Part 2: How NOT to Talk to a Girl

"I feel bad." Finn said pushing his food tray to the center of the table.

"'Bout what?" Colin asked, taking the last bite of his food. They had settled on a seaside shack that served amazing seafood for lunch.

"Well, we left her all alone." Finn clarified.

"Who?" Logan asked taking drink of his soda.

"Rory." Finn said with a roll of his eyes.

"Mary?" Tristan asked. "Why would you feel bad about leaving her alone?"

"Well, she's gone off to wallow about some ass that's broken her heart and we're here, eating deep fried fish."

"Looks like someone's got a crush." Colin teased. Logan smirked as he leaned back in his chair.

"Just don't be an ass, Finn, she won't like you if you're an ass. I learned that one the hard way." Tristan said with a laugh.

"I think we should go over there." Finn said crossing his arms and ignoring the previous comments.

"What for?" Logan asked. "Do you really think that she wants four guys, three of which she doesn't even know, and one that she hated, to go over there and comfort her, when we don't even know what the situation is?"

"In omnia." Finn muttered.

"This isn't a 'live in the moment, be prepared for anything' moment, Finn." Colin said.

"At least let's get her the proper wallowing food." Finn said. "I mean, I don't think Emily and Richard have gallons of ice cream in their freezer for occasions such as this."

"How do you know what wallowing materials are needed, Finn?" Logan smirked.

"I've got sisters, jackass, they've gotten dumped plenty of times, and I've always been there to make them feel better. Now, are we doing this or not?"

Logan sighed at looked at the other two. They all knew that once Finn had an idea in his head, there was no talking him out of it.

Tristan nodded. "Let's go, but we are not staying, unless Rory invites us, Finn."

Finn nodded. "Colin, pay the bill, we'll meet you in the car." Finn said getting up and running to the car.

"You heard the man, pay the bill." Logan said walking off as well.

"Tell me, why is that I always get stuck with the bill?" Colin asked.

"It's because you're short and you're the youngest of us all." Tristan said with a smirk as he started for the car. Colin frowned then groaned.

"Tristan!" He yelled. Idiot, why was he friends with them? He asked himself as he walked off to pay the bill.

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Rory put on her blue Happy Bunny pajamas with the words Cute but Psycho and a yellow rabbit in a straight jacketwith a matching tank top that read Cute but Psycho, Things Even Out. She grabbed a small SpongeBob blanket from her bed and walked down the stairs in her purple Happy Bunny slippers that came with the pajamas, her hair in a messy bun.

If she was going to wallow, then she was going to do it right. She had grabbed a few DVDs her mother had made her take and was about to go to the basement, where her grandmother had shown her the TV slash game room there. She heard a knock at the door and groaned pulling the blanket tighter around her body as she went to the door. She peeked through the little peep hole and frowned. Grocery bags were blocking her view from the people outside. She opened the door slowly.

"Hi." She said uneasily.

"Hello love." She heard the Australian accent.

"Finn?" She asked.

"Well, are you going to invite us in or just let us stand here and let the ice cream melt?" He asked. Rory opened the door wider and let the boys pass, each carrying two bags.

"What are you guys doing here?" She asked, forgetting what she was wearing and letting the blanket loose to peek into one of the bags Tristan was carrying. He moved the bag out of her view and he smirked.

"Well," Finn began, "we heard that you were wallowing."

She looked up at him. "You were listening into my conversation?"

"You were really close to us," Finn defended.

Rory sighed. "Go on."

"And, well, we doubted that Emily and Richard had any wallowing materials so we are providing you with the food and movies."

"I've got the movies," Rory said. "And I ordered a pizza."

Finn looked at the movie in her hand "Power of Myth, love?"

"Shut up." She said hiding the movies. "I packed other ones; I was just in a Power of Myth mood."

"Right, well, I've brought some of ours."

"Why are you all doing this, don't you have dates or something?" Rory asked crossing her arms over her chest.

"Steph is in Aspen for the next week with her parents." Tristan said with a shrug.

"We don't mind canceling, love." Finn said.

"Speak for yourself." Logan muttered.

Rory bit her lip. "Down the hall, last door at the end. Can't miss it. I'll go get plates."

"No need," Colin said. "We bought plastic."

"Of course you did," She muttered.

"Lead the way," Tristan said with a smirk. Rory closed the front door and walked down the hall.

"By the way, love, nice pajamas." Fin said. Rory blushed and pulled the blanket around her as she opened the door and turned on the light. They walked down the stairs into the basement.

Plush white carpet covered the floor, while black couches made a half circle around a glass coffee table and the big theater screen. There was a bar off to the corner and a popcorn maker and coffee machine against the wall. The back wall held a cabinet filled with movies that her grandparents loved, and the DVD and VCR that connected to the projector on the ceiling.

"Nice place." Logan said, putting his bag on the table. Rory shrugged.

"Rather be at home with my mom." She muttered as she flopped onto the couch.

"Why's that?" Colin asked as he got out the plates and put them on the table. They all began to unpack the bags. When Rory tried to help Finn would slap her hands and glare at her.

"You're wallowing, you don't help." He said as he took out bags of chips. Rory rolled her arms, and sat back on the couch, crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the back of his head.

"To answer your question, Colin, I got conned into coming to Martha's Vineyard."

"Conned?" Tristan asked.

"That's right, conned. I was supposed to be in Europe, sleeping on the streets and hostelling it around with my mom, but no. My grandmother pulled out the guilt card."

"What guilt card?" Logan asked.

"She paid for Chilton."

"That I knew." Tristan said taking out the liters of soda.

"She's paying for Yale, and she thinks that she deserves at least one summer with her granddaughter alone, knowing full well that my mother and I had that Europe trip planned to the second. And me being the idiot that I am had to say yes, 'cause I can't refuse my grandmother 'cause I hate hurting people." She said glaring at the table.

"Careful with the table, love, I would hate to see a hole getting burned through such pretty glass." Finn teased putting the chips in bowls as Colin took out the many pints of ice cream they had gotten.

"All I have to say is that there better be Cherry Garcia in there." Colin passed her the pint as Logan passed her the spoon. "Thank you."

After the boys set up everything on the table, Rory sat amazed. They had gotten everything, from the million different types of chips, to the marshmallows, to twenty different types of ice cream. And three liter bottles of soda. Finn had put a vodka bottle in the center of everything. 'Just in case,' he had said.

"So which movie do you want?" He asked.

"What do you have?"

"All chick flicks." Colin grumbled. Rory smiled. Shakespeare In Love, 10 Things I Hate About You, Wedding Singer, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Dazed and Confused.

"So hard to choose." Rory said biting her lip. "What about Casablanca?" Rory asked.

"Didn't bring that one, love, we don't even own it."

Rory gasped, shot off the couch and went up the stairs, only to return minute later. "We have to watch this one first." Rory said. "Then I also have Willy Wonka, that one is a must."

"And you were going to watch Power of Myth" Tristan smirked.

"Shut up." Rory said sitting back down and grabbing her pint of ice cream. The boys were sitting all around the couch. Colin at the other end, Logan at the rounded out corner, Tristan next to him, leaving Finn to sit next to her. He started the movie and sat down, propping his feet on the table in front of him careful not to touch the food.

"So who was the guy the broke up with you?" Tristan asked.

"Why do you assume he broke up with me? I could have very well broken up with him."

"Then why would you be wallowing if you broke up with him?" Colin asked.

"Maybe I really liked him, but he was abusive, or maybe he was just an asshole, but I still really liked him."

"Was he?" Finn asked. Rory looked up from her ice cream with a frown and saw that all four guys were looking at her.

"Was he what?"

"Abusive." Tristan said.

Rory's eyes widened. "No!"

"Rory, you can tell us, we promise to keep the bloodshed to a minimum," Logan said.

"No, he wasn't," Rory said with a shake of her head. "He never touched me... well, he touched me... urg… this is coming out wrong." Rory said shaking her head.

"Breathe and explain." Colin said. Rory nodded and took a breath.

"He never hit me." Rory said. "Yeah, he would get pissed, but he never hit me, he's not like that," Rory defended.

"So did you sleep with him?" Tristan asked.

Rory shot him a glare. "No."

"What about the farmer boy?"

"No."

"So you're still a Mary." He smirked.

"I have every intention of throwing this half filled ice cream pint at your head." Rory said lifting it up.

"You're forgetting I've seen you throw."

"Shut up." Rory said lowering it.

"So what happened?" Colin asked. "Why'd he break up with you?"

"We didn't break up per se." Rory said biting her lip.

"What?" Logan asked.

"Well, see, we went to this party, Lane and her band were playing and I had to go, being their first gig and all."

"Lane?" Finn asked.

"My best friend."

"Ah, continue."

"But Jess was being all broody."

"Jess being the boyfriend?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, so he was being all broody, but he's always broody, so I didn't think anything of it. But when the party started, he just sort of wanted to go, and I teased him calling him grandpa and told him that the minute Lane and the band were done we could go. He agreed. Then Lane had some girl things that we had to talk about."

"Boys?" Tristan asked.

"She had a boyfriend, but her mom thought she was dating someone... that's another story." Rory said cutting herself off. "Anyway, we talked, and Jess disappeared. I asked around and they said he was upstairs, so I went up. I found him sitting in a room and I asked what was wrong, and we ended up kissing and on the bed." Rory winced at the memory. "He started going a little too far and when I told him to stop, he snapped at me, telling me that he didn't tell me to come up there. I thought it was my fault and left, crying."

"You know it wasn't your fault, right?" Colin asked.

"Yeah, now, anyway back to what happened. I ran down the stairs only to run into Dean."

"Who's he?"

"Her ex." Tristan said. Logan nodded.

"Anyway," Rory continued, "Dean and Jess aren't the biggest fans of each other so when Jess saw me talking to Dean when I was crying, he muttered 'figures' and started to leave. Dean went after him and punched Jess and, well, they got in a fight and it resulted in maybe damaging a house. It was only broken up when the cops came. Jess and Dean separated and Jess left. I would have gone after him, but Lane was throwing up in the bushes."

The boys looked at her confused. "She had gotten upset and drank a few too many beers resulting in her throwing up in the bushes. Being her best friend I had to do the best friend thing and hold her hair back, it's just a rule." Rory explained

"So what happened? Did he break up with you because you talked to your ex?" Logan asked.

"No, I found out later that he had been upset because he couldn't get the prom tickets, he was failing school and they refused to sell them to him. He knew how much I was looking forward to going to the prom and not being able to get the tickets pissed him off. But we were not talking to each other and we sort of stopped going out because I knew he was mad and he knew I was upset. And with finals going on at school, and with the newspaper, and my valedictorian speech, I was just really stressed."

"You beat Paris at valedictorian?" Tristan laughed. Rory nodded with a proud smile.

"Three points." She said making Tristan laugh.

"So what happened, love?"

"Oh, well, my mom and I had been passing through town when we saw this pretty red dress and she asked if I liked it for prom. That if I did, she could make me one like it. And that was when I just snapped saying that I probably wasn't going to prom; that I probably didn't even have a boyfriend anymore. My mom comforted me and took me home saying that it wasn't true. One little fight doesn't mean that we broke up. We've had fights before. Well, the next day we were driving through town after dinner and Luke saw us."

"Back up, Luke?" Logan asked.

"Jess's uncle. He was living with Luke." Rory explained. "Anyway, Luke saw us and he grabbed his broom and ran inside. I asked my mom about it and my mom told me Jess had left."

"I'm sorry, what?" Tristan asked.

Rory shrugged. "He had left, he had packed up his stuff and left. I found out later that he went to California to live with his dad. But what kills me is that he didn't tell me, he didn't even send me a letter, or called, or anything. He just left. And a few weeks later I got this call, and no one talks. And I knew it was him. He did it at graduation and I told him that I might have loved him, and he did it today at the beach. I can't..." Rory lowered her eyes to her ice cream. "I hate that I'm so stupid to believe we would have stayed together. God... he looked it up." Rory said, the tears breaking through.

"Looked what up, love?" Finn asked.

"The miles from Stars Hollow to Yale, he looked it up. God!" She said covering her face as the tears started to slide down her cheeks. Colin grabbed the box of tissues Finn had grabbed at the store and passed them to Finn who opened the box and handed her one.

"It'll be alright, love."

"He won't stop calling." She whispered. "I need him to stop calling." She felt Finn wrap his arm around her and bring her closer so that she was leaning up against his side, his hands making comforting circles on her back as she cried. A few minutes later he felt her breathing even and heard her stop crying.

"Jeez, he did a number on her." Tristan said.

"Who'd be stupid enough to leave her?" Colin asked. "I mean look at her. Have you seen her eyes!"

"Yeah, I fell for those too." Tristan said with a smirk

"You're really falling for her, aren't you, Finn?" Logan asked staring at Finn who was still making circles on her back. He watched as Finn shrugged and looked down at the sleeping girl.

"What can I say, I tend to have a weak spot for the weak and vulnerable."

"Believe me she's not that weak." Tristan said. "She dealt with Paris Geller for three years. No one is weak and vulnerable when you deal with Paris Geller that long. I know, I've dealt with her longer."

They heard a faint buzzing sound and they all searched their pockets.

"Not any of ours." Tristan said.

"It's probably hers." Colin looked around the room and found it sitting on the floor underneath Rory. He picked it up and answered. Before he could reply someone started talking.

"California! He is moving to California! What am I going to do! I mean this is Dave Rygalski for Christ's sake. I love him. I love him and he's moving to California!"

"I'm…"

"I mean really, this is the first boy I liked, is the first boy that my mom approves of and my very first boyfriend and now he's going to California!"

"I'm so…"

"I mean it's not only me that's upset. Zach refuses to talk to him now and Brian is avoiding him like the plague. I mean I'm not only losing a boyfriend, but I'm losing a band mate! What's the band going to do huh? Rory!"

"I'm not Rory." Colin said into the phone.

"What? Oh my god, did I dial the wrong number? No… Who are you and what have you done with Rory!"

Colin turned to Finn. "Wake her up," he growled.

"Oh god, he's going to California and we're going to break up." Colin sighed and turned to Finn who was working on Rory. Tristan and Logan just sat there, an amused expression on both their faces as Colin tried calming down the person on the other end.

"Rory," Finn called. She didn't rouse. He shook her a bit. "Love, you've got to wake up."

He watched as her eyes opened and her hands came up and rubbed her eyes. She removed her hands and stared at him and he stared at her.

"Look, if you guys break up, maybe you can stay friends." She heard Colin say, She frowned and looked over at him and noticed her cell phone to his ear. She sat up.

"Who's Colin talking to?" Rory asked.

"Your friend." Finn said.

"My…" Rory looked at Finn before looking at Colin again.

"Hey, it's not my fault he's going, so quit yelling at me!" Colin said. Rory shot off the couch and grabbed the phone glaring at him.

"Lane?"

"Rory! He's going to California!"

"UCLA? He got accepted, that's great. Send him my congratulations!"

"Rory!"

"What? It's good."

"California! What idiot let him into UCLA!"

"But it's a good school."

"He's going to UCLA and I'm going to Seventh-day Adventist College. He's living in a dorm, I'm living in my mother's house. While he's eating at the cafeteria real food and experiencing college life, I'm stuck here eating wheat balls! My boyfriend is moving to California!"

"At least he told you." Rory muttered.

"Oh god, Rory, I'm sorry."

"No, don't worry about it."

"Phone stealer was right."

"Phone stealer… Oh Colin… What was he right about?" Rory asked sitting back down on the couch, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"We're going to break up." Lane sighed.

Rory grabbed an empty ice cream carton and threw it at Colin.

"Hey, what the hell was that for!"

"Dave and Lane will not break up. I can't believe you told her that!" She turned her attention back to the phone conversation. "You hear that, you and Dave will not break up."

"Are you sure?"

"Take my car."

"And drive it off a cliff?" Lane asked

"No! No suicide talk." Rory laughed. "Take my car. The keys are somewhere in the house, ask my mom, she should be there."

"And do what with your car?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?"

"Rory, I'm freaking out here."

"Right, apparently I do. Take my car and drive it to his house, talk it over with him."

"Talk what over?"

"Lane, focus!"

"Right."

"Take my car to Dave's and talk about whatever is going on with him. Tell him what you are feeling."

"Thank you, Dr. Phil!"

"You're welcome."

"Hey Rory."

"Yeah?"

"Is that what you would have done with Jess?"

"Talk?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you know Jess, I could barely get more than a monosyllabic answer from him, so I doubt talking to him would have worked. You heard me tell him the night of the fire, that if he needed help, I'd help him. He said he had it covered."

"But he was failing."

"I know, but he didn't tell me, he didn't want help. He's stubborn and a jerk."

"And you loved him."

"I did."

"Did you wallow?"

"Just began."

"Good. Well then, I'm walking down the stairs." Lane announced.

"Good."

"I'm grabbing my jacket off the hook."

"Go get 'em, girl!" Rory said with a laugh.

"I am grabbing my house keys."

"Okay, I'm out of cheers."

"I am walking out the door."

"Um, Lane…"

"I am walking down the street."

"Lane."

"I just ran into Kirk. Sorry Kirk!"

"Lane!"

"What?"

"Don't you think you should have left the phone at home?"

"The…The phone! Okay, turning around."

"Good girl."

"Running into Kirk again. Sorry Kirk!"

"Poor guy."

"And walking back in the house."

"Talk to you later."

"Hanging up. Bye Rory!"

"Bye." She heard the dial tone and shook her head before grabbing another empty ice cream container and throwing it at Colin.

"Okay, you really need to stop doing that!" Colin yelled, wiping his shirt where the strawberry ice cream that had been in the carton had fell.

"Why, why would you tell my best friend that she and her boyfriend would break up!"

"Hey, she was yelling at me!"

"She was freaking out!" She said throwing another one. Colin winced as it hit his stomach.

"That one was full, wasn't it?" Tristan asked with a smirk. Colin nodded.

"You really don't know how to talk to a girl. Lane and Dave worked unbelievably hard to be together and you, you with your, your... god, I can't even find the words! The bottom line is that you can't talk to a girl when she is freaking out about her boyfriend moving to California for school!"

"She was yelling in my ear, a lot like what you're doing now! I don't work well when someone is screaming at me!"

"Yeah, well get used to it, bucko, 'cause I am nowhere near finished!" Rory said standing up.

"Rory!" She heard upstairs and winced.

"The Gilmores are here. Insert dun dun dun here." Rory muttered as she went upstairs. She turned back. "You three stay down here, not one peep."

"Peep." Tristan said. Rory glared.

"Your fate is worse than Colin's if you even make one noise." She said as she ran up the stairs. They heard the door close and Colin rubbed his stomach.

"Damn, she has one strong arm."

"She sucked back at Chilton." Tristan defended.

"People change." Finn said with a shrug just as the credits started rolling for Casablanca.

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AN: