Monopoly

Chapter 2

A/N:  See the prologue for the disclaimer.  Yet again, thanks to everyone who reviewed.  I'm having a little bit of a writer's block right now.  At the weirdest moments I come up with ideas for new chapters – so I have a few chapters saved up.  I'll post them when I get enough reviews!  Of course, I'm not bribing you… ;)  This chapter is rated pg-13 for some not so nice words =) and maybe a few... um... references as well. 

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The car ride to Starbucks was a boring one.  In order to break the uncomfortable silence, John attempted to turn on the radio.  Of course, because he was driving, he pressed the air conditioner button instead.  Rory nearly froze to death until he finally figured out how to turn the damn thing off.  After she turned the radio on for him, she was beginning to regret that she ever did – the music was horrible, to say the least.  She tried to block out the tunes by looking out of her window. 

Think happy thoughts, she told herself. 

"So…" John was at a loss for words.  "What kind of music do you like?" 

Well.  I guess he noticed that I don't like his, um… music. 

"Oh, I don't know.  It's hard to place what I like under a certain category.  A lot of music interests me."

"That's cool.  I guess it's kind of hard to place what I like under a category either… but I'm sure if you were to do that, you would put it somewhere between 'crap'
and 'shit'."

Rory blushed at his comment, but she smiled.  "It's not that bad.  I guess you and I don't agree on our interests in music.  Completely okay."

"I'm sure we'll find something to agree on.  Um, what about… movies?  What's your favorite movie?"

"Well, I don't think I have a favorite, but I'm a real sap for romance movies.  That and Willy Wonka."  She said this as though there was nothing odd about it, that every 17 year old should have a passion for the children's movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

"Willy Wonka?" 

"As weird as it sounds, yes.  My mom and I watch it all the time."  Seeing the look on his face, she added, "My mom and I are very close.  I guess I'm pretty lucky, because not all girls have good relationships with their moms." 

He grinned at her.  "Yeah, my dad and I aren't exactly the best of friends.  Maybe that's because he moved out on me and my mom 10 years ago.  I never talked to him much after that, all I got was a yearly check for 100 bucks on my birthday.  Not that I'm complaining, though."  Rory laughed at his comment.  She didn't even notice the car stopped until she sensed the familiar smell of coffee.

As they walked in, they engaged in a conversation about movies and books.  Since they didn't agree on music, they carefully avoided the subject.  Sitting at a table, Rory sipped on her frappucino as she listened intently to John talk about his infatuation for the book Pride and Prejudice.  Since they were talking about their favorite things, Rory decided that now was not the time to bring up the fact that he and Tristan were shooting death glares at each other after school.  She decided that there really was no perfect time to bring it up.  Sighing, she decided to say something. 

"John, I want to ask you something."  He put down his cup of coffee and stared at her, waiting for her to talk. 

"I'm all ears."

"Well, it was about after school today.  When you came up to me at my locker, I noticed that you and Tristan looked like you wanted to kill each other.  Would you care to elaborate, or am I going to have to get it out of you?"  Surprised by her assertiveness, Rory shut up, waiting for John to answer.  Instead of letting it out right away, he let out a big sigh before finally speaking.

"It's like this.  Remember the guy I was telling you about, the one that hates me… a lot?"  Rory nodded, knowing where this was going.

"Well, surprise, it's Tristan."  With that, he got up to throw away his half-full cup of coffee.  Not only was Rory shocked that he got up so abruptly, but she was also surprised that the idiot threw away half of a perfectly good cup of coffee.  John sat back down, looking at her questioning eyes.  "Okay, so I guess I owe you more of an explanation than that."  After she nodded, he sighed a second time.  "We were all at a party.  With a few people – Duncan, Bowman, and a few other guys.  Tristan and I were sitting alone at a table, probably because we were both too drunk to do anything else."  Seeing the look of shock on Rory's face, he added, "I never really do anything like that.  I guess it was kind of like the spur of the moment type of thing."  He paused for a few seconds.  "Anyway, we were talking for awhile.  And I guess we got kind of bored, because there was really nothing to do at the damn party.  Tristan was tired of fooling around with girls, I guess.  Well, to make a long story short, he offered to sell me some drugs, he said he needed the money for something.  I don't do that crap.  I didn't know why he would.  I said no, and I guess he's hated me ever since."
Rory was, if anything, at a loss for words.  Tristan? Drugs?  Somehow, those two words didn't sound right.  They didn't belong in the same sentence.  Sure, Rory knew that Tristan did some stupid stuff in the past, but she never thought that he would have done that.  She was absolutely bewildered.  John took Rory's silence for granted, thinking to himself. 

I can't believe she actually believed me.  Well, it looks like Gilmore is taking the bait.  I'll have her hating that asshole in no time, and then I'll finally get him back for what he really did to me.

Looking at his watch, John saw the time as an excuse to leave.  "Wow, I never knew that time could go by so fast.  I guess it's time to leave."

As soon as they were in the car and on their way to Rory's house, she felt extremely uncomfortable.  She hardly knew John, and but she was already getting a weird feeling about him.  She was confused as ever, namely because he just seemed so nice.  Maybe, she decided, I'll have to get to know him better.  Then I'll know for sure. 

When John pulled into her driveway, Rory jumped at the chance to get out of the car and get her back pack.  Before she entered her door, however, she mumbled a quick "thanks" and "see you in school tomorrow".  John just smiled at her and before she knew it, he was on his way, his black BMW barely visible during the night. 

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 Rory walked home to a very hyper Lorelai. "Oooh Rory, is he hot?  Is he nice?"

Rory rolled her eyes but smiled at her mother's childish behavior.  "I'm a little tired.  I'll tell you about it in the morning."
Lorelai's face fell.  "But... but... I wanted to watch Willy Wonka!  You can't get enough of those cute little Oompa Loompas!" 

Seeing her mother's disappointed face, Rory finally gave in.  "Oh, alright.  But I'm not going to put on that costume you designed, and I'm certainly not going to put purple makeup on.  Do that, and you're on your own." 

"But that takes the fun out of it!"

"Sorry, Mom."  With that said, Rory plopped down on the couch and stared at the screen on of the TV, trying to concentrate on the movie and not on Lorelai's singing of the Oompa Loompa theme song. 

[A/N:  well, how'd you like it?  I know it was kind of short, but in the next chapter, you're going to get... well… some troryness (maybe not good troryness, but it's still troryness. Well, it makes up for the lack of it so far.  But, the real trory stuff doesn't come until later on.  Hey, absence makes the heart grow fonder!  In the next chapter, John might lie to Rory a little more. J (jerk!) ]