The eight of them had been sitting around a table silently for... only ten minutes.
"Ok, you know what? This is pathetic." Rory announced, startling everyone. Nathan was pretty sure he'd never heard her speak. "You three are brothers. The three of you are team mates. And you two used to date." she pointed to people around the table as she told them things they all knew. "And I know that your dad is an asshole and he's brainwashed Nathan, but you can undo all that. I'm sure you can. You just need to talk to each other. You should all be friends. I wish you were"
The other seven looked at Rory like she'd grown three heads.
And then Peyton smiled. "I like you. You're pretty smart"
"Um, thanks, I guess"
"I mean, you're right. I never liked the way Nathan treated Lucas. I thought it was stupid that he was allowing his dad to control their lives. Dan Scott is an idiot and everyone in this town knows it"
"Even I know it." Tristan added.
"You shouldn't all be best friends tomorrow and spend every waking moment together, because we'd probably all end up killing each other if we were forced to hang out every day." Haley warned. "But you're brothers and you should at least try to be friends"
"And this really shouldn't influence your decision, but, just as an added bonus; Danny boy would really hate it if you got along." Brooke added. Jake laughed as a slow smile crept onto the faces of the three Scott brothers.
"That's true." Nathan grinned.
"He really would." Lucas added.
Luke and Lorelai stood at the security gate waiting for Rory to finish saying goodbye to Tristan and her friends.
"She'll be fine." Luke whispered into Lorelai's ear, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"I know. She's done this before. She'll probably have to do it again"
"Rory's strong." Lorelai smiled and nodded.
Tristan pushed a peice of hair behind Rory's ear and moved his thumb down her cheek. "Just a few months until graduation. Then we'll have all summer to be together again"
"I know. We'll be fine." Rory replied, leaning into Tristan's hand.
"I'm going to miss you"
"Lucas and Haley are gonna look after you. And Mom will keep me company. We'll be so distracted that the rest of the semester will just fly by and it'll be time to see each other again before we know it"
"This is the final boarding call for flight 324 to Connecticut. Passengers please make your way to gate 7 and have a pleasent flight"
"No, no. no!" Rory tightened her grip on Tristan and he kissed her forehead.
"Come on babe, we have to get on the plane." Lorelai came closer and put a hand on her daughters shoulder.
Haley, Lucas, Karen and Keith moved closer and everyone started hugging and saying goodbye.
As she walked towards the gate Rory pulled Tristan along with her.
"You can come with me"
"What"
"I'll squeeze you into my carry-on and you can come with me"
"Rory I can't. You know that I can't"
"I miss you already"
"I love you"
"I love you too." With one final kiss Rory stepped back and walked with her mother and Luke down the hallway to the plane (I know that's not the word.) and took her seat.
As the plane began to move she watched Tristan moving along the row of windows as fast as he could until he came to the end and she continued to move further away.
"You're back!" Lane threw her arms around Rory and squeesed . "Ive missed you. How was the wedding? Was it gorgeous"
"We had the best time. It was great. I didn't want to come back"
"You didn't want to see me"
"Well"
"School! You had to be missing your books"
"Lane! Of course I missed you. You're my best friend. I just wish I could have everyone I care about in the same town. That would make things so much easier for me"
"Or harder. Depending on how you look at it"
"What do you mean"
"Your ex-boyfriends probably want to kill your curent boyfriend.Your dad most likely hates Luke. Lorelai can't stand her parents which of course everyone knows. And all your new friends have their own friends in Tree Hill"
"Right I get it. It's probably a bad idea"
"Nice thought though." Lane smiled and they headed up to her room to have a girly catch up.
