Note: I'm sorry it took me so long to write this chapter, I know that I used to update every other day, but I won't be able to do that anymore. I'm busy with my final thesis and it starts to require all of my time. I will try to update this story in the evenings and weekends though. So, here is my next chapter!

Chapter 17:

It is Friday afternoon. Rory and Marty are still in English Literature, counting the minutes for the class to end. Finally the bell rings and everybody gets up to go and celebrate the weekend.

"Thanks for inviting me Rory!" Marty says, while there are walking back to their dorms.

"No problem! I'm glad you could make it on this short notice." Rory smiles at him.

She truly was happy that he was coming to her mothers test run of the inn. The two of them were in many classes together and had slowly become study partners and friends. That was until, a couple of months ago, when Marty had professed his true feelings for her. In answer she had told him that she liked Logan, even though they weren't in a serious relationship at that moment. After that, Marty had taken a step back and they only saw each other during classes. She had truly missed hanging out with him though.

"So, what's the plan?" Marty asks her.

"At 16:30 we're meeting each other outside by my car. Jake and Tristan will be driving with us. So that gives us about 30 minutes to drop off our books and get our bags packed."

"Okay! What about the others?"

"Paris and Jess are going with Paris's car, but they'll be a bit late, cause Jess has to close down the bookstore at 17:30. Logan, Finn, Colin and Steph will be taking the limo and Derek will make sure that Lisa, Gloria and Bridget get a ride. So everyone is taken care of."

"It sure sounds like it. Okay I better get packing then. Do I need to bring my swim shorts?"

"I don't know, but knowing my mom, you better be prepared for everything." Rory giggles.

Marty smiles too. "Okay I will. See you in 30 minutes." And off they go.

xxx

Rory, Marty, Jake and Tristan arrive at the inn somewhere around 17:00. The ride had been short and pleasant, giving Marty the opportunity to get to know Rory's old friend Tristan and his roommate Jake.

They walk in and see Lorelai standing behind the check-in desk, giving keys to some couple.

"Hey mom, we're here." Rory gives her mom a hug. Then Lorelai turns to the boys. "I see you brought 'Naked Guy', 'ET' and …….you must be?"

"Lorelai, let me introduce you to Jake, my roommate at Yale." Tristan says.

"Nice to meet you, Jake." Lorelai replies.

"It is nice to meet you too, Ms. Gilmore."

"It's Lorelai!" Then she turns to Rory, who just stands there grinning. "Rory have you taught these boys nothing?"

Rory quickly decides to change the subject. "So, mom, are we the first ones to arrive?" She asks her.

"You are if you're only considering your friends that are coming. Some of the other guests have already been checking for the last 30 minutes."

"The others won't take long. They should be here any minute now." Rory replies.

"Okay, that's fine. I'll just start by giving you the keys to your rooms. Rory and I decided to divide you all into the following groups."

"The girls will be sleeping on the first floor." Lorelai continues.

Room 11: Paris, Stephanie and Rory

Room 12: Lisa, Gloria and Bridget

"And the guys will be staying on the second floor."

Room 21: Tristan, Jake and Derek

Room 23: Jess and Marty

Room 24: Logan, Colin and Finn

"I know some guys were hoping to get a room with their girlfriend or potential girlfriend, but Rory and I thought this would be more fun. Just like a high-school trip. Think of all the fun in sneaking around." Lorelai was totally picturing it now.

The boys start to laugh and then follow their luggage upstairs. Once they get away from Lorelai, Jake asks: "Why does she call you naked guy and you ET?"

Tristan and Rory start laughing and Tristan answers. "Oh you have to get used to that. Lorelai has the habit of giving people nicknames. Apparently ET stands for Evil Tristan, because I used to give Rory such a hard time in high school. And I don't know about naked guy. I'm very curious about that one myself!" Tristan turns to Marty.

Now Rory and Marty start to laugh and a blushing Marty starts to tell the story of how Rory found him naked in the hallway. They all start laughing again.

In the meantime, the others also arrived at the Inn. First Logan's group enters.

"Hello Lorelai. It is nice to see you!" Logan gives her a polite handshake and his million dollar smile.

"Hello Logan! It is nice to see you too. And totally dressed this time, I see." Lorelai replies.

Logan doesn't really know how to respond to that and just gives her a sheepish smile. Colin and Finn start to laugh at hearing this. They had already heard of the incidence at the wedding party.

Lorelai turns to the two boys. "And you must be the other two of the three musketeers; Colin and Finn, if I'm not mistaken. And that must make you Stephanie. Hi, I'm Lorelai Gilmore, Rory's mom."

Finn takes her hand and kisses it gently. "It's an honor to meet you, Lorelai Gilmore. You guessed right. I'm Finn and these guys over here are Colin and Stephanie. Thanks for inviting us to the test run."

"I see Rory wasn't exaggerating." Lorelai replies. "Don't thank me, thank Rory. She's already in her room upstairs. I will give you guys the key to your room. Stephanie! You'll be staying on the first floor in room 11, with Paris and Rory. And the rest of you guys are on the second floor in room 24." Lorelai says, while she gives them their key.

The group starts to follow their luggage upstairs. Lorelai just starts helping the next couple that was waiting, when Lorelai hears Finn say: "Rory's mom is totally hot. They must really have some good genes in that family."

xxx

An hour later, once all the guests have arrived and are settled in their rooms, a big gong sounds. Everybody goes downstairs to see where the sound comes from.

Lorelai stands there waiting for everybody to gather around her and then starts her speech.

"I would like to thank you all for coming this weekend. As you all know, you are here to participate in the test run of this inn. As some of you already might have noticed, you will find pens and paper throughout the whole inn. I would like to ask you to write down every little thing that comes to mind, that can be improved. You can hand these notes in at the front desk. I'm counting on you to make things better. At the front desk you will also find a big box with 'Names for the inn' written on it. I'm having a contest to decide on the new name for the Inn. Everybody is allowed to participate and the winning name will be announced tomorrow during dinner. Well that's it for the tasks I have for you. You will have a busy schedule ahead of you, tomorrow, but for tonight I just want you to relax and enjoy yourself. Dinner is being served as we speak and after dinner we all can enjoy some music entertainment. So please enjoy!"

After a humble applause everybody starts heading for the dining room. Logan puts his arm around Rory.

"I hope my mom treated you nice, when you arrived?" Rory says to him.

"She told it was nice that I was totally dressed this time."

"No she didn't!" Rory turns to him with big eyes.

Logan starts to smile. "Don't worry about it Ace, she was perfectly nice to me.

Rory relaxes. She is happy that her mother is making an effort. Logan is very important to her and she's glad that her mom is finally realizing that. Rory had been very upset about the Huntzberger family dinner, but hadn't told her mother about it. She hadn't told her, because she was afraid that Lorelai would take it out on Logan. And that wouldn't be fair. It wasn't his fault that his parents felt this way and he had been totally nice to her, and had done everything to make her feel better. But the truth was that the whole ordeal did make her start thinking about her future with Logan.

When they walk into the dining room, Rory sees Lane sitting there, with the rest of her band members.

"Lane! What are you doing here?" Rory runs over to her and hugs her.

"Surprise! Your mom hired us to play at the inn tonight. It was supposed to be a surprise, that's why I couldn't tell you when we talked on the phone yesterday."

"That's great! Rory smiles at her.

Logan is also smiling. He loves to see Rory surrounded by all of her friends. She totally blossoms in her natural surroundings.

"Lane let me introduce you to …….." And Rory starts to introduce everybody to each other. After that everybody takes a seat and they all start eating

xxx

After dinner, Lane's band really got the party started. Everybody was dancing and having a really great time. Finn had managed to slip in some vodka and was now spicing up everybody's drink. To everyone's relief, mostly his own drinks though. After a while he came to believe, that he was good enough to be the band's new lead singer and started singing along with the songs in a very off-key manner, making the whole crowd laugh.

Rory and Jake had also noticed that Marty liked Lisa, but was to shy to talk to her. So they started matchmaking with the two of them, totally inconspicuous off course. Jake and Rory were trying to pull Lisa and Marty into their conversation, when Logan gets a phone call. He holds up his phone to Rory, so she knows he will be on the phone and walks out onto the porch.

When he gets back, the band had stopped playing and was replaced by music from the speakers. He walks over to Rory and tries not to show. But Rory has known him better than that and can see right through his poker face. So she walks over to him and takes him aside.

"What's wrong Logan?"

"That was my dad on the phone. He wants me to come over for a family lunch tomorrow. Alone! No negotiation possible." His face turns dark.

"Well you have family lunches all the time, so what's the big deal about this one?"

Logan sighs. "I don't know. It was just something in his voice and the way he persisted that I didn't bring you along, that giving me a bad feeling. I think that you are gonna be the topic of discussion tomorrow and that worries me."

Now Rory also starts to look worried. "I don't know what to say. Can't you just not go? They can't make you stop seeing me can they?" She asks him.

Logan gives her a small smile. "No Ace, they can't make me stop seeing you. That is my decision to make and they know it. They're just worried about the Huntzberger future and want to talk about it. But I think it is better for me to go over there and give them my point of view. I have to make them see reason."

Rory puts her head on his shoulder. "Okay, it probably is the best thing to do."

Logan gives her a kiss. Do you mind if I go to bed now? I don't think I will be able to enjoy myself much the rest of this evening."

"If you want we could take a walk together and talk some more."

Logan strokes Rory's cheek. "No you just enjoy the rest of the evening. Your mom and your friends are depending on you. I just need some time to think things through. Will you have breakfast with me before I have to leave tomorrow?" Logan asks her.

Rory just nods and with another kiss he leaves the room. Slowly Rory turns around and goes back to party with her friends. There she finds out from Tristan that they had just discovered from Lisa that apparently Jake also had an ulterior motive in wanting to invite Lisa's friends over for the test run. I seems like he has had a crush on Bridget for the last 4 months. The rest of the evening was spent in much laughter. Especially when Finn started serenading to Gloria and Lorelai had to give a couple of (sober) guys orders to carry the sleeping Lane and Brian to their rooms. Apparently they had accepted too many drinks from Finn.

xxx

A/N: So the first day of the test run is now finished. But what will the second day bring. Expect some L&L interaction!

A/N2: Please can you provide me some names for the inn for the contest, It doesn't matter if they're silly or not. I especially am toying with the idea of Finn providing some ridiculous names.