Rory Huntzberger Rory Huntzberger Rory Huntzberger Rory Huntzberger.
Rory didn't even realize what she was doodling until Paul asked her a question, shaking her out of her reverie.
"Whu-huh?" Eloquent, Gilmore. She thought to herself, groaning a little.
"I asked whether you were willing to cut your article by fifty words. Pray tell, what is so urgent that you have to be writing in that little notebook during out meeting, Ms. Gilmore?" Paul crossed one leg over the other and leaned against the corner of his desk, peering sideways at her notebook.
Ah, shit! Rory thought, realizing what she had done. Again. She slapped her notebook shut and dropped it onto her lap like it was poison. "Nothing." She was sure her cheeks were scarlet. He hoped Paul didn't notice.
"Hm." Paul stood up again. "Liz wants to throw an advice column your way, Ms. Gilmore."
Rory cocked her head, questioning this statement. The word cut, she had expected. A new column, not so much. "She seems to think you have much to teach young girls aspiring to journalism. She's probably right. You're a rare gem, Ms. Gilmore." Rory was sure she was blushing now.
"Thanks, Paul." She murmured.
"So, unless you have objections to the cut or the new assignment, I'll put you in touch with Liz about the details."
"Yes, Paul."
Paul nodded curtly and pivoted on the ball of his foot, heading back behind his desk. "That'll be all, Ms. Gilmore."
Rory pushed her chair out and quickly exited the office, breathing deeply as she was met by the bustling room outside. She strode back to her desk, enjoying the clicking of her patent pumps against the glossy wood floor. The spacious, bright workspace was one of her favourite thing about working at the magazine. Five years ago, if someone had told her she'd be writing for a young girl's magazine, she'd have laughed in their face. But this magazine was different. She'd fallen in love with the idea the second they had approached her about contributing freelance. A socially conscious magazine for tweens? Reporting news that mattered to girls just like she had been, noses in books and heads in the clouds?
When she was given the opportunity to write full time for Aware, she jumped at the chance. Not to mention, the chance to be away from the Huntzberger name. Rory shook the thought out of her head. Okay, so maybe it had been harder than she thought to avoid Huntzberger owned media. And it wasn't like her name was on a blacklist or anything. In fact, she had whizzed through interviews at two Huntzberger papers, choosing to work at her favourite of the two. No, it wasn't the Huntzbergers who hated her for the decision she had made. It was her; she couldn't deal with the connection to the name that could have been hers. Rory Huntzberger Rory Huntzberger Rory Huntzberger. She flipped open the notebook and tore the page out more enthusiastically than she had planed. Scrumpling it in her first, she lobbed it into her mesh wastebasket. Screw Rory Huntzberger. She was Rory Gilmore, the accomplished journalist. She was Rory Gilmore, the wunderkin of Aware magazine.
She was twice the woman Rory Huntzberger could ever have been.