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"Marissa what the fuck was that!" Logan yelled not caring if he caused a scene amongst the drunken celebrators.

"A kiss," Marissa replied unwaveringly, "To show you that you don't really love her."

"You're a screwed up girl Marissa. I love Rory and you should get that through your head once and for all," he said angrily pushing her away and wanting to remember forever the dejected and surprised face she had on. "Go to hell," he spat before turning with the intentions of finding Rory.

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Rory ran with tears flowing freely, not paying attention what so ever to where she was going until somebody grabbed her arms from in front of her causing her to look up. Her eyes met Tristan's happy ones but they quickly turned concerned at the sight of her. Behind him Finn, Louise, Madeline, Colin, and Stephanie were all smiling and laughing to until they saw Rory and quickly huddled around her.

"Rory what's the matter?" Tristan asked with the rest of the group looking at her waiting for an answer. "You weren't able to find Logan?" he asked.

At the mention of Logan, Rory only cried harder and freed herself from the grasp of Tristan violently.

"Rory what happened?" Stephanie asked more demanding.

"I found him…" Rory sobbed breaking the hearts of her friends with the way her voice cracked. "I found him with Marissa," she yelled before shaking her head angrily and leaving the club from the back way, told by Marcus before that she was allowed to. She ran to the street, happy not to see any reporters and hailed for a cab which immediately pulled over for her allowing her to collapse into the old leather seat and tell the taxi her address.

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Rory left her friends staring after her dumbfounded at what just happened. "There has to be some kind of misunderstanding, Logan wouldn't do that," Stephanie said, being the first to speak.

"Yeah, Logan mate is in love with Rory he wouldn't do that," Finn replied trying to erase the picture of Rory bawling from his mind knowing if it stayed there too long he would end up buying her a country.

Tristan nodded trying to give Logan the benefit of the doubt but he was still concerned about his best friend running off crying. "We should find Logan, get the real story and go after Rory. She doesn't deserve to be alone on New Years and she can't be alone the way she is," Tristan suggested. The group nodded and were about to split up when they saw Logan coming towards them. No one noticed his angry and determined expression because they were paying too much attention to his pink lipstick stained face, a color Rory wouldn't be caught dead in.

Madeline gasped at his disheveled appearance and Louise's eyes turned to slits. "Shit," Colin cursed not believing it could be true while Steph shook her head in utter shock and disappointment. Finn was just about to step forward and grab Logan by his collar but Tristan beat him in his advance and punched him square in the jaw causing him to stagger back into a bar stool. Normally such a violent move would cause a scene but everyone in the club was still celebrating the New Year. Tristan advanced again and was about to punch him again when an arm on his caused him to turn around still with an angry. It was Colin.

"Maybe we should let him explain," Colin suggested, his loyalties staying with Logan. Tristan glared and turned back around to Logan who was standing back up with a angry expression. "What the fuck was that?" he yelled rubbing his jaw.

Tristan shook his head clenching his jaw. "You go ahead and listen to his bull shit of an excuse and I'm going home to my best friend who is probably crying her eyes out right," he said directing the last part at Logan. "Here," he said tossing Louise his keys.

"You fucked up," Tristan said to Logan sending him one last glare before running off in pursuit of Rory.

"What the hell did I do!" Logan spat looking at his friends who were sending him mixed signals.

"Did you kiss Marissa?" Louise asked, "And take note that you have pink lipstick still on you still."

Logan scowled and wiped his lips furiously. "So that's a yes?" Colin asked with his mouth open.

"Logan how could you do this to Rory? How!" Stephanie yelled. Logan looked taken aback.

"I didn't!" he replied surprised his friends seriously thought he would do that.

"Mate she trusted you, you gave her all this rubbish about how you couldn't trust her and then you went and kissed Marissa? Do you not remember what that Sheila did to you mate?" Finn asked being serious for the first time in a long time.

"Wow guys I really appreciate you all listening to my story and hearing me out," Logan replied sarcastically angry.

"No comments Logan, just tell us what happened," Stephanie urged.

Logan sighed. "I was sitting at the bar watching Rory dance and all of a sudden Marissa come over and starts talking to me. I swear I tried getting rid o her and it didn't work. Long story short she ended up kissing me even though I tried pushing her away by…" Logan ran the memory through his mind and realized where he had truly screwed up. "Shit!" he yelled, "I put my hands on her waist to push her away and Rory must've seen that and though I was enjoying it. Fuck!"

The group looked at him relieved before their expressions hardened once again. "She was really upset Logan," Louise said.

Logan sighed not knowing how the hell he was going to get himself out of this one. "Let's get our stuff and walk back to the apartment. I need to cool off before I talk to her," he said. The group nodded with sympathetic looks before walking off to get their things to the table.

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Tristan had managed to get a spare key from the door man and rushed into the elevator with little patience. As soon as it came to a halt he ran out of it and to the solitary door that belonged to him and Rory's apartment. He reached the door and placed his ear on it, his heart breaking at the sound of his best friend sobbing.

He slipped the key into the lock and slowly opened the door and found himself in the darkness of their furnished living room. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, and the moonlight streamed in through their cathedral windows, he was able to make out the outline of a slumped over figure in the couch shaking and crying.

Tristan cursed Logan under his breath and quickly made his way over to the couch next to Rory, wrapping his arms around her protectively and letting her fall onto him, being the usual shoulder to cry on. All he could do was that: hold her and whisper in her ear that things would be alright, even though he wasn't sure if they really would.

"They're getting the story Rory. Maybe it's a giant misunderstanding," he mumbled into her hair when her sobbing calmed down to hiccups.

"I know what I saw," Rory replied bitterly, "He was kissing her."

"If he really did something like that, which is monumentally stupid then he didn't deserve you in the first place Rory," Tristan replied.

Rory chuckled shakily. "You must get tired of having to tell me that huh? You've always been there to tell me these things… these lies just to make me feel better."

Tristan shook his head. "They're not lies Rory, no one deserves you. Some guys just have great luck in getting you that's all." Despite the fact that Tristan only loved Rory as a best friend, it didn't blind sight him to how special she really was. She always had a spot in his heart, no matter who she was with and no matter whom he was with, and that feeling went both ways. It was a classic case of the 'you never forget your first love'.

Of course, the two never acted on their feelings. It wasn't the type of feeling one acted on. It was more like a feeling to reminisce about and cherish; which the two did. However, tonight was different. Rory was vulnerable and confused, and Tristan was willing to do anything: give his new found wealth away, buy Rory a pony, anything to make his best friend smile again because God only knew how much it hurt Tristan when Rory was hurting as much as she was.

In a way, Tristan was blaming himself for Rory's pain she was going through. He was supposed to protect her, and yet here she was crying over a guy, something he promised himself he wouldn't let happen again after Jess. He felt as if he should've been less trusting of Logan, and hadn't befriended him the way he did. He couldn't help the words that came from his mouth, "I'm sorry."

Rory looked up confused. "About what?" she asked, eyes still moist from the tears she was crying.

"I didn't do a good job with the protector of a best friend thing. This shouldn't have happened Rory. I'm sorry," Tristan said running his hand through her hair. Rory shook her head laughing ever so slightly. "My best friend the martyr, you didn't do anything wrong… It's Logan, it's all on him."

Tristan was about to protest again when Rory brought her finger to his lips shushing him. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too," he replied looking at her in the eyes. Vulnerability and the need to comfort took over both of their bodies and their usual innocent words of affection suddenly weren't as innocent anymore. Slowly, the two best friends' faces inched closer and closer together as Rory's finger fell from Tristan's lips and into his palm, which immediately clamped around it.

With one last breath and the shutting of eyes, the twos' lips met in a sweet way. For Rory, there was no spark like she felt with Logan, but it wasn't totally emotionless. The kiss was slow and undemanding, except for when Tristan's tongue traced her bottom lip asking for entrance which she granted. The kiss held warmth, but not the heat that was there when she kissed Logan. It was a comforting kiss from someone she loved. Calling it innocent would be stretching it though.

Tristan had to admit to himself that he did miss Rory's taste, and the feeling of her lips on his, but there was no magical fireworks exploding in the room. Instead, he felt more like he was coaxing her emotions, letting them die down. He was letting himself take care of Rory, not really thinking that this could only make things worse. As his tongue traced her bottom lip and received what it asked for, he felt his mind ease slightly knowing he was somewhat succeeding in his goal of soothing Rory. It's all he really wanted to do; he just didn't expect that this would be the way it would happen.

There was no dueling for control, the two worked in harmony not pushing the other past a certain limit. But when the sound of voices came from the other side of the front door, realization hit both of them like a ton of bricks. The two jumped apart quickly, regrets taking over immediately.

"Oh my god," Rory said covering her mouth with her hand and closing her eyes, silent tears falling down her cheeks.

"Shit," Tristan said getting up and covering his face with his hands trying to figure out what had just happened.

The both of them had just turned a simple problem of a misunderstand into something much more complicated. Normally, the rational thing to do would be to talk it over but there was no time for that because at that moment their 6 friends came into the room turning on the lights and found Tristan pacing around with his head in his hands while Rory sat on the couch silently crying with her hand covering her mouth, both in unresponsive to their presence.

"Love? Mate?" Finn asked being the first to speak. Both of them jumped and dragged their eyes from the floor up to the group. The group thought they understood why Rory was so upset, but they were confused about Tristan's stressed appearance.

"Logan what's the matter?" Louise asked stepping forward towards him. Tristan backed away slightly, no longer trusting himself around any girls he considered friends.

"I have to… go," he said with a hoarse voice grabbing his coat and practically running out of the room with Rory still sitting there crying in silence, although she was slowly calming down, trying to look the least bit ok, even though she felt the exact opposite.

"Ace," Logan said slowly. Rory looked up at him and shook her head.

"Rory wait you should hear him out, it's not what you think," Colin said trying to back his best friend up.

"I can't… I can't," Rory cried before running into her room and slamming the door behind her causing all of her friends to wince.

Logan sighed and closed his eyes, plopping down on the couch. "She's not even giving me a chance."

"Don't worry mate, maybe she just needs to cool off," Finn suggested. The rest of the group nodded in agreement except for Stephanie. Stephanie knew there was something up and she was going to get to the bottom of it. She had gotten very close with Rory and knew that expression both Rory and Tristan held was much more than just betrayal, there was regret in there.

"What about Tristan? What was up with him?" Louise asked.

"Mate's probably just angry about the whole thing. Let him cool off too," Finn reasoned.

"We're going to go get ready for bed then," Louise and Madeline said before disappearing into their room.

"Logan you can sleep in me and Colin's room tonight since I don't think you'll be sleeping with Rory," Stephanie said.

"What about you?" Colin asked trying ot play good boyfriend.

"I'll get Rory to open the door," Stephanie said sure of herself.

"Good luck with that," mumbled Logan already formulating plans to get Rory talk to him and he tiredly made his way to Colin's room.

"Night Steph," Colin said giving her a kiss on cheek. "Love you."

"Love you too," Steph replied distractedly looking at Rory's door. "Night Finny," Stephanie called before slowly approaching the door. She laid her hand on the door knob, gently turning it just to see if maybe by chance it was unlocked, to her luck it was. Ignoring Finn's whines for a kiss, she stepped into the dark room to find Rory on the bed in fetal position crying her eyes out.

Stephanie's heart broke seeing this girl she now considered her best friend in such desolation, but she couldn't help but wonder about the reasoning for it. She tentatively approached Rory, as if she were some kind of animal that would go crazy if approached to quickly. As her weight shifted onto the bed, Rory looked up from her hands looking at Steph before throwing her arms around her and sobbing against her shoulder.

"Rory you have to calm down before you start getting sick," Stephanie said knowing that Rory had run out of the club without her coat and crying in the cold never turned out good for anyone. Slowly but surely, Rory's sobs did subside and she sat on the bed with her head leaned against the headboard and her eyes shut tight.

Stephanie took the seat next to her, waiting to see if maybe she would speak first. "Rory you know you can trust me with anything. I won't tell a soul," she said.

"How did you know?" Rory asked surprised with her eyes opening up to their full red and puffy extent.

"I don't know what happened per say, but I can tell something happened with you and Tristan just by the way you two looked when we walked in. Now those idiots out there can think that you two just need some cooling down all they want but I know better. Did you and Tristan fight about Logan or something?" Stephanie asked sincerely concerned.

Rory shook her head. "Then what?" Steph pushed. "I told you that your secret is safe with me, I won't tell anyone anything unless you tell me to Rory. I swear to you."

Rory sighed. "Me and Tristan kissed," Rory said. Stephanie didn't quite understand. "Rory you and kiss guys all the time, you kissed Finn right in front of Logan. It's just your nature, no biggie."

Rory shook her head. "No Stephanie. When I say me and Tristan kissed… I mean that we kissed as in me and Tristan made out," Rory said trying to get it out before her voice failed her.

Steph stared at her with her mouth open, immobile for once in her life. "When?" she managed to croak out.

"Before you guys got to the apartment. One minute he's holding me telling me things will be alright, the next we're saying we love each other and finally we just kissed," Rory explained. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth. "Oh my god I cheated on Logan!" she yelled. Luckily, her hand being clamped over her mouth served as some kind of dulling to what she yelled.

Stephanie honestly didn't know what to do or what to say. Rory did in fact cheat on Logan, granted it wasn't intentional, but tongues were involve in the mix unlike Logan and Marissa's kiss. Suddenly she blurted out, "Logan didn't cheat on you, Marissa pushed onto him and he was trying to push her away," not knowing that it would only make Rory feel worse.

"Oh my god! I cheated on Logan for no fucking reason! He didn't do anything and I go make out with my best friend that I've slept with! OH MY GOD!" she yelled now standing up and holding onto her head.

"Rory, sweetie, please you have to calm down you're starting to scare me," Stephanie said standing up also and approaching Rory slowly.

"He trusted me! I gave him such a hard time of not trusting me and then he finally trusts me and I betray it all! I betray it all with my best friend who I slept with and who Logan trusted me with too! HOLY SHIT I'M A FUCKING SLUT!" she ranted screaming the last part especially loud. Stephanie flinched at her final scream, knowing someone was bound to hear it. Sure enough within 2 seconds of her yelling, Finn walked in rubbing his eyes annoyed.

"What the bloody hell is going on in here?" he asked shutting and locking the door behind him. He yawned before looking around and processing the sight in front of him. There was Rory, clothes in array as she clutched onto her messed up hair with trembling hands. Feet away, stood Stephanie looking scared with her hand on her head rubbing her temples.

"Kittens, is there something you'd like to tell Finny?" Rory looked at Stephanie who just looked straight back at her. Rory sighed. "We can trust you right Finn?" Rory asked.

"Of course, love," Finn replied serious as he could ever be. "Then sit down, it's going to be a long night," Stephanie said as the two launched a tear filled story of the evening.

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Tristan was walking down the never empty streets of New York aimlessly, only stopping when traffic called for it. He had so many things going through his mind concerning the kiss. He knew that the kiss had totally screwed everything up further, but he also knew that it wasn't completely his fault. After all, Rory had kissed him right back, but he wasn't blaming it on her either.

He had betrayed Logan unintentionally. When kissing Rory, he didn't feel anything strong for her. He was aware of the feelings and the connection the two would always have with each other but they were just too complicated to explain better yet act on. Now, he would have to fix things with Rory first before moving on and fixing things with Logan. When did life get so hard?

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Finn listened intently the whole time, with his mouth dropping open when she mentioned what she had done with Tristan. Finn advised the girls to keep their mouth shut and let the whole situation die down, reminding them that tomorrow they'd be on their way back to Hartford and within days school would be starting again so no need to further kill the little amount of fun left in the trip.

It wasn't until 4 a.m. that the threesome had gotten to sleep. All sprawled out on the bed in awkward positions, but too tired to care. As the sun streamed in through the oversized windows of the apartment, Rory, Finn, and Stephanie let out a collective groan. Although the night before Rory didn't drink, she still had a terrible headache, probably from all the crying she had done. Stephanie and Finn however had enough alcohol to have hangovers, but still not enough for them to have forgotten the events of the previous night.

"Turn it off," groaned Stephanie.

"You're closer," mumbled Finn.

"You're the guy," Stephanie shot back.

"I'll do it," Rory said trying to resolve their problem. However, she made no effort to get up. "Almost there," she said.

"We are sad excuses for human life forms," Stephanie said. The two just grunted. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door causing another groan.

"Who?" Rory called not being able to form a complete sentence.

"Rory? Are you alright?" Madeline's voice called out concerned. "Is Steph there too? And what about Finn? We can't find them anywhere else," she said.

"Here," both Finn and Stephanie groaned.

"What are they all doing in the same room? You don't think they had a … do you?" Louise's voice asked from the other side of the door. That was enough to wake the Rory and Steph up, they shot up, ignoring the pain that shot through their nerves and ran over to the door, unlocking it and opening it.

"No!" Rory and Stephanie exclaimed holding their heads. Finn was still lying down on the bed. "You two make it sound like bloody torture… it's quite a pleasurable experience though," he mumbled trying to cover his eyes with a pillow.

Rory and Stephanie shook their heads and closed the door behind them walking like zombies into the dining area.

"How are you feeling Rory?" Louise asked following the two, still concerned about her friend. Rory simply grunted as if it held a lot of meaning to it. Louise and Madeline shot each other worried looks as they found themselves in the dining area where Colin, Tristan, and Logan were silently eating breakfast. At the sight of Rory and Stephanie looking very glum with messy hair still in last night's attire they became very nervous. Logan nudged Colin, and Colin immediately spoke.

"Hey are you two alright?" he asked. Rory completely ignored his question and went straight to the coffee pot while Steph turned, looked at her boyfriend, gave him a small smile but followed Rory into the kitchen. Tristan just paid more attention to his cereal while Louise, Madeline, Colin and Logan sent each other extremely worried looks.

"Tristan where'd you go last night?" Madeline asked knowing that he hadn't come home until around 3 a.m. later than morning. Tristan looked up with tired eyes, "Cleared my head," he answered vaguely before looking back down to his cereal.

"What time are we leaving?" Colin asked noticing the uncomfortable silence that was starting to fill the room. Logan, Louise, and Madeline shrugged and Rory's hoarse voice came from the kitchen. "Twelve thirty," she answered emerging with a giant mug in her hands, Stephanie close behind.

"I'm going to take a shower," Stephanie said going off in the direction of the bathroom. "Do you want me to wake up Finn?"

"No, let him sleep a little longer, just close the shades in my room so he doesn't get cranky," Rory replied gulping down her coffee. Logan's eyebrows rose when Rory mentioned Finn being in her room and he tried not to let it bother him, even though it still did. He was about to ask Rory to talk somewhere private but she spoke first.

"Tristan, can we go to your room?" she asked biting her bottom lip nervously. Tristan's eyes quickly darted to her's locking a gaze as he nodded mutely and the two disappeared into the hallway.

"What the," Logan started but Louise put a finger to her lips listening for something. As soon as the sound of a door closing and locking she spoke. "I don't know so don't ask."

"Why is she going in there with him when we should be the ones talking?" Logan spat.

"I just told you I don't know," Louise replied annoyed.

"Calm down Logan, I'm sure it's nothing," Colin replied in a not so convincing tone. Logan sighed and put his face in his hands. "How are we going to make things better when she won't even look at me?" he mumbled. Madeline rubbed his back soothingly. "Things will get better Logan…" she said not really knowing if it was the truth.

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As soon as the door was shut an eerie silence engulfed the room and Rory almost felt deaf. The two were both at a loss for words despite the fact it was Rory who initiated the meeting. There was so much to be said between the two but no proper way of going about it. Tristan sat on his bed wringing his hands together nervously while Rory played with a stray piece of hair still situated by the door.

If someone would have told these two best friends prior to New Years that one day they would be in a room together with nothing to say then they would've run away thinking the person needed to be taken away by the men dressed in white. But now, everything was changed, and that thought wasn't so crazy anymore.

Tristan, knowing that Rory wouldn't start talking even though she was the one who initiated the conversation, decided to take the first step. "You wanted to talk…" he said trailing off.

Rory nodded wordlessly and slowly stepped towards the bed, tentatively taking a seat next to him. She took a deep breath before saying anything. "I don't want things to be weird with us."

Tristan nodded in agreement. "Neither do I, but what I did screwed it all up… I'm really sorry I don't know what I was thinking, well I sort of do."

"It takes two to tango Tris," Rory said, her way of saying she had been at fault after. "So what happens now?" she asked. "With us I mean?"

Tristan took a deep breath similar to Rory's and ran a hand through his raucous hair. "Rory… I love you…"

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AN: This would be the part where you all flame your brains out to me saying that this is a Rogan and there's too much drama and such but come on guys... how is there supposed to be a story without drama? This is a Rogan and will stay a Rogan but tell me a relationship you know of when there were never any rough patches and then I'll be happy to write a giant ball of fluff for you all. I promise that this is Rogan once again. Check out my blog for teasers and other comments about this chapter and review, even if they're angry!