"Miss Gilmore? A Mr. Logan Huntzberger here for you," he heard the sour faced receptionist announced his presence into the intercom.
"He's here? But we were to meet up for lunch! Why would he come here?" She asked.
"Your naivety is adorable sometimes. Aren't you used to men coming and surprise you yet? Because I can give the list from when I handled your fans for you," the receptionist answered sardonically. Logan cringed at her words. So Rory had fans and they used to come and surprise her like this?
"That's okay, I'll come and get him." Rory said.
"Great," she hung up. "You heard that, she's coming to get you,"
Logan muttered a thanks.
In a short minute Rory's head popped out of the glass door, her body followed as she spotted Logan.
"Hi," he greeted sheepishly.
"Hi, what are you doing here? We're supposed to meet for lunch somewhere around the block, and you're an hour early." She said leading him into the office.
"Great, another man can't wait to meet the lovely Miss Gilmore," the receptionist chimed in. What is her problem?
"Thank you, Cynthia. I hope your leg feel better, did you receive the package I sent you?" Rory asked to Cynthia, the friendly receptionist.
"I did, Miss Gilmore. Thank you, the soup was amazing. And the pie didn't last for long, my kids basically jumped on it when I opened the package. Just remembering the smell alone is making my stomach grumble," she smiled sourly. That was probably the lamest thanks he had ever heard.
"I'll pass the compliment to the chef," Rory replied.
"Tell him he can make this a habit!" Was the last sentence Logan heard before the door closed between the lobby and the office area.
"Sorry about her, she couldn't help herself. Her life's pretty sad with four kids and a husband who bailed and a sick mother to take care. So, she got sarcastic sometime, but she has a good heart," Rory explained.
"Everyone has a good heart in your book," Logan commented. It was her heart that is golden to see goodness in everyone. "So the chef... is he a friend? Special friend?" Logan couldn't resist to ask.
"Yeah, he's pretty special." Rory answered. He hated the smile that comes with that sentence, as if thinking about that special chef makes her happy.
"How special exactly?" Study the lay of the hostile territory. He has to know how many 'friends' or 'fans' he would have to worry about.
"Very special," Rory winked. And Logan could feel his face frowning. "His name is Luke," she added.
Logan exhaled sharp. Thank goodness.
"So what are you doing here this early? I still have things to do,"
"The meeting finished early and I have nothing else to do until lunch," Logan answered following her close.
"Wow. It's nice to be a Deputy CEO. What with the loose schedules and all. We mere mortals have literally a hundred things to do before lunch, so you might have to hold your appetite until the normal lunch break hours,"
"I won't hold my breath,"
"So here's my office. It doesn't have a window or a huge wooden desk or a Velasquez painting, but it has a sofa you can sit on while waiting,"
He chuckled. She doesn't have the best view of an office, but for a thirty two years old girl she'd already have her own small office, designated for a junior editor, which is a huge achievement in a magazine as prestigious as the Time. She has a desk, a book shelf, and a sofa. Totally comfortable. The fact that the sofa was positioned to face her desk is a huge advantage for him. He could just sit there replying emails while enjoying the best view there is, so much better than his 38th story's office window. He would prefer this any day.
"Rory?" A head full of blonde curl sneaked in through her door. "Oh I'm sorry I didn't know you had a guest,"
Yeah, right.
"Hi, Clarissa. Come in. This is my old friend Logan. We're working on a project together. Logan, this is Clarissa Huey from features," Rory introduced them.
"Hi, Logan. Do I know you from somewhere?"
Rory rolled her eyes.
"You'll get there," she simply said.
Clarissa laughed, "This girl's really funny. I didn't know you're old friends with a Huntzberger."
"We used to date," Logan chimed in.
Rory groaned. "Must you announce that fact to everyone, Logan?"
"Must you forget about it and never mentioned it to anyone, Rory?"
A splash of red passed through her cheeks.
"Who could forget ever dating a Huntzberger?" Clarissa asked incredulously.
Logan shrugged. "Apparently Rory here,"
"I didn't forget we dated. I just didn't feel comfortable mentioning it to people. Especially mentioning your last name. It has a certain effect on people that I don't want to associate with me, no offense," she defended herself.
"None taken. If anybody knows how heavy of a burden that name brought, it was me. That's probably one of the reasons why you rejected my proposal anyway," he replied nonchalantly.
"You rejected his proposal?!" Clarissa shocked. "You're that ex?!" She turned to Logan after realizing something.
"Apparently you were comfortable enough to tell people our story but conveniently left out my name. Smart move," he admitted. "So if you were willing to share it with other people, why won't you share it with me?"
"I didn't tell anyone our story. Just the outlines. So technically I don't share it with everyone, not just you."
"Oh, our little Rory here is a tight lip alright. Her private life is more private than the royal family's. And apparently she's a little heart breaker, isn't she? You're not the first hot ex ever grazed this office with your presence. And don't let me start on the hunky Conde Nast reporter she hangs up in the air,"
"Thank you, Clarissa. The exit is that way, but you probably had known that because you were just got in through it. Please close the door on your way out," Rory practically throwing her out.
"Ah come on, I'm still having fun..." Clarissa whined.
"If you could stop spilling my secrets, you can come to lunch with us. If it's okay with you, Logan?"
Oh, that's okay with Logan. Having a telltale friend who had 'accidentally' let him know several fun facts about Rory in one single minute to spend an entire lunch together? Super.
"If we're gonna make this a group lunch, should I invite the boys?" Logan surely will need reinforcements. Maybe the lost boys will lighten up the mood and encourage more secret spilling.
"Boys? What boys? There are more? Oooh yes please!" Clarissa clapped.
"Sure. But may I remind you, that I only have an hour for lunch,"
"Not if we go now," Logan persuaded.
"Ugh, you have a way to get me in trouble..." but she collected her purse and phone anyway.
Lunch was not as informative as he expected, but it was light and fun and he got to hear Rory's laughs more times than he'd hoped for. God he missed those laughs. Rory seemed to be enjoying herself so much, and they once again practiced an orchestrated food preparation dynamic. He loved that her food preferences and amount hadn't change over the years, it made him have something that is familiar, something that he could hold on to.
She ordered steak and fries for lunch and he added cheese sauce for her fries. He ordered salad and fish and chips and she commented, "don't forget the chili sauce," and she even took the liberty to add the sugar and lemons into his ice tea when it arrived.
When she stole his chips for the tenth time during lunch, Clarissa shot a comment, "Oh, just order your own chips!"
"What for? His chips will just lay there, he won't eat it... I'm doing both of us a favor," Rory argued.
"It comes with the package. You can't order fish and chips without the chips," he shrugged.
"Just like my steak came with the yucky orange and green thingy there. Logan can have them,"
"They're called carrot and beans if I recall correctly," he pointed at the vegetables that had moved themselves into his plate the second they arrived.
"Ah, so this guy encourages you to put aside your veggies. Your mom must be proud,"
"Really? You've met my mother! She was the one who taught me to put that aside, and Logan here just took advantage of it. More veggies for Logie," Rory defended herself.
"I will glady stuff this veggies into your mouth if you keep calling me Logie," Logan grunted. It was an awful nickname some bimbos used to call him to force inexistent intimacy.
"But you always eat your veggies before," Clarissa said curiously.
"That was because he's not here, now I have Logie to take my veggies away," Rory deliberately ignored his protest at the nickname.
"Let's just pray that Logie will stay forever to take care of Rory's 'veggies' then," he winked intentionally.
Rory blushed, just realizing what he implied.
"Fingers-crossed!" Clarissa exclaimed happily.
"Hi, sorry... you were the first thing that caught my eyes when I got in this restaurant and your beauty blinded me, I gotta take your name and number for insurance purposes," a husky voice of a man with a thick Australian accent sounded behind them.
Logan doesn't have to turn his head to know who it was.
Clarissa however, who had no idea about the identity of the voice turned around and beamed when she saw who was talking to him. In her eyes it was a tall good looking gentleman with sexy accent and expensive suit trying to hit on her.
"Sit down, you're late. Where are your other two Siamese twin? Never mind, there they are," Logan said making space for Finn to sit on.
"Sorry, we're late. Dumb and dumber here persuaded me that we can arrive faster with a chopper," Colin explained.
"You came with a helicopter?" Clarissa exclaimed.
"Yeah. It was a very short notice. And we were in Hartford. What did you suggest we do?" Robert answered.
"Gee, I don't know, refused to come might be a more logical solution," Rory rolled her eyes.
"Why? We want to see you!" Colin responded nonchalantly. He waived the at waiter to come. "Do you have another song? This one creeps my appetite away," He asked making the waiter arched her eyebrows in surprise but knew better not to show it more to this important looking snobbish man.
"Of course, I'll try to change it. Do you have any preference?"
"Anything but Eminem, he has a habit of changing the lyrics just to confuse us," Robert said.
"Oh. Of course, sir." The waiter nodded.
"Can we have a bottle of McCallan? Or any of your best scotch, and can you make sure it was genuinely produced in Scotland, please?" Finn added.
"Finn, no! It's 1 o'clock in the afternoon. We couldn't possibly start drinking," Rory protested.
"You probably couldn't. But we can, and we have been drinking since we woke up," Robert replied.
"That's when Logan called," Colin added.
"Ah yeah mate, you interrupted our beauty sleep..." Finn scoffed.
"Ah, maybe that's why we landed on the wrong building," Robert said shaking his head.
"How could you land on the wrong building?"
"Don't ask me, I was just the driver... I didn't read the map, and I couldn't distinguish Robert's family's building than it's neighbor, so I just landed it on Colin's..." Finn defended himself.
"That's thirty blocks away," Colin added.
"You drove the chopper here?" Rory exclaimed incredulously.
"Well the pilot couldn't make it in a short notice, so we took the liberty to fly it. We all have licenses, even Logan."
"I give up. Can you please tell them how stupid they were being?" Rory turned to Logan.
"Relax, Ace. They know what they're doing," Logan assured her.
"Coming from a guys who crashed a yacht and almost died jumping off of a cliff," Rory said rolling her eyes.
"The parachute didn't work," Logan chuckled and tapped at Rory's hand to calm her.
"I thought I'd lost you," she whispered to softly that Logan would believe it wasn't real if he didn't catch her mouth moving.
"As much as it is adorable and appreciated that you care enough to scold us, can we please order something now? I'm starving. And oh, who is this movie star beside me? Are you ever gonna introduce us, Rory?" Colin turned his attention to Clarissa who was too amazed by their exchange of communication she almost forgot to breathe.
"I'm Clarissa, Rory's friend from work." She said in a single breath.
"Oh great she can speak!" Finn clapped his hands.
"Sorry, Clarissa. Guys, this is Clarissa Huey my friend from work. My best friend for a lot of years now. Clarissa, these are me and Logan's friends from college: Finn, Colin, and Robert." She introduced them.
Me and Logan sounded nice. He likes hearing it, as if they were a unit.
"Nice to meet you,"
"This isn't the same blonde girl you have as your roommate back in college, right? Cause she was scary as hell," Robert asked alarmed.
"No, Robert. It was Paris. She's lives here in New York too and we meet up occasionally although not as often because she's got custody of the twins,"
"She has kids?"
"Yeah, with Doyle."
"The dorky ass-kissing president of Logan Fans Club?"
"That's not how I would describe him, but yes, Doyle McMaster."
"Excuse me, but are you ready to order?" The waiter asked in annoyance.
"Ah, yes... I would have a pina colada," Finn answered.
"This isn't a Mexican restaurant." Rory reminded him.
"It could be though, if it serve a pina colada," Robert argued.
"Or I could just buy this fine establishment and turn it into a Mexican restaurant," Colin said in all seriousness.
"You're not drunk enough," Logan said.
"Yet." Finn added.
"Challenge accepted!" Colin gulped his scotch and stood up to make a call.
"Logan stop him!" Rory said exasperated.
Logan laughed but went to follow Colin anyway.
"Spoilsport!" Finn whined.
"After all these years he still does whatever she asks in an instant," Robert shook his head. "Such a waste of manhood." He stated then back to study the menu.
"I beg to differ, my dear comrade! A gentleman always does what a lady asks, nicely..." Logan replied while pushing Colin back into his seat.
"Only when he's trying to get her into bed," Colin added.
"Who says he isn't?" Finn stated the obvious.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious. Now let's just hope your statement won't sent her running with her heels in her hands,"
"Ah come on, you guys have been making hungry eyes to each other. It would be good for the children if Mother and Father 'satisfy their appetite'" Finn added seductively.
Rory blushed really hard. She got really cute and Logan savored the view for a moment because she looked just like he always remembered her. Innocent and pure. But he knew he couldn't let it go too far.
"See? I told you they dub me as Father!" Logan tried to tone down the awkwardness.
"Who says Mother doesn't have her own 'appetizer'?" Rory replied, appeared nonchalant but Logan knew she's uncomfortable enough.
"If I recall nicely Daddy here has his own lingerie model to, what you call it, satisfy his appetite..." she continued.
That statement made Logan frowned. He already forgotten the girl's name as soon as he saw Rory that night. And he hasn't even lay an eye to another woman since.
The awkwardness hung in the air.
"Was he really gonna buy this restaurant?" Clarissa asked into the silent air.
"He did. This won't be the first time though. He has a habit of buying places when he's drunk enough," Robert explained.
"Just exactly how much money do you guys have?" Clarissa asked rhetorically.
"More than uncle Scrooge, that's for sure..." Finn replied.
"Ehm, so... I think my lunch break was over half an hour ago, we should get going..." Rory said.
"But we just got here!" Finn exclaimed.
"You're forgiven for your tardiness because I know you don't know that there are limitations to the amount of time an employee can spend for lunch during office hours," Rory explained as if she was talking to a kid.
"Colin, buy her newspaper please!" The kid replied stubbornly.
"It's a magazine," Rory corrected.
"Whatever! Let's buy the freaking company and let the poor employees spend their lunches as they please!"
Logan laughed out loud. They could if they want to but that would be hilarious.
"Oh God! How about this, you guys hang around here or somewhere, and I'll see you after work?" Rory asked desperately.
"Hmm, that will do. Can we go to a strip club?" Robert asked.
"You can go wherever you want, you're not my real children, no need to actually ask my permission. I'll see you around seven!" She decided.
"Well I should get going to. I'll call you guys, okay?" Logan said following Rory.
"Did they really can buy the magazine? Cause I wouldn't mind an unlimited lunch breaks. In fact, I could really use a 90 days leave every three months..." Clarissa said as the leave the restaurant.
Rory just groaned.