Author's note: First of, SORRY for the late update. I know that I said that I was going to update a week ago, but some tragic stuff has happened in the past 2 weeks which unabled me to put up this chapter until now.

But enough with that, here I give the second part of the dinner at the Gilmore house....

Summary: A school newspaper. Two different opinions. A book. Mixed in with some confusion, misguidance and attraction. A perfect recipe for a good old fashioned fairy tale story, so to speak. (Trory)

Askepott

Chapter eight

Saturday evening, Gilmore Mansion, Hartford

"Rory, I hear that you have a ball coming up at Chilton in a couple of weeks.", Emily Gilmore said, as she attempted to strike up a conversation with her granddaughter, an ulterior motive lurking in the background.

Rory shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she tried to eat her food. Surprisingly enough the dinner had so far gone okay. It wasn't the best situation ever, but having Tristan DuGray over for dinner was actually bordering on being nice. He was sitting across from her to the right, his grandfather seated directly opposite her and her mother on her side. Conversation wise the night was proceeding quite well. Her grandparents were far too busy talking to Janlen, while her mother was at her old tricks again, trying to defy and argue every single little thing that her grandmother sent her way.

Rory had to stifle a giggle when Emily candidly brought up the subject of Christopher causing Lorelai to accidentally knock her glass over, resulting into her grandmother's exclusive table cloth to be completely drenched in a nice shade of Bordeaux white wine. Emily nearly hit the roof and had it not been for the fact that they had guests present, World War three would have erupted. Instead Emily remained calm and merely called out for their servant to find something to cover the stain so that they could all continue with their dinner. And after that little incident, the evening remained uneventful up until now.

"Yeah, it's some sort of costume party or something. I'm not quite sure. I don't really pay that much attention to the social events at school.", she answered, trying to brush it off.

"Well, I think it would be a great opportunity for you to get to know some people and make friends.", Emily continued.

"Shut up!", Lorelai cried out, twirling her hair like a dumb blonde and pretending to be chewing an imaginary gum. "Now you can finally, like, have sleepovers and, like, get your toenails painted and your hair done! That would be so cool!"

She would have joined in with her mom's comedic performance and completely made fun of the entire thing, but seeing the way her grandmother was shooting daggers out of her eyes, Rory opted to ignore her and rather address the elder Gilmore instead, suppressing the smile that was threatening to curl up on her face.

"I guess it would, but I'm not even sure that I'm going."

"What? But that's preposterous!", Emily exclaimed, shocked that her granddaughter doesn't want to partake in such a high class event. "There are so many handsome young men in that school of yours. I'm fairly certain that there are quite a few who'd want to take you." Turning her attention to Tristan, she asked; "How about you, Tristan? Are you planning on going?"

"Way to be subtle, mom.", Lorelai interjected, fully knowing what her mother was getting at.

Feigning oblivion, Tristan glanced at Lorelai before answering. "I don't know. I haven't thought much of it actually", he said, which earned him a surprised look from Rory.

"Well, here's an idea."; Emily clasped her hands and looked at the two teenagers. "Why don't you two go together?", she suggested as if the thought had momentarily come to her.

"Huh, I didn't see that one coming!", Lorelai commented, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Simply disregarding her remark, Emily went on. "I mean, both of you don't have anyone to go with and you obviously go to the same school so I don't see any harm of you being each other's date.", she smiled.

"That's because you're too wrapped up in your own little Hartford society world and not to mention all the gossip you can relay to your DAR friends should this in fact take place.", Lorelai challenged.

"I'm simply voicing out my opinion, Lorelai. There's no fault in that.", Emily rationalized.

"And that's what they said when an overpowering psychopath named Hitler wrote a book in his jail cell back in 1936!"

"Oh, Lorelai, calm down. No need for being so overdramatic.", Emily said, and looked at the two other adults at the table for some support. "What do you think, Janlen?"

"I think it's a wonderful idea.", he replied happily. The dumbfounded glares from the two youngsters did not go unnoticed. "But of course I wouldn't want to pressure this kids into doing something they don't want to.", he proceeded, and Tristan and Rory let out a sigh of relief.

Emily looked at her granddaughter and asked for her opinion about the matter. "Rory?"

"Uhm, well, I'm not..., uhm, I mean.....", she opened her mouth in an attempt to say what was on her mind, however, failing miserably.

"I think that's code for a big fat no, mother!", Lorelai translated.

Not wanting to let go of the issue, she looked at Tristan instead. "Tristan, you wouldn't mind taking Rory to the ball, now would you?"

He hated to be put on the spot like that, and he felt like a deer caught in headlights, but seeing the persistent look on Emily's face caused him to give a proper answer. "No, I wouldn't."

Turning to Rory once again, she gave her a similar question. "And you wouldn't have any problems with going with Tristan, right?"

Merely agreeing with her grandmother so that this whole thing would end, Rory conceded. "No, I wouldn't."

"Excellent!", Emily exclaimed, not hiding her enthusiasm at all. "Now who would like some coffee and dessert in the den?", she asked, as she stood up from the table.

"I do!", Richard commented, relieved that his wife's scheming was at last over. "Janlen, would you care for some brandy?"

"Don't mind if I do.", the older gentleman accepted as they started to make their way to the other room, closely followed by the rest.

Lorelai looked at her daughter as if she'd just been sentenced to death, but just gave her an apologetic smile when Rory excused herself to go to the bathroom. She knew that Rory needed a breather to let all of this sink in, and she still couldn't fathom how Emily managed to trick her into doing this. Suddenly being aware of Rory's lack of presence once they were all seated on the couch, Emily looked around for her. "Where's Rory?"

"Oh, nature called.", Lorelai answered, as she was trying to get comfortable in her seat.

"I hope she's okay.", Emily sounded concerned. "We just got a new cook, and frankly we're still trying to get used to her cooking. Your father had a case of stomach cramps the other night, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was due to whatever it was she prepared.", she further explained. "Tristan, why don't you check up on her?"

"I think you've done enough for one night, mom.", Lorelai looked her mother sternly.

"No, it's okay, Lorelai. I don't mind.", Tristan interjected, actually being relieved that he didn't have to sit there and be an open target for yet another of Emily Gilmore's ploys. He stood up and hurriedly walked out in the direction of the bathroom. Moments later he was standing outside the bathroom door, and he faintly heard the water running from the tap. He braced himself as he was about to be alone with Rory for the first time since this whole Adam's family dinner party started, and waited patiently for her to come out. When he heard the lock turning and the door handle shifting, he looked up expectantly and was met with a pair of blue eyes.

"Are you alright?", he asked.

"Yeah, why? The last time I checked going to the toilet didn't equal people being all worried.", Rory said, stunned that Tristan was waiting for her to come out of the bathroom. "To me it just means, when you got to go, you got to go.", she half-joked.

"Oh, really? To me restrooms have a whole other connotation.", Tristan commented suggestively. "If you'd like I would be more than happy to show that the sink isn't merely for washing hands."

Rory rolled her eyes, and slightly pushed Tristan to the side. "As tempting as that sounds, I'd like to keep my associations with the sink, the tub, the toilet and whatever more you might find in your average bathroom to strictly hygiene purposes.", she bantered back.

Deciding to put the humour on the side for a brief moment, Tristan grabbed Rory's wrist, causing her to face him. He eyed her seriously and brought up the subject that he was sure was the real reason why she had gone off to the restroom in the first place. "So about this whole ball thing, we don't have to go if you really don't want to.", he said, rather honestly.

Rory looked at Tristan and could have sworn that she saw a hint of sincerity in his eyes, but she just shrugged it off and pulled her wrist out of his grasp. "No, it's fine. I mean, I might have brought it up with a friend of mine.", she said. "I just didn't expect to be going under these circumstances."

"Me too, and I'm sorry about all this.", he apologized.

Taken aback by his earnestness, Rory eyed him and decided to let down her defence down as well. "It's not your fault. I didn't do much to try and prevent this to happen either.", she said, "It's just too bad cause now you won't be able to ask the girl you really wanted to take."

"Well, it's not like I'd given it much thought. Up until tonight I had actually forgotten about it."

They both looked at each and broke out into a faint smile, feeling as if the tension between them had somewhat decreased.

"I guess we better get back in there before your grandmother sends out a search party.", Tristan suggested.

"Yeah, but knowing her she'd probably wait a couple of hours, enjoying the fact that we're alone in each other's company.", Rory said sarcastically.

"I can't help it if she finds me to be quite the charmer.", he smirked. "At least I know that the Gilmore girls aren't as immune to my dashing appeal after all."

"Only you would find it as a compliment when a middle aged woman finds you appealing. To others that thought might be considered illegal.", Rory countered. "And it's Gilmore girl, not plural, unless you've managed to take my mother under your spell as well which by the way I highly doubt!", and with that Rory stomped off to the living room, leaving Tristan behind.

"Whatever you say, Mary. Whatever you say.", he said under his breath before heading the same direction as Rory.