AN: Alright guys, I know that I have other fics to write and I should be working on them. I know. But, it's no secret that I've been a bit blocked lately. And Caro1414 and QueenoftheSloths have convinced me that writing anything will help me get back on track, and I think they are right. This has been sloshing around my head for a while. For some reason I am good at writing fights, and here you get two fights for the price of one. Lol.
Also, I know I am typically very easy on Jess. Because I DO like Jess. But, this fic is probably the most negative I will ever be toward Jess. I've just always thought that he gets off too easily on this episode because Logan was clearly the aggressor in the situation… but honestly Jess was being a pretty big asshole that night too. He was hypocritical and judgmental and snide. And it's always rubbed me the wrong way that he was brought in to "save" Rory. As if she's incapable of doing that herself.
Anyway… there is no point to this fic. I just wanted to write it. Lol. Hope you enjoy.
Omaha Stakes
The moment that Rory heard the click of the door closing behind her, tears started to well in her eyes.
In retrospect, it was actually quite remarkable that it had taken her this long. The last time she had let herself really cry like this had been months ago when she'd thrown herself into her grandfather's arms after the internship. After the yacht incident. After she'd decided to drop out of school. The very beginning of it all. The moment everything had fallen apart. That was the last time she had let herself really cry.
Ever since, there had been a part of her that refused to let herself breakdown again. There was a part of her that refused to acknowledge just how lost and hopeless she really felt about everything. She was so focused on convincing herself that she was fine - that this was what she wanted - that she refused to let the growing ache within her chest rise to the surface.
She kept herself busy with community service and the DAR, dedicating every moment of free time she could to volunteer work and planning party after party. She distracted herself by socializing with her grandmother and her grandmother's friends, basking in the praise of being so young and so pretty and so smart and Logan Huntzberger's girlfriend. The way these women looked at her when learning that she was Logan Huntzberger's girlfriend was like they had been told she'd won a Pulitzer Prize or discovered a cure for cancer. They were so impressed with her - speechless often - and it felt almost as if she was being acknowledged for achieving something. It felt so much like she was achieving something similar that she could temporarily convince herself that she was.
But she wasn't.
Deep down - and honestly not even that deep - she knew that she wasn't achieving anything. She'd spent the last few months defining herself by her relationship. It was something that she never thought she would do. She was ashamed to admit it, but nevertheless it was true.
She supposed it made sense. Her relationship was the only good thing she had going for her these days. So, it was no wonder she had grabbed onto it like a life preserver. It was no wonder she had convinced herself that it was the only thing she needed to make her feel happy and fulfilled. If she didn't feel that way, then she would need to face the fact she was actually neither happy nor fulfilled in any way whatsoever. It was a scary prospect, one that she was too frightened to face head on. Because if she wasn't able to find happiness and fulfillment in her current lifestyle, then she really was lost.
She'd already failed at finding it in her professional life, and now she was failing at finding it in her personal life.
For the longest time, Rory had always assumed that a successful and fulfilling future was a given for her. She'd been told all her life that great things were in store for her. She'd been told that she was gifted - that she was special. And, yet, in the course of a five minute conversation with one man her entire worldview had come crashing down all around her.
She'd been forced accept the fact she wasn't perfect. She wasn't the best. She wasn't some kind of journalistic prodigy who would take the world by storm just by the nature of her existence. She'd been forced to consider the fact that she actually wasn't that special at all.
And if she wasn't that person… then Rory didn't know who she was.
But Logan never made her feel like she wasn't any of those things. Logan made her feel like the most important girl in the world. Logan made her feel happy. He made her feel loved. He made her feel important. Logan made her feel special.
He was all she had at the moment.
And now she wasn't even sure about that anymore.
"Fine. That'll cover the bill. And the cab. Do whatever you want. It's your choice."
The tears that had been welling up in her eyes started cascading down her face at the memory of his cold and bitter dismissal and the cold and dirty cab that had driven her all the way back from New Haven, alone, sitting on the ripped faux leather seat with the smell of smoke reeking through the air and the sound of Lil Jon, Snoop, and 50 Cent providing a very specific and distinctly undesirable ambiance as far as Rory was concerned.
A small sob escaped her mouth as the tears continued to fall. The only solace that she had was the fact that her grandmother still wasn't home, so she could cry as loudly and dramatically as she needed without having to worry about questions or judgement. She could finally let it all out. She could cry and sob over the mess that her life had become. She could curl up in bed by herself and refuse to move until she needed to make an appearance at the stupid Russian Tea Party that she'd spent the last couple weeks planning as if it were actually something important.
She reached to start throwing the pillow shams off of her bed, and her sobs grew exponentially larger at the sight of the small paperback novel sitting on her bed. Mocking her.
The Subsect by Jess Mariano.
Before Rory had even kicked off this disaster of an evening, that book had already made her feel terrible about herself. She'd hid it well from Jess, trying desperately to only focus on the pride and happiness she felt for him. It was genuine… but in truth it was far outweighed by the shame and embarrassment she felt for herself at being faced with the fact that all her childhood friends were out achieving things while she was sitting in her grandmother's house eating bon bons and waxing profoundly about who should be granted the title of Sexiest Founding Father.
"Good. Fine. He's doing something. Everybody in the world's doing something. More power to him."
"I'm not. I mean… What am I doing? I'm living with my grandparents…. I'm palling around with my grandmother and being waited on by a maid. I come home, and my shoes are magically shined. My clothes are magically clean, ironed, and laid out. My bed is magically turned down. I'm in the DAR? I'm going to meetings and teas and cocktail parties..."
Rory wasn't doing anything.
The only thing she was doing was crying her eyes out because she was a pathetic failure and she had just gotten into a massive fight with a boy.
Rory picked up the book, and as soon as it was in her hand the same very object that had filled her with so much happiness and pride just hours ago was now filling her with nothing but anger and resentment. Looking at it now, all she could think about was her inadequacy. All she could see was the look on Logan's face when he drove up to find her about to go out to dinner with another man - friend or not. And all she could hear was the holier than thou judgement in Jess' voice as he yelled at her outside The Rich Man's Shoe.
"Why did you drop out of Yaaaale?!"
With a flourish of her arm, she threw it across the room, reveling in the crack that sounded as the spine hit against the glass of her window. It felt good. It felt destructive. It felt like if she had just thrown it a little bit harder she could have sent it crashing all the way through the window. She almost wanted to do it again. She wanted to pick up more random objects around the room and just start throwing them, creating chaos and mayhem all around her, though ultimately she thought better of it.
Which is why it was strange when another loud crack sounded against the window seconds after the book had already hit the floor.
She furrowed her brow at the sound of the second crack, not knowing where it could have possibly come from. An uncomfortable feeling suddenly settled in her gut. A burst of adrenaline coursed through her along with the quiet gnawing anxiety that always crept over her whenever she found herself in a house, alone, at night, with strange noises sounding around her.
Though, at least the bubbling fear was distracting her from her sadness?
She took a deep jerky breath, her chest still spasming slightly from the sobs that had been racking her just seconds ago. She forced herself to listen as hard as she possibly could, hoping that she would hear nothing more, that it had just been in her head. After a few seconds passed, she started to believe that was the case, but when a third loud tapping sound against the window echoed through her room, she knew that it was entirely real.
She took a step forward toward the window, slightly nervous but also running a dialogue in her head about how it was probably nothing more than a squirrel dropping acorns against the glass or a tree branch blowing against it in the wind. Yet, when she reached the glass and took a look outside, the creature chucking objects against the window was far too tall and far too blonde to be a common grey squirrel.
A growl rose unbidden from her throat at the sight of him, and the sadness and grief that had been overwhelming her was instantly replaced by anger, annoyance, and frustration. And not just at him. At both of them. She didn't want to look at a man at all right now. She'd heard just about enough commentary from men about her life for one evening. She needed time to cool off. To get her own thoughts straight.
She just wanted to be alone.
"What are you doing?!" Rory yelled down to the driveway as she opened up the window and stuck her head into the evening air, not even bothering to hide her annoyance at his presence.
"I want to talk to you!" Logan yelled up at her while still somehow managing to keep his voice to a low rumble so as to not alert anyone else of his presence.
"Well then call me!" Rory yelled back, nowhere near as concerned with keeping her voice down. "Or ring the doorbell like a normal human being!"
"I don't want your grandmother to know I'm here!" Logan bit back, his voice growing louder by the second.
"She's still at bridge!" said Rory. "And that still doesn't explain why you couldn't just call me on my cell phone. I mean, what the hell do I look like? Some lovesick fourteen year old from Verona?! Why do men keep throwing rocks at my window lately?!"
A dark look passed over Logan's face. His lips curled into a scowl and his eyes narrowed at her.
"Oh! So...what… you thought I was someone else?" he asked. "Is this how your other boyfriend usually gets your attention? Too cool for cell phones? Are they too phony for dark and broody Mr... Holden Caulfeild?"
"Holden Caulfield…" Rory started with a biting tone. "Is a privileged aimless East Coast private school kid who acts out all the time, gets kicked out of schools, and hates the world and everything in it despite the fact that he has everything at his fingertips. Jess isn't Holden Caulfeild, Logan. You're Holden Caulfield."
"Oh great, thanks," Logan replied, nodding his head bitterly and shoving his hands in his pockets. "Glad to know what you really think of me. I guess I'll just leave you alone to be with him then. I mean he wrote a book. He's doing something. I mean… it doesn't even sound like he's in school, and I'm getting set to graduate from one of the best universities in the Goddamned world and one day take over a Fortune 500 international media conglomerate. But he's doing something. I'm just a spoiled aimless asshole."
"Oh my God…" Rory seethed while shaking her head slowly back and forth and rolling her eyes. "Do you hear yourself?!"
"Well my ears certainly seem to be working because I just heard you talk about all the men who are throwing rocks up at your window lately…"
"Jess didn't have my new number! I just gave it to him tonight." Rory explained. "He literally couldn't call me. And he was just randomly in town and he wanted to hang out. I didn't plan for this to happen. And I'm sorry I didn't realize that I wasn't allowed to have friends who are male. I guess I just assumed it was fine considering you took Juliet to get her tires rotated last week and you and Rosemary get lunch together almost every Tuesday and Thursday after your classes. But silly me for thinking that I wasn't going to be held to some ridiculous double standard. I'll think better of that for the next time."
"So there's definitely gonna be a next time then?"
"Oh my God. Are you serious?!" Rory yelled. "That's what you took from that?"
"I'm just trying to decide if coming here was a massive fucking waste of my time!" Logan yelled, holding his arms out to the side
"Why did you come here, Logan?!" Rory asked. "Did you come here just to yell at me from my grandparent's driveway?! Because you seemed to be in a big rush to get as far away from me as you could just over an hour ago. So why the sudden change of heart now?"
"Because!" said Logan. "I'm not done talking to you!"
"Well, that's too bad," Rory replied. "Because I happen to think that I've heard just about enough from you tonight. So, if you'll excuse me…"
Rory pulled her head back inside her bedroom. She placed a hand on the window, just about ready to pull it closed and leave him standing there alone just as he'd left her standing there alone at The Rich Man's Shoe earlier that night. But, before she had a chance to get away from him, she heard his voice float up from the ground one more time.
"Wait! Rory. Please!"
Rory's heart skipped a beat at the sound of his words. Her arms froze and the window stayed open as she found herself temporarily unable to muster the strength to follow through.
There was a lot packed into those three little words. Firstly, there was the desperation - not just in the tone but also in the expression on his face when uttering them. Where his voice had been full of anger, jealousy, and callousness a few seconds ago, it was now full of urgency, distress, and… fear. And he had called her Rory.
He never called her Rory.
"I'm sorry!" he continued, taking advantage of her momentary disarmament. "Please. Don't… Just… Please, Rory. Will you please come down here and talk to me? I promise I won't yell any more. I just...please talk to me..."
She hated herself for even considering it, but as she stood there and watched the absolute panic and despair written across his face, Rory could feel the ice beginning to melt around the edges of her heart. A huge part of her was screaming out at her to slam the window closed and tell him to get lost, that she would talk to him when she was good and ready but she couldn't stand to look at him now, that she had her own life to figure out at the moment without worrying about his fragile male ego and how to cater to it in a way that wouldn't send him flying off the handle like he'd done tonight.
But… if she put her own ego aside for one moment, she knew that was probably a terrible idea. As angry as she was at him right now, she still loved him. And deep in her heart, she knew that she didn't want her relationship to be another casualty of her terrible decision making over the last few months. He was standing there right now begging her to talk this out, and if she refused Rory had the distinct feeling that might be exactly what would happen.
"Fine."
The response was accompanied by a massive sigh. She watched Logan's entire body seem to sag in relief, but said nothing more. Instead, she closed the window quickly, needing a moment to compose herself before she could continue on with the conversation.
As soon as she was alone with her thoughts in her room again, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm her rapidly beating heart. It took a few seconds, seconds that she knew Logan was anxiously waiting through. But, she couldn't really bring herself to care. As far as she was concerned he deserved to suffer a little bit. And if she was going to have this conversation she needed to have a clear head - at least as clear a head as she could get.
A few more seconds and some laps around her room later, Rory was making her way down the grand stairs of her grandparents' home and toward the front door of the house. She took one more deep breath before turning the handle and stepping outside, and the moment her eyes landed on him pacing around in front of the fountain, she crossed her arms over her chest.
"What do you want, Logan?" she asked with another sigh. It was hardly a tone of patience and cooperation, but at least it wasn't too vitriolic.
Logan practically jumped out of his skin. Apparently, he hadn't seen her open the door and walk out into the driveway, and it didn't exactly take a master of body language to tell he was on edge. His discomfort and distress was rolling off of him in waves. But, eventually, he stopped his pacing and turned to face her with a somewhat frenzied look in his eyes.
"I want you to come home with me."
Rory scoffed before she even had the presence of mind to think about whether or not it was a good idea. In hindsight, it probably wasn't. Her goal when walking outside had been to lower the temperature between them, not to skyrocket them back to a boiling point. But, she couldn't help it. How else could she have possibly responded to that?
"Oh my God… what?!" she asked. Both hands reflexively found their way to her face, and she started rubbing the tension out of her eyes as she shook her head back and forth in disbelief.
"I want you to come home with me so we can talk and spend the rest of the night together. I don't want to be the guy that yells at his girlfriend in the middle of a restaurant and leaves her there."
"Well… too late!" said Rory. "Tonight you were that guy! And you can't just come here an hour later, say you're sorry, and then tell me to come back to your apartment with you and pretend nothing happened. That's not how this works, Logan."
"Look I messed up, okay?" Logan admitted. "I messed up. I get it. But just… Come home with me and let's start the night over. Okay? It's not too late..."
"Yes it is too late!" Rory yelled. "I don't want to go back to your apartment with you, Logan. I'm mad. And I'm hurt. And I'm tired. It's been a long day, and I have a lot on my mind. I just want to be alone. I have to get up early tomorrow to go to that stupid Russian Tea Party, and I don't want to have to add forty-five minutes onto my drive because I'm coming from New Haven. I'm not going home with you!"
"Rory...please…I just need you to- "
"What do you possibly have to say to me that you can't say here? Why do you need me to come home with you so badly, Logan?"
"Because I'm not ready for this to be over!"
"You're not - '' Rory had started to repeat the words that had come out of his mouth, most likely in a subconscious effort to turn them over and analyze exactly what they meant. But, ultimately, she ended up interrupting herself and chose to bluntly ask the question. "What?! Logan, what are you talking about?"
"This! You and Me!" he yelled before he started to gesture wildly between the two of them. "I'm not ready for this to be over, and I want you to come home with me."
Rory closed her eyes. Sometimes she forgot that Logan had never been in a relationship before. In so many ways, he was so much more experienced than her. He'd been with so many more women. He'd traveled so many more places, done so many more things, talked to so many more important people. But, in some ways he could still be pretty clueless. In some ways, especially when it came to matters of the heart, he really had no idea what was going on.
"Logan…. What exactly do you think is happening here?" Rory asked. "This is a fight. We're having a fight. People have fights."
"Yeah. People have fights," Logan agreed with a dramatic nod. "They have fights and they stop talking to each other and they stop being friends and they break up…"
"Logan…"
"And I'm not going to let that happen, Rory. Because I can't lose you. I can't."
He walked over to the fountain in the middle of the driveway and sat on the ledge. He leaned forward, slightly, holding his head in his hands as he perched his elbows against his thighs. The way he was holding himself looked as if he was actually in physical pain - like he was suffering the worst migraine of his life or there was some kind of ringing in his brain that he couldn't get to stop.
Rory didn't even know what to say. She was already confused at the turn that the conversation had taken, and she wasn't at all used to the wild and desperate demeanor that had overtaken her usually confident and unflappable boyfriend.
"Please don't leave me, Ace…"
"Logan…" Rory breathed, pleadingly.
She was so tired. This entire night had been one of the most exhausting that she'd been through in recent memory. She wasn't sure that she had the energy to pat him on the back and comfort him when he was the one that had so thoroughly ruined her night. She wasn't ready to tell him that it was okay when she still felt so far from okay. She wasn't willing to roll over and let her off load his guilt so that he didn't have to feel bad about his own actions any more. As far as she was concerned, he should feel bad about his actions.
Yet, once she heard the next words out of his mouth, she realized that the issue was far deeper than that.
"I fucked up…" he said, his voice starting to crack slightly. "I know I fucked up. I know I was an asshole. I know I'm a terrible person, and I don't deserve you. I'm a useless worthless fuck up who ruins everything. I know you could do so much better than me. But please, Rory. Please give me another chance. I'll never fuck this up again. I swear to God. We can start over and I won't… I won't fuck it up this time."
Rory could only stare at him for a few moments after that admission had tumbled from his mouth. Her anger was quickly dissipating, being replaced by a heartbreaking pang in her chest. She was still upset with him. And she wasn't about to let him off the hook for how he had behaved tonight. But, things were starting to make a lot more sense.
Omaha.
Of course.
Logan had just gotten back from a trip to Omaha.
Rory had known Mitchum Huntzberger for less than a year. She barely knew the man at all. Yet, somehow in the insignificant stretch of time she had known him, he had managed to fill her so full of self-loathing that she had decided to blow her entire life apart.
Had she really never stopped to consider the amount of self-loathing he could instill in a person who had known him since the day he was born? Who called him his father?
In that moment, for the first time since that fateful day months ago at the gazette, the thought of Mitchum Huntzberger didn't fill Rory with dread, embarrassment, or shame. For the first time since that day, the thought of Mitchum Huntzberger filled her with anger. White hot rage flowed through her as she watched the man in front of her - the man she loved - break down as he spoke those words. Words that she knew weren't even his. Logan hadn't put those words into his mind. His father had done that. Mitchum had done that… and he'd probably been doing it for his entire life.
Up until this point, Rory had seriously underestimated the depth of Logan's resentment for his father. She knew their relationship was strained. She knew that they didn't always get along. She knew that Logan had no end of snide comments about the man to casually slip into conversation whenever he found the opportunity. But she hadn't understood how thoroughly Mitchum had devastated Logan's self-esteem.
He always seemed so confident…
"Logan, that is not true."
"I ruined everything."
"No. You didn't.
"I did," Logan insisted. He lifted his head from his hands and looked up at her, the expression on his face twisting the knife that was still planted through her heart. "I ruined you. You had everything you wanted. You were happy. You loved school and journalism and your mom, and the second I walked into your life I blew it all apart. I ruin everything I touch. I'm like a cancer."
"Logan, stop." Rory said, firmly.
"I knew it would happen too. I knew…" he looked away, over in the direction of the gate as if it would provide him inspiration for what he was going to say - not that Rory really wanted to hear it. "I knew letting me into your life was a bad idea. That's why I kept you at an arm's length for so long. Cause I knew. I tried so hard. But I… I was just so selfish. I had to have you. I had to have you even though I knew you would just end up hurt..."
"Oh my God. Will you stop?!"
Logan stopped. He looked over at her with an expression of pure shock at the volume and intensity of her outburst. It hadn't exactly matched the tone of his self-flagellating diatribe, so Rory could see why he was taken by surprise. But, she couldn't stand to listen to another word - not only because she wasn't interested in hearing him abuse himself any longer, but also because she'd had just about enough of people victimizing her lately.
"I am sick and tired of everyoneacting like I didn't make the choices that put me in this position."
"You said it yourself, Rory!" Apparently the self pity party was over. Logan was on his feet again, pacing around in the driveway. "Tonight at the bar you said - "
"I didn't say anything!" Rory interrupted. "That was you! That was you putting words in my mouth!"
"Because it's true!" Logan yelled. "You blame me. And you should. You should blame me. Because it's my fault. You know it's my fault. And so do I!"
"Oh my God!" Rory seethed, interrupting him again. "How is it that you're able to fit into that tiny Porsche with the size of your ego?! Stop trying to make this about you! Not everything is about you, Logan! And I can't stand it anymore - "
"Well, if you can't stand it anymore, then what the fuck am I even doing here?"
The sound that came from Rory's throat was something resembling a growl. What she really wanted was to scream. She wanted to raise her head and let out the most guttural primal scream that she could possibly conjure, but considering she was outside with neighbors on either side of her grandparents' fence, she figured that was probably not the best idea.
"Will you stop acting like I'm breaking up with you?! I'm not breaking up with you!"
Logan plopped back down on the ledge of the fountain. He ran his fingers through his hair, and Rory closed her eyes in an effort to compose herself. A few seconds of silence settled between them, the only sounds being the chirping of crickets all around them and their breaths as they both tried to calm down.
"What I can't stand any more…" Rory began, taking special effort to clarify her earlier remark. "Is being treated like I'm not an active player in my own life. First my mom, then Paris, then my grandparents, then Jess, and now you... You're the last person I need this from, Logan. You didn't waltz into my life out of nowhere and corrupt me. I wasn't some innocent waif just sitting there waiting for a big bad wolf to come and gobble me up. I'm an intelligent capable human being - "
"I know you are…"
" - who is perfectly able to make her own choices in life. I'm the one who chose not to listen to you when you tried to warn me about your dad. I'm the one who couldn't handle criticism. I'm the one who asked you to steal that boat with me. I'm the one who decided to drop out of school. I did that. I chose to do all of that. By myself. Without any consultation from you."
Logan still wasn't making eye contact with her. The words still weren't resonating with him. She knew that he still didn't entirely believe them. Not because he didn't agree that she was capable of making her own decisions, but rather because he seemed to be so down on himself at the moment that he couldn't accept the fact that she wouldn't be better off without him.
"You didn't do this to me, Logan…" she said. "And I have never - for one second - blamed you for any of this."
Logan scoffed. But, Rory continued undeterred.
"I'm mad at you because of the way you acted tonight, not because of what's going on with me. What's going on with me is not your fault."
"If you'd never met me, none of this would have ever happened," said Logan with a steadfast conviction in his eyes.
Rory shook her head, and a tingling sensation spread over her eyes as tears began to well.
"Yes, it would have," she admitted with a nod and a squeak. "It just would have taken longer… Because he was right. That's why it hurts so much… because I know he's right."
She'd never said it out loud before, but it was the truth.
"You said it yourself. I'm scared. And sheltered. I couldn't even bring myself to jump off a three story scaffolding with a perfectly good harness on…"
"But you did," said Logan.
"Because you pushed me," she said. "But I would have never done it on my own. Did I ever tell you what they were talking about before your Dad gave me that review? The conversation that we were having before he said that I didn't have the drive to make it as a journalist? They were talking about outsourcing articles. They were literally sitting there talking about how students - Yale students - might be interested in doing some freelancing to cut costs and might jump at the opportunity. And I said nothing. I just sat there. It was like they were literally dangling a ribeye in front of a dog's face and he wouldn't even flinch. I mean… how am I supposed to argue with what he said?!"
Logan didn't say anything. And Rory knew why. There was nothing to say.
"This is my fault. I had a breakdown because I realized that I might not actually be good at the thing that I've always thought I was good at - that my whole entire life plan has been built around. I mean what even is my life if I'm not a good journalist? I don't know! I don't know! And I just…"
"Ace…" Logan interrupted. "Far braver people have been rendered silent in a room with my father. I just experienced an entire weekend of speechlessness. And I have a reputation for being pretty cocky. Just because you didn't speak up once doesn't mean you never have or never will in the future."
"See?!" Rory said with a wide gesture of her hand. "See how much this isn't your fault? You're not the one tearing me down! You're the only person whose been building me up the last few months. You've been there for me no matter what. You've supported me without fail. I know you weren't happy about my decision to take time off school. I'm not an idiot. It was written all over your face. But you never pushed me. You're the only one who's understood. You've distracted me. You've comforted me. Do you really think I told you 'I love you' because you bought me a stupid Birkin Bag?! I don't care about the Birkin Bag!"
Rory drew closer and closer to Logan until she was standing right in front of him. Logan was staring at his feet, refusing to make eye contact with her as she stood there. She lifted up her hand, tentatively at first. But, eventually, she lowered it to the top of his head and started playing with the wisps of hair being held together by the gel he had probably applied just before coming to surprise her with his early arrival home.
"I love you, Logan," she said. "I'm mad as hell at you right now, but I love you. You could wake up tomorrow morning without a penny to your name or a shirt on your back and I would still love you. I wouldn't go anywhere."
The next thing Rory knew, Logan's hands were wrapping around her hips. He pulled her closer to him, as close as he possibly could. He pressed his face into her stomach just below her breasts, and his fingers dug into the flesh just above the waist of her pants. He held her for what felt like minutes, and Rory could practically feel the relief exuding from his fingertips as he gripped her tightly.
It was then that Rory really understood how scared he had been. It was then that she really appreciated the fact that Logan had thought he'd lost her. He'd left the bar tonight and thought it was over between them. He'd thought that a single bad night had led Rory to decide that he wasn't worth it. That being with him was a mistake. That he wasn't worthy of love or affection.
"So, Omaha was bad…"
Logan pulled her even closer, a feat that Rory had assumed was impossible.
"I don't want to talk about Omaha," he said, his voice muffled against her torso.
"Okay," Rory whispered, wrapping her arms around him and holding him in her embrace for a few more moments. "We don't have to."
"I'm sorry…"
Rory felt the gentle vibration of his vocal chords against her stomach as he spoke his apology. Her eyes drifted downward just as Logan pulled away and looked up at her.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry I accused you of being unfaithful to me and...blaming me for all of that stuff. I'm sorry I left you there alone and made you ride home in some filthy cab. You were right. I was an ass. I was such an ass, Ace. I was such a jerk to your friend..."
"You were," Rory confirmed. She didn't know what else to say exactly. She was happy to hear him admit to the fact that he was being irrational and out of line. But, she didn't want to tell him that it was okay. Nothing about what he'd done was okay, and she didn't want him to think that she would ever be okay with him acting that way again. "But I appreciate your apology."
Logan continued, almost as if he hadn't even heard her accept it. "I just… I saw you with him and something… snapped. I was jealous. I was feeling insecure and all I wanted was to see you. Because you make everything better. You make my life better. And then he was there with his stupid book and his stupid face and his stupid fucking...hair…"
"You have nice hair," she said, running her finger through it. Logan scoffed.
"Not like that," he said. "He has like… John Stamos hair."
"Must be a Jesse thing," said Rory with a slight laugh. It felt good… Lightening the mood a bit felt really good. "But hey… you're taller than him."
Logan scoffed again. But Rory knew that actually would make him feel a little better. Logan's height was the one physical insecurity that he had. He wasn't short. But he wasn't exactly tall either.
"Barely."
"But you do know that doesn't actually make you better than him right?" Rory asked. "You can't just treat people like that when you're feeling bad about yourself. You can't throw around your money or your education or your looks - "
"My looks, huh? You like my looks?" Logan asked with a smirk, rising from his seated position so that he was standing close in front of her. Rory rolled her eyes, but her smile betrayed her.
"Well I've never kicked you out of bed, have I?" she asked, playfully before reverting to a more serious tone. "But I mean it Logan… I can't be with someone who treats people like that..."
"I know," Logan said with a nod. "I don't want to be a person who treats people like that. I'm so sorry, Ace."
Rory took another deep breath as she examined his face. He looked genuinely remorseful, like he understood completely how wrong he had been and how much he had hurt her. His eyes were full of shame but also full of love and affection for her, something that gave Rory confidence that he wouldn't do this again, enough confidence that she felt comfortable wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer to her.
Their lips met in a kiss, one that was soft and sweet but somehow also packed full of passion and relief. Logan held on to her tightly. He was grabbing onto her almost as if he was afraid to let her go. It was like he needed to be as close to her as possible. Even when their kiss ended, he pressed his forehead against hers rather than stepping away.
"You know..." she said, biting her lip and running her hands along the soft cashmere of his light blue sweater. "My grandpa is still gone on his business trip… and my grandma probably won't be back from bridge for another couple of hours…"
An even wider smile burst onto his face at her implication.
"Oh yeah?" he asked, starting to slowly inch her closer to the front door.
"..And I have kinda missed you."
"Have you?" Logan asked before brushing his lips against the curve of her neck.
"Mmhm,'" said Rory. "You were gone so long. And all I had to keep me company was my grandma and an old tattered copy of Savage Thunder that I found stuffed under the cushions of the chair in my bedroom."
"Savage Thunder?" Logan asked, lifting his head to look her in the eye with a quirked eyebrow. "What is Savage Thunder?"
"It's an old trashy smut novel," Rory explained with a laugh.
"You're kidding."
"Nope," said Rory. She shook her head back and forth as she started walking backward toward the front door, and she couldn't contain the laughter that was bubbling up to the surface as they moved. "Fabio is on the cover."
"Stop."
"There's a horse leaping in the background," she giggled. "He's wearing a leather cowboy vest with no shirt underneath."
"And where exactly did this book come from?" Logan asked as he pulled the front door open and ushered her inside. Rory scowled at the question.
"Let's not think too hard about that…"
The door closed loudly behind her, and Logan wasted no time before pushing her up against the wood panelled wall, nearly knocking over one of the flower arrangements flanking the door in the process. When their lips met again, there was no softness or sweetness to be found in the embrace. His kiss was rough, bruising even. And Rory wouldn't have it any other way at the moment.
They stumbled through the foyer and past the living room, their lips barely leaving each other the entire way. She still couldn't see exactly where she was going, but eventually Rory felt the edge of the first elevated platform of the staircase bump up against the back of her ankle. She went to turn around and start ascending them up to her room, but before she could move Logan grabbed her under her thighs and started pulling her upward. Rory helped him with a slight jump and crossed her ankles around his back, and suddenly she was being carried all the way up to the second story hallway.
When they reached the the top of the steps, Logan still wasn't entirely keen to put her down. He pressed her up against the nearest wall, giving himself a slight respite from her weight but also providing himself with the opportunity to capture her in another searing kiss. A moan rose from Rory's throat, and Logan pulled away from her at the sound of it, flashing her with a satisfied smirk.
"So tell me, Ace…" he said in a low gravely voice. "What exactly is this Savage Thunder about?" His lips sought out her pulse point and sucked, sending a shiver through her spine.
"Not much of a plot from what I can tell," she said between heavy breaths. "Just a lot of talk about… heaving bosoms and passionate embraces and… pulsating... manhoods..."
"Pulsating manhoods?" Logan asked. "You mean like this?"
Logan ground his hips into her, and Rory moaned at the feeling of his erection pressing up against her core. She hadn't been lying when she said she'd missed him. Between being kicked out of the pool house and Logan getting shipped off to Omaha for a few days, it had been a while since they'd had sex. And before their night had devolved into a fight, Rory had been anxious for him to get home and get inside her.
And she still was.
"Logan. Bedroom. Please."
Logan didn't need to be asked twice. He stepped away from the wall, letting her feet fall to the ground, and he grabbed her hand so that he could quickly pull her down the hallway.
"Lead the way, Ace…"
"I've never had make up sex before…"
Rory giggled softly as she traced her fingers over Logan's chest. They were lying closely together in her queen sized bed, her head using his upper body as a pillow and his arm curved around her naked back.
She moved ever so slightly, shifting onto her side so that she could properly look into his eyes, and smiled at him.
"You know..." she said. "Neither have I."
"Well…" said Logan, his hand coming to rest on the curve between her hip and her waist. "What's the verdict? Do you think it lives up to its reputation?"
"I would say so," Rory replied with a smile. "What about you? Do you agree?"
"Mmm. Definitely."
Rory closed the small gap between them by pressing her lips against his in a sweet kiss. Her thumb stroked across his cheek, and she could feel his fingers tracing feather light patterns against her side. For a moment, she thought that maybe he was already ready for another round. But, when he pulled her closer and simply held her tightly, she realized that wasn't quite the case.
It was probably for the best. Last she had glanced at the clock, it was almost ten. Her grandmother would certainly be home soon, and they were pushing their luck as it was.
She relaxed into him, inadvertently taking in a deep breath of his Givenchy cologne - not that she had a problem with that. She buried her face against his chest just under his chin while Logan combed his fingers through her hair, and she was perfectly content to stay there in his arms and cuddle for the next few quiet moments that followed. Typically, Logan wasn't a very big cuddler. So, it behooved her to take advantage of this opportunity.
"Did I mention that I'm sorry?" Logan asked.
Rory's lips curved against his collarbone in a solemn smile. Even after inviting him up here with her, the anxiety and remorse he was feeling was still apparent in his tone of voice. She had a feeling that he would spend the next few days apologizing for what had happened, and while part of her felt like he should… part of her was also worried about him beating himself up too much over it. The self-loathing that she'd seen come out of him outside had concerned her a little bit. And he was hardly the first guy to get jealous over her and act like a jerk. Jess himself had been more than a little guilty of that from time to time.
"I don't know what it is, Ace. But there's something about you that I just… When I'm with you I feel so… I don't even know how to describe it."
Rory was pretty sure she knew how to describe it. But, at the same time she wasn't about to put those words into his mouth before he was ready to say them himself.
"The thought of losing you to another guy...Seeing him here with you and not knowing what was going on... " Logan cleared his throat. "It just… I couldn't handle it."
"There's nothing going on between us, Logan. I haven't seen him in ages. He was just in town out of nowhere and he wanted to grab dinner. It was very spur of the moment."
"No… Rory… Don't..." said Logan with a sigh. "You don't have to explain. I trust you. I do."
"Okay," she said. "That's good to hear."
Rory felt Logan's chest rise and fall beneath her as he took another deep breath. She pulled away a bit, putting some space between them so she could read the expression on his face. She propped herself up on her elbow as she observed him. He was pensive, frustrated, and… sad. The uncharacteristic sadness that had first taken hold of him in the driveway was still present on his face.
It was a side of Logan that she had never seen before. And, while she knew that he was a human being capable of a fully complete range of emotion, she hadn't really ever considered the fact that lying underneath his charming, fun loving, party boy exterior was so much sadness. She'd never considered that underneath his confident, capable, take charge temperament was such a feeling of inferiority. She knew there was more to him than he liked to show most people. She'd seen it. She'd seen him be tender and loving and emotional. She'd seen him be focused, intelligent, and serious. She never would have fallen in love with him if she hadn't. But, she hadn't known just how deep the roots of his pain went.
"I uh…" he continued. Rory heard the slightest indication of a crack in his voice, but he quickly covered it by clearing his throat. "It wasn't about you or anything you did. Or he did, really. I just uh…I was feeling like..."
Logan tore his gaze away from her. She watched as his jaw tightened and he looked out the window in an effort to look anywhere but at her. Rory bit her lip. She placed her hand back on his cheek and pulled him back to her.
"Hey…" she said, looking into his eyes and caressing his cheekbone with her thumb. "You can tell me."
Rory could tell that he still wasn't entirely convinced. He was struggling, no doubt worried about showing any more 'weakness' than he already had outside in the driveway. If only he realized how much Rory wished that he would. If only he realized that seeing the most vulnerable parts of him didn't make her think less of him, it made her love him even more.
"I'm a safe place, okay?"
Logan's swallowed. His eyes closed, and when he opened them again Rory could have sworn that there was a slight redness in them. A shiny redness.
"I just..." he breathed. "I fucking hate him, Ace. I hate him so fucking much."
His voice hitched a little as the words escaped his mouth, and Rory's heart fell through her chest at the sound of them. He wasn't talking about Jess. He didn't know Jess from Adam. There was only one person that he could have been talking about, and Rory hated to hear it.
Logan's relationship with his father had never been great, and Rory was well aware of that. He'd hinted and alluded to that fact countless times before they'd even started dating. His quips and under the breath comments about Mitchum and his less than stellar parenting skills had never ceased since the moment she met him. But, there was no denying that lately the quips and comments had become heavier. Hostile. Bitter. And they were also pretty endless these days.
Rory couldn't help but feel like she had something to do with that, and she didn't want to be a wedge that came between him and his father.
"Logan…" she whispered, caressing his face once again. "Don't say that…"
"Why not?!" he asked with a scoff. "It's true. And the feeling is mutual, so what does it even matter?"
"That is not true, Logan."
"It is true," he said. "He practically said it to my face this morning. So…"
"He told you he hated you? To your face?"
She had a hard time believing that. Rory wasn't exactly the President of the Mitchum Huntzberger fan club these days, but she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't quite callous enough to tell his only son that he hated him. Mitchum was far from nice, but even he wasn't that cruel. And Rory had worked with him for almost a month. There had been moments during that stretch of time when the topic of his children - of Logan in particular - hadcome up. The way he spoke about him behind his back didn't really ring of a man who hated his son.
"Not in so many words," said Logan. "But… he got his point across."
Whatever point Mitchum had been trying to make, Rory had to believe that it wasn't the one that Logan had apparently taken home with him. Though, at the same time, she couldn't really blame him either. She knew first hand that Mitchum wasn't exactly a master of tactful communication. She'd been absolutely cut off at the knees over just a few less than positive words from the man, and she didn't have two decades worth of emotional baggage and the heightened stakes of familial expectation to make matters worse.
Though, perhaps it was because she didn't have all of those extra factors coloring her perspective that she was able to see things more clearly. Maybe she was naive. Maybe she was too idealistic. Or maybe it was because she had spent so much of her life caught in the middle of the complicated communication fallouts between her mother and her grandparents. But, whatever the reason, Rory had a distinct feeling that hate wasn't what was driving the relationship breakdown between Logan and his father. It was likely far more complicated than that.
Nevertheless, Logan didn't seem to want to hear that right now, so Rory wasn't going to argue with him. She'd said she was a safe space. So, that's what she would be.
"Nothing I ever do is good enough for him. So what's the point of even trying?" Logan continued as he ran a hand along his face. "I'm just so fucking sick of everyting. I'm sick of my entire fucking life. I hate it. I hate my fucking life and everyone in it. Everyone but you."
"Hey…" said Rory.
"I can't lose you, Ace."
"Hey," she repeated, reaching up to grab the hand that was rubbing furiously at his eyes and pull it away so that she could look into them. "I told you. I'm not going anywhere."
There was something about his demeanor that made Rory think he didn't entirely believe her. It was like there was still a part of him that was waiting for the shoe to drop, waiting for Rory to realize what a horrible failure and disappointment he was.
"You say that now… but…"
"Logan. Stop," said Rory. "That's not how this works. Just because I was mad at you tonight… that doesn't mean I stopped loving you. That doesn't mean I didn't want to make this work anymore. Relationships aren't about running at the first sign of trouble. We're going to fight. We're going to get mad at each other. You're allowed to have bad days. I mean, look at me. I've had a string of bad months."
"Temporary…" Logan said, echoing his comments at The Rich Man's Shoe. Though, this time when he said them they sounded more compassionate and understanding than flippant and dismissive like they had earlier.
Rory smiled.
"Do you still have your course catalogue in your backpack?"
"It's in my car," he said with a nod.
"Do you... mind if I maybe... flip through it later?" Rory asked. "I'd like to get an idea of what I want to sign up for before I talk to my counselor."
Logan's face lit up. He squeezed her tightly, grunting dramatically with the force of his exertion, and Rory laughed in response. He rolled over onto his back, pulling her on top of him, and held her against him tightly. Suddenly, Rory couldn't stop smiling. And that was the last thing she had been expecting when she'd arrived home this evening.
"I'm so happy, Ace," said Logan as he ran his thumb along the side of her face. "The Yale campus sucks without you."
"I'm pretty sure you think the Yale campus sucks with or without me."
"No comment."
Rory laughed. She placed her palms against his bare chest and lowered her lips to his in a smiling kiss. She had a feeling she knew where the next few moments were going. She felt Logan shifting beneath her, raising his chest ever so slightly. She knew that he was just seconds away from flipping her unto her back and settling himself between her legs for another round. And she wasn't about to stop him.
Except apparently it wasn't up to her.
The sound of her phone cut through the air with a combination of a high pitched ring and a low humming vibration. Rory tore her lips away from him and let out a heavy sigh. She was going to have to answer that. She knew she was going to have to answer that. It could be Lacey with something important about tomorrow, and she couldn't afford to risk it.
"I have to get that," she lamented.
Logan groaned, and as much as Rory agreed with his sentiments she still pulled herself out of bed and walked over to the pile of clothes on the floor containing the pocket in her pants where her phone was currently hiding away - at least the pile of clothes that should contain the pocket in her pants where her phone was currently hiding away.
She couldn't seem to find what she was looking for. She could hear the phone ringing in the general vicinity, but she couldn't figure out where her pants were. Digging through the pile, she could find Logan's pants and her shirt… and her jacket and Logan's jacket… but her pants were evading her. That is, until she saw them somehow tucked away under the ottoman of her chair. Then, with a sigh of relief, she pulled them out and stood back upright.
"No…" Logan grumbled from his place on the bed. "Don't do that. Keep looking."
Rory threw him an unamused look over her shoulder, though underneath she had to admit that she was a little bit amused. And grateful. Because his little comment made her realize that she should probably grab the robe off her chair and throw it on before she decided to answer the phone.
It became an especially good idea when she saw the name that was flashing across the caller ID, and she was instantly filled with a rush of anxiety and self-consciousness.
"It's Jess…" she said as she tied the belt of the robe around her waist.
Logan didn't respond to her. She could tell that he wasn't very happy. There was obviously still a part of him that was a little bit jealous. But, he was just going to have to get over that.
"I should answer it…" she said. "After the way the night went. I just…"
"Alright."
Rory nodded at him. She tugged on the belt of her robe again, pulling it as tightly against her as she could. Then, realizing that she really didn't want to have this conversation with Logan's eyes and ears on her the entire time, she slipped out of the room and closed the door softly behind her.
"Hey," Rory answered, trepidatiously. She decided to start heading toward the bathroom to avoid having this conversation in an open hallway - just on the off chance that Logan might still be able to hear her or that her grandmother might pop up out of nowhere like some kind of apparition. Plus… it probably wasn't a bad idea to pee eventually anyway.
"Hey…"
The voice on the other side of the phone sounded almost surprised to hear her, as if he wasn't the one who had called, or as if he'd assumed she'd given him some kind of fake number or something. She hadn't, of course. Though, at the moment she had to admit that she wasn't entirely keen to talk to him.
"What's up?" Rory asked as she walked inside the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
"I just um…" Jess trailed off and cleared his throat before continuing. "I wanted to apologize for tonight. That was…"
He trailed off again, and Rory could feel her heart pounding in anticipation for what he might say next. She wasn't sure why - after all her feelings for Jess had long ago faded away into nothingness - but there was still a little part of her that sought after his approval. There was a part of her who has always wanted Jess to think she was cool. She wanted him to be impressed by her. She wanted him to think she was smart and interesting. Because he was smart and interesting. He was an enigma. He was a big city bad boy with this mysterious and unknowable allure. And Rory wanted to be the kind of girl who captivated a guy like that.
The words he'd hurled at her outside the bar had hurt her more than she liked to admit. The judgement in his eyes and the anger in his tone had rendered her somewhat speechless. Of course, everything that he was saying were things that she already knew, that she had been already thinking about and regretting before he'd even showed up at her doorstep. But it still hurt to hear them from another person, especially a person who she'd always wanted to impress.
It comforted her that he was apologizing. And it was nice. She honestly hadn't even expected one apology this evening, let alone two. So, she was happy to let him continue.
"...Obviously you're… going through something at the moment. And… instead of helping you I just left you there alone with that jackass..."
The pouding in Rory's heart intensified to the point where she could practically hear her pulse in her ears. She walked over to the tub and perched herself down on the edge, waiting to see what he was going to say next. Though… if she was being honest, she didn't have very high hopes.
"... I just wanted to make sure that you got home okay. And I just… I really hope what we talked about helped…"
What they'd talked about…
Rory didn't really remember talking about much of anything. She remembered him talking. She remembered him yelling at her. Judging her. Making her feel stupid and silly for choices that she'd made despite having no idea why she'd made them. Making her feel stupid and silly for choosing to be with Logan.
"I got home fine, Jess," Rory interrupted, sharply. "Logan took care of it."
Logan took care of it by throwing a wad of cash at her for a cab, but Jess didn't really need to know that at the moment.
"O-kay…" Jess replied with somewhat of a stutter. "Are you okay? You sound upset."
Rory locked her jaw as she considered what the next words out of her mouth were going to be. The entire evening had been more than upsetting. It had been soul crushing. It had been an absolute horror from the moment that it had begun. She'd started off the night feeling like a failure and an idiot in comparison to Jess' accomplishments. Her boyfriend had been an absolute asshole which had prompted Jess to turn into an absolute asshole as well. She ended up being yelled at and shamed by her ex-boyfriend only to walk inside and be yelled at and shamed by her current boyfriend. And it had all ended with her in the backseat of a cab feeling horrible about herself and crying her eyes out with no one to talk to because she'd currently alienated everyone else in her life.
But Jess was sorry about leaving her with Logan.
"Do I?" Rory asked, getting nothing but silence in response to the admittedly rhetorical question. "You know, Jess, I'm really fine. So… thanks for calling. But, I - "
"You know you can talk to me, Rory."
Rory didn't know that. Perhaps at one point she did, at a point when they were together, or even when they were just close friends. Jess used to be her confidant, someone that she trusted more than most other people. But, the reality was that those days were long gone. Jess really didn't know her at all anymore. And she didn't like him coming here and acting like he did.
"I appreciate that, Jess. But, I don't - "
"I'm worried about you," said Jess. Rory could feel her blood boiling, but she was trying as hard as he possibly could not to blow up.
"Well, you don't need to worry about me, Jess."
"Rory, come on…" he said. "Your mom? Yale? That… dick. I think I have a right to worry. This isn't you."
That was the final straw. There was no longer any hope of her reigning it in. She'd be able to keep her cool if he kept talking about her. But Rory had a tendency to be far more defensive of the people she loved than she was of herself. Now that he was going in on Logan… she was going to lose her battle for restraint.
It didn't really even matter that Jess truly did have every reason to go in on Logan.
She still didn't want to hear it.
"That dick is my boyfriend…" said Rory. "He might have been an asshole tonight, and I'm sorry about that. But you don't actually know him at all. And who the hell are you to tell me what is and isn't me?"
"Rory. I know you."
"No, you don't!" said Rory. "Not any more. You haven't known me since you decided to pack up all your things and disappear off to California without so much as a word. You don't know the first thing about me or my life or my relationships. So, I don't know where you think you get off coming here and judging me for the choices that I've made for my life."
"Look, Rory…" said Jess. "I think we got some wires crossed here. I just want to make sure that you- "
"I dropped out of Yale..." Rory interrupted, mimicking the derisive tone of voice that she'd thrown at her just a couple hours ago. "Because I had something happen to me last semester that threw me off of my bearings a bit, and I needed some time and space to get my head together. I wasn't sure what I wanted, and I didn't want to waste my time and my grandparents' money floundering around a campus when I wasn't confident in what I was doing."
"Okay…"
"I made the choice to take time off school," said Rory. "And just so you know... I didn't drop out. I took some time. Because I felt like I needed to. And before you showed up here out of the blue and started slinging judgements at me about what I was doing and what kind of choices I was making for my life, I had already started flirting with the idea of going back next semester. Because now that I've had some time, and I've gotten my head back on straight, I've realized that school is what I want. Writing is what I want. But I realized that on my own, Jess. I didn't need you to come here and act like some kind of wise benevolent savior who put me back on the right track. I can put myself on the right track without any help from you."
"Rory, I… that's not what I intended…"
"Well it's what you did," she said. "And I've had just about enough of it. Because it's what I'm getting from everyone. My mom. Luke. Paris. My grandparents. And now you…. I never thought I would get this kind of thing from you of all people."
"Rory, all I want is for you to be happy…"
"No it's not," Rory replied with a shake of her head. "You just want me. At any cost. You want me to stay the same girl you dated in high school because you ended things badly and you never got closure and you want to go back to the way that things were because you regret everything that happened. You don't really care about what I want at all. And you know how I know that?"
The line was dead silent for a moment.
"Because even though my mom and Paris and my grandparents might think that Logan somehow convinced me or manipulated me into making the choices that I've made recently, I know that there has only ever been one man in my life who has literally asked me to drop out of school and leave behind everything I wanted and everyone I loved to be with him. And that wasn't Logan, Jess. That was you."
The silence continued for a few tense and uncomfortable seconds. Jess clearly didn't know what to say to that, and Rory didn't really expect him to. She knew that he would probably rather forget that night at her dorm had ever happened. Rory didn't exactly like thinking about it herself. But it had happened. And the resentment over his hypocrisy had been bubbling under her skin for a while now, since the moment she'd had a little bit of time to recover from the things he'd said to her outside the bar.
"Look I'm sorry again for the way that Logan treated you tonight. It was awful. I know that. And he knows that. He feels terrible about it. But… when he came here to apologize to me tonight, at least he had the presence of mind to realize what he actually needed to apologize for."
"Rory…" Jess breathed. "I'm… I'm really sorry…"
"Yeah… alright…" Rory replied before clearing her throat. "Look, I should go. My boyfriend is waiting for me in bed. He's probably wondering what's taking so long."
It was a low blow. She knew it was a low blow. She knew that she was going to regret this in the future when she and her mother eventually reconciled and it came time for her and Luke's wedding and Christmas and Thanksgiving and any other holiday Rory could now expect to spend with Jess. But, Rory was feeling pretty tired of being a punching bag lately. At the moment she wanted to throw some punches herself.
She flipped her phone closed and just sat on the ledge of the tub for a while, looking at her reflection in the mirror. She was shaking slightly. That always seemed to happen whenever she ended up in the middle of a confrontation with someone. But, with a few deep breaths she was able to calm herself down.
That is...until she heard the unmistakable sound of the garage opening from the story beneath her.
Her grandmother was home. Her grandmother was home, and Logan was still lying naked in her bedroom in the main house.
She took a deep breath.
It seemed like she just couldn't manage to catch a break tonight.
But, honestly, it would probably be fine. Her grandmother - though nosey and controlling - didn't usually make a habit of barging into Rory's room in the middle of the night, and judging by the fact that Rory hadn't seen his car outside, Logan had had the forethought to park on the street as to not make it obvious that he was here.
They could most likely sneak him out in a few hours and everything would be fine. And, even if it wasn't… Rory didn't think it mattered that much.
Because she had the distinct feeling she wouldn't be staying here for much longer anyway.
The End.