The four of them had spent the entire evening watching movies and eating junk food. By the time ten o'clock rolled around they were all pretty tired. Lorelai got some blankets and a pillow for Christopher to sleep on the couch before they all headed to bed.
"It feels really weird coming to bed with you while you're parents are here, especially when you're dad is sleeping on the couch," Tristan said as they went into her room. Rory just laughed at him.
"I'm going to run upstairs and change into my pajamas, you can change in here if you want," she offered.
"Alright. I'll be quick," he said.
Once she'd shut the door behind him he quickly changed into the sleep clothes he'd picked up then walked around her bedroom looking around. She had a lot of framed pictures sitting around, most of them of her and her mother. There were a couple of a Korean looking girl that he assumed was her best friend Lane that he'd heard so much about. When he came to one of her and Dean, holding hands and laughing he couldn't help but feel a stab of jealousy.
"You decent?" Rory called out as she rapped her knuckles on the door.
"Yea," he said.
"Making yourself at home?" she questioned, her tone clearly teasing.
"Just looking at all your pictures," he replied. "You and your mother are really best friends huh."
"Yea," she nodded moving to stand next to him. She pointed at the Korean girl. "That's of course Lane, my best friend."
"I figured," he smiled.
"Oh," she sighed, noticing the one of her and Dean. "I thought I'd taken all those down."
He watched her as she grabbed the frame and carried it to her closet. Almost carelessly she tossed it into a cardboard box before turning back around with what Tristan knew was a forced smile.
"You okay?"
"Yea," she nodded. "Just tired."
"Come on," he smiled. "Let's get some sleep."
They climbed into bed together, and unlike last night it was anything but uncomfortable. Tristan immediately wrapped his arms around her and she snuggled against him. It felt so natural for him to be holding her and he suddenly wished that he never had to go home. He would be content to hold her every night. He really was in love with her.
"What?" she asked.
"I didn't say anything."
"No, but you just let out a big sigh," she replied. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he smiled at her. "Nothing's wrong."
Rory fell asleep quickly but Tristan wasn't so lucky. He laid there, his armed wrapped tightly around her warm body thinking about what could have happened to her. He knew that if he ever saw Eric again he wouldn't be able to restrain himself from what he wanted to do to him. He just hoped that day never came.
He wanted to be able to protect Rory from all the bad things in the world and while he knew that wasn't realistic he couldn't help the way he felt. He'd never felt like this about any other girl. All the others had always been purely about sex. He'd thought that was the way it would always be, sleeping with any willing girl, never calling her again except for a booty call, until he met Rory. Rory was so different than all the girls he'd dated. She was more special than all of them put together.
It had hurt him to know that she didn't feel the same way, and to be honest he couldn't blame her. He was everything she despised. He was the King of Chilton and he knew it. He could have any girl…except her and she'd made that clear. He wasn't sure why it took him so long to have his epiphany, but one day he realized that if he ever wanted her to take him seriously he was going to have to change. She didn't want a player and she sure as hell wasn't into casual sex. He needed to show her that he could be a good guy, that he only wanted her.
So he'd quit purposely making out with girls in front of her locker, in fact he'd pretty much quit making out with girls period. His little black book, yes as pathetic as it sounds he'd actually had a little black book, had been thrown away and he'd ignored the phone calls he got from other girls.
He'd started being nicer to her, but a few times he had made his usual asinine comments to her before he'd relized it. He had liked making her nervous, had liked making her blush and had been so good at it too.
His thoughts turned to that one single kiss they'd shared, sitting alone with her on that piano bench. The one kiss, as brief as it had been, that had meant so much to him. He'd been hoping that the kiss had meant she'd finally give him a chance, but a few days later she'd told him it was a mistake. He hadn't thought it was, but he'd been a little hurt so he'd agreed with her.
When he had told her, after the whole Paris fiasco, that he still had feelings for someone else he couldn't believe that she had been so blind to think that it was Summer. Everybody knew, although they didn't say anything, that he had a thing for her. He just wasn't so sure that any of them knew how serious it was.
She'd practically broken his heart the day that she got back together with Dean and announced loudly in the parking lot that she hated him. He'd gone home that day and for the first time since he was a little boy, he'd cried. He'd thought that he'd lost her forever, even though technically he'd never had her to begin with.
It wasn't until a few months ago when he'd heard the rumor that she and Dean had broken up that he thought maybe he'd finally have a chance with her. That's when he decided to change.
His thoughts were interrupted by Rory whimpering. He looked down at her and saw that her expression was one of terror. She was having a nightmare.
"Rory?" he said softly shaking her. "Rory."
"Don't touch me," she practically screamed as her eyes slammed open. She looked around the room, still obviously frightened before her gaze landed on Tristan. She relaxed for only a second before breaking down into tears.
Tristan put his arms around her, pulling her as tight as he could, and smoothed down her hair. A few minutes later the bedroom door opened, Rory didn't move but he looked up and saw Lorelai and Christopher. Lorelai walked over and sat down beside Rory on the bed.
"Honey?" she said softly.
Rory just clung tighter to Tristan. He looked at Lorelai apologetically but she just shook her head. They all stayed silent as Rory cried, and after several minutes she calmed down but still didn't move. After a while, Tristan realized she'd fallen back asleep.
"It's good she has you," Lorelai said. "I think she's going to need you a lot in the next couple weeks. Especially Monday when she has to go back to school."
"I'm going to be here," he said firmly. Lorelai nodded and stood up.
"Call us if you need us," she said before ushering Christopher out of the room and closing the door.
He stayed awake for a while longer, just to make sure she was okay before allowing himself to close his eyes. Sleep came quickly.
