The Thrill of the Chase

forty one

Summer passed by quickly after the young couple returned from vacation, and before they knew it Rory had returned to Yale for her final year. They quickly set into a routine that allowed them to still see each other every weekend, and at least once during the week, while Rory managed her classes and the paper, and Robert settled into corporate life.

Rory started to make a few new friends having lost most of her friend group when Robert graduated, and she needed someone other than Paris to socialize with or else she would go crazy. Especially as Paris was known to still be bitter about Rory being editor for the paper, having taken over for her last semester.

She was out one Thursday night for drinks with Olivia and Lucy, her new friends, when she saw Marty approaching from across the bar. She hadn't seen him in a long time, he disappeared almost, what seemed like off the face of the planet, as soon as she had gotten serious with Robert.

"Oh you can meet my boyfriend!" Lucy exclaimed, looking at someone across the room.

"I can't wait, you have been talking him up for a while," Rory said, teasing her friend.

"Well, you two need to stop being so loved up all the time," Olivia said, "I need some single friends."

"Hey we are out with you now aren't we?" Rory said, trying to reassure Olivia.

"Hey boyfriend," Rory heard Lucy say, while she stood to greet him with a kiss. Rory couldn't see his face with them kissing, so she turned to have a drink and wait for Lucy to make the introductions.

"Rory, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend. Boyfriend meet Rory," Lucy said laughing.

"Does this boyfriend have a name?" Rory asked as she turned to get her first look at Lucy's boyfriend. She was shocked to see it was Marty, even more shocking was how he continued the greeting.

"Hi Rory, nice to meet you. The name is Marty. I think sometimes she forgets what it is herself and that's why she defaults to boyfriend." Marty said, giving Rory a pleading look.

"Oh nice to meet you Marty, I've heard alot about you." Rory said, while reaching into her bag and texting Robert call me sos. She was hoping he was free and she could use the call as a reason to escape from the bar.

Less than a minute later her phone started to ring. "Oh this is Robert, I better get it, I'm going to head out now anyway," Rory said, pulling some money out and placing it on the table to cover her tab.

"But Marty just got here!" Lucy pouted.

"Nice to meet you, I'm sure I will see you again," Rory said apologetically, while pressing answer on her phone.

"Hi Robert, is everything okay?" she asked, knowing she was still earshot of the others.

"More like is everything okay with you?" he asked.

"Yep, yep, just walking out now," she said, listening so she would hear when she had left the hearing distance of the bar patrons. "Thanks for calling me, I needed an out."

"No problem, but what happened that you needed an out?" he asked, concern evident in his tone.

"Do you remember Marty? I was friends with him first and second year, we hung out kind of until we got serious, just as friends. He used to bartend for you guys?" she asked, hoping to prompt a memory.

"Vaguely, why?"

"He is Lucy's new boyfriend that she has been bigging up."

"Okay, but should that not be a good thing? You guys were friends right? How did that become an I need out situation?" Robert asked in confusion.