Rory looked around the kitchen in absolute amazement. The place was huge, like a work of art. She wondered if anyone actually cooked in this place. Everything looked meticulously put together.. nothing out of place. Tristan's parents must loved anything marble, cause that's exactly what their kitchen was made of.

"Rory, what have you gotten yourself into?" she thought out loud. She didn't really know how to cook. She could rake up a few things here and there and come up with something edible but that was about it. As long as she had a telephone and a microwave she knew she wasn't going to starve to death. She started opening cupboards, left and right, from top to bottom.hoping she would find something for Tristan to eat. Till she hit the jackpot.. noodles, a girl's best friend. Besides, this was just what he needed, a little hot soup to warm him up. Ugh, now she was sounding all- maternal for goodness sakes. Tristan's voice broke into her thoughts.

"Rory, is everything okay in there, you're not burning down anything are you?" Though he doubted whether his mother would even notice, since she went to the kitchen once a month.

"Put a sock in it, I'll be right there," she replied.

If anyone had told him, he'd be spending the day with Rory Gilmore, he would have laughed in their face. As hard a scenario that was to comprehend. An even unbelievable one, was her rummaging around in his kitchen, trying to find him something to eat? The girl was like an enigma to him, just when he thought he had her figure out..

"Hey," he called out to her.

"What Tristan?"

"I just want to apologize for going off on you like that. I shouldn't' have dumped off my problems on you like that, I'm sorry." He knew she didn't' like him and never will. But he saw what his initial outburst had done to her, the shock in her eyes. He didn't want her feeling that way about him. For some reason, her

opinion of him mattered, a lot.

Rory paused, when she heard him apologize to her about the collage incident. He sounded so sincere and honest and she believed him. That was a private side of him he wanted to keep to himself and she understood now. Especially when she saw how much his Grandfather's death still affected him.

She placed the bowl of noodles in the microwave and walked back to the living room to talk to him.

"It's okay, Tristan. I was badgering you; it was clearly none of my business. She sat across from him,

looking down quietly at her hands in her lap.

"Its not that it's none of your business, I'm glad that you liked my work. It's just that.. that drawing brings up so many painful memories for me you know?" He told her honestly.

"I know. " she stated quietly. And at that very moment, she looked up at him and he was staring right at her. Or was it through her? He had the uncanny ability to do that. The microwave, signaling the noodles were ready broke the spell.

She broke eye contact and practically jumped out her chair. "Umm, that's the microwave.I'll be right back."

And she was out of the living room in a flash.

"Yeah, the microwave" he sighed. It was always something when it came to them.

She leaned against the kitchen door, closing her eyes, trying to get that image out her mind. But all she could see was those blue eyes. Those piercing blue eyes looking right at her. Making her feel things she couldn't' possibly feeling, this was Tristan after all. She sighed and got his soup out the microwave.

"K, you can do this," taking a deep breath, she went back to face him.

"Okay, all I could come up with was some soup, and as you can see I made it out your kitchen unscathed. I didn't burn it down or anything," she laughed nervously.

"Yeah, I see." He kept looking at her.

"Umm, so eat and let's get started." she said.

"I told you I wasn't hungry, you went through all this trouble for nothing". He stopped talking, cause he couldn't believe his eyes. She was picking up the spoon and attempting to feed him.

"OMG, wha, what are you doing?" He asked her in disbelief.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I know you're used to getting things your way, but not this time." She moved over to sit next to him, ignoring the tension between them.

"Now eat." She took the spoon and shoved it in his open mouth, showing him she meant every word she'd just said.

He was still shocked at what she just did; he didn't expect her to actually feed him.

"Okay, okay, you win, I'll eat. But I can feed myself, though I'm quite flattered by your advances." He tried taking the spoon out of her hand and that's when their fingers touched.

"Yeah." Rory quickly slipped her hand out of his, moving back to sit before him once again.

Her actions didn't go unnoticed by Tristan.

He sat up and began eating his soup. Rory got her books and started reading their assignment, every once in a while they glanced up at each other.

Tristan cleared his throat and Rory looked up from her book.

"What?"

He was done with his soup and was leaning back in the couch once more.

"Oh, nothing, just thanks for the soup. Now, what have you found out so far?" He asked referring to their project.

She smiled. "Well, I was thinking we should concentrate on what motivated him to write such great stories. His inspirations etc etc."

"Sounds good, and I can help out with the illustrations. That would make our presentations better. I don't want us boring the class by going up there and making some long speech with nothing to back it up."

"But, I thought you didn't want everyone to know you could draw?" She was surprised that all of a sudden he was willing to open up a part of himself like this, for the whole world to see.

"I still don't, but it's for a good cause. I want a good grade and this would help. So, keep going, what else do you have in mind?"

"Well," she began as he closed his eyes. Listening to her voice had a soothing effect on him, because he fell asleep.

It took Rory a few minutes to realize that Tristan had fallen asleep. There he was sleeping on his couch with this serene look on his face. She wondered what had brought that smile to his face. Getting up she began packing her books. She looked around for a blanket but couldn't find one.

"Good-bye Tristan," she stated softly and turned towards the door.

"Good-bye...Rory."

She immediately turned around when she heard his voice. "What did you just call me?"

She looked at Tristan, who was still half-asleep, but it was obvious he knew what he'd just said.

"I said Rory, that is your name isn't it?" He said to her, trying to keep awake. He had fallen asleep to her voice and somehow his mind knew she had stopped talking. And that is when he'd heard her say good bye.

She was flustered and was speechless actually. "Yeah..yeah it's just that, that.."

"This is the first time, I've ever really called you by your first name," Tristan finished her sentence.

"Yeah, it is."

"Well, this is a day of firsts then, you coming here and doing all that you did and me calling you Rory. To

new beginnings."

"Yeah, to new beginnings. Bye Tristan."

"Bye Rory and I'll call you tomorrow about the project, I have some ideas of my own."

He saw the look of surprise on her face.

"I'm not even going to ask how you got my phone number." She shook her head, this guy was unbelievable.

"He laughed. " Good, don't, it's top secret. Though I'll say I had the hardest time getting yours."

"Good" she replied and walked out the mansion with Tristan looking back at her.

Smiling, he closed his eyes, things were about to get mighty interesting at Chilton High.



~~~The END, or atleast for now. This was mostly in response to a challenge. While I was dying to let them kiss as I knew you guys were. I tried to be a tad realistic lol. And this short story was mainly about Rory 'really' seeing Tristan for the first time. Hope you guys like it and your reviews will be greatly appreciated. Thanks