a/n: I am so overwhelmed by the response for the last chapter. thanks for your support guys!
I'm sixteen and I've never been kissed (there's only one guy i'd ever kiss and he's..,well that's a long story) so if any of the kissing scenes in here seem weird, please let me know.
God sent me a sign saying that I don't have a boyfriend right now because I have bad taste in guys...
anyways. My goal for the four stories I have planned out (Rory, April, Gigi, Will), is to take a cliché plot and change it up a bit (the way I've done here). What do you guys think?
I was GOING to wait until I got 120 reviews, but I figured 14 reviews for a chapter was good enough and I shouldn't be greedy and I really, really wanted to post this.
It's been finished for a whole TWO DAYS.
FYI, I changed my penname from DreamingInNewYork to The-Passionate-Sun.
enjoy!
REVIEW!(:
-RL-
Logan's childhood bedroom. 11:15 PM. Dec 31st, 2010.
"Logan," Rory moaned in between kisses. "Stop. We need to stop."
He kissed her deeply, and she struggled to push him off. His hold on her waist only tightened. "Ace," he whispered. "Stop talking."
"Stop not talk-"
He cut her off again, capturing her lips in another kiss. When they broke apart, she spoke breathlessly. "Okay, we really do need to talk."
"Rory," he looked around the room. "We are upstairs, alone, after not having seen each other for a week. I'd really love to take this time to welcome my fiancé to my childhood bedroom, without any interruptions. And I can't do that if you keep pushing me away every thirty seconds."
She took in his appearance, blonde hair mussed, slightly swollen red lips twisted into his signature smirk, tie undone, and shirt untucked. All her doing. It took every ounce of self-control for her to not just grab his tie and crush her lips to his.
But she couldn't.
"I haven't seen you since Christmas Day," he continued, not realizing the thoughts going through her mind. If he had, then he wouldn't have still been talking. "I get that the Times deal will pose a bit of a problem, but I haven't seen you in a week and I miss you and God, you pushing me away just makes me want to kiss you more."
Screw talking, she decided. She grabbed his tie and pressed her lips to hers.
That was how April found them ten minutes later, with her hand on his bare chest (his shirt and suit jacket had been dropped to the floor carelessly minutes before), and his hands in her hair, completely ruining the hours of work it had taken to perfectly style it.
"Oh, my God," April exclaimed, turning back towards the door, one hand on the doorknob, the other covering her eyes. "Shit, shit shit shit shit shit."
Instantly they broke apart. Logan reached down to pick up his shirt, and slipped it on and buttoned it nonchalantly, while Rory blushed deeply and ran her hands through her hair in a lame attempt to make it presentable.
"April," Logan glowered. "Can you knock next time?"
"Sure, sure," she lifted her hand from the doorknob and waved it in his general direction. "Wouldn't want to interrupt anyone else's New Years' celebrations."
"It would be appreciated."
"Duly noted."
"What is it with you and interrupting us, anyways? It's like every time I get near your sister, you get in the way. That's not cool. I can blacklist you for that."
April removed her hand from her eyes and turned to face her future brother-in-law. "Dude. How about you just lock the door the next time?"
Logan flushed. "Or I can do that," he conceded stiffly.
"Awesome," April replied sarcastically. "You know, it's funny because I just spent like fifteen minutes convincing our families that you guys weren't up here doing exactly what you were doing. But that's exactly what you were doing. It."
"You know Ace, for all the maturity your sister possesses, she clearly lacks it in one area."
Rory laughed despite her embarrassment, and April stuck her tongue out.
"Whatever, I'm leaving," she turned to go. "Have fun. And don't be too loud." She pulled the door open again, and walked out, carefully shutting it behind her so as to not make any noise.
"So, where were we?" Logan lowered his head to Rory's again.
"Right about here," she whispered, less than an inch away from his face.
The door slammed open again. "Oh I forgot to- are you kidding me?" April was back. "I'm not even gone for a minute and you're already at it again."
This time Rory sighed impatiently. "April, I understand that you and I are close, but why. Are. You. Here?"
April smiled sheepishly. "Oh. I wanted to know if either of you has seen Nate. We had an argument earlier, and I said some things I'm not proud of. He walked off and I haven't seen him since."
Logan raised an eyebrow. "Nathan walked away from a fight?"
"Yeah, I...well, yeah." She averted her gaze.
He took the hint and broached another subject instead. "Why were you up here looking for him?"
"Well he's not downstairs, I checked. I figured he may want to be alone so he'd be in his room up here."
"I saw him," Rory said. "I was talking to Serena and he came up to us, said you were a bitch and then walked off again. Any idea what that was all about?"
Shit.
April did not want to be explaining this to her sister. On the one hand, she was complaining about the lack of romance in her life, and on the other, she was acting less than civil (nowhere close to civil, really) with the one guy that was showing interest.
"I'll explain later," she promised hastily, already backing away towards the door. "Just, you know," she waved her arm at them. "Get back to...that. Have fun. Bye."
She left again, and Logan quickly walked over to the door and locked it, only to turn around to find Rory fixing her hair and digging through her purse, which she had brought up earlier, for make-up.
"Really, Ace?" he asked incredulously. Rory looked up, expression serious. "We need to talk about this now?"
"Yes," she stated decisively. "If you ever want to get near me again, we need to discuss this."
He sighed. "Fine."
She was silent for a moment, contemplating how to start. "I've loved the Times since I was...five? Six? I don't know, I was really young. April had just been born, and my mom and dad were paying a lot of attention to her."
He laughed at her blush. "You were jealous of your baby sister?"
"I was six!" she defended. "Besides, my parents pay a lot of attention to the youngest child. When Gigi was born, April had just turned ten. She expected my parents to pay her attention all the time and when they didn-"
"Ace. The Times."
"Right, sorry. I just...one day we were sitting there, in April's room and she was a baby, you know? So small and red and wrinkly? I loved her, and I was so jealous I couldn't...show it, for lack of a better word. My dad found a copy of the New York Times, showed me the Children's comic sections, and I read her out a couple of the comics."
"You read your sister the New York Times comics?"
"It was bonding!"
"Hey," he raised his arms in defense. "I think that's sweet."
"I grew up reading the Times. It's what I've worked my whole life for, Logan. Chilton, Yale, all of it. Every grade I've ever earned in my life is a stepping stone to this moment. I want this so badly it's like...I can see it, right there, and its dangling right in front of me and...I'm so afraid it'll be taken out from beneath me."
Logan walked over to the bed and sat down, lying back. He put his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling, and kicked his shoes off. "My reason for wanting the Times position isn't as great as yours. I just want it to prove to the world that I can do it. I can do something in my life without using my name. All my life I've been Logan Huntzberger, the guy that gets everything he has because his parents decided it. Admission to Choate, Andover, Deerfield? Parents. Yale? Parents. MBA? Parents. First serious girlfriend? Parents." He raised his head and smiled at her softly. "You know you're the best thing that's ever happened to me, right? My parents setting us up, that may just be their redeeming quality."
She smiled back at him sadly, eyes lined with guilt. He caught on quickly, and sat up straight. "What?" he asked nervously. "I have to be honest, I've never been in a relationship before. So if this is the part where you're breaking up with me, and I hope to God that you aren't, then please just do it quickly."
"I wanted to," she admitted. "Does that make me a bad person? A bad girlfriend?"
He let out a breath in relief, one that he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. "No. Wanted?" he queried about her use of the past tense.
"Serena told me not to run. That we could talk through this before the New Year."
Logan glanced at the digital clock on his bedside table. It read 11:28 PM. They had forty-two minutes until the New Year. "I think we can do it. We just have to be honest."
"I applied to Columbia's School of Journalism," she blurted out. "And I got in. I found out yesterday."
He fell back onto the bed. "I was not expecting that. When did you even apply?"
"A month and a half ago," she admitted reluctantly.
"Wouldn't it have been nice of you to tell me?"
All traces of laughter and fun were gone now. Logan was mad, furious even. She could see it in his face. Similar to the way he had looked once before, when she had crossed the line, his eyes were devoid of emotions, no longer sparkling with mirth. His mouth was set in a thin, straight line, and his jaw was clenched.
"I didn't want to mention anything until I knew I got in for sure. We don't know what we're doing after we graduate from Yale. You said your dad had mentioned something about London, and I just...if there was a plan, Columbia wasn't import-"
"Columbia was, is," he corrected himself. "Important to you. That makes it important to me, too, Rory. If you had told me you were going to apply, then-"
"Then what? Mitchum would have automatically given you the Times job? That's not an opportunity I want to miss."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes! I don't know what I want to do."
"You can't be indecisive forever, Rory. You apply to this thing, you don't tell me, your fiancé, and then when you get in, you don't know if you want to go for this or no?"
"What if I don't have the opportunity to work at the New York Times again, Logan? They get thousands of applicants every year, and very rarely do they have positions open. That's not a risk I'm willing to take."
"I don't want to fight you for a job," he said, voice tight. "Especially when we have other options."
"You don't understan-"
"I understand perfectly."
"Stop cutting me off," she said sharply. Logan flinched. "You don't understand. I didn't tell you about Columbia because if you had plans... Logan we haven't talked about the future. I don't know if you or Mitchum has already decided something yet. I don't know. Everything is open, wide, wide open. Telling you I got into Columbia, well, that would force you to come to New York City just because of me. What if you didn't want to go? What if you had plans? I just wanted to see which way things were going. I wasn't going to hide this from you forever."
"Then why," he asked. "Did you have a conversation with Serena about leaving." He was still mad, but his voice had lost some of its steel.
Her shoulders slumped, and she trudged over to the bed to sit down next to him. He automatically wrapped his arm around her, and she leaned into him. "Because I didn't know if I wanted Columbia, and fighting you for the Times is not something that I want to do right now. Or ever."
"Why?" he asked, a smile pulling at his lips. "Afraid I'm too good for you?"
She pulled away and hit him. "No! Maybe. If you put your mind to it, you could beat me."
He grinned. "You really believe in me that much? That I could beat you out for a job?"
Rory looked at him in surprise. "You don't think you could? Logan, you are so talented, do you know that? You're just really lazy."
"Thanks for that compliment."
"Anytime, oh Master and Commander."
It was at that moment that Logan knew he was really and truly in love with this girl. She believed in him, more than anyone else ever had, and he honestly loved her for it.
"So, Columbia..."
"I really would like to take the Journalism course..."
"And I would really love to write for the Times."
A beat of silence as they contemplated this new compromise."
"I'm not admitting defeat, though."
"Never," Logan agreed.
"You have to actually fight for it. Work hard."
"Always."
"Okay."
"Okay."
And then he turned his face to hers and kissed her again.
This time, no younger sibling interrupted.
-RL-
The Grand Ballroom, Huntzberger mansion, 11:20 PM. Dec 31st, 2010.
She didn't understand the way the world worked at all.
It was Murphy's Law, of course: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
So far, everything was going wrong. And the year hadn't even begun yet.
For one thing, Samantha Winthrop, her best friend, was nowhere to be found. Four minutes ago, from the top of the Grand Ballroom stairs (honestly, the Huntzberger's didn't even need a Grand Ballroom), she had seen Sam dancing with one of her numerous Lawrence cousins. Now, in the middle of the dance floor, she couldn't find her best friend anywhere.
Plus, she had had a fight (in public), with the only guy who had, as of late, shown interest in her. Not that she was even remotely interested in Nate, but she had hurt his feelings.
And then, as if the universe was trying to remind her how utterly love-less her life was, she walked in on her sister and future brother-in-law. Great.
Suddenly, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Fully expecting one of her grandmothers' friend's sons or nephews, she pasted a glare on her face.
Samantha's smile slipped off her face. "Wow, Ape, don't hold back there."
April's eyes widened and she threw her arms around her friend. "OH, thank God you're here. I was so bored and this night is already fifteen million different kinds of wrong."
Sam laughed. "I've been here."
"Dancing with your family, ignoring me."
"Hey," Sam defended. "Your family is hosting this thing. Besides, I looked for you, and I couldn't find you after that guy fought in World War III in the middle of the dance floor."
April smiled sheepishly. "You saw that?"
Sam nodded. "And heard it, too." She put her arm on April's shoulder and pulled her away from the dance floor towards a wall, against which chairs were leaning. They turned the chairs to face each other, then sat down. "Everyone heard," Sam told her. "You guys were...really loud."
"I don't believe this," April buried her head in her hands. "My mom is going to be so mad at me."
"...Why?"
"Remember that guy who almost ran me over with his car?"
"On the last day of school? When you decided to be a stuck-up bitch and keep walking even though you knew it could get you killed...?
April flinched. "Okay, can we forget that last part?"
"No."
"Right. Of course not."
"April," Sam said condescendingly. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"He'sLogan'scousin," April said quickly. She was hoping her friend wouldn't hear, but Sam had long since mastered the art of speaking like a Gilmore Girl.
"Oh, holy hell."
April stayed silent.
"How do you get yourself into these things?"
"Well it's not as if I go looking for them! I don't pray to God every day and say 'could you please send someone to almost kill me so that he could be my future brother-in-law's cousin? I would also really appreciate it if he liked me.'"
"HE LIKES YOU?" Sam whispered furiously. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"He's a jerk!"
"A really tall, cute jerk with amazingly green eyes that doesn't put up with your shit. Why are you not on your knees begging for him to forgive you?"
"Because he's the type of guy to drive fancy cars just because he can, and hook up with hot, rich chicks, just because he can, and cruises through life not actually working for anything."
"...You've only known him for, what, six days?"
"Sam, drop it," April said seriously. "Whatever happened between Nate and me, he'll get over it."
"He has to," Sam mumbled. "If he wants a shot with you."
"What?"
"Nothing," Sam replied quickly. "I didn't say anything."
"Okay," April said. Her eyes were scanning over the dance floor, until the finally landed on the six-foot-two frame of the one and only Nathaniel DuPont.
Shiny eyes, sexy smirk, flashy last name, and if reputation was anything to go by, quite the intellect.
Not to mention one Aprille Cecilia Gilmore Hayden's completely undivided attention.
Was there anything this boy didn't have?
Then again, Sam thought, seeing April's eyes move toward Evan Pennington, Choate Rosemary Hall's resident Golden Boy, maybe undivided wasn't the best word to use.
-RL-
Logan's childhood bedroom, 11:50 PM, Dec 31st, 2010.
When Rory pulled away from him for the fourth time that night, Logan got irritated.
"What now?" he whined as she got off the bed and started smoothing down her dress. She pouted playfully at him and pointed at the clock. Ten minutes to midnight. They needed to get downstairs.
"Hey, Rory," Logan pushed himself up, leaning on his elbows. His shirt was hanging open, but Rory could see how serious he looked and chose not to comment on it. Besides, he only called her 'Rory' if he was being serious about something.
"Do you want to announce it tonight? That we're engaged?"
She froze. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea," she said slowly. After all, an hour ago she doubted their relationship. Logan knew her by now. He knew that the moment they announced it to the world, she'd be tied.
He cut to the chase. "I'm not doing this to corner you. I promise. I'm doing this because...I don't want to start the New Year hiding this, our relationship. We're engaged to be married, and neither one of us is backing out anytime soon, right?"
She swallowed nervously, eyes never leaving his darkened brown. "Right."
"So we're okay?"
"I...yeah. Mostly."
He ignored the second part of her sentence (and her unsure tone), and then stood up, buttoning his shirt. "So then we'll go downstairs and tell the world we're getting married?" Logan smiled brightly, genuinely, his eyes reflecting his happiness. At that moment, Rory didn't care about running, or the New York Times, or anything really, other than the fact that this was Logan and he was standing right there and smiling like that because of her.
She grinned. "I'd kiss you, but we should go."
He grinned back. "We should."
-RL-
Huntzberger's Guest House 11:30 PM, Dec 31st, 2010.
When Nate had told April that he was going to go find a blonde bimbo to make out with because that was what he did, he was being sarcastic.
Only now, he had to eat his words.
Because that was exactly what he was doing. In his defense, the girl (Hayley, Aimee, something that rhymed with -ey) had straddled him when he was sitting down, and he couldn't get her off of him without hurting her.
Which was seriously not an option because then she'd sue, or say he'd raped her or something.
And that was much, much worse than kissing the girl whose name he'd forgotten, even though she really sucked at kissing.
He'd stormed out to the guest house to blow off some steam after his argument with April, only to find out he wasn't alone. This girl (Hayley?) had been waiting for him, and had blatantly started flirting with him.
Or not-so-blatantly, he guessed, since he didn't actually realize that she wanted anything until she was on his lap, glued to his lips.
Thankfully, she pulled away from him just then, breathing heavily. "You're so hot," she mumbled. She leaned back in for another kiss, but Nate shifted his head and she ended up kissing his cheek. Unfortunately, this gave him a view of the window, curtains drawn open.
Where April was looking through, an incredulous look on her face. She rolled her eyes in disbelief, and, if he was being wishful, maybe just a little bit of hurt.
Oh, crap.
April walked away from the guest house, smiling in victory. "I was right. He is that kind of guy."
Somehow, though, the victory seemed kind of hollow.
-RL-
Grand Ballroom. 11:41 PM, Dec 31st, 2010.
"...bounced into the next lane over, and hit a strike. Best game of bowling I've ever played," Evan finished.
"That is quite the story," she laughed. "Nothing crazy has happened to me while I was bowling. Except this one time, when I was around six and we went bowling with Rory and Serena, I was jealous that Rory kept hitting the most pins, so I crawled down the lane when my mom wasn't looking, and blocked off the whole thing. She was so scared of hitting me, she didn't bowl after that."
"That is pure evil," Evan said. "Honestly."
April shrugged. "What can I say," she smiled brightly. "I have a penchant for being a drama queen."
"I've also heard you're pretty calm and cool most of the times."
"Yeah," her expression was sheepish. "April Hayden, Ice Queen. That's me."
"Nah. In the last," Evan checked his watch. "Eight minutes that I've known you, you've made a pretty awesome, non-Ice Bitch-y, impression on me."
"Really?"
"Definitely. You're smart, funny, nice, and you're beautiful, honestly."
He was laying on the charm, and she could tell, but she let him do it. He wasn't being a sleaze, he was honestly being charming, and she could tell with the way he was looking at her (and had been checking her out all night), that he was honestly interested in her. Evan Pennington may just be Prince Charming, she decided, all thoughts of Nathan wiped from her mind.
For the next fifteen minutes, before Rory and Logan came downstairs, the two of them stayed by the food table, talking and teasing each other. If April didn't know any better, she'd say they were flirting.
-RL-
Grand Ballroom 11:55 PM Dec 31st, 2010.
Rory looked at Logan nervously, a nervous smile covering her face.
"Are we really going to do this?" she asked.
"I'd really like to kiss you at midnight without being asked what my intentions are, so that's a resounding yes from me."
"Okay. Does this mean I don't have to watch other girls hit on you now?"
"Girls aren't going to stop hitting on me, Ace," he teased. "I mean, come on. Look at me. Who can resist this?"
"I can," she raised an eyebrow.
"Really?" he mirrored her. "Is that why we've been upstairs for the better part of an hour now?"
She was saved from having to answer that by Francine, who had seen them coming down the stairs looking considerably more disheveled than they had been going up. However, now was neither the time nor the place to discuss that. Besides, Francine trusted Rory and Logan, and they were both mature, rational adults.
"Richard said that Logan had told him that the two of you had decided to announce your engagement tonight? Well, he's about to propose a toast to the two of you."
Rory turned to Logan. "You already told him? You knew I'd agree before you even asked, didn't you?"
Logan didn't falter. "Come on, Ace. You should take this as a sign of how well I already know you. Our marriage is going to be awesome."
"You are not Ted Mosby," she scolded, irritation evaporating quickly. "So don't act like it."
And then three very important things happened at once.
Richard tapped his glass with his fork, catching the attention of everyone in the room, essentially distracting them from the food table and the back door.
Nate walked in through the back door, Hayley following close behind.
And Evan Pennington put his arm around April's waist, pulling her close. He leaned down to whisper something in her ear, and April laughed in response and hit him playfully.
"...And so, to Logan Elias Huntzberger and Lorelai Leigh Gilmore Hayden III, the newest happy couple of Hartford society, I would like to raise a toast," Richard finished.
Everyone in the room, save Nate, raised a glass to the happy couple. Logan and Rory were standing in the middle of the room, and as the clock struck twelve, he pulled her close to him and gave her a soft, sweet kiss. Evan leaned down to kiss April on the cheek, but she turned her head at the last moment and ended up kissing him awkwardly. She pulled back to look for Nate, only to see him grab Hayley and kiss her again.
April smiled softly, fire erupting in her eyes, and tilted her head up to Evan's again. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I don't normally kiss on the first date."
"No one has to know," he responded cheekily. "It's a secret I'll take with me to the grave."
"You sure?"
"Pinky swear." He held out a pinky towards her, and she linked hers with it.
"Well that makes it official. You can't break a pinky swear."
"...Can I kiss you again?"
"I'm not stopping you."
-RL-
a/n: Um, yeah. I updated TWICE in ONE WEEK. . Don't expect it that often? I dunno what to say. Thanks for the awesome reviews for the last chapter! They prompted me to start writing immediately.
The ending was…yeah, not the best way I've ended a chapter, but yeah, I couldn't figure out how else to end it.
As for my chapter-by-chapter plan, it hasn't been shot to hell completely...yet. So it may or may not be more than 19 chapters. I think it's going to be more. How do you guys feel about that?
Nate or Evan?
Oh, and the Times deal conflict? That is nowhere near done. This story may become a Romance/Drama or Humor/Drama in upcoming chapters.
REVIEW!(: