A/N: Dropped the ball on this one again, didn't I? Oops! I don't know why it's been tough to write lately... Meh, I'm sure it'll be fine. Let's blame Logan, he's catching the blame for everything else, right? Well, rightly so, I guess...
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 14
"Of all the rooms in all of Yale."
Rory startled when she heard a voice from the corner of the Yale Daily News office. Her hand covered her heart as she looked over, just at the moment the owner pushed himself into view on a swivel chair.
"Logan, hey," she greeted him with a nervous smile. "I, er... I don't know why, I thought nobody would be here over lunch. I was just dropping this off for Doyle," she explained, waving the piece of paper in her hand.
"Far as I know that's not a crime," he told her, getting up from his seat and walking over. "How have you been, Ace?"
"Ace?"
"Well, you want to be a journalist, right?" he said, nodding towards the paper in her hands. "Gonna get all the big scoops, Ace Reporter?"
"That is the plan," she agreed, now understanding what he meant, "but don't worry, I don't expect you to do me any favours, you know, with the whole secret society thing," she told him, lowering her voice, despite the fact they were very much alone in the room. "After everything that's happened, I wouldn't... well, I understand that I'm probably not your favourite person right now."
"What did you do?" he asked curiously, perching on the edge of the desk nearest to where Rory was standing.
"Well, nothing, really, but Jess-"
"You don't control your boyfriend, do you?" asked Logan curiously. "I mean, I know women that try, but most have been known to fail, even if they don't realise it."
"I don't control Jess," Rory agreed. "I don't try to, I just... What happened was because of me, and I'm sorry, Logan. I'd like to say that Jess is too, but I'm not so sure that would be true, actually."
"Relax, Ace," Logan told her, smiling good-naturedly at her awkward rambling. "The truth is, I probably wasn't being my most charming self when I talked to the boyfriend," he admitted. "I wouldn't go so far as to say I was exactly provoking violence, but hey, college campus, guys rough-housing, it's expected, right? Anyway, aren't women supposed to be flattered when men fight over them?"
Rory's mouth open and closed without any sound coming out. The way Logan made it sound, it was as if he and Jess were duelling for her hand or her honour or something. It was a little too romance novel for her to be comfortable with the idea when she was very definitely dating Jess and was almost certain that she never gave Logan any reason to believe he had a chance with her, had she? Then she remembered what Jess had implied about what Logan said to make him want to start a fist fight in the first place. It made her wonder why she had come in here apologising to Logan for Jess' behaviour.
"I don't really want anyone fighting over me," she said pointedly. "I'm not a prize for anyone to win. I love Jess, we've been dating for a while now. I'm not saying he should've hit you, Logan, but he did seem to think you were implying a little more than drinking and talking happened in my grandparents' pool house a couple of weeks ago," she said, eyes on the floor because she was so embarrassed just talking about it. "I don't like him thinking I would cheat on him. I wouldn't."
"Of course, you wouldn't," said Logan, smiling just a little too much for Rory's liking. "I never said you would, or that you did."
"Good." Rory nodded once. "Well, I should go. I have a lot of homework to get done, and the weekend is filling up fast. Tomorrow is the big game, after all."
"Didn't have you down for a sports fan, Ace."
"I'm not, not really," she admitted, putting her article down on Doyle's desk and then retreating quickly to the exit. "My grandparents are insisting on going and they invited me and my mom along. I'm not sure I can imagine Richard and Emily Gilmore tailgating, but it might be fun."
"I'm sure it will be. Well, maybe I'll see you there," said Logan, raising his hand in a salute-like wave.
"You're into sports?" she checked, sure that couldn't be right.
"I'm into free beer and I like to support my school," he told her, shrugging his shoulders.
"Makes sense," Rory agreed, smiling before she turned to walk away. "Well, that could've gone worse," she said to herself as she headed back to her dorm.
"I accept you blowing me off to make out with your girlfriend, but for class? I did not see that coming."
"I'm five minutes late, Paris," Jess told her, rolling his eyes at her dramatics. "That does not qualify as blowing you off."
"Maybe not," she acquiesced. "I guess I shouldn't complain. At least you're smiling."
Jess could have passed that off easily enough as a result of his making up with Rory. Even three days later, he was pretty sure Paris would buy it, but it wasn't the whole truth. It seemed weird to tell anybody that what had him so happy was actually an intellectual pursuit, praise from a professor, and a possible plan for the future. Those things were so not Jess in many ways, and yet they were the truth.
The problem was, as much as he wanted to tell Paris about it, Jess was keenly aware of the big deal she would make that he would sooner avoid. Still, he did want to explain, and he figured she wouldn't hate his news.
"Here's the deal, sis," he warned as they headed out to lunch together. "If I tell you this, you have to promise that you're not going to make a huge deal out of it, and you will not run your mouth to anybody about it either, okay?"
Paris narrowed her eyes at him.
"Are you on drugs?"
"Aaw, geez!"
"Well, what else is such a big deal and needs to be kept a secret?"
"With you? Everything," Jess countered, rolling his eyes. "Seriously, Paris, I am not on drugs or doing anything illegal. Now do you want to know what's going on or not?"
"Obviously."
"Okay," said Jess, taking a deep breath as they walked out of the doors and towards the dining hall. "So, I wrote a short story for an English assignment, and the professor kind of lost her mind over it, as if it was the best thing she ever read."
"You write well, I know this," Paris agreed.
"Apparently, better than well. Apparently, grade A+ and then some," Jess explained, "and honestly? I really got into the whole thing. So, the next thing I know, Ms Fuller is telling me I have real talent and asking if I ever considered writing a full-length novel. The truth is, the thought has crossed my mind, so..."
"So?" Paris prompted when Jess left the sentence just hanging there. "You're writing a book?"
"I'm kind of writing a book," he admitted, nodding his agreement. "Crazy, right?"
"No, not crazy," Paris assured him. "It makes complete sense to me. You love to read, you have talent for writing in all its forms. You don't get to be a professor of English at Yale for nothing, so Fuller clearly knows what she's talking about. No, I don't think it's crazy, Jess. I actually think it's pretty amazing."
She was smiling when she said it, that genuine, open smile that Jess knew hardly anybody ever got to see. He was one of the rare few, but then Paris was his sister, in all but blood.
"Thanks, sis," he said, smiling right back at her, "but I meant what I said before. Don't tell anybody about this yet, okay?"
"Who would I tell? Except for Rory, I guess, but she already knows, right?"
"Wrong," Jess confirmed, opening the door to the dining hall and holding it for Paris. "It's not like I don't want to tell her, I just..."
"Don't want to tell her?" Paris checked as she passed by him into the hall. "I thought you guys were all Buffy and Angel again."
"Please!" Jess scoffed. "First off, if you're going to make a Buffy reference, I'd be Spike, not Angel. Second, I'm pretty sure she likes to run her boyfriends through with swords. Third, I never said there was any problem with me and Rory. Yes, we are back together and everything is cool, I just haven't got around to telling her about the book idea yet."
"And you don't want me spoiling the big surprise," Paris guessed. "That's fine, I get it. As hooked on phonics as Gilmore is, I think I'd rather be out of audio range when you do tell her. Only dolphins can hear her when she gets overly thrilled about books. It's embarrassing."
Jess opened his mouth to respond to that just as Paris started yelling at some jerk who decided to cut into the lunch line, making a real spectacle of herself into the process.
"Yeah," said Jess softly, "real embarrassing."
"I'm so sorry I've been kind of absent lately," said Rory into the phone. "I was going to come home this weekend, but now there's this football game and my grandparents want us all to be there-"
"Rory, it's fine," Lane assured her. "I get it. Yale takes a lot of time and effort, and everybody has family commitments. Besides, you were having those major relationship problems too."
"Oh, yeah," she said, sighing heavily. "I hate fighting with Jess. It would feel too weird not to be with him, but that all felt a little too much like a break-up."
"But it wasn't, right?" Lane checked.
"Well, not really. It was just the nastiest fight ever, but we worked it out."
"That's good. So, everything is fine now?"
"Sure," said Rory, though somehow Lane didn't feel that answer was enough or at all convincing, truth be told. "I mean, yeah, we made up. It's cool."
"It's cool?" Lane echoed. "Rory, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing really," her friend insisted. "I mean, Jess was sorry for what he did, and I was sorry for what I did. We made up, and I do still love him."
"But?" prompted Lane, sure that was the next word due to put in an appearance.
It bothered her more than a little to realise it. After all, Rory and Jess had been dating a long time now, and Lane had never known her best friend to be happier, even when she was with Dean.
Everything should be great for Rory right now, being at Yale with a boyfriend who adored her, and Paris, who was almost like a sister. Lane tried her best not to be jealous of her friend's situation and often failed miserably at it, no matter how hard she tried. She was having trouble understanding why Rory didn't sound happier, but was almost more worried about having her explain it.
"I don't know, Lane," she said sadly. "I just... I think maybe I expected too much. Yale was supposed to be this big adventure, and it is. It's good, I'm learning a lot, working hard. It's worth it, it really is. It's just that things are so different."
"To high school?" Lane checked.
"Oh, yeah, but it's not just that. Jess is different, Paris too, actually. You know, she broke up with Jamie?"
"You mentioned, yeah, but that doesn't really change things for you and Jess, does it?"
"No, what changes things for us is him, or maybe it's me too. I don't know. He's different, Lane. Half the time, I feel like he doesn't want to be here at all, and then I start wondering how much of it is Yale and... and how much is me. I mean, hitting Logan the way he did? It's like he was looking to get into trouble. I thought he got over that years ago."
"From what I heard, Logan was winding him up pretty badly," Lane considered. "Besides, you said yourself, you had been spending time with Logan and not telling Jess. That comes off a little guilty, even if it's innocent."
"I know," Rory admitted. "That's when I start wondering how much of the problem is Jess and how much of it is me. Shouldn't I be more honest? Shouldn't I want to be on Jess' side no matter what?"
"I think you're asking the wrong person." Lane sighed. "I don't even have a boyfriend anymore."
"Oh, Lane, no!" Rory gasped in shock. "You and Dave are definitely over?"
"It was never going to last anyway. Not long distance, it was too hard," she said sadly. "And I'll be honest, my heart wasn't really in it anymore."
The way she said it caught Rory's attention and stopped her dead in her tracks when she thought to pile more sympathy onto her friend.
"Okay, that sounds like maybe your heart is into somebody else," she noted.
"Maybe," Lane admitted, unable to hold in a giggle. "Now, don't judge me, but you know how I mentioned before that I've kind of been spending a lot of time with Zach...?"
To Be Continued...
