"I've extended my stay. Papa and Maman will go back tomorrow after lunch. And I will move to this apartment. I have so many things to do in the city and staying at The Huntzberger Mansion is just impractical. The drive back and forth is just too time consuming," Odette announced a few days after the party.
Logan and her is preparing for a night out with the boys. Logan chuckled at her grumbles, he knows how practical she is, and driving two hours between Hartford and New York is so not her style. Her 'things to do' of course, are all related to shopping. And she has been complaining about having to go back to Hartford after a day of shopping.
"Okay, you can spend the night here and I'll drive you there tomorrow to say goodbye to your parents and gather your things, sounds good?" Logan offered.
"Oui,"
"And Odette, you don't need permission to stay over in my apartment. We're getting married," Logan said as he changed into a more comfortable outfit.
"Certainment. It will be easier if we set a date already. Winter is still too broad. There are four months and one hundred twenty dates. Pick one!"
He's so don't need this right now. He's had a long day at work, a long week actually. And he'd been waiting for this weekend where he can relax with his friends. The office felt different without Rory in it. He used to be very excited to go to the office, but with Rory gone to her road show, he'd lost interest to go to the office. He sighed. Why should he pick a date? They will counter it anyway. Is his opinion really matters in this kind of things?
"You pick one, I don't have any particular interest on a certain date. They are all just numbers for me,"
Odette snuggled into his arms and watched their reflection on the mirror. They look great together. She is perfect. Perfect for him. He smiled.
"We look great," she said.
"Yes, we do" he landed a peck on her cheek.
"What date would you choose if the bride was her?"
Her eyes were rounded with curiosity.
"Excuse me?"
"After seeing you both at the party, I have been feeling that you haven't gotten over her. You have been distant lately, and even more so after that night. I have never had to work this hard for a man's attention before," she looked at him straight in his eyes, making him slightly uncomfortable.
"Odette, I don't..."
She studied him a while.
"I have accepted my fate long ago that I will never marry for love. That is what's expected of me, the only heir of my father's company. And I have made peace with that. But I always thought that my husband will also feel that way. I thought that we will be ordinary together, just two people working out for their marriage," she looked him right in the eyes, "I even expect some affairs, because that's what people in our world do. But as we go on, I noticed that I don't have to worry about affairs from your side. You do not show any interest on other women, other women but one. And I came to realized that if you are faithful, you weren't being faithful to me, you're being faithful to her. There's no woman that could compare her position in your heart, not even me. I could see the look in your eyes when you're looking at her. That dreadful longing and yearning were so intense. I certainly am not expecting my future husband being miserable for his long lost love. It's one thing to not be in love in a marriage, but to be someone your husband wishes was someone else is too much,"
"That's quite an assumption! We can have a happy marriage,"
She chuckled.
"Logan, you have been moping since I arrived last Friday. And I found traces of her here. You have a Rory box, filled with her things, and I found a picture of you two jumping with an umbrella in your work desk. You also have a coffee cup with her name on it at the back of your cupboard. And I can only guess that the Yale sweater you couldn't get rid off although it has coffee stains all over it and a loose stich, probably was her favorite sweater," she pointed out the facts.
"I haven't been in this apartment for years. I just got back, I haven't had the chance to clean up,"
That's a straight up lie. The one thing he searched for when he first got here was that box, and he forgot how many times he opened that desk just to look at their picture. Since when did he become a liar?
"I can live with the fact that I don't marry for love, because I have never felt love. But you have. And shame on you if you ever let that go!" She lectured. "I could tell how you feel for each other just by looking at you together. I was overwhelmed by the heavy untold feelings hanging on the air," she waived at the top of her head.
Logan was completely stunned. Was he that obvious?
Logan looked at the women he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She's flawless, but why can't he love her like he love Rory Gilmore? Odette would never make him miserable, unsure and lost like Rory did him. But then again, she would never make him happy like Rory did. Hell, he could be happy with just watching Rory drink coffee.
Something in her eyes encouraged him to talk.
"She hurt me." He heard himself say. Maybe it was the sympathy in her eyes, or maybe it was just time for him to get it out. But he finally got it out of his system, and admitted the very one reason that has stopped him from going after Rory. He's afraid to be hurt again.
She cupped his face. "We have a saying in France: c'est n'importe quoi..."
Logan raised his eyebrows. "That means 'it's bullshit'!" He said.
"Yes, it does. I may not know much about love, but I do know that it was suppose to hurt. If you don't hurt, you don't love. That is why you could never hurt me, or could I hurt you. Because we don't touch each other's heart that deep,"
This is such an awkward conversation to have with one's fiancee. But Logan sees the truth in her comments.
"You are with me because we are easy, and comfortable. But what you and her have, is extraordinary. I know you're afraid, but winners are not the ones who quits when things get rough, winners are the ones who face their fears and conquer it,"
"It's just hurt so much, I don't think I can go through that again."
"Then find a way not to! Find out why you both didn't work out the first time, and fix it. You know that so many people search for something like yours but don't find it, right? Don't waste what you have, Logan. Not without a proper fight."
"What if she doesn't want me anymore?"
She caressed his cheek, and he leaned his head in her hand.
"You will fight, Logan. You give up too easily because you don't trust yourself deserve of something great, you don't know love. You have an abandonment issue, mon cherie. Probably started when you were a child and your parents couldn't show you love you deserved. And you grew up, found love, but she left you. You thought that love is suppose to do that to you, but non! It was just the wrong time wrong place. Try again, you might have it all now..." she assured him.
"How do you know about all these?"
"You don't know I have my degree in Psychology?"
He stayed quiet. Is this a trick question?
"See? You have zero interest in me,"
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Odette. You don't deserve this. You've been so amazing,"
"Ssh, mon cherie. I wasn't being amazing. I'm just being logical."
She put her head on his shoulder, and sneaked her hand into his. For a moment there, they just sit there and hold hands. So comfortable and convenient. Logan inhaled the peace and quiet this moment brought. He likes that Odette is so logical, but he also wish that she will find something or someone that will make her excited, and happy, and over the moon. Something that will make color her life.
Logan's head dizzy on thinking how could he be so lucky. This girl is amazing, and a really lucky man will have her heart one day. Logan wishes the man will treat her right, better than how he'd treated her.
An hour later they pulled up the car at the Lux Club, and quickly made their way into the club. They've got escorted to the balcony where Colin, Finn, and harem club were already there. If Odette disapproves of the harem club, she didn't show it. That's how sophisticated she is. While Rory, Rory will try to find the reason behind the situation, a story in a story.
And there he goes comparing Rory to Odette again. He's gotta stop doing this.
"Hey hey, welcome..." Colin greeted them and kissed Odette on her cheek lightly. He turned to Logan "What? Are you expecting a kiss too?" while leaning to Logan with his lips all forward. Logan parried his disgusting mouth.
"Put your filthy mouth somewhere else,"
"Is that how you talk to your father, young man? I swear, kids these days have lost respect to the elders. Think about how we raised you, with all the money that we had we spent just to feed you, this is how you repay us!" Finn added dramatically.
"If you feed me with all your money, I would have died of obesity before I even turn two!" Logan argued.
"And who is this dashing creature?" he turned to Odette.
"We've met. I'm Odette," she deadpanned.
"Impossible! I would've never forgotten a face like yours..."
"Clearly you don't,"
"I'm Finn. I'm the owner of this humble club where people come and spend their money on overpriced drinks and listen to songs they have in their phones, only with exceed loudness so that people won't have to talk and bore their friends with their mid-life crisis stories. We don't provide wi-fi, because wi-fi is overrated," he introduced himself.
"We've met! You came to our engagement party!" Odette exclaimed with disbelief.
"You've probably met my twin,"
"You have a twin? With the same name?"
Finn tilted his head up, pretended to think.
"Yes, there were three of us. Finn One, Finn Two, and Finn Three,"
Odette looked annoyed but slightly amused.
"Stop teasing her, Finn! Where's the waiter? I need a drink." he turned to see a drinking cart next to Colin, and went that way.
"Hey O, you want some drink?" he asked.
"Yes, a sherry, please." she answered while situated herself at the center of the couch. Finn followed her, completely ignored his harem club who are dancing seductively hoping to catch some of his attentions.
Logan quickly fix their drinks.
"So, I heard a congratulations are in order? You've set the date already?" Colin asked.
"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you guys, actually,"
"Oh no, is this where you ask me to let Finn be your best man because he has a childish demeanor that couldn't bear the pain of not getting what he wants?"
Logan chuckled.
"You must know, though. That Finn will make a terrible best man,"
"How would you know? You had me as best man."
"I can analyze that just by looking at his historical data, he'll probably make you drunk the night before your ceremony, completely wasted on the wedding day, and ended up replace you and wed your bride,"
Logan laughed whole-heartedly.
"I seriously hoped that he wouldn't."
"You know, I'm surprised you even come this far with Odette,"
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing. I just thought that you'll wake up from that denial phase of yours when you meet Rory again. But clearly, I was wrong,"
"I'm sorry, denial phase?"
"Yes, Logan. You've been denying your feelings for Rory for years. I get it that you were afraid to be hurt again, but you guys are adults now. She's here, you're here. You guys are in a good place, career-wise. Things must be different now. So what's stopping you now?" he pushed. "But no, you chose Odette, and the life that the rest of us who doesn't have the privilege of meeting their true love has. You chose ordinary life," he lectured.
"Wow, you really do have an opinion," Logan commented with a smirk.
"Yes, I'm tired of you making up reasons to not be with her, and being unhappy. You have something we don't have and you're letting it go. You wanna be like me? Married with a kid that I rarely see and a wife that I don't always know where at? Coming home from work to a club owned by a friend of yours who collects girls like candy? Filling my liver with alcohol because I have an empty and shallow life, and feeding cherries to girls I don't even remember their names because I'm longing for some sort of comfort from other people,"
Logan looked at his best friend intensely. He had no idea Colin is feeling this way. He thought he was happy with the way things are. Then again, he had been so focused on his own unhappiness that he forgot to see how his friends are. He was a crappy friend, and a crappy fiancee.
"I'm sorry man, I have no idea you are feeling this way. You were always looked so happy and enjoying the moment,"
"Well, we have to try to enjoy life..."
"So let me get this straight. You want me to let Odette go and pursue Rory?"
"Yes."
"You want me to let go of the convenient life with Odette to chase a life full of drama and challenges with Rory?"
"You love challenges! You lived for challenges! You are Logan Hunztberger! The guy who jumped off a plane with a broken parachute and survived!"
Logan pretended to think.
"Screw you, Huntz! I swear, I don't know how I'm friends with this mushy cowardice version of you. I must've known since I saw the thick head full of hay on top of your body." he grunts.
"Are you finish?"
"Finish with what?"
"Insulting me,"
"I'm still thinking of some things. Give me time."
"Okay, well actually, I'm here to ask you for something,"
Colin shot him a deathly glare.
"I need to make a plan..."