RATING: Upped to PG-13

SPOILERS: Up to and including "But Not As Cute as Pushkin"

DISCLAIMER: Not mine. All characters are property of ASP and the WB.

NOTES: Eek. This chapter took forever to get out. Between Christmas and the new semester and falling in love with the 5 new C.D's my family provided me with, I've been a busy girl. This chapter's title comes from on of the aforementioned discs, Echoes by The Rapture.

Six: Through Cannons and Spillways

"Lane!"

"Rory!"

Lane climbed into the car and Rory reached over the center console to give Lane an awkward hug. Lane squeezed Rory's arm in return. Rory pulled back, "You cut your hair! It's pretty."

"Thank you. Zach, Brian and Gil have yet to notice."

"Really? You must have cut off a couple of inches."

"Four and a half, actually."

Rory shook her head, "Stupid boys. I mean Gil, I can understand. His hair hasn't seen the business end of a pair of scissors for a good long while, but Zack and Brian. They live with you. They see you several times a day," she began to pull out of the parking lot, "how can they not notice four and a half inches?".

"That's what I thought! They had no idea, though. Even after I shook my hair, like Lucy Liu in Charlie's Angels. Repeatedly. Brian actually asked me if I had a burr. As if I'd suddenly taken up trail riding or something. But speaking of boys…"

"Oh no. I'm not going to get the Spanish Inquisition from you too, am I?"

"Of course you are! After all our years of friendship I want, nay, I deserve, details. Plus, Miss Patty would never speak to me again if I came back with nothing."

"Must you encourage them?"

"I really must."

"Well, don't think I don't want details of my own, missy. From the girl currently living with her boyfriend. Who, might I add, has quite the reputation."

"Please. Everything you know about this 'reputation' you speak of went straight from my lips to your ears."

"Exactly. I had a valid source."

"You've outsmarted me with your Yale caliber logic."

"You gave up easy."

"Nope. I'm kind of just dying to tell you about stuff. Girl talk is in very short supply where I live."

"So now I get to live vicariously through you."

"That's not what I hear."

"Oh?" Rory glanced at Lane out of the corner of her eye, "What exactly do you hear?"

"That you're being wooed by the who's who of heirs to future Forbes 500 companies. Weekend jaunts to New York and Miami, extravagant gifts, etc."

"Well, those future Forbes 500-ers fed me some excellent Chinese food last night."

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"Why must gossip always be better than reality?"

"Because gossip is the product of overactive, oversexed imaginations and reality is just there."

"And boring."

"Most of the time."

"Aw," Rory and Lane had eaten dinner at a quirky Mexican place near Yale, and Lane was telling her Zack stories.

"I know!"

"It's like a fairy tale."

Lane looked at Rory skeptically, "If fairy tales were written by crack monkeys."

"No, I'm serious. 'The knight with the shining Fender saves Princess Drums-a-Lot from Brian, the evil bed stealer with the toxic drool,'" said Rory, using her very best announcer voice.

"Oookay. Speaking of crack monkeys. Rory, how much coffee have you had today?"

"Lots," Rory rubbed her temple, "I stayed out later than I should have last night and was up studying 'till three."

"Ah. And now we get to your story. Enter: the limo boys. What were you doing?"

"Eating Chinese food, I told you."

"Uh-uh. Full disclosure."

"And talking."

"You're a wild party girl, Rory Gilmore. How're Paris and Nicky, by the way?"

Rory laughed, "Skanky and divorced. Seriously, though. It was weird."

"How so?"

"Well, the topic of sex came up."

"And?"

"And I've never really talked about sex with someone who hadn't either seen me sans clothing or had their tongue in my mouth."

"Rory, you're an adult now. Adults talk about sex all the time."

"I know. I'm just not used to this whole being an adult thing."

"Me neither," Lane confessed, "Sometimes it kind of sucks."

"Have you and Zack discussed sex?"

"Not really. He's had lots of it. I haven't had any. I don't really know how to begin that conversation."

"How about, 'So Zack, been tested for STD's lately?'"

Lane chucked a napkin at Rory, "I'm going to have to work my way up to that one."

"So tonight. Are you excited?"

"I'm ridiculously excited."

Rory smiled, "I'm happy for you. That you get to do something you love."

"I'm also kind of excited to meet the Yalie's. Give me the rundown."

"Well, there's Paris, who you've met. Marty who I've told you about."

"Naked guy."

"Don't call him that."

"I'm so calling him that. As the first guy that the pristine Miss Rory Gilmore ever saw naked he deserves the title."

"And then there's Logan, Colin and Finn. Oh, and Stephanie," she added.

Lane thought for a second, "Who's Stephanie?"

"One of their friends."

"What's she like?"

Rory considered the question, "She's been drunk about 75 percent of the time we've been in the same vicinity. But drunk, she's quite pleasant."

"And the guys?"

"Hmm. Honestly, I don't know that much about them."

"Well, you know more than I do, so do some spilling."

"Well, you'll like Finn because he's the second biggest audiophile I know, plus, his dad is a music industry guy. And not to sound like my grandfather, but hello, that could be a good connection for you. He's Australian, frequently drunk and a massive flirt. Then there's Colin, who I've yet to spend any one on one time with. He's a little more subdued then Finn, but mixes an excellent drink. And Logan is…" she trailed off.

"Logan's the one who calls you, 'Ace,' correct?"

"Yep."

"Nicknames are a little intimate, aren't they?"

"They are. We aren't."

"Okay."

"We aren't."

"I didn't contradict you," Lane pointed out reasonably.

"I know. You'll see when you meet him. He's… Logan.

"Gotcha," Lane said, "He is Logan. Logan is him."

"It's just…ugh. I can't explain it." Rory began shredding a napkin, her eyes distant. "He's disconcertingly sure of himself. He's kind but he's not nice. He's smart but he's not into school. He's one of the more challenging people I've met. I just don't know. I guess he's just fun."

Lane observed Rory closely, her desire to meet this Logan character growing. He'd ruffled Rory, that was for sure. "Fun is good. You deserve fun, Ror."

Rory brightened a little, "I do, don't I? Thanks Lane."

"For what?"

"For listening. For not trying to tell me how I feel."

"You'll figure it out. You always do."

"Sooner or later."

"Usually later," Lane teased.

Rory laughed, unable to argue. "Anyway, they can all be completely insufferable, spoiled little rich boys, but I've extracted promises of good behavior."

"Hmm. I am expecting an interesting night."

"I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Are you ready to go?"

"I'll waddle for awhile, but yeah."

"Good. We have to make one more stop before we go to the dorm."

"For?"

Rory smirked, "You'll see."

"Lane, Paris, you remember each other, don't you?"

"Lane. How are things?"

"Good. And you?"

"Fine, thank you. Terrence says I'm not progressing as fast as I should, but I think that's just so I'll avail myself of his services, for which he charges exorbitant fees, for awhile longer."

"That's… nice. Who's Terrence?"

"Her life coach," Rory answered for Paris with a look that warned Lane from asking follow up questions. "Paris, I want to leave in an hour, is that enough time for you?"

"I suppose. Why am I going to this thing again?"

"Because you've realized that you should make the most of these years, the best years of your life?"

"Kill me now if the best years of my life are spent sharing a dorm room with you, Rory. Try again."

"Because I pleaded and coerced?"

"I remember now. An hour, you say?"

"Fifty-seven minutes now."

"I can manage," Paris headed into her bedroom.

"Dress your age, Paris!" Rory called after her.

"I'll skank it up to the best of my meager abilities."

"That's all I ask of you."

"You know," Lane began thoughtfully, "it's somehow comforting that in this topsy turvy world Paris remains Paris-like."

"I think so too."

Fifty three minutes later, Marty knocked on the door. Lane answered, as Rory was trying to talk Paris into a white studded belt, and introduced herself. "Hi. I'm Lane Kim, Rory's friend from Stars Hollow."

Marty shook her outstretched hand, "I'm Marty. Rory's friend from upstairs."

"Nice to finally put a face to the image."

"Image?"

"The image of Rory handing you her robe."

Marty, having been thoroughly teased about said incident merely raised an eyebrow, "Is that your not so subtle way of telling me you've thought about me naked?"

"I guess I have, yeah."

"Marty, hey. Tell Paris that a belt won't make her seem easy."

"Paris, a belt won't make you seem easy. If anything, belts make it harder to get into a girl's pants."

"Ew."

Marty grimaced, "Yeah. Sorry. I kind of grossed myself out there. Rory, you look nice."

"Thank you, Marty," Rory smiled at Marty.

Paris rolled her eyes, "Ladies and gentlemen, inept flirting. Hold your applause."

Marty and Rory broke eye contact. "Are you ladies almost ready?" Marty asked, shifting topics.

"I think so. I just have to grab something," Rory darted off into her room and came out brandishing a small plastic bag, which she tossed to Paris. "Earplugs. As promised. They're pink."

"Why?"

Rory shrugged, "They were the cutest ones available."

"Whatever. Let's get this over with."

"Aw. Paris. I'm heartened by your enthusiasm for the thing which I hope to spend my life doing," Lane remarked dryly.

"Enthusiasm gives me a headache. And I'm trying to postpone the inevitable."

Rory clapped her hands together cutting Lane's reply off, "Alright. Let's go. We can't have the keeper of the beat late to her own gig and we have one last stop to make."

"Joy," Paris deadpanned.

"I'm with Paris on this one," Marty added.

"Well I'm not," Lane said, "bring on the limo boys."

The limo boys were, however, not quite ready to be brought on. When Lane and Rory knocked on the door to their suite (Marty and Paris having opted to wait by the cars) they weren't greeted by anyone who lived in said suite, but by Stephanie. "Rory," she greeted, somewhat warmly. Rory didn't answer back immediately as she was surprised by the other girl's complete sobriety and even more so by her choice of ensemble. Stephanie had paired jeans with an old Clash concert t-shirt. The shirt in and of itself would not have been remarkable. But Stephanie had taken a pair of scissors to it, removed most of the back, and with the artful use of ribbon and what looked like shoelaces had managed to turn it into something of a corset. Rory would never have had the guts to wear it and envied the other girls self-assurance. Stephanie had even gone so far as to dye streaks of her hair blue and looked completely beautiful.

"I take it you were informed of the wardrobe requirements," Rory stated, somewhat unnecessarily.

"I was. I made a few sweeps past the smokers behind the art building for inspiration."

"You'll fit right in. Oh, sorry. Lane, this is Stephanie, Stephanie meet Lane." Stephanie nodded and Lane waved a little.

Introductions complete Stephanie stepped aside, and ushered Rory and Lane into the common room, "The boys are having a bit of performance anxiety."

"I heard that!" the voice rang out from the room which Rory knew to be Colin's only seconds before a crash was audible from Finn's.

Rory checked her watch, "We're already running late."

"I know. What kind of world do we live in when the men are keeping the ladies waiting?"

"One where men and women live in harmony, free of stereotypes?" Logan answered blithely, emerging from his room.

"I was thinking one where men are far too dependant on grooming products, actually. No girl wants a guy who's prettier than she is."

Logan, however wasn't listening. His eyes had locked on Rory and he was slightly discombobulated. He'd always known she was beautiful but that beauty had always registered as cool and reserved. Untouchable. Not tonight. The top she was wearing was black and sleeveless and could definitely be described as slinky. The fabric draped in such a way that was not overly provocative but revealed varying amounts of skin depending on how she moved. Logan was assaulted by an image of himself, kissing her collarbone, her skin warm and responsive, sliding the top off her shoulder. Tonight, his fingers itched to touch.

Rory, for her part, was not unaffected by Logan's appearance. He had dutifully dressed in what she and Finn (mostly Finn) had picked out. The sight of Logan Huntzberger, prep extraordinaire, in well worn jeans, a silk screened Sid and Nancy tee and leather jacket spoke to the part of her that had liked Dean's motorcycle. The part of her that had fallen for Jess. Rory met his eyes and she forgot to be embarrassed by the frank appraisal she had just made, as she read in the heat of his gaze things she was just beginning to understand.

Stephanie, with all of her experience with the opposite sex watched with barely leashed glee. She was glad that she'd agreed to come. Lane, though lacking in practical experience, had seen enough Discovery channel documentaries to accurately recognize a mating ritual when she saw one. She cleared her throat, effectively cutting the sexual tension. "One down, could we get the other two? I'll never hear the end of it if I'm late."

Logan tore his eyes away from Rory and registered, finally, the presence of a person he had never met before. "Hello. You must be Lane. Nice to meet you. Any friend of Ace's is a friend of mine."

"Likewise. I've heard a lot about you, Logan."

Logan glanced Rory's way, "All lies, I'm sure. I'm actually a lovely person."

Rory raised an eyebrow, "What makes you think I'd tell her otherwise?"

"Gut instinct. Did she tell you I was arrogant and over privileged?"

"Nope," Lane answered cheerfully, "she said you were an insufferable, spoiled little rich boy."

Logan mock pouted, "Not nice, Ace."

"I thought I showed restraint actually. I could have added many more unflattering adjectives, I assure you."

"You two can verbally copulate some more later," Stephanie interrupted, to Rory's embarrassment, and the amusement of everyone else present. "I've got me some boys to wrangle."

Without further preamble she walked across the room and threw open the door to Finn's bedroom. Finn immediately jumped up from his seat on the floor where he was seemingly debating between numerous pairs of sunglasses. "Steph! What if I'd been naked?"

"Then you could add two more names to the long list of people who've seen you au natural?"

"Finn's quite fond of being au natural," Logan stage whispered to Rory and Lane.

Finn heard and strolled into the living room, "Why deprive people?" His eyes alighted on Lane and he inclined his head towards her regally. Or as regally as he was capable of. "Finnegan Lewiston, at your service. I'd be happy to give you a private demonstration."

Lane, unused to being flirted with outrageously by undeniable handsome Aussie boys, found herself blushing. Rory saved her from having to reply. "I know I should have made the connection before, but 'Finnegan?' Ha."

Finn turned his attention to Rory, "Are you casting aspersions on my name?"

"Not at all. Finnegan."

Stephanie, once again, interrupted. All this witty banter was giving her a headache and, more importantly, cutting into the time where she could be conning some handsome young thing into buying her a drink. "Could we have less talking and more figuring out what the hell is taking Colin so long?"

"Colin's ready," the aforementioned third limo boy entered the room looking slightly disgruntled, and wearing pink Chucks, of all things. "Finn stole all my shoes." He was wearing a sweater vest and tie and looked as though he'd just stepped out of a Hives video.

"Did not," Finn protested, but the smirk he was wearing told otherwise.

"You look great, Colin," Rory told him, "just one thing." And she stepped towards him and proceeded to mess up his hair.

"Gilmore, stop, ow!" His attempts to bat her hands away were unsuccessful.

"There," Rory stepped back and considered him, "maybe some eyeliner."

"I draw the line at makeup, Gilmore."

"What about that time that…" Finn began.

"Line. Drawn," Colin bit out. "Can we go now?"

"Yeah, we should. Paris is going to kill me."

On the way downstairs and out of the building Finn and Lane fell into an easy conversation, debating Karen O and the female lead singer, male band issue, and Logan, Colin and Stephanie trailed behind arguing in hushed tones. Rory spared little attention to either conversation, thinking instead of how to divide eight people with vastly different personalities, among two cars.

Paris was, predictably, less than pleased when they approached. "Did you get lost? Ravaged by wild hippo's, perhaps?"

"Nope," and rather than elaborating and wasting more time Rory took charge and began divvying up the group that was clustered around her. "Lane, could you ride with Paris, to make sure she gets to the club alright? And Marty, you're with me." They both nodded their assent and separated from the group. Dividing up 'her' group had been the simple part. How to divide the LBDers was less so. In the end she decided to put Finn and Colin with Paris. Lane and Finn had proven an ability to get along. Logan and Stephanie would ride with her so that Marty would only be subjected to one of the 'unholy triumvirate,' as he had coined them, at a time. Stephanie and Colin were wild cards in her little scheme.

"Shotgun," said Logan immediately, as the four of them gathered by Rory's car. Much to Marty's obvious displeasure.

"Fine," Rory answered, waving as Paris's car peeled out of the parking lot. "Oh, I almost forgot," she smirked impishly and leaned into the car, retrieving something from the dash, which she handed to Logan.

He surveyed the bundle of slightly wilted carnations and bag of skittles. "You sure know how to make a date feel special, Ace."

Tellingly, Rory didn't argue with his classification of himself as her 'date.' "Hey, I sprung for the big bag of skittles! And, they're the tropical ones."

"Well, in that case…"

All four climbed into the car as Rory and Logan continued to bicker. Stephanie's sigh was long suffering. "Petruchio? Katerina? Could you cease and desist? At least as long as we are in an enclosed space." She turned to Marty conspiratorially, "Honestly, shouldn't they just get a room already?" Logan coughed loudly. It was his signature 'Shut it, Steph," cough that he'd used on her for a very long time. Pretty much since she'd been learned how to talk, actually. One look at Marty's stony expression and the reason for its use became obvious. She decided that she liked Rory Gilmore. Any girl that could wrap multiple attractive young men around her finger was a girl she'd enjoy hanging out with. "Logan, can I have some skittles?"

He handed the bag back to her and, magnanimously, she offered some to Marty (which he declined) before taking a handful. "Thanks. I'm so glad your sharing abilities have improved."

"Sounds like there's a story, there," Rory observed.

"Oh, there's a great many stories there. Got a tape recorder handy, there, Reporter Girl?" Logan coughed again but Steph ignored him this time. A 'Shut it, Steph' cough didn't count if it was used for the purposes of self-preservation.

"Sadly, no. But I have an excellent memory."

"Well, there was this one time, I think we were about six, my mother was having tea with Lorraine, that's Logan's mom, and she brought me along. Logan wasn't around but they sent me into the playroom. So there I was playing with these robot things…"

"Transformers," Logan muttered darkly.

"…and Logan comes in, sees me, and starts to throw a fit."

"You were having a Transformer wedding! My favorite one was wearing a Kleenex veil!"

"And he threw my shoes out the window, into the pool, in retaliation."

"You deserved it. And I didn't get dessert for a week because of that."

"So…" Rory interrupted them, "you two go way back then?"

"Yep," Stephanie replied, "our mothers were sorority sisters, and our fathers went to the same Prep school. We started having regular play dates shortly after birth. Secretly, they're planning our nuptials."

"Though they'll inevitably be disappointed," Logan found himself adding, glancing over at Rory. Did she appear relieved or was that just wishful thinking on his part? His cell phone rang, interrupting his opportunity to study her further. He checked the call display. It was Colin, "Hello?"

"Gilmore's roommate is a lunatic," came the muffled stage whisper.

"I've had the pleasure of meeting her, and I must agree. Where are you?"

"Inside the club. Oh, Lane said to remind Rory to come around back. And hurry. Finn's absolutely useless..."

"Who're you talking too?" Logan recognized Paris's voice in the background easily.

"Gotta go. Bye." Logan hung up and laughed to himself.

Rory glanced at him quizzically, "What was that about?"

"That was Colin. Gellar's being a holy terror."

"Paris is especially gifted in that arena," Marty said.

"Yeah," Stephanie agreed, "we had a chemistry class together last year. The lab monitors cowered in fear."

Rory shrugged, "That's Paris. But who knows. Maybe Colin enjoys that in a woman? Oh. This is it."

"Here we go," Stephanie drawled. She should have brought popcorn.

Next Up: A chapter titled So Let's Party, Dustin Hoffman. Mucho one on one action between a myriad of characters, including Rory and Logan (finally!).