Title: Crazy Little Thing Called Love
[PDLD]
Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!
Rating: K+
A/N: OK so good news and bad news. Bad news – it's taken me oh… a couple of YEARS to update (I know it's very sad). BUT good news – I'm updating now, and I know exactly how I want to finish this long forgotten story… so please read, enjoy, and tell me what you think (aka REVIEW!)
CHAPTER 16: The Space Between
Last time on Crazy Little Thing Called Love…
"Well, well, well, just look what we have here." The offensive voice remarked as Finn slowly began to place his cell phone in his back pocket.
"If it isn't Hollywood's 'it boy' – but where-oh-where is his darling sweetheart??" Stan the FORMER-Management Man said in an all too cocky voice.
"It's great to see you too, Stan." Finn replied sarcastically, as he launched a cold death stare in Stan's direction…
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"Now, now, Finn, no need for sarcasm. We're all friends here." Stan shot back, not missing a beat.
"Oh, I think 'friends' is stretching it a tad bit."
"Finn, darling, honestly! I just don't know where this hostility is coming from," Stan replied, reaching out to grasp Finn's shoulder (a move which caused the actor to literally cringe). "What's the matter old buddy? The pressure of fame and success getting to you? Or could it be trouble with your love life?"
"Trust me, Stan. My love life is anything but your concern." Finn said in a harsh whisper.
"Oh see, now there's where you're wrong, Finnie-old-boy. I'll have you know that I'll be taking a keen interest in your love life in the not-so-distant future."
"Just what exactly do you think you can do to me, Stan? You can't get to me. There's no way that you can even come close."
"Oh Finn," Stan said as he literally laughed at the actor's petty defensive comments. "If there's 'no way that I could get to you' how exactly are we having this conversation? I think you underestimate my abilities, Finn. Which, trust me, is a big mistake. Besides, who says that I'm trying to get to you?"
"What the hell does that mean? What are you planning? Just what do you have up your sleeve?" Finn replied in a nervous whisper. His voice was bordering on frantic as various scenarios of Stan's possible endgames raced through his mind like bolts of lightning.
"Oh, wouldn't you just love to know." Stan replied with a smile that could only be described as pure evil.
"Just stay away, Stan. Stay away from me. Stay away from Rory. Just stay way if you know what's best for you."
"Why don't you just let me decide what's 'best'. Now sorry to say, but I must be heading out. But don't worry. You'll be hearing from me real soon, Finn, real soon."
And with that, Stan coyly exited the conversation, and the party; not even sparing a backward glance in Finn's direction.
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Finn stood with a somewhat baffled look on his face, as he watched Stan saunter casually away. While attempting to fully comprehend the enormity of Stan's vague statements, Finn could not shake the feeling that Stan had meant every ambiguous word he had said.
Because of his justifiably shaken state, Finn did not even notice when Rory finally reached him.
"Hey – Sorry about the delay, you never told me how grabby these posh Hollywood types can be! Let's just say there was more than one inappropriate slip of the hand on the way down here…"
"What?" Finn asked, finally breaking free of his daze. "Oh Rory! Love, thank god you're your here! We've got to go."
"Hey, hold on mister!" Rory replied with a nervous giggle and a concerned grimace. "Not that I particularly feel like prolonging this torturous social experience… but what happened back there… One minute we're bantering on the phone and the next were rushing out as if the Huns were after us -"
"It's nothing darling." Finn replied trying to sound reassuring but ultimately falling short in his efforts. "Let's just get out of here…these Hollywood types will suck the life out of you if you stay around them too long…"
Rory could only nod slightly and let Finn lead her out of the club. She knew – just knew – there was more to the story than that. But honestly – at this point she wasn't sure what was worse: the fact that Finn was so visibly shaken by the mysterious incident, or that he felt the need to keep it from her…
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Finn starred at the ceiling above him as he laid in bed later on that night. The sound of Rory softly breathing in slumber was the only noise that filled the room – and to Finn it was oddly comforting.
The details of the night kept on replaying in his head. He was trying so hard to make sense of it all – and he was failing miserably. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Stan's obnoxious sneer staring him in the face.
Finally, facing the reality that sleep wasn't going to happen, Finn slowly untangled himself from Rory's arms and crept out of bed as slowly as possible, trying not to wake the sleeping beauty. She stirred for a moment, but soon sleep retook her and Finn was finally in the clear.
The cool night air rushed around him as he quietly opened the balcony door to look out at the city below. He breathed in deeply and tried to decide what to do next. Finding that Son of a Bitch Stan and beating him to a bloody pulp sounded like a good option to him, but he would have a hard time explaining to Rory why he had mysteriously disappeared from their bed, only to return a few hours later a disheveled mess with someone else's blood on his clothes.
Yea. That option was definitely out.
Running his fingers through his hair in frustration, Finn let out a heavy sigh. Life was far too complicated these days… as his relationship with Rory deepened he could feel the world conspiring against them.
It seemed that at every turn another obstacle presented itself… the question now became:
When do you give up the fight and surrender?
"Bloody hell…" Finn sighed into the dark night as he slipped back inside and headed straight to the liquor cabinet…
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Rory struggled in her sleep, seemingly fighting against an unknown monster, when she awoke with a jolt only to find herself alone in a strange bed…
Slowly the memories of the previous day returned to her, as the realization dawned that she was not in some "strange" bed – but rather, in LA with Finn, attempting to have a relaxing Christmas vacation…
Yet in spite of all this… it did not explain why she was alone…
Rory's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness of the bedroom… glancing at the clock on the night stand she soon learned that it was around 5:12 in the morning. The sun would be up within the next hour, and the light of day would once again breathe life into the world… yet despite this reassuring fact, Rory could not explain the growing doubt in the pit of her stomach…
Something was wrong… she just didn't know what it was yet. She could tell from the look on Finn's face last night that it was serious – and that alone scared her… Finn was never serious.
Yet most worrisome of all was that Finn felt he had to keep whatever it was from her… Finn knew, far better than anyone else, that Rory valued trust and honesty… that the quickest way to end a relationship with her was to lie, no matter how mundane the matter... Rory had no idea what Finn deemed worthy enough to risk their relationship in this way… but all of the prospects that Rory thought up as she lay alone in the dark bedroom were downright terrifying…
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There was a space between them – and it was growing.
As the rest of the week past, Rory and Finn's relationship became much more strained. From the outside they played the role of a happy couple. They went sightseeing, drove to the beach (Rory even tried surfing – tried being the operative word.) But inside, each day seemed to amplify the silence – a silence that included all the words that were left unspoken.
As they sat at a tiny outdoor café, Finn stared out into the busy street – watching as the bustling holiday shoppers tried to get the last of their Christmas gifts – it was Christmas Eve after all.
Everyone looked so happy, their faces flushed with joy as they found that perfect gift for their special someones…
"…God I hate the holidays," Finn muttered under his breath.
"What?" Replied Rory, who obviously hadn't been paying much attention either.
"Nothing, Love," Finn replied with a slightly forced smile. "Absolutely nothing…"
Later that night, as Rory primped for Big-Hollywood-Holiday-Event-No.-2 her mind couldn't help but wander to their last glitzy event, and Finn's strange behavior ever since. As she slipped into her new Diane von Furstenberg dress that she found on sale at Sacs, she once again poured over the complicated situation in her head.
She knew he was keeping something from her… she just couldn't figure out for the life of her what it was. What could be sooo important that he would risk screwing with their already slightly unstable relationship? The more she pondered, the worse the possible worst case scenarios became…
Around the time that He-just-found-out-he-has-a-life-threatening-disease-and-only-has-six-months-to-live was climbing the proverbial charts, the video intercom rang downstairs, signaling that someone was at the front gate of Finn's mini-mansion in the Hollywood Hills.
Knowing that Finn was still in the shower, Rory quickly ran downstairs to see who was at the gate.
"Umm… Hello?" Rory said into the fancy-smancy intercom device.
"Yeah, we have a package for a Miss… umm… Rory Gilmore?"
Who the hell would Fed-Ex me a package? Rory thought as she quickly opened the gates for the delivery man. No one besides her mother even knew Finn's home address! She signed for the package once the man had made it up the long drive way, and then turned back inside with the mysterious Fed-Ex envelope in her hand.
As she tore open the envelope and poured out the contents onto a nearby end table Rory's curiosity quickly turned to dread as she saw what was inside…
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"Rory?" Finn called out as he got out of the shower.
"Rory?" Finn called out again after there was no answer. He quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist as he made his way out of the spacious master bathroom.
"Rory will you be ready to leave soon?" Finn asked as he turned the corner to see his girlfriend standing with her back to him as she moved around the room gathering her things.
"I want to leave soon so we can get out of there as soon as…" He stopped mid sentence when he realized that Rory was not gathering her things to go out for the evening. No. Instead she was packing. Her suitcase was open on the floor (obscured from sight by the huge master bed) already half full of her clothes and other belongings.
"Rory what's going on?" Finn demanded as soon as he realized that: (a) she was packing to leave, (b) she was seriously pissed, and (c) he must have really fucked up if she was resorting to this.
"THAT is what's going on!" Rory said in the most lethal voice Finn had ever heard in his life as she gestured towards an open FedEx envelope with the contents haphazardly spilled out on the bed.
Upon taking a closer look Finn could see that they were pictures. More specifically, they were pictures of him, looking less than innocent as he made out with some red head in a night club downtown called Posh. He knew the place well. He used to frequent the little club when he was having a particularly bad night and would decide to forget the world with his good friends Jack Daniels and Jose Cuervo. What Finn couldn't figure out was who exactly the girl was in the pictures.
Along with the incriminating photos was an advanced copy of tomorrow's Star Watch magazine, with a front page headline that read: "Movie Star Finn Morgan Gets Frisky For The Holidays."
"I honestly have no idea who that girl is," Finn said in a quiet but firm voice. It was the only defense he had at this point – the truth. He knew he hadn't been to that club in a couple of months, but he couldn't exactly expect her to believe that when the pictures were right in front of her.
"Serously?" Rory said while laughing with absolutely no humor. "THAT'S your defense! I would have expected you to come up with something slightly better MR. FINN MORGAN!"
"Hey!" Finn yelled back as he caught hold of Rory's arm, forcing her to stop her packing and talk to him. "I'm just trying to be honest here! I have no idea who that girl is! I know for a fact that that picture has to be at the very least a few months old – I haven't been to that club since… God! I don't know… September!"
"We were still together in September, Jackass!"
"Technically we had just started dating… and for the record I said 'at the very least'… For all I know this photo could be a year old… back then Stan used to field these types of photos from the press all the time… it was the ONE thing he was good at."
"So your saying that just because there's a POSSIBILITY that you DIDN'T cheat on me I should just calm down and let this go!?!? Honestly Finn this whole thing is INSANE! I mean WHO THE HELL would send this to ME anyway??? And WHY would they send it if these photos were so old???"
"To thoroughly screw up our relationship," Finn said simply.
"Oh yea and who would be that much of asshole?" Rory fired back.
"Stan."
"Stan?" Rory said in a confused voice, totally caught off guard by Finn's relatively calm, cool and collected reaction to all of this.
"Rory, the truth is that I ran into Stan at that party the other night. He said that he was back and he was threatening to mess with our relationship…"
"How could you not tell me this?" Rory said in a shocked voice.
"I didn't want to worry you!" Finn replied.
"Worry me?? Oh yea… this alternative is sooo much better than WORRING ME!" Rory replied, returning to her previous task of rage-filled packing.
"Why are you ANGRY??? I was just trying to PROTECT YOU!!"
"No Finn!! You were LYING to me!! I asked you POINT BLANK what was going on, and you LIED TO MY FACE!!!"
"Rory…" Finn said as he tried once again to catch her as she stormed about the room.
"NO FINN! I had to live with this for OVER A WEEK. Knowing that something was SERIOUSLY wrong but having NO IDEA what it could possibly be. You should have TOLD ME, Finn. We COULD have handled this if we had handled it TOGETHER!" Rory screamed as she closed her suitcase and headed for the door.
And just like that she was gone.
Finn slowly sank down onto the bed, his head falling into his hands, as he wondered how the hell he could ever fix this.
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It was close to 4am by the time Rory finally stumbled back to her New York apartment. She had taken a cab to LAX, then a non-stop, six hour flight to JFK, and then finally another cab back to her humble abode. She was exhausted, emotional, and overwhelmed.
She had barely been able to sleep on the plane, and the little sleep she had been able to take advantage of was marred by depressing dreams of dashing Australian men. Part of her wanted to turn around, fly back to Los Angles, and fall into Finn's arms… but the pain of the situation was just too much. The only action left to take was to climb up the stairs, drop her bags, fall into her nice warm bed, and deal with the fallout from her breakup tomorrow.
As Rory opened the door to her apartment she was so incoherent that she almost walked right past the sleeping figure on her couch.
"Mom?" She said in a gasp of surprise…
TBC…
A/N:
Now, only one question remains: Does anyone still care about Crazy Little Thing Called Love?
The fate of this story rests in YOUR hands! If you liked this chapter and want me to finish the story I need to know that SOMEONE out there still wants to read it. So PLEASE send me a review, and tell me what I should do next... ;D