Chapter 14 - Friends Do That?
Paris rushed into the hotel lobby, scanning the open area for her roommates. Nope. Not there. Maybe they had slept through the alarm. Neither one of them had shown up for the brief Saturday morning breakfast meeting a few of the more zealous members of the student board had planned. Paris had called the room at least a dozen times, and there was no answer. And while that might be typical of Tristan, that was not something that Rory Gilmore had ever done. She didn't miss meetings and she didn't sleep through the telephone ringing. For God's sakes, half of her mother's calls came in the middle of the night.
What if something had happened to them? Paris frowned, trying to imagine what could've happened last night after she'd left with Jeremy. They had been getting along pretty well. What if they had stayed out too late, decided to walk home, and gotten mugged? Their bodies could be in the alley next to the building for all she knew. Paris shook her head, trying to rid it of all types of thoughts. Typing in the security code on the panel next to the elevator and pressing the button for the third time, Paris glared steadily at the closed doors. Why was this damn elevator taking so long?!
"Paris!" A male voice shocked her out of her reveries as she turned around.
"Tristan!?"
Confusion and a slight hint of irritation tinged the voice as he responded. "What? No."
Paris found herself face to face with a very tall, brown haired guy. He looked familiar. Very familiar. Especially that look of annoyance on his face as he said Tristan's name. She knew this kid. It would just take a second to place.. she knew who this was....
"Remember me? Dean?"
Paris felt the need to snap her fingers as he said his name. Dean! That's was it. Rory's boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend. What was he doing here, waving his hands in front of her face? Did she look like the type of person who tolerated that?
Mistaking the look of vexation on her face for startled, he began to explain. "Me and my family are here on a family trip and since I knew Rory was going to be down here all summer I got the hotel name and phone number of where you guys were staying from Lorelai. I tried calling, but there was no answer, so I thought that I'd run upstairs and see if you guys were still there.
"But the lady at the desk," Dean paused, pointing at the clerk the three teens living there already knew so well, "refused to give me access to the elevators in the extended-stay wing." Dean lowered his voice and telling Paris in a secretive way, "She was actually really weird about it. She wanted to know what my relationship was to you 'cute young things'."
Paris coughed, trying to hide her smile and interrupted him. "Yeah, that's Gloria. She's a little strange." Then she turned her attention back towards the elevator controls. "What the hell is taking this thing so long?"
She gave the button another very forceful push and before rounding on Dean. "And would you mind explaining why exactly you are talking to me?"
Dean appeared a little taken aback by Paris' curt attitude, but he pushed on anyways. "Well, aren't you and Rory sharing a room? You could take me up there to see her." This guy really had a way of stating the obvious.
"Fine.. whatever. Yes! Thank you." Paris hurried onto the elevator the second it opened, pushed seven, and began attacking the close door button. "Hurry up!" Dean gave her a wary look, seemingly debating what to say to her.
"Umm.. Paris..."
"What?" She snapped at him.
"I was just wondering if there was something bothering you. You seem a little... uh... distracted."
"Nothing. It's nothing." Paris repeated the words to herself, trying to convince herself as she said them.
"Are you sure?" Dean was beginning to get concerned.
"Jesus! Are you always this slow? I'm having the same problem you are, okay? I couldn't get a hold of Rory this morning when I called; she wasn't answering the phone this morning and I wanted to make sure that they were all right."
Dean was filled with questions, but some of Paris' panic was beginning to rub off on him as he followed her off the elevator and rushed to keep up with her breakneck pace.
"Aren't you her roommate? Why would you be calling her in the morning? And what do you mean 'they'?" Paris didn't answer any of his questions. Instead she hastily turned the corner and upon facing a pair of double doors she began fumbling with the lock, eventually letting them into the room.
"Rory!" Paris ran down the hallway to find their room empty. "Tristan!" She hurried down the hall towards his room, stopping dead at what she saw. "Oh... uh..."
Dean was right behind Paris, and he ran into her when she stopped dead in her tracks. Looking up to see what she was staring at, Dean's eyes turned the size of golf balls and his clenched his fists until he could feel his nails biting into his flesh.
A bare-chested figure looked up at the two shocked figures standing in the doorway, pulling the covers up to cover the scantily clad brunette that had been sleeping on his chest. Lazily smiling at them while running a hand through his wild mane of blond hair he uttered two words. "Hey bagboy."
* * * * *
"I can't believe you turned off my alarm clock... again." The annoyed voice rustled Lorelai's hair as she rested her head on Luke's chest, drawing tiny circles with her fingernail on the smooth expanse of skin, the smile growing on her face. She loved waking up with him, even if it always took them a good hour to actually get up; it was just the most incredible thing in the world, next to the going to bed with him part... And so what if she had a tendency to unset the alarm clock every now and then? He deserved to sleep in sometimes, especially after the late night they'd had last night.
"I already told you, it wasn't me." Lorelai's innocent tone betrayed her laughter as she explained the 'real' problem, "I swear we have a ghost in this house, and he hates the alarm clock sound. I think that's how he died, you know, prolonged exposure to really, really annoying sounds."
"Like you?"
"Ugh!" The woman was immediately sitting upright, glaring at the man laying in front of her, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "I am not annoying! I am adorable, and-"
Ding drsshzzzzzzzzzzz
Before she could finish, there was a high-pitched dinging noise, followed by a buzzing echoed out from the hallway, and Lorelai climbed out of the bed and began slipping on her clothes as Luke's expression became pained.
"That sounds like a Dixie Chick with a bee stuck in her throat."
Lorelai gave her boyfriend a reprimanding look, shaking her finger at him as she tied her sweatpants. "You leave Bella alone; she is sick. No one makes fun of you when you're sick, do they?"
Half-amused, Luke shook his head at her neverending imagination. "It's a doorbell, Lorelai. Doorbells don't get sick."
"Well, Mr. I-Know-Everything-About-Everything-On-The-Planet, did that sound like a healthy doorbell to you? I didn't think so." Then, without giving him time to respond, Lorelai hopped towards the doorway, talking as she went. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm sure that's Babette dropping off Harold the Scelerophobic gnome. Now you go ahead and get up, coffee man. Harold and I will be thirsty after we get rid of Babette."
And with that, Lorelai was moving down the stairway, smiling over her recent success as she flung the door open.
"Haro- You're not Harold." The sentence sounded like an accusation and the ambushed man in her doorway frowned slightly, insinuation creeping into his voice.
"Expecting someone else?"
Lorelai laughed out loud at herself. "Just the gnome I'm supposed to watch out for this afternoon." Lorelai was grinning widely; she couldn't help but be in a good mood after a morning like the one she'd just had. Everything was perfect. She, and Luke, had finally been forced to face that one black cloud that had been shadowing their relationship. The one thing they'd never had the guts to deal with.
But thanks to Chris' surprise appearance last night, Lorelai had realized exactly how over Christopher she was. Sure, at first she'd been a little angry with him, but then as she insulted them, she'd just realized that it was her pride talking. After all, no one likes to be dumped, but she wasn't hurting anymore over him. And after that epiphany it had been smooth sailing.
She and Chris had gotten the uncomfortable apologies out of the way. Then he'd left and she'd shared her epiphany with Luke. Then, in his happiness over that, he'd shared a number of things with her, things that she wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon... That spacey smile was claiming her face again, and Lorelai was somewhat relieved when Chris began snapping his fingers in front of her face
"Earth to Lorelai."
"Oh, sorry. Guess my mind's still half asleep."
"Yeah, I didn't wake you up, did I? I didn't think you'd still be in bed."
"Oh, you know me; I live in my bed! Well, actually I live in the whole house, but my bed is in the house, so I figure- Do you want to come in?" Lorelai interrupted herself; that tendency for rambling could really be a problem sometimes.
"Thanks..." Chris stepped inside, only to find the hallway almost totally vacated as Lorelai disappeared into the kitchen, launching into action. Luke may be fine with the Chris situation, but that didn't mean she wanted to have him just hanging around when Luke got downstairs. The best idea would be to get him in and out, working the whole time.
"So, Rory took a lot of her book stuff with her, but she left a lot of it here too cuz there's just so much of it. But if you-"
"Listen, can we sit down for a second?" Chris's hand on hers stopped Lorelai in her tracks, and she turned around, her stomach suddenly feeling a little queasy at that look in his eyes. "There's something else I wanted to tell you... about Sherry."
With an apprehensive nod, Lorelai moved towards the kitchen table, grateful for the place to rest. She had a distinct feeling this was not going to be a fun conversation.
So much for her perfect morning.
* * * * *
Rory was in the middle of the ocean of blue, on a sailboat. She adjusted the mast and smiled at the man holding the wheel. His sparkling blue eyes lit up and his wild blonde hair whipped about in the wind as she walked over towards him, enveloping him in a deep hug. Upon pulling apart though, she noticed that the blue eyes had turned a deep angry brown and the short blonde hair was now shoulder length. In fact, no longer was it even a man, but a pushy girl who was yelling for her "Rory!"
"Rory!"
Suddenly Rory found herself sitting straight up in bed, a very unfamiliar bed, and someone was pulling covers up over her chest. Turning to her right she recognized the back of Tristan's head and the events of last night came rushing back to her. The dancing, then coming back here and changing into this... Rory's face turned red as she realized how little clothing the two of them had on and what close proximity they were in. She must've fallen asleep here, they must've... suddenly a voice very close to her ear broke into her thoughts.
"Hey bagboy."
Dreading what she was about to see, Rory followed Tristan's cool stare towards the doorway, the first signs of panic beginning to take over her body at the sight. Dean. Dean was here, staring at her lying in bed with Tristan... wearing next to nothing. And Paris. Paris looked too shocked for words, but at least she had some respect. She turned around and was gone about as quickly as she'd come. Dean, on the other hand, didn't move a muscle.
"What the hell is going on here?" He began to approach the bed where Rory was still struggling to get the blanket wrapped around her in a manner suiting a more appropriate comfort level. "What's it look like, bagboy? You woke us up." Tristan grinned wickedly and wrapped his arm around Rory, pulling her close.
"Rory! What is this...this jerk doing here with you?" Dean had a hurt look on his face, and Rory could do nothing but sputter a few random words out.
"Movie... sleep... club..." Rory dropped her eyes so she didn't have to look at the disappointed expression on her ex-boyfriend's face.
Thankfully, or unthankfully, for her, Tristan wasn't nearly as shell- shocked. In fact, he appeared to be greatly enjoying the moment as he took over the narrative Rory was having so much trouble with.
"Actually, the question you should be asking is 'what is Rory doing here with me?'. After all, this is my room. My bed." Tristan smiled wickedly as Dean's jaw dropped before continuing in the same self-satisfied tone. "But the question I'm sure Rory has is what YOU are doing HERE? After all, don't you have some tomatoes to be polishing or something? How will the mar-"
Finally regaining her bearings, Rory cut Tristan off. "Dean, this is NOT what is looks like. We were-"
"What else could it be Rory?! I think it's exactly what it looks like. You're sleeping in the same bed with this guy wearing nothing but your underwear! How else am I supposed to see it?" Dean's face was contorted in anger as he approached the bed. Tristan, seeing his approach and not wanting to be in a vulnerable position, got out of the bed and stood between Dean and Rory. This allowed Dean to see exactly what had been under that blanket with Rory, nothing but a thin pair of Scooby Doo boxer shorts.
"You guys, come on..." Rory was now struggling with the task of getting out of bed while keeping the comforter wrapped around her.
"Rory, stay out of this. This is between the accountant and I." Dean was now advancing on Tristan, who was clenching his fists in preparation for a fight.
"While I'm inclined to agree with you, I still am having a hard time figuring out why you're upset. If I'm not mistaken, Mary here is a free agent now. She's allowed to share a bed with whomever she pleases. It's not my fault she never chose you." An arrogant smile broke out on Tristan's face as he glanced back at Rory who was now almost in between the two. Speechless, Dean began to pull his fist back and Rory dropped the blanket so she could get in between them in time.
"Stop..." It all seemed to happen in slow motion as Rory took a stand in between the two, a hand on each of their chests.
Suddenly, a bright flash left them all seeing stars. The fight momentarily forgotten, they all glanced in the direction of the flash to see a smirking Paris holding a camera. "Sorry guys, it was just too priceless."
And that was the breaking point.
Rory looked down at herself and began to giggle. Slowly, Tristan joined in and soon the three roommates were collapsed on the floor, holding their stomachs while tears flowed from their eyes. It was just too ridiculous.
Dean stood staring in disgust at the three of them laughing hysterically and frowned. He began to walk out of the room when Rory's shaking hand closed in on his ankle. "Wait... Dean... stop..." She was struggling to catch her breath.
"What is it Rory?" The flashing eyes hid a layer of hurt that served to sober Rory's mood. Catching her breath, she held onto his ankle.
"Come with me... living room...." She let him help her up and slowly made her way into the living room, grabbing Tristan's robe off the hook by the door on her way out. Passing Paris sitting in the doorframe and looking back at Tristan laying on the floor by the bed, Rory stifled another giggle, "You two stay here."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scelerophobia btw is fear of burlars (it's a Jess reference... i know lame, but i was cracking myself up... again). REVIEW PLEEZ!
Paris rushed into the hotel lobby, scanning the open area for her roommates. Nope. Not there. Maybe they had slept through the alarm. Neither one of them had shown up for the brief Saturday morning breakfast meeting a few of the more zealous members of the student board had planned. Paris had called the room at least a dozen times, and there was no answer. And while that might be typical of Tristan, that was not something that Rory Gilmore had ever done. She didn't miss meetings and she didn't sleep through the telephone ringing. For God's sakes, half of her mother's calls came in the middle of the night.
What if something had happened to them? Paris frowned, trying to imagine what could've happened last night after she'd left with Jeremy. They had been getting along pretty well. What if they had stayed out too late, decided to walk home, and gotten mugged? Their bodies could be in the alley next to the building for all she knew. Paris shook her head, trying to rid it of all types of thoughts. Typing in the security code on the panel next to the elevator and pressing the button for the third time, Paris glared steadily at the closed doors. Why was this damn elevator taking so long?!
"Paris!" A male voice shocked her out of her reveries as she turned around.
"Tristan!?"
Confusion and a slight hint of irritation tinged the voice as he responded. "What? No."
Paris found herself face to face with a very tall, brown haired guy. He looked familiar. Very familiar. Especially that look of annoyance on his face as he said Tristan's name. She knew this kid. It would just take a second to place.. she knew who this was....
"Remember me? Dean?"
Paris felt the need to snap her fingers as he said his name. Dean! That's was it. Rory's boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend. What was he doing here, waving his hands in front of her face? Did she look like the type of person who tolerated that?
Mistaking the look of vexation on her face for startled, he began to explain. "Me and my family are here on a family trip and since I knew Rory was going to be down here all summer I got the hotel name and phone number of where you guys were staying from Lorelai. I tried calling, but there was no answer, so I thought that I'd run upstairs and see if you guys were still there.
"But the lady at the desk," Dean paused, pointing at the clerk the three teens living there already knew so well, "refused to give me access to the elevators in the extended-stay wing." Dean lowered his voice and telling Paris in a secretive way, "She was actually really weird about it. She wanted to know what my relationship was to you 'cute young things'."
Paris coughed, trying to hide her smile and interrupted him. "Yeah, that's Gloria. She's a little strange." Then she turned her attention back towards the elevator controls. "What the hell is taking this thing so long?"
She gave the button another very forceful push and before rounding on Dean. "And would you mind explaining why exactly you are talking to me?"
Dean appeared a little taken aback by Paris' curt attitude, but he pushed on anyways. "Well, aren't you and Rory sharing a room? You could take me up there to see her." This guy really had a way of stating the obvious.
"Fine.. whatever. Yes! Thank you." Paris hurried onto the elevator the second it opened, pushed seven, and began attacking the close door button. "Hurry up!" Dean gave her a wary look, seemingly debating what to say to her.
"Umm.. Paris..."
"What?" She snapped at him.
"I was just wondering if there was something bothering you. You seem a little... uh... distracted."
"Nothing. It's nothing." Paris repeated the words to herself, trying to convince herself as she said them.
"Are you sure?" Dean was beginning to get concerned.
"Jesus! Are you always this slow? I'm having the same problem you are, okay? I couldn't get a hold of Rory this morning when I called; she wasn't answering the phone this morning and I wanted to make sure that they were all right."
Dean was filled with questions, but some of Paris' panic was beginning to rub off on him as he followed her off the elevator and rushed to keep up with her breakneck pace.
"Aren't you her roommate? Why would you be calling her in the morning? And what do you mean 'they'?" Paris didn't answer any of his questions. Instead she hastily turned the corner and upon facing a pair of double doors she began fumbling with the lock, eventually letting them into the room.
"Rory!" Paris ran down the hallway to find their room empty. "Tristan!" She hurried down the hall towards his room, stopping dead at what she saw. "Oh... uh..."
Dean was right behind Paris, and he ran into her when she stopped dead in her tracks. Looking up to see what she was staring at, Dean's eyes turned the size of golf balls and his clenched his fists until he could feel his nails biting into his flesh.
A bare-chested figure looked up at the two shocked figures standing in the doorway, pulling the covers up to cover the scantily clad brunette that had been sleeping on his chest. Lazily smiling at them while running a hand through his wild mane of blond hair he uttered two words. "Hey bagboy."
* * * * *
"I can't believe you turned off my alarm clock... again." The annoyed voice rustled Lorelai's hair as she rested her head on Luke's chest, drawing tiny circles with her fingernail on the smooth expanse of skin, the smile growing on her face. She loved waking up with him, even if it always took them a good hour to actually get up; it was just the most incredible thing in the world, next to the going to bed with him part... And so what if she had a tendency to unset the alarm clock every now and then? He deserved to sleep in sometimes, especially after the late night they'd had last night.
"I already told you, it wasn't me." Lorelai's innocent tone betrayed her laughter as she explained the 'real' problem, "I swear we have a ghost in this house, and he hates the alarm clock sound. I think that's how he died, you know, prolonged exposure to really, really annoying sounds."
"Like you?"
"Ugh!" The woman was immediately sitting upright, glaring at the man laying in front of her, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "I am not annoying! I am adorable, and-"
Ding drsshzzzzzzzzzzz
Before she could finish, there was a high-pitched dinging noise, followed by a buzzing echoed out from the hallway, and Lorelai climbed out of the bed and began slipping on her clothes as Luke's expression became pained.
"That sounds like a Dixie Chick with a bee stuck in her throat."
Lorelai gave her boyfriend a reprimanding look, shaking her finger at him as she tied her sweatpants. "You leave Bella alone; she is sick. No one makes fun of you when you're sick, do they?"
Half-amused, Luke shook his head at her neverending imagination. "It's a doorbell, Lorelai. Doorbells don't get sick."
"Well, Mr. I-Know-Everything-About-Everything-On-The-Planet, did that sound like a healthy doorbell to you? I didn't think so." Then, without giving him time to respond, Lorelai hopped towards the doorway, talking as she went. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm sure that's Babette dropping off Harold the Scelerophobic gnome. Now you go ahead and get up, coffee man. Harold and I will be thirsty after we get rid of Babette."
And with that, Lorelai was moving down the stairway, smiling over her recent success as she flung the door open.
"Haro- You're not Harold." The sentence sounded like an accusation and the ambushed man in her doorway frowned slightly, insinuation creeping into his voice.
"Expecting someone else?"
Lorelai laughed out loud at herself. "Just the gnome I'm supposed to watch out for this afternoon." Lorelai was grinning widely; she couldn't help but be in a good mood after a morning like the one she'd just had. Everything was perfect. She, and Luke, had finally been forced to face that one black cloud that had been shadowing their relationship. The one thing they'd never had the guts to deal with.
But thanks to Chris' surprise appearance last night, Lorelai had realized exactly how over Christopher she was. Sure, at first she'd been a little angry with him, but then as she insulted them, she'd just realized that it was her pride talking. After all, no one likes to be dumped, but she wasn't hurting anymore over him. And after that epiphany it had been smooth sailing.
She and Chris had gotten the uncomfortable apologies out of the way. Then he'd left and she'd shared her epiphany with Luke. Then, in his happiness over that, he'd shared a number of things with her, things that she wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon... That spacey smile was claiming her face again, and Lorelai was somewhat relieved when Chris began snapping his fingers in front of her face
"Earth to Lorelai."
"Oh, sorry. Guess my mind's still half asleep."
"Yeah, I didn't wake you up, did I? I didn't think you'd still be in bed."
"Oh, you know me; I live in my bed! Well, actually I live in the whole house, but my bed is in the house, so I figure- Do you want to come in?" Lorelai interrupted herself; that tendency for rambling could really be a problem sometimes.
"Thanks..." Chris stepped inside, only to find the hallway almost totally vacated as Lorelai disappeared into the kitchen, launching into action. Luke may be fine with the Chris situation, but that didn't mean she wanted to have him just hanging around when Luke got downstairs. The best idea would be to get him in and out, working the whole time.
"So, Rory took a lot of her book stuff with her, but she left a lot of it here too cuz there's just so much of it. But if you-"
"Listen, can we sit down for a second?" Chris's hand on hers stopped Lorelai in her tracks, and she turned around, her stomach suddenly feeling a little queasy at that look in his eyes. "There's something else I wanted to tell you... about Sherry."
With an apprehensive nod, Lorelai moved towards the kitchen table, grateful for the place to rest. She had a distinct feeling this was not going to be a fun conversation.
So much for her perfect morning.
* * * * *
Rory was in the middle of the ocean of blue, on a sailboat. She adjusted the mast and smiled at the man holding the wheel. His sparkling blue eyes lit up and his wild blonde hair whipped about in the wind as she walked over towards him, enveloping him in a deep hug. Upon pulling apart though, she noticed that the blue eyes had turned a deep angry brown and the short blonde hair was now shoulder length. In fact, no longer was it even a man, but a pushy girl who was yelling for her "Rory!"
"Rory!"
Suddenly Rory found herself sitting straight up in bed, a very unfamiliar bed, and someone was pulling covers up over her chest. Turning to her right she recognized the back of Tristan's head and the events of last night came rushing back to her. The dancing, then coming back here and changing into this... Rory's face turned red as she realized how little clothing the two of them had on and what close proximity they were in. She must've fallen asleep here, they must've... suddenly a voice very close to her ear broke into her thoughts.
"Hey bagboy."
Dreading what she was about to see, Rory followed Tristan's cool stare towards the doorway, the first signs of panic beginning to take over her body at the sight. Dean. Dean was here, staring at her lying in bed with Tristan... wearing next to nothing. And Paris. Paris looked too shocked for words, but at least she had some respect. She turned around and was gone about as quickly as she'd come. Dean, on the other hand, didn't move a muscle.
"What the hell is going on here?" He began to approach the bed where Rory was still struggling to get the blanket wrapped around her in a manner suiting a more appropriate comfort level. "What's it look like, bagboy? You woke us up." Tristan grinned wickedly and wrapped his arm around Rory, pulling her close.
"Rory! What is this...this jerk doing here with you?" Dean had a hurt look on his face, and Rory could do nothing but sputter a few random words out.
"Movie... sleep... club..." Rory dropped her eyes so she didn't have to look at the disappointed expression on her ex-boyfriend's face.
Thankfully, or unthankfully, for her, Tristan wasn't nearly as shell- shocked. In fact, he appeared to be greatly enjoying the moment as he took over the narrative Rory was having so much trouble with.
"Actually, the question you should be asking is 'what is Rory doing here with me?'. After all, this is my room. My bed." Tristan smiled wickedly as Dean's jaw dropped before continuing in the same self-satisfied tone. "But the question I'm sure Rory has is what YOU are doing HERE? After all, don't you have some tomatoes to be polishing or something? How will the mar-"
Finally regaining her bearings, Rory cut Tristan off. "Dean, this is NOT what is looks like. We were-"
"What else could it be Rory?! I think it's exactly what it looks like. You're sleeping in the same bed with this guy wearing nothing but your underwear! How else am I supposed to see it?" Dean's face was contorted in anger as he approached the bed. Tristan, seeing his approach and not wanting to be in a vulnerable position, got out of the bed and stood between Dean and Rory. This allowed Dean to see exactly what had been under that blanket with Rory, nothing but a thin pair of Scooby Doo boxer shorts.
"You guys, come on..." Rory was now struggling with the task of getting out of bed while keeping the comforter wrapped around her.
"Rory, stay out of this. This is between the accountant and I." Dean was now advancing on Tristan, who was clenching his fists in preparation for a fight.
"While I'm inclined to agree with you, I still am having a hard time figuring out why you're upset. If I'm not mistaken, Mary here is a free agent now. She's allowed to share a bed with whomever she pleases. It's not my fault she never chose you." An arrogant smile broke out on Tristan's face as he glanced back at Rory who was now almost in between the two. Speechless, Dean began to pull his fist back and Rory dropped the blanket so she could get in between them in time.
"Stop..." It all seemed to happen in slow motion as Rory took a stand in between the two, a hand on each of their chests.
Suddenly, a bright flash left them all seeing stars. The fight momentarily forgotten, they all glanced in the direction of the flash to see a smirking Paris holding a camera. "Sorry guys, it was just too priceless."
And that was the breaking point.
Rory looked down at herself and began to giggle. Slowly, Tristan joined in and soon the three roommates were collapsed on the floor, holding their stomachs while tears flowed from their eyes. It was just too ridiculous.
Dean stood staring in disgust at the three of them laughing hysterically and frowned. He began to walk out of the room when Rory's shaking hand closed in on his ankle. "Wait... Dean... stop..." She was struggling to catch her breath.
"What is it Rory?" The flashing eyes hid a layer of hurt that served to sober Rory's mood. Catching her breath, she held onto his ankle.
"Come with me... living room...." She let him help her up and slowly made her way into the living room, grabbing Tristan's robe off the hook by the door on her way out. Passing Paris sitting in the doorframe and looking back at Tristan laying on the floor by the bed, Rory stifled another giggle, "You two stay here."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scelerophobia btw is fear of burlars (it's a Jess reference... i know lame, but i was cracking myself up... again). REVIEW PLEEZ!