Lorelai opened the door to her daughter's bedroom and stepped inside. "What's up, buttercup?" She asked trying to sounds cheerful. She knew that these last few days had been hard on Rory and she was really trying to be comforting. "Did you enjoy your party this afternoon?" She asked laughingly. Having a surprise party thrown really wasn't something that seemed Rory-like, and the look on her daughter's face when she walked in the door had been priceless.
Rory laughed, making Lorelai feel a lot more
comfortable. This was the Rory she knew and loved. "It was some party," Rory
agreed.
Lorelai pushed Rory over a little on the bed so she
could sit down too. "So how are you holding up. Honestly, no joking," she
asked, mother mode kicking in.
"Actually I'm doing better than I expected. I guess
if I can't go to Harvard next year I could always transfer once I've saved up
enough money. And lots of the colleges I've been excepted in are just as good."
"Just as good?" Lorelai asked questioningly.
"Okay, almost as good though." It won't
really make that big of a difference, I'd be learning pretty much the same
things either way. Who knows, maybe this is my destiny." Rory said, thinking
about Tristan. She would probably never have spoken to him again if he hadn't
found out about this problem.
"Rory?" Lorelai said bringing her back to reality.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" she asked raising her eyebrows with
curious suspicion.
"Uh, maybe. I'm not sure yet." Rory said truthfully.
"There might be though."
"Dean?" Lorelai asked quietly, knowing Rory was
still a little tender on that subject. Rory shook her head, but Lorelai was
amazed that the sad, cloudy eyed expression hadn't come over her face with the
simple mention of his name. "This must be big," Lorelai commented, "Even
speaking of Dean won't break you."
Rory giggled, and Lorelai could see her trying to
decide just how big it was. Rory was a very smart kid, but not always the best
at hiding her emotions. "Well you know to let me know when you know right?"
Lorelai said. They had agreed upon a tell all as soon as you can way of dealing
with one another's relationships. Rory nodded and Lorelai left the room
quietly.
Rory fell back on her pillow and sighed. Lane and
her mother had both made her think about how she wanted things to play out with
Tristan. She had thought being friends with him was a huge step yesterday, but
after one day as friends she knew there was something more lying right under
the surface. They clicked immediately and she felt like she had been close
friends with him forever. Rory knew that the tension in the car earlier had not
been her imagination either. She could see in Tristan's eyes that the same
emotions she was feeling, confused, worried and most of all curious about how
the other felt.
Rory got off the bed and walked over to her desk
grabbing her Chilton phone book. She opened it to the page with his number and
put her finger on it. She grabbed the phone, but set it back in the cradle
almost as quickly. She was not the type of girl to rush into anything at all.
Before she called him she had to have a plan of what she was going to say. She
sat on her bed for a few minutes going through various possibilities, and
finally deciding on what she could say. She picked the phone back up and began
to dial the number. The phone rang and she waited patiently, her heart beating
a little quicker as she got nervous.
"Hello?" she heard Tristan's voice say through the
phone.
"Hey, Tristan. It's Rory.." she said, beginning her
speech, but she was cut off my Tristan sighing and saying he had been about to
call her too. This through Rory off, she hadn't expected that at all. "Umm,"
she said trying to get back onto her train of thought. "I just wanted to make
sure you understood those questions we did today," she said, too nervous to
actually bring up what she had meant to say.
"Yeah, it makes a lot of sense now, he said. They
both were silent for a couple of minutes. The silence was very awkward, but
neither knew exactly what to say. Then at the same time they both said each
other's names.
"You first," said Rory.
"I, well I just wanted to make sure that you were
alright with what happened after we did my homework." He said slowly. "When we
got to your house. I know we agreed to be friends, but I think we stepped over
the friendship barrier a little," he said.
"Yeah, a little," Rory said nervously laughing.
"But, I didn't know if you were okay with that. I
totally didn't mean for anything like that to happen."
"What!?" Rory said, upset that it had only been an
accident. She had been certain that he had been feeling the same way she had.
Now it seemed she was totally off base.
"What?" Tristan asked utterly confused.
"Nothing, my mom just walked in. She needs me to
help with the dishes," Rory said eager for an excuse to get off the phone and
make sense of her comment.
"Oh, alright. I guess I'll see you tomorrow" Tristan
said, hanging up his phone.
Rory sat there in shock for a little while, until
finally laying down and falling asleep.
**
Rory slowed down as she neared the hallway that lead to her locker the next morning. She peered around the corner and as she had expected Tristan was standing in front of her locker watching for her. She waited for a group of people to come by and walked past the hallway behind them. She had all the books she needed for her first class and wanted to avoid confrontation with him that morning.
**
Tristan heard the second warning bell ring and began to slowly walk to his class even though he was already late. He gotten to school very early and had waited at Rory's locker for her, but she had never come. He had been one of the first people in the school, and she lived far away there was no way she was there before him. And this was Rory, there was no way she was missing school which left two possibilities, one she was avoiding him, or two she was sick. And after the phone call they had had last night she didn't seem sick, but the abrupt hanging up was a sure sign to the first option.
**
Rory stood outside the school, anxiously waiting for her mother to come and get her. She hadn't realized how much she was used to the independence of having her own car until it was broken. The car was in the repair shop, and would probably be there for at least a week. Rory glanced behind her, expecting every time to see Tristan who she had managed to avoid the entire day, but she still didn't see him. And the worst part was she was getting disappointed. She started to get mad at herself, it was her own fault that she hadn't seen him, there was no reason for her to hold him responsible at all, he just thought of her as a friend, and there was nothing she could do to change that.
She heard a car honk near her, shaking her out of
her thoughts and looked up relieved to see her mother's jeep, not Tristan's
SUV. She climbed in and ignored the curious look on her mom's face. She turned
the volume up on the radio and leaned her head back on the seat. She looked out
the window for most of the ride home, and suddenly caught a glimpse of
Tristan's car in the rear view mirror. He must have followed them from Chilton.
"Mom?" Rory said turning towards the drivers side.
"Do you think you could drop me off at
the Inn? I have some homework to do, and I think it would be nice to sit out there
and clear my head."
"Sure Rory. I'll come pick you up in an hour or so?"
She said.
"Sounds great. Thanks." Rory said, taking another
peek behind them, she could still see Tristan's SUV even though there was a car
between them. Her mother pulled into the parking lot and dropped her off, "I'll
be back in about an hour," she said once Rory had collected her bag. Rory
nodded and waved goodbye. She headed into the woods to the small cabin for the
third time this week. She knew this would be where Tristan would look to find
her.
**
Tristan watched Rory's mom pull out of the Chilton parking lot. He had tried to get to her before she left, but his last period teacher had needed to talk to him. When he left the school he saw Rory get into her mom's jeep.
Tristan hurried across the student parking lot and
got into his own car. He sped out of the lot and onto the road headed towards
Star's Hollow. He saw the jeep far ahead of him on the road, and finally got
behind it. He drove behind the Gilmore's, but got stuck at a red light on the
way. A car got between the two vehicles, but he could still follow them. Then
the car needed to turn left and there was no way around it so Tristan had to
wait, he watched the jeep drive into Star's Hollow.
When the car finally got an opportunity to turn
Tristan could no longer see the jeep. He figured they had probably gone
straight home so he went to the Gilmore B&B. He was relieved to see the
jeep in the driveway when he got there. He parked the SUV, got out and went up
to the doorway. Rory's mother answered the door.
"Hey, Mrs. Gilmore. Is Rory home?" He asked,
guessing she was up in her room.
"No, she isn't here right now," she said in a
monotone voice.
Tristan figured Rory had told her mom she didn't
want to talk to him, so he asked again. "You're sure she isn't here?" he
asked.
She nodded and said "Yes, this is my house, I think
I'd know if she was here. I just dropped her off at the Inn a few minutes ago."
Rory's mother said rolling her eyes at him.
"Oh, uh, I'm sorry. I just really wanted to talk to
her. I guess I will later then. Thanks Mrs. Gilmore," Tristan said embarrassed.
"No worries, and you can call me Lorelai, Mrs.
Gilmore sounds like my mother or something." Lorelai said.
Tristan nodded and smiled as he walked back to where
he had parked. He got in and started the ignition. He backed out of the
driveway and began to wonder whether Rory wanted to be found at the Inn or not.
The Inn was kind of "their" place now, so if she was avoiding him it would seem
kind of unlikely. He decided to go and see.
**
Rory had gone into the woods and about half an hour had passed. She had been so sure Tristan had been following them, but maybe it wasn't him, or maybe it was him but he was just driving out here for another reason. Either way he wasn't here, and she was stuck here for another half hour before her mom came to pick her up. She sighed and sat down with her back against the cabin, trying to keep the tears of disappointment that were welling up in her eyes from actually falling.
Then out of the corner of her eye she saw Tristan
walking into the clearing. She rubbed her eyes, scared that she was just seeing
what she wanted to see. But he was still there, it was not a mirage. He turned
to look at the cabin and she watched his eyes fall to her sitting on the
ground.
His eyes opened wider and got very worried as he
hurried over to her. He sat down next to her quickly. "What's wrong? Are you
okay?" he asked genuinely worried.
Rory looked away embarrassed and wiped her eyes with
her sleeve. "It's nothing," she said.
"Nothing? If nothing makes you come out here and cry
then I wouldn't be able to stand to see something bad happen to you," he said
trying to lighten the mood. "Is it about Harvard," he asked, "because my dad
said he knows someone at a bank that can give you a great deal on a loan.."
"It's not about that," she said cutting him off.
"It's about you."
"Me? What?" Tristan said, completely confused. "Oh,
I'd completely forgotten. Were you avoiding me today?" he asked. The sight of her
crying on the ground had made him forget why he had come here in the first
place.
"Okay I'm just going to come out and say everything
at once okay. And don't interrupt. Or laugh."
"Promise," he said.
"Tristan, this is going to sound weird, but I think I
got upset because I like you. In the car yesterday I thought you were going to
kiss me and then you didn't and I felt like it was something wrong with me, and
then you kept calling it a mistake. And it really hurt my feelings, that's why
I was avoiding you today. And then on my way home I saw you behind us so I told
my mom to take me here because I was ready to talk to you and then you didn't
come and I was so upset, that's why I was crying," Rory said quickly trying to
get it all out before she could convince herself not to say if. She took a deep
breath and felt her heart lurch when Tristan grabbed her hand. She looked over
at him.
"Rory I'm so sorry I made you feel so awful. There
is definitely nothing wrong with you, I just thought you didn't want anything
right now and that I could only be near you if I was your friend, but now that
you've told the truth I will too. Rory, I like you. I really like you, I always
have, ever since your first day at Chilton."
"You called me Mary," Rory said remembering.
"Well I've never been the best at expressing my
emotions," he said smirking.
"So you didn't kiss me because you were protecting
me?" Rory asked.
"I guess, pretty much." He said, realizing that was
really what he had done.
"Well I don't think I really need the protection,"
Rory said turning away.
"No, you never did and you probably never will,"
Tristan said agreeing with her. She turned back to look at him, "So can I kiss
you now?" he asked devilishly.
Rory nodded and Tristan leaned towards her, catching
her lips with his own, making sure this time was more than just a peck on the
cheek.