Chapter Thirty Six: Damn It

Rory spent the rest of the weekend in her bedroom. She hadn't been able to get a hold of Jake or Tristin. Her mother had started talking to her again but still refused to tell her why Tristin had left. She just kept saying that Tristin should be the one to tell her and that he would when he was ready. Rory looked up at her clock and saw that it was 1:30 in the morning. She knew that she should go to sleep since she had Chilton in about six and half hours but she couldn't sleep. She opened her door and headed upstairs towards Tristin's room. She saw the closed door and for a minute it felt like he was still there. She opened it quietly so she didn't wake up Lorelai and walked in shutting it behind her. The room that had been so full of life and literature a mere forty eight hours earlier was now cold and impersonal. She walked over to the desk and smiled as a memory flooded her brain. Lorelai had given Tristin a desk they had found in the garage and about two weeks ago Tristin had been sitting in his room on the bed with Rory reading a book when the desk just collapsed. Tristin had went out the very next day and bought a new desk. Rory had sat and watched Tristin try to put this desk together by himself only to have it too collapse when he stood it up. Luke had came over and had it put together and sturdy in fifteen minutes. She opened the drawer and saw that Tristin had left something in it. Rory recognized it immediately as a picture of her that was taken at the dance during her first year of Chilton. She flipped it over to see if anything was written on the back and saw just one word. Mary. She smiled at the once aggravating name and put the picture back where she had found it. She looked back around the room and her eyes settled on the bed. She walked over to the bed and sat on it. She picked up his pillow and pulled it to her face. She inhaled a deep breath and found that even in his absence the pillow still smelt of him. Within minutes she found herself curled up in his bed, her face buried in his pillows and sound asleep.

xxxxxx

Lorelai awoke earlier than she was used to. Having Tristin around had certainly had its perks, one being that Rory didn't have to take the bus anymore allowing them at least another twenty minutes sleep in the morning. However, since Tristin was no longer in Stars Hollow she had promised Rory a ride to school that morning, and that meant having to get up early. She got dressed and walked downstairs expecting to find a wide awake and already dressed Rory in the kitchen but found nothing. She knocked on Rory's door and found that room empty. Lorelai sighed, knowing exactly where Rory was and headed up the stairs. She opened the door to Tristin's room and found Rory curled into a ball her arms wrapped tightly around Tristin's pillows. Her heart broke at the sight of her daughter so miserable, but also at the fact that there was nothing she could do about it. She walked over to Rory and shook her gently. "Ror?" When no sound came from Rory she shook her a little harder. "Rory, come on honey, you have to wake up. You have school in a little while."

Rory groaned and rolled over her eyes slowly opening. "Mom?" she asked quietly

Lorelai smiled sadly. "Yeah Ror. It's me. Come on You need to go downstairs and get dressed for school. We have to leave soon if you want to get to school early."

Rory nodded but showed no sign of moving. "Mommy?"

"Yeah sweets, what is it?"

"Tristin leaving, was it my fault? I mean did I do something wrong? Did something that I did cause this, for him to leave?" Rory said sadly tears spilling from her eyes

Lorelai's heart crushed and she sat down pulling Rory into her arms. "No, sweetheart no. You didn't cause this. This isn't your fault. You need to talk to Tristin."

"He won't return my calls." she said through sobs

"He just needs some time to cool off hun, He'll come around. Now get up and get dressed." she said sweetly

Rory nodded and got up headed downstairs. Twenty minutes later Rory came out fully dressed. Her eyes were still puffy and red from crying and she felt awful. "You ready to go Mom?"

Lorelai nodded and pushed her out the door. "Luke's and then school."

xxxxxx

Rory entered Chilton and went straight for the direction of her locker. She knew people were noticing that she had not come with Tristin this morning and she knew that he was already there since she had seen his car in the parking lot. When she got to her locker she saw that Madeline and Louise were already standing there waiting for her. "Madeline, Louise, what can I do for you?"

"Rumor is Tristin moved out." Louise said

Rory opened her locker to shield her face form Louise's prying eyes as her eyes glistened over with tears. "Not now Louise."

"It's just we noticed that you didn't come to school with him this morning." Madeline said her voice sounding more worried than Louise

Rory took a deep breath and quickly wiped the tears from her face. She shut her locker and looked back at the two girls her face full of confidence. "It's fine. We didn't have a fight or anything. Now I have a class to get to." she said and then turned and walked off

xxxxxx

Lunch approached faster than she had expected it to. Tristin had been doing a fantastic job of avoiding her all day and Jake had refused to talk about Tristin at all. She looked around the cafeteria her eyes immediately finding Tristin, his eyes locking with hers for a few seconds. He broke the gaze and forced a smile on his face. Rory sighed and sat down at an empty table. She was alone for about ten minutes when Paris sat down. "I know this isn't going to sound like me, mainly because I'm not really that much of a "girl friend" but are you ok? You seem a little upset."

Rory's eyes flitted back over to Tristin who was looking at her. She turned her gaze back to Paris. "I'm fine."

Paris nodded slowly. "You're lying."

"What?"

"Tristin moved out. Your eyes are read and puffy so I know you've been crying. You've been avoiding human contact all day and barely spoken a word to Jake. You haven't gotten a single answer right all morning, no matter what the teacher asks. I'm not stupid Rory I know you're not ok."

Rory started to tell Paris everything when Jake sat down and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey babe."

Paris rolled her eyes and walked off mumbling a quick, "This discussion isn't over Gilmore."

"Did I interrupt something?" Jake asked

Rory shook her head. "No."

"Are you ok?"

"No."

"No?"

"No. I'm not." Rory said making eye contact with Tristin, who was watching them with avid interest

"Why not?" Jake asked

Rory still not breaking eye contact with Tristin said, "Tristin moved out."

"I don't want to talk about him Ror."

Rory's head whipped around fast. "You asked what was wrong. I was telling you what was wrong."

"And all I'm saying is I don't want to talk about him. You're my girlfriend, not his." Jake said his voice raising

Rory noticing that they had started drawing attention to the two of them. "Don't you yell at me! I am so sick of boyfriends who yell at me! I am not some door mat!" Rory yelled drawing even more people's attention, including Tristin

"Rory..."

"No, shut up! I want to know what you know about Tristin leaving!" Rory yelled causing everyone to look at them and Tristin to start walking over toward her

"What makes you think that I know anything about that?"

"Because he said you did!"

"And you believe everything he says!"

"Why would he lie!"

"To break us up!"

"I'm my own person. I make my own decisions. I don't rely on him to make them for me!"

Jake was about to say something when Rory whipped around facing away from him.

"Mary. Come on, don't do this here." Tristin said grabbing her arm

"Let me go Tristin." Rory said

"Rory, you're causing a scene." Jake said

"You know this whole thing is your fault, I suggest you shut up." Tristin said through gritted teeth before turning his attention back to Rory. "Come on Mary, leave with me now before this gets worse and I'll tell you everything." Tristin said his voice pleading

"No. I'm not going anywhere, and neither are either of you."

"Excuse me?" Jake said

"I want to know the truth. I want to know everything."

"Which is a conversation that I don't need to be here for." Tristin said before walking away

Rory stood watching Tristin walk away her mouth open, her jaw hanging Her back still to Jake he couldn't see her eyes filling with tears. "Well now that he's gone, we should get back to our lunch." Jake said as if nothing had just happened

Rory turned around her eyes filled with anger and tears. She opened her mouth to say something but the words wouldn't form. She turned around and stormed out of the cafeteria.

xxxxxx

Paris watched the whole thing with intense interest. Something was going on and she knew now that Rory wasn't the one to ask, since she was clueless as to what had happened. The second she saw Rory leave she looked over at Jake who was standing there with a stupid smirk on his face. She ran out after Rory but once she left the cafeteria she decided to focus on Tristin. She headed in the direction of Tristin's next class when she saw him. Greg Dugrey talking with Headmaster Charleston, and suddenly it all made sense. Her search for Tristin ended soon when she found him standing by Rory's locker. "I saw your dad." Paris said to Tristin before he even noticed that she was there

"Lucky you." Tristin said walking away from Rory's locker

"Rory doesn't know he's back does she?" Paris asked

"Not unless Jake told her."

"Why haven't you told her?" Paris asked

Tristin shook his head. "I told her to ask her boyfriend why I had to leave. It's not my fault if he won't answer her questions."

"Why would Jake know... oh... I get it." Paris said

"Yeah."

"Jake called your father and told him where you were."

"Yeah. He wanted me away from Rory."

"So he called your father and told him everything that's been going on."

"Including all the fights I've been in lately."

"Tristin, what aren't you telling me?"

Tristin looked at Paris and sighed. "You're far too inquisitive for your own good Paris. There is nothing else." Tristin said. He turned around to walk away and stopped mid-stride. "Rory. How much of that did you hear?"

"Every word." Rory said turning around and walking faster than she had ever walked before that couldn't be considered running back in the direction of the cafeteria.

"Damn it." Tristin said running after her

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