Chapter 8:
It's a little late

Stars Hallow Rory's POV

The word long, came nowhere near describing her day, painfully un-ending, was a little closer.
After talking to Finn, and realizing that he knew the dreadful boy that had been sitting beside her, things seemed to drag on from there. It started with her showing Logan all the places she went on a daily basis .. the library, student store, 4 different coffee kiosks and the dinning hall. But when she realized that he wasn't paying attention, and that he knew practically every stop better then she did, they decided to go to the pub. There of course they found a drunk Finn, Colin was MIA until about an hour after they got there, he had apparently found some hott willing girl and had been "a bit preoccupied" as he so kindly put it. So 3 friends who hadn't seen each other in almost 3 months, plus a bar, and wallets filled with non-limited credit cards, concluded with her being the designated driver for the evening, which had her pulling up to her mothers house at 3am.

Even though she knew better then to think it possible, all she really wanted was to climb into bed and sleep through the weekend. But as she turned into the driveway she was surprised by two things. The first being that every light in the house was turned off, which usually wouldn't surprise her, but given the current situation, she had figured at least the TV would be on, but nothing. The second thing to surprise her was the Silver Porsche that pulled in directly behind her. As soon as the headlights were turned off, she hesitantly opened her door and stepped out.

Stars Hallow Tristins POV

He had no idea what he was doing, it was 3 in the morning and he was driving through a town he had been to a maximum of three times, almost 5 years ago. The streets were deserted, so any chance of asking for directions was out of the question, he didn't know the number to the Gilmore house, and Paris had turned her phone off sometime around 10 o'clock. He had been telling himself maybe it was for the better, that he didn't see them tonight, it would give him some time to get ready for seeing her. But he needed to talk to Paris, she had sounded far from being OK the last time he had talked to her, their conversation was shorter then their first, and he could barley make out what she was saying, her voice had been horse, and tear filled. He promised her he would be by before she went to sleep and she said she would wait up. If it weren't for his mothers excellent hugging, and questions, he would have been there a lot earlier.
After talking to Paris he had decided he would just try and keep from seeing Rory for as long as he could, maybe he would ask Paris to go out to get some coffee so they could just leave any chance of running into her behind, and he was sticking to his plan.

Just as he was about to turn around and head back to Hartford, as if a sign from God, a car raced by him. Not knowing why exactly, he began to follow it. When he pulled in behind it, in front of a house, he instantly began to regret his decision. As soon as he turned his headlights off, the drivers door opened and he watched as Rory Gilmore slowly emerged. " Well that was quick." he whispered to himself.

Regular POV

Biting her bottom lip, and clutching her keys in her right hand, Rory walked towards the mysterious car. Stopping at the front of the car, she moved her keys in her hand so she could get a hold of the alarm button. The drivers door opened, and she jumped back, with a quiet screech. "Whoa hey I come in peace..." Came the voice from inside, followed by two hands held up in a surrendering gesture. As he stepped out of the car, Rory let out a loud breath, and her shoulder's fell.

"God Tristin, you scared the hell out of me."
After shoving his hands in his pocket's, he gave her a small smile, and lifted his shoulders. "Sorry." All he was really thinking was 'God she looks good...'
She smiled politely and shifted her feet. "What are you doing her anyway? I mean it's a little late don'tya think?"
"Well, I ... wait - you don't seem to surprised to see me..."
She waved a dismissive hand at him. And said in a nonchalant tone. "I've already seen you today."
Laughing he gave her a confused look. "What?"
Rolling her eye's playfully she crossed her arms. "You know what I mean."
Tristin looked at her for a moment before deciding to play along with whatever she was talking about. Things were going suprisingly well so far, and he didn't want to mess that up. "And again I ask you, what are you doing here so late?"

The playfulness in her voice showed him that she wasn't mad, just courious.
"I promised Paris I'd stop by before she went to sleep ... but well..." he waved his and at the house.
Rory turned around and stared at her childhood home, while Tristin stood beside her.
"Yea, she's really in there isn't she?" The tone in her voice made him laugh, she sounded like a little girl who didn't want to go to the dentist.
"Yep. When's the last time you saw her? I mean it must be awhile right?"
Rory looked at him through curious eye's. "This morning - right before she came here..." Tristin cocked his head to the side while staring at her. Rory gave a small patronizing nod. " cuz she's my roommate ..." Confused look continued. "At Yale." Still confused. "Our school. Wow Tristin, never took you as being so slow."
Tristin gave her a mock glare before smiling. "I'm just trying to get my head around you and Paris being roommates. It's kind of hard to imagine."
"Ha Ha."
"I'm just joking with you. I guess I'm just surprised. ... So, you and Paris living under the same roof ... that's really scary."
Rory pushed his shoulder playfully, which caused him to laugh. The huge smile, that he knew was smeared across his face at the moment, couldn't be helped. The one person he was dreading seeing again, fearing what old issues it might bring up, was standing there beside him laughing and joking, like they were the oldest of friends. Sure they had both grown up, and were different people from their highschool selves, but this wasn't what he was expecting at all. Deciding to test the friendship waters, he lightly touched her shoulder. "So how've you been?"

She felt it. The little shot of electricity that shot through her when he touched her, but she just shrugged it off, smiled and gave a thoughtful nod. "If you would've asked me that this morning ... I would have said great ..."
"And now?" His voice was soft and so full of concern, it surprised even him.
She stared at him for a moment before answering with a small shrug. "Been better."
"Is everything OK?" He couldn't understand it, in highschool, they couldn't go a few seconds while being around eachother without arguing, and now here they were a couple years later, and actually having a sincere conversation.

Rory looked around before her eye's settled on her shoes. "I guess I just feel kind of responsible for everything that's happening."
Realizing what she was talking about, he mimicked her actions and stared at his shoes. "Oh."
There was a sudden change in his voice, one that brought her attention up to his slouching shoulders and hung head. For the first time that day she began to wonder what it must have been like for him, having to basically choose between his two best friends, one of them being his cousin. Not knowing whatelse to say she tried her best to change the subject. " I'll uh - deny this if it ever gets out, but I'm really glad Paris and I live together. I mean she's one of my best friends, I'd literally do anything for her..." Apparently that caught him off guard, because the look he gave her was of pure curiosity, but it was soon followed by an understanding smile. "Yea I know what you mean." Rory smiled, grateful that the topic was changed. "But you've gotta admit, living with Paris has got to be hell sometimes."
"Oh - yea." She replied in an obvious tone, which was followed by a mixture of their laughter.

"So-" He was going to ask her, what she meant by "I've already seen you today", but was cut off by the porch light being turned on and front door being opened.
'Ror? How long have you been out here? Who's that? Everything OK? Do you need me to call Luke? ' Lorelai said in her most threatening voice.
Rory looked over at the porch and shook her head. "No Mom everything's fine. Sorry we didn't mean to wake you."
"Who's Luke? I don't like the way she said that. Should I be scared?" Tristin said in a frantic whisper, which caused Rory to laugh.
'Hey what's that! No secrets!' Yelled Lorelai.
Rory began to walk towards the house only to stop half way there after realizing that Tristin wasn't following her. "You coming?" After a thoughtful pause he shook his head. "Why?" He motioned for her to come closer, so she did. "What?"
He leaned in conspiratorially, both ignoring Lorelai's shouts of 'HEY! Wait I wanna know to! Hey!'. "Paris isin there." Rory gave a small nod. "Yeaaa..." "Rory, PARIS is in there..." Rory let out a small laugh and began to turn away, when Tristin caught her wrist and pulled her back. "I'm serious ... I'll just call that whole thing back there a momentary lapse of sanity ... we can still make a run for it. We'll take my car sense yours is blocked in and -" She knew he was joking, so she let out another laugh, and shook her head, as if she were actually considering the plan. "She's to quick, she'd catch us. And even if we got away, what would we do for money? No credit cards, she'd track us." Tristin got a defeated look on his face, and snapped his fingers. "Damn it - your right ... OH! OK how about this..."

Porch

Lorelai stood watching Rory and the unknown man interact as if they had known each other forever. She watched as Rory broke out into a fit of laughter, and playfully slapped mystery man's arm. If she didn't know any better she would swear that they were openly flirting with each other, in a 'unknown to only them' kind of way. "What's going on?" Lorelai jumped as her hand automatically went to her heart. "Paris ... wow ... walk ... you ... quiet ... wow." She said between breathes. Paris simply shrugged and moved past her so she could look out the door. "Oh - their here. ... And already flirting. Hmm, that was quick, even for them. I mean I at least figured there would be SOME awkwardness - maybe a little yelling. How disappointing. Oh well - what can you do right?" With that she moved back past Lorelai, and walked into the living room. Lorelai stood still for a few seconds, trying to understand what exactly was going on, before she spun on her heels, swung the door shut behind her and walked into the living room.

Outside

They had completely forgotten that they were being watched, and their conversation had taken a very strange turn. ...then you come up from behind and bash her in the headand then I'll-" Rory shook her head and cut him off. "Wait how come I have to do the head bashing? Why can't you do the dirty work?" Tristin rolled his eye's and let out an exasperated sigh. "Because your cute, they'll never convict you." Completely overlooking the 'cute' comment, all Rory could think was, 'Yea, well tell that to my probation officer.' Deciding not to voice her thoughts, she simply nodded. "True, continue." Smiling widely he jumped back into his plan. "OK so I'll distract her while you come up from behind and-" He was once again cut off, this time by the sound of the front door slamming shut.
They both looked at the door and stared, waiting for it to be reopened, when it wasn't Rory looked back over at Tristin and her body began to shake with laughter. "Guess we got a little distracted huh?" Tristin gave an embarrassed laugh, and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "Yea, guess so." Rory smiled widely. 'I've never seen him get embarrassed before ... it's kinda ... cute. Wait a minute...' Her smile slightly faltered, and her eye's widened. "So uhm ... we should go inside." She pointed to the house, turned and walked away.

Tristin stared at her retreating form for a few seconds before running to catch up with her. "Hey are you OK?" Rory looked at him and smiled. "Yea why?" "Well ... you know what forget it, I just..." He paused in front of the door. Rory looked at him, and gave a sympathetic smile. "Are you OK?" Tristin gave her a blank look. "We could sit out here ya know, wait till your ready to go in. I mean I understand this is hard for me, I could only imagine what your going through. And even then I'm sure it would stillbe nowhere near what your feeling. Because I mean-" Tristin lightly touched her hand, which effectively stopped her rant. This time they both felt it, the shot of electricity. Smiling, at the blush that had instantly filled her cheeks, he laughed softly. "So not everything's changed. Good." "I'm fine, we can go in, I just wimped out for a second. I'm good now." Rory gave him a skeptical look. "Your sure?" For some reason that seemed to make his smile widen. "Positive." "OK. Then let's go." As she opened the door they both unconsciously held their breath, and stepped inside.

A/N: OK well it's been awhile, and I'm sooo sorry for that, but here it is ... chapter 8! It's not as good as I wished it would be, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. So OK well Enjoy ... comments MORE then welcome (Good or critical) ... Thanks for reading. I got so many great responses last chapter THANK YOU ALL! I Love you guys for taking your time to actually leave me feeback! OK well Until next chapter ...

Love ya! OthGgC