CHAPTER 30
“H ey, we’re thinking about heading out,” Jill said.
“Okay,” Rory replied.
“We’re going to dance across the street. Everyone’s up for it, which is unusual.”
“Dancing?” Logan asked, walking up behind Rory, who was with Jill at the bar.
She’d been planning on ordering them another drink, but when Logan’s arms snaked around her from behind, Rory lost all train of thought and leaned back against her.
“Well, hi there,” Jill said, shaking her head at the two of them. “Aren’t you two cute?”
“Do you dance?” Rory asked Logan.
“I can . I’m down if you are.”
“I’m not a dancer,” Rory replied.
“I can lead,” Logan offered and kissed her neck.
“If you two are going to be all over each other…” Jill began. “This won’t work. I need help.”
“Help?” Rory asked.
“Finding someone to dance with,” Jill replied. “You’re obviously taken.” She motioned to Logan, who still hadn’t let Rory go.
“I guess I am,” Rory said with a laugh.
“Sophie’s just going to be texting Bryce the whole time. She might look up from her phone to help me for, like, five minutes, but that’s about it. The rest of them are all coupled off, too.” Jill sighed. “I need to find single friends.” She walked off without ordering anything, and as she did, Logan pulled away from Rory, who turned to her.
“Sorry,” Logan said.
“What for?”
“I kind of just came up here and held on to you. I should have asked first.”
“Why? I liked it,” Rory told her.
“Jill just said that you were obviously taken, so she needs single friends, and I realized that I was kind of claiming you, and I shouldn’t be.”
“Why not?”
“We haven’t talked about that,” Logan replied.
“Oh. I guess not,” she said. “ Should we? We’ve had one real date. Two, if you count the night you kissed me the first time.”
“We can if you want to.”
“Here?”
“Probably not,” Logan suggested.
Rory took a step toward her and said, “Later, then. But you can hold me like that. No one’s ever held me like that. I liked it.”
“You did?”
Rory nodded and said, “I also like how you’ve been a little possessive since you got here.”
“I have?” Logan asked.
Rory nodded again and replied, “Your arm around me, drinking my beer, letting me lean against you. You pulled out my chair, Logan. No one does that anymore.”
“My dad does it for my mom,” Logan replied. “Or, at least, he used to. I don’t know if he still does.”
“I like it,” Rory said.
“Then, I’ll keep doing it.”
“Should we go across the street with everyone?”
“Well, I like the idea of you doing nothing except have fun tonight, so I think we should, yes.” Logan held out her hand. “Let’s take a dance break from time to time to help Jill find someone to dance with, though.”
Rory laughed and said, “She doesn’t want to date me. She knows I’m with you.”
“Sure. And you don’t have nine jobs,” Logan teased with a wink.
Rory rolled her eyes and was still laughing as they all piled into the bar across the street, which had a dance floor and no dueling pianos. There weren’t really any seats, but there were tall tables they could stand around if they wanted to, or they could dance. Rory didn’t dance, though, so she stayed by the table next to Logan and Sophie. Kyle and Melinda were on the dance floor with Jill, Asher, and Linden. Monica and Bridgette were at the table next to them and appeared to be laughing about something before they leaned in and kissed. It looked nice, what they had, and Rory thought about leaning over and kissing Logan, but she wasn’t sure if she should right now, with Sophie standing there next to them, looking like she missed her girlfriend.
“Do you want a drink?” Logan asked her over the loud music.
“Just a Coke?”
“Really?” Logan laughed.
“Yeah. I didn’t eat dinner.”
“We’ll get something when we leave,” Logan promised. “I’ll be right back,” she added and made her way through the crowd toward the bar.
“You really like her,” Sophie noted.
Rory nodded and said, “Yeah, I do. I have since I first saw her.”
“Worked out for you that she’s a bartender, huh?”
“No, I saw her before that,” Rory replied.
“You did?”
“She walked into Candace’s bar the night you were all there to help. She actually drove Monica and Bridgette’s Lyft that night and thought the bar was open.”
“I don’t think I was paying attention.”
“Trust me, I was,” Rory replied. “She walked out right after we told her the place was closed, and I thought she was the hottest woman on earth. Next thing I know, she’s in there interviewing for a job, and she’s still the hottest woman on earth, and she kind of likes me.”
“No, she definitely does,” Bridgette noted as she and Monica joined the conversation. “She had me make you a card, Rory. She stopped by the office, which isn’t really open to the public, and asked me if I had anyone who could make a card.”
“She was really sweet about the whole thing,” Monica added with a smile as she ran her hand along Bridgette’s back and held it on her shoulder.
“She had you make her a card?” Sophie asked.
“It wasn’t my best work, but it was a rush job,” Bridgette said.
“She’s coming back. Do not pick on her,” Rory warned them when she saw Logan walk back.
Something was wrong, though, because Logan’s expression had changed. She looked really serious and maybe upset.
“Hey, are you okay?” Rory asked.
“Yeah,” Logan said. “Here’s your drink.”
“Where’s yours?” Rory asked, taking the cup from her.
“I decided not to get one.”
“I heard you had Bridge make Rory a card,” Sophie said.
“Yeah,” Logan replied, sounding clearly distracted and looking around the room.
“Can you watch this for me?” Rory asked Sophie of her drink.
“Sure,” Sophie replied.
“Come on. Dance with me,” Rory said to Logan.
“You want to dance?” Logan asked.
“Why not? You said you can lead.”
“Not really that kind of dancing going on out there,” Bridgette said.
“Actually, would you mind if I just went home?” Logan said.
“You want to leave?” Rory asked.
“Yeah. Sorry. I just got really tired.”
Rory knew for sure that she was lying then, but she didn’t want to bring it up in front of her friends.
“Okay. Yeah, we can go.”
“No, you stay. Have fun. You never have fun.” Logan kissed her temple. “I’ll call you later.”
“Um… Okay,” Rory said.
“I’ll see you all later,” Logan added before she turned abruptly and walked away.
“What happened?” Sophie asked.
“I don’t know. Something’s wrong, though, so I need to follow her. I’ll talk to you guys later,” Rory said and left her Coke on the table.
She hurried outside and saw Logan jogging across the street. She didn’t yell after her. She checked the street, waited for a car to drive past her, and ran after her.
“Hey.”
“What are you–”
“You just ran off. You didn’t even ask if I was okay to get home. That’s not like you. What’s going on?”
“I just got really–”
“Logan, don’t say tired.”
Logan stopped walking and ran a hand through her hair.
“I saw someone I know in there, and it’s the second person like that today. She was drunk, and I was afraid she’d come over to our table, so I left.”
“Someone you know? What–” Rory paused and nodded when she realized. “Someone you’ve slept with.”
“That wouldn’t exactly be the phrase I’d use.”
“The second person?”
“Huh?”
“You said the second person.”
“I went to a meeting earlier, and I ran into a woman I was with a few months ago.”
“Oh,” Rory said.
“She wanted to do that again. I said no, obviously, and I left. But then, I’m standing at the bar, trying to order you a drink and get back to you, because that’s all I want to do, and suddenly, there’s a hand on my hip. I thought it was you, so I turned around, and it wasn’t. She wanted me to–”
“I get it,” Rory said, requiring no further explanation.
“I realized today that this is going to happen, and I hate it, Rory. I hate that I did what I did because it means we might run into them, and they could make comments or try to touch me like they own me.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Rory told her, taking a few steps toward her.
“It’s not. I’m ruining it. I don’t want them. I don’t want that . But I’ve done it, and now, I have to live with the consequences. I don’t even know how many women I’ve been with, Rory. Right before I met you, I had a threesome with a couple, and I’ve done that before. I did everything they wanted, acted just like they wanted me to so that they could get off on it, and they texted me whenever they wanted me to just come over and do that again. What is wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” Rory replied as she gripped Logan’s hips. “Nothing is wrong with you. God, Logan… I don’t care.”
“Of course, you care. It’s the reason you didn’t want us to try this, to begin with.”
“No, the reason I didn’t want to try this is that I thought you wanted casual sex with no strings, and I didn’t want that. I want someone who wants to be with me and only me. Not saying we have to be there yet, but that’s what I want. You said you didn’t want that, but now, I know you. Logan, I know you.”
“You know this me. You don’t know the old me.”
“Do you want to be the old you?”
“No,” Logan said.
“Then, don’t be her,” Rory replied, wrapping her arms around Logan’s neck and pulling her in. “I don’t care if I run into women you’ve slept with. I don’t care if they make comments. If they touch you, you’ll step back, and I’ll say something.”
“I’m an addict, Rory,” Logan said.
“You’re a gambling addict. You’re not a sex addict. Unless you–”
“No, I’m not,” Logan interrupted. “I… only want you. I only want you. But I can’t pretend that I didn’t do what I did or that it won’t keep coming up, at least for a while.”
“Okay. So, we’ll deal with it,” Rory told her, pressing her forehead to Logan’s. “We’ll deal with it. We’ll leave somewhere if we have to, or we can avoid places where you’ve…” She pulled back for a second and said, “How many places have you…”
“I don’t know,” Logan said seriously. “A few.”
“And by a few , do you mean a lot ?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Well, lucky for you, I have ten jobs, and I’m too busy to go to those places.”
Logan laughed, and Rory moved back into her.
“Logan, you made me my own card to celebrate our first date, and you got me a rose. I know you want me, okay?”
“Carnations.”
“What?” Rory asked.
“I got you this mixed bouquet thing. It had carnations in it. Candace saw it and told me about your allergy, so she gave me the rose to give you instead.”
“You got me a bouquet?” Rory chuckled.
“From the grocery store. It wasn’t great, but I didn’t have a lot of time. I just wanted you to have something.”
Rory leaned in and pressed her lips to Logan’s. Logan took a second to recognize what was happening, but then, she was kissing her back, and her tongue slipped into Rory’s mouth. They stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, kissing slowly, while Logan held Rory’s face in her hands and Rory had her arms around Logan’s back.
“What do you need right now?” Rory asked when they pulled away.
“I think I need a meeting,” Logan said softly.
“Okay. Do you want me to wait outside for you? I can just go home if–”
“Will you come with me?”
“To wait?”
“No, inside. Just sit there with me?”
“Am I allowed?”
“Will you keep it anonymous?” Logan asked with a lifted eyebrow.
Rory smiled and gave her a nod.
“Then, yes. Let’s go. I’m parked over there.”