Chapter 71

"Is this okay?" Rory asked Logan, struggling on deciding what to wear for dinner with Jess. She couldn't go for one of her usual sexy dresses she liked to wear when going out with Logan, but dressing completely unsexy felt out of character too.

She was currently wearing a henley shirt and a simple blazer, not even one of her favorites, and a pair of velvet bootcut pants.

"Yeah, it's fine," Logan said, struggling to wrap his head around why she was this nervous. It was just dinner wasn't it, introducing her husband to her ex, catching up? On second thought - maybe she was right to be nervous. Had Logan had any actual exes that weren't just hook-ups he maybe would've understood it better. But honestly, Logan was seriously relieved to have something as solid as a marriage certificate from the state of Nevada to assure him that she wasn't aiming to rekindle something with this guy.

"So you haven't really told me a lot about this guy… anything I should know?" Logan asked, pulling on his own sweater as he was getting ready for them to head out.

They had a little time to spare, Rory not needing to bother much with her makeup tonight.

"I don't really know that much about any of your boyfriends, truth be told," Logan realized, and frowned a little.

Rory shrugged. It had just never really come up. Sure, she'd told him how experienced or rather how little experience she had in the bedroom, but her high school romances had never really gotten a lot of attention, beyond her statement of her being 'a girlfriend kind of girl'.

"What do you want to know? Um…," Rory pondered where to begin. "Jess is Luke's nephew, but he only moved to Stars Hollow after he got into some trouble in the City. Fell in with the bad crowd, I guess - but nothing criminal… And first I really just thought he was a jerk and he kept causing trouble - stealing random things like the high school's baseballs, a garden gnome and silly stuff like that. Staged a fake murder once…," Rory described, causing Logan to actually chuckle lightly, finding strangely much in common with this Jess guy.

"And I guess one of the things I'm worried about tonight is that he's kind of feisty, and I know you can be too, so..," Rory continued.

"So what you're telling me I'm kind of like him?" Logan frowned, half-teasingly. "Wow, maybe I should be worried," he added jokingly.

"Logan, no - that's not what I meant. But fine - I guess you two do have some similar traits. Well, anyways, where was I? So I was dating Dean at the time - the first time around. And he kept being intentionally difficult with him, and I guess it took me a lot longer to realize that I liked him than for Dean and honestly it was my mistake for not breaking up with Dean a lot sooner. Eventually Dean broke up with me, and then we just sort of started something… It was great but it wasn't. It was a constant hot and cold game with him. He rarely talked about his feelings, and he hid things from me… he really wasn't great on the whole communication part of things," Rory shared, deciding not to go into the cheating aspect of this.

Logan knew that she had slept with Dean whilts he'd been married, and didn't judge her for it, and compared to that the kiss hardly seemed worth mentioning. It wasn't something she was terribly proud off either. But Logan just wasn't the kind of guy who would read into things like that, considering his own track record he was understnading and forgiving.

"So mostly just making out, eh?" Logan teased.

"That too," Rory admitted, blushing a little, but Logan had been right - talking about this openly was actually helping her right now. "But mostly I guess we connected on literature, music - things like that," she added.

Rory also had to admit that she was kind of enjoying the jealous look Logan had on his face, like he was eating her up just with his eyes.

"Did you love him?" Logan asked.

"I might've, but I never said it to him as such… He left abruptly, without telling me. I never even got to go to prom because he dropped out. He jumped on a bus to go search for his long lost dad in L.A. And after that I've just seen him twice, well now three times. Once he just expressed his love for me when I was in a completely different place mentally. And then around the end of my freshman year at Yale he just showed up out of the blue and asked me to go away with him. Again - a really wrong time and just… I guess the main problem with him became that I didn't trust him. He wasn't dependable, and he didn't talk about what was going on with him, but I could always feel his hurt and anger...So in part it's always about just feeling him, feeling symphathy towards him or some need to help - I don't know," Rory explained.

Logan didn't want to get too serious so he resorted in his usual jokes.

"So obviously this guy has a bit of a spontaneous streak when it comes to romantic gestures, so I guess I'll know whom you might have ran off with if I can't find you one morning," Logan continued to tease.

Honestly, Rory felt so much better after having dissected openly why she and Jess hadn't worked out. There might've been some nostalgia there, but she knew they hadn't worked out for a reason.

"I prefer to do my eloping with you, thank you very much," Rory chimed, rose to her toes a little, having opted for her flats tonight, and kissed Logan on the lips in assurance.

"Good answer," Logan commented, and glanced down at his watch.

They headed downstairs, finding Jess leaning against one of the marble pillars in the lobby, the concierge already eyeing him skeptically.

Jess pushed himself upright at the sight of them, and Rory already knew he was not happy at the sight of Logan.

"Hey, Jess - this is Logan. Logan, this is Jess," Rory did the obligatory introduction round.

"Hi! How you doing?" Logan offered Jess his hand.

"Okay," Jess mumbled from the corner of his mouth.

"I hope this is okay. Logan didn't have other plans tonight and I thought why not have him join us so he could meet my old friend from out of town," Rory explained.

"Okay by me," Jess mumbled, quietly. Rory could sense the reluctance though.

"Wow, that just sounded so grown up. We're at an age where we say things like 'in from out of town' and 'old friend', because when you're young all your friends are new and you have to get old to have old friends," Rory added, and chuckled nervously.

"Okay, then let's go grab a bite…," Logan offered, actually trying to behave himself.

They made it outside, and took the direction towards Richman's shoe, thinking it to be a nice regular place to grab a couple of burgers.

"I just need to go grab my pager from my car," Logan said, causing Rory to shoot him an angry look. Logan hardly ever parked his Porsche onto the street, but right now it almost seemed like he'd done it on purpose, so that small casual errand would be seen.

"So I read the book," Rory said as she had been left alone with Jess for a moment, hoping to distract him, but she didn't really succeed, the financial difference having been made very clear already.

"Yeah?" Jess asked, curiously.

"I liked it. It's very you, definitely. Quick, light read - and I definitely think it has potential for a sequel," Rory decided to sum the review up as Logan approached. At the very least Logan actually was returning with his pager at hand, excusing him a little. But Rory felt she was allowed to scold him a little on the topic later.

"Do you think Luke, if he actually reads it - that is, might recognize how I wrote the character of Dan off of him a little?" Jess asked Rory, kind of ignoring Logan.

"I doubt it. Unless he really pays attention. But even if he does I think he can only take it as a compliment, really," Rory replied.

"So what's this book about, that I've heard talk of?" Logan decided to ask.

"Nothing important," Jess replied.

"It's a short novel," Rory replied, hoping Jess wouldn't become his usual feisty self tonight.

"Any good?" Logan asked Rory.

Rory had devoured Jess' book during that same afternoon, when Logan had been in class. She'd wanted to do it in private, just so she wouldn't have to watch her expressions as she read, being sometimes kind of an expressive in her face when she read. That was also something Jess had once noticed and mentioned to her. But Logan was attentive enough to know when a fresh book had been read, seeing the book on the coffee table when he got back. So he knew she'd read it.

"If you don't mind me saying, Jess - it's good, but it is young. It has a distinct style and I think his young age definitely shows. But I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing… it sets it apart," Rory discussed constructively.

"Thanks," Jess replied, relaxing a little, appreciating her being honest with him.

"Got to make sure I pick it up sometime," Logan promised and honestly Rory wasn't at all sure if he was serious or not.

Rory continued to talk through their walk about Yale, and where her buildings used to be, and brought up the couple of book stores she recommended for Jess, while Logan really didn't say much.

"Ah, well this is it. It's where we mostly hang out….if we're not home or at work or in class," Logan explained as he guided the two into Richman's shoe.

"It's sort of the unofficial 'the cool place' around campus," Rory added.

"Little pointer - don't come during folk night," Logan chuckled, friendlily.

"I'm good with this place. Not a big fan of folk music," Jess nodded, actually having more of a protection mechanism than Logan showed that he had.

"Something we have in common, great," Logan reflected, and hailed down a waitress to get them some drinks.

"Great," Jess repeated.

"Rory? The usual for you?" Logan asked, as the waitress arrived.

Rory nodded.

"A Martini for my girl here, Macallan neat for me, and Jess - what would you like?" Logan said, being very close to showing his upper hand by offering to treat him. But he knew Rory well enough by now to know she wouldn't appreciate something like that. She might be married to him and not leave, but he most certainly didn't want her to be pissed at him for something like this.

"I guess I'll have a beer. Something light from the tap," Jess requested.

"We'll get some food too," Rory said to the waitress, urging her to return with their drinks to take the rest of their orders soon.

"It's a big menu, so if you need guidance," Rory offered her help to Jess.

"I'm not hungry," Jess confessed, and honestly now it was Rory who got pissed at him. This was typical Jess. Had he seriously thought something could happen? And now that she'd shown up with the most important person in her life, he was just going to act all 'not hungry'?

"You're not hungry?" Logan asked, clearly picking up on the same discrepancy.

"Nope," Jess chimed.

"I thought the whole point was you two were going to get something to eat?" Logan just couldn't hold it.

"And talk," Rory, noticing the staredown competition the two were having, budded in.

"Well, yes. It's a given that you're gonna talk while you eat," Logan pointed out, but calmly.

"The burgers are good," Rory tried to salvage things.

"Maybe a burger..," Jess chimed.

"So, what do you do, Jess?" Logan asked. "Besides, write - I mean. I know it can be a tough business for a young writer," he added, holding off on sounding too cocky, but he knew it to be a fine line.

"A little this and that. There's this little independent publisher that I work for, they have a press as well… nothing glamorous," Jess admitted.

"Any place I might know?" Logan asked.

"Logan's kind of in the field," Rory confessed, feeling this might be a good time to at least hint at the fact that he was a big shot businessman in that sense. Hiding it would've been worse - it wasn't something to be ashamed of, especially not now when she was married to him. But she wanted to find some better way to ease that information to Jess than just slam him with the name.

"Oh yeah?" Jess asked. "But I don't know - it's pretty small. Truncheon Books in Philly?" Jess replied.

In the meanwhile their drinks were brought to the table and they ordered a couple of house burgers and some fries.

"Sorry, never heard of it. But I'll be sure to look it up," Logan promised, after the waitress had left.

"Well you do that," Jess chimed, maintaining some cockyness.

"To be honest I think it must be kind of nice to be the small guy in the business. I imagine that gives you a lot of autonomy," Logan expressed another view point to it. One might've actually considered it belittling, but that wasn't his intention.

"Yeah, Logan's stuck in the financial side of things most of the time," Rory shared, reading him better than Jess was.

"Well, it's more of a staying afloat kind of balance I guess. We put out like 3-4 books a month, many of them we only print maybe 500 of, some leaflets and stuff like that. It's not exactly a business that aims to get big," Jess explained.

"Uh-huh," Logan reflected, nodding along. It was not a way he was used to looking at things, but he found it interesting. Everything in his world always had to be bigger and better - it was how he had been raised to think.

"So, Rory - what exactly happened with Yale and… well.. You mom, if I don't mind me asking?" Jess asked instead, not really caring to become best friends with Logan.

"Um… well, I guess I just had a bit of a change of heart when it came to my major. I don't think I'm cut out for being a foreign correspondent after all..," Rory confessed, but her choice of words was what Logan was bothered by.

"She's a hell of a writer, I think she could do whatever she wants to do. She's got bigger plans now," Logan nudged Rory, wanting to come off supportive, and hinted at her political aspirations that she'd dreamt of. But he left it up to her to reveal if she wanted to.

"Uh?" Jess asked for an explanation.

"Logan's exaggerating," Rory chuckled. "But I guess I realized that with Logan sort of tied to the whole publishing and newspaper business, it'd always be a little difficult for me to navigate that field without people assuming I got my job unfairly, you know. So I searched around a little and I think I'll be talking more of a political science view to things, to writing…," Rory explained. "More specifically speech writing and PR, that sort of thing," Rory added.

"Huh," Jess reflected.

"I figure as long as my views align with the candidate it's pretty cool. I got to try my hand at it with the campaign now and made some good contacts already," Rory shared.

"Uh-huh," Jess hummed, taking a sip of his brew.

"And mom…," Rory began, hating this part. "She's just being stubborn and closed minded. You know how she is…," Rory added.

"About what?" Jess asked, glancing towards Logan for a second. It was like he knew, and that was now a weird point for Rory. She just didn't want to say it, and she hated how much she craved Jess' approval.

"I mean - Logan comes from old money, I guess, and that has nothing to do with why I am with him. Mom has always had issues with high class people so I guess she's not approving of my choices and she thinks I'm a sell out, essentially, that I've just given up on what once used to be a dream," Rory explained, from the corner of her eye peeking towards Logan, wondering what he thought of her explanation.

"Well if it's worth anything - when you told me you wanted to be a foreign correspondent that one time, I couldn't really picture it either," Jess replied, surprising Rory.

"Yeah, but not all foreign correspondents do trenches and rooftops. I don't think anything's ruled out yet," Logan budded in, wanting to be supportive.

"Okay, can we just move past my career choices, please. Recently I feel like it has just become everybody's business, and I'm kind of sick of it," Rory admitted.

"Your grandparents, I assume?" Jess hinted.

"You've met them?" Logan asked.

"Grandmother. She hates me," Jess shrugged.

"Oh yeah, he turned up for dinner with a black eye once," Rory pointed out, teasingly.

"Wow, brave man!" Logan chuckled, trying to picture that.

"Well, I was clobbered by a swan, what could I do?" Jess pointed out.

"Hey, you told me it was football!" Rory objected.

"Sorry. It just sounded so lame at the time," Jess said with a shrug.

"That's where you got that idea for the swan to chase down those punks in that book of yours!" Rory realized.

"Real life does make the best story," Logan nodded along.

It actually seemed like the three were getting along. Logan and Jess were not going to be best buddies obviously, but seemed to tolerate each-other enough to share some mutual stories in the group, shedding some light into Jess' adventures since he'd left Stars Hollow.

Logan didn't say it, but he was kind of envious of Jess. Being without many concrete roots like that, doing whatever the hell he wanted - having the world open to him to write, work with whatever and nobody telling him what to do. He had freedom.

After a little while, when they were done with their burgers Logan excused himself to go to the bathroom.

"So? I hope you don't hate me for bringing him along," Rory said hesitantly.

"It doesn't really matter what I think about the fact, does it? And hell - if I were him, I'd insist on coming too," Jess shrugged, trying to appear indifferent.

"He didn't, but I knew he wanted to," Rory explained.

"You know, the second I saw him I read that guy and made up my mind that I didn't like him. And I don't… But I guess he's not as bad as I thought," Jess admitted.

"Wow, high praise," Rory commented, jokingly.

"But it's what's going on with you that I am worried about. You're switching around career plans because of him, taking time off Yale, engaged at 21 - it just doesn't sound like you. And I heard what you said, it's just that I can see why Lorelai might try to look for someone to blame," Jess said.

"Well I never planned on falling for someone like him either. And it's just been incredible. We communicate really well, we've had a bunch of big external obstacles to overcome. I had this medical thing - in May, I could've died basically…. And he's just been amazing through all of it. The good and the bad. He's really well read and fun and he makes me happy," Rory explained.

As she said those things she was getting the overwhelming sense that she wanted to tell him about being married to Logan. How it had felt like the most natural thing to do - no cold feet, no doubts, no regret. She just wanted someone to know how final their love was, even if in today's world she knew there were no guarantees. She wanted to shout it from the rooftops how sure she was about Logan. But Jess focused on another matter, wiping that momentary whim of telling him, out of her mind for the time being.

"You could've died?!" Jess exclaimed, not believing his ears.

"I had a cyst on my ovary and it burst and there was all this blood and they had to operate and… long recovery and all that combined with me feeling a little lost in my studies. So at that point I just figured it was better to take the semester off than wander around Yale aimlessly. But now I found in some direction again and…. I just know what whatever I end up doing he'll support me, which is more than I can say about mom," Rory concluded.

"Sorry about your mom. And I'm happy you're well physically. And well, you sound happy," Jess commented with a hint of approval.

"Thanks, I appreciate that," Rory said. "And I'm happy to see you alive and well and working with something you love," she added.

"Like I said - couldn't have done it without you," Jess confessed again.

As Logan approached, Jess rose from the table.

"I better get going actually, I have someplace to be early tomorrow morning," Jess said.

"Okay, well - it was good to meet you!" Logan said, offering his hand again.

"You too," Jess said, shaking his hand. "And Rory - don't be a stranger. Look us up when in Philly," Jess added casually.

"It was good to see you. Bye Jess," Rory said, feeling relieved and content at that interaction.

It felt like what she'd needed - everything having been so unresolved between them. Now things were settled - they had an understanding and it felt strangely validating to hear from someone who really had known her pretty well to say that she looked happy. It was validation that she wasn't just picturing it in her head, that it was observable. It was just her mother who refused to see it, having never even really bothered to get to know Logan.