Disclaimer: Things would be a little different if I was writing the show. So no, I don't own Rory, Logan, Lorelei or any of the other characters.
Author's Ramblings:
Moving BackwardChapter 06: Constant
Friendship is constant in all other things, Save in the office and affairs of love.
-William Shakespeare
Lorelei Gilmore was going to die. From sheer boredom. Either that or she was going to kill herself so she didn't die from boredom. A slow, painful, dull death.
What was she doing here? Why had she inflicted this torture upon herself? Why had she let her daughter talk her into coming to this event, and why hadn't she been able to convince Luke to come too? Maybe her daughter had developed the power to brain wash people. Anything was possible at Yale.
Lorelei scanned the room in a search for the brunette in question. Where had her daughter disappeared to? The last she had seen of her a fine specimen of the male species had been asking her to run away him. Lorelei had walked away for fear that she might say yes instead.
Now she was afraid that the man with the Australian accent had been a friend of the evil spawn with the blonde hair and blue eyes. Her daughter did not need to be having second thoughts. She needed to get Rory away from him.
She swiftly passed through room after room of important people, until she made it to the pool house. Lorelei stopped short before entering the room, and observed her daughter. She was sitting on the arm of a couch, champagne glass in hand and rolling her eyes at something another young man, she assumed he was Colin, had said. He, who she would not name, stood next to her, observing her every move. She reminded Lorelei of herself too dam much.
Walking forward in a fit of rage Lorelei plastered a smile on her face and stopped only when her arms were around her daughter. "Rory, thank God I found you. Mommy was going to kill herself from sheer boredom."
"Mom…" Her daughter stuttered as the other elite stumbled to straighten their ties, hide the alcohol, and look dignified.
"Ms. Gilmore, uh, we…"
"Save it boys, Rory here tells me everything. So I know all about you're underage drinking and your so called sub-parties. I'm not here to bust you. I'm just here for some entertainment…"
"Mom, um can I talk to you for a moment away from the crowd…"
"Sure, sweetie."
Rory grabbed her mother by the arm and dragged her to a secluded section of the rather large pool house. "Mom, what are you doing?"
"Saving you."
"From what?"
"From yourself. Rory you don't need to be around him right now. It's just going to make things worse."
The younger Gilmore sighed, staring at her feet. "Rory, what is it?"
"Logan and I are friends. We're going to be friends."
"Excuse me, what, what did you say?"
Rory sighed. "Mom…"
"I thought I heard you say you were going to be friends with Logan."
"I did."
"Rory! Come on!" Lorelei stopped just short of stomping her foot. "Be serious here."
"I am serious. Mom." She paused. "I miss him. Okay, I missed him a lot when we weren't talking and just because we're not seeing each other anymore it doesn't mean I have to cut him out of my life completely!"
"Yes, it does. Do you see me talking to any of my exes?"
"Well, I'm not you, am I?"
Placing her drink on a nearby table Rory stormed towards the door.
As Lorelei watched her daughter walk away she sighed, backing up against the wall. She watched Logan grab her arm on the way out, she watched her daughter pull away from him as she continued on her way out, and she watched Logan gulp down his drink as he began to pace. That was so not how it was supposed to go.
"Well, I'm not you am I?"
Logan watched as Rory stormed passed him, and before he could stop himself he was grabbing her arm. She'd ignored him all night and all he could do was make sure she was okay. Maybe he could find something out about her very recent behavior if he got her to talk normally with him.
"Where are you going, Ace?"
She shook her head, and wriggled free from Logan's arm. "I just need some time to think, please Logan."
He sighed, and let her walk out the door, before grabbing another glass of champagne.
"See, now Christopher would have at least run after me."
"Ms. Gilmore—"
"For the love of God, it's Lorelei!"
"Lorelei, right I'm sorry, Ms. –Lorelei."
"Let's cut right to the chase here Logan. I don't like you."
"That's…understandable."
"I don't like you and I really don't want you around my daughter, whether you're in a relationship or otherwise."
"Well…that's impossible."
Taken aback Lorelei hardened. "Excuse me?"
"I get that you hate me and everything I represent and that if it was up to you it would be my head on those little platters they're serving here tonight, but it's not up to you. It's up to Rory."
"Hey, back off!"
"Now until I've mad my point." Logan's voice was firm. "Rory and I are going to continue to have some type of relationship, romantically or otherwise, and there is nothing you can do about it."
A pause.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go check on your daughter."
Watching him walk away Lorelei muttered to herself. "Christopher never would have said that to my mother."
Rory wrapped her arms more firmly around her chest as she walked alongside the pool. She wished she would have remembered to bring a shawl, but the cool air managed to calm her somewhat.
It seemed like everyone was suddenly against her and Logan socializing never mind being together. And that was the worst part, the being together thing was still in the back of her head. She couldn't get it out of her head, as much as she tried to think of him as platonically as she saw Finn and Colin, but she couldn't.
There was so much tension. There was so much history in such a short span of time. They argued. They laughed. They kissed. They made up. They made out.
Even without the relationship or lack there of, she still wanted him around. He challenged her. He debated with her. They had intelligent conversations. She liked talking to him. She liked debating with him, almost as much as she liked kissing him. But, oh she liked kissing him too.
See, this was her problem. This was what both Stephanie and her mother were trying to warn her about. She'd fall for him again; hell she was still fallen from their last round. Then one day she'd kiss him. They'd get back into their old habits. Things would seem okay, until she saw him with another girl.
They'd fight, and then he would disappear.
"Rory!"
Except she was having a hard time imagining him disappear when he just kept reappearing.
"I knew you couldn't have gotten that far Ace, but I thought you would have made it passed the pool."
"Logan…" She turned and gave the root of her current problems a weak smile before letting herself fall into a lawn chair.
"Oh, so you're actually going to talk to me now. Hmm, interesting…"
"Logan, don't."
"By the way, you know the whole your-mom-hates-me-thing?"
"Yeah…"
"I think I just made it worse."
"Why? What did you do?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure she was about to tell me to stay away from you, but I cut her off telling her that it was your decision and not hers, and to mind her own business."
Logan winced as the look of shock on Rory's face. Yes, mouthing off to the mother of the girl you are-well you're not sure what you are-with is the perfect way to score some bonus points.
Instead of attacking him, however, she laughed. Hysterically, and repeatedly. "My mom and I just fought about the exact same thing."
"Well I guess we're not as different as you make us out to be."
A sigh. "No, I guess not."
They sat in silence for a few moments before Rory worked up the nerve to speak. Biting her lip in nervousness she finally spoke. "Logan, it's not just my mother who doesn't think we should see each other."
"Who is it Ace, Finn? Are you taking him up on his offer to spend some time in Fiji?"
"It's Stephanie, Logan."
"You're running away with Stephanie to Fiji?"
"No, I mean its Stephanie that doesn't think we should be friends."
"That's absurd."
Rory turned away. "I met her for lunch the other day and she made some valid points. At first I thought it was just some protective sister thing, but I don't know, the more I think about it the more I think she's right.
"What?" He was standing now, hovering over her.
"I'm not saying that I want to stop talking to you. I'm just saying I need to figure a few things out first."
"Rory, come on, be reasonable."
Rory stood up, and faced Logan for the first time all night.
"I'm being rational Logan. That's better than reasonable. What is this? What are we? Were we ever friends? We weren't together? We were just…casually dating. And now we've stopped casually dating."'
He took a step towards her, and placed his hands on her hips. "I don't want to stop seeing you."
"Well, that's not your choice to make."
"And it's not yours either! Damn it, Rory!"
Silence. Rory tried to form words and failed. All she could do was make her escape.
"I should go back inside, sort things out with my mother, you know?"
Logan nodded, and stepped out of the way to let her pass. But before he did he brushed his lips softly and slowly against hers. She walked forward at first, not completely realizing what happened, and then she turned back to him
With a shake of her head Rory crushed her lips against his, her hands holding onto either side of his face. Passionate, insane, amazing. Logan, at first afraid to move, attempted to weave his hands into her hair, thinking maybe he had done something right.
Then of course, he had to be proven wrong. Slowly she separated herself from him and Logan watched her like a deer caught in the headlights. Her eyes filled with tears, and she ran, high heels and all, straight through the pool house, through the rooms of important people, and out to the front of the house.
It was then that she realized that she had planned on going home for the weekend and that her mother was her ride. So she sat on the side of her mother's jeep. She waited.
Logan watched Rory walk (actually run) away for him and he realized that for once he didn't want to watcher her go away. He was going to do something about it. Speeding through the rooms he ran to the front of the house, and then he saw her.
Hair in a pony tail, shoes in hands, and sulking.
She was as gorgeous as ever.
"Hi…"
"Hey…"
"Oh not this again…" Lorelei stepped out of the shadows, folded her arms, and frowned.