Glimpses

Chapter 81

July 23rd, 2022

"Psst..., Ace?" Logan whispered behind the French doors that connected his guest room to the adjacent one, having a few minutes ago heard Rory come upstairs, speaking to her mother, asking her to help Em find something to drink downstairs. There was only one room at the end of the hall - so it had to be this one she'd gone into. He'd been utterly relieved to hear she was fine and - here.

"Logan? Is that you?" Rory asked, having not expected to hear him from behind a door like this.

"You okay? I heard about the flat," Logan felt he needed to ask. Strangely enough he kept speaking in a whisper.

"Why are you whispering?" Rory asked, trying to sound serious, also in whisper.

Logan chuckled, replying, "I don't know," on a more normal volume but still a little timidly, feeling silly now that he realized it. "So, are you feeling okay?" Logan asked, needing to hear it. There was, after all, more than just Rory to worry about.

"Yeah, just... wanted a moment to freshen up and have some calmness. Em was driving me nuts in the car while we waited," Rory explained, and her hand pushed down the door handle, wanting to enter.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing!?" Logan scolded her, on instinct grabbing a hold of the handle, now allowing her to push it towards him.

"This is stupid!" Rory replied, and tried to push again.

"Yeah, but I thought we were not supposed to see each-other before the ceremony," Logan argued.

"Yeah, and according to traditions I probably shouldn't have slept with you this morning either," Rory teased, having wanted to use naughtier descriptives for what they'd done but just in case the walls were thin in this place, she held off, knowing Logan couldn fill in the blanks.

"But they say it's bad luck for me to see you in your wedding dress before the wedding...," Logan began to argue, his hand still firmly on the handle, while she held onto it too from the other side. He wasn't even sure why he was taking this stance, having for the entire morning just wanted to see her, talk to her - assure himself that she was really doing this.

"But you've already seen it," Rory replied, finding his behavior a little odd. It was then it hit her - Was he nervous?

"No back-up dress?" Logan asked, raising his eyebrows, still holding the door handle.

"Not yet...," Rory chimed, not daring to be too optimistic yet. All it would take would be a case of Em's jam-hands or Loki running down a waiter with canapes.

"Besides - if a flat tire, half of the flower order that went missing and an officiant that's still on his way to the island - doesn't already count for our three strikes of bad luck, I doubt you seeing my dress for the second time around would make much difference," Rory explained, trying to be calm about it. She didn't want to be unraveled by unimportant things like that, and even if she didn't feel it she was very much taking the fake-it-till-you-make-it approach.

"The flowers went missing? I'm so sorry, Rory...," Logan replied, losing his focus a little. Frankly he just felt bad now - he wanted the day to be special for her. But he could tell there was already disappointment in her tone. What he couldn't believe was that no matter the family name nor the money they'd thrown at it - there were still things not going according to plan.

The next second Rory pushed the door open, her action speaking louder than words that by now she just didn't care if he saw her or not.

"Hi," Rory smiled humbly.

"Hey," Logan replied, taking in the sight of her.

Her hair was still set beautifully, a small pearl hairpin decorating it. Her makeup was simple - neutral tones with rosy lips. She wore a pair of her grandmother's earrings that she'd left him - blue Venetian glass studd - not the priciest of her inheritage certainly, but the ones Rory had considered being most fitting for this setting.