Chapter 10
The sensation of his skillful hands against her body felt electric, each touch leaving her tingling. When he touched you, he didn't just touch you - he massaged, caressed and admired as if his fingertips had a sense of vision. Even the appreciative sounds he made while doign that added to her arousal. And boy - was she wet already, but he just continued to tease, kneading her waist, hips and thighs, only ever really passing by her most sensitive regions by a half an inch.
The unbearable ache only grew.
She could feel the soft satin sheets brush against her pert nipples, as she moved a little, leaning onto her elbows, her hips up in the air. She'd never felt this vulnerable in her life, so exposed - but yet so beautiful, sexy and confident. It was his doing she felt that way. His scent was evident - intoxicating and addictive, leaving no room for error who was behind her. His lips kissed her spine, adding some tongue, causing goose bumps along her body. With her eyes closed - taking in every sensation instead of the visual - she really only had that scent and touch to go on.
Rory bit her lip, licked her lips and hummed, her ass raising up as her back curved like a cat, waiting for his fingers to touch her soft, moist, flesh.
This was torture, pure sweet and delicious torture.
But the touch never came. The most horrible sound in the world did. The alarm clock.
Rory jerked awake with a start. A second later she groaned into her pillow, realizing it had just been a dream, a memory from Rome... Her entire body still felt like it was on edge - her breathing was definitely more rapid than on an average morning, her cheeks were a little flushed, her skin was sweaty and as she finally dared to look - Yup, a real mess between her thighs, the moisture showing through her underwear.
Unfortunately this was not a morning for lingering in bed or finishing this mess by herself. She had a meeting at the paper and a home assignment to finish for class that started at noon. Life just felt so unfair sometimes. But this morning was no other way than up. Rory quickly wrapped herself into her robe and made a beeline towards the bathroom, hoping a shower would cool her off. It would have to - there was no other option.
It was safe to say, she hadn't slept with Logan last night. But, damn, she had wanted to.
They'd made out lengthily up on that roof, wrapped into some soft blankets, each brush of their lips, each slip of his tongue into her mouth having left her floating in a dream like state. Frankly, even finding some way to do it right there on the roof, ignoring the cold, or looking for some secret corner of the museum, in the warehouse where they held the mummies or the janitor's closet - it didn't matter where, had crossed her mind. Naturally, the wine had made her more susceptible as well, but Logan being the way he was - it really wouldn't have taken much had he made a move.
She'd even wondered whether that was what every girl who was with Logan felt? No wonder he was popular, if that was the case.
But it had been Logan this time, who had almost annoyingly kept things from going out of hand - a move she'd never expected from him. She was pretty sure he'd wanted to - especially if the almost devouring kiss, with his arms pulling her flush up against him, behind her dorm room door as goodbye had been any indication. She was pretty sure she'd even felt his half-mast arousal between them at that moment. It had been such a battle - part of her wanting to drag him into her room and have her way with him, and on the other hand having this irritating buzzing in her head about how she shouldn't, how she was not just that girl, and… what was worse - her mother.
They'd agreed to meet up again on Saturday, though Logan had warned her that it wouldn't be just the two of them, the exact itinerary remaining unclear. But in a rather boyfriendly manner, despite being nowhere near labels yet, Logan had promised to let her know if there'd be anything requiring a specific dress code.
Either way a great date and gentlemanly behavior really wasn't making him any less irresistible.
Desperately trying to ward off dirty thoughts of just going to look for him and dragging him into a nearest vacant bed after the dream she'd just had, Rory put up a strong front and made her way through the cafeteria to the newsroom, finishing her bagel on the go, aiming to savor her coffee at her desk during the morning meeting.
Naturally, as was the norm, Logan was nowhere in sight, despite it being an obligatory meeting.
After Doyle had finished a lecture about the importance of editing, urging people to hand in their stories earlier than they had for the last issue, the moment Rory had feared approached.
"Gilmore! How's the story going?" Doyle inquired.
"Um… okay, I guess," Rory replied. "I am still researching it a bit, though I am not sure I can find a whole lot more about the Life and Death Brigade," Rory confessed, essentially lying since she already knew more about it than most people.
"You're going to have to dig a little deeper, Gilmore. If I don't get a story from you by Tuesday we're moving you to Sports, Gary needs someone to cover for him until his hand cast gets taken off, or… we'll just have to give up your desk for someone who actually gets stories out. In real papers it's several articles a day sometimes, not one per week as we mostly require," Doyle explained, speaking like a man-of-the-world.
"I'll do my best," Rory promised, worriedly.
It really was a crucial point to consider - how much was Logan worth to her? Was he more important to her than keeping her dream about becoming a journalist alive? She couldn't follow sports, she didn't understand the entire fenomen no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she could write about anything and everything if she tried hard enough. But she knew she couldn't get kicked off the paper. She could do this, couldn't she?
As she began to put the more generic article to paper - writing about secret societies in general and its more famous Harvard equivalent, she suddenly got an idea which she was kind of proud of. Maybe there was a way to make this story happen without revealing the Life and Death Brigade and Logan's involvement in it?
At 6.57 PM Rory found her mother standing in front of her grandparents house by her Jeep, expectantly waiting for her to arrive.
"Finally," Lorelai exhaled.
"What are you doing out here?" Rory asked, even though the answer was obvious.
"Am I wearing the same thing I wore last Friday night?" Lorelai asked.
"What?" Rory sounded confused.
"Halfway here I was struck by the overwhelming feeling that I wore this exact outfit to last Friday night, and there's no way I'm going in there to see my mother wearing the same thing I wore last Friday night because I may not remember but she sure as hell will," Lorelai explained, frantically.
"I don't know," Rory shrugged.
"You don't know?" Lorelai exclaimed in disbelief.
"You don't remember but you expect me to?" Rory asked.
"Well, you look at me more than I look at me. You sit across from me at dinner. You had more of a chance to imprint my ensemble in your brain," Lorelai elaborated theatrically.
"Sorry, no imprint," she replied.
"Oh, that hurts," Lorelai said, getting all dramatic.
"Oh, I'm sure you don't remember what I was wearing," Rory shot back.
"I most certainly do," Lorelai argued.
"Okay, what was I wearing?" Rory asked.
"You were wearing a lovely and delicately understated, uh, outfit… well, you were definitely wearing these arms," Lorelai replied, as they walked to the door.
"Oh, way to imprint, lady," grumbled.
"Stand I front of me, just in case," Lorelai begged, positioned herself behind her daughter and rang the doorbell.
"Hello," the maid answered the door.
"Hi, we should be on the guest list. Halston and Liza are expecting us," Lorelai replied, emphasizing the 'z', hoping for once a maid would get her reference.
The maid stared at them, looking all confused. Poor thing - Rory thought.
"Okay. Let's try it straight. Hi, we're here for dinner. I'm Lorelai the daughter, this is Rory the granddaughter," Lorelai explained.
"Oh! Okay, I'm sorry. Right this way," the maid replied and gestured them in.
"She's acting weird," Rory pointed out.
"She knows I'm wearing the same outfit as last week," Lorelai whispered.
"She wasn't here last week," Rory recalled.
"The world's small. Maids talk," Lorelai whispered.
"About you?" Rory asked.
"Yes," Lorelai said.
"Oh. With all that's going on in the world, all the maids in existence are talking about you," Rory found it doubtful, and took a seat at the familiar couch.
"Huh. Okay, now you're making me seem a little stuck up," Lorelai complained.
"Can I get you something to drink?" the maid asked.
"Yes, a martini please," Lorelai requested.
"Coke, please," Rory said.
"Oh, you know, maybe we should wait for my mother. Is she coming down soon?" Lorelai suggested.
"No," the maid replied.
"Oh. Okay. Do you know if she saw what I was wearing through the window?" Lorelai said, hesitantly.
"Mrs. Gilmore isn't here," the maid replied.
"She's not?" Lorelai was dumbfounded.
"Where is she?" Rory asked.
"She's at a dinner for the Children's Hospital," the maid replied.
"Oh! So she's not going to be here at all tonight," Lorelai reflected, looking positively pleased at this information.
"No, I'm afraid not," the maid said, shaking her head.
"Okay. Well then I guess we can just…," Rory began to think of a good option.
"You know, we'll just... go have dinner in the pool house with Dad," Lorelai suggested, shurgging her shoulders.
"Oh," the maid reacted.
"Oh?" Lorelai reflected her reaction.
"Mr. Gilmore is out of town," the maid informed.
"He is?" Lorelai reflected.
"'Till Tuesday," the maid replied.
"Aha. We've officially become afterthoughts," Lorelai reacted, finding this utterly amusing.
"Would you like me to make you two something for dinner?" the maid asked.
"Um, well, since everyone's gone, maybe I'll just head back to school. I have a lot of work to do at the paper," Rory said, her thoughts from earlier having begun to rapidly expand and she felt like she needed to put everything on paper. The challenging part was that she wanted to show what she had to Logan and that was a dynamic she didn't yet have experience with. He would probably realize she had journalistic aspirations once she did that, which was not at all that simple because she didn't want to come off as using him as a connection both for this story nor in the field in general. She was sure he'd seen many such people before, and as she had assured him - it wasn't what she was after. It felt not entirely tasteful to suggest she indeed needed him for something now, a date and a half later. And whether he would embrace or hate her idea, was a whole other matter. It was safe to say she was worried, and bringing as much prep work as she could felt like her best bet.
"Yeah. Okay," Lorelai sighed. "That would be one option, going back to school. However, another option would be staying here, ordering pizza, and eating dinner on the living room floor on paper plates," Lorelai suggested, excitedly.
"You're evil!" Rory exclaimed, actually deeply enjoying her mother's naughty streak.
"Would you bring us a phone book, please?" Lorelai requested.
"Right away," the maid replied, actually looking a little amused herself.
"Get crazy!" Lorelai suggested.
"Okay!" Rory agreed and took off her shoes that were hurting her toes a bit anyways. Lorelai did the same.
"We have to really live it up. Carpe Diem, baby," Lorelai cheered.
"I'm touching the rug with my feet!" Rory chuckled, the idea of it seeming so impossible.
"Ooh, you're perverse!" Lorelai laughed.
"Hey, and when she brings the drinks, let's not use coasters!" Rory said, going along with it.
"Hey, I wonder if there's anything in here that we could un-alphabetize," Lorelai shot back, positioning herself to sit with her legs on the couch.
"Ah…The rug is so soft! Oh, you would not believe!" Rory gasped.
"Gluing everything in this room to the ceiling so that it's in exactly the same place, but upside down, be going too far?" Lorelai suggested.
"A little," Rory replied, squinting her nose.
"So, dish?" Lorelai said, making Rory almost think it was time for her to tell her mother about Logan.
"Absolutely," Rory agreed, realizing her mother had also something to share.
"Sherry left your dad," Lorelai said.
"What? When?" Rory exclaimed, not believing her ears.
"A couple of days ago. She got a job offer in Paris and she packed her tiny pants in a bag and bailed," Lorelai explained.
"What about Gigi?" Rory worried.
"Left her with Chris," Lorelai replied.
"No way!" Rory exclaimed.
"Yeah. He came home, and the nanny handed him a letter," Lorelai said.
"I can't believe this! How could she just leave like that?" Rory replied. She couldn't even begin to imagine something like that.
"I have no idea," her mother shrugged.
"How do you know all this?" Rory asked, for a second feeling almost relieved that her dating life wasn't the main discussion topic right now.
"He called me," Lorelai replied.
"When?" Rory asked.
"Yesterday. He was freaking out because he couldn't stop Gigi from crawling out of her crib, and you know, I do have to hand it to him, he gets extra points for the very original duct taping of the diaper move. That place was a wreck," Lorelai explained, speaking surprisingly excitedly, which certainly made Rory worry.
"You went over there?" Rory inquired, not liking this scenario much.
"Oh yeah. But I calmed him down, and, you know, we sort of got the place in order and I think everything's going to be okay. I'm going to go back on Monday and just make sure that everyone's still breathing," Lorelai added.
"Oh. Well, that's very nice of you," Rory said, unsure if she was hiding her reaction well enough. She didn't want her mother and father around each-other, her mother always got hurt.
"Well, your dad is going to need a little help being… a dad. Because, I mean… well he was your dad, so…no newsflash here. But you should see Gigi. She's huge, and gorgeous, and a belcher," Lorelai said, laughingly.
The maid returned nad handed them a phone book.
"Oh, great! Dinner is served," Lorelai said, accepting the phone book.
After they'd ordered pizza and the maid had brought each of them their drinks, they were back to that anticipatory silence which was bound to lead to questions which Rory didn't particularly feel like answering. Well, technically she did, but she was conflicted, the fine line between wanting to share things with her mother and what went on when her hormones and intimate parts were involved seeming so fragile.
"So...?" Lorelai inquired, having that sneaky look on her face.
"So...?" Rory played dumb for a second.
"How was the date with Logan?" Lorelai asked, saying out the name like it was something extraordinarily soft and sensual.
"If you can refrain from ever saying his name in that way, that'd be much appreciated, thank you," Rory requested, her face showing signs of disgust. "But the date was great, really-really great," Rory emphasized.
"Where did he take you?" Lorelai asked curiously.
"To the Yale Museum of Art and a rooftop picnic," Rory shared, sounding proud. It had been certainly way more original than a dinner and a movie.
"What he couldn't afford a restaurant or something? It must've been freezing up on a roof that late this time of year," Lorelai commented, making a freezing sound, recalling the weather last night.
"No.. he actually had to fit the date into a 20-dollar budget, so that's why," Rory replied. It hadn't really been cold with all the blankets - his body had been hot too and the wine had warmed up the rest of her.
"I thought the guy was rich? I mean you mentioned spring break and Rome, I kind of assumed he was well off," Lorelai replied.
"He is… and I requested the limit," Rory replied, feeling like she'd dug herself into a hole by approaching this whole subject from this angle. She didn't want to tell her mother about there having been a line to get to Logan or how women fell at his feet most and that she'd wanted her date to be different from the rest of them.
"Um… why?" Lorelai inquired further.
"I guess.. I just felt like going all out on dates would be something he is used to doing. I saw that side of him the last few times... I wanted to see if he could come up with something creative and clever," Rory explained, feeling relieved for having come up with something believable, and not completely untrue in such a short time.
"Uh… and did he?" Lorelai asked.
"Yeah, he did. I didn't tally up what he spent exactly, but it was pretty close. He nudged the rules a little by using his connections and things he already had, borrowing some blankets and pillows for us, called in a few favors like the the guard a the museum who let us wander around the place until midnight…," Rory explained, her face glowing as she spoke.
"Did you, um… the blanket and the pillows…?" Lorelai inquired, not quite daring to ask out loud.
"No… not this time, I think we're actually just taking our time and getting to know each-other. We're hanging out tomorrow as well, but it's a group thing so… we'll see," Rory replied, not wanting her mothers mind going there. She also realized it sounded kind of lame putting it like that - 'the taking our time and getting to know each-other' part - but it was what they were doing, wasn't it?
"Huh… so is he a Jess or a Dean?" Lorelai inquired.
"He's build is definitely closer to Jess, I'd say, though he's blonde… kind of a bad boy, I guess. A little rebellious but in a way that he knows the rules and knows when he can push them. Maybe closer to Tristan but less insistent? But he's so smart - his majoring in business and some computer stuff…knows art and books, and he writes really well too," Rory shared, excitedly.
"I sure hope he's communicates better than Jess did," Lorelai cautioned.
"Nah, he's different. I don't know him very well yet… but I can just tell he's not that type of guy," Rory said, hopefully.
"Well… you look like you like him a lot. It must be a great feeling," Lorelai said, noting how she spoke of him.
"Yeah, it is," Rory sighed.