AN: So I have excuses, really good ones that involve me working 80 hours a week so that I can actually add that "Dr." in front of my name in the next year; but I know you don't actually care about any of that, so I'll just go ahead and give you the chapter now. I hope that by the time you finish reading it that you will have forgiven me for taking so long to update ;)

Rory sat on the couch, blankly staring at the copy of "Catch 22" sitting on her lap. She had been on the same page for the past forty-five minutes. It was almost 6 and she still hadn't heard from Jess. They were supposed to go out the previous night after he got off of work. She and Lorelai had rushed Friday night dinner at the Gilmore residence just so they could get to their dates on time, and instead, Rory had spent the entire night studying and cleaning her keyboard. She had seen Jess at the Diner that morning and he'd barely said two words to her, not seeming at all fazed by the fact that he'd stood her up. And now she was still waiting around for his call. The worst part of it all was that she wasn't surprised—reliability wasn't exactly one of Jess's strong points. She should have learned her lesson by now; she should have known better that to trust Jess's words. Like their last fight—she had finally found out that he was telling the truth about not getting into a fight with Dean, but then he told her he'd gotten his black eye by throwing a football around with a friend. There were several things wrong with that story, not the least of which was that, if it were true, he never would have hidden it in the first place. Despite that, she had chosen to accept the story and forgive him—to put her faith in him yet again—and again he was letting her down. When would she learn?

The phone next to her rang and before she could stop herself, she reached out and grabbed for it, answering it on the first ring. "Hello," she said as nonchalantly as she could.

"Rory," came a surprised, and very familiar voice that did not belong to her boyfriend.

"Mom," she greeted; the annoyance clearly evident in her voice. She didn't know if she was more annoyed with the fact that it wasn't Jess calling, or with the fact that she was annoyed with the fact that it wasn't Jess calling.

"What are you doing there?" Lorelai asked.

Rory sighed. Who else would be at their house? "What do you mean what am I doing here? I live here, remember? Who were you expecting to find?"

"No one, I was calling to check messages and see if Mom called."

"Well, she hasn't. No one has. In fact, this is the first time the phone has rung all day."

"Ahhhh," Lorelai replied knowingly.

"What 'ah' ?" Rory asked defensively.

"Okay, get out."

"Excuse me?"

"Out of the house, get out of the house."

"Why?"

"Why? Look at the clock. What does it say?"

"It says…." Rory tried to sneak a peek at her watch while keeping the phone to her ear and the book on her lap. "…six."

"So it is six on a Saturday night. Which means you have now spent a day and a night waiting for him to call."

"I know."

"Well that's not good kid. Look, let's say he does call. You can't be the kind of girl that gets all mad in her head and then forgets everything once he deigns to show up. Right?"

"Yeah," she replied guiltily. She didn't want to be that girl, she really didn't.

"Okay, so don't just sit there waiting. Go out, do something."

"Like what?" What else did she have to do?

"I don't know; what's Lane doing tonight?"

"She's going to the hockey game with her fake boyfriend." Even Lane managed to have plans despite her crazy, strict, religious mother.

"Perfect."

"Perfect?" Rory asked incredulously. "It's a hockey game."

"It'll be fun. There'll be cheerleaders and…clowns and…people doing the wave." Lorelai was clearly grasping at straws, having no clue what went on at a hockey game.

"You have no idea what a hockey game is, do you?" Rory asked, with slight amusement in her voice.

"Fine; what are Limo Boy and Co. doing?"

Rory rolled her eyes at the nickname but let it slide. "They're having a party at their dorm."

"A party?" Lorelai asked excitedly. "You love parties."

Rory made a face that her mother couldn't see. "No I don't."

"No, you really don't," Lorelai agreed, but didn't let it stop her. "But you're eighteen, you're supposed to love parties. At this age, you should be sneaking off to keggers, not having your mother trying to coerce you into them. Do you really want to be the girl whose Mommy forced her to socialize? Those are usually the girls with the funny teeth and the greasy hair. You don't have funny teeth or greasy hair."

"I am not unsocial." Rory insisted.

"I love you, hun, but you can be a little hermit-y from time to time."

"I'm not a hermit. Okay, so maybe I'm a little…introverted, but that's not the same thing."

"If you say so."

"I'm not!" She had a boyfriend (who was standing her up) and friends (who were all actually out doing something on their Saturday night while she sat alone and read a novel she'd already read twice) A tiny voice reminded her.

"Uh huh."

"Fine, and how do you expect me to get to this party?"

"You can borrow the car. All you have to do in return is drop off some serving dishes and the slide projector at your grandmother's on the way."

"Ahh, and your true motivation reveals itself," Rory replied, finally catching on.

"Well, you know, as much as I love seeing my mother, I would gladly give up our quality bonding time together so that my favoritest daughter in the whole wide world could spend a Saturday night with friends."

"Really, you sound heart broken."

"I am."

Rory gave a sigh of defeat. "Fine, I'll go."

"Good, and don't forget to look hot. We wouldn't want Yale to think that Gilmore girls are dogs."

"Mom!"

"What? There could be secret hidden admissions recruiters hanging around all incognito making sure the next generation of Elis meet the hotness quota. You wouldn't want to get rejected because you went to that party looking frumpy, would you?"

"Yale does not have a hotness quota."

"And remember, drinking and driving is bad. If you get really toasted I'm sure Logan could find some room for you in his bed."

"Mom, I told you nothing happened. Will you stop with that, please." Lorelai had been hounding her about the incident for a couple of weeks now.

"Fine," Lorelai relented. "But I'm serious. If you're going to drink maybe you should just plan to stay over now."

"Oh, so now it's OK for me to get drunk and crash at Logan's?"

"Well, he already took your 'spending the night with a guy' virginity so you might as well."

"If you want to get technical, I lost that back when I went to the Chilton dance with Dean and we fell asleep at Miss Patty's."

Lorelai gasped dramatically. "You're right! My daughter's a slut. I should come home and lock you in your room this instant."

"Good bye, Mom."

"Bye darling daughter of mine…and don't forget about that hotness quota."

Rory rolled her eyes, pressing the off button on the phone and setting it back down, almost actually looking forward to this party.

"What'll it be, Love?" Finn asked from behind the bar. "Ooh, I know just the thing," he said excitedly, before she had a chance to answer.

Rory laughed; knowing that Finn was never up to any good when it came to alcohol. "Nothing too strong, please," she flashed him an innocent looking smile.

"Now where's the fun in that?"

"Finn," she replied sternly.

"I promise, you'll barely be able to taste the alcohol at all."

"Finny," she whined.

"Now don't call me that, Love," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "If word gets out that I let you call me that all the other girls will think they aren't special."

"They're not special, Finn."

He gasped in mock horror. "I love each and every redhead in here."

Rory laughed. "I'm sure you do…but can you tell me any of their names?" She crossed her arms over her chest and waited for an answer.

His eyes frantically searched the room. "Ooh! That's Rosemary," he pointed at one redhead in particular.

"So that's one. There must be half a dozen red heads in this room and you can name one. And how many of them do you think you've actually slept with, Finn?"

"Umm, well I would say five. Rosemary's been holding out on me. It's only a matter of time though. I know she wants my body."

Rory laughed. "I should have known you only remember the names of the ones you can't get into your bed.

"C'est la vie, kitten. Now here's your drink. I expect to see you back here for a refill in the next hour or so. This is a party after all."

"I'll see what I can do about that," she replied with a roll of her eyes. "Thanks Finn."

"You're my boy Blue! You're my boy!" Colin cried out drunkenly, wiping the tears of laughter off his eyes.

"That movie was fucking hilarious," Logan commented.

"You really think have blow job classes like that? Because…damn!"

"Man, I hope so," Logan slurred. "I can think of a few girls who could certainly use 'em."

"You mean Huntz's harem of hotties aren't getting the job done lately?" Colin asked, sarcastically. "I wonder why? I don't suppose it could have anything to do with a certain blue-eyed beauty who happens to be here this very night?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Of course Logan knew exactly what Colin was talking about. No girl had gotten the job done lately, mostly because he didn't let any of them close enough to try. Every time he was with another girl, all he could think about was Rory. He tried to get her off his mind…at least like that; he could never be the guy she needed, even if that asshole Jess weren't in the picture. He needed to be OK with just being friend with her; that had to be enough.

"Don't play dumb, I'm talking about the lack of activity in your bedroom the past few weeks. In fact, the last time I remember a girl being in there, you were sleeping on the couch."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, I got to see her naked," Logan wanted to take the words back the second they came out of his mouth. Ace wasn't the kind of girl you could talk about like that. He didn't even think she remembered that he had to help her get changed, and he knew she'd be humiliated.

"WHAT?!" Colin exclaimed.

"Nothing, I said nothing," Logan replied with pleading eyes.

"That wasn't nothing, Logan."

"Really, it was. I swear, it was nothing. I just helped her get changed because all those shots she did with Finn severely diminished her hand-eye coordination. I don't think she even remembers. You can't say anything, Colin. She'd be beyond embarrassed," Logan begged.

Colin glanced around the room and spotted her chatting happily with Steph. "You know I'd never…" he trailed off as his eyes stopped on the journey back to Logan.

"What?" Logan tried to see what Colin was looking at. "What the hell is he doing here?" he added once his eyes spotted the intruder.

"Well I certainly didn't invite him. You think she asked him to show?"

"No. I think she came here to get away from him."

"Well then, I suggest we help her achieve that goal," Colin suggested. "What do you say we show him the door."

Logan couldn't believe that Jess had actually had the audacity to show up at their dorm. He knew how much he was hated, and yet he waltzed right on in like he owned the place. Rory was finally out having a fun night and he wasn't about to let Jess come in and make her miserable again. It was amazing how often he managed to make her miserable. Logan didn't know much about being a boyfriend, but he was pretty damn sure that making their girlfriends miserable, wasn't in the job description. "You think we could toss him out the window instead?"

"We could, but we live on the ground floor so it probably wouldn't have much impact."

"I always knew there was a downside to not having to take the stairs."

"So then she walks into the Inn and the whole lobby is covered in daisies…"

"A thousand of them?"

"A thousand of them…exactly one thousand."

"That is so romantic," Stephanie gushed at the telling of the story.

"Yeah, until we ran away to Harvard right before her wedding."

"Ugh, Harvard."

Rory ignored the comment about Harvard, knowing better then to defend a rival school while at a Yale party. "Mom can be a bit indecisive…and she tends to be a bit of a heartbreaker."

"So I guess that's a genetic trait," Steph said with a smirk.

"What is?"

"Being a heartbreaker."

"Who me?"

"Duh!" Steph rolled her eyes at Rory's obliviousness.

"I'm not a heartbreaker," Rory protested adamantly. She had no idea what Stephanie was talking about.

"Well, it was pretty obvious at the carnival that that Dean guy wasn't over you. And we've all heard about how hard DuGrey has been working to charm his way into your pants…and then there's Logan. You've got guys falling at your feet left and right, Gilmore."

"Wait a second. Back that thought up."

Stephanie silently cursed herself for her slip up. "What? The part about Tristan?"

"No, not the part about Tristan," Rory replied agitatedly. "Try the part just after that."

"I don't think I said anything after that."

"Steph! What the heck were you saying about Logan?" She couldn't be serious. There was no way Logan had a thing for her—he was, well…Logan.

"Just forget I mentioned it."

"Fine, it's crazy anyway. There's no way he likes me like that—he could have any girl in this room."

"Not any girl—he can't have you, can he?"

"So what's your point?"

"Nothing." Steph shook her head. "I don't have a point. Like I said, just forget I even mentioned it."

"Fine, I think it's time for a trip back to the bar anyway." Rory nodded at her empty glass. She hadn't planned on having seconds but now she suddenly felt the need for a bit more of the libations. She turned around and that's when she spotted him walking through the door. Great, Jess at Logan's, there was a perfect recipe for disaster; not to mention her own conflicting feelings. Part of her wanted to smile and go greet him happily as though she'd never even been mad at him—but she had been mad at him. She wasn't going to be the girl that let her boyfriend treat her like crap and then went running right into his arms. Her mother was right about that. Still, she had to go talk to him; it probably wasn't a good idea for Jess to be there. She slowly made her way over to him.

"Hey, I figured I'd find you here," he said as she approached. "I mean, you say the words 'raging dorm party', you say the word 'Rory,'" he joked.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, her resolve weakening slightly at the look he gave her.

"I came to bring you these," he said, holding up something small and yellow.

"Ear plugs? I know it's a little loud in here, but I don't think it requires ear plugs."

"I got tickets to the Distillers," he explained himself.

"You did, for when?" Rory asked excitedly, cursing herself for her weakness when it came to him.

"Tonight."

Tonight? Was he serious? That was it. She had to put an end to this stupid cycle she had with him. It was time to put her foot down. She wasn't just going to wait around for him and jump whenever he said the word. "No"

"No? 'No' what?"

"No, I can't go with you." A part of her was cringing at the thought of giving up a chance to see the Distillers, but she had to have enough self respect to do this.

"Why the hell not?"

"I'm busy, Jess. My friends are having a party and here I am." She motioned around her. ""I can't just leave. Maybe if you had bothered to make plans with me instead of just saying 'I'll call you later' and then never calling, I'd be free to go with you, but you didn't and I'm not."

"Is there a problem here?" a voice interrupted.

Rory turned around to see Logan and Colin. They were both staring menacingly at Jess. Perfect, just perfect. "It's fine, guys," she told them. "I've got it under control."

"Are you sure? Because if you want him to leave…"

"No, Jess and I were just having a little chat. We'll take it outside now."

"OK, but if you change your mind…"

"Logan," she said insistently. "I can handle this."

Logan didn't take his eyes off of Jess. He didn't trust him one bit, but there wasn't much he could do here. He made a mental note to go looking for her if she wasn't back in ten minutes. "Fine," he said after a moment's pause. He watched intently as Rory and Jess walked out of the party.

Rory and Jess were silent as they made their way out into the courtyard outside Berkley Hall. Once they were finally out of the building and by themselves, Rory spoke up. "I just want you to know that this is the last weekend I spend sitting around like an idiot hoping you'll call, okay? I'm not going to be that girl. From now on, I want a plan. I mean a real plan with a time and a place."

"Rory," Jess tried to interrupt but she wasn't deterred.

"I'm tired of hearing 'Let's hook up later.' What does that mean anyway? What's later? How do I set my watch to later? Later doesn't cut it anymore."

"I'm busy, Rory. I work two jobs. Things come up," he defended lamely.

"Well then how about a freaking call? Is that too much to ask? Maybe it is. Maybe I'm spoiled. But guess what? I like being spoiled. I plan to go on being spoiled. And if that doesn't sound like something that you can or want to do, then fine. I'm sure you'll find another girl who doesn't mind sitting around cleaning her keyboard on a Friday night hoping you'll call, but it's not going to be me," she let out a deep breath as she finished her rant, wrapping her arms around herself, partly to keep the cold away, and partly in and attempt to hold back her tears. She shifted her gaze to the floor.

"Rory, be reasonable."

"No." She looked up at him again. "I deserve better than this, Jess."

"You're right, you do and I'm trying here, OK. I'm doing my best."

"I know you have a low opinion of yourself, Jess, but if you seriously think this is the best you can do…"

"It is. Do you honestly think I'm not trying?"

"Fine, then. If this is really your best, if you have nothing more to give, well then, I'm sorry," she took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. "But I don't think it's enough."

"What are you saying?" he asked her, not believing his ears.

"I'm saying it's over, Jess. You and me, we're done," she looked away, hoping not to let him see the tears in her eyes.

"You can't be serious."

"I think you should go now."

"Rory, please. Give me a second chance here."

"I've given you a million second chances."

"You're serious about this?" he asked one last time. She bit her lip and nodded. He just stood there a moment longer, letting the shock set in, before turning and slinking away, without another word.

"Hey, there you are," Logan said as he approached Rory who had just walked back into the room. She ignored him and made a beeline for the bar. "Is everything OK?" he asked, following after her.

"Something strong, Finn," she told the Australian behind the counter.

"Love?" he asked, looking at her appraisingly. "What's the matter?"

"I just…really need a drink right now."

Finn didn't want to press too much so he nodded his head in understanding. "Well, what the lady wants, the lady gets."

"Ace?" Logan asked tentatively.

She turned on him suddenly. "Please, the last thing I need to hear right now is 'I told you so.'" She turned back to the bar and grabbed her drink out of Finn's hands, downing it in one gulp. She handed the cup back to Finn who looked at her worriedly.

"You know love, it takes years of heavy drinking to develop my tolerance; perhaps you should slow down a bit."

"I don't want to slow down, I want to get drunk."

"Finn, don't serve her anymore," Logan ordered.

"Right, mate."

She turned on Logan angrily. "Excuse me? What the hell gives you the right to tell Finn not to serve me?"

"Well, it's my party, my alcohol, so I have the right to tell Finn not to serve anybody."

"Fine," she said, crossing her arms over her chest angrily. "I'll just find someone to get drinks for me."

"Did you ever stop and think that maybe we're looking out for you when we cut you off? I'm not just doing this to be a pain in your ass, Ace."

"Like you're one to talk, you've been drunk since before I got here."

"Yes, but I'm still rational. You're being irrational already and getting pissed isn't going to help matters."

"Yeah, well I…I…" she stuttered, the tears finally starting to well up in her eyes. The silent tears broke into heaving sobs and she threw herself into Logan's arms. He was shocked for a moment, but then he wrapped his arms around her and gently rubbed soothing circles on her back.

Logan looked up and noticed that half the party was staring at them, and the girls did not look pleased. "Hey," he whispered in her ear. Why don't we go to my room," he suggested, wanting to get her away from the prying eyes.

He guided her across the crowded common room over to his bedroom, unlocking the door and letting them in. He brought her over to his bed and sat her down. He kneeled in front of her so he could look her in the eye. "What happened, Ace?"

"We…we…" she sobbed. "We broke up."

At those words, a thousand different emotions overtook him. Anger—at Jess; how dare he have the audacity to come here and hurt and humiliate her like that. Empathy—for Rory; it broke his heart to see her so upset. And then of course, there was the part of him that was doing little flip flops at the news. He hated himself for being happy about this, but he couldn't help it; he couldn't help but be relieved that that asshole was finally out of the picture.

"He's an idiot, Rory. He'd have to be to break up with you. Does he honestly think he'll ever find anyone better?"

She shook her head, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I broke up with him."

Logan didn't know what to make of this. If she was the one who did the breaking up, why was she so upset? If she finally realized what a low-life punk Jess was, what was there to cry over? Logan sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he would probably just never understand women.

"Maybe I made a mistake. Maybe it's not too late. I should try and catch him," she said, standing up from the bed. Logan pulled her back down.

"Is that really what you want?" She sighed in response. "Does he make you happy, Rory?"

She shook her head. "No," she said softly. "He hasn't made me happy in a long time."

"You did the right thing. You deserve someone who makes you happy. You deserve a lot…not some jaded punk who can't even graduate high school."

She lifted her head slowly to look at Logan. "What?"

Crap! "Nothing."

"What do you mean he can't graduate high school?"

Logan sighed. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to tell her now. They already broke up, so he wouldn't be the bad guy for coming between them, he would just be helping her feel better about her decision. "Jess has missed more days of school than allowed…he's not going to graduate.

"How do you know this?"

"I'm a Huntzberger, getting the dish on people is in my blood."

"So you were spying on him?" she asked accusatorily.

"No! I just…did a little research."

"Why? Why would you do that?"

"I was worried about you," he admitted, his voice soft and concerned. "He wasn't good for you, Ace. I didn't want to see you get hurt."

"That's not your job, Logan. I don't need a protector. I can protect myself just fine."

"I know you can, I just…" he tried to find the words. How much did he tell her?

"You just what?" she asked, her voice suddenly not angry anymore.

"I just…" his eyes caught hers dead on and their gazes locked onto one another. He stretched his neck up, the gap between them getting smaller and smaller.

Rap-rap-rap. He pulled back instantly, jumping up just as the knocking stopped and the door slowly creaked open.

"Hey, how's it going?" Steph asked softly as she entered the room. "I heard things didn't go so well with…I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

Rory shook herself out of her trance and smiled weakly at her friend. "I will be, thanks."

"Good," Steph smiled back. "Logan, do you mind?" she asked. "I think times like these require a little girl bonding."

"Yeah…I'll just…" He pointed over his shoulder towards the door as he slowly backed out of the room, shutting the door behind him.