She had already been there ten minutes and she had already wanted to leave. Madline was using her parents being out of town as an excuse to throw a third birthday party for herself. She was standing near the door closest to the pool; she had brought Dean with her, what a mistake that was. They had been together on a few months and she was already starting to see just how clingy and annoyingly perfect he had to be. At first he had been everything that she had wanted, tall, decent taste in music, and he wasn't terrible to look at. But now she was starting to see his faults, he was in all honesty a little bit nerdy, and she was slowly losing interest. She was immediately shaken from her thoughts when a drink was shoved in her face.
"Here I got you club soda, that's your favorite right?" She smiled sweetly as Dean stood in front of her with two cups in his hands, as she reached for the cup she nodded and thanked him. He wrapped an arm around her and they stood there silently with nothing to say.
Their silence was quickly interrupted by an angry Paris storming over to them with a crushed can in her hand. "GILMORE!" she roared, "Did you see that?"
"See what Paris?" Rory stared blankly, over the past year Paris and she had become quite close, Paris was finally able to put aside the fact that they both had similar goals, and that they could use each other to make those goals happen for both of them.
"Brad Langford! Oh I could kill the tiny little piece of wasted space!" she scowled as she looked over at where the frightened boy was standing with a worried look on his face, when he noticed Paris' stare he quickly ducked into the closest room, trying to hide himself from her.
"And what did Brad do this time Paris?" She said calmly, careful not to sound like she could care less
"Well I'll tell you what he didn't do; he didn't accidentally spill a cup of root beer on the ground and then left it on the floor for someone to slip on." She said, sarcasm dripping from the words that she said
Rory tried to hide the smirk that came across her lips, only picturing what spilled root beer had to do with Paris. "What does that have to do with you Paris?"
"Well, because the skinny twerp decided that he could just leave a disgusting tasting liquid on the middle of the floor, not thinking that someone could very well slip and have an embarrassing moment in front of everyone here, when liquids and people that walk very fast don't mix very well!" Her had was still tightly gripped to the can that was in her hand, Paris started to tighten her grip
"Okay Paris, why don't I just take that from you…" Rory slowly reached for the can before asking her question, "So does Brad's root beer puddle mean that you slipped?" She heard Dean snicker behind her; she elbowed him in the ribs
Paris sent Dean the angriest glare that Rory had ever seen her give, "Yes Rory, I slipped! But not only that, while in the middle of slipping I tried to catch myself on that table over there," She pointed to the table that now lie in the middle of the floor, salsa, chips, and cake all in different spots on the floor, "I also took the entire desert table with me and landed in the root beer and had a wonderfully iced cake land on the back of my head, she turned around to show Rory the icing that was stuck in her hair, and the wetness that she had on her butt.
Rory covered up her smile with one hand, but Dean burst into a laugh barely able to contain himself, Rory rolled her eyes "Well, uh Paris, that's sure um a mess, can I do something to help?"
Paris closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Yes, I need you to come help me rinse this icing out of my hair and help me find something of Madline's the won't make me look like a tramp, because Jamie called and said he'd be here in 45 minutes, and that was 15 minutes ago, and I want to look like a princess or whatever, not the a character from Candy Land, please tell me you can help me?"
Rory smiled, Paris and Jamie had just stared their relationship, he had called her several times since they had gotten back from Washington, and she had never seen Paris happier, "Absolutely Paris, oh Dean, is that alright?"
Dean nodded his head "Yeah, I'll just… find something to do, I'm sure, it's a big house" he smiled and went off to help brad clean up the food table that Paris had knocked over.
Rory watched him walk away, and then turned to Paris, "Okay let me just go get Madline and Louise"
Paris grabbed her arm, "What do you need them for? I'm pretty sure you can find an outfit on your own!"
"Well Paris, they could probably help pick out an outfit while I attempt to get butterscotch icing out of your hair, it might move along the process a little bit."
"Oh Right… Okay go find them, but hurry! We have like 25 minutes!" she turned on her heels and marched up the stairs.
A few minutes later Rory entered Madline's room with Louise and Madline at her heels "OHHHH I'm so excited! Dressing Paris for Jamie! Louise what do you think? Something slimming, revealing or skanky?" Madeline screeched as she opened her closet door
"Hmmm…." Louise thought with her pointer finger over her lip, "I'm thinking a little bit of all three!"
Madline smiled, "I was thinking the same thing!" They both entered Madline's closet and started searching
Rory walked over to Paris, who was washing her hair in the bathroom sink, Rory casually leaned up against the door "You know she's got a bath in here right?"
Paris, "Yes Rory, but you weren't up here fast enough, so I took initiative myself"
"I was only down there for like two minutes Paris, you couldn't of waited?" Paris took her head out of the sick for a quick second, looking at her like 'do you not know who I am? "Right, my mistake" Rory said realizing her stupidity "I'll just wait out here then, she returned to Madline's room and sat on her bed, after being friends with these girls for almost a year now, she still couldn't get over how big their lifestyles were, with everything they took the normal and made it bigger, bigger beds, bigger houses, bigger parties, and so on and so on.
"Okay, we've narrowed it down to four options, even though there is so much more to pick from, but we rated the outfits based on Paris, so you know how it is." Madline said, laying out the four outfits on her bed, all four of them were black, one was black with a v slit down the front, another was black and really short, the other was strapless, and the last one was frilly and girlyish.
"So Madline, when is your brother getting here? You said he was coming right? And bringing some friends?" Louise grinned as she sat next to Rory on the bed
Madline paused and thought about her questions "uh, not sure, yes, and yes."
"Super" Louise smirked, "I hope her brings Colin, or Logan, or Jess, or Tristan…." She closed her eyes when she said the last name, "He's yummy"
"I didn't know you had a brother Madline?" Rory asked, ignoring Louise's comments about the other boys
"Yeah, he's 21, he graduated the year before you came to Chilton." She said and looked towards her bathroom door "PARIS! What's taking you so long! Jamie was already downstairs when we came up here!" she winked at Rory and Louise
"WHAT!" and infuriated Paris screeched as she came darting out of the bathroom, half of her hair was tied back in a half up do and was completely dry, there was no trace of icing whatsoever
Madline laughed, "Ha, just kidding, now pick one and go try it on"
Paris glared, took a quick look at the dresses and went with the strapless one, she returned a few seconds later and all three girls looked shocked, "Who knew" Louise whispered
"Knew what?" Paris asked
"That you had legs" Madline chirped
"Or boobs" Rory added
"Or a butt like that" Louise chimed in
Paris rolled her eyes, "Would you give it a break, you're not being funny"
"No seriously Paris, you look…. Amazing" Rory said and smiled at her
"Jamie's a lucky guy" Louise said, Madline nodding in agreement, Paris blushed
"Shall we?" Madline said, getting up from her bed, linking arms with Louise, who linked arms with Rory, who grabbed Paris as they went out the door and back to the party
It was nearly 10:00 now and the party was just getting started, the music was louder, there was more yelling, and people running into other people, as Rory could tell Paris' mess was cleaned up, but she didn't see Dean. 'oh well' she thought, 'he's around here somewhere'
"JAKE!" Madline squealed as Rory turned Madline was jumping into some dark haired boys arms, who looked like the boy version of Madline
"Little Sis" The guy who Rory was guessing was Jake smiled as he quickly nudged his knuckles into his sisters head
"Stop it! You'll wreck my hair" Madline whined, trying to fix her hair quickly before anyone noticed "I didn't think you were going to come!"
"Yeah, well I figured since I missed your last two birthday parties I might as well show up to the third" Jake said jokingly before poking his sister in her sides, making her glare, "You know my buddies, Colin, Finn, Logan, Jess, and Tristan right? I hope it's alright that I brought them
"More than okay" Louise stated, biting her lips and twirling her hair as she glanced at all five of the boys
The boys were all dressed nicely, one wore a sweater vest with a plaid shirt underneath, another wore a big trench coat and had a bottle of scotch in his hand, another was blonde with tiny eyes and blue button up shirt, another had black hair and reminded her of James Dean, and the last one was another blonde with a leather jacket and a plain t-shirt underneath and he was staring very intently at Rory
Jake looked at his buddies and then at Louise, Rory and Paris "Madline, don't be rude, introduce us"
"Oh right, Jake these are my friends Louise, Rory, and Paris. Rory, Louise, and Paris this is my brother Jake and his friends Colin, Finn, Logan, Jess, and Tristan." They all smiled and gave a short wave, "So what were you guys up to before this?" All the guys looked at each other
"Oh you know, just stuff" The one that Rory learned to be Jess said
"Oh-Kayy, well you guys all have fun, Paris if my eyes see correctly your man just walked in" Madline said, grabbing her hand and leading her to Jamie
Rory watched as Paris and Jamie exchanged a hug and quick kiss, both were grinning from ear to ear. Rory remembered that feeling with Dean, when she was excited to see him, she would get butterflies, waiting for him to come over. But now it was almost as if all the excitement was gone. She turned back to Louise and the boys that she had to just met, just in time to see Louise flirting with Tristan. "So, you're Tristan Dugrey right? Grandson of Janlan Dugrey?" Louise flirted as he ran her hand over his arm; "You come from a pretty lucky family" Tristan just nodded
"So I'm sorry love, what did Jake's lovely sister say your name was?" the guy that Madline has introduced as Finn said, he had an Australian accent, or a fake one, he didn't sound very authentic
"Uh my name if Rory, I go to Chilton with Madline"
"Fascinating, I find you very fascinating" He said as he took a swig of his scotch
"Now Finn, don't scare the girl already, you just got here, and you just met her, now let's go find some liquid to mix with that scotch shall we?" Colin said
"Colin, what kind of stupid idea is that? Mixing scotch, has you lost your entire manhood boy? I knew that Steph has you whipped" Finn slurred as he walked off with Colin
Rory heard Colin murmur something about 'what's wrong with being whipped?' "So Rory was it?" Logan and Jess now stood in front of her, Rory nodded, "Well I'm Logan Huntzburger, son of Michum Huntzburger, and the is Jess Mariano, and well we don't know who his dad is." Jess punched Logan in the arm after his comment, "OUCH! Dude, you know I'm sensitive!"
"Well then you shouldn't go making stupid ass comments, just to attempt to make yourself look better" Jess stated as he shook his hand out to greet Rory's, "Nice to meet you"
"You too, did you say that your last name is Mariano?" Rory asked, Jess nodded his head, "Are you in anyway related to Luke Danes?"
"Yeah he's my uncle, why?" Jess looked at her curiously
"Well I just recognized the name, because Luke has been feeding me and my mother for years, he's more of a father to me than my own ever was, and I swear he's in love with my mom, and I just remember a few years back, he mentioned that his nephew was going to be moving in with him, and your last name was the only thing that stuck. You never did come" Rory commented
"Yeah well, sometimes things don't work out like you expect them to, I had other things to do, rather than move to what I hear is modern day tinsel town" Jess smirked
"You have got to be fucking kidding me, you almost lived in the same town as this beautiful creature standing before you and you missed out!" Finn waltzed back into the conversation as if he had never left "That's unfreakin believable"
Jess just shook his head, "Come on Finn let's go find you a red head, Logan you coming?" Jess said putting his hand on Finn's shoulder and leading him off
"Yeah man, be right there" Logan said as he turned to follow them, "It was very nice meeting you Rory, and we'll have to talk again soon"
Rory nodded, "Yes for sure" it was then that she realized that she had totally forgot about her boyfriend and started to look around for him
"Looking for someone?" a voice whispered in her ear, it sent chills down her spine, the way that his breath felt on her neck as he continued to stand behind her, she turned around and it was Tristan
"Uh yeah, sort of" she said turning around to face him, he stood up straight and looked down at her, he has piercing blue eyes that she swore could see right through her "are you done talking to Louise? I know she was really hoping that you would come"
Tristan just rolled his eyes, and ignored her question "so who are you looking for?" he asked her
"Oh uh no one, I don't think I've properly introduced myself, I'm Rory Gilmore" she said going to shake his hand
He ignored her gesture, and Rory quickly brought her hand back to her side, "I'm Tristan, but I'm sure you already know that" he smirked down at her, 'wow his hair is perfect' Rory thought to herself, "So Rory Gilmore" he continued "Gilmore as in Richard and Emily?"
"You know my grandparents?" Rory asked, kind of shocked
"I guess you could say that" he said with a little bit of mystery to his tone
"What does that mean?" Rory asked, kinking her eyebrow
Tristan just looked down at her, and patted her on the head "Don't worry about it"
Rory smacked his hand away, "Okay, number one: don't ever do that to me again, because I'm not a dog, and number two: you don't need to be so rude"
"Rude? Who was rude, I definitely wasn't, where do you get off calling me rude?" Tristan snarled at her, as if he was actually offended
"I just call them as I see them" Rory battled back, she couldn't believe how this guy was talking to her right now, does he not have any respect whatsoever
"You clearly have no idea who I am" he said "if you did you wouldn't talk to me like that"
"Trust me, if you deserve to be talked to that way, I'll talk to you like that, I don't really care if you're 'Tristan Dugrey' of not" she said his name using air quotes
Tristan chuckled to himself "wow, if you really think that my name is why you're supposed to be nice to me, well then you have another thing coming for you" he lifted up his fingers to under her chin, and his touch sent electrifying chills down her neck, "Trust me, you might want to apologize"
"Don't be ridiculous" Rory said, she was surprised that she found the strength to hit his hand away from her face, as she stormed off in a different direction
Tristan leaned against the post behind him, there was something special about that girl, he knew it as soon as he walked through the doors, her blue eyes were the bluest that he had ever seen, she was just a petite little brunette thing, and she was Jake's sisters friend, and since he knew that they would be back in town for a little bit, that meant that he would get to know her a little bit more. She was independent, so it seemed, she didn't take crap from anyone, he could tell that, because if she really had heard the rumors about him, well that would be a completely different story. His concentration was broken when he heard the blonde that he had skillfully gotten away from come up behind him 'kill me now' he thought to himself as he turned around facing her again. If he had his choice, he would've followed after Rory, but for some reason he felt that she was not looking for just anyone, but that she had shown up with someone that she wasn't very interested in, and that that's where she had gone off too. 'Oh well I guess it's the fake blonde tonight'
Rory continued to walk around the downstairs looking for Dean, she finally seen him over by the drink table and came up behind him, tapping him on the shoulder "Hey" she said sweetly "What've you been doing?"
Dean turned to face her, a smile on his face "I helped Brad clean up Paris' mess; he's terrified of her hey?" Rory smiled and nodded, "So where were you? I seen Paris and Jamie get on the dance floor about ten minutes ago"
"Oh, Madline's brother showed up with some of his friends and She wanted us to meet them, sorry I didn't come find you sooner," she gave him an apologetic stare, the truth was that she really wasn't that sorry, she had liked all the guys that she had met, well minus Tristan that was, she thought they were all uniquely different, and Tristan was just rude, walking in here like he was all mighty and such, she hated that. But the weird thing was that she felt chills when he was around, she considered herself lucky that she was able to stand up to him the way she did, and that she left when she did, because she was pretty sure that her legs were seconds from becoming jello
"Oh that's cool" Dean said dryly, "You want to dance?"
"Uh not really, I don't know how to dance to this kind of music" Rory said nervously, it's not that she didn't know how to dance, she was sure that if she tried she could figure it out, but Dean was kind of an embarrassment when it came to dancing
"Okay, well hopefully a slow song comes on soon" he smiled and took her hand in his
"Ha, yea me too" Rory smiled nervously and turned her head, she felt as if someone was staring at her, she looked up and Dean and he was focusing on mouthing the words to 'Dynamite' as it played loudly, she turned her head the other way and seen Louise talking away, cup in hand. 'oh boy, that's not good, she talks when she's drinking, a lot' she looked at who she was talking to and Tristan was staring right at her, smirk on his face and his piercing blue eyes looking into her soul
Dean turned his head to say something to Rory when he noticed that she had her eyes locked on something, and when he followed her gaze he learned that it wasn't locked on something, but someone. Some blonde haired tool with a freaking leather jacket, 'I only wear leather jackets' he thought as he noticed how intensely he was looking at Rory. He suddenly became jealous of the guy that he didn't know and turned Rory's head towards him and kissed her, ignoring her protests
Rory was shocked, and angry "DEAN!" Rory said as she pulled away from him "What the hell?" she asked
"I haven't kissed you today, is that not okay?" he asked her
Rory snapped out of her trance, remembering that Dean was her boyfriend "ha sorry, you just surprised me, of course it's okay" she threw him a fake smile
Dean looked back over at Tristan and he was still staring at Rory, "I'm uh going to go get a drink, do you want anything?"
Rory shook her head, "No thanks, I was going to go try and find Madline anyways, see you in a few minutes?"
Dean smiled "Sounds perfect" as he gave her a quick peck on the lips and walked away, but he didn't walk in the direction of the drinks, he walked directly towards Tristan, "Do you have a problem?" he asked as he marched up to Tristan, only a few inches away from him
Tristan crossed his arms and tilted his head "Do I know you?" he asked rudely and smug
"I'm Dean, Rory's boyfriend" Dean said angrily, Louise took this as a time to back away, she took a few steps back, making sure that she could still hear everything to report to the girls later
"And why would you be of any concern to me?" Tristan asked looking at Dean to make his point
"You were staring at her" Dean said defensively "I saw you"
"I have a staring problem, my doctor tells me that I have a condition" Tristan said, sounding disappointed
"Ah I didn't know…" Dean said sounding sympathetic
"Yeah, it's really difficult, you see he tells me that I have a special kind of staring problem, and I can only stare at very beautiful things for a long period of time, especially things that don't like to kiss their boyfriends" Tristan smirked and looked Dean straight in the eye. Tristan didn't get another word in before Dean's fist met Tristan's face, everything around them went dead, Logan and Jess rushed over from where they were a few feet away, ready to get into this. "Boys, back up, he's definitely not worth anything special"
"Maybe not, but I still suggest that he gets the hell away from you" Logan said, not taking his eyes off of Dean
"That's cute, you're boyfriends defend you" Dean said, still angry
"If you honestly believed that I liked men, you wouldn't of hit me, so why don't you take your pathetic 'comebacks' and go find your girlfriend" Tristan said looking at Dean emphasizing on the word girlfriend. Dean turned to walk away, "Oh hey bag boy…" Tristan started, Dean turned back to face him, "I swear if you ever hit me again, there will be hell to pay" Dean just glared and walked away.
"Shit Tristan, that's going to leave a mark, what the hell did you do?" Jess asked, shaking his head looking at Tristan's eye, seeing it start to swell
Tristan just smirked "He was just jealous; I said a few things about his girlfriend"
"What is he dating Louise?" Logan asked, Louise looked appalled
Tristan laughed "No, he's Rory's boyfriend"
"Rory? Like the brunette Rory? How'd he get that lucky?" Jess wondered
"Beats the hell out of me man, but who knew that small town folk could leave such a shiner?" Logan joked "Don't you be expecting any dates any time soon"
"Please" Tristan said rolling his eyes, "One black eye does nothing to my game"
"So what were you doing exactly, did you hit on her or something?" Jess asked
"Na man, well not really, I was just staring, and I guess he noticed, he walked over here, I mentioned that it didn't look like she wanted to be kissed by him and well here we are now" Tristan shook off the punch as if it was nothing, he walked over to see Jake, who gave him props for the new shiner and asked how the other guy looked, Tristan's response was that "He actually looks a lot better than I do"
Jake looked at him surprised "Well that's a first" Jake said "You getting out of here?" He asked
Tristan nodded his head, "I just have to do one last thing, have you see Rory?"
Jake looked at him like he was insane, "Uh yeah, she went into the kitchen with Madline just a second ago, why though man? What's going on?"
"Nothing, I just have to talk to her about something, I'll see you tomorrow, we have work to do" Tristan turned and headed towards the kitchen, he walked through the doors and Madline, Louise and Rory were sitting around the counter, Louise was talking, he assumed it was about Dean punching him, but he walked in anyways.
"Oh my god!" Madline said, seeing Tristan's eye, "Do you want some ice?"
Tristan laughed, "No, this is nothing, I've had worse, can I talk to Rory please?"
"sureee…. We'll just head back out there" Madeline said, suspiciously and she grabbed Louise and walked out of the kitchen
Tristan took a seat on the stool across from Rory "I can't believe he actually hit you, I didn't believe Louise when she told me, I am so sorry"
"Well there's an apology I never thought I'd hear" Tristan smirked
Rory glared "He shouldn't have done that, I don't know what's wrong with him, he's not normally like that"
"I just came to tell you that it's not a big deal, besides I hear black eyes are what make the girls come, so good on him" Tristan stood up, "So when you go and yell at him, try to remember that boys will be boys, see you around Mary" Tristan winked and walked out of the kitchen
A few minutes later, Rory noticed Dean sitting on a chair icing his hand "you actually hit him? Are you stupid? He could've gotten you killed or arrested. You can't just go around punching people!"
"Rory I…." He started
"Why would you punch him? Do you even know him?" Rory said
"No but he was staring at you" Dean said offensively
"DEAN! Every guy that stares doesn't deserve to be punched, I don't even know him!" Rory said frustrated
Dean tilted his head back "it's not that he was staring, it's the way that he was staring, it was like he knew you, or wanted to know you, or that he was interested"
"I can't do this anymore" Rory whispered Dean looked at her confused "Us Dean, I can't do us anymore. It's too hard"
"Rory if this about me hitting that guy, it will never happen again. I promise" he looked so sad
"I think we're fooling ourselves, I really do. We're not the same people that started dating a few months ago, it's just not working, and if you really think about it you do to. You didn't punch Tristan because he was staring at me, you punched him because you didn't like that you could tell that he was staring, and that you hadn't felt that in a really long time"
Dean was silent for a few minutes, he had been thinking about it for a while now, he knew that she deserved someone that was going to stare at her the way that Tristan had, and that he was jealous, because he wanted it to be him, but he just couldn't bring himself to find that in his heart, something wasn't right. "you're right" he admitted "we're not the same, it's not a bad thing, we just drifted apart I guess"
Rory nodded her head; "I'm sorry Dean" she looked at him, "I really am sorry"
He stood up from his seat and gave her a kiss in the forehead "Me too. I think I'm probably gonna get out of here, if that's okay with you?"
Rory nodded, "Yeah, I think I'll just sleep here anyways" Dean nodded his head
"I'll see you around town" he smiled, raised his icepack at her and walked towards the front door
"See you around" Rory whispered to herself
"You okay?" Madline asked as her and Louise came up behind Rory, Rory just nodded her head "it was over a long time ago huh?" Rory nodded her head again, "Well if it helps it looks like Tristan's interested in you, you lucky girl" Madline stuck her tongue out of her mouth at Rory as she rolled her eyes
"Super" Rory said sarcastically
"I wish he was interested in me" Louise mumbled
Madline put her hand on her friend shoulder "sorry Hun, sometimes it's not good to come on so strong" Madline laughed
"It's that damn alcohol, it screws me over every time" she put her head on Madline's shoulder and closed her eyes
"We're all going to be just fine, now chin up girlies we're having a sleepover!" Madline said, trying to lighten the mood
"Where's Paris?" Rory asked
"Her and Jamie have booked Jake's old room for the night, but don't tell him, he'll get really mad at me" Madline smirked "I love being a younger sister"
"I would kill you" Rory said, Madline just shrugged, "If I don't have to deal with another night like this it'll be the best thing ever, as much as Dean and I weren't going to work, break ups suck"
"Oh chin up Rory; I'm sure that Tristan will be able to make up for everything that you're feeling right now" Madline said smiling
"Ugh, Tristan, don't even try" Rory said sounding disgusted
"Rory, you'd be the talk of the town if you got with Tristan Dugrey, do you not have any idea who the kid is? He's the guy of all guys in Hartford" Louise said, going into a trance
"Louise, being the shit doesn't mean anything to me, if Dean hadn't of punched him I wouldn't feel sorry for the guy because he was such an ass" Rory stated
"Yeah but that's…. Tristan. He never took interest in someone like the way that I saw him taking interest in you tonight, he doesn't normally acknowledge people when he comes around" Madline said
"Yeah, take it from me, if he's not interested it's like talking to a brick wall" Louise mumbled sadly
Rory just shrugged, "So he looked like he was interested I'm sure it was just because I'm not single"
"Yeah but he wouldn't of known that" Madline said
"Yeah well most boys can figure that stuff out, but Louise you said that I had no idea who the kid is, besides being Tristan Dugrey, what else is there to know?"
Madline and Louise looked at each other with smirks on their face, it was then that Rory knew that it was going to be a long night of 'Tristan' she rolled her eyes, immediately regretting asking the question, and she sighed as the two girls pulled her up the stairs, 'it's going to be a long night' Rory thought to herself and followed her two friends up the stairs.