Chapter 10: The aftermath

It'd been a week since Colin last spoke to Rory. It wasn't because he was avoiding her, but he was afraid of her reaction towards the kiss, and he didn't want to lose that newly acquired friendship he had with her. He couldn't risk that, a friendship with her was better than her hating him, and maybe she could, with time feel the same way he did and actually admit it to herself. He would tell her it was a mistake and he was sorry, the next time he saw her.

"What's going on here?" Steph said, sitting down at the booth in the pub.

Logan laughed. "Oh, Colin here is just deep in his own thoughts, and me and Finn decided to leave him there for a minute, since he's been acting very strange the last week."

Colin tuned into the conversation.

"I haven't been acting strange… I just had to think some things through, it's all."

Finn laughed. "And what things might this be mate?"

"Its nothing that concerns you three, so stop asking me about it!"

Steph snorted. "Fine, you're obviously not ready to talk about what it is yet, so I'll lay off you. "

Colin nodded. "Thanks."

Logan turned to Steph. "So... Are they coming tonight?"

Steph nodded. "Yeah, they promised they'd show up. They should actually be here soon."

"Who should be here soon? Who did you invite Steph?" Colin asked suspiciously.

"Oh, just Rory and Paris. Haven't really seen them around much, and Paris have apologized, so we thought it would be a good idea to get some drinks together."

"You invited Rory and Paris? Tonight?" Colin asked slightly nervous at the prospect of not only seeing but also having to talk to Rory.

"Yes, I believe I made it very clear, that I, in fact invited Rory and Paris to join us tonight. What is it with you?" Steph said looking at him confused.

Colin just shook his head to signal that he didn't want to talk about it.

"I'm getting more drinks," He said while standing up. "Anybody wants anything?"

They all nodded. "Just the usual." Steph said.

Colin walked up to the bar and ordered their drinks as Rory and Paris came into the pub. They stood at the entrance looking around. He turned back to the bar and got the drinks and walked back to their booth, just as Rory and Paris was sitting down, the only chair left, one next to Rory.

"Hey." He said to the girls as he put down the tray with drinks. "I didn't know what you wanted, so… you might want to go and get drinks yourselves."

Rory smiled and turned to Paris. "I'll go. Just your usual?"

Paris shook her head. "No, you just surprise me. Uh, and get some shots too!"

Rory stood and walked towards the bar laughing. "Sure, but not too many. I don't want to hold your hair back later."

Paris snorted. "Yeah right Gilmore. We both know it's your hair that needs holding!"

Rory just shook her head and walked to the bar, as Paris turned towards Colin.

"So… Why are you avoiding Gilmore?" She asked him.

"I… I'm not avoiding her. Why would I avoid her?"

"So that's why you've been weird this week. You were avoiding Rory." Logan said with a smirk. "But why Colin? Why avoid the girl you have a major crush on?"

Paris snorted. "It's obvious. Something happened last Friday, and now he's afraid and Rory wont tell me what happened. So you," She said and pointed at Colin. "Better start talking about last Friday!"

Colin shook his head. "Nothing special happened. It's really nothing to talk about."

Steph laughed. "Come on Colin. You don't avoid a girl because 'nothing happened'. You avoid her if you made a mistake. Did you make a mistake?"

"How many times can I say this?" He said while Rory walked back to the table. "NOTHING HAPPENED. THERE WASN'T ANYTHING SPECIAL GOING DOWN LAST FRIDAY!" He shouted as Rory put the drinks down on the table, looking at him. She turned to Steph.

"I'm sorry Steph, but I think I'm just going to go home. I really don't feel like drinking tonight, maybe some other time?" She said while taking her jacket.

Before anybody could say anything, she was out of the door. Paris turned to Colin and glared at him.

"What happened? Rory's always up for drinking after a Friday night dinner. Now you ruined it!" Paris said as she got up. "Steph, Huntzberger and Aussie-boy, we'll have to do this at another time. I'm going to make sure Rory gets home and doesn't go into the vodka. Because, that is not pretty."

Paris walked out of the pub, as the rest of the table turned to Colin.

"Seriously mate. What happened? And don't try that bullshit again. Love obviously didn't want to be here. Now the truth please." Finn said, as Logan and Steph nodded in agreement.

"It's nothing that you need to worry about. I'll talk to her, don't worry." He said as he got up. "I think I'm going to go home. See you."

Colin walked out of the pub. Not wanting to go home, just yet, he walked around campus for a while, before he ended up at Branford. He knew he had to apologize, and he could just as well get it over with now. He walked to Rory's dorm and knocked.

Nobody answered the door for a minute, but then Paris came into view.

"What is it now, riche rich?" She asked annoyed. "We were just watching a movie."

"I have to talk to Rory."

Paris nodded. "Gilmore, get your ass over here. Colin wants to talk to you."

Paris walked into her room, and Rory came to the door. She looked up at him and sighed with frustration.

"What do you want now?"

"I just want to say that I'm sorry for kissing you last Friday. I don't know what came over me, but I am sorry. It was definitely a mistake, and I don't want you to hate me for it. Or hate the others for that matter. They didn't kiss you. I did. And I know it was a mistake and it won't happen again. Just… don't tell them about it." He said, as she stood there looking confused at him. He took that as his cue to leave and walked away from her.

Rory just stood in the doorway, looking at the wall in the hallway, when Paris came out of her room.

"Okay Gilmore. What the hell happened now?" She asked her.

Rory turned around, wondering if she should tell her. "Okay, I need vodka for this, and if you want the story, you better find it."

Paris nodded and went to the freezer and found the vodka and two shot glasses, filled them and handed one to Rory.

Rory took her shot and sat on the couch.

"Okay, last Friday when Colin walked me home, I thanked him for walking me home and for not telling anybody about me being a virgin. I kissed him on the cheek and went to open the door, when he grabbed me and kissed me, and before I could even react to it, he just said goodnight and left. Then he, as you know, avoided me for a week, he said I wasn't anything special at the pub and now he just came here to say that it was a giant mistake that he kissed me." She ranted and took a deep breath.

Paris nodded. "Okay, but why are you so hung up on that? He said it was a mistake, and you say you don't like him. So I fail to see the problem here. He apologized to you, why would you zone out about that?"

Rory looked down on the floor. "Because… Maybe, I… You were right. I like him. And I didn't think that it was a mistake, but apparently he did and he doesn't want to repeat it because it wasn't anything special. I don't know… I just, you know. Thought he liked me to."

Paris kept quiet and poured some shots again and handed it over to Rory.

"Thanks Paris." She said with a small smile before she downed the shot.

Paris nodded and took the shot. "You know, he does like you. Everybody can see it. He just isn't sure what you feel, and he was afraid that the kiss ruined every chance he had with you."

Rory shook her head. "No… He just doesn't want to be with me, and that's fine. Then I don't want to be with him. I mean… I can find someone else, right?"

"Rory, is that really what you want?"

"Yes. I don't want to think about this anymore. It's already forgotten. Now let's watch the rest of this movie and forget about the dating-life. It sucks anyways." Rory said and pressed play on the remote.

Colin walked into his dorm and was met by Logan, Finn and Steph, sitting in the common room, most likely waiting for him and his explanation.

"So," Steph said glaring at him. "Did you talk to her? Because, I don't want to lose the two girls that I can actually stand to be around because you did something, probably very stupid!"

Colin nodded. "Yeah, I talked to her, but I don't know what she'll do. I just think I'll give her some time, but you guys can just be your usual selves with her. She isn't mad at you guys, don't worry."

"Seriously mate, what did you do, that she finds so bad?" Finn said, as Logan laughed.

"Yeah what?" Logan asked, still laughing.

Colin just stood in the common room, not saying anything, looking down at the floor. He could feel Stephs eyes on him, as if she was searching for the answer, looking into his brain.

"Oh my god! You made a move on her!" She shouted as Colin quickly looked up at her. "Why would you do that? I told you not to do that! What's wrong with you?"

Finn and Logan looked at him amused. "Mate, did you make a move on love?" Finn said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"I kissed her." He whispered, hoping nobody would hear him, but Steph apparently did.

She stood up quickly. "You kissed her?! Why?"

"I don't know." Colin whined. "It was just… You know… I just did, okay? And I already apologized and told her it was a mistake and it wouldn't happen again, and that she shouldn't hate you guys, just because I kissed her."

"You kissed Rory?" Logan said. "What'd she do? How'd she react?"

Colin shrugged. "She didn't do anything, just stood there, not saying anything. I think that speaks to what she thinks about me." He said and glared at Steph. "So thank you Stephanie, for saying she liked me." He said sarcastically.

Steph laughed. "Oh no. You don't get to blame me. You ruined it yourself."

"How? How did I ruin it myself?" He asked incredulously.

"By saying it was a mistake. That it wouldn't happen again and you were sorry! And not to mention that outburst you had at the pub, where you said it wasn't anything special." She said waving her arms around, and finally turning to Logan and Finn. "Are all guys this stupid? What do I even see in guys?"

"Hey!" Logan said. "Just because Colin is obnoxiously stupid, doesn't mean everybody else is!"

"But just for fun," Finn said. "How did that ruin his chance with Rory? I mean… She clearly wasn't into it."

Steph snorted. "How can you all be this oblivious? It should be a crime! Seriously!" She said as she paced in the common room. "Okay. Rory likes you, we know that, but she doesn't. You kissed her, and maybe, just maybe, she realized she actually had feelings for you in that moment, but was to caught up in the kiss or in her own thoughts to say anything to you before you left. After that, you AVOIDED her for an entire week, making her think you maybe didn't mean anything by the kiss, but there was room for speculation in her mind. But then you shouted to the whole pub, that the kiss you shared wasn't anything special, therefore, she thinks you don't think she's special. Do you see where I'm going?" She asked them. They all shook their heads, not following.

"Arh, boys. So stupid! Okay. Then you proceed to go to her dorm and tell her that it was a mistake, it didn't mean anything and you definitely wouldn't kiss her again. She doesn't think you like her. That you just want to be her friend, while she just found out that she has feelings for you. She's most likely pretty confused and are repressing her feelings even more now, because of what you said. She now knows, she likes you, but doesn't want to, because she thinks you don't like her, so she'll do anything to get you out of her mind. She's going to start dating, I can guarantee it!" Steph said.

"How come you know all of this?" Colin asked.

"Because I'm a girl, and this has happened to me before, and that's exactly what I thought and did." She answered.

"Yeah, but you and Rory isn't the same, Steph." Logan said. "You don't know what she'll do."

She laughed. "Trust me. This is what's going to happen. We may not be alike, but were girls. This is what we do. God, you three are so oblivious when it comes to girls, I can't believe it. It's a miracle you ever get a girl to go home with you. "

"Okay, if you're right, then what do I do?" Colin said.

Steph stood still for a moment, looking at him incredulously. "You fucking go and tell her how you feel! This isn't hard Colin! Just use your brain. We all fucking know you have one! God!"

"But what will that help if she's repressing her feelings? She's clearly not happy about Colin right now, and don't you think him just going up to her and saying, "Hey, I like you. Wanna go out?" is just… I don't know, plain stupid?" Logan asked.

Steph snorted. "No, its not. She will know that you actually like her back and that you do think she's special. Trust me. Just do it."

Colin nodded. "I'll think about it, okay? I just want to give her time right now."

Steph shrugged. "Fine, do what you want. But don't come crying to me when she starts dating other guys, and you get jealous."

Colin nodded and stood up, walking to his room. "Yeah yeah. If that happens I wont ask you for advise again, got it."

He walked to his room and closed the door. Should he tell Rory how he felt? But what if she really didn't think about him like that? Steph could be wrong; she'd been before. Well, not about girls, but about lots of other things. It wasn't like Steph was the all-knowing woman of Yale, she was just a girl; not everybody was like her. He would give her time, and if she weren't angry with him, he would tell her about his feelings, no matter what.

Colin nodded to himself and murmured. "Sounds like a plan."

Rory finished her last lecture that Monday, and walked towards her dorm, not wanting to stop at her usual coffee cart, because she knew Colin used it too. She didn't want to see him, talk to him or anything else. She was over him. She walked in her own thoughts, until she bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." She said apologetic, not looking up to see who it was.

"It's fine Rory, really. I'm Robert, I don't know if you remember me? From the LDB?"

Rory looked up. "Oh, yeah I remember you. Hey Robert." She said with a smile. What she remembered of him was that he was nice and that was pretty much it.

He laughed. "So… You going to the party on Saturday?"

Rory looked at him confused. "Party on Saturday? What party?"

"The LDB party. You should have gotten a text about it by now." He said.

Rory laughed a little nervously. "Oh, I haven't checked my phone. It's been off for the last couple of days."

Robert nodded. "Okay, but you should probably turn it back on, you know, read your texts and so on."

"Yeah, probably." She said with a small smile. She didn't want to know if Colin had tried to contact her. She wanted him to, but at the same time she hoped he hadn't.

"But back to the party. I was wondering if you wanted to go together?" He said with a smile.

Rory looked at him, considering his offer and smiled at him. "Yeah, sure. I'd like that, Robert."

"Okay, great. I'll come pick you up on Saturday at 7:00 PM, then?"

Rory just nodded. "Sure, that sounds great."

Robert nodded at her, and began to walk away.

"Oh, Robert!" She said. "What's the dress code for this party?"

He laughed. "You really haven't checked your phone. It's a 20'es party, so anything 20'es is acceptable."

"Okay, thank you. I'll see you Saturday." She smiled at him.

"See you." He said as he finally walked away.

Rory smiled all the way back to her dorm and opened the door.

"What are you smiling about Gilmore?" Paris asked her when she entered the common room.

"Oh, just. I got a date for the LDB party on Saturday." She said with an even bigger smile. "Did you know about that?"

Paris looked at her confused. "Yeah, got the text about it on Saturday, didn't you?"

"Nope, but I also turned my phone off." She shrugged.

Paris smirked. "Okay. So who's your date for the party? Colin huh?"

Rory snorted. "Ha! No. It's Robert, you remember him? He was very nice."

"Robert? A Robert? Hmm no. It doesn't ring a bell. But if you think he's nice, then I guess he is. Good for you. Scoring a date and everything. Way to go Ror!"

Rory laughed. "Thanks Paris. Now… The dress code for this thing is the 20'es, right?"

Paris nodded.

"Okay, I don't have anything even remotely looking like something from the 20'es, do you?"

"Please Gilmore. What do you think?"

"Okay, I'm guessing no from that attitude. So what I was saying was… We have to go shopping." Rory said with very little enthusiasm.

Paris groaned. "No. I don't want to. Can't you buy something for me?"

Rory shook her head. "No. If I have to shop, then so do you!"

"Fine. We'll go shopping tomorrow. We both have early classes, right?"

Rory nodded.

"Good, then tomorrow at 1, we're going to shop." Paris said with disgust.

"Well, I'm glad you're so excited about this Paris." Rory said sarcastically.

Paris snorted. "Oh, yeah. I'm looking forward to spending hours in a boutique to find the right outfit for us both, sounds like so much fun. Maybe while we're at it, we can go to the dentist. I think I have my 6 month check-up coming up." She answered sarcastically.

Rory laughed. "Okay, enough of this." She said and sat on the couch. "So, what're you doing?"

Paris shrugged. "Nothing really. Just talked to Steph about the party and Colin."

Rory looked confused. "Colin? Why were you two talking about him?"

Paris smirked at her. "Oh, we were just talking about how weird of a mood he's been in since Friday, well, practically the last week he's been brooding over something. Do you know what this could be about?"

"Nope. I have no idea. It was he who said he regretted the kiss, so in my head, he has absolutely nothing to brood over, if you're referring to me." Rory shrugged.

"Huh, okay. And you're really sure about this date on Saturday, right?" Paris asked concerned. "You're not doing it to, I don't know, get over Colin?"

Rory snorted. "Paris, I told you, as soon as he said I wasn't special and that it was a mistake, it was forgotten about. It's fine really. I don't care."

Paris nodded and looked at her. "Hmm, okay. Fine, I can't make you admit something you don't want to, but just think about it like this: maybe Colin didn't know whether or not you had feelings for him, and was afraid that you would turn him down, and therefore apologized for him kissing you?"

Rory laughed. "Paris, I really don't think boys are that complicated. Besides, if he felt something for me, he would have said so by now, don't you think?"

Paris shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not riche rich, Gilmore."

"Exactly. You are neither Colin nor me, so just, butt out of it Paris. I can handle it myself, and I decided to forget about the brief feelings, I might have had for him and going to a party with a date." Rory said proudly.

Colin walked out of his room in his 1920'es suit. It was a blue pin striped suit, with high pants, a vest and a blazer. He had on a bowtie and a top hat. When he reached the common room, he saw Logan wearing a suit similar to his, while Finn had on a white pants, a white shirt and a white and red striped blazer and a straw hat.

Colin laughed. "Finn, what the hell are you wearing?"

"It's my outfit for tonight. I thought everybody would go with the classic suit, and I opted to go another way. It's good, right?" Finn asked with a big grin.

Colin nodded. "It's definitely something, my friend."

He sat down on the couch with Finn and watched TV, as the guys waited for Steph.

Finn groaned. "When would Steph get here?"

Logan laughed. "About five minutes ago, but you know her. She is never on time. And she said something about picking up Rory and Paris, as we have a limo, and they don't."

Finn nodded as Steph stepped into the dorm in her 20'es inspired outfit.

"Okay, you guys ready?" She asked.

They all nodded and grabbed their wallets and keys and walked out the door, towards Branford.

"Have any of you guys talked to Rory in the last week?" Steph asked them

"Not really, I just ran into her at the coffee cart, nothing else really. Why?" Logan said.

Steph smirked. "Oh, okay. Nothing really, just talking."

They walked up to Rory and Paris' dorm and knocked on the door. It was now 7:15, and the girls should be ready, but when Paris opened the door, she still missed a shoe.

"Could any of you zip me up?" Paris asked and turned around. Logan stepped forward and zipped up her dress.

"Thank you, now just come in, I have to find the other shoe, and Rory had it last, so it could really be anywhere."

They moved into the common room and sat on the couch.

Paris went through the common room, muttering to herself.

"Oven, microwave, plants, behind TV, bathroom, couch cushions, no shoe. Where is it? Maybe her closet." She said as she walked into Rory's room, apparently finding the shoe.

"Okay, we're all set now, lets go." Paris said as she put her phone and keys in her purse.

"Aren't we missing Rory?" Logan asked her.

Paris shook her head. "Nope. She was picked up about 15 minutes ago."

"Oh, okay. Then lets get out of here." Logan said confused as he walked out of the dorm and Paris locked the door.

"Who picked up Rory?" Colin asked.

Paris smirked. "Her date for the party, of course."

"Her-her date?" He said. She had a date. Why did she have a date? Who was her date?

Steph smirked at him. "Yeah, didn't I tell you she had a date for tonight? I really thought I did."

Colin glared at her. "No, you left out that information, Steph." He said as they sat in the limo.

"Oh, well, no harm done, right? More champagne for the rest of us!" Paris said smirking.

Finn laughed. "So, who's the lucky guy love has a date with?"

"Some Robert guy from the LDB. I don't know him, but she said he was nice, so." Paris shrugged.

Logan nodded and looked at Colin. "Yeah, Robert's nice, right Colin?"

Colin frowned and nodded. "Yeah."

Robert wasn't nice. He was a jerk. He was a dickhead for asking Rory to go to the party with him. Rory wasn't supposed to start dating. She wasn't supposed to do as Steph predicted. He cursed himself for not listening to Steph before, because now Rory was on a date, and it wasn't with him.