Summary: Post-BNACAP. Rory and Logan are only friends, right? At least they think so. It's safer and simpler this way. But not for long once Rory listens to those pesky inner denials and Logan doesn't listen to those pesky rich guys he calls his best friends.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Gilmore Girls; they are property of the WB, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Hofflund-Polone and Dorothy Drank Here Productions.
A/N: Thanks for all your wonderful reviews! I'm really sorry for the long wait! I had papers and exams and life in general getting in the way. I wasn't too satisfied with the last chapter, I wrote a lot of the scenes off the cuff and should have spent more time before posting it. And I was a little dense in thinking everyone watches Veronica Mars. If you want any clarification on the VM references, I'm happy to help. And I write Colin as a cynical ass, but underneath all his brusqueness, there's a lot of sincerity and loyalty.
Chapter 5: The Dreaded F-word
"Thanks for the coffee." Rory obligingly said to Ethan as they stood in front of her door. After leaving the party, they had taken up residence at all-night café just talking. She found him genuinely easy and fun to talk to. There were hardly any awkward pauses or moments of discomfort. He even laughed at her idiotic ramblings and tales of her eccentric hometown.
"Not a problem." He replied blithely and settled his hands in his jean pockets. "It was fun."
"It was. Well goodnight." She bade farewell, only to be stopped by his voice.
"Wait Rory…" She turned to see an expression of nervous uncertainty on his face and something flickering behind his hazel eyes. There was a deeper emotion there, but she couldn't quite put the pieces together. Somehow it seemed all too familiar to her, like she was supposed to know what was coming next. She didn't have time to figure it out as Ethan went on. "I know we've been hanging out lately and studying together, but I was wondering… I was hoping you would join me for dinner."
Suddenly it became clear. The sense of anticipation in the air combined with his edginess. It all added up to… "A date?"
"Yes, a date." He grinned, diffusing some of the tension. There was still a slight shyness she had never seen in his usually composed countenance but she found it endearing. "It's sometimes been shown in those quirky teen comedies. A guy brings the girl her favorite flowers, takes her out to dinner and a movie… that kind of thing."
"A date." She repeated unnecessarily, pausing to mull it over. Images of her last official date, which was a very long time ago with Dean, filtered through her mind and images of Logan… wait a second! Logan? But he was on a date right now, one she had set up. And she was here… with Ethan, who was pleasant, intelligent and very good-looking. How had Stephanie described him? 'Six delicious feet of pure hotness.' Well, she couldn't deny that. Or the rather adoring way he was looking at her. She would have to be crazy to pass him up. "Okay, I'd like that."
"Really? Great." He gave her a mile-wide grin, running his hand through his dark locks. "How about Wednesday at seven?"
"That sounds perfect." She smiled at him and turned to enter her dorm.
"Hey Rory?"
"Yes?"
"What are your favorite flowers? After all, we don't want to let down the teen comedy genre by not doing this whole date thing properly." Ethan grinned infectiously, causing her to follow suit.
"That would be tragic." She sarcastically agreed. "Sunflowers."
"Sunflowers it is." Yes, she was confident she had made the right decision.
The next day, Stephanie knocked impatiently on the guys' dorm. "Open up!" She rapped forcefully five more times before a weary-looking Colin opened the door, dressed in a white shirt and blue boxers. His hair was in disarray and he felt like he looked – hung over, achy and sleep-deprived.
"What the hell Steph? This better be important." Colin drearily rubbed at his eyes as she pushed past him into the common room. He wasn't nearly as bad as Finn in the morning, but he was in a crippling post-alcoholic haze fuelled by the harsh rejection of one Josie Franklin. Sleeping unquestionably helped him forget the sting of Josie's adamant refusal. "It's too early, I need more sleep."
"Suck it up, princess. It's only eleven and this is important." Stephanie replied solemnly, pacing the room. She hardly looked like she had partied into the wee hours of the morning (three a.m. to be exact), her hair was perfectly coiffed and she was dressed like she had walked straight from a photo shoot. To Colin's aggravation, she looked as beautiful as ever. She glanced at Logan's closed door. "Is Logan here?"
"No, I heard him leave awhile ago." Colin watched Stephanie stride back and forth with a pale face. Her constant movement was making him ill. "Could you stop that?"
"What? Breathing?"
He grasped her arm and regained his bearings. "The pacing, I'm going to puke if you continue."
"Aww, Col, you really know how to sweet talk a woman." Stephanie snapped acerbically, wrenching her arm from his hold.
"It's too damn early for your bitchiness. What's your emergency?"
"Charm isn't your strong suit. It's a wonder you get laid at all."
"You shouldn't be insulted if I don't believe that, you being one of those lays and all…" Colin sarcastically retorted. "Something I did must have worked."
"That was once and it was a mistake." Stephanie scoffed her blue eyes flashing threateningly.
"So you've said numerous times, though your bitterness tells me otherwise. Is that why you came storming in here, to rehash our sordid past?"
"Right, the world revolves around you, Spencer." She irately threw back. "If you could pull your head out of your ass for long enough, I'd tell you this is about Logan and Rory."
"What about them?"
She sighed heavily and ushered him towards his room, not willing to enlighten his cluelessness at the moment. "Get changed. I'll wake Finn, we'll all go for brunch and I'll explain myself then. Remember to brush your teeth too, your breath reeks." She disappeared into Finn's room with the unenviable task of waking the sleep-loving Aussie.
Colin bit back an obscenity as he headed into his bedroom. It had been months and his relationship with Stephanie was still rocky. They managed to be fairly pleasant in the company of their friends or under the influence of alcohol, but when they were alone and sober things got ugly. And he was too obstinate to admit fault in what had happened between them. She was even more pig-headed than him, so she wasn't going to make the first move either. Colin anticipated they'd be stuck in this spiteful stalemate that masqueraded as friendship for a long time to come.
The sound of the phone ringing was slowly stirring Rory's consciousness. "Paris answer the phone…" She muttered before rolling over and covering her head with her pillow.
The phone continued to ring annoyingly until the answering machine clicked on to the very sedate message Paris insisted upon. After the loud beep, Logan's voice echoed through the dorm room. "Morning Ace, hope you had fun at the party last night. Now I know you said you forgave me for the whole Philosophy class prank, but I'm not so sure anymore… I'm coming over now to explain. Don't worry I'm bringing coffee. I'm hung over, but I'm not suicidal. See you in a few."
At the mention of coffee, Rory became marginally coherent, but was still too exhausted to leave the warm cocoon that was her bed. Thus she was surprised a few moments later to feel a weight sink down at the side of her coupled with the sense of someone hovering over her. She cracked open one eye to see Logan perfectly polished and smiling cheerfully at her.
"So you're up, let's talk." She buried her face in her pillow and mumbled a muffled response. Logan poked her side and started cajoling her. "Come on…wake up."
"Go away." She blindly swatted at him much to his amusement. He caught her swinging hand and pinned it down next to his thigh.
"Now that's not very nice, you could have taken out my eye."
"I didn't? Let my hand go and I'll try again."
"Note to self, the subject is snippy and mocking at all hours. Though she should be nicer to me, considering she set me up on the blind date from hell."
At this, Rory lifted her head up and faced him, amazingly quite alert. "What?"
He dryly chuckled. "And with those magic words, Sleeping Beauty awakes."
She turned over onto her back and propped herself up on her elbows with a inquisitive expression. "What happened with Marissa?"
"I'll tell you in a moment." He bent down to retrieve something from the floor and passed her a steaming cup of coffee. "Drink up, once you're fully charged, I'll share my horror story and ask what you were thinking."
"Thank you." She murmured gratefully as she sipped the hot beverage reverentially, not aware of how Logan was observing her.
He on the other hand, was silently regretting the situation he had unwittingly placed himself in. He was becoming increasingly uneasy as Rory went through her morning coffee routine, looking insanely sated and unintentionally sensuous. Her hair was deliciously disheveled and her sapphire eyes were still heavily lidded with sleep. He imagined she had what Finn termed the "morning after rumpled sex look." He couldn't be sure however. He never really stayed with a girl long enough to wake up next to her and go through the whole morning wake up scene. He always ensured he was out of a girl's room well before his bed partner woke up. So this right now was all too intimate for his peace of mind.
Once she finished paying heed to the Coffee Gods, she set her curious gaze on him, not noticing his discomfort. "Okay, tell me now."
He slipped back into his usual composed demeanor and added an ironic smile. "For someone so meticulous about research, you really dropped the ball on this one."
"Stop being so vague, what was wrong with Marissa?"
"Let's just say the night ended with me evading her attempts to beat me senseless with her Kate Spade purse." He shook his head, remembering how the girl did a total one-eighty behavior change when he told her his name. One moment she was polite and calm, the next completely unhinged with suppressed rage.
"Why? What did you do?"
He was officially affronted by her accusatory tone. "Hey! Who said I was at fault?"
"You must have done something to set her off. Believe me when I say most girls would not risk their Kate Spade purse just to maim you. So are you?"
Logan shrugged blamelessly. "Maybe just a little. But not because of anything I did to her personally. I was on my best behavior last night, I swear. I spent two hours in her abysmal company, you can't accuse me of not trying."
"Well the Marissa I know is level-headed and amiable."
"Then she does a great impression of a girl that's a few beers short of a six-pack."
"Is that a Finn saying?" Rory sniggered.
Logan nodded. "Of course."
"Back to Marissa…"
"Right, she may look harmless in a creepy Stepford Wife way…"
Rory chortled huffily at his judgment. "She does not."
"Does too. If you were there last night, you would have seen her psychotic, violent side. I revealed my last name and she practically threw a fit. Think Naomi Campbell mixed with Courtney Love angry."
"Logan Huntzberger, what did you do?"
"Well… I may have somewhat unknowingly dated both of her roommates, Stacy Carson and Cassidy George… at the same time." He confessed reluctantly, spitting out the last part quickly.
"Figures." She snorted knowingly.
"And Stacy and Cassidy may have gotten into a few minor fights over me."
"Minor?"
"Okay, maybe major. According to Marissa, things got so bad at their dorm with the constant yelling and catfights, it was practically unbearable and she considered moving out or switching roommates…" Marissa had certainly painted a bad picture for him, telling him that her friends had turned their dorm into a virtual war zone filled with continuous yelling, flying objects and vicious pranks. He felt a little bad that he caused so much chaos for Marissa. It was rare that he heard the other side of his romantic mishaps.
"Looks like you were mostly at fault."
"I am not! How was I supposed to know Stacy and Cassidy were roommates? They both came onto me and I went out with each of them only twice. It's not my fault they became too attached and thought they shared more with me."
"Great defense."
"Hey, girls know my reputation, they know not to expect long-term commitment from me. I'm not that type of guy. I don't do exclusive relationships, everyone knows that."
"Of course, you're notorious. And completely innocent because you come with the disclaimer that you don't do commitment." She sarcastically retorted.
"Exactly."
Rory groaned, she supposed it was ineffectual to convince Logan that he couldn't avoid blame by hiding behind his Lothario reputation. At least he was making an attempt to become less shallow with her help in choosing dates. "So how did the "date" with Marissa end?"
"Let's see, she called me an 'asshole' among other explicit unmentionables and I ducked a few more of her swings. Her vicious tendencies attracted the attention of her friends who assumed Marissa had too much to drink. They decided it was best if she left, much to my relief."
"Okay, aside from that… what did you think of Marissa?"
"You mean aside from her bitter diatribe against me and her attempt to knock me out with her handbag? Oh, she was just great."
"Be serious."
"Fine, if I overlook everything that happened after you left me alone with her, then I guess she was nice and pretty, but there's really nothing there, Ace. No chemistry, no interest of any sort. Plus, I got the general sense that she hates my guts or maybe all males for that matter."
"So that was a failure… I really thought I picked out a good candidate and I thought I checked to see if her roommates were former conquests of yours." Rory sighed, somewhat disappointed that her first attempt was a complete flop. Marissa seemed like a perfect fit in her mind. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry the setup with Marissa didn't work out. I feel so bad. As your friend, I should have done better research. I'll be more thorough next time, maybe get the girl's psychological profile."
"Right, next time…" He cringed at her remark. Mostly because of her persistence in setting him up with someone (he hoped she would give up considering his date with Marissa was a catastrophe) and partly because of her increasing and liberal use of the word 'friend' when it came to him. "So, what happened to you last night? I was hoping you would swoop in and save me from Marissa the Maniac, but you were gone…"
"I played one of Finn's drinking games, but decided to leave with a friend. I was getting kind of tired." Rory explained, leaving out particular details.
"Who was the friend?"
"Umm, Ethan Kincaid. He's in my Romantic Poetry class and we sometimes study together." She replied with inexplicable hesitance.
"Oh, how nice." He tried not to appear nonplussed by her revelation even as she was giving him a funny look.
"He is nice." She burrowed back under her covers and allowed an easy silence to fall over them. Rory yawned and seemed to notice for the first time that Logan seemed a little too comfortable stretched out next to her. He had his head propped up on his arms and his eyes were closed concealing his hazel eyes. It suddenly occurred to her that he was the first guy to be in her bed since Dean. And his closeness and seeming comfort level with her was unnerving her to no end. "What are you still doing on my bed, Huntzberger?"
He blinked open his eyes and smiled captivatingly up at her. "Why I was invited of course."
"No, you snuck in here and ambushed me. How did you get in anyway?" The thought suddenly occurred to her. She had been too distracted with him telling her about the set-up that she hadn't questioned his presence in her room.
"I have my ways."
"That is disturbing and wrong in so many ways. You know you can leave anytime now…"
"I don't think so, Ace, you have a mighty comfortable bed." She glowered at him as he snuggled in.
"Go away, get your own bed."
"Hmm, my bed's also comfortable, you should come try it out sometime."
"Please don't tell me that line has actually worked."
"Fine, I won't." He grinned wickedly and she couldn't help but smile back, only briefly because she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of amusing her.
"You're nauseating." She could feel his smugness roll over her in waves. "Stop smirking, it's annoying."
"How do you know what I'm doing? You aren't even looking at me."
"I can sense your arrogance from here."
"Are you always this pleasant when you first wake up?"
"You certainly will never find out. Are you always this exasperating?"
"It's part of my wonderful, enchanting personality along with my striking good looks." She rolled her eyes and thought of a way to bring him down a notch. She mustered up all her strength and shoved him over the side of the bed. He landed on her floor with a thump and a loud groan. "Damn it, Ace. What's with the physical abuse? I got enough of that last night from Marissa."
"Oh how the mighty have fallen…" Rory scooted to the edge to look at him and tried to suppress a grin. "Sorry, my bed's invite only."
"I'll remember that for next time."
"There's not going to be a next time."
"We'll see. Ow, I think I might have pulled something…" He gave her a pouty pained look and held up his hand. "Now how about some help? It's the least you can do."
She looked at him doubtfully, not fully trusting his guileless expression. She grumbled a bit, but felt guilty that she might have hurt him, so she reached down her hand to pull him up. He smirked triumphantly and yanked her down. Unceremoniously, she landed on top of him, hands bracing her against his chest. "Jerk."
"Not so mighty anymore, are we?" He chuckled, holding her flush against him so they were nose to nose. They engaged in an unwavering challenge, neither one wanting to back down first.
"Oh god, don't tell me this is what it looks like…" Both of them looked towards the doorway, where Paris was standing with an expression of utter revulsion.
"Paris, it's not what you're thinking, you see…" Rory tried to roll off of Logan, but he held her in place with a lazy, goading grin. She could only guess what Paris assumed had been happening in her absence. The scene they presented probably appeared very incriminating, as if they were caught mid-rendezvous. One of Logan's hands was grasping her bare hip where her T-shirt had ridden up and his other was trapping her left hand to his chest. Their legs were entangled and she knew her face was likely a blushing pink.
Paris held up her hand and gladly averted her gaze. "Save it, unless one of you is trying out for the wrestling team, there really is no good explanation, or at least one that I want to waste thirty seconds of my life listening to… I only came back to retrieve my notes on Kabbalah. I heard loud noises and thought Rory was being attacked by a filthy reprobate, turned out I wasn't far off the mark."
"Aww Paris, I'm hurt you think so lowly of me."
"Don't be so surprised, Huntzberger. It would really alleviate my gag reflex if you could take your grubby paws off my roommate."
"Jealous?"
Paris laughed in an abnormally laidback manner. "Hardly. Narcissistic immature playboys who've been around the block too many times aren't my taste." She glared at Rory who looked like she might object to that claim by bringing up a certain blond troublemaker from Chilton. "And if I were jealous, that would imply I feel some attraction towards you. Now while I can admit you're not the most hideous male, you aren't all that appealing to me either."
"Ouch, she got you there." Rory smiled triumphantly as Logan – properly censured from Paris' rant - finally released her, allowing her to clamber to her feet.
He followed suit under Paris' vigilant scrutiny, feeling very much like he had been caught with a girl by her parents. "Well I think I should…"
"Leave?" Paris interjected. "I also think that's a capital idea, Huntzberger. I'm sure I'll see you skulking around campus."
Logan only smiled, unfazed by Paris' prickly disposition. "Certainly, Paris. Say 'hi' to Doyle for me. And Rory, same place, same time tomorrow?"
Rory threw an irritated glare at him and Logan was out of her room before she could have the last word.
Only after Paris heard the common room door close did she start in on Rory. "So, what did Bee Gee Boy have to see you about? Don't tell me he finally got the balls to stop making googly-eyes at you and make an actual move? He never really struck me as the gutless type, but you never know."
Rory only paused briefly before continuing her morning wake-up routine, gathering fresh clothes to take a shower. "We're only friends, Paris."
Paris was all too familiar with Rory's oblivious denials. "Right and I'm not sleeping with our editor."
Rory grimaced slightly at the mention of Paris and Doyle having sexual relations, but chose not to dwell on it. Doyle hung around their dorm enough to provide her with constant reminders of Paris' relationship with him. "Logan and I are only friends. He came over to discuss the date I set up for him last night." She headed into the common room with a laughing Paris on her heels.
"Did you say what I thought you said?" Paris asked with tears in her eyes. She was doubled over with laughter on the couch and it only served to exasperate an already defensive Rory.
"I'm so glad I could provide you with your morning entertainment, Paris. But yes, I set Logan up with a girl. He came over this morning to tell me how it went. That's all."
"There's something absurd about this, you know that right? Firstly, why would Logan, who is by all accounts a successful womanizer, be in need of your assistance in the dating department?"
"I suppose he's not in need, Paris. I suggested I help him find girls of worthier character and he agreed. Maybe he wants to change his habits, there's nothing wrong with that."
"Right, I'll believe that when I see it. The next ridiculous thing is that you're both completely fooling yourselves with this matchmaking ruse." Paris sighed impatiently at Rory's clueless expression; clearly she was going to have to elaborate. "You say you're just friends with Huntzberger, while it's apparent to anyone with eyes that you two are embroiled in a stupidly overcomplicated mating ritual. As much as I loathe admitting it – because Huntzberger's a privileged, self-important ass - he has something with you. Call it chemistry, sexual tension, whatever… your relationship with him is in no way platonic."
Rory could only stare at Paris slack-jawed, a little annoyed with her insinuations. "Paris…"
Paris stopped the denial she knew was inevitable. "Really Rory, you should get a clue. You have all these guys who you regard as friends, but believe me when I say friendship is the farthest thing from their minds."
"That's ludicrous. I have guys that are strictly friends…" She began indignantly.
Paris cut her off yet again. "Who? Marty? That boy's been invisible ever since you started hanging out with Huntzberger and his band of merry men. Why is that? Probably because he likes you and can't stand that you have a fondness for the arrogant blond playboy. Any other guys? And please don't say Ethan Kincaid… Although your prof's tough, with all the effort Ethan puts into the class, I half expect him to be a modern Wordsworth. Trust me when I say no guy willingly spends three nights of his week studying romantic poetry."
"I wasn't going to say Ethan! Besides I can't say that I'm just friends with him. He asked me out last night and I said yes." Rory defiantly answered. She was growing more upset with Paris' caustic and blasé dissection of the relationships in her life.
Paris snorted. "Fine, so you were actually on top of that one. That's actually a big surprise by the way, I have to give Ethan credit… he has more backbone than I thought. Any other guy friends?"
"Finn and Colin."
"Stop being so naïve, they're best friends with Logan who appears to have a romantic interest in you. Finn and Colin wouldn't make a move on you unless they were disloyal dolts and surprisingly, they aren't. And what about Logan? He definitely doesn't need your help to find girls to date. For some inexplicable reason he has a bevy of admirers willing to be bedded and dismissed by him. Now why would a guy like Logan submit to your matchmaking? Huh, let me think… hmm, oh, maybe he likes you! Now, since I know you don't have any concrete arguments to dispute my logic and frankly I'm feeling rather redundant, I'm just going to tell you this straight.
"I could go into all those When Harry Met Sally reasons about why men and women can't be just friends, but I know you saw that film three hundred times already. I'll put this in terms you can understand…you are not just friends with Marty and you are not just friends with Logan Huntzberger. That guy does not have girl friends, except for females he has known since the crèche. For some inane reason, you are blinding yourself to this fact. I don't know what's specifically wrong with Logan – and there probably are a lot of things - but he seems to be deluding himself also. My suggestion is that you take off your rose-tinted glasses and deal with your supposed friends before it all blows up in your face." Paris picked up her books from the table and made to leave; satisfied she had finally voiced her opinion. It was tiring to constantly be the purveyor of sane judgment with Rory. For all of Rory's intelligence and book smarts, she was completely lacking in emotional acumen. "Now that I've given you my two cents, I have to get to the newspaper. Doyle is already acting like an anal prat about deadline and it's weeks away."
Rory sighed as the door closed, leaving her feeling alone and overwhelmed. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to be glad for Paris' unwelcome attack on her friendships. Actually, she wasn't glad at all because Paris was wrong. Very wrong. Damn it! Why couldn't people just believe a guy and a girl could be friends? Feeling a little better she stated to reassure herself. She was just friends with Marty. She was just friends with Logan. That was all there was between her and him. Friendship. Even if there was more between her and Logan – which there definitely wasn't - in a few days she had a date with Ethan, meaning Paris' arguments were worthless.
A/N: I was going to put in a few more scenes. One of Steph, Colin and Finn plotting to get Rory and Logan together, but then this chapter would have become enormously long. Longer than the last chapter and I wanted to get this one out because it's been over a month since my last update. So this chapter's a filler with Paris' much-needed perspective unleashed on Rory, though she's still as clueless as ever.
Next Chapter: Steph/Colin/Finn meddling, a coffee date for Logan and one of Rory's choices and Logan seeing Ethan with Rory.