Life and Times of a Socialite
Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls. It belongs to WB/CW and Amy Sherman Palladino.
Chapter 9: Perfect Society Couple
Emily and Richard Gilmore were preparing to entertain guests. They were to meet Luke's family this very evening. Emily was dictating to the small staff that had been hired for this very important dinner and Richard was retying his bowtie. Emily heard the doorbell ring and thought 'let's get this show on the road'
Lorelai and Luke were let into the house by the maid who was closest to the door. As the couple handed their coats to the maid they were both dumb folded as to the reason for all the extra hired help? They shrugged it off and went into the parlor and greeted both Emily and Richard who were now sitting in the love seat. They were given their drinks and politely conversed about random subjects.
The doorbell rang again and Emily went to greet the newest arrivals at the door since they wouldn't know where to go afterwards. Lorelai found it odd that Emily went to greet Rory at the door, but then thought maybe she was bringing Logan and that was what all the hoopla was about.
When Liz, T.J., and Jess showed up beside a beaming Emily, Lorelai's suspicions rose. She had no clue why the three of them would be at Friday night dinner. Lorelai looked at Luke who seemed quite shocked to the sudden turn of events and turned as Emily spoke, "I thought it would be a nice surprise to have Luke's family over for dinner since he has gotten to know us but we've never met his family."
"Oh…umm…Mrs. Gilm- Emily that's very nice of you but we could have done this at another time. Friday night dinner is the only time your family gets together and I wouldn't want this to overshadow that," replied a very nervous Luke.
Emily laughed it off by saying, "Luke don't you worry about a thing. Richard and I just wanted to get to know your family that's all. Isn't that right Richard?"
"That's right Emily. Now let's get the introductions out of the way so we can sit down and have a proper conversation."
As Emily did what Miss Manners dictated Lorelai got the funny feeling that her mother had something up her sleeve and these people situated in the parlour were just pawns in her game. The guests had their drinks in hand and a few minutes into the conversation about the Renaissance Fair the waiters came out and passed out small hor d'ouerves.
The doorbell rang again and few minutes later Rory showed up with Shira trailing behind her. The moment she stepped foot into her grandparents parlour she was shocked beyond belief, but she hid it well. "Hello everyone, I'm sorry we're late but the traffic was just horrible coming in from New York."
"Rory, Shira I'm so glad to see you and don't worry about being late. I didn't realize that today was the day the two of you were heading to New York, but the more the merrier. We were just getting to know Luke's side of the family."
Rory went over to her grandparents and gave them both a kiss and tried to avoid looking at Jess and her mother.
"Why Emily I don't want to intrude on a family gathering," Shira said in a tone that clearly stated she had no qualms about intruding whatsoever.
"Oh please Shira. We're practically family and if you leave now Mitchum will probably show up here to meet you and when you're not here then he would have to drive all the way to your house. Why go through all that trouble. I insist that you stay," replied Emily.
Shira agreed and sat in a chaise that was closest to Emily so they could watch the action as it was taking place.
Rory was sitting in the other love seat opposite to Jess, who trying not to stare at Rory, she could not believe her rotten luck. Why couldn't grandma invite Luke's family during the week? Why did it have to be today?
Lorelai broke the silence by asking the question that had been on her mind, "Why were you in New York Rory?"
"I had my last fitting for my bridesmaids dress for Honor's wedding. Shira volunteered to come with me when Honor couldn't make it at the last minute," replied Rory.
Shira looked at the other blank stares in the room and decided to elaborate till the next phase in her and Emily's plan was to take place. "You see my daughter, Honor, is to be married and she asked Rory to be one of her bridesmaids. We had the gowns made by Vera Wang and today was Rory's turn for her final fitting. Emily you should have seen the dress it just looked divine."
"I'm sure Rory is going to make a gorgeous bridesmaid," gushed Emily.
"You know Vera Wang?" asked a perplexed Liz.
Shira stared at her for a few moments as if she was insane and said in a condescending manner, "Why of course. Vera happens to be a very close friend of Emily and I."
"Oh...wow…I would have loved to have a wedding dress or any dress for that matter made by Vera Wang," replied Liz.
T.J. who had not spoken a word since he had said hello to Richard looked away from the picture over the fireplace he was staring at and said out loud, "Lorelai is that you in that picture because it sure looks like you?"
"Umm…yeah T.J. that's me at the age of eight," said Lorelai.
Emily could not believe that the man could be so dense. I mean who couldn't tell that the girl in the picture was Lorelai. She didn't want to seem rude so she just smiled and nodded at anything the insufferable man had to say. Emily glanced at Jess who seemed to have eyes only for Rory; she couldn't wait to for the next phase.
The doorbell rang again and the maid was ordered to get it. Lorelai had been watching Emily and Shira the whole evening and she couldn't quite pinpoint the reason for this little charade. But in the next instant the answer came to her in the form of one Logan Huntzberger.
When the doorbell had rung Rory had taken the opportunity to refresh her drink. So she didn't see Logan until she turned around and found him kissing his mother. She made a drink for him as well and thought about the situation she had found herself in at present.
Jess didn't think anything of the blond that walked through the door. It seemed that he was the son of Mrs. Gilmore's friend. He just thought he had come to take his mother home, he hoped to god the woman would just leave she annoyed him with all her yapping.
Jess just politely nodded his head like the others when he was introduced to Logan Huntzberger, Shira's son. When Logan sat in the other half of the love seat that Rory had occupied Jess just assumed that they were friends. He watched as Rory approached Logan with two drinks in her hand. But what he was not ready for was the shock that came when Logan stood up and gave her a kiss on the lips. To Jess it seemed that the kiss went on for a little longer than necessary and someone had to cough for them to split up.
Logan had been watching Rory's ex-boyfriend since the minute he had found out his name. He didn't know what was going on, but Emily invited him to dinner using the fact that she hadn't seen him and Rory together in a while. He didn't like the fact that Jess kept eyeing Rory so he decided to give him a little show.
He stood up as Rory approached and gave her a kiss on the lips, he decided to take it up a notch by deepening the kiss then slowly licking her bottom lip and when she gasped he gently slid his tongue into her mouth. He knew he would get an earful from her for such behaviour in public, but he just wanted Jess to get the picture. They were pulled out of said kiss by a polite cough from Shira.
Rory and Logan were both red in the face and avoided making eye contact with any of the other occupants of the room.
Emily and Shira looked like the cat that ate the canary. Lorelai noticed their looks and understood that they were showing Jess what type of relationship Logan and Rory had. She hated being put into this type of situation and she felt sorry for the other people involved. Don't get the wrong idea Jess shouldn't have any ideas about a relationship with Rory, but this was not the way to go about it.
"Logan darling, what do you have to say about your tardiness?" chided Shira.
"I'm sorry mom but I got held up with Finn and Colin. Finn ended up in the hospital after he decided to ride a motorcycle with only his Speedo on," explained Logan.
Rory tried not to chuckle since it seemed rude to find anything comical about Finn's predicament, but she could just picture Finn doing such a dangerous stunt at the insistence of Colin.
"Oh my, is Finnegan alright? And is Colin staying at the hospital with him? I guess I'm going to have to call Portia, in Australia, and let her know about another one of Finnegan's pranks gone awry," replied Shira.
"Mom, there is no need to call Finn's mother he's doing fine and Colin is with him. Rory and I will go to the hospital to check on him after dinner," said Logan. "So how did the dress fitting go?" Logan asked masterfully changing the subject.
Shira only too happy to oblige anyone who wanted to talk about clothing replied, "Rory looked gorgeous and…" she rambled on.
'So Colin and Finn were friends of Logan's and that was how Rory had met them' thought Jess. It seemed the Emily and Shira were gushing about the wedding and his own mother was listening and commenting on things. The only person not listening was Lorelai and she was talking quietly with Luke. It had seemed odd to Jess that Rory had not told Lorelai that she was going to New York.
Jess continued to watch the interaction between Rory and Logan. He noticed how Logan's hand always rested on Rory's knee or if that wasn't the case then he was holding her hand. Jess noticed quiet intimacy between the couple and how Rory would just touch Logan for no other reason than the fact that she could.
He knew he was torturing himself by watching them, but he had to know how things were between them. He tuned back to the conversation about someone's wedding.
"…we were finished with the bridesmaid's gown when Vera commented that Rory looked about the right size to try on a creation that was inspired by the children's fairytale 'Snow White' and of course I made Rory do it." Shira paused and realized that everyone's attention was on her so she continued. "I was just chatting with Vera when Rory walked out of the dressing room and let me tell you she looked like a princess. It was a perfect wedding dress and I took as many pictures as possible but the pictures don't do the dress justice unless you see it in person."
Shira then proceeded to hand out pictures of Rory in the wedding dress. Logan looked at the picture of his breathtaking girlfriend and could see in his mind's eye her walking down the aisle towards him in such a creation. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "You look breathtakingly beautiful. I am one lucky guy and you do know that the talk of our wedding is only moments away right?"
"Yeah I knew it was leading up to our wedding the minute she started talking about me in the wedding dress," whispered Rory.
Jess couldn't take his eyes off of the picture. "Wow Rory you look like the perfect bride. I'm sure if you ask Vera Wang you can probably wear this dress for your wedding," joked Liz.
"Oh Rory can't wear this dress," admonished Shira.
Liz was confused the dress looked like it was made for Rory, "Why not?"
Rory knew where this was leading and looked at Logan for some help. But he was no help whatsoever it seemed he really wanted his mother or Emily to answer the question. "You know it's probably because it would be out of style when I get married," replied Rory lamely.
"Rory darling, that is true but the reason I was thinking about was that you future groom has already seen you in the dress and that's not right. Tradition dictates that the groom is not supposed to see the dress before the wedding," Shira replied smugly. She and Emily turned to look innocently at Jess and got some satisfaction in seeing him turn white.
"Oh who's the groom? When did he get the chance to see it?" asked a clueless Liz.
"The groom is going to be Logan and he just saw it right now," Shira replied as if talking to a child.
Liz's head shot up and she looked at Rory and Logan who were looking rather embarrassed and realized that her dream of her son getting together with Rory just went down the drain. She felt like an idiot for making assumptions it seemed that both Emily and Shira had already planned out Rory and Logan's wedding.
Jess could not believe that he had actually heard such an absurd conversation. It seemed that Shira Huntzberger was so sure of the fact that Rory and Logan were going get married. 'What if they break up? What happens then huh?'
"Shira really! This conversation is going to end here. We've discussed this before Logan and I will announce to the family if the status of our relationship is going to change or has changed. Now let's discuss something else," replied an annoyed Rory.
Emily and Shira realized that they had gone far enough and that there was still dinner. "Oh I wonder what's taking Mitchum so long," said Shira.
"Why don't I try to get a hold of him Shira," replied Richard Gilmore and left to go to his study.
"Shira, why don't you come with me to check on dinner. You know it's so hard to get good help nowadays," explained Emily.
Luke and Lorelai who had been talking quietly to each other took that opportunity to go get some fresh air.
So Rory and Logan were left to entertain the remaining guests of Liz, T.J. and Jess. "Would any of you like your drinks refreshed?" asked Rory. They all politely declined.
"So Logan, Rory how long have the two of you been dating?" asked a curious Liz.
"We've been officially dating for about nine months," said Logan.
"And how did you meet?" asked Liz.
"Well, we technically met at a coffee kiosk the first day of sophomore year where Rory's friend who bartended for me at some of my parties introduced us. But we really got to know each other in front of her dorm room where we had a disagreement of sorts," said a sheepish Logan.
"It was more along the lines of me setting him straight on his viewpoints on certain subjects," added Rory.
"Really! Yours seems like an interesting courtship," replied Liz in a sincere manner.
"Yeah you can say that," laughed Logan.
"Oh my god! I recognize the two of you now. You two are all over every magazine, society page, and tabloid in the United States since you began dating," shouted T.J.
Jess looked at his stepfather and thought he had gone crazy. Rory had specifically mentioned that she had just received her inheritance a few months ago and what T.J. just said could not be true because it seemed the paparazzi thing was a recent development.
"Yeah that was probably us. The press just loves to hound us and we're always getting caught doing crazy things," said Logan.
Jess didn't get it so he asked, "I thought that the press thing was just recent developments. Why were you hounded by the press at the beginning of your relationship?"
Rory finally looked over at Jess and answered his question; "Logan has been in the pubic eye since he was born so when we started dating it was big news to the general public and the society set."
"Oh I didn't realize you were famous Logan what are you famous for?" asked T.J.
"My father is Mitchum Huntzberger, he owns a lot of newspapers around the country and I'll be inheriting the family business," said Logan.
"Mitchum Huntzberger the media mogul?" asked Liz who seemed quiet impressed.
"Oh nobody has called me a mogul in a while," came the reply from the entryway. Everyone turned towards the entrance and saw Mitchum Huntzberger.
Logan stood up and went to shake the hand of his father. Rory rose as well and went to give Mitchum a kiss on the cheek.
Jess couldn't believe how things were progressing. He would need a few days to get a hold of his bearings. Rory and Logan were the perfect society couple, both heirs to their respective family fortunes and it seemed set up to be married and produce beautiful children to inherit the money. He couldn't wait to get the hell away from this place where he felt most uncomfortable. He wished that dinner were already over.
Revised: June 9, 2009