Chapter 41
"Hey?" Rory said, having not spoken a whole lot to Logan on their drive back from meeting his sister. It had been a comfortable, yet thoughtful silence - holding both a little relief and anxiousness of what was to com.
In part the silence had just been about the fact that she was allowing him to focus on the driving, since it had begun to rain and the visibility wasn't all that great. But in part - she was also thinking what did all of this mean.
"Uh?" Logan said, switching off the engine at the campus parking lot. Since they had no umbrella, they weren't really in a hurry to walk across the campus, knowing they'd get wet. Maybe the rain would die out in a few minutes?
"Why did you decide to do that?" Rory asked hesitantly.
"Do what?" Logan asked a little naively.
"Decide to tell people about us? Was it something I did… because...," Rory began to fret, having wound herself up in her brain. She didn't like the idea of him doing it because of something she'd said - against his will. She didn't want to rush him in this relationship, fearing it'd bite her later in that case. One shouldn't make big life decisions because of someone they'd known for just a year. Rory suddenly realized - she had, in fact, known him for more than a year technically. Naturally they hadn't been together that long, but still...
"Look, I won't lie that it was all my idea…," Logan replied, picking his words. "Just I got the feeling that hiding us was no longer fun for you. That each time I did it, you were just getting hurt… and I don't want you thinking you're not worthy of being introduced as my girlfriend," Logan explained calmly.
"I don't want to be the cause for a rift between you and your parents either," Rory replied.
Logan sighed. There didn't seem to be a good solution this. One way or another there was going to be a reaction - the question was just how bad it would be.
"I'll just try to give them this information as cautiously as I can - that you're someone I'm seeing, and with Honor there I hope that they'll just give me some space…. She's dated Josh for three years, but then again she's not the heir so.,.," Logan explained, adding a note of sarcasm at the end of that sentence. It was so clear to Rory he didn't really want to be a heir if it came with the weight that he was carrying.
"Yeah, but what if there'll be some ultimatum… what then?" Rory worried.
Logan sighed deeply again, having not really thought out every scenario. He was pretty sure, her spot at Yale was safe. He knew his father was mostly just interested in him finishing his studies and in an escalating scale start doing more for the company in the coming years. He'd even considered grad school, which Rory had thought was a good idea, but he knew his father wouldn't support him taking any more time for such thing, especially if he told him about that he was more interested in the IT development part than English or business. He doubted his father would care much about Rory was - as long as he didn't sense her being a threat to the family fortune. His mother, however, was the wild card, as was possibly also his grandfather.
"Well… we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but for now I expect the worst that'll happen is that you'll be invited to dinner and possibly made courteous but somewhat underhanded small talk to," Logan shared, realistically. He was determined to go alone with Honor and not bring Rory the first time he told them.
"Well, that I can take," Rory tried to sound optimistic, for his sake in part.
"Worst case scenario this'll just mean that the apartment we'll rent next year won't be a penthouse at the best building in town and I'll be paying for it out of my trust fund," Logan replied, quickly trying to think out solutions, half jokingly.
To Rory that felt like a cold shower. Could it really be that bad? Could her presence in his life really have such an impact?
Rory became quiet, and looked down at her hands. Honestly, she just hated that.
"You'd really do that? For me?" Rory still sounded like she was in disbelief.
"Of course," Logan said, wrapped his hand into the back of her hair and pulled her close for a passionate kiss.
Rory knew he could do that. And for the somewhat self-destructive train of thought that she'd been going along it was deliciously distractive, making her want to step off that train. Ignorance seemed like a bliss when his lips were on hers.
The kiss intensified quickly, but Logan's sports car really wasn't one for getting very handsy in, there not being much space.
"Now it'd be awfully tempting to replicate Rose and Jack in here, wouldn't it?" Rory murmured teasingly, seeing the glasses fog up, and touched the windshield with her finger, leaving a small line.
She was feeling like she was being spoiled. Hell - she'd never felt so loved by any man in her life like she was now. And the part of her that was all Logan's doing - the part that thought of things optimistically and didn't worry so much, was taking over her body and mind.
"I'd prefer Allie and Noah at the pier and then after…," Logan replied, huskily.
"The Notebook?" Rory asked, usure of the reference, frowning her eyebrow dubiously.
Logan chuckled in a low tone, and brushed his lower lip against her upper lip again.
"But wouldn't that involve us getting to a fight first?" she asked, pulling back a few inches.
"Mostly the after," Logan added, knowing how in the movie that scene, dashing through the rain post kiss had led to some pretty incredible sex.
"Uh-uh," Rory nodded, kissing him with more intent this time. She felt like she needed to prove her love to him somehow - she didn't know how to shower him with expencive gifts or grand gestures... though she realized she probably needed to learn fast. For now - sex seemed to be her main commodity, and she knew that sounded awful. But that was how she felt.
Rory pulled out of the kiss, Logan's neck streching along, reluctant to stop, and without saying a word Rory opened the door of Logan's car and slipped out. Outside, Rory took his hand and the two ran towards Rory's dorm which was closest through the rain, the unspoken plan being to rip those clothes off of each-other as soon as they could. In a world of uncertainty of how things would be a week from now - they at least had that.
"Uh, where are my keys? What did I do with my keys?" Logan asked, looking surprisingly nervous, patting through his pockets. "Ah, got them," he announced, finding them in the car.
"You look nervous," Rory pointed out, straightening one of her modest cocktail dresses. It was a little Audrey-Hepbourne-esque boat neck that went down to her knees.
Right now, Rory was in comparison quite calm.
"Do I?" Logan asked, leaning against his car for a moment. "I'm just worried what we're getting us into here. You really think this is a good idea?" Logan asked Rory.
"Come on," Rory pulled him up, gave him a quick peck. "We talked about this - it's better this way," she added. It was no longer a discussion about whether they were going to tell people, it was the matter of how, when and in what order.
The two stood nervously behind a grand front door, having just rang the doorbell.
"Hello, come in," the timid-looking maid said quietly and gestured them in.
"Here goes," Logan whispered, taking a deep tactical breath.
Rory had never seen him this nervous before.
"Rory! Hello!" Emily greeted her, stepping up to the foyer to greet her guests.
"Hi, grandma!" Rory replied. "I believe you remember Logan?" she said, touching Logan's upper arm gently, aiming to ease her grandparents into the news by laying down a trail of small hints. She could already tell from the way Emily observed that simple touch that dots were beginning to connect in her head.
"And Logan! Hello! My, when Rory said she'd be bringing a friend I was clueless we'd be hosting such an important guest this evening," Emily replied apologetically and at the same time excitedly.
"Hello, Emily," Logan replied, and handed Emily one of his hostess gifts, a box of chocolates. "Here, a little something for hosting us," he added.
"Vunderschen chocolates, I absolutely adore these!" Emily exclaimed.
"I picked them up last time I was in Switzerland," Logan replied, like it was no big deal.
Well played, Huntzberger, - Rory thought to herself.
It had been her idea - considering all the what-if's she'd manage to think out concerning his parents' possible reaction to them being a couple. They were seeing the Gilmore's for Friday night dinner, hoping to have someone on their side before Logan went ahead with telling his parents. Besides, Rory was pretty sure that if her grandmother found out later than Shira, especially considering her own mother already knew, she wouldn't be happy and she'd hear about it for weeks, possibly months.
Logan had hesitated, though understood her reasoning well enough. It almost felt like this was their back up. Besides, it was already evident to Rory that Richard seemed to like Logan.
"Come, come! Richard - look who's here!" Emily exclaimed stepping a few steps towards the living room, but staying behind to whisper to Rory.
"Why didn't you tell me you're bringing Logan Huntzberger!? I would've planned a whole other menu, had I known," Emily scolded her quietly.
"I'm sorry...," was the only thing Rory managed to say. Clearly Logan was not just liked but he was a big name in this household, something Rory had never realized quite as strongly before.
"Logan! How wonderful to see you!" Richard said, shaking hands with Logan as if they were old friends.
"Likewise! Here, Sir," Logan said, handing him a box of cigars.
"Oh, Romeo y Julieta's. You're a good man, Logan Huntzberger!" Richard chuckled approvingly.
"Come on, Richard. Would you be so kind as to offer our guest of honor a drink," Emily instructed.
"Oh, yes, of course," Richard said, putting the cigars away on the mantlepiece.
Emily urged everyone to take a seat and asked, "What would you like, Logan?"
The two sat down on the couch, but didn't leave too much space between each-other, giving Rory's grandparents another hind about them being more than just friends.
"Scotch neat, please," Logan replied, truly feeling like he needed a drink to get through this evening. On second thought he was beginning to see this evening as the junior league. But he really wasn't sure yet what Rory had said about her grandparents being harsh sometimes.
"Rory, is your mother coming tonight?" Emily asked, clearly missing her presence already.
"She is, she's just running a little late. She asked me to apologize for her," Rory replied, knowing this wasn't ideal, but this time her mother was genuinely late because of some burst pipe at the inn. Being a little anxious herself, she'd nearly forgotten to tell her.
"I just adore this jacket you're wearing. Isn't this a fine jacket, Richard?" Emily commented, causing Rory to momentarily raise yet eyebrows. Emily was also trying to steer Richard's attention to the two of them, having noticed them sitting there rather comfortably.
"Oh, yes. Those are some great lapels," Richard replied, handing Logan his scotch. "Rory?" Richard asked for her drink preference.
"Club soda, please" Rory requested.
"So, demure..," Emily chimed at Rory's request. "Isn't she?" she added.
"The demurest," Logan reflected, holding back his smile, being clearly a little entertained.
"So, what's been going on? Everything going well at Yale, I presume?" Richard asked, once he'd returned with drinks for all three of the rest.
Rory had been already noting how Emily was excited, holding back asking what she really wanted to ask for several seconds.
"Well… Yes, everything is fine. Everything is excellent in fact. I'm sure you're wondering why I brought Logan with me this time," Rory began, having practiced this wording a few times back at Yale.
At that moment, Logan made things abundantly clear by taking Rory's hand and therefore going off script.
"We're here to tell you that we've been seeing each-other," Logan said.
"Yes, Logan is my boyfriend," Rory added, not loving the fact that she hadn't been the one to announce this the way she'd wanted to.
"Oh, my - that's wonderful news!" Emily exclaimed. "Don't you think it's wonderful news, Richard?" she asked.
"It certainly is," Richard reflected but it looked like he was holding something back a little. He didn't seem to object, but he looked a little concerned.
"But before you go telling people, we'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself for a while," Rory continued.
"I'm telling my parents tomorrow and truth be told I'm a little worried how they might take the news," Logan replied. He knew better than to even suggest they might not think Rory was not good enough or anythign similar. He was hoping to keep it more general.
"Why, of course…," Emily replied. "But why might...," Emily continued, not quite following.
Logan realized he could've picked his words better now.
"I just meant that they are known to get ahead of themselves. And while we wanted to make it public, we are also emphasizing that we've only just started dating and we would appreciate our families not putting too much pressure on us," Logan explained, skillfully.
"We're just in college, and we're still getting to know each-other," Rory added.
"Oh, right - of course," Emily replied, sounding relieved. "Well our lips are sealed. Aren't they, Richard?" she added.
"Uh-huh," Richard nodded along.
Rory was still quite naive to actually believe they could not think too far ahead. And perhaps it was good that she was.
"So tell me - where did you two meet? It wasn't at the Yale alumni party I threw, was it?" Emily began to inquire, hopefully, just as the doorbell rang and the maid guided Lorelai in.
"Ah, Lorelai - nice to see you could join us. As you can see we have a special guest this evening!" Emily said, rose and continued to inquire into her drink preferences.
"My apologizes for being late, we had a water leak at the Inn," Lorelai explained. "Nice to see you, Logan," she greeted the man, indicating to Emily already that she knew him. Naturally this made Emily realize that she must've already known about the relationship too, but she should've known, really.
"Everything alright at the Inn?" Richard asked.
"Yes, everything is fine now, just one of our storage rooms needs to be dried up with space heaters," Lorelai explained.
"Logan and Rory were just about to tell us how the two of them met," Emily steered the conversation back to the couple in front of them.
"Ah, so the cat's out of the bag?" Lorelai teased. There was some approval in her tone, Rory did know that she'd cautioned her about this as well during the past week or so.
"Yes, we told them," Rory replied, throwing her mother a cautioning look.
"You knew about this, Lorelai?" Richard asked.
"Well, yeah, dad… Rory and I are freakishly close, remember?" Lorelai shot back, causing Emily to roll her eyes.
"Yes, of course," Richard exhaled. It almost looked like he was a little disappointed, but Rory wasn't really sure why. She'd believed he liked Logan a lot - she could only hope it wasn't some trust thing. Maybe he'd trusted Logan with her in regards to the LDB but by dating her he'd somehow broken that trust in his eyes? - Rory tried to ponder for possible reasons.
"Now, I'm dying to hear the story," Emily urged.
"What story?" Lorelai inquired.
"The story of how we met," Rory replied to her mother.
"Well… while we mostly got to know each-other better at Yale and also thanks to that wonderful party you threw, Emily," Logan began, feeling Rory clench his hands even more firmly, worried he might mention too much.
"But the first time we actually met was in Rome," Rory decided to add, realizing that her grandparents didn't know anything about her even going to spring break. Rome was certainly better than admitting to the latter.
"In Rome?!" Emily and Richard exclaimed in unison.
"I was seeing the Catacombs one day and his friends were being a little rude, and he was the perfect gentleman who apologized for them. But I honestly had no clue he went to Yale at the time," Rory summed things up into a nice little story, a more innocent one but still close enough to the truth to fly.
"Oh, my… That is quite a story," Emily chimed.
"It really is," Logan replied, casting a naughtier look to Rory as he said, but so that it was only evident to her and perhaps a little to Rory's mother.
"That's quite a story for the kids someday…," Emily chimed. "Not that I'm pressuring, no… I'm sorry, that just slipped out," she added, allowing everyone to feel relieved she wasn't at least not publicly allowing herself to think so far ahead.
Lorelai was chuckling quietly, Rory getting now what she'd been cautioning her about.
A day passed, and even though Rory had explained how she'd feel more dignified if she went with him to see his family, just like he'd joined her for Friday night dinner, Logan had insisted she shouldn't. Not this first time. He wanted to spare her and prep the room so-to-speak for the time when she would actually come. He was smart enough to not go into the lion's den without a chair to sit on if he were to use his father's once-spoken words at a business meeting.
Rory was at Yale, trying to do her homework, but it wasn't going terribly well because her mind kept thinking about how Logan was doing over at his parent's house. He'd been gone for an hour and a half already, but the drive there was at least 35 minutes. He'd promised to call once the dinner was over.
Suddenly her phone rang and hoping it was Logan… or not, rather fearing it might be Logan already, she picked up quickly.
"Yeah?" Rory asked.
"That was quick. You working on supersonic speed now or something?" her mother inquired.
"No, I'm just waiting for Logan to call. But it might be a while..," Rory replied.
"Ah, so - tonight's the big night?" Lorelai asked, sensing her daughter's nervousness.
"Yep," Rory replied, popping the 'p'.
"You nervous he might reconsider?" Lorelai asked.
"Reconsider what? Us?" Rory wasn't sure she was quite following.
"Or telling them," Lorelai asked, but her question sounded innocent enought, like she just didn't have a filter.
"No," Rory replied, trying to sound more sure than she was beginning to be.
"Oh, good," Lorelai replied.
"Grandma and grandpa took the news pretty well at least," Rory said not wanting to talk about anything that could maker her nervousness any worse.
"Grandma did, yeah," Lorelai announced. "She's probably complying your wedding scrap book as we speak," she added, laughingly.
"She is not," Rory objected.
"Well, maybe not, but I can assure you she's thinking about it," Lorelai added.
"Well sa long as she doesn't do anything, she can think all she wants," Rory argued.
"Even thinking is dangerous in her hands," Lorelai chuckled.
"What about grandpa? Did he saying anything... he was a little hard to read," Rory pondered, having left before her mother with Logan last night.
"Well.. actually... he did talk to me last night," Lorelai said.
"He did? What did he say? I thought he liked Logan," Rory inquired anxiously.
"He does. He just also believes he is a very 'experienced and wordly man' - his words," Lorelai shared, emphasizing the 'experienced and wordly man' part.
"What does that mean?" Rory exclaimed.
"He was just concerned whether I'd had 'the talk' with you," Lorelai shared.
"Oh my god! Gross," Rory felt like she wanted to sink to the ground. She did not like mixing the thought of her sex life with talk of her grandfather.
"And while I told him not to worry, that you were a responsible and determined girl who put her studies first," Lorelai continued, making it clear what Richard's main concern had been, "he did mention something about having the minister over for dinner sometime," she added.
"The minister?" Rory reflected, not quite following.
"I told him it was not necessary but concerning things like that I don't think he is very bright. So you might be getting the abstinence talk at some point," Lorelai chukled.
"Ugh, man!" Rory groaned reluctantly.
"I had that talk, god - I don't even remember how many times," Lorelai chuckled.
"You have to help me get out of that," Rory begged her mother.
"Hey, maybe you really needed it - you two were like rabbits when he stayed over. And trust me, I tried not to hear," Lorelai teased, confessing she'd overheard quite a lot of things.
"Mom!" Rory scolded her.
"But I'll see what I can do, but it might be necessary for you to lie," Lorelai added.
"Right," Rory sighed.
"Anyway, once I think he's convinced you're all being proper, I don't think there should be much of an issue for him. He likes him, he likes his family... it just his somewhat Casanova-like reputation he's not so fond of," Lorelai explaine, and Rory knew Richard wasn't the only one with that opinion.
"Well, he's not that guy anymore," Rory replied, being certain of that.
"I really hope he is," Lorelai said, for the first time showing Rory how she genuinely hoped for the best for them. And she did. She was just cautious.
"We were thinking about moving in together next semester," Rory confessed to her mother.
"Wow, that is big..," Lorelai exclaimed. "Grandpa will have a fit but who cares, right?" she added.
"Nothing's decided, but it's just a nice thought," Rory said. "Nobody's ever wanted to live with me before. And this was his idea...," Rory described. "He has so much on the line, and it's all for me... I don't even know how to respond to that," she added, being more open about these things than she had in a while with her mother.
"Well, you just trust his judgement and support him... there's not a whole lot more you can do," Lorelai discussed.
"Yeah, but I don't want to be the reason he gets into a fight with his family... no matter how much I like the idea of not hiding us," Rory replied.
"But in the end it's his decision, isn't it? If he does it... he does, what will come will come... Maybe his due some rebellion? Maybe he is a man of principles... I don't know. You know him a lot better than me," she added.
"Yeah, I guess so," Rory chimed, unenthusiastically. She suddenly heard a beep - she had a call waiting. "Okay, I got to go - this must be Logan," she said.
"Bye, hon," Lorelai replied.
"Bye," she said, removing the phone from her ear and switched to the other call. "Logan?" she asked.
"Well, it's done," Logan replied, sounding like he's just killed someone for money. He was so difficult to read.
"And?" Rory asked, expectantly.