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: Can't Take My Eyes Off of You
Jill hesitated for a moment, opening her mouth slightly before closing it again. Rory looked at her in confusion and impatience. Jill couldn't blame her, but this was hard. She opened her mouth again and nodded determinedly.
"I've known Logan a really long time. I can't even remember meeting him, in fact. He has a few very close friends, people that have been around him forever. He trusts us, and we'd do anything for him. Understand?"
Rory nodded, not getting the point of the disclaimer. Whatever the other girl was going to tell her, she wished she'd just come out with it.
"Now, he would probably see this as a betrayal of that trust, but I'm overriding his wishes in his best interest," she paused again, and a smile covered her face. "He really likes you, Rory. He is falling for you, if he's not completely gone already. And knowing Logan, he's terrified of that. He doesn't fall for girls. He's used to being in control of situations. He's stubborn, which is why he's showing off his asshole qualities to you—pushing you away when he obviously doesn't want to."
Rory smiled, and looked over at Logan. He turned his head just a moment later, and looked directly at her. She could feel his gaze on her, the heat radiating over her. Could he really be falling in love with her? His actions didn't make sense to her. She looked away quickly, focusing completely on Jill's words.
"He's a great person—I'm sure you know that. You've seen the great aspects of him, or else you wouldn't have done what you did. I understand why you broke of your, uh, arrangement," Jill said, not wanting to get too far into the intimate details of what Rory and Logan had shared. "But he wants to be with you. You have to believe that."
Rory's brow was still furrowed. It was too much information to process all at once, and she got the feeling the wave of words weren't going to be ending soon.
"I don't know what to say, I don't think he really," she began, but Jill shook her head, cutting her off.
"Look, I can't tell you everything you need to know. He has to. I will tell you that tonight wasn't a coincidence. Colin and Finn set this whole thing up to get you two near each other and to knock some sense into Logan. They want to help, don't be mad," she urged, seeing the anger rise up in the other girl's eyes. "Logan is coerced into doing things he doesn't want to do, because of his family. You have to experience it for yourself to really understand, or he'd have to explain it to you. Just know that you are exactly the kind of girl he never knew he could find."
Rory was breathless from too many emotions coursing through her. If it were true, and he really wanted to be with her, was Jill saying his family was the reason he was holding off? Or that he was just scared of something he couldn't control? Perhaps both. The multiple weights on him might be enough to make his behavior and words so dichotomous.
Even then if what Jill was saying was true and he did want to be with her, was she ready to get into a relationship with him? She stood silent before Jill, her own worries mixing in with the insights Jill had shared.
XXXX
"Oh, shit."
Stephanie knew he'd seen Rory with Jill. They could have been looking a bit less conspiratorial, but that was now beside the point. The damage was done. He was pissed.
"What is going on here, Steph?"
"Logan, take a deep breath. We're just trying to help."
"Who did this?" he managed. The events of the night fell into place, and something clicked for him. The kiss, the hush-hush nature of plans, Rory's strange happiness turned uneasy interrogation earlier by the fire. Someone was behind this.
"No, no way. I'm not telling you," she backed up.
"Steph, I need to know what Jill is telling Rory, and whose idea this little scheme was," he said calmly. Too composed, for Stephanie's taste. It was eerie.
"She's just telling Rory not to give up on the idea of the two of you. She's your friend, Logan, she's not going to scare her away."
"You're sure?"
"Colin's little scheme seemed to freak you both out, we were just doing some damage control."
"Colin?"
"Logan, wait," she called out to no avail as Logan was already rushing towards the crowd, in search of his about to be bruised friend. Stephanie waved her hands furiously in the air, relieved to see that Rory had glanced over again, probably in effort to sneak another glance at Logan. She took of towards Logan, waving the other two girls on after her. They took off, running as fast as they could in the cold sand. They met up on the fringe of the crowd.
"What happened?"
"I let it slip that this was Colin's doing, and he freaked. We have to find him, before he," Steph said as they heard a loud yell from the center of the crowd.
"How could you? What the hell were you thinking?" Logan let loose when he found Colin dancing with a redhead on the beach.
Colin looked up, unsure of how to react. He wasn't sure if Logan was pissed that he was dancing with another girl, or if he knew. Something about the look in his eyes told him that he knew. The jig was up.
"Logan, calm down, I can explain," he said, but Logan lunged for him. Colin was soon in a wrestling match with his best friend, struggling to keep this from escalading. The crowd circled them, watching on in surprise. No one had ever seen the two fight.
No one, but Rory. And then, she'd only seen them go at it in jest, in her classroom. This was all because of her, and she didn't want his life being so disrupted because of her. She didn't even know what she wanted, it wasn't fair to let him go through all of this.
"Stop it!" she yelled, pushing through the crowd. The two boys parted, panting and staring at her now.
Satisfied that they'd stopped, and wholly unsure of what to say, she turned and fled towards the mainland and the parked cars. Logan and Colin watched her go before turning in to examine each other. Logan nodded towards her, and Colin nodded in agreement. They both took off after her without exchanging actual words.
"Well, it's about damn time," Jill said to Stephanie and Finn, who'd just joined the two girls.
"Who wants to dance?" he asked merrily, seeing nothing else to be done for his friends this evening.
XXXX
"Rory, wait!" Logan called, but she kept walking speedily through the maze of cars. As if realizing for the first time since leaving the beach that she hadn't driven, she pulled out her cell phone and stared at it.
"What are you doing?" he asked in a quieter tone as they finally reached her, more out of breath than before from chasing her after their interrupted fight.
"Calling a cab," she said definitively. "I need to call a cab, god, what is the stupid number?"
"Rory, I'm sorry. I did this," Colin said. "I asked you out under false pretenses, but we had it all planned out. Logan had nothing to do with it, we just wanted to make sure you two were still around each other," he oozed the secrets of the night out. "I wouldn't have kissed you, but it had to look believable to Logan. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean for this to get so out of control."
She looked from Colin to Logan. Logan seemed to be in the same state of knowledge as she was—having heard bits of it once, but not having truly believed it until it came from the source's mouth. She wondered what his whole take on this was, but at this point she was too exhausted to say much.
"It's okay, Colin. I wasn't under the impression that I was the great love of your life," she gave a faint smile before looking pointedly at Logan.
He felt the impact of her gaze, his stomach literally aching in that moment.
"We okay?" Colin turned to Logan, still smiling from Rory's jest.
"Yeah. Could we get a moment?"
"Take all night," Colin nodded and patted Logan's shoulder, before turning and walking slowly back to the party.
Logan moved closer to Rory, but not as close as he normally did. Personal space was never a concern of his when it came to her, he always wanted as little distance as possible between them. Now he felt like he should approach her slowly, so as not to scare her further away from him. He'd pushed her far enough.
"Put your phone away," he asked. She looked up at him, and closed her phone. "Thank you."
"So, your friends are quite chatty," she said hesitantly.
"So I hear. What exactly did Jill tell you?" he took a step closer to her. He couldn't help himself.
She gave a half smile, and moved closer to him as well before answering. "She said you were falling in love with me."
"Did she."
It wasn't a question. She nodded anyhow, barely moving her head. Her eyes closed halfway, as if they suddenly held weight. He was closer now, and if she moved a fraction of an inch, they'd be touching. She could feel the heat pouring off his warm skin.
"And what did you say?"
His lips were hovering just over hers, and she felt dizzy still from the events of the night swirling in her head. Being this close to him was intoxicating, to be sure, and she wished foolishly for a clear head.
"No-nothing."
"Nothing?" one brush of his lips, barely a kiss, came against her mouth. She closed her eyes the rest of the way.
"Logan," she swallowed, knowing what was next.
"Yeah?"
She looked up into his eyes, wanting him to kiss her before they could analyze this. If they kept talking, it would get convoluted again. She needed to be near him, she wanted to feel him on her skin, in her body, permeating her every cell. She couldn't bear this not working, just for tonight she wanted to pretend it would all be okay.
He saw it all in her eyes. They'd run themselves in circles trying to avoid the truth of what they both needed on the most primal of levels. It didn't matter that in the light of day this might not be the most practical thing to do, but right in this moment the only thing he needed was her.
He closed the non-existent distance between them, crushing her against him in a heated kiss. Relief shot through her body, feeling her hips meld into his. She clung to his shoulders, kissing him with a fervor that she didn't know she possessed.
"Take me home?" she managed when he pulled back momentarily for an intake of salty air. He nodded into her, taking her hand and they moved off quickly to his car, not breaking contact.
