Epithet of a Heart

Rory had always hated Valentine's Day. In her opinion, it was the most overrated holiday out there. A holiday invented by women in love to make themselves feel better by making those who had no one to love feel worse.

It was, of course, all well and good if you had a significant other on Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, Rory was alone this fine day. She hadn't had a boyfriend in over two years. Dean didn't count – he had a wife – and the fling she had had with Logan had been short-lived.

That was part of the reason she was alone in the pub, drinking down shot after shot trying to drown her sorrows. Everyone on campus seemed to have paired off while she was reduced to half-heartedly flirting with a middle aged bartender in the midst of her quest to get sufficiently drunk so that she wouldn't remember this in the morning.

Rory glanced over at the pool tables. Interestingly enough they were starting to call her, despite the fact that she hadn't played a single game of pool in her life. She shrugged minutely to herself - maybe all of the alcohol was finally starting to work.

Suddenly a loud voice announced its presence. "Alas! The love of women! It is known to be a lovely and fearful thing!" proclaimed Finn loudly in her ear.

Internally she cursed her bad luck – she wasn't in the mood to deal with Finn and his quirks. "Lord Byron."

"Quite right my astute friend," said Finn smiling as he came into Rory's view.

"Hello Finn," said Rory, resigned to the fact that Finn wasn't going anywhere.

"If I may ask, what are you doing at this fine establishment on a day like today?"

Rory looked at him, incredulous. "I could ask you the same thing. Don't you have some arm candy that needs attending to?"

Finn shook his head energetically. "Nope."

"Huh. Learn something new everyday."

"So, back to my question: What is a fine young lady such as yourself doing all alone on Valentine's Day?"

"I'm trying to drown my sorrows. Want to join me?" Rory asked gamely as she scooped up a handful of candy hearts that were sitting on the bar, in place of the peanuts regularly kept there.

"Don't mind if I do," said Finn as he plopped down on a barstool. He reached over to take a candy heart and did a double take. "Why are there no white ones?" he asked Rory.

"Sorry buddy. The early bird gets the worm. I've been picking the white ones out for over an hour now."

"But the white ones are my favorite," whined Finn pathetically.

"Join the club."

Finn reached down the bar to drag another bowl of the candies toward him.

"Don't bother," Rory told him. "When I said I've been picking all of the white ones out, I meant all of them."

"Why, you conniving little girl!" said Finn with an almost proud look on his face. "I've taught you well."

"I beg to differ," said Rory. "My mother taught me well."

"Yes, well, that too," said Finn airily. Finn called the bartender over and ordered a beer. Rory raised an eyebrow – Finn just didn't seem like the type who drank beer. "Some days, the unsophisticated holds its own value," he offered as explanation. "Valentine's Day is one of those days." His face darkened and Rory's curiosity was piqued.

"Why?"

Finn took a gulp of his beer. "Why what? Oh, why is Valentine's Day one of those days?"

"Yeah."

Finn waved his hand dismissively. "It's a long, complicated, boring story that no one should be subjected to."

Rory sensed that this was a touchy subject and let it drop.

They sat popping candy hearts into their mouths at random intervals. Abruptly, Rory snorted and Finn looked up at her confused.

"It says 'IM me,'" Rory laughed.

Finn looked at the bartender. "How much has she had?"

The barkeep looked just as astonished at Rory's behavior as Finn did. "Not enough to cause that!"

"I'm sorry," said Rory, wiping her eyes, "I was just wondering if it was a command, like this one that says 'email me' or a statement like this one here that says 'URA 10'"

Finn just shook his head. "Come on, silly girl," he said, holding his hand out to her. "Let's go play some darts."

Rory looked contemplatively at his hand. "Darts? I was thinking more about playing pool."

"Nonsense," said Finn. "Why waste your inebriation on pool? It's harder to play pool when drunk, but it's easier to play darts."

"I don't believe you," said Rory, but she put her hand in Finn's nonetheless.

"Good girl," said Finn as he pulled her to her feet and swung his arm around her shoulder.

As they started playing darts, Finn demanded, "So, tell me a secret!"

Rory spun around and look at him. "Like what?"

"Like why you're here alone," Finn suggested.

"It's no secret," she said. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"So tell me about your past boyfriends…" urged Finn.

"Only if you tell me why you hate Valentine's Day," countered Rory.

Finn acquiesced surprisingly easily. "Deal."

"Alright," said Rory, as she sat down, letting Finn take his turn at the dartboard. "I don't know what you want to know…" she sighed.

"Let's start with names."

"Jess and Dean."

"First and last."

"Dean Forrester and Jess Mariano."

"Alright. Situation?"

"Dean was my first boyfriend; we broke up because I liked Jess. Jess left right for California before my high school graduation. The end. Your turn."

"I'm sure there's more to it then that, but I'll let you off the hook for now," said Finn graciously. Rory looked at him expectantly. "How about I give you the Reader's Digest version? My mom and dad split up on V-day."

Rory didn't know what to say. That wasn't what she had been expecting. "I'm sorry."

Finn shrugged. "Ancient history."

"If it really was ancient history, it probably wouldn't hurt so much," observed Rory sagely.

"You got me there," said Finn. They both sat in contemplative silence looking at the dartboard as if it held all of the answers.

AN: Okay, since I'm such a nice person, I'm going to try and write a multichapter Finn/Rory! I don't know how it will turn out, so don't expect too much. But in the meantime, I'd love to hear what you think! Review, please- Rebecca