Nine

She was being ridiculous, standing in front of her full length mirror, overly concerned with her casual outfit of jeans and a long-sleeved Yale shirt. Her weight shifted from one foot to the other. Why did she even care?

"It'll have to do," she muttered to herself, smoothing her hair one last time and grabbing a small selection of DVDs, heading out to the living room to wait for Logan to arrive. She glanced over the movies in her hand, she had mostly popular choices, movies most people love but she smiled as she clutched the last movie in the small pile.

"We have to talk," Paris's voice broke the silence, surprising Rory.

"Paris!" Rory practically shouted, "What are you doing scaring me and what on Earth are you doing home? You mentioned you had plans tonight."

"What's going on with you, Rory?" Paris crossed her arms against her chest and plastered her I-Totally-Mean-Business face on.

"Nothing, just going to eat some takeout and watch a movie," she answered defensively, bypassing the accusing tone in Paris's voice that had nothing to do with Rory's evening plans and everything to do with the gentleman in question she had planned on doing them with.

"With him!" Paris yelled.

"If by him, you mean Logan Huntzberger, then yes, with him." Rory smiled, turning to pile the DVDs on the coffee table and slumping down in the loveseat, closing her eyes in hoped the rest of the lecture Paris had planned would magically go away.

"Logan Huntzberger," Paris sat on the couch, sounding completely defeated, "your… boyfriend."

"Yes, my boyfriend," Rory sighed. "You know, I don't see what the big problem is."

"The problem?" Paris screeched out again, "The problem is I feel like I've been abducted into the Twilight Zone and I can't find the remote to turn it off!"

"Paris! You are overacting," Rory shook her head.

"I'm overacting? You do a completely 180 in your dating life and I'm overacting? I've known you since high school… I know you… and this doesn't seem like you." Her voice softened at the end, stressing true concern.

Rory smiled softly, "Paris, we met by chance and he's actually very nice once you get to know him. He makes me laugh. He makes me laugh like I haven't laughed since…" her voice trailed off and she bit her lip, realization hitting her like a ton of bricks. She filed it away for later, too much to think about right now.

"I just don't want to see you hurt," Paris frowned, snapping Rory out of her train of thought.

"I'll be fine…" she barely finished, the sudden knocking at the door startling them both.

"I should get that," Rory jumped up, butterflied immediately started flapping around in her stomach. Butterflies? She shook her head to herself. More like bats.

"I should go," Paris smiled, albeit fake. "Have fun. Be good."

Rory nodded right and opened the door, to see mischievous faced Huntzberger smiling back.

"Hello, Logan," Paris said dryly, pretending to make an effort of civility.

"Hello, Paris," Logan flashed a million dollar smile.

"Goodbye, Logan," Paris said even dryer, stepping out the door.

"Goodbye, Paris," Logan copied her tone as she walked down the hall, finishing with a wink in Rory's direction.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have the friendliest roommate in the world?" Logan made his way over to the counter, depositing two grocery sized bags filled with what smelled like everything on the menu of her favorite Chinese restaurant near campus.

"Nope, never," she laughed.

"I can't see why not," he shook his head in mock disbelief.

"Okay, Ace. If it was on the menu, it's in the bag, so let's decipher what we have and dig in. Do you have plates?"

"Who eats Chinese food on actual plates?" Rory turned her nose up in disgust, grabbing one of the bags and heading toward the living room. "Find yourself a pair of chopsticks, Huntzberger and man up. To the couch we go!"

"You rebel you," Logan laughed, taking the second bag, following her plopping down on the couch and rifling through the bag.

"I grabbed some movies and since I'm playing hostess, you get to pick," she motioned to what was laid out, suddenly rethinking her choices and moving to put her favorite black and white film out of the running.

"What's that?" Logan noticed immediately, pointing the film in her hand.

"Um, it's black and white and one of my favorites and you probably won't like it and I have no idea why I even brought it out here," she rambled continuously until she was almost out of breath.

"Let's see it," he held out his hand.

She frowned, "It's Arsenic and Old Lace with…"

"Cary Grant!" Logan's eyes lit up, "I love this movie."

"Really?" Rory smiled, completely shocked.

"Any movie with a guy who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt and buries bodies in the basement is totally up my alley." He smiled, "Good choice, Ace."

They spent the next 3 hours watching the movie; pausing it occasionally to laugh about things and tell stories about their lives. It was low key and comfortable, and Rory's stomach hurt from too much Chinese food and way too much giggling.

Over the course of the evening neither of them had noticed that they went from sitting on two different couches, to be comfortably shoved into opposite corners of the loveseat.

"That was great," Logan beamed, sitting up, genuinely happy.

"Totally," Rory smiled, pushing the blanket off her legs and grabbing the remote.

"I think we learned some things about each other tonight, Ace. If anything, we're definitely getting more comfortable," he smiled.

"Yeah," Rory nodded, her lips forcing themselves into an uncomfortable smile.

"What is it," Logan noticed, calling her out on it and sending a little wave of panic through her.

"Why do you do that?" Rory scolded him, embarrassed.

"Do what?" he questioned, not having any idea of what she was talking about.

"You have this thing; you call me out on my awkwardness. It's a bit unnerving," she answered, half frustrated.

"I just call it how I see it, and I want you to be comfortable, that's one thing we both have to learn how to be with one another," he shrugged.

"I know…" she trailed off, thoughts taking her to how he turned her on her end.

"Like at dinner," he reminded her.

"When you touched me," she admitted, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

He nodded, "Girlfriends don't do that. Shy away."

"I know, but, I am new at this," her eyes lowered, spinning her ring around her finger, giving herself something focus on other than the tightness in her belly.

"Well, you should do what I'm sure you do best," Logan offered, an idea bubbling to the surface, "we should study."

"Study?" Rory's eyebrows furrowed together, confused.

"Yeah, you study everything else, why not this. Why not practice?" he patted the cushion next to him.

Without saying a word, Rory moved to sit right next to him.

"I'll do that cheesy thing teenagers do," Logan whispered, faking a yawn and a stretch and putting his arm around her.

Rory laughed, though she stiffened a bit at the contact.

"Relax, Ace," he whispered, "I'm not going to hurt you."

She turned to him, inches from his face and smiled. She believed him. God help her, but she believed him.

She pulled every bit of nerve she had and lifted her hand to touch his face. He smiled softly and his eyes grew deeper. He wasn't the rich playboy right now; in fact, Rory would swear that that Logan Huntzberger hadn't made an appearance all night. Right now he was something else, someone else; funny, gentle, kind. Maybe it was just for her, she didn't know, but what she did know was that she had really enjoyed his company. Way more than she ever thought she would. So she ignored the voice in her head and followed every instinct inside herself…

She kissed him.