Chapter 6: "Ready For Anything"
"I'm bored. I'm really bored actually."
Finn had been complaining about his boredom for the past half hour. It was one o'clock in the morning and many of the sub-partygoers had long gone considering that the actual event ended closer to midnight. However, Colin's closest friends, and Rory, remained. All were somewhat tipsy from the consumption of alcohol, but not enough so to be flat out drunk. After all, many of their parents were within the perimeter. The room that the sub-party was located in was worse for the wear with multiple beer bottles, popped balloons, and confetti scattered in disarray. The group remained draped across couches, tables, and chairs, not quite willing to give in to their tiredness. Logan and Rory sat together on a garnet colored couch, his arm around her shoulders, her head leaning in a resting position on his while her legs and bare feet were tucked comfortably underneath her. She yawned quietly to herself while waiting curiously for the solution to Finn's boredom.
"Well, what do you want to do then? Other than annoy the rest of us with your complaining that is."
Colin eyed Finn with caution. Finn's ideas had gotten them into trouble multiple times before, but with the connections that all of them possessed, getting out of trouble was just as simple.
"Well, Colin, we can go to a bar and pick up redheaded beauties."
It was Logan that spoke next.
"Finn, we have plenty enough alcohol right here, even for you. Tonight doesn't seem like a good night to go out looking for girls anyway."
Logan looked down at the girl resting in his arms. He knew that going out looking for girls to hook up with would make Rory uncomfortable, which could possibly push her away even more than she was pushing herself away from him already. He knew he couldn't tell Finn and Colin any of this simply because they wouldn't understand. He decided if they did decide to go to a bar, he would simply tell the group he had to take Rory back home and call it a night. No one would question it. After all, Rory was different from his other dates.
"What are you talking about mate? There can never be enough alcohol, and there can never be a night not to go out looking for girls. Have you lost your mind? I never want to hear such blasphemous things come out of your mouth again young man."
Logan grinned at Finn, ignoring the idea that Finn had obviously lost a few of his brain cells. Soon afterward a soft female voice spoke quietly without warning.
"We could always play a game."
Finn stopped and began eyeing the group as if trying to figure out who had just spoken. It was obvious that Finn was not used to hearing the voice as he was used to hearing Logan and Colin's voices. Considering that the alcohol had impaired his perception of reality, he looked around the room waiting for someone to confess to speaking.
"Finn, I said we could always play a game. Me, over here."
Everyone turned to look curiously at the girl who just spoke.
"Do I know you love? You look very familiar to me, but I can't place you. It's the alcohol. It has to be the alcohol."
"It is the alcohol Finn. It's me, Rory. I'm Logan's date."
"Right, the girl I didn't get to kiss, the one that Logan danced with."
"Yep, that would be me. I'm sorry to have confused you like that. After all, it wasn't at all obvious who I was."
Rory looked up at Logan with a grin on her face. Even though she was slightly snuggled into Logan's side with his arm around her Finn was not able to recognize her as Logan's date. It was somewhat funny. She decided to dismiss this on the alcohol consumption as she began to describe her idea to the group.
"Well, whenever my mother and I get bored we make up a game to entertain us. I remember once when I was thirteen I had some friends over at my house for a sleepover. It got late and we didn't know what to do so my mother decided that we could play hide and seek. To make it more fun we extended the boundaries to the entire street that we lived on, and if you got caught you had to chug a bottle of gummy worm, chocolate, Oreo, milk, cupcake, jelly bean, straight sugar, and soda smoothie. Surprisingly enough, it tasted quite disgusting. Who would have guessed, right?"
The entire group, including Logan, stared at Rory as if she had just walked into the room in her underwear.
"Is there something on my face or do ya'll just not have anything else to look at? It was just a suggestion; no one else was saying anything. You don't have to actually drink the smoothie if you don't want to."
Rory began to pale under everyone's glare. She didn't know these people, and felt uncomfortable with them looking at her lack that. It wasn't long after her last comment that someone else began to speak. It was a blonde haired girl. Rory noticed that this girl spent more time with Colin and Finn than the other girl's did, but she never actually spoke to the girl herself.
"What's your name again?"
"It's Rory, Rory Gilmore."
"Rory, I'm Stephanie. Just call me Steph. Don't think that we don't like your idea or anything. It's just that, well, that's the most I've heard you say tonight."
Rory blushed nervously at this realization. Logan looked down at her and smiled.
"That's not true Steph, Rory talked to me plenty of times."
"Sorry Logan, but you don't count. After all, you are her date; of course she's going to talk to you. She didn't talk to me. Robert, did she talk to you?"
"No she didn't talk to me. How about you Rosemary, did she talk to you?"
"She asked me where the bathroom was, but I imagine that that wouldn't count."
With that, Logan pulled his arm from around Rory, and stood up while placing his hands in his pockets as if he were about to address the group.
"Okay, Everyone this is Rory Gilmore. Her Grandparents are Richard and Emily Gilmore. Your parents probably know them.
He then began to point out every person in the group.
"Rory, you just met Steph, the girl next to her is Rosemary, and the girl next to Rosemary is Juliet. That boy is Robert. You already know Colin and Finn, and you already know me."
Logan, satisfied, took his seat, and returned his arm to it's previous location. Rory waved hesitantly to the rest of the group, secretly hoping that an official introduction would be enough for the group to except her. To her surprise, it was.
"Well, now that that's done, back to our plans. Rory, you said that you played hide and seek right?"
Rory nodded casually at Steph.
"Well, I don't know about the rest of you but that sounded like fun to me. It'd be even more fun if we upped the stakes a bit."
Steph gained Finn's full attention.
"How do you suppose we do that, love?"
"Easy Finn, we add alcohol, and not only that, we'll form teams. We can be in partners, one boy and one girl. Or, better yet, we could do boys against girls, doesn't that sound like fun! What do you think Rory?"
Rory was surprised that Steph actually appeared to be genuinely interested in her opinion on the matter. She wondered whether she would ever become friends with Steph. Actual friends, not just two people who share a mutual friend, Logan.
"Well, boys against girls sounds like fun to me. We could all wear a flag, and whichever team captures all of the other team's flags wins. If your flag is caught, you're out."
"And if you're out, you have to drink a shot for every half hour you lasted in the game! There you go Finn, you have a reason to actually try to stay in the game."
Finn looked at Steph sadly.
"But what if I win, love? I won't get any alcohol."
Rory smiled at Finn and patted him on the arm like a mother would her child.
"It's okay Finn, if you want some alcohol, you can drink a shot for every flag you capture. And if you don't have any, you can just drink some shots for the heck of it."
Finn looked at Logan with a big grin on his face.
"I really do like this girl mate. Why can't you be more like her?"
"Thanks Finn, I'm touched. You like me better than one of your best friends! Does that make me your new best friend?"
"You can be if you want to love. What do you think about us being, I don't know, friends with benefits?"
"Sorry, no can do, maybe after I've known you for an entire day."
"Really?"
"Let me think about it and I'll get back to you on that."
Finn turned to Logan with a large grin on his face.
"See Logan, there may be a chance for me to kiss this young lady yet!"
Logan raised one eyebrow at Finn in disbelief. He looked at Rory carefully to read any signs of discomfort, but to his surprise she seemed content, happy even.
"I'm not so sure about that Finn. I don't think you're her type."
"How do you know her type mate?"
The group turned to Logan, waiting for his answer. The group was highly suspicious of his relationship with Rory, even though they weren't so sure if they should mention that to Logan quite yet. Apparently, Finn didn't share this sense of caution. It was Steph that saved Logan from any embarrassment that he would have had to endure by answering.
"Alright, alright, let's leave the poor boy alone and get along with our plans for the night, shall we? I for one would like to get out of this dress before gallivanting up and down the street. How about you Rory?"
"It would be nice to be in some clothes that I wouldn't mind getting grass stains in. Logan could take me home to get something else to wear, if that's okay with everyone I mean."
"No Rory, don't be silly, that'll take way too long. Let's just go shopping."
Logan eyed Steph with suspicion.
"You just want an excuse to go shopping, don't you?"
"Of course I do Logan. I'm a girl after all. Come on Rory, Rosemary, Juliet, let's go. I'll drive. There's a cute little store around the corner that I go to sometimes."
"What store could possibly be open at one in the morning?"
"The store owner owes me a favor. He lives next to the store. All I have to do is stop by his house on the way, and we'll be home free. Why so many questions Logan? Are you jealous that you won't get to shop too?"
Rory couldn't hold in her laughter as she realized that Logan had a friend who knew about his shopping habits. Logan glared at Steph which caused the girl to give Logan a big hug while apologizing to her friend.
"I'm sorry Logan; I didn't mean to hurt your feelings like that. I forget how sensitive you can be sometimes. It's okay though. I promise we can go shopping tomorrow. You can help me pick out my tampons."
Apparently Rory wasn't the only one who thought that the banter between the two was funny. She was just the only one who couldn't hold it in. This didn't last, however. It wasn't long before everyone in the group, besides Logan, was laughing at Steph's treatment of him. Logan, on the other hand, didn't think it was funny at all.
"Don't laugh at her. Laughter feeds her belief that she's actually funny."
"There goes that sensitivity again."
"I'm not sensitive! And I don't act like a girl!"
"Of course you don't Logan. What ever gave you the idea that we thought you acted like a girl?"
"I don't know, maybe that whole comment about the—"
"About the what Logan?"
"You know what you said Stephanie."
"Actually I don't quite remember. Why don't you remind me?"
"Why are you toying with me? I didn't do anything to you!"
Steph tried her best to look and sound overly sincere before saying what she knew was a lie.
"What do you mean Logan? I'm not toying with you. I really can't remember what I said that hurt you so much."
"Rory, you remember what she said, why don't you tell her."
Rory glanced over at Steph in between laughs and held her glance while addressing Logan.
"I would Logan, but I'm not so sure that I remember. You do though, don't you? Why don't you tell her?"
Logan looked defeated as he realized that Rory wasn't on his side with this.
"Rory, I'm your date not Steph! Your loyalty is supposed to lie with me. Remember, I'm your ride back home—"
"Don't worry love; I'll give you a ride to my home if that prick won't take you home tonight."
"She's not going home with you Finn!"
"You aren't her daddy Logan!"
"Sorry Finn, but Logan's right. I'm not going home with you. On to more important things. I do believe Logan was in the middle of a conversation with Steph here, and I was anxious to hear what he was going to say."
"She said tampon alright! Are you all happy? She said that we could go shopping for tampons, and I, being a guy, have no need for tampons, so she was calling me a girl! You win Steph! You win. Are you happy that you stole my date and my dignity."
"Oddly, yes, but I'm not one to gloat, so let's go ladies, before it's too late."
Rory, Steph, Juliet, and Rosemary gathered their things in order to leave. Logan, however, pulled Rory to the side before offering her his jacket and his credit card.
"Always the gentlemen huh?"
"For you, always."
"Well, your jacket, I'll take. Your card, on the other hand, is a little much. I told you earlier, I'm not poor Logan; I can buy my own clothes. You already bought me this dress. Let me get this. Please."
"But Rory, when you came here, you didn't know that you were going to have to get another outfit. I brought you here. Let me handle all of the expenses."
Steph walked up to the couple impatiently.
"Rory, when your boyfriend offers to pay for dinner, you let him."
"But he's not my boyfriend."
"Same principle though. Let him pay tonight, and on your next date, you can pay for everything. That way, you'll both be happy."
Steph grabbed Logan's card, and Rory his jacket. The two then walked out to Steph's car, allowing Rosemary and Juliet to follow close behind.
……………………………………………………………………………………………...
"Ha Ha! Logan said tampon! I can't believe you said tampon mate!"
The guys had nothing better to do than sit around waiting for the girls to return. In the mean time, they figured they'd have a couple of drinks, and maybe, if they're lucky, the girls would be back by the time they were done.
"Let it go Finn. You just said it too."
"Yeah, but when I say it, it's funny. When you say it, it sounds like you're on your period, not that you have a period or anything—"
"Why do you people insist on making me out to be some kind of—"
"Prissy bastard with a stick up his ass?"
"Thanks for that Robert, but I was going to say—"
"Girly Man?"
"No, Finn, I was going to say—"
"Bitch?"
"Now Colin that's just mean."
"Yeah mate, don't be mean to the girly man."
"Yeah Colin, don't be mean to the Prissy bastard."
"Guys, ya'll are hitting some nerves that it'd be in your best interests not to hit."
Logan knew that his friends were just picking on him. What they said couldn't be taken seriously anyway. In spite of that, there's something about being called a bitch, even if it's your best friend that's doing the name calling, that can make any person, male or female, a little tense.
"Well what were you going to say mate, just for the sake of this conversation."
"I was going to say over feminized male."
Robert laughed at Logan's comment dramatically.
"What's the difference between over feminized male and prissy bastard Huntzberger?"
"Robert has a point mate. What's the difference between what you said and girly man?"
"And Bitch?"
"I'm not a girly man or a bitch Colin!"
Colin glared at Logan, as if angry for being called out even though Finn and Robert spoke as well. Finn, however, walked over to Logan and draped his arm around Logan's shoulders casually.
"You may not be a girly man or a bitch, but Robert's right, mate. You are a prissy bastard."
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"So what do you think the guys are up to?"
Steph, Rosemary, and Juliet looked at each other with a smile on their faces before answering Rory's question in unison.
"Drinking."
Steph walked up to Rory and linked their arms together while continuing to look through the store.
"You have a lot to learn about these guys my friend, a lot to learn. Do you think you'll be around long enough to learn it all?"
"I'm not sure. I guess that would depend on my friendship with Logan, wouldn't it. I mean, if we stay friends, it'd be only natural for you all to become my friends too, wouldn't it?"
"Of course it would, which is why I'm asking. You know better than I do whether or not you and Logan are going to stay friends. I just met you."
"But you know Logan better than I do. I don't seem to be like the rest of his friends."
"That could be a good thing though. Not too many of his female friends stay around very long. There's only me, Rosemary, and Juliet, and that's only because we've known each other forever, and none of us ever got involved with him. He's like my brother that way."
"That doesn't make things look so good for me though."
"It does if you want to be his friend, not his one night stand. I mean, me, Rosemary and Juliet aren't one night stand kind of girls, so we are capable of getting on his closest friends list. You fit in fine with us, meaning that you should fit in fine with the guys, which also means that you have the potential to stay around for a while. After all, you don't seem like a one night stand kind of girl either."
"I'm not. I'm more of a relationship kind of girl, but right now I just want to be Logan's friend. Nothing more. I can't handle anything more right now."
"Trust me, I understand what you mean. I've been there before myself."
"Do you think you could tell me more about the guys? Other than Logan, I don't know any of them very well."
"I don't only think I can tell you about the guys, I know I can. All the guys and all the girls go to the best school in the country, Yale."
"Well, that works out, because I go to Yale too."
"See, I told you you'd fit right in! What do you think of this shirt?"
Rory looked at the shirt Steph was holding up. It was a red mini tee with the phrase 'LOVE ME OR HATE ME, I'M STILL QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE' printed on the front.
"I wouldn't wear it, but you can if you like it."
"Well, I was picking it out for you, but I guess not. It is a little snobby. Anyway, you already know Logan. He's kind of the leader of the three musketeers, Logan, Colin, and Finn. Robert's their friend too, but not like the rest of them. They've been together since the beginning. They shared diaper rash together, they caught the chicken pox together, they got kicked out of boarding school together etc. Robert didn't really come into the picture until college. They knew him, but only in the way that all the kids with parents like ours knew each other. High society adults tend to stay together that way. Well, like I said, they didn't become friends with Robert until college. He was always somewhat of a jerk before that and they stayed away from him. He still is somewhat of a jerk, but we just accept him for who he is. Well, you know Logan's a Huntzberger, but you probably didn't know that Colin was a McKinley—"
"As in McKinley oil?"
"That would be them. Finn's a Carnegie."
"What's Robert?"
"Robert's a McIntyre, like the hotel chain. Juliet's a Campbell, like the soup. Rosemary's a Windsor. She's related to the royal family in Britain, even though she never met them personally, and was born and raised here in America. I'm a Vanderbilt, and you, my dear, are a Gilmore. Your family comes from old money, and your Grandparents are into the whole insurance thing."
"How do you remember all that?"
"When you've been going to high society parties since you could walk, and your parents never stop talking about it, it's hard to forget. Trust me; you have no reason to be intimidated by the names. It's our parents and grandparents that care about that sort of thing. The rest of us are young, and we want to live and have fun before we get old and have to get sucked into that world with the rest of them."
"You make it sound so tragic."
"It is kind of. Some of us are being forced into lifestyles we don't want. Logan's like that. He doesn't talk about it much, but when he does you can really see how hurt he is. Logan can be kind of sensitive about some things, no matter how hard he tries to hide it. His destiny is one of those things. Colin and Finn are different though. Finn is, well Finn. It's kind of hard to explain him, but you got the gist of it tonight. Colin is sort of the prick of the group. He's a little like Robert that way. Sometimes the things that he says come off kind of harsh, but he really does mean well, sometimes anyway. He's a nice guy, he just has to warm up to you before he let's that show. Finn is kind of the glue that keeps the threesome together. You know, the comic relief. Without him, Logan and Colin would fall apart. Now, Robert is a little jealous of Logan, though he'd never admit to it. Things just come a lot easier for Logan and Robert's not like that. He's a little jealous of his close friendships, and how Logan is kind of the leader. He likes to target Logan sometimes. He gets his kicks that way. In spite of it, they're still somewhat friends, just not the best of friends."
"That's kind of odd, don't you think?"
"Everything about us is odd. Now, the girls. Everyone knows that Finn wants Rosemary. He doesn't try to hide it. She on the other hand, hides the fact that she secretly wants him as well. Don't tell him that though. It'd make his ego even bigger. Juliet is obsessed with her weight. She doesn't want to get fat. She's not anorexic or anything, just cautious about what she eats. A little too cautious sometimes though. You probably have a sense of me already. I can be a little pushy sometimes, mainly when I have an opinion that I want to get known. Now, tell me about you."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you."
"There's not much to tell. I didn't really grow up in this kind of lifestyle. It was available to me, but I lived with my mother, and she tried her hardest to keep me away from it all. She was never very fond of it."
"I guess she didn't try hard enough, if you're here with us."
"I guess not. Right now I'm living with my Grandparents. They're giving me a place to stay while I'm still in school."
"Why didn't you get a dorm?"
"It's a long story, and I don't really want to talk about it. I'm still trying to get over it actually. Maybe later."
Stephanie knew that Rory didn't trust her enough to tell her entire life story. After all, they just met. She just hoped that one day they would be able to talk as old friends would. She wanted to be close to Rory. She seemed like a nice girl. A little shy in comparison with the rest of the group, but a nice girl none the less. She still couldn't believe that Logan actually brought this girl into their lives. She wasn't anywhere near Logan's type, but that could be a good thing for Logan. Maybe he was changing. Maybe he just wanted to get to know Rory just like she did. Who knew, she certainly didn't, but she couldn't wait to find out the answer.
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When the girls made it back to Colin's house they were all dressed in comfortable casual clothing. The guys, however were still in their tuxedos, given that it was a more comfortable form of their tuxedos, it was still their tuxedos none the less. Every guy was without his jacket, sleeves were rolled up, and ties were removed. Stephanie walked over to Logan in order to return his credit card.
"What are you doing with this Steph? It was for Rory."
"But Logan, you said you wanted to pay for all the expenses."
Realization hit Logan like a punch in the gut.
"How much did you spend Steph? Am I still going to have a roof over my head in the morning?"
"We didn't spend that much, just enough for the clothes, a few cups of coffee, a couple doughnuts, and some gas."
"Can I have a ballpark figure?"
"Under $1000 but more than $500."
"That's not too bad I guess."
"No. Trust me; it could have been a lot worse. All my usual stores weren't open. You got lucky. Anyway, we girls bought handkerchiefs from the clothing store for our flags. We just figured that you guys could use your ties. Remember, the teams are boys against girls, and you can go anywhere on this street, as long as you don't go in any of the houses. Yards are within bounds though. Don't be too loud guys; I'd rather not be arrested today. You don't have to stay in your hiding space; you just have to try to capture your opponent's flag before they capture yours. Flags stay in one of your pockets, jacket pocket, front pocket, back pocket, wherever. It can't be in like your underwear or anything. That rule's for Finn because he would actually do something like that."
"I'm not going to deny it. Having a girl reach down my pants for my flag sounds oddly appealing to me."
"Eww Finn. No one wants to here you talk about a girl grabbing your flag in your underwear. That's just gross. Anyway, home base is Colin's front yard. If you get your flag taken, you go back to home base. Everyone's safe on home base, but if you step out of they yard, you are fair game. The teams can strategize as they want, but whichever team captures all of the other team's flags wins. I think everyone remembers the rules about the alcohol right."
No one objected.
"Well good. So are there any questions? None? Alright then, let's go outside and get this party started!"
The girls quickly separated from the guys as they made their way out into Colin's front yard. No one was really sure of what to expect from the night's events, but it was obvious that it was going to be a lot of fun. They just hoped no one would do anything to force the neighbors to call the police. It was almost three o'clock in the morning after all. Rory knew that she should probably call her grandparents to let them know that she wasn't going to be back until morning, but they told her to stay out as long as she liked so it shouldn't be a problem. Something in the back of her mind kept telling her that they probably didn't mean the next day when they said that, but she chose to ignore this feeling and go along with her longing for a good time to lighten her mood. When they were all outside, and the game was about to begin Rory walked over to Stephanie and linked her arm with hers.
"Hey Steph, are you ready for this?"
"I, my friend, am ready for anything!"