Disclaimer: I don't own the story or characters featured in Gilmore Girls, however I have a fertile mind and a fan orphan heart.

A/N: Better late than never. It took me a while to update, but I'm here. Thank you for the affection and your amazing reviews. Please continue reading and telling me what you think. I love to hear your opinion. This chapter is shorter, but VERY important. Hope you like it. ❤


CHAPTER 9 – BEST FRIENDS.


It was a long day stuck in their makeshift office. Between hours listening to interviews and endless paperwork, the staff was exhausted.

"Come on, guys. We're almost there. Think positive. Two days from now, we're going to have the whole weekend free." Rory pleaded, trying to convey motivation to the crew.

"Yay!" The small crowd pumped their first with fake enthusiasm, making Rory roll her eyes.

Logan was sitting across the room, staring at the computer screen. Realizing the team's lack of motivation, she approached him.

"I think we're losing them." She said.

He looked at the people with tired eyes and worn faces and then shrugged. "They just need a break."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Going out, grabbing a bite wouldn't hurt either. We're stuck in here for the entire day. We still have time tomorrow."

Rory nibbled the inside of her cheek and glanced over at them once more. "You're right."

He turned in his chair to face her. His face forming that mocking smile. "What?"

Rory rolled her eyes once more. He just wanted to hear her say the magic words again. With much reluctance, she repeated it to his delight. "I said you're right."

"I'm sorry, I just thought that your mouth was physically unable to utter these exact words of the English language, in this exact order."

"Bite me." She said with an annoyed grin, and focused back on their problem.

However, Logan rose from his chair and whispered as he passed her. "Be careful of what you wish, Ace."

Rory glanced quickly around, worried that someone had overheard them, but no one was looking at them. Except for Amy.

Rory just smiled at her friend, who smiled back. Apparently no look of concern on her face.

"So, how about we take a break, finish it tomorrow and grab a bite?" Logan suggested.

"Finally." A voice exclaimed among the group as everyone hurried to drop the paperwork and their laptops.

"Burgers?" Rory proposed.

"No, pizza!" Amy argued snapping a gum bubble and sucking it back against her lips.

"Chinese?" Tim added.

"What about everything? I know a place around here, guess everybody can be happy." Logan gave his recommendation.

People looked at each other and nodded in emphatic agreement.


"You know this place is a bar, right?" Rory sneered.

"I've noticed." Said Logan walking to the counter and ordering a drink. Rory just followed, arguing behind him. She managed her voice though; she didn't want to be the party pooper, although Logan already knew she wasn't that happy.

"It means people will drink and do God knows what. And a hangover can be a disaster for our work tomorrow."

"Ace, just relax. Nothing is going to happen. They will relax a little, have fun, interact with each other and tomorrow they will be more motivated to work. Trust me."

Rory drew in a sharp breath. "Fine, but you will work tomorrow for every single person puking at the bathroom."

"Deal." He said, handing her own beer.

Rory took a sip and frowned at the taste. She hadn't had a beer in years.

"How do you know this bar?" She asked.

"I'd will tell you, but I'm afraid if we start to talk about our lives, this will get too personal. You know." He winked at her and took another sip, motioning his finger between them.

"That's okay. It's not that interesting anyway." She stared at him disdainfully and brought the drink to her mouth again, this time visibly squirming with its bitterness.

"What's the matter, Ace? If I didn't know you, I'd say you've lost your way."

"Yeah, that's because you don't. Did you forget that we aren't friends? And stop calling me that, people will hear."

"People will hear what?" Amy appeared out of the blue and questioned, her eyes shifting between the pair.

Rory knew she had to think fast, but more importantly, she had to think smart. She was pissed with Logan, so she was allowed to mock him. "Oh, Logan just blew a big burp in here. Disgusting."

"Like that?" Amy drank her beer and replayed what would be the disgusting act, shortly after she flashed a proud smile, making Logan utter a great chuckle.

Rory scowled at her friend reaction and walked away reproving her. "Oh dear God."

Amy and Logan continued to laugh, until the waiter arrived to jot down orders.

"Two burgers with fries. One without tomato, lettuce and pickles." Logan requested.

Amy's eyes looked about to pop straight out of her head. "Wow, you're that hungry?"

"No, one's for Rory."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "How do you know she doesn't eat vegetables?"

Logan scratched his forehead in disguise. "She told me."

"Really, when?" Amy folded her arms against her chest, decided to analyze every detail of what he would say.

"Yesterday at lunch." Logan lied, looking straight at her with his smug smile.

As she studied his face, he gave her a strange look. Then she recognized that look. She didn't challenge him, but she could tell he was lying.

"Hm. How thoughtful of you." Amy said without bothering to convey sympathy in her voice and just left him alone.

He searched for Rory across the room and their eyes met. Amy was suspicious, he needed to warn her, but a sudden approach now would be even more suspicious.


"So, my friend. Tell me what's going on with you." Amy asked Rory. Suddenly too interested.

"Right now?" Rory asked innocently.

"No, in your life." Amy said, feigning spontaneity.

She pouted, trying to figure out what was her point. "I'm here with you guys for almost a week now."

"I know, I know. I mean, how are you? How are you feeling?" Amy insisted on provoking that conversation.

This time, instead of just listening, she flashed a half smile, half grimace, then asked. "Amy what's going on?"

"Nothing, I just feel we're not talking enough these days."

"Well, we've been busy."

"I know. I'm just feeling like we're really apart, you know?"

Rory frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah. Are you sure there's nothing you should tell me?"

Rory swallowed hard, but decided to stick with her story. "I'm sure."

As the air thinned between them, Rory sighed relieved to hear Logan calling out to her. Her food was ready and she really needed that break. She rose and smiled politely and headed toward the counter.

Rory arrived trying to attack her sandwich, when Logan announced. "Amy knows about us."

Rory looked at him in shock, her mouth half open. "What?"

Logan pondered. "I mean, I don't know if she does, but at least she suspects."

So that's what it was all about. She thought. "What makes you think that?"

As they talked, Amy took her beer and sipped slowly as she watched the pair apparently in a chit-chat.

She couldn't explain, but she didn't swallow his words. He was lying, but his lie meant Rory could also be hiding something. She just couldn't shake the feeling off.

She was divided with the idea, after all, Rory was her best friend. She would certainly tell her if she was dating him. Wouldn't she? Amy asked herself. Then it occurred to her — Rory knew about the drink that day at the bar. They both attended the same college. Was it possible that all this was just a coincidence?

The answer came in a few seconds. The place was noisy so it was natural that people came a little closer to communicate. But not that way. Suddenly she noticed their posture. She noticed how Logan leaned on Rory to speak. How Rory twirled her hair when she was listening to him speak. How Logan always looked for reasons to touch her succinctly. And obviously, how their eyes roamed each other's faces.

Amy couldn't believe it. This wasn't a working relationship. Bullshit! It was sexual tension. And that Amy could recognize with specialty when she saw it. Even though she wouldn't accuse Rory, she owed her best friend a chance to explain herself.

Well aware of the imminence of a confrontation, Rory took a sharp breath and headed back to the table. She couldn't avoid Amy forever and maybe it was time for the truth.

"So..." Rory warmed up.

"Before you say anything, I want to ask you something."

Rory cleared her throat. "Sure."

"About the night I left a sock on the door."

Rory sighed in relief, thinking it was just a blaze of guilt from her friend. "Amy, we already talked about it, it's okay."

"I know. I want to know where you slept." She finally asked, her gaze static and overwhelmed.

Rory opened her mouth, but she took so long to say something that Amy almost repeated the question, although they both knew it wasn't necessary. Amy took her purse and stormed out of the bar, her eyes suddenly saddened, closed momentarily.

Rory left everything behind and ran after her friend. Were they still friends?

"Amy, come on."

"You slept with him." She fired away.

"No, I didn't"

"Yes, you did." She madly accused.

"No, I didn't." She swore, touching her heart with fingers spread wide.

"You're a terrible liar, you know? It's so obvious, how I didn't see it before?" Amy questioned herself, so mad that her face was nearly as red as her hair.

"Amy there's nothing happening between Logan and I. It's true that I slept in his room that night, but absolutely nothing happened. I promise." Rory was desperate for Amy to believe her.

She just looked at Rory. Her eyes were hard and hurt, she wouldn't believe her that easy. There was no way Rory could get out of this argument without telling the whole truth.

"Not in these past 4 years at least." She muttered, staring at her feet. Embarrassed, she almost lost the thread of what she was saying.

Amy was speechless. "What?"

"Logan was my Yale boyfriend." She admitted feeling depressed and frustrated.

"Logan? He is that guy?" She bit her lips between her teeth, but there were no words. Everything she felt was in her eyes: disappointment, confusion, rage.

"Yes." She was so embarrassed that she could scarcely look Amy in the face.

"That's the worst, Rory. I can't believe you."

"I'm sorry, Amy. I didn't know what to say. I never expected to run into him again in my life." She tried to justify her actions, but Amy wasn't moved.

"It doesn't matter." Amy turned her back and kept walking. Rory continued to follow her down the sidewalk, wondering internally how she could walk so fast in those high heels.

Rory picked up the pace, finally reaching for her and grabbing her wrists. "It matters to me."

Amy ran her hands through her hair. "Really, Rory? So why did you let me go out on a date with him? Worst, why did you let me make a fool of myself? Asking him out and everything?"

"What did you want me to do, Amy? You were obsessed with the guy. There was nothing I could do."

"You could tell me the truth for example. And you really think you two have nothing? Seriously?" Amy yelled at the top of her lungs, then Rory yelled back.

"I'm sorry, Amy. I know I messed up, but I couldn't risk everybody to know about this."

Amy shook her head in refusal. She didn't want to hear anything Rory had to say. "Now everything makes sense. You knew about the drink, he knew about your disgust for vegetables. The way you act around him. I can cut the sexual tension with a knife. " She muttered to herself, still in shock. "Why you don't want people to find out anyway? They eventually will."

"No if I can avoid it." Rory assured her, pointedly.

She asked in disbelief. "Why?"

"Do you imagine what everybody will think if they know?" Rory spoke as if there was truism in her voice.

"What?" She asked, contemptuously.

"They will think that I'm some kind of social climber." She tried to explain.

"Oh, please, Rory. That's crap and you know it. You're a Gilmore! You are a great reporter, nobody will think that of you. Everybody knows you are serious, more than you should be for a girl with such nice legs and perky boobs. "

"Oh God!" Rory shook her head.

"See? You are perky and you're afraid of to get compliments. You way too serious."

"You don't know that!" Rory protested.

Amy pouted. "Trust me, I have pretty good eyes."

"I'm talking about what people are going to think." Rory elucidated.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Whatever. He likes you."

"Who, Amy?"

Amy sighed, annoyed by Rory's innocence. "Loverboy, of course. He likes you."

She paused to think about it. It was possible that he liked her? Nah! She glanced toward the bar and shook it off. "No, he doesn't."

"Of course he does. Are you that naive? That's why he didn't sleep with me. He knows if he did, he could never sleep with you again. Believe me; he doesn't look at you the same way he looks at his sister."

"Trust me, Amy. You don't know Logan. He is a player; he doesn't care about me or any other girl. He jumps from bed to bed, he acts with totally disregard to people's feelings. You're wrong."

Amy rose her eyebrows and stared at Rory's eyes. "I may be wrong about many things, but I'm right about this. For a journalist, your radar seems to be broken."

Rory was drained. She closed her eyes and shook her head again in disagreement. "Amy, you don't understand. I don't want him back. I already made it clear to him that this is totally professional. You can have him if you want; I just don't want this to ruin our friendship."

Amy laughed nervously. "No, Rory. You don't understand. I don't give a shit about Logan. He is just a guy. I give a shit about you lying to me like this and how disloyal you were with our friendship. Apparently, you have a very weird way of trying to preserve it."

Rory had no words to express what she felt, and knew that it would have been useless if she had, maybe for now at least. As she looked piteously at Amy, she turned away, hailed to a cab, and climbed in, disappearing from Rory's sight.

Rory sat on the curb hunched over, her forearms on her knees, her head in her hands. She felt a few tears well up and accumulate along the edges of her eyelashes, but she held them back. How could she screw up this so badly? She was sure this little drama was replayed many times over between friends who let disagreements fester until they think it was too late to save their friendship. But that wasn't her. She would make it right. With Logan or without him.


A/N: A little drama, but it was time for that, right? What do you think of Amy's reaction? Tell me what you think.

I have one more question for you this week. I like to update the story on Fridays, I only update on Mondays when I end up skipping a week, so you guys don't have to wait too long until Friday. I want to choose a fixed day, so what do you prefer? Fridays or Mondays?