Epithet of a Heart

Chapter 3

Rory emerged from her room in nice warm clothes to find Finn lounging on the couch, eating pizza, clad in nothing but a towel wrapped securely around his waist. As far as she could tell, he hadn't noticed her come into the room, so she took a minute to study him. He looked good, she thought, surprised. Toned abs and tanned skin, hair still dripping wet from the shower. Unconsciously, she licked her lips.

"Like what you see, Rory?" said Finn without looking up. Slowly, he brought his head up to look at Rory and caught her mid-lick. He quirked an eyebrow and leered at her.

"Yeah. Looks delicious," said Rory, returning his leer.

"Well then, why don't you come over here and get some?" Finn asked seductively.

Rory shrugged. "Okay, I will." She flounced over and picked up a piece of pizza. "Yumm…." she purred as she took a bite.

Finn stuck out his tongue. "Mean."

Rory looked up at him, and pretended to notice his attire for the first time. "Finn? Why aren't you dressed?"

"Delivery boy came when I was getting out of the shower. I didn't want the pizza to run away, so I answered the door."

"Why don't you go get dressed now?"

"What…and let you hog all of the pizza? Besides," he added. "My clothes are all wet and icky!"

"Sorry," said Rory, her voice noticeably unremorseful. "Like I said, I don't have any clothes that would fit you."

"What you don't have any oversized tee-shirts, or any pairs of boxers around? Isn't that illegal for a college student?"

Rory sighed; Finn was unstoppable. "Fine, you caught me," she relented, throwing her hands in the air. She got up to her feet, and stomped off to her room, indicating that Finn should follow her.

Finn took his time getting up and making his way into the room. He leaned against the doorframe and watched Rory rummage through the back of her closet.

"A ha!" she cried triumphantly, waving around a large, red shirt that asked presumptuously, 'Do you believe in love at first sight? Or should I walk by again?'

Finn chuckled. "I knew that deep down, you were exactly like me."

Rory looked up, confused. "What?"

"That shirt you are currently brandishing?"

Rory nodded unsurely, partly due to the fact that she had no idea where he was going with this line of questioning, and partly due to the fact that he could still use large words like 'brandishing' after a half a dozen or so beers.

"I have one just like it," he said, emphasizing the 'just' slightly too much, proving to Rory, at least, that he was just as drunk as she was.

"You would!" Rory shot back tartly.

"What? You don't like the shirt?" Rory just gave him a look that said 'what do you think?'

"So why do you have it if you don't like it?" pressed Finn, his one-track mind whirling.

Rory shrugged. "My mom probably forced it on me."

"Ah yes, the infamous Lorelai Victoria Gilmore."

Rory was fed up with the conversation. She balled up the shirt, and attempted to throw it at him. Her aim was off, and it landed a few feet into the common room. As Finn reached down to pick it up and shrug it on, Rory padded back over to the couch.

"Rory? What about the boxers?"

"I never said I had any!" said Rory petulantly from her perch on the couch.

"You never said you didn't!"

Rory sighed. She could see Finn wasn't going to give this up. She walked back into her room and opened her pajama drawer. Again, she bunched up the fabric and chucked it at him. This time, she managed to hit him, and he grabbed it automatically.

He took one look at the fabric and yelped. "SpongeBob?"

Rory smirked.

"You expect me to wear SpongeBob boxers?"

Rory shrugged. "You were the one that wanted boxers so badly."

"I changed my mind."

"Oh, just put them on already. I want to watch a movie!"

Finn acquiesced, and shortly later, they were sitting watching Two Weeks Notice. Rory recited line for line the dialogue of the movie until Finn gave in and put his hand over her mouth.

"Shh! I can't hear the movie!" he stage whispered to her.

"Don't be ridiculous," she stage whispered back. "I know the lines better than Sandra and Hugh did."

"That may be so, but I'd like to hear Sandra and Hugh say them if you don't mind."

Rory stuck her tongue out at him, but he had already turned back to the movie and didn't notice.

By the time they had reached the part where Sandra Bullock claimed to be a 'twisty bobcat pretzel,' Finn had grown bored. He turned to Rory.

"So," he began, but was quickly silenced when she slapped her hand over his mouth.

"Shut up! This is the best part!" Finn waited patiently as they watched the duo on screen share an awkward, half-drunken kiss. Rory pushed the remote, and the movie disappeared.

Rory turned toward Finn and waited for him to continue.

She didn't have to wait long. "Truth or Dare?"

Unfazed, Rory said, "Truth."

"What happened to you and Logan?" Finn asked. He had been wondering for quite some time, ever since she stopped showing up at their dorm.

"There never was a me and Logan," said Rory surprisingly calmly. Finn quirked an eyebrow at her and waited for her to continue. "I wanted strings," she confessed quietly.

Finn nodded sagely. "Ah, the dreaded strings."

He managed to elicit a drunken giggle from Rory. "I told him I could do no strings attached. It just so happened that that wasn't very fun."

"Huh. Who knew? So, you're still waiting for strings?"

"Not necessarily from Logan. But yeah, I'm still waiting for strings."

"Sounds fair to me."

They drifted into small talk for a while before Rory emitted a loud, jaw-cracking yawn.

"Well, will you look at the time," said Finn. "I should probably get going. We have successfully survived the dreaded Valentines Day," Rory looked over at the clock that read 12:07 while Finn continued talking. "And I'm sure the lady needs her beauty sleep."

"What? Are you saying I'm ugly?"

"Never," said Finn truthfully as they stood up.

Rory walked him to the door. He leaned down and gently brushed her lips with his. Rory's eyes widened.

"Well, ta-ta for now!"

Finn had disappeared out into the hall before Rory thought to call after him. "Finn!"

His head reappeared quickly. "Yes, love?"

"It's still raining out, and you're wearing a tee-shirt and pair of boxers. Why don't you stay the night, sleep on the couch, and save yourself the flirtation with pneumonia?"

Finn shrugged, as if the thought hadn't occurred to him. "If you insist."


AN: Don't worry, Rory will obsess next chapter. I'm sorry its taken me so long to update this story. I'm not sure how long this is going to be - I don't want to drag it out and have nothing happen! Whatever.

What did you think? Review, please- Rebecca