AN: I know it's short, but it packs a lot of punch. You guys can thank JamieCorrs for the past few chapters, her inbox has been my saving grace. I promise to make up for this shorter chapter by churning out a longer one by next Friday. Stay healthy everyone!
Chapter 15
Previously on Permission:
" Two naked people were standing up, locked in a heated make out session.
Finn recognized the ass and blonde hair of his best friend.
The other person was covered, but a head of dark brunette hair gave her away.
Logan and Rory.
He took in a sharp breath and Rory spoke, "Flip it over."
He hesitantly flipped the picture over,
YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS SLUT "
"Love…" Finn put the picture back and stood behind Rory. He put his chin on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her. "We've got to go to the police."
She stared out as people lingered on the courtyard, laughter ricocheting off the buildings, "What am I supposed to say? There's someone who's name and number I don't know texting me compliments? Someone took a picture of me losing my virginity and called me a slut?"
The Aussie cringed.
"I feel dirty now." She visibly shuttered," That night was perfect. He was perfect. He went over before I got off from my internship and lit candles, ordered my favorite from this Italian place down the street, and setup a fancy dinner. We ate, relaxed for a while, and then other things happened," She blushed, and Finn chuckled.
Her voice turned bitter, "Now, it's tainted. I know someone was watching us now. We were on the 18th floor. I didn't think about closing the stupid curtains!"
"Rory." Finn twisted her around to look at him. Fat tears were rolling down her cheeks, so she quickly averted her eyes. "First, I need you to know that it's okay to have sex. It doesn't make you a slut. It makes whoever wrote that an ass wipe."
He wiped the tears off her face and left a hand on her cheek, "Second, don't let whoever is doing this taint your perfect night. They win if you do that."
She sighed and nodded; eyes still downcast but no new tears were falling.
He used his hand on her cheek to tilt her chin, so she met his gaze, "We have to go to the police. If nothing else, you have a case on file. We can ask Colin if he knows a good attorney. Hell, you've got a whole family of attorneys to pick from."
"No!" Her tone was harsh, but softened as she continued, "I don't want people to know Finn. I can't ask my dad or grandparents for help because I'll have to show them the picture and then they'll know I had sex with Logan. If I go to the police, I'll have to do the same thing."
Finn sighed loudly, "What happens if this doesn't stop? What then Rory? How bad does it have to get for you to take this seriously and do something?!"
The brunette shrugged off his grasp and raised her voice, "I am taking this seriously!"
His tone was icy, "Well you sure as shit could have fooled me! You need to be worried about your safety, screw whatever else comes along with it. So, some people find out you have a sex life, big fucking deal... It's better than ending up dead!"
His eyes widened when he realized what he said, and Rory's face mirrored his. For a moment.
"Fuck you!"
Rory turned on heel and stormed out, practically knocking over Rosemary who was coming to see who was talking. Finn screamed after Rory to stop, but she didn't stop until she was running down the stairs and out of the building.
The brown-haired man lost all his strength and stumbled back to sit on the bench. His eyes were full of tears and cursed whoever the hell this Ted Bundy-wannabe was that was tearing at his friendship.
XXX
"Another."
Rory played with the cocktail napkin on the bar and waited for her fifth lemon drop martini. Her cellphone was sitting on the bar beside the napkin and had been since she sat down two hours ago.
Finn had called her seven times.
Logan had called three.
Rosemary had called once.
She didn't care because she didn't feel like talking. A nice tingle resided over every inch of her body and she was feeling…well…nothing, other than the tingle. Stupid conversations with stupid words were not going to take away the tingle. She liked the tingle.
"Rory?"
Her response time was sluggish, but she turned to the voice, "Seth?"
The frazzled, mousy boy adjusted his glasses on his nose, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing here?"
He nodded over his shoulder to a group of guys crowded around a table, "We're finalizing some plans for next weekend. What about you?"
She sighed, taking a sip of the fresh drink in front of her, "I had a rough day. Just needed to decompress."
"Well, if you need a friend, I'm around." He grabbed his drink from the bartender and turned to walk away.
"Hey Seth?"
He turned around with an attentive look on his face.
"I'm sorry about everything before, back at New Year's Eve and even before that. I should have talked to you in person and been honest." She focused on her words with all the alcohol in her veins and offered a small smile as she finished.
He smiled back, "All water under the bridge." He held his drink out towards her, "To us and a great year at Yale."
She tapped her glass with his, "To us." He walked away with the promise of seeing her that weekend with the Life & Death crew.
Rory paid her tab and walked the three blocks to her apartment building. She had moved in the weekend before and was still getting used to living alone. Her doorman Harry greeted her as she walked through, "Evening Ms. Rory. Running a bit late?"
Rory gave him a puzzled look, "What do you mean?"
"RORY!"
A disheveled Finn jumped up from the couches in the waiting area and sprinted over to her side. She rolled her eyes and brushed past him to the elevator, staggering just a little.
He wasn't going to give up that easy, "Rory! Ya got me all wonky during our talk and I didn't mean what I said. Just…bloody hell…I worry about you! Too much according to some people." He chased her and barely made it into the elevator before the doors shut.
She pressed the button for her floor and gazed over, "Yeah, I'd love to see how you treat other people you're so worried about. Funny way of showing it."
He grabbed her hand, "Please Love, forgive me for being a drongo?"
She giggled before she could stop herself, "A drongo?"
"Aussie version of stupid, idiot who yells idiot things at his sister." He gave her sad puppy dog eyes.
The alcohol was still tingling her nose and she couldn't help but cackle.
She quickly tried to put on a somber face, "I don't know." She started to cackle again when the alcohol made her sway like a tree in the breeze. "Fine, you're forgiven. Lucky for you I had plenty of martinis. No more Teddy talk?"
He nodded, "For now."
The elevator doors opened, and a young media mogul in-the-making was propped up against Rory's door, hair slightly wild like he'd been running his hands through it repeatedly.
Rory glanced up at Finn who was looking anywhere but her.
She hissed low and fast, "What did you tell him?"
He shook his head no, so Rory staggered slightly to her door. "Hey Logan, whatcha doing?"
He eyed her with cool interest, "Waiting on you to return my calls. Thought we could chat."
Finn spoke quickly, blush easing up his face, "I'm going to get out of here Love. Here's your bag you forgot. See you Friday?" He hugged her, transferring her backpack to her shoulder, and whispered in her ear, "Swear I said nothing."
Rory hugged him back quickly and Logan moved so she could unlock the door.
Rory's apartment was intriguing. The design was studio style, but her bed and bathroom were both up a set of stairs to create a loft-esque feel. The open concept downstairs was modern with fresh cream-colored walls, stainless steel kitchen appliances, hardwood floors and metal accents. Rory had already filled three bookcases in her living space and her new sandy grey couch perfectly matched her kitchen cabinets.
She sat on said new couch and pulled her feet underneath her, "So…" She giggled slightly with awkwardness and feeling the after-effects of the alcohol.
"Wanna tell me what happened tonight?"
"Well…Finn and I got into a bit of a disagreement."
He nodded tersely, "About?"
She shrugged, "Nothing worth rehashing right now. What's wrong?"
He laughed a humorless laugh, "What's wrong? Oh, well let me see, Rory. How about I found out that you completely betrayed me."
Suddenly, Rory felt like she might have a heart attack, "L..Logan, what are you talking about?"
Red faced, he roared at this point, "THIS, Rory! I'm talking about this!"
Logan flung down a manila envelope with eerily familiar handwriting. He started ranting about her being his first girlfriend and him never expecting this to happen in a million years.
She opened the envelope and before her was a picture almost identical to the one she had received earlier but edited to show a very different man in Rory's arms. She audibly gasped and dropped the picture like it burnt her. It fluttered to the floor beside her backpack.
Rory was stone cold sober after seeing that picture. More tears flooded her eyes and she blindly started fumbling in her bag.
Logan, in his rage, snatched his jacket off the back of the couch and made a break for the door.
Rory snatched out her own manila envelope and stumbled after him, "Wait! Logan!"
He was gone before she could say another word.
She fell to her kneels, her own picture on the ground beside his, "Help me."
Thursday, September 9th, 2004 – Rory's Apartment
"Rory."
Sleeping blue eyes opened to meet concerned blue eyes.
Rory had skipped all her classes and was still in bed. She'd cried herself to sleep on the floor last night, woken up in the middle of the night, and stumbled to bed.
The sun was low in her window, so it must be closing in on twenty-four hours since she'd had food. Her stomach growled loudly when she smelled pizza.
"Colin called me. He said an extremely drunk Logan said you guys broke up. I thought you could use a friend." Stephanie smiled sadly.
"How'd you get in?" She sat up and glanced around.
"Finn let me in."
Rory stared blankly.
"Apparently he has a key and is on your approved visitor list." She nodded. She'd forgotten she'd done that the day she signed the lease and gotten the keys. Finn had only waited in the lobby as a courtesy yesterday.
Stephanie nudged her with her shoulder, "Come on, let's eat and talk."
Stephanie chattered about nothing as they went downstairs, fixed their plates, and ate dinner. She had brought over some sappy romantic comedies and enough candy to feed the entire New Haven third grade.
"I brought one we'd already seen so we could make fun of it. Gilmore Girl marathon rules, right?" Stephanie smiled softly.
Rory leaned over and hugged the girl tightly, "Thank you."
Rory found herself relaxing and zoning out as she ate her Red Vines. They were wrapping up 'A Walk to Remember' when there was a knock at the door.
"The Chinese is here! I'll get it!" Stephanie jumped up. Rory took the break to make her way to the bathroom quickly, so she didn't technically break any movie marathon rules. She mulled over how she had barely thought of Teddy or Logan since Stephanie arrived.
However, it was like she could practically hear his voice in her head. She flushed the toilet and tried to shake it away.
"Stephanie, I need to see her."
"No Logan, you broke up with her! We haven't talked about it, but I can assure you as a female, no one wants to see their ex-boyfriend the day after they break up!"
It wasn't in her head after all. Logan, sporting a five o'clock shadow, crumbled clothes, wild hair and a rather swollen right eye, was standing in her doorway beside a gravely concerned looking Finn.
She spoke his name softly, "Logan?"
He pushed his way past Stephanie and rushed to Rory's side, "Rory. I'm the biggest ass on the planet. I had to come and apologize. Finn and I had a…" He paused and glanced over his shoulder at the Australian, "talk and he told me everything."
She sighed, "So you know that picture wasn't real?"
He nodded, "I've never cared for someone as much as I care for you, Rory. I couldn't even deal with what I was feeling because I'd never felt it before. I'm so sorry."
"Men really do have the emotional range of a teaspoon huh?"
He chuckled, "I don't even know if I have a teaspoon, but it's definitely all with you."
Finn cleared his throat and cut his eyes over to an intrigued Stephanie.
Rory looked at Finn and sighed a resigned sigh, "Call Colin and Rosemary. I want to tell this story one time."
She glanced back at Logan's continually swelling eye, "What happened here?"
Finn chuckled as he fiddled with his cell. Logan frowned, "Your brother doesn't like when I act like an ass."
Friday
"Hey sleepyhead." Logan smiled softly at his girl as she padded down the stairs from her bedroom. He was flipping some bacon at the stove and the coffee pot sputtered, signaling the brew was ready. The sun was up, signaling Rory had slept later than normal.
"Hey…" She was dressed in nothing but his dress shirt from the previous night. He poured her a mug of coffee as she sat down at the bar as she drank from it with both hands wrapped around the giant mug.
"How are you today?"
She sighed, "Better, but nervous."
"You can change your mind and let me come with you, you know?"
"No, I want to go alone. Draw as little attention to myself as possible."
"Well, I already called a few of the LDB guys and got recommendations about the best security system guys in New Haven. I'll call and see who can come out today."
"Thanks Logan. I really appreciate your help." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You should ask your dad for a recommendation."
Logan set a plate of breakfast in front of Rory and then took a seat beside her to start on his own plate, "Pft…My dad wouldn't want me to call him unless it was urgent Huntzberger business."
Rory decided she might as well consult on both sides, "He might surprise you. Let's bet on it: if I'm right, you make me breakfast in bed every Saturday for the next month. If you win…" She left the words hanging and smirked at him.
"If I win, you serve me breakfast in bed, naked, for the next month." His devilish grin made Rory blush.
"Deal. Make the call."
Logan grabbed his cell off the counter and called his dad, "Hey dad…. yeah, no one's dead or in the hospital, I just needed a piece of advice. I want to find a good security company here in New Haven and wondered if you knew anyone….no, it's not actually for my apartment, it's for Rory's…Yeah, Rory's fine, just some trouble in her neighborhood and I'd feel better if she had a system….Oh…Oh wow, yeah that'd be great….. next Wednesday? Sure…. Sounds good. Thanks."
Logan turned off the call to face a smiling Rory, "Well, how do you like your eggs Madam?"
