Author's Note: YAY! I'm happy! Why? Because you like it! You really like
it! I feel so inspired! I'm even going to write a separate Trory song fic!
To be posted soon…until then, read on…!
PS- In this story, Lane's parents know about Henry and they approve! Don't wanna mess with yall's heads or anything but just work with me here.
Chapter 8
"Rory! You're gonna be late! Get your butt out here and grab a pop tart!" Lorelai shouted towards her daughter's room.
"Coming!" Rory yelled back.
As she rushed around trying to gather the books and papers that had been scattered around during a night of studying she couldn't help but think about her dreams.
~Why did they stop? I mean, not that I wanted them to continue! I don't like Tristan. I mean, I do like him, when he's nice, which is rare! I feel so bad for him, I knew he didn't have the greatest parents in the world but I didn't think it went as far as forgetting his birthday. Maybe that's what the dreams are! They predicted that I needed to make him feel loved, that covers the part with the kiss, and he needed to feel like he belonged to a loving family! That's the part where we all sat down! It's all symbolic! Now that I've decided to give him all that by throwing a party the dreams are gone! What a relief! I don't harbor hidden feelings for Tristan!~
Satisfied with her reasoning Rory hurried to the kitchen. Throwing her backpack and blazer onto a chair she walked over to grab her morning pop tart and coffee.
"Morning mini-me!" Lorelai chirped from her spot at the table.
Rory turned and leaned against the counter, coffee cup in one hand and the pastry in the other. "Dr. Evil." Rory replied narrowing her eyes into slits but quickly replacing it with a smile.
"Nope! That's Tristan. No wait, Tristan already has too many names. That can be his dad's name!" Lorelai said excitedly.
"Like father like son." Rory mused.
"Anyway, you missed your bus."
"I know. Jeep?" Rory asked hopefully.
"And make me walk?" Lorelai questioned like it was the worst thing in the world.
"It's not that far!" Rory bounced playfully back. .
"Heels!"
"Harvard!"
"Work!"
"Chilton!"
"Oh, speaking of hell," Lorelai said, forgetting their banter, "are you going to invite any Chiltonites to our little b-day bash?"
"Invite the forces of evil to our quiet innocent town? I don't think Stars Hollow would survive!"
"Doubt that. Taylor and Miss Patty are more than enough to take on the little demons, imagine the whole town set loose on 'em?!"
"When Good Towns Go Bad…" Rory said in a newscaster voice.
"Next at 10!" Lorelai finished.
"Well, I'll talk to Henry today, maybe he can help me weed out the annoying ones and just invite the softies." Rory said, then looked at her watch. "I'm late! Jeep?"
"Evil minion." Lorelai grumbled but handed over the keys anyway. "Oh, hey today Sookie wants me to help select food for the party so I'm going to do that and at lunch I'll meet up with Luke and Kirk on security for this thing. When are ya gonna bring Tristan around for the first batch of happy townspeople?"
"Um, today, after school at Luke's. Tell Miss Patty to be on alert. Bye mom!" with one final swig of her coffee Rory was gone.
* * * * * * *
"Mary." Tristan's voice floated over her shoulder.
"Tristan, why am I not surprised?" she said turning around to see his usual cool swagger had returned.
"Hey, can we walk and talk?" he asked raising his eyebrow.
"Sure, what's on your mind?" Rory said turning and walking with him to their first period.
"I wanted to apologize again for how mother treated you last night, she had no right." he said dropping his voice. "Also, please, don't tell anyone about," he stopped and held onto her arm and pulled her closer, "how I acted last night."
"What, you being civil to me for the first time?" she said harshly.
"No, that's not what I meant." he said in a hurt voice. He looked around nervously but brought his eyes back to hers.
"It's okay, I'm sorry. Listen, I know that we haven't been the best of friends but for the sake of sanity can we call a truce?" she asked extending her hand towards him.
"I guess, can I still call you Mary?" he asked coyly.
Rory smiled slightly, nodded, and Tristan accepted her hand. Electricity flew through them as skin made contact with skin. Rory shivered as her gaze met Tristan's piercing blue eyes. Time stopped as they stared at one another, she shook her head and broke the trance.
"So, anyway," she said nervously, "you can call me Mary but I don't have anything to call you?"
"I can think of a few things." Tristan said suggestively as they started walking again.
"I'm sure you can but I was thinking more along of the lines of something not sexually suggestive?"
"Darn, all out of suggestions then." Tristan said in mock frustration.
"I'll think of something then."
"Won't be as fun as the ones I had in mind but sure. Hey, about our project, now I wasn't able to move the thing yet so we can stop by at my house to pick it up real quick…"
"Actually," Rory interrupted, "I brought my own car today cuz I missed the bus so why don't I just meet you at my house. That way you can change your clothes into something more suitable for walking around."
"Wait, why?" Tristan asked as they entered their class and sat down.
"Because, you've dropped me off at my house a bunch of times but you've never really seen Stars Hollow, so before we do bio why don't I take you on a grand tour?" Rory asked.
"Okay." he answered with a shrug of the shoulders.
"Great, the first step to our truce becoming a friendship is for you to meet some of the people in my life."
"When do I meet the parents for the wedding announcement?" he whispered seductively as class started.
"When hell freezes over." she replied out of the corner of her mouth and turned her attention towards the teacher.
~Step one of operation B-day is in motion~ she thought silently.
Later that day at lunch instead of heading to her usual secluded table, Rory sought out one of the few people she actually considered a friend, Henry.
"Hey Henry." she greeted happily when she approached his table where he sat with a group of friends.
"Hey Ror, what's up?" he replied in the same manner.
"Actually, I need to talk to you about something," eyeing his friends who were listening intently she talked in code. "I nong pong rong I vong a tong e."
Henry's friends looked at each other in confusion at what was said (wondering if it was English) but Henry's was scrunched in concentration. Seconds later, understanding took over.
"Oh, right. Sure. I'll see you later guys!"
With that he got up and followed Rory outside to one of Chilton's many courtyards and sat with her on a bench under a tree. Once they were out of hearing distance from anyone else they spoke.
"Sorry I didn't understand you right away, I'm not used to the "ong", sounds too Asian and I get it confused with Korean." Henry said with a smile.
It made him feel closer to Lane and Rory when they taught him a few of their code languages they used to stop the ever-present gossipers from hearing what they were saying. Henry knew for a fact that even Dean wasn't let in on it. You knew you were there to stay for good when the girls began to say "Hop e lop lop o" to you instead of a simple 'Hello'.
"Sorry, I would have used "op" because trust me I know that language better but I wanted to throw your friends off the trail."
"No it's okay. It just took me a while to figure out you said "in private", you said it so fast that it sounded like "I'm a pirate". My mistake." Henry said bursting into laughter, followed by Rory.
"Anyway," Rory said after she controlled the laughter, "do you know Tristan DuGrey?"
"Tris? Yeah, we go way back. Best friends…well we used to be." Henry said sadly.
"What happened?" Rory said with a frown.
"Back in freshman year, we were tight but then things got messed up. He began to get caught up with the ladies and becoming king of the school whereas I got pulled into my studies. We don't talk so much anymore but I'm not mad at him or anything."
"Well, how about I give you a chance to reconcile?"
"How?" Henry asked.
"His birthday is on Saturday, you know that right?" Rory continued after he nodded, "his parents forgot…"
"Again?" Henry interrupted. Rory nodded. "Last time that happened, he was so upset, how did he take it this time?" Henry asked in concern. They may not be the best of friends anymore but that doesn't erase the memories that had formed way back when the two boys met in kindergarten.
"Pretty bad. But we, the whole town of Stars Hollow that is, are throwing him a surprise birthday party on Saturday to make up for it. I was wondering if you would like to come?" Rory asked, biting her lip as she waited for the answer.
"Sure. Yeah, maybe we can fix the space between us at the same time."
"Great! Um, is there anyone else that you think would like to come? No one evil. You've been to Stars Hollow, heck, after Lane's parents found out about you over the summer and let you two date, you were officially declared a resident! You know how my…our," Rory added with a smile, "town acts so…"
"No problem. I can think of a few people who Tris and I used to be friends with that might want to come."
"Great! But please be very quiet about it. While Chilton is no match for the Stars Hollow Gossip Hotline, this school still has a very advanced rumor mill. No one else can know cuz they'll crash the party and worst of all they'll know where I live so they can torment me when we're not in school too." she begged with pleading eyes.
"Secrets safe."
"Tong hong a nong kong song!" Rory said with a mischievous look in her eyes.
Henry sat with the "deer in the headlights" look on his face while he worked out what she had said. Rory had already gotten up and was walking away slowly as she laughed.
"Oh, your welcome!" he called and ran to catch up with her.
* * * * *
"Okay so everything is in place?" Rory asked over the phone.
"All set!" Lane chirped, the noise of the diner's customers could be heard faintly in the background. "When he gets there, call over, Miss Patty and your mom are waiting."
"My mom?"
"She's here for protection."
"I thought Luke and Kirk were handling that?" Rory questioned as she looked out the window waiting for Tristan's car to arrive.
"Have you met the people in our town?"
"Good point. So Babette's going to start the game of telephone?"
"Yup, she's been instructed to start dialing as soon as Bible boy shows up then as you walk out she'll intercept for first contact."
"Good. Listen I need to change before he gets here so I gotta go. Tell Luke I'll talk to him when we get there."
"Check."
With that the girls hung up the phone and Rory rushed to get ready. A mere ten minutes later Tristan's car pulled up next to the sidewalk. Seeing this Rory rushed to look over next door, Babette was already on the phone talking furiously. Rory smiled, seconds later the doorbell rang and Rory snapped back into action.
"Hey Tristan!" Rory greeted upon opening the door to her house.
"Hey Mare! Where can I put this thing?" Tristan asked as he carried the bio dome inside.
"Over here in the living room." she said.
"Um, great. So anyway, I'm all dressed and ready for the walk through of the town as you ordered so…"
"Let's go! But first I have to make a quick call."
"Okay." Tristan agreed.
Rory picked up the phone, on the way to the kitchen she looked out the window and saw Babette waiting out on the lawn pretending to be arranging garden ornaments. Rory dialed and waited for two rings until someone picked up.
"Speak."
"Luke?"
"Rory?"
"Yeah, isn't Lane supposed to pick up?" she whispered.
"Yeah, hold on, she got in a disagreement with your mom over who makes better coffee. Starbucks or Coffee Bean. I'll go get her."
"Hey." Lane said a few seconds later.
"Hey." Rory responded. Feeling someone coming up behind her Rory switched her speech. "Hong e' song hong e rong e. Wong e' rong e cong o mong inong gong." (Translation: He's here. We're coming.)
"Got it. See you in five." Lane understood and hung up.
"What was that all about? Was that even English?" Tristan asked from behind her.
"Nothing. Let's go." Without another word she grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the house. Babette promptly sprung into action.
"Hey doll!" she called running over. "How are you? Who's your friend?"
"Tristan DuGrey ma'am." he said and extending his hand towards the woman before Rory could say anything.
"Well, aren't you charming. Just call me Babette everyone does doll. So how do you know Rory?"
"From school, Babette. We're working on a project for biology." Rory supplied. "But, we must be going now, bye."
"Later doll!" she called as Rory pulled him away.
~Lots of people to meet~ Rory thought silently.
"Oh hey, Tristan. I know that you were raised to say ma'am and sir and all that but my mom hates when people call her ma'am so, when you meet her, call her Lorelai, or else."
"What will happen if I don't?" Tristan asked curiously as he looked around the town. "Is it just me or is everyone staring at me?"
"Well, if you don't my mom will turn you into the town's first speed bump, it will make the newspapers, history in the making. Oh, and this is a small town of gossipers, of course everyone is staring at you."
"Is that a good thing?"
"What being turned into a speed bump?" Rory asked with a mischievous grin.
"You know what I mean." Tristan scolded gently as they walked towards what to him looked like a hardware store.
"Let's just say, be prepared to be asked a lot of questions. Oh and when we get to the diner don't be worried if everyone already knows who you are."
They walked into Luke's and Tristan got a very confused look on his face.
"Isn't this…?"
"Nope." Rory answered, knowing what he was going to ask.
"But why does the…"
"Sign say 'Hardware'?"
"Yeah."
"Rory!" Lane squealed from her stool next to Lorelai.
"Tristan, this is my best friend Lane." Rory introduced as they walked over. "And this is my mom."
"Nice to meet you Lane, Lorelai." he greeted warmly.
"Lorelai? You taught Bible boy well young grasshopper." Lorelai said with a nod to Rory.
"Bible boy?" Tristan asked in confusion.
"Yeah you know the whole Bible reference thing with the calling my daughter Mary thing." Lorelai rambled. "If you don't like it we can call you another name. We have many. Evil Tristan, Damien, Spawn of Satan, Dr. Evil…"
"No, that's Tristan's dad's name." Rory interrupted.
"Oh, right…anyways, not the point!"
"Hey kid." Luke greeted from behind the counter. "You must be the Evil one." he said acknowledging Tristan.
"Wow, I'm pretty popular around here." Tristan commented in a mixture of sarcasm and amusement.
"Ror, I think Jess said he wanted to talk you back here." Luke said with a pointed look.
"Oh, okay, Tris I'll be back in a minute." Rory said letting his nickname slip from her mouth.
"Sure." he said in a semi daze at what she just said.
"Are you going to be okay?"
"Don't worry about him, he'll be fine." Lorelai grinned mischievously.
"Mom, behave!"
"Okay fine. Oh look, Miss Patty is coming!" Lorelai said pointing out the window at the fast approaching dance teacher.
Rory shook her head and went in the back. Jess was already waiting.
"Okay you two might wanna sit down." Luke suggested after closing the door so no one could hear them.
"What's this about Luke?" Jess asked.
"You two know that I really love Lorelai right?" Luke asked. The two teens nodded. "Well, I can't go on as just her boyfriend…"
"Oh my gosh! Are you going to break up with her?!" Rory interrupted suddenly.
"No!" Luke replied.
"You can't break up with her! She's a good person and you finally lightened up when you got together!" Jess argued, not hearing Luke's answer.
"Listen! Shut up! We're not breaking up!" Luke said loudly but then hushed remembering that only a thin door separated them from the rest of the diner's occupants. "I want to marry her." he said quietly.
"What?!" Rory and Jess burst out simultaneously.
"Oh my God! That's great!" and "I'm so happy for you!" were said many times by the two teens who were ecstatic, without thinking they quickly hugged each other and then hugged Luke who had a huge smile on his face.
"So you approve?" he asked.
"Of course! Why wouldn't we! We're going to be cousins." Rory said the last part to Jess.
Jess just shrugged his shoulders happily.
"But, I thought you were against marriage?" Rory asked.
"I was, but you're mom changed that I guess." he answered.
"Well, when are you gonna propose? Did you pick out the ring? Is there going to be room for the four of us at the Gilmore house?" Jess asked quickly.
"Slow down." Luke said. "I want to propose Saturday night, at the party because she won't be suspecting it. I already got the ring, it's very vintage-ish, from a jewelers in Hartford because if I bought it here everyone would have known by now. And as far as living arrangements I have no idea."
Satisfied with the answer the teens remained silent as he continued to talk.
"This town is the biggest bunch of talkers on the planet. I'm surprised with everyone talking that the kid doesn't know about his party already but I can trust you two. Don't say a word to anyone about this, the less people who know about it the better."
"Mop yop lop ipop sop a rop e sop ea lop e dop!" Rory answered.
"What?!" Luke exclaimed.
"She said 'My lips are sealed' and the same goes for me too." Jess answered.
Confused but not wanting to ask Luke nodded and led them out to the rest of the diner.
"Okay, people back off!" they heard Lorelai yell.
Coming out from around the corner they saw Tristan sitting next to Lane at the counter with there eyes glued on Lorelai who stood in front of them holding a spatula facing a crowd of people.
"Back off people! Leave the poor boy alone for one day!" she cried. They showed no signs of moving. Lorelai began to wave the spatula at them like a mad woman.
"You heard Lorelai! Everyone let him be!" Miss Patty ordered and she escorted the rest of the crowd out of the diner. Tristan let out a sigh of relief.
"What happened? And why are you holding my spatula?" Luke asked grabbing the utensil from her hand.
"They got out of hand. Just attacking Tristan with questions. I had to hold him off!" Lorelai exclaimed.
"Hey, we're going to show Tristan around the town now." Rory cut in. Looking at Tristan she saw the scared look on his face. Lane noticed this too.
"Don't worry. They won't bug you. Jess and I will be your body guards." Lane reassured.
Tristan relaxed and walked out with them.
"So, show me the sights of this little town." he said.
The four walked across to towards the gazebo but stopped abruptly when someone shoved Tristan violently to the ground.
"Dean!" Rory yelled.
Thanks for reading! I'm sorry it was kind of long! Most of my stories are long and I've been known to write chapters with at least 15 pages but I tried to spare you from that torture. Sorry the ending of this chapter is kind of weak but I wanted to be done with it. I made a very important decision about the future of this fic, some of you may not like it others my not care but trust me it is all for the best. You'll find out what the decision is in due time but for now don't worry about it and just review!
PS- In this story, Lane's parents know about Henry and they approve! Don't wanna mess with yall's heads or anything but just work with me here.
Chapter 8
"Rory! You're gonna be late! Get your butt out here and grab a pop tart!" Lorelai shouted towards her daughter's room.
"Coming!" Rory yelled back.
As she rushed around trying to gather the books and papers that had been scattered around during a night of studying she couldn't help but think about her dreams.
~Why did they stop? I mean, not that I wanted them to continue! I don't like Tristan. I mean, I do like him, when he's nice, which is rare! I feel so bad for him, I knew he didn't have the greatest parents in the world but I didn't think it went as far as forgetting his birthday. Maybe that's what the dreams are! They predicted that I needed to make him feel loved, that covers the part with the kiss, and he needed to feel like he belonged to a loving family! That's the part where we all sat down! It's all symbolic! Now that I've decided to give him all that by throwing a party the dreams are gone! What a relief! I don't harbor hidden feelings for Tristan!~
Satisfied with her reasoning Rory hurried to the kitchen. Throwing her backpack and blazer onto a chair she walked over to grab her morning pop tart and coffee.
"Morning mini-me!" Lorelai chirped from her spot at the table.
Rory turned and leaned against the counter, coffee cup in one hand and the pastry in the other. "Dr. Evil." Rory replied narrowing her eyes into slits but quickly replacing it with a smile.
"Nope! That's Tristan. No wait, Tristan already has too many names. That can be his dad's name!" Lorelai said excitedly.
"Like father like son." Rory mused.
"Anyway, you missed your bus."
"I know. Jeep?" Rory asked hopefully.
"And make me walk?" Lorelai questioned like it was the worst thing in the world.
"It's not that far!" Rory bounced playfully back. .
"Heels!"
"Harvard!"
"Work!"
"Chilton!"
"Oh, speaking of hell," Lorelai said, forgetting their banter, "are you going to invite any Chiltonites to our little b-day bash?"
"Invite the forces of evil to our quiet innocent town? I don't think Stars Hollow would survive!"
"Doubt that. Taylor and Miss Patty are more than enough to take on the little demons, imagine the whole town set loose on 'em?!"
"When Good Towns Go Bad…" Rory said in a newscaster voice.
"Next at 10!" Lorelai finished.
"Well, I'll talk to Henry today, maybe he can help me weed out the annoying ones and just invite the softies." Rory said, then looked at her watch. "I'm late! Jeep?"
"Evil minion." Lorelai grumbled but handed over the keys anyway. "Oh, hey today Sookie wants me to help select food for the party so I'm going to do that and at lunch I'll meet up with Luke and Kirk on security for this thing. When are ya gonna bring Tristan around for the first batch of happy townspeople?"
"Um, today, after school at Luke's. Tell Miss Patty to be on alert. Bye mom!" with one final swig of her coffee Rory was gone.
* * * * * * *
"Mary." Tristan's voice floated over her shoulder.
"Tristan, why am I not surprised?" she said turning around to see his usual cool swagger had returned.
"Hey, can we walk and talk?" he asked raising his eyebrow.
"Sure, what's on your mind?" Rory said turning and walking with him to their first period.
"I wanted to apologize again for how mother treated you last night, she had no right." he said dropping his voice. "Also, please, don't tell anyone about," he stopped and held onto her arm and pulled her closer, "how I acted last night."
"What, you being civil to me for the first time?" she said harshly.
"No, that's not what I meant." he said in a hurt voice. He looked around nervously but brought his eyes back to hers.
"It's okay, I'm sorry. Listen, I know that we haven't been the best of friends but for the sake of sanity can we call a truce?" she asked extending her hand towards him.
"I guess, can I still call you Mary?" he asked coyly.
Rory smiled slightly, nodded, and Tristan accepted her hand. Electricity flew through them as skin made contact with skin. Rory shivered as her gaze met Tristan's piercing blue eyes. Time stopped as they stared at one another, she shook her head and broke the trance.
"So, anyway," she said nervously, "you can call me Mary but I don't have anything to call you?"
"I can think of a few things." Tristan said suggestively as they started walking again.
"I'm sure you can but I was thinking more along of the lines of something not sexually suggestive?"
"Darn, all out of suggestions then." Tristan said in mock frustration.
"I'll think of something then."
"Won't be as fun as the ones I had in mind but sure. Hey, about our project, now I wasn't able to move the thing yet so we can stop by at my house to pick it up real quick…"
"Actually," Rory interrupted, "I brought my own car today cuz I missed the bus so why don't I just meet you at my house. That way you can change your clothes into something more suitable for walking around."
"Wait, why?" Tristan asked as they entered their class and sat down.
"Because, you've dropped me off at my house a bunch of times but you've never really seen Stars Hollow, so before we do bio why don't I take you on a grand tour?" Rory asked.
"Okay." he answered with a shrug of the shoulders.
"Great, the first step to our truce becoming a friendship is for you to meet some of the people in my life."
"When do I meet the parents for the wedding announcement?" he whispered seductively as class started.
"When hell freezes over." she replied out of the corner of her mouth and turned her attention towards the teacher.
~Step one of operation B-day is in motion~ she thought silently.
Later that day at lunch instead of heading to her usual secluded table, Rory sought out one of the few people she actually considered a friend, Henry.
"Hey Henry." she greeted happily when she approached his table where he sat with a group of friends.
"Hey Ror, what's up?" he replied in the same manner.
"Actually, I need to talk to you about something," eyeing his friends who were listening intently she talked in code. "I nong pong rong I vong a tong e."
Henry's friends looked at each other in confusion at what was said (wondering if it was English) but Henry's was scrunched in concentration. Seconds later, understanding took over.
"Oh, right. Sure. I'll see you later guys!"
With that he got up and followed Rory outside to one of Chilton's many courtyards and sat with her on a bench under a tree. Once they were out of hearing distance from anyone else they spoke.
"Sorry I didn't understand you right away, I'm not used to the "ong", sounds too Asian and I get it confused with Korean." Henry said with a smile.
It made him feel closer to Lane and Rory when they taught him a few of their code languages they used to stop the ever-present gossipers from hearing what they were saying. Henry knew for a fact that even Dean wasn't let in on it. You knew you were there to stay for good when the girls began to say "Hop e lop lop o" to you instead of a simple 'Hello'.
"Sorry, I would have used "op" because trust me I know that language better but I wanted to throw your friends off the trail."
"No it's okay. It just took me a while to figure out you said "in private", you said it so fast that it sounded like "I'm a pirate". My mistake." Henry said bursting into laughter, followed by Rory.
"Anyway," Rory said after she controlled the laughter, "do you know Tristan DuGrey?"
"Tris? Yeah, we go way back. Best friends…well we used to be." Henry said sadly.
"What happened?" Rory said with a frown.
"Back in freshman year, we were tight but then things got messed up. He began to get caught up with the ladies and becoming king of the school whereas I got pulled into my studies. We don't talk so much anymore but I'm not mad at him or anything."
"Well, how about I give you a chance to reconcile?"
"How?" Henry asked.
"His birthday is on Saturday, you know that right?" Rory continued after he nodded, "his parents forgot…"
"Again?" Henry interrupted. Rory nodded. "Last time that happened, he was so upset, how did he take it this time?" Henry asked in concern. They may not be the best of friends anymore but that doesn't erase the memories that had formed way back when the two boys met in kindergarten.
"Pretty bad. But we, the whole town of Stars Hollow that is, are throwing him a surprise birthday party on Saturday to make up for it. I was wondering if you would like to come?" Rory asked, biting her lip as she waited for the answer.
"Sure. Yeah, maybe we can fix the space between us at the same time."
"Great! Um, is there anyone else that you think would like to come? No one evil. You've been to Stars Hollow, heck, after Lane's parents found out about you over the summer and let you two date, you were officially declared a resident! You know how my…our," Rory added with a smile, "town acts so…"
"No problem. I can think of a few people who Tris and I used to be friends with that might want to come."
"Great! But please be very quiet about it. While Chilton is no match for the Stars Hollow Gossip Hotline, this school still has a very advanced rumor mill. No one else can know cuz they'll crash the party and worst of all they'll know where I live so they can torment me when we're not in school too." she begged with pleading eyes.
"Secrets safe."
"Tong hong a nong kong song!" Rory said with a mischievous look in her eyes.
Henry sat with the "deer in the headlights" look on his face while he worked out what she had said. Rory had already gotten up and was walking away slowly as she laughed.
"Oh, your welcome!" he called and ran to catch up with her.
* * * * *
"Okay so everything is in place?" Rory asked over the phone.
"All set!" Lane chirped, the noise of the diner's customers could be heard faintly in the background. "When he gets there, call over, Miss Patty and your mom are waiting."
"My mom?"
"She's here for protection."
"I thought Luke and Kirk were handling that?" Rory questioned as she looked out the window waiting for Tristan's car to arrive.
"Have you met the people in our town?"
"Good point. So Babette's going to start the game of telephone?"
"Yup, she's been instructed to start dialing as soon as Bible boy shows up then as you walk out she'll intercept for first contact."
"Good. Listen I need to change before he gets here so I gotta go. Tell Luke I'll talk to him when we get there."
"Check."
With that the girls hung up the phone and Rory rushed to get ready. A mere ten minutes later Tristan's car pulled up next to the sidewalk. Seeing this Rory rushed to look over next door, Babette was already on the phone talking furiously. Rory smiled, seconds later the doorbell rang and Rory snapped back into action.
"Hey Tristan!" Rory greeted upon opening the door to her house.
"Hey Mare! Where can I put this thing?" Tristan asked as he carried the bio dome inside.
"Over here in the living room." she said.
"Um, great. So anyway, I'm all dressed and ready for the walk through of the town as you ordered so…"
"Let's go! But first I have to make a quick call."
"Okay." Tristan agreed.
Rory picked up the phone, on the way to the kitchen she looked out the window and saw Babette waiting out on the lawn pretending to be arranging garden ornaments. Rory dialed and waited for two rings until someone picked up.
"Speak."
"Luke?"
"Rory?"
"Yeah, isn't Lane supposed to pick up?" she whispered.
"Yeah, hold on, she got in a disagreement with your mom over who makes better coffee. Starbucks or Coffee Bean. I'll go get her."
"Hey." Lane said a few seconds later.
"Hey." Rory responded. Feeling someone coming up behind her Rory switched her speech. "Hong e' song hong e rong e. Wong e' rong e cong o mong inong gong." (Translation: He's here. We're coming.)
"Got it. See you in five." Lane understood and hung up.
"What was that all about? Was that even English?" Tristan asked from behind her.
"Nothing. Let's go." Without another word she grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the house. Babette promptly sprung into action.
"Hey doll!" she called running over. "How are you? Who's your friend?"
"Tristan DuGrey ma'am." he said and extending his hand towards the woman before Rory could say anything.
"Well, aren't you charming. Just call me Babette everyone does doll. So how do you know Rory?"
"From school, Babette. We're working on a project for biology." Rory supplied. "But, we must be going now, bye."
"Later doll!" she called as Rory pulled him away.
~Lots of people to meet~ Rory thought silently.
"Oh hey, Tristan. I know that you were raised to say ma'am and sir and all that but my mom hates when people call her ma'am so, when you meet her, call her Lorelai, or else."
"What will happen if I don't?" Tristan asked curiously as he looked around the town. "Is it just me or is everyone staring at me?"
"Well, if you don't my mom will turn you into the town's first speed bump, it will make the newspapers, history in the making. Oh, and this is a small town of gossipers, of course everyone is staring at you."
"Is that a good thing?"
"What being turned into a speed bump?" Rory asked with a mischievous grin.
"You know what I mean." Tristan scolded gently as they walked towards what to him looked like a hardware store.
"Let's just say, be prepared to be asked a lot of questions. Oh and when we get to the diner don't be worried if everyone already knows who you are."
They walked into Luke's and Tristan got a very confused look on his face.
"Isn't this…?"
"Nope." Rory answered, knowing what he was going to ask.
"But why does the…"
"Sign say 'Hardware'?"
"Yeah."
"Rory!" Lane squealed from her stool next to Lorelai.
"Tristan, this is my best friend Lane." Rory introduced as they walked over. "And this is my mom."
"Nice to meet you Lane, Lorelai." he greeted warmly.
"Lorelai? You taught Bible boy well young grasshopper." Lorelai said with a nod to Rory.
"Bible boy?" Tristan asked in confusion.
"Yeah you know the whole Bible reference thing with the calling my daughter Mary thing." Lorelai rambled. "If you don't like it we can call you another name. We have many. Evil Tristan, Damien, Spawn of Satan, Dr. Evil…"
"No, that's Tristan's dad's name." Rory interrupted.
"Oh, right…anyways, not the point!"
"Hey kid." Luke greeted from behind the counter. "You must be the Evil one." he said acknowledging Tristan.
"Wow, I'm pretty popular around here." Tristan commented in a mixture of sarcasm and amusement.
"Ror, I think Jess said he wanted to talk you back here." Luke said with a pointed look.
"Oh, okay, Tris I'll be back in a minute." Rory said letting his nickname slip from her mouth.
"Sure." he said in a semi daze at what she just said.
"Are you going to be okay?"
"Don't worry about him, he'll be fine." Lorelai grinned mischievously.
"Mom, behave!"
"Okay fine. Oh look, Miss Patty is coming!" Lorelai said pointing out the window at the fast approaching dance teacher.
Rory shook her head and went in the back. Jess was already waiting.
"Okay you two might wanna sit down." Luke suggested after closing the door so no one could hear them.
"What's this about Luke?" Jess asked.
"You two know that I really love Lorelai right?" Luke asked. The two teens nodded. "Well, I can't go on as just her boyfriend…"
"Oh my gosh! Are you going to break up with her?!" Rory interrupted suddenly.
"No!" Luke replied.
"You can't break up with her! She's a good person and you finally lightened up when you got together!" Jess argued, not hearing Luke's answer.
"Listen! Shut up! We're not breaking up!" Luke said loudly but then hushed remembering that only a thin door separated them from the rest of the diner's occupants. "I want to marry her." he said quietly.
"What?!" Rory and Jess burst out simultaneously.
"Oh my God! That's great!" and "I'm so happy for you!" were said many times by the two teens who were ecstatic, without thinking they quickly hugged each other and then hugged Luke who had a huge smile on his face.
"So you approve?" he asked.
"Of course! Why wouldn't we! We're going to be cousins." Rory said the last part to Jess.
Jess just shrugged his shoulders happily.
"But, I thought you were against marriage?" Rory asked.
"I was, but you're mom changed that I guess." he answered.
"Well, when are you gonna propose? Did you pick out the ring? Is there going to be room for the four of us at the Gilmore house?" Jess asked quickly.
"Slow down." Luke said. "I want to propose Saturday night, at the party because she won't be suspecting it. I already got the ring, it's very vintage-ish, from a jewelers in Hartford because if I bought it here everyone would have known by now. And as far as living arrangements I have no idea."
Satisfied with the answer the teens remained silent as he continued to talk.
"This town is the biggest bunch of talkers on the planet. I'm surprised with everyone talking that the kid doesn't know about his party already but I can trust you two. Don't say a word to anyone about this, the less people who know about it the better."
"Mop yop lop ipop sop a rop e sop ea lop e dop!" Rory answered.
"What?!" Luke exclaimed.
"She said 'My lips are sealed' and the same goes for me too." Jess answered.
Confused but not wanting to ask Luke nodded and led them out to the rest of the diner.
"Okay, people back off!" they heard Lorelai yell.
Coming out from around the corner they saw Tristan sitting next to Lane at the counter with there eyes glued on Lorelai who stood in front of them holding a spatula facing a crowd of people.
"Back off people! Leave the poor boy alone for one day!" she cried. They showed no signs of moving. Lorelai began to wave the spatula at them like a mad woman.
"You heard Lorelai! Everyone let him be!" Miss Patty ordered and she escorted the rest of the crowd out of the diner. Tristan let out a sigh of relief.
"What happened? And why are you holding my spatula?" Luke asked grabbing the utensil from her hand.
"They got out of hand. Just attacking Tristan with questions. I had to hold him off!" Lorelai exclaimed.
"Hey, we're going to show Tristan around the town now." Rory cut in. Looking at Tristan she saw the scared look on his face. Lane noticed this too.
"Don't worry. They won't bug you. Jess and I will be your body guards." Lane reassured.
Tristan relaxed and walked out with them.
"So, show me the sights of this little town." he said.
The four walked across to towards the gazebo but stopped abruptly when someone shoved Tristan violently to the ground.
"Dean!" Rory yelled.
Thanks for reading! I'm sorry it was kind of long! Most of my stories are long and I've been known to write chapters with at least 15 pages but I tried to spare you from that torture. Sorry the ending of this chapter is kind of weak but I wanted to be done with it. I made a very important decision about the future of this fic, some of you may not like it others my not care but trust me it is all for the best. You'll find out what the decision is in due time but for now don't worry about it and just review!
