"Hey, Huntzberger," Rory said cheerfully as Logan swung open his door. She was quite used to the delicious tingle that ran up her spine every time she saw him. The feeling had somehow embedded its way into her consciousness and was now forever associated with Logan.
Logan's lips automatically found hers and he pulled her into his suite, past the common area and into his room. "Well, hi to you too, mister," Rory breathed as he finally let her go. "I just came by to...oh, you're packing," she said with a note of surprise as she caught sight of the state of disarray that was his bed.
"Great investigative skills you've got there, Ace," Logan joked. "I see that I've nicknamed you aptly." He proceeded to haphazardly stuff some clothes into his big, black duffel bag.
Rory merely rolled her eyes. "So," she began as casually as she could, "going somewhere?"
"And you're sharp, too." Logan launched a smirk in her direction fully aware that she was dying to know what he was up to.
Although Rory tried her best not to feel perturbed, she couldn't help it. Why was Logan packing? And why hadn't he mentioned that he was going somewhere? It irked her. And the fact that she was irked, irked her even more. She and Logan were dating. Casually. He didn't need to clear his schedule with her. And she wasn't supposed to care what he was doing when he wasn't with her. Still, it irked.
"Ugh, you're packing all wrong. You don't just shove your clothes into the bag!" Irritated, Rory grabbed his duffel bag and poured its contents back on the bed. In a huff, she began re-packing his clothes in a neat and organized fashion.
Logan laughed. "Have you been taking lessons from Richard's valet?"
"Hmmph, Grandpa no longer has a valet."
"Do you want to be my valet?" He liked getting a rise out of her. Rory was beautiful when provoked and Logan loved seeing her all riled up.
Rory shot him a look. "No, I don't want to be your valet. Or anything else. I don't want to be your anything. Vapid, entitled ass."
Logan did his best to suppress a grin though his lips were just itching to break out into a wide smile. "Ace," he cajoled pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her, "if you must know, I'm packing for a Life and Death Brigade event this weekend. We're leaving tonight. I'll be back on Sunday."
Absurdly enough, Rory felt a sliver of hurt that she wasn't invited to go, too. Sure, she wasn't officially a member. But it wasn't like she hadn't become friends with other people in the LDB, like Finn, Colin, and even Stephanie, not to mention the fact that she was dating Logan.
"Like I care," she said crossly. She didn't care. Not one bit. No way. Uh uh.
"Hmm, could've fooled me."
"I don't care. But maybe I'm a little curious. It's in my nature. Where are you guys going anyway?" she asked a bit defensively.
Logan let out a small sigh. "You know I can't tell you. We're a super secret, super exclusive club, remember?" He tried to get her to smile. No such luck. "I'll tell you everything when I get back, okay?"
"Sure," Rory replied, still a bit sullen. She knew she was being childish and unfair. Trying her best not to think of why she was suddenly acting like such a brat, Rory gamely put a smile on her face and changed the subject. "Aren't you going to ask me why I came by?" She looked up at him coyly and played with his shirt collar.
Although he was relieved that Rory didn't push the matter, he was getting worried about her getting too attached. They had been seeing each other for a couple of months now and so far everything had been pretty light and carefree, just the way he liked it. Yet there were moments when he looked into her eyes and saw something there. She never said anything or tried to change him in any way. Still, her eyes said it all. It scared the bejeezus out of him. He sometimes wondered if Rory even realized what was happening.
But he didn't want to face that now, so instead he played the game with her. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"
Rory shot him a mysterious smile and went to retrieve her bookbag. She pulled out a newspaper and handed it to him.
"The New York Times?" Logan looked at her in confusion.
She rolled her eyes at him yet again. "I see I have all the investigative skills in this relationship." She nodded at the newspaper. "Look closer. Notice anything?"
Logan scanned the paper. When he got to page three in the Editorial section his face lit up in a huge smile. "Wow, you're big time now, Ace. Getting published in the big kid paper. I knew that was one of your best articles. I'm really happy for you."
"Can you believe it?" She let out a squeal of delight. "Me, Rory Gilmore, my first byline in the freaking New York Times!"
"Come here." He lifted her off the ground and kissed her thoroughly.
Rory sighed. She was happy. The world was beautiful. She fit Logan's body so perfectly and she just felt so totally right in Logan's arms. And... oh God. No no no no no. This was not happening. This was the last thing that she wanted. She did not want to fall in love with Logan Huntzberger. That was not the plan. Miserably, Rory realized that it was too late. She was already in love with Logan. Crap, how the hell did this happen?
Logan immediately felt the change in her demeanor. "What?"
"Uh, nothing." Rory was utterly flustered. She started to ramble almost incoherently. "It's nothing. I just remembered that I, um, I gotta go. Friday night dinner tonight. And I promised Lane we'd hangout this weekend, too. Then there's Kirk, who bought as many copies of The New York Times as he could so that he could resell them in town. I'm supposed to autograph them or something. You know, Kirk. Crazy, kooky, Kirk. Wait, do you know Kirk? And, well, there's a bunch of other things I need to do. So, I better get going."
Rory grabbed her bookbag, ignored the perplexed look on his face and kissed him hastily on the cheek. "Enjoy the LDB event. Even though I know you will, don't do anything too stupid. I'll see you later."
Logan grabbed her hand before she could rush past him. "Ace, are you sure you're okay? I'm not talking to one of your other personalities, am I? You are Rory, right?"
Rory forced herself to stand still for a second, even though every instinct told her she needed to get out of that room for the sake of self-preservation. "Yes, this is me in all my nutty glory."
He still didn't believe everything was alright, but he let it go. "Okay, well, have a nice weekend. Don't get too big an ego signing all those autographs. We can't both be cocky bastards."
Rory grinned at him before turning to flee. "Ooomph," she literally ran into Finn on her way out. "Hey, Finn, nice shade of lipstick. Quite whorish. It suits you."
Finn touched his fingers to the smeared lipstick on his cheek. "Well, thanks, Gilmore, I appre-" Rory disappeared out the door before he even finished his sentence. Finn looked over at Logan. "That Gilmore of yours is an interesting bird."
"Tell me about it."
Outside, Rory immediately whipped out her phone and pushed a button on her speed-dial.
"Hello, my child. Don't you dare try to weasel your way out of Friday night dinner. Now, don't even pretend that you have some paper thing, or Yalie thing, or thing other than the thing that it really is. I know it's a Logan thing. So don't even pretend. And did I already mention that you're not getting out of Friday night dinner? Because I will not be stuck with the stuffy Gilmores all by myself tonight."
"Mom!" Rory cried out in sheer frustration and panic.
"Yes, my sweet?"
"I want strings!"
