Summer 2001

Rory had been back at her grandparents house for 3 days when she saw him. It wasn't that she had been looking for Logan, but it wasn't like she had made a lot of friends that last summer. She had been the new girl, and apparently being friends with Logan Huntzberger hadn't made her particularly popular amongst some of the girls around. So her first 3 days had been spent unpacking her things, catching up with her grandparents who she hadn't seen in almost a whole month, and grabbing whatever time she could at the book store to earn whatever money she could.

Her grandmother had already mentioned once how she didn't need to work and that they were happy to pay for whatever she needed, but Rory had told both of her grandparents that she wanted to make sure she earned some spending money on her own and she was putting half of it away for college.

So 3 days in and she had already gone to the book store hoping to work (only to be rejected and told to go be a kid and come back after the 4th), she was sitting on the patio while her grandfather worked from his office and her grandmother went to a bridge club with friends when she saw him. He was meandering down the beach and it took her a moment to realize that he was looking for her. Of course he wasn't obvious about it. He wasn't holding a sign that said Have you seen Rory Gilmore? but by the way he was looking around, scanning the area where their chairs were set up and then his eyes scanning up to the house, a smile growing when he saw her and then he waved at her as if to draw more attention to himself.

"Ace, what're you doin' up there? C'mon, there's summer to enjoy! Fin and Colin are at the marina, Col's dad got a new sailboat we wanna take out."

Rory laughed as she stood up. She wasn't really listening to him and she barely knew who she was when she launched herself into his arms, "I missed you," she told him. He was wearing a t-shirt, it was weathered and white and said Abercrombie & Fitch across the chest and a pair of board shorts covered his lower half. His arms wrapped around her and she inhaled him. She couldn't put a name on the scent, but it was him. "My mom was going to kill me for going over my limit for text messages!"

Logan chuckled as he took her in. She looked every bit the same, just a little bit different. Maybe she was just older. It had been nearly 8 months - he figured it was the first year he had shown any interest in going to the Gilmore Christmas party, but his parents had dragged him and his sister off to London for the entire month of December, even getting them permission to write exams early so that they could attend to some business matters. They didn't come back to Hartford (and then their respective boarding schools) until the second week of January. "Tell her to send a bill to my father," Logan rolled his eyes. If Mitchum hadn't gone out of his way to make the year miserable for him, Logan wouldn't have felt the need to reach out to Rory so much. She was the only person who really seemed to understand his frustration. Sure, his friends understood that his father was an overbearing asshole, they understood that he didn't want the family business thrust upon him, but Rory…Rory understood that there were things about that business he enjoyed, things that interested him…he just wanted to make the choice for himself. "We e-mailed," Logan countered. They had switched to e-mail after Lorelai had threatened to take the phone away altogether, but her mother also hadn't liked the time Rory would spend hidden away on the computer. She especially hadn't liked it when Lorelai had made a huge deal out of the small package that had arrived via courier for her birthday. She had tried to tuck it away and open it privately, but before she had the chance, her mother had seen the L Huntzberger return address and the woman was like a dog with a bone. So together on the couch they had opened the gift. Lorelai had seemed relieved, maybe even a little bit confused when Rory opened a beautiful leather bound notebook, but Rory had loved it. She had managed to tuck away the little note that he had included, write about the places you want to go, the things you want to see. L. Instantly she was relieved, she was relieved because it meant that she hadn't imagined their little friendship. So when she texted him to thank him and he had texted her back asking about his day, it further cemented the status of their friendship until they were reunited on the beach the following summer.

"So you coming?" Logan asked again. "To the marina. The sailboat. Colin, Finn…"

"Oh uh…yeah," she paused and looked at her watch. "I just need to be home by 5 so Dean can call and I need to tell my Grandpa? I'll meet you at your house in a few minutes?"

He barely had time to register what she had said. Dean was calling? Who was Dean? He was sure she hadn't mentioned a Dean in any of their conversations. "Just be prepared to get in the water, by choice or by force - Finn is on a kick," he winked, hopefully brushing off that weird feeling in his gut that came over him when she mentioned that call from Dean. He figured it was about 10 minutes later when she appeared in his driveway, a pair of denim jeans and a fitted polo covering what he hoped was a bathing suit given Finn's recent love of tossing people off the side of the boat. "All set?"

"New car?" Rory eyed the silver 2 seater Porsche in the driveway, only barely different in her eyes from the BMW he had the year before.

"Yeah there was, an incident," he explained as he opened the passenger door, "a few months ago."

Rory nodded, an incident. An incident he hadn't told her about in any of their conversations. That was fair though. There were plenty of things she hadn't told him. She hadn't told him about Dean. Her boyfriend of just over 6 months who had recently told her that he was building her a car and that he loved her. She hadn't really known how to react. She thanked him for the gesture and then he waited. He waited and he stared hoping that she would say something more. That she would respond to his declaration, but it hadn't come. She had stammered and he had been sodisappointed. "Couldn't have been that bad if you still got a new car out of it," Rory shrugged.

He laughed as he put the car into gear, "you know, you really don't get people like my parents, do you?"

Rory waited for a moment before she responded. She wasn't sure what he meant by it, but she knew that it wasn't a compliment. They had talked enough the summer before to know that Logan and his parents had a difficult relationship, but in Rory's mind, she couldn't understand why if something bad had happened, they would've rewarded him with a new Porsche. "So spill? What happened to the car?"

"Finn took it for a joyride." Logan put the car into drive and made his way out of the driveway. It wasn't a long drive to the marina, he told her about how Finn had taken his car after a party and for some reason had thought it was acceptable to ask the valet for his car instead, and while completely sober managed to crash the car. "I think Dad was mostly relieved that it wasn't me, and that no one was drunk."

"Low bar," Rory cringed a little. "I uh…I might be getting a car," it was half statement, half question. Logan looked at her and raised his eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. "I mean, I know I can't drive yet and need to get my permit and everything. But uh…Dean," she didn't even bother explaining exactly who Dean was, she was sure that much was obvious to Logan as she continued to speak, "he's going to build me a car. I mean, it's not much. Not fancy or anything, it's this old car and he's going to fix it up for me."

Without meaning to, Logan clenched the steering wheel a little bit harder. His knuckles were nearly white and he didn't know what to say next. Was he supposed to congratulate her? This guy, Dean who she had to take a call from, he was building her a car? "Is he building it or fixing it? Is he a mechanic?" Could Rory possibly be dating a man old enough to be a mechanic? She hadn't even worn a two piece the entire summer before. Dating an older guy seemed unlikely.

"He goes to Stars Hollow High," she explained to him and Logan wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing. "His dad is going to help him fix it up. I mean…it's nothing fancy, but it was a gift."

"Some gift," Logan couldn't even believe the way the words were coming out. As if he had a right to an opinion on any of this. "You sure he is qualified to fix a car?"

"We'll have our mechanic look at it," Rory assured him, crossing her arms over her chest as she felt the need to protect her relationship, to protect Dean from the judgement.

"Will he be visiting this summer?" Logan asked next, he tried to keep his tone even, didn't want to come off too strong about this.

"Who? Dean?" Rory furrowed her brow.

"Dean, the guy you've gotta talk to, the guy who is fixing you a car? Boyfriend I assume?" Logan asked as he pulled into the marina and stared at her for a moment when she looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights. "C'mon Ace, tell me the guy doesn't wanna get up here for a sleepover while Richard and Emily are away? Isn't the Thompson kid getting married in Southampton this summer?"

Rory shook her head as she stepped out of the car, unbuckling her seatbelt and grabbing her things before Logan could get over to open it for her. "No, he isn't coming here. This isn't really his kind of place. Plus he has to work, and I don't…I mean I don't even know how he'd get here."

"He doesn't have a car?" Logan asked, it was almost back to being casual now. Rory shook her head and Logan grabbed her bag of stuff from her, essentials for a day on a boat he assumed but he wouldn't dare glance. Having a sister had taught him at a very young age that you do not go through a purse. "C'mon, it's over here."

They were walking towards a sleek white sailboat and Rory was relieved to see there was a person there to drive the boat. Or maybe it was to captain it? Not that she thought Logan would put her at risk, but Finn could be…overzealous at times, and Colin she had learned quickly had a low tolerance for alcohol. "Guess Colin's dad learned from the BMW incident?"

"Guess so, C'mon."

Days on the boat were followed by days at the beach and days at the bookstore. Rory had somehow managed to convince Dean that calling every two or three days was more than enough and she had been able to avoid Logan being around for those calls. Logan clearly had no problem with her relationship status, he had started seeing some girl he met at the marina and although the girl clearly hadn't liked Rory, Rory wasn't bothered. She liked having Logan as a friend. Of course, you'd have to be blind not to notice that he was good looking, but Logan having a girlfriend meant that if the topic ever did come up with Dean, she could tell him so. It wasn't that she was hiding her friendship with Logan (and Colin and Finn) from Dean, it was just that she knew that Dean didn't understand this part of her life. He didn't understand why she felt any connection to kids from private schools, why she didn't fight to avoid being stuck at her grandparents purgatory every summer until she graduated. He didn't understand how she could enjoy her time there if she wasn't at home with her mother, with him, with Lane. Lane at least understood. Lane knew that there were things about Chilton that Rory was enjoying, she knew that Rory had made close friends, she knew that Rory was talking to Logan during the school year, but Dean, Dean didn't know and she wasn't sure she wanted to tell him.

They were kids, they were just 15. It wasn't like Rory had any illusions about marrying Dean. She cared for him, maybe she would love him…but Rory wasn't sure she would ever be the settling down type and she was certain that Dean was looking for someone like his mother - that was someone Rory could absolutely not relate to. They were kids though, they were kids getting to know each other and they were not thinking about ten years down the road and that was normal.

"You know," Logan was sitting against his headboard one Tuesday night, his legs tucked underneath him as they listened to the rain come pounding down outside, "you can just crash here."

"Hm?" Rory looked back at him. She was looking out the window into nothing but blackness, it had been raining for well over two hours, the power had gone out and the Huntzberger estate was running on a generator. Her grandparents were stranded about an hour away having had a business dinner to attend. They had called their house first and when she didn't answer, they called her with Logan and let her know that they wanted her to stay put and be safe. Rory wasn't sure how much trouble they thought she could get in walking a few hundred feet back to their house, but she had decided not to argue with them. "I'll wait until it lets up and then I'll just run."

"I've never seen you run," Logan smirked. "Look, Ace," he cocked his head to the side, "sleep in a guest room. Sleep on my couch," he nodded to the three seater couch beside where she was standing, "I'll sleep on my couch, you take my bed. Whatever. It's no big deal. If you go back, I'm going to feel compelled to make sure you get home ok, which means I'm gonna get soaked, maybe come down with pneumonia or something, all because you were too stubborn to sleep here. Mom is already passed out thanks to Xanax and Chardonnay, Honor is in Manhattan. We've got run of the place." Before Rory could say anything in response, he continued, "and you've already missed your call with Dan, so no harm no foul."

"It's Dean." She knew he knew, and she knew he was just trying to push her buttons and of course it was working. "Do you have sweatpants or something I can change into?" She looked down at her pale blue capris and white tank top. There was no way she could sleep comfortably in that.

Logan stood up, walking towards his tall dark wood dresser and opening the drawer second from the top. He pulled out a pair of sweatpants that were clearly from his time at St. Mark's as they had the school emblem on the right thigh and then he tossed her a matching sweatshirt. "I'm gonna go get a water. Need anything?"

"Got any coffee?" Rory asked as she clutched the outfit to her chest. She knew that Logan was leaving to give her privacy. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen her in a two piece, but there was something different about undressing in front of him and while she could separate her Stars Hollow life from her time in the summer, she knew that Dean would blow a gasket if he ever found out about any of this.

"You better be able to sleep still," of course he knew that Rory could somehow drink coffee at all hours of the day, a trait she said she had gotten from her mother, that and being able to out eat a grown man at a hot dog eating contest on the 4th of July. He went downstairs and boiled water to make the coffee, knowing that the integrated coffee maker wouldn't be running but there was a French press tucked away somewhere. The house was quiet, just the buzz of the generator which was keeping the basics running and the sound of the wind and rain whipping outside. He returned to his bedroom to find Rory staring out the window. She had changed into the clothes he had lent her and he could tell she wasn't so sure about all of this. "Here," the coffee sloshed in the cup as he put it down on the dresser closest to her. "I can sleep in another room," he told her. She hadn't moved except to grab her coffee. "You gotta talk here, Ace."

Rory shook her head and turned to face him, her fingers held the coffee mug tightly as she took a slow sip. "Dean doesn't really know how much we hang out," she admitted quietly.

"You and I?" Rory nodded her head in response and Logan went to his closet and grabbed a pillow from high up top, followed by a blanket that he would put on the couch. "Ace, I'm not exactly a great boyfriend," sure, he had a girlfriend, but they knew it was a summer thing. It was fun, and that was all he needed. He was a kid. "But I gotta think Dean trusts you, right? I mean, you're gone for the summer and still decided to stick it out? He's building you a car or whatever?"

"I thought you thought that was a bad idea?" Rory cocked her head to the side.

"I do, but I'm not dating him."

The night went by more quickly than Rory had expected. She expected there to be awkwardness and discomfort, but they had chatted, Logan on his couch and Rory in his bed as the rain pounded down. By morning it was like none of it had ever happened. She put her clothes back on and said goodbye after a bagel, Logan smirking as she lingered at the door on her way out.

"Who is Jess?" He asked.

Rory felt her cheeks flush instantly, "Jess? What?"

"You were talking about Jess making you the wrong eggs, and asking for Luke…didn't realize there were so many options in that small town of yours, Ace."

By the time he finished, her cheeks were burning and she tried not to let her voice shake. "You know Luke is the guy who runs the diner, he and my mom are close. Jess is his nephew and he is working at the diner. Always screws up orders," she tried to brush it off. "I do not talk in my sleep."

"Jess and Luke would say otherwise," he winked, enjoying that he was clearly making her uncomfortable. "And what would Dan think?"

She ignored the comment about Luke and Jess, instead focusing on his playful jab towards her boyfriend, "it's Dean," she told him before turning on her heels and returning to her grandparents house before they were even home.

There wasn't too much damage, some trees down in some areas but overall the area had made it out unscathed. By the time Rory had gotten showered and dressed, her grandparents had returned and everything felt exactly as it had been the day before. She wondered why she had thought its Ould be such a big deal to stay with Logan? It wasn't like they were anything but platonic friends. Maybe it was the fact that she knew Dean wouldn't like it, she knew that if he knew he would be furious, but she couldn't quite bring herself to care.

The summer went on, she knew that Dean had finally heard more about her friendship with Logan from her mother. She assumed it was a mistake. It wasn't as though she was lying to Dean about him, just leaving out some details, and her mother had told her that Dean had been around, so evidently at some point it just slipped out about Rory's friend group and then he had started calling more. Their every other day phonecalls increased to once a day, and sometimes more if something happened that he needed to tell her about.

"You know," Rachelle, Logan's girlfriend had looked at her as they sat on the beach, a small group of girls watching the guys play volleyball, "you shouldn't have to talk to a guy all the time just to make him feel more comfortable."

Rory turned her head to look at the girl. The stunning, kind, and apparently wise girl that Logan had been dating, just a year older than Rory but apparently entirely more aware of what it was like to be in a relationship. The girl who had never been anything but kind to her, never making her feel like a third wheel, going out of her way through the last couple of months to invite Rory to things that Logan probably would've preferred she not attend. Summer was winding down and she only had 2 more weeks until she went back to Stars Hollow and Chilton and Dean. "He's just missing me," she answered, "but I know what you mean. It's hard for him. I go to school out of town, and then the summer I'm here…" her voice drifted off. Rory couldn't pretend that she didn't enjoy spending her summer away. At first it had seemed daunting, but having made friends and gotten a job, she was going to miss it when she went back to Connecticut.

Rachelle shrugged her shoulders, adjusting her sunglasses on her face before she spoke, "we're young Rory. This is supposed to be fun, not another job."

After the brief interaction, Rachelle dropped it. She watched the boys play while Rory buried her nose in a book and sipped at the Coke she had pulled from the cooler, somehow managing to avoid all of the chaos around her.

The advice though, the advice that Rachelle gave her stayed with her in the back of her mind when the phonecall came that night, and the following day and the day after that. She wasn't bothered by talking to her boyfriend, no, that wasn't it. She was bothered that he seemed so intent on her proving that she was home, 'I don't want you to have to worry about minutes. So if I call from my house to your grandparents house, we don't have to worry about that.' was his go to excuse for why it made the most sense to call from home between 4 and 5, like a reminder that she was on a leash unless she told him in advance that she was working - then he'd call the store.

"You good?" Logan asked as he stood in Rory's bedroom waiting for her to appear from the bathroom so that they could go.

They were having dinner together, meeting Colin and Finn at a place in town. One last meal before everyone went home for school. Logan was starting at Andover for his senior year and Rory would be a sophomore at Chilton - she wondered what the next summer would look like with Logan about to start at Yale and her still being in the midst of her high school career. Maybe he would go to Europe or travel, or maybe he'd simply be much too cool to hang out with a high school girl. "All set," she told him as she came out of the bathroom wearing a pair of simple, light blue capris and a white t-shirt. "You didn't have to wait. Grandpa would've driven me."

Logan shrugged, his hands were buried in the pockets of his khaki shorts as he nodded towards the door and the pair walked out. "C'mon Ace, I won't see you again for months, and I've gotta have ample time to bestow upon you all the wisdom I can about guys. That way you don't end up dating a guy who calls 17 times a day again."

Rory laughed as they said their goodbye's to her grandparents. She and Dean had broken up almost a week earlier and Rory still wasn't sure exactly how it had happened. One minute he was telling her he would be waiting for her when she got home, that he had cleared it with her mom and they could spend the whole evening together catching up, the next Rory was telling him she needed space. It wasn't the gesture, it wasn't that he wanted to hang out with her, it was that he did it all without telling her. He was surprising her with a car, he was hanging out with her mom, he wasn't asking her to do things, he was telling her. It was all too much. "I told you we broke up, I will not make that mistake again!"

Logan shook his head as they pulled out of the driveway, "I'm just saying that a guy who can't handle giving you space is a guy who doesn't trust you. And he didn't. That is why he called and why he shows up at your house."

"I'm not going to go back out with him."

"Got that line of other suitors?" Logan grinned. He had teased her relentlessly about her sleep talking since the incident and Rory cringed each time he dramatically mentioned the way she blabbered about her breakfast order in the middle of the night.

"Yes, and you'll be shocked to know that my mother hates Jess, so that should bump him up in your eyes, and Luke…well, Luke is old enough to be my father, so that would send Mom into a tizzy…"

"You're kidding, right?" Logan couldn't tell, the way her lip was curling up though suggested she was going to burst into laughter at any moment. "About the Luke thing, right?"

Rory couldn't control herself much longer. "God of course I'm joking. Luke is old, and Jess hates everything about Stars Hollow. He barely tolerates me," that part was an exaggeration, but she wasn't looking for a relationship with the resident bad boy right after getting out of a relationship with the golden boy. "So am I really not going to see you until next summer?" She asked, cautiously changing the subject from her dating life. "It seems a bit silly, you won't be that far."

"Andover isn't too far," he admitted. "I'll be home some. Christmas, maybe we could grab dinner? Movie or something?" He felt his smile grow as Rory nodded and told him she'd like that, "maybe I'll come to the party this year? My parents are always there, right? Get some of Emily's crab cakes?" He didn't want to admit that he had been to that party many times before, somehow they had just never crossed paths, or maybe him trying to avoid living up to any expectations set out for him by his father, and Rory staying under the wing of her mother had just never intersected.

"I'd like that."

"So I'll see you at Christmas, Ace."