Thanks to Lourenda for betaing this for me.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Rory walked into the Dragonfly. She'd been home in Stars Hollow for only a little while, but it seemed like she'd never left. She was about to look for Lorelai but stopped when she saw Dean, "Hi."
"Hey. I have to get this upstairs." He said uncomfortably motioning to the door that he was holding.
"Can't we talk?" Rory questioned, he seemed angry when he left her dorm the other day after Jess had showed up.
"What about?"
"He didn't stay." Rory informed him.
"Yeah. I don't care."
"Why are you so mad?"
"I'm not mad. I'm working." Dean denied, wiping the imaginary dust off of the door.
"You sure seem a little mad."
"I have to go."
"I told him to leave, Dean."
"You told me to leave, also."
"Jess and I had some unresolved issues just because I needed to talk to him alone doesn't mean I ran off with him."
"Right." He hesitantly conceded.
"So, why did it bother you so much?"
"I thought you were back with him or something."
"No, I'm not back with him. Nor will I ever be."
"I thought you were."
"Well, I'm not. But even if I was back with him, why would it bother you so much?" Rory questioned. Dean had Lindsay, he said he was happy with her.
"It doesn't. I just…Don't like him."
"Okay."
"And I...I don't want you with him."
"Right. Because he doesn't treat me right, right?"
"Right." He mumbled leaning in closer to her.
"And you wouldn't want me to be with someone who doesn't treat me right, because… you're my friend, right?"
"Right...friend." Dean said. He was about to close the small gap between the two of them but shrieking noise of Rory's cell phone cut through the air and caused them to break apart.
"I should get that and you should…Work."
"Yeah. Work." Dean nodded as he hoisted the door back up and walked up the stairs with it.
"Hello?" Rory asked panicked as she answered her phone.
"Ror, what's wrong?" Louise asked on the other side of the phone.
"I may have just had a momentary lapse in sanity."
"Why?"
"You know how I told you I sent Dean away then talked to Jess?"
"Yeah."
"Well, Dean thought I was back with Jess and he got all mad. Then I was just talking with Dean about it and he said he didn't want me with Jess and then we almost kissed!"
"He's married."
"I know! Exactly why I think I had a lapse in sanity."
"Calm down, you didn't actually kiss. Besides, why would you want to be with him anyway? You can do so much better."
"Yeah." Rory agreed, she was over Dean. In fact she hadn't even thought about him until she walked into the Inn . Logan was the one haunting her thoughts.
"So, what are you doing tonight?"
"It's the Dragonfly's test run."
"Oh! That's right. Paris mentioned that."
"Yep."
"Well, I just called to see what were up too. I've got to go."
"Uh, ok." Rory said a little suspicious, Louise never called just to see what was going on, "Bye."
"Bye!" Louise said before hanging up.
"That was weird." Rory mumbled to herself before she put her cell phone back in her pocket and began to walk in search of her mother.
-----------------------------
"She'll be in Stars Hollow."
"I told you she would be."
"I was double checking."
"You don't need to double check. I never get my facts wrong."
"It could happen."
"Not to me."
"I can name like three times it's happened."
"Like?"
"Not at this second but I could name some eventually."
"Exactly, none come to mind at this exact moment."
"Whatever."
"By you calling you her she probably became suspicious."
"No she's not!"
"When was the last time you called her just to chat."
"The other day."
"No. You called to ask if text sex was too kinky for a month and half long relationship."
"After we chatted."
"You called with a pretense."
"Oh shut up!" Louise whined, "Even if she is suspicious it's not like she'll even realize what's going to happen."
"I really don't think we should be doing this."
"It's not like they went out of their way to do it, it's a coincidence."
"Coincidence or not, she'll still probably get mad."
"Not if the outcome is what we hoped for. According to my source, all systems are a go. He's miserable." Louise exclaimed brightly.
"Ah, yes. It's wonderful that your friend for years is completely depressed."
"You are really raining on my parade! I went through a lot of trouble to make sure this would happen and you are making it sound like I am putting him through Chinese water torture."
"I am not. I'm just saying you should be prepared in the off chance this backfires."
"It won't."
"Things you can't possibly predict could happen."
"I don't want to hear anymore of your pessimistic attitude."
"Fine, I'll call you later to see however thing is going."
"If this is such a bad idea why are you still going to call and make sure everything is going smoothly?"
"Goodbye."
"Bye, Paris ." Louise laughed before hanging up her phone. Yep, she was a good friend and this was for their own good.
-----------------------------
Rory couldn't get that conversation she'd had with Louise out of her head. Though Louise hadn't said anything revealing it didn't mean there wasn't a hidden meaning. Rory was also having a hard time trying to comprehend what kind of mental episode she must have had for her to almost kiss Dean. Dean was married, married men were off limits especially her married ex-boyfriend.
"CDs, Ror. We need CDs." Lorelai said as she frantically walked up to her trying to organize papers in her hand.
"CDs. I can do that." Rory nodded. "You are aware Jason is in the other room?"
"I'm working on it."
"Just checking." Rory smiled then walked over and gave her mom a hug, "Don't worry, you're doing fine. Everyone is having a wonderful time except maybe Taylor and I even saw him crack a few smiles."
"You're my favorite kid ever, have I ever told you that?"
"I've pretty sure I'm your only kid."
"Making you my automatic favorite by default."
"I'm not sure that's any better."
"CDs." Lorelai said.
"I'm going, I'm going."
"Quickly!"
-----------------------------
"The Bangles? Nirvana? Red Hot Chili Peppers? The Go-Go's? U2?" Rory mumbled while looking through stacks of CDs in her room. "My god we have some eclectic musical tastes."
Scanning the rest of the stack she came across an old mix CD of nineties songs that Lane had made her as a gag gift. Staring at the track list on the back memories began to flood her mind.
"Do you even know what the name of this song is?"
"When the Lights Go Out," she told him, "By…Five…It's some number…I think, ask Louise she'd know she was probably big on the boy band craze."
"When the Lights Go Out?" Logan repeated, raising an eyebrow, "That's…provocative."
"Hmm…So it is."
"I'll show you what it's all about; Babe I swear you will succumb to me, so baby come to me," Logan sang huskily in her ear.
"So you do know this song after all."
She remembered being in such close proximity to Logan was intoxicating, that dancing with him was just as much of a rush as drinking all of that punch. Her mind began to wander to when they slow danced and his arms were firmly holding her to his body. God, what she would give to go back and relive that, to feel like someone wanted her. She was brought out of her thoughts by a knocking at the back door.
Getting up to answer it she opened it to reveal Dean, "What are you doing here?"
"Your mom…She mentioned she sent you on a hunt for some music."
"I see, any suggestions on what I should get?" Rory questioned as she motioned for him to come and help her search for the right type of music.
"I hear Taylor's a big hip-hop fan." Dean joked.
"Oh, he hops with the hippest of them."
"Yeah." Dean agreed as he glanced around her room, "Your room hasn't changed much, has it?"
"Not really, but I'm not here for the majority of the year, so its fine. It's familiar, I like familiar."
"So…Today was an interesting day…"
Rory knew he was referring to their almost kiss earlier, "Yeah…Interesting."
"You know, I could be wrong, but somehow I had a feeling that maybe if your phone hadn't have rang when it did-"
"Dean…You have Lindsay."
"It's not working out with Lindsay, Rory. You called it when you said we were too young, you were right."
"That doesn't change anything." Rory said quietly.
"It does because I still love you." Dean told her. "Lindsay and I aren't happy. She's not happy, I'm not making her happy. I always made you happy. We were good together, you and I."
Rory took a deep breath, there it was. The familiarity she'd wanted, been craving was staring her right in the face. "Yeah, we were good together," she agreed stepping closer to him.
"We can be good together again." Dean told her stepping closer to her and pressing his lips to hers.
Rory couldn't help but feel comforted by the way the kiss felt, it felt familiar like something she experienced again and again.
Dean lowered Rory to the bed, their lips never parting. His hands traveled from her hair down to her sides, as if he was trying to memorize her body.
She could tell Dean was enjoying this, but as familiar as it was it wasn't what she wanted. She wanted the chemistry, the spark, and the butterflies in her stomach when they kissed but she didn't get them. She hadn't gotten them in years from Dean. She got them from Logan . Logan, she should not be thinking of Logan while kissing Dean but she was. Dean should be thinking about Lindsay. 'Shit…Lindsay.' Rory thought as she pushed Dean off of her and shot up off the bed.
"What's wrong?"
"This!" She motioned to them "This is wrong!"
"No, it's right. We're right."
"No!" Rory said as she began to pace running a hand through her already messy locks.
"Yes, Rory!" Dean said desperately trying to make her understand. "I love you."
Rory was about to say something when there was a knock at the door, walking past Dean she frantically answered it. Her lips still swollen from their kiss, her cheeks still flushed from the lack of oxygen, her hair and clothes still rumpled. "What?"
"Rory…"
Rory's eyes locked with the brown ones that belonged to the man standing on her doorstep and her heart instantly soared, "What…Why…How?"
"I came to see you. Our yacht needed to be…" Logan began but stopped when he saw Dean appear behind her. For the first time he took in her appearance then took in his. "You know what…Forget I bothered." he said coldly before turning and walking back towards his car.
"Logan!" Rory called as she flew off the porch to follow him.
Logan turned back to her, "You know what, I was wrong. I was holding myself back from all these girls in Fiji because for some reason all I could think about was you. Colin and Finn told me to let you go, that you didn't matter, but I couldn't. I couldn't let you go. Why I don't know, I ruled you out of possibility. You weren't supposed to stay in my thoughts but you did.
"So when a part to the yacht started to malfunction and we had to come back to the US to change boats I figured I'd finally get to see you. But here you are looking like you just got done fucking…" Logan said glancing at Dean, "Him. But that's fine. I can finally get you out of my head. But if the cuddling was the best part of the whole experience then odds are he didn't do it right."
" Logan! I…We…" Rory tried to defend to him but he wouldn't listen. He wouldn't stop to give her a chance to explain.
"Save it! I don't care. I don't care about you or what you were doing. I don't need you. I can have any girl I want, any girl that's better than you." He told her before getting in his car and speeding off.
Rory stood there in shock, staring at the place his car once was in. He liked her, he really truly liked her and now… Now, he didn't care about her. He was off to erase any memory he had of her all because of a misunderstanding.
She heard Dean walk up behind her, but didn't acknowledge him until he tried to comfort her, "Ror…"
"No! Don't you dare touch me, go away. Go back to your wife, go back to Lindsay."
"I don't want Lindsay."
"Then that's your own damn problem, Dean! Forget about me, forget that this stupid night ever happened!"
"If this is about that guy, didn't you hear him? He doesn't want you."
"Fine!" Rory yelled, "I don't care, but I sure as hell don't want you either."
Rory saw headlights and hoped that maybe Logan had come back, maybe he'd listen to her explanation but her hope was crushed when she saw Lorelai get out of her jeep. "Do we have a problem here?"
"No." Dean mumbled.
"I think you should leave." Lorelai said as she approached the two, noticing Rory was practically breaking down.
"He doesn't want you, Rory." Dean muttered "I wanted you and you blew it. That was your last chance."
"Good!" Rory spat before tears began to fall down her cheeks.
"Leave, Dean. Now." Lorelai growled as she wrapped an arm around Rory. "Come on, Hun. Let's go inside."
Rory silently nodded, this wasn't how the night was supposed to go. She was supposed to be helping her mother celebrate her Inn opening, not crying over the fact that the guy who had been on her mind for what seemed like ever thought she was having sex with her ex. No, things were not supposed to turn out this way.
Logan clenched his hands tightly to the steering wheel as he drove as fast as he could out of Stars Hollow, out of Rory Gilmore's life. He couldn't believe he'd been so stupid. He should have listened to his friends, he should have just stuck with what he known.
She was supposed to be different, she was supposed to be pining over him like he'd been pining over her. Louise, Madeline and Paris all said she was miserable, that she missed him. Why had he believed them, why did he care? Girls pined over him all the time, this shouldn't be any different. Yet, it was. Of course it was different because for the first time he was pining as well and now he knew what a stupid mistake that had been.
