After deciding to be friends, Rory thought things would be awkward for a while, fortunately, that was not the case. After their conversation the other night, they instantly put pause in their romantic feelings towards each other and started over their friendship.
The next Thursday night, they were all at Finn's eating pizza while they talked about their day with a movie on the background.
Steph was complaining about how hard it is to work with models sometimes, and being a fashion designer dealing with models is a current situation.
"Your boyfriend is a model." Finn pointed out.
"Not the point, Finn." Steph muttered and they laughed. "Anyway, how are things going with Nora?" She asked Finn.
"Who's Nora?" Rory asked.
"She's my assistant." Finn answered. "And she's delightful, always on time, never messes up my coffee order, my schedule is color schemed now, she never lets me forget important dates, and so far during these three months she's working for me she never once flirted with me."
"And you're happy with that?" Rory asked surprised.
"Don't get me wrong kitten, I'm always one to appreciate the company of beautiful women but I'd rather not mix business with pleasure." Finn explained.
"Wow, that's surprisingly mature of you, Finny." Rory smiled.
"Well, after the scandal with his first assistant he had to learn." Colin joked.
"What scandal?" Rory asked.
"She was a gold digger whore of course, and kept throwing herself at Finn, until he finally fired her. He was working late in that same day and she stayed to help as it was her last day, she drugged Finn and he passed out on the couch. When he woke up he was on they were both in their underwear and Finn does not remember anything. She then said he fired her because she wouldn't have sex with him, so she gave in and he fired her anyway." Steph explained.
"She even tried to sue him." Colin added.
"Oh, wow." Rory exclaimed.
"Exactly, so from now on I only hire people that are actually interested in working." Finn said and Rory nodded in understanding.
"And how do you like your assistant so far, love?" Finn asked.
"Oh, Grace is lovely, she helps me so much I feel like I should give her half of my paycheck," Rory joked. "Especially this last week that Aaron and Noah aren't here. She even orders her lunch along with mine so I won't eat alone in the office, I got lucky with her."
"Why are you eating in your office?" Colin asked.
"Well remember when you stopped by a couple of weeks ago and I was going to lunch with them because my coworkers hate me since they think I'm sleeping with my boss? Well that's still going on but now they're not here and I don't feel like going out to eat alone and I don't want to ruin things with them for Grace asking her to go to lunch with me." She explained.
"Wait, why do your coworkers think you're sleeping with your boss?" Steph asked.
"Because someone from their department was supposed to get my job, but Mr. Dell put me up as an option and Aaron picked me. Therefore, when I went in to meet him I found out he knows Paris from when she dated his grandfather Professor Fleming. We got along and became friends but everyone thinks we're sleeping together and that's the reason I got the job." She replied.
"That's ridiculous." Finn exclaimed while Steph looked at her sympathetically.
"I know." Rory sighed. "But it's only been a month I'm sure they'll realize that we never actually slept together sooner or later."
As the night went on they continue to tell each other stories and when it was almost midnight they decided to call it a night and go to their respectively apartments.
"Grace, I won't be eating lunch today, I'd like to get ahead of my article so I can go home earlier today. You're free to go for lunch with your friends, I'm sorry I kept you from them this week." Rory said as soon as she finished giving her assistant the instructions for the day.
"You didn't keep me from them, I wanted to stay." Grace smiled.
"And I really appreciate that." Rory returned the smile and they started working.
When it was noon, Grace told Rory she was taking her lunch break now. Rory only nodded and kept writing her article.
"I would kill to have your concentration." Colin said from her doorway.
Rory looked up startled, "Colin, hey." She smiled. "How long have you been here?"
"Just a couple of minutes," He said walking further into the room and sitting across from her. "So this is how you're spending your lunch break?" he asked.
"Yeah, I was trying to get ahead of my article." She answered. "But what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I'm taking you to lunch." He smiled.
"Why?" She asked curiously.
"Well, yesterday you said you weren't going out for lunch because of your assholes of coworkers so I'm here to take you out for lunch and I'm not taking no for an answer."
She smiled, "Who am I to decline such a fantastic offer?" she joked.
After a ten minutes walked they got to the restaurant and got a table. The waiter took their orders, he was subtly hitting on Rory but she did not seem to notice much to Colin's pleasure. They kept the conversation lightly and joked with each other, without any hint of awkwardness fortunately.
Rory insisted that they should split the bill, so they did and he walked her back to her office.
"Thank you Colin, you didn't have to do this." Rory smiled as they reached her building.
"I know, but I wanted to." He returned the smile before bidding her goodbye and waving a cab.
That weekend Rory had decided to visit her mother since it had been a long time since she saw her mom and she was done with her work for the week.
"Oh, my long lost daughter that completely forgot she has a mother in the world." Lorelai exclaimed as soon as Rory entered her childhood home.
"Mom we talk on the phone every day." Rory defended giving her mom a hug.
"Not good enough!" Lorelai replies walking into the living room. "Tell mommy everything I missed while you were oh so far away from me."
They sat on the couch facing each other before Rory started, "Well, I really like my job so far, impressively I feel comfortable enough in the city but I think that's because of Colin, Finn and Steph they've been great, so I have no complaints so far." Rory smiled. "What did I miss around here?"
"Oh you know, Taylor being Taylor, Kirk being Kirk, nothing new." Lorelai waved it off. "Now how are things with Colin? And no signs of Logan yet?"
"With Colin things are good now, but confusing at the same time." Rory answered. "Finn keeps saying that Logan just needs time and he'll get over it but I feel like I stole them away from him you know?"
"I believe Finn is right about this, and he also knows Logan better than most people so you should trust him."
"Logan and Colin grew up together, Finn only came along when they were in college, it's different I feel like I broke them and it's awful."
"Don't think too hard about it, I'm sure it'll work out." Lorelai reassured Rory. "But why are things complicated with Colin?"
"We kind of sleep together." Rory replied slowly watching her mom's reaction carefully.
"Yes, I know, a year ago, it's what put you in this situation to begin with."
"Yeah, more like a week ago." Rory said barely above a whisper.
"What? How did that happen?"
"You see, he offered to be my date in that function grandma wanted me to go and after that we really needed a drink, one thing led to another and before I knew it we were in bed together."
"It's like déjà vu."
"I know we really shouldn't drink together anymore."
"That would be great." Lorelai said. "So now what?"
"We're trying to be friends again, get to know each other as friends before trying anything more than that, if we ever decide to try anything more." Rory explained.
"If you do decide to try anything with Colin you have to keep in mind what you just said about his friendship with Logan, you have to be careful not to come between two friends because that never ends well, for neither parts involved."
The rest of the weekend went by without much happening. Rory spend a lot of time with her mom and Luke. She visited Sookie and her godchild along with her other children. Not forgetting to talk to everyone in town.
She loved New York but it was nice to spend a couple of days with the people she spent her whole life with, and even though she grew used to not having her mom around she still missed.
A month after the incident with Colin it was as if nothing ever happened between them. They became surprisingly close friends.
During this first month, they started having lunch together at first only when the other did not have company and soon after, they started making plans for lunch even when they would have company. By the end of the month they had lunch together at least twice a week, sometimes Finn or Steph would join them bust usually it was only the both of them. When they could not get away from the office, the other would bring lunch and they would laugh and talk while eating. It was nice, comfortable.
At weekends, they would have movie nights or go out with Finn and Steph, and it was as if they all had this silent agreement not to comment anything related to their one-night-stand turned two-night-stand or Logan.
Right now Rory was in Colin's living room picking a movie while he got some plates for them to eat when the food arrived.
"You picked the last movie, Colin. You have to accept that we won't always watch a cop movie, thank God." She said jokingly.
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with cop movies." He defended.
"I never said there was, but there's only so much I can handle of it." She replied.
"Alright, but I reserve the right to veto the movie if they're awfully boring."
"I can deal with that." She said looking over the movies on Netflix. "How about The Way We Were?"
"Veto." Colin relied instantly.
"What? Why?"
"Are you really asking me that? That's the most boring movie of all time."
"No it isn't! It is a great movie where two desperate people have a wonderful romance, but their political views and convictions drive them apart and-"
"Boring!" He interrupted her.
"You're boring!" She shot back teasingly.
"Oh am I?" He looked at her with a smirk placed on his lips.
She met his gaze before quickly turning back to the TV and cleaning her throat, "How about Miss Congeniality? It's comedy and even has cops in it."
His smirk widen at her changing the subject, "sure, who am I to refuse Sandra Bullock?"
Another month passed and they see each other every day, Colin started joining her for lunch with Aaron and Noah, they became friends as well, not that this was a surprise for her. Colin got along with anyone now, which is different from college. he's more acceptable and approachable, adjectives she never thought it could be applied to him.
People in the office started to noticing that he was always around and the rumors of her sleeping with her boss were slowly ending much to her relieve.
When they would go out together even in a group, people confused them for a couple, they just brushed it off the comments since to them it's normal and they do not care much for it. Nevertheless, the first time it happened, it was incredibly awkward; they were out for dinner with Finn and Steph, in Colin's favorite Italian restaurant.
"Colin, stop pretending to think about what you're going to eat, you order the same thing every time we come here." Rory said teasingly.
"That's not true."
"Lamb chops and ragù with malloreddus." Rory replied knowingly.
"Lucky guess." Colin muttered and they laughed. "Actually, I'll have the sizzling shrimp scampi, please."
"Oh Colin, you don't have to change it just because I teased you about it." Rory said apologetic.
"That's okay, I don't want to become too predictable and boring now, am I?"
"You could never be boring." Rory replied without thinking.
"You two are adorable, how long have you been together?" The waitress asked smiling.
Finn and Steph exchanged a look between them before turning to the flushed couple.
"Yeah mate, how long are you together?" Finn teased.
"I agree; you both are completely adorable." Steph joined in stressing the last word.
Colin glared at both of them while Rory blushed even more, "we aren't together." She answered the woman.
"Oh, I'm sorry." The waitress quickly apologized. "You just give out this couple feeling."
"Nope, not a couple, just friends." Rory replied.
"Yeah, they're just friends, love." Finn said still with a teasing glint in his eyes.
When the third month passed, they were still very close and in one of their movie nights, they ended up falling sleep in the couch during the movie. In the next morning, they did not talk about it and it slowly become something they would do, it was not a big deal since they were friends.
A few weeks after the sleepovers started Finn noticed that Colin wasn't leaving Rory's place when he and Steph would leave and he even had a couple of pajama pants along with a tooth brush in Rory's spare room. He decided to wait before saying anything about it.
It was not until a week later when they were at Colin's place waiting for the girls to join them in a friends' night as he called, that he noticed Rory also had a few things in his place. He decided that enough was enough and confronted Colin about it.
"Hey mate, how are things with Rory?" Finn asked taking a sip of his beer.
"Great, she's amazing and we become really close this past few months." Colin replied.
"I noticed." Finn said in a condescending voice.
"What does that mean?" Colin asked meeting his gaze.
"Just that you and kitten have become too close, you're both acting like a married couple without even dating. She has her things at your place; you have your things at hers. You do not go a day without talking to each other. When we go out for drinks or dancing, you scare off every bloke who comes close to her, you do not look at other girls either. You're stuck in a relationship without enjoying the good side of being in a relationship, mate."
Colin looked down, taking in the words not knowing how to answer it.
"Look, I'm not saying that you should cut Rory out of your life," Finn started and Colin's head shot up again. "But you ought to figure out what the holy shit is going on with both of you. You either make a move or end this pseudo relationship you both created."
"I can't make a move, Finn. We talked about this and we decided to be friends first."
"For Christ's sake mate, that was months ago, you're both practically moving in together, I think it's time to make a move." Finn said finishing his beer.
The girls arrived before Colin could say anything else and for the rest of the night he was lost in his thoughts, replaying the next few months in his head and going over what Finn said.
"Hey Colin are you okay? You seem distant." Rory whispered to Colin while Finn and Steph were in the middle of an intense argument over what to watch.
He looked up at her and smiled, "Yeah, I'm fine, just a lot on my mind."