I glance up as Colin walks in. "So, you're free for the weekend. What are we doing?"
"She's out of town. That doesn't mean I'm free." He deadpans.
"Same difference. What are we doing?"
He flops in a chair. "Isn't it Finn's turn to decide?"
I groan. "Do you think that if we conveniently forget to remind him he won't remember?"
His eyebrows lift. "Are you kidding? A weekend where I'm not with Steph and you don't have some evil plot for the reporter? No way is he going to let us decide what we're doing."
I narrow my eyes at him. "What does Ace have to do with this?"
"You're falling for her Logan."
I shake my head. "I am not. I just enjoy watching her squirm."
He sighs. "And it doesn't at all bother you that she hasn't delivered on her precious retribution for the coffee thing yet?"
I shudder a bit. "How bad could it be, right? I've been sending the coffee to her mother. I explained the whole thing to the woman. She seemed okay with it. They both did."
"Who are you trying to reassure? Me? Because I don't need reassurance. She's not coming after me. Christ Logan, you're talking about a person who managed to convince you her grandfather conspired with your father to betroth you. She's vicious when provoked."
I groan. "Do you think I don't know that? But honestly, I've talked to her. And I know she can't have anything planned for this weekend, because she's going out of town on a writing retreat."
The door crashes open then, and a disturbingly sober Finn walks in. "It got rejected." He says incredulously.
I lift an eyebrow. "What got rejected?"
"My credit card. All of my credit cards actually. I went to pick up the libations for our bachelor's weekend at the liquor store, and they turned down my credit cards." He collapses into one of the other chairs. "Not only did they reject them, they cut them up! In front of everybody! And Marc down at the Pub wouldn't put anything on my tab because he says the credit card it's on got rejected this morning when he went to charge last weeks drinks!"
I stare at him. "That's ridiculous Finn. How much could you have possibly drunk to exceed your limit?"
He lifts his arms. "That's just it mate. I didn't. I called the credit card people, and they plainly stated that I didn't have an account, so please don't accuse them of freezing it."
"Are you saying your parents cut you off?" Colin asks incredulously.
He shakes his head. "I don't know. They're in Cuba this week at some Yoga retreat. Can't get a hold of them as they don't have a phone."
I tilt my head. "Are you sober?" I ask carefully.
He nods morosely. "Completely. We have no alcohol left."
I feel a tug at my spine. No way. She wouldn't have gone after Finn. She wants to make me suffer. I stand. "Let's go then! Tonight is on Colin." I grin at my friend and then shrug. "I paid last month."
He nods, and we pick Finn up. "Let's go."
I stare at the girl. "What do you mean rejected?"
She glances at Colin. "I'm really sorry, I know you guys are here all the time, but my manager says I need to stop comp-ing people."
Colin nods, and pulls out another card. "No worries. This one should be fine."
I feel the tug at my spine increase as she walks away. "How much cash do you have on you Colin?" I ask carefully.
"Not enough." He grunts.
I pull out a fold. "With this?"
"That'll cover it, but after that we'll both be tapped." We glance at Finn.
He shakes his head. "I tapped out last night, was going to get more after picking up the drinks, but with the issues that came up I forgot."
This is stupid. I shouldn't even be worried about this. To do this she'd have had to go to my parents. I sigh as the waitress comes back, shaking her head.
"Sorry guys."
I nod to Colin. "Give her the cash." I clip.
"I have other cards Logan." He offers.
"And I have a crazy suspicion they won't work."
He shrugs. "Give her one of yours."
I fix him with a glare. "Give her the cash Colin. Trust me. My cards are probably just as useless."
He carefully hands over the cash. "You can't possibly be thinking that this was Gilmore."
I run my hands through my hair. "I don't know man. I just don't know. But to be fair, it could be something else."
"But you don't think it is."
"Come on Logan mate, she'd have had to go to your parents. They'd never go along with it."
"Unless she told them about the coffee thing." I clip. "My dad was really stressed about that."
I feel them staring at me. "You took your father's coffee?" Colin whispers.
I nod. "You're the one who told me I'd have to clean out the state."
"You took Mitchum's coffee?"
"I realize now that it was stupid, but the only way he could've found out was if she told him, and they've never met." I answer as we move out of the restaurant.
"Do you really think that would have stopped her? Logan, we're talking about a girl who stormed our dorm room like a firecracker two weeks ago. She's vindictive, you got proof of that when Richard cornered you in the quad."
I stop. "Okay, fine. So it's possible she could have done this to me. Why would she go after the two of you? That doesn't make any sense."
I see Finn wince. "Unless she knew we were involved, and that we would cover for you until you got things straightened out with the banks and your parents."
I turn to him. "How would she have known you were involved?"
He sighs. "I mentioned that we weren't completely aware of the scope of your prank – which, given the information regarding your father is entirely true as it turns out – and implies that we were at least partially involved."
I ball my fists. "How am I supposed to confront her if she's out of town on a retreat?" I ask thickly.
"I'd start with placating your father. He's more likely to continue this that she is."
"Yeah, because I'm going to walk up to him and say 'sorry', and he's just going to hand back control." I deadpan.
"It has a better shot than trying to track down Gilmore does." Colin clips.
"Don't you dare get pissed at me for this. She did this."
"To get back at you." I look over at him. "Fix this Logan. Fast."
I sigh, and pull out my phone to call a car.
"New Haven Transport."
"This is Logan Huntzberger, can you get Frank to come pick us up at the China Palace and take us back to the dorm?"
"I'm sorry Mr. Huntzberger, Frank has been re-assigned by your father to one Lorelai Leigh Gilmore. I am, however, authorized to send you another car to take you to his house."
"We want to go to the dorm."
"I'm not authorized for that."
"You're on retainer."
"To your father, yes, but your account has been frozen."
My eyes go wide. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Your account has been frozen sir. Would you like me to send you a car to take you back to your father's house?"
I swallow. "Sure."
"It'll be about five minutes." I close the phone and glance at my friends.
"She has Frank." I tell them.
Colin's eyes go wide. "What do you mean she has Frank?"
"The only car I'm authorized to have is one to my father's house. My account is frozen."
Colin winces. "Seriously?"
I nod. What the hell has she done? How am I supposed to survive?
"That's harsh mate." Finn offers, then laughs lightly. "Ooh." He points at a small car approaching. "I wonder who has to make do driving that." He grins.
The driver steps out, and walks up to us. "Logan Huntzberger?"
I'm going to throttle her for this.
I step into the sitting room and look around. "Where the hell are they?" I mutter, shaking my head as Colin and Finn collapse on opposite couches.
"Who cares Logan? Where the hell did the bar go?" Finn asks.
"They moved it to the kitchen to make life easier for the caterers about a month ago." I offer and shake my head as they stand.
"Right then, we'll be in the kitchen, and then the theater. Join us when you've got this handled." Finn smiles, and pulls Colin out of the room.
I move through the house, and sigh when I see a note taped to the door of their suite of rooms. I open it up. "Gone to Thailand. Be back Monday, we'll figure it out then. Love, Mom and Dad." I read slowly. "Great. Just great. I get to spend the weekend at my parents' house." I mutter darkly, stalking down the hall to my own room.
Flinging open the door, I freeze at the sight of her snuggled up in my bed with a book. "What the hell took you so long? I was expecting you hours ago." She comments lightly.
"Were you?" I ask as calmly as I can, crossing my arms to glare at her. Snuggled up on my bed. Focus Logan. FOCUS.
"Yeah. Considering the trouble I went to in arranging your little surprise, I figured you'd have gotten here to freak out at your parents relatively quickly."
"It was supposed to be Finn's weekend to pay." I tell her calmly, and nearly cave as he smiles widely, leaning further back into my pillows.
"That was a stroke of genius on my part, I have to admit."
I move closer, sitting down next to her on the bed. "How did you get my parents involved? For that matter, how did you get their parents involved?"
She shrugs. "I called your mother, introduced myself. I'll admit it was a lot easier than I expected it to be, even with how pissed your dad was when he realized you were behind the great coffee disappearing act of Connecticut."
I lift my eyebrows, and quickly think about the conversations I've had with my father in the past few months, and with my mom. "It's possible I've mentioned you to them a few times." I admit carefully. A lot of times.
She smiles again. "That was awfully helpful of you."
"You had them cancel my car service?"
She laughs. "Logan, I had them cancel everything except your tuition, dorm rent, and deliveries to my mother. Did you even try to watch TV today?"
I stare at her. "Satellite service?"
She nods. "And land line, and bank accounts, and lines of credit. You name it, its gone." She pauses. "Wait a second. What are you doing in this room?"
They wouldn't have. "This is my room." I explain carefully.
She smiles. "Wow. I didn't think they'd go this far, though the comment before they headed to the airport makes a whole lot more sense now."
I stare at her. "What comment?"
"That they had the maid get the 'pink room' ready for you because your room was unavailable. They actually told me there were renovations happening in it."
"They gave you my room."
She nods. "And I saw the pink room. You can forget switching out with me because I'll tell your father and he'll keep the freeze on through next weekend."
"You manipulative little witch!" I hiss. I can't believe she did this! Nevermind that she looks like she belongs there, I can't believe they gave her my room!
She purses her lips. "That's not very nice." She offers.
I throw my hands up. "YOU HAD MY PARENTS FREEZE MY FINANCES!" I shout at her, standing up and beginning to pace the room, then stop cold. "And told me you had a writing retreat this weekend." I face her, feeling my chest constrict as she climbs out of the bed wearing a thin pair of yoga pants and a worn tank top.
"And you Logan, made the coffee disappear. This is nothing. Trust me." She stalks towards me. "Suck it up princess. Live without the silver spoon for a weekend."
I look down at her, narrowing my eyes to avoid looking at her body. "In this house?"
I see a glint in her eyes as the door begins to shake with Finn's pounding, and a smile spread across her face that scares me. "Surprise." She whispers, crossing to the door to pull it open. "Hello boys." She greets my friends warmly.
They freeze as they walk into the room. "Mate, what is she doing here?" Finn asks slowly.
I cross my arms. "Making my life a living hell." I clip.
Colin sighs. "And ours apparently. The bar is empty. Every bar is empty – we checked. The movies are gone. The pool is drained, and the chlorine tank is empty so we can't even fill it. The tennis courts are locked, the satellite service is coded off, and get this – none of the phones work." He deadpans, staring at her.
She shrugs. "I suppose that if the two of you are really nice to me I'll help you out in your pain a bit and share the TV codes – maybe even tell you where the spare chlorine tank for the hot tubs is, but not if you plan on including Logan in your fun."
They glance at one another, then at me. "You guys can't seriously be considering going along with her."
They nod, and turn back to her. "What do you want?" Finn asks.
She grins. "Coffee would be an excellent place to start."
They hurry out of the room. "I can't believe you've resorted to corrupting my friends." I shake my head as she moves into the room a bit to pull on a deep blue satin robe. Jesus.
"You started this Logan, not me." She offers as she wraps the robe around herself loosely.
I can't do this anymore. I just can't do this anymore. She's just…she's too… I run my fingers through my hair roughly. "And now I'm finishing it." I mutter, half to myself as I move across to her and cover her lips with my own. Perfect. I think idly as she allows me to gently explore her mouth. She's just perfect.
I pull back slowly as her hands begin to trace patterns on my back. "What just happened?" she whispers.
I move my hands through her soft hair, meeting her eyes. "You won. I admit it. Can we go back to making out now?"
She nods, and as she touches her lips to mine I notice Colin and Finn coming down the corridor. I kick the door closed in their faces and continue to hold her tight to me. Okay, maybe this stupid plan of hers turned out okay after all.
