Chapter Three: Story Teller Extraordinaire
"Hey, so six thirty don't be late." Twenty six year old Casey Jones told her friend over the phone. She was hosting a dinner party for all her friends. She just had to constantly remind them of when because they were all flaky.
"Yeah, yeah I got it Case."
"I'll string you up by your toes if you're a minute late." Casey threatened through the phone. The person laughed.
"Don't think I won't do it Logan." She warned him. He just laughed again.
"I'll be there at six twenty." He bargained to Casey. He was rewarded with her laughter.
Logan had met Casey at a bar spring semester of his junior year at Yale. They had dated exclusively for a few months. He had wanted to replicate what he had with Rory. But he soon found out that Rory was irreplaceable. When he had broken it off with Casey he expected an explosion, he expected her to fight for him. But instead she just laughed and said she was wondering when he'd do it. He was so confused. The next day at the breakfast table Casey had just sat down next to him and started eating.
Casey told him that just because they weren't a couple it didn't mean that she was going to turn her back on the friends she had met. And so Casey was absorbed into the group. She fit after all. She was well bred and came from good money. She liked living life a little on the wild side, so she was inducted into the LDB for their senior year at school.
After graduation Casey had left for an advertising company in New York City. She had lost contact with the guys and Stephanie. She had met Steve and after a couple of months he showed classic abuse signs. She was in love so she ignored it the best she could. The first time he hit her was the last. She had called the cops and had Steve arrested. He hung himself in the cell that night. Her nightmare was far from over though. She couldn't sleep. She didn't want to eat. She blamed herself. She tore apart her life trying to figure out what she had done to make him hit her.
One night she had called Logan asking him for one night of passion and love. He had laughed it off thinking she was drunk. She had told him everything that night and Logan called up Finn, Colin and Stephanie to help him comfort her. Logan and Stephanie had pushed her into group therapy where she eventually got over it and realized Steve was just an abusive ass hole who hated life. Being bitter was better than nothing.
"Hey earth to Case?" Her roommate asked waving her hand in front of Casey face. Casey snapped out of it.
"Hey! Sorry I was just zoning off, thinking of Steve you know." Her roommate nodded her head.
"I know that feeling."
"Do you ever think about Todd?" Casey asked curious to see if her roommate was going to go back to him. It seemed that her roommate as well asfriend had been in contact with the man who gave her scars. Some scars couldn't be seen. Some scars were beneath the surface and settled in the emotional layers.
"I guess. I try not to." The young woman paused. "So I have a date tonight and hopefully if all goes well I won't be home tonight."
"You horny bitch!" Both girls laughed.
"Is tonight the night that your college buds are coming over?" Casey nodded her head.
"Uh huh. So uh, what college did you go to?" There was so much that Casey didn't know about her roommate. She knew about the traumatizing and emotional event that happened a few years ago but she didn't know anything that happened before.
"I didn't go."
"Rory, I know your lying." Casey accused. Rory just smiled.
"You'll never know then." Rory looked at the analogue clock hanging above the door. "Got to go. Group." Rory walked down the corridor of the large apartment to her room and grabbed her coat and purse.
"You going on the date afterwards or coming home to change." Rory was dressed in short jean shorts and a light blue V-neck tank top which accentuated her bosom. The shirt drew unsuspecting eyes to her breasts.
"I thought you might want to meet my friends. You'll probably call them rich bastards, or something else…" Casey trailed off, her eyes starring at Rory's cleavage.
"You really want to get laid, don't you?" Casey tore her eyes away from Rory. Rory just smirked.
" 'Cause if you don't leave now, I'll fuck you." The roommates laughed together.
Rory walked over to the door swinging her hips back and forth in a very obvious hooker manner. She grabbed her keys off the hook and put her hand on the door knob when Casey called out to her to stop.
"Hey what should I make for dinner?" It was a well known fact between the two of them that Rory was the cook in the building. And that is truly saying something.
"Order pizza and save me some." Rory answered before exiting their cozy abode.
Casey sighed and picked up the phone dialing the familiar number to Donnie's Home Style Pizza Bistro.
"Hey Don." Her and Rory were good friends of Donnie. Every Tuesday he would come by with their usual pizza and cherry coke and watch movies with them. Of course their wasn't so much watching going on since Rory mocked the movies so much that they couldn't hear the actual dialogue.
"I'm having a dinner party and Ror left." She paused. "Yeah uh three guys and two gals… Yes I am one of them. Hush…. Thanks Don, that'd be perfect. 6:30ish okay? Thanks." She hung up the phone and looked around her place. It was a disaster. She had some cleaning to do and then she had to change into her black cocktail dress.
The buzzer rang and Casey ran out of her room half naked. She quickly buzzed them up and then proceeded to pull her dress on. She had just slipped her black sandal heels on when she heard the knock on her door. She flung it open and upon seeing who was at the door looked up at the clock.
"You're late. It's six twenty two." She raised her eyebrow at him. He, defeated, nodded. Moments later the rest of the gang showed up all in their appropriate cocktail wear.
"So Mademoiselle what are we feasting on?" Finn asked in a snooty French accent. A bad snooty French accent.
"Pizza, It'll be here in a moment." And as if on cue the buzzer rang and Casey let Donnie up.
"Pizza? You mean I dressed up in this cute little outfit and these excruciating heels for Pizza?" Stephanie yelled. She did not like this one bit.
"My roommate left for the night, and she's the cook. It was last minute. Besides, aren't you surprised this way." Casey responded while paying the delivery boy. As he left she checked out his ass. Stephanie leaned towards the door to get a good look as well.
"As a perk you get a good glimpse at the most perfect ass known to man." Finn added.
"Plus I'm also suffering here." Casey handed the pizza boxes to Logan who was having problems controlling his laughter. Casey then pointed towards her high heel shoes. Stephanie sighed then took her shoes off to alleviate the pain. Casey shook her head and laughed before doing the same.
Finn attempted to take his shoes off but Stephanie stopped him by throwing her purse at him. He caught it and acted hurt that she would actually try to cause him pain. While Finn was distracting the girls Colin took his shoes and socks off then walked over to the table and sat down. Logan followed his lead.
"You'll stink up the apartment Finn. Shoes stay on." Casey ordered.
"But Colin and Logan took them off." He pleaded his case and finished with a puppy dog look. Casey and Stephanie looked towards the two men in question and shot them a pointed looked. They feigned innocence using their puppy dog looks. The girls just rolled their eyes.
"My roommate does it so much better than you guys." Casey remarked while rolling her eyes. She gave up the battle and sat down at the table. She opened the first box of pizza and grabbed three large slices. Stephanie joined the table. The boys looked shocked at how much pizza Casey was going to eat.
"What?" Casey asked, annoyed, with her mouth full of pizza.
"My roommate taught me how to eat. You'll have to meet her." Casey bit into her pizza.
"Okay, when?" Logan agreed. He was in a bit of a dry spell and new people were the easiest to seduce.
"I don't know, she's on a date." She answered. She looked at Logan suspiciously.
"No. You are not sleeping with my roommate." She put her foot down. She didn't mind sharing friends with him and all, it was just that every time a friend of hers has sex with Logan they, well, stop being her friend.
"Yeah, you ruin women." Finn chimed in. Stephanie and Colin nodded.
"Like who?"
"Your precious Ace." Colin spat viciously at Logan. The blonde tightened his jaw and looked down. He missed her so much. Everyone he dated couldn't compare.
"Yeah. Tell me about my predecessor." Casey laughed. She was curious to who this 'Ace' was because she had changed Logan for the better and then he broke her heart. She was familiar with the for love or money ultimatum that Mitchum gave Logan. She was also familiar with Logan's choice.
"One hell of a 'Sophie's Choice' reenactment there Logan." Finn joked. He was uncomfortable with the silence that followed Casey's order.
"Oh go to hell, all of you." Logan snapped. It didn't matter how many times he said he regretted his choice, they still made him out as the bad guy in all of this.
Stephanie opened her mouth to say something when the door to the apartment flew open. And there stood the lovely Ace who was barefoot and purse less.
"Hey, date didn't go well?" Casey casually asked not knowing that her roommate and good friend was the infamous Ace.
"Oh yeah. Bruce and I were walking to the Ice cream shop when some random guy asks for my purse and shoes." She paused to catch her breath.
"And so I tell the guy that all that's in my purse is two dollars and a handful of change, expired credit cards, three sticks of gum and my broken cell phone. Then the guys pulls out his gun and Bruce flees like a, like a flea. And so I tell the guy to kill me 'cause I don't care. And then he starts sweating and gets nervous because he doesn't want to kill me and I'm not scared. So he just grabs my purse and looks at the contents, and when he found out I was right he threw it in an alley way and leaves." She takes a deep breath and walks into the kitchen to grab some pizza. She is oblivious to the guests.
"Now while I am searching for my pitiful bag, I break a heel and figure I should just throw them away. So I am walking barefoot down the street when I realize I forgot to find my bag. But it was too late to turn back cause I was just a block away and I still needed to find a way in. Luckily I caught Mrs. Mininski and she let me in. And so you have it. My failed attempt to get laid." She finished and took a bite of the pizza while walking over to the couch. She plopped into it and turned the TV on.
"Oh hi." She stated after the fact to Casey's guests. She didn't turn around to acknowledge them because she knew exactly who they were. She had snuck a peek while walking into the kitchen. She was horrified to discover that the three handsome men were Logan, Colin and Finn. If she was desperate and they were offering she'd sleep with Finn.
"Wow. So basically you gave the guy your purse and shoes, no questions asked." Casey clarified. It was highly amusing when Rory went off into story mode. She could tell that Rory was a writer or could be a writer. She didn't actually know what Rory did for a living.
"Basically. But let's not forget that Bruce ran away like a scared little girl, I looked death in the eye again and Mrs. Mininski was wearing her halo tonight and not her usual devil horns." Casey laughed. Even when you chopped Rory's story up and left with her with nothing but facts it was still entertaining.
"You're a writer aren't you?" Casey guessed. The others looked at Casey like she was crazy for having to guess. But then again, this was clearly not the Rory they knew.
"What makes you think that?" Rory was in no mood to answer questions or to give clues. Her life was personal.
"Oh come on, it's that story telling ability you have. Dead give away."
"I got that from Lorelai." Rory winced for two reasons. The first one for having to call her mother by her first name and second because she leaked some information to Casey. She wasn't sure which one she hated the most.
"Oh, who's that? You know what never mind. Let me introduce you to my friends." With that Casey dragged Rory off the couch and into the dinning area.
"The blondes are Stephanie and Logan." Casey pointed to the two of them. Rory made no sign of recognition.
"The Australian is Finn, watch him, he'll try to seduce you and then use you." Casey was rewarded by Finn shouting out a 'hey'.
"And then that just leaves Colin." Casey pointed to Colin. She looked at her roommate who was avoiding eye contact with them all and then her friends were staring at her.
"And this is Rory, my roommate." After a pause and a noticeable increase in the tension Casey broke the silence.
"Don't be rude everyone, say hi."
"I'm going to my room." Rory stated then started for the hall. Logan reached out his hand and grabbed her arm. She turned around with so force and such animosity that he let go to stop the chair from falling backwards.
"Stay Ace." Logan offered her. She just walked away disappearing down the vacant hall. He remembered a night so many years ago when she left him at the bleachers and he thought he'd never see her again. He remembered the feeling that came afterwards, total despair. He had felt so lost without her, he felt incomplete without her. And now, suddenly seeing her he felt like he had a second chance with her until she walked away and that feeling of despair took over once more. Was that all they had left, a few memories that always left them hurting? Always left them aching for more?
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews. I'm sorry about my typos in the last chapter, but i am only human. Also I am sorry that a lot of you thought that it was confusing and rushed, It was meant to be rushed. It's no fun to write something you don't want to write about, like the whole relationship with Todd. Also I thought i was clear about the time differnce but I guess i wasn't, I apologize. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, sorry it took so long, but i had some writers block.