Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, settings, music, or movies mentioned.

Rory worked on her article for another hour before emailing it to Doyle and then pulling out her cell phone again. She pressed 1 on her speed dial and waited until the 3rd ring when she heard her mother's voice.

"Hello Loin fruit!" she greeted.

"Hey mom," Rory said.

"What do I owe this call?" Lorelai asked.

"Well I'm letting you know that you're off the hook Friday night, Grandma and Grandpa are having a party so dinner is canceled," Rory said.

"Wow, a Friday night without my parents, I don't even remember what that's like, you might have to come home and entertain me. Oh, we could have a movie night, go all out to celebrate our freedom!" Lorelai said excitedly.

"Actually, I agreed to go," Rory told her.

"Ok I can get you out of it, I'll just tell my mom I need-," Lorelai started but Rory cut her off.

"No mom I want to go," Rory was quick to tell her.

"What? Rory no you don't, you hate those parties, they're just going to manipulate you into going to some other event or set you up with some rich snob or maybe they'll marry you off this time, go big or go home right," Lorelai said.

"Mom you don't know what I want to do and they might be messing with me, but it's them, as in both of them," Rory said.

"So what?" Lorelai asked a bit too harshly.

"So, they called me together, they were in the same room, they were talking to each other. Mom, they almost separated, it could have ended in divorce. We're lucky it's only small fights and they didn't go through with it. This could mean that their getting along and if me going to some stupid party will do that for them then I don't care what the repercussions are," she said as though it were obvious.

"Fine do what you want," Lorelai said a little annoyed that Rory would rather go a party at Richard and Emily's than spend time with her.

"Bye mom," Rory said and hung up. She couldn't believe her mom right now. Why was she so against her going to her grandparents?

Unable to just sit there and sulk, Rory decided to get up and go for a run. Her mother popped into her head again and what she would think about a Gilmore girl exercising. However, since freshman year when she roomed with Janet, Rory had started running when she couldn't think, it helped clear her head and use up some stored energy.

She threw her hair into a high ponytail, put on a sport bra, leggings and a jacket that she zipped up a quarter of the way, despite the temperature outside she would be hot after she started. She put in her headphones and left.

There was a trail around the campus that she usually ran and that's where she went this time. She started out just walking, but soon picked up her pace and ran her way through the trail. She was in the middle of a song and not paying any attention to her surroundings when she collided with someone. She would have fallen but two strong arms caught her around her waist and held her steady. When the person didn't let go, she looked up, still flustered.

"You should watch where you're going Ace," Logan said, smirking. He had been out for a run, stressed after a conversation with his father. He had seen Rory running the opposite direction he was and she wasn't paying attention. Before he knew it, she was wrapped in his arms and he definitely wasn't complaining. He noticed her attire and that she simply had on tight leggings and a sports bra, and her small jacket did very little to conceal her toned stomach.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention," she said. She registered that his arms were still wrapped around her and it felt nice. She also realized that he was wearing nothing but jogging pants and sneakers, and she was pressed against his very hard, muscular abs. She felt herself beginning to blush but held it down and tried to back up, something he wasn't willing to let her do apparently. "Um thanks for catching me though, I'd probably lying face down on the ground right about now," she said with a nervous chuckle.

"Well we couldn't have that, could we," he said. "So what are you doing out here? You didn't really strike me as the running type."

"Oh yeah, I really only run when I'm stressed or I have something on my mind," she told him, unaware that they were out her for very similar reasons.

"Hm, makes sense, I do the same," he said finally letting her out of his embrace. "So you want to make this interesting?" he asked with a smirk.

"What do you mean interesting?" she asked skeptically.

"I mean we race, loser buys coffee when we finish," he said putting his hand out for her to shake.

Running the rest of the way with Logan and then getting coffee with him afterwards was certainly not avoiding him. She was going to turn down his offer, but one look at that smug, overconfident smirk and she was determined to beat him. "You're on Huntzberger," she said. She shook his hand, both of them ignoring the sparks they felt course through them at this simple interaction. She took her jacket off, removing the only piece of clothing preventing him from seeing her. She tied it tight round her waist and turned back to him. She noticed him looking a bit below her eyes and realized he was staring at her breasts and stomach. "My eyes are up here!"

He jumped a bit, unaware that he had been staring at her for so long and looked her in the eyes, she seemed annoyed but also amused at the situation. "Like what you see I take it?" she said with a smirk of her own.

"Hell yeah Ace, damn if I didn't I would think there was something wrong with me," he told her.

"That's fair," she said and started walking backwards, still looking at him. "Coming?" she asked and took off running with him right behind her. They only had about a mile left of the trail and she knew for a fact she could run it in 8 minutes, maybe faster if she really tried, she just hoped Logan was slower. However, judging by his incredible physique she seriously doubted that.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye as her pony tail swayed back and forth and she ran with a slight bounce in her step. She was adorable when concentrating so hard on something and clearly she was determined to beat him. He considered simply letting her win, but knew she would only make him race her again if she found out. So, he put his all into running faster and making it to the end of the mile before her.

By the end of it Logan was running slightly ahead of her and she ran as fast as she could at the final stretch, racing past him and getting there first. "Ha! I won!" she squealed happily and jumped up and down. Logan watched her and decided he would do whatever it took and gladly loose thousands of races to see her this happy again.

"Congratulations Ace," he said, laughing at her half jump, half dance celebration.

"I beat you!" she said excitedly poking him in the chest to make her point.

"Yes you did, which I must say surprised me quite a bit," he said honestly.

"I know! Me too, I didn't think I could beat you but look at this, I did and now you owe me coffee," she rambled.

"Alright Ace let's get you that coffee," he said, slinging an arm over shoulder.

"And I want a really big one too, after that I think I worked off every ounce of caffeine I had today," she joked, looking up at him with her big blue eyes.

"I wore you out huh?" he teased her.

"Eww not like that," she said scrunching her nose.

He laughed and they continued walking until they hit the coffee cart. They got in line and Rory heard someone call her name. "Rory!" he called when he saw her. Marty quickly approached them and tried to ignore the blonde man's presence and the fact that he was half dressed and standing with Rory who also lacked clothing.

"Hey Marty," she said moving out of Logan's embrace, much to his chagrin, and hugged Marty. Logan felt a flare in his stomach when he saw Marty place his hands on her exposed back to hug her. He wasn't familiar with jealousy, but wasn't it and he wasn't jealous because Logan Huntzberger didn't get jealous. He didn't know what he felt or why he felt it, this never happened with other girls and those were the ones he slept with. "How are you?" she asked when she pulled away from him, she absentmindedly moved back to Logan's side.

Logan took this opportunity to possessively wrap and arm around her shoulder, sure his feeling towards Rory were confusing right now, but he could at least dull the ache he felt when she was near another guy or not with him.

"I'm good, how about you?" Marty asked, eying Logan suspiciously. Rory noticed him glance at the blonde man next to her and realized she neglected to introduce them.

"I'm good, um, Logan this is my friend Marty, Marty this is Logan Huntzberger," she introduced them.

"Nice to meet you man," Logan said, extending his hand for Marty to shake it.

"Yeah you too," Marty replied, awkwardly shaking Logan's hand.

"Excuse me, are you ready to order?" the man at the coffee cart asked them, they were next in line and holding up the rest of it.

"Go crazy Ace," Logan said with a smirk.

"Yay coffee!" she said and slipped out from under his arm to turn around and order. Logan smiled at her enthusiasm and turned back to Marty.

"She's something special isn't she? Quite the little spitfire," Logan said laughing.

"Oh yeah," Marty said laughing with him, a bit more comfortable now.

"So how long have you liked her?" Logan asked knowingly.

And there went Marty's comfort with the conversation. "Since the beginning of freshman year," he admitted begrudgingly.

"Wow," Logan said. He suddenly realized that despite his feelings towards Rory, whatever they were, she was quite sought after and there was no way she would chose him over everyone else who obviously liked her. He knew of several LDB members who had taken an interest in her and had seen guys around campus checking her out, several in the last couple minutes. One of the things that made her so desirable to many of the men on campus, other than the obvious, was the fact that she never dated anyone. As far as he knew she had never had a boyfriend from Yale, just the one he knew of from her home town, though he was pretty sure they had broken up, the story behind that was a mystery to him still.

"Looooggggiiieeeee," Rory called. He turned around to face her expectantly. "What do you want?" she asked.

"Large black coffee," he told her smirking.

"Oh, a man after my own heart," she responded and turned around to order.

I think so, Logan added to her comment silently and then walked up behind her to hand the man a 20 and told him to keep the change. They both took their coffees, the same order, and turned back to Marty.

"So Rory we're still having lunch next week?" Marty asked.

"Yep, I'm still free," she told him.

"Ok good, I have to go but I'll see you then," he said and then walked away from the two.

"So Ace when did you start running like that?" Logan asked.

"Early my freshman year, when I left for Yale and moved out of my mom's house I started to get more involved in society and my grandparents world, my mom didn't really like that and we started arguing more. I really only run when I'm stressed or when we fight about something, it helps me clear my head," she told him, by now they had sat down at a table and we're drinking their coffees. "What about you?"

"I'm pretty much the same. I fight with my dad or he lectures me on the proper way to uphold the Huntzberger name, tells me I'm a disappointment and a disgrace, I get pissed and I go run," he said.

"Wow," she said. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked confused, she didn't have anything to be sorry for.

"That you have such a strained relationship with your dad. I mean my mom and have our differences and she doesn't approve of everything I do, but she's my best friend and I couldn't imagine not having that relationship with her. I don't understand exactly what it's like to have forced expectations but I know what it's like to have pressure put on you to act a certain way or make a certain choice and It can't be easy for your future to be in someone else's hands," she said.

"Yeah it's pretty frustrating sometimes, but it gets to the point when you realize you have no other option and you just have to live your life before it's taken away from you," he said. He was surprised he was sharing so much with her but she just seemed to get him. She didn't pity him, she empathized with him. She wasn't trying to understand, she just did.

"So what happened this time?" he asked her.

"Oh, well my grandparents are having this party, and I'm going but my mom thinks they're trying to manipulate me or something," Rory told him.

"Well most people in society usually do have ulterior motives, but I've met your grandparents and they're good people," Logan said.

"Thanks," she said, smiling and took another sip of coffee. "So what about you? Why run today?" she asked.

"Well, my father, the dark lord as I so affectionately refer to him," he said at which she laughed. "He told me…"

They spent the next hour talking and getting to know each other better, Logan was highly entertained by her Stars Hollow stories and didn't quite believe her about Kirk. Eventually Rory had to go, she had work to finish, and the two parted ways, both analyzing the afternoon's events but not coming up with sufficient explanations.