Thank you all for your response on the last chapter! I was really nervous to post something based on a different show, but your guys' reactions were very assuring. Anyways, I hope you enjoy chapter 2!
RORY
"Mom!" I exclaim as she answers the phone. "I have news, great big news!"
"Sweetheart, why are you up so early? I can only imagine copious amounts of coffee were provided,"
"Logan and I are engaged!" I yell back at her gleefully, ignoring her usually very entertaining morning banter. Logan smiles at my delight from his place next to me in bed as he reaches over to squeeze my hand.
"No way when?" She exclaims, matching my enthusiasm
"Last night, after I got home from dinner with you," I tell her with a smile.
"And you waited until the next day to tell me!" She says back, mocking hurt.
"Sorry," I say with a giggle, "We were busy,"
"God Rory, I don't need to know that," She exclaims back at me, loud enough that Logan can hear as he bows his head in a chuckle.
"Not like that Mom," I say with a groan. Well kind of like that, but like she said, she doesn't need to know that.
"Well congratulations Rory," She says with a small laugh.
"That's it?" I says in surprise into the receiver, "Not more shock, I expected more squealing and things of similar nature. Wait! Darn you knew already didn't you?"
"Guilty," She replies, and I know that there's a sly smile on her face over in Stars Hollow. "He asked for my permission like a month ago, I almost died keeping it from you."
"Well you did good," I say with a laugh.
"Don't hold it against him, I know you think the asking for your hand thing is outdated, but he was trying to be respectful. And almost kill me in the process, but it's over now so I'll overlook,"
"I'll keep that in mind,"
"So you going to bring him home this weekend?"
"Of course," I reply, "You think I'm going to take all of Stars Hollow's questions on my own? No I need a diversion, and he makes quite a handsome one,"
"Eh he's alright," She responds. "I'm going to let you go kid, but we'll talk later okay?"
"Call you tonight, love you mom,"
"Love you too kid," She says, hanging up and leaving me with the dial tone on my end.
"She happy?" He asks, cuddling me into his side as he presses a kiss to my temple.
"Very," I assure him. "You know we are going to have to get out of bed eventually. We have to go pack up the apartment,"
"Oh it can wait," He says, dropping kisses along my collarbone.
"Alright," I give him, my eyes connecting with his, "Five more minutes."
"There is one thing, that we haven't talked about yet," Logan says as he settles himself on the barstool next to me, a cup of coffee in each of our hands.
"What's that?" I ask, taking a sip of the bitter drink, a liquid which my mother has raised me to believe the gods drink.
"I got that job, in California," He tells me with a grin. "Well I got it about 45 minutes after I walked out of the building, but I wanted to wait to tell you until I proposed."
"You're moving to California?" I ask him. I don't really know how to feel about this. I'm happy for him, of course but he interviewed for this job while I was still planning on going to New York. I want him to pursue his dreams and get out from under Mitchum's thumb, but I wish that he would have factored me into the equation. Not that it matters any more, the circumstances have changed.
"Yeah," He says. "And I was out there a few weeks ago, there's this house in Palo Alto, with a front porch and an avocado tree. I know it's not Stars Hollow, but there's a porch swing and I think it'd be perfect for us. And it's only 35 minutes south of San Francisco so you could write for the Chronicle or the Bay Guardian,"
"They're not hiring," I point out. "I tried with both of them,"
"Well, there's always the Observer," He offers.
"The what?" I ask.
"It's a smaller paper in the city, HPG just acquired it." He tells me.
"Well I definitely can't go there," I saw with a scoff, "I don't want to be the first one in the door with new management and oh there's the other thing where I'm engaged to the boss' son. You're leaving HPG for a reason, so you know what that feels like,"
"I do,"
"But two of the websites I applied for, their headquarters are in San Francisco." I say with a smile. "And nothing is definite, but it's something right."
"So you'll come with me?" He asks, his brown eyes twinkling.
"Well wouldn't you say it's customary for a girl to live on the same coast as her fiance wouldn't you?"
"I would," He says with a laugh.
"There's your answer then," I say with a smile. "When would we have to go?"
"Well I'll put an offer down on the house today and the startup wants me on the west coast in the next few weeks, so maybe end of June? Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah," I reply, "I didn't really have anything planned for the summer other than the job search, but I can do that from Palo Alto."
"What the problem then?" He asks, sensing the apprehension in my voice.
"I just didn't think I'd be going so far,"
"But you're okay with it right?"
"I am," I assure him, "But I don't know how Lorelair the second is going to feel about all of it."
"It'll be okay Ace," He says, pressing a kiss to my forehead, "it'll all be okay."
"Well Gilmore, it is truly the end of an era." Paris says as she holds out her hand to shake mine. "Four years of living together,"
"Well except for that little span where you went nuclear and kicked me out," I say with a small chuckle as I return her firm grasp.
"No way," She says, spotting the ring on my left hand. "You and Huntzberger?"
"Who else would it be?" I say with a laugh.
"I don't know, maybe you went rogue like Lorelai and decided to get hitched with that Jess guy,"
"I can't believe you didn't notice it sooner," I say with a smile as I pull a roll of tape over my final box, Logan and Doyle downstairs loading things into the trunk of mine and Paris' cars.
"Well I was a little busy," She comments, annoyed that I had pointed out what she of course sees as a failure. "You guys going to stay in New York?"
"No actually," I tell her, "Logan got a job in Palo Alto,"
"You're moving?" She exclaims, looking back at me with her jaw on the floor. "To California?"
"I am," I tell her. "I'm going to try to find a writing job in San Francisco, or even San Jose if that doesn't work out.
"Have you told your mom yet? Or your grandparents or your dad?" She rambles on.
"No," I reply quickly, cutting her off before she comes up with more people.
"Lorelai is going to freak out," She assures me.
"She's a big girl," I respond, "I'll install Skype on her computer and increase my cell phone minutes, she'll be fine."
"Whatever you say," She says, drawing out the sounds as she turns away from me.
"Is this the last of the boxes?" Logan asks, interrupting our conversation and he and Doyle reappear in the living room of the shoebox apartment.
"Yep," I say, grabbing a box of clothes and pointing him towards one filled with a collection of shoes, books, and every other random thing that had yet to make it into a box. "Is the Prius full yet?"
"Yeah, but we'll figure it out," He tells me.
"Paris are we good here?" I ask her.
"Yeah," She replies. "I'm going to recaulk all the holes, I would ask you to help, but I don't feel like telling you how to do it the way I want it."
"Okay then," I say, setting down the box on the kitchen counters. "Hug me Gellar,"
"Fine," She says, rolling her eyes as she allows me to pull her into a hug. It's hard to believe it's been seven years of Paris! Almost four of those spent living with her. She's insane, but she's necessary to me and I know that I'm better from knowing her.
"What are you thinking about?" Logan asks, wrapping his arms around me from behind as dinner simmers on the stove.
"Work," I tell him wistfully, "Telling my mom that I'm leaving her."
"You're not leaving her," He assures me. "You're just moving on and that's okay, you're not just going to leave her behind."
"It just feels like I am, Yale was even too far sometimes." I reveal to him as I scroll through job postings.
"You can come back as much as you want," He responds as he returns to the stove. "It's not like it's a new planet."
"Yeah," I say absentmindedly as I pull up a new email in my inbox. I feel a jump in my heart, it's from The Public, one of the websites I applied to a while ago. I did a phone interview with them last week and I assume that this is a follow up. I nervously open the email, trying not to excite myself as I do. I don't want to get my hopes up. As my eyes scan the file, my heart soars and then quickly falls into limbo.
Dear Ms. Gilmore,
We are very pleased to offer you a job writing for The Public. We are not currently hiring staff writers at the San Francisco office, but we are looking for a correspondent on the Barack Obama campaign. My colleagues and I think you would be great for the job, we would need you in Des Moines by June 15, so please let us know your decision as soon as possible.
Regards,
Michael Collins
It's a job! It's actually a really good job, something that is exactly what I never knew I wanted and it sounds amazing! But I'd be on the road for who knows how long? We already tried the long distance and it was awful. But I just can't say no to this.
"The Public offered me a job," I say, turning around to look at him a solemn smile on my lips.
"That's awesome Rory, isn't that one of the San Francisco websites?" He says, running over to pull me into a tight hug.
"Yeah," I say breathlessly as I look into those deep brown eyes of his.
"Why are you thrilled? We should be thrilled?"
"The job is amazing, but it's not in San Francisco,"
"Well where is it?" He asks, the glee subsiding as he lets me go.
"It's a campaign reporter job, on the Obama campaign." I tell him quietly. "I'd be on the road,"
"What did you say?" He asks.
"I haven't yet, they literally just offered me the job." I say, pointing to my computer screen. I watch his eyes as he skims the email, searching for any kind of emotion.
"You have to take it," He says.
"Logan." I start.
"No," He replies. "Rory it's an amazing opportunity for you and I think you should take it. We've done the long distance thing before, we can do it again. And at least this time there won't be an ocean in the way."
"But the porch swing and the avocado tree," I stammer.
"Will all be waiting for you when you're done." He assures me. "We'll talk it about it later, figure out all the logistics, but you have to say yes Ace, you just have to."
"You're sure?" I ask him, his hand held tightly in mine.
"Only if you are," He replies. I take a deep breath as a million and one thoughts run through my head.
"Okay then," I start. "I'm saying yes,"
Thanks for reading! If you guys have anything that you'd like to see included in the future please let me know!
-Addie
