It Was Never Really Goodbye - Gilmore Girls

Chapter 11

Rory's first week flew by.  They had done so many things that week, that her head was still spinning.  On Friday morning, she and Logan were going through the candidates that they had interviewed.  She was having a hard time making a decision and trying to goad Logan into telling her who to pick.  Unfortunately for Rory, the bodybuilder hadn't made the cut. 

"Oh my god!  Logan, I never bought a dress!"

He looked up at her and smiled, "I saw this coming Ace.  I ordered you a dress on Wednesday and booked you an appointment at a salon for three this afternoon.  Everything is taken care of."

"Really?"

"Really."

"So you're going to tell me who my new assistant is now, right?"

He started laughing at the sight of her hopeful face, "nice try!"

"Are you sure you don't want one of those young, pretty girls?  I would gladly take Marge off your hands..."

"Seriously!  That's it!"  When he finally stopped laughing, he looked at her seriously, "here's the deal, they are all equally qualified.  In this pile, lies the best of the best.  So now, you think back, which of those women did you relate to the most?  Which one loved...coffee and old movies and ridiculously large amounts of food that no one else on earth could possibly consume other than you and Lorelai?"

Rory just looked at him.  How did she forget that this man knew her so well?  She looked at her watch and realized that it was far past lunchtime.  "Can we eat lunch, and then I'll decide after?"

"Sure.  Where do you want to go?"

"What about that cafe down the block with the amazing coffee?"

"Let's go."

They walked out and passed Marge as they were leaving, Rory smiled and waved at her, "love that top today Marge!"

Logan leaned in close and growled, "quit trying to steal her, Ace."

They had fallen into a rhythm so quickly that it was almost seamless.  Rory worried about it a little but chose to ignore it.  She was already loving her job, even though she hadn't gotten to start on the finer points of it yet. 

When they got back to the office, she sat down in hers and laid out the applications.  Logan was right, they were all equally qualified.  She thought back over the interviews.  She remembered really connecting with one.  Pulling out the girl's application, she took another look.  She had just graduated from college. She had a general studies degree with an emphasis in journalism.

The girl had talked about feeling a little lost, unsure what she wanted to do in life.  She had excellent recommendations from a huge variety of places.  She was also the only one that arrived with a coffee.  Rory finally felt like she knew who to pick.  She picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Vivian?"

"Yes."

"This is Rory Gilmore from the Huntzberger Publishing Group.  How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Well, I'm pretty good.  I finally decided on who my new assistant is going to be."

She could hear the excitement in her voice, "Really?"

"Yup, that is if you still want it?"

"Yes!  So much!"

They ironed out the details for when she would start.  She was going to wait another week, that way Rory could have everything sorted out for her and ready to hit the ground running.  She walked over to Logan's office and stopped by Marge and nodded towards his door.  Marge nodded.  She walked in, "well, I have just hired my new assistant!"

"Seriously?"

"Yup."

He smirked, "Wow, I really thought you'd try to steal Marge at least once more."

"Well, we'll see how this goes.  Maybe I can just switch, and you won't notice."

He shook his head and looked at his watch, "just in time too.  It's time to go, the car should be waiting downstairs for you.  I'll pick you up tonight.  Do we need to make any other stops?"

"No."

"No date?"

"Nope, flying solo tonight."  She wasn't sure why she didn't at least attempt to find a date.  At the very least, she could have asked Finn.  "You?"

"Nope.  See you at five."

She nodded and left.  It would be nice to relax a little before an evening of schmoozing.  It had been a good week, hopefully tonight would be the same.

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Logan got out of the back of the car, walked up to Rory's building, and rang the buzzer.

She came over the intercom, "coming!"

He waited a couple minutes, then heard the door open.  When he turned around, he knew he had made the right choice with the dress.  She looked stunning, which really wasn't a surprise.  The sleeveless dress was black with a lace overlay in the same color on top and changed to red just under the bust.  It fit her perfectly, and the slit on her left thigh stopped in just the right place.  Her black strappy heels and black clutch matched perfectly.  Her hair fell in waves down her back, just how he had always loved it.

He realized that his jaw had dropped, and he quickly cleared his throat.  "You look nice."

"Says the man who picked out my clothes and manages to look perfect even in a tux ."

He smiled and held his arm out for her, "shall we?"

She nodded at him and then slid into the backseat with him following. Neither said much on the way there, both seemingly lost in their own thoughts. When they arrived, he got out first and then took her hand to help her out. They were quickly occupied by people that wanted to talk to the two new representatives for HPG.

They rarely left each other's sides. The comfort level between the two of them only seemed to increase as they spent more time together. As the night wound down, they found themselves at the bar with a few other colleagues around their age.

Logan noticed that Rory had been talking to one guy for awhile now. He recognized him as an editor at the New York Times. Rory seemed to be hanging on his every word. It was getting late and time to go, so he put his hand on her elbow and whispered closely in her ear, hoping the guy would get the wrong idea. "Probably time to go, Ace."

She glared at him a little but nodded.  She didn't actually say anything to him until they got in the car.  "Why did you do that?"

He had been waiting for it but didn't want to actually answer it.  "Do what?"

She glared, "you know what you did.  I was talking to that guy.  He was nice.  You made it look like we were together!"

"Well we did come together."

She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

"Fine," he didn't want to say it, but he knew he had to be honest with her.  "I didn't like it."

"Why?"

"Seriously?"  He finally made eye contact.  "I think you know why."  When she didn't say anything, he finally leaned in and crushed his lips to hers.  It was the most amazing thing he had ever felt, familiar but exhilarating.  The woman he had longed for the past four years was in his arms and kissing him back.