AN: today's chapter was really hard to write. Just couldn't get on a roll... but I hope you like it anyways.
Chapter 201
July 9th, 2022
After a preliminary round at the Secret Bar, since Honor had been caught up in traffic, Lane had started things off with a fun and innocent quiz about Rory and Logan, which had been a very worthy attempt, bringing back stories about Rory's first crushes and quirks from the times they'd grown up together. This was definitely something none of her other friends had on her, but since Lane hadn't just ended it at that and had also complied a series of questions from the others - the quiz had included also questions like what color highlights Rory had that one and only time with Lucy and Olivia, and in which order the locks on Paris' and Rory's apartment in New Haven had needed to be opened. Naturally, the latter was a question even Rory couldn't recall the answer to by now.
Almost everyone at the table were drinking, and Rory and Paris definitley felt a little left out. Even Gigi having somehow managed to get herself a whiskey sour. It was a secret bar - after all. It was not like it was going to get raided anyways. But as usual - Lorelai was being the cool 'mom' figure in this event as well, trusting Gigi had gotten the 'water mixed with wine' experience many French kids did when she'd lived with Sherry and figured she didn't really need to be watched very carefully.
"Don't worry, the night's young!" Lorelai hugged Rory from the side as they headed off, Gigi having something in store for them, and the group climbed into the limo.
"I'm not worried," Rory replied, though most of the crowd could see she was not enjoying herself as much as they would've liked. They did try.
"We're like the saddest people ever to attend a bachelorette party, but then again I probably won't get to go out anywhere for the next year or so…," Paris commented sarcastically, as she and Rory were the last to climb into the limo.
Everyone was dressed up for the night, no black-tie, but definitely something between cocktail-dresses and clubbing-outfits. Gigi in a red Hutch Ruched Fringe mini dress, Lucy in a satin olive green jumpsuit with killer heels just to name a few. Rory had on her mother's insistence bought a new dress for the occasion - a black tulle dress with black polka dots - its entire top layer was see-through but it had a little spaghetti strapped black dress underneath which accomodated her bump, leaving her with an innocent, but definitely sexy, look.
"I'm not sad!" Rory argued without much effort. She'd just been a little thoughtful. She couldn't even really pinpoint it - but she believed it to be a mixture of things, but nothing that desparately needed resolving. Sometimes a bit of melancholy was kind of nice - though the rest of the group wouldn't probably agree with her that time being now.
"Missing Logan?" Gigi teased, playfully elbowing her.
"Kind of," Rory replied. She really was itching for her phone the entire time they'd hung out at the bar.
"Where did the guys, I assume it was 'guys', drag him off to? I bet it's like Vegas or Atlantic city. I bet he's watching some striptease where the strippers take black Amex by running it between their teeth, right?" Paris scuffed, bitterly. While she had gotten a few voice mails from Finn - essentially saying he was sorry he'd been out of reach, assuring that he was fine and promising he'd tell her later what it was about, and that whatever it was it had unexpectedly taken a little longer than anticipated. But it didn't seem like he was really behaving like he felt very guilty for disappearing off the map which was what bothered Paris the most. So it was safe to say Paris was not terribly impressed nor counting on the man at this point.
"They didn't tell him," Rory replied and shrugged, answering both of Paris' questions. She wished she could tell her friend something helpful, but not knowing much about Finn's whereabouts herself, she didn't really have any answers. All she knew was that if anyone was independent of a man's help, it was Paris. She had the staff to help, she'd done it before, and like she'd said herself - this was going to be twice as easy now that there was just one baby. So Paris at the very least had stayed optimistic on the baby front, despite not having much hope for mankind.
"Vegas is kind of overdone, I think. Colin told me they used to do Vegas all the time. But the last time they did, they all kind of felt like it was not the same anymore," Gigi replied, having spent quite a lot of time with Colin while in New York. It had been innocent - Colin talking about his Yale days, and Gigi simply being herself - curious and very approachable, by now considering Rory's friends as hers.
"Look at you all chummy with Colin," Lorelai pointed out, and Rory could just sense she'd been very close to saying something along the lines of Gigi liking older men.
Sure, in friendly banter something like that could come up, especially considering Gigi was planning on having a bachelorette party of her own at some point in the foreseeable future, but Rory had just become especially alert to the tone in her mother's voice, guessing 9 out of 10 times when she wanted to say something but didn't. This felt awkward and she frankly felt on edge as well. This was not what she'd wanted as the outcome of their talk (her lecture) either. Was there even a middle ground?
"He's a nice guy, and what else was I going to do while Rory was at her meeting. My phone died!" Gigi commented, shruggig her shoulders. Strangely enough it had been just her phone from the group that had gotten water damage, having nearly forgotten she'd left it on the couch in the store when she'd rushed out. Colin had been the chivalrous one to retrieve it later on so no wonder she liked him, even if it had already been too late.
"What meeting?" Paris inquired, feeling left out.
"Ah…," Rory began, having not really intended to bring it up this evening. Sure, Gigi knew and so did her mom but no-one else.
"Yeah, Rory, we want to know," Lucy teased, as she was opening up a bottle of champagne, having placed it between her thighs to keep it still the limo took a turn, nearly causing her to lose her balance even while sitting down.
"I didn't want to bring this up… but it's no big deal…," Rory began, making a hand gesture to just let it go.
"Out with it!" Lucy encouraged, joyously and the next second the champagne popped. Lucy, Lorelai, Gigi and Olivia let out a cheer. She was never the one with a lot of tact.
"I spoke with a publicist, I might be getting my book published," Rory explained, humbly.
She'd negotiated the contract she'd been given somewhat. She did have a specialist at home who knew exactly what to ask for even if Logan didn't necessarily agree about the fact that she needed those exit strategies. She'd agreed to work with Rita on this book until she had her baby, agreeing to a no advance deal on her own request and even making sure that she could postpone the further process if she wanted to. There was even a clause that allowed her to stop the process completely if she didn't feel like the book was what she'd wanted and the freedom to veto whatever publishing schedules depending on the baby. Essentially she could call the whole thing off by simply paying for the editor's wasted time, which wasn't really a problem for her. Something the editor had said about self-publishing had resonated with her, and she really did wonder why she hadn't even considered that. She had the money, after all. But since everything she'd read about Rita Galloway seemed pretty impressive she was willing to give this a shot for now.
"You're writing a book?! Finally!" Olivia exclaimed. Olivia and Lucy didn't know Rory had been down this road before, their interaction having been a lot more sporadic over the years. And it was not like Rory had advertised her struggles.
"I didn't know you were writing a book?!" Paris replied, with a slight pout. She at least liked to think of herself as the best friend.
"That's so cool, Rory!" Lane said.
"We always knew she had it in her!" Lorelai commented.
"Logan always said you're really good with words!" Honor added.
"So what's this book about?" Paris asked, unenthusiastically.
"I don't really want to go into it now…," Rory said. It was strange that she didn't like admitting that she was writing a book about her grandmother, almost as if admitting she was writing about something uncool.
"Oh come on, we still have like 20 minutes to go - and you're not drinking, so you might just as well bask in your success," Honor suggested, taking a sip of her champagne. Sure, Rory had a glass of non-alcoholic cider in her hand, but truthfully it was just making her gassy. Bachelorette parties were nowhere near as much fun when one was completely sober.
Rory did tell them, in brief, and as she'd expected Paris had in all honestly commented exactly what she'd been worried about - 'doesn't sound terribly sexy' having been her exact words.
"Okay, I have an idea!" Lucy began, eagerly, after Rory had finished talking about her book. "Because I don't know a lot about you guys, I thought it'd be cool to do a quick round of introductions. But instead of doing it the standard way - how about everyone says one good and one bad or annoying thing about their significant others," Lucy suggested, adding that they'd done it at another party and it had turned out to be hilarious. They agreed that Rory as the bride-to-be should go last.
"Um… my significant other, if you can call the tinder date I've seen five times by now… he's got really weird ears - one is like Dumbo's almost," Lucy began with a chuckle, trying to describe what it looked like. "But he's a real giver in bed, if you know what I mean. Why else would I keep him around?" she added, laughingly.
It was then turn for Olivia, who was living a fairly happy suburban life despite having her artist career to add some boost. She was generally quite happy with her husband, bringing out just something minor - his habit leaving his used socks everywhere.
"Eric… he tends to work a lot, there are always work calls, and not that we live together yet, but I know sometimes he's still up working after I go to bed," Gigi admitted, and Rory was relieved to hear at least something imperfect from her. "But he's always very attentive - he brings me flowers and little gifts. Yesterday he got me this little bow-packaged truffle, just adorable," she gushed.
"I'm going to sit this one out," Paris commented, not having a lot of positives to say about Finn right about now. She couldn't even say that she hadn't expected this from him, and mostly she just blamed it on her hormones that she'd ever humored him as an option.
"Luke makes the best coffee. But then again he's scared to move back in with me, so there's that," Lorelai said, sounding already quite tipsy.
"Josh is definitely the quiet one, and I don't know … sometimes it would be nice if he took charge more. He does so in bed sometimes, and in his business, it's just around me in a normal setting when he's the timid one. It's like he steps into this character when asked but prefers to be the little gray mouse. But we've been through so much together - he loves me, I love him… Rory knows that putting up with my family is like and considering that I have nothing to complain about," Honor said.
"Zach… hmm.. He plays the banjo really well, any guitar-type instrument really, he's just got this look in his eyes, when he plays and then looks at me just at the right moment, it's good I'm usually sitting behind the drumset or my knees would give in. "The place is a constant mess and he's really not helping set a good example for the guys, unless I really tell him, I guess he doesn't have a lot of drive for bigger and better either," Lane explained and it wasn't difficult to imagine what a really serious Lane Kim sounded like if one knew her mother.
"Rory? You're up," Gigi said, seeing Rory had gone into a haze of thought. She'd been thinking how so many marrages she knew of had struggled, and hoped getting married didn't mean creating more problems for them.
"Um… well Logan pushes me just right - he gets me to do thinks I wouldn't normally do, and no - I don't mean the yacht," she said, sensing already her mother's next comment coming. "But just to be more open and take risks, the good kind," she added, thoughtfully. "And for bad… um… this is really hard," Rory struggled and remained pondering for a while. The rouble was her throughts kept drifting, having difficulty concentrating properly with the baby kicking at the same time.
"You seriously can't think of a single thing!?" Paris asked, clearly willing to offer some help.
"I mean sure, there have been things that have been complicated - he's stubborn, but he was way more stubborn before, compared to now. He talks more about his feelings, he listens more. I can tell he's going to be an excellent dad, he kind of even looks hotter these days," Rory added with a blush.
Gigi laughed, making the sound of a drop of water hitting hot metal.
"Looks like someone did well by waiting this long," Honor chuckled, knowing damn well that there was nothing else to do but laugh. There was no point crying after by-gones now.
"Oh, we're here!" Gigi cheered, excitedly as the limo pulled over by what looked like a dance studio - its label broadcasting 'Dance and Fitness' as their main business.
"Gigi, might I remind you that this one here," Lorelai pointed out, gesturing towards Rory. "...has never been particularly well coordinated nor keen on exercise," she added.
"She'd right - I've seen her stomp on several pairs of feet over the years," Paris replied.
"Oh, hush - it'll be fun," Gigi encouraged.
"I for one, can't wait. I haven't had time to do something like this in ages!" Honor said. "Though clearly the girl doesn't have a clue what it's like to be over 35 and pregnant," she added, speaking solely to Paris and Rory, as Gigi headed ahead, buzzing them in.
What waited them inside, was, however, not a ballroom class, nothing to do with fitness training, not even tap. What awaited them was a woman, voluptuous but incredibly comfortable in her body, her purple-colored hair braided like it belonged to Rapunzel barely wearing skimpy bra and bead skirt.
"Welcome my tonight's burlesque queens!" the woman greeted them gallantly, giving them some insight about what Gigi had arranged them.
Despite some initial apprehension, it turned out to be quite fun - definitely more fun than dirty. They were given some props - boas, tophats, gloves fans, fancy hats and jewelry, and instructed on the very basic moves, while the instructor encouraged each and every one of them with her humorous banter.
For quite a while Rory completely forgot about being pregnant - because she was simply having fun. But after a while though, she could feel the familiar tiredness in her back. Lucy, Olivia, Gigi, Honor and Lorelai were deep into what they were doing, already beginning to work on a set of sorts. But since Rory didn't feel like listening to Paris' grumpiness, with a feather headpiece still on her, she snuck outside, just wanting to call Logan and have a moment to herself.
"Hey, Ace!" Logan picked up.
"Hey…," Rory chimed, being glad to hear his voice. She sat down on a bench just wanting to relax her back for a moment.
"Miss me already?" Logan teased. It sounded like he'd been running, his surroundings sounding otherwise quiet but the place had a weird echo.
"I do but don't let it go to your head," Rory replied, smilingly.
"You guys doing anything fun?" Logan asked, sounding a little out of breath.
"We are, just my back got a little tired. But I may or may not have just learned how to tease you with a gigantic feather. But that'll just have to be something you find out on our honeymoon," Rory teased, not too seriously.
"Ah…, let me guess - Gigi's idea?" Logan laughed, not hating the visual one bit.
"Yup," Rory replied.
Suddenly Rory heard a large bang, and she could hear Logan on the other end curse, "Shit!" like he'd just gotten hurt.
"What was that?! Logan!" Rory reacted, worriedly.
"I just got shot! Fuck!" Logan groaned.
