Glimpses

Chapter 9

October 5th, 2013

"Oh yeah, I think I read about that," Rory discussed, speaking to a senior editor of the Guardian, a short and pudgy, but very likeable, man. "Wasn't he the one who got the George Polk Award last year?" she continued with her small-talk.

"That's right," the man replied, and continued to explain to Rory about the last time he'd met the man they'd been discussing, being joined by another conference attendee.

The difference between small talk in society circles - cocktail parties or weddings and funerals - and at a journalism conference was that here Rory was actually genuinely interested in what people were saying. These were all people who cared about the truth, the means of conveying it and the stories people held. They were doing this on a mission rather than for the money or the benefits. They all knew those sucked, no matter where or how hard you worked. The business was getting more challenging by the year, it seemed - good in-depth stories taken over by click-baits and content marketing. There being more and more job seekers among the many one needed to compete with, while social media had taken control of the news in many ways.

It was as the two other journalists Rory had been talking to dispersed, saying they were going to get something more to eat, Rory was left momentarily alone.

Seeing nobody she was desperately craving to talk to nearby for now, she glanced down at her phone, getting sucked into reading one of the e-mails from her boss, one of her bosses technically, as she was mostly freelancing at this point. She got more work, many deciding to take advantage of the fact that she'd paid her own way to fly to Hamburg to attend a professional conference. She already had three stories lined up about the place and the conference, one about Hamburg's street food from an outsider's perspective. Not all of it was fine writing, but it paid the bills.

"You'd think the red dress would do the trick, but no - it was your voice that I recognized in an instant," a familiar, husky tone said, stepping up to her.

"Logan!?" Rory exclaimed, not believing her eyes as she looked up.

"Hey," Logan replied.

What Rory didn't know was that it had taken Logan a good hour from the moment he'd heard her voice, then recognizing her, to actually get away from his conversation partners whom there seemed to be an endless line of, to actually finding the courage within him to approach Rory. Logan usually didn't have such problems. But it was an odd event nonetheless - he couldn't just not say 'hello' because of something that happened six years ago, could he? Besides, by now he knew that it wasn't all Rory's fault, despite having blamed her for breaking his heart for quite a while, having done plenty of self-reflection in between. It was mostly his pride that had ended things - by now he knew that.

"It's so good to see you," Rory took a step closer without hesitation and hugged him, which took him a little by surprise - but then again it probably shouldn't have. Rory was always affectionate, even with her friends.

Logan took a deep whiff of her scent as the very brief hug, which felt like it had lasted longer than mere seconds, so many memories flashing back into his brain. There was so much of her that he'd missed.

He'd almost thought that Rory hated him, but clearly - it wasn't quite as black and white on her side either.

"What are you doing here!?" Rory managed to ask first.

 Logan was still stuck in his thoughts from her brief touch.

"I'm filling in for my dad, actually," Logan explained, continuing to explain how his father had bigger fish to fry back in London with some lawsuit he'd gotten the company into. But these things happened all the time. Big companies were bombarded constantly, but it was for that reason they had a sizable team of lawyers on standby.