Classic

Chapter 3

Parties had never been a place where Rory Gilmore felt completely at ease but here she was at some club Colin had rented out to celebrate the start of a new semester. She was out of her element as she sat at the bar drinking a grey goose martini and watching in disgust the party goers drink an unorthodox amount of alcohol then rub up against each other fuelled by tequila and hormones. Jingling her foot to the beat of the fast paced techno song that was blaring out of the speakers set up all around the club, she wondered how Finn and Colin had managed to get her to agree to come.

Rory had been sitting on the floor in the study of her new townhouse shifting through a bunch of books from her class reading list that she had recently purchased when Finn and Colin had walked in wearing identical mischievous grins.

"No." That had been her immediate reply before either of the two men had even uttered a word.

"The least you can do is hear us out before shutting the idea down," Colin had told her as he took a seat next to her.

Rory had known better than to think that if she'd ignore them they'd just go away. If anything ignoring them would only give them the incentive to try harder to get her undivided attention.

"Two minutes. Then I have to get back to my reading."

Finn had grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Well love, my mate Colin over there is throwing a little soirée Friday night."

"We just celebrated new years a week ago what could you possibly be celebrating now?"

"We are celebrating many things, Gilmore!" Colin had announced in disbelief as though she should have known that.

"Like what? The fact that it's Friday?" Rory had asked sarcastically.

"We did that once!" Finn had said exasperatedly.

"No," Colin had said defensively and ignoring Finn. "We will be celebrating the start of a new semester and your return to Yale! Oh, and of course we will be commemorating that you and Finn finally finished moving in and the fact that he is now your responsibility and not ours! If those aren't grounds for celebrating I don't know what is!"

"I'm still not going. I have so much reading and catching up to do!" Rory had said before she grabbed her book list to see which book needed to be read first. After consulting the list she picked up the book in question and started to open it to the correct page.

"Oh no!" Finn had cried grabbing the book out of her hands. "No, Rory love, we love you, we do, that is why we will be doing this for your own good." With that said he and Colin had collected all her books.

"What! No! Finn, Colin, I need my books! I missed an entire semester and now I need to catch up and be prepared for this one! Now give me my books!"

'Finn, go hide these," Colin had instructed his Australian counterpart before he turned back to Rory. "You will get your books back after you come to the party. I promise."

"Colin," Rory had said trying to remain calm. "Give me my books back."

"Love," Finn had said as he walked back into the room, "you need to relax school hasn't even started and you are already stressing!"

"After you come on Friday you'll get your precious books back unscathed," Colin had assured her.

"Exactly! On our gentlemen's honour!" Finn had declared before he and Colin had turned on heel.

"But you're not gentlemen! Finn!" She called after their retreating backs but to no avail.

Rory snapped out of her reverie when a body slid into the stool next to hers. She looked up to see Seth Stone, the guy who had set up the LDB scaffold event.

"Hey Rory," he said smiling at her. "I haven't seen you around in a while. Hey, where is Logan?"

Rory shrugged. "We broke up a while ago." She didn't elaborate. She didn't need to nor did she want to. She still wasn't over him and didn't like to talk about him but Rory should have known going to a party with al the LDB members it would be inevitable. This was one of her main concerns for avoiding parties with Finn and Colin: Logan. With him being their best friends it would be anticipated that they would cross paths. She had already seen him several times that night. Rory had been right in her assumption that Logan would be with one of his many as she saw him with a blonde girl.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I really thought you two were good for each other but then again it is also a blessing." He had to yell even though he wasn't but two feet away from her.

Rory cocked her head to the side, "how so?"

"Well," he said reaching out with his hand to trace patterns on to her arm. "It gives the rest of us a chance. Lots of guys in this room have been waiting for the moment that Logan would screw up."

Rory's lips formed a small 'o' at this revelation before her face turned into that of a frown. "Why? I'm nothing special."

"That is where you are mistaken Miss Gilmore, you are special," Seth whispered into her ear as he moved closer to her.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure."

"You are. I have met many girls and none of them are anything like you."

You met me, what a grand total of two times, Rory said inwardly. Oh yeah, it was love at first sight.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Here let me buy you another drink." He signalled to the bartender to bring her another martini.

Rory suddenly wished that the bartender would turn into Marty; he would save her from having to talk to Seth. Or at the very least cause a huge commotion that Rory would be able to slip away unnoticed. With Rory's luck though, it was unfortunately not Marty who was the bartender.

"Thanks," Rory told him as she received her drink and took a sip. She noticed right away that her martini was no longer a grey goose but an apple martini. Seth hadn't even gotten her drink right.

"Would you like to dance?" Seth asked her grabbing her arm and pulling her onto the dance floor full of drunken college kids without even waiting for her answer.

He pulled her body flush against his and started moving to the beat of the music, which happened to be pretty much him grinding his pelvis into hers as she tried to push him off her. Once he got the idea that she did not like how he was dancing with her he smiled sheepishly and muttered a small apology. They started to dance this time a bit further apart – though he still had his arms wrapped around her – still in tune to the music. Rory was still really uncomfortable and shot inconspicuous glances around the room hoping to find either Finn or Colin but to no reward.

Even without being able to smell the alcohol on his breath she knew he was drunk. He stumbled slightly and his words sometimes slurred. After a few minutes of dancing conservatively Seth took it upon himself to bring her back up against his chest and continue his grinding and touching as the song turned from up beat techno to Lil Jon and the Eastside Boys' latest rap song. His hands that had started at her waist slowly made their way north up her stomach until just below her breasts. Rory grabbed his hands and lowered them back to her waist. Seth getting the wrong message continued the descent south and grabbed her ass.

"Seth stop!" Rory said as she tried to pull away but he his grip tightened.

"No," he slurred; he used one hand to trace what he must of thought were soothing circles on her back. In reality they made her want to puke but he apparently wasn't getting the message.

She somehow managed to place her hands on his chest and shove him backwards. Due to his intake of alcohol and the level of intoxication he must of reached his descent backwards was much more dramatic than it would have been had he been sober. She didn't wait to see how he was she turned around and headed straight for Finn.

"I'm going home-"

CRASH!

She turned around just in time to see Logan deliver a well-placed punch to Seth's nose. She was able to, even from her distance, hear the sickening crack after the blow and she saw the blood begin to pour out of Seth's once perfectly straight nose. The table in which they crashed into was now missing a leg and the chairs that had once surrounded it were now overturned and in the middle of the dance floor.

"I'm leaving!" Rory cried lifting her hands in the air in surrender.

Finn nodded and Rory left without another word to anyone but she did she Finn walk over to Logan and Seth with an angry expression on his face.

-

"Logan! Get off him, mate!" Finn had screamed as tried to pry the inebriated Logan off a bloody Seth.

With the help of Colin and Robert, Finn was able to get Logan away from the crowd and out of the club.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Finn demanded as he shoved Logan down on a bench.

"He-he-he he was touching her!" Logan exclaimed jumping off the bench and pointing an accusing finger at the club. "His hands were all over her!"

"Logan! She's not yours anymore," Colin said quietly. "You can't do that."

"But-but how- he had his- they were all-he can't do that!" he stuttered uncontrollably in his anger.

"Your right Logan, he had no right to touch her like that if she didn't want to be touched but you had no right to do what you do to him," Colin always the more rational one said.

Logan shot him a death glare before turning around to go back into the club. He didn't stop until he reached the bar and order a bottle of scotch.

-

It was three in the morning and Rory still hadn't fallen asleep. She had heard Finn come home earlier than she had expected, only an hour after she got back actually but she pretended to be asleep when he came to check up on her. It wasn't because of Seth that Rory was having trouble falling asleep. That prize went to none other than Logan Elias Huntzberger. Why is it that even though he didn't want to be her boyfriend he still acted like a jackass when she was with other guys. It was almost the same thing at Finn's birthday party she had attended with Robert when they were only 'casually dating'. What did he think if he can't be with her, no one could? Well, I'll show him!

But then the tears came. Just when I though I would be able to get over him easily he goes and screws things up again!

She angrily wiped her tears and went down the stairs; she might as well find her books that Finn had hidden and get some reading down. The only placed Rory could think of that the book could be was Finn's room – okay so that was the only place she hadn't checked yet.

She quietly crept into his room on the floor under hers and began her search starting with his closet. She rummaged through the already messy closet and came up empty handed.

"Rory?" Finn asked groggily from his bed. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for my books. If you tell me where they are you can go back to sleep," she said sheepishly he hand went straight to the back of her neck and a blush rose in her cheeks at getting caught.

"Rory, stop. Come here," Finn said gently as he caught a glance of Rory's tear stained face.

Rory approached the bed and sat down next to Finn.

"Are you okay? Love?" he asked sincerely.

Rory went to say that she was 'fine' but instead a sob escaped her. She felt Finn's arms wrap around her and pull her down on the bed. It didn't feel like how Seth had roughly grabbed her but it didn't feel like when Logan used to Grab her and hold her in her sleep either. It was nice though.

"Rory, I'm going to tell you the same thing my mom used to tell my sisters 'you've been hurt so you just cry,'" he told her softly rubbing her back waiting for her sobs to subside.

"Thank you Finn," Rory whispered before the Sandman claimed her.