During her lunch hour on Thursday, Rory wandered over to Neiman Marcus to begin searching for the perfect silver dress to wear to the gala. If she could check that off of her to-do list, it would be ideal. After all, it was about five weeks away and it would probably need alterations. Her grandmother would perish if she knew that Rory was considering buying a gown 'off-the-rack' but she would have to deal with it. If Target sold the appropriate dress for the occasion, she would happily buy it from there while picking up juice and bath tissue this weekend. But - they don't, so she would have to be evasive to avoid killing her grandmother. Before she left her desk, she looked online at places where you could actually rent a dress. You picked it out, gave them the date you need it, they would send it to you, then you send it back after the event. It seemed easy enough. Rory saw a few things that caught her eye, but she preferred the idea of being able to dry on a formal before being expected to wear it.
Rory stopped for a cup of coffee on the way to the store while thinking about the gala. It promised to be a dull evening with a bunch of her grandparents' friends congratulating them on having enough money to support an entire building at Yale. It still bewildered her that they named a freaking planetarium after her instead of something that legitimately interested her, like a library, junk food cafe or a coffee museum. But it was their favorite night of the year, so she dressed up, smiled and played the part for the evening until she was able to sneak out and go home.
She walked through the dress section, the shoe department, the jewelry counter and nothing really caught her eye. The real problem is that she was dreading the event so nothing felt right. She could always call her grandmother who could have Miss Celine gather some choices, but that meant a long day in Hartford while Emily got to use Rory as her own personal dress up doll for three hours. Lorelei always attended and mocked Rory mercilessly the entire time, which got old the first hour of the first event. Before she knew it she was walking back out the door and was heading to the street. As she walked out the door, a guy held the door for her to walk through.
"Rory? Is that really you?" Colin exclaimed as he held the door for her.
"Oh my gosh! Colin McCrea! It is so good to see you." Once they got out of the doorway, they hugged politely and stared at each other for a few seconds. "So, how are you?" she finally asked.
Colin nodded, "I'm good thanks. I finished law school a few years ago and I'm at the family firm. I believe 'living the dream' is the only way to describe it," he said dryly. "What about you? How the hell are you?" he asked.
Rory stammered a little, "Um, I'm good. I traveled for work a while after Yale and now I'm at NBC. Its not exactly what I planned but its cool. I work with nice people and the stories are good." As she sipped her coffee, her diamond ring caught the light.
Colin took the cue and gestured to her left hand, "So are congratulations in order?"
She nodded shyly, "Yes, I guess so. I'm engaged," she said with a smile. "Its still strange to say - being engaged sounds like something grownups do. When did we start to identify as adults?"
Colin shook his head, "No one has ever mistaken me for an adult, so don't ask me," he said with a chuckle. "So, who is he? It is a he, right? Or have all my fantasies finally come true?" he asked with a smirk.
"Oh geez! Yes, its a he. His name is Stewart. He's a really nice guy," she said. "You would like him. Everyone does."
Colin kept up the charade of pretending to not know anything about this. "Did he go to school with us? I don't remember a Stewart..." he said while he rubbed his chin.
"No, no, he went to Harvard. I don't think he ever spent much time around New Haven," she shook her head.
"Oh, sure," he said. "How did you meet?"
"I was visiting my dad in Boston and went to a coffee shop near his house," Rory said. "I'm sure you're shocked that I was getting coffee."
Colin shook his head. "No, but I'm shocked that you don't own a couple dozen Starbucks by now. It would probably be a wise financial investment for you," he said with a grin.
"I'll think about it. Thanks for the idea," she said with a wry smile. "So... how is Finn? Is he also in New York?"
He nodded, "He is. but with the hotel chain, he's kind of everywhere. I think he has 10 offices."
Rory's eyes widened. "I have trouble imagining him with one office, but ten is just wild!" she exclaimed.
Colin chuckled and nodded, "Yep, definitely." He took a breath and finally said, "You know, you can ask about Logan if you want."
Rory pursed her lips and said, "Well, is he good? I hope he's good."
Colin nodded, "He's good. He just moved back to New York actually." With raised eyebrows he offered, "I can say hi to him for you if you want."
Rory cut him off with a frown and said, "No, that's okay. But I'm glad he's good."
Colin nodded again, "Me too. I'm glad he's good." He waited a minute and asked, "Would you ever want to grab lunch with Finn and me? You could even bring your guy if you wanted. It would just be nice to see our friend again. I know Finn is going to be upset that I saw you and he didn't."
Rory swallowed and he face brightened. "You know what? Yes. I would love to have lunch one day with you and Finn." She reached in her bag and grabbed one of her cards and a pen. She wrote a number on the back. "Here's my number and email address. Call me and we can plan something soon."
Colin reached in his wallet and gave her a card as well. "I'm so glad I ran into you. Its been too long..." He hugged her and waved as she rushed down the sidewalk.