A/N- This chapter begins in season 5 ep 14, and everything up until this point in the show has happened, including Jess leaving and the season 4 finale. It's a trory, but I need to set the scene first so bear with me!
-I don't own Gilmore Girls
Chapter 1- Say Something
Rory Gilmore was nervous.
She knew she was fifteen minutes early, but she couldn't help herself building ten minutes into her schedule for the walk from her dorm to Logan's, even though it was on the floor above hers. Tugging at her skirt in a bid to stop it from riding up, she took a deep breath and knocked at the door. She heard footsteps make their way over to the door, and she prepared herself for the inevitable greeting of one of Logan's mind-numbing kisses, but the door was opened to reveal a brown-haired girl that she didn't recognise. Not who she was looking for.
Was it not his dorm? She excused herself politely and turned to go, but just as she was about to leave, she heard Logan from inside. Smiling to the girl, a little embarrassed, she stepped inside to find him, Colin, and some guys she knew from the LDB sitting around a poker table. She could only see the back of his head, his blonde hair tousled from running his hand through it. It was shorter on the sides than usual, and she wondered if he'd had a haircut. It looked weirdly familiar, and from the back he looked just like someone she used to know.
A poker game was not what she was expecting. Frowning, she sat down next to Logan, humouring him, and watched him lose $2000 before he noticed she was there.
'Ace! You came!' he said, his voice friendly but his eyes distracted. He leant over and brushed his lips across her cheek, but quickly resumed playing the game.
She glanced at his cards, but had no clue whether they were any good. In fact, she didn't know anything at all about poker. Her eyes wandered up to Logan's twinkling ones, watching as his focus darted around the table, but he didn't make eye contact. For God's sake, the tall guy across from her was paying her more attention!
Not too politely, she excused herself.
'Where you going, Ace?'
'I'm just gonna get a drink, I'll be right back' she replied with an extraordinarily fake smile.
She headed towards the back of the room, where there were two girls, both cradling cocktails, obviously waiting for the right time to slip into the extra seats around the card table. Up till now, Rory hadn't recognised anyone except Logan and Colin, so when her eyes fell on the kind-of familiar face of Stephanie, she was relieved. Smiling, she sat down on the couch next to her.
'Hi Stephanie,' she said, but shrunk back seeing Stephanie's mildly confused expression.
'Hey! I'm sorry, but have we met? I don't think so! I'm Steph, or 'Miss Stephanie Vanderbilt' as I'm known, but nobody calls me that so don't you start! Anyway, who are you and what are you doing here? I've never been anywhere as dull as this in my life!' she declared.
Rory had known Steph was a little tipsy at the Life and Death Brigade event, but she thought she would have recognised her from the blindfolded journey there.
'Actually, we have met. I'm Rory, you took me to the last Brigade event? I'm that reporter that followed everyone around, probably annoying them to no end. I'm really sorry about that by the way, I just wanted a good story and that event was definitely worth writing about! Anyway, I just wanted to-'
'Hold up! You're Ace!' Steph interrupted Rory's nervous ramble. 'I remember you! You were one of the jumpers! I loved your dress. Where was it from?'
'I don't know actually, I think Logan got it for me.'
'Huh. You wanna get out of here? I don't know what Logan was thinking, bringing you over when the guys were here, cause this is boooring.'
Rory smiled wryly. 'I definitely wouldn't've asked to come if I knew they would be here.' And she wouldn't have. Watching a card game was not exactly her idea of fun.
'I just don't get it!' Steph continued. 'I mean, he can be a dumbass sometimes, but I don't know why he'd do this, he totally likes you!'
Rory just looked at her feet. Steph's bubbly chit chat wasn't exactly helping the situation. Logan hadn't even looked over anywhere near her. In all honesty, she was getting a little sick of Logan's constant hot and cold, and sure, sometimes he treated her like a princess or something, but the rest of the time it was like she was just another girl. As thoughts swirled around in her head, her eyes focussed on the poker table. She could hear Stephanie in the background, but suddenly Robert threw his hands in the air, the action breaking her train of thought. It appeared he had lost his winning streak. She was still glaring at the table when she was startled by the appearance a brown-haired head in her lap.
'Love, I'm tired. Fatigued even. Can I just lay here in your lap? I promise I won't be naughty,' Finn said with a grin, and a sideways glance at the end.
'Urgh! Get off of her, you creep! You've known her for what, five minutes?' Stephanie exclaimed as she pushed Finn onto the floor.
Finn frowned. 'Oy! When did you get so violent? And I'll have you know that Love and I have met before,' he continued, ignoring Rory's look of confusion. 'Where was it? Ah yes, Cape Cod last year. I have to say, that was a fun summer, we hardly left the house! And when we did, well, let's just say the beach-goers weren't too happy, isn't that right, Love?' he finished with a smirk.
'What?' Rory raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh. 'I've never even been to Cape Cod, Finn.'
He chuckled. 'Deny it all you want, but my mates all know you as my American lover.'
'Well she's definitely not the only one.' Steph added with a shake of her head.
'Besides, what happened to the whole 'Have we met before thing?' Rory asked. She hadn't minded that every time they'd met up until now, Finn hadn't recognised her, but she did need something to tease him with.
He was unshaken. 'Well my love, let's just say that I finally realised that true beauty has to have a name, and in this case it's called Rory.' he said, winking at her and blowing her a kiss.
'Jesus Finn…' Steph rolled her eyes.
'Fine.' he sighed. 'You got me, I have yet to win the great prize of Rory Gilmore, and I too have never been to Cape Cod.'
'That can be arranged…' Rory joked. She had no idea where the sudden burst of confidence was coming from, but at this point she had to just go with it.
'What, going to Cape Cod? No offence love, but it's the middle of winter. I don't particularly want to freeze my arse off at the beach.'
Steph smirked. 'I think she meant the other part, Finn.' she informed him.
Rory watched as Finn's eyes grew wider, before he shook his head as if to banish all thoughts of her from his head. 'I need a drink.' he mumbled, and stumbled over to the kitchenette.
As soon as Finn was out of earshot, Steph turned to Rory. 'I have never seen Finn look more depressed and simultaneously aroused at one time! Congratulations!'
She bit her lip, her nerves returning. 'I hope he didn't think I was serious…'
Steph laughed. 'Nah, but he definitely wished you were. I'm serious, he looks like he's gonna fall over!'
Rory looked over at him uneasily. He was leaning on the counter, letting it support all his weight. She turned to Steph who broke into a huge smile and simultaneously they both broke into a fit of giggles. Finn turned around to see what was so funny, completely unaware that he was the subject of the joke, which cause them to collapse into a heap.
It took a few minutes for her breathing to return back to normal, but she couldn't help but sneak a glance over at Logan, who was still completely engrossed in the game. 'You'd think after all that noise he would check on us, but no.' she murmured sadly, just loud enough for Steph to hear.
'You know what, you're right!' Steph exclaimed. Rory was beginning to notice that Steph's default voice was an exclamation. 'Let's get out of here. I heard about this party downtown, we can go crash that. Show Logan what he's missing.' Rory could tell Steph thought she still looked unconvinced. 'In fact, let's bring Finn. Then there will be someone to tell Logan all about it.'
'Are you sure?' she questioned hesitantly. 'I don't want to offend him…'
'Girl, you need to chill out. He's being a total jerk, so you should just go and do whatever you want. In this case, that means come with me, get wasted, and have a great night instead of falling asleep on his couch.'
Steph's empowering speech roused something within her. 'Yeah! Girl power, right? Let's go.'
So laughing, they put on their coats and grabbed their bags, and then each with an arm around Finn, they strutted out of the dorm without even a goodbye to Logan.
'Steph, I thought the party was going to be a party party, like at a dorm or something, not a college-kids-take-over-the-bar party. Is it even legal to have this many people in one place?'
'Relax, love! This way we can down as many drinks as we want!' came Finn's input.
'I'm sure you'll have no problem with that,' Steph added.
'But Steph…' Rory trailed off, I'm underage! she continued in her head.
As if she had read her mind, Steph reassured her, 'Live a little, Rory. One drink isn't gonna hurt you. Besides, Finn's already ordering you one of his special concoctions.'
Sure enough, Finn had made his way to the bar and was talking animatedly with the bartender, gesticulating wildly in their direction. Rory could make out something about her 'first time' and prayed to God that he meant drinking. Finally, the bartender handed Finn some kind of bright pink cocktail, as well as a tray of shots.
'Are those all for us?' she asked as he made his way back to the table, and as soon as he set the tray down, Steph grabbed two and downed them one after the each other. Then, turning to Rory, she exclaimed 'The more the merrier!'
'She means shots, love.' Finn clarified.
With a deep breath, Rory sat down, leant back, and flung the clear liquid to the back of her throat and before the vile taste could set in, she took a huge sip of her cocktail. 'The more the merrier,' she repeated, imagining her mother cheering as she swallowed.
After an hour, Rory had relaxed into the atmosphere, and was on her third of the delicious 'pinkie drinkies', as Steph called them. There was a group gathered around the table watching the trio do body shots, whooping as Rory took her turn. Suddenly, Steph grabbed her hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor, and grinning widely, Rory willingly followed.
The music had grown steadily louder throughout the night and was now pulsing through the floor, a mix of hiphop and EDM dominating the speakers. Everyone around them was jumping and grinding, but even in her slightly inebriated state Rory knew she couldn't do that. So instead she punched her fists in the air until she almost elbowed Steph in the face.
'Come on Rory, you look like some kind of 8th grader at a school disco dancing like that! Let me show you.' And with that, Steph grabbed Rory's waist and twisted her around so that Rory's back was against her front.
'What are you doing?' Rory giggled, as Steph began to move against her.
'Stop laughing! Guys love a little girl-on-girl action, and I for one want to get laid! Just follow my lead.'
She gasped as Steph stepped even closer, which at that point Rory didn't even think was possible, and started grinding on her ass. At first she didn't know what to do- it's not like she had ever been in that situation before. This was nothing like spring break. Everyone was closer together, dancing together. Slowly, Rory caught on to Steph's rhythm and with a sigh, began to let go and get into it. She felt someone press up in front of her, and when Steph flipped her around she realised it was Finn.
'Hi Love! I thought I might join you lovely ladies on the dance floor. You see, a certain redhead was very rude to me and I just need some consolation,' he explained with a sniff and started grinding with them, fitting into the rhythm perfectly.
Drunk Finn sure lived up to his stories. That was evident when he decided it was too hot so he literally ripped off his shirt, and then made out with the redhead from earlier. But Rory was in no hurry to stop dancing, she felt so free, so loose. For the first time in months, she truly let go.
He had been watching Rory since she got there. At first she reminded him of the quiet and somewhat timid girl that he used to know, but right around when she was doing body shots it occurred to him that everyone changes. He smiled as she giggled uncontrollably and made her way to the dance floor. Her dancing hadn't changed, he noticed. That was until Steph began to dance with her. It was then that he noticed her legs, encased in fishnet tights that somehow seemed classy, and her eyes that sparkled with a light he hadn't seen in years.
Tristan groaned. Somehow, Rory Gilmore was still as desirable as she'd been three years ago. He finished his drink, hid his face in his hoodie to avoid any eye contact, and made his way out of the bar.
Gritting his teeth, he made his decision. Fine, he was back. Fine, at some point he would see all his old friends. But no matter how many times their paths crossed, no matter how much he wanted to, under no circumstances would he let himself fall for Rory Gilmore again.
Yeah right, he said to himself, let's see how long this lasts.
Something told him it wouldn't be for long.
Rory woke up to the sound of someone retching in her bathroom. Groaning, she tried to roll over but realised she was pinned underneath Finn's arm. Gingerly, she slipped out from his grasp, and climbing over the assorted pairs of legs that were draped all over the floor of her dorm room, made her way to the coffee maker. To her surprise, there was already a cup on the counter, with a post-it stuck to the side of the mug, reading 'Someone told me you like coffee. A lot. So as the first token of our friendship, I present you with coffee, made by me. Steph xx'. Rory smiled, and even though she had a pulsing headache, stumbled to her room and threw on some sweatpants, after drinking the coffee of course. Then she slipped into her flip-flops, and walked down the hall to Steph's dorm, where she scribbled a note on the whiteboard that hung on the door.
'Come over for a movie night tonight, we'll start with the classics.
Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.'
A/N- Just a reminder- this is a trory! So don't worry about Tristan's lack of enthusiasm.
So Steph and Rory are gonna be best friends in this fic, but she isn't going to replace Paris, don't worry. Long Live Paris Geller. Anyway, the next chapter will be more interesting, that was a sort of introduction.
