Logan takes out his phone from his pocket. Looking for comfort in a far worse vice, in his father's opinion. It takes less than a second to find the name he finds his solace in these days.
"Logan?" Logan hears the sheets shuffling on the other end, "What's wrong?"
"Uh, did I wake you?" Logan asked.
Logan is perfectly aware of the time difference. He has had to shift his life around it for years. It's now engraved at the back of his mind.
"You know you did." Logan is surprised to hear the annoyance in her voice.
"Ah, it isn't a bad time now, is it?" Logan asks, his voice turning mischievous.
"When has that ever stopped you before." The voice snaps on the other end.
Logan sighs. Guess today wasn't the day the woman on the other end would let him off easily, "You know it's not like that."
"Why did you call? I thought you were happy in the States."
Logan suspects the Blond woman is still holding on to the grudges over how they ended things last time.
"What can I say? London keeps calling even when I don't want to pick it up. You may be seeing me a lot sooner than expected." Logan scoffs, "Daddy dearest is making sure of that."
The voice goes silent long enough to wonder if she hung upon him.
"Bobbi?" Logan asks again.
"You know I am always happy when you visit. It just breaks my heart every time you leave." Bobbi admits, her voice changes from angry to vulnerable in zero to sixty, "This is going to be exactly like the last time, isn't it?"
"Maybe." Logan has a fault. He can't lie to a straight question to save his life. In his opinion, it makes him a good man, a poor businessman in Mitchum Huntzberger's and a jackass in Bobbi's. "Maybe not. We can't see what happens without going through it."
Logan hears the woman groan, "That's just your way of letting me down gently." Bobbi takes a pause before she continues in a softer tone, "But I can't stop myself from not seeing you when you are here. No matter how much I try."
"You may not have a choice. You work for me." Logan jokes, sensing an opening as the woman gives in.
"And some may say that works against you."
"True." Logan nods, the smile on his face comes back.
"So Mitchum wants you to move back here? Never thought I would say this, but I think I may be in love with the man." Bobbi laughs. "Sending you back to me. I definitely love the man."
"Yeah?" Logan is not amused. "Got to know about it through an email."
"Logan," Bobbi is irritated by how many times they circle back to the same problem, which isn't even a problem in her opinion. "We have talked about this. The man does whatever he does for you, in his own twisted evil way."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know I called a therapist." Logan snapped.
"Who did you call then, Logan?" Bobbi's tone turns sharp, "Who am I to you? Someone you call when daddy fucks you over or someone you call when you need to get laid in between your meeting?"
Bobbi knows if this was only about sex, he wouldn't be calling her. Logan knows Bobbi's knows it too. She says all that to hurt him, and her bluntness about needing someone hurts him.
Logan sighs and hangs his head low. The conversation is giving him a headache. He thought they both were clear what this was when whatever this was started.
"I gotta go."
"Logan?" Bobby stops him, "I'm sorry. I know he is a jerk of a father. You know he is a jerk. Let's just accept that and move on? Please call me when you get here? I miss you."
"Yeah, I miss London too." Logan admits.
"Tell me I'll see you soon?" Bobby presses again.
"As soon as I land."
December 2010
Rory's heels clicked against the bronze marble as she walked inside the building. Her eyes take in the green in the lobby, the most she has seen inside any New York building. As she walks up to the elevators, Rory feels she's in a weird mix of a place, a cross between California and New York.
"Which floor, love?" The blonde woman dressed in chic Crêpe cream trousers asks Rory. Her accent is foreign. Rory feels like she's in a foreign land in this elevator.
"Sixth, thanks." Rory said with an obligatory polite smile.
She wasn't away from the city for that long. It couldn't possibly haven't changed so much in the few weeks she was away. Where were all the angry, rushed New Yorkers?
"Hold it." The dark man, dressed crisply in a grey suit, calls out, "Press four."
Oh, there they were.
Rory looks at the number changing as she taps her feet in impatience.
As she gets off the elevator, Rory flips over the card she found inside the Package Harry gave her that contained all the details to reach Meain. She had to double-check because the inside of this office suite is widely different from the neat outside.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" Rory calls out as she passes enormous stacks of boxes on top of each other.
"Hello?" Rory knocked on the only glass partition in the office suite. The whole place was surrounded by thirteen-inch glass windows. It must require an insane amount of air conditioning to keep the place from becoming one giant baking oven in the summers.
"Yes?" The woman gets up from under the table.
The woman's hair is a mess. She looks breathless and overwhelmed.
"Hi, I am Rory." Rory says, extending her hand.
"Who?" The dark-haired woman furrows her forehead to think too hard to remember if that name means anything to her.
"Rory Gilmore. Harry sent me for an interview?" Rory says, withdrawing her hand back.
"Oh yes, Rory Gilmore." The woman jumps from behind the desk to hug Rory. "Nice to see you."
"Nice to meet you too?" Rory is taken aback by the warm gesture.
"I didn't introduce myself, did I? I am Kayla Young. Oops." The woman flashes her left hand, "Payne. Kayle Payne now."
Rory smiles, "Congratulations. I am here for an interview?"
"You were supposed to get her weeks ago. What took you so long?" Kayle gestures to Rory to sit down. The woman's eyes turn, scolding. It reminds her of her mother's if she ever went scolding, but they are black orbs instead of blue.
Rory looks around all the chairs and removes the boxes from the one that is least overloaded, "Sorry about that, I had some personal things to attend to back home."
"Everything okay, honey?" Kayla asks Rory sitting back down on her side of the desk.
This is the strangest interview Rory has been to. The woman was questioning her like an old neighbor.
"Yes, everything is okay now. So you might want to go through this." Rory said, pushing her resume at her. "Is there anything you want to ask me?"
"Oh this, I should probably ask you stuff, shouldn't I?" Kayla says, grabbing the paper, "You must think I must be so unprofessional."
The jury was still out on that, but Rory does think the woman is very expressive. Her eyes twitch and furrow with every word she utters.
"But all cards on the table, Rory, I am new to this. The hiring and all. Competing with the sharks" Kayla waves her hand around, the light reflects on her big shiny ring, "New York."
"Okay." Rory nods as she takes in all the information.
"I am out of my depth here. But this company is my baby. Ugh, I want to make it work so bad." Kayla fists her hands in the air like she is desperate for this win.
"I can assume." Rory is impressed by her determination. Slightly intimidated, but her enthusiasm is catching.
"So?"
"Umm, I don't understand?" Rory says uncomfortably. Where were the questions? List your professional achievements? What can you contribute to our paper questions?
"When can you start?" Kayla asks with the most inviting smile Rory has ever seen. Rory has about a million questions, but she feels sucked in.
"What's my salary structure going to be like?" Rory voices mustering enough strength.
"I am sorry, sweetie, but what's said in the contract is all I can offer."
"With all due respect Kayla, you have an incredible office space in a very expensive building, I am convinced. I was hoping we could negotiate it a bit." Rory pushes.
"It's all strategic, Rory. We need to have our office in a super posh place. It's the whole brand image I am trying to create or rather now we." Kayla gestures between them. "Harry told me you would love the responsibility that comes with this job. He kind of described you as the does it all kind."
"I would but, it's way to- "
"Okay, I see this is going to be an issue. How about we talk about this six months from now? When things are a little established here." Kayle offered. "Can you start immediately?"
Rory was frozen in place. But before she could overthink about it and convince herself otherwise, she declared. "Yes."
Pro con lists would be made and mulled over after the decision has been made this time.
"Super. Can you start with the boxes?" Kayla requested as she picked up her receiver.
"Remind me why am I doing this again?" Rory whines, "My feet are killing me."
"Mommy needed some shopping time?" Lorelai says, inspecting the space.
"This is not Bergdorf's." Rory rolled her eyes.
"We need to switch up things every now and then?" Lorelai's face twists as she looks out the window.
"Ew, mom. But really, why this again?" Rory placed a hand on her mouth as she yawned.
"Because you weren't calling mommy. And I am frankly sick of having a more interactive relationship with your voicemail than you. It doesn't laugh at my jokes."
"Ah yes, that and I need to live close enough to work so that I can get enough sleep and not walk through a glass door next time," Rory touched the side of her face that was still a little sore and blue.
"Oh, can you make sure there is photographic evidence next time that happens?"
"Ask who? Apart from my very eccentric boss, I am the only one working there. The interviewing part is going painfully slow. How punctual and dedicated can they be when they don't even show up on the day of the interview?"
"Haven't found any other lambs interested in working for meagre salaries yet?" Lorelai asks.
"We should try for unpaid internships." Rory thinks out loud as she inspects the bedroom.
"Oh no, colluding with the enemy. No way." Lorelai's mouth opened in shock.
"Who's the enemy? My sleep?"
The onlooker of their conversation is highly terrified. The mother-daughter duo hasn't shut up ever since they stepped inside the studio apartment.
The taller brunette declared it too spooky to live alone in five steps inside the apartment, but they were still going through it fifteen minutes later.
The man clears his throat to get their attention.
"You, tell her." Lorelai points to the man sharply dressed in a grey suit. "Hiring young college students with the promise of better opportunity and no money, when they have staggering college debts is not the way to fill their corporate belly."
"I think it's a great learning opportunity. Our firm offers a lot of summer internships." The man says enthusiastically, excited at finally getting a chance to speak. The look of horror the mother of the duo gives him makes him feel like it wasn't the right time to chime in with his honest opinion. And he deduced that was the woman to impress if he wanted to make this sale today.
"Do you have some contacts that I can refer to?" Rory asks. She wouldn't have if she wasn't desperate to make it to work this time.
"Sorry, I don't take care of that." The man says, "So about this apartment? I personally love the bath. It offers a pretty great view at this price point."
"Yeah, into the soul of the devil." Lorelai says under her breath. "I am sorry, can you show us something else? Something with a little sun, perhaps? Nothing too fancy. Just enough to make sure my daughter doesn't wake up one day and finds herself turned into a bat. Or a vampire, I hear they are in trend."
"Sure," At Lorelai's request, the man takes out his phone, "I am sure you'll love the next place."
"I'll believe it when I see it, buddy." That's the third time the man has said the same thing.
"Mom, it's going to get more expensive. I can't." Rory shakes her head.
"Don't worry, kiddo. I called your dad already. He would be thrilled you finally took him up on the offer of buying you a castle." Lorelai pats Rory's arm intertwined with hers.
"I'll pay back every cent, I promise." Rory says. It hurts her that she has to take her dad up on his offer, but she had come to love her sanity, and she was going to lose it if she were to continue living hours away from her job. At Least her dad wasn't going to mandate a weekly gathering in exchange.
She is convinced Emily Gilmore will lose her mind when she comes to know that she was yet again denied the chance to consult on such critical matters and denied the opportunity to cement another decade of Friday night dinners.
"You will definitely love the next place." The man that works on commission smiles gleefully.
"Wow, this will cost a castle."
"At the cost of sounding like my mother, look at all this wooden panelling." Lorelai says, running her hand over the Oakwood work around the windows
"I love it." Rory says, coming out of the bedroom, "And that bathroom? Wow. It has a bathtub big enough to cover my shoulders and my knees at the same time."
"If you decide to live in this place, you'll officially be way cooler to hang out with me." Lorelai quips.
"Don't worry, you can make an appointment. I will always take out time for you if and when my schedule permits."
"See, you haven't even moved in, and you're acting all fancy."
Rory laughs, "Jokes apart, mom. I can't take this place. I just need something close to work. I think I can do without a doorman and seven shower panels."
"I think I agree, hun."
"Have you seen this gourmet kitchen range? It's fully functional. You won't need to install anything else." The dark-haired man says. "My wife has been after this oven for a while now. I hear it's the best for baking there is."
Rory's phone flashes Kayla's name. "I have to take this." Rory says and takes the call outside quickly.
"Well, I guess it's just you, me and the kitchen range then." Lorelai says uncomfortably.
"Should I?" The man gestures to the kitchen.
"Might as well see what makes this place so expensive. Do you know what does gourmet really means?"
Logan is bombarded with emails and voicemails as he gets off the elevator. His hands are swiftly typing away at the keypad, requesting his secretary to email his schedule for the rest of the day. As he looks up from the phone. He finds the last person he expects to see in his hallway, typing away faster than him.
"Ace?"
"Logan?" Rory looks up from her phone and is shocked to see the man approaching her. "Hey, how did you… I mean.. why?" Rory tries to develop a coherent sentence to ask the question sloshing around in her mind. What was he doing here?
"You didn't have to come up to my apartment just to seek me out, Ace. I would have come for you." Logan says as he goes over to her. His face is smug because he finds this coincidence deeply amusing.
"I see your ego is still intact." Rory rolled her eyes but couldn't stop herself from smiling at the sight of him.
"So? Business or pleasure?" Logan asks, his eyes twinkling with mischief. He hopes it's for pleasure.
"Neither. I'm just apartment hunting." Rory gestures back to the apartment; she refused to rent a few minutes ago.
"Well, if you need any references, I'm happy to help." Too happy. He was thrilled at the prospects.
"Oh, I'm not sure if I'm going to take it." Rory purses her lips.
"Why not? You'll love the place. Doorman, nice neighborhood. What's not to like?" Logan shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know. It's just a little." Rory is searching for reasons why the apartment wasn't a good fit for her. Right now, she comes up with none.
"I hear your neighbor is a real upstanding citizen, and all if you are concerned about that." Logan says, raising his hand. "No serial tendencies, I promise."
"Upstanding citizen?" Rory scoffs. "I find that hard to believe."
"Well, you won't know that until you rent that apartment now, will you?" Logan says plainly, but his eyes feel like they are challenging her.
Their eyes are locked in some sort of battle.
"Rory?"
Lorelai's voice pulls them out.
"That's my mom." Rory says to Logan.
"You came apartment hunting with your mom?." Logan asks in disbelief. "Were you dragged her against your will? Blink once if yes. Blink twice if you need a getaway exit."
"No, she's cool."
"Hi, I am Lorelai." Lorelai waves as she studies the hand of the stranger on her daughter's back.
"Logan." Logan shakes her hand. "Wow, I know now where Rory gets her good looks from."
The older woman smiles gleefully at the compliment, "Handsome and charming? Not a bad combination. Rory, why did you never tell me about this handsome young suitor of yours?" Lorelai jokes, but she is a fool who failed to notice how that comment bugged the man.
Suddenly all this feels too real to him. He is already planning his exit.
"Mom, we should." Rory points to the apartment.
"Yeah, right." Lorelai goes back inside reluctantly as Rory stays back.
"So?" Rory drawls.
"Uh, What?" Logan asks, a little distracted.
"I'll see you?" Rory says, biting the side of her lips. She should get better at asking people out. "Maybe for dinner?"
"Uh, sure. I'm kind of busy today but some other time for sure." Logan says as he lifts his hand to wave her. But the gesture to Rory doesn't feel like he wants to see her. The way his feet shift uncomfortably and his eyes were darting everywhere but at her makes her think he might not be interested in seeing more of her.
With that, he was inside his apartment as swiftly as he came.
Distracted and hurried.
Lorelai corners Rory before she is even fully inside the apartment.
"Who was he?" Lorelai prods.
"Who? Logan?" Rory flips through a flier of amenities that the salesman gave her, "Just a guy I met at that conference in Hamburg."
"You never mentioned him. You went on and on about some, all I know are fictional rolls, but you never thought to mention spending almost a week with a guy that looks like that?"
"I didn't?" Rory says, picking the lint on her top, "Must have slipped my mind."
"So let me get this straight. You went away with that guy to Europe and, upon your return back home, broke up with your boyfriend?" Loreli pauses, "And that's not related?" Lorelai asks, pointy,
"I didn't go away with him." Rory snaps and breaks away from her mother to go to the kitchen. Which both of them know she's never going to use. It was just going to be one over-priced storage place for all the fast food and takeouts.
"I thought you were over doing things like this, Rory." Lorelai is hot on Rory's tail.
Rory doesn't like what her mother's implying.
Rory closed her eyes to stop herself from snapping. She didn't want to cause a scene in front of the agent, "I am. And just so you are clear, Logan and I met in Hamburg. My break up with Jess has nothing to do with Logan and me."
"Good," Lorelai says, and just when Rory thinks that was the end of that, she adds, "Cause that would be so sophomore year of you."
Wherein a pair of brown and blue eyes were locked together before, now two pairs of blue were shooting daggers at each other with relentless anger.
Sophomore year was a tough year for both of them. None of them liked to be reminded of that. One didn't enjoy the official year of bad decisions thrown at her face at times like these. The other didn't want to remember the type of woman her daughter was capable of turning into.
"I'll take the apartment." Rory says, still staring at her mother.
At ten PM, Logan finds himself looking for ways to go to the apartment next door. The way he left her hanging a week ago doesn't sit well with him. He doesn't even remember why he blew her off. The only thing he remembers is the way her eyes widened and then furrowed in shock and hurt.
And the fact that she saw him this afternoon and ignored him and his wave tell him that she is still pissed.
It was easy to push it aside when she was out of sight. But he has spent the last six hours listening to her voice directing orders at the delivery men outside to handle the boxes carefully, to not scratch some couch. Threats were made, and warnings were issued, all in the name of Emily Gilmore.
The squealing, the giggling, the rambling that went on outside was slowly driving him insane. He feels like a captive in his own apartment.
He plans to go over when he is absolutely sure his brunette is alone for the evening.
As Logan exits his apartment, he sees the delivery guy get off the elevator. What are the chances of finding the perfect icebreaker at the right moment?
"How much is it?" Logan takes out his purse.
"Sorry, this is for Rory Gilmore?" The delivery looks from the order slip to Logan. He is almost sure he is not a Rory.
Logan knows it's for Rory. There are only two apartments on the floor. One belongs to him, the other to the woman haunting him.
"Yeah, I'll take it in." Logan hands him a bill and takes the pizza off his hands.
Logan exhales a sharp breath and rings the bell to her apartment.
Logan's eyes sweep over her. He is immensely delighted to catch her at a time like this. Dressed in her pyjamas and pink tank top. And he knows the angry look is to scare him off, but he can't help but find it particularly arousing.
"What?" Rory asks, crossing her arms.
She's still mad at me.
"I bring Pizza." Logan says, waving the box in front of her. And just as her hands are about to take it from him, he lifts it up.
"Invite me in." Logan smirks. He knows the girl is incapable of saying no to food.
"No." Rory surprises them both at the conviction.
"Why not?" Logan stands up straight, ready to change her mind.
"Because…" Rory looks around and, for the first time, realizes that she should've thrown something over her arms. "This is not an appropriate time."
"I'm sorry? What are you eighty? Or is it past your bedtime?" Logan laughs.
"Excuse me?" Rory scrunches up her nose and shakes her head, "No. It's just-"
"It's just, what" Logan pushes.
"I'm hungry, and I'm waiting for my food."
"And I have it right here." Logan's eyes darted to the box in his hand. And he sees a crack in the woman's resolve.
"Just give me my pizza." Rory jumps to take the boxes, but Logan pulls them up out of her reach again.
"Ahha, but it's my pizza now." Logan says.
"What? How?" Rory's eyebrows twitch at the insunition.
"I paid for it." Logan shrugs.
"But I ordered it. It was here for me." Rory is baffled at the logic.
"But you have to pay for the goods you supposedly ordered for their ownership to be transferred to your name. Since the Pizza was exchanged for the money I paid the delivery guy, it's my Pizza now." Logan juts his lips out.
"Says who?" Rory questioned.
"The simple system of exchange." Logan says. "But you can have it," Logan brought the Pizza in front of Rory, "Only if you agree to share it with me inside your apartment."
Rory's mouth closed and opened several times before she finally screamed, "Butt faced miscreant!" And walked away.
Logan's jaw drops at the lamest insult to be ever thrown his way. He had been called far worse by many, but this was new and strange, "Excuse me? Butt faced miscreant!?" Logan asks as he follows her inside her apartment.
Author's note - Happy new year :)
Okay, so new details about Logan's life and Logan and Rory are neighbors now.
I bring this chapter early to you and… hope you leave reviews in exchange?
