"I'm telling you something is wrong with this internship." Lorelai was letting out her paranoia to her youngest.
Anna sat on her balcony having tea while Naruto and Sasuke enjoyed chicken broth popsicles. "What would be the downside to the internship? It'll look perfect on a resume. He's a big name, right?"
"It will and he is. His family treated her terribly. They don't want her with Logan so why would they hand her this opportunity?" She didn't see the motive behind it.
"Rory is from an influential family, so he is trying to smooth things over. I wouldn't want to go against Emily and Richard Gilmore." She thought Rory was getting a good thing from a horrible situation. "Grandma would destroy them socially and grandpa would get all his partners to pull from business with them."
"His business is newspaper. I don't know how much of that intersects with insurance. Maybe he's going to try and break her." She theorized.
"She said he was treating her decently. He is not playing favorites but he's not being mean to her." She corrects. "He doesn't want to push Logan away. That's probably what this is about. Rory said that Logan was upset about it and wasn't answering their calls."
"Logan, he seems to be the top prize." She mutters.
"Give him a chance." She didn't want her mother to project her childhood issues onto Logan.
"I know these people." She knew the elite type. They thought of themselves as King and Queen. Everyone who didn't live in their gated kingdom was underneath them.
"You're from that life. If you can be different with the same raising then why can't he?" She didn't know why she held a grudge against people of a certain wealth.
"I will meet him with an open mind on Friday night." She agrees.
"You're coming? Are you crazy? Your first night back there is going to be her humiliating you the whole time. I don't think that will make a good impression on Logan." She didn't want to watch that.
"I deserve to meet him too." She sighs. "And I don't need to impress him. He needs to impress me."
"You aren't even going to get to talk to him. They will monopolize him for the whole night. It's going to be gross." She didn't want to go herself but Emily called insisting she come.
"I'm coming." She insisted.
"Fine. It's your funeral." She shrugs.
Anna was sitting in the living room at her grandparent's manor, reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Jess sat next to her reading over her shoulder since he had forgotten his book in the car. She looked over the book and watched curiously as the maid put down a vase filled with lilies and picked up the one with peonies. Emily had been going crazy all night over the tiny details. She thought it was ridiculous, Logan had been here before. Emily had met him many times already, while not being good friends the Huntzbergers went to all the same events that the Gilmores did. None of that matters, she insisted they need to make a good impression tonight for Rory. She wanted Logan to feel like a part of the family.
The doorbell rang, Emily, smiling dreamily to herself as she went to answer it. She stopped in the living room. "Anna, book away. Our guests have arrived."
"Of course." She put it down on the side table next to the couch.
"Can you imagine his blonde hair and her blue eyes? So adorable." She gushes as she practically skips to the door.
Jess waited until she was out of sight before muttering. "Sounds like Hilter's wet dreams."
"Jess." She hissed, knowing her grandma had the ears of a bat.
"What? I still don't understand why she wants me here." He looked at the liquor cart.
"I think to help Logan feel like not all the pressure is on him," Emily called Anna, demanding Jess be here. She said they need to appear as a unit. She wanted Logan to feel welcome by everyone.
"Oh, how nice for him." He scoffs.
Richard came in with Lorelai. "Anna, Jess, Lorelai's here." He announced and looked over at her standing there. "Please sit, sit." He pointed to the couch when she didn't move.
"So much pressure." She did as she was told.
"Did you ring Mike Armstrong?" Richard asked about the man who was interested in buying the Inn.
"I did. We have a meeting set up for tomorrow." She grabs the drink that Richard hands to her.
"I'm glad, Mike is big in the business. I think you'll find him valuable…" He joined them in the sitting area.
"Richard? I need help." Emily screams from the other room.
"I'm sitting with Lorelai. What you asked me to do." He reminds her.
"I'll stop her from sticking her finger in any sockets," Jess promises.
"Alright, here I come." He gets up to deal with the latest meltdown over nothing.
"So, you decided to take the meeting?" From what Anna last heard she was on the fence about it.
"Yeah, there is no reason to turn down an opportunity before finding out all the details. The extra money and connections could help us branch out." She didn't see the harm in the meeting.
"It could be a great opportunity for you to be a consultant." She nods.
"Yeah, it would be." She was getting excited at the idea but was trying to stop herself. She didn't want to get her hopes up.
"If you want it I'm sure you'll get it." She smiles.
"I just adore this jacket you're wearing." Emily walks in with Logan on her arm.
"I like how the lapels are cut." Richard walks in with Rory holding on to him. "Aren't those nice lapels, Rory?"
"Sure Grandpa, his lapels look great." She smiles.
"Most modern tailors cut the lapels too low. It's so sloppy having one's lapels hang down around the chest like a basset hound's ear or something." Richard admires Logan's attire.
"I didn't know you were such a fashionista, Grandpa. We have to watch Project Runway together." Anna stood up making Jess follow suit. "Nice to see you again, Logan." She shook his hand.
"Likewise." He smiles.
"You met before?" Emily asked.
"Oh yeah, at the Yale party." She nods.
"We met before at the tailgate but didn't trade names or anything. The food was something to remember. I'm guessing this is the lucky guy I've heard so much about from Rory." He looks at Jess.
"Oh yes, Logan this is Jess Mariano. Jess, this is Logan Huntzberger." Richard introduced them.
"Nice to meet you." Jess lied through his teeth.
"Hi, mom." Rory was happy to see her there. "Logan. I want you to meet my mother." Rory grabs his arm and guides him to the couch.
Emily steps between them. "Logan, Lorelai. Lorelai, Logan. Everyone has a seat and I'll get refreshments. What would you like, Logan?"
"Macallan neat, if you have it." He orders.
"I adore a man who drinks his scotch neat." Anan thought Emily's smile was about to split her face.
"A fine drink." Richard nods. "Rory?"
"A club soda." She smiles.
"So demure, isn't she demure?" Emily looks at Logan.
"The demurest." He nods. Jess was doing his best to hide the disgust of them salivating at the possibility of a power family joining with theirs.
"Anna, Jess, would you like me to top off your drinks?" Richards turns to them.
"If you would, thank you." She hands him the two glasses.
"Do you want your usual, Lorelai? A sidecar?" She couldn't ignore her daughter even though she wanted to.
"A sidecar? No." She shook her head.
"Isn't that your drink?" Emily tilts her head.
"No, my drink is a martini. It's always been a martini. In the 8,000 times I came here, it's almost always been a martini." She had a tight smile on.
"I could have sworn you were a sidecar girl?" She hums. "Richard, Lorelai would like a martini."
"Can do." He grabs another glass.
"I can't get over those Lapels." Emily went back to admiring Logan.
"Grandma and Grandpa are very taken with Logan's lapels," Rory told them.
"They look fine to me." She shrugged.
"You'll have to excuse Lorelai, Logan. It takes a certain eye to be aware of this kind of thing." She tried to hide the distaste in her voice but it was in the undertone.
Richard came around to hand out the drink to his granddaughters and their boyfriends. "A martini coming up."
"With a twist." Emily reminds him.
"Nope, an olive." She smirks.
"In a vodka martini." She laughed like Lorelai was the village idiot. Jess started to feel bad for the woman that he wasn't that fond of himself.
"Not vodka, mom, gin. It's always been gin, a gin martini." She was annoyed with her mom making it seem like she hadn't been here so long that she had forgotten everything about her.
"Gin? Huh?" She looks up at the ceiling in thought. Anna didn't understand this tactic in front of a guest. It seems like Emily didn't care or pay attention to her daughter.
"So, Logan, where exactly do you live at Yale? Are you in Rory's building?" Lorelai changed the subject.
"No, I'm at Berkeley." He told her.
"Is that far from Rory?" She asks.
"No, I'd say it's about 90 kropogs." He answers.
"Kropogs. I haven't heard that in so long." Emily laughed like it was the funniest thing she ever heard.
"What's a kropog?" Lorelai asks.
"Years ago, someone at Yale started measuring things based on the height of a kid named kropog." He informs her. Jess' eye twitch. He hated when people would use terms like that knowing others wouldn't get it. It is a way to appear elite.
Richard laughs in delight. "I can't believe people are still using Kropog, that is something. Maxwell T. Kropog was his name, class of 44…. Oh, Lorelai, I forgot your drink, I made it and everything." He looks at his daughter.
"I can get it," Jess wasn't a part of the conversation anyway.
"Oh no, Jess, your guest I'll get it." Emily got up.
"I'm glad to hear that kropog is still part of the Yale vernacular. Tradition is important." He smiles.
"So how tall was he?" Anna asked. "I imagine he was either abnormally tall or short."
"I'm not sure," Richard answered after a long pause.
"Well then move on, your story no longer holds any humor." She shakes her hand to show she is no longer interested.
"Anna, I swear you have too much of her mother in you some time." Emily scolds.
"Well, good hosts have topics that everyone can engage in." She crosses her legs.
"Yes, so let's talk about something other than Yale." Rory agrees.
"Nonsense, Yale is the greatest topic and it has the best man." She walks over to join them again. "I dated a few Princeton men and a couple of Harvards but nothing compared to a Yale man." She hands Lorelai her drink before sitting next to her husband.
"Sounds like you got a round." Anna got her drink snatched out of her hand.
"I think you had enough." Emily put it closest to her.
"Mom, there is an onion in here." She glares at the object in her drink. "I wanted an olive."
"I swore you said Onion." She looks at the glass.
"No olive, I said olive." She grits her teeth.
"I'll get you that olive, I guess." She got up to take the glass like Lorelai was being the ridiculous one.
It felt like hours of them sitting there listening to Richard and Emily gushing all over Logan. It was making Lorelai, Anna, and Jess disgusted and creeped out. All three would have kissed the maid in thank you when she came in to tell them dinner was served. "Shall we?" Richard got up.
"I'm going to pop in the kitchen to check on a thing or two. Richard, would you carve the roast?" Emily stood up.
"Certainly." He buttoned his jacket.
"Mom, will there be alcohol at dinner?" Lorelai desperately needed it.
"There's always wine at dinner, honestly Lorelai, you act like you've never been here." She led her husband to the kitchen.
"Roast sounds good." Logan filled the silence that took over the room.
"Let's get this night over with." Jess got up to head to the dining room and Lorelai followed him.
Rory and Logan got up while Anna was fixing the strap on her heel. "What are you doing?" Rory asked, making her look up to see Logan with a glass elephant figurine in his hand.
"A little life and death brigade business. Every time we're in a rich person's house. I take a knick-knack then leave a knick-knack I took from the last rich person's house. I've been doing this up and down the Eastern seaboard for years." He explained the game his friends played like they weren't also rich snobs.
"Logan, no." She shook her head.
"Trust me. They never notice." He reassured her.
"I agree, Logan no." Anna came up from behind to take the elephant to pick it back in its place. "This is mine. If you like to play your little game do it with something of Rory's. Although I would advise against it. Emily might be coming off tonight as some dumb bimbo housewife who gets distracted by shiny objects but she is not. She is highly intelligent and everything here has been picked out and placed by her. So, anything you take will be noticed. But take your chances." She walks into the dining room.
"She's right, you know," Rory told him.
"No one can keep track of all this junk." He insisted.
"Alright, grab the sewing box." She saw a knick-knack that was going to her. He did the switch out before they went into the dining room.
Emily and Richard came from the kitchen. "Everyone sits, the salad will be out in a minute." Everyone did as instructed. Emily stood in the doorway looking out into the living room.
"Is something wrong, Emily?" Richard asked when she didn't move.
"I don't know, but something is….. Wait, my antique sewing box is missing." She went to the side table it was on.
"That can't be." Richard went over to see for himself.
"Well, it is. When did it happen? Was it during drinks?" She wonders.
"I can't say that I noticed." He told her.
"You, hovering there. What do you know about this?" She glares at the maid.
"I don't know." She didn't touch it.
"And what is this lighter? Richard is there from the pool house." She hands it to her husband.
"While I don't recognize it, it could be. I just had a poker night." He shrugs.
"Well, Beatrice, do I have to comb the whole house?" While she berates the maid, Anna holds her hand out to Logan.
"Give it now." She grits her teeth. He did so in shame. "Grandma, I have it. I had a rip in my dress so I took it with me into the bathroom earlier. I forgot to put it back. I'll go get it."
"Oh, well you don't have to get it now." She told her.
"No, I feel bad. I caused this panic and I have to go." She excused herself.
"Believe me, Rory's the real star at the Yale Daily News. People hate her." Logan told them over dessert and coffee.
"They hate you?" Emily asked.
"I'm not hated. Am I hated?" She looks at Logan.
"She's had more pieces printed above the fold this year than anyone." He brags.
"That says something because Pairs is sleeping with the editor." Anna sips her mug.
"She is?" Emily was finding out a lot of things today.
Richard praises, "You are both very talented. If you have one-tenth of your father's ability, you are going to go straight to the top." Jess had to hold back a snort knowing that all he needed to do to make it to the top was his last name.
"A power couple is what you are." Emily points at them.
"We are thrilled to hear Rory is going to be working with your father Logan." Richard was overjoyed to hear about the internship.
"I'm not working with him, just near." She corrects.
"She knocked them dead over there, now if I could just get her to relax." He pats her shoulder. Rory whispers that she does relax.
"Speaking of relaxation, does your family still have their place on Martha's Vineyard?" Emily wonders.
"I think they bought it from Martha. They're not giving that up. It's not going anywhere." He nods.
"It's lovely in the vineyard. A few years ago, Richard and I attended a wedding there. I thought it would be a gorgeous spot for a wedding. But then we went to one on Cape Cod and it was wonderful too. Either place would be good for a wedding, don't you think?" She was so obvious with her hints.
"Sure, I've been to weddings at the Cape myself." He played ignorant to what she was doing.
"So you like Cape Cod?" She put her hands together.
"Yes." He nods.
"We like Cape Cod." She looks at her husband. He hummed in agreement. "And I know Rory would like Cape Cod."
"I like what I've seen in pictures." She shrugs.
"You two would look awfully cute in Cape Cod." Emily smiles, making Logan grin at how overjoyed she seems by him.
"Grandma, you would make a great travel agent?" Anna teases.
"Oh hush, dear. There are a lot of kids in your family, aren't there?" She turns to Logan.
"Yeah. The extended family's been pretty busy procreating lately." He nods.
"Do you like kids?" Emily asks.
Having heard enough Anna stood up. "Sorry, but Jess and I need to be leaving. He's got an early meeting tomorrow with investors."
"Investors. Anna said you were going to save up for the printing press." Richard looks at him.
"Yeah, we've been doing that while getting out there and networking. We have a meeting with an investor." He explains.
"That's great. I'm sad you gotta leave already. We didn't get any updates on you." Emily pouts.
"Emily, he has business." Richard was glad he was looking into investors. He thought it was foolish to try and save up the money. It could take years to do that, by then their artists and writers might be gone. "You too get home safely."
"We will, thank you for having us." She hugged them goodbye while Jess shook their hands.
"Thank you for coming. If I knew you had a business I wouldn't have insisted on you coming." Emily walks them to the door.
"No problem. Anna said it was important to you. Family is important, which I will be soon." He smirks at her shocked face before closing the door after them.
"I'm so, so sorry." Anna drove down the freeway.
"I thought she liked me or tolerated me. But clearly, all this was to show me the type of guy they wanted you to date. A wealthy prick who never had to want anything in life. He considers success by just breathing." Jess leans his chair back.
"I'm sorry. I thought she wanted us to appear as a unit but she… she… I'm so sorry." She was horrified that she dragged him here to be ignored and humiliated all night. Her heart was stinging from her grandparent's betrayal.
"It's fine. I'm going to be a success. They'll be kissing my ass then." He would have to work harder than Logan but he was going to make it.
"Try to forget about it and sleep so you can shine during your meeting tomorrow." She pointed at the blanket and the pillow in the backseat for him.
"I accept your apology." He grabs it to help him go to sleep.
