25 - Engagement Party Blues
This is so depressing, Rory sighed to herself, watching various people wander around the second floor of the Comet Club (which Lorne had closed off to the public for his friends' private party) to congratulate Marty and Andy on their engagement. Out of all the guests who had shown up, the reporter only recognized Lexie, Lorne and, of course, Andy's band, the Ragged Dolls. Everybody else present though were complete strangers to her. This caused her to frown at the realization that her circle of friends was severely limited. It was very reminiscant of her last year in Yale. Her frown deepened at that thought. She glanced over at where the happy couple was talking to one of the many strangers, wondering to herself when it would be considered polite to leave. She was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed.
"Pretty girl like yourself shouldn't frown so much, or you'll end up with wrinkles before you know it," an unfamiliar voice remarked, catching the sullen brunette's attention. "At least that's what my mother used to say."
"Your mother used to call you a pretty girl?" Rory asked, turning to face the stranger who'd spoken to her.
"Okay, maybe I didn't quite phrase that correctly," the middle-aged man chuckled, a rueful smile on his lips. He held his hand out to Rory. "Anyway, I'm Robert Stevens. I work with the groom-to-be. Actually, I work above him, but that's not all that important right now. And you would be...?"
"Rory Gilmore," she smiled back, shaking his hand. "I'm a friend of Marty's."
"It's good to meet you, Miss Gilmore," he nodded, pausing for a moment as if in consideration. "You wouldn't happen to be in the market for a job, would you?"
"Uh, what?" Rory asked in surprise, her baby blues popping out. Is this guy propositioning me?
"Well, my assistant Clarice up and quit on me a few weeks ago, so she could go back to school out east or something," he explained, relieving the reporter to no end that his offer was something this innocuous. "Though I suspect that she did it just to be closer to her new boyfriend, too, but that's besides the poi-"
"Robert, there you are, darling," interceded a statuesque auburn haired woman, who looked like she just walked off a modeling shoot before coming here. She gave Rory an apologetic smile. "Sorry if my husband is bothering you, miss. I swear, I'm thinking of buying him a leash one of these days."
"Now, Kelsey, let's not give this lovely young lady the wrong idea," he chuckled. "Rory, this is my gorgeous wife, Kelsey. Honey, this is Rory Gilmore, a friend of Marty's."
"Well, any friend of Martin's is a friend of ours," Kelsey smiled warmly, then turned to her husband. "Darling, we really should be leaving soon. We promised Riese we'd be home before midnight, remember?"
"Well, fatherly duty calls," Rob said, turning back to the reporter. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Rory. Now if you'll excuse us, we must be off. Good night, and have a happy New Year."
"Happy New Year to you, too," Rory returned, her spirits slightly lifted by her brief encounter with Rob and his wife. What a friendly couple.
"I see you've met Rob and Kelsey," Marty noted from beside her, startling the reporter by his sudden appearance. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you."
"No, it's okay," Rory shook her head, feeling sheepish. "I was just a little distracted is all." She forced herself not to fidget, hoping that Marty wouldn't notice. "Um, great party, by the way."
"Yeah, Andy and Lex sure know how to plan these things," he said before giving her a concerned look. "You sure you're okay?"
"I'm perfectly fine," she lied, annoyed at herself for failing to hide her nervousness.
"Come on, Rory," Marty insisted.
"Okay, fine, you got me," the journalist sighed, knowing that she'd been caught. The truth was that Rory had been avoiding the tall architect for some time now, but Marty didn't need to know that. He didn't need to know that almost every one of her waking thoughts were of him, that he was the only man Rory wanted to be with. Telling him would be an extremely bad idea and only cause trouble for everybody involved. So she decided to do the only two things she could think of, which was misinform and apologize. In other words, lie her butt off. "I'm feeling bad about being unreachable since our little movie night a few weeks ago. I've just been swamped with work, holiday shopping and other stuff, you know? So, I'm sorry."
"There's no need to apologize, Rory, I know exactly where you're coming from," he nodded in understanding, swallowing her blatant fallacy. "It's been crazy hectic for Andy and I, too. What with all the wedding planning and Christmas stuff and whatnot. Besides, I kind of figured it was something like that, just making sure."
"Speaking of your fiance, where did she go?"
"Here I am," a cheery sounding Andy announced from behind the reporter, capturing both Rory and Marty's attention. "And I brought somebody along...oh, damn it, where did he go now? I'll be right back."
The pair watched the musician wander off to where Lexie was speaking with a tall blonde man who seemed vaguely familiar to Rory for some odd reason, though she couldn't quite place him because the lighting was poor in the spot he and Lexie were standing.
"Oh, crap," Marty muttered, as if only now remembering something.
Rory glanced back at him, curious. "What?"
"I guess it's my turn to apologize, but just know that I completely forgot that she was doing this," he pleaded in an almost comical fashion. "So please don't kill me, okay?"
"What?" Rory repeated with a slight squeak, her curiosity turning to concern. "Why? What's going on?"
As Marty was about to answer, his fiance reappeared with the familiar blonde man in tow, effectively cutting the architect off.
"Rory, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine from Charlotte," Andy began, grinning from ear to ear. "Allow me to intro-"
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," the journalist interrupted, the musician's plan quickly becoming apparent to her. And of all the people to be set up with!
"It's been a while, Mary," the blonde man greeted with a cocky smirk.
"Hello, Tristan," Rory frowned, instantly annoyed.
Oh, oh, we're halfway there! Oooh, oh, living on a prayer!
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