Part 35: Ditched.
"So are you drunk yet?" Steph teased as Rory took a drink from her glass. Finn had concocted a drink called 'The Rory'. He had put in a bunch of alcohol in one glass and when she had tried to peek at the labels of the bottles he covered her eyes and grabbed another. He refused to tell her the ingredients, but damn, was it good she thought taking another sip.
"Not quite... but getting there." Rory laughed.
"Good."
"How is that good, Steph?"
"Tradition, you have to get super, super drunk on your twenty first birthday. We all crash at your place and the guys bring us hangover food in the morning."
"What about the guys on their twenty first birthday, who catered to them?" Rory asked.
"The maids?" Steph said with a laugh. "How should I know, all I know is that it's a tradition. It's the only time the motherly instincts show up in the guys."
Rory laughed. "Well, I'll be sure to get more of whatever this is."
"Good." Steph laughed as she walked away. Rory turned back to the bar and asked Finn for another.
"You've got some good friends here, babe."
She turned and smiled at her mother. "I do, don't I?"
"I mean you've got the Australian bartender," she said pointing towards Finn. "Your gossip buddy," she pointed to Steph, "The conservative," she pointed to Colin. "And the fiancé," she pointed to Logan.
"They're all nice."
"Good," Lorelai declared.
"Do you want anything else, love?" Finn asked Lorelai as he handed Rory her drink.
"I'm good, Finn." Lorelai said. "But thank you."
"You're welcome, anything for the lovely Gilmore girls." he grinned before turning and pouring someone else a drink. Both Gilmores laughed as they pushed themselves off the bar and walked away.
"Are you having fun?" Lorelai asked.
"I am, it feels normal."
"I think that's what they were shooting for."
"I haven't thought of wedding plans, or grandma, or any of that the whole night."
"Till now." Lorelai teased.
"Well yeah, and it's good, it feels good."
"Rory?" She turned and saw a tall, brown haired man standing behind her, uncomfortable with his surroundings.
"Marty?" She said in surprise as she walked over and hugged him. "God, I haven't seen you in ages."
"Yeah."
"How are you?"
"I'm good."
"Good."
"And you?"
"I'm good too. "
"I heard you were getting married."
"Yeah, I am. To Logan Huntzberger. I don't know if you know him?"
"I've bartended for a few of his parents' parties. I've met him."
"Oh, and you remember my mom from last year at the Harvard-Yale game?"
"Yeah, it's nice to see you again." Marty said shaking Lorelai's hand.
"Same here." Lorelai said. "Ror, I'm going to go check on Luke."
"Okay." Lorelai gave Marty a smile as she walked away.
"So congrats on the engagement and on turning twenty one."
"Oh, thanks." Rory said with a smile.
"I really didn't think Logan was your type." Marty admitted, his eyes on his drink.
"He's not." Rory said with a shrug.
"Then why are you marrying him?" Marty asked obviously confused. Rory looked over at Logan and stared at him, a small smile on her face. As if he had felt her staring he turned and smiled back, sending her a wink as well. Rory turned away and looked back at Marty who was looking at Logan as well.
"He's nice." Rory said. "I guess that's about the extent of it."
"Are you happy?" Marty asked. "I mean just because he's nice doesn't mean he's a marriage material."
"I'm happy right now." Rory said slowly, thinking out her words before saying them. Partially because of the slight buzz she had going and partially because she wanted to word what she meant right. "I don't know about tomorrow and I don't know about next Saturday, or next month, but right now I'm happy… and out of alcohol." Rory stated, glancing down at her empty cup.
Marty gave her a sad smile "Well, just wanted to wish you a happy twenty first birthday."
"I appreciate it, Marty. Thank you."
"You're welcome. I should get going, I have to work tomorrow."
"Thanks for coming, Marty." He gave a nod, put his cup down and walked away. She watched him leave and waved at him as he walked through the door. He seemed sad, Rory thought. She shrugged it off though, looking back at her empty cup.
"Finn! I need a refill!" She yelled walking through the pub to the bar with the empty cup held up in her hand.
"I'm here to serve, love." Finn laughed filling up her cup.
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"Oh dear god, make it stop." Rory muttered into her pillow when she heard someone banging on the front door to the common room. Last night she had gotten drunk, more so than the time Paris and her had done Spring Break in Florida. Her head was pounding and her eyelids felt heavy and she really, really needed the excess pounding to stop. "Mommy, make it stop."
"In another time, that would have been funny." Lorelai muttered from next to her. "But now I want to kill whoever is banging on the door."
The last thing Rory remembered from last night was all the girls had gotten together; playing truth or dare in the back of the pub with bottles of Vodka, and Lorelai had of course encouraged 'the truth two shots, dare three shots' rule. By the end of the night, they had all, which included Rory, Steph, Lorelai, Lane, Evie and Paris, made it back to the room, falling wherever they landed.
"Evie, it's you're turn." Steph muttered from the mattress on the floor, where Evie and her had slept.
"Mrphen." Evie groaned turning her head and pulling the covers over her, completely ignoring the others. Rory grabbed a shoe from the floor and hurled it towards the door hoping to make the other people stop. Her plan backfired when her shoe made a loud bang on the door that reverberated through the room, causing all the girls to groan and hold their heads.
"Nice job, Gilmore." Paris said attempting to kick Rory from her position at the end of the bed.
"Where's Lane?" Rory mumbled trying to open her eyes, but failing.
"Under." Lorelai said sleepily.
"Huh?" Ror asked confused.
"What?" Lorelai asked equally confused.
"You said under."
"I did? When?"
"Jeez, Gilmores do not function well when hung-over and sleepy." Rory muttered incoherently.
"Go to sleep." Lorelai said bringing Rory's head back down to the pillow.
"I can't with all that banging." Rory admitted with a whine and holding her head. She turned on her back and groaned. "Stupid sun."
She heard Steph laugh and frowned deeper. "What so funny, Merdock?" Rory asked.
"You sound like Finn... Oh god." Steph said.
"What?" Rory asked waking up a bit more, her head still pounding.
"Evie."
"Mrph." Evie groaned pulling the covers tighter around her.
"Dammit Evie, it's your boyfriend that's pounding the door down, you go get the door."
"I hate you." Evie said as she pushed the covers down and sat up grabbing her head when she sat up too quickly. She slowly got up from the floor holding on to Rory's desk for balance as she walked, very slowly, to the door. She opened it and groaned when she realized she had to walk closer to the pounding.
"I hate you." She repeated as she walked out, even slower, her fingers rubbing her temples. The pounding on the door was getting louder. "Okay, I'm coming!" She yelled, wincing when her voice hit her ears a bit too loudly. God, she knew she shouldn't have had that extra Long Island Ice Tea. She reached the door and opened it to find three, very chipper guys looking refreshed and not the least bit hung-over. She glared at them.
"I hate you all." She said once more before walking to the couch and lying down, her back to them. Finn smirked over at the guys as they walked in armed with grocery as well as take out bags. Finn set the bags on the counter and walked over to Evie, pushing her hair out of her face.
"Love?"
"Finn, I have a major hangover, mostly due to your influence, my head is pounding and I've gotten a total of three hours of sleep. Being near me right now without aspirin, water and a cheese and beef quesadilla is extremely dangerous, so I suggest you back off before I go PMS on your ass." Evie growled out. Finn smirked and kissed her cheek.
"That's my girl." He whispered before getting up and moving to the girls' room, where Logan and Colin were working on getting the rest of the girls up.
"Ace, you've got to get up." Logan said shaking Rory.
"It's my birthday! I can get up when I want to." She complained.
"Your birthday was yesterday." Logan pointed out.
"So yesterday you were nice and now I'm being tortured?" She kicked Paris at the end of the bed. "Paris, bite Logan."
"I would, but I'm too tired. Never planning another birthday party in my life." Paris muttered.
"Mom." Rory whined.
"He's your fiancé." Lorelai said turning her head and covering it with the blankets. Rory glared at Logan.
"I hate you."
"You won't be saying that when you see the food we have set up on the counter."
"Coffee?"
"Coffee isn't the best thing to drink right now. But you drink some water and Finn will run out and get you some."
"Fine, I'm getting up. Hey, will one of you help me get Lane to the bathroom? I have a feeling that the repercussions of last night will be hitting her and soon." She said sitting up, noticing she was still wearing her outfit from last night.
Lorelai groaned, but uncovered herself. "I'll help."
"Good." They got out of the bed and Rory understood what her mother had meant by Lane was under. Lane had somehow moved from her spot on the floor to half under the bed. They got her up and led her to the bathroom.
"Hey, what's going..." Lane started as they reached the toilet bowl. At that moment the contents of last night were purged. Rory held up Lane's hair as Lorelai rubbed her back in comfort.
"Who gave Lane alcohol?" Lorelai asked.
"I would blame Finn." Rory said. "God, I need something for my head."
"I've got this, go get some aspirin and drink water." Lorelai suggested grabbing Lane's hair. Rory nodded and walked out of the bathroom and into the common room where the boys were setting up all the hangover food. The smell of the greasy tacos had Rory smiling as she grabbed the aspirin from the kitchen cabinet
"Feeling better, Ace?" Logan asked. She turned to find him leaning against the entrance to the small kitchen.
"That pounding you did on the door didn't help me any." She said grabbing a water bottle.
"It's the only way to wake you girls up."
"Evie's not happy." Rory stated unscrewing the aspirin cap.
"Evie's never happy." Logan stated. She glared at him as she put the two white pills in her mouth and took a swig of water to swallow them down.
"Well, I have it on good source that you like mac and cheese when hung-over."
Rory stomach rolled over. "I think I'll pass on the mac and cheese. Actually those tacos look good."
"Well, help yourself."
Rory gave a slight nod before walking past him and going over to the living room with Evie, who was sitting on the floor, between Finn's legs eating a quesadilla. Rory sat down next to her and grabbed a taco. Ten minutes later all the girls, including Lane, were sitting on the floor silently eating, hoping that the pounding, though faded slightly, would go away completely and soon.
When Lorelai finished she looked at her daughter who was drinking from a coffee cup that Colin had gone to get her.
"So how's my heiress holding up?" Lorelai asked with a small smile causing Rory to groan and lay her head on the edge of the table.
"I completely forgot about that."
Lorelai looked up at the boys and smiled sweetly at them. "Boys, while I deeply appreciate you taking care of us, helpless girls, during our time of need, I was wondering if you could do me a little favor?"
"What would that favor be?" Logan asked from his spot on the couch between Colin and Finn.
"More coffee, we're out."
"But there are four full cups…" Finn said pointing to them. Logan took the hint and nodded.
"Right, we'll be back, twenty minutes…"
"Give or take." Lorelai said with a smile.
"Good, come on Finn, Colin."
"It doesn't take three men to get coffee." Colin complained looking up at Logan.
"It does when Lorelai is asking. Come on." He said opening the door. Finn groaned as he got up, gave Evie a peck on the cheek and left with Logan. Colin glared before getting up and following. Logan left behind them closing the door.
Rory turned to Evie, "When did you and Finn start dating?"
Evie blushed and looked at her quesadilla on the table. "Well, it isn't exactly defined as of yet, but since the LDB event."
Steph rolled her eyes. "You have to talk to Finn, you know he doesn't say anything unless you start to talk about it first."
"I know, the right moment hasn't come up though. I'll talk to him though."
"You like him." Lane said with a smile. Evie blushed deeper.
"A lot, he's really sweet and god, that accent." Evie covered her face as the blush deepened causing the girls to laugh
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"I can't hear a thing." Finn said, his ear pressed to the door. All he could hear was laughter and hushed whispers of the conversation, then more laughing. "I think they're laughing at me."
Logan laughed as he pulled Finn by the collar of his shirt and they walked to the furthest coffee kiosk they could find to give the girls time to talk.
"So what is going on with you and Evie?" Colin asked. Finn shrugged.
"I like her, she likes me."
Logan laughed. "That much is obvious."
"I don't know what to do." Finn said with a shrug and then turned to Colin. "What's going on with Steph."
Colin shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You seemed pretty close in that room." Logan teased as they reached the kiosk and ordered the large amounts of coffee for the girls.
"Yes, those occasional glances, the light brush of knees and elbows, those hot Havana nights." Finn said in a dramatic voice grabbing one of the coffee holders. Colin shot him a glare as he grabbed one of the coffee holders as well.
"There was no such thing." Colin denied though the smirk he wore told different.
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"No way." Rory said with a laugh.
"I mean it." Lorelai confirmed. "We have kicked all the guys out of the hollow for the night, so that we," she gestured to all the girls, "Could plan a bachelorette party fitting for our Rory."
Rory laughed. "But I can't believe you kicked all…" Rory trailed off when the guys walked in with the trays of coffee. They set them down on the table and looked at the girls who were all quiet.
Logan sighed. "Does anyone want muffins?" The girls smiled.
"You know, I could use a poppy seed muffin." Paris said with a slight smirk.
"Same here." Lane added.
"Banana nut." Steph announced causing Evie to groan and nod her head to signify she wanted one as well.
"Oh, and four chocolate chip ones." Rory added smiling at her mother.
Colin sighed. "We'll be back in twenty."
"Hey Colin?" Lorelai said in her sweetest voice. Colin turned and looked at her.
"Yes, Lorelai?"
"Well, see…" she gave a small shy smile that made Rory bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. "Rory and I… we're..." Lorelai sighed as if she was ashamed, casting her eyes downward, then back up at Colin. "Well, we're really picky about our muffins."
"Really picky." Rory agreed with a nod.
"And we only eat muffins from Luke's, or this really small café in Hartford. Will you guys be angels and…"
"You've got to be kidding me, that's an hour there and an hour back. "Colin said exasperated.
"We Gilmores never kid about our muffins." Rory said with a slight pout.
"Come on, mate, we'll go to Hartford for the muffins."
"It's Cafe Roma." Lorelai said with a smile. "We really appreciate it, boys."
The guys nodded as they walked out of the dorm room and closed the door, only to hear boisterous laughter coming from the outside the minute the door snapped shut behind them.
"I hate this tradition." Colin muttered as they got in the car and made their way to Harford.
"What tradition would that be, mate?" Finn asked looking through the rearview mirror at Colin who was in the back.
"The tradition that says that we..." he gestured to the three of them, "Somehow end up catering to any girl that we are friends with the day after their twenty first birthday, to nurse their first hangovers. I mean, how the hell did we get roped into this? There was no one holding our hair when we were throwing up the morning after our twenty first birthday." Colin grumbled crossing his arms over his chest in anger. "There was no one getting us tacos, or muffins, or buying us Advil. If I remember correctly, the morning after my twenty first birthday, you and Finn woke me up and threw me into a freezing cold lake."
Finn and Logan laughed at the memory. Colin screamed like a girl, partially because he probably thought they had thrown him in the deep end, and the other because they had thrown him in at five in the morning in the winter with nothing but boxers on.
"All I'm trying to say is why do the girls get the special treatment, while I get thrown into a lake!"
"If it makes you feel better, Colin, the next time you get drunk, I'll hold your hair and rub your back, much like Lorelai did to Lane, while you proceed to throw up in the porcelain god." Finn said seriously turning to look at Colin, causing Logan to laugh.
"I never knew you wanted to be one of the girls, Colin." Logan teased as he got on the freeway. Colin glared.
"Forget I said anything." Colin grumbled as he stared out the window.
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"So anything else left in the wedding planning, Rory?" Steph asked. Rory shrugged.
"Not much. Grandma and Shira already have the church and the reception hall. Finn, Colin and Logan are getting fitted for their tuxes on Wednesday. I have to go pick up my dress in New York, and I still have to choose bridesmaid dresses. But other than that, we're done. Grandma and Shira took care of everything."
"You got a dress?" Lorelai asked.
"It's beautiful, Lorelai." Steph said with a sigh. "Perfect."
"You've seen it?" Lorelai asked Steph
"Yeah, I was with Rory when she bought it in LA."
"You went to LA?" Lorelai asked. It hurt to know that so much had happened in the month that she and her daughter hadn't spoken.
"We weren't talking." Rory said with a shrug.
"I know, but who else has seen this dress... and why'd you go to LA?"
"Logan saw the dress and we went to LA for a shopping trip. Just us girls." Rory said gesturing to Evie and Steph, knowing that she wasn't able to say that she had gone to the LDB event with Paris and Lane sitting with them.
"Logan saw the dress?" All five girls chorused in shock.
"Yes, he saw the dress at the wedding planning meeting grandma and his mother made us attend."
"The day you guys made out?" Paris asked.
"You what!" Lorelai, Evie and Lane said in unison.
Lorelai sighed. "All right, that's it." She looked at the clock on the wall and smiled. "We have an hour and a half till the boys get back, two if they get lost looking for the cafe. I say we all take a shower, get dressed and take a road trip."
"Where?" Rory asked. "We have to be back by six to get ready for the party at the grandparents' at eight."
"New York. We can go shopping and pick up your dress, have lunch and be back by six. It'll give us all a chance to catch up." They all looked at Rory knowing it was up to her. When she gave a small nod and a smile, Steph squealed.
"I'm calling the limo!" She helped Evie up and they grabbed their things and went to the door. "We'll meet you here in an hour." Steph said as they both left closing the door, to go get ready at their own dorms.
The rest of the girls smiled and ran to the bathroom to see who could get there first. Surprisingly Lane won, leaving Paris to go to her room to pick out her clothes and Lorelai and Rory to lie on Rory's bed.
Rory turned to her mother and smiled.
"Mom?"
"Yeah."
"I'm happy we're talking again."
"So am I, kid, so am I." Lorelai said looking back at her daughter. "Are you still mad?"
"About the arranged marriage thing?" Rory asked with a teasing smile. Lorelai nodded. "Phh, I'm over it."
"Ror." Lorelai said seriously, making Rory sigh and look up at the ceiling.
"Yeah, I mean how can I not be?"
"I really am sorry."
"I know, I just wished you would have told me. It wouldn't have mattered if it had been a week before they introduced me to Logan or a year, or even when it happened. I should have heard it from you."
"I know, I'll regret that move forever, Ror. I just, I want you to be happy."
"I know, but did you really think marrying Logan would make me happy?"
"I don't know, what do you think?"
Rory shrugged, then turned back to her mother. "We saw the house yesterday."
"Really? How was it?"
"Big, but it has this lake in the back, and when winter comes it'll freeze over and be good for ice skating."
"Sounds nice."
"I'd like to show it to you."
"I'd like to see it."
"Maybe before going to New York we can make a stop."
"I'd like that."
"Good." Rory said turning to look at the ceiling.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"I'm going with Colin's previous statement earlier in the morning." Finn said as they walked through the Yale campus, muffins in hand.
"Which was?" Logan asked. "Colin made a lot of statements this morning."
"The one about this stupid tradition. You know what happened on the morning of my twenty first birthday?"
Logan and Colin surprised a grin. "No." Colin asked when he sobered. "What?"
"You bastards threw my in a lake! ...Bare assed!" Finn added as an after thought.
"It happened to me too, Finn. Don't get so beat up about it." Logan said with a laugh. He remembered the morning so well; damn, the water was cold, he'd almost gotten to kill Finn, and then gotten to tackle Colin and throw him into the lake successfully.
With Finn's they had grabbed him and threw him into the lake in his backyard, in Australia. What made it funnier was that Finn slept in the nude. And though both boys had left the blanket on Finn's... parts, the reaction to Finn, bare assed in the lake, screaming his lungs out was hilarious. Thank god Colin had a camera.
"I mean, there we were, driving aimlessly around Hartford for stupid muffins for girls that are probably laughing their asses off at us and we have no chance of getting laid for our ventures!"
"Shouldn't the sheer satisfaction of them feeling better make the two and a half hours worth it though?" Logan asked as they reached Rory's dorm.
"No." Colin and Finn both said in unison. Logan rolled his eyes and was about to open the door when he saw a note taped to the white board, addressed to Colin, Finn and himself. He handed the bag of muffins to Colin and untaped the note, unfolding and reading it. He scowled.
"I am now on the bandwagon. I hate this stupid tradition."
"What made you change your mind, mate?" Finn asked looking over Logan's shoulder. Colin joined in and they read the note.
Logan, Colin and Finn.
Thanks so much for going allllll the way to Hartford for those muffins... but as it turns out we don't need them anymore. Us girls have decided to indulge in a little fun in New York before going to the Gilmores' tonight.
Have a girls' day if you will. Hope you guys didn't go through too much trouble with those muffins.
Rory, Lane, Paris, Steph, Evie and Lorelai
P.S.: Logan, we took your limo!
"We were ditched." Colin said reading the note once more.
"Those clever little witches." Finn muttered.
"What the hell are we supposed to do with two bags of muffins!" Logan asked.
"I just hope it rains, that'll teach them." Colin muttered as they all started back towards their dorm.
"Right, Colin, that'll teach them." Logan said with a roll of his eyes.
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"You're right, Ror, it is big." Lorelai said as they both stood in the large living room, the other girls roaming around.
"I was thinking that maybe, while Logan and I are on our honeymoon, you could help grandma and Shira pick out the house furniture and colors and all that. I don't want the house full of old furniture. I want it to be comfortable, livable. Not empty. I think Logan's had enough of that in his life."
Lorelai smiled at her daughter who was scanning the living room with a frown. She wrapped her arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.
"Of course, babe."
Her little girl was falling in love and she didn't even know it.
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AN: Hope you all enjoyed. I just want to say one little thing. I would appreciate if you wouldn't tell me how I should write my story.
Telling me what needs more attention than other things. The story is all in my head for the remaining chapters and I don't want anything to be changed. What you may think is important to the story to highlight, may not necessarily be important to me. I have my plan for the remainder of the story as well as the sequel and I've had it in my head for a long, long, long, long time. I've always known how I was going to write the last few chapters and truth be told, I don't want to change that. I like how I'm going to end it and I like the way I'm going with it.
If you guys aren't happy with the way things are going... well tough, lol. I want this story to be as realistic as possible. I never intended to have them fall in love at first sight and for Rory to fall at Logan's feet and Logan to fall for Rory's baby blues with a snap of someone's fingers. I intended for things to be well... tough. And it's going to be like that.
I hope I don't sound out of line, but I just wanted to say that.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Next update on Sunday!
Kassandra