Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with Gilmore Girls.

Note: I am not following the episodes.

"There it was, what he wanted – tangibly before him….." (Paul's Case - Willa Cather)

He wanted her. As soon as his eyes collided with her big baby blues, all rational thought escaped him. His mind went blank, his breathing became shallow, and his heart started to race. She was breathtaking. Those eyes, that face, that body. He stifled a groan. God! He wanted her.

He didn't know her name; he had never seen her before. She didn't seem like the type of girl one would find mindlessly partying, downing drink after drink, and that, he believed, was the reason he had never met her before. Most of his time was spent getting drunk off his ass, shamelessly flirting with anything sporting breasts (more particularly breast brandishing red-heads), and sleeping off the effects of the previous night, with the occasional class attendance. This girl looked like the studious, class attending, school loving type; totally on the other side of the spectrum when compared to him. Nonetheless the attraction was there, he couldn't deny it, and by the look in her eyes, she felt it too.

His friend Logan was having an inane conversation with the tall dark haired man standing beside his blue eyed beauty; they were talking about margaritas or something. Truth be told, he wasn't paying the least bit attention to Logan and Marty (at least he thought that was the guy's name), he was completely focused on the girl beside Marty.

She opened her mouth to speak quite a few times, her eyes glued to his, but nothing escaped her lips. Marty was turned towards her, looking at her strangely, he noticed, breaking eye contact with her to size this guy up. No sooner had his eyes left hers, he saw her shake her head, smile at Marty, and softly speak to him. Marty smiled and turned back to Logan and his friends.

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your little friend?" Logan queried, his gaze traveling over the girl, a smirk forming on his face as he saw her blush.

"Uh sure. This is my friend Rory," Marty stammered, obviously not used to making introductions.

Logan smirked as he extended his hand. "Logan Huntzberger, pleasure to meet you." Rory reached out and grasped his hand, giving it a quick shake. "This is my friend Stephanie Abbot," indicating the blonde girl hanging on his arm.

Stephanie smiled at Rory, and warmly shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Rory," she said.

Logan turned and gestured with his hand to the shorter, brown haired boy and said, "This is Colin Fairview."

Colin gave Rory a haughty look, but still extended his hand to take hers.

"And this," Logan said, "is Finley Morgan, known to people as Finn." He had noticed, along with everyone else, the way Rory and Finn had been staring at each other; the sexual tension radiated from them.

Rory once again locked eyes with the guy named Finn, heat suffusing her cheeks when she realized that he had been ravaging her body with his eyes. She stuck out her hand for him to shake, and was quite surprised when instead of doing so, he led it up to his lips for a kiss.

"Pleasure to meet you, love," he said, smiling dashingly at her.

Rory was not just slightly embarrassed by the use of such an intimate term, but when she finally noted the Australian accent, her embarrassment subsided somewhat.

"Nice to meet you all," she said, plastering a smile onto her face, "but Marty and I have some things to do. Have a nice day." And with that she linked her arm through Marty's, downed the rest of her coffee, and pulled him away, barely allowing him to say goodbye.

Finn's eyes followed Rory's retreating figure until she and Marty were out of view. When they turned a corner and he lost sight of them, Finn turned back to his friends, who were all looking at him, Logan smirking, Stephanie genuinely smiling, and Colin looking annoyed.

"What?" he asked, as they all continued to stare at him.

The three looked at each other, and back at him. "Nothing," Logan said, the smirk getting larger.

"Good. Let's go get plastered," Finn suggested, offering his arm to Stephanie, as he started walking off towards the pub.

"Come on Rory! Please!" Paris begged to an annoyed Rory.

"Paris I said no. I do not want to go to the pub. You know I don't like going there. And you don't either. Why are you so desperate to go?" Rory gave up on pretending to be engrossed in Austen, and turned her full attention to Paris.

"Terrance told me that I need to start putting myself out there as it has been quite awhile since Asher's death, and I don't want to do it alone. Please Gilmore! I'll do anything you want, I swear. Just come out with me!" Paris sat down beside Rory on the couch, and gave her a pleading look.

"Fine," Rory relented with a huff, "but this means coffee, lots and lots of coffee. Don't think I'll let this go. You owe me big time." Rory got up and walked into her room, after Paris thanked her profusely. "Give me 15 minutes."

After her 15 minutes, Rory walked out of her room dressed in a denim skirt; a long-sleeved, form fitting, white sweater; black stockings; black boots; and a blue jacket. Her hair was in curls that cascaded down her back, and her makeup was simple, mascara and a touch of lip gloss.

"Let's get this over with, Geller," she muttered as she walked out the door, letting Paris lock up behind them.

Paris hurried to catch up to Rory, and as she did, she asked nervously, "How do I look?"

Rory stopped and turned to survey Paris' outfit. She also wore a denim skirt, though hers was black; a red, short-sleeved sweater; a black jacket; and a pair of black shoes. Overall the effect was quite good.

"You look great, Paris. Don't worry." Rory smiled at Paris, and started walking again.

"Now how long do we have to stay here?" She asked, as the entrance to the pub came into view.

"Depends on how long it takes for me to find a guy."

Rory nodded, and pushed through the doors. It was a sea of people; people everywhere. Rory took a moment to survey her surroundings, and then looked to Paris.

"Drink?" She asked, and when Paris nodded Rory walked up to the bar, after asking Paris to find a table and what she would like.

"One Long Island Ice Tea, and a Coke, please," she said to the bartender. He nodded and started getting her order.

Rory waited at the bar, glancing around her, taking in the people. She saw numerous drunk people, girls and guys making asses of themselves, and just shook her head at their stupidity, a look of disgust making its way onto her features.

"Does the lady not like her surroundings?" came the question from beside her, the Australian accent unmistakable. Rory turned towards the voice, and her eyes instantly locked with the lust filled ones of one Finnley Morgan.

"Hello love."