Sugar and Spice: Everything Changes
By Misha
Disclaimer and Notes in Chapter One.
Chapter Eleven: Dinner with the Gilmores
Lorelai, Rory and Dean arrived at the Gilmore House on Friday night promptly at 7. Lorelai did not personally have high hopes for this evening, but she wasn't sharing that with Rory or Dean, because she didn't want to upset Rory or scare Dean. Besides maybe she was wrong and the dinner would be ok. Anything was possible.
"Well, hello there!" Emily said, answering the door. She turned to Dean, a polite smile on her face. "Hello."
"Grandma, you remember Dean, right?" Rory introduced as they came inside.
"Yes, of course," Emily said politely. "Nice to see you again."
Lorelai let a little sigh of relief. Ok, her mother was playing nice. This was good.
"Thanks," Dean said politely. "Uh, your house is great. It's huge. I've never seen a house this huge before."
"Well thank you." Emily said dryly. "So few people bother to notice the hugeness of the house anymore."
As far as remarks went that was pretty tame for Emily, so Lorelai decided to let it go. However, she knew she needed to come to Dean's aid before anything else could be said, so she jumped in. "Mom, it was so nice of you to tell Rory to invite a friend tonight, seeing as this is her night." She praised, mostly to remind her mother that this night was about Rory. Well, and Christa, but Lorelai had no doubt that her mother would be nice to Logan. "That was really nice of you."
"It was my pleasure." Emily said and then turned to them. "Well, don't just stand there. We have a celebration to attend. Come in, come in."
"Christa's not here yet?" Lorelai asked as they settled in the living room
"Obviously not." Emily said dryly. "I'm sure she'll be here soon. What would everyone like to drink?"
"I'll have a white wine and Dean'll have a beer." Lorelai said mischievously.
Dean's eyes widened. "What?!"
"Corona, right?" Lorelai teased.
"No, I don't want a beer!" Dean exclaimmed. "I don't drink beer. I'll have water or soda or anything. Or nothing. Not beer. Never beer. Beer is… Beer is bad."
Lorelai had to bite back laughter. She felt bad for putting him on the spot, but she was hoping to ease the tension and make Emily a little sympathetic.
"Relax Dean, that's just Lorelai's little sense of humor." Emily assured him, Lorelai's plot seeming to work. "You're very cruel."
Lorelai smirked. "Well, yes, it helps keep me young."
"Soda Dean?" Emily asked after a moment.
"Yes please," he said gratefully.
"Rory?"
"Oh, I'll have a beer." Rory said with a straight face causing Lorelai to burst out laughing. To her surprise, her mother did as well. "I'm sorry Dean," Rory apologised, "they're not laughing at you."
"Oh, wait, I think I was." Lorelai admitted.
"Me too, a little." Emily said with a smile. Her demeanor was warm though and Lorelai thought her little joke had worked at breaking the ice and putting Dean at ease. Maybe this dinner wouldn't be as painful as she thought.
Just then her father entered. "Oh, Richard, there you are," Emily greeted as she handed everyone their drink. "Come join us."
"Grandpa, hi!" Rory said, getting up. "This is Dean. Dean, this is my Grandpa."
There was so much hope on Rory's face as she introduced them. She loved Richard so much; she thought he hung the moon. They had gotten so close this last year and Christopher was barely involved in her life, so Richard filled that void and Lorelai knew how much it meant to Rory that he approve of her boyfriend, so she held her breath.
Dean got up as well. "Hi."
"Hello." Richard said coldly.
Dean held out his hand. "It's nice to meet…"
Richard ignored his hand and turned to Emily. "Does everyone have drinks?"
Lorelai watched the scene, fighting back the desire to cringe. This was not going to go the way Rory hoped. Not at all.
Just then the doorbell rang. Emily leapt up.
"That must be Christa!" She said eagerly.
A moment later, she returned, accompanied by Christa and two young men. One Lorelai recognized as Colin, meaning the other was Logan. She had known Logan was coming, but she hadn't realized Colin was as well. She wondered if there was any particular reason he had ended up tagging along.
Richard walked over to greet them. "Colin, Logan, how nice to see you both again." He said warmly, making his attitude towards Dean even more obvious.
"Logan, Colin, this is my mother Lorelai, my sister Rory and Rory's boyfriend Dean," Christa introduced, "Mom, Rory, Dean, I'd like you to meet my friends Logan and Colin."
"Nice to see you again, Miss Gilmore," Colin said politely.
"Call me Lorelai," Lorelai told him with a smile.
Logan also issued a polite greeting and then they all sat down. Lorelai noted with interest, that Colin positioned himself between Logan and Christa.
"Can I get you a drink?" Richard offered once the trio was settled.
"Soda, please." Christa said and Logan and Colin echoed her.
Lorelai looked from Rory and Dean to Christa and her companions and took a big sip of wine. This was going to be an interesting night. That was for sure.
"I wouldn't have missed this for the world," Colin whispered to Christa at one point during dinner.
Christa had to admit, it was entertaining. Richard was incredibly cold to Dean, while Lorelai and Emily tried to make peace, but at the same time incredibly warm to Colin and Logan. It was definitely awkward.
"What are you two whispering about?" Emily asked with a smile.
"I was just telling Christa that this was the first time I've ever had Beefaroni," Colin said smoothly.
Emily and Richard had made a big deal about serving her and Rory's favorites. For Rory that meant Beefaroni and for Christa, lasagna and garlic bread. At least it tied together well.
"Antonia thought I'd gone insane," Emily confided.
"Well…" Lorelai teased.
"No one needs a comment from you." Emily said sternly.
"No, I was just gonna say, what's the secret?" Lorelai asked.
"Well, let's just say it's not beef," Emily told her.
Christa was about to grab another bite of Beefaroni and decided to go for the lasagna instead.
She noticed Logan and Colin doing the same.
"Oh, okay. I'm done." Lorelai said.
"Me too." Rory agreed.
"Well, have more lasagna then." Emily instructed.
"This is fantastic Grandma." Christa told her. "Thank you for going to all this trouble."
"Yes, the food is fantastic, Emily." Logan complimented.
"Anything for my girls," Emily said with a smile. She turned to Dean. "Would you like some more?"
"No, thanks," Dean said awkwardly.
He had been pretty quiet throughout dinner, probably because Richard had been so cold. Christa felt pretty bad for him actually, even if it was entertaining as a bystander.
"Well, then I guess it must be present time." Emily said with an excited smile.
"You didn't have to." Rory said shyly.
"Of course we did." Emily said and she picked up two wrapped gifts from the side table and handed one to each twin. "Congratulations, we're so proud of you both."
"Thanks Grandma. Thanks Grandpa." Rory said warmly and Christa echoed her.
They both opened their gifts. A fancy pen.
"It's beautiful," Rory said with a smile.
"Yes, a very nice pen." Christa agreed, though she'd been hoping for something a little more exciting.
"A top student deserves the top tools." Emily told them. "However, there is something else for each of you, but we'll get it after desert."
"Desert?" Lorelai asked, perking up. The pens apparently hadn't interested her any more than they had Christa. Though Christa was still holding out hope for the "something else".
"Cheesecake and Twinkies." Emily informed her.
Christa blinked. Twinkies?
"What?" Lorelai asked, echoing her thoughts.
"Twinkies are Rory's favorite desert and cheesecake is Christa's." Emily commented.
"There are some definite differences in your taste and your sister's." Logan whispered into Christa's ear.
She nodded. She did enjoy Beefaroni and Twinkies, but they weren't in any way her favorites. It probably came down to how she was raised, Christopher didn't live off junk food the way Lorelai did so Christa had had less exposure. It was just one of the many differences between her and Rory.