Chapter 11
The Road Out
Surprisingly to Rory, it had only taken Lorelai a few minutes to agree to let her only child go to New York with her boyfriend. Lorelai actually thought it would be a good idea. Growing up with people like Christopher, she knew how much other people had a tendency to interfere with not only their relationship, but their personalities as well. Lorelai figured that since this was the first time Rory was dating a guy with a similar background as her, it was important that they get to know each other as individuals before the complexity of their families and friends started impacting their relationship. As hard as it was to see Rory drifting towards the life she escaped from, she knew that Logan made her happy, and Lorelai had to admit he was a catch. From what she could tell Logan was the perfect guy for Rory. Not only was he incredibly handsome, but he shared her interest in the newspaper and literature. Logan is also incredibly intelligent, and that is something that she knew Rory needed in a relationship to keep her interest.
Rory was 20 years old, and as rough as it was to see her little girl grow up, she knew that she would not always be the innocent child that had gone 16 years without kissing a boy. Lorelai knew that Rory would be smart about being with Logan, and she knew that Rory could be trusted completely. Lorelai agreed to the get-away under the condition that Rory called her at least once a day to check in and that she also get her something nice while she is visiting New York.
Rory was so excited to be going to New York with Logan. She had been there on a few occasions, but never for an extended stay. She did not know the city well enough to stay by herself, and she was excited to have Logan as a tour guide.
After the movie marathon Logan left Rory at her house and he returned to his dorm to pack for their stay in New York. He could not believe how cool Lorelai had been about letting Rory go with him. He could barely sleep that night as he anticipated the weeks to come.
The next day Lorelai dropped Rory off at her dorm and she helped her pack until Logan was to pick her up at noon. At around 11:30, Lorelai dropped to her bed in exasperation.
"Seriously, how many dresses will you need for a two week trip?" Lorelai said sighing. "Your bag is not big enough to fit the essentials, like socks and underwear. And don't you even think about saying you wont need underwear."
"Mom, I have a second bag I can pack. I will keep this one for my dresses and the other one for my jeans and other essentials." Rory said as she hauled a large suitcase out from under her bed.
"Good, you can never pack too much really." Lorelai said, excited by the fact that she had another bag to work with. "I am thinking you will need at least three pairs of jeans, two skirts, five sweaters, and some sweatshirts. Then you will need all your makeup, hairdryer, curling iron, and toothbrush…are you sure that two bags will be enough?" Lorelai asked skeptically.
"I am not going to bring more than two bags. Logan will think that I am some sort of high maintenance prissy moron." Rory said, also looking uncertainly at her overflowing suitcases.
"You also have to take into account that you will be bringing back more than you brought. You are going to New York, you will definitely be buying new clothes and such while you stay. So I think you should bring three bags, loosely pack all of them, and then that way when you buy another bag worth of stuff you will have a place to put it all." Lorelai said, happy with her decision.
"I guess I did not think about where I would be putting what I would buy there. Okay, well I have another duffle bag, so let's just throw my bathroom stuff in that one and then we should be set. Did I forget anything?"
"Pajamas?" Lorelai asked.
"Yup, I got em." Rory answered.
"Shoes?"
"I packed them with the dresses." Rory said.
"Okay, well I guess if you did forget anything you can always buy it. Do you have enough money for the trip? I could always loan you some money if you need any." Lorelai said.
"That is okay Mom; I have a ton of money saved up from my birthdays from Grandpa. I don't like to spend it, but this is a special situation." Rory said.
"Well don't spend it all, you need something for emergencies."
"I don't think I could spend it all." Rory said thinking about the $5,000 she had in her bank account. She did not want to tell her mom about all the money she had because she knew that she would only get mad at her parents for giving it to Rory. She had been saving the money for years. She never knew what to spend it on, so she just put it all in the bank. Now that she was finally going somewhere on her own, she felt it would be the perfect occasion to tap into her savings.
"Oh man, it is noon! Mom, sit on this bag so I can close it." Rory said, pointing to one of the overflowing suitcases.
Lorelai plopped down on the bag and somehow Rory managed to pull the zipper shut. The next few minutes involved a scrambling Rory throwing on her coat and attempting to lug her suitcases down the hall towards the exit.
"Why do I need so much stuff?" Rory asked in exasperation.
"Because you are my daughter. We pack for every event. I was forced to learn this from my mother." Lorelai said, pulling an especially heavy suitcase behind her.
After a few minutes of this, they finally reached the doors leading their way outside. As soon as the cold air hit them they both sat down on their suitcases to take a break from all the manual labor. Rory spotted Logan making his way towards them from where he parked his BMW.
"Hey ladies." Logan said with his handsome grin.
"Logan! Goodie. I have never been so glad to see you in my life!" Lorelai yelled.
"Need some help with those Ace?" Logan said laughing at the sight of the two women sitting on the bags.
"Oh please! Who ever knew that Rory was such a spoiled brat? She packs way too much." Lorelai said, laughing at Rory.
"Whatever mom, you were the one who told me to pack half of this stuff." Rory retorted.
"Calm down ladies. How about I take these two and then Rory you take the smaller duffle bag?" Logan said pointing at the two huge suitcases that were currently operating as benches.
"I think I can handle that." Rory said smiling at him.
"Okay mom, I think that we are leaving soon." Rory said looking towards her mom.
"Well Rory, have fun, be safe and don't do anything that I wouldn't do!" Lorelai said.
"That does not leave out a lot." Rory said laughing.
"Okay, fine, then don't do anything Luke would not do." Lorelai responded.
"Haha, then I won't even be going." Rory said.
"Argh, okay, how about this. Don't do anything Rory would not do!" She said with a smile.
"I don't plan on it." Rory said embracing her mom in a hug.
"I am going to miss you sweetie." Lorelai said.
"Me too mom. I will only be gone for two weeks. We will talk daily. And if anything happens I will be come back, but I don't expect anything happening." Rory said letting go of her mother.
Lorelai walked over to where Logan was standing and gave him a hug. While she was hugging him she whispered in his ear: "I know you will take good care of her, but if you do anything to hurt her, I will hunt you down, and be afraid my friend, be very, very afraid."
"Right, well, umm thanks Lorelai. I will, and you don't have to worry about anything." Logan said with an awkward smile.
"Bye mom!" Rory said stepping into the car.
"Bye Rory." Lorelai said watching as they drove away. She felt her eyes tear up at the sight of her daughter driving off with her boyfriend. As much as she enjoyed having such a mature daughter, it was times like these that she wished she were still ten years old and clinging to her as they went out in public.
"Are you excited?" Logan asked Rory, hoping that she was.
"I am very excited." Rory responded grinning from ear to ear. "How long until we get there?"
"It will be about an hour and a half." Logan told her. So you might as well make yourself comfortable. I think we will avoid most of the traffic leaving at this time though."
"That is not bad." Rory said, actually looking forward to the time they would be spending in the car. She found a CD case under her seat and started looking through his collection.
"Not bad. The Killers, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, The Offspring, Cold, Carbon Leaf, The Starting Line, Face to Face. I am totally impressed." Rory said.
"What were you expecting? Nelly, P. Diddy etc?" Logan said.
"Oh my GOD!" Rory said.
"What?" Logan asked jumping.
"You have Val Emmich." Rory exclaimed. "I love him."
"Yeah?" Logan asked. "I thought I was the only one who knew who he was."
"No way, I love his song 'Shock.' It is like my life story." Rory said, referring to the lyrics that go "Tell me it's a joke/tell me you're kidding/'Cause I believed in you/but now you have a lot to prove" in fact, the entire album reminded her of Jess.
"I can't believe you know who he is!" Logan said excited about her taste in music. "They are going to be in New York while we are there." He said.
"Really? Can we go see him?" Rory asked hopefully.
"Yes, I wanted to go, but I did not know if you would like his music, so I would have skipped it. He is going to be at the Knitting Factory in a few days." Logan said.
"That is so cool. I can't wait! Are there any other bands that will be playing in New York that you are afraid I won't like?" Rory asked hopefully.
Logan could not help but laugh at her last statement. "I am not sure, but we can always investigate. If there is anything you want to see, let me know and I am sure we can work it in."
"I have a good feeling about this trip." Rory said smiling.
"So do I." Logan responded. Rory was pretty sure he was not referring to their entertainment.
"Do you have any special requests while we are in the city? I have a few things planned, but nothing that will occupy us for the entire two weeks." Logan said.
"Oh gosh, there is so much to do in New York! I have only been here a few times, so I know there is so much left for me to see. Off the top of my head, I know I want to see the Statue of Liberty obviously, the Empire State Building, the Intrepid Museum, the United Nations, the Met, Rockefeller Center, the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art. Oh and Broadway! I want to see Avenue Q, and a taping of the Late Show, and as hokey as it sounds, I want to stand outside the windows of the Today show and hold up a sign for mom." Rory said rambling at this point.
"Woah there big shooter." Logan said laughing. "You have to pace yourself here. The tickets to the shows should be a piece of cake. I will let my dad know that we want to get into them and he will send some over. As for the rest of it, well, we are here for two weeks, I think that is more than enough time to get all of it in."
"I want to go shopping too." Rory said.
"I assumed you would. If it is okay with you, I invited Finn, Colin and Stephanie to join us next Wednesday and so they are coming in early and I figured you and Steph could spend most of the day shopping and then we can all meet up later and hang out." Logan said.
"That sounds like a great idea. I didn't think you would be too into the idea of spending a day shopping." Rory said.
"Yeah, but I think we have already had this conversation." He smiled at her. "Well Rory, it looks like we have arrived." Logan said as he pulled into a large parking garage.
Rory sat in stunned silence taking in the building. It was a gorgeous pre-war building. They were located off of Madison Avenue, so she could only assume that the apartment could be rented for nearly $5,000 a month. She had no idea how much the Huntzberger's must have paid for it, she assumed somewhere in the millions. A doorman came out to help Rory and Logan with their luggage. The older man greeted Logan by name. Logan introduced Rory to the man and he shook her hand with one of his gloved hands. The doorman said that they had spent the last week preparing the room according to Logan's specifications and if there were any problems they would see to it immediately.
Logan led Rory to the elevator where he pushed the button for the 25th floor. He found the apartment and opened the door to reveal a spacious two bedroom apartment. The apartment was huge in comparison to most located in New York. The kitchen looked like it had recently been renovated, and the large foyer entrance housed a stone fireplace. The ceilings were high, reaching up about 15 feet and all along the walls were built in shelves which the Huntzberger's had adorned with a huge collection of books. The corner windows looked out over Madison Avenue, and Rory could see all of the stores she could not wait to visit.
"You can take my room." Logan said. "I assume you will be more comfortable in there instead of my parent's master room" he explained.
"That will be great." She said, dragging one of her suitcases after him into Logan's room. She looked around the tasteful room. It was apparent he did not spend a lot of time here. The room was very simple, yet elegant. It had a queen sized bed, a table with a lamp and an alarm clock on it and a dresser. It was painted a deep navy blue, which Rory liked immediately. It made the large room appear much more cozy and comfortable. The red comforter gave his room a Nautical feeling to it, which made Rory want to comment about the Fiji incident, but she knew better.
"There should not really be anything in here. I may have left a couple shirts behind, but you can move those all to one drawer and unpack your stuff. Use the closet too. I will give you a few minutes to put your stuff away." Logan said, leaving her to unpack.
Rory spent the next few minutes looking around his bedroom. She noticed that he had his own bathroom that was again done in the dark blue theme. The marble floors sparkled, and there were new towels out for her use. Rory was too excited to explore the room too thoroughly, she wanted to get unpacked and start exploring the city. She cleared out her bags in record time, and then went to go find Logan in his parent's room.
His door was closed partially, so she knocked. He told her she did not have to knock and to come in. She walked in and saw him hanging up his clothes.
"That was fast. Are you done putting your stuff away already?" He asked her.
"Yes, why aren't you? I want to get out of here. We have so much to see!" Rory said excitedly.
"Well first of all, I am starving. I think we should maybe grab something to eat and then just walk around this area so you can acquaint yourself with where you will be staying for the next two weeks." Logan suggested.
"That sounds like it would probably be a good idea. I am also really hungry. Do you know of anything good?" Rory asked.
"There is a place called Osso Buco that is right by us. We won't have to get on the subway to get there, we can just walk." Logan said.
"That sounds like it would be good." Rory said. "Are you ready to go now?" She said as her stomach growled.
"I can be. It sounds like you are." Logan said laughing at her.
Rory and Logan walked out of the apartment complex waving goodbye to the doorman and walking the 6 blocks to the restaurant hand in hand.
Rory was impressed by the simple elegant décor of the restaurant. The entire room was painted in khaki, red and black theme. The clothed tables were set up in an open dinning area with a balcony above with more seating. One wall was lined with an immaculate bar where a few locals were enjoying a drink after getting off of work for the day. Other than that, the early time allowed for the restaurant to be fairly empty.
After Rory and Logan sat down for their lunch/dinner Logan asked her if she had seen anything that she wanted to check out.
"Not yet, but I am sure it won't take me long to find something." Rory said smiling.
"There is a bookstore that I want you to see." Logan said. "I heard you talking to that guy in Stars Hallow about an out of print book, this place is called The Last Word, it is just a few streets over, we should go there before we head back." Logan said. "This place has just about every book you could think of, it also has a lot of first additions. I think you will love it."
"Are you kidding me? That sounds like heaven. Wait, do they serve coffee?" Rory asked smiling.
"In fact, they do." Logan said, returning her grin.
"Scratch that, it is heaven." Rory said.
"Well then, I am glad that I was able to show it to you." Logan said, grabbing her hand from across the table. "It is one of my favorite shops. They can get anything there."
"I did not realize that you were a book enthusiast." Rory said in surprise.
"Well Rory, this is why we are taking these two weeks to be together. There is a lot about me that you don't know." He said winking.
Rory could feel her heart melt. Logan was taking the time to show her places that he likes that he knew she would love. She could not wait to see the book store. She hoped that they would be open for a while, because she had a feeling it would be the type of place she could spend hours at.
Rory ate her dinner quicker than usual, and she impatiently waited for Logan to finish eating his.
"I knew I should have just surprised you." He said laughing at her tapping foot.
"I am sorry, you tell me about this amazing book store and you don't expect me to want to leave immediately? What do you expect?" Rory said exasperated.
"Well I do apologize my lady. Next time I find something amazing I want to share with you, I will keep it to myself until we are upon it." He said smiling.
"Good idea," Rory said uncrossing her arms and leaning towards him. "So are you done yet?"
Logan set down his napkin and said that he was. He quickly paid the bill and was escorted out of the restaurant by an impatient Rory.
"You are going to have to slow down if you want me to show you where the bookstore is." Logan said.
"Sorry, you are just walking too slowly!" Rory yelled back to him.
"Well you are in luck, because it is just around the corner." Logan replied.
Rory quickened her speed as she rounded the corner and saw the sign for the Last Word looming ahead of her. She had almost broken out in a run by the time she reached the doors. A few moments later Logan joined her by the doors. She held her breath as she opened the doors, not quite knowing what to expect.
The book store was huge. Lined from ceiling to floor with volumes and volumes of books. She did not know where to go first. She saw an expansive history section and was tempted to make her way over there, but then her eyes landed on her favorite area, Classics.
She led Logan along by the hand and pulled him into the massive area. There were rows upon rows of shelves dedicated to this type of writing. Rory scanned the books quickly at first, thinking she could look closer the second time around. After picking up two books from the first row, she rounded the corner and ran right into someone causing her to drop the books she had in her arms.
"Oh my, I am so sorry." Rory said, bending down to pick up the books.
The man also leaned down to help her, and as they began standing she got her first real look at him.
"Jess…" She said.
"Hi Rory." Jess said in a gruff tone, instantly recognizable. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine"
Dun dun duunnnnn—that is my cliffhanger. You dig it?