Title: Like Bookends.
Characters: Mostly Rory, Tristan, Logan, Paris, Finn, Colin, Marty, Luke, Lorelai. Others if I feel like it.
Summary: When Tristan transfers to Yale, and moves in with his playboy friends, the last person he expects to see is his Mary; Rory Gilmore. How are he and Rory going to deal with their growing attraction to eachother, especially with a parade of both of their exes coming to visit, and the ever growing distraction of Logan Huntzberger coming between them.
Disclaimer: I own nothing about Gilmore Girls. I also don't own the title, which is a line from Simon and Garfunkel's Old Friends. I do, however own the plot. Don't steal it.
Tristan Dugray slammed the door of his silver Porsche and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
"Huntzberger." He chuckled at the egotistical way his friend answered his phone.
"Hey man, what happened to helping me move in? I'm standing outside the apartment, where the fuck are you?" Tristan's deep voice rumbled accusingly.
"I'm right around the corner, man, don't worry. Just finishing up a little difficult business." Logan replied. In the background, Tristan heard a sarcastic woman's voice saying, "Yeah cos callng a girl 'difficult business' is definitely the way to her heart." Logan muttered something away from the phone before spekaing to Tristan again. "I'll be there in about thirty seconds."
Tristan sighed and snapped his phone shut, before beginning to remove boxes from the trunk and back seats of his car. He heard the self assured voice of Logan Huntzberger, his oldest friend, getting nearer to him and began to straighten up when he heard a voice that was all too familiar, even though it had been two years since he'd heard it.
"Logan, I'm not gonna go out with you just because we jumped off some scaffolding together. Your parents may have raised you to think that you were the greatest incentive of all, but for me you're gonna have to sweeten the pot. A lot." He shot upwards, hitting his head on the top of the car when he heard her speak. "Hey that rhymed." She giggled. Oh, God, her laugh, he remembered it well. It had turned him on back in high school, and it still did now.
"Took you long enough, Huntz." He willed himself to play it cool. "I didn't expect to see you here, Mary, especially not with New Haven's biggest player."
"Tristan!" She sounded shocked, and he allowed himself to look at Rory Gilmore. Two years had changed her a lot. The last time he'd seen her she'd been an innocent girl, running away from chaste kisses on piano stools, and preparing to be the most virginal Juliet Chilton had ever seen. Now she was confident, with a knowing glint in her eyes and was letting Logan's hand creep down her back steadily towards her bum. "What are you doing here?"
"You know Tris, Ace?" Logan asked. Tristan chuckled, he hadn't seen his best friend get caught off guard since they were about twelve.
"Yeah, Mary and I go way back."
"Great." Rory muttered, "Two arrogant rich kids thinking they can call me whatever the hell they like." The vehemence in her tone shocked him. She must have grown a lot more confident to even consider saying that outloud, he thought. "My name is Rory, people, and you still haven't answered my question, DuGray."
"I'm transferring to Yale, if you hadn't guessed, Mare. Huntz, Finn and Colin had an extra bed in their penthouse apartment, so they're letting me have it." Tristan smirked at her. He was liking this Mary.
"Ah yes, the infamous bachelor pad, it's going to be bouncing more than ever now." Rory sighed, bending over to pick over a box. She was unaware of the two blonds openly checking out her behind, but glared at them anyway when she straightened up. "So are we gonna stand on the sidewalk all day, or actually move Bible Boy in?"
*
Tristan wasn't sure how much of this he could take. Colin and Finn had been inside the apartment already, and he had to endure half an hour of all three guys openly flirting with an apparently willing Rory, while trying not to annoy her himself. He envied how easily she interacted with the three guys, even letting Finn peck her on the lips when she entered the apartment. As she was setting down her last box, her phone had gone off, and Logan had slipped his hand into her back pocket and removed it for her. That at least earned him an annoyed blush and a slap on the cheek, but Tristan was shocked at how she had underreacted. He knew that if it had been him, back at Chilton at least, she would have stormed off in a huff, and yelled at him the next time their paths crossed.
"I guess she changed as much as I did." He murmured, putting down his own final box.
"So." Rory announced, snapping her phone shut. "I have been summoned by the beast. I'll see you all around."
"The beast?" Tristan asked, confused.
"Paris." That was all she needed to say. They shared a knowing glance, and burst out laughing. "There's no need to worry, she's into professors that are four times her age nowadays. The preppy, blond guys our age are just so not her thing anymore."
"Thank God for that. Maybe now we can be friends again, instead of me running away everytime I see her." He laughed.
"You better hope so, cos if Paris disapproves then you can be sure that you'll never get to hang out with Reporter Girl, here." Finn commented, as the others laughed in agreement. "So you two went to Chilton together?"
"Yeah, those were good times." Tristan sighed, reminiscently, as Rory rolled her eyes.
"Well much as I'd love to stay and talk about that hell hole, I really need to get going before I'm late for Paris' therapy session. It's 'friend' week, and as her closest one I'm required to be there." Rory said, opening the door to the apartment. "God I hate Terrence." She walked out, slamming the door behind her, and leaving the four guys to their own devices.
"So…Ace never mentioned you." Logan said. Tristan was amused to notice that the fact that he'd known Rory when she was younger was really bugging Logan.
"Yeah, we weren't exactly friends back at Chilton." He admitted. "We were enemies, and then we were something else, and then we were almost together. Kind of. And then I got sent away."
"You almost dated Rory Gilmore?" Colin burst out, curiously. "She's like a legendary good girl here – hasn't dated a Yale dude, only that jackass rural boyfriend. And they broke up like four months ago."
"Hence the reason I call her Mary; only guy she dated during Chilton was the rural jackass, too. Cept of course for the lovely interlude when she kissed me."
"You've kissed her?" Both Colin and Logan yelled. Colin looked impressed that his friend managed to get near the girl who viewed every guy as a platonic friend, but Logan seemed annoyed that Tristan was muscling in on his love interest. "You don't still like her, do you?" Logan asked, tentatively.
Tristan thought for a second. Yes. He liked her a lot, almost as much as he had before he left for North Carolina. He'd compared every girl he'd met since high school with her, and always wondered what she was doing. Now that he was face to face with her again he could feel his old feelings for her returning with a vegeance, although he wasn't sure what she thought of him. He didn't say any of that, though.
"Does it sound like me to hold a candle for a girl, man?" He asked, laughing. His friends all shook their heads and chuckled at the ridiculous notion. The four of them were players for life, and Logan's behaviour was very out of the ordinary for them.
*
The next time Tristan and Rory saw eachother was during at the newspaper. Logan had been summoned by Doyle, and so was planning on making a quick appearance and convincing Rory to go to the pub with him. Tristan had decided to tag along and say hi to Paris as well as Mary, but hadn't been counting on the full on flirting going on between Rory and Logan.
"Come on, Ace, just one drink." Logan pleaded. "Tristan'll be there, so you guys can catch up." Tristan's head snapped up from where he had been leaning over Paris' screen when he heard his name being mentioned.
"I can catch up with Tristan without a drink in my hand, Huntzberger. Right now my deadline is tomorrow and I only have half an article." Tristan let out a sigh of relief as he heard her rejecting his friend.
"Still got a thing for her, huh?" Paris muttered.
"Am I that obvious?"
"To everyone except her and those brain-trustfunders you call friends." She replied. "Are you gonna tell her?"
"No. She's into Logan, anyone with half an eye can tell." He sighed, looking over at the pair.
"No, she thinks she likes the rich, blond, arrogant guy that's hassling her. Remind you of anyone?" Paris looked between her two clueless friends.
"No way." Tristan's eyes grew wide as he realised that Rory was just looking at the similarities between himself and his best friend. "That can't be right. Why would she date someone just cos they're like me?"
"She doesn't know she's doing it. And the last two guys she was with are hardly your clones." Paris explained.
"Who's she dated?" Tristan wasn't sure why he was so curious about Rory's former conquests, but he had to know.
"Dean twice, and this guy called Jess once. That one was a bit of a disaster."
"Did I hear the names of my ex-boyfriends?" Rory called from where she was batting away Logan's roaming hands.
Neither Tristan nor Paris had realised that they had stopped whispering.
"Just getting Tris up to date with the New Haven gossip, Gilmore." Paris replied.
"I didn't realise I was a huge factor in New Haven. Have you guys been keeping secrets about me from me again?"
"No, no, but as a friend of his Tris ought to know about you, too."
"We're friends? That's news to me. Hah, and I got it in the newsroom. Ironic." Rory said, trailing off into preoccupied mutters as she turned back to her article.
Logan wandered towards Paris and Tristan, looking defeated.
"Since Ace is being such a-" He raised his voice and turned back towards Rory "-stubborn killjoy-" he lowered his voice when she didn't react "-I vote we get going to the pub. Coming, Tris?"
"I'm actually gonna stay here, ambush Mary when she leaves so that we can catch up." He repsonded. He noticed that Rory made no move to make him leave, or reject his idea, and felt hopeful about fixing their weird relationship. "That sound okay to you, Mare?" He couldn't help it, he had to get a response. And if it was a good one then he could rub it in Logan's face – added bonus.
"Sure, sure, Bible Boy, sounds great." She said, absently. "Come back at like six and I might be done." She waved him off, and he walked out of the newsroom with a huge grin on his face.
"Rory Mary Gilmore, prepare to fall back in love." He murmured, as he and Logan made their way to the pub.