A/N: There's a lack of Rory/Logan interaction in this chapter. But don't worry I promise there will be more soon.
Part VI: The Art of Questions
Question: "to ask. To interrogate. To dispute, to cast doubt upon." –New Webster's Dictionary-
"Go go go go go go go gooooooo!" Finn called out, getting off the sofa and running towards the television, kneeling in front to get a better look.
"Could you turn that inane sport off, I'm trying to study for the economic law exam. Something might I remind you that you should be doing as well." Colin said in a disapproving tone.
Finn, not taking his eyes off the television replied, "First off, never tell an Australian that rugby is an inane sport unless you want the crap beaten out of you. Secondly, if you need to study so bloody badly, go to the library cause that's what they're there for."
"Well thanks Finn for your words of advice, I'll be sure to take them into advisement." Colin replied sarcastically, as he began picking up his books to head back into his room.
He paused when he heard the main door opening, turning he saw Logan coming in. "Logan where have you been? Think you could help me convince Finn to turn off the…" His sentence trailed as he spotted the dark look on his friend's face. Logan simply ignored him, stalked to his own room and very childishly slammed the door shut.
Finn turned away from the TV to assess the commotion, glancing from Logan's closed door to Colin's concerned face, he quickly turned off the television as Colin put his books back down.
The two walked determinedly over to Logan's door, Finn tried the handle, finding it locked, called in, "Logan. Open up."
The two waited and when they were greeted only by silence Colin called out, "Logan you might as well open the door, or else Finn will just kick it down. He's been praying for an opportunity to do it ever since his bought the COPS DVDs."
Finn grinned, "I'm giving you to the count of three. ONE… TWO…"
He didn't get a chance to finish as Logan opened the door, glaring at his friends. Finn's face dropped in disappointment, "why'd you open it? No one ever lets me have any fun around here."
"Can't a man get some privacy around here?" Logan barked.
"Sure he can, whenever he needs alone time to provide himself with some self-release, he can have all the privacy he needs. However, it doesn't appear like that's what you're doing in here, so the answer is therefore no." Finn replied with a grin, pushing pass Logan to sit on his bed.
"So what's the problem Logan?" Colin asked.
"Nothing." Logan snapped.
Colin glanced at Finn who nodded knowingly. There were only two things in the world that got Logan this riled up, his father: Mitchum Huntzberger or a women. Sizing up his fuming friend, Colin asked, "did you talk to your father today?"
"What!" Logan demanded. "No. Why?"
"No reason." Colin replied, shooting a pointed look at Finn.
"Is that it boys?" Logan asked turning his glare from one friend to another.
Finn got up off the bed and went to stand back beside Colin at the door, asked casually, "you didn't happen to run into Rory did you?"
Logan's glare immediately turned into a death stare.
"So I presume the answer to that question is yes." Finn replied.
"Alright then, what happened?" Colin asked again. "Did you two get into a fight?"
"A lover's quarrel?" Finn piped in innocently.
"I don't want to talk about it." Logan said through gritted teeth.
Finn scoffed, "Logan, like that answer has ever stopped us from asking more questions."
"You can ask all the questions you want, but don't expect any answers."
"Once again you're taking all the fun out of everything." Finn replied grimly.
"Yes well I'm not here to be your entertainment Finn."
"Well you're being pretty damn entertaining at the moment with all your angry glaring. I think you've just been made president of the Clint Eastwood Fan Club."
Colin quickly stepped in, realizing the potential danger of the current situation. Logan was not one to be toyed with when he was angry, and Finn could never figure out when to shut his mouth. "Alright gentlemen, back to the matter at hand. Logan, what happened with Rory?"
"You sound like a broken record Colin."
"Yes, well I'd stop asking the same question over and over again if you'd just give us a straight answer."
Logan sighed in frustration, cursing the persistent nature of his friends and simply stated, "The straight answer is this. Rory Gilmore wants nothing to do with me and as far as I'm concerned, that's perfectly fine. Happy? Now please get out."
Logan taking advantage of Colin and Finn's shocked state, easily pushed them out of his doorway, closing the door behind them.
Colin turned to Finn and asked, "what the hell happened?"
"Damned if I know. The last time I saw them together they were on the verge of making out."
"Logan, always has a way of messing up the good things in his life." Colin sighed.
"I assume that's what we're here for, to guide the poor bastard and fix his mistakes."
Colin nodded, "Yep. It's time for damage control."
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Lane was sitting comfortably on the couch leaning against Zach, whose arm was slung casually around her shoulders. They were on another one of their "dates"- pizza and a movie in the living room, with Brian relegated to Lane's room.
The only differences between this date and their first one were that it hadn't been planned and neither of them had taken the time to get ready for it. Rather Lane had come home from working at Luke's, thrown on her comfortable at home sweats and found Zach sitting on the couch, getting ready to watch "The Italian Job"; so the two had decided to turn the evening into a date.
As they sat watching engrossed with the dramatic robbery in the movie, neither moved when the phone began to ring.
"Lane." Zach said simply, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Zach."
Ring.
"Zach."
"Brian will get it."
Ring.
"No he won't, he always falls asleep in my room."
Ring.
"Zach." Lane said annoyed.
"Alright." He huffed in exasperation, picking up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi, I'm looking for Lane." The voice on the other end replied.
Zach handed the phone over to Lane, "It's for you."
Lane took the phone distractedly, the movie was getting really good. "Hello?"
"We're in trouble."
Lane startled at the response, asked, "Who is this?"
"Lane, it's Colin."
"Oh hey Colin. What are you talking about?" Lane asked, as her concentration was now on the phone call. She stood up and walked to the kitchen.
"Logan just came home in a huff and after inane amounts of probing, he basically told us Rory doesn't want anything to do with him."
"What!"
"Have you spoken to her?"
"Not today, but I'll call her after this." Lane replied, slightly worried, what could have happened since Saturday?
"Well we better get some plan in order, before it's too late."
"Agreed."
"Are you free this weekend? We can get together, go over some ideas?"
Lane thought for a moment, glancing over at Zach who remained engrossed with the movie, replied, "Sure. Let's do that."
"Alright. I'll call you later this week and we can make a plan."
"Sure. I'm going to call Rory, so I'll talk to you later."
"Yeah sure. Oh and Lane?"
"Yeah Colin?"
"I didn't interrupt anything when I called did I?"
"Nope, don't worry about it. I'll talk to you later."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye." Lane replied, as she hung up. Walking towards her room she began dialing Rory's number.
As the phone began ringing, she called out, "Hey Zach, don't return the movie yet, cause I have to watch the end."
"No problem." Zach replied, his eyes never leaving the screen.
The phone continued ringing as Lane walked into her room and nudged Brian awake. "Brian, I need to use my room."
Brian eyes slowly opened, looking groggily around, spotted Lane gesturing at the door, got up and left, just as Rory answered, "Hello?"
"Hey Rory."
"Oh hey Lane." Rory replied, and Lane could immediately tell something was wrong.
"Hey is everything okay?"
"Hmmm? Sure, everything's fine. Just school's really busy."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." Rory sighed. "Well no..."
"Rory what's the matter?"
"Argh, I wish I could talk to you about it, but I'm just exhausted right now and I have a huge paper to finish. So Lane, can I call you tomorrow?"
"Sure Rory. Just feel better okay?"
"Thanks Lane. I'll talk to you later okay?"
"Sure. Bye." Lane said, as she hung up the phone.
Placing the phone on her bed, Lane sighed, she had really wanted to help her best friend through whatever had happened today, but sometimes it was just too hard to do it over the phone.
Over the last year and half with Rory at Yale, Lane and her had had less time to hangout. They still talked on the phone as often as possible and when they got a chance to get together they were still the same two best friends who talked about moving in to a house made of cheese or chocolate together. However, once in a while, like this moment, Lane couldn't help but feel like they were worlds apart.
Feeling hopeless with her inability to help Rory, Lane picked up the phone again and dialed another number.
It rang once when a voice demanded: "Hello."
"Hey Paris, it's Lane."
"Lane? Rory's home, she's in her room." Paris replied bluntly.
"Yes Paris I know, I was calling for you."
"You were. Alright. What do you need?"
"I need you to go and talk to Rory. I think something happened with her today and she might be upset."
"Happened? Like what?"
"Something with Logan."
"Huntzberger? That's all fine and dandy. But I have a lot of work to do and manning Rory's love life just doesn't fit into my schedule."
"Right. I understand. But could you take a couple of minutes out of your hectic schedule just to check on her? You know that if you needed her, she would be there for you."
Paris paused and then let out a loud huff, "alright I'll do it."
"Thanks Paris."
"Yeah fine Lane. Just don't make this a habit." Paris replied curtly, as she hung up the phone.
Lane shook her head with a small smile, Paris would always be Paris but Lane was glad that Rory had her at Yale.
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Rory sat at her desk; books piled high on either side of her, as she attempted to finish up her philosophy paper. She had been so absorbed with her work that she had almost forgotten about her encounters earlier in the day- almost being the key word. So when Lane had called, Rory had been tempted to rehash the events with her best friend, but she knew if she got into it at that moment, her paper would never be finished. So for the umpteenth time she put school ahead of her personal life.
Just as she was about to start back up on her paper, her thoughts were interrupted by a loud rapping on her door, followed by the door opening and Paris walking in.
"Why do you even bother knocking?" Rory asked dryly.
"Alright Gilmore, you have exactly 6 minutes of my time, so tell me what happened today." Paris demanded as she sat on Rory's bed, with her arms crossed.
"What are you talking about Paris?"
"Time's a ticking, so save the confused act. Lane called me and told me something was up with you."
"Lane called you?"
"Quit with the questions would you. And start with the telling."
"There's nothing to tell Paris. And in case you didn't notice I'm trying to do some work here."
"Right, like you're the only student at Yale that has excess amounts of work to do." Paris replied sarcastically. "Every second I'm sitting here with you is deterring from time I could be spending studying."
"Okay great, then go and do it."
"Don't you think I want to? But I'm trying to work on my friendship skills, Terrence says it's an important part of shaping ones entire being. So quit wasting both our times and tell me your story. By the way, you should really refrain from denying anything's wrong, because you of all people should know I have an unrelenting personality, so skip the unnecessary prelude and just get right down to your story."
Rory groaned, realizing the uselessness of going against Paris. Figuring it would be faster to tell her the story than attempt to dissuade her from it, said: "I had a run in with Marty and Logan."
"The perpetual love triangle."
Glaring at Paris she said, "There is no such thing going on."
"You are so naïve Rory. I don't know how you haven't been conned into volunteering for a sweat shop laborer in Indonesia."
"Are you here to make me feel better or worse?"
Paris rolled her eyes, "Continue."
"Fine. Since I appear to have a time limit with you, I'll give you the Cliff notes version: I saw Marty today. Marty is upset with me. Our friendship is potentially on the line. I then see Logan, whom I call a spoiled rich kid. He calls me a scared little kid. I leave."
"Okay. So let me interpret. Marty likes you but thinks you have feelings for Huntzberger. Marty is jealous, gets hurt and your friendship is now potentially on the line. Logan likes you and is hurt when you call him a spoiled rich kid. You like him and is hurt that he called you a scared little kid. Neither of you meant what you said but now your future relationship is on the line."
"Wow Paris, throw in some dream interpretations and you'd be Freud." Rory replied sarcastically.
"I knew you were naïve but I didn't think you were stupid."
"Gee Paris you're really making me feel much better."
"Look Rory, I call it as I see it and it's simple. Marty likes you that I know. Logan, don't know about him, but from your stories that guy is going to a lot of trouble to get your attention so I'd hedge my bets and say he also likes you. Now you just need to figure out how you feel."
"Right… well Paris, I think you're…"
"Sorry time's up." Paris declared interrupting Rory, as she stood up from Rory's bed and headed for the door.
Rory looking bewildered asked, "what?"
"I gave you my undivided attention for six whole minutes and Terrence says that one minute of undivided attention is worth five minutes of half-hearted listening. Well since I generally listen to your stories in a half-hearted manner, I figure, I've just given you half an hour of my life. We've talked, I've listened, we've bonded and now I have work to do."
"Alright Paris. Thanks. We'll have to do it again some time." Rory called as Paris walked out the door, closing it behind her.
After Paris' abrupt departure, Rory couldn't help but contemplate her words. While she was skeptical of most of what she heard, she couldn't help but wonder if there was any truth to it. If there was then what should she do?
How was she suppose to fix things with Marty? He was a really good friend, but that was unfortunately all she felt for him. She almost wished there could be more, because he was such a great guy, but there wasn't.
Then there was Logan. How did she really feel about him? And how did she feel about him after what he had said to her today? And how did he feel about her after the things she had said to him? Rory sighed again and turned back to her philosophy paper. At that moment, figuring out her philosophy paper seemed like a much easier task than figuring out the other things in her life.
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Marty opened the door to his dorm, throwing his books and bag on the floor; he slumped on the couch in exhaustion. He had finally finished his paper at the library and then had attempted to start deciphering his history notes for his exam. Unfortunately it hadn't gone very well and even more unfortunately made him think about how much better history seemed when Rory was around. So realizing the futility of his studying he had decided to return to his room and give it a try there.
He felt himself starting to doze off on the couch, when a loud incessant knocking on the door rudely awakened him. Grumbling he picked himself off the couch and opened the door, to find an unsettling surprise. "Paris. What are you doing here?"
Looking her usual impatient self, she retorted, "well thanks for the lovely welcome."
"Sorry. Come in." He said; as she had already pushed pass him to sit on the couch. "So what brings you here? I didn't leave anything in your fridge I swear."
"Well good. Sit down." She commanded, patting the couch beside her.
Marty eying Paris wearily sat down beside her, "what's going on?"
"Rory."
"What about her?" He asked suspiciously.
"You like her."
"What?"
"Oh please." Paris began with an eye roll. "Like you're the first guy to fall for her big blue doe eyes and her innocent act."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Marty replied, adverting his gaze from Paris' stare.
"Alright, everyone's playing dumb today, that's perfect. Just what I like." Paris said, standing up in frustration as she began pacing back and forth.
Marty watched her, confused and slightly frightened by the scene before him. "So did you come to give me this revelation?"
"Look I just came to tell you that your friendship with Rory is something bigger than any infatuation you might have for her." She replied bluntly.
"Uh huh." Marty replied, unsure of exactly what to say.
"If you want to talk about secretly pining away for someone, you're looking at the perfect example. I sat stupidly waiting for this guy to notice me pretty much from my prepubescent to teenage years. It took him getting sent away to military school for me to get over him."
"I'm not pining away for Rory."
"Right, that's why you get jealous when you see her with Huntzberger."
"I'm not jealous of her with Huntzberger. I'm just worried about her, I know guys like him."
She stopped pacing and stood staring at Marty in disbelief: "Wow. That's good. You almost had me convinced, so how often do you tell yourself that?"
"Okay great Paris. Thanks for coming." Marty said, standing up, walking towards the door.
"Look Marty." Paris began, standing resolutely by the couch. "Let me just say what I came here to say."
"There's more?" Marty asked resignedly.
Paris just glared and started pacing again as she began, "Rory's different, her friendship is different. It's worth keeping. I'm mean, come on she stuck it out with me and I'm hell to be around. You may like her, want it to be more than a friendship but, however you feel don't let it ruin your friendship with her. If you really like her, then be a man about it and tell her straight out. If she feels the same way, you win, if she doesn't, then well at least you told her and can move on."
At that point she stopped pacing and as if speaking more to herself then Marty continued, "Again from experience, you'll meet someone who'll return your feelings and instantly make you forget about anyone else. That's how I felt with Asher." Paris said, her face softening, revealing a woman, few people got a chance to see. Shrugging indifferently added, "I know what people say about me, making fun of our relationship, but we had something. I know it, that's all that matters."
Marty looked at Paris in surprise. Seeing a side of her he had never seen- vulnerable and sad, made him pause and ponder.
Paris realizing she had slipped into her own world, snapped back to reality. Noticing Marty's expression, reverted back to her usual self, "What!"
Hearing her sharp word, Marty realized the brief moment had passed, and replied, "Uh nothing."
"Alright, I think I've wasted enough time here." Paris said, starting towards the door, muttering to herself: "Having friends is so much work."
Walking out the door, she stopped and added: "Think about what I said Marty."
"Hey Paris?" He said tentatively.
Paris who had already starting walking away, turned around, "Yeah?"
"Thanks."
If he didn't know better he could have sworn, she gave him a small smile. However, it immediately faded as she added, "Marty. If you ever repeat this conversation to anyone, I will kill you."
Marty watched her turn and leave, then closing the door behind her, he stood almost dumbfounded. Returning to the couch, he slumped back down for the second time, wrapping his head around Paris' words. She was blunt that's for sure, but was she right?
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A/N part 2: Thanks so much for reading and I promise there are Rory/Logan scenes in the next chapter! Take a sec to review?