Rory was on her second coffee by the time Logan joined her.
"I usually don't like to be seen on campus this late in the year," Logan joked. "Why are we meeting so early?"
Rory scoffed, "It's noon!"
"Yeah?"
She shook her head, took a deep breath and began to speak, "I'm thinking of taking a year off"
"From school?"
"No, from showering!"
"Easy Ace, you are just the last person I would ever imagine hearing that from. Did you get some type of internship offer?"
"No."
"Travel opportunity?"
"No."
"Are you pregnant?" Logan gasped
"NO!" Rory practically screamed.
"Okay," Logan sighed with relief, "Then you need to give me more details."
"I'm just not sure journalism is where I'm going to end up. I was always working towards a specific goal and now that it looks like it won't happen that way -"
"Wait, since when was journalism off the table?"
"Look, I know you took a year off or something and I just wanted to know how that works. What steps you took and how and when you came back. I just want a little information."
"Ace, seriously! You have to tell me," suddenly Logan paused and his face changed, he became visibly angry. "What did my Dad say to you?"
Rory flushed and softly shook her head, "It doesn't matter. Look, I wouldn't even have come to you, but I don't want to stress my Mom out right now. I want to have all my ducks in a row before bringing this to her."
"Rory, my Dad is an asshole. He tests people. One of his biggest things is seeing how people react to being torn down. Whatever he said to you was a manipulation to see how much drive you have. Whenever he takes over a new company he tests people to see if his criticism will make them quit or make them work harder to prove him wrong."
Rory felt embarrassed and shocked, "You mean I let him shake me to the point of almost quitting school and it was all just a test?"
Logan nodded sympathetically, "I don't know what he said to you but at a Yale alumni event last night he was bragging about you being on the school paper and working for him. He said that you were more suited to take over a paper than I'll ever be."
Rory shook her head and felt the tears begin to fall, "I just sat through my last exam and didn't write a word. I just had his words running through my mind. Oh my GOD!"
"It's fine. I'll talk to him. I'll get him to call someone and you can take it over."
"NO! I don't want anything from him! I'll figure it out on my own, or I'll make up the class next year."
"So you're not taking a year off?" Logan asked.
"Are you kidding? Not after finding this out. I need to reevaluate my whole plan, the next few weeks are going to be crucial in my two plans."
"Two plans?"
"First plan is to kick ass for the rest of my time in Yale so your father never stops hearing about me through his Yale Daily News contacts. And the second is to get a job at a competing paper from your Dad and make him WISH he hired me."
"That my Ace!"