you can't help who you fall for

14

I stood in front of my Grandparents' house, smoothing out my school uniform. I rang the bell and the maid answered. "Hi, I'm Sierra Gilmore, Richard and Emily's granddaughter. Are they in right now?"

"Mr and Mrs Gilmore are in the living room." She opened the door even wider and led me through to the living room, where Grandpa was reading the paper and Grandma was having a cup of tea.

"Sierra! What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you both. I have a situation,"

"You need money." Grandpa interrupted.

"No, no nothing like that. It's just, well,"

"Out with it, Sierra, it's very unbecoming for a lady to stutter."

"Yes, sorry Grandmother. The thing is, when we went on that tour of Yale and you sent Rory in to the Dean's office, I went to find a cup of tea. While I was getting tea, I also met this guy and we exchanged numbers and called each other. We went on a date the next day and hit it off right away. Mom knows, she briefly met him and we got in a pretty big fight about it. He's a great guy, but Mom doesn't like him because he's from your world. He's from a very prominent family and he apparently has met the two of you. He makes me really happy, and we're totally in love with each other. I can't tell Mom and Rory though, because they'll disapprove and I'll either have to stop seeing him or stop seeing them and I don't want to make that choice. He's also a few years older than me."

I gave them a second to digest that before continuing. "Anyway, that was just a bit of background for what I'm about to say. I feel like I hardly have a relationship with the two of you. Mom has just tried to pass her hatred of society onto me and Rory, and for a long time I believed her, until I realised that it was wrong to hate someone just because they have money. So, I am asking the two of you if one night, maybe next week, I can bring him over for you to meet him and we can have dinner."

I fiddled my hands in my lap and looked at them, biting my lip.

"We would love to meet him, Sierra. What's his name?"

I took a deep breath before replying. "Logan Huntzberger."

"Logan Huntzberger?! You're dating the Huntzberger heir?"

I nodded sheepishly and continued to fiddle with my hands. "Well, that's wonderful news. We're so happy for you. Have you met Mitchum and Shira yet?"

I shook my head. "Logan doesn't have a very close relationship with his parents. Not like Rory does with Mom. And his sister, Honor, who he's very close with, is off on business on the other side of the country."

"Well, we're very glad you told us. I understand that our relationship has been somewhat strained because of your mother's resentment, but we do love you, and only want the best for you and your sister."

I smiled. "Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa."

"Now, does Wednesday work for you? For dinner?"

"I'll clear it with Logan, but Wednesday works for me. There's something else, too."

"What else?"

"Well, I also want to try and establish some kind of relationship with my other grandparents. The last time I met them didn't exactly end well, but with Georgia here, I want to try and make amends with them. I understand now that, although not unwarranted, what I said to them before was extremely immature and rude and I hope to have the opportunity to apologise to them as well."

"Well, why don't we discuss that on Wednesday?" I nodded and got up to leave. "Thank you for seeing me about this, and I know it's kind of a given, but don't tell Mom or Rory about this."