Marty tossed the end of his scarf over his shoulder and grabbed the doorknob. The phone rang and he wanted to just ignore it and let the machine get it, but he sighed, and jumped over the orange ottoman to grab it in time.
"Hello?"
" Hello? Hey, Marty?" Marty smiled a little to himself and leaned back against the wall.
" Hey, Rory, I was just leaving."
"Good, I'm so glad I caught you then."
"Why, something wrong?" Marty started to get a bit apprehensive.
"No, I just have to cancel out on our study date."
"Oh, is that all?" Marty forced out. He was disappointed, not that Rory would really notice.
"I just, I have this article for the paper, and I just have to go and do some research. I'm so sorry, it just has to be tonight…" She was waiting for him to say it was alright, that he didn't mind, and he knew it. But he wasn't quite ready to let her off yet.
" Did you forget?"
" Forget what?" Rory started to feel panicked, searching in her head for something special about their study session that would make Marty upset.
" The article. Did you forget that you had to research tonight when you asked me to help you study?" Rory felt the purposeful sting he put in, reminding her that she had planned all this.
" No, I just….it came up, and I really should go…But…" She was feeling worse by the minute.
" Go."
" Are you sure…Because…If you want…"
" No, it's good for me to get blown off every once in a while. It keeps my ego under control. I wanted to go out with some friends anyway." Marty said with a self depreciating laugh. " Night Rory." He hung up the phone.
" Marty. Marty-" She was cut off by the anonymous buzzing of the phone." Marty." She sighed. For some reason, she felt the back of her throat ache sharply for a moment as she stared at the screen, flashing the 1:47 minutes it had taken to make her feel like a bad person.
" Hey, you ready yet?"
Rory slipped her phone into the pocket of her coat and threw the end of her scarf over her shoulder.
" Yeah. I'm ready." She nodded and followed Colin out to the SUV.
Marty shook his head. He was tired of Rory. He was tired of her being so naïve about everything. He was tired of her talking about Logan. He was tired of her being oblivious, or ignorant. Most of all he was tired of thinking about her. He pressed the talk button on the phone and dialed a number.
" Brian? Hey. Yeah…..You guys still going out tonight for pool?.....Sure….Yeah, I'll be there in ten. Yeah….Bye." He picked his keys out of his pocket and locked his dorm behind him.
Rory was sitting on the back bench of the SUV, wedged between Logan, Colin, and the girl on Colin's lap. Usually the more reserved of the group, Colin had popped a magnum of champagne when they had got in, and was pouring another glass for Stacia, the curly haired red-head who was sitting on him. She laughed as Colin whispered something in her ear, swinging her legs and kicking Rory in the shin.
"OW."
" Ooops, sorry Tory."
" Rory." She corrected irritably.
"Okay." Stacia giggled, taking another sip of champagne.
In the front seat, Finn took his hand off the steering wheel and turned up the music, singing loudly and surprisingly well to Franz Ferdinand. Stephanie called for some one to pass the bottle from the passenger seat. Alexis and Jonathan, Colin's cousins, were having a heated debate over the relative hotness of two girls in them biochemistry class, aided with quick comments from Logan, who considered himself an expert on everything, and his advice always useful.
" She's got all the bits, but it's the whole that's lacking." Alexis insisted.
Rory sighed and stared at her reflection, which looked far off and lonely in the rear view mirror. She felt terrible, and not just guilty, but sad.
Logan stopped listening to Jonathan and Alexis for a minute and looked over at Rory. He noticed her despondent look and frowned.
" Hey." He put his fingers on the crook of her crossed arms. He cocked his head, trying to look into her face. " Hey, are you okay?" Rory bit her lip, and looked down at her lap, part of her not wanting Logan to see her blinking heavily, another part wanting him to keep trying.
Logan was fighting himself. This wasn't him. He did not like girls like this way. He had a line up of girls. He chose them. He didn't try to get girls to pick him. But there was something about Rory. Maybe it was just the fun of livening up her stable life, but by his behaviour, Colin and Finn were pretty sure it was something else. Used to taking risks, Logan still felt nervous as he lifted his hand up and gently touched under her chin.
"Rory?" She looked up at him through her eyelashes, unknowingly doing a great deal of damage to Logan's resistance. Colin glanced over at the two of them, Logan's hand slipping to the base of her neck, and gave a nodding telegraph to Finn. Finn looked back quickly in the mirror, without missing a lyric, and snorted quietly in triumph, nudging Stephanie. She rolled her eyes and murmured to Finn.
" There is going to be one hell of a lot of pissed off girls. Once they find out she skipped in line."
" She's more than skipped. I'd say she's about convinced him for the backstage pass." Finn grinned wickedly.
" Finn!" Stephanie scolded him as he raised his eyebrows daringly, moving his foot to the brake pedal.
" ALL RIGHT, BOYS AND GIRLS, FIRST STOP!" Finn hollered, still smiling. He pulled over in front of one of the libraries, and twisted in his chair. " Colin, you're up."
The seats all shuffled and Rory quickly felt awkward, leaning precariously over Logan, her hair hanging in his face, as Colin pushed his way to the door. Once he was standing on the pavement, leaning in the door, she was able to sit back down, less crowded, but with an awkward cough. Logan himself was feeling a little uncomfortable too, although he wouldn't admit it.
" Well, what is it then?" Colin asked impatiently.
"Aha." Jonathan exclaimed. " The Dare."
" The Dare!" The others repeated in chorus, Finn giving it a particularly impressive diabolical flourish. Rory was confused, but that was better than upset, so she smiled back when Logan gave her his encouraging grin.
" You, Master Colin, have been chosen for a rather delightful, though defaming task this eve." Alexis replied with a grin. "We have discover, a rather pretty, and…..talkative junior from your Poli. Sci. class is monitoring the library check out, where you will do the following…"
The seven others crowded around a study table. They watched as Colin cast them a dark look, but headed resolutely for the library desk.
" Excuse me…ah…" He glanced at her name tag. " Cynthia." He gave her a charming smile and quickly dropped the pile of books he was carrying onto the desktop. " I'd like to check these out." She smiled back at him and reached for the top book, but frowned as she read the title of it, and then the next, and the next book:
A Beginner Guide to STDs
Venereal Disease and Your Health
V.D., S.T.D. and Me
The Index of Sexual Health
" Oh, are you in pre-med then?" Cynthia asked.
" No. Why do you ask?" Colin said with a frown. Cynthia swallowed and quickly ran the books over the scanner, not smiling quite as much as before.
" Okay…Is there, um, anything else?"
" Well, yes, I was having trouble find an old periodical. I thought it might be in stacks."
" I'm not sure. I could page another librarian to take a look."
" Oh, please, would you?" Colin replied enthusiastically.
" Um, the title?" Cynthia asked hesitantly.
" S.T.D. Do It Yourself Home Cures?"
Cynthia picked up the old-fashioned mike next to her and reluctantly pressed the button.
" Stacks check for periodical. 'S.T.D. Do It Yourself Home Cures'?" A burst of giggles broke out from tables across the library as necks craned to see the check out desk. As they waited for the answer Colin smiled confidently, while Cynthia tried to avoid meeting his eyes. A librarian appeared from a staircase and shook her head. Cynthia looked up at Colin reluctantly.
" Sorry."
" Not to worry. I should have enough material here to patch something together." Colin replied cheerfully. " I'll see you in class then."
" Yeah…I guess so." Cynthia said quickly, and turned away from him. Colin picked up his books and strode out of the library. The other seven followed him, their ribs aching from holding in laughter. People at other tables snickered and looked up as Colin pushed the door open and strode out to the SUV.
" Bloody hell. I'm going to be the most unpopular person at Yale for the next month." Colin groaned as he climbed back into the car and the red haired Stacia tried to comfort him by playing with the hair at the back of his neck. " First the whole of Rory's philosophy class thinks she stole my balls, now the entire library think their about to gangrene and fall off!"
" It can't be that bad Colin. Look on the bright side. If that really does happen, you'll have a beautiful singing voice." Finn teased him.
" Oh, so that's your secret then-" Colin challenged him, to a round of jeers at Finn in the car.
Rory laughed, smiling widely and shifted in her seat to move her seat belt. She ended up leaning her back against Logan's shoulder as she bent down to try to undo and redo the buckle. Logan swallowed quickly, his mouth feeling dry, and decided. He downed the rest of his drink and carefully lifted his arm up, laying it across the back of the seat, letting his hand fall onto Rory's arm. Startled, she looked up from the belt to see the hand. Looking over her other shoulder at Logan she saw him looking at her seriously, breathing slightly more quickly than usual. He watched her, not receiving any signals, yet decided to take another risk. He ran his fingers gently up and down her arm, watching her eyes, actually a little afraid, but still daring her to do something, anything. He watched her scan slowly up and down his body and face, looking back at his eyes. Rory's face broke suddenly, not into what could be described as a smile, but no longer the solemn expression from before. She gave herself a small nod and Logan furrowed his brow in curiosity at the decision she appeared to have come to. Rory leaned cautiously back against Logan's side, her neck resting against the top of his arm. He couldn't see as she smiled widely at her hands, and he couldn't see him grin, not cockily, but with happily. The both started to laugh as an indignant Finn challenged Colin to a sing off, to the dirty version of 'I am the very model of a modern major general.'
As the two of them chanted off in louder and louder voices, Rory forgot she had been unhappy, now slouched down on the seat with laughter, and reached up, tugging on Logan's fingers as she laughed at a particularly absurd verse. Logan tightened his own finger around hers, and rested his chin on the top of Rory's head, quietly explaining some of the more obscure lyrics, which they had created the last summer at Finn's summer house in Adelaide.