I know the prospect of a date with Rory shouldn't be so exciting anymore, I mean we do the same thing every time, but I never get tired of spending time with her. So when Saturday rolled around I ran through my apartment like a mad man making sure I had all the necessities which of course included a massive amount of junk food (I'd learned that lesson the hard way) and that it looked presentable. I started making dinner early so it would be done by the time she got here (I'd also learned that if it wasn't done when she got here it would be ruined because we would get…um…distracted). I was in the kitchen when I heard a knock at the door, surprised because I wasn't expecting Rory for another 15 minutes and she was never early. But if I got to see her more then I could deal with take-out.
When I open the door I expect to see my blue-eyed beauty, instead the sorry mugs of my two oldest friends Collin and Finn greeted me.
"What are you guys doing here?" I ask slightly annoyed as I look at the clock.
"You shouldn't need an excuse to drop by and see you best mate from diapers." Finn, the Australian jokester answered as he barged his way in. "Hmm. What are you making, it smells delicious, and there better be enough for me."
"What my comrade means, what are you up to tonight Logan? Can we join?" Collin spoke up.
"Actually, I'm expecting someone. Finn! Don't eat that!" I yelled when I caught him bringing the spoon up to his mouth.
"Touchy, touchy. Who is this temptress who has caused you to deny a hungry friend sustenance?" He asks feigning offense.
"Again, what he means is, who is she and is she good in bed?" Collin interpreted.
"Yeah, is she hot?"
I groan, I had planned on introducing Rory to my friends soon, but I hadn't had the chance to explain to them who she was and I definitely don't appreciate them talking about her like that.
"Her name is Rory, and she's my um…my girlfriend." Its not that it was hard for me to admit (I loved admitting it), I just knew it would be difficult for them to understand. They both looked at me with blank stares.
"Well I guess she must be great in bed. Can I borrow her when you're done?" Asked Finn and I almost lost it.
"Shut up Finn. Seriously, its not funny." I replied angrily.
Then a look of understanding and mocking graced their faces.
"Logan, don't tell me you haven't slept with her?" Asked Collin in his usual condescending tone.
I glared at both of them.
"How the mighty have fallen!" yelled Finn, "I must meet this woman who has tamed the great Logan Huntzberger!
"Really, Logan? You're calling this woman you girlfriend and you've never even seen her naked?"
"It's not like that Collin. I'm not with her for sex, I'm with her because I love her."
"Alright Finn, get the straight jacket out of your trunk we've finally found a use for it. Our friend needs to be admitted to an institution. Weird, I always thought Finn would be the first of us to be institutionalized but I guess I was wrong."
I looked at them clearly not amused, "Make fun of me all you want, but I'm not crazy, I just love her okay? Why is that so hard to wrap your heads around?"
"Because you're Logan Huntzberger."
"Thanks Finn, but I know my name."
"This just isn't you man. I don't know what's come over you lately. Becoming a teacher, getting a girlfriend, willingly using the "L" word?" Collin complained.
"Look, its called growing up guys. I decided that I want to do things that make me happy while I still can. Mitchum only gave me until I'm 30 before I have to take over the family business and I want to spend them happy and Rory just happened. I, more than anyone, never expected me to fall in love. I had resigned myself to the idea of a loveless marriage like my parents. But then I met Rory and I realized that I have the chance at something real and I'm not going to give that up."
"Wow, mate, we're sorry, we didn't know you were serious, we just thought you were trying to get a hot piece of…"
"Seriously Finn," I interrupted him, "if you don't stop talking about her like I might kill you."
"He's serious about this one Finn, so stop objectifying her."
"Sorry mate." Finn apologized as he patted me on the back, "I didn't mean to make you upset."
"It's okay, you're not used to me caring about girls like I care about her. Sometimes its weird for me too, but I can't help it."
"So when can we meet the woman who's stolen your heart?" questioned Collin.
"Well she should be here soon but I haven't prepared her to meet you guys and this is supposed to be a date so maybe you should go and we can do it another day?" I proposed.
"Fine, if that's what you want." Finn said dejectedly as they started making their way to the door heads down.
When they opened the door they came face to face with the girl of the hour who looked surprised to see two unfamiliar faces on the other side of her boyfriend's door.
"Um…hi…is Logan here?" She asked timidly.
"You must be the woman who has stolen my man from me." Finn greeted her.
She laughed "And you must be Finn," she reached to shake his hand "I've heard a lot about you."
"Then you must know that I never shake hands, I'm more of a hugger." He said as he pulled her into a tight hug.
Over his shoulder we made eye contact. She smiled and I smiled apologetically back.
"Finn, let the girl go." Collin said finally speaking up, "I'm Collin McRae, nice to meet you Rory."
"Yeah you too." She said shaking his hand.
I took this chance to walk up and put my arm around her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know they were coming." I whispered as I ushered her in and closed the door.
"No it's fine, I wanted to meet them."
"Ok, I'll get them out of here as soon as possible, I promise."
"No really its ok, it will be fun."
"I know but I want to spend time with you, alone."
"We will spend time alone, just not right now, we have all night Logan."
"Hey guys, secret secrets are no fun, secret secrets hurt someone."
"Sorry Finn!" Rory said walking away from me, before turning around once more.
"Wait, do they know?" She asked and I knew exactly what she was referring to.
"They just found out about you today so, no and I think we should keep it that way as long as possible."
"Well, we'll talk about the fact that you never told your friends about me later but I agree, what they don't know won't hurt them."
"Exactly and the fewer secrets Finn knows, the fewer secrets he can spill when he's drunk."
We laugh and walk towards the guys who had made their way to the couch.
"So, love, how did you meet our man Logan?"
Rory looks at me panicked.
"We met at a coffee shop." I lied quickly.
"Oh, yum."
"How long have you two been together?" this question came from Collin and was much easier to answer.
"Almost two months." Rory answered smiling and looking at me as she answered.
"Wow, who would have thought Logan could keep a girlfriend for 2 months." Collin commented.
"Better question, who would have thought Logan could go without sex for two months?" Finn joked then received glares from Collin and myself. I looked over to Rory whose face instantly fell.
"Ok, time for you two to leave." I pushed as I looked at Rory's hurt expression. She looked like she was about to cry.
"Look what you did now Finn, you got us kicked out. It was lovely to meet you Rory, I hope to see you again soon."
"Yes love, and don't worry, Logan said it wasn't about the sex with you guys."
"Finn! Get the hell out!" I yelled. He was just digging a deeper hole for me to climb out of.
The second the door closed I turned to Rory
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to tell them they just figured it out."
"I can't believe you Logan, you said they just found out about me today and you already told them all about our sex life! That's private! I can't believe you right now! I'm so beyond pissed right now, I'm going home." She yelled as tears started rolling down her cheeks. I walk up to her and try wiping them away with my thumb but she doesn't let me.
"Please, Rory, I'm so sorry I never wanted to hurt your feelings and I never should have told them, I know that now, just please don't leave. I made dinner and we can just talk about this, I don't want you to leave. I love you." I begged.
"Logan, I love you too, but I can't even look at you right now let alone stay here with you. You know how self-conscious I am and you still talked about how we haven't had sex to your friends. Now they probably think I some prude. I can't do this right now, I'll talk to you later." She said tersely and left leaving me standing there like an idiot.
I'd really screwed up this time. Why would I tell the guys that when I knew Finn was terrible at keeping things to himself? Why would Rory ever trust me again? I had talked about our most intimate relationship (or lack thereof) with my friends like it was no big deal.
Of course I wanted to make love to Rory, but I didn't want to until she was absolutely ready and now I've hurt her, something I promised I would never do. I hate myself right now. I have to talk to her; she has to know how sorry I am.
I pick up my phone and call her. Just as I expected, I went right to voice mail.
"Rory, its me, I'm so sorry. Please just pick up, I need to talk to you. I love you so much and I would never want to hurt you or make you feel like you can't trust me to keep things private, because I can, I swear to you I can. I would do anything for you; you have to know that. Please just come back and I will beg and grovel and make you coffee and we can talk, really talk. Please…" beeeeeeeeep
Then I'm cut off by the beep. I hope she listens to this before she gets all the way home. I know I won't be able to sleep if I haven't fixed this. That's when I smell something burning. Now I've ruined dinner and it was not even for a good reason.
I start to clean up the kitchen so angry with myself that I don't even care when I break a plate by dropping it on the floor. I go to the pantry to get the broom and start sweeping it up, my eyes filled with unshed tears threatening to escape, when I hear a knock on the door. I drop the broom where it is and rush over to open it feeling a huge relief when I see Rory standing there.
I take in her appearance, he cheeks are stained with tears and her eyes are red a puffy and I'm filled with even more self-loathing. I don't even care that she is angry with me right now. I just need to hold her and make her feel better so I engulf her in a tight hug. Much to my surprise she hugs me back, and a fresh set of tears is released.
I don't know how long I stood there holding her while she sobbed into my chest, but I didn't care. I was just happy she came back.
"I'm so sorry, Rory" I whisper into her hair, "I know I screwed up. Please forgive me."
She pulls back, sniffles and I wipe her tears away.
"I forgive you, it just hurt."
"I know and I'm…" I start the apologies all over.
"I'm not finished. I wasn't hurt that you told them we hadn't had sex as much as I was hurt by Finn's comment about you not having sex for two months. I mean is that really such a long time? I guess it just brought up all these insecurities I have about me not being enough for you and you leaving me for someone who can give you what you need. It was just hard to hear those fears spoken out loud."
"Rory," I gently hold her face in my hands so she looks me in the eye and can see my seriousness, "I don't care about the sex. I don't ever want you to feel like you're not what I want, because you are all I want. I don't care if we never have sex, just as long as I get to be with you, I'm happy. I would never, ever leave you. I love you so much." I say then bring her back into my arms.
"Is that true?" she asks.
"Of course, every word."
"Really? Because I'm not okay with us never having sex." she laughs and I kiss her.
"Rory," I start bringing back the seriousness, "of course we'll have sex someday, but I'll wait for you forever to be ready. I don't care if its next month, next year, or 10 years from now. I'll always be waiting."
"Well I can honestly tell you I'm not sure I can make it to next month." She smiles again and it amazes me how her smile can make my day.
"When it happens, it happens, I'm not too worried about the time frame. Now, dinner is ruined, but I think we can still salvage the night. I have a bunch of junk food and plenty of movies to choose from and I can order pizza if you're hungry."
"I'm not too hungry, so I think the junk will suffice for now." She says as she walks further into my apartment.
"Junk food it is, go ahead and pick out a movie I'll get the food."
"Do you realize that was our first fight?" She asks as I walk into the living room with bowls of candy and bags of chips.
"What about when you yelled at me after the paper meeting? Doesn't that count as a fight?"
"No because we weren't together then. But look at us now, we've made it through our first big fight and are still in love." She smiles.
"I'd say that's a pretty big feat. I'm proud of us." I say as I pull her closer to me on the couch and she grabs a handful of popcorn. "I love you." I whisper as I drop a kiss on the top of her head and settle in for a night with the woman of my dreams.