Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything up to Jews and Chinese Food is fair game. Past that, it's just where my mind takes over.

Teaser: When Rory and Logan's arrangement goes prematurely sour, his friends take it upon themselves to intervene. Sequel to Keeping it Casual

Story Title: Nothing A Good Friend Wouldn't Do

Chapter Title: Nothing If Not Frustrating

AN: You guys are really encouraging, and I love that. I realize that I'm taking my time with this story, but I want to build it up right.

She had figured that he would be the one to approach her next. It had to be part of the plan. She might as well play along, to see exactly what he was up to. She hadn't let herself think about what might happen if he called her bluff. She had called this relationship off for the right reasons, but that didn't mean that she'd had an easy time doing it. If she were being honest, she missed his touch. She missed the way he'd look at her with want as he came through her window at night, just before his lips found hers. She loved how he made every interaction playful, be it in bed or debating while out on the town.

And now he was approaching her again.

She figured she might as well make this easy on him. He'd done the hard part, after all, he'd set this all up and walked over to her in front of this crowd and all of his friends.

"I'm impressed," she smiled, turning in towards his solid frame.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm surprised, I have to admit, but I guess I should just be flattered."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, I was surprised when Colin asked me out, I couldn't believe he would do that to you, but then I realized, he wouldn't."

"Obviously that isn't the case. He did. And you accepted. You are here together aren't you?"

His tone was not playful, and suddenly she felt foolish for her light-hearted assumptions. He was looking into her, and she felt the desperate need to backpedal.

"You brought Jill."

"I did. She was visiting."

"I wouldn't have done this, I just thought," she said quietly, wanting so much for his hardened facial lines to soften. To look at her like he had just days before. Before she'd thrown that wrench into the spokes.

"You wouldn't have done what? Called this off? Or gone out with Colin?"

"Either."

"You really did me a favor, you know that? When you confronted me about it, I thought you were crazy, because I was fine with how things were, but you were clearly reading too much into my actions. Maybe you've never dated anyone who has treated you the way you deserve, but I was just being a gentleman."

"Hey, where do you get off presuming to know me?" she said, not liking the tone he was taking with her.

"I know you better than you think," he said in a quieter tone, looking directly into her eyes.

"You don't know the first thing about me, Logan. If you did, you would know that I don't go for all this game playing. You can't possibly think you know me, you don't even know what you want."

"I think you should get back to your date," he said, not able to deal with her anymore in this moment. He was going to say things that he couldn't take back, and it occurred to him that it wasn't in his best interest to make her an enemy. It was bad enough with them not having a real friendship now.

"Why have you been in the newsroom so much lately?"

He looked to her, in her gross dismissal of his last comment, and narrowed his eyes. "I am on the paper."

"Right, right, I know that. But when our editor has to pull me aside and ask if your presence is some sort of nefarious plot to undermine his sanity, you can see where I might have some curiosity in your sudden interest in participating in the paper."

"I don't have to explain myself to you. You've never asked me to do so in the past, I just assumed you didn't care one way or the other. Why would that change now?"

"It hasn't, I don't care, I just wondered."

They were at yet another standoff, neither wanting to reveal any insecurity to the other. Neither felt safe enough to do so, and it seemed their standoff would never end. One had to be braver, to open up and admit any personal tidbit. Anything at all would do.

xxxx

"This isn't going well. We need to kick it up a notch," Colin suggested, as the four sat down the beach, watching the other two. Their body language was near hostile, yet intimate. They couldn't hear the words exchanged, but they were obviously bickering.

"Just chill. God, men never give things time to happen," Stephanie told him.

"Isn't that the truth," Jill sighed.

"But they appear to be about to kill one another," Finn said, a bit worried about leaving these two to their own means. Even he could see this wasn't going well.

"Anger is rooted in passion. They just need to realize that."

"Well, I think young Logan needs a boost in realizing that," Colin said, and took off towards the pair, despite the girls' protests.

"What an idiot," Stephanie rolled her eyes.

"There you are, I realized I didn't know what you wanted to drink," Colin said, slipping his arm around Rory. The two were still in some sort of bizarre staring match, but hadn't been speaking as he approached.

"Colin, can I speak with you for a moment?" Logan asked, through almost gritted teeth, his eyes traveling down to his friend's hand.

"Do you mind?" he turned, asking Rory. She shook her head, not trusting her voice almost.

"I'm going to take a walk," she informed him, turning and heading down the beach.

Colin turned and smiled at his friend. "What's up?"

"That's what I was going to ask you."

"I'm fine. I was talking to Jill. She's cool."

"Colin, what possessed you to ask Rory out?"

"You said she wasn't off-limits," he reminded him.

"So, what, you've been interested in her for some time?"

"You seemed to like her. I thought I'd see what all the commotion was about."

"There was no commotion—I never talked about her."

"Exactly. Logan Huntzberger, not saying a word about this girl he spends every free second of his day he can manage with. Very intriguing."

"Is this a game to you? She thinks I made you ask her out."

Colin understood her earlier comments now, seeing that she was observant, just misunderstanding things slightly. It would all be apparent soon enough anyhow, and they'd all have a good laugh at some point in the future. He could see by the look on Logan's face that now was not the moment he was to find this amusing.

"Well, you set her straight, right? I wouldn't think her to think my affections weren't true."

"You like her?"

"I like her," he lied genuinely, and his friend furrowed his brow at him. "And she seems to like me."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. She thinks you were manipulating her."

"Thanks for the heads up. I guess I better go make it up to her," he winked at Logan, who was now ready to implode, and took off down the beach to catch up with Rory.

Logan stood for a moment, going over the last five minutes in time in his head. This didn't make sense—his best friend asking her out? He could understand her going out with a barrage of his acquaintances. It wasn't too close to home, and she was proving her point. But this. She hadn't asked Colin. He got it, he supposed, they were both a bit more serious about life, both incredibly smart. But he wasn't her type. She needed someone more spontaneous, to pull her away from herself and show her what it was really like to experience things.

"So, you must suck at this talking to her thing," Jill's voice came next to him, clearly amused.

"You don't say."

"You're thinking about her still, aren't you?"

"No," he lied.

"Tell me exactly what the problem is. What happened?"

"We were having a casual thing, no strings."

"Why?"

He looked at his friend, surprised by her question. "What do you mean, why?"

She smiled. "Logan, you don't have casual feelings for this girl. Why weren't you in a real relationship?"

"I don't do relationships."

"When have you ever tried?"

"I've tried."

"With her?"

"I didn't want to put her through it, I knew it wouldn't work out."

"Why not?"

"You've met my family, how many people that you like would you want to put through that?"

"She would be dating you, not your family."

"She isn't interested in dating me."

"You didn't give her the option, did you?"

He wasn't sure what it was with the girls bringing their unwelcome insights to him lately. It was bad enough that he couldn't talk to Rory without tiring both of them out with sheer frustration, but why Jill was pushing this was beyond him. He figured he might as well turn the questions on her, and get some useful information out of the exchange.

"You were talking to Colin earlier, weren't you?"

She looked away for a moment, trying to locate the others she'd just met. "Yeah, so?"

"Did he say anything about her?"

"Not really," she lied.

"Jill," he warned.

"Just that our dates were talking."

"Is he up to something?"

"Logan," she sighed.

"Tell me. I have to know, if he's messing with me."

"Or her, perhaps?"

"He's messing with her?"

"I don't know. I just met the guy, remember?"

He rubbed his temples. He needed a good stiff drink, that's what he needed. "Can we drop this for now?"

She nodded, looking concerned for him. He wasn't taking this well, as if he were struggling to keep something just under the surface. She knew the plan his friends had concocted was getting to him, but he wouldn't admit it yet. He was trying to mask all his concern for Rory. It just didn't make sense to her.

xxxx

"Rory! Wait up," Colin yelled, causing her to stop and turn towards him.

"What did he want?" she asked quickly.

Colin shrugged. "Nothing."

"Right," she scoffed.

"Don't worry about him. Did he say something to upset you?"

She shook her head, not wanting to let on that Logan was getting to her. She wasn't supposed to worry about him. That much was clear.

"Rory, you can tell me," he probed.

"He just, he's infuriating. I don't want to talk about it."

Colin nodded, respecting her wishes. "You want to get back to the party?"

"Maybe I should just go," she said, looking up at him.

"No, come on, this will be fun. We'll just avoid him," he promised.

She wanted to laugh out loud. She had never had much luck in ignoring Logan. She didn't feel like putting the energy into pretending tonight. It was obvious Logan wasn't willing to let her in, and that her original decision had been the smartest one. He couldn't have it both ways, and she couldn't either.

"How about this? Give me one hour. If you still want to go home, I'll take you."

She looked at Colin, who looked so hopeful. She smiled, thinking no matter what pretenses brought them all there that night, that maybe hanging out with him wouldn't be so bad. Maybe she might have just a little bit of fun. One hour wouldn't hurt her, right?

"Okay. One hour. But I expect to be thoroughly entertained."

He crossed his fingers over his heart. "I'll make Finn sing if I have to."

She laughed at the thought, remembering the look on Logan's face that night in her room when he'd relayed the events of the evening of zydeco music he'd endured without her. She willed her memory to stop with his look, and not wander into the way his body had felt against hers that night.

"See? You're already having fun," he pointed out. She nodded and they moved to walk back to the rest of the crowd.