"Can I have a triple espresso please?" Rory Gilmore asked as she stepped up to the counter at her favorite coffee shop. It was a Thursday morning, and she had taken a quick break from work to run down the street to grab coffee with her friend Jill. "Thank you!" Rory smiled, retrieving her credit card from the barista, pocketing it as she took a step back so Jill could place her own order.
"May I have a non fat soy late with extra cream and Splenda please?" Jill ordered.
"Jill, that sounds like so much less fun." Rory chuckled.
"Yeah well, not all of us can stuff our faces full of junk and never gain a single ounce." Jill retorted sarcastically.
"It's not my fault! I swear, I get it from my mother. She refers to it as 'The Lorelai Paradox'. I've been trying to gain weight, for years! It's not like I spend all my time working out or something. I literally just work, eat, and drink coffee, and yet somehow nothing ever happens. I've given up trying to understand it."
"You are so lucky, Rory! You are gorgeous no matter what you do. In fact, that hot guy over there with the scruffy face looks like he's undressing you with his eyes right now."
"Jill, don't be ridiculous!" Rory laughed, taking her coffee from the barista that had once again approached the counter, holding their drinks. "Thank you so much! Have a great day!"
"Thank you!" Jill echoed.
"Come on, let's get back to the office before Felicia notices that we're gone."
"I wouldn't worry about Felicia noticing anything. She is in a publishers meeting. It'll be hours before anyone in that conference room gets a break."
"Geez, I do NOT envy her at all right now! Her salary, and her wardrobe, maybe. But definitely not her job on days like today." Rory laughed as the girls both headed toward the door, not noticing that the hot guy Jill had spotted sitting at a table across the coffee shop, had gotten up and begun to follow them out.
"Well well well, if it isn't Rory Gilmore!" the man started, stopping both girls dead in their tracks. The girls quickly shot each other a questioning look, before Jill shrugged, and they began to turn around.
"Logan?!" Rory asked.
"Hey Ace." Logan said with that handsome crooked smile that Rory knew so well.
"Oh my gosh! Logan Huntzberger, as I live and breathe!" Rory said in a shocked, yet excited voice. "I haven't seen you in forever! How are you?!"
"I'm doing good. How are you?"
"I'm wonderful! Logan, this is my friend Jill. We work together at the New York Times."
"Hi Jill, it's a pleasure to meet you." Logan smiled, holding his hand out toward Rory's still baffled friend.
"Hi." Jill blushed, shaking Logan's hand.
"Jill, Logan and I went to Yale together. What has it been now? Like 8 years?"
"Yeah, something like that." Logan chuckled. "So the New York Times? That was your dream. Congratulations Ace!"
"Thank you! What are you doing now? Last I heard you went off to California. Are you working back here now? Are you still avoiding working for your dad?"
"I am, and he hates it!" Logan laughed. "I was in California for a while, but then I decided that I missed the east coast, so I moved back and switched gears a little. I went to medical school."
"No way!?" Rory sputtered.
"I'm an ER doctor over at Columbia Presbyterian."
"Seriously?!"
"I got my PhD and MD here in New York, at Columbia, did my residency at Columbia Presbyterian, and then they hired me right on as an ER doctor, and I've been there for the last 4 years."
"Wow! Logan! That is so great! I'm so proud of you!"
"Well Thank you! That means a lot coming from you."
"So your dad really hates it?!"
"He plays the proud parent to an audience, but you know how he is about me 'rejecting my destiny and the family business'. But at least he's quietly fuming, so I don't really have to hear about it. I don't see him much with my schedule as crazy as it is."
"Speaking of crazy schedules . . ." Jill squeaked as her phone rang, and she dug it out of her bag and stepped off to the side. "Hello, this is Jill."
"Logan, that is so amazing! I can't believe that you're a doctor!"
"Neither can I sometimes, but I love it! No day is ever the same. It actually really challenges me, and makes me think on my feet. It's great!"
"Wow! Logan, way to go! That is fantastic!"
"Sorry to interrupt." Jill started as she stepped back up next to Rory. "That was Derek. He just got a call about a story that he wants us to work on. It was really nice to meet you Logan." Jill said with a smile as she looked up at Logan. "Congratulations on becoming a doctor! That is really cool!"
"Thank you! It was great to meet you too." Logan smiled back. "Rory, let's grab dinner or something, and catch up sometime soon?"
"Yeah, that would be awesome!" Rory agreed reaching into her pocket to grab her phone.
"Here's my card. Call or text me any time. I'm usually at the hospital, but I check my phone quite often."
"Oh, excellent! Thank you, I will."
"Have a great day ladies! Good luck with your story!"
"Thanks Logan. We'll talk soon." Rory answered, then turned and left with Jill.
"Girl! He is gorgeous!" Jill gushed once the girls were about a block away. "You said that you went to Yale together?"
"Yeah. We were really close during college." Rory answered, blushing.
"Really close, as in you dated?"
"Yeah, for a little while."
"A little while? As in?" Jill prodded.
"3 years."
"Wow! So why did you break up?"
"He asked me to marry him at my graduation party . . . I wasn't ready."
"Holy cow! You said no to a guy who looks like that?!"
"I know, right?! And he's somehow gotten even better looking since college. I honestly didn't even think that was possible!" Rory said with a laugh.
"Damn girl! And now he's a doctor at one of the best hospitals in the state!"
"I know, I'm completely surprised! When we were together he was doing something in the computer technology industry, and before that he was doing tech something, working for Daddy. I had no idea that he was even interested in medicine. He has a bachelors degree in Journalism."
"Wow! A bachelors in journalism and a MD in medicine. That's a HUGE leap! What does Daddy do?"
"His father is Mitchum Huntzberger."
"Wait." Jill said, stopping dead in her tracks, just outside the New York Times office building. "His dad is Mitchum Huntzberger? Like THE Mitchum Huntzberger? As in could buy up the times and shut it all down like yesterday's trash. That Mitchum Huntzberger?"
"There's only one. Or at least only one that I know of. Who knows, maybe that man got around to cloning himself or something." Rory said rolling her eyes.
"So you dated Logan, the heir to the Huntzberger publishing DYNASTY!?"
"Yeah."
"Oh holy crap Woman!"
"I know! And he gave it all up, and went to medical school!"
"That is crazy! Who would do something like that?!"
"Someone who really can't stand their Dad, I guess. I'm really proud of Logan. He's worked really hard to be his own person. I never imagined him ever going into medicine, but hey, he did always like helping other people."
"That is incredible! Crazy, but incredible."
"I know, right?!" Rory laughed as she reached for the door handle, following Jill back into the New York Times building, and to the elevator that would take them to the sixth floor, and back to their editing jobs.