"Every week you two play this little game of yours," Luke grumbled, reaching forward to ring the doorbell. Lorelai didn't even get to shoot off a reply before the maid pulled the door open and greeted them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore are waiting for you." She took everyone's belongs and they made their way into the house.
"Who is this?" Emily asked spotting Jess the second they walked in.
"This is Jess, Luke's nephew and your Granddaughter's boyfriend," Lorelai told them ripping the Band-Aid off. Rory shot her mom a look, but she knew they were going to find out and it was easier this way.
"He goes to Chilton with me, he's my best friend," Rory chimed in.
"Drinks?" Richard asked displeasure in his voice.
"Two club sodas, a scotch and a martini," Lorelai rattled off sitting on the couch. Luke sat next to her, than it was Jess and Rory.
"What is it you want to do after Chilton?" Richard asked handing out the drinks.
"I haven't figured that out yet. And I'm not in a hurry either," Jess responded sitting his drink on the coffee table in front of him.
"Colleges?" Richard asked.
"Haven't picked a single one. Can't say I've looked either." He wasn't trying to be rude or anything, just honest; brutally honest.
"How are you going to support my Granddaughter?" Richard asked. This had to be a joke? How could he ask such a ridiculous question? Did he not know Rory?
"With all due respect sir, Rory is very capable of supporting herself. She wont need any man to support her. She knows what she wants and she's going to succeed. She's going to be everywhere. She has the heart and the passion to do anything she wants. The only support she is ever going to need, is to know that everyone she loves, is there for her at the end of every day. College isn't for everyone. It's not for me. Rory will go her way and do her thing, and I'll go my way and do my thing," Jess explained.
"Preposterous," Richard spit.
"Calm down. I'm sure, Jess is a nice young man," Emily interrupted. "Chilton, is a hard school to get into, only the smartest, most élite students are let in. You can't judge him because he doesn't want to go to college. It's fine that he doesn't know what he wants to do, he's young and has time to figure it out." Rory was surprised that her grandmother was taking Jess' side in this whole ordeal.
"What about the fact they're related?" Richard asked not calming down any. This was what Jess was afraid of all along. That people would look down on them because technically they were related. Not everyone was going to know that, but the few that did would have their jokes, they would ridicule them. But under all that Jess didn't care what other sthought. This was his relationship with Rory and no one else mattered at this point.
"Your family is far worse, Richard," Emily scolded. "We have no reason not to give, Jess a chance."
"Dinner, is served, Mrs. Gilmore," Sophia announced breaking the small family quarrel up for the time being.
"You two ok?" Lorelai asked letting her parents leave the room. She did feel bad for Jess slightly. He didn't deserved the anger from her father. But it was to be expected. She was surprised that Jess had held his anger at bay and hadn't exploded like he did earlier in the week.
"I'm fine," Rory responded with a smile. Jess nodded following behind Rory into the dining room.
"I'm happy not to have the attention on me for once, but they don't deserve that treatment either," Luke spoke the second the kids were out of sight. He would rather have the yelling and the comments about him being low on the social scale then to witness they belittlement that Jess was getting.
"Just wait your turn," Lorelai replied patting his arm walking to the table. Luke followed behind taking his spot next to Lorelai with the kids on the opposite side of the table.
"How's school going?" Emily asked as the salad was brought out.
"Good," Rory responded moving the contents of her salad around on her plate.
"Now is this the same, Jess, you had the oral report with a few weeks back?" Emily asked keeping the conversation going.
"Yep," Rory answered. "Good thing too, because we know I can't stand, Hemingway and, Jess loves the guy," Rory said hoping that her grandpa would come around to the idea of her being with Jess.
"You still in the restaurant business, Luke?" Richard asked looking at his son-in-law with disgrace. Rory sighed to her self seeing that her grandpa was going to skip over anything to do with Jess. She guessed that it would be for the best anyway.
"Yep," Luke replied.
"Have you considered my advice about franchising the place?" Richard asked suddenly turning serious. Jess held back his scoff at the pointless conversation going on. They were so quick to judge him and turn Luke into something he wasn't. Couldn't they see that Rory and Lorelai were more than happy? That they didn't need money to be happy? That weren't so judgmental and liked a person because of their personality not whether they have cash lining their pockets, didn't they see that? Or maybe it was they didn't want to see that?
"It's not for me," Luke replied shooting Jess a look.
"Do you have something to say son?" Richard snapped turning his attention to Jess. Rory grabbed for his hand under the table.
"I'm not your son," Jess snapped gently squeezing Rory's hand assuring her that everything was going to be ok and he wasn't going to lose his temper. "Who gave you the right to sit here and judge people? Luke is happy with his diner, he doesn't need anymore than the one he has. Lorelai loves him, isn't that enough for you? NO, of course it's not!" Jess yelled letting Rory's hand go. "After all of that, you sit here and judge me. Which is fine, I don't care what a rich snob like yourself thinks of me, but I'm not going to act like the scum on the bottom of your shoes. Who really cares if I don't have a plan after high school? It shouldn't concern you!" Jess snapped finding that he couldn't keep the words in any longer and by the looks on the faces around him, he should have tried harder to keep them in, but he was tired of trying to appease to these people.
"Jess," Rory whispered. She wasn't mad at Jess for having his outburst, she was disappointed that her grandpa had to be so hard on him and she was upset a little at Jess, but she knew this was going to come to a blow out before dinner was over and done with.
"But the last thing I'm going to do is let you think so little of Rory for being with me. Of course she could find someone that was better than me, someone who had their whole life planned out, but for some unknown reason to everyone excluding me, she picked me over them. She wants to be with me and you shouldn't have a say in the matter," Jess hissed finishing his little speech.
"I see," Richard said calmly getting up. "I've heard enough, I would kick you out, but that's what you want isn't it?" Richard asked. Jess wanted to be out of this house and far away. But this was important to Rory and he was forced to stay the whole night. "I wont give you the satisfaction of getting your way. Emily, I'll be in my study," Richard told his wife walking off.
"Don't mind him, Jess," Emily spoke up. "I don't like that you have no idea where your life is going to go at this moment, but there's time for you to figure that out. You have to be as smart as my lovely Granddaughter here," Emily praised him.
"Thanks I guess," Jess responded letting his anger subside. "Actually, she's smarter than I am, in a league of her own," Jess replied, glancing at Rory to see that her cheeks were a light pink color.
"I wouldn't say that," Rory said over coming the shock of the events that just happened.
"I would, sweets," Lorelai said.
"Are you ok, Lorelai?" Emily asked her daughter.
"I'm fine, Mom. Why?" Lorelai asked pushing her plate away.
"You've been rather quiet tonight is all."
"It's been hard to get a word in edgewise," Lorelai commented.
Dinner from then on was unusually quiet. Rory wanted to go see how her grandpa was doing but decided against it, or rather she chickened out. The ride home was a peaceful one, no one tried to start a conversation. For Jess that was the ideal thing for him. He just wanted to be left alone from the events that took place earlier in the night. Once back in Stars Hollow, Jess was left to walk back to the diner. Rory went after him wanting to have a few minutes alone with him, so her mom wouldn't hear every word that was spoken.
"You should go home, Rory," Jess told her never looking back to see her.
"I will," Rory told him grabbing his arm to spin him around. Jess looked down at her seeing her teeth dig into her bottom lip. "I'm sorry for the way my Grandpa acted tonight. I really thought my Grandma was going to be the one to hate you. Thank you for standing up for us." She kissed his cheek and turned to walk off. Jess smiled watching her take a few steps before stopping. "Oh and Jess, for the recorded, no one is better for me than you are." His smile turned in to a full-out grin. Tonight had not been the finest of nights in his young life, thus far but Rory's words had made a bad night into a bearable one.