AN- Woohoo! A new chapter. And with no further ado...here it is.
"And when you say 'on fire,' you mean it in the slangy 'doing better than imaginable,' kind of way, right?" Rory asked hesitantly into her phone as she sat in the terminal of the private airport waiting for the Morgan family jet to be prepared. She had called her mother to let her in on the travel plans, only to find out that things back in Stars Hollow were going less than smoothly.
"Actually, when I say 'on fire,' I mean it in the 'big, consuming, orange flames,' kind of way," Lorelai responded, hiding her panic about the fire at the Independence Inn behind the humor in her voice.
"Oh my god, that's awful."
"Well, no one was hurt and the fire chief says that we'll be able to get back in by tomorrow morning, so I'm currently working on erecting his shrine…"
"Dirty," Rory interrupted. There was a short silence over the phone during which Rory could imagine her mother's faux, reproachful glare. "Sorry, continue," she apologized.
"Anyway," Lorelai went on, "we couldn't come up with enough hotel rooms to house all of the 'Raven' lunatics, err…I mean admirers, so we've put them up around town for tonight. Long story short, Mr. and Mrs. Poe number two are crashing in your room tonight and since you're getting back so late anyhow, you might just want to spend another night with your loooover," Lorelai finished mockingly.
Rory paused. "Uh…actually," she hesitated. "There's something I kind of need to tell you about that."
"And…uh, what would that be, exactly?" the elder Gilmore questioned, cautiously, the humor suddenly gone from her voice.
"We kind of are now…I mean, not 'lovers,' but you know, he's my boyfriend now," Rory admitted with a shy smile on her face. She wasn't sure how her mother was going to react to the news, but it didn't keep Rory from still being happy about it.
"Oh," was all Lorelai managed to respond. She had finally started to almost accept the friendship Rory had with Logan and his pals, but Lorelai could always tell there was more between her daughter and the blond Eli. Deep down, she had hoped Logan would be too stubborn and Rory too oblivious to actually turn those feelings into something more, but it seemed that that hope had turned out to be false. She really didn't want to imagine her daughter schmoozing it up at society parties with an Armani suit by her side, even if it had turned out that Logan wasn't the worst kid in the world.
"Are you okay with this?" Rory prodded tentatively.
"Umm, yeah, sure, I mean…I knew it was bound to happen eventually, and, well, he's never broken your arm and run away, so he's already one-uping Jess," Lorelai let out a strained laugh.
Rory let the dig on her ex-boyfriend go—she knew this conversation would be awkward enough without throwing extra fuel on the fire. "I mean, I know he's rich and all…"
"No, Rory, that doesn't matter," Lorelai insisted.
"Really?" Rory asked doubtfully.
"Well, okay, it matters a little, but I'm coming to terms with it and really, I just want you to be happy," she persisted, trying to convince herself as much as her daughter. "You're happy, right?"
"I am," Rory admitted.
"Good… just do me one favor?"
"Yeah?"
"Sleep at Stephanie's tonight?"
Rory laughed light-heartedly. She could tell her mother was still skeptical, but overall, she had taken the news really well. Maybe Lorelai was starting to come around after all. "Sure thing, Mom."
"And you'll tell me all about it when I see you?" Lorelai wasn't so sure she actually wanted to hear all about it, but she knew she needed to keep the lines of communication between herself and her daughter open.
"Of course."
"Alright, well I guess I'll let you go. Call me when the plane lands?"
"Will do," Rory admitted, "love you, bye."
"Love you too, kid."
From across the room, Logan glanced at his girlfriend sitting cross-legged on the hard plastic seats of the airport waiting room. She had been animatedly talking into her cell-phone. He had wandered away to give her some privacy during the conversation she was currently having with her mother.
After a few moments, he had noticed the way Rory's body language changed, becoming instantly tenser. Logan had a feeling Rory had just broken the news about their new dating status to her mother. Lorelai had never been his biggest fan, although she seemed to be more accepting of him in the friend role lately. Well, no matter how she felt about him dating her daughter, she would just have to get used to it, because Logan wasn't missing the single life at all. Sure, it had only been two days, but so far Logan was finding that he actually enjoyed the couple-y-ness of it all. He might actually miss falling asleep with her snuggled into his side and waking up with her half on top of him when they were back in Connecticut. Even if all they had been doing really was sleeping—and to be honest, he'd been pleasantly surprised that Rory had even gone for that.
As soon as he saw Rory flip her phone shut, he made his way back to her and slipped his arms around her from behind. "How's everything at home?" She leaned back in her seat and tilted her head up, puckering her lips to indicate that she was expecting a kiss. Logan dutifully complied.
"Mom burned down the Inn," she answered once their lips detached.
"What?!"
"It sounds pretty minor," Rory quickly added. "She said they'd be back in tomorrow morning, and I'm sure the insurance will take care of the damage."
"So everyone is okay?" he asked worriedly.
"Mmmhmm," Rory assured him.
"Good." He nodded in relief. "It's time to get on the plane," he added.
"But I don't want to go home," Rory whined.
"Sure you do. It's where your Mom is."
"True," she admitted reluctantly.
"And Lane," he added.
"I guess," she replied, still not convinced. "But it's also where Chilton, Tristan and Paris are."
"I thought you and Paris were friends again."
"I think I preferred it when we were enemies," the brunette responded wryly.
"Oh come on, she's not that bad," he replied.
Rory stared pointedly at him, waiting for him to admit the truth—he'd heard enough Paris stories, even without witnessing the CSPAN break down, to know just how bad Paris really was.
"Okay, so maybe she is that bad," he relented, "but you still missed her when you had your Deep Throat status."
"Lo-ogan," Rory whined, turning profusely red. "How many times do I have to tell you I was not the Deep Throat?"
"What? A guy's not even allowed to have indecent, politically themed fantasies about his girlfriend, now?" he questioned, indignantly.
Rory blushed some more, but decided to concede to her boyfriend. "Fine," Rory huffed, rolling her eyes. "I was the Deep Throat. Does that make you happy?"
Logan smirked wickedly. "Only if I get to be the Woodward."
"We have now reached our cruising altitude; please feel free to move about the cabin." Rory loosened her death grip on Logan's hand as the captain made his announcement and she felt the plane level off. She wasn't so much afraid of flying as she was of taking off and landing. Now that they were comfortably cruising through the air, her anxiety was significantly mitigated.
"If the feeling in my pinky never returns, I'm blaming you," Logan dead-panned as he shook the blood back to his extremities.
"Aww, poor baby," Rory playfully soothed, "do you want me to kiss it and make it better?"
Logan smiled like a toddler offered a lollipop and held up the throbbing digit for his girlfriend. "Yes please," he responded cheerfully.
Rory rolled her eyes but leaned over and pecked the injured finger with her lips. "All better?" she questioned.
Logan took a moment to contemplate. "Weeeeeellll," he drawled out, "I think the pinky is fixed, but it's possible I might have bit my lip in shock when you dug your claws into me."
"Oh, so you're going to need some more healing then, huh?" she asked with a little chuckle.
"Just a tiny bit," he replied in a low, husky voice—leaning in towards her and holding his thumb and forefinger up for emphasis.
"Well, if I must," Rory sighed, as though it would be a huge effort. She leaned in to give him a short, chaste kiss, but just as she moved to pull back, Logan wound his hands behind her head—holding her face just millimeters from his own.
"It really hurts," he whispered, "I think it's going to need a prolonged course of therapy," he added, pulling her head back to his for another kiss and slipping his tongue into her mouth.
"Blech." The couple quickly split apart at the sound of the gagging noise. "Some of us are trying not to lose our lunches, you know," Finn, the source of the interruption, commented.
"Now, now, no need to be jealous," Logan chuckled while Rory buried her blushing face into his shoulder.
"Of your new-found whipped-ness?" Finn postulated, "Not bloody likely. And just for the record, those of us who still have our balls are going to play some poker."
"So you'll be playing with yourself then?" Logan asked, casting a glance towards the other happy couple on the plane.
"Don't worry, he's used to it," Colin threw in, not looking up from the issue of The Wall Street Journal he was reading on the other side of the plane, with Stephanie passed out on his lap from her pre-flight Valium.
Logan laughed heartily at his friend's expense. Rory smiled at the playful bantering of the trio and motioned to Logan that he should go spend some time with the boys.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yeah," she assured him, "you should go play. I've got some work to do, anyhow," she added, pointing towards the knapsack sitting by her feet.
"You can't seriously think I'm going to let you do school work on vacation, can you?" he asked incredulously.
"Vacation is over, Logan," she reminded him.
"Nuh-uh," he disagreed, "vacation is not over until we're back at Yale…or Chilton, or at least Connecticut," he added.
"Believe it or not, some of us actually have assignments that need to be finished and some of us actually do the work we were assigned."
"Who would do something crazy like that?" Logan jokingly asked.
"Oh, only your favorite-ist girlfriend of all time."
"You're my only girlfriend of all time," he reminded her. "And 'favorite-ist' is not a real word."
"See?" she replied triumphantly. "My vocabulary is completely shot. You better let me study; otherwise, I might embarrass you in front of important people by using entirely made up words."
"Well, we couldn't have that, could we?" Logan played along.
"Of course not," she agreed, "So you see, you should go lose obscene amounts of money to your best friends if you know what's best for you and me."
Logan sighed in defeat, but gave one last attempt. "You know, I can't condone this, right?" he asked as Rory pulled the bag onto her lap.
"Well then, it's a good thing I don't need your permission," she responded, with an evil grin. Logan gaped disbelievingly at her as she turned her attention towards the US History text she pulled from the nylon sack and completely ignored him.
Rory sat, staring blankly at the pages in front of her. She had been stuck on the same paragraph of The Cold War for the past half hour. The truth was, her mind was busy thinking about a different set of pages, neatly folded and stuck in the back of the loose-leaf notebook by her side. She had decisions affecting the course of her own history to make.
Glancing up at the boys to make sure they weren't paying attention, she closed the heavy tome and picked up the notebook, shaking free the loose pages inside it. Three neatly stapled pieces of computer paper, each divided into two columns, floated free. No one but her mother had seen the pages. To be honest, Rory was afraid to show them to anyone else for fear that her decision would be influenced by the response she got—especially from the people who were currently surrounding her. Still, Rory couldn't get this off her mind so she unfolded the packet and started reading down the lists on the first page.
'Close to home, Grandpa's alma matter, big dorm rooms,' the first column began. She continued to read down the dozen or so other points on the left side of the page, pausing at the bottom. She reached for the pen behind her ear and pulled it free, hesitantly posing it over the clean, white area just below 'good coffee.' She couldn't seem to make herself write it in. Sure, it was a pro, but it wasn't the kind of pro she should be basing her decision on. On the other hand, she wasn't really basing her decision on this one point; it was the entire collection of pros and cons for all three schools that would decide her future. Besides, a pro was a still a pro and should go on the list—right? But Rory wasn't so sure her mother would see things the same way. How would Lorelai react when she saw the addition? Then again, it wasn't her mother's decision to make.
With a sigh, Rory put down her pen, reached into her bag, grabbed a pencil and tentatively scribbled the single word at the bottom of the list.
"Kings and fives." Logan threw his two-pair down on the table for the others to see.
"Sorry, Huntz," Colin smirked gleefully. He put his cards down in single-order—seven, eight, nine, ten, Jack, "Jack-high-straight," he announced as he reached his hands into the pot to gather up all the chips.
"Not so fast, Farha," Finn informed his friend, "Moneymaker's in the house—read 'em and weep," Finn set down two eights followed by three queens, "Full House."
"How the Hell does he do this every time?" Colin replied in exasperation. "When we have nothing, he's got deuces, but when either of us has a good hand, he's got a better one. Take off your sweater," Colin ordered.
"Colin," Logan scolded as Finn wasted no time in doing as he was told. "You know better than to encourage Finn to get naked."
"He's got a t-shirt on underneath," Colin defended. "I don't trust that he's not cheating."
Logan rolled his eyes. "You really think Finn would be willing to even put forth the thought and effort necessary to successfully cheat?" he questioned. Logan stretched his arms and stood up from the table at the front of the cabin. "You two figure this out. I have to pee and when I get back, I expect Finn to be fully clothed," he looked pointedly towards the Australian. Finn pouted petulantly.
"Hurry up," Colin told him as Logan turned around and started towards the bathroom.
"Yeah, the slower you pee, the less of your money I win," Finn added.
As Logan headed towards the lavatory, he paused in front of his girlfriend who lay sprawled out on the seat he'd left her on, snoring softly. Her books had slipped from her hands and fallen on the floor next to her. Logan took a moment to grab a blanket from the storage bin above her and tuck her in. He reached down to gather up her scattered school supplies. He placed her text book back in the bag and then picked up the spiral notebook next to it. As he flipped to the cover, a set of papers fluttered free and he bent down to retrieve them.
Logan didn't mean to read her stuff—in all honesty he figured it was school related and wasn't even remotely interesting, but something on the page immediately jumped out at him and he stopped short, still in a squatting position. His eyes flitted up towards the top of the page where blue and white block letters clearly labeled the chart 'Yale' the page was divided into two halves, one labeled 'Pro' and the other 'Con.' At the bottom of the pro list, was what had originally caught his attention in the first place—his name.
"What's going on?" Colin approached him from behind, having noticed his friend staring at something. Logan reached over his shoulder and handed the list to his friend. "Oh," was all Colin said.
"Hey, you made the list," Finn piped in cheerfully, having joined the other two.
"Shhh," Colin scolded, nodding towards the sleeping Rory who grumbled slightly and squirmed on the seat but didn't wake up.
"Never took Reporter Girl as the kind to base what school she went to on a guy, but hey," he added more softly, clapping Logan on the shoulder, "congrats."
Logan stood up completely and turned around to give him a stern glare. "This isn't good," the blond reminded him.
"Why not?" Finn replied naively. "It's not like you want her going to Harvard. That place sucks, and it's filled with sweater-vest-wearing-Colin-look-alikes that think they're entitled to your Sheila." Finn grabbed the lists from Colin's hands and began flipping through them. "And luckily, by the looks of it, Yale is firmly in the lead.
The other two men opted to simply ignore Finn. "You haven't told her, have you?" Colin questioned.
"Well, we just got together," Logan defended. "And we're on vacation. It hasn't been the right time."
"She has to know."
"I know, I'm going to tell her," Logan said defensively.
Colin gave his friend a stern look. "When?"
"Soon," Logan assured him.
"Before she goes ahead and makes one of the biggest decisions of her life without having all the facts?" the shorter boy asked pointedly.
"Soon," Logan said again more forcefully, "soon," he repeated, this time as a whisper; mostly to himself. He would tell her just as soon as he found the right moment.