You took my life and made it beautiful

Chapter 9: Dinner in the lion's den

"Don't worry Rory. No matter what they say, we love each other and are going to get married." Logan tries to soothe me while driving to his parents. "Yeah, I know. But they are your parents and they hate me." I continue nervously tapping my fingers on my thigh. "Relax, if they say something mean, which I'm sure they will, we're just gonna leave." he says pulling into the driveway of the ginormous house. I take a deep breath, while waiting for the maid to open the door. "Oh." she says looking at me in surprise, "Your parents didn't inform the staff you are bringing a guest Mr. Hunsberger." My eyes widen, looking at an apologetic Logan. "I'm sorry Ace, I forgot to call again, to tell them you were coming." he tries to explain. After seeing my face, he continues, "But I did ask Honor to come. She didn't want at first, but then I reminded her of the time she had to tell them. And she agreed to come and even bring Josh with her." This soothes me a bit. Honor, after all, is the only Hunsberger, besides Logan, whom I actually like. "Okay. It's all going to be okay." I say more to myself while following the maid through the grand foyer. We enter the sitting room, seeing an uncomfortable looking Honor and Josh sitting on one couch and a surprised looking Shira and Mitchum on another. Logans grandfather Elias is sitting in an armchair face emotionless. "Logan," Shira asks in her fake, happy voice, "you didn't tell us you're bringing Rory tonight." "Sorry mom, I forgot to tell you." he explains and goes over to hug her. Logan and his father share an icy look. Things are still tense, because of Logan quitting Hunsberger publishing group. "Dad" Logan just nods, coming to sit beside me on a third couch. For a while we all sit in awkward silence, until Mitchum speaks up, cutting right to the chase. "So, what is the reason you came to dinner tonight?" he asks in a cold tone. "Well," Logan answers looking at me, "Rory and I actually have some big news to share." Before he can continue, the maid comes in announcing dinner is ready. After sitting down, Shira asks in her false voice, "So, Logan, you said you had news." "Well," he looks at me and then at Honor, who smiles supportive, "you know, Rory and I have been together for about three years now. And we both graduated now." he makes a short pause then continues. "So, I ask her to marry me and she said yes." he finishes, looking between his parents and grandfather. None of them says anything, they just look at each other, then Shira puts on her fake smile again. "Logan, please think about this again. You have to understand. I'm not saying Rory isn't a lovely girl, but we already discussed that she isn't the right girl for you." Logan is clearly getting angry, but before he can say anything Elias continues. "We talked about this Logan; it would never work." Again, Logan wants to say something but his father cuts him of. "First you quit the company, now you say you want to get married. You're still a child Logan. You don't even have a job right now." "Actually, dad, I got a job with a company in California. I will me moving there in a month." Logan answers with restrained anger. "Oh, come on. That won't last. You will come back to HPG and when you take over one day, you have to have the right person by your side. Rory isn't that person." "Your father is right Logan. She wants to work. I believe that is still true, right?" Shira asks. Logan was standing up now. "I don't care what you think. I love Rory, and we're going to get married if you like it or not. If you still feel like this in a year or so, don't bother coming to the wedding." he exclaims furious. He tries to grab my hand and leave, but I stand up angrily now to. "Ok, you might not think that I'm good enough for your family. And last time I was here, I was too scared to stand up to you, but I'm not now. I may not have been raised to be a trophy wife, but that is a good thing. And yes, I want to work, but why is that bad. I'm a Gilmore, my ancestors came here on the Mai Flower. I went to Chilton and had a coming out party, for God sakes. I just graduated Yale at the top of my class, and got a job, reporting on Obama's campaign trail. And most important of all, I love Logan. If that's not enough, then I don't care." and with that I grab, a surprised, but proud, looking Logan, and walked out the room. Leaving the stunned Hunsberger's behind, we make our way to the door. I practically through myself into the passenger seat of Logans car, still boiling with rage. But then I realize what I just did. I yelled at the Hunsberger's. My future family in law. After that thought, I start to freak out. Thinking about getting married, but not seeing Logan for at least a year. Then about how I'm going to be a real journalist. What if I suck at writing in the real world? While I panic, Logan comes, sitting down on the driver's side. "Wow, nobody I know has ever told them off like that." he says, anger completely disappeared, pride in its place. But then he looks at me and asks worriedly. "What's wrong?" "I don't know. In the two minutes it took you coming to the car, I managed to completely freak myself out." "Why are you freaking out? It's all going to be okay. You know they aren't right, Ace. I love you, and it doesn't matter what they say." "It's not just that. I mean, it is that but not only that." I ramble. "I mean, they are gonna be my family, and they all hate me." "Honor loves you. And I don't care about the others. We don't have to ever see them again." "Logan, they are your family, you can't just cut them out of your life." "It's their fault." he responds bitterly. "But what if they're right. I want to work. We have to do long distance, because of a job I took. And I don't even know if I'm gonna be any good at that job. What if I'm a terrible writer." now I'm really freaking out. "Rory, they are wrong. They are all idiots. And we also had to do long distance because of a job I took before, remember. You should follow your dreams. You always wanted to be a reporter. You're gonna do amazing." he assures me. "Everyone says that. You don't know that. I could be a terrible writer. Why does everybody think that I'm gonna be some amazing writer?" "They think that because they know you." "I'm scared." I finally admit. "I know you are, Ace. It's gonna be scary for a while. This is the real world. But I know you're going to be great. And you always have me, okay." At that I lean over and kiss him. "Thank you."

"Hey, how'd it go?" my mom asks as soon as we walk thru the front door of the Crab Shak. "Well, the moment we told them, they started to say, how it won't work and how we're making a mistake. We didn't even get thru the salad." Logan answers. "Sorry." she responds with a sympathetic look. "It's okay. I don't care what my parents think. My sister is thrilled about the engagement, and she is pretty much the only one I actually like in my family." he sighs, coming to sit beside me on the couch I fell onto. After a short pause my mother starts to laugh. Noticing the confused looks on our faces she explains. "They remind me a lot of the chniklefritzes." "The whos?" Logan asks, still confused. "The Haydens. Technically my other grandparents." I explain. "Ahh. Got it." "Yeah, they hated me. Always blamed me for Chris not going to Princeton. He never wanted to go anyways. The last time we saw them was at that dinner where dad kicked them out of the house, because of Strobe saying how I ruined his son's life." she chuckles again. "Ahh, good memories." my mom sighs, making us both laugh. We spent the evening eating Chinese food, talking and laughing, forgetting the awful Hunsberger dinner. "You know, we should buy a bigger bed and lose the trundle if Logan is going to stay here when you guys come to visit from now on. I mean, he is going to make an honest woman out of you." mom mocks, winking at us, while we're getting ready for bed. "Mom!" I respond getting a bit red with shock and shame. "What? We're all adults here." she says innocently and leaves the bathroom. "I really like your mom." Logan chuckles. Even though, I'm still a bit weirded out by my moms' suggestions, I am really glad that she's okay with the engagement. I wasn't sure how she would feel about it at first, she wasn't always the biggest Logan fan. But she actually seems happy about it. I fall asleep, knowing tomorrow will be my last day in Stars Hollow, before going on the campaign trail.