Disclaimer: I don't own a thing
Tristan had been really quiet all week at school and Rory was starting to get concerned. She had been thinking about what Daniel had said at Friday night dinner, but she knew that if she and Tristan could make it through high school and college, there was no way that they couldn't make it through jobs.
"Are you okay?" Rory asked at her locker.
"Mmhm." Tristan said.
"I don't believe you." She said. He glanced over briefly as if to say 'I know' and she knew that he had been caught. "But when you are ready to talk about it, will you please tell me?" He paused and debated that thought.
"What if it's about you?" Tristan said, taking Rory by surprise. "If I were having a girl problem and you were my best friend, I would come to you. But now, when I want to talk about my girlfriend, I don't have a best friend to talk to about it."
"Tris, I told you when we started dating that we had to be friends first, otherwise this wasn't going to work. If you have a problem with me, you have to let me know." He sighed, knowing that she was right.
"You're honest one hundred percent of the time with me?" Tristan asked, knowing the answer was no.
"I try to be." Rory said. "Despite any previous nicknames you may have bestowed on me, I'm not perfect Tristan. I don't pretend to be." Now Tristan felt guilty for trying to pick a fight with her to make her go away.
"I'm sorry. I've just been doing a lot of thinking lately." He said as he picked up his backpack and shut his locker. "I've got to sort it out on my own."
"Tris," She stopped him with a single syllable, a fact that still amazed him after years of knowing her. He turned around and she ran up to meet him. "Your dad and I talked on Friday night about our future, and about what he thinks will happen. And by the look on your face I'm assuming you had a similar conversation." She said with a sigh. "I love you. No matter what you do with your life, that's not going to change." She went back to her locker and got the rest of her things and walked away, leaving Tristan standing in the hallway.
OOOOO
"How do you do it?" Tristan asked as he approached her the next morning.
"How do I do what?" She asked, not knowing what he was talking about.
"You always know what I'm thinking, even when I try to keep it from you, you always know."
"I know that you think you have this mysterious and sexy thing going on, but the truth is, you're not that hard to read." He smiled.
"Will you do me a favor?" He asked her.
"That depends on what it is." She said.
"Will you meet me after school. I want to take you somewhere."
"Okay." She nodded, unsure of what he had in store. "Where are we going?" She asked.
"Not telling." He shook his head. "Does that earn me a little mystery credit?" He asked.
"A little."
"Good." He said with a smile. "See you after school."
"Bye."
OOOOO
"Where are we going?" She asked as she stared out the window of his car. "I do have Friday night dinner tonight you know."
"Don't worry. I called your mom. She's cool with it."
"So, I should have packed a bag?" She asked. He shook his head.
"I thought you said that I was easy to read." He smirked, playing with her head even more.
"Shut up." She said as she pulled out a book and tried to ignore him.
"Ouch, the book freeze. It's been a while since you've pulled that one out." He said with a smile. "But don't worry, we're almost there." She looked up and out the window again as Tristan laughed in victory.
"Now I'm really going to ignore you." She said as she stuck her tongue out.
OOOOO
"Where are we?" She asked, this time out of wonder.
"Chateau DuGray." He said, in his perfect French accent. "My family owns it, but no one ever comes here anymore."
"Are we going to find a dead body inside or something?" She asked as she followed him towards the house.
"No, I stopped by last night and had it removed, just for you." He said with a playful smile Rory hadn't seen in quite some time. "Welcome." He said as he walked inside.
"This place is amazing, but why are we here?" She asked. He nodded towards the kitchen and she followed him. There were candles and a bouquet of long stem roses on the table. "What is all of this?" She asked as he lit the candles.
"I figured we needed some space to relax, a weekend away." She smiled as she noticed something glittering in the candlelight.
"Earrings." She said as she held the box up to see it better. "Valentine's day was just last month, you shouldn't have gotten me another present." She said.
"You save me sometimes, did you know that?" He asked. "When I'm lost in my own head and starting to get back to that place I was before I met you…" He paused. "You always find me and pull me back."
"You too." She smiled.
"I wanted to get back to that and being with you is the only way I know how." She smiled and looked around.
"So are there bedrooms in this abandoned house or what?" She asked with what Tristan could have sworn were Rory Gilmore's very own pair of bedroom eyes.
"Down the hall." He said quietly as she found his hand and started towards the hallway. "Wait." He said as he turned around and blew out the candles. "My father would love it if I burned the house down." She smiled.
OOOOO
As Tristan lay there, silent after their afternoon work out, Rory ran a hand across his chest.
"Do you think that I can run a company?" He turned to face her, wanting her honest opinion. She hid the look of surprise from covering her features. His confidence never wavered, and the fact that he doubted himself and his abilities was so absurd to her that it made her smile.
"Of course you can. You have the brain, the charisma, the talent." She said as she stopped. "The only question is do you want to run the company?" She asked him.
"I guess with graduation coming up, I've been wondering about it more. It's not that far away." He realized.
"It's far enough." She said. "Tris, you can do anything, which I kind of hate about you considering how hard you work." He smiled, knowing she was right. He did have the ability to charm his way through life sometimes. "But you should do something that makes you happy, that you can get nerdy over."
"Like you and writing."
"Right, you could care less about what book I'm reading or how it well it was written, but Jess and I could talk all day about it and not realize time was passing by. Find your thing." She said simply.
"It's not that simple." He said.
"Yeah, it is." She smiled. "Maybe, you'll be a fantastic business guy. Maybe you'll love running the company." She said. "But if you don't, find someone who runs it better and quit. When you are in charge that's always an option."
"Hey, I love you, maybe you're my thing." He said with a grin. "Maybe I was put on this planet to get nerdy over you." He said as he buried himself in her shoulder, her soft hair tickling his cheek. She smiled and pushed him away.
"It's a good thing you have a trust fund then." She said with a grin. "Because the pay sucks."
OOOOO
"Hey, when are we going to eat?" Rory asked. Tristan had a big meal planned for dinner that evening, but they were still in bed, and he wasn't moving if he didn't have to.
"Whenever you want." He said.
"I want." She smiled, as she kissed him once more.
"It's all in the refrigerator." Hopping out of bed, she stole the sheet and wrapped it around her body as she traveled into the kitchen. He smiled as he threw on his jeans and followed her. The sight of her wrapped in a sheet in front of the fridge was a sight that Tristan would remember forever. She was too adorable for her own good.
"You did good, Bible boy." She said with a smile as she pulled out her favorite take out boxes from various places around Stars Hollow.
"Yeah, but no Indian food."
"Al's Chinese is just fine." She said as she pulled out a set of chopsticks.
"You're going to eat it cold?" He asked as he grabbed a bowl to reheat his. She nodded. "Ew." He cringed.
"What? I like cold Chinese food."
"Uh-huh."
"That grosses you out." She stated, thinking it was unbelievable.
"It's all slimy and congealed."
"Coming from the man who eats snails?" She said.
"Hey." He just shrugged, refusing to change his opinion. "I never argued that it made sense." She raised her eyebrows as if to say 'your words, not mine' and sat down at the table. The roses were still there and he glanced over at her and watched as she absent-mindedly fingered one of the rose petals on the table.
"Did I tell you Paris is going to Yale too?" Rory remembered. "Something about carrying on the family tradition…" He nodded.
"Her dad's family." Was all he said as he took his food out of the microwave. Rory was still in awe at how much people in Hartford knew about each other. She understood the concept, coming from a small town herself, but the level at which people talked in Hartford would never cease to amaze her. "Here's looking at you kid." He winked as he clinked glasses with her. She smiled.
"You and I are different than most high school students, aren't we?" She asked him, wanting to confirm her suspicions.
"What do you mean?" He tread cautiously, unsure of what she wanted him to say.
"Look around. We're eighteen years old and we're having a weekend away in a hidden house in the woods. This isn't normal." She said as she took a bite of her chicken.
"Nothing about you is normal." Tristan said, both teasing and romantic, a combo that only he could pull off without any problems.
"Still, I keep waiting for the other foot to drop."
"Too good to be true?"
"Exactly." He shrugged.
"I'm not going to question it." He said. "The more I think about it, the more I drive myself crazy with questions."
"Better to just not think at all." She summed up his points.
"Mmhm." He laughed at her face. "It's my personal philosophy!" He defended himself.
"How's that working out for you?" She asked.
"I got you." He pointed out. "As far as I'm concerned, that's all I need to know." She smiled as she felt her heart soar in her chest at his simple confidence.
"There you are." She said as if greeting him for the first time in a while. She brushed his hair back from his face to get a better look at him. "Welcome back." Embarrassed by her action, he looked down at the ground before meeting her gaze again.
"Thank you." He said with a small smile. She nodded her 'your welcome' and kept eating, letting the silence speak for them.