Destination of Choice

By Guinevere

Author's Note: This one's a little short, but r/r anyway! I still can't decide what to do: Tristan or Jess? See if you're clever enough to figure out the title…get it yet?…

Disclaimer: Not mine, yours?

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

~ 1 ~

~ Jake Barnes vs. Nick Carraway ~

"When…? How…? What are you doing here Tristan? And what's with the hair?" Rory asked, stumbling over her words.

"You like it? New hair for a new start, or so my mother says. It's good to see you too, by the way. Love the welcoming committee - they went all out this time," he sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm not the least bit surprised by your sudden reappearance. What gives? Did they let you out of military school for good behavior, or did you buy your way out?" Rory cocked her head and grinned knowingly up at Tristan.

"You know me too well; a little of both actually. But that's another story for another time. How about you show me where Mr. Medina's Advanced Placement English class is, seeing as how I'm the new student and all."

"Ugh, go away Tristan."

"That's no way to treat the new kid, now is it Ms. Gilmore? Now, how about the tour? We still have ten minutes before class starts."

"I'm busy." Rory started down the hall.

Tristan reached for Rory's arm, slammed her locker and pulled her with him into a less crowded hall. He bent down so his nose was inches from hers and whispered, "Just tell me that you didn't say anything about last year, before I left. I have a reputation to uphold you know."

"Dearest Tristan," Rory began. She glanced at his forehead and noticed one of his trademark spikes bowing down. She just couldn't resist pushing it back into place. "I never uttered a word because not only would it prove you had an actual heart, but it would mean that I had cracked under pressure."

"I'm not saying I have a heart or anything, but you almost cracked. I bet if I had kissed you, instead of worrying about what the hell Dean would think, you would have liked it."

"What is the matter with you? How many ways can a girl say "not interested" before you get the message?"

"As many as she likes, but I'll never "get" the message until she actually means it." With that he turned and walked back down the hall, leaving Rory a little stunned.

She brushed off her encounter and turned the corner to go to class. How could Tristan, definitely not one of her Stars Hollow boys, get to her so much. Sure, she had kind of fallen for him during her break from Dean, but it all went away the second they got back together. And the Romeo and Juliet thing wasn't really even a "thing", just a heartfelt goodbye.

But what if she had a problem with suppressing her feelings? She hadn't told Dean that she loved him, then she hid from Tristan, and then came Jess. She kissed him, then forced herself to forget it. Maybe that had been the problem all along, but she didn't have time to mull over it now.

Mr. Medina's class was about to start as Rory took her seat in the front row by the window. She took out a pen and notebook and hunched over to scrawl "English" on the cover. Something pinged off her shoulder as she sat up. A wad of paper fell to the floor and she reached down pick it up, glancing in its general direction of origin. Tristan.

She unfolded the note and smoothed it out inside her notebook as Mr. Medina began his first day of school spiel. Rory, meet me in the quad at lunch. Important! - T D Rory half-turned and caught a glimpse of Tristan, pretending nothing had happened and nodding appreciatively at Mr. Medina. What nerve!

~ * ~

English had passed quickly, so had Physics and Calculus, and before Rory knew it, she was rising from her desk and dreading lunch, her normally-free-from-stress time. She trudged to her locker, put her books away and let the crowd carry her to the quad. She pushed open the door to reveal a large portion of the school standing around or sitting on the grass. Tristan had chosen a tree to lean against at the far corner. He spotted her at once and flashed a grin her way. She ignored it and walked slowly until there was nowhere else to go but directly to Tristan.

"Ah, Rory, light of my life," Tristan said, looking toward the sky as if for inspiration.

"Spare me. What do you want?"

"I want to know if you're busy Friday," he hunched over and started rifling through his backpack.

"Why?"

"Well, we never did go to PJ Harvey, and I was wondering if the lady might accompany me to the U2 concert?"

"Tristan, why do you even keep trying? And why do you make it so hard for me to say no?"

"Is that a yes then?" He looked slightly more than thrilled.

"No, I'm not going to go out with you. I'm not going to subject myself to your wiles just so you can come back here on Monday and live it up on my account. I won't be your conquest," she should have stalked away then, but she had to give him the chance to retaliate.

"You wound me Rory. Is that all you think of me?"

"You don't allow for many other interpretations, now do you?" Rory challenged him with her eyes.

"Well, I guess that's a no," he said, avoiding her question. "I'll see you in History then." He slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed back across the quad.

All Rory wanted to do was crawl in a hole with a book and go to sleep. She didn't want to deal with Tristan, and she would have to now. He was back, and she had just invited herself to be a part of his life by asking so many questions. Now she had to get to the bottom of this, to the bottom of him.

~ * ~

Rory had narrowly avoided another confrontation with Tristan in her Modern European History class, and had to suffer through a Paris encounter for half an hour after school, but she was finally almost home, her bus pulling into her stop. She climbed off and headed straight for Luke's, hoping her mother would be there. Thank God for one thing happening this summer: Luke and Lorelai had patched things up, so there was no more dodging Luke's.

Rory pushed the door open, glanced around and didn't see her mom, so she headed for Jess who was parked in a seat at the counter. "Hey Jess," she sighed as she slumped down onto a stool.

"Rory, hey, how's it going?" He glanced up from his book, then continued reading.

Rory reached over and lifted up the cover, searching for a title. "Hemingway?"

Jess nodded in affirmation, "The Sun Also Rises. A classic tale of life and love."

"I know, I've read it three times. I'm a big fan of Brett Ashley."

"Why?" Jess asked incredulously, his full attention now on Rory.

"Why not?" Rory retorted, already loving the debate she knew she had began.

"She's a self-centered bitch who has no regard for anyone's feelings but her own."

"Oh, and Jake does? He loves the woman, but he refuses to let himself show her."

"And she can't live without the sex, even though she loves him!"

"She's got guts, that's all I'm saying," Rory conceded, taking a sip of the coffee that had appeared sometime during their dispute.

"You are really something else Rory. I suppose you're a fan of that bitch in Great Gatsby as well, hmm?"

"You mean Daisy Buchanan? She has reason enough to act the way she does. She's trapped in a loveless marriage and can't be with Nick. Or don't you understand the love thing going on there?"

"She's a snob is all I'm saying," and Jess returned to his book, leaving Rory to ponder: why so many confrontations in one day? If every day was going to be this bad, and all before 5 o'clock, she might as well swear off all human contact. And fast.

~ * ~

A/N: Jake's sort of like Jess and Nick's sort of like Tristan. Get it?