Norman Mailer, I'm Pregnant
I was trying to sneak back into my dorm room early in the morning after spending the night out with a guy I met at the pub the night before. The triple date night that Colin and I went to with my mother Luke, Rory and Dean had stirred something in me that I desperately wanting to squash, so I hightailed it to the pub and hooked up with a descent looking guy. I grimaced as the floor squeaked under my tip toes. Rory came out of her bedroom at that very moment and when she took in my bedhead, the high heels dangling from my hand and the same outfit I wore the night before she smirked at me.
"Have a good time last night?" she asked me knowingly, crossing her arms over her chest and smirking. I stood up straighter and glared at her a little.
"Yes, thank you very much." I said loftily as I walked closer to her as I walked passed her I leaned into her ear. "And again this morning." I whispered and then laughed when she scowled and playfully slapped my arm. I danced out of her reach and went into my bedroom to get changed. Rory followed me and leaned against the doorframe.
"Are you actually going to the paper today?" she asked me accusingly. I rolled my eyes at her as I stripped off my dress from the night before. I started looking through my closet for something clean to wear. I made a mental note to do laundry soon.
"Maybe."
"Doyle's handing out the beats."
"I don't care which beat I get. Unlike you, little miss features." I said with a smile in her direction before I picked up a sundress and threw it on. Rory rolled her eyes at me but she had a small smile playing on her lips.
"Don't jinx it."
"Never." I said faux serious as I sat on the bed and slipped on a new pair of heels. I stood back up and modelled the outfit for Rory.
"Glamorous." She complimented as she left the room and I followed her with a smile. She walked over to the front door and paused. "You coming?" she asked as she held the door open. I rolled my eyes and walked through the open door.
Paris jumped on Rory and me as soon as we entered the Yale newspaper office after class.
"I had a dream about you last night." She said to me, blocking my path.
"If this gets dirty, feel free to keep it to yourself." I told her playfully.
"I dreamed that in spite of the fact that you knew I wanted to be assigned the religion beat, you went behind my back to Doyle, cooked him dinner and stole it from me."
"It's just a dream, Paris." Rory told her friend with an eye roll.
"She made veal parmigiana, and it felt very real." Paris accused.
"I don't make veal parmigiana. I don't make anything, and I don't want the religion beat. I don't care what beat I get."
"Dreams tell you things. It's our subconscious talking to us. Warning us, telling us about things that are happening."
"Paris –"I tried to interrupt.
"My dream was telling me that you are stabbing me in the back with your veal parmigiana."
"Well I must have really overcooked it then." I said drily as I tried to walk around her.
"Let me smell your hands." The blonde said as she grabbed one of my hands. I pulled it back with a scowl.
"No, go away!"
"You used a lot of garlic." She said as if that explained everything.
"Bye." I snapped at her but she didn't move.
"Christa, listen to me. We're close, like, friends, and I would hate for something as trivial as competition for the religion beat to come between us."
"Oh, my God, I don't want the religion beat!"
"We could end up like the Van Burens."
"As in Mr and Mrs President?" Rory asked her with a frown.
"As in Abby and Ann. Sisters in blood, but bitter rivals. They don't even speak anymore." Paris exclaimed to the both of us.
"That's 'cause one of them is dead." I told her sharply.
"You don't want the religion beat?" she asked me sceptically.
"Oh! I'm sorry, you meant the religion beat – No! I don't!" I told her with finality. Paris spied someone over my shoulder and got distracted.
"Tenora Thomas was in my dream too, she was pouring the wine – Yo! Tenora! Where's the fire?" Paris called after a retreating blonde girl, chasing after her when she didn't stop.
"And you want me to come here more?" I asked my twin, exasperated but Rory just shrugged and walked over to her desk. I sighed and walked over to my own desk on the other side of the room. I sat down at the computer and turned it on. Instantly my IM account activated and beeped that I had a new message.
Steph: I need a shopping partner. Interested?
Me: Very! Now?
Steph: Where r u?
Me: Newsroom.
I sighed off and stood up from my seat. Rory was still in an intense conversation with Doyle so snuck out before either of them noticed.
"So are you excited for the party tonight?" Steph asked me as we looked through another rack of dresses. I looked over at my friend and smiled at her. One of the things that Steph and I had in common was our party attitude. While most girls were complete lightweights, Steph and I had been friends with Logan, Colin and Finn long enough that they were experienced with heavy drinking. They were also two of the only girls that the boys respected and allowed into their inner circle. They weren't sucked into the boy's web of seduction, lies and alcohol. Most girls were delusional when it came the boys. Once they received a little bit of attention from one of them, they became addicted and would do anything to hang on to them. Steph and I had both been the target of jealous girls in the past years. Steph especially hated those girls, mostly because she hated the fact that she used to be one. Luckily, Steph and I had become accustom to the glares and hateful words and we just fought fire with fire. Whenever the boys got word that one of us had been attacked by one of their bimbos, the bimbo in question was immediately dropped. Steph and I never told them, but somehow they always knew.
"I'm more excited for the camping trip this weekend." I said excitedly and Steph giggled as well. Steph, Logan, Colin, Finn, Robert and I were both in the Yale chapter of the Life and Death Brigade, a secret society in most Ivy League colleges. That weekend we were having a major camping trip to celebrate the new semester.
"It's going to be great." She agreed with me.
"I normally hate the outdoors but I think the massive amounts of champagne will make up for it."
"Yeah, me too. I'm not really looking forward to babysitting Finn." She said with a groaned and I grimaced in sympathy.
"I forgot that it was your turn."
"This is completely unfair because I just spent a year travelling the world with the booze hound."
"That was your choice." I pointed out with laugh but she just shrugged. She pulled out a dress and held it up to her body. I shook my head with a frown and she put it back. I looked at her for a minute, deciding if I wanted to bring up the next topic. "So, on this year long trip you and Finn never hooked up?" I asked her hesitantly and smiled coyly when she blushed. I gasped and she turned around so that I couldn't see her face. "You did, didn't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do!"
"No, I don't!"
"You slept with Finn." I hissed quietly. She turned to look at me with a guilty look on her face.
"We were really drunk!" she admitted to me and I smiled at her in sympathy. I pulled her into a hug and then we started looking through the dresses again silently.
"So, how was it?" I asked her curiously, breaking the companionable silence. Steph and I both started giggling uncontrollably.
Colin: Time for the event. Can you get Logan from the newsroom?
I got the message from Colin later that day and frowned in confusion. Logan hated anything to do with journalism. I had missed the meeting when Doyle handed out the beats and knew that Rory would chew me out later. I was smiling to myself as I walked into the newsroom at Yale. I knew I was late so I had bought coffee to placate our editor-in-chief Doyle and Rory, who seemed to mind that was late more than Doyle did. As I walked in, I noticed Doyle and Rory at her desk and they were talking in whispers and throwing glances over at somebody. I followed their gaze and found Logan reclined with his feet up on the desk and a press fedora covering his eyes. Logan had messaged me earlier that he was coming into the paper today but I hadn't believed him. As I got closer, I could hear them talking about Logan.
"Mitchum Huntzberger? The newspaper guy?" Rory asked the editor, semi doubtful.
"The newspaper magnet. The man owns at least twelve different papers. I've spent two years kissing Logan's butt." Doyle replied.
"Don't you mean ass?"
"Whatever. Guess it's time to pucker up again. Man, I hate those kind of guys."
"What kind of guys?"
"Those privileged, white males."
"Doyle, you're a privileged white male."
"Well, he's more privileged. And way more whiter. Why am I talking to you? Meg, why am I talking to Gilmore?"
"Hi, Doyle!" I said brightly as I walked over to them. Rory and Doyle both snapped their gaze over to me and the frown on Doyle's face turned into a bright smile. I think he had a crush on me. "How's my favourite editor this afternoon?"
"I'm good." He partially stuttered. I smiled at him and handed him his coffee and then handed one to Rory as well. "I gave out the beats, Christa, but so you can just freelance. If you want."
"That sounds great. You always know what's best." I complimented him with a wink. I walked over to Logan, who was now sitting up in his chair and watching the three of us in amusement. "I didn't forget you, Lois Lane." I said to him as I handed him one of the left over coffees and he winked at me.
"You two know each other?" Doyle asked us and I smiled down at Logan before turning back to Doyle.
"We're best friends." I explained to him. Logan stood up from his seat and came over to join us.
"And now me and my best friend are going to go do some research for a story." Logan lied to Doyle and dragged me out of the newsroom without waiting for an answer. We towards the parking lot in silence and met up with Colin, Finn and Steph in Finn's black SUV.
"Good afternoon all!" I said happily as I slid into the car before Logan. Colin wrapped an arm around me immediately and Steph smiled at me over her shoulder since she was in the front seat.
"It's not a good afternoon." Finn complained, shielding his eyes from the sun.
"He's hung over." Colin supplied helpfully and we all laughed at his expense.
"Soon you can start drinking again, Finnegan." I told him mock sympathy.
"Ah, yes, a little hair of the dog!" Logan said gleefully.
"You know if you stay a little drunk all the time, you will never be hung over."
"You'd also be an alcoholic." Colin said, giving me a look and I shot him a disbelieving look in response.
"Like he isn't already?"
"True." He said with a shrug and I rolled my eyes and smiled. I leaned back into the seat and got comfortable, leaning slightly into Colin without realising I was even doing it. We all sat in comfortable silence as we drove twenty minutes away from the campus. With a squeal, Steph and I practically jumped out of the moving car in excitement. Logan and Colin laughed at our excitement and Finn grimaced at the noise. We had arrived at a mansion and Steph and I ran inside without knocking. We went to a spare bedroom that already had our outfits for the night in them. Steph pulled a pink ball gown out of the closet and giggled in anticipation and I laughed with her. I found a purple gown hanging up next to hers and grabbed it greedily. I loved playing dress up. We both wiggled into our gowns and zipped each other up and pulled on our heels. By the time we were dressed and we had touched up our makeup, the music was pumping out of the speakers set up around the house and filling every inch of the LDB mansion. Giggling, Steph and I made our way down stairs and grabbed a bottle of tequila to share. The house was full of members of the LDB from all over the country, all dressed in formal wear.
"Beautiful as always, Teek, Steph." Logan complimented us as he walked over. We both smiled at him and thanked him. Steph spied a cute guy eying her and made an excuse to leave us and made her way over to him. I smirked at her retreating figure and turned back to Logan.
"You look handsome, Huntz." I told him with a smile and smoothed down his lapel with one hand. He smirked at me and grabbed my hand, pulling me in the lounge room. I sipped my tequila gratefully and let out a giggle as Logan and I danced, sharing the bottle.
A couple of hours later I looked over at Steph and saw that she was holding a nearly empty bottle of tequila and was glaring out into the crowd. Following her gaze, I saw Finn sitting across the room with a brunette girl sitting on his lap, nuzzling his neck while he talked to Colin. I walked over to Steph and took the bottle from her limp hand.
"Give me that, sweetie." I said softly. She let me take the bottle and I grabbed her hand and led her away from the lounge room. Her face looked so sad and vulnerable that I hated Finn at that moment. Steph was my closet female friend and my loyalty lay with her. She put her head on the crook of my neck and we staggered into an empty room.
"I like Finn." She announced to me suddenly as she flopped down on the bed and I smiled at her sadly.
"I know, babe."
"Why do I like Finn?" she asked me, frowning up at the roof.
"I don't know."
"He's an ass."
"I know."
"And an alcoholic."
"I know."
"But he can be sweet."
"That I didn't know." I told her with a chuckle as I through myself down next to her. I looked at her and noticed that she looked so sad and confused. "You want to know a secret?"
"Yes!" Steph said excitedly as she sat back up and crossed her legs on the bed. I followed her lead and sat up and copied her position which was hard to do in my gown. Her eyes glittered with mischief now instead of tears and I was happy that I could take her mind off of Finn, at least for a minute.
"I like Colin." I shout-whispered to her and her eyes widened before she broke out in giggles and I did too. Suddenly the door to the bedroom opened and Colin poked his head into the room. Steph and I immediately stopped laughing and stared at him with wide eyes and he looked at us confused and concerned.
"Are you guys okay?" he asked us warily and I pushed my lips together to keep from laughing. I looked at Steph from the corner of my eye and saw her doing the same thing. Steph nodded her head jerkily and I couldn't help it, I started laughing hysterically and so did Steph. Colin looked at us in amusement and noticed the nearly empty bottle of tequila and took it from my hand. "Okay, you two, let's get you two home."
"Okay." I said as I stood up from the bed hand in hand with Steph and walked happily out of the room. The tequila that I had been drinking all night had made me slightly giggly. Colin led us to the front of the house, grabbing my arm when I got distracted by a shiny bauble. Finn and Logan met us at the front door and Steph kissed Finn on cheek as she passed, leaving him surprised. Logan and Colin looked confused as well but shrugged it off the pulled me into the SUV. Colin climbed into the front seat since he was the designated driver.
"I need to pee!" Steph announced loudly, raising her arm in the air like she was in glass. I giggled at her from my spot next to her. Colin chuckled and pulled over. Steph opened the door but before she could get out, I stopped her.
"Wait!" I shouted and pulled out a plastic gorilla mask. I pulled it on her head, covering her face. We both giggled and the boys laughed at our drunken behaviour. "Now you can go!" I told her as I kissed the plastic gorilla lips. Steph stumbled out of the car and staggered into the public bathrooms. We sat in silence as we waited for her to come back. When Logan saw her coming he opened the opened the door for her.
"In Omnia Paratus!" she yelled as she reached the SUV and climbed in.
The next morning I woke up with a massive headache. My phone beeped on the bedside table and I reached for it so that I could turn it off. Before I turned it off, I looked at the screen and saw that I had three missed calls from mom and one from dad. Because mom had called more than once, I called her back first. As the phone rang I noticed her dry my mouth was so I climbed out of bed, groaning as I did so, and snatched a bottle of water out of my mini fridge.
"Hello?" I heard mom say.
"Hi, mommy." I mumbled as I sipped the cold water.
"Hung over, sweetie?" she asked me sympathetically and I groaned in response. "I'll make this quick then. Did you know that Sherry left your dad?"
"Yeah. I've been helping him with Gigi when the nanny can't." I told her honestly. "Don't worry I haven't missed any classes. At least not because of dad."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's not my news to tell." I said quietly, with a shrug. "How did you find out anyway?"
"Your dad called me."
"When?" I asked curiously.
"Yesterday. He was freaking out because he couldn't stop Gigi from crawling out of her crib, and you know, I do have to hand it to him, he gets extra points for the very original duct taping of the diaper move. That place was a wreck."
"You went over there?"
"Oh yeah. But I calmed him down, and, you know, we sort of got the place in order and I think everything's going to be okay. I'm going to go back on Monday and just make sure that everyone's still breathing."
"Oh. Well, that's very nice of you." I said distractedly. "That must be the miss call from him. he normally calls me when he has trouble."
"Well, now I know and I'll help out to."
"Mommy, do you think you can get me out of Friday night dinner? I know it's my week but I have a massive headache." I asked her with a frown that she could see. I only went to Friday night dinners every two weeks, unlike Rory and mom who had to go every week.
"Sure, kid. Just rest up. Lots of water. Maybe a taco."
"Sounds good. I got to go. Thanks for helping dad and for getting me out of The Last Supper re-enactment." I thanked her profusely and then hung up the phone and lay back down and groaned.
I was walking with Logan and Mark one of our friends from LDB through the courtyard when I noticed Rory leaning against a pillar.
"It was funny, man, you should have been there." Mark said to Logan and we laughed.
"Hey, Huntzberger!" Rory called out from behind us. I waved at Mark to move on and he nodded and smiled at me before leaving.
"Hey! You waiting on me?" Logan asked my twin with a genuine smile and I smirked to myself, thinking how much better Logan was for Rory than Dean.
"Could be." Rory replied with a smirk and I recognised the twinkle in her eyes. It was the look she always got when she was onto something and it made me nervous.
"Wow, I'm flattered."
"Your prerogative."
"Is this going to get dirty? Because if it is, I don't really want to be here." I teased them. Logan chuckled and nudged me but Rory just glared at me a little and didn't answer.
"You here on business or pleasure?" Logan asked her with a smirk and I tilted my head curiously.
"I just thought maybe I'd give you a chance to respond to my article?"
"What article?"
"Your music downloading article?" I asked her, confused as to why she would want Logan response to that.
"The article I'm doing on the Life and Death Brigade." Rory answered me and I quickly masked my surprised and nervousness and looked confused.
"Don't really know what you're talking about." Logan told her faking confusion as well.
"You don't? Huh. I thought you would. It's a club. One of these super-secret, super exclusive clubs here at Yale, membership spans a thousand centuries, secret handshakes and secret sayings, and a lot of running around in circles in your underwear, that kind of thing."
"Sounds pretty secret."
"Yeah. Anyhow, I'm doing sort of an expose on this one particular club and I figured, since you're in it, maybe you'd like to have your point of view included."
"I'm in it." Logan repeated fake dumbfounded.
"Well aren't you?" Rory asked knowingly with a smirk.
"I've yet to run around in a circle in my underwear." He said truthfully and smirked as well.
"At least not for a secret club, right?" I joked with a laugh and he chuckled.
"Well. Okay. I mean, I have proof that your grandfather was in it, which means that your father was in it. Which should mean that you're in it. But maybe not. Okay."
"I've met your grandfather. He is kind of old school." I teased.
"Sorry to let you down." Logan said.
"No let down. It would have been nice, but I have plenty of stuff without you, and I'm sorry to have bothered you."
"You have plenty without me, huh?" Logan asked her, trying to gather information.
"Oh yeah! I have the ball gowns, the girl in the gorilla mask, In Omnia Paratus – very fancy catch phrase, by the way – the license plate on the black SUV, and about a dozen other little things. I mean, getting an interview with an actual member would have been great. But I'm okay without it." Rory said with a shrug and I nearly visually flinched at how much she had.
"Well, great." Logan replied with a tight smile, that if I didn't know him as well as I did I would swear was real.
"Yep. Plus I'm completely onto your routine now."
"Wow." I mumbled in awe at her determination. "You're turning into Paris."
"Yeah." She agreed with me. "So I figure I'll just track you, and you'll eventually lead me there anyway. So, hey. I mean it would have been easier if you just would have talked to me now, but I can do it the other way if you want."
"The other way." Logan said with a small smile.
"Yes."
"You tracking me."
"Yes."
"Following my every move?"
"Yeah."
"I pick that way."
"Okay, but –"
"We can start right now, if you want. I'm heading back to my room, I can keep the window open in case you feel the need to sneak in, and track me from the inside." Logan told her with a wide smile and I could see the genuine amusement in his eyes. It was something that didn't normally see when he was flirting with hi bimbos. It was normally reserved for the boys, his sister Honor or me and Steph. It made me happy to see that Rory could bring it out in him.
"Thanks for the info." She said, looking a little flustered.
"Absolutely." He said and he turned to leave. Before he walked more than a few steps, he turned back and around and started walking backwards. "And hey, good luck with that article. Sounds like a hell of a scoop."
"Good luck, twin." I said as I followed Logan. We were going to have to talk to the LDB because once Rory got onto something there was no way she would leave it alone.
Later that afternoon, I was leaning on the wall outside the newsroom waiting for Logan. After nearly two hours of arguing, Logan, Colin and I had convinced the others in the group to let Rory come on the camping trip that weekend. We had argued that since Rory wasn't going to leave it alone now that she found the thread, it would be beneficial to us if we let her in, so that we could control how much she saw. Of course there were conditions to her coming but in the end having Rory come this us would benefit the LDB. It also helped me because it was getting hard to keep lying to Rory. I looked up as Logan exited the newsroom and smirk on his lips.
"She take the bait?" I asked knowingly with a smirk of my own.