Chapter 17 – Dinner At The Gilmores
So, I'm not quite what happened with the last chapter. I never got one of those confirmation emails that it was on the site and I never got the reviews in my email. Weird. I wish I knew what happened. I hope it doesn't happen this time, though. ANYWAY, I hope you guys like this chapter!
Thanks for your reviews, even though I didn't get them in my email, haha :)
"So are we gonna go in?" Luke asked.
Lorelai and Rory were silent.
"We're just gonna stand here?" Luke asked again.
"This is the time we use to prepare ourselves. You should be preparing." Lorelai said.
"Prepare?"
"To face my parents."
"Can't we just go and get it over with?"
"Luke, we are experienced Friday night dinner attendee's. We know how to get out of this place alive."
"I can't believe how big this place is. It should have its own zip code."
"Prepare!"
"No wonder you ran away. This place is intimidating."
"Luke!"
"I'm ringing the doorbell." He said as he reached his arm across Lorelai.
She grabbed his arm and pulled it back. "Don't touch that doorbell."
"Lorelai!"
"I got it." Rory said as she quickly pressed the doorbell.
"Rory!" Lorelai said with surprise.
"This was getting ridiculous."
"You want ridiculous? Just wait until we walk into this house." Lorelai said.
"Hello." The maid answered. "Are you here for dinner?"
"Yes." Rory said.
"Please come in."
The maid took their coats and quickly after Emily appeared.
"Hello Girls." She greeted. She looked at Luke. "Hello Luke."
"Hello Mrs. Gilmore." Luke said extending his hand.
"Please, call me Emily." She said as they shook hands.
Luke smiled and nodded.
"Well, let's have some drinks." Emily said. "What can I get everyone?" Emily asked as she walked over to the drink cart.
"Vodka martini and keep 'em coming." Lorelai said.
"Soda, please." Rory responded.
"Luke?" Emily asked.
"Uh, do you have any beer?" He asked.
Lorelai hit his arm and he gave her a confused look.
"Oh, no, I'm sorry Luke. We don't normally have beer. Can I get you something else?"
He looked over at Lorelai for some direction on what to do. She mouthed scotch to him and he made a disgusted face.
"A scotch would be great." He said.
"Alright." She made all the drinks and placed them on the table. Everyone grabbed their drink and Richard emerged from his study.
"Hello girls." Richard greeted. "Oh, and you must be Luke."
"Hello Mr. Gilmore." Luke said as they shook hands.
"Please call me Richard."
Luke smiled and nodded again. He felt like this might be a long night after all.
"I see you've got a scotch there." Richard observed. "Excellent choice."
"Uh, yeah. I love a good scotch."
"So, how's the diner, Luke?" Emily asked in a slightly condescending voice.
"Oh, it's great. Keeps me busy."
"Yes, I would assume so. And you make a good living from it?"
"Yep. It pays the bills."
"Well, that's good to hear. It's a good idea to pay those bills."
"So did you guys hear about what happened at Chilton yesterday?" Lorelai said, eager to change the subject.
"No we didn't." Emily said.
"Please tell us. I always like to know what's going on at that school." Richard said.
They both stared at Rory who was completely caught off guard. She looked over at her mother who whispered buffer. Rory sighed and started to fabricate some event that happened.
"Well, it was no big deal really." Rory said, trying to stall. "I was, uh, at my locker and this girl is carrying her books and she, uh, trips and falls right on her face." She looks over at Lorelai for confidence. She nods and Rory continues. "So, this girls starts screaming out in pain because apparently she broke her nose when she fell. There was a puddle of blood and an ambulance came and everything."
"Oh my." Emily said. "Is the poor girl alright?"
"Yeah. She's fine. She just has a broken nose."
"Poor girl. She must have been humiliated." Richard said.
There was a short awkward silence until Emily spoke again.
"So, Luke…" She started.
"Dinner is ready, madam." The maid said.
"Alight. Thank you Constantina." She got up and led everyone into the dining room.
"Remind me thank that maid for her amazing timing." Lorelai whispered to Rory.
"See, things are going fine." Rory whispered back.
"Oh, there's still time."
"So, Luke," Emily started. "Am I correct in saying that you never attended college?"
"Uh, yeah you would be correct." Luke said.
"I see. And no plans to expand your business or capitalize?"
"Uh, no. I don't."
Lorelai reached her hand under the table and grabbed his hand to support him.
"I hear Christopher is planning to expand his internet company."
"Mom…" Lorelai warned.
"I'm purely making conversation, Lorelai."
"Choose something else then."
"Lorelai, we must get to know this man that you are apparently getting serious with."
"This is really good grandma." Rory said, trying to change the subject. "What is it?"
"It's duck."
"Oh, really? I never had duck before. It's very good."
"Thank you Rory." There was another short silence until Emily spoke again. "So Luke, have you given any thought to children?"
Luke almost choked on his carrot and quickly took a drink. "Uh…"
"Mom, we haven't really talked about that." Lorelai said trying to remain calm.
"Well surely he has some idea if he'd like them or not."
"Uh, yeah." He said nervously. "I'd like kids some day."
"And of course marriage. But I suppose that is understood. But with Lorelai you can't be certain."
"Mom!" Lorelai yelled. "Stop."
"Lorelai, do not raise your voice." Emily said.
"So, what's for dessert?" Rory said, trying to stop the fight that was brewing.
"I knew this was going to happen. You don't care that Luke makes me happy. You don't care that I love him, you don't…"
"You love him?" Emily said with surprise.
She looked into Luke's eyes. "Yes I do."
"Well, it's not like I haven't heard that before. I mean what about that teacher from Chilton. Max."
"Mom, come on. How many times are we going to have this conversation?"
"Can you imagine how awkward that must be for Rory? You never think."
"I'm good. Everything is fine. It's not awkward." Rory said.
"Mom, you don't understand. You'll never understand."
"What? What is there to understand? I think I understand perfectly."
"Oh you do?"
"You're dating this man just to spite us. You hate me and your father that much."
"Mom!" Lorelai yelled.
"Lorelai, Emily, please. There is no need for this." Richard said, but Emily and Lorelai were to far gone in their fight.
""Please listen! For the love of god why don't you ever listen to me?"
"I always listen. I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm dating Luke because I want to. Because I love him and think that we could have something real."
Emily rolled her eyes.
"We're leaving." Lorelai said as she got out of her chair and stormed out of the dining room.
"Uh, thanks for dinner. It was delicious." Luke said quickly and chased after Lorelai.
"Thanks for dinner grandma." Rory said. "Bye grandpa."
She grabbed her coat and ran outside to the jeep. She saw her mom in Luke arms, crying. She sighed heavily and walked over to them.
"I hate them." Lorelai mumbled. "I hate them."
"Usually the crying stage doesn't happen until after we get back." Rory whispered to Luke. "This was really bad."
"Your grandparents really don't like me." Luke whispered back.
"They don't really like anyone." Rory said. "They don't know what they're missing."
Luke smiled and whispered in Lorelai's ear. She slowly peeled herself off of him and smiled. She kissed him and grabbed the keys out of her purse. "You drive." She said, handing the keys to Rory.
"Ok." She took the keys and climbed into the jeep.
"I'm so sorry, Luke." Lorelai said.
" I knew it was gonna be bad."
"I can't believe some of the stuff my mother said." She said as she shook her head.
"It's ok. Really."
"No it's not. No one should treat you that way. They are so condescending."
"Let's go home, ok?"
She nodded and climbed into the back of the jeep.
On the ride home Luke couldn't help but think that Lorelai's parents had more control over her life than she would like to think. He was afraid that they would break them up. He had seen some of Emily's handy work. She was manipulative and she would do anything to get what she wants. He decided to push it out of his mind for now. They would deal with it later.
Rory pulled up to their house and parked. She turned around and saw her mom lying on Luke's lap and she smiled.
"Bye Luke." She whispered.
"Bye Rory."
As soon as Rory was safely in the house, Luke slowly and gently lifted Lorelai up off his lap.
"Hey." He said.
"Hey."
"We've had quite a night."
"Yes. Yes we did."
He kissed her softly. "I'll see ya tomorrow."
"Ya wanna come in?"
"Rory is there."
"So? We won't do anything dirty. I don't wanna sleep alone tonight."
"Won't that be a little weird?"
"If I remember correctly we are engaged." She said. She took the ring out of her purse and slipped it back on her finger.
He smiled. "Oh yeah. I remember now."
He helped her out of the car and they walked inside. Lorelai walked over to the couch where Rory was watching TV.
"I love living in a world where you can always find I Dream of Jeanie reruns on TV." Lorelai said.
"Yes. There is some good still left in the world." Rory said.
Luke came over and sat down next to Lorelai and put his arm around her. Rory smiled at how happy they both looked.
"So, what's this?" Luke asked.
Lorelai and Rory looked at him with surprise. "What?" They said at the same time.
Luke started laughing. "I know its I Dream of Jeanie, I just wanted to see your reaction."
Lorelai hit him playfully. "Don't you ever scare us like that again."
So, I'm a bit torn as to what to do with this story. I mean I could end it soon, within a few chapters, but I'm not sure if I want to. I really like this story. A lot more than my other one. So, I guess I'm just asking what do you guys think? Do you think it should end or not? I don't want it to go on for so long that it gets boring. I dunno. Tell me what you think.
