Thanks so much for all the reviews-- they're greatly appreciated! Hope you enjoy this chapter!
When Rory saw Stephanie standing outside of her last class of the day, she wasn't surprised. Steph waved enthusiastically at her, almost spilling the bottle of water that she held in her hand. With a smile, Rory hastened her step and was beside her new friend in less than a minute.
"Hey! How's it going?"
Stephanie smiled in response and sighed wistfully. "Pretty good, actually pretty great." She looked pointedly at Rory, waiting for her to ask.
Rory gestured towards her book bag. "I have to put my stuff back in my dorm but do you want to tell me why you're so great?" She smiled knowingly at her friend.
At Stephanie's nod, they turned and headed in the direction of Rory's dorm. They walked slowly, letting the more fast-paced students pass them. There was silence for a moment before Steph broke it impatiently, throwing her empty bottle into a nearby trashcan.
"Guess what?"
Rory laughed; her friend was positively beaming and it was infectious. "What?"
"I have a date tonight." She sighed again and smiled demurely before giggling. Rory watched all of this with a smile.
"With Finn?"
There was a pause. "No, not with Finn. His name is Tyler." Steph's smile remained on her face, but it had faded a little.
"Oh." Rory didn't know what to say. She wasn't used to the way Steph could drop a guy and then have another one the next day. The situation with Dean and Jess a few years back was kind of like that, but that had been building up for months before. This was out of the blue. "You and Finn broke up?"
Stephanie nodded; she had been wanting to talk about the break-up to someone since it had happened. "Yeah, last night. He was drunk and he was flirting with these girls and he's always flirting with girls and so I don't know why I got so angry." She took a deep breath. "But I did. And so I told him that he has to decide; either be with me completely or not be with me at all." She looked away, not really seeing anything, instead reliving the previous night. "He didn't take the idea of an ultimatum very well."
"I'm sorry," Rory offered, watching her friend out of the corner of her eye.
"Me too." Steph smiled sadly before brightening. "But then I went to my first class and there was this guy there and we got to talking and he asked me out."
Rory smiled. "That's great. Where are you guys going?"
Stephanie bit her lip. "A party."
"A party?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, remembering that Steph had mentioned that Finn and his friends were constantly throwing parties. "Who's party?"
Steph looked down. "Finn's party," she whispered, guiltily but there was an odd look in her eye.
"Steph," Rory said, chastising. They approached Rory's dorm and she reached into her bag, fishing for her keys. Pulling them out triumphantly, she unlocked the door and pushed it open.
"I know, I know!" Stephanie looked away as they stepped inside the room. "But c'mon, we stay friends after we break up; we always stay friends. He dumped me and so he has no right to say who I can or cannot date."
"But that doesn't mean that you should parade your new guy in front of him," Rory pointed out logically, walking towards the mini fridge in the corner and gesturing towards its contents. "Want anything?"
"Soda, please." Stephanie sat down on the couch, immediately making herself comfortable by leaning back and putting her feet up. "And I'm not parading my new guy in front of him. It's not my fault if we happen to be at the same party."
"You know that this can only blow up in your face, right?" Rory sat down beside Steph, curling her legs up under her and holding out the soda to her friend.
"Yeah I know." She smiled and looked up at Rory, grabbing her drink and popping the top. "Come with me."
"What?"
"Come to the party tonight."
Rory shook her head. "Sorry, I can't."
"C'mon, what do you have to do, study?"
"Yes." Stephanie would have laughed if her friend's face wasn't serious.
"You should come, you can meet my friends." Stephanie smiled charmingly, widening her eyes pleadingly. "And you can make sure that the night's events turn out in my favor."
Rory rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to come to the party to make sure that Finn doesn't see you with your new guy."
Stephanie laughed affectionately. "Oh, Rory, you're so naïve. Of course I'm not going to make you do that."
"Good." Rory crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat.
Stephanie's smile was devious as she took a long sip from her drink. "You're going to make sure that he does see us."
-
Tristan Dugrey stared down the wooden door and took a deep breath. He was nervous, which was a new feeling for him. He took deep breaths trying to calm himself down but the sound of his heartbeat still echoed in his ears. Raising a clenched fist, he lightly rapped his knuckles against the wood, before pulling them back rapidly as the door swung open.
"Oh hey Tristan!" said the girl who answered the door, a bright smile spreading across her face.
"Hey Erika," he replied smiling back, putting one hand in his pocket casually. Using his other hand to run through his hair, he tried to ignore the feeling that her smile sent to his stomach.
"How's it going?" She had started to walk away from her dorm and was now calling over her shoulder. Tristan followed without her having to ask, it was just expected.
"Better now that I'm with you." He wanted to hit himself as the corny line popped out, not matter how true it really was. He grinned arrogantly, trying to play it off.
Erika rolled her eyes and tossed her blonde hair. "That's sad Tristan." She grinned. "So what brought you to my dorm on this lovely day?"
"I wanted to know if you wanted to go grab a cup of coffee or something." She slowed down a little at his words.
"I don't really like coffee, sorry."
He smiled. "They serve other things, you know. Besides there's always the 'or something' part of my offer." He watched as she bit her lip, looked up at him and stopped walking.
She sighed. "Look, Tristan, you're a nice guy and everything but I don't want to go out with you." She smiled sympathetically, as if she were used to breaking men's hearts. With her looks she probably was.
Tristan had thought that military school had been painful. He had thought that the endless push-ups and mile runs had been killer, the most pain he would ever have to endure. He had thought that until this moment that is. After spending almost every evening with Erika that week and almost every waking hour thinking about her, he hadn't even entertained the idea about her rejecting him. Sure he had been wary about entering a relationship and had even called Rory about her to get a woman's opinion on it, but that didn't mean that he had had any doubts.
He laughed, sounding more realistic than he had thought that he could when he felt like this. "Wow, you think a lot of yourself, Erika. I meant that we go out as friends." His words were harsh but her nonchalant rejection had hurt him.
She smiled back, although her smile was obviously forced. She hated that he had made her look conceited. She looked at her watch, pointedly. "I have to get going, but I'll see you later, okay?"
When she turned to walk away, both of them knew that neither would seek the other's company out again. Both of their egos had been bruised and for that their friendship would suffer.
Tristan watched her go and sighed. He had really thought that the two of them had had something. Turning to walk away, he was surprised when he immediately bumped into someone.
"Sorry," he mumbled, before looking up. He smiled gently at the girl in front of him, surprised to see her. "Hey Caitlyn."
"Tristan." She raised an eyebrow. "I haven't seen you in a while."
He nodded in agreement; they hadn't seen each other since that night at the club when he told her that he didn't feel the same way. Since then they had had a mutual silent agreement to avoid each other.
"How's it going?" he finally asked, putting both of his hands in his pockets. He leaned back a little and shifted his weight.
"I'm good." She looked at her feet for a minute, hesitating. "Do you want to hang out or something?" At his dubious look she hastened to add, "As friends, of course."
Tristan smiled and relaxed. He and Caitlyn had been really close friends before the summer and he missed her. "Yeah, I'd like that. Want to go for coffee or something?"
As they walked down the hall towards the nearest café, Caitlyn looked back over her shoulder at her friend that was standing off to the side. Flashing her a thumbs up sign, she looked back at the man next to her with a grin on her face. Life was good.
-
"Why am I doing this?" Rory groaned into the phone almost an hour later. Stephanie had left earlier, wanting to be home with plenty of time to get ready for her date. Rory still wasn't sure how she had been persuaded to go to the party.
"You're just a slut for punishment, I guess," Lorelai said cheerfully into the phone. "Besides, maybe you'll meet a cute guy or something. And you got us out of Friday Night dinner, which is always a bonus in my opinion."
Rory sighed, remembering how happy her grandmother had been that she was getting out and meeting people that were of Yale standard. "I don't have anything to wear," she whined, looking for excuses.
Her mother snorted. "You're kidding, right? You spent the entire summer with Cynthia Dugrey and you're complaining about your lack of clothes? Suck it up, princess."
Rory gasped playfully. "Is that what you really think of me?" she asked dramatically, trying to make her voice sound tearful.
"You know it." Lorelai checked her watch. "But I have to go get ready; I have a date with Luke tonight."
"Aw, have a good time." Rory smiled before a thought crossed her mind and it changed to a frown. "But not too good of a time."
"I can't make any promises."
Rory groaned. "Over share."
"Bye sweets."
"Bye mom."
As Rory flipped her phone shut and tossed it on the bed, she turned to her closet, looking once more at her possible outfit choices for that night. She groaned again, as she went through all of them, trying to find something suitable. Giving up, she flopped down on the bed, burying her head in her arms. Somehow she knew that this would be an eventful night.
-
Loud music helped Rory find the location of the dorm where the party was being thrown. A hastily drawn map that Stephanie had made on the back of a napkin was clutched in her hands but she had not needed to use it one she had entered the vicinity of the party. Just follow your ears seemed to be the general rule. Rory could see several other students like her, looking unsure but still heading determinately in the direction of the music. She sighed again as she uncomfortably pulled up the tank-top that she had decided upon wearing which she know regretted. She knew that nothing good could come out of this night.
She entered the open door where people were streaming in and out of and surveyed the mass of college students before her. Not being able to locate Stephanie immediately, she headed towards the bar which was where her friend had mentioned that she would be. It was taking her longer than she had expected to get past the moving bodies when she was stopped by a hand on her arm.
"Hey," a guy leered at her, looking from her high heels to her curly hair suggestively, making her cross her arms over her chest. He moved his hand a little higher and she stepped back.
Rory could feel her face flush. "Excuse me," she said, taking a step back out of his grasp but any further movement was stopped by the crowd.
"Hey, hey, hey, not so fast." His voice was as oily as his appearance. He reached forward to grab hold of her again.
"Hey, is there a problem here?" Someone stepped in between them, shielding Rory protectively.
The leer slipped off of the oily guy's face as he raised his hands innocently. "No, no man, there's nothing going on here." He backed up, before he bumped into someone and then, stumbling, he turned, walking away rather quickly.
The man in front of Rory turned slightly, watching him go. Rory's eyebrows went up when she saw who it was.
"Are you okay?" he asked, having turned around to face her, putting a protective hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off irritably, suddenly mad at the notion that she needed protection; that she was too weak to take care of herself.
"I'm fine Logan," she replied shortly, turning to walk away.
"Hey." His eyebrows rose at her tone and he reached out to grab her arm. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just need to go meet Stephanie is all." Moving out of his grasp, she began to make her way towards the bar like she had been doing before she had been interrupted.
"She's over there with Finn." Logan gestured towards the corner where the two were obviously in disagreement with a brunet eavesdropping on their conversation.
Rory sighed, and changed directions, heading to her friend instead of to the bar. Again she was stopped by Logan's voice.
"You don't have to go over there; Colin's mediating. Besides Stephanie can handle herself, believe me."
She bristled, indignantly. "You have no right to tell me what to do."
He held his hands up defensively, surprised at the anger in her tone. "Who said anything about telling you what to do? I'm just stopping you from wasting your time."
"You're already wasting my time," she replied, annoyed at him for making her feel like a child. "You didn't have to interfere earlier, you know." It had slipped out before she could stop herself.
"What, when that guy was practically feeling you up? You can't tell me that you honestly like guys like that."
"I don't need you to protect me." Her voice was calm but Logan could detect that there was an underlying meaning in what she was saying.
"I know you don't, Rory. I just don't like it when guys treat women like that."
Looking at him, she tried to decide whether or not he was being sincere. Finally deciding that he was, she smiled slightly. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay," she repeated with a bigger smile.
"On that note, can I buy you a drink?" He gestured towards the bar, complete with bartender.
"Aren't the drinks free?" she asked innocently, as he put his hand on the small of her back, guiding her through the crowd.
"Minor detail," he replied with a grin.
-
Stephanie's night was not going the way she had wanted. While her date was undeniably gorgeous, he was also not reliable. After he hadn't shown up at the prearranged time, she had left for the party without him, feeling miserable knowing that Finn would have women surrounding him. She had spent the first hour that she was there watching as ex-boyfriend hit on every women in the vicinity, watching even though her heart broke a little more each time. If that wasn't enough, when she had finally started to have a good time dancing with this cute guy that she had just met, Finn had shown up. It continued to go downhill from there.
"What the fuck is this Finn?" she asked furiously, after he had dragged her away from the guy she had been dancing with. She could see Colin following from a safe distance, making her angrier.
"What is what, love?" he replied, placing his hands on her hips and trying to bring her closer. His eyes were wide and she could smell the alcohol on his breath.
She pushed him away. "I am so tired of your bullshit." Sighing, she was suddenly tired, suddenly sick of it all and her voice reflected that when she spoke. "Just leave me alone."
"Love," he started but at her glare he stopped for a second before starting again, putting emphasis on her name. "Stephanie, look-"
She cut him off, knowing what she had to say was important and that she couldn't take the chance of taking him back, of being hurt again. "No you look, Finn. I'm done, I'm out. I can't keep doing this."
He looked at her, speechless for the first time that he could remember. "Stephanie, wait a second…"
His pleas were upon deaf ears as she was already walking away.
-
It was almost an hour later and Rory was surprisingly having a good time talking to Logan. They had remained at the bar after getting their drinks, but had moved over to side, away from the main groups of people.
"So you just took a year off of Yale?"
He nodded affirmatively. "Yup and it was one of the best things that I have ever done."
"But you sunk a yacht." Rory was in disbelief; not seeing how someone could sink a yacht and act so irresponsible and call it the best thing that they had done. Yet at the same time she was fascinated.
He laughed and leaned closer to her under the pretense of the loud music. "Don't look at me like that. I needed to do it."
"You needed to do it?" she repeated doubtfully.
"I don't mean that I needed to sink the yacht. I mean that I needed to get away for a while, I needed to be someone else even if it was only temporary." He took a swig from his drink and smiled at her as if he knew that she understood completely.
Rory smiled, almost wistfully and in that moment she felt like she had a lot in common with this man. She took a sip of her drink as well before placing it on the surface in front of her, suddenly feeling awkward, even though it had been him who had bared his soul. When she looked up at him, she could see the understanding in his eyes and it comforted her.
"I should get going." Though she spoke softly, the moment had been broken and Logan straightened up in his seat.
"I'll walk you back." He was already standing up, picking up his jacket that had been carelessly strewn across the back of the chair next to him.
"It's not far; I'll be fine." Rory stood up as well, smiling at the bartender and signaling that she didn't want anymore to drink as he reached for her glass. When she noticed that Logan was waiting for her with a smile on her face, she shook her head and resigned herself to being escorted back to her room. "There's nothing I can say that will stop you from walking me back, is there?"
"Nope, now c'mon, it's getting late." He grinned mischievously, gesturing for her to go first.
Rory paused, surveying the party quickly. "I should find Steph; I don't want to leave without saying goodbye."
"You haven't talked to her at all tonight, what's the point in talking to her only to say goodbye?" he pointed out rationally.
"It's the polite thing to do." Still craning her head to find Stephanie in the crowd, Rory didn't see the smile spread across Logan's face.
"She left about an hour ago after Finn finished making a fool of himself." He leaned back on his heels and casually placed his hands in his pockets, adopting an innocent expression.
"What do you mean she left?" Rory whirled around to face Logan, an incredulous look on her face.
"She left," he repeated simply as if he were talking to a child. Putting a hand on her arm, he began to gently lead her out of the dorm. "Now c'mon, you should be getting home."
They were out of the room and walking down the hall, this time away from the noise, before Rory could get the chance to say anything.
"You knew that I was waiting there for her but you didn't bother to tell me that she had left?" she asked disbelievingly, crossing her arms over her chest.
He shrugged. "I thought that we were having a good conversation and I didn't want it be ruined by you leaving." He smiled at her. "Don't tell me that you didn't have a good time tonight."
"I did but…"
"Nope, no buts. You had a good time, I had a good time; it's all good."
Rory sighed noisily, making her companion laugh. She was silent for a moment, thinking. "What's your last name?" she asked abruptly, suddenly realizing that he had never told her.
Logan didn't seem surprised by the sudden question. "What's yours?" he countered, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
"I asked you first." She couldn't bring herself to care that she sounded childish.
He smiled at the pout on her face. "And I asked you second."
"You're not going to tell me, are you?" she asked, turning to look Logan in the eye. They had approached Rory's dorm while they had been talking and so she reached into her pocket to get out her key, knowing that Paris would already be asleep.
"You're a journalism major; you'll figure it out eventually." He leaned forward a little as she unlocked her door and began to turn the handle. "Good night Rory."
"Good night Logan." She watched as he walked down the hall, hands in his pockets before she opened the door completely and stepped in.
It was only once she had closed the door and began to maneuver her way through the dark room that she realized that she had never told Logan her major.
-
Rory woke late the next morning, throwing off her whole day. She had expected to see Stephanie waiting for her when she finished her last class, eager to tell her what had gone down at the party the previous night. It disgruntled her to find no one was waiting for her and it bothered her to realize that she cared; she hadn't even known these people a month ago.
It was only later when she was waiting in line-up for her afternoon dose of caffeine that she ran into anyone that she recognized from the party the previous night.
"Hey!"
Rory heard the voice from behind her, but ignored it, assuming that the person meant someone else, as she received her beverage and, smiling at the barrister, turned to make her way back to her dorm.
"Hey!" There was an arm on Rory's shoulder, making her turn around in surprise.
"Finn?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow and taking a quick sip of her coffee, knowing that she would need caffeine to get through this conversation.
He smiled at her, panting slightly from racing across the courtyard to talk to her. "I'm sorry love, but I don't recall your name?" He posed it as a question, waiting for her to fill in the blanks.
"It's Rory," she answered; suspicious to what he was doing calling after her if he didn't even know her name.
"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl," he said, smiling at her charmingly. At the skeptical look on her face, the smile ebbed away. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment."
She raised an eyebrow. "You want to talk to me but you don't even know my name?"
"Correction: I didn't know your name but I do now." He smiled again although this time it was pleadingly. "I just need a minute of your time."
After taking a minute to survey his face, Rory finally nodded. "Okay, we can talk."
"Good." He pulled her out of the way of the passing students, over to a nearby bench. Sitting down, he gestured for her to do the same. "Okay so I know that this is weird considering that you don't really know me and…"
Rory smiled. "Finn you're rambling," she pointed out, interrupting him.
He smiled back, taking a deep breath and running his hand through his hair. "I need your help."
"You need my help?" Rory repeated slowly in disbelief. "What could you possibly need my help with?" Before Finn could open his mouth to answer her question, she had already begun to speak again. "Unless you're talking about Steph, but you're not because you got into Yale and so you couldn't possibly be that stupid."
"Rory, c'mon." He smiled sadly, looking down in this lap where his hands were clasped. "Just hear me out, you promised that we could talk."
She thought for a minute, taking a sip of her coffee before nodding. "Fine, talk." She leaned back on the bench. "But I don't understand why you're asking me. I've only known Stephanie for a couple weeks."
Finn shrugged, absentmindedly playing with the hem of his shirt. "I know, love, but Steph doesn't have that many friends besides Logan and Colin." He wanted to add himself to that list but knew that the two of them had honestly never been friends; there had always been something more there. Anticipating her next question, he continued, "Sure, she's outgoing but she doesn't usually spend more than one party or one dinner hanging out with the same person."
She nodded. "Why can't you ask Colin or Logan for help?"
"Colin and Logan won't help me; they try to avoid our problems. Besides, I don't want their help, love, I want yours." His face took on a pleading expression as he added, "Please."
Rory nodded and smiled slightly as she took the last drink from her coffee cup and tossed it into the garbage can beside her. She turned back to Finn and folded her hands on her lap. "Go on, I'm listening."