Sorry guys! I guess my much needed break from classes included a break from ALL kinds of writing. So…with out further delay…here is chapter 6!
After a night of almost no sleep, Rory walked into Paperless with her third (or fifth) cup of coffee in hand. Knowing that she was going to get a call from Logan at some point this afternoon with a time and place for their date (!) had kept her up all night making mental lists and almost talking herself out of the impending date more than once.
"Morning Rory!"
Why must she be so chipper this morning?!
"Morning Jane. I have some things to take care of this morning, but if Logan Huntzberger calls, send him through right away"
"Sure thing Ror!"
Walking into her office, Rory immediately set to work on some emails she didn't get a chance to respond to yesterday. "I have to stop letting this date distract me from my work…" Rory mutters to herself as she starts delving into the hundreds of emails from potential hires, tech suppliers, various investors, and of course her mother.
Rory is in a groove fueled by the seventh (or eighth) cup of coffee when she hears Jane come in on her phone line
"Hey Rory, Logan Huntzberger is on the line, should I send him though now?" Jane asks, knowing her boss is in one of her scary-focused runs of motivation
"Sure" Rory says distractedly as she finishes up an email to Anne about the investor contract Logan gave her yesterday at lunch
"Did I catch you at a bad time Ace?" Rory hears coming in over her phone system
"Ah! Logan! I guess I wasn't paying attention when Jane patched you through. Um hold on I am just finishing up an email…and…SEND! Okay. Hello Logan" Rory says finally with all the calmness she can possibly muster
"Hello again, Rory. So I am calling to confirm our dinner and the time you should be ready and waiting for the car" Logan informs Rory
"Oh. Yeah. I am all ears" Be cool Gilmore!
"Okay so I am taking it that since you are all ears our dinner is still on?" Logan says, clearly grinning
"Uh, yes. I guess that is what that means" Rory says as the blush starts spreading over her face
"Great! So I made reservations at 7:30 and I was figuring that Frank and I would be there around 7. That way we can at least try to get there close to on time"
"Frank?" Who is coming to dinner with us? Maybe Logan is bringing a coworker to dinner and this is actually a business dinner after all!
"Yes, Frank. I believe you have met him a few hundred times or so. Wears a suit, drives a limo, has probably heard some scandalous things going on between the two of us more than once?"
"Oh! Frank! I can't believe he is still stuck with you!" Rory teases as she leans back in her chair with a grin
"Well, some people find me absolutely irresistible to be around, believe it or not!"
"Psh! You wish Huntzberger!"
"Either way, we will both be at your door at 7 sharp. If I remember correctly, Gilmore Girls run on a different time zone, so I will leave some wiggle room in our schedule" Logan says, knowing full well that a rebuttal to Rory's comment would lead to hours of banter that neither had time for at the moment
"We like to think that the rest of the world is running on the wrong time zone!"
Rory is greeted by a hearty chuckle on the other end of the line...
Man, I missed that.
"I'm sure you are right. I will see you tonight at 7, Ace"
Rory can hear Logan talking to someone in his office, asking them to wait a minute
"It sounds like you have some work to get to, and believe it or not, I do as well. I will see you tonight Logan"
"See you then Ace." The click of the phone alerts Rory to the fact that she is now the only one on the line. Hanging up, she tries to get back into what she was working on before Logan called.
UGH! Stop being a love sick puppy! Focus!
Thankfully, that internal reprimand was all she needed to get back on track for the day. Rory got right back to work, putting all the what-ifs about this date with Logan into the back of her mind…at least for the time being
After managing to get 90% of her work done for the day, and only calling Lorelai three times to freak out about the existence of her date and what she should wear on said date, Rory was standing in front of her bathroom mirror putting the finishing touches on her hair when she heard the doorbell ring downstairs
"Come in! I'll be right down!" Rory yelled down to the doorbell ringer
"Now how did you know I wasn't a dangerous intruder looking to kidnap you and steal all your valuables?"
"Because those kind of guys never ring the doorbell. Duh Logan!" Rory yelled back as she gave herself one final look over and grabbed her clutch.
As Rory walked down the stairs into her living room, she couldn't help but notice the dumb look on Logan's face Nicely done. You have rendered the man speechless
"You look incredible, Ace" Logan says, his voice dripping with admiration
"Well you don't look to bad yourself, mister" Rory says as a deep blush sets in. "Okay, ready to go? I don't know if you noticed but I am actually ready on time…now if I could just find my coat…I know it is around here somewhere…"
Rory wanders around her brownstone, looking in the most outrageous places for the jacket she has clearly left inside the ottoman before. All the while, Logan looks on with an amused grin, slowly remembering aspects of being in the presence of a Gilmore Girl
"AH! I found it! It was in my coat closet…who would have thought!" Rory says triumphantly
"Not I Ace. All ready?
"Yep" The two head out the door but before they can make it down the front steps, Logan turns to Rory
"You know, you were right about your front door being easy to spot. I can see why Emily picked it out"
"I told you! I am willing to except any gift that makes delivery boys find my house faster!"
Logan couldn't help but grin as he closed the door behind him, and watched as Rory ambushed Frank with a bear hug and a million questions about how he has been since the last time she saw him…not that he should expect anything less from her.
"Jeez Ace, it's almost like you missed Frank more than me"
"I say we call it a 50/50 split on who I missed more" Rory said turning to smile at Logan
"Glad to know where I stand. Okay, we should probably get going before we completely miss our reservation." Logan said as he ushered Rory into the car
"Okay okay already. Off we go!" Rory said enthusiastically
Rory and Logan were seated at a semi-secluded table towards the back of the French restaurant Logan had decided on for their date. Rory had to admit, so far, this date has been relatively normal…almost like they picked up right where they left off 4 years ago.
After they both placed their order, and Logan chose a bottle of wine, Rory decided now was the perfect time to address the elephant that may not be in the room at this moment, but would show up eventually
"So…" Rory led off with, not really sure how this was going to go over
"So" Logan matched hers with a grin
"I think we need to at least discuss what happened to us. I mean, the evening is off to, what I think, is a great start, but sooner or later we are going to have to talk about my graduation and I just don't want it to be at a weird time that neither of us are ready for" Rory said, taking a huge breath at the end of her very long thought
"First off, I am glad you think the night is off to a good start. But I think you are right. We should at least start to discuss what happened to us. Would you like to start? I assume you have some kind of speech prepared" Logan said to Rory with a smile
Am I really that predictable?
"Um, yeah. I guess I do have some thoughts prepared." Rory said, taking a deep breath. " I guess what has always confused me…always stuck with me, is that we never talked about marriage in any serious way, so when you proposed like that it felt kinda out of the blue. I mean I had thought about marrying you for a while before that night, but it was always in the hypothetical kind of way. I figured once we were seriously ready to take that step we would, you know, talk to each other about it. You know me Logan. I need time to prepare for something as huge as marriage, and it was almost like you didn't even consider that. Maybe it was naive of me to think that I was the only one thinking about our maybe future, and I do take some blame for not bringing up the idea of marriage to you before that night, but I guess I thought I would scare you off, and we were finally in a good place. I thought we had more time…" Rory finished with a sad look
As soon as Rory finished speaking, the waiter came by with their appetizers and the bottle of wine. Giving them both a minute to think about what was just said.
As soon as the waiter left, Logan decided it was a good time to respond
"I can't tell you how many times I have thought back on that day and wished I would have proposed in a different way, or at least spoke to you about marriage before. I think, in my mind, we were on the same page about marriage, but I never really stopped to think that this was something we needed to discuss. I thought I was taking the next step and I never realized that I forgot to include you in that step." Logan finished, looking at Rory
"If I had just felt less ambushed, I don't know for sure if we would have spent these last 4 years apart. That day in Stars Hollow when you said you would factor me in really stuck with me, so when you told me about San Francisco and having to move to the other side of the country, I felt as though you disregarded that sentiment completely. I had just graduated college…literally just graduated, and here you are telling me that you won't do long distance and it is all or nothing. Just imagine if I had given you that ultimatum on your graduation day, Logan!" Rory said at a slightly higher volume than she meant to. "I wanted so much to be with you forever, but in that moment, I felt trapped and I couldn't let myself feel like that, so I said no." Rory said, taking a sip of wine to calm her fragile nerves
"I am so sorry for making you feel trapped, but that was the last thing I wanted to do! I though by telling you about the job in San Francisco you would feel secure…like you didn't have to worry so much about what your next step was because I was secure in mine. I think I was just so thrown off at you saying no, that I immediately thought you were saying no because you didn't love me. I honestly expected to hear you running behind me when I walked away, or to see your name come up on my phone after that. I thought you would call me and assure me that you loved me…loved us." Logan said
"I honestly spent the next 3 days waiting for you to call me and apologize for the ultimatum. I think, in that moment, we both failed at communicating with each other. Instead of saying no, I should have said not right now"
"I think you are right, Rory. I am sure if we would have talked about it, we could have both come to some sort of understanding as to where the other was coming from. And I think I would have been on board with a not right now, just as long as you agreed to be my fiancé. I just wanted you in my life forever…and I guess I still do." Logan finished
The two sat in silence as they finished their appetizers. Both taking the time to come to terms with the things said.
"So…" Rory said, hoping to lighten the heavy mood that came with the discussion they just had
"So" Logan returned, a grin on his face
That exchange was all it took for the ice to be broken, and for the two to get back on track. Soon their dinners came, and the two settled into recapping what has happened in their lives since they last spoke.
Rory told Logan all about her rain-soaked graduation party, her time on the Obama campaign, and her short-lived career at The Washington Post.
"I don't know if I was ever really thrilled about being a political reporter. It was definitely a great experience, but the second Dylan called me about starting a online magazine with Kate and Shane, I knew I needed to leave The Post. I guess my dream of being an overseas correspondent has shifted to being an editor/columnist. I get the chance to live in the newsroom atmosphere that I love so much, but at the same time, I get to make real decisions about a publication I feel so strongly about." Rory told Logan, not even realizing how excited she got about her role at Paperless
And Logan told Rory all about his time at the tech start up in San Francisco, and his decision to go back to HPG.
"I loved the group I was with in San Francisco. It was exactly what I needed after the failed business deal, and it served me well. I helped get this really amazing company started, but once it was pretty much self-sufficient, I felt like my job was done, so I called my dad and formed my current position at HPG. He was pretty willing to let me do whatever, so I took the official role of Head of Acquisitions, that way I can help publishers, like yourself, get their HPG funded company off the ground and become successful. Of course I couldn't escape my birth right as CEO in training, so I get to go around to different papers and make sure already established ones are running efficiently. But honestly, I don't think I would be as happy as I am in my career had it not been for you and all you did for me after I left HPG." Logan finished as he and Rory shared the last bit of dessert
"Don't sell yourself short Logan. You had this in you all along" Rory said, looking directly into his eyes
"Maybe so, Ace. Either way, I am very glad I had you around" Logan says with a smirk, looking right back into Rory's blue eyes
After a minor fight over who was paying the check (Logan won), Logan was standing in front of the door that belonged to the great something-or-other of George Washington, watching as Rory dug around in her seemingly bottomless clutch for the keys to said door.
"Shit. I know they are in here somewhere…" Rory said, not as quietly as she would have liked
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth Ace?!" Logan responded in feigned shock
"Only when she curses back!" Rory rebutted. "Aha! Found them!" Rory said triumphantly holding a set of keys on a Hello Kitty key chain in the air
Rory unlocked her door and turned to Logan "I had a really great night, Logan. Better than I imagined"
"Well I am glad I surpassed your expectations, Ace" Logan said as he leaned in to kiss Rory goodnight
The kiss was not frenzied or rushed, it was sweet and romantic. Almost like a reintroduction to each other
As they pulled away, both slightly out of breath and a little starry eyed, Rory was the first to speak
"And that right there fully exceeded my preconceived expectations of the direction of the night" She said with a giant grin on her face
"Well we aim to please, Miss. Gilmore" Logan replied with an equally giant grin on his face. "Well I guess I had better get going, I think we both have work tomorrow morning, and I wouldn't want my newest investment to fail because one of the owners is too busy making out"
"We definitely wouldn't want that. Thanks for a great night, Logan."
"Anytime, Ace." Logan replied as he started walking to the waiting car. "I'll talk to you soon. Goodnight, Ace."
"Night, Logan."
And with that, Logan go into the car, and Rory walked into her dark house and closed the door, leaning against it. Bringing her out of her daze, Rory heard her phone ringing from inside of her Mary Poppins-esque clutch.
"Hey sweets! How did the date go?" Lorelai asked before Rory could even say 'hello'
Walking to her coffee maker to get a cup started, Rory took a second to respond
"Mom. I think it is happening again"
"What is happening again? You have to give Mommy some more words here"
"I think I am falling back in love with Logan."
This chapter took way longer to write than expected, but I think it should be worth the wait. I will try to update more frequently, but clearly I cannot make any promises.
Don't forget to review/favorite/follow, since I apparently require outside validation to continue writing!