Chapter 2: Seems Like Old Times

Colin just quietly watched Rory. He watched her body stiffen and he knew exactly what she was thinking and feeling.

He almost regretted not telling her earlier so she could have prepared, but he knew that if he had mentioned it beforehand she would have found an excuse to post-pone it or get out of it all together.

He knew it wasn't his place to interfere but he just felt it was time for them to reconnect with each other.

Rory and Logan had something special, Colin knew it, all their friends knew it, both their families (although, not all approved) knew it, but they… they both seemed to have forgotten.

It was ironic how everything turned out.

Colin and Finn got closer to her when they both stayed an extra year at Yale to try to make up for the year that they took off.

They both cared about her.

Finn became especially close to her; he was like her older brother. He spent a lot of time in Europe after graduation because most of the movies he directed were on location there. He would spend a lot of time with Rory.

Colin would visit her whenever he could with Paris, and they would call her at least once a week, just to see how she was.

Rory, Stephanie and Paris became good friends when Rory and Paris were inducted into the LDB their senior year.

Colin and Paris got together after graduation, much to everyone's surprise, and now they're getting married.

Tristan, the bane of Rory's existence in High School, was now part of their close-knit group of eccentric friends.

Logan moved to London after his graduation. He wanted to be with Rory, there was no denying it, but he just couldn't stand the notion of just being friends with her. London was his escape. He just needed to breathe for a while.

When Rory graduated and received that job with CNN, she was a little uncertain when she found out it was in London. Nevertheless, she went anyway.

The irony was that a few days after Logan returned to the States, he arrived at her penthouse apartment, with a bouquet of sunflowers and every intention to woo her into submission, but instead, he was greeted with an unlocked door and an empty room. She had already left.

The stinger was that everyone seemed to know yet no one had even mentioned to him that she was moving, much less to another continent.

Colin kicked himself for not telling Logan sooner. He could have saved his best friend some dignity.

The cherry on top for Logan definitely had to be when he flicked on the news the next morning, only to see the face of his Ace discussing the decline of the global economy from London.

Seeing her on T.V, she looked genuinely happy... there was this glint of happiness and excitement in her eyes. It must have been karma coming to bite Logan in the ass.

To Logan, all he saw was the woman he was in love with, happily moved on. To her friends and family, they finally saw the old Rory… the girl that had disappeared when Logan went away.

She was happy, but definitely not moved on.

The car stopped at the restaurant bringing Colin out of his thoughts, but not Rory. She remained there, silent. Colin was debating how to go about this; they had been still for the rest of the 15-minute ride. He looked down at his watch again: 7:06. They were late—by six minutes, but late nonetheless.

"Ror," he started, she didn't even flinch. "We're here." He stated.

Rory looked up at him and slowly nodded her head, "Okay." She took a deep breath, "Let's go."

"Let's go," Colin repeated, he slid out of the car and held a hand out for her. She accepted, throwing her bag over her shoulder. She instructed the driver to drop off all her luggage at her parent's house and come back to pick her up later.

Colin led her into the restaurant, and waited for the Maître D' to lead them to the table where most of their party had already assembled.

They turned the corner and Rory let out a breath. She glanced around the table to see that everyone was there except for Logan. Finn was the first one to notice her.

"Love, you're here!" He stood up from his seat and squeezed her tightly.

"Finn, I love you too but you're going to have to let me go, I'm having some troubles breathing," she said half-jokingly. Finn was very affectionate, sometimes too affectionate, but considering she hadn't seen him in four months, the hug was overdue.

"Ease up, Finn; it looks like Gilmore's turning blue." Paris said, standing beside Colin, Stephanie and Tristan, waiting for their turn to greet Rory.

Finn released her and stepped back, just as he did, Rory heard a high-pitched squeal as she felt both Stephanie and Paris bring her in for a hug. After they let her go, she hugged Tristan. They probably looked like a bunch of school kids on the first day of school after summer holidays.

"Awe, I missed you guys." She said smiling; she glanced over at Finn who was looking at her intently.

Rory arched an eyebrow, "What are you looking at Finn?" She asked, looking down at herself.

"Spin around." He ordered, Rory hesitantly did so, and looked at him as if he was crazy, "I'm just making sure you're still in one piece. I worry about you, you know. You're always gallivanting off to the heart of danger, love."

"But you're always so stylish, B," Steph said smiling at Rory, "At least you'd die in a D&G pant suit and Manolo Mary Janes."

"Always a one track mind, huh, Steph." Paris scoffed, as the rest of the table chuckled at Steph's comment as they took their seats, "I'm sure that's what Gilmore's thinking about as she dodges perils."

"Well," Steph started, but the waiter cut her off. They just ordered their drinks since they had yet to open the menu.

"How is work going, Mary?" Tristan asked, as they all perused the menus.

"Yes, Reporter Girl, tell us all about it." Colin added. Rory smiled at her friends. They all had their little nicknames for her. They rarely used her first name. Finn would call her love, Colin coined the term 'Reporter Girl', Paris used Gilmore, Tristan called her Mary, Steph called her Bambi, and Logan used to call her…

"Ace."

They all turned towards the voice.

Rory looked at him in shock and then she instantly smiled. She couldn't help it; there was something about him that always made her smile. Even after everything that happened between them, she was happy to see him.

He looked good; his chocolate brown eyes, his tousled blonde hair and his charming smirk. He was just as she remembered, only with an air of maturity.

They all stood to greet him.

"You're late, mate." Finn gave him a manly embrace and then moved to the side so that Logan could see Rory.

"Rory Gilmore." He stated. They all stood there, awkwardly, waiting to see who would make the next move. It was Logan. All his inhibitions seemed to escape him as he moved to give her a bear hug, "God, it's good to see you, Rory." He said into her ear, so that only she could hear his sentiments.

"Oh!" Rory laughed, she did not expect him to do that, but she didn't mind. The hug was bittersweet in Rory's mind. She missed his arms around her like that but those feelings were followed with memories of the fact that they weren't together, "It's good to see you."

"It has been way too long." He said and Rory just smiled as they all took their seats.

Everyone shared confused glances; they were just as shocked as Rory was when Logan hugged her. They were afraid there was going to be slight blood shed but they were all pleasantly surprised.

Logan sat in the empty chair directly across from Rory and smiled, their eyes locking. "What's going on?" He asked, tearing his eyes away from hers.

The entire ride from his office to the restaurant, he was telling himself to act nonchalant. He wasn't sure what to say or how to act. He didn't know what the protocol was for having dinner with an ex-girlfriend especially an ex-girlfriend whom you still had feelings for.

The moment he saw her, though, all these old, familiar feelings came flooding back and all his cognitive skills were forgotten.

"We were just asking our very own Christiane Amanpour, how CNN was treating her." Tristan said, putting a brotherly arm around Rory's shoulders. Logan knew it was nothing and that he shouldn't read anything into the action, but he couldn't help the twinge of envy he felt.

"It's just as much fun since the last time you asked, Bible Boy," she said, in mock-condescension.

"Well, you're really great at what you do, Ace," Logan stated, "I always catch you on the morning news." Logan smiled; he always watched the morning news so it wasn't too far-fetched that he would occasionally see her. He just failed to mention that he religiously TiVo-ed CNN in order to catch a glimpse of her.

Rory smiled back, she felt strangely proud after hearing what Logan said, "Thank you." She replied, humbly, "But how about you..." She started, trying to move the conversation away from her, "I've only heard great things about what you've done with the Huntzberger Publishing Group."

"Yes, our boy seems to be naturally good at the very thing he spent years running from." Colin said, patting Logan on the back.

"Hey... I wasn't running." Logan said, "I was just delaying the inevitable."

"I always knew you underestimated your talents, Huntzberger. As much as you hate to admit it, you love the journalism field." Rory teased.

"Well, Ace, that's partially your doing."

"Me?" Logan nodded, "And how do you figure?"

"Your love of journalism is kind of contagious." He said simply; all Rory could do was smile. She wasn't exactly sure what to say, she was touched but she didn't know how say that without creating an even more awkward moment.

The moment between the two did not go unnoticed by the rest of the table. They were all thinking the same things: it's only a matter of time.

The waiter chose appeared at the table and Rory inwardly thanked him.

They all fell into a comfortable conversation as their food came. It was like nothing had changed. It was like back in college when they would all meet up at the Rich Man's Shoe. They were musing over about old times.

"I don't believe it!" Tristan roared, laughing uncontrollably.

"C'mon, Ace, you have to be kidding."

Rory glanced around the table; they were all laughing hysterically, save for her and Paris. She shook her head, failing to remember how they got to this topic.

"I kid you not." She said in all seriousness, "It was during Spring Break, freshman year at Yale." She turned to Logan, "I never told you this story?"

"Do you think I would just forget this vital piece of information?" He retorted, adding a little smirk.

Colin turned to Paris, with a shocked look on his face, "You seriously kissed her?" Paris just nodded, "Why?"

"I can answer that," Rory said, before Paris could put together words, "She said that we went down there to do Spring Break and we weren't doing it properly. So, thanks to the advice of Madeline and Louise, Paris came to the brilliant conclusion that kissing me would be the perfect way to fully experience Spring Break."

Everyone stared at Paris, "What? It seemed like a perfectly logical solution," She said, defending her reasoning. She caught the mischievous look on Finn's face, "It was a one time thing, Aussie. Don't get any ideas!"

Finn pouted, "Oy, you're no fun."

"I think you two would make a great couple!" Steph said, bursting out in giggles.

"No way." Rory stated.

"Why not?" Paris asked, sounding a little offended.

"You're too high maintenance for me." She smirked.

"I can vouch for that." Colin added, only to be elbowed by Paris.

"I bet your whole roster can vouch for that." Steph smirked.

"Oh, speaking of which, guess who I ran into while I was in Washington last month." Rory stated.

"How is that a 'speaking of which'?" Finn asked.

"What does it matter?" Steph asked, "Who did you see?"

"Mr. Princeton Man, also known as, Jamie." Rory paused, "I guess we're going to have to find a new nickname for him since he's not in Princeton anymore." She added as an afterthought.

"How is he doing?" Paris asked.

"He was good; looked good too."

"Who's Jamie?" Colin asked.

"No one." Paris said, a little too quickly.

"Boy, seeing him brought back some memories… very embarrassing memories."

"Oh, like what, love?" Finn prodded.

"Don't you dare, Gilmore!" Paris shrieked, balling up her napkin and throwing it across the table at Rory.

This seemed to peak everyone's interest.

Finn clapped his hands together like a 13-year-old girl, "What? What? Tell us!"

"It's not my embarrassing moment to tell." Rory said, glad to have the attention off her.

Everyone stared at Paris once again, waiting patiently for her to crack.

"I really hate you, Gilmore, you know that, right?"

"It's a love, hate, relationship." She said shrugging, "Plus, this is revenge for letting the golf story and the 'Butt-Cheek flashing' story get out."

"Oh, and the 'Fire Hydrant' story." Steph added.

"Besides, enough time has passed that we can all laugh about it. Of course, I'm sure my mom has a tape of it lying around somewhere." Rory told her.

"Well, don't leave us hanging here, hon, tell us about this no one." Colin urged.

"Fine, but you all have to promise never to mention it ever again." They all nodded, "I don't believe you, but I'll tell you anyway, since you're probably not going to let it go." They all nodded again, "Jamie was the first guy I ever… did it… with. It was after I found out that Gilmore and I had to do a speech that would be televised on C-SPAN. And … the day after Jamie and I, you know… I got a rejection letter from Harvard. Well, the morning of the speeches, I was still kind of shell-shocked from not getting in, then I get to the school and there are cameras everywhere and I'm ushered onto the stage-"

"Wait," Tristan interrupted, "That was you?" He asked, incredulously. "You're the girl who announced to the world of Academia through C-SPAN that the reason you didn't get into Harvard was because you lost your virginity the night before?"

Paris slightly blushed; she was more embarrassed talking about it now then when it was actually happening, "Yep, that was me in all my glory."

"Well, there's a story for the grandchildren." Colin joked.

"And they said C-SPAN wasn't interesting." Logan said, trying not to laugh.

"Blimey, I should watch C-SPAN more often."

"Oh, Paris, I didn't know you had it in you." Steph said, between laughs, "Was this Jamie at least worth all the besmirching of your reputation?"

"Love," He turned to Rory, "Did you say you had it on tape?" He asked, between laughs.

"Will you look at the time?" Paris said abruptly, staring down at her watch, "We should get going." She said, gesturing to Colin.

Finn looked down at his own watch as he regained his composure; it was definitely a memorable evening, "We all should; busy day tomorrow." He waved down the waiter for their check so they could leave.

After five minutes of fighting about who would pay—Finn won—they all made their way out of the restaurant.

"Love, did you drive here?"

"No, I had Colin bring my driver to pick me up at the airstrip. He should be here in a minute." She paused, "How are you getting home, Colin?" Rory asked, remembering that they came together.

"Paris drove here." Rory nodded, and saw her driver pull up.

"This is me. Thanks for dinner, Finn." She said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Anytime, love."

"Goodnight, Mary." Tristan said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Goodnight." She turned to Logan, "It was good seeing you, Logan."

"You, too, Ace." He kissed her on the cheek, lingering a little more than he should have. Rory just smiled, pulling out of his light embrace and turned towards Paris and Steph.

"So, we're still on for Thursday right?"

"Yes! I'll call you tomorrow!" Steph answered, giving Rory another hug.

"Okay. Bye, Paris, Colin!"

"I'll call you tomorrow, too!" Paris exclaimed, giving Rory a hug. "Don't forget I changed my wedding rehearsal to Saturday at 6:30PM." Paris reminded everyone. Rory nodded and climbed into the car, waving one last time as the car drove off.

On the ride to her parent's house, she was overwhelmed with memories of Logan. It was weird how easy it was to slip into old habits.

Rory and Logan could only be equated to a moth and a flame. If memory serves her right, it's always the same thing. She takes these chances on him and she always manages to get hurt. It's not like she's oblivious to the fact, but she just can't seem stay away from him, regardless of the consequence…