Chapter Text
Standing in her green dress, outside the doors of her grandparents house, Rory thought about her life. Things were good. School was good. Dean was good. Lorelai was good. Right? Well there was that little spat about the party. So little it probably would even count as a spat. They’d be fine. Now here she was, about to walk into Emily’s trap, whatever it was. But that was just her mother’s opinion. Emily wouldn’t do anything bad. This was just a Yale alumni party with their friends. She shrugged off her thoughts and walked into the house.
She could hear Emily talking near the living room, something about… treadmills? Huh.
“Hey grandma.” Rory greeted.
“Rory, oh look at you! Will you look at her? I said, look at her!” her grandmother screamed at the waiter, making Rory cringe. “Doesn’t she look beautiful?”
“Yes, very beautiful” said the waiter nervously and walked off before Emily asked something else.
“The place looks wonderful.” Rory complimented.
“There’s too much blue.” Emily said.
“It’s Yale Alumni, there can’t be too much blue.” Rory replied.
“Emily, I noticed the bartenders weren't planning on using proper martini glasses”. Her grandfather said, joining them.
He noticed Rory and they exchanged pleasantries and compliments
“You know what my hairdresser is upstairs in my bedroom right now, why don’t you go on up and have her do a little something with your hair” Emily said suddenly.
“My hair? ” Rory asked nervously. Her hair?! What was wrong with her hair?! It was fine!
“Just for kicks, let’s go!” Emily told her and started guiding her up the stairs before she could argue.
Just as she reached the top step, the bell rang. She stopped and heard the door open and close. The voices of two men, along with Richards were talking.
“Richard! My old friend, how are you? I know, I know, I’m early but my grandson and I thought we would come see if we could help out before the event started.” She heard an older man say.
“Oh Janlan, I’m doing great, but I doubt Emily will be as happy as I am to see that our guests have arrived before we were even done setting everything up!” Richard joked.
It was then that she heard someone laugh. A simple chuckle. It was someone younger. But… She recognised that laugh. She’d heard it before. Who is that? she thought and started to turn around to get a look at this mystery man.
“How about we take this to my study and let the staff finish doing their work?” Richard suggested.
“Yes of course, let’s go” she heard the older man say.
She turned in time to see a flash of blond hair pass but before she could see more Emily called for her.
“Rory, dear, come on up, we need to be quick! The guests are already arriving!” Emily said.
“Coming grandma” she said and started walking towards the bedroom. She would get a better look later.
After doing her hair, make up, and giving her some jewellery, and a tiara! Emily finally let Rory leave the bedroom and took her out to the party. Standing at the top of the stairs she very loudly announced, “Everyone, here’s Rory!”
She looked down. Everyone was staring at her now. All her grandparents’ Yale alumni friends and their childr- wait, sons!? Why are there only boys here!? Where are all the girls?! UGH! What’s Emily up to now?
“You look absolutely exquisite.” Richard walked up to her and whispered, breaking her out of her freaked out state
Feeling uncomfortable she started touching her hair and bit down on her lip. “It’s probably the crown.”, she joked, trying to hide her nervousness.
But someone caught her. They noticed how uncomfortable she was. And for some reason. They felt the need to make it known by laughing. But- It was the same laugh. The same one for, earlier. The blonde guy. Who was this guy thinking he could just laugh at her? Rory was ready to give him a piece of her mind but by the time she looked up he was gone. All she saw was that flash of blonde hair. She would find him.
The night started off quite boring and dreadful as Emily and Richard introduced her to all the guys, one by one, taking their time to tell her exactly what they had in common with her, until they finally let her go to do her own mingling. Here she was now. Standing between a group of random guys talking about cars. She decided to excuse herself and then she realised that nobody cared. She snuck into her grandfather's study and quickly called Lorelai.
“I told you!” Lorelai said instead of greeting her daughter.
“Told me what?” Rory asked.
“Whatever just happened at the party, I told you” Lorelai said.
“They’re boys! They’re all boys! Not a single girl!” Rory snapped.
“Huh?” Lorelai said confused at her daughter's sudden outburst
“All the kids of their Yale friends, they’re boys! I feel like I’m being held at an auction!” Rory told her.
“Wow, okay. Do you have a pencil, cuz there’s twelve ways out of that house. First the basement, dusty but fool proof. Although if you can't get there-”
“I’m hanging up now” Rory warned her mother, clearly not in the mood for this.
“Grab a screwdriver and jimmy the back of my mother’s closet, there’s a false ba-” Lorelai continued against her daughter's wishes but was cut off as Rory made good on her threat and hung up.
Rory was mad at her grandparents for trying to sell her off to strangers, but she couldn’t just leave, that would be mean. No matter what crazy stunts they pulled they were still her grandparents and she still had to respect them. Ugh. She decided that she had to just suck it up and get through the night.
She got up from the chair she was in, and walked out of the study. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see someone standing. As she turned around to see them, they were already on their way away from her. All she saw was a flash of blonde hair. Who is this guy?! She started walking toward the direction he went in but stopped as soon as she heard her stomach grumble. Ugh. She hadn’t eaten as she thought she might have time to sneak a little something in while the staff was preparing the house for the party. But of course, her grandmother’s sudden interest in styling her had stopped her from following that plan. She decided that it would be a better idea to go down and look for some appetizers to fill her empty stomach, rather than chase around some random blonde whose laugh she thought she recognised. She would run after him later.
She made her way to the patio in time to see a waiter pass with a tray of appetizers. Salmon puffs! Just as he was going through the door, Rory snatched two puffs and started eating them while walking around the patio. She had just finished off her last puff when she heard someone say her name.
“Rory?” said a young man, about her age.
“Mhm.” Rory said.
“Your grandmother sent me over here. Apparently, we’re made for each other.” he said, with a smile on his face.
“Oh gee, well how convenient.” she deadpanned but ended up adding a light chuckle at the end, not wanting to sound mean.
“There’s nothing like having your family play matchmaker. How old are you?” he asked.
“Me? I’m uh almost 20.” she told him, confused.
“Alright, good. Just making sure everything’s legal. Do you need a drink?” he asked.
“No, not a drink” she declined.
“Why? You get a little crazy when you drink?” He asked with a smirk on his lips she didn’t quite like.
“Yes, that’s it” she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
“I’d like to see that.” he said, giving her a flirtatious look that made Rory feel uncomfortable. But before she could come up with a reply, they were interrupted.
“Hey Ace, I’ve been looking for you everywhere” said Logan, walking over and putting an arm around her shoulders. “Logan Huntzberger, thanks for keeping my girl busy, if you hadn’t, she might’ve noticed how late I am” he said to the other man.
“Jordan Chase” he introduced himself “Woah wait- you’re with her?” He asked, confused.
“Yup, going on a year and a half”, he replied, as Rory put her hand on his and leaned into him, deciding to go along with his little performance.
“Great, then what the hell am I doing here?” he said walking away from the two.
“Thank you thank you thank you!” She said as they changed positions so they were facing each other. Wait. He’s blonde! It was probably him! Logan’s the mystery guy!
“Not a problem Ace, I know how crazy these parties can be.” he said.
“Yeah, they’re not quite my bag either” she said.
“Yeah well at least the bar is stocked, and I must say, Emily always has great food” he said.
“Wait, you know my grandparents?” she asked, confused.
“Yup, my parents are old friends of Richard and Emily.” he told her.
“Huh, I didn’t know that.” she told him.
“Well now you do.” he said. “So, Ace-” he started but was cut off by a man's voice coming from behind him.
“Mary?...