Author's Note: T- 5 days! Is everyone else as excited as I am? Here's the next chapter in Just Friends saga. Again, I would really appreciate it if you leave me some feedback to let me know what you think so far!
Three weeks had passed since the death of Richard Gilmore, and Rory was holding it together better than anyone. It had been three of the most challenging weeks of her life, her mother had been no help, and her grandmother refused to come out of her bedroom except for the funeral. If it hadn't been for Paul and Luke, Rory had no idea what she would have done.
Paul had cleared his schedule the minute she had phoned him, and took the time to arrange with The Current a delayed start date for her. He had been her rock, her support, running errands back and forth between Stars Hollow and Hartford.
Rory and Paul had been staying with Emily since the day after Richard's death. It had been extremely difficult, especially the first week. Even the day of the funeral, Rory had to march into Emily's bedroom, open the curtains, drag her out of bed and basically push her into the shower. Luke, had slightly more success with Lorelai, but neither woman was functioning to any level that seemed human.
It had been frustrating and difficult, Rory was hurting too, but she had to pull herself together to make sure that Richard got the funeral he deserved. She was thankful that Richard had put a number of stipulations in place on what he wished to occur in the event of his death, and Paul and Luke were able to take care of the majority of the arrangements, which gave Rory the opportunity to spend time focusing on the eulogy she was going to give.
The day of the funeral had been the hardest, but Rory pushed through. She hadn't been 100% happy with the eulogy, but she was convinced that no matter how much she had worked on it she would never have been happy.
That had been two weeks ago, though they were still in Hartford, helping Emily get her life without Richard in order. That would be changing tonight though, it was time to head back to New York. As it was Friday night, Rory and Lorelai decided that the best plan was to push forward with a Friday night dinner with Emily, though Rory and Paul would need to return to New York afterward, as there was a work event for The Current taking place on Saturday evening. She wasn't scheduled to start until Monday, but she decided it was important to attend the merger party to get to know her new co-workers a bit better.
Rory had been so wrapped up in everything that had been going on, she had completely tuned out anything that didn't directly correlate to what was going on in Hartford. She had been taken by surprise when Jim had called her two days ago to confirm she would be starting on Monday, and to inform her of the merger party on Saturday.
Today had been going well, Emily had actually spent the majority of her day outside of the bedroom. This made Rory happy, it was nice to see Emily almost back to normal, well, as normal as you could be three weeks after losing your spouse.
By 6:30 however, all that had changed, Emily had been sniping at the maid, and the cook, for most of the afternoon, trying to make sure that everything would be perfect, but as dinner time approached, Rory recognized the familiar signs that Emily was withdrawing within herself again.
By the time Lorelai and Luke arrived, Emily had locked herself in her bedroom, and no matter what Rory did, she could not get her to come out.
"Hey, mom" Rory greeted Lorelai and gave her a hug.
"Lorelai, Luke" Paul nodded.
"Hey Paul, Rory" Luke responded.
"I'm really sorry you drove all the way here, but it looks like dinner isn't happening." Rory explained.
"Grandma locked herself back in her bedroom." Rory sighed. "I've been trying for the last half an hour to get her out."
"It's ok honey. Let me try" Lorelai said, heading toward the stairs.
"Oh, Rory. Before I forget, here's your mail." Luke grabbed a stack of envelopes out of his jacket pocket and handed them to Rory.
"Thanks" Rory said, taking the envelopes and putting them in her purse.
Forty minutes later, Lorelai came back downstairs. "It's no use, she won't come out. You guys may as well start heading back to the city." she said.
"Maybe we should stay the weekend, and head back on Sunday." Rory said, looking at Paul.
"No hun, you need to get back, you've been here for the last three weeks. Let Luke and I help out." Lorelai said.
"Are you sure?" Rory asked.
"Yes. Don't worry about it. We've got this." Lorelai said, hugging her daughter.
"Ok, well, let's go I guess." Rory said looking at Paul again.
He nodded and went to grab their suitcases.
"Mom, Luke. If you need anything, I'm only a call away." Rory said starting to tear up.
"It's gonna be fine hun. Head back, enjoy your party tomorrow night." Lorelai said giving her another hug and a kiss on her temple.
Heading back to New York was going to be tough, but her mother was right, Rory needed to get back into her routine.
The drive back to New York was a quiet one, neither had much to say. It had been a stressful few weeks, it wasn't long before Rory had fallen asleep in the passenger seat.
"Rory, honey… Wake up." Paul gently nudged her. "We're home."
Rory opened her eyes, still groggy.
"You head on upstairs, I'll get our bags." Paul told her.
"Thanks." Rory smiled.
Heading up to the apartment, she reached into her purse to grab her key. After everything that happened, she hadn't had time to think about getting her own apartment, and with everything that Paul had done for her, she felt she owed it to him to give the living together thing a try.
Remembering that she had mail in her purse, she went and sat down on the couch and began to open it. Mainly credit card bills, and junk mail, Rory was quickly bored with this task.
"Honey, I'm going to throw our bags in the office, we can unpack tomorrow. It's getting late." she heard Paul shout as he walked down the hall.
The next envelope had her puzzled, it was small, much smaller than a bill. She flipped it over, no return address. Her curiosity peaked, she opened it.
Inside was a small piece of cardstock, and what was on it took her breath away. Before she had even read it, she knew who it was from. She would recognize that familiar scrawl anywhere.
"Hey, Rory. What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost." Paul said as he walked back in the room.
"Oh, it's nothing. Really." Rory said, forcing a smile onto her face, gripping the card quite tightly.
"What's that you've got?" he asked.
"It's just a condolence card from an old friend." Rory told him, her cheeks flushing.
Paul reached for it. "That's sweet. What does it say?"
Taking the card from her hands, Paul looked down and read the note.
So sorry for your loss, Ace.
"Ace? Who's Ace?" Paul asked.
"I'm Ace. It's an old nickname from my college days." Rory said.
"Well, there's no name signed. Who's it from?" Paul asked.
"Oh, not sure. Must just be an old friend from Yale." Rory fibbed.
"Look, I'm beat. I really think I need to get to bed." Rory told him, getting up and walking toward the bedroom, not really wanting to discuss the card any further.
As she was getting ready for bed, she had to fight off the urge to cry. When Paul found her, she told him it was just residual tears from the last few weeks, but deep down, she wasn't sure if that was actually true.
Rory looked at the clock and sighed. "Paul, we were supposed to leave fifteen minutes ago! Hurry up!" she shouted into the bedroom.
"I'm sorry, I'm just having trouble with this bowtie." He shouted back out to her.
Rory sighed again, and walked into the bedroom. "Come here" she said.
Quickly tying his bowtie, and smoothing out his collar she smiled. "Ok, ready? Let's go."
"Wait" he grabbed her by the wrist. "Have I told you yet, just how beautiful you look in that dress? Wow."
Rory smiled. She was particularly happy with her outfit for this evening. Floor length, and strappy, the majority of her back exposed, and in such a brilliant royal blue. It was just the right touch of fun, and elegant. She took one last look in the mirror, fixed her curls, and thanked her boyfriend, and attempted to hurry him out the door.
Hailing a cab, Rory gave the driver the address, but soon found themselves stuck in traffic. By the time they arrived to the hotel ballroom, they were almost an hour late. Rushing in, Rory was dragging Paul behind her when she suddenly stopped.
She stopped so quickly that Paul crashed right into her.
"Rory, what's the matter?" Paul asked.
"N… Nothing." Rory turned around and smiled at him.
Meanwhile, the wheels in her head were turning, first receiving a card from him just yesterday, and now looking across the ballroom she saw a familiar tuft of blonde hair. She shook her head. There was no way this was a coincidence.
"Come on, let's go get a drink and I'll introduce you to Jim." Rory smiled.
Rory set off to the bar like a bat out of hell. "A martini with a twist for me, strong." she said, "and for him…" she trailed off, not entirely sure what Paul would like to drink.
"A rum and coke" Paul told the bartender.
As soon as Rory received her drink, she downed it in one gulp. "I'll have another please." Rory said setting down her first glass.
Paul looked at Rory quizzically, but shrugged.
After receiving her second martini she pointed across the crowd and began to drag Paul across the room. "Look there's Jim. Let's go say hi."
Paul gave her another look, almost as if she was acting like a crazy lady.
"Jim! Hi!" Rory said.
"Rory! Hey! How are you holding up?" Jim asked.
"I'm ok, it's been pretty tough, I had to take the lead on a lot of things, neither my mother or grandmother were in a place to be making any decisions." She said.
"Losing someone is never easy. They say time heals…" Jim said.
"I hope you're right." Rory said.
"Oh! Where are my manners! Jim, this is my boyfriend Paul. He was the one who called you when everything happened." Rory told him.
"Yes, of course. Paul, it's nice to meet you." Jim said, reaching out to shake his hand.
"Likewise, and I want to thank you for hiring my girl. It's going to nice to be in the same city for once." Paul told him.
"So Jim, now that it's official, what company bought the magazine? I feel like I've been so out of the loop." Rory told him.
"Ah, wait a second." Jim took off.
Rory felt her heart sink as she saw Jim returning, with a familiar face in tow.
"Rory, I'd like you to meet…" Jim started.
"Logan Huntzberger." Rory said, plastering a smile on her face.
Logan looked like a deer in the headlights.
"You know each other?" Jim asked.
"We met back at Yale." Rory said quickly.
"Ah! Yes! I should have known." Jim said.
"Logan, it's good to see you." Rory said rather awkwardly. "Oh, this is Paul by the way. Paul, Logan." she told him as an afterthought, though she paused, not knowing the name of Logan's companion to introduce herself too.
"It's good to see you too Ace."
Inwardly, Rory felt a brief blip of excitement, he called her Ace.
Paul's eyes however, darkened.
"Paul, nice to meet you. This is Kimmy." Logan said, reaching out to shake Paul's hand.
"Actually, it's Kelly." the woman rolled her eyes but reached out to shake Rory's hand.
"You'll have to excuse us, I was just on my way to get us drinks when Jim told me I had to come meet his all star new managing editor." Logan smirked, and excused himself from the conversation.
When it was just Paul, Jim and Rory, she asked "So we were bought by Huntzberger Publishing Group?" Rory asked starting to feel faint.
"No, on the contrary. Logan is a partner in a tech company based out of California. They have been expanding their assets, and they decided to jump into the magazine business. They plan on moving us to a print and digital magazine." Jim told her.
Rory felt a sigh of relief, Logan was still based out of California. They would be involved in the same company, but at least they would still be on opposite coasts.
"It's so great that you know Logan already!' Jim told her. "That's going to make the transition so much easier, with him taking the office next to mine.'
Rory felt like she was going to be sick. Seriously, how could this happen. Of all the publications, in all the world. After eight years, he was back in her life.
Rory faked a smile, "Yes, that is great! Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me for a moment, I need to run to the little girls room."
During the walk to the washroom, Rory fought off the familiar sting of tears.
Standing over the sink, Rory she continued to try and fight off the coming panic attack. She could do this. They were grown adults. Sure, they parted on horrible terms, but that was so long ago. She had no choice, she was just starting this job, she had been so excited about this job.
Just then, a horrible thought entered her mind. She didn't deserve this job, Logan must have told them to hire her. She felt sick. She needed to head home. She was sure, given everything that happened lately, everyone would understand.
Rushing out of the bathroom to find Paul, she heard a familiar voice call her name.
Slowing to a stop, she turned around to find herself face to face with Logan.
She couldn't do this. Not now.
"How are you doing?" Logan asked.
"Oh great. Just great." Rory said sarcastically.
"Rory, I'm so sorry." He told her.
"Logan, how could you!" Rory hissed.
"How could I, what?" Logan asked puzzled.
"Have Jim hire me! Put me... us in this... Situation." Rory said.
"Look Rory, I didn't know Jim hired you. I wasn't involved in the company at all until all the papers were signed yesterday. I knew he hired a new managing editor, but all he mentioned was that they had a family emergency." Logan told her.
Looking at Logan, she could tell he was telling the truth.
"Then why were you apologising?" Rory asked.
"Your grandfather. You two were so close." Logan said, his voice almost at a whisper.
"Oh. Right." Rory said blushing.
"Look Rory, I really had no idea, you have to know that." Logan pressed.
"I wasn't lying though, it took me by surprise, but it's good to see you." He told her.
"Logan" Rory sighed. "How is this going to work?" she asked.
"My boss's boss is my ex-boyfriend. If the people in the office find out, I'm never going to hear the end of it." Rory sighed.
"Rory, that is none of their business." Logan told her earnestly.
"Look Logan, we are going to need to discuss… This… but now's not the time. I need to get back to Paul." she told him.
"Forget Paul, let's go talk now." Logan grinned at her.
"Logan, I can't just leave my boyfriend here and run off with you. Plus, where's that date of yours? Kimmy? Kelly? Whatever her name is?" Rory said.
Logan's eyes darkened a little at the mention of the fact Paul was her boyfriend.
"Look, we'll talk soon ok." Rory said, turning and walking away.
Quickly finding Paul in the ballroom, Rory grabbed his hand. "Look, I know I wanted to come tonight, but I think I'm ready to go home. It's been a long few weeks, and I'm still wiped." she said with a sad smile.
The cab ride home was spent in silence, both lost in their thoughts. Once they were back in the apartment however, Paul decided to break the silence in a major way.
"Rory, what's going on? You were acting weird tonight." Paul said.
"Weird, really?" Rory said trying to play it off. "I'm still having a little bit of trouble focusing, getting back into the swing of things." she said, trying to play it off as nothing.
"I really don't think that's the case." he said.
"You started acting weird last night, with that condolence card, then tonight, as soon as you arrived at the party you started acting strange again, almost anxious. Then, we meet your new boss, who you already know, and he calls you Ace. The same thing that was on the card last were pretty insistent that we leave pretty soon after that. What aren't you telling me?" Paul asked.
Rory sighed, there was no point in keeping this a secret.
"Look, you're right. Ok? The whole thing has just kind of thrown me for a loop." Rory said.
"Why?" he pressed her to continue.
"Look, to make a long story short, we dated. Ok? Happy?" Rory told him.
"How serious were you?" he asked.
"It was a really long time ago."
"How serious were you?" he asked again, more firmly.
Rory took a deep breath.
"He proposed to me at my Yale graduation party." Rory said feeling sick.
"RORY! How could you never tell me about this?" Paul blew up.
"I turned him down." Rory said meekly. "I wasn't ready to get married. It was eight years ago."
"Rory, why would you keep this a secret?" Paul asked.
"Look, it's been so long, I didn't see the point." Rory told him.
"And now he's going to be your boss?" Paul said, still on edge.
"Actually, he's going to be my boss's, boss." she corrected him.
"I don't like this Rory." Paul told her.
"Paul, really. It's not a big deal, it'll be a little awkward for awhile, but that's just the way it's going to be. I report to Jim, not Logan, it'll be fine."
"Fine? You're ex-boyfriend hired you!" Paul shouted.
"Actually, Jim hired me. Logan had no idea. I asked him that tonight myself." Rory said trying to remain calm.
"So while you were off in the washroom, you were actually off talking to your ex?" Paul scowled.
"No, actually, I was off in the washroom. He just so happened to spot me when I was on my way back to find you."
"Just so happened." Paul retorted.
"Whatever Paul. Stop being so possessive. I'm here, with you aren't I? I'm your girlfriend. Not his. That ship sailed, a long time ago." Rory snapped back.
"I'm going to bed. Goodnight." Paul said curtly, and walked into the bedroom and shut the door.
Rory sighed and plunked down on the couch. What a mess, she thought.