Chapter Four: Just Friends? Just Friends.
"What did you call me?"
"Umm… Ace." Logan cringed as he too stepped back from the embrace, his hands in his pockets and his eyes diverted in a nervous habit.
"I know that… but why?" Her voice was barely above a whisper and her skin a ghostly shade of white. Her eyes were clouded over with what appeared to be pain, memories… and if Logan wasn't mistaken, the dreaded hope.
"I started to remember things." Logan confessed, watching her lips curl upwards in the slightest, "It's all so surreal though, these memories coming back in clumps now and then… well, actually only twice… it's not like it's all coming back in one solid go like I would have thought- but I mean, who can predict these things? It's pretty much unknown territory where I am at the moment-"
"What do you remember?" She asked, her earlier anger dissipating as she interrupted his rant that showed no signs of halting. He was nervous about telling her this, she assumed she knew why.
"Umm… the last thing I remember before the hospital is, currently, going out with Finn and Colin after getting you to agree to the unknown conditions for your article." He looked like a child who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, guilty. She didn't want to make him linger in a conversation he found awkward. He had most likely been putting up with that since he woke up.
"How did you disappear from the desk? I mean, one second you were there and the next there's no sight of you in the whole newsroom! You were just… gone!" Sure, she successfully changed the subject, but she had to inwardly curse herself. This just sounded like she had the world's shortest attention span… not a far cry from the truth.
"Never played ding-dong-ditch, Ace?" Logan asked with a teasing smirk.
"My mum made me play once… but I went back to apologize once she was at work. She said that everyone has to play ding-dong-ditch before they graduate elementary school, I didn't want to but she said it was that or egging Taylor's car." Rory said with a wave of dismissal.
"You've never egged anything?" Logan asked, with a smirk more teasing that the last.
"No, I upped that one and deviled-egged a car… this time it was my suggestion and me and mum drove away making screeching noises when the jeep was too slow." She scowled at him slightly when he started to laugh at her.
"I'm not sure who's stranger Ace, you or you're mother."
"I'm not sure who is more condescending, you or Judy Dench." She gave him a playful scowl before turning on her heel and walking back to the main dining hall, Logan limping hot on her tail.
Logan pulled her aside before she could be spotted and made to rejoin the group, "Rory, I don't want you to get your hopes up just because I'm remembering things… I can't make any promises." He looked so serious, Rory couldn't help but give him a small, almost sympathetic smile.
"Relax Huntzberger, I don't plan on being a best man again anytime soon, but you've got to understand now, when you start getting your memories back, you can't pressure me into falling back into old habits… not until we're on the same page… it just, won't work." It burnt her to say that, but she knew it was true on the most part. She did feel hope. She never said she didn't.
Logan watched her politely take her seat back at the table slightly confused, she was right though, they wouldn't be on the same page.
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"Well, that was an interesting lunch." Logan said as he leant against his walking cane in the parking lot with Honor and Rory.
"Sorry guys, but I completely hate your mother." Rory scowled, still bitter after the judgmental 'Spanish inquisition' that Shira had given her.
"You seemed to have made quite an impression on my family Ace." Logan said with a laugh.
"The only time they were even vaguely nice to me was when I was on the stupid DAR!" Rory complained, trying to hold back a rant about how horrible the Huntzbergers are in front of their only children –who happened to be very amiable people… one whom she was particularly in favor of.
"I can't believe you're on the DAR." Honor laughed as Logan sniggered along with her.
"Was on the DAR. I just needed a job that was flexible enough with my community service."
Logans jaw dropped, "Community service? Like, volunteering or, I once killed a man?"
"Well, I think that if you killed someone you'd be getting a little more than 300 hours of community service over six months…" It never failed to surprise her when Logan didn't remember these things that he was so involved in. She had to wonder if she would ever get used to it.
"You were a bad influence on her Logan…" Honor said with mock disappointment, "She was so innocent!"
"Hey! I was not innocent!" Rory denied, feigning annoyance as they started walking slowly (so as to keep up with Logan) towards their vehicles, "I shoplifted once."
"Oh yeah?" Honor asked, "What?"
"Cornstarch." She looked at the ground in shame. She was still a Mary at heart.
"Why'd you steal cornstarch?" Logan laughed, oh yes, it was going to be all embarrassing stories about her, wasn't it.
"I was sixteen and my almost boyfriend at the time gave me my first kiss… I said thank you and ran away, I just forgot to pay ok!" Rory huffed as Logan and Honor almost doubled over in laughter. Logan felt his ribs contract, but not even that pain could stop his laughter at her embarrassment.
"Sixteen? Sweet sixteen and never been kissed?" Honor asked with a gaping jaw.
"And everyone at school called me Mary." Rory mumbled. As much as she would deny it, she enjoyed sharing these facts with Logan and Honor. Mostly because when Logan was laughing with her, he was enjoying his time with her, he was getting to know her. Like she knew him.
"Hey Logan," Rory started, "Why don't you come back to the apartment in my car, my boxes are all packed and my mum should be bringing a car around in," quick watch glance, "Two hours. What do you think?"
"Yeah, that sounds great. I wouldn't know how to get there, and Honor hasn't been there either. Thanks Ace." He smiled at her, but for once Rory didn't get lost in his smile, but rather noticed the kissy faces that Honor was making behind his back. Rory scowled at her before leading Logan in the direction of her car. For now the dismal weather did not reflect her mood. She was happy, no amount of rain could take that away.
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"So, this is it." Rory said, indicating to the apartment. That was definitely strange, this was Logans apartment and she was showing it off like it was her own.
"Wow… Henry!" Logan said, looking around the apartment and recognizing the imposing suit of armor.
"Well, I'll let you look around, my stuff is in the boxes over there… actually… you should probably lay down. You lay down. I have a call I need to make." Rory said, pointing sternly at the bed while Logan rolled his eyes.
"Lorelai Gilmore directive service, you call, I tell you where to go, how can I help you?"
"What if this was Grandma?" Rory asked, playfully scolding her mother.
"Then I would have followed through. So how was lunch with the lovely ladies at the club?"
"You mean lunch with grandma, grandpa, Honor, Logan, Shira and Elias?" Rory said with mock innocent curiosity.
"NO! The Huntzbergers?" Lorelai asked rhetorically, completely shocked that her mother would sink to such a low.
"I was shanghaied into their 'reconciliation luncheon'. It was ok though." Rory's confession lacked the bitterness her mother expected it to contain.
"Uh huh… ok? You went to Hell and back and you thought it was ok?"
"No, when you made me drive to Hell in the middle of a blizzard to pick you up because you wanted to be able to say 'I've been to Hell and back' and also to have proof that hell has 'frozen over' but the Jeep got bogged in and needed to get toed –hence the me picking you up, I was not ok with that." Rory countered, remembering her mothers outrageous adventure the previous winter.
"Eh, I've done way crazier. Anyways… I have a feeling that this okay-ness might have something to do with a certain blonde boy…"
"It might…"
"Like…?"
"Like, we talked, we agreed, he's perfect, he's here right now we're friends." Rory listed nonchalantly.
"Friends?" Lorelai asked suspiciously, "Aren't you like, crazy, head over heels, this might be 'The Ones' about him?"
"Yeah."
"Ok, so, you're being friends with Logan, who is at the apartment with you, while you're still in love with him but won't make a move?"
"Yeah."
"And you went on about Hell for how long?"
"Mum!" Rory whined, she really wanted her mothers opinion on this, not to hear her mothers silly anecdotes for hours straight.
"Alright, alright. You know that episode of 'Sex and the City' where they have the whole Love Addicts ordeal?" Lorelai questioned, knowing full well that Rory was up to scratch on her Miranda intake.
"Yeah… oh no!" Rory clued onto what her mother was talking about, "That's not it at all! I'm not like that! I'm not a love addict! I take time, I have relationships… I… I…"
"You never let go, honey. Once you love someone you never stop loving them, maybe you do need to let go, write a pro/con list, figure things out."
"Just because I have good taste in men doesn't mean that I'm a love addict!" Rory defended, she wasn't a love addict! Love addicts were like Romeo, head over heels in love with Rosaline one minute and killing himself over Juliet the next. She had only been in love two, maybe three times. Sure, she still loved Logan, but that was different… and she might have had a little something for Jess after the incident in Philly, but she stopped that pretty quickly! And Dean, well, she wasn't over Dean last summer. Was she over him now? She wasn't a love addict, she was a familiarity addict.
"Honey?" Lorelai questioned after a considerable silence.
"I'm not a love addict. I'm a familiarity addict."
Lorelai laughed, "But calling you my 'love addicted, love child' sounds so much cooler!"
"So, anyway, what's up with you?" Rory questioned, she hadn't spoken to her mum in a few days and she still needed processing time before walking back into the room with Logan and being 'friends'.
"Grandma bought me and Luke a house."
"WHAT?" Rory gasped, "We covered hell, love addicts and my luncheon before we got to that bombshell? Don't we already have a house? We don't want a new house do we? How long have you known? For once you spent time with your parents and didn't consider going Menendez on them?"
"Sorry. Yes. No. Two days. It's a beautiful house. If there are more kids in the future, it might not be bad to have that house… it's not too far from stars hollow and it is single handedly the nicest thing my grandparents have ever done for me. So, I guess that for the moment I'm giving the Menendez treatment a miss. It's like the pudding incident of 2001."
'"So…" Rory paused, unsure what was to come of the unspoken question, "You and Luke are ok again?"
Rory could feel her mothers beam over the phone, "We're great. Back on track after the wedding fiasco. Things are great. I'm great."
"That's great mum. You sound happy."
"I am. I'm really happy kid." Lorelai confirmed, her happiness infecting Rory who couldn't help but smile too. Things were great.
Rory grinned, "Just checking."
"Is the world coming to an end?" Lorelai questioned with a smile.
"Don't worry, you get the arc and I'll get the animals." They were always slightly dramatic.
"Goodie, we can play animal kingdom!"
"So you'll be here soon?"
"Hmm, maybe in around two hours… I wouldn't want to rush over considering…" Lorelai put on her pondering voice as she 'hmm'ed and 'ahh'ed for a while.
"See you soon mum!" Rory finished, rolling her eyes slightly, "OH! And a Michelle Branch bumper sticker made me fifteen minutes late for dinner at the club!" Rory added.
"Well it's better than listening to her music…" Lorelai countered.
"See you soon mum."
"Love you my favorite love child!"
"Love you too." Rory laughed a little before finally concluding her stalling session, "Bye!" Rory hung up the phone and smiled, taking in a deep breath. Everything seemed ok after a chat with her mother. Her mother was the one person she could always rely on. She was always there. Always helping. Always loving.
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Logan looked around the apartment, hearing murmurs of conversation and laughter in what appeared to be the only secluded room in the spacious studio apartment. He limped over to the window, supporting himself on various inanimate objects as he went. The view of old campus from the window was spectacular. He sat down on the bed in silent defeat, he had had a long day and could no longer put off the tiredness his body felt. He didn't like the feeling, complete alertness of the mind but exhaustion of the body, he was used to staying out a partying till three in the morning.
A picture on the bedside table caught his attention, it was the picture of him and Rory holding hands and jumping off the scaffolding. The rush of adrenaline he had felt then was like no other. Finn had come out of that day with a sprained wrist, he had come out with a major crush.
Logan almost jumped out of his skin when, after nearly two minutes he realized that he wasn't supposed to remember the jump, to remember giving her the letter, to remember Colin's many futile attempts to get Juliet to go out with him. Logan smiled. For once, for now, he was happy he remembered.
"Ok, now you stay there. My mother should be here in around two hours… she's not the most timely person… will you be ok here by yourself when I'm gone… what if you need to get something to eat, or go to the bathroom?" A slightly worried and panicked look took its place on her face as Logan was broken out of his thoughts, amused and annoyed by her antics.
"I'll be fine, Ace. I've given it all up, trust me, cold turkey." He held back a laugh as Rory glared at him.
"So, anyway, I figured that we could watch a movie and eat some junk food while we wait." Rory said, trying her best to ignore his indifferent attitude.
"Sounds good to me Ace." Logan said with a smirk as he watched her rush around the kitchen, grabbing a bag of chips, M&Ms, lolly snakes and some old Chinese takeout from the fridge. It was then Logan realized just how big a part of his life this girl was. There was no way he would have all that food had he lived alone. He brushed the thought aside.
"Old Chinese?" Logan asked, not quite sure if he was up for the mystery meat.
"I am going to introduce you to the things you love, but wouldn't have tried yet," Rory said as she started heating up the leftovers. "For example, Chinese and The Breakfast Club are on today's menu."
"Isn't The Breakfast Club the one with Molly what's- her-face, you know, the 80's chick flick girl?"
"Yes, Molly Ringwald. She was in 'Pretty in Pink', 'Sixteen Candles', and 'The Breakfast Club', then some tragic horror film in the early nineties. After that she slipped of the radar… got married to some not-so-nice guy before having a kid with a nice guy… but I don't think they're married."
"You ask a simple question…"
Rory rolled her eyes and removed the takeout boxes from the microwave and put them on trays obviously used for having breakfast in bed. She dumped the packets of food on the bed and went to flip through the DVDs, all while Logan watched her, frowning slightly.
"I'm not watching it."
"Yes you are." Rory gave him her best 'don't-mess-with-me' face but he didn't cave.
"No way, it's a girls film!"
"I got you to watch in last summer and you loved it. It's not a girls film!" Rory protested, the truth was that Logan had never watched 'The Breakfast Club', not from lack of trying, but rather from his general stubbornness. She was going to take advantage of his predicament, however, as a chance for him to try something new, something different. Very possibly something bad for him.
Logan thought about it for a minute before caving, "Alright. I'll watch it. But what's with all the food?"
"Umm… we're watching a movie." Rory said, it being the most obvious thing in the world.
"But we just had lunch!" Logan pointed out, much to the displeasure of Rory.
"You, my friend, are a disappointment. Now sit back, watch the movie and eat the food… but try not to pull a Finn and keep the food in your mouth."
"You jump I jump Jack." He said with a smirk as he watched Rorys mouth gape open in surprise.
"Don't try and make me forget about the movie mister." Rory scolded much to the blondes surprise. No one, no one had just given a memory a rest so far without the twenty questions that followed.
-----
"So… what did you think?" Rory asked, turning to Logan as the credits started rolling.
Logan, who was faking sleep sat up slightly and ignoring the pain in his ribs pretended to have just woken up, "Huh? What? Oh! Sorry, what did I miss?"
"Logan!" Rory scolded, "Don't mock! What did you think?"
Logan sighed in resignation, "It was alright, I wouldn't go as far as to call it my favorite though." He said with a shake of his head.
"Well, it was the first time you've seen it." Rory admitted with a sly grin.
"What?" Logan asked, slightly dumfounded.
"I lied. I've never been able to get you to watch it so I decided to, what do they say, 'always look on the bright side of life' and con you into this." She said as Logans eyes widened, much like her smile.
"You lied!"
"Yes."
"To me? Poor innocent me! Poor bedridden me!" Logan whined in mock agony.
"Innocent? You?" Rory laughed, "And it's about time you were bedridden. I've had you dragging me bar hopping when you had a 102 degree fever!"
Logan smirked at her, just imagining her bar hopping almost made him laugh.
"Yes, I know. Me bar hopping right?" She said, reading his mind, "The things you made me do! Anyway, I'll make the movie up to you."
Logan smirked and raised his eyebrows, earning him a slight slap on the shoulder, "Ow! Ok, ok, how will you make it up to me?"
"You should talk to Colin about how much money Finn and Robert owe you after your poker games." Rory said, smiling as Logans eyes lit up.
"Finn and Robert? I beat Finn and Robert at Poker?" Logan asked with a smile.
"Yes… and speaking of Robert, what is your opinion of him? Your honest opinion?" Rory asked, hiding the mischievous smirk that threatened to play on her lips.
"He's alright, a little bit of an ass… but he's Colins friend so what can you do right?" Logan said with a nonchalant shrug.
"And here I thought I was special." Rory pouted causing Logan to send her a confused stare, "Anyways, I should call mommy dearest and ask her where she is." Rory pulled herself off the bed and started her search for the phone.
He had to admit it, she was nice. She was perfect, she was the perfect girlfriend. He, however, was so far from the perfect boyfriend. He would have his memories –eventually. That would be enough. That part of his life was over.
Rory dialed the familiar number into the land line and waited for it to connect.
She could not recall a word of the conversation she had that day. Only that her entire life crashed down with the phone that slipped from her hands.
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Why do I leave you with suck cliffhangers? Because it's fun and… well… it's fun. This plot is actually stressing me out to write, perhaps it's because I'm a shitty writer and can't get my ideas across. I'm a bit savans like that, having to write my ideas down as soon as I get them. I have notebooks full of ideas. However, supposedly the left side of my brain is still functioning perfectly normally.
Please, pretty please, with a review on top, press GO! And make me smile!