CHAPTER 26: Misunderstandings

It's approaching dinnertime the following day, the day after the movie night and the day after Rory had tried to kiss Logan when the man himself hears a knock at his front door. Then, before he even has a chance to stand up from where he's seated at his big, lonely dining table, the knock has been repeated again, frantically.

Another three, loud and frantic knocks are heard throughout the house, all within seconds of each other, before he has even reached his lounge room.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Logan bellows out on the off-chance that whoever is on the other side of the door will hear him. Whoever it is has got to be some type of Olympian if they'd expect him to get to the front door any faster than he is.

When Logan reaches his front door, he quickly opens it to reveal his daughter's grandmother, Lorelai. Immediately he can tell that she is cross, with her lips in a tight pout, before she begins speaking just as quickly as she had been knocking. "Is Elleigh here?!"

"No, she's with Rory until tomorrow... Why? Can I help you Lorelai?"

It's as though after checking that her granddaughter isn't with him and following a quick nod in response to Logan's question, Lorelai can finally unleash her fury at her daughter's former flame.

"It's come to my knowledge that you have a girlfriend."

Logan's arms cross in front of his chest. He realises that given how furious Lorelai looks, he's going to need to ramp up the self-confidence or she'll leave him for dead.

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah. Now, for the Inn's six-hundred, stupid confidentiality clauses, I can't disclose who that person is, but I figure you know exactly who I'm talking about. I also know what happened between you and Rory the other night and I know that Rory doesn't have a clue that you're with someone else."

"I don't know where you're getting all this from, not to mention why it has anything to do with you..."

Lorelai's tight, cross pout increases exponentially as she takes a step closer towards Logan, intensifying her body language.

"I'll tell you why it has everything to do with me" Lorelai hisses, zeroing in closer and closer to the younger man in front of her, so as to make her point. "Because, if you dare toy with either my daughter or my granddaughter and if you dare break either of those girl's hearts, I will make damn sure that your life is not worth living. This is your one and only chance to come clean and do the right thing by those girls, Huntzberger."

Without another word and without giving Logan the chance to defend himself or respond, Lorelai the fiercely protective mother and grandmother has spun on her heel and rushed off as quickly and as frantically as the rest of the meeting had been, leaving Logan standing there alone on his doorstep, head spinning.

#

Early the following morning, another visitor arrives on Logan's front doorstep.

The next visitor to Logan's door only knocks twice, nowhere near as frantically, before he has a chance to reach the front door. Then, as the opens his front door, he is greeted by the presence of the young, attractive blonde girl who he hasn't seen in about three months, only confirming his suspicions over the abrupt visit that Lorelai had paid to him yesterday.

"Surprise!"

Logan has to feign a look of a surprise at the presence of the girl standing in front of him at his doorstep. He has to appear as though he hasn't already reached the conclusion that Ava's in town, thanks to Lorelai's visit yesterday.

"Ava... What are you doing here?"

The young blonde girl throws her arms around the man standing before her, the man who he has just opened his front door to her.

"It's been so long and I know that you've been busy, so I thought I'd come and surprise you."

As the two break apart from the embrace, Logan senses that Ava's moving in for more than a hug, so he is quick to glide his hands down her arms instead with their arms keeping some distance between them, without it making for an uncomfortable or obvious rejection.

"It's good to see you, but how come you're here? It's been months..."

"I know... I understand that you've been busy, especially since you moved. But, I got a couple of days off work, so I thought that I'd be a good girlfriend and come to you instead so that we could have a bit of 'us' time, as long as that suits you."

Seeing the happiness on the girl's face, Logan cringes. His stomach churns knowing that he's going to have to be the bearer of bad news and crush that happiness.

"Ava... What do you mean? There is no 'us'... At least I didn't think that there was. We only went on two dates. We haven't spoken in weeks. I didn't realise that we were together, I didn't realise you thought that we were. I'm sorry if I led you on at all, but we're not together..."

Logan's voice is soft and delicate as he tries to gently let her down, but it's clearly not enough. Ava's face drops visibly, her expression instantly becoming downcast as she stands there, thinking everything through, including what Logan is telling her.

"Oh... Oh, okay. I guess that's a bit awkward then. I didn't realise, I'm sorry."

The young girl's body language changes exponentially as she speaks. Initially she'd been confident and happy; feeling like her presence would be welcomed at the surprise visit. Yet, now with her shoulders slumped and her head looking down to the ground, you can tell that she doesn't feel welcome on Logan's doorstep.

"Hey, why don't you come in for a drink. Have you had breakfast yet? I can fix you something up. Sure, there was a mix up, but this is the very least that I can do for you when you've come all this way for me."

Ava glances over at Logan hesitantly before she gives him a small smile in response to the nod of reassurance he gives her to confirm that he means his offer. The two then move through to the lounge room where Logan offers her a drink, fetching a beer for himself and a lemonade for Ava. Ava takes a seat right in the middle of Logan's largest lounge as he takes a seat on one of single-seat recliners.

"I'm sorry. I see it all now..." Ava says, looking down to her glass of lemonade, shaking her head as though she's disappointed in herself. "If a guy goes a couple of months without checking in with you then that should tell you something. I knew you were busy so I didn't want to pressure you or seem clingy and needy... I thought that I'd let it pass, that you'd contact me when things died down. I guess it's actually a good thing that I came this weekend cause I guess I would have been waiting for quite a while..."

Logan shoots her an empathetic look. It was such a simple misunderstanding in which he had seen a very different shade of grey to what Ava had in the grey area that they had both been stuck in. "I really am sorry, Ava. If there's anything I can do..."

"Ah, don't be silly. It serves me right to learn my lesson. I should have had a bit more confirmation before I started telling every man and his dog that I was Logan Huntzberger's girlfriend..."

Logan cringes. "Well, if it makes it any easier, you can tell those people that you dumped me. More power to you."

Ava gives Logan a shy, but appreciative smile. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm best off sticking to the truth. No good ever comes from lying... Even when it feels like the easier at the time and no matter how humiliating the truth might be..."

"Look, I really am sorry if I gave you the wrong impression or if I led you on at all to think that it was anything more than just two, casual dates. I'm sorry if there's anything that I could have done to make it clearer that we weren't an item, or that I didn't think we were, at least."

They really had just been two, casual dates that started and ended with talking. A hug and kiss on the cheek at the beginning and end was as intimate as the two dates had been and there had been no communication since the night of the second.

"Don't worry, Logan. It's both our faults for not being clearer with the other person. It's all good. But, let's forget about my awkward little surprise and move onto something else... So how come you're living here? It's a cute town, but I didn't think it would be your scene, especially in comparison to the city."

"I moved to be closer to family..."

"Your parents...? They live in this town?"

The look on Ava's face clearly shows that she seems even more surprised by the idea of Logan's parents living in Stars Hollow than she does at the idea of him moving here. Now, Ava has never met the senior generation of Huntzberger's personally, but much like anyone else who so much as turns on the TV or reads a newspaper, she most certainly knows who they are, along with the reputation they hold in the public eye.

At her question and her readable expression of shock to go along with it, Logan just chuckles to himself, not imagining himself moving anywhere for the sake of being closer to his parents.

"No. Not my parents... I've only recently learnt that I'm a father. This is my daughter's hometown. I moved here to be closer to her and more involved in her life."

"Aw, congratulations, Logan... What's her name?"

"Elleigh... She's nine. She's the reason why I moved here, so that I could be more involved in her life."

"That's great... I hope it all goes well for you" Ava responds with a genuine smile, taking a deep breath as she puts her glass down on the coffee table and stands up from where she's seated on his lounge. "Now, thank you for going so lightly on me after the whole mix up, Logan, but I think it's time for me to leave now."

Logan follows Ava's lead, putting his drink down and standing up too. The two share a hug before Ava picks up her bag and heads for the front door with Logan following behind to see her out.

"Well, all the best... I hope everything goes well for you with being closer to your daughter."

"Thanks Ava. Now, like I said before, I really am sorry if I said or did anything that got misconstrued or made you believe that we've been 'together' for the last few months. You're a great girl and it won't be long before you find someone for real. You're going to make someone out there a very lucky guy. I really do mean that."

Ava gives the young entrepreneur a final, appreciative smile before taking her leave.

"Thank you. Now goodbye, Logan..."

#

Later that day and just before he has to collect Elleigh from school, Logan detours via the home of his daughter and the mother of his child.

"What are you doing here, Logan?"

Rory's arms are crossed in front of herself defensively, although her expression gives away that she's feeling anything other than strong and confident. After all, although she's frowning, Rory looks to be more sad than mad; Logan knows the difference.

"Has your mom spoken to you today?"

"Yeah... So you better get back to your girlfriend."

Logan sighs, scrunching his eyes closed. He stands in front of Rory with one hand on his hip and the other held out, open, in front of him to try and gesture as he begins to explain to Rory.

"I don't have a girlfriend. I haven't been in a relationship for years. In fact, there's only been a handful of dates and one brief relationship since you."

"But, my mom said-"

Logan cuts her off, knowing what Rory's going to say next before she has a chance to finish saying it.

"Look, there were a few misunderstandings. A girl turned up at the Inn today, calling herself my girlfriend... Your mom heard this and did a pretty damn good job at confronting me. The girl came and visited me today and we talked. Ava, that's her name, and I had a misunderstanding. She thought we were in a relationship and I thought we were anything but."

Rory bites her lip as she listens, tightening her arms that stay crossed in front of herself.

"And how does that happen? Were you playing another game of 'no-strings'? Cause I know how the girl could end up confused..."

"No. We'd been on two dates. Our last date was three months ago and it just never went anywhere. Neither of us has even texted the other in six weeks! Before yesterday, I didn't even know that I had a girlfriend to handle, but I have handled it... Ava understands that we both got our wires crossed, but its all good."

Rory's face softens a little as she hears Logan out, although her arms still stay tightly crossed together.

"I figured she –Ava- was the reason why you pulled back the other night when we were talking outside, after the movie..."

Logan shakes his head, looking Rory directly in the eye as she uncrosses her arms, her body language slowly softening in comparison to when he had first arrived at her doorstep this afternoon.

"No... I feel bad for it now, but I've barely even given Ava a second thought since the last date. Now, trust me, it took self control, but I pulled away the other night because it was too much for me, too fast."

Logan notices Rory's body language as her gaze falls to the ground, as though she's embarrassed or ashamed. While he doesn't change his stance on what he's telling her, he does take two steps closer to her to try and close the space between them.

"I know that we haven't really talked about this but my feelings for you haven't changed. There are still feelings there, but the trust isn't... You hurt me, badly, Ace. You broke my heart ten years ago and then you broke it all over again when I found out about Elle. I've still got the scars from being burnt by you and in that moment that was what held me back. I would need to know that you're all in too before I could invest myself in going there with you again..."

So, I hope you all enjoyed how the 'Ava issue' turned out. I didn't want it to be a huge drama, just an innocent misunderstanding. After all, I feel like in the real world and especially very early on in relationships, without it being anyone's fault, miscommunication is an easy trap to fall into and it's easy for two people to misconstrue the same thing, which is something I wanted to depict. However, just because Logan has no girlfriend, that doesn't mean that things are going to fall into place for him and Rory quite so easily...

Also, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. As always, I really appreciate the feedback. Thank you!

Next chapter: Elle has her first sleepover at her father's house. Then, Logan is pushed to action.