Reviewers: Thank you so much; I couldn't believe all the positive feedback!
I had a little trouble with this chapter, it's not my favourite but there is some Rogan action... so that's always good, right? Anway, I hope that you like it.
Enjoy!
The sound of her phone ringing jerked Rory out of her slumber and she growled into her pillow. Moaning, she rolled over bringing the pillow over her ears but it did little towards muffling the noise. She reached blindly to her left before she remembered that she was in Stars Hollow instead of her dorm and turned to her right instead. Fumbling around her bedside table, she tried to find the source of the noise so she could turn it off and get back to sleep. It was almost two minutes later of non-stop ringing that she had located the phone and by that time she was already half awake. Knowing that she probably wouldn't be able to fall back asleep she flipped open her cell phone, rubbing the remnants of sleep from her eyes.
"What?" she snapped irritably. Just because she was awake didn't mean that she was accepting of it.
"Is that how we're greeting each other now? I must admit that I'm not overly fond of it."
"Tristan?" Rory asked, trying to place the voice.
"How's it going Mary?" he responded.
"It was going great until about three minutes ago!"
"Why what happened?"
"I woke up."
"Well it had to happen sometime," he replied innocently and Rory could almost hear his smirk. She couldn't stop the smile that was spreading across her face at his voice. It felt like she hadn't spoken to him in ages.
"Why are you calling me so early?" she whined, ignoring how childish she sounded.
"Early bird catches the worm."
Rory snorted. "Seriously, Tristan."
He laughed before sobering. "I have a problem."
"Well I knew that." There was a pause. "What's wrong?"
"There's this girl-" he started.
"There always is," she said, interrupting him.
"Funny. Anyway, I met her the other night and we really clicked. We spent the night talking about nothing and it was great." He sighed. "But then there's Caitlyn. I told you about Caitlyn, right?"
Rory thought for a moment trying to recall where she had heard that name before. "Your friend who told you that she likes you?"
"Yeah, that's the one. So before we went out last night I told her that we should just be friends."
"Oh, how'd she take it?" Rory frowned sympathetically, sitting up in bed, the sheets pooling at her waist.
"Not very well," Tristan replied, sighing. "And I really like this other girl but I don't want to start something with her if it'll make Caitlyn upset. I want to keep her friendship."
Rory tried to cover her yawn. "Have you been stressing about this all night?"
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep last night. I don't know what to do."
"Tell you what, I'll call you when I'm awake and we can talk more about it."
Tristan laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, I guess it is kind of early."
"Kind of?" Rory repeated incredulously. "Mom and I had a movie night last night and I'm exhausted."
Tristan just laughed in response, knowing how their movie nights could get. He had had one with them during the summer and had ended up leaning over the toilet for the majority of it after having too much sugar. "So you'll call me later?"
"Yeah, tonight."
"I'll talk to you later than."
"Okay, bye Tristan."
"Oh and Mary?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
Rory smiled. "No problem."
She flipped her phone shut and flopped back into her bed. Maybe if she was lucky she could get a more couple hours of sleep before she had to wake up in order to go back to Yale.
-
Rory stood in line for her coffee, ignoring the fact that she was now officially late for her newspaper meeting. She hadn't had a cup so far and was certain that she would be no use at the paper anyways until she had coffee in her system.
"Hi, a large caramel macchiato, please," she said, smiling at the supplier of coffee. He nodded to her and told her the total. She counted out the coins needed on her palm and handed them to the barrister. Her smile widened when she received the steaming beverage and wrapped her fingers around it.
"Hi!" Rory turned when she heard a voice to her right and saw that Stephanie was standing there holding a cup of coffee and smiling brightly.
"Hey," she said and took large swallow of her drink, happy to have caffeine coursing through her veins again.
"How's it going?" Stephanie fell into step beside Rory, wrapping her jacket around her tightly despite the warm air.
"I'm late," Rory replied. "I was supposed to be at the newspaper almost ten minutes ago." She sped up a little. Stephanie stayed at her side as they walked and Rory looked at her out of the corner of her eye and noticed that she had bags under her eyes. "Are you okay? You look upset."
Steph sighed, wondering if her relationship issues were so blatantly obvious. "Guy problems."
Rory nodded sympathetically. "Those are the worst kind of problems." She covered a yawn with her free hand. She was exhausted after staying up late the previous night trying to help Tristan with his girl troubles.
Steph nodded in agreement. "I know," she said sighing again. "And I should probably walk away from this problem but I can't, you know?"
Rory slowed down as they were approaching the newspaper office. She turned towards Stephanie and offered an understanding smile as she was hit with an impulsive idea. "I have to go but do want to grab lunch in a couple hours?"
Her new friend smiled. "I'd love to."
-
Bold, harsh blue streaks filled the small shred of paper sitting in front of Rory. Trying to drown out Doyle's irritating voice was harder than it looked and it was taking its toll on her office supplies. Rory sighed, leaning her head on the palm on her head and gazed at the pen in her hand as if it were the most interesting thing she had ever seen. She began tapping it on the desk, emulating Lane when she was drumming but soon stopped after receiving annoyed looks from her fellow journalists.
Rory sighed again, and placed her head on her other hand. The meeting had gone longer than she had expected. Partly because of Doyle's meticulous habits having to do with the newspaper and partly because she was so bored that every minute seemed like an hour. All in all, Rory Gilmore was tired and slightly coffee-deprived and that was never a good combination.
There was a sudden silence in the newsroom. Rory frowned confused; Doyle never stopped in the middle of a rant. Looking up, she was surprised to see a nervous looking guy in a delivery man uniform standing awkwardly by the door holding a bouquet of sunflowers. He shrunk back as the entire newsroom turned towards him as one, all looking for a moment's relief from Doyle's lectures.
"What?" Doyle snapped annoyed, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he whirled around to face the carrier of the flowers.
"Um," he stuttered, holding the bouquet in front of him like a shield. "Is there a Rory Gilmore here?"
Rory's eyes widened marginally and she put up a hand uncertainly. She couldn't think of anyone who would buy her flowers. "Yeah, that's me."
The boy headed towards her, still withering under Doyle and Paris' gaze, the flowers held in front of him. "These are for you." He thrust the flowers at her before turning and quickly exiting the newsroom, eager to escape Doyle's glare.
"Who are they from?" asked a fellow journalist, smacking her shiny red lips together and craning her neck to see.
Rory shrugged. "I don't know." She rummaged through the flowers, looking for a card and wished that the whole newsroom wasn't privy to this moment. She could feel a red flush crawling up her neck.
"That is so cute!" A girl who Rory had never talked to before squealed, looking enviously at the bouquet in Rory's hands. "Nobody ever sends me flowers. You are so lucky."
The rest of the females quickly acknowledged their agreement, sighing with jealousy. Rory could even see Paris looking at the flowers with interest from her place behind Doyle where she had been taking notes with importance.
"C'mon people, we have more important issues to discuss than Gilmore's personal life!" Doyle snapped, looking pointedly at Rory, already angry with her for arriving late.
She ignored him and grinned in triumph when she finally located the card that came with the sunflowers. It probably would have taken less time if she hadn't been so embarrassed by the amount of people staring at her. Ripping open the envelope, she paused a second before she went to open the card, still trying to guess the sender. She opened it and smiled ruefully at the familiar handwriting. She should have known. Her smile widened when the words written on the paper registered with her.
Thanks for being a great friend Mary
Love Tristan
She was full out grinning now and she knew that she looked like a fool but at the moment she didn't care. Some people wondered how she could be friends with someone like Tristan who was known for being arrogant and snobby but they didn't know him like she knew him. They didn't know that once you gained his trust he would be loyal to you forever. They didn't know that he could be the sweetest person in the world.
-
"Sorry I'm late," Rory said, sliding into the seat across from Stephanie at the restaurant that they had agreed to meet at. The smile still hadn't left her face since she received the flowers which were now sitting in a glass jar in her dorm room.
"That's okay." Steph looked at her curiously. "Good meeting?"
"You could say that." Rory picked up the menu in front of her and scanned it. "What's good here?"
Stephanie sighed wistfully, looking at her own menu. "Everything."
Rory laughed. "Sounds like my kind of restaurant."
Almost an hour later she was pushing away her now empty plate and leaning back in her seat completely satisfied from the meal that she had just ate. She picked up her half empty drink and took a long sip. Putting her glass down, she looked up to see Stephanie looking at her in astonishment.
"What?" she asked laughing, feeling a little self-conscious.
Stephanie shook her head slowly, trying to comprehend what she had just seen. "How do you eat that much?" Her voice was incredulous, causing Rory to laugh again. "No, seriously," Stephanie protested. "Do you always eat like that?"
"Usually," she said, nodding in agreement.
"How do you look like you do?" Stephanie's eyes were still wide with astonishment. She looked down at her half-eaten plate and Rory's empty one, armed with the knowledge that Rory's lunch had been almost double the size of hers.
"My mom and I call it the Lorelai paradox."
"The Lorelai paradox?"
Rory nodded. "My full name is Lorelai and my mom named me after her."
Steph looked at her curiously. "How do you get Rory out of Lorelai?"
She laughed in response. "My mom named me after herself; who knows what she's thinking?"
The waiter came by at that moment to clear their plates cutting off whatever Stephanie was going to say in reply.
"Would you ladies care for any dessert?" he asked, looking at Stephanie in particular and smiling charmingly.
"Rory?" Steph asked her, gesturing towards her.
"No thanks." She wasn't full but knew that she could probably convince Steph to stop for ice cream with her later.
"Just the bill thanks," Steph told the waiter, flashing him a pearly smile. He smiled back and, nodding, he left. "He's cute," Steph gushed as soon as he was out of earshot.
"He is." Rory sighed, watching him walk away, knowing that her friend was doing the same thing right beside her. She giggled and then stopped, surprised at herself; Rory Gilmore did not giggle. "Don't you have a boyfriend though?"
Steph smiled deviously. "Yeah, I do but it never hurts to look right?" She paused for a minute, thinking. "Finn's cuter though."
"Finn would be your boyfriend?" Rory asked.
"Yes he is." Stephanie toyed with her empty glass, suddenly shy which was not a feeling that she was used to. She sighed. "At the moment, that is."
"At the moment?"
"We have our on and off moments."
Rory nodded with understanding, looking at Steph with knowing eyes. "But you don't want it to be one of those relationships, do you?"
Stephanie shook her head in response. "No, but it's college, you know? He doesn't want to be too serious."
Rory felt like she was prying and worked to change the subject. "So how did the two of you meet?"
"We meet a couple years ago at a club that both of us belong to. My friends became friends with him and so we were always thrown together. Eventually stuff just happened." She shrugged, not feeling very articulate on the subject.
The waiter chose that moment to arrive, bill in hand. There was a small argument over who would pay for the food, which Stephanie won. They gathered up their coats that they didn't really need as it was quite warm outside and made their way out of the restaurant.
"So where to now?" Stephanie asked, spreading her arms out wide as if describing all the places they could go. "Oh wait, do you have classes?"
Rory shook her head. "No I had them all this morning." She muffled a yawn as if to show how early she had had to wake up that morning.
"So come back to campus with me. We could hang out."
Rory smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that."
-
They walked through a half-deserted courtyard, no particular destination in mind. Laughing slightly as both were trying to outdo each other with stories from their childhood, they were both surprised when they noticed that two people had approached them without them detecting it.
"Finn, Logan!" Stephanie said with a bright smile on her face. Rory examined the newcomers almost warily. There were two of them and, by the way he was looking at Stephanie, the dark haired one was obviously Finn. And that left the blond haired one to be Logan. "Where's Colin?"
"Colin's out with Francesca." The blond one filled in, smiling. "I'm Logan." He looked at Rory pointedly, waiting for her to fill in her name and smiled charmingly.
"Oh right! Logan, Finn this is Rory. Rory this is Finn and Logan." Stephanie quickly made introductions while looking curiously at her boyfriend. He hadn't said a word to her yet and usually he was all over her in a matter of seconds.
"It's nice to meet you," Finn said, distractedly, looking at Stephanie. "Can I talk to you for a second, love?" he asked, already dragging her away from the group. Stephanie glanced back at Rory apologetically but let herself be pulled away.
Rory turned from watching them walk away back to the blond man standing in front of her. He was looking at her, a smile playing at his lips, making Rory smile somewhat uncomfortably back.
"I know you," he mused, looking her over from her feet to her hair. He took a moment to complete his survey before his eyes met hers; blue versus brown. "Do you model?"
She rolled her eyes, knowing that a question like that wouldn't be followed up by anything that she wanted to hear. "Nope."
"Act?"
"No."
"Are you from Hartford?"
"No." Rory was getting annoyed by all the questions and it showed in her tone of voice.
There was a pause in the conversation where he smiled at her, still trying to place her. "Seriously, I've seen you before." He finally shrugged, admitting defeat for the moment. "I guess we'll never know."
"I guess so," she agreed, looking away from him. His stare was making her feel uncomfortable.
"So you go to Yale?" Logan finally asked, tired of the silence.
"Yup."
"Do you like it?"
Rory smiled. "I love it."
"Good, that's good."
She nodded. "It is."
He looked over at Finn and Stephanie and noticed that they were still deep in conversation. Stephanie was clearly getting annoyed with what her boyfriend was saying and was currently flailing her arms about trying to make a point. Sighing, Logan looked at his watch knowing that they wouldn't be done for a while and so he had some time to kill. He turned towards the girl standing slightly behind him, knowing that she would be as equally bored as he was.
"Do you want to grab a cup of coffee or something?" he asked, looking back at Rory.
She bit her lip inwardly debating with herself and Logan had to stop himself from leaning forward and biting the lip himself. He didn't know where the urge to do so came from but he was almost positive that this was one girl who would not appreciate that particular gesture.
"Steph and I are supposed to hang out," she finally pointed out, not giving a yes or no answer. She didn't know this man at all and wasn't sure if she wanted to leave the area with him.
Logan rolled his eyes. "They'll be awhile. Finn just heard that Stephanie went out with some guy last week and wants to claim his territory. They do this all the time, believe me."
Rory still hesitated. Finally she relented. "Alright, sure, I'll come."
"Great!" He turned to go and looked back when he noticed that she wasn't following. "Come on!" He waved an arm to emphasis her moving.
She hurried to catch up to him, looking behind her in the direction that they had left Finn and Stephanie uncertainly. She watched Logan out of the corner of her eye while she walked. He had a certain self-assurance around him but she couldn't tell if it were arrogance or simply confidence. He was good-looking, she could give him that and he seemed secure in that knowledge. She smiled slightly when she realized that he was looking at her too.
-
"You went out with him." Finn's voice was low and serious, causing Stephanie to frown. Nothing good ever came out of Finn being serious.
"I went out with whom?" she asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. He had pulled her off to the side to talk and dove straight into this conversation; there was no polite conversation intended.
He snorted. "You can't even remember who you went out with?"
"Don't put words in my mouth. Don't you dare," she snapped, moving her arms for emphasis. Stephanie was suddenly angry and she placed her hands on her hips defiantly. "You have no right to drag me away to accuse me of going out with a guy while you and I weren't together!"
Finn looked down at his feet. He didn't know why he was acting this way, why it was such a big deal to him. After he had overheard James McLeod bragging about having had a date with Steph, his mind had gone blank. His first impulse had been to punch the guy; nobody went out with his girl but him. Unfortunately Logan had stopped him from doing so, although he had glared at him with his meanest glare on the way by. His second impulse had been to confront Stephanie; why she had gone out with that jerk was beyond him. Logan had agreed to that and so Finn had proceeded straight to her dorm. After finding out that she wasn't home, he and Logan had wandered around for nearly an hour until they found her and he still didn't understand.
Finn honestly didn't know what to think. Stephanie was still talking, her voice getting progressively louder. He did the only thing that he wanted to do at the moment. He kissed her.
Stephanie pushed him away after a moment, trying to look angry despite her flushed cheeks and darkened eyes.
"You can't just do that every time we get into an argument," she said, even though both of them knew that that was what always happened, what always would happen. She was smiling slightly as he pushed a piece of hair behind her ear, somewhat surprised by the unusual gesture.
"I know love," he whispered back, sliding his hand down to her waist. "I know."
He kissed her again and this time there were no complaints.
-
The nearest coffee cart was only a short walk away and so Logan and Rory arrived within minutes. Logan waved away all of Rory's attempts to pay for her beverage and merely held up two fingers after she had ordered. After they had their drinks in hand, they wandered back slowly in the direction that they had come from.
"So what made you come to Yale?" Logan finally ventured. He was curious about this girl that Stephanie had befriended so quickly. She was beautiful and Logan Huntzberger was never one to ignore a pretty girl.
"It seemed like my best option." She shrugged. "And my grandparents went here so that was a bonus."
"Your grandparents?" Logan raised an eyebrow. "So you're from money."
"You automatically deduce from the knowledge that my grandparents went to Yale that that means that they were rich?" Rory frowned, toying with the lid of her coffee. She thought for a moment. "If I was, hypothetically, would that change your opinion of me?"
"Hypothetically? Yes."
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, surprised at his honesty. "How?"
He shrugged. "I'm not saying that my opinion of you would drastically change. But honestly, have you ever met someone who isn't swayed by money?"
"Yes," she claimed defiantly.
"Who?"
Rory racked her mind for someone, anyone, who didn't care about money at all.
"Can't think of anyone can you?" he asked her softly and smiled slightly, noticing how she sub-consciously bit her lip while she was thinking.
"No, I can."
"Who?" he asked again, watching her face.
"My mother."
"Your mother?"
"Yeah, she doesn't care about money."
"Does she work?"
Rory frowned. "Yes."
"Then she cares about money." Logan smiled; knowing that despite was she thought he had just won the debate. He tossed his empty cup into a trashcan as he was walking by and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"What?" she replied incredulously. "That doesn't make sense. Everyone works, you need to work."
"Yes, you need to work in order to make money. If you didn't care about money then you wouldn't work," he explained patiently, trying not to laugh at the look on her face.
"But you need to work in order to provide for your family," she countered, still frowning.
Logan shook his head. "If you didn't care about money you would live in isolation without any material possessions. You wouldn't need to make money to provide for your family."
"What about food? Shelter?"
"You would live like people in the past used to and live off of the land."
"Okay, so according to you I don't need to be here at all. I should be out in the wilderness hunting to survive." She frowned as she went to take a sip of her drink and noticed that it was all gone.
Logan laughed. "I didn't say that." He smiled at her, showing off his pearly whites. "If you didn't go here you never would have met me. Think about how boring your life would be without me."
"I just met you fifteen minutes ago," she pointed out, as she placed her now empty coffee cup into the garbage. She was smiling now even though she didn't really want to be.
"And haven't these last fifteen minutes been fun?" he asked, leaning in close to her.
"That's one word for it." She smiled sweetly at him, making him laugh.
"Logan!" During their discussion, they had arrived back where they had left Finn and Stephanie earlier. Finn was fast approaching, after leaving Stephanie with a hard kiss to the lips.
"Let's go," he said to Logan before turning to Rory. "Sorry, love. I'm Finn and you are?" he asked causing her to lift her eyebrows in question.
"This is Rory, Finn," Logan explained, laughing at his friend's forgetfulness. "You met her earlier with Steph."
"Right, of course I did." He turned back to Logan. "The pub?"
"Right behind you." Logan turned back to Rory, offering her a smile. "I'll see you around."
He walked away with Finn by his side, leaving Rory trying to figure out why that sounded more like a statement than a question. She smiled to herself as she walked towards Stephanie, knowing that she would be seeing a lot more of Logan in the future.
-
Logan turned, watching as Rory approached Steph and started to talk to her and he smiled. Finn was ranting about something or other beside him but he had long since tuned him out as he watched Rory. There was something about that girl, something more than he was seeing. His smile widened, knowing that if he was anything, he was determined. And at the moment he was determined to get to know that girl better. Logan Huntzberger fought the sudden urge to whistle as he walked towards the pub confidently, looking nonchalant to all that saw him. Oh yeah, he was going to be seeing a lot more of Rory.