A/N: My love life is such a disaster right now, and since my characters' lives reflect mine, you may have mixed decisions about this one.
Merry Christmas everyone! And thanks for everyone who reviewed/favorited/alerted REALLY. It feels good!
Word Count w/o Author's note: 4,062. 12 and a half pages.
-RL-
'RIIIIIIIIIIIIING.'
"Oh, thank God," April sighed in relief as she heard the bell that signaled the end of school. "I've never heard a more glorious sound in my life."
"Tell me about it," Samantha, her best friend, agreed. "Winter Break, here we come!"
"Don't you just feel as if a weight has just been lifted off of your shoulders? It's like...physically; your body realizes it will be getting more sleep from now on."
"Actually, yeah, but-" Samantha was cut off.
'That may be all I need, in darkness she is all I see. Come and rest your bones with me, driving slow on Sunday morning, and I never want to leave.'
April stopped and looked through her messenger bag, digging for her phone. When she finally found it, she checked the Caller ID and answered with an annoyed "What?"
"Well, aren't we just a pocketful of sunshine, today?"
"Logan, why do you have a personalized ringtone on my phone?"
"So that I can make puns when I call you. Like the one I just did."
"My ringtone for you is Sunday Morning by Maroon 5."
"Oh, damn. Wrong sister. Can you make it Pocketful of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield?"
"No," she answered flatly.
Samantha smiled, clearly amused, and the mouthed "I'm leaving," and pointed towards the parking lot. April nodded her head and waved, then started walking towards her own car.
"Oh, sorry. Did I interrupt your conversation with someone more important to yourself than me?"
"Mhmm."
"April, come on. You can be a little more responsive than that."
"Or, you could just accept the fact that I don't like you very much right now."
"Sorry, that trait is not one that I possess. I ooze charm. Everyone loves me."
"Uh, no. No they don't. People lusted after you. So you became a playboy who needed an arranged marriage and then ruined his to-be-wife's younger sister's nonexistent love life."
"If it's nonexistent, April, then how did I ruin it? Also, there are multiple things wrong with your description of me. Not that, you know, I care." Contrary to his words, he did sound more than a little hurt. "I do actually care about you. You know that, right?"
April huffed with impatience, and, ignoring the sleek black Mercedes that was headed towards her, started crossing towards the lot anyways. The car screeched to a stop inches away from her, and the driver angrily got out of the car and started walking towards her. April turned towards him, an icy expression on her face.
"April? Are you okay, I thought I heard a car screeching," Logan asked worriedly. "April?"
"I'm here," she answered distractedly. "Some jerk in a Merc almost killed me. And now he's going to want a confrontation. I'll call you back."
"Okay, just don't do anything I...wouldn't...do," he said awkwardly.
"I can live with that," she shrugged and hung up.
"I wouldn't have killed you if you watched where you were going," the driver said. A tall brunette, nearly 6'2", with dizzying green eyes, and extremely long eyelashes, April's first instinct was to flash him a smile. Then she remembered he had almost run over her with his car, which, she looked back at, reflected what she already surmised from his attitude. He was rich. And a jerk.
"Oh, I knew exactly where I was going," April turned to him, smirking. "So, if you could just move," she put her arms on his shoulders and shifted him to the side. "I could get back to going there. Thanks." She started walking past him, but he turned around to face her back and called her back.
"Hey, Hayden."
"How'd you know my name, Merc-jerk?" she turned.
He spread his arms. "This is Chilton. Everyone here is someone to know."
"So you knew who I was when you came at me full speed?"
He rolled his eyes. "No. Sorry, my life doesn't revolve around knowing your whereabouts at all times."
"Good. Because, you know, if it had, that would make you a stalker."
"Look at me," he smirked. "Do I look like I need to stalk girls? They come to me."
"Okay, cool guy," she said sarcastically. "And has anyone ever told you that eavesdropping is rude?"
"No, really?" he replied, equally sarcastic. "I was taught that people are supposed to look both ways before they cross."
"I did." April replied scathingly. "But some people don't drive at speed limit."
"Hey, if you got it, flaunt it."
"Yeah, who cares if someone dies? At least you got to show off your new car, right?"
"Because you drive, what? A 2007 Toyota Camry to school?"
"Actually, yes, I do. It's school. Such a blatant display of wealth," she waved at the car. "Is tasteless. Not to mention rude and belittling. Wealth isn't an issue I want to get into with my friends."
He stopped glaring. "Yeah, you'd win every time wouldn't you?" he stated. There was no biting tone behind it, just an underlying tone of respect. "That's nice of you."
She shrugged. "Just because you have it doesn't mean you have to make everyone else feel like they don't."
The bite was back. "Just because you're nice doesn't mean you have to make the rest of us feel like we're assholes."
"I never said you were."
"But you thought it."
"Would you deny me that right? It's a free country, after all. And, you know, a first impression is important."
By now, they had attracted a crowd. Those who hadn't rushed home after the final bell, or who had Winter Sports to practice for, which April, thankfully, did not have, had stopped in the parking lot and had circled around them. Until now, April had been too busy arguing to realize, but now, as she looked around, her mood, already bad, began to worsen.
The boy, seeing her look around, smirked. "Scared of getting a bad reputation? Don't worry. They aren't as horrible as they sound. Besides, you have a great reputation. You probably made a really good first impression here," he said, faking sympathy. "On the other hand, I've now been slapped with a bad one."
"That's great, for you. Honestly. Now I really do have to go," she started to turn around, and then stopped. "Oh, and piece of advice? Don't think too hard the next time you're trying to have 'flirty banter' with a girl."
"I'd say it was nice meeting you," he called over her shoulder. She stopped. "But what?" she asked, facing away from him. "It wasn't?"
"Exactly." He turned and started walking towards his car, then got in. The crowd parted to let his car through, and then turned its collective attention on her.
"What? There's nothing to see here, people. Move on with your lives."
The kids parted silently, and April made her way to her car, which was, sure enough, a 2007 Silver Toyota Camry, muttering silently the whole time.
-RL-
"You heard a car screeching?"
"Yeah, really close to her. And she was really annoyed the whole day. If that guy didn't stop, I don't know what sort of a state she'd be in right now, Rory."
"Logan," Rory reminded him softly. "April is fine. She's just...not in a good mood. She applied to MIT and she really wants to get in. Skipping Senior Year and going straight to college is a big deal for her. Decisions are supposed to come out soon. She's got a lot of stress on her."
"Exactly, and almost getting killed in her school parking lot isn't going to help that."
"Neither is her older sister's overprotective fiancé," she said as she gave him his coffee and joined him on the couch. "Especially when he ruined her last relationship by dragging the boy into her house and insisting he have dinner with the family."
"Your parents weren't even there," he protested. "How intimidating could it have been?"
"Very. You and I were there. That's intimidating enough."
"We are not intimidating," Logan said laughingly. "No way."
"To some kid hopingto get into UConn on a scholarship, having dinner with two blue-blooded Elis, one with a building named after her at Yale, and the other an heir to a multi-million dollar communications group, well, I don't know about you, but I think that's intimidating."
"Fair point," Logan conceded. "But we were nice enough to James, right?"
"You mean in between the Spanish Inquisition he experienced firsthand, when you asked him why he wasn't applying to Yale? Or why he thought it was okay to distract April from studying, or how he knew where she lived-"
"I get the point."
"Good." Rory reached for the TV remote, then turned to him and said, "I'm glad we're friends."
"Yeah. Me too." Luckily, she didn't catch the disappointment in his voice.
"Oh, look. 'It's a Wonderful Life' is on ABC Family!"
"What are you waiting for, Ace?" He reached over to the coffee table, and picked up the bowl of popcorn and set it on his lap. Then, he put his feet up where the coffee table used to be, right next to Rory's, and put his arm behind her, resting on the back of the incredibly comfy couch. Rory grabbed the blanket folded next to her, and spread it over them. As she put her head on his shoulder, he couldn't help but think that if anyone were to walk in on them just now, they'd see a cute couple watching a Christmas movie.
If only that were true.
Of course, they were at the Hayden home, since Rory had decided to live at home for the full two weeks she had off from classes, and Logan, rather than stay alone at Yale (both Colin and Finn were going overseas. Colin across the Pond with Stephanie, to see his parents, and Finn to Australia, for his cousin's wedding. No doubt he'd find a redhead, fall in 'love', and come back to school just in time for finals in May) decided to come back to Hartford and brave his own home. It did mean he'd get to see Rory more often, which was definitely a plus.
In the last month and a half, after their dinner with her younger siblings, she had made every effort to be nice to him. In return, he started to open up to her slowly. She now knew that Honor was the only one he completely and truly trusted, and why he acted the way he did about HPG. She knew that he strived for his father's praise but hated that about himself; she knew that if his father hadn't put so much pressure on him to work for HPG, to make it so great, he would have put more effort into it. Given it his all.
But it wasn't just that. Rory knew almost everything about him, from the way he preferred pizza to any of the fancy five-course meals his mother always served, to the fact that he always wore mismatched socks.
She even knew that he wore his yellow Livestrong bracelet in support of cancer research, and so he would always remember Finn's mother, how her death had changed the three boys.
She didn't think of him as the egotistic jerk that used his name, looks, and money to get girls and everything else he wanted.
Or so he hoped.
-RL-
Christopher Hayden wasn't stupid. He got into Princeton on merit, tracked down his runaway girlfriend and baby daughter on his own, and founded a law firm that had been flourishing since the beginning.
He was intelligent and smart. For starters, he knew the difference between the two.
So when his middle daughter came home with a look that clearly screamed 'leave me alone' and replied "I almost got hit by a car today, Daddy," when he asked how her day was, he did what any father would do.
He went to go look for his wife.
"Chris," Lorelai called out from the foyer. "You home?"
"In the kitchen," he replied.
Lorelai put her keys in the bowl on the table across from the coat closet, then took off her overcoat, beanie, and boots. As she walked towards the kitchen, she could smell Starbucks' Cinnamon Flavored Natural Fusions ground coffee. "I love you," she said as she walked in.
He handed her a cup and she inhaled the scent. "You are, truly, the best husband ever."
"Thank you," he sat down on a stool at the kitchen island. She followed, and set herself down across from him. "Generally this is the part where you say it back."
"You are, truly, the best husband ever, Lorelai."
"Chris!"
"What? I'm joking."
"Well by all means, continue," she got up. "But don't expect me to listen. I am going into the home theater to watch a movie. Preferably 'It's a Wonderful Life'."
"You can't," Chris said smilingly. "Because Rory and Logan are in their watching it."
"No way!"
"Yes way!"
"Christopher, why didn't you tell me?"
"I did tell you, just now."
"You should have told me when I walked in."
"I did, you just walked in!" he sputtered.
"No," Lorelai said stubbornly, eyes wide. "When I first walked in, you gave me coffee! You didn't mention our daughter and her fiancé watching the most amazing Christmas movie of all time."
"I didn't think it was that big of a deal," he defended.
"Aha!" she pointed. "So you admit that you didn't tell me as soon as I walked in."
Chris raised his hands in the form of surrender. "I admit, happy now?"
"Not when you make a face like that, no I'm not. What else did you forget to tell me, huh? Did one of our children get hit by a car today, too? Did you forget to tell me about that, huh? Didya, didya?"
While he knew she was joking about that, he figured now would be a good time to let her know that April needed someone to talk to.
"Actually, Lorelai," he said slowly. "I'm not sure what happened exactly, but-"
"Oh, my God, Chris. One of our kids is in the hospital? And you thought giving me coffee would make me less mad? What kind of a husband are you?" she cried.
His face fell. "Lorelai, no one's in the hospital," he said flatly. "Thank you for having that much faith in me."
"Oh." Instantly she became serious. "Well, the way you made it sound..."
"Yeah, I know. It's not what I meant, though. When I asked April how her day was, she said, and I quote, 'I almost got hit by a car today, Daddy.'"
"Well did she say anything else?" Lorelai asked, already on her way out of the kitchen to the staircase.
"She mentioned something about a jerk in a Mercedes," he yelled.
"Oh, aren't those the best kind?" Lorelai called back.
"What?" Chris asked himself. "What does that even mean?"
-RL-
She was expecting it. She had been expecting it since her phone call with Logan, even though her dad hadn't known when she came home.
She knew, though, that the minute Chris told Lorelai what she had said, she was doomed.
"Aprille Cecilia Gilmore Hayden, you open this door right now!"
And there it was. Lorelai Gilmore could be the coolest mother ever (she hadn't changed her name after marriage, claiming professional reasons. Which professional reasons, April had never ascertained.) but she could also be the most loving, caring, overprotective mother hen that clucked away at her four children in a way that truly made her deserve the Mother of the Year award she (never) received from the DAR every year.
"Aprille Cecilia Gilmore-" Lorelai was cut off when April wrenched the door open and then walked in and fell onto her bed, legs dangling over the edge. She stared at the ceiling and started singing along to the song Lorelai recognized from the new Coca-Cola ad she had seen on TV earlier.
"Aw, honey, what's wrong."
"I'm starting to re-think my life."
Okay, that was not something Lorelai was expecting. Her daughter was 16. And, as far as she knew, she had a stellar life. Friends that were always over, teachers with glowing reports, a loving family. The only thing that she knew April didn't have was a boyfriend, but that didn't mean that April didn't actually have a boyfriend.
"Um, why?"
"Because. You know, James and I went on a couple dates, right? And I had Ethan before that. So it's not like I've never had a boyfriend. But, it's Christmas. And I'm sixteen. I just figured that I wouldn't be at the point where the last guy I was remotely interested in almost ran me over with his car in the school parking lot."
"April, you're sixteen! You're not getting married anytime soon. And ask Rory, she has someone and she's not completely happy with the way her love life is turning out."
"It's because of her love life that I don't have one."
Lorelai looked at her. "You're saying that this is all Logan's fault."
"Yes!"
"Well it's not. Honestly, if James couldn't handle Rory and Logan, there was no way he'd be able to handle the rest of the family. Normally, I'd be the one telling you to break free and be your own person. I support that, you know I do. I just don't want you to be with someone you feel you have to hide yourself and your family from. When I was with Luke, there were some things I couldn't talk about."
"People don't always have to be rich to be able to fall in love, Mom."
"Oh, honey no, that's not what I'm saying, at all."
"Then?" April looked at her expectantly.
"You need to choose carefully. There are things that can tear a relationship apart. Love isn't always enough, and I want you to be aware of that."
"Right now, I don't even have love."
"You have a cute guy at school."
"He's irritating. He thinks he's God's gift to women, and that any and all wealth you have should be displayed proudly. He doesn't care about other people's feelings, and he eavesdrops, Mom!"
"Wow, he eavesdrops. Sounds like someone you should stay away from," Lorelai faked agreement.
"Mom!"
"What?"
"Nothing."
"April, are you okay? With MIT and this car thing and love and Logan and James. Hun, you're all over the place, and I'm worried about you."
"I'm fine, he didn't hit me. Just a little shaken up, but I slept it off. Besides, you're right, I'm only sixteen. I've got a while. Logan just...he was caring about me, and I should appreciate that."
"You should," Lorelai agreed as she got up from her daughter's desk chair. She crossed the room to the corkboard in the middle of a wall of pictures that had originally been blank. Her daughter had grown up so much. She reached out to softly touch the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pennant, then turned back to her daughter. "And MIT?"
April looked unsure, as if she had a secret to tell. "Mom, about that..."
-RL-
"We never had that talk," Rory said suddenly.
Logan didn't take his eyes off of the screen. "What talk?"
"The one where we talk about how we went from arguing all the time to being friends."
"And here I thought you just wanted to avoid."
"I did. Now I'm not so sure that that was the best idea."
"Rory," Logan reached across her to get the remote, then paused the screen. "We do need to have that talk. Are you sure you want to have it right now?"
She paused, her heart racing at the proximity, then nodded.
"Okay then," Logan got up off the couch. "Don't get mad at me if I suddenly become like an asshole."
She snorted. "Of course I will."
"We're getting married," Logan said, all business now. "And they did it for a reason, or maybe they didn't. Maybe they decided that we'd be good for each other. Either way, it's happening. You have a ring on your finger that I put on you right before your grandfather cut the turkey."
Instinctively, she started fiddling with the ring. "You have secrets. You go places for your father, and you do business I haven't even heard of. You think you keep your secret girlfriends from me, but you don't. I hear it. I am Rory Hayden, the Sophomore at Yale who is engaged to Logan Huntzberger. And he cheats on her, all the time."
"What are we?" he retaliated. "Because honestly, if you told me, right now, or ever, actually, that you wanted us to make this real, I would do it. I would drop the girls on the side."
"Logan, that's not what I mean."
"Wha- what do you mean, then?" he asked softly. For an instance, Rory almost felt as if he was afraid of the answer.
"You're my friend. A good friend. And I'd like to assume that it's mutual, but I can't make that decision for you!"
"It is, it's very mutual, Rory," he hastened to agree. "You need to know that. As a person, as a friend, you're important to me."
"Good. We're getting married. But we aren't in love. And you have certain...needs," she blushed. "That you can fulfill...elsewhere.."
"Every after we're married?"
She paused. "I don't know."
"Honestly, I'd much rather be with my wife."
"You don't love your wife, Logan." By this point, she was standing up, too.
"You think I'd be in love with the girls that sleep with me just after meeting me?"
She looked at him repulsed. "That is disgusting. You are a pig. Look, do what you want! Okay, I don't know, I thought you were a good friend. I said what I thought you wanted to hear, and you're still blowing up at me."
That stung.
"So we aren't friends," he understood. Smiling bitterly to hide the disappointment, he said, "Okay."
"Logan, no! That's not what I meant."
"What did you mean, Rory?" he asked tiredly. "I told you that you wouldn't want to have this conversation. You didn't listen. Listen now. I allowed to happen. I said yes to marrying you because you were different. You said what you wanted, you weren't afraid to be your own person. I liked that. I could see something with you, something different than the normal relationships that Society seems to create with every wedding. Like what your parents have. I wanted that."
"And so you said yes to me."
"And so I said yes to you. I didn't want to become my father. I still don't. You think he loves my mother? I don't. If it weren't for the fact that he needed an heir, Honor and I wouldn't be here. If she had been a boy, I wouldn't be here. I won't lie, he wasn't a bad father. He was a good father. He was a good father, and a successful son, and an amazing businessman. What he was crap at, though, was being a husband. He cheated on my mother. Countless times. I don't want to become that."
"Logan-"
"No, hear me out. I need to say this. I love HPG. I do. I love running it, being in power, all of it. I thrive there. But being under my father's thumb is poisonous for me. Doing anything similar to him is like my Kryptonite. My father has many untrustworthy friends; I have very few friends, but they're all trustworthy. He has a loveless marriage; I intend to make mine beautiful. I want love. I want to fall in love with you, and I feel, sometimes, as if I'm already halfway there."
"Oh, Logan I-"
"Which is why," he cut her off for the last time. "I hate that you said I could cheat on you. Because I don't want to. Just- just think about all of that for a while, okay?"
"Okay," she whispered.
"I'm just going to go now."
"Bye."
As he walked towards the door, she stopped him.
"Logan!"
"Yes?"
She walked towards him, hugged him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Just give me some time."
"We have the rest of our lives."
-RL-
A/N: As you can see, it's starting to drift away from Romance/Humor. I did, though, start with the intention of keeping it light, and now that all of Logan's issues are out (since Rory didn't actually have any), we can get into the lightness of it all without feeling like I've just barely scratched the surface of the story.
I hope from now on their relationship will feel easy, as if they're comfortable being open with each other, rather than just purposely light as if they're hiding themselves.
In other news, I'm addicted to Smallville. I started watching the whole series on Sidereel, in order, and once I update this chapter, I'm going to finish the Season 1 finale. Tom Welling's cute.
OHH and I like someone completely off-limits! Who's been in that position before?
AND LAST THING: Should April make it to MIT or no?
