Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls, because if I did I would have never had Tristan leave the show, and then Logan would have never come along (that would have been a shame); resulting in this story never being created. Also the stanza at the beginning of the story isn't mine either but belongs to one of my close friends Brian White.
Chapter 7
Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and James Stewart
Car doors and rolled up windows
Our nights were spent inside.
Does love live between locked lips
Or is it really deep inside?
Rory restlessly fidgeted in her seat, as she stared out the window of Logan's 65' Ford Mustang. She'd been studying the passing landscape, trying to figure out where they were going.
At least Logan hadn't blindfolded her, unlike during the Life and Death Brigade event last year. Rory mentally chuckled; she wouldn't put it past him.
A comfortable silence had descended upon Logan and Rory after they'd left Shangri-La. Both were deep within their own thoughts.
Rory had noticed that as they drove further the lights outside were slowly disappearing. She was contemplating the subtle change of the scenery when she was thrown out of her musings-- she heard a hip hop song coming from the radio.
Throwing a disgruntled frown in Logan's direction, she shook her head dejectedly, "Ugh. Your music taste is horrible. How you can listen to this?"
Logan gave her a sidelong glance, "I really don't care what music is playing when I'm driving, so I let whoever's in the car with me choose the station."
"Who was the last person to change the radio station? Because whoever it was needs to have a good stern talking-to about what's decent music."
"I think Finn was. It's been awhile since I drove my baby."
"You actually let Finn touch your radio?"
Logan shrugged, "I don't really care, and sometimes Finn can have good taste when it comes to music."
Throwing him a disbelieving look, Rory snorted, "Finn's favorite singer is Cher."
Logan groaned at Cher's name and turned to Rory, "Okay, point taken. I'd forgotten Finn's weakness for Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves. Not to mention Cher's music."
She chuckled at his joke, "And don't forget that time he acted out the entire music video for If I Could Turn Back Time." Rory sat back in her seat, giving the radio pointed glares at different intervals.
Logan, noticing her death looks she kept shooting at his radio, burst into laughter after a minute or two. "You know, you could always change the radio station if you find it so offensive."
Rory's eyes brightened, "Thank you! I thought you'd never get the hint." She quickly started fiddling with the radio dial, searching for a specific station.
"Aha!" Rory cried out in triumph as the first few cords of Video Killed the Radio Star came over the radio. Turning up the dial, Rory started singing aloud to the words, much to Logan's amusement.
"I heard you on the wireless back in 52'. Lying awake intent at tuning in on you. If I was young it didn't stop you coming through. Oh-a-oh."
When Rory sang along with the high pitched oh-a-oh, Logan couldn't help but laugh. Rory threw him a mischievous grin, "Come on Logan; sing along with me. You know you want to."
"Eh… no thanks."
Rory stuck her tongue out at him, "You are no fun."
"I fully intend to follow Nancy Regan's advice on this one." Rory raised her eyebrows at him. "Just say no."
Rory rolled her eyes and continued singing along, "They took credit for your second symphony. Rewritten, by machine and new technology, and know I understand the problems you can see.
"Oh-a-oh I met your children Oh-a-oh what did you tell them?"
As Logan slowed the car to a halt, Rory curiously looked around her, only to find darkness and trees.
"Logan, please don't tell me we're going camping. You know how I feel about tents, and nature, and campfires. Wait, not campfires, I like a good campfire, as long as it isn't near a tent where I'm going to have to spend the night in." Rory pouted and crossed her arms.
Chuckling, Logan turned off the ignition and opened the door. "Please. And ruin our first date? I'd never take you camping; you'd probably pull a Timothy Treadwell on me or get lost in the woods, never to be found again."
"I'll have you know I was in Brownies for two years, therefore I'd know how to find my way back."
"Really?" Logan gave her a skeptical look.
Rory enthusiastically nodded her head, "Yup, see moss… grows… on trees." She lamely finished.
Logan couldn't help but laugh at her expression, "Really now, I would have never guessed. But please explain to me how moss growing on trees would help you find your way back to camp."
"Um, well you see, moss grows on a certain side of the tree trunk, which indicates what that direction is."
"You don't remember the direction it grows on, do you?" Logan grinned at her sheepish expression.
"I joined Brownies for the cookies. Especially the Caramel deLites"
Laughing, Logan couldn't help but think how cute his Ace was. "For future reference moss grows on the north side. And you'll be relieved to hear that we aren't camping."
"Then what are we doing in this random clearing in the middle of the night? We are surrounded by trees! They're everywhere." She called out behind Logan as he disappeared into the surrounding darkness.
Logan returned carrying a box with a cord trailing behind. He positioned it in-between the window and the door and settled into the driver's seat after shutting the door.
Rory shot a quizzical look at the mysterious box before turning back toward Logan, who was glancing down at his wristwatch.
Before she could say anything, a sudden light erupted through the clearing, illuminating a gigantic blank screen in front of the car. The mystery box, now more visible because of the light, emitted a crackling noise and Rory could tell it was an old speaker box. The crackling abruptly stopped and the sound of a film reel could be heard through the speaker as the numbers 3…2…1… appeared on the screen.
A smile spread across Rory's face, replacing the shock expression at the sudden turn of events. She turned toward Logan and asked excitedly, "Is this a drive-in movie?"
Logan, giving her a conspiratorial grin, nonchalantly replied. "Maybe."
"Oh my god, I can't believe this!" Rory exclaimed as she turned back to see the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer logo with the trademark lion roaring in black and white on the big screen. The opening credits opened and as the names Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and James Stewart flashed upon the screen, Rory squealed and hugged Logan, before she could think.
"It's The Philadelphia Story! I love this movie!"
Logan grinned, "That's a relief. I went through dozens of movies trying to choose the perfect one."
Rory hugged him again, and turned back to watch as Cary Grant stormed out of his house and Katherine Hepburn broke his golf club over her knee. As she laughed at the scene she'd seen many times over the years, Logan placed his arm around her shoulders and drew her near to him. Smiling softly, Rory shifted into his embrace.
Curled up within Logan's arms, Rory couldn't hold back a huge smile as the words 'The End' appeared on the drive-thru screen. Snuggling closer to Logan, Rory's hand subconsciously took the hand that he had placed around her shoulder at the beginning of the movie.
Logan glanced down at Rory and his eyes softened as he studied the top of her head, thinking about how amazing she was. Sensing Logan's gaze, Rory looked up, meeting his eyes. She was suddenly struck by how downright handsome Logan was.
His chiseled jaw, sparkling brown eyes, and tousled blond hair… she had to wonder why she'd never noticed how absolutely perfect he looked.
'Woah!' Rory was shocked at that thought. When had she become so sentimental? Never had her thoughts reminded her of a Kathleen E. Woodiwiss novel! Not that she had read The Flame and the Flower…
She was torn distracted from her confusing thoughts by Logan asking her if she had enjoyed the movie.
"Oh my god, yes! Thank you so much! But I'm curious to know how you decided on The Philadelphia Story; it's never been known as a classic romance movie."
Logan shrugged nonchalantly, "Well, at first I was going to go with Casablanca, because it's a classic. But then it dawned on me that the ending isn't necessarily the happiest in the world. And I wanted to have a romance movie with a happy movie for our first date."
Laughing Rory nodded, "We can save Casablanca for the second date."
"Exactly! See, there's no problem with watching a movie with a depressing ending after the first date. So then I went on the long journey of finding the perfect movie."
Rory gave him a quizzical look, "How much time did you actually spend on this 'journey'?"
"A man should never reveal his secrets."
"Meaning: longer than I want to admit to." Rory replied cheekily.
Logan rolled his eyes and continued on with his tale, choosing to ignore Rory's comment, "So then I did some research on the most romantic movies, and you know what I realized?"
"What did you realize?"
"I realized none of them have a very happy ending; in Love Story Jenny dies, Gone with the Wind Rhett leaves, and in the epitome of a romantic story Romeo and Juliet both die. So taking this into consideration, I decided to choose a romantic comedy that wasn't too…"
"Pretty Woman?"
"Exactly."
"Well I'm glad you chose The Philadelphia Story, it makes me laugh even after watching it a hundred times."
Silence descended upon them as their eyes meet and held, each searching the other for some sign. Slowly they leaned in closer to each other, being driven by some indescribable force. Seconds felt like minutes, as they both became lost in other's gaze.
Pausing, as their lips were millimeters apart, Logan breathlessly whispered, "I'm glad." to Rory's previous comment. His breath caressed her waiting lips, and then the distance became nonexistent.
Their lips met tentatively at first, gentle and searching. Rory shifted in Logan's embrace, bringing her arms up around his neck, one of her hands brushing through his blond hair.
Seconds became minutes in the mind of both Rory and Logan, and kiss shifted from a sweet caress of lips into something more passionate. Ever since they'd met each other, there'd been a sexual tension, and for the first time in over a year it was coming to the surface, sizzling.
Logan nibbled Rory's lower lip, entreating her to let him explore her more thoroughly. Giving in, Rory felt Logan's tongue against hers as she fell deeper into this haze. He tasted like something distinctively Logan, almost like… apples. Rory let herself get lost within his kiss, everything around them becoming insubstantial.
Rory allowed her hands to move away from his neck, trailing down his nicely tailored shirt, until it reached the waistline of his pants. Her fingers intertwined with the belt loop, subtly pulling him closer into the kiss.
Logan's hands slipped underneath her shirt and began exploring her back, his fingers leaving a hot trail along Rory's skin. Rory gasped into the kiss at the sensation of his hand on her bare skin and shivered as she felt his hand going up, following the line of her spine.
They slowly disentangled themselves from each other as they caught their breath. Rory leaned against Logan, her heartbeat rushing trying to regain enough oxygen to clear her clouded mind. Logan dispelled all thoughts from her mind as he began kissing her upper neck.
Her breath caught in her throat as he started nibbling on her earlobe. As he backed away from her ear Logan blew a little on it, sending an electric shock throughout her body. Slowly Logan started trailing kisses from her ear down her neck. He stopped over pulse point and left a lingering kiss.
Looking up at Rory, Logan took in her tousled appearance, her disheveled hair and swollen lips. He stifled a groan at how gorgeous Rory looked after thoroughly being kissed. "Ace," Logan whispered into her ear, "We've got to stop, otherwise…" his voice trailed off unable to finish the thought.
Rory's eyes caught his, and he melted as he gazed into her stunning blue eyes, glazed over by desire and pupils dilated. I could get used to this, Logan thought to himself.
Rory slowly nodded to Logan's previous statement.
She had to struggle to get a grasp of her thoughts and to string together complete sentences in her mind. Maybe it was a good idea not to attempt to speak just in case she came off as a blundering idiot who was so overcome by lust.
Throwing one last fleeting look at Rory, Logan turned the key into the ignition, and slowly backed up the car.
On the way back to New Haven, a silence blanketed the car. But this silence differed from the silence from the ride up. This one was full of unanswered questions and new hopes.
a/n: Wow… so it's been awhile. I'm sorry for making all of you guys wait. Senior year has been hectic, amazing, but hectic. But in the hiatus that lasted fourteen week I got accepted into college and given the okay to become a foreign exchange student to China next semester for a couple of weeks. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and hopefully the next one won't take so long!
I'd also like to thank my beta! Kyle is amazing and without her this story would make people sad for all the ridiculous grammar mistakes in it, because my grammar is HORRIBLE!
