It was 9:00 on Sunday night and Christopher Hayden was sitting in his office at home trying to formulate a plan. He was having dinner with the Gilmores on Friday night, and he wanted to earn some extra points with Lorelai before then. It was going to be awkward and he needed an ally. This past Friday night had been, if not perfect, much better than he expected. He had learned in the past week that he couldn't be too forward, he couldn't push too hard, but if he could keep it light, it worked.
He wanted to send her something, something that said 'thank you,' without implying anything more. He didn't want to send something that hinted at romance or something that made a reference to their past. If that was the case he'd track down a Pinky Tuscadero tee-shirt and send it to her, or he'd replace her rhinestone penis shirt. Rory had told him the story of her wearing it to Friday Night Dinner, but what Rory hadn't known was that he bought her that shirt as a joke years before. No, he needed something that said 'friends' without alluding to more than that. He surfed the net hoping to find something.
Finally it dawned on him, he'd send flowers. Not the traditional roses, which screamed either "I love you" or "I screwed up," but something different. Daisies. Perfect. He found a flower shop online that delivered and placed an order for a bouquet of daisies to be delivered to her at work on Monday. He added a note to the card that simply read Thank you for all of your help – Chris & Gigi. With that task taken care of he headed into the living room to watch Sports Center before going to bed.
*********************************
It was lunch time on Monday when his phone chimed with an incoming text. C – Completely uncalled for. –L He frowned when he read the message, obviously she received the flowers and did not understand the significance of daisies, so he quickly shot back, but daisies are the friendliest flower. He hardly had time set his phone down when it chimed again. What are you talking about? She really didn't know what the daisies meant. Haven't you seen You've Got Mail? His phone was silent for a while; at which point he gave up and went back to work. An hour later it chimed again, No, must have missed that one. Well that explained that, although he was surprised that Lorelai the pop-culture guru missed anything. He sent back a two-word text: Watch it.
Christopher had seen way too many Meg Ryan movies. Sherry loved Meg Ryan and therefore owned almost every movie she'd ever made, and had subjected Christopher to watching them with her. Her favorites seemed to be the 'Tom and Meg Trifecta,' which consisted of Joe Versus the Volcano, Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail. He watched them because it pleased her, but he never told her the truth. Meg Ryan reminded him of Lorelai. They looked nothing alike, but Meg Ryan, or at least the most of the characters she played, had a quirky personality with an offbeat sense of humor, just like Lorelai.
*********************************
Tuesday morning around 10:00 just as he was about to step into a meeting, his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket to silence it and noticed the caller: Lorelai. Without hesitating he answered the call and turned around heading back to his office.
"Hold on a sec," he said when he answered the phone, then he looked to his expectant coworkers, "Sorry, family emergency, I'll be right back."
"Family emergency?" she said.
"You never call me, it has to be important."
"So, what are you missing to talk to me?" she asked.
"Nothing really, they'll hold the meeting for me," he answered.
"You're holding up an entire meeting to talk to me? That's really irresponsible," she scolded.
"Like I said, you never call so it must be important. So what can I do for you this morning?"
"That movie was really, really bad Chris. I thought you had better taste."
"I do. But I thought that got my point across rather well."
"You want to 'be my friend' after all these years?" she asked curiously.
"Exactly. Look, I've known you for more than 30 years. I've finally come to the conclusion that my life would suck without you, so I figure friendship is better than nothing," he confessed.
"Thank you Kelly Clarkson," she retorted.
"Lore-" he started.
"No Chris. I get it. I just need to process this. I just don't know." She hung up the phone.
He stared down at the phone in his hand, wondering if he really meant what he said. He knew he was in love with her, but he truly didn't know how she felt about him. He knew she could never hate him, but he didn't know if she loved him, or even liked him. It was true that his life would suck without her, but he wasn't sure if just her friendship would ever be enough. He was however, willing to try to find out. At this point he was willing to settle for whatever she would give him, even if it was just a lack of animosity.
He shook his head to bring himself back to the present and headed to his meeting.
*********************************
It was Thursday afternoon, and it had been more than 48 hours since Lorelai hung up on him. He was beginning to think that she couldn't even fathom being just friends with him.
"Mr. Hayden?" his secretary said as she entered his office.
He looked to meet her eyes. "Yes?"
"There's a delivery for you."
"You can bring it in here," he told her wondering why she hadn't done so already.
"Okay sir," she said hesitantly leaving to retrieve whatever it was. She returned a minute later with a box the size of a ream of paper; it was wrapped in brown paper and just had his name on the outside in black marker, addressed by an unfamiliar hand. No wonder she was leery, it looked rather suspicious.
"Thank you," he told her, hoping she would understand that he meant that as her cue to leave.
She left his office, and he eagerly ripped open the package, wondering who had something couriered to him. The box was filled with mangoes and there was a small card in the box. The card read: CH30+ I hope your mangoes are ripe. Inngirl
He tipped his head back and laughed. She was willing to try to be friends. Friday Night Dinner didn't seem nearly so bad now.
*********************************
Things might not have been going exactly as he had planned, but Christopher Hayden was none the less pleased with the progression.
*********************************
*********************************
It was 9:00 on Sunday night and Logan Huntzberger was sitting in his home office. His friends had left today, and for the first time in a week he was completely alone. He poured himself a scotch and stared at his computer screen. Rory told him he could email her if he was lonely, but he wasn't sure he was ready to do that. What did that say about him if he was lonely only a few hours after his friends left? Although he wasn't quite sure whom he was trying to fool, he was lonely even when his friends were there. He could just distract himself from it more easily. He was lonely without her, period. He sighed deeply and opened his email to create a new message.
To: Rory Gilmore
From: Logan Huntzberger
Re: Lonely
Hey Ace,
You said
I could email you when I got lonely, so here I am. Colin, Finn and
Stephanie left today and I'm lonely already. Any suggestions as to
what I should do to pass the time?
Logan
He spent the next hour surfing the net hoping that she'd be at her computer and write him back, but a few minutes after 10:00 he finally gave up and turned off his computer. He went into his living room to read for a while before heading to bed.
*********************************
It took everything Logan had to go to work without checking his email at home, but he knew that Rory wasn't a morning person, and therefore the chances were slim that she'd emailed him back already this morning. Work was hectic on Mondays, he had so many phone calls and work emails to return that he didn't think about checking his personal email again until noon. To his delight she had finally responded.
To: Logan Huntzberger
From: Rory Gilmore
Re: re: Lonely
Logan,
I'm
sorry your friends left and that you're lonely. After seeing all of
you on Friday for dinner the road has been particularly lonely for me
as well. The best I can suggest is to either make some work friends
or get into a really good book. I'm reading The Girl With the
Dragon Tattoo and that works pretty well for me. I'd say call home,
because that seems to help me, but Lorelai and Christopher are
nothing like Mitchum and Shira, so maybe that won't help you.
Good luck!
Rory
He laughed at loud at her email, first because he actually was reading The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as well, and she was right, it was pretty good, and second, because there wasn't enough money on the planet to make him willingly call Mitchum or Shira. He knew it and so did she. He really missed her and her sense of humor, and was sad to hear that seeing him and his friends made her feel worse on the road. He had to do something to try to make her feel better. Suddenly brilliance struck him. He checked her blog to see where her next stop was. She was to be in Boise, Idaho tomorrow, then Portland, Oregon on Thursday, and Seattle, Washington on Friday. He looked up the location of the speech in Boise and found the hotel that the press corps would be staying at.
He looked at his afternoon calendar, it was a little after noon and he had a meeting at 2:00, he could make it in time if he hurried. He got his car from the garage and raced to the nearest video store. He purchased a copy of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, then he went to the nearest grocery store and purchased as much non-perishable junk food as he could manage, a bag of assorted chocolate candies, popcorn, Red Vines™ and marshmallows. He grabbed a card by the cash register and asked for directions to an overnight shipping company.
He entered the shipping store and asked for a large box. He filled the box with the candy and the movie, then wrote a note in the card and stuffed a bill into it. Ace – I'm sorry you're lonely. Hopefully this will help. The $50 is for the perishable junk food I can't ship, you know ice cream and pizza. I promise I'm not being lavish, I just don't have any smaller bills. Love, Logan
He took a large black marker and wrote 'Gilmore Survival Kit' in all caps on the outside of the box, then handed it over to the clerk to be wrapped and shipped.
*********************************
He made it back to his office just in time for his meeting, and didn't think about his actions for the remainder of the day. When he got home later that night though he realized he should probably at least let Rory know to expect something, otherwise she may not get the package at all.
To: Rory Gilmore
From: Logan Huntzberger
Re: re: RE: Lonely
Ace-
I sent
something for you to the Boise hotel. And you're right about The
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I'm reading it too and enjoying
it.
Logan
*********************************
It was Thursday afternoon and Logan hadn't heard from Rory since the email she sent him Monday morning. Not a word. Not an email telling him that he shouldn't have sent anything or even an text message saying she got his gift. He checked the tracking on the package and knew it was delivered in Boise on Tuesday morning as it should have been, and he read her blog, so he knew she was in attendance for the Boise speech. He was extremely anxious, every noise his phone made had him jumping a mile, and every time his computer indicated he had new mail his heart started to race.
Once again his computer beeped to tell him he had mail and he eagerly looked at the screen, something from her, finally.
To: Logan Huntzberger
From: Rory Gilmore
Re: Survival Kit
Logan,
Thank you
so much for sending supplies. I actually brought my copy of Willy
Wonka with me, but I appreciate the junk food, as did my roommate. It
was really unnecessary, but that's the nicest thing anyone has done
for me in a while.
Thanks again.
Rory
A smile overtook his entire face. He had done something right, and she had appreciated it. Logan quickly formulated his next step.
*********************************
Things might not have been going exactly as he had planned, but Logan Huntzberger was none the less pleased with the progression.
*********************************
*********************************
Author's Note: I know this is much shorter that I usually write, but I wanted to show some friendly banter.
In case you haven't seen it, You've Got Mail is a Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie from the late 90's. The daisies and the mangoes as well as the nicknames in her note both come from that movie. (in the movie he's NY152 and she's shopgirl, hence inngirl, (she owns an inn) and CH30+ (his initials plus the time she's known him)).
Next up: Friday Night Dinner and Logan's next (mis)step. Drama should ensue.