"Rory, love, come with us!"

"No, Finn," Rory sighed.

"But… but… but—"

"But you're exotic! But tomorrow's the first day of senior year! But we need to celebrate! But I don't have class until eleven; that's plenty of time to sleep off a hangover! But I'm twenty-one now; I don't have to worry about getting caught! But Colin needs to find a girl! But you want to get me drunk and into your bed!" Rory rattled off all the reasons and persuasions she knew he'd use.

"Exactly! I mean, wait—what, kitten?" Finn backtracked, confused.

Rory rolled her eyes. "I know you, Finn; I know that's what you'd say. Now, you know me, and you know that what I will say is no."

"Ah, but pet, I know you so well that I know that my constant badgering, not to mention my manly charms, will eventually wear you down and you'll come—so why not just give in now?"

"Finn, I do not want to get drunk and hung over for the first day of classes. I do not want to miss the first day of senior year. I do not want a one-night stand to console me for the loss of my boyfriend's companionship to a stupid job in London. I want to stay at home and read a book and get to bed at a reasonable hour so that I can wake up on time and go get good coffee and be early for class, looking pretty and bright-eyed and ready to learn so I can charm my professors. If I party with you tonight I will not be waking up on time and I will not be looking pretty and bright-eyed; thus there will be no charmage of professors and the whole year will be so much harder!" she berated him.

Finn laughed heartily. "Did you just say 'charmage'? I am rubbing off on you, doll! Now, come with us and let me do it some more," he demanded with a wink.

"NO!" Rory shouted and walked away from the door. "I am going to my bookshelf and picking up a very serious book—I'm reading my anthology of Sylvia Plath's poetic works! I AM NOT GOING TO THE PUB WITH YOU TONIGHT!" she finished from her bedroom.

"Yes you are, love." Finn smirked. "See you later!" and he went back to his own dorm, shutting the door behind him.

——————————

I cannot believe him, Rory thought with a wry grin. He's so much like Logan… Man, I miss Logan… I need to call him tonight. She went on reading until about twenty minutes later, when her cell phone rang. She sighed and flipped it open. "Hello."

"You're reading something depressing, aren't you?" said a bright voice on the other end.

"No!" Rory said and hastily shut the book of poems.

"Shut up; you so are," laughed Stephanie Vanderbilt. "What I'm wondering, is why, when you could be going shopping with me?"

"I'm reading because I know your silly plots; you want to lure me with new clothes and shoes so I'll come to the pub with you!" Rory accused.

"Me! Never!" Steph said, as if deeply wounded. "You talk like I'm Finn or something!"

"Basically you are, Steph," laughed Rory.

"Crap, you're right. Oh well! And wouldn't you like to come shopping with me? I need new stuff! It's senior year of college, Rory! Plus, I have my dad's permission to buy whatever I… ahem… need for school in terms of food and supplies and clothes. And surely, if my friends need as well, he couldn't object to helping them out."

"No, Stephanie, I'm not going to do this. I need to prepare myself for a good day tomorrow!"

"I need a buddy and Rosemary's not getting here until tonight. Pleeeeease!"

"Steph, what are we going to do with you! You're insane. Besides, where can we go shopping around here, right now?"

"You're weakening; I can tell," Stephanie said with an evil laugh. "New Canaan's got a decent mall; that's definitely less than an hour if we speed. I've found Jimmy Choos there," she said tantalizingly.

"Evil temptress! Daughter of the devil! I will resist your wicked wiles!" Rory almost shouted.

"Really cute ones; all colors… heels, flats, boots…" her friend went on as if unaware.

"Boots!" shrieked Rory. She swore. "Okay, you've got me. I remembered that I really really wanted a pair of blue boots to go with a cute new skirt I got with my mom… But I'll pay for them."

"Awww, that ruins my fun. You have to let me buy at least something for you."

"Something, maybe, but not expensive shoes. How soon do you want to leave?"

"ASAP. Ten minutes? That'll give us four hours if we want to be back by seven."

"We could always stay there longer, and you could avoid the whole sucky-hangover-for-first-day-of-classes thing," Rory said hopefully.

Stephanie laughed. "Nope, sorry Reporter Girl; I promised Colin I'd go tonight and help him stick it out with Finn. Finn's probably planning on getting completely trashed and inviting at least three girls home with him, so Colin will need some moral support. Plus he needs to go because he needs to find someone. You know anyone he might like?" she asked, completely changing the subject.

"I hear Jessica Simpson's free; her IQ's low enough for him," Rory giggled. "But really, hmmmm… I don't know… well, yeah, there's this one blonde that he would probably be okay with, but I don't think she thinks he's her type."

"Unattached?"

"More or less," Rory said, the giggle blooming into full-out laughter.

"Who is she? Do I know her?"

"Oh, yeah, I'd say so."

"It's not that Paris chick, your roomie, is it?" Steph said, horrified.

Rory doubled over, laughing uproariously. "No, Stephanie Anne Vanderbilt…" she managed to gasp out. "Paris and Colin would murder each other. Besides, she's dating Doyle. Former YDN editor, remember?"

"Oh yeah," said Stephanie, wrinkling her nose. "The tiny anal-retentive one, right?"

"That's the one," the brunette answered, finally managing to control her hysterics. "Anyway, my ten minutes are now down to seven. Your car or mine?"

"Mine's cooler. See you there." Stephanie hung up, puzzling over Rory's laughter and who the unknown blonde could be.

Rory quickly hung up her phone and changed from her shorts and t-shirt into comfortable but cute jeans and a cami with a short-sleeved shrug over it. She tamed her curls with a little styling serum and swiped on mascara and lip gloss, and then chose a pair of shoes. I'd better bring the skirt so I'm sure the shoes match. And there was that one pair of cute flats that I bought without having anything to wear with them…I'd better bring those so I can get something that'll work. She looked at her watch. Two minutes. What else do I need? Just purse—keys, cell, money, skirt, shoes. All good. Rory picked up her things and headed out to the parking lot to meet Stephanie.

——————————

"Hey, Finn. I got her to come with me to shop, so we'll both be at the pub around seven-thirty or eight."

"Thanks, doll," Finn said with glee.

"Wipe that grin off your face, moron. Hey, do we know any blondes that Colin might like, like for serious? Not just for a night, but a long-term kind of thing?"

"I don't know about you, but I certainly do," Finn smirked.

"You know a relationship-type girl that I don't know?" Stephanie said incredulously.

"I think you know her, but I don't think you think of her as Colin's type, or of Colin as her type." Finn began laughing.

"What is with all you people and refusing to be serious about this subject!" Stephanie asked, outraged, switching her cell from hand to hand as she changed her shirt.

"May I inquire, love, why you are so anxious to get Colin mate a girl?" He was still laughing.

"Because he needs someone to keep him under control with all this law school crap and what his dad's putting him through!"

"You're doing a fine job of that, though, Steph love," Finn smiled.

"Well, I won't be at Yale for the rest of the years and years and years that he has to be here." The blonde rolled her eyes.

"You'd like to be, though, wouldn't you, sweet?" Finn muttered.

"What!" Stephanie raised her eyebrows, forgetting that Finn couldn't see her, and headed out of her dorm room.

"How can you be so bloody clairvoyant with other people's romances and so painfully oblivious about your own!"

"I swear, Finn, if you don't repeat yourself—"

"I said, Steph kitten, you'd love to be around for the rest of the years Colin mate has to deal with law school crap and all the other years when his dad's going to be putting him through hell?" the Australian said loudly, almost laughing again.

"I cannot believe you said that." Stephanie hung up and stepped into the elevator to go meet Rory. No sooner had she pushed the ground-floor button than her phone rang. She sighed and answered. "What, you jerk?"

"Thank you for your words of kindness, love. I promise not to trip any more alarm wires. Just wondering, would you happen to know what kind of drink Rory likes?"

"Whoa, mister, there's an alarm wire right there."

"What?" Finn said, feigning innocence.

"Rory. Ordering a special drink to be ready for her when she gets to the pub. Just because Logan's in London doesn't mean she's fair game."

"Of course not!" the Aussie said calmly. "You forget, kitten, that I always order a drink for you on the night before the first day of school, too. Rory love is my friend as well."

"Finn, you've known me since freshman year of high school."

"And I've known Reporter Girl since her sophomore year of college, why?"

"You know what I mean, idiot. She's Logan's girl. Be careful."

"Fine, love, now what kind of drink does she like?" Finn said, annoyed.

"Get her a chocolate martini." Stephanie closed her phone again and went toward her car. "Hey Ror!" she called and waved to the brunette who was standing near Steph's green BMW.