Chapter 36

"You're a sight for sore eyes, you know right? Like literally…," Rory complained, having spent the past three hours glued to her laptop trying to study for her midterm in 'The Modernist Novel in the 1920s'. Her eyes were indeed tired, and she was severely under-caffeinated.

Rory was also grateful for the very tall cup of caramel macchiato with extra whip cream Logan handed her right after she'd kissed him in greeting on the stairs of the library. It was not just the caffeine - but the fact that had she gone herself to the coffee cart she would've hardly dared to spoil herself with treats beyond a simple black coffee.

"Thank you," Rory said, remaining close to him, feeling his hand wrap around her hip familiarily.

"For you - always," Logan murmured.

"Ugh, I can't believe you'll be gone for a whole week," Rory commented, after a large sip of the delicious liquid.

"Yeah, well I've had this thing planned since the summer. And as I said - you're welcome to join," Logan suggested for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah, just me, you and six guys who are just there to get drunk and run around in their underwear," Rory teased.

"We'd have our own room," Logan pointed out, trying to sweeten the pot.

"Still..," Rory tilted her head. "Besides… you know… while I'm fine with you treating me to dinner and… coffee. Probably more coffee than dinner by now, I am not sure I'm comfortable with you paying for my flights and accommodations like this. I still have guilt about the weekend in the City…," Rory admitted, as they made their way along the campus towards the office of Logan's ethics' professor's office, knowing he had an essay to drop off before they could steal themselves an hour or two alone before his departure. It was with that in mind that they'd both given each-other some space to study this morning.

"Ugh..," Logan exhaled, having spoken a million times about this already. And even Rory knew he had no problem paying - it was her who had this idea in her head, that she didn't want to feel like she owed him anything. She wished she could say the idea had been her own entirely, but it seemed like an impossible task to escape her mother's views on high society entirely. Even though she hadn't said anything specific, Rory knew how her mother viewed lower class women dating high class men, there were names for such women and right now with 50 spare dollars on her debit account, not counting the credit card Richard had given her, which she was still reluctant to use, she was very much feeling like she was one step away from being called a gold digger.

It really hadn't helped her self-esteem overhearing some girls talking in one of the bathrooms, while she'd been in one of the stalls, about the girl Logan was dating the other day - a.k.a her, sounding utterly puzzled of the fact how one of them had seen her wearing a no-name purse. She was rather fond of the purse, personally, never even having considered needing to have something by someone famous.

"I know what you're going to say, but this is just the kind of girl I am. Besides, my mom already fixed me up with a job doing inventory for a book store back home," Rory said, taking advantage of Logan's search for a good response and pulled him into an alleyway, pinning him to a wall. Frankly, the thought of him being away was making her miss him already.

"You're a fascinating specimen, that's all...," Logan commented and pulled her close by tucking his hands into her jeans' back pockets and kissed her passionately, pressing his hips firmly against hers.

Rory knew he considered the fact that she was so keen on working for her money odd, but she appreciated the fact that he wasn't arguing her on it. It was such a comforting and balanced existence between the two - they rarely fought, at max they bickered about something or other, the latter mostly being hotter than it was annoying.

"How good are you on time?" Rory asked, not wanting Logan to miss his deadline.

"Swimming in time," Logan replied, enjoying the hold he had on her way too much to reply otherwise.

"It's eleven twenty five," Rory pulled out one of his hands from her pocket and glanced at his fancy Cartier watch.

"Just enough to do this," Logan suggested, stealing another kiss. Rory broke the kiss, her other hand reaching for his book bag.

"What are you doing?" Logan asked, sounding puzzled.

"I want to see your paper. I'm dying to know what you take on ethics is…," Rory explained.

"No way! It's too dangerous," Logan argued.

"Dangerous?" Rory reacted, this being one of the first times Logan had shown any doubt in her concerning his homework. Sure it was five minutes before the paper was due, but she already knew how a good argument was only fuel for once they got back to one of their dorm rooms.

"It goes from my hand to the professor's," Logan argued.

"Like I'm going to lose it," Rory snorted playfully.

"Let's remember Hemingway," Logan pointed out as if it was obvious.

"What about him?" Rory asked.

"Trusted that wife of his with the only copy he had of the novel he was working on. The silly woman lost it," Logan said.

Not that Rory was thinking along those lines yet - but the fact that he was comparing her to the equivalent of what a wife was to Hemingway, she was kind of moved.

"Not so. I know the story. Hemingway left it on a plane. His wife had nothing to do with it," Rory continued to argue.

"That's not the way I heard it," Logan argued, and the grin on his lips was already speaking of one hell of a goodbye.

"Well, you heard it wrong," Rory said, biting her lip, reading his hunger for her really well.

"How much do you want to bet?" Logan asked, gently moving her away from the allway, sensing the minutes tick by.

"All the money in my purse, plus a million dollars," Rory teased, following along for the paper drop-off, eager to get back to the dorms.

The following day, after Rory had finished her final mid-term, she made her way to her mother's with a huge load of laundry, loaned one of her dresses, which she never would've picked out from her mother's closet to wear herself had she been in the same situation a year ago. Each time she chose something to wear these days, even if she wasn't seeing Logan, she was thinking what he'd think about it or whether he'd find that sexy. And this glossy beige and black patterned low-cut dress was definitely something she almost wished she could steal from her mother's closet.

She should've half expected her grandmother to hate it though, but considering she was still mad at her for breaking up her mom and Luke, she really didn't care what she thought. Friday night dinner wasn't great - and she'd pretty much made a hasty exit after yelling at the dinner table. She was more worried about her grandfather's opinion of her, truth be told, but she actually felt a little empowered having for the first time stood up to her grandmother like that.

Rory had just driven into Stars Hollow, when her phone rang. And she pulled up not too far from Lane's house, deciding to take a minute and speak to Logan. Always before it had been her mother to whom she'd wanted to unload her frustrations to, but right now - getting a call from him felt like a fresh breath of air. With Logan she felt no judgment and while potentially Logan's life came with even more drama than hers, right now, while she was tucked away from his family - it really didn't feel like it.

"Hey," Rory exhaled, her relief being audible.

"Hey. How did it go?" Logan asked.

"Oh, well…," Rory delayed her answer. She was not exactly proud for the yelling part of the evening. "It was loud," she replied.

"Meaning?" Logan inquired further.

"There was yelling," Rory replied.

"Why, what happened?" Logan continued with genuine concern.

She'd given Logan an overview of what was going on between her grandmother and mother and he knew that going to Friday night dinner for the first time since Emily and Richard's wedding was going to be hard for her.

"I just got so mad. My grandmother was acting like nothing was wrong. Like it was totally normal that I was there and my mom wasn't and she just went on and on about their holiday like she was no blame in splitting my mom and Luke up. I just couldn't take it. God… I don't think I've ever been that rude to my grandmother before. I know she deserves it… but it still feels horrible," Rory described.

"I'm sure, it wasn't that bad," Logan replied.

"I hope so. I don't know what I'd do if they'd say they won't be paying for Yale anymore…," Rory worried, thinking back. Sure, she had no beef with her grandfather, and she technically had the credit card - but still - she felt dependent on them.

"Out of the few times I year I actually spend more than an hour with my family, most of those times end with yelling too and nobody has tried to disown me yet," Logan tried to cheer her up. "And trust me, my record for screwing up is way bigger than yours," he added.

"Anyway… I left during shortcake," Rory sighed.

"Well, you're out of there now, so just go hang out with your friends or something," Logan replied, still not being too used to suggesting she go hang out with her mother even if that was probably her first option for the evening, knowing Lane was working late at Luke's.

"So, you got there alright? Are you having fun?" Rory asked. Logan was all the way in Mammoth Valley. And normally, knowing Logan was out somewhere with a bunch of guys, none of them in a steady relationship, she might have worried. But after last weekend's drama concerning Marty, she was actually feeling pretty confident on that front. Besides - here he was calling her, while most of the guys were probably out chasing tail.

"Yeah, spent the day on the hill.. Colin broke a toe, so now he's sitting around, drinking and complaining mostly…," Logan explained.

"Must be fun," Rory noted sarcastically.

"Um, yeah… mostly I'm just wishing you'd be here. My room has this massive fireplace and you'd look amazing on that fur rug they have..," Logan replied, definitely thinking less than innocent thoughts. But that certainly made Rory's stomach flutter, and at the prospect of going home to her mom and Stars Hollow books for a week, she was honestly very tempted to put that credit card into good use.

But she couldn't. She'd promised Andrew, and she didn't want to explain to her mother about even having said credit card in the first place.

"I'm all yours once you get back, rug or no rug," Rory assured.

"I can't wait," Logan replied.

"Alright, I better go. I'll call you tomorrow?" Rory sighed, aiming to make good use of calling from the landline while she was home, her cell-phone bill being astronomical already.

"Sure, I love you," Logan said.

"I love you too..," Rory replied, smiling broadly, and added a "bye."

Instead of driving to Weston's like she'd planned originally, she ended up driving to her childhood home, and settling down with a book she'd brought, not feeling like going through every detail of the dinner with her mother. She loved her to bits, but she was feeling more and more like she needed her less and less every day.

Rory spent the weekend working at the bookstore, sensing she was about to leave the establishment with way more books she had room for back at Yale by the time she was finished. But in a way it was nice being back - she'd had a few movie nights with her mother, whom she knew also to be a little lonely these days and she'd spent her lunches with Lane, though the last few times Lane had actually ended up cooking a burger for her herself, Luke's cooking being inedible in the present time.

This time, however, Lane was over at the bookstore not because of her lunch delivery.

Lane was on her 15th minute, ranting about how out of all the impossibly strict things her mother had made her go through throughout her childhood it seemed that the 'no sex before marriage' thing was one of the few things that had actually stuck. Or at the very least, it was something she was seriously contemplating.

"Oh, you should've seen Zach's face… it was like…," Lane described, making a face to illustrate utter shock.

"Like he realized he wasn't going to have sex with you until the wedding night," Rory reflected, stating the obvious.

"Yes! Exactly! God, this blows!" Lane rambled, dissapointedly.

"A lot of people wait until they're married to have sex," Rory tried to calm her.

"Yes! Jessica Simpson and Donna from 90210," Lane replied, not really being able to recall many others who weren't her relatives or her mother's friends.

"And a couple of others," Rory added.

"Oh, my god! What if I never get married?!" Lane exclaimed, sounding genuinely worried.

"You'll get married, you'll have sex," Rory replied assuringly. This was what the best friend was supposed to say. She wasn't entirely convinced Zach was going to wait that long though, but she knew that Lane was not eager to hear that opinion.

"Easy for you to say. You've already had sex with two different guys. All within a one year period," Lane pointed out.

"Okay, you're making me sound a little slutty," Rory replied. But strangely enough she was so glad she had - she not only had something to compare and contrast, but she also felt incredibly good in her own body, almost as if having found the perfect release to all her anxieties that she normally would have struggled with.

"Well, why shouldn't you be slutty? You have absolutely no mother-taught morals standing in the way of you and your sluttiness," Lane replied.

Rory didn't quite agree. While her mother had been a little liberal in her teens, every message she'd gotten from her had been to be cautious with sex and that went for how Lorelai also conducted herself in later life (as far as Rory knew).

"Oh, well… when you put it that way," Rory chimed in, not wanting to argue.

Lane must've noticed her slipping into her thoughts a minute earlier and asked, "Is it great?"

"Is what great?" Rory asked, not quite following.

"Sex! Is it great?" Lane inquired.

"Not in front of the books, Lane!" Rory objected, looking around to see that no one was overhearing.

"Tell me please…," Lane begged. While Rory had told her a little about her first time, that talk had been pretty technical.

"Well… I think that with the right person… I think it is great. But it has to feel right, you know," Rory explained in a whisper.

"And Logan is the right person?" Lane inquired.

"Yes," Rory said, sounding sure of herself.

"God, I'm jealous… you're so lucky. I sometimes wish I could just have it over and done with. Just do the sin and just… deal with the internal hellfire," Lane exclaimed.

Rory couldn't really disagree with her train of thought. She'd pretty much pushed herself to get it over with too - and it had been pretty incredible that she'd gotten so lucky the first time. There were no regrets. But could she live with herself if she told her friend to go for it and she regretted it later - she was pretty sure, she wouldn't dare. Not with Zach at least, but on her defense she didn't know him that well either. Not these days.

"But do I know if Zach is the one? How do I know? How do I figure it out?" she pondered, not expecting an answer.

"I wish I knew..," Rory sighed.

Another day passed and Rory just happened to be perusing the biography section where she came upon a Hemingway's biography. Naturally she couldn't help herself and looked up the fact she'd been arguing with Logan about.

She was yet to call Logan that day anyway, so she was eager for having something other to talk to him about then the endless teasing which felt torturous by now, what she had for lunch, or how many books she was dying to purchase.

"Hello?" Logan answered her call, the smugness of his smile audible to her.

"We were both wrong," Rory said, without introductions.

"About?" Logan inquired.

"Hemingway's manuscripts were stolen in Hadley's suitcase at the Gare de Lyon," Rory elaborated.

"Huh," Logan noted.

"Yep. Just thought you should know. We're both dumb," Rory added.

"Guess we found each other," Logan said, sounding borderline corny.

"Guess we did," Rory agreed. "So how's the outing in the woods going?" Rory asked, knowing they had some wilderness hike planned for the day before and today and staying in some remote cabin with poor reception. It was also the reason they hadn't spoken last night.

"It was going fine until Finn decided to go through one of his naked phases," Logan elaborated.

"Yikes," Rory reacted, chuckling a little.

"Yeah. Suddenly the cabin seemed very small," Logan replied.

"I bet," Rory replied.

"Plus it got boring without you there. There were too many people there I knew, so I decided to cut my trip short," Logan said, already making Logan excited at the prospect of seeing him.

"Yeah? Where are you now?" Rory asked, already getting an idea that Logan was probably on his way to surprise him. He did things like that. He loved surprises.

"Just passed Monty," Logan revealed.

Rory let out a loud squeal, perhaps 10 dB too loud for a bookstore, but she just couldn't help herself, and jumped out from behind the counter. She grabbed her jacket and was out on the curb in seconds, just to see Logan's Z3 reach the town square. She felt so giddy, it was ridiculous jumping at him once he emerged, wrapping her legs around him as he held her.

"Damn, I missed you," Logan said.

Rory replied with a deep, passionate kiss, not caring who saw them.