"Go on, you two." Emily urged, and Rory rolled her eyes. She led Tristan up to the room that Lorelei had labeled 'The Lair'.
"Mom calls it the Devil's Lair and I don't blame her." Rory muttered. "Don't scream. It really is quite scary, but you get over it."
Tristan held back a risqué and implying comment.
She opened the door and he walked in casually. She closed the door and he let out a strangled cry.
"N'Sync?" He murmured in horror.
Rory nodded sadly.
"Scary. Quite scary."
"We have to be up here for half an hour to ensure she doesn't make us come back. Normally, Mom and I put a piece of plastic over the poster and draw mustaches and stuff. But Grandma comes in here a lot, so we don't do anything permanent." Rory explained. She sat down on her bed and Tristan was walking around the room with his left hand shoved into one of his pant pockets.
"It must be odd having a room so—Impersonal." Tristan said after a moment, running a finger over the face of a porcelain doll.
"This is nothing in the Emily Gilmore book. Once she handed me a bunch of Post-It's with my name on it and told me to go around the house putting them on things I wanted." Rory told him with a look of disgust.
"I don't regret it." Tristan stated after a pause of uncomfortable silence.
"Don't regret what?" Rory asked, though she had an idea of what he was talking about.
"Being a jerk. It would be too much of a cliché. I'll admit I loved to rile you up, because I knew I was getting your attention." Tristan said, not meeting her eyes. "It's nice to pretend to be friends and I guess I owe you an apology, but I will never say I regretted it. Not now at least."
Rory was just about to lose it. "You owe me an apology, all right. You owed me an apology from the moment you called me Mary."
"I'm sorry, okay?" Tristan offered. "But it's nice to have conflict. That's what a good story always needs."
Rory rolled her eyes. "Dean and I never had this kind of conflict to get us 'together'."
Tristan chuckled bitterly. "That's why it's not going to last."
Rory was getting really angry now. "How the hell would you know? The only time you ever talked to Dean was at the dance when you made an idiot out of yourself."
Tristan bit his lip, looking like he was amused and saddened at the memory. "You'll never get it, will you?"
He headed for the door. "I'll go into your grandfather's library. Get me when you think we've spent enough 'quality time' with each other."
Rory watched him leave and was suddenly confused. He was always this strong, confident character. She only remembered five occasions when he had been emotional at all- The night of the dance, Madelyn's party, the following school day, that last day of sophomore year, and tonight.
Why did he enjoy getting her riled up? Why did she enjoy getting riled up? Why seemed to be the only question going through her mind. Why was he so good at this? Didn't military school teach him to be all—Good?
She thought back. Military school had changed him alright, but he was still the bottled-up Tristan he had always been.
"Why does she even care what I call her? Does she even realize I pay attention to her so much that the words can't come out of my mouth right?" Tristan was murmuring.
"Not really. Rory's brilliant in every field but the love of the opposite sex." Lorelei chirped and Tristan turned around. "I swear, I was convinced that the Romeo and Juliet book was the one that you pulled out to reveal a secret passage, but after I pulled the whole bookcase down on myself, I pretty much gave up that idea."
Tristan smiled smugly at Lorelei. She was a female, older version of him.
"I think I played with this old fireplace in my mother's boudoir for hours to try to find the secret passage. I ended up dirty and lectured." Tristan told her after a moment. He pulled out the Romeo and Juliet book. He flipped through a few of the pages. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose.."
"So that's your philosophy in life." Lorelei said confidently. "That makes a lot of sense. Doesn't matter who you are or what you're called, you are the one for me sort of thing. Very 'Pretty Woman'."
Tristan looked up from the book, raising one eyebrow. "I guess I never expressed my philosophy in life."
Lorelei looked at him, reminiscing. He was a mixture of Christopher and herself all over again.
"At least you know what it is now." She reminded him. "I'll leave you alone in your loneliness, Bassanio."
She was walking out when his voice reached her ears. "I'm not quite Bassanio. I'm more like—I can't truly relate to a Shakespearian character."
"But he wrote so diversely. Can't you find yourself in there?" Lorelei asked innocently, cocking her head to one side.
"I am the original, Lorelei." Tristan said after a moment of comfortable silence. "Originals have no one to relate to."
Lorelei nodded wisely. "I'll leave you in your loneliness, then."
Tristan smiled at her sadly. "Thanks."
Rory was still between confusion and anger when she slammed the door of the Jeep and the two sort of sat in silence for a while before Lorelei started it up.
"The kid seems nice." Lorelei said after the long ride entering Stars Hollow.
Rory grumbled instead of responding.
"Very.. Me." Lorelei continued. This comment Rory could NOT ignore.
"No. You're human. He's—The spawn of Satan." Rory muttered. "To put it in less than five syllables and subtracting profanities."
"Something tells me, my darling daughter, that you know less about Tristan than you think you do." Lorelei whispered as soon as they had reached their home.
The Gilmores had moved into the Danes household upon the marriage that previous summer. Lorelei had sold the home that they had had their infamous parties and movie nights, and the money had gone towards the wedding and the inn she and Sookie were still planning on opening.
The former home of the Danes was converted into a 'master suite' and the room that Luke had occupied earlier became Rory's. She had moved her things in upon the first day of Luke and Lorelei's honeymoon (the only week that Luke's had ever seemed to be closed) and she made Jess pay for each time he put his 'ugly, horrific, terrifying scrawl' in any of her books.
"Hey, Rory." Jess drawled as she came into the living room (Lorelei had insisted on curtains, and Luke had insisted that she not get the Barbie ones).
"Fugglestoop." Was all she could say. She dropped down onto the couch next to him.
"Dinner at Grandma's not quite up to sitcom par?" Jess asked with the raise of an eyebrow.
She glared at him. "You know that Luke's going to send you to Chilton and you, too, will be forced to endure the horror that is dinner in hell."
"Actually, Rory had someone her age to talk to today." Lorelei chirped as she slid onto the couch next to them.
"Who?" Jess inquired, sitting up and narrowing his eyes.
"Tristan the Hot." Lorelei responded.
At the same time, Rory grumbled, "The spawn of Satan."
Jess laughed. "Nice?"
Lorelei grinned. "Great."
At the same time, Rory muttered, "Horrible."
"The kid is like me when I was his age. A lot more disconnected with his heart, that is. But a lot of logic. A blonde, rich, more clean-cut you." Lorelei explained.
Rory snorted.
"And he's got this unrequited crush on Rory." Lorelei added. "And evil Paris loves him."
"Worships the ground he walks on." Rory snapped. "There's a difference."
"His interest in Rory during sophomore year was no helper in the French department." Lorelei continued.
"No helper? It made me fail!" Rory exclaimed.
"Rory's exaggerating." Lorelei said. "She doesn't know the kid as well as she thinks she does."
"Thanks for the Freud analysis." Rory muttered.
"Freud is more Jess's style." Lorelei told her.
"Yeah, Lorelei is more Sally Jessie Raphael." Jess reminded her.
"What?" Lorelei demanded.
"Sorry, I forgot you had a preference for Jenny Jones." Jess whispered.
"Ricki Lake would win if she didn't go Oprah on us." Lorelei said confusedly. "I just don't understand the huge glasses thing with Sally."
"I think she was trying to go for a more matronly look. You know, Miss Minchin." Jess explained.
"Miss Minchin was evil, if I remember quite well." Rory murmured, the space between her eyebrows wrinkling.
"But she gave the parents a feeling of matronly responsibility." Jess told her.
"Can we get back to Tristan here?" Lorelei demanded. "Anyway, so he said something to Rory, sort of stormed off, and that's when I started talking to him."
"Doesn't justify anything." Rory grumbled, slouching a bit more than usual.
"You're being unreasonable, stubborn and Loreleish." Jess told her and Lorelei smiled at him.
"You have done well, little grasshopper. Lower your IQ by inventing your own words. Wax on, wax off." She got up. "Shouldn't you be in the diner?"
Jess got up, muttering unhappily. "Yeah. I think I'll go in there lumberjack style, just to confuse him."
Lorelei grinned. The pair's relationship had improved rapidly since the marriage. They both seemed to enjoy teaming up against Luke and against Rory on her bad, coffee-less mornings.
"I think I'll join you. It would be far more entertaining on me." She said, beaming. "Backwards cap, gray t-shirt, plaid flannel shirt with rolled-up sleeves and a pair of dirty jeans. Sounds good."
The two left, scheming more by the moment, and they left Rory in her confusion and her anger.