"Orange juice and waffles, please." Tristan muttered as he sat in front of the counter, his face dark and grim.
Jess looked over the teenager in front of him. "No coffee?"
Tristan shook his head. "Not in the mood for it."
Jess chuckled. "If only my aunt heard that."
Tristan tried to grin, but the bitterness came through instead. "How many people in this town are addicted to coffee?"
Jess jerked his head towards the kitchen. "Two. My aunt and my, uh, stepcousin."
Tristan looked up. "Is that even a word?"
Jess shrugged. "No idea."
"I know two coffee addicts and two is enough." Tristan said finally.
"Coming right up."
A moment later he handed Tristan a tall glass of orange juice.
Tristan was sipping a bit of it when somebody stormed in.
"What are you doing here?" An unpleasantly familiar male voice demanded.
"Trying to get this stupid project done so I can go home and watch Dark Angel." Tristan said in a low tone, rolling his eyes a bit.
"What project?" Dean demanded.
"A Shakespeare assignment. I'm here early so that I can get out of everyone's hair earlier." Tristan kept a straight, cool face when facing Dean. "Your girlfriend doesn't want me, so you have nothing to worry about."
Dean bit his lip. He wasn't going to kick the dog when he was down.
"Just leave her alone, alright?" Dean asked in a low tone.
"Don't worry about me. I have better things to do than go chasing empty dreams." Tristan whispered.
Dean turned out of the diner and as soon as he left, Rory rushed up to Tristan. "What is wrong with you?"
"Calm down, Rory. If anything, this guy was the voice of reason." Jess glared at his stepcousin and she glared back.
"You don't know him." Rory hissed through gritted teeth.
"You don't either." Jess countered.
"When we're done with this Freud analysis, we can get this project done and I can go home." Tristan reminded them both.
"Coffee. Waffles." Rory demanded, sitting down next to Tristan.
"Here are your waffles, man." Jess handed Tristan the plate and Tristan began to eat.
"What do you think you're doing?" Rory asked as Jess went back into the kitchen.
"What are you ranting about now, Gilmore?" Tristan asked her, turning to face her.
The coldness of his eyes sent a chill down Rory's spine and it was only early October. "You're taking over my town. My mom adores you, Luke likes you, Jess is starting to befriend you, and Dean is beating you into orange juice pulp like he should be."
Tristan looked her over again and chuckled bitterly. He turned back to his plate of waffles. "I'm using my people skills so this project can be done smoothly, quickly and with enough caliber to bring me the A plus I really need to maintain a 4.0."
Rory rolled her eyes. "Tristan DuGrey actually studying."
Tristan glared at her. "When you get distractions out of the way, you have an excellent path to your future."
Rory looked at him, somewhat amused. "And what distractions might you be talking about, Mister DuGrey?"
"You don't care." Tristan reminded her.
"That I don't." Rory had to remind herself in a murmur.
"Are we going to get this done, or what?" Tristan asked, raising his eyebrows and standing up. He put a ten down on the counter. "Keep the change."
"Jess! Breakfast!" Rory demanded, almost panicking.
"Jesus, Gilmore. I never saw you so desperate for anything besides coffee in my life." Jess muttered as he put down the plate in front of her.
"Well, that was before HE came home." Rory shot a glare to the teenage boy standing outside of looks, just waiting for Rory to finish. Several people began to stare.
"Somebody's getting riled up." Jess commented as he walked back into the kitchen.
"I AM NOT GETTING RILED UP!!!" Rory shouted at him, and by now the entire diner was staring at her.
Rory wanted to bang her head on the counter but didn't want the maple syrup on her face. She looked out at Tristan, who was making friends with—Taylor?
And then Kirk came along. Not long after that, Miss Patty was planning her attack.
"WHAT NEXT? MICHEL?" She shouted to no one in particular.
More wishing that her face was in doughy syrupiness ensued.
"What is the deal with this stupid play?" Rory demanded.
"Well, everyone loves to compare the people from two different worlds to it. West Side Story, Roman Holiday, Sound of Music, Bring It On.." Tristan explained. Rory looked at him like he was crazy. "Oh, you know, head cheerleader with rocker boy? Never in a million years."
"I still don't see your point." Rory muttered.
"Which will make this debate classic. Rory, the soft and timid one, being the cynic against the whole Romeo and Juliet study, and Tristan, the hardcore former playboy, defending the sentiments." Tristan sort of smiled for the first time since the night before. "It'll just prove the significance of it all."
"Former playboy?" Rory raised an eyebrow, flipping the pages of her cliff notes.
"I haven't dated anyone since sophomore year, Rory. No one important." Tristan murmured. "How about this? We work on our arguments separately and meet up a day or two before."
Rory wanted to scream, "NOOOOOOOOO!"
But the command sort of stopped in her throat. She gulped. "I guess that would be okay."
Tristan spotted the disappointment on her face automatically. "How about three days before, if it makes you a little more comfortable. We can bust our butts all next weekend and get it done."
Rory found the courage to say no. "No, this is a project we just can't blow it on. It's too vague and too difficult. We need to work together on this."
Tristan swallowed the words he was going to say, arranging that they met the next week. "Fine. Whatever."
"Why don't we head on over to my place?" Rory asked, hoping she didn't sound too—Hopeful.
Tristan nodded, gathering his books and sort of closing his eyes. Two years ago he would have killed to be in this sort of situation. But now, it was killing him.