AN: OK, so this chapter is set in present time. Thankyou so much for all of your reviews, they've been wonderfully buoyant for me!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own GG

Chapter 7.

Present time

"I don't feel like going to a party Logan"

Logan raised his eyebrow from his seat behind the wheel of his car.

"Since do you not feel like going to a party?"

Rory cross her arms in front of her chest and huffed.

"We both know he'll be there"

Logan nodded calmly.

"Yes, he will, and he'll probably bring Serena. But you said you weren't going to lose your dignity over it, and that you weren't going to become recluse this summer"

"I know what I said" Rory snapped.

She immediately regretted it, she knew Logan was trying to help, trying to buoy her up and help her get over him.

"I know what I said," She repeated, her voice softer this time, "but it's hard"

"Of course it's hard, but you've never been afraid of a challenge" He nudged her as they stopped at a red light and she glared at him. "Come on Ace, it's my party, we'll look after you, it'll be awesome"

Rory rolled her eyes, already knowing she'd be there.

That night Rory, clad in a pair of black skinny jeans and a white tank top with a sequined martini silhouette on it, was amused to see that Logan's idea of a "summer party" was hooking up a keg for everyone else while he got down to the business of playing poker.

She had perched herself, beer in hand, on the bench opposite where the boys were playing. People were starting to arrive, filtering in in cheerful dribs and drabs.

"Rory?"

She heard the incredulous voice behind her and turned, jumping off the bench. Her eyes widened as she recognised the tall brunette.

"Tudor! Oh my god!" She ran to him to hug him while Logan and Finn looked on in short-lived interest.

Rory hadn't seen Tudor since high school. He had taken a gap year and travelled around Europe and the last Rory heard he had been at St. Andrew's in Scotland. He still had the same warms eyes she'd liked in him in high school, and the same way of talking that drew you in to whatever story he was telling you.

"When did you get back?" She asked him as they got another drink and settled by the pool.

He leaned back in his chair, taking a swig of beer.

"I got into New York three days ago"

"How long is it since you've been home?" She asked.

He winced.

"Not long enough," He replied sardonically, "My brother got married and besides the fact that I missed the wedding because I was passed out on the beach in Ibiza with a stripper, mom now thinks it's time I settled down"

She laughed at the irreverent way he spoke. He was still handsome, perhaps moreso now. He'd lost the "pretty boy" looks he'd had at school and they'd been replaced by stronger features. His brown hair was cut in a way that it constantly feel in his eyes.

"So what about you Miss Gilmore? What's been going on?"

She shrugged, not knowing what to say.

"Well, I've only got one year to go on my degree. I'm in Hartford this summer because I'm working part time at the Fifth Estate."

"And Tris? What's he doing? Man I feel like I haven't spoken to any of these assholes in years"

Rory smirked at his ironic turn of phrase, before frowning.

"Tristan and I broke up"

He slowly lowered the beer bottle from his lips and Rory could see that he was uncomfortable.

"Oh…shit…I'm sorry"

She waved her hand at him to shut him up.

"It's fine, it was a while ago"

"A while ago?"

"Yeah a couple of months anyway"

"What happened?"

"Just wasn't working out I guess" She said quietly, taking a sip of her beer.

"Well I feel like an asshole now"

She laughed and slapped his arm.

"It's fine Tudor, I'm a big girl"

"Who's the guy you were talking to earlier?" Logan asked her later.

"By the pool?"

He nodded.

"That's Tudor Roth, I went to Chilton with him, he was Tristan's best friend in high school"

"Roth? That name sounds familiar"

"Mmmm?" Rory replied, only half listening, her attention had been caught by the couple coming through the door.

He looked cool and untouchably handsome, framed by the crowd in the doorway in dark dress pants and a white shirt. It seemed to Rory, as she stared at him and took him in, that the past few years had never happened. It seemed as though they had never known each other; never screamed and fought over some imagined insult, never spent a whole day hiding under the same blanket watching Law and Order, never spent the holidays with each other's families, never explored on another in their beds. Staring at him she was struck again by the feeling of him being vacant; even as he greeted people, and smiled, and touched Serena gently on her hip, he didn't seem as though he was really there. He seemed transient, ethereal, but then, Rory thought wryly, in many ways he was, at least, to her.

She watched Tudor approach him, and something old, something she recognised, sparked in his eyes as he greeted his old friend. She watched as Tudor was introduced to

She felt somebody arrive beside her and look up at Tudor. Smiling despite herself she watched as Tristan recognised his old friend and something from that time, something recognisable to Rory sparked in his eyes, and then she saw his eyes settle on her, and the spark died. Feeling a lump forming in her throat she shook her head and made her way to the kitchen.

She wondered, as she downed another martini, if he was that way with Serena. She wondered if Serena ever lay beside him at night but realised she was lying beside a shell. God she hoped that was true, mostly because the opposite was too difficult to bear, that he was with Serena because she had succeeded where Rory had failed, in bringing him back from wherever it was that he went.

She wasn't drunk when she approached him, but she wasn't far from it. Serena had left his side for the first time that evening.

"Hey"

He had seen her coming and hadn't run for the hills, which had to be a good sign.

"Hello Rory" He replied.

"Wasn't it good to see Tudor?" She asked.

He knew what she was trying to do, she knew what she was trying to do, but it didn't how much either of them pretended, things weren't normal between them.

"Rory don't do this, just leave it alone"

She narrowed her eyes.

"Leave what alone Tristan?"

"Us" He hissed, his eyes flashing a little, "I can't do it anymore"

Rory snorted.

"You can't do it anymore?"

Before she had a chance to say anything else, he had grasped her arm and was dragging her out of the party. He shook her a little on her feet as they came to a stop and she stared up at him. With the light behind his blonde hair, it looked as though he had a halo, 'some angel' she scoffed inwardly.

"What happened?" She asked incredulously,

"What do you want from me?" He asked forcedly.

"I want to know why!" She exclaimed, "I want to know why we broke up? Why you're with Serena" She spat her rival's name at him, "why you cheated on me after three years?"

Her voice rose as she continued, becoming almost hysterical towards the end.

"I didn't cheat" He replied, "I promise you I didn't cheat on you. I…I tried to tell you that night at your grandparent's house but you ran off too quickly.

My heart was broken! She wanted to scream.

"Too late Tristan, Serena's already told me how long you guys have been together"

He sighed and rubbed his eyes in weariness.

"We met three months ago, but I promise you Rory, nothing happened until after we broke up"

Looking into his pained eyes Rory believed him, but she couldn't forgive him. She shook her head slowly.

"Well at least now I know why we broke up. Tristan, it doesn't matter if you didn't do anything until we broke up, you still dumped me and jumped into her bed five minutes later"

He stared at her sadly.

"Rory…" He began softly.

She shook her head determinedly.

"No Tristan just…"

"I can't do this," He continued. "I can't be friends with you"

Rory stared at him in shocked fury. He couldn't be friends with her? As though he was the one who was hurting?

"I don't want to be friends with you!" She spat quietly but with obvious vitriol.

"So leave it Rory!" He cried, his voice anguished and wounded.

She shook her head at him, barely believing the way he was behaving.

"You know you're choosing a fine time to become self-destructive Tristan" She said sardonically.

"Well then why don't you run back to Huntzberger?" He retorted.

The loud slap of her hand across his cheek rang out in the quiet outside. She bit her lip, trying desperately to reclaim what little dignity she had left, but she had no control over the tear that started it's lonely descent down her face.

His face heavy and sad he reached out longingly to wipe the tear away but she pulled back as they he were about to slap her. Their eyes locked for only an instant, but it was all he needed to bring home to him once more how much he'd hurt her before she whipped around and ran back into the party.

AN: Hope you liked that Chapter. I know it may seem as though Rory is letting him walk all over her, and to some extent she is. I'm experimenting with the idea of Tristan using emotional blackmail on her a bit - like coming across as all pained and "I cant do this" so that she doesn't rail against him and scream. But please stick with it and wait it out and remember to R&R.