Summer Lovin'

Right, so I obviously own none of the Gilmore Girls Characters, but if you don't recognize it, then maybe I got creative and decided to make my own…but I don't see that happening.

Chapter 1

Boxes and Beginnings

"I hate packing." Lorelai wined as she stuffed another box full of clothes for her daughter. "I am glad that you are finally moving into an apartment, this way I don't have to pack all of you crap every 9 months." She complained, sitting on the box she just taped up.

"Well Mom, I am sorry for making you work a little, but I promise that you won't have to move me again for at least another year."

"You are lucky you are just moving a few blocks away, anymore than that I would have hired a few strong burly men to help us." Lorelai said as Luke walked in to retrieve yet another box. "Well, aside from Luke." Lorelai finished.

"Seriously, how much stuff can a 20-year-old girl acquire?" He said, picking up her fourth box of clothes.

"I taught her not to throw anything away. Look at this cut-off sweatshirt. After Flashdance went out of style, nobody expected the look to come back. Thank goodness I kept this, now Rory gets to re-live my glory days."

"Your glory days? So getting pregnant at 16 and dropping out of high school was the pinnacle of your success?" Rory asked with a grin.

"Hey now, if it was not for this sweatshirt there would be no Rory, so be thankful of it. In fact, I think we should put this in a frame, put a spotlight on it, and light some candles around it. It would make the beginning of a great shrine." Lorelai said with a huge grin.

"You do realize you are crazy don't you?" Luke asked his girlfriend.

"Well, if I acknowledge that I am crazy, does that mean that I am in fact not crazy? People never know if they are crazy when they are in fact crazy, but by me recognizing the symptoms of crazy that means that I am actually quite sane."

"Or all the more insane." Luke said with a laugh.

"Don't even pretend that you don't like it." Lorelai said, swatting him.

Rory took another walk though of her dorm and sighed. "I think that is everything." She said as they picked up her last box. "As much as I hated living in the dorms, I think I am really going to miss it." Rory said, as they walked out of her room and locked the door. "I just have to drop this off with my RA; I will meet you by the car." Rory said, holding up her key.

OOOOOOOO

"Do you think Paris and Marty are already here?" Lorelai asked Rory as they made their way up to Rory's new apartment with the first load of stuff.

"Yeah, they were supposed to move in yesterday, so they should be able to help me settle in." Rory said, reaching her new home, room 256. She reached for the doorknob just as Lorelai fished out her camera.

"Okay, let's get one of you opening the door to your new place." She said, snapping a picture of Rory stepping into her apartment.

The common room was pretty bare except for the craft corner that Paris had already set up and a comfortable looking Laze-y-boy sitting in the corner. Rory had the rest of the stuff for the room that was given to her by Emily her freshman year. Rory looked around the huge room in awe. She remembered touring the place with Marty and Paris a few months ago, but she did not remember how big it was. The floor was solid oak, and the windows were at least 12 feet high. Each room was about twice the size of her last bedroom, which meant that Rory could afford to bring more books with her, and the best part was the walk in closets that they each had.

"Wow kid, you are living in luxury now." Lorelai said with a grin. "These are not like any student apartments I have ever seen."

"I know, can you believe it? I guess once you become an upperclassman you get the best housing." Rory said.

"RORY?" Paris yelled from behind one of the doors. "DID I HEAR RORY OUT THERE?"

"I DON'T HEAR ANYTHING." Marty shouted back through another door.

"GUYS, I'M HERE!" Rory shouted to her two friends.

"OH, I GUESS SHE IS HERE." Marty yelled back. "HI RORY."

"HI MARTY." Rory yelled.

"HEY MARTY, WHY DON'T YOU COME HELP RORY MOVE IN?" Lorelai continued with the shouting theme.

"OH RIGHT." Marty yelled, finally opening his door.

"I forgot how amazing this place was." Rory said to him when he emerged.

"I know, I can't believe that we actually got it. I am so glad that the senior who was supposed to get it went through some sort of mental breakdown at the end of the year, otherwise we would have to suffer through another year in the dorms."

"Oh I know. As bad as it sounds, I am so happy that he had to temporarily leave school. Thank you so much for inviting me and Paris to live here with you." Rory said, giving him a hug.

"Well, why wouldn't I want two beautiful women living with me? Besides, Paris is so insane that she keeps me highly entertained. Anyway, let me help you grab your stuff."

"Thanks, I have about 20 more boxes, and my Grandma is having the big stuff dropped off in about 3 hours."

"Thank God! I was going insane having to talk to Paris and not watch TV." Marty said laughing. "As crazy as she is, I can only take her in small quantities."

OOOOOOO

After the last box was dropped off into Rory's room, Lorelai and Luke said their goodbyes.

"Okay hun, remember you can come home whenever you want. It is summer, don't work too hard."

"Thanks mom, but I don't know how much time I am going to have. Between the internship at the paper, my summer class and the part-time job at the coffee shop, I am going to be booked pretty solid for the next few months."

"I can't believe you are taking on an internship and a job!" Luke said to her.

"Well I didn't have much of a choice, the internship does not pay and I am not about to go another year without money." Rory said with a small smile. "And I had to take the summer class. It is going to be taught by…"

"The most amazing adjunct professor ever, who is only here for the summer from Columbia." Lorelai finished for her daughter.

"So I take it I have said that already?" Rory said.

"Just a few times. I wish I could get that excited about school." Lorelai said giving Rory a hug.

"Anyway, I will see you on Friday at Grandma's. Are you bringing Logan?"

Rory made a face, but quickly masked her initial reaction with a smile. "Um, I don't think so. He is going out of the country this summer. He wanted to go sailing in Europe or something." Rory said with a trace of anger.

"Well, his loss then." Lorelai said smiling.

"Oh please mom. Try to do a better job of hiding your pleasure." Rory said with a sigh.

"Well, I am sorry if I never liked the kid. He was irritating and a complete snob. So does this mean that you guys are done?" Lorelai asked hopefully.

"We are taking a break. He said he did not want me to be alone all summer, so we decided it would be best if we decided to see other people. When he gets back in September we will see what happens."

"He thought you should not be alone or he thought he could not be alone all summer?" Lorelai asked Rory skeptically.

"It does not matter, we are on a break that may be indefinite, that is all you need to know." Rory said, going towards her mother.

"Are you okay with this? You don't sound too upset about it." Lorelai asked, again sounding skeptical.

"I am completely fine. We did not date that long, and when we did finally start the exclusive thing it was too dramatic. I don't need that in my life right now, I am too busy for it. Besides, if I was still with Logan, living with Marty would fare nearly impossible."

"True, and we all love naked boy, so I guess this is for the best." Lorelai said, giving her daughter a hug.

"Well, good luck tomorrow with your first day of class. Call me and let me know how it goes."

"I will. Thanks for the help moving my stuff here." Rory said to both Luke and Lorelai.

"No problem kiddo." Luke said.

"Kiddo?" Lorelai asked him with a wicked smile.

"Oh God, I am never going to live that one down." Luke said reddening.

"Bye guys." Rory said closing the door behind them.

"DO YOU NEED ANY HELP?" Paris shouted to Rory from inside her room.

"NO THANKS, I AM JUST GOING TO PUT MY STUFF AWAY." Rory shouted back, heading to her room.

Thankfully Luke had already set up her bed, and Rory sank down into its comfort. She sighed as she felt a tear trickle down her cheek. She felt horrible for lying to her mother, but she did not want to tell her what had actually happened between her and Logan. She knew that her mother would only gloat in the fact that she was right.

Rory extracted the worn letter from her pocket. She read over its contents for the 8th time that day.

Dear Ace:

I know this is shitty of me, and I know that I promised you more than this, but I also know that this is not in me. It is not possible for me to be in a monogamous relationship at this point. It is not you, it is me. I know that sounds like a stupid line, but it is the truth. I tried to change for you, and I really wanted to, but I guess my reputation preceded me, and I could not escape it. I did not lie when I told you that I loved you, and I did not lie when I told you that you were the one. I hope that someday I will grow up and be worthy of you, but until that day, I am afraid that I will hurt you. I don't blame you if you don't wait for me, but please don't forget me. I am leaving today for Europe; I will be gone all summer. I will look you up when I get back.

Love,

Logan

Rory crumpled up the paper and threw it on the floor. She knew that Logan doubted their relationship, but she did not expect him to run away from it. She knew that she would not wait around for him. She was not going to give him her heart again, she had already tried that with Dean…twice. They had their chance, and now it was over.

"I'm better this way." Rory said to herself. "He did not appreciate me, and he does not deserve me."

Eventually Rory got up and started unpacking her first box of clothes.

OOOOOO

After four straight hours of unpacking, Rory was grateful for an interruption. When she heard a knock on the door she turned down her music and yelled "come in."

"Hey." Paris said to Rory as she attempted to straighten the rug she just put on the floor.

"Hi." Rory said, avoiding eye contact.

"So I could not help but overhear the tribute to Ani that you have been playing all afternoon." Paris said. "Is something up?"

"No not at all. I will put in something else." Rory said, standing and reaching for one of her many boxes of CDs.

"Good, because if I have to listen to Untouchable Face one more time I think that I may have to break up with Doyle and write off all men."

"Hey, it is a good song." Rory said, putting in her Garbage CD instead.

"I know it is, but it is also a very anti-man song, and it leaves me a little depressed. Thus my question; are you sure everything is okay?"

Rory looked up at her friend. They had gone through so much together that it felt wrong hiding this from her. Rory sighed and reached for the crumpled letter from the floor and handed it to Paris silently.

Paris looked at Rory quizzically and read the note. After her eyes widened in shock, Paris smoothed out the note, folded it and placed it on Rory's bed. She then went over to her CD player and put her Ani Difranco CD back in the CD player and turned up Untouchable Face.

"I am not any good with this emotional stuff, but if you need me, I am here." Paris said walking out of her room.

Rory urged herself to keep her tears in as she put the note into her Logan box and slid it under her bed.

"RORY, we are going to get some Chinese food, come with us would you?" Marty asked through her closed door.

"Yeah, that sounds great Marty. Give me a minute and I will be right out." Rory said, rushing over to her mirror to remove any tell-tale marks of her crying spree.

OOOOOO

After dinner, Rory locked herself back in her room to finish unpacking and to get ready for her class tomorrow. She put her books into her bag along with a new folder and notebook that she had already labeled with the class name, room number and time. Her clock read 11:30 by the time she gave up sorting through her remaining boxes and went to bed. She checked to make sure her alarm was set for 8am and fell into a restless sleep.

Rory showered and changed into her short brown skirt and fishnets partnered with her knee high boots and clingy t-shirt she departed for her morning class. She was determined to look good her first day, after all, she was single again.

On her way to the classroom, she made a quick stop at her beloved coffee cart to order her beverage of choice and then finished it within the short distance to her class.

Rory looked up at the building, shifted her bag and entered, preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best.

She was still quite early when she reached the classroom. There were only a few other students in the room, none of whom she recognized. Rory decided to grab a table in the middle of the room. Each table sat two people, and Rory was not in the mood to initiate small-talk at this early hour, so she chose solitary over fakery.

A few more students filed in, also choosing desks by themselves. The class remained awkwardly silent as the minutes ticked closer to class time. Rory looked around; again not recognizing a sole, and turned back to the book she had started reading.

With only three minutes until class was scheduled to begin, Rory was convinced that she was doomed to spend the summer without a friend in class when she heard someone drop their bag off beside her.

"Well well well," he said to her. "If it isn't Mary."

OOOOOOOO

Okay guys, let me know what you are thinking of this story. I just came up with this idea last night, so it is kinda thrown together, but let me know if you want it to continue. I am a huge Rogan fan, but I wanted to write a Trory for once, just to see what would happen. This is my first Trory, and actually only my 3rd fic, so reviews would rock!