Rory slowly walked up to Tristan's bed. In the soft glow of the fire, he looked like an angel. She bent down and began kissing him, full on the mouth.

Tristan stirred. "Wha-"

"Shh" Rory whispered, kissing him some more. Now fully awake, Tristan began to reciprocate the actions.

After a few moments, however Tristan pushed Rory away.

"I can't do this" he said. "I can't take advantage of you like that."

Rory got off the bed, hurt. "Take advantage of me? You think I don't want this?"

"Rory-" Tristan stepped toward her, but Rory was too upset.

"I'm not some fragile little girl, Tristan! You don't need to walk on eggshells around me, and you don't need to treat me any differently from any of the other whores that you've probably brought home!" Rory looked out the window. It had stopped snowing, and the teens could tell from the low rumble of the heater that the power had kicked back on.

"I think I'd better go home" she said quietly.

"Fine. I'll tell Joseph to bring the car around."

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Back in Stars Hollow, Rory found her mom still awake and worried. Rory realized guiltily that she had not spoken to her mother since four o'clock that afternoon, when she had called to tell her Mom that she was at Tristan's house.

"Mom, I am SO sorry! I forgot to call you back-"

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart. The important thing is that you're home safe. So, what happened? I kept trying to call your cell phone, but it must've been dead or something." Rory checked her cell phone and sure enough, it was still off.

And so Rory recounted the entire afternoon to her mother, minus those last few minutes at Tristan's house.

".and so the maintenance man drove me home in his jeep, which was the only car on the premises with four-wheel drive, if you can believe THAT."

Rory yawned then. "Sounds like you'd better get to bed, kiddo," Lorelai said.

"Yeah, I guess so" said Rory. "Oh, did I tell you about the party on Friday night?"

"What party?"

"Louise Grant is having a party, and Lane kind of talked me into going, since she's going with Henry. She's planning to use me as her alibi."

"Alright. You can go, but for now, get to bed! You've got school tomorrow."

"Actually," said Rory, looking out the window, "it doesn't look like Chilton will be open tomorrow, after all." The snow had begun to fall again, fast and thick.

"Well in that case." Lorelai grinned mischievously and pulled 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' off of the movie shelf. Rory went into the kitchen and came out later with their 'emergency candy supply' in tow.

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School was, indeed, closed that Thursday, but by Friday the roads were cleared and school was back in session.

On Friday night, Lane came over.

"I told Mom we were going to see a religious play" she said.

After getting ready, Lane and Rory set off for the party in Lorelai's jeep. When they got there, the party was already in full swing.

"Hey," said Lane. "I'm gonna go find Henry, OK?"

"Alright" said Rory.

"Do I look OK?" Lane asked, anxiously. She was wearing a red scoop necked shirt, stretchy black pants that flared out at the bottom, red, black, gray, and white striped socks, and chunky black Mary Janes.

"You look fabulous" Rory said. She herself was wearing a stretchy white V- necked top, a red, white, and black plaid skirt, and calf-length, chunky brown boots.

"Thanks," Lane said. "So do you." Suddenly spotting Henry, she ran over to where he was standing.

Sighing, Rory looked around, hoping to find the library. She hadn't taken two steps before she bumped into another person.

"Sorry" Tristan said.

"It's OK," said Rory. "Listen, Tris, I think we need to talk."

Tristan nodded. "Follow me," he said, leading Rory out of the crowded room and into a dim, empty bedroom on the ground floor.

Rory switched on the light and shut the door before sitting next to Tristan on the bed. A tray sat on the dresser, covered with shot glasses. The glasses were filled with various-colored liquids. Needing something to do other than fidget, Rory picked one up and drank from it. She found that it tasted surprisingly good, and she picked up another. Tristan followed suit.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Rory asked, before downing the second Jell-O shot.

"I'm sorry about the other night," he said. "It's not that I don't want you, I do. It's just that I don't want to take advantage of you. I want your first time to be special." Glad to have the apology over with, Tristan picked up two shots and downed them, one after the other.

"Thanks, Tristan" Rory said. "I can't tell you how glad I am to hear you say that." Rory suddenly kissed Tristan full on the mouth. Tristan groaned, and began lifting Rory's shirt off.

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Ohh. cliffhanger (again!). Hehe I want at least 10 reviews before I put the next chapter up. I know this may be a bit confusing, seeing as how Tristan just made that nice speech, but just remember they're both drunk (!).