rory looked at him in surprise, "You've got to be kidding me. I passed them all?! You'd better not be pulling a prank of me, Huntzberger, or so help me –"
Logan just shook his head at his silly girlfriend as he said with a bright smile, "You seriously got all A's, Ace! Like always! I knew it, everyone knew it, you're the smartest girl there is!" He exclaimed and before she knew what was happening, he had pulled her tightly to him, his lips finding hers with a tenderness that Rory knew could only be Logan.
"I got…A's?" She asked, still in disbelief.
Logan just chuckled before saying softly, "You had nothing to worry about. So, now you have every option available to you."
Rory looked into his molten chocolate brown eyes and saw a vulnerability there so unlike the cool and confidant Logan Huntzberger that people knew for it was something that only showed when he was worried about them and their relationship, knowing that they both had the same fear somewhere's in them at all times. Gently caressing his cheek, she said, "You know, I was so worried about my results, but if I think about it, they don't really matter. They're not what's important to me. I know shocking right? But I can live without A's or B's or any other grade, but I know what I can't live without and you want to know what this is, Logan?"
"What?" He asked her gently as he caressed her cheek in return.
"Y-O-U, you," Rory replied before she continued, "Wherever I choose to work, whether it be the New York Times or the Washington Post, or even the Alaskan Post, or whatever I do in my life, you're going to be a part of it whether you like it or not. If I have to drag you kicking and screaming with me then so be it, but – just like you fought to get me back because you didn't want to see an end of us, a goodbye – I don't want to see an end of us, a goodbye. I love you, Logan Elias Huntzberger, with everything I am. I'm yours in soul, in body, and in heart."
"You don't know how much that means to me, Rory," Logan murmured, his voice, his eyes, his heart, thick with emotion.
"I mean every word. Now, about your earlier promise, something about celebrating and ravishing me?" She asked him with a smirk, his smirk, and a raised eyebrow, "You'd better keep it, Huntzberger, because remember what I said about kicking and screaming."
With a raised eyebrow of his own and a mischievous and naughty smirk that only Logan could master, he replied, "As you know, Ace, I am a man of my word. Be rest assured that you will be screaming tonight, just not out of pain."
Rory let out a heartfelt laugh of love, devotion, excitement, and lust as Logan gently tackled her to their bed and proceeded to fulfill his promise…
*The End*
Well, here it is. I hope you all enjoyed it. I also hope that I got the characters a least somewhat across! Please let me know what you think. And again it will take me a while to update because of my earlier explanation (see above Author's Note) so, I hope this will hold you all over, and I'm hoping to update "Highway Don't Care" very soon. I love you as per always, XOXO.
Stay Strong, Let It Go, Be Fearless, Defy Gravity, You're Fucking Perfect,
Jessica LA
Revised: August 14, 2015