Title: Some Things Change
Author: Christine (Christine.2001@juno.com)
Rating: PG-13??
Spoilers: Umm…I guess up until "The Third Lorelai"…the rest came from my head.
Pairing: R/T
Starring: Rory, Tristan
Guest Starring: Lorelai, Dean, Luke, Lane
Summary: Tristan and Rory have become good friends, although she and Dean are still dating (they never broke up the first time). After something happens with Dean, Rory sees that things are beginning to change between her and Tristan.
Disclaimer: Nooo officer! That's not Tristan stuffed under my bed……Well….I was going to give him back!!
Feedback: Oh Please? This is my first fic and I want to make sure I'm doing it right.
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Chapter 1/16
The two teens stood in an intense stare down, each with his own set of furrowed brows, intense blue eyes, and a fighting stance.
"You're mine, DuGrey!"
"In your dreams!"
A grueling battle soon ensued with a jumble of flailing arms and a great deal of noise. After about a minute's time, a loud buzzer sounds and both teens stop suddenly as if they had off switches that someone just pushed.
"Haha! Yes! I am the reigning queen!" The victor did what could only be described as a happy dance as the loser stood despondently, casting an occasional glare at the former. "Go ahead, say it! 'Rory, you are the all-time reigning champion of air hockey!'"
Tristan tried to cast another glare her way, but with one glance at her beautiful, flushed face, all thoughts of pretending to be angry were quickly lost. "How did I ever manage to deserve someone as perfect as her," he thought to himself. "Not that she's mine. She's the bagboy's. I don't think he realizes how lucky she is. But what can I do? If she wants me to be her friend, that's what I'll be. I'll be anything she wants me to be." Tristan was shaken from his thoughts by a hand waving in front of his face. Rory stood before him, the picture of perfection: long brown hair hanging loosely around her shoulders, spaghetti strap tank top resting on her slim shoulders, denim shorts, not too short as to be described as immodest, but just short enough to accentuate her long legs and slender hips. And on those hips rested both of her hands. As he looked up into her face he saw her crystalline eyes dancing from her victory and on her soft red lips a smirk. "Hmm…I see some of my traits have been wearing off on her." The thought and her next words elicited a small smile from him.
"Oh come on, don't be a sore loser," she teased.
"I still think you cheated," he said with a little smirk.
"Yeah right! Like I really need to? Do you really need me to whoop that ass of yours again to prove it?"
Tristan placed his arm around her shoulders. "Now, now, Mary. I know you just want an excuse to touch my ass. But sweetie, that'll just have to wait till later."
Rory rolls her eyes and smacks his stomach lightly. "Oof! Hey! Watch it now. Let's not get violent!"
She just rolls her eyes again. "You just never change! Your despicable." Meanwhile the smile playing across her face lets him know that she's just kidding. She couldn't be further from the truth. Tristan had changed. The teasing and taunting that had once infuriated her had become part of their friendly banter and was something that she would always miss if it were absent for too long. After some tentative steps, they had slowly become friends. However, Rory not only saw changes in Tristan through his behavior with her, but also in his overall personality. It seemed as if he felt that he didn't have to pretend to be the cocky and arrogant rich boy that everyone at Chilton expected him to be. She even noticed, with great approval, that he stopped dating those superficial girls like Summer. Yes, Tristan had definitely changed. Rory's thoughts were interrupted when she realized that Tristan has begun to lead her out of the gaming room of the Hartford Mall.
With one hand on the small of her back, he guided her towards the doorway. "Come on. Let me buy her highness a victory cup of coffee."
"Coffee? Coffee? Really? You'll buy me coffee?"
"Well, on that note, I'm beginning to regret that offer…" he says with a chuckle at her obvious addiction. But that was just one of the unique facet of her personality that he loved…well, actually, he loved them all. But that's beside the point.
"Aww…You're the best. You're wonderful…." While Rory continued to sing his praise, they had reached the coffee stand and Tristan was retrieving the steaming cup from one of the workers. Before he could hand it over to Rory, who was still praising him, she reached up, cupping the hot beverage between her hands.
She stared lovingly down at the cup all the while murmuring, "You're beautiful. You're glorious. You smell SO good!"
Tristan had to laugh at the absurdity of the smartest girl he knew talking to a drink. "Well, thank you for noticing, Rory! I wear this cologne just for you!"
"Eww…so THAT's what smells so rank all the time!" Rory glanced up at him from behind her coffee cup with a little smile. She couldn't imagine Tristan ever smelling BAD. He might lose his trail of adoring girls that way. The thought made her laugh out loud into her coffee, and she almost choked in the process.
"Whoa, there, tiger. I think you've had just about enough." He managed to swiftly snatch the cup from her hand, which was a miracle considering how tightly she always grasped her coffee. Like it's her only method of survival. But that really was how she thought of it.
Shaken out of her choking fit, she realized her glorious coffee had been taken away. She lunged for it, but Tristan was too quick and lifted it easily above her head. But Rory kept making attempts to get it back. Tristan's laughter was checked at her final ploy. She suddenly decided to latch onto his middle with both of her arms and beg and plead for it. There they stood. Tristan with his arm upraised holding a cup of coffee over Rory's head. And Rory catching Tristan in what appeared to be a bear hug with a pout on her face.
"Please Tristan! Please, please, please give me that cup!" With each plea, her lip somehow managed to jut out a little further. She even managed to make it tremble a little.
"Boy, she's good," he thought. "I never could resist anything she asked for."
"Please Tris! I'll be your best friend!!"
With a sigh of resignation, Tristan slowly lowered his arm. But apparently not quickly enough when Rory snatched it back, giggling and hopping around excitedly. "Rory, you already are my best friend….Oh, just drink your coffee."
"I know," she says with a little smirk. And after one last gulp from her cup, she tosses it, empty, into the nearby trashcan. "And I already did!" she adds with a giggle at his astonished look.
"You couldn't possibly drink that whole thing that quickly! I got you the biggest size they had! That was some new record or something." Tristan just stood there staring in awe at Rory, looking as if he were trying to figure out where exactly she managed to put all that coffee in that petite little figure of hers.
Rory just laughed in response and started pulling on his arm. "Come on! Hurry up, you slowpoke! We're gonna be late for the movie! I want to get a good seat to drool over Mark Wahlberg!"
"Ugh, I can't believe it! Marky Mark? Formerly of New Kids on the Block and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch?"
"Oh, come on! You can watch that one girl. That Canadian swimmer in a little skimpy outfit!"
"She's not an ape is she? Cuz, you know Rory, I don't really go for that kinda thing."
"Sigh. Let's go Bible Boy. It's off to the movies."
Tristan stops in his tracks and his face contorts making him look like a little boy. "Aww..Rory," he whined, "I thought you stopped calling me that!"
"Hey mister! You started this whole Biblical allusions thing!" she said with a chuckle.
"Fine," he said with the remnants of a sulk on his face.
As they made there way to the theater with Tristan trudging after Rory, his face suddenly lights up with his all to familiar smirk. "So there's a hot Canadian swimmer, huh?" "Ugh! You never change, Tristan!" With one last laugh, the two friends head off into the darkening movie theater.
End of Chapter 1
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