Chapter 2: Mingling
"Logan, there you are!" Logan's mother exasperatedly breathed as she hurried towards him the moment he stepped into the big hall. "Where on earth have you been this long? Your father came back ages ago and is already socializing with some of the men. Really Logan, when will you start to take on your responsibilities? You're the host, you should have at least the decency to greet your guests!" she scolded in a low voice, always with a fake smile plastered on her face.
Annoyed, Logan gave her a look. "No, Mom, you are the host, not me. They are your guests and perhaps Dad's, but certainly not mine."
"That's hardly the point! You were supposed to be here at six thirty, yet you came late at seven, not that I was surprised by that," his mother hissed, smiling through the room at one of her guests. "Then your father of course had to drag you away immediately. I haven't asked him yet what you did this time, but judging from the expression on your father's face, I can only guess it was another one of your foolish pranks. Really, Logan, you knew we had this party tonight and how important this party is for both your father's business and this family's social status. Couldn't you have waited with whatever you did until after tonight?"
Trust Shira Huntzberger to ruin someone's good mood, Logan thought bitterly. His encounter with the girl before had seriously lifted his spirits after the fight with his father and the whole prospect of having to face this boring party. But it sure just got deflated again. Apparently, his parents had nothing better to do than scold him to no end tonight. The only one who was missing now to join them was his grandfather and it would be like every other family gathering of the past twenty-two years. God, he definitely needed a drink. But he wouldn't get a drink before he did do some amend work. He hated doing that. But on the other hand, to finally get a drink was more important now.
"Okay Mom, I'm sorry. I'll try to be more considerate next time," he apologized sarcastically.
The sarcasm earned him a glare. "There's no need to get so snotty. And you better be more considerate next time. I won't put up with you messing with our parties anymore. Now come," she said and took his arm into a firm grasp. "It's time you greet some people."
Logan's eyes widened. What was it with his parents today? First his father was chewing him out for the race and actually cutting off half of his accounts for a month and demanding that he should get more serious about college and the Company and now his mother was threatening him as well? Wanted him to do the boring mingling without anything to drink? No, no, no!
"Uh Mom, I can't…" he started to say, but got interrupted by an icy glare.
"You can and you will, Logan. You will not get out of this. Now pull yourself together," she ordered him quietly but definitely before she stopped in front of a bunch of people, her smile big and pleasant. "Keith and Hillary! I'm so glad you made it. It has been ages!" she exclaimed cheerfully.
Hillary gave a matching smile right back at her. "Indeed Shira, that it is. I got to compliment you. Your party is wonderful. But then, I didn't expect anything less. Your parties are always perfect, aren't they, Keith?"
Keith grunted something. Probably he was thinking that this whole farce was ridiculous. That was what Logan thought after all.
"Well, I'm sure you remember my son, Logan?" his mother asked, pushing him slightly forward.
"Of course, lovely to see you again, Logan." Hillary smiled at him.
Groaning inwardly, Logan plastered on his society mask and smiled. "Always a pleasure to see you, Hillary, Keith," he greeted them. He had no idea who they were or what their last name was. The only thing he knew was that at some point, he had seen them at another boring party.
"Do you remember my daughters?" Hillary asked and pulled two girls who stood close forward. "It's been a while since you've last seen them, with you gone for a year and being at college and all. Hope and Gillian?"
Groaning louder inside, Logan smiled at the girls. One had golden-blond hair and was probably about his age; the other one had ash-blond hair and looked as if she was barely sixteen. He assumed the older one was Hope – and the one he was supposed to add to the list of possible future brides. Ugh. No thank you.
"Nice to meet you again," he told the girls.
They bobbled their head in unison.
"Well, it's been lovely to have seen you, but you know how it is as hosts," his mother said, looking apologizing. "Hillary, be sure to give me a call soon so we can chat properly again."
Hillary smiled. "Of course, Shira. You go and take care of your guests. Logan, it's been a pleasure to see you again."
Logan nodded politely and already, his mother dragged him to the next couple – and the next daughter, about his age and blond again. Not that he was surprised. His mother loved blond. And from what he had gathered she was pretty determined to have the next generation of the Huntzbergers blond as well. Hence the fleet of blond girls she tried to set him up with time and time again. Now, not that Logan disliked blondes – but he didn't really care about the hair color in a girl. A black-haired girl could be as beautiful as a blond one. Or a brunette one, he thought, remembering the little spitfire from before with a smile. Now that was something he wanted in his future wife: humor, the ability to make him laugh and smile. None of the girls that got presented to him by his mother and by the proud and hopeful mothers seemed to even make the corners of his mouth to lift.
They were dull. Boring. One like the other.
What was his mother thinking? She was the one who always had preached him that not everyone could be allowed to marry into the Huntzberger clan, especially not their breach of the arm as they were the head of the family. His future wife had to be sophisticated, beautiful, rich, well connected and one hell of an organizer, a woman that would shine at his arms and bear him perfect new heirs. From what he could gather in the few minutes he had to spend with the different girls none of them met all those criteria. And certainly not one of his own, would he really be already looking for a wife… which he wasn't. Because for him, other things would be important. He didn't want a second Shira as a wife. He wanted someone he could actually stand to spend time with. That meant she had to be smart and witty as well. Unfortunately, smart, witty, rich girls of the right blood were scarce. Very scarce. The girls of his circle still got drilled to be the perfect wives, despite it being the twenty-first century. Meaning, they were drilled to be boring. There were exceptions of course and more and more girls started to rebel against that. Yeah, feminism had reached even the old-fashioned Hartford society. Not the girls he had met so far though – as much was clear, even with the little words he had to talk to them.
All in all, an hour and twenty, thirty prospective wives with their parents later, Logan had seen and heard enough and was ready to tell the next mother who will say to him what a pleasure it was to see him again that she could shove her false smile up her ass and choke on the even more false words.
"So, Laura, Bill, it's wonderful to have you here. And you, Lydia, good luck at college," his mother was saying her farewell to the latest family and exchanging a few last smiles, she moved on, dragging Logan with her.
Grudgingly, Logan halted her by stopping himself. "Come on Logan, there are still a few…"
"I've greeted enough people now. And I think I have definitely met enough girls now," Logan protested.
"I'll say when you've met enough people. And please, try to be more polite from now on, especially to the girls," his mother informed him icily.
Logan looked incredulously at her. "What more do you want? I smile, I shake hands, I lie…"
"Emily!" his mother interrupted him, sending him a warning glare, before she turned her eyes to the person at Logan's back. "I'm delighted you made it, despite Richard's heavy schedule."
Gulping down the rest of the words that were still stuck in his throat, Logan turned around to smile at Emily Gilmore. At least he knew her well enough. And at least this time he would get spared meeting another prospective bride.
"Shira. Just wanted to compliment you for this party. It's wonderful. And I envy you for that caterer! The buffet is delicious!" Emily greeted his mother.
His mother smiled, pleased, and Logan suppressed a snicker. His mother lived in a year long competition with Emily Gilmore now. Emily was famous for her perfectly planned and organized parties. She may not be quite from the same money as the Huntzbergers, but she was the undeniable queen of the society parties and head of far more charity boards than his mother liked.
"Thank you, Emily, coming from you that's really a compliment," his mother said sweetly and looked around. "And where's Richard?"
Emily shrugged. "Oh you know him. We were barely here and he already wandered off with the boys," she said with a sigh.
Logan's mother laughed. "That sounds like our men. He's probably with Mitchum, smoking a cigar over in the men's room."
"Probably. That or getting himself a scotch from Elias' secret stock," Emily nodded smiling and her eyes slid over to Logan. "Logan, it's good to see you again."
Switching on the charm, Logan took her hand and gave her a gallant hand kiss. Anyone who managed to score against his mother time and time again deserved nothing less. "Emily, the pleasure's all mine."
Emily laughed and slapped his arm lightly. "Save your charm for the girls your age, Logan," she told him and looked back to Shira. "He's worse than Elias was, back in his days," she mentioned.
Logan raised an eyebrow. His grandfather? A charmer? He had a very hard time believing that. He knew his grandfather was grumpy, demanding and sharp-tongued, if not downright cruel, but not a charmer.
"He sure was," his mother simply agreed with a sigh, but then brightened again. "Now Emily, where's that wonderful granddaughter of yours you never stop talking about? I thought I saw you arrive with her in tow, didn't you?"
Alarmed, Logan's head snapped up. A granddaughter? Since when did the Gilmores have a granddaughter? He hadn't even known that they had any children!
"Oh, she disappeared with Richard, I think," Emily said with a sigh, looking around the room. "Oh wait, there comes Richard. Richard!" she called out to her husband and waved him over to them.
Richard Gilmore came over and handed her a vodka martini before he turned to greet Logan and his mother. "Shira, you look lovely as always."
"Thank you Richard. Emily just complained to me that you all abandoned her," his mother greeted him.
Richard threw his wife a sheepish look. "Just for a little while. Had to go greet the men of the house, hadn't I?" he asked and turned to Logan. "And that leaves only you now, Logan. How are you, son?" he asked, giving Logan a firm hand shake.
Logan nodded. "Great, Richard. How's the insurance world treating you?" he answered with a smile.
Richard shrugged. "It's keeping me busy. How's Yale going?"
"Fine, Sir," Logan answered, nodding. It wasn't a secret that Richard's alma mater was Yale. Besides, he was also a member of the LDB, well, of the 'retired' part of the Brigade.
"Good, good, good… I'm glad you're having a good time there. My years at Yale were certainly some of the best in my entire life," Richard said, getting that longing expression old people get sometimes.
"I'm sure Sir," Logan nodded sympathetically. Once he reached Richard's age he probably would sport the same expression. He knew already that his college years would be some of the best in his life. The first two years sure had been and he was pretty sure that not even his father honing in on him for the next two years could stop those two years from becoming great as well. They were the last years of freedom he had after all and he was determined to live the remaining two to the fullest. That was the plan and he and Finn and Colin would make sure that this plan was fulfilled at the end of those two years. It was simple enough: as much girls, booze and fun as they could pack in those years.
"Richard, where is that granddaughter of yours you constantly brag about? Emily said she would be with you," his mother interrupted them.
Surprised, Richard looked at Emily. "Well, I thought she's with you Emily. Isn't she with you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
Rolling her eyes in turn, Emily shook her head. "No, she isn't. Or do you see her around here?" she asked exasperated.
Richard actually looked around for a moment, causing Logan to smile.
"Oh well, she's so quiet that you would overlook her so easily," Richard remarked and shrugged.
"I wonder where that girl vanished to. The last time I saw her she was trailing after you and Elias," Emily said, frowning slightly.
"We lost her somewhere along the way," Richard told her. "She probably met some friends from school and is hanging around with them now. There are quite some young Elis around."
At those words, Logan almost frowned with more and more alarm bells starting to ring in his head. Elis? Yale? Not only did Richard and Emily suddenly have a granddaughter out of the blue, but now she was going to Yale as well? How come he hadn't known about this till now?
"Probably," Emily nodded. "Such parties aren't much for the young people nowadays anymore, are they, Logan? I bet you can't wait to get back to your friends as well, right?"
Tricky question. Logan glanced at his mother then looked back at the Gilmores and nodded, smiling in a similar sheepish way like Richard before. "Busted," he admitted.
Emily and Richard laughed, forcing Logan's mother to laugh along with them.
"A man not afraid to speak the truth. I like that," Richard nodded. "Well, I'm sure you have yet some people to greet as we have."
"True, true," Logan's mother nodded with a rueful smile. "Too bad I've missed your little girl. I'm so dying to meet her. Have you met her already, Logan?" she asked, glancing at him.
Logan groaned inside and shook his head. "No, I fear I haven't had the pleasure yet."
"Oh, if not tonight then I'm sure you'll meet her soon," Richard said, smiling at him. "You're both writing for the paper after all, so I think it's bound to happen sooner or later, isn't it?"
"At the YDN?" Logan asked surprised. This got better and better. First that mysterious girl was attending Yale as well and now she was even also at the YDN? Great. Fucking great. No wonder his mother was so keen on him meeting that girl. Even if he didn't betroth her within a year, he sure would be expected to at least socialize a little with her. Ugh, how he hated such forced 'friendships'.
Richard nodded. "Best reporter they have there, so you better watch out for her, son. I'm telling you, your father will be a fool if he doesn't snatch her up right after graduation. He for sure will regret it when the best overseas correspondent is working for the competition."
"Overseas correspondent?" Logan asked, frowning, and glanced at his mother. Hmm… perhaps his mother wasn't so keen on him courting the Gilmore granddaughter then. In his mother's eyes, a working woman among the Huntzbergers was an unthinkable affront. Especially for the wife of the heir and future head of the family and Company. So perhaps all this talk about that granddaughter wasn't because they wanted them to hitch it up, but because the Gilmores wanted to start weaving the web for her future career as a reporter.
"Yeah. That girl wants nothing else than that since she was four years old," Richard said proudly.
"How lovely," Logan's mother smiled. "Well, perhaps I'll see her yet, tonight. Richard, Emily, I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the evening."
"I have no doubts about that," Emily nodded. "Logan, don't let your mother keep you away from your friends for too long."
Logan nodded with a smile and not shortly afterwards, he and his mother were moving away from the Gilmores.
"Well, you heard Emily, Mom. I think I should go find my friends now," Logan said, as soon as they were out of earshot.
"Don't be ridiculous, Logan. There are still quite a few people I want you to greet," his mother hissed and shook her head. "Really Logan, when will you finally understand that socializing with the folks is a very important part of your position, especially once you take over the Company. The contacts you make on these parties…"
"Will be of essential meaning for my entire life, I know, Mom," Logan finished with a sigh. He had no idea how many times he had heard that now. Only a few thousand times probably.
"Then remember that finally," his mother snapped with a glare at him, before she plastered on her fake smile again. "Lena! You look lovely!"
Growling deeply inside, a resigned Logan turned to yet another round of making contacts.
Another half an hour later he was ready to go up the walls. He was long beyond having enough now. He was downright sick of shaking hands, smiling pleasantly and exchanging meaningless words. Shortly, he would do one more person, couple, family, whatever, and then he was out of here, no matter what his mother said or threatened him with. He'd find Finn and Colin and some scotch or whiskey and enjoy the sub-party that without doubt was already in place somewhere.
His mother dragged him towards an older couple and Logan sighed with relief. At least there wouldn't be a prospective wife to meet and chat with this time, though that was what he had thought already with the Gilmores and how wrong he had been there. He still had trouble believing that there was a Gilmore at Yale… even worse, at the paper as well. Only one reason more to avoid that place. Which could prove problematic seeing as he had just more or less promised his father he'd see to it that he'd participate a bit more in the YDN than so far.
"Francine!" his mother exclaimed and hurried forward to kiss the older woman's cheeks. "It's wonderful that you made it after all!" She turned to the old man to shake his hand, smiling. "And you Straub. I'm honored you put work aside for a moment to come attend this little party of ours."
"Don't be ridiculous Shira, we would not have stayed away," Straub said gruffly and his eyes turned to look at Logan. "And what are you waiting for, boy? Looks like Mitchum and Elias haven't been able to teach you some manners yet."
Grinding his teeth, Logan stepped forward to give the man a firm handshake, smiling very falsely. He had been so relieved that there would be not another prospective bride to view that he had temporarily forgotten just how much he despised Straub and Francine Hayden. Straub was one of his grandfather's best friends and Francine and his mother were one heart and one soul. There was nothing that needed to be said more about those two than that.
"Sir," he nodded and looked over to Straub's wife. "Francine."
"Spare yourself your false pleasantry, boy," Straub said with a frown and looked at Shira. "You better find a way to control that boy of yours finally. He shows the same weaknesses as Christopher when he had been at his age. We were too lazy with him then and you know how that turned out."
"Straub…" Francine sighed.
"It's true Francine," Straub protested and gave Logan a glare. "I believe in talking my mind. If I warn them now about that boy, they perhaps will find a way to handle him before it's too late."
"Don't worry Straub, Mitchum has got it handled, hasn't he, Logan?" his mother hurried to say and patted the agitated old man on his arm.
"Sure Mom," Logan acknowledged. So far, Straub Hayden had never had a good word to say about him, not that Logan cared much about that. Since he could remember the old judge had warned his parents to keep a close eye on him or he'd turn out to be the same disappointment as his son Christopher had been. Logan had never met this ominous Christopher as he more or less had vanished out of society some twenty years ago. There was a pretty tight lid to the reason why the Hayden heir had walked away from his destiny. Logan had always wondered, though, knowing the Haydens, he pretty much figured that it simply had gotten unbearable for their son to live with his parents any longer.
"That's what we thought as well," Straub muttered darkly.
"Straub please… I feel my headache coming back," Francine sighed, massaging her temples.
Nothing new there, Logan thought. Francine Hayden always had a headache. And if it wasn't a headache it was a stomach ache or something else.
"Yes Francine, why don't you tell me a little about your granddaughter?" Shira asked. "Didn't you say that she stayed over the weekend recently?"
Granddaughter? Another granddaughter? Logan frowned. Damn it, what was it with all these unknown granddaughters lately?
Francine sighed. "She's been loud. But I guess that's normal for an almost two years old."
Oh. A toddler. Good. He doubted even his mother would want him to marry a baby. Thank God. Chances would have been high that if that granddaughter had been in his age they would have wanted them to marry – no matter what he or the girl wanted.
"It's a shame she's only a baby. Wouldn't it have been lovely for our families to become one big family?" his mother sighed.
Francine smiled tiredly. "That would have been indeed nice. But as it is it seems highly unlikely to ever happen."
Straub, his face dark, mumbled something and shook his head. "I'll go see if I can find Elias and Mitchum in this crowd," he huffed and walked away.
"Did I say something?" Logan's mother asked, frowning at the abrupt leave of Straub.
Francine shook her head. "No, no, darling… you know Straub. He's not a big fan of these parties."
Logan looked after Straub. No, that he wasn't, that wasn't a big secret. But Logan thought too that Straub's mood had been extremely bad today. And that leave just now was really very abrupt. He just was about to turn back to his mother and Francine when his eyes caught a flash of dark green velvet and absolutely blue eyes.
The girl from before. So she had found her way back to the party then, not that he had had any doubts about that. He frowned. And from what little he had seen before the girl had quickly turned away and vanished into the parlor she didn't seem to have a particularly good time. Her face had been pale, devoid of the cute blush she had sported almost the entire time they had talked to each other and he could swear that he had seen hurt in her eyes. He bit his lips. He should be indifferent to the feelings of that girl… but truth was that he didn't like the thought of her hurt in any way. Those blue eyes weren't supposed to be sad and hurt. They were supposed to be happy. Or to be sparkling with anger, provoked by him.
At that thought he frowned and shook his head. Ridiculous. Yet, his eyes wandered towards the parlor again before he finally turned back to his mother and Francine.
"Francine, nice to have seen you again. But I fear I'll have to leave you two now. I've seen some other guests that need my attention now," he said and quickly turned to head away from his mother and her friend.
"Logan!" he heard his mother hiss after him but he pretended to not having heard it and simply continued to walk away, glad to have finally escaped his mother's clutches.
A few more steps and he had reached the parlor. He stopped and scanned the place for the little spitfire, without luck though. Apparently, the girl had already moved on to another room. Logan looked around, trying to decide which way she could have gone when a hand slapped him on the back.
"Logan! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you! Even risked to go back into the lion's den and being spotted by the parental units along with their friends."
Logan turned. "Colin. Sub-party already started?"
"Sure. Almost an hour ago. All that's missing now is the guest of honor, meaning you," Colin answered. "What took you so damn long?"
"Mom was very adamant on me meeting every single guest, especially the ones with daughters my age," Logan told him with a sigh.
Colin made a face. "Now if that doesn't suck," he commented sympathetically. "But fear not, I'm sure the sub-party will make you forget the horrendous experience in no time. Finn's already pretty much at full speed."
Logan grinned. "He's not already reenacting anything, is he?"
Colin shook his head. "Not yet, no. He's singing though. You finished now? Or do you have to continue to play the eligible bachelor?"
Logan glanced around a last time. Still no sign of the girl. Not that he was really considering putting off the sub party to go find that girl.
Right.
He turned to Colin and smiled brightly. "Nope. Done my duty for tonight."
"Then what are you waiting for? Come on already. The longer we're here the greater the risk we'll get spotted and have to greet more people and make boring conversation with them," Colin told him impatiently and turned to head across the parlor.
"Good point," Logan murmured and hurried after his best friend.
"How angry was Mitchum?" Colin wanted to know.
Logan made a face. "I'm cut off for a month, well, at least half my accounts, but you know what that means. He'll know which ones to close off. Further, I'm expected to go to my classes, write an article and go to meetings with him on a regular basis."
Colin stopped to look at him surprised. "Ouch. Why so harsh? It was just a little race."
"It was probably just the perfect excuse to drop all that on me," Logan answered darkly. "You know he was trying to get me to 'clean up my act' for a while now."
"True, true… what are you going to do?" Colin asked, starting to walk again.
Logan fell into step beside him. "Play along for a while until he cools down. Then I'll see. But I think he won't forget his conditions anytime soon," he said with a sigh.
For a moment, the two friends were silent as they went down the stairs that led to the lower grounds of the mansion.
"So… already made your choice on the future Mrs. Logan Huntzberger?" Colin asked slyly, glancing mockingly at him.
"Ha, ha, very funny," Logan answered dryly.
"What? You want to tell me that with all these lovely ladies here tonight making gooey eyes, you didn't find the one and only for you?" Colin gasped.
"Well, now that you mention it… there was one girl," Logan answered, rolling his eyes. "Perfect copy of my mother. I think I fell in love," he said dramatically, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Colin chuckled. "Ah, I see… were they hot at least?"
Logan shrugged. Sure, they had been all good looking. Nothing special though. Nothing out of the ordinary. Definitely nothing that had perked his interest. Rather the contrary.
"Such a shame," Colin sighed with sympathy.
"Hey… did you know that there's a Gilmore at Yale currently?" Logan asked, changing the topic.
Frowning, Colin looked at him. "A Gilmore? At Yale? Seriously? I didn't even know that there's a young Gilmore around."
"Neither did I. But it turns out that Richard and Emily have a granddaughter. Who goes to Yale," Logan told him.
"A granddaughter? Do I hear wedding bells?" Colin asked, raising his eyebrows.
Logan sent him a glare and shook his head. "And who's also working at the YDN because she wants to work later as an overseas correspondent."
"Ah… so no wedding bells after all," Colin knowingly commented.
"Nope. But it got pretty clear that I'm expected to at least meet her," Logan sighed.
"Why not? We'll have to check her out for the LDB anyway," Colin said with a shrug. "As Richard's granddaughter she'll definitely be on the list of possible new members."
"Yeah, you're right," Logan agreed.
It was the least that Richard would expect. And with the amount of money the alumnus donated to the Brigade every year they'd do their best to fulfill his expectations. With Logan and the young Gilmore both working at the YDN, it was only logical that he'd to make contact with her to check out her eligibility with the Brigade. Having the name Gilmore only guaranteed that she would be looked at, not that she'd get an invitation to join the LDB. He was just about to ask Colin to take care of the background check when his eyes fell on the silhouette of a slim girl, standing at the far side of the terrace they were on, leaning on the parapet. Frowning, he narrowed his eyes to get a better look of the person, and a huge grin spread out over his face.
There she was.
"Be right back," he told Colin absentmindedly and quickly walked over to the girl.
"Checking out the grounds for the security system, Maxie?" he asked.
With a start, the brown-haired girl who had more or less saved him from hearing yet another tirade of his father against Logan's friends swiveled around to face him. At seeing him, her eyes narrowed and he contentedly observed how an angry pink immediately started to color her pale cheeks again.
"You," she said, well, more spat. "Don't you have anything better to do than follow me around?"
"As it is, no, I haven't," Logan told her with a smile. "And even if I had, how could I ever take the risk to let you wander around all by yourself? It's my duty to keep a close eye on you so once the police knocks on my door to question me if I have any idea who's behind that terrible robbery of this museum, I can give them a detailed description of your actions tonight and of course a good description of you."
She shook her head, her eyes further narrowing. "Either you have a severe mental disability or you're a seriously stupid, annoying smart aleck."
"Careful Maxie, I think you're mistaking me for someone else. I'm Logan, not Alec," Logan corrected her, amused.
Raising her eyebrow, she looked him up and down and snorted. "True. You're blond, rich and from what I gathered from your 'talk' with your father your name is even Logan as well… But no way are you Logan. You see, Logan was nice. Serious. Very responsible. The white knight in shining armor." She gave him another once over and sighed. "Whereas you…" she said sadly, waving her hand at him.
Grinning, Logan stepped closer to her and gazed down into the two blue pools of the girl. "So you admit that I'm sexy. Finally, Maxie. I thought you'd never see the light, baby," he said, his voice having gone a bit quieter, deeper.
Her cheeks turned into a deep red, but her eyes sparkled. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the man has gone completely mad and delusional now," she announced with an eye roll, but she didn't back away. Not that there was much place for her to back away with her stuck between him and the parapet.
Logan's grin deepened. "If I'm not Logan then I'm Alec. Young, sexy, mischievous. And we all know that ultimately, Max would have ended up with him. At the latest once she was in heat again." He leaned closer into her and took a deep breath, taking in her scent. Fresh. Wood. Something old. Sweet. And the faint linger of a perfume. The girl definitely smelled good. "What about you Maxie? You already in heat?" he asked quietly, gazing down into her eyes and realized that he was only halfway joking.
He wouldn't mind to have a round of wild sex with this girl. It sure promised to be damn good.
She smiled, but the way her eyes closed to slits told Logan to be careful and on guard.
Smart decision. It was only his guard that made him jump back from her in time to prevent him having his foot pierced by one of her heels.
"Hey!" he exclaimed mildly. He wasn't angry or even disappointed. Strangely, he felt quite the opposite.
The girl inclined her head and smiled sweetly at him. "Next time it will be my knee and your balls. And I won't miss," she promised, her voice velvet.
Shaking his head, Logan laughed. Loudly, deeply, belly-rippling. The girl looked puzzled at him. And she was not the only one. Colin, who had come closer, looked amused at him. Contrary to the girl, Colin knew though just how rare it was for Logan to really laugh freely and joyfully. And never in front of strangers.
The girl watched him for a moment longer, before she shook her head once. "Crazy," she mumbled and her nose wrinkled.
"Most people take a lot longer to come to that conclusion," Colin chirped in and stepped towards them. "But I can only agree."
The girl's head whipped around to look at Colin. She frowned. "Let me guess… you're one of his friends. Colin?"
Surprised, Colin raised an eyebrow. "I don't think we've met before."
"We haven't," the girl confirmed with a nod and her tone suggested that this fact didn't exactly bother her much. Rather the contrary actually.
Colin's other eyebrow rose. "Then how do you know who I am?"
She shrugged. "You just looked like a Colin."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Colin asked, growing defensive.
Taking a deep breath to calm down a bit, Logan chuckled. "Just that you look as boring as your name, mate," he suggested.
Colin glared at him.
"I was rather going for uptight," the girl disagreed.
Colin's glare turned to her. "I'm not uptight!" he protested.
Logan snorted. He loved Colin like a brother but Colin was definitely uptight. And it was only one of his many faults. Yet, a guy couldn't have a better or more loyal best friend than him.
"You look uptight though," the girl pointed out. "Your shirt is buttoned up all the way, for example. That tie doesn't look very comfortable either. Your hair is parted in a clean, straight line with not one hair out of place." Her eyes dropped to his feet. "And your shoes are polished," she concluded, as if that said everything.
Colin stared at her, obviously rendered speechless. Not something that happened often. Logan laughed again and nudged the girl on her side, but being careful not to come too close to her though. She was definitely a cute little kitten but it was also very clear that she had the claws that belonged to any feline.
"Hey, we're heading to the real party. Why don't you join us?" he suggested, hoping she would say yes even though his gut told him otherwise.
And sure enough, she turned her scornful eyes on him. "Excuse me, but what on earth makes you think that I want to spend even more time with you? In case you haven't noticed… I don't like you," she told him straight out.
Logan smiled. "Oh, I noticed that you can believe that. But really Maxie, you should stop lying to yourself. It's obvious that you want me."
Exasperated, she threw her arms up in the air and turned to Colin. "You better see to it that the nice men in white come soon. This friend of yours definitely needs to be committed."
Colin looked frowning from her to Logan and then back, a grin starting to spread out. "Already tried that. They won't take him."
"Yeah, you've heard him," Logan pointed out and gave her another nudge. "But I'm only a harmless case. If you want to see real crazy you should come with us. No one's as crazy as Finn. But he sure is a guarantee for a fun party," he tried again to get her to come with them.
Unfortunately, the girl shook her head. "First of all… no thanks, I don't need even more crazies in my life, there's plentiful of them as it is. Second, though I have no idea who this Finn is, there's no way he's as crazy as Kirk. If you look up crazy in the Webster's Dictionary then you'll find Kirk there as an explanation. And third, in case you haven't noticed it, we are already on a party and I have no intentions whatsoever to move on to yet another party, especially not with you two stooges."
"Correction Maxie, there doesn't stand Kirk but Finn in the dictionary," Logan fired back on the spot. "And second, the real party of every party is the sub-party. It's where all the fun is."
"Sub-party?" the girl asked frowning.
"Only way to survive these boring social gatherings," Logan lectured her.
"Ah… and let me guess… girls and booze are a must on these parties," the girl said knowingly.
"My God she got it!" Logan and Colin exclaimed at the same time.
Her eyes narrowed. "You better not start singing about the rain in Spain now."
"Why Maxie, what happens then? You afraid you'll finally fall for my irresistible charm then?" Logan teased.
"Rather that I'll throw up on this fine terrace and I doubt the hosts would like that very much," she said dryly, her eyes still narrowed. "Which in turn would seriously displease my folks? Meaning that in the following days, my life would take a serious spiral downwards."
"Aww Maxie, now we…" Logan started to say, but got interrupted.
"And would you stop calling me Maxie all the time! My name is not Maxie!" the girl demanded vehemently.
Logan grinned. "Well Maxie, as you have yet to tell me your name I can not call you by any other name than the one that seems to fit you so perfectly."
"After all, it's hardly fair that you know our names while we have not the faintest idea who you are," Colin chirped in.
"Why bother? It's highly unlikely we'll see us ever again after tonight," the girl said, smiling sweetly. "Not if I can help it."
"I'm crushed Maxie," Logan said, his voice sounding sad and miserable. "And here I thought we'd have such a wonderful future together."
A snort was the only answer he got.
Before he could say anything more, a voice sounded from the house.
"Rory!"
The girl turned her head slightly towards the house and turned back to the boys. "Well boys, it was fun," she said sarcastically and turned away from them.
"Sure it was, Maxie," Logan called after her. "Oh and Maxie?"
She stopped to glare back at him.
"Now that I have your name I'm sure we'll see each other again," Logan promised. "Rory," he added, dragging her name out.
He had expected her to send a few more laser glares his way, but instead, her blue eyes took on a wicked gleam.
"Tough luck there, smart aleck," she answered. "I sure wouldn't count on it." Thus said, she turned away from them again and quickly headed back towards the house.
Intrigued by her last words, Logan, with a smile, watched her vanish in the house. That had sounded awfully like a challenge. And he loved challenges. Especially when the price was so enticing as to get to see this girl again.
"Care to enlighten me on the whole Maxie thing?" Colin asked, looking at him.
Logan's smile intensified. "Just a little Dark Angel theme we have going on."
"Ah…" Colin said, obviously not quite getting the clue. But then, Colin had never been much interested in science fiction shows. He was quiet for a moment, watching Logan. Then he looked over to the house, then back to his best friend and he started to smile knowingly. "So… who is she?" he asked casually.
Logan shook his head. "I have no idea," he answered, his eyes lingering on the house for a moment longer before he finally turned away. "But I intend to find out."
It couldn't be that hard after all. A quick glance at the invitation list should be enough. Rory wasn't such a common name after all. Not at all common actually. Then he'd have her full name. And once he had that it was a piece of cake to find out where she lived and to which family she belonged… and arrange another meeting.
Because if he knew one thing for sure it was that he wanted to see this girl again.
TBC!
(Author's Note: So much to their first meeting. Hope you enjoyed it again. I was blown away by the many wonderful comments I received for the first chapter. Thank you all so much! I sure have fun writing in this universe, thinking up a new story for Rory and Logan and you all encouraged me to go on with that. The next chapter will come soon, hopefully, but first I think it's high time for another chapter for Different. Besides, I need to figure out if I want to keep this story solely in Logan's POV or if I want to switch to Rory as well. I probably should… she's just so much harder to write… sigh We'll see.)