Disclaimer: I only own Ayden, Matt, and Austin's characters. The rest are Gilmore Girls copyrighted.
"I can't," she whispered to Ayden sadly. "I'm just so embarrassed," Rory added.
"Oh come on, I wasn't that bad in bed was I?" Ayden joked trying to get her more comfortable. He joked a little too loudly though and Rory's slight giggles were cut off by Tristan's angry voice.
"You what?" Tristan said through gritted teeth. Ayden and Rory froze. Oh boy, here we go.
"I guess that was a little loud…" Ayden said uneasily pulling himself away from Rory who turned to Tristan, Austin, and Matt with a pained look on her face, they shot her angry glares.
"You fucking slept with him?" Tristan asked angrily pointing at Ayden.
"Hey!" Ayden exclaimed offended, but Tristan's look silenced him.
"Tristan please don't. It's not Ayden's fault," Rory said stepping towards him to put a hand on his arm. He pulled away quickly, his face still stern. "I know it's not his fault," Tristan replied coldly. Rory's face dropped as she realized what he was implying.
"Tristan it wasn't anyone's fault, we were both at a tough place in our lives and things just happened," Ayden explained coming to Rory's side.
"Things always just seemed to 'happen' with her, but it doesn't make things any better or make things right," Tristan shot back sending Rory a scrutinizing look.
"Man, you know she was different back than give her a break," Matt said coming to her defense.
"And by different you mean sluttier right?" Rory chimed in with an angry tone. "This is exactly the reason why things were so hard between us because you guys had to be so god damn judgmental about my life."
"Could you blame us when we watched you drink yourself to the point that you didn't have control of your actions let alone how far you would go with random guys? If you didn't share an apartment with Tristan and he wasn't kicking out half the guys who brought you home who knows what the fuck could've happened to you by now," Austin chimed in. Rory's guilt returned as quickly as it had been replaced by her anger.
"I…" she started.
"You of course didn't know, because you would wake up safe and sound in my bed as if nothing had happened the night before. And you fail to mention to us that you slept with Ayden? What the fuck were you thinking?" Tristan again yelled. "And what the fuck were you thinking?" Tristan added looking to Ayden whose jaw clenched in anger.
"Well, I was thinking about how my mom was injured in one of her Peace corps assignments while teaching in Jordan. I was thinking about how she was in critical condition and how much I didn't want to fucking think. I wanted to forget and I went to a bar and Rory was there, and things just happened," Ayden said his voice dangerously low while his explanation caused Matt, Austin, and Tristan to feel terrible.
"I thought if there was one thing you guys knew about me, it was to never judge me without getting my side of the story. My problems don't justify what Rory and I did that night, but your jealousy doesn't justify the way you're talking to her or me right now," Ayden added seeing right through Tristan. Tristan frowned at him. "I'm not jealous," Tristan argued lamely.
"No," Rory said, "He's not. He just loves thinking of me as a little girl who needs to be scolded." When no one said anything Rory sighed in frustration. "Look I'm going to go, I think we all need to cool off." she said as she nodded curtly before walking away running her hand through her hair angrily.
"I'm going to go after her," Ayden replied. "We need to talk," he added nodding at the guys in farewell before turning to jog after her.
Tristan stared after him shaking his head. "Un-fucking-believable"
He was drunk. No scratch that, he was shitfaced. Those were the excuses he was trying to give himself as to why he was doing this. They were lies of course, he knew why he was doing this. He had overhead Finn telling Stephanie about how Rory and Tristan slept in the same bed every night. He immediately beckoned for his always available on call bedmate.
"Faster Logan," the girl beneath him moaned as he continued his normal rhythm. He didn't see her face, he wasn't making love; he was fucking her. He didn't care what she wanted, he just wanted to forget. He knew that after this he would feel dirty, that even the hottest shower wouldn't be able to clean off the griminess this would leave him with, but for now he didn't care. He just wanted to fucking forget then forget that he was fucking the girl beneath him.
"Logan, I'm so close," she moaned from beneath him. He didn't care, he wasn't going to wait for her, because he knew he was closer. Soon enough he was seeing white and grunting with pleasure, Rory's name wanting to escape his lips desperately, but he couldn't. He wouldn't be the bitch that cried while having sex with one of the biggest sluts on campus.
The girl's moans beneath him heightened and he could tell she too was falling over the edge, instead of letting her ride it out he pulled out and left her halfway satisfied. He rolled off of her and onto his back.
"You can leave now," he told her coldly, putting his boxers back on after discarding of his condom.
"That's no way to treat a guest Logan," the blonde purred seductively as she lay naked in his bed.
"You're not a guest, you're a quick fuck and don't think for a second you mean anything more to me," Logan replied with his back to her.
The girl behind him laughed without humor. "It's funny, you would think that after you fucked things up with Rory you would stop the habits that got you there in the first place. But low and behold you only do it more. Smart move Huntzberger," she remarked sarcastically.
Logans' knuckles turned white as his fists tightened and his head whipped around to glare at her viciously. "Get the fuck out Marissa," he said through clenched teeth. She smiled sadistically before throwing her clothes on and leaving without another word. She knew she would be back, and the sad part was, so did Logan.
He sighed as he put his clothes on and went into the living area to find Finn and Stephanie still there. Expecting a mouthful of insults from them, he braced himself only to realize light sobs were coming from Stephanie as Finn held her comfortingly.
"What's wrong?" Logan asked, his tone not comforting but still concerned.
Stephanie looked up at him with swollen red eyes. "Why are you doing this to her Logan? Why are you doing this to us?" she asked softly.
"Stephanie don't," he instructed.
"We've put up with it for two years Logan, and we've tried to stop you because we care about you and we care about her. Those past girls have all been nameless, faceless, random girls. But Marissa, Logan? The same Marissa that caused Rory so much pain in the past?" Stephanie cried.
"Doll," Finn said comfortingly, not paying Logan any attention as he ran a hand up and down her back.
"I don't fucking know who you are anymore," Stephanie hiccupped. "Logan Huntzberger is dead and he left this heartless excuse of a human being behind."
Logan's face paled. He had never heard Stephanie talk to anyone like that, even her worst enemies never received such harshness.
"Stephanie you don't mean that," Logan said cautiously approaching her.
"I do," Stephanie answered back, "Because the Logan I know wouldn't have done have the shit you've done. The Logan Huntzberger I knew was stronger, and he deserved Rory. You don't."
That was Logan's breaking point. His guilt quickly washed away and was replaced by what can only be described as rage. "You think I didn't fucking know that Steph? Do you seriously think that for a moment in my life I actually deserved Rory?" he said his eyes watering automatically as Finn and Stephanie looked up to him surprised.
"God damnit Stephanie I knew the moment she walked onto the Chilton grounds that I would never deserve her. I tried my fucking hardest to keep her, to actually feel like for a second that I deserved that girl who seemed to love me despite the person I was," Logan continued as he ran a hand through his hair and began to pace.
"I knew that I was a lucky asshole to have her in my life and keep her as long as I had her for. Damnit I wanted so bad to own up and be as much to her as Tristan was," he said taking a seat on the couch with his head in his hands.
"That day she called for a break I knew it was just one step closer to losing her for good. I knew it was inevitable. I fucking knew it but it still hurt so damn much," Logan added as his voice began to break.
"I didn't want to think about it. About how much we'd gone through and about how her asking for a break meant that it would all be coming to an end soon. So I ran away from it, I did what I do best. I drank and then I slept around," at this point the great Huntzberger was crying into his hands. "And now here I fucking am, crying like a little bitch while she's playing house with Tristan."
He looked up at his friends with puffy eyes and they stared back at him sadly. "It wasn't ever that I stopped caring about her, it's not that I want to her hurt. It's that drinking and fucking is a lot easier than thinking that I finally got what was coming to me. I finally got what I deserved, to be alone."
"Oh Logan," Stephanie whimpered and she got up to hug him, which he for once fell into. He was no longer crying; but it didn't serve as an indicator to his emotions. He was still as vulnerable and upset as ever.
Colin and Lexy came in from tending to LDB business laughing, however when they saw Logan leaning into Stephanie's embrace with his eyes shut tight and Finn's hardened gaze towards the two, they quickly stopped. Colin looked at Stephanie who shot him a look that told him and Lexy to stay quiet as they took a seat.
"Finn," Logan said leaning back with his eyes closed and his head against the top of couch. "Tell me the truth."
"About what mate?" Finn asked seriously, a rare tone from him.
"About Rory," he said wincing a bit after saying her name for the first time in two years. "How is she doing?"
Finn sighed. As much as he hated to say it, he was with Rory on this one. After seeing how empty she had become cause of Logan, he wasn't going to baby Logan anymore. He wasn't about to tell Logan what he wanted to hear. Logan wanted to hear that she was happy and fucking Tristan because then he would feel a little bit better about his own actions. But Finn was about telling the truth, not about anything else.
"Before I went anywhere in Boston, I went to a bar," Finn said sounding completely irrelevant. "That's where I found Rory taking shots while getting felt up by some perv," he explained.
Logan's face paled while Colin shook his head at anger. Finn was unsure if it was towards Rory or the pervert.
"She was off her face when I went up to her. She didn't even recognize me. She just giggled a lot and told me I had nice hair while I told the guy who was all over her to fuck off , he said he had dibs and I told him I had a glock so he backed off."
Lexy scoffed at his absurd threat. "Finn you don't even know how to use a super soaker not let alone a handgun."
"I've got my very own personal super soaker doll," he said wiggling his eyebrows at her. She rolled her eyes and made a disgusted face.
"Continue Finnegan, he needs to hear this," Stephanie urged from next to Logan.
"You already know this?" Logan and Colin asked in sync. "That's beside the point," Stephanie said.
"Anyways I took her home that night," Finn said. "She gave me her keys and address, without even fucking knowing who I was," he said in a harder tone. "I walked into that apartment with her over my shoulder and you should've seen my mate's Tristan's face when I walked in."
Logan's eyes set into a glare as he grit his teeth.
"Don't give me that mate," Finn said addressing Logan's change of expression. "You should have seen how tired mate looked, and not the sleepy tired or anything like that either, it was weary… I got the feeling this wasn't the first time that Rory was brought home like that. Mate was spewin' until he realized who I was. Then he just sighed and took Rory from me. He asked me where I found her this time and I told him and he just nodded. I helped him bring her to the room and told me to leave so he could help her change."
Logan had an unreadable expression on his face. "As I left I heard him mumble something about killing you, and I'm sorry mate but at that moment I was ready to help," Finn admitted.
"What the fuck Finn?" Logan asked him angry but hurt at the same time.
"Finn you don't mean that," Lexy corrected.
"I do kitten, because you didn't see Rory and you didn't see Tristan," Finn answered.
"I don't understand why you guys have to live your life around these freaking two. I mean yeah, they're nice people, yeah Logan dated Rory, but shit like this happens in life and you just gotta deal with it. People change, friends go away. Why can't you guys accept that and move on? Why does this have to be the 'Logan and Rory' show 24-7?" Lexy said become annoyed and voicing the thoughts she had for a while now.
"You all know that I didn't join this group exactly willingly, but you guys grew on me and I started to really enjoy being with you guys before the whole breakup, but god this isn't what I signed up for!"
"Then leave," Colin said harshly causing four heads to turn to him in surprise.
"Colin!" Stephanie scolded in a whisper.
"I'm serious," Colin replied. "If she can't see how much Tristan, Rory, and even Austin and Matt mean to us then she hasn't been paying nearly enough attention to this friendship as we thought she was."
"Tristan and Rory saved us from ourselves in high school. They gave us a home instead of a house and a family instead of just parents. They changed our lives, and we wouldn't have been as happy as we used to be if it wasn't for them. Our lives wouldn't be our lives. So if Lexy can't understand that, then let her leave," Colin said to the room.
"You're an asshole," Lexy whispered angrily shaking her head and storming out of the room.
"No," Colin said after her, "I just know who's worth fighting for," he said looking Logan straight in the eye.
Rory read the same line in her book for the 3rd time before it was taken from her hands and thrown into the nearby bushes. She looked up angrily to see Ayden innocently staring down at her. "Hi," he said with a smile before taking a seat next to her.
"Hey," she sighed looking to the distance to avoid his gaze. An awkward silence ensued.
"I'm really sorry," they said both deciding to break the silence at the same time. They froze at their synchronization before breaking down into laughter.
"We're pretty pathetic," Rory admitted shaking her head with a smile. "I thought that high school would be the end of all this sleeping around crap. I really didn't see myself causing a scene in the middle of the Harvard campus."
"Well at least…" Ayden laughed. "No there's no silver lining to our inebriation. Well except for the fact…"
"Ayden!" Rory said slapping his arm with a blush.
Ayden feigned innocence. "What!? I was going to say except for the fact that we reconnected."
Rory nodded her head thinking she had avoided an innuendo. "In more ways than one," Ayden added beginning to crack up. Rory glared at him before following in laughter.
After the two had calmed down, Rory decided to get to point. "Ayden, I don't want who I was… and the mistakes I made to affect the friendships that mean the most to me. And believe me when I say that our friendship is one that I don't want to lose."
"I know Rory but you have to understand what waking up the next morning was like for me," Ayden said becoming serious. "I needed someone there for me the most at that time and I really though you would be there."
"But Ayden, we slept together! Friends don't sleep together. They talk, they watch movies, they don't have sex!" Rory said loudly enough for Ayden to look around embarrassed with Rory covering her eyes after realizing her volume. "It wasn't right," Rory added in a whisper.
Ayden made a frustrated noise and ran a hand through his dark already tousled hair. "You didn't make it much better by running away Rory. How was I supposed to react to that? You knew about my mom, you knew that I was going through one of the hardest fucking times of my life and you couldn't even just put yourself and all your issues aside for 24 freaking hours and just help me out?"
Rory frowned. She knew he was right, but she hated to face the fact that these problems weren't things she could blame on who she used to be, or on the drama with Logan. Because when it came down to it, her friends were always there for her in the past years but she was too selfish to be there in return. She looked down at her mitten covered hands in embarrassment.
Ayden recognized her sign of defeat and sighed before putting one of his hands over both of hers. Rory looked up to meet his green eyes, hiding beneath her lashes in shame. "You're right Ayden. I should've been there and I'm sorry. I know that doesn't make up for it but I will make it up to you," Rory said hurriedly.
Ayden stared at her for a moment before nodding and kissing her forehead. "Apology accepted Hayden. Now come on let's get you some coffee and catch up," he said pulling her up off the bench while taking her book from her.
"That's it?" Rory asked surprised, "No begging, no groveling, no sending me to the guillotine?"
Ayden chuckled. "Nah, but over coffee you can praise me about how amazing I am in bed," he said with his eyes sparkling from his teasing.
Rory groaned but smiled besides herself. At least it's not awkward. But in the back of her mind she knew that things with Tristan would not come as easily.
AN: Review pleasee! Thanks for your support!