10. Things Have Happened

Rory was impressed with Wadsworth Mansion - it was even more elaborate than the location of the Chilton winter formal two years ago. The mansion seemed to be something out of a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel with its white exterior paint and its huge columns. Outside, there had been twinkling lights which added to the fairy tale aspect of the night, and inside, the walls of the grand foyer were lined with a collection of beautiful paintings which added splendor to the event.

Rory mentally thanked Paris for not vetoing the location along with the telescope as gift to the school. She was really surprised that the school had been able to afford a wide variety of desserts and a collection of sodas and the stereotypical punch that was often shown in various prom flicks. However, what she enjoyed most was being with Logan. It was a bit scary for her to realize that she was having a much more pleasant time with Logan than she probably would if she had gone with Jess who would have without any doubt spent most of the night sulking in a corner.

The only complaint Rory had for that night was that ninety percent of the girls from Chilton were giving her dirty looks while giving Logan looks of lust just like Madeline and Louise had predicted, but the more time Rory spent with Logan the more she found the outside hostility going away. Talking, bantering, and mocking with Logan made everything fade away. Plus, she was also surprised at how Logan ignored all those girls - they kept asking him to dance with them or to have their pictures taken with him and Logan kept rejecting them all night. This surprised Rory because being her date didn't mean she owned him for the rest of the night. Still, she was surprised to feel relieved when he said no to those girls, for she didn't like the way some of them looked at him or even casually touched his arm. Rory shook those feelings off which she thought were probably her disgust at how pathetic those girls behaved and not jealousy.

It was possibly why she was smiling after Lemon, a girl Rory had met from her ill-fated joining of the Puffs last year, was screaming. "But, Logan, you've been with her all night!" Lemon had walked away in a huff not caring that everyone was staring at her.

In an amused tone Rory asked, "Why didn't you dance with her, Logan? I really wanted to know how she got the name Lemon. You know… she actually thought Rory was a strange name…" Rory laughed.

"Well, I don't know a lot of Rory's…'" Logan teased.

"Well, I don't know anybody named Lemon, and at least there are a lot of people named Rory… Rory O'Connor who was the High King of Ireland, Rory the US punk band and Rory Calhoun who was in Westerns…." Rory uttered back.

"Wow! Ace, you really get offended easily…" To Logan, she looked so cute when she was all flustered with her cheeks all red and her eyes all sparkling.

"I don't… just Lemon is a much weirder name than Rory and my real name is Lorelai, and I was just curious as to how she got that name. And you don't have to reject requests to dances with other girls just because you're my date. It doesn't mean that I want you to babysit me the whole night." Rory said, trying to get her original point across. It was amazing how she and Logan could banter at moments when she was least expecting it. She would get a jolt of pleasure just by arguing with him over the silliest things. She never felt like that with anyone else except with her mom at times.

"Is that what you think I'm doing… just sitting with you, debating names, and laughing at Francie's reaction at losing the Prom Queen competition to Louise… pitying you?" Logan asked. He wasn't the type who would go to a prom with a girl because he felt sorry for her. He really enjoyed her company and he hoped that she knew that.

"Look, I just felt that I was keeping you away from having a fun time here. I mean you probably would be at a date right now if it weren't for me…" Rory guiltily explained.

Logan lightly patted her arm. "Hey, I can hook up with any of those girls any time, but prom only happens once; and what I know per the prom handbook, one must not abandon one's prom date. And I really enjoy talking to you more than I would talking to Lemon, Lilly, Tina, Summer, or whoever. I know girls like them and they probably spend most of their time talking about their hair."

Rory could tell that Logan was being very sincere, which touched her heart to the very core. She started to have the same weird feelings she felt when Logan picked her up from Chilton after her breakup with Jess. She tried to ignore those feelings by saying, "Well, I'm honored to save you from boredom… so would you like to dance?" Although she instantly regretted her request because she noticed that the DJ had started to play a slow song and she didn't think slow dancing with Logan was a good idea with her body suddenly feeling weird. She didn't know how she would react at being in such close proximity with Logan.

"I appreciate the honor, Ace." He extended his hand but the moment their hands touched,

Rory's phone begun to ring. "Hold on, Logan, this could be an emergency." She checked her phone and when it said "unknown" Rory felt that familiar sinking feeling in her gut. She said, "Logan, I have to take this, I'll be back in a second..." She had a hunch that the caller was Jess and she was not going to allow Jess to ruin the perfect night for her.

"Are you okay? Do you want me to come with you?" Logan asked, concerned. He had a feeling who was calling her and he could punch him for it.

"No, I'll only be a couple minutes… tops; I just need to take care of this one little thing."

Rory walked outside to the steps of the mansion. "Jess, I know it's you. Do you have anything to say to me?" Rory asked, exasperated. She waited for a few moments and when she heard nothing from the other end, she became really angry. "Jess, I made it clear that it was over between us and you are just a coward who wanted to run away without even bothering to tell his girlfriend that he was leaving. I'm so glad I broke up with you, so please don't call me like this again… it's not helping"

"Rory, come on… I made some mistakes." Surprisingly the mystery caller unexpectedly spoke.

"Well, you chose to handle them badly, and I don't want to deal with you. I'm moving on, just like I told you and right now I'm at the prom with someone who is everything you're not." Rory spat vehemently.

"Dean?" Jess spat back.

"No, it's not, and get over yourself. I'm going back inside and enjoy my dance, and the next time you're ever in a relationship, don't run from your problems…" With that Rory hung up. She saw a shadow standing right behind her. She turned around and was not surprised to see Logan.

"Are you okay?" Logan asked, his voice dripping with concern.

"I'm more than okay, Logan, let's dance?" She said as she touched his hand just as she did minutes ago inside.

"Right here? Outside?" Logan asked, surprised.

"Why not? You're not going to say there is no music, it's been done more than a hundred times." Rory joked although she felt dancing outside would attract unnecessary attention from party goers; she was a little tired of the looks and glances they were getting all night.

"I wouldn't need to, Ace, you can still hear music from the inside… the distance almost makes the sound more bearable, better."

"Wow! You're starting to like Savage Gardens?" Rory burst out laughing when the song "Truly Madly Deeply" started to play.

"Why not? Stranger things have happened, although the lyrics are cheesy, especially the part about standing on a mountain. Anyway, enough talk… let's dance." He led her to the middle area under the arch on top of the steps. He put his arms around her waist. She put her arms around him also, they kept a respectable distance from each other but it was still hard to not get lost in each other's presence. Or to feel their hearts pounding at the same time.

Rory was feeling really comfortable in Logan's arms as something that was as natural as taking her morning coffee or sleeping in on Saturdays. Yet, her body was feeling a weird chemical reaction. She felt a familiar rush of butterflies that she hadn't experienced since she started going out with Jess. Only they were going at a more rapid pace than before. She tried to focus on the cheesy love song that was playing. She couldn't have these feelings for Logan.

Logan hated those hormonal reactions that Rory could stir in him. Logan was someone who was used to going after what he wanted and getting what he wanted. However, Rory was someone that he couldn't have no matter how much his body seemed to want her. No matter how much his lips wanted to just move a little closer. He tried to shake it off as just a weird chemical reaction. He tried to focus on the stars and the twinkling lights. He tried to hum the lyrics hoping it would take his mind off Rory. "I want to lay like this forever until the sky falls down on me." 'Okay, those lyrics were not helping at all,' Logan thought.

"Logan, what are you thinking about?" Rory felt that Logan seemed to be far away.

"Um… just that it is really pretty out here… almost like a dream." Logan hoped that his response would cover up his conflicting emotions. "How about you, Ace?"

"The same, Logan." She just rested her head on Logan's shoulder because she couldn't help it, and allowed herself to be lost in the mood of the moment. She did not seem to notice the song had ended and a new one began. All thoughts were lost so she just focused on the comfort of being in Logan's arms.

As Rory had pulled herself closer to Logan, he felt his hormones act stronger. A part of him wanted to push her off. However, another part of him liked how she fit in his arms and didn't want to lose her. He hated his conflicted feelings. He felt it was ridiculous of him to like her, but the more time he spent with her, the less he thought of it as crazy. All thoughts were lost with only one constant in his mind. "Damn it, Ace, I think I like you."

Author's Note: The stuff about having a lot of desserts and soft drinks is from my own senior prom five years back and if my public high school could afford then so could Chilton. My prom only had hip hop, but I think Chilton would be more conservative so I chose Savage Gardens' "Truly Madly Deeply". I personally like that song but I think Rory and Logan would mock it.