Title: Kiss before crying
Name: Joy
Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com
Rating: PG
A/N: My first Gilmore Girls fic.
Life was bizarre at the moment for Rory and Dean. Rory broke Dean's heart by not saying 'I love you' and that was too much pain for him to endure. He had broken Rory's heart by dumping her. All and all not the best reason's for teenagers who were a good couple to break up but they were just the same. Stars Hollow was having a hard time with the break up, starring Dean as the villain of the piece.
Madeline's party was a welcome distraction and amusing entertainment in a variety of fashions. Most of the class got a kick out of watching the all mighty Tristan follow Summer around like a puppy dog and get dumped in front of a bunch of people. Rory, however, felt sorry for her nemesis. He really liked the girl, she could tell. Finding him in the piano room mournfully caressing the keys but eliciting no sound from them, was a pathetic sight.
Carefully Rory had tried to make Tristan feel better, by commiserating over their loss of loves. She found him surprisingly respectful and gentle in those moments. Dean had been right; Tristan did like her. His attempt to find out if she was going to get back together with Dean was less about conversation and more about opportunity. For some reason she let him kiss her and she kissed him back, for a second. Then the pain hit. She wanted Dean, not Tristan. She felt like she was betraying her boyfriend although he wasn't hers anymore. Tristan was left in the piano room watching as Rory fled in tears apologizing.
Monday morning brought its share of oddities. Tristan was sullen and off his mark. He stared at the dark haired beauty most of the day, reliving the felling of their kiss. He kept his old cockiness at bay until he understood what had happened. "Hi Rory," he said coming up to her locker at the end of the day. "Can I drive you home?"
"I don't know… I'm sorry about last night," Rory said staring into her locker.
"I was… I was hoping on the way to your house you would tell me what happened," he said gently.
"Uh… Is there a coffee shop near by we could go to?" she asked trying to be polite rather then giving her town more ammunition in her break up with Dean.
"Sure but why can't I just drive you home?" he asked as they headed to his car.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me."
"Forgive the suspicion but one thing Chilton has taught me is anything can be used against you later," Rory said climbing into his car.
"Alright, you don't trust me. I guess I have that coming," Tristan said as he started the car and headed to the nearest coffeehouse.
A few minutes into the drive Rory sighed then quietly said, "My town knew Dean and I had broken up by six a.m. the next morning. A guy in a nice car driving me home from school through the middle of town would only add fuel to the fire."
"Oh… That sounds worse then Chilton for gossip," he said holding the door to the coffeehouse for Rory.
"You have no idea. It's like the town broke up, not just Dean and I. My friend Luke owns a diner that we always go to. He wouldn't even serve Dean and put him in a headlock in the street before he entered the diner… Luke is very protective of me," she said as they stood line for coffee.
After processing the new information, Tristan asked calmly, "So I can…say, take you out…but not pick you up?"
"No… I'm sorry," she said biting her lower lip.
"Why?"
"It's too soon… I didn't realize how bad I was gonna feel about…well, kissing you until it happened. Is this making any sense to you?" Rory asked looking at his confused look.
"Not really."
"Just because we broke you doesn't mean I don't still care about him and maybe wish it were different… I shouldn't have let… I don't know."
"If there were no Dean, would I have a shot here?" Tristan asked stating his intention, sitting down at a near by table once their order was up.
"If there were no Dean, probably not. If you never saw him be sweet and caring to me, you wouldn't have gotten jealous and tried being sweet and caring to me too… That make sense," Rory stated clearly as she sipped on her coffee.
"So you think if he were never in the picture, I would have never acted nice to you?"
"Pretty much!"
"Oh yea of little faith."
"Biblical references now… then again you were always good at those." Tristan and Rory smiled at each other and chuckled a bit.
"I like this," he said after a while.
"What?" she asked finishing the large coffee.
"Talking… I like the volley we get going. Do you mind if we do it more often?"
"As longer as you stop staring at me in class. I have my father's ears and I'm tired of you memorizing them," Rory joked as Tristan choked on his coffee.
He looked at her deeply for a moment then broken his gaze, "Sure… I don't know what makes you different but I'll take what I can get… So now what? Do I drive you back to the bus stop or do I drive you to the edge of your town?"
"I guess you can drive me to the edge of town and I can walk the rest of the way," she said as they went to his car.
"You're going to an awful lot of trouble to protect the guy that dumped you… I know you said he didn't want to be your boyfriend anymore but… why?" he asked as they drove away.
After a long pause Rory finally spoke. "I… I wouldn't…" she stammered with tears in her eyes.
"That jerk off… I knew that was it… The guy's a pig if he would break up with you for not sleeping with him," Tristan said angrily, although he knew he had done the same thing.
"No… No… that's not it. He told me he loved me and I wouldn't say it back. I wasn't ready… It crushed him," Rory said with tears spilling on to her face.
"Oh… I…I'm sorry," he said trying to figure out how to make her feel better. For the next while they sat in relative silence as Tristan drove her home. When they arrived where she wanted to be dropped off he grabbed her arm lightly and said, "I would imagine three days of being without you would be enough for any guy to realized he made a big mistake… Why don't you go talk to him? I'll see you at school… I promise I'll be less of a jerk."
"Thanks Tristan. This was fun," Rory said with her bag over her shoulder.
She was part of the way down the street before he felt the need to joke with her, "Mary- Good luck!" For the first time being called Mary was a friendly inside joke rather then a slam. Rory smiled big and waved him off.
Rory walked through town and stopped at the grocery store to see if Dean was there. The brown tossed head of hair was looking down as she approached. He saw the socks and skirt. In shock, he nearly dropped the case of soda he was moving. He looked up briefly to see his love biting her lip; she wanted something. He had given her his heart, what else could she want?
"Hi…" she said as she swallowed.
"…Hi," he said and moved another case of soda. "Do you need help finding something?" Emotions were high for Dean. The town hated him for breaking Rory's heart although she broke his first. He hadn't called or spied or anything. Nothing helped the pain in his chest. Now she was standing in front of him and all he really wanted was to hold her.
"Uh, I was hoping we… we could talk when you got off work… Please," Rory said with tears in her eyes. It was the first time he noticed the pain she was feeling. He caused those tears.
Dean closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "OK… I get off at five."
Joy brimmed in her eyes and face, "Thank you. I'll be back then…"
"Won't this disrupt your homework schedule?"
Rory gave him a half smile and said, "This is more important."
Dean knew very well that when Rory Gilmore said that a conversation was more important than homework, the homework that would get her into the Harvard, something major was up. His eyes opened and shut slowly in disbelief. " …Uh, yeah… Um… I'll see ya later."