Thanks for the reviews, glad to see people haven't completely given up on me despite lack of updating :)
Rory made sure she didn't run into Logan again during intermission. She busied herself discussing the opera with a number of socialites. After the show she stayed for the appropriate amount of time before bolting back to her apartment. When she got in she finished off the article before she allowed her mind to start to wander. What was Logan doing there? What was he doing in D.C? The software guy had introduced him as his partner. Was he living on the east coast now? Or was it a long distance partnership? All the thinking would never give her answers to those questions. She would never know. Logan was a thing from her past. With that thought resolute in her mind she went to bed.
"Thank you so much for covering last night, I owe you big time" Sam said as she dropped a hot cup of coffee on Rory's desk.
"No problem, happy to do it" Rory answered as she eagerly grabbed the cup and took that wonderful first sip. "Any gory details to spill?"
"Well, I am now officially off the market. The vet and I are officially a couple"
Rory nearly spat out her coffee. "I never thought I'd see the day. God bless the vet" she said laughing.
Sam gave her the evil eyes but before she could snort back a comment the two girls were interrupted by a man's voice.
"Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt"
Rory recognized his smooth voice anywhere. Sure enough, Logan Huntzberger was stood next to Sam, looking down on her in her chair. What the hell was he doing here?
"It's nothin', we were just chattin'. I'm Samantha Pritchett" Sam said and reached out a hand.
"Logan Huntzberger, lovely to meet you"
"Pleasure is all mine". You wouldn't know she just announced she had a boyfriend by the way Sam smiled at Logan, Rory thought. Then she scolded herself. Logan was an attractive guy, Sam was an easy going girl, of course she'd put on a bit of charm. Rory needed to stop this ridiculous jealousy.
"Logan, what are you doing here? How did you know I worked here?" Rory asked, trying her best to sound casual.
"I came here for an interview actually, Adam Finman is doing a profile on the new app we're developing. I was just passing through when I saw you and thought it would be rude not to say hi"
Of course he hadn't come to see her. Rory felt so stupid.
"You're makin' an app? How fascinatin'!" Sam exclaimed, easing the tension.
"Yes, a buddy of mine owns a software development company and I'm helping him with the financial side of things" Logan said, directing his attention back to Sam.
"Mr Huntzberger, there you are. Not disturbing my interviewee are we, ladies?" Mr Finman said as he approached. He was a short, bald and foul smelling man that Rory had always detested, but he could write a good tech article.
"I've always been partial to a nice conversation with pretty ladies" Logan said smiling his signature smirk and Rory thought she could see Sam's knees buckle.
"Rory, I'd love to catch up before I head back west, are you free tonight?" For the first time since he'd walked up to Rory's cubicle, Logan's attention was on her.
"Yeah, sure" Rory said before she could think of a reason not to go.
"Great, I'll give you a call later" Logan said quickly before disappearing after Finman.
"That's your ex?" Sam exclaimed when he was out of earshot.
"Yep"
"He is hot!"
"Yep" Rory continued with the short answers.
"Are you really goin' to see him tonight?" Sam asked, a hint of worry in her tone
"I can't back out now, it'll look as if I can't face him" Rory was starting to panic.
"Of course not. But how are you goin' to tell Pete?"
"Huh?"
"Pete. You know, your boyfriend. Won't he want to see you tonight?"
"Oh, he's in Denver, his dad had a heart attack". Rory was so lost in her thoughts she didn't realize what a bomb she'd dropped.
"What?" Sam exclaimed.
"He's fine, but Pete wanted to stay with his parents as he recovered since school doesn't start for another week" Rory quickly explained.
"That might be a bigger problem" Sam said, sounding worried.
"What?" Rory asked, worried.
"Well, sorry to bring this up, but you already cheated on him once, and though I haven't seen this Jess in person, Mr Huntzberger over there surely beats his looks. You'd have to have the loins of steel to resist this much hotness and charm"
Rory couldn't help but laugh. Her friend was being deadly serious.
"Sam, I'll be fine. I won't sleep with Logan. I swear" Rory reassured her.
After a few minutes Sam wandered off to her own cubicle and Rory's mind couldn't help but wander back to how good Logan had looked.
"He's bringing his girlfriend"
"What?" A confused Sam answered the phone.
"Logan. He's bringing his girlfriend to our little catchup" Rory said on the other end of the line.
"Well, we know you won't sleep with him then" Sam said, still getting her head around the situation.
"Sam, focus. I said I'd bring my boyfriend along too" Rory said snappily, not in the mood for fooling around.
"But Pete's in Denver?" Sam was still a bit confused. She'd been napping when Rory called.
"I know that, but I panicked. I can't face him alone. Not when he's bringing a girlfriend" Rory was starting to get worked up.
"Calm down, just get someone to fake bein' your boyfriend"
"I don't need a fake boyfriend, I have a boyfriend"
"Who is on the other side of the country" Sam reminded Rory.
"Man, I really need a fake boyfriend don't I?"
"Yes, sweety, you do. I'd offer up the vet but he's off to New York on some vet conference" Sam said.
"What am I going to do? I don't know any guys well enough to let them fake being my boyfriend"
"I have a crazy idea, but you might not like it" Sam said hesitantly.
"Why did I let you talk me into this again?" Jess said as they stood outside the Italian restaurant Logan had chosen for the occasion.
"Because you don't really know anyone in this city and your mom's off meeting some new guy to shag"
Sam had been right, her idea was crazy, but it was Rory's only shot. She didn't really have a lot of friends in this city and definitely not a male one that she was comfortable enough with to ask to fake being her boyfriend so she wouldn't look pathetic in front of her ex.
She hadn't thought Jess would answer the phone, but he had and after a lot of apologizing on Rory's half, he'd hesitantly agreed.
"Okay, let's go over this again. You moved over here to expand your publishing business, we ran into each other one night and reunited over drinks"
"Not that different from the real story" Jess said, his voice bitter.
Rory just let the comment slide and opened the door.
His heart took a leap when he saw her walk through the door. Then it sunk right back down as he saw who followed her. That writer punk she'd dated in high school. Were they together? He'd only brought his girlfriend along to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. He had a chance to reconnect with Rory and he wasn't going to screw it up by acting too fast. But if she was seeing that punk he probably didn't stand a chance. He'd felt intimidated enough back when he'd showed up at her grandparent's that night, he could only imagine how out of reach she was now that they were together. Callie was saying something to him but he didn't hear her.
Rory noticed the pretty blonde lean over and say something to Logan as they approached the table but he appeared to ignore her as he stood up to greet them.
"Rory, hi" Logan said and gestured to the two seats opposite him and his girlfriend. "Please sit down"
"Thanks, you remember Jess" Rory said as she sat down.
Jess grunted something in acknowledgment. It was obvious how much the two disliked each other.
"This is my girlfriend Callie, Callie this is Rory and her boyfriend Jess" It pained him to say the word boyfriend. Looking at him, so self-righteous, made Logan's blood boil.
"Nice to meet you" Callie said, getting a response from Rory and another grunt off Jess.
Rory looked at him disapprovingly. She knew he was doing her a favour but at this rate it would've been less embarrassing to show up alone.
"So, Logan, with this new app being developed does that mean you're relocating?" Rory asked as she picked up a menu.
"No, with the technological advances I'm able to do most of the work from California. Obviously it would be better to be in the same time zones, but this one won't even discuss returning to the east coast" Logan said, gesturing with his head towards Callie.
"Returning? You're not a west coast local then?" Rory asked, intrigued. The blonde looked the epitome of a California Barbie, tanned skin, chemically enhanced lips and from the looks of it, breasts too.
"No, I'm born and bread in Boston. Moved out to Cali when I was sixteen to become an actress" she said and flipped her hair as she finished. Jess gave a small snort at the gesture. Rory didn't think Callie noticed but she still shot him a death glare.
"Oh, have I seen you in anything?"
"No, turns out acting wasn't for me, but I got a job in modelling and now I'm the face of Benefit make up" Callie said proudly.
Before Jess could come out with some retort about that, the waiter came to take their orders.
When the waiter left, Callie continued her conversation with Rory, asking her a question about journalism.
Jess observed the whole thing silently. He could tell from miles away that Logan still had feelings for Rory. His attention was all on the tiny brunette rather than his blonde bimbo girlfriend and he took in every word she said. Jess almost felt proud and protective, before he quickly reminded himself that he had no right to feel that way. He wasn't Rory's boyfriend. Her boyfriend was off attending to his sick father. He was the guy she'd cheated with. Her dirty little secret. It still hurt to think about. Since that moment he'd stormed out of her apartment he hadn't stopped thinking about if he'd ruined his chance of starting something with Rory again. When he'd seen her name on his phone screen that afternoon he hadn't believed his eyes. He was still mad at her for lying to him and not telling him about her boyfriend, but he couldn't refuse her. Especially not when she'd mentioned Logan's name. Whatever he could do to inflict misery upon that tool. Thankfully, it looked like all he had to do was be there and the annoying blonde looked like he wanted to hit him.
"What about you, Jess, what do you do?" Callie had apparently finished her questioning of Rory and turned her attentions to him.
"I work in publishing" Jess answered, not bothering to respond with a question. He hadn't gotten any better in the art of conversing.
"Oh, interesting. You write anything yourself" Callie wasn't going to be put down so easily. Out of the side of his eyes he could see Logan turning to face Rory and saying something to her.
"It's good to see you" Logan said to Rory, looking straight into her bright, blue eyes.
"You too". Rory couldn't help blushing a little at the way Logan's eyes pierced right into her soul.
"Finn lives in D.C. now, have you ran into him at all?" he said, trying to think of something to say to her. He was thankful he'd brought chaperones, god knows what he would've said or done had he been alone with Rory.
"Really? No, I've somehow missed him. I'd love to catch up with him, I think I need to get out more" she said and laughed timidly.
"I'll be sure to give him your number next time I see him" he said, his stomach flinching at the sound of her laughter.
"You trying to set Rory up with someone with her boyfriend sat across from you?" Callie asked appalled, having only caught the last bit of their conversation after giving up on interrogating Jess.
"No, I'm saying I'll get her in contact with Finn again" Logan said as he leaned towards Callie and placed a kiss on her cheek.
Rory noticed the small gesture and her stomach tightened. Such a small little thing, but filled with love and adoration. Logan looked really happy, she noted.
The waiter arrived with their food and they all happily dug in, taking a break from the pleasantries.
The rest of the dinner went amicably, they chatted about anything and everything and soon it was over. They said their goodbyes and watched Logan and Callie drive away in a cab.
"Thanks for doing this Jess" Rory said, feeling a bit awkward.
"Beats sitting at home witnessing Liz's midlife crisis" he said.
"No luck on your mission then?" Rory asked, easing the tension a bit.
"Not really, I might not be the best person for the job" Jess replied, unenthusiastically.
"Well, thanks anyway, I'll let you go now" Rory said, sensing Jess's tone and gesturing towards a cab.
"It's still early, maybe you could try knocking some sense into Liz?" Jess asked. He wasn't ready to let Rory go, not knowing if he'd have the chance of seeing her again.
"I'm kind of tired, maybe some other time" Rory said, smiling a little as to let Jess know she was telling the truth, she actually was just tired.
"Yeah, next time" Jess said, returning her smile with a half one as he closed the door of the cab behind Rory.