CHAPTER 9
Rory stared at her History notes, daydreaming. She finally called her dad last night to let him know she was coming over with a friend. This morning, he called back to say that dinner was off. Gigi was running a fever, and Sherry thought it was inconsiderate to have friends and family over during a time of crisis.
Rory was just disgusted.
It was bad enough that she felt like a violator sharing some bonding time with her father. The fact that Sherry constantly pointed it out and retracted it after saying "We're now a family" just wanted to make her hurl.
Nothing felt lonelier than a Sunday without her mom.
She slammed a book on the table and started her research. She had to use her anger and frustration somewhere.
She stared at her cell phone sitting on top of her stack of notebooks. She recalled how disappointed Tristin sounded when she told him their evening plans had been canceled.
"You sure?" Tristin asked. "We could still go out."
Rory smiled as she broke in the news. "Thanks, but I don't think I am such good company right now."
"Are you sure? I can be by in half an hour, forty-five at most," Tristin guaranteed.
"I am," she chuckled. "Tell the girls I said 'hi.'"
"Will do," he replied before hanging up.
Joey was right. It was nice having someone in town to hang out with. There was a sense of identity preserved in a sea of nameless faces. She would've not thought she'd be allies with Tristin, but at this point, beggars can't be choosers.
She looked up from the book to notice that the place was almost vacant. On one couch, someone was softly snoring away. On the other end of the room, a couple was making out.
So much for sanctity.
She couldn't take the silence any longer. Looking out, the blue skies beckoned for her to escape the confines of the building. Sighing, she gave in. Collecting her books, she decided that playing hooky for one more day wasn't going to drag her GPA down any time soon.
Joey was a little surprised when she heard the knock on her door.
"Come in!" she yelled from her bed.
Tristin stuck his head through the door before entering. "Still in bed?"
"It's Sunday. Where was I supposed to be?" Joey asked, pulling her sheets across her t-shirt-clad torso.
"Definitely not church," Audrey answered from under the sheets.
"So what brings you here?" Joey asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Isn't it too early for a social visit?"
"Early? It's well past noon! However, I was just walking around. Didn't have much to do now that I'm not headed to Rory's dad's place for dinner," he admitted as he sat on the chair. "Rory's sister got ill, and her step-mom doesn't want us around."
"So you come to bug us, why?" Audrey asked.
Both Joey and Tristin stared at the bundled figure. Joey blushed and said, "Give me five minutes. Care to catch some lunch with me?"
"Sure," Tristin got up and headed toward the door. "I'll be waiting."
He quietly exited the room. As soon as the door shut, Joey got up from the bed and hurriedly donned a pair of jeans.
"You are seriously demented," Audrey said.
"Why?" Joey asked, putting her hair in a ponytail.
"Charlie throws you the same look and you cringe. Toothpick here does the same thing and you jump like puppy on crack. What's the difference?"
"I am not jumping like a puppy on crack," Joey tried to defend herself as her cheeks stained pink. "I thought you might like the fact that you can sleep all day without us having to talk while you lay in bed."
"Really?" Audrey said maliciously. "For a second I thought you fancied him. I mean, he is cute, you know."
"Audrey, that's so not the point," Joey rolled her eyes at her. "He's a little down, and I just want to cheer him up."
"Never thought you were such a humanitarian," Audrey said.
"Bye, Audrey," Joey replied before opening the door.
"Bring back some scones!" was all she replied back.
Joey shut the door behind her and quickly walked down the hallway to the steps where Tristin decided to sit. She could see that he was deep in thought.
"What's up?" she lamely asked.
"Nothing," he stood up and gave her some space to walk through. "So, where do you care to go?"
Rory found herself by the harbor. She didn't know why she couldn't stay around Cambridge. She just had to get out of there.
There was some comfort to being close to the water. It was quite different from the landlocked area of Stars Hollow and Hartford. The seagulls flying around were a welcome sound compared to the constant honking of cars. Or from her experience, the constant bickering from Taylor and annoyance from Kirk.
Armed with a coffee cup and her bus ticket in hand, she strolled in and out of the stores that littered the pier. For the first hour, it was fun. After that, discovering stuff alone proved to be boring.
That's when she found herself walking toward the radio station.
In the afternoon sun, the small booth looked like the best place to be: filled with colored lights and buttons, CDs and LPs lining up the wall like the Library of Congress; the power the DJ had behind the microphone was enviable.
That was when she realized that Charlie was working that afternoon. The blonde streaks caught the sunlight, attracting a gaggle of girls to stare at him while he worked. Lost in his own world, he perused through old vinyl jackets and studied them intently.
Her heart skipped a beat. It was like a sixth sense was telling her not to enter the building. However, she was curious. She was determined to find out why she felt so strongly toward him. Is it the bad-boy image? The look? Or is it because she just basically was bored with the flavor of men in her life that she had to taste the cuisine elsewhere?
She beamed a smile for a second only to realize that he was oblivious to her presence.
"Hey," she greeted as she took her pea coat off.
He looked up and smiled. "Hey yourself, stranger." He went back to looking at the vinyl records.
"I just stopped by to see how you were doing," she said softly. She felt like a dork just trying to explain herself. She was wringing her fingers, unsure as to how she should approach this semi-private meeting.
"It sucks when I'm working on a weekend when someone's sick," he admitted, putting the record back in its place on the shelf. "What brings you down here?"
Why was she here?
"I got bored looking through the shops," she admitted.
"What, no school work? No one around to play with Harvard girl?" he asked sarcastically.
"I am so sorry, I did something wrong," Rory said taken aback by his glib. Stuffing her arms back into the coat, she muttered, "I thought you'd like to see a friendly face when there's nothing worse than being stuck indoors in a day like this."
"Don't even get me started, Gilmore," he replied back. "You've been avoiding me all week, and now you pretend that I'm your friend?"
"I wasn't avoiding you! I was…." she was cut off.
"You were. Don't even deny it," Charlie spat out. "I don't know what happened last week that got you so spooked, but all I wanted to do was be your friend."
Rory looked at him. Her heart was racing. How could she deny the fact that his shooting a glance her way already made her do insane things?
"I'm still learning the ropes here, Charlie. Cut me some slack!" Rory said.
He let out a mean laugh. "Rory, you're playing a dangerous game. You're acting like nothing affects you, and yet, you scurry behind Pacey when the big bad man comes your way."
"I do not!" she said heatedly.
"So, riddle me this," he said, pressing his finger against his lip. "Why was it that you pretended you didn't have time for me, and yet, when I tackled you yesterday, you didn't struggle to get away from my arms?"
She could not give him an answer. Instead, she watched him lean up against the table and take a quick, impatient breath. The mere pose made Rory want to just touch him.
"Rory, do you know that you're getting into?" he asked softly as he cued in the next song.
"What do you mean?" she inquired as he took off his headset and blared Jimmy Eats World's "The Middle" into the soundproof room.
"This," he said.
All Rory could remember was Charlie closing in on her. His hands were planted on her hips while his lips claimed hers. In one fell swoop, Rory lost her identity as she tasted cloves on his tongue and inhaled the scent of desire from his skin.
Caught in the moment, her hand innocently snuck around his neck and held him closer. She kissed back as expertly as she could, trying to match his coaxing tongue. Shivers ran down her back while goose bumps covered the back of her arms.
"I've wanted to kiss you for so long," he finally said as he pulled away.
She was tongue-tied.
"But I have a feeling that this… thing between us might not just work out," he said.
"Why?" she finally blurted out.
"Sweet innocent thing like you in my arms? Baby, I'm every mother's worst nightmare," he said as he strolled back to the headset.
"You think I can't handle you?" Rory asked in an attempt to be brave.
"Are you saying you can?" he threw the challenge back at her.
"Stranger things have happened," Rory said before walking out of the sound booth.
The moment she exited the room, she leaned up against the wall. "What did I get myself into?"
