Finding Home

Chapter 4

Rory shut her hotel room door and leaned against it with a sigh, her mind running wild.  She quickly kicked off her heels and started a pot of coffee before changing into pajamas.  Her eyes shifted to the clock.  It was after 10:00 in Chicago, which meant she really should wait until tomorrow to call her Mom.  She and Luke were sure to be asleep at this hour.  After arguing with herself in her head for a few minutes, she finally picked up her phone and typed out a quick text to Kate and Laura and hit send before throwing it on her bed and pouring a cup of coffee.  Not even two minutes later, she answered the knock on her door to find her friends standing there giggling.

"We want details, Gilmore!  How was the date with the hottie?" Laura asked with a smile as she shut the door behind her.

"Are you sure you two weren't waiting for my text?  You got here awfully quickly," Rory said, trying to stall for a bit before talking about her evening.

"We might have anticipated your freak out phone call and been waiting, yes.  Now, quit stalling!" said Kate.

"It was nice.  We caught up, dinner was great, I had a fantastic time," Rory began.

"But?" asked Kate.

"There's no but, really.  I mean, I got the definite impression that he was flirting with my subtly, but Finn has always been quite the flirt.  He's changed, though.  He's not as crazy as he was in college.  He was constantly drinking and partying then, and it seems like he's settled down now."

"We want details, not Spark Notes, Rory!  Tell us more!" Laura said with a laugh.

"It was really good.  It felt like a date, but I don't know if he felt it, too.  When he held my hand or put his hand on the small of my back there were definite sparks felt on my part.  God, I wish I could read his mind!" Rory said with a sigh.  "I thought for a minute he might kiss me goodnight, but he only kissed me on the cheek and hugged me and told he he'd see me tomorrow."

"Did you want him to kiss you goodnight?" asked Kate.

"It wasn't the burning question on my mind all night long or anything, but yeah, I think I did.  Oh!  And when we were leaving, he said something about every man in the room wanting to know who the beautiful woman on his arm was, and when I told him that he was delusional he told me that I was the most beautiful woman he'd ever had the pleasure to accompany."

"Oh wow, he's good," swooned Laura.

"What do I do, guys?!  See, this is why I don't date often.  It's one thing if it's one of my Grandma's setups, because I'm never interested in them, but being all girly and conflicted so isn't my thing!" Rory exclaimed.

"Relax, Rory.  Let's watch a movie and we'll crash in here with you for the night, and then we'll pick up the insanity tomorrow morning, okay?  Maybe some sleep will help clear your head." said Kate.

"Perfect!" Rory said as she moved to the bed and grabbed the TV remote.

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Finn slowly stripped down to his boxers when he returned to his suite and settled on the couch, turning on the television just to have some noise.  He had been more than ready to go back home until he saw a certain blue-eyed reporter this morning.  As he turned his thoughts back to dinner, he tried to think back to their interactions during the evening.  He had certainly felt like the evening was more of a date than two friends catching up, and he was almost certain that Rory had wanted him to kiss her when he walked her to his room.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair in frustration.  Dating was so much easier in college.  Of course, what he did in college really couldn't be considered dating, and college dating certainly wasn't what was on his mind tonight.  He hadn't been that guy in a while, and Rory wasn't that girl, as much as she had tried to be for Logan at the beginning of their relationship.