Note: Got into a groove and decided to post again.
Season 5
Episode 6
Title: Norman Mailer, I'm Pregnant
Part 003
On Campus Logan is walking through, heading back to his dorm with a couple of buddies who are telling him what he missed out on the night before once he left the pub. As they walk, he notices the pretty girl in a skirt and leather jacket, but doesn't turn around, as he doesn't want to be too obvious and blatantly check her out, especially without knowing who she is or if he knows her.
He hears someone shout from behind, "Hey Huntzberger".
Logan says bye to his buddies. They know that when a girl is vying for Logan's attention, they are better off heading out and catching up with him later.
"Hey, you waiting on me?" Well this is a surprising turn of events. Rory - again. I should probably just try to get her to go out with me. She looks hotter every time I see her, maybe it's the skirt today but I definitely didn't notice the body on her before. Maybe if I get her out of my system I won't see her everywhere.
"Could be."
Playing coy, okay. Two can play that game. "Well I'm flattered."
"Your prerogative."
Okay, not playing coy. I cannot read this girl for the life of me. "You here on business or pleasure?"
"I just thought I'd give you a chance to respond to my article."
So business. Hmph. "What article?"
"The article I'm doing on the Life and Death Brigade."
Umm.. what?! Okay, I was definitely not expecting that. I have to play this cool and casual, because if I let on that I am in the Life and Death Brigade, not only will they lose their shit, they will never let me in on the planning of an event ever again. "Don't really know what you're talking about."
"You don't? Huh - I thought you would. It's a club, one of these super-secret, super exclusive clubs here at Yale. Membership spans a thousand centuries. Secret handshake, secret sayings, a lot of running around in a circle in your underwear, that kind of thing."
Hmm, it's definitely hard to gage how much she actually knows about this. And why is she coming to me with this? "Sounds pretty secret."
"Yeah. Anyhow, I'm doing sort of an expose on one particular club, and I figured since you're in it, maybe you would like to have your point of view included."
Oh boy, how does she know. "I'm in it?"
"Well, aren't you?"
Shit. Evasion is going to be the only way out of this. "I've yet to run around in a circle in my underwear."
"Well, okay. I mean, I have proof that your grandfather was in it, which means that your father was in it, which should mean that you're in it. But maybe not, okay."
Alright, so I definitely underestimated how much research she has already put into this. How did she find all of that out? "Sorry to let you down." Never said I wasn't in it.
"No let down. It would have been nice. I have plenty of stuff without you, and I'm sorry to have bothered you."
Interesting. What stuff? "You have plenty without me huh?"
"Oh yeah, I have the ball gown, the girl in the gorilla mask, In Omnia Paratus, very fancy catch phrase by the way. The license plate on the black SUV, and about a dozen other little things. I mean getting an interview with an actual member would have been great. But, I'm ok without it."
Dammit Steph! "Well great."
"Yup, plus I'm completely onto your routine now."
What does that even mean? "Wow."
"Yeah. So I figure, I'll just track you, and you'll eventually lead me there anyway. So hey, I mean it would be easier if you just talk to me now, but I can do it the other way if you want. "
"The other way?" Is she admitting that her plan is to stalk me?
"Yes?"
"You tracking me?" Seriously?
"Yes."
"Following my every move?" She can't be serious.
"Yeah."
"I pick that way." I wouldn't mind having her follow me for a bit.
"Okay, but…"
"We can start right now if you want. I'm heading back to my room. I can keep the window open, in case you feel the need to sneak in and track me from the inside." Wouldn't mind finding you climbing in my window.
"Thanks for the info."
"Absolutely. And hey, good luck with that article, sounds like a hell of a scoop."
First order of business, find Steph and find out what the hell she said to Rory. Next find Collin and Robert, bounce this off of them and see if they know how we should handle it. Do I go to the Brigade and tell them someone is onto us, or just let it lie.
XXX
Logan finds Steph in the library sitting at a table with three other girls he doesn't know. He walks up to them, they are whispering about something, doesn't seem terribly important. Steph looks up at him as he approaches.
"Hey Logan, you lost?"
Okay, try to keep cool. She probably spilled some information accidentally. "Nope, looking for you actually, you got a minute?"
Steph nods and stands up from the table to follow him through the aisles of books. The girls she is sitting with look up and between her and Logan, as if trying to figure out what is going on here.
Logan guides Steph by the elbow to lead her to a quiet unoccupied corner.
"Logan, what's going on?!"
"Nothing, sorry I just need to talk to you, privately." How do I ask her this without being accusatory?
"Oh no, please don't tell me you slept with one of my suitemates again. You promised this year you wouldn't put me through that drama."
Jesus. Don't remind me of the absurd promises I make while drinking. "No, nothing like that. I just - that night when we went to the event with the masks last weekend…"
"Yeah? What did you do?"
"God Steph, nothing. What did you do?!"
"What are you talking about?"
After taking a few deep breaths, Logan tries to center himself and stay calm without raising his voice.
"That night did you run into anyone in the hallway and tell them where we were going? Or say anything about the Brigade?" Or I don't know, say that you were meeting with Logan Huntzberger to go to a Life and Death Brigade event, In Omnia Paratus, goodbye?
"Again, what are you talking about? I went with you guys."
Logan rolls his eyes. "Yeah Steph, I know you went with us, but we went and brought the car around and left you in the hall. I am just wondering if anyone asked you anything or said anything." God I know she was drunk, but does she not remember anything?
"Oh, right. I went to the ladies room. There was a girl in there, but she didn't say anything. I don't think we exchanged any words at all. I just didn't see her at first, then I left."
That cannot be all that happened. "That's it?"
"Yes Logan. That's it, I went in there, and then I went outside and found you guys, got in the car, and we left."
"Well what did the girl look like?" Had to have been Rory.
"She was a girl Logan, I saw her for five seconds."
Great. "Was she petite? Brown hair about shoulder length? Fair skin? Pretty? Gorgeous blue eyes?" Give me something to go off of.
"Excuse me? Pretty? Gorgeous blue eyes? What is going on here? Are you trying to get me to introduce you to some random chick I ran into the bathroom last weekend?"
Oh God, I didn't mean to say that much. But she is pretty, so whatever. That's not the issue here. "No Steph. She is on the paper, and has all this information about the Brigade, and me and the gorilla mask, even the SUV. She wants to write a story but I can't figure out what she knows or how she knows it."
"Well I didn't tell her anything. Maybe she saw the car I got into."
Oh my God. That's right, I did see her outside when we picked Steph up. So she probably saw Steph in the bathroom and followed her out. And if she heard Steph then she had everything she needed. "Okay."
"Okay? That's it, you drag me to a corner to interrogate me, and now all you have to say is okay?"
"What do you want me to say Steph? She knows stuff and wants to write about us, so I have to figure out how to play this. If you didn't say anything to her then that's all she knows so far."
"What are you going to do?"
What can I do? "First, I am going to talk to Colin and see what he thinks, he is always level headed in situations like this." Maybe Colin will help me talk to the guys and explain what happened without them losing their minds on me.
"Okay. Do you want me to try to talk to the girl?"
Not even a little bit. "Nope, I'll talk to her once I figure things out."
"So you're going to talk to her, the pretty girl, with the eyes?"
Here we go. "Yup, I'll handle it. Thanks."
Logan took off passing by the table Stephanie had previously occupied. "Ladies." He gave a nod and made eye contact with each of them. Undoubtedly charming them, with Stephanie following closely behind giving an eye roll for all to see.
XXX
Logan met with Colin and explained to him what had happened with Rory, and how she had seen Stephanie, which must have led to some kind of research tying everything back to him. Colin didn't seem too concerned, reminding him that the Brigade has this happen every once in a while, where someone thinks they know something, and tries to frame it as a story for their big breakout article.
Logan wasn't too sure, he thought about looking for Seth, who had always been a friend first. He might give him some thoughts on how to draw Rory away, if she kept trying to dig. He certainly didn't want to be the one to blame for some big expose, identifying their names and possibly recent minor criminal activity. Nothing too serious, but definitely nothing he wanted tied back to him.
Logan planned to pitch to Seth that they let her come to the event, as long as she agrees to not release her sources, any names or descriptions. It's kind of a win-win for everyone, and that way she will get the story, and maybe they won't have to worry about people looking into them in the future, because they won't be a complete mystery, or a point of interest anymore.
XXX
After giving it some thought, and considering how to best play this whole thing, and decided he is going to get Rory on board to some conditions first, then he is going to sell it to Seth, and get him on his side to sell it to everyone else.
The newsroom is filled with people. Logan sees Rory working at her usual workstation so he takes a seat at an empty desk. Perfect. I wonder if she is doing more research on me. I should probably take some time to find some stuff out about her too. All I know is her name, and the fact that I have never seen her until this year, which I guess doesn't say a lot.
Logan doesn't like not having the upper hand. He likes to be in control of the situation, but would never admit it. He prefers to be the easy breezy guy, mostly because he knows it drives his dad absolutely insane.
Logan starts up his computer, getting ready to send her a message, Rory hasn't noticed him yet, so that makes this even more fun.
Exchange through the instant messenger system on the computers in the newsroom.
Logan: Hey Ace, I've got a proposition for you.
Logan watches Rory look around the room, unsure of who may have sent her that last message. He smirks to himself, and watches her. Once she seems to make eye contact with him, she puts her head down and types out a response.
Rory: Shoot.
Logan: I'll help you with your article. Get you the inside scoop. You just have to agree to a few conditions.
Rory: What conditions?
She is intrigued enough that she just might agree.
Logan: The first condition is you have to agree before you know the conditions. What do you say, Ace? You in or out?
How can she not be in.? I'm out of here.
Logan gets up and scoots out of the room. He knows there is no way she isn't in.
Rory: I'm in.
He looks over to his computer from the doorway and sees her response before leaving.
Now I've got to find Seth.