See chap. 1 for info.
Chapter 2: Freedom, Truth, Beauty, and LOVE
"It was just a stage kiss, it was just a stage kiss..." Rory repeats to herself as she walks from the bus stop to her house.
"Meaningless. That's what it was." Rory mutters, refusing to listen to her rapidly getting louder heart.
"Did you hear me? MEANINGLESS!" Rory yells, her face flushed from anger. Anger at what? Tristan? Herself? Dean? Only Rory had the answer to that.
"What was meaningless?" Lorelei pops her head around the front door.
"Mom! Have you been waiting for me to get home by the front door again?" Rory says admonishingly.
"No, I was just, doing some, umm.... work! On the front door, making sure it worked ya know, when I heard you shout. You were so loud, I would've been able to hear from anywhere though." Lorelei says guiltily.
"Yeah, sure...so what kind of work were you doing on the front door?" Rory asks innocently as they walked into the house.
"Oh, I was.....hey wait! You're trying to change the subject! Sneak! The coffee gods are displeased at you for trying to trick your dear mummy who raised you with the wolves..." Rory puts up her hand to stop her mother's babbling.
"Mom! Once again, doing that 'making no sense' jingle you're so good at." Rory says, no longer tense, now that she was with her mom.
"So what was meaningless?" Lorelei bounds right into the subject.
"Nothing was, I was just... I was practicing my lines!" Rory says, the idea clicking in her head.
"Nice try sweetie, but no dice. I've seen that movie thirty times, thanks to a CERTAIN SOMEONE, who made me watch it over and over, and at no point in the film does she yell, 'Did you hear me? Meaningless!'. So spill." Lorelei says gently. This could be something big, by the way she had been yelling.
"Well, first off, Tristan made peace with me, which was really unnerving, because it was so unexpected. So we were rehearsing this scene, and everything was going fine. Until the end." Rory pauses.
Lorelei looks at her excitedly. "What? What happened?"
"We had to kiss. And the kiss, it was...oh God! It was incredible. It was unlike any other kiss I've ever had. I forgot my name in that moment. All I could think about was his lips on mine. I didn't want it to end, yet I wanted to pull away and scream at him for making me feel that way." Rory confesses.
"Oh my God! Wow, that's big news. What are you going to do?" Lorelei says pityingly.
"I don't know. Dean has never made me feel that way. He makes me feel safe. When ever I'm around him I feel content. But when I was with Tristan, I felt tingly and my heart was racing a million miles a hour..." Rory trails off, her mind lost in thoughts of the emotions she felt when she was kissing Tristan.
"But just because I felt something when we kissed doesn't mean anything. I'm not going to do anything about it. I love Dean! He makes me happy and safe. And up until today, I've loathed Tristan. This should be no contest. So why do I feel like I'm doing something bad?" Rory says gloomily.
Lorelei pulls Rory close and hugs her. She pulls back and looks at her daughter seriously.
"Honey, I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I think you should re-evaluate your relationship with Dean. Because if you really loved Dean, then you wouldn't feel something for Tristan when you guys kiss."
"I love Dean. I'll just make myself not feel anything for Tristan when I kiss him." Rory says stubbornly.
"How is Dean taking the whole you-Tristan thing anyway?" Lorelei changes the subject.
"Well," Rory looks uneasy, "I sort of, haven't told him."
Lorelei looks at her daughter in shock. " Does he even know you're in a play?"
"Yes, of course! But he doesn't know that I was paired with Tristan as the two leading love interests—again." Rory tries to make it like it's no big deal, but Lorelei knows better, she knows why Rory hasn't told him. She knows how Dean is possessive with her.
"I hate to say it babe, but you're screwed. Dean is going to flip when he finds out. Especially that you waited so long to tell him. Good luck."
"I'm going to need it!" Rory groans and puts her head in her mothers lap.
***
Rory walks to the supermarket where she is supposed to meet Dean. After her talk with her mother, she has some doubts about the relationship, but refuses to address them. She doesn't want to break up with Dean. She remembers the last time they broke up, and how lonely she was.
"Hey Dean!" Rory waves to him as she crosses the street to over where he is standing.
"Hey Rory." He hugs her, and Rory sighs a deep blissful sigh. She is happy to be in his warm arms. Thoughts of being in Tristan's warm muscular arms surface, but she ignores them. She wants to enjoy being with Dean.
"How are you? How is the play going?" Dean asks tenderly as they walk to Luke's.
"The play? Oh, it's going fine!" Rory chirps quickly. Dean looks over at her.
"Fine? That's not what you were saying last week. I believe you were alternating your hate between Chilton, Moulin Rouge, Paris and Tristan."
At his last word, Rory is once again reminded of Tristan, and after that, kissing Tristan. Which led to guilt. And anger.
"Meaningless." She mutters under her breath.
"What?" Dean asks concerned. Something is off tonight, and Dean is worried about what is wrong.
"What? Oh, nothing. I didn't say anything. Silence over here!" Rory bounces back into perky voice.
"You're acting strange tonight. Is anything wrong?" Dean questions her. She shakes her head and smiles.
"Nope nothing wrong. Well, actually, yes there is." Rory takes a deep breath.
"What? Is it school?"
"It's the stupid play. I'm Satine." Rory says.
"Wow, you got a lead part! That's great! Wait, why is this bad?" He looks over at her suspiciously.
"It's who's Christian." She says, knowing he is going to be furious.
"Who?" He asks wearily, knowing what's coming.
"Tristan." She finishes, relieved to finally told him.
"Ugh! I hate that guy! He can't even act, I remember that Romeo and Juliet scene. He was so smug about being Romeo. Why is he Christian? You should ask Paris to give the part to someone else, anyone else!" Dean spouts off angrily.
"She won't, because he actually does make a good Christian. And there's nobody else that can sing and act, so we got put together again." Rory said nonchalantly.
Dean glares at her. "You know, really not helping with the whole situation right now."
"I think you're doing a good job of holding in your anger. Usually by now you would be yelling and going to go look for Tristan to punch him out."
"I want to, believe me. I desperately want to. But I know you would be angry at me if I messed up the play." Dean admits to Rory, " But from now on, I'm going to come and watch your after school rehearsals whenever I can to make sure he doesn't try anything."
"Dean! You can't do that! Paris would be pissed and Tristan would just do something to provoke you, you know that. Besides, I can deal with him myself, I don't need you to watch over him. And I don't think we'll have too many after school rehearsals until a couple weeks before opening night. Right now we only have in class rehearsals." Rory tries to reason with him and Dean relaxes slightly.
"Fine, but if he does anything at all, tell me, and I'll deal with it, okay?" Dean says gruffly.
"Yes, Dean." Rory snuggles closer to Dean, and he relaxes completely.
"I just love you so much." Dean whispers into her hair. Rory tenses up. She has gotten used to hearing that from him, but today, it doesn't sound right. It sounds wrong, like it should be coming from a different person. But Rory forces herself to loosen up.
"Meaningless." She whispers, but the look of melancholy on her face and the sorrow in her tone tell us otherwise as she stares out the window of the diner.
***
"Okay people, listen up! We're not accomplishing as much as I hoped we would at these in class rehearsals. So I was thinking we could practice after school here. But when I asked the teacher about it, she said that the other class had already asked to use it after school....so how about if we practice at somebody's house?" Paris calls out.
"Tristan, your house has that big dining room, why don't we rehearse at your house?" Paris asks, and Tristan thinks about it.
"Sure, whatever. Are we doing it today? Because I'll have to clear it with my parents first." Tristan replies distantly as he stares off into space. As usual, his mind is on other things, or one certain person, to be exact, and he has trouble concentrating on what is actually being said.
"No, we can start at your house tomorrow if it's okay." Paris says, just as distantly, but for different reasons. She is so busy trying to figure things out in her head, trying to make things work.
"Okay, now get to work! Tomorrow at Tristan's house we'll practice the opening Moulin Rouge scene, so be prepared!"
Paris walks over to where Rory is standing, memorizing lines.
"Rory, are you free tonight? Because if you are, I was thinking you and Tristan could start practicing the 'Your Song' scene at Tristan's house. Because we haven't really focused on that scene at all, and I really want to finish going through all the scenes by Friday, so we can actually put the play together by Monday and start rehearsing it in order. So are you free?" Paris says all of this in one breath.
Rory takes a minute to think about it. She was supposed to help Dean with his Trig homework tonight, but she could probably do that later.
"Yeah, I'm free, what time should I be there?" Rory is nervous about doing another love scene with Tristan, they had been avoiding each other since the kiss.
"I still have to talk to Tristan about it, but I'm thinking around five to maybe six thirty, seven?" Paris rushes off without waiting to hear Rory's answer, and Rory replies to the air,
"Sure, that sounds fine Paris."
***
"Where's Paris?" Rory asks as she walks into the library, where Tristan is waiting.
"She just called me and said that she wouldn't be here until five forty five at the earliest because her mom is making her attend a family dinner thing." Tristan responds quietly. He isn't sure how to act around Rory. He is still stupefied from her kiss, and desperately wants to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless, as crazy and cliched as that sounds.
"Oh, well, should we start?" Rory looks anywhere but at Tristan, and is currently very interested in the floor.
"You don't have to be nervous around me, we're, almost friends now, right?" Tristan says, sick of the silence.
"Yeah, and it was just a stage kiss, between Satine and Christian!" Rory says, getting into it, reassuring herself that she has nothing to feel guilty about.
"It was..."
"Meaningless." They say to each other at the same time. The look at each other, startled, and then laugh shakily. Rory notices, not for the first time, how blue his eyes really are.
"So where would be a good place to rehearse?" Rory asks, more comfortable.
"My room, I guess, because isn't a bedroom scene?" Tristan isn't exactly at ease with the idea of Rory in his room but he figures there's no other room that would be as good.
"Okay, lead the way, navigator!" Rory jokes. She isn't exactly comfortable with being in his room alone with him but figures that he won't try anything.
***
Rory looks around his room. It's a typical teenage boy's room, with posters of rock bands and clothes strew all around the room.
"Sorry it's not very neat, I'm generally a messy person, and I don't like it when the maid comes and cleans in here." Tristan apologizes as he picks up the clothes and throws them into his huge closest.
"It's okay, you should see our house, it's extremely messy!" Rory laughs.
"Okay, so shall we get started?" Tristan asks, once the room is semi-clean.
"Yeah, lets start at, 'wonderful place for a poetry reading', okay?" Rory says. She doesn't really like this scene, because she basically is trying to make love with Tristan while he reads poetry.
"You got it." Tristan likes this scene, because Rory has to put her hands all over him, or, make it look like she is anyway. She essentially acts like a crazed madwoman in this scene. They slip into character and begin.
(Satine is in her little dressing room area, and Christian is looking out the window, waiting for her. She comes out)
"Wonderful place for a poetry reading, don't you think?" she says alluringly. Christian turns around.
"Some champagne?" she asks.
"I'd rather just get it over and done with." He answers nervously.
"Oh. Very well." She walks over to the bed and lies down on it. "Why don't you come down here, and get it over and done with?"
"I'd rather do it standing." Christian replies. Satine starts to get up, " You don't have to stand, I mean. It's just, sometimes it's quite long, and I'd like you to be comfortable. It's quite modern, what I do, and it may be a little strange at first, but, but if you're open to it, then you may find that you enjoy it."
Satine smiles, and Christian tries to begin.
"The sky....is blue? No.." Christian starts mumbling to himself.
"Um, is everything alright?" Satine asks, concerned.
"I'm a little nervous, and sometimes it takes a while for, inspiration to come."
"Ooh." Satine nods understanding. Then she gets up from the bed and starts walking over to him, saying, "Let mummy help."
"Does that inspire you?" Satine says, and then throws him on to the bed.
"Let's make love!" she says enticingly. "You want to, don't you?"
Christian struggles to get up. "No, I can't."
"Tell the truth, feel the poetry!" Satine says, trying to rip at his clothes.
"Yes, I need your poetry now!" She screams.
Christian gets up from the bed.
"It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside." He speaks while fidgeting with his hat nervously.
"I'm not one of those who can," he searches for a word, "easily hide!"
Christian looks over at Satine, who is staring at him, puzzled. "Is this okay? Is this what you want?"
Satine then understands. " Ooh. Poetry! Yes, yes, yes, this is what I want, naughty words!"
"I don't have much money, but boy if I did, I'd buy a big house, where we both could live!" Christian continues, while Satine is screaming, I love it! To herself and rocking back and forth.
"If I were a sculptor, but then again, no. If I were a man who makes potions a traveling show." He pauses, and Satine looks over at him.
"Don't stop!" she pleads. She keeps repeating that, but Christian still proceeds.
"I know it's not much." Christian looks over at Satine with disgust, " but it's the best I can do." He turns back to the window and belts out,
"My gift is my song!" He sings really quiet now, "And this one's for you. And you can tell everybody, that this is your song. It maybe quite simple, but now that it's done."
Satine just stares at him in astonishment and awe.
"Hope you don't mind, hope you don't mind, that I put down in words," He pauses, "how wonderful life is, now you're in the world!"
"Sat on the roof, and I kicked off the moss." Christian sings soulfully, "Well, some of the verses, they've got me quite cross. But the suns been kind, as I wrote this song, and it's for people like you that keep it turned on!"
Satine slowly gets up and Christian holds her close.
"So excuse me for forgetting, but these things I do!" Christian gazes straight into her eyes, "You see I've forgotten, if they're green or they're blue! Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean...Yours are the sweetest eyes, I've ever seen!"
Christian swings her around and they start dancing around the room, envisioning dancing on clouds in the sky, while Christian keeps singing.
"And you can tell everybody, that this is your song! It maybe quite simple, but now that it's done...I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind, that I put down in words..." Christian murmurs, "How wonderful life is, now you're in the world"
Rory, not Satine, just stares at him, and then, without thinking, leans in and softly presses her lips against his. Tristan is shocked, but he responds with a gentle force. They stay like that for about thirty seconds and then they hear a throat being cleared. They pull away, startled.
Paris is at the door of Tristan's room, uncomfortable.
"Hi Paris! We were, um, practicing!" Rory says, her voice sounding loud to her ears. All she can hear is her heart beating. Tristan wipes his mouth.
"Yep, busy rehearsing....so, how did your dinner go?" Tristan says, still occupied wiping lipstick off his mouth.
"Oh, it was a normal Gellar event." Paris says dryly. "It ended with my mother screaming accusations at my father and throwing perfectly good china at him, while my relatives cowered and took notes so they could report it back to the wolves at the club."
"Sounds like fun. I'm going to go tidy up. Where's the bathroom?" Tristan instructs Rory, and she leaves the room.
Paris turns to Tristan. "There was no kiss in the scene you were rehearsing, was there?"
Tristan looks at Paris guiltily and shakes his head. "It just happened, I had just finished 'Your Song' and she was supposed to deliver her line, but she just leaned in and kissed me, wham, out of the blue! God, I hate her, yet, I think I, lo- love her." His voice shakes at that last sentence, he doesn't say it often.
Rory is standing around the corner listening to him talk to Paris, and Paris replies to him, but Rory doesn't hear what she says. She gets a scared look on her face and turns around and starts down the stairs.
***
* And then one day
One magic day
He passed my way
While we spoke
Of many things
Like fools and kings,
This he said to me.
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return."*
Authors Note: Well, there it is, Part 2. Thank you to all of you who have reviewed, it makes me very happy indeed! I will probably get the next part out sometime next week or sooner, depending on how busy I am. I'm also thinking that there will be 2-3 parts left, but I'm not sure. Don't know where I'm heading with this, but we'll find out!
Chapter 2: Freedom, Truth, Beauty, and LOVE
"It was just a stage kiss, it was just a stage kiss..." Rory repeats to herself as she walks from the bus stop to her house.
"Meaningless. That's what it was." Rory mutters, refusing to listen to her rapidly getting louder heart.
"Did you hear me? MEANINGLESS!" Rory yells, her face flushed from anger. Anger at what? Tristan? Herself? Dean? Only Rory had the answer to that.
"What was meaningless?" Lorelei pops her head around the front door.
"Mom! Have you been waiting for me to get home by the front door again?" Rory says admonishingly.
"No, I was just, doing some, umm.... work! On the front door, making sure it worked ya know, when I heard you shout. You were so loud, I would've been able to hear from anywhere though." Lorelei says guiltily.
"Yeah, sure...so what kind of work were you doing on the front door?" Rory asks innocently as they walked into the house.
"Oh, I was.....hey wait! You're trying to change the subject! Sneak! The coffee gods are displeased at you for trying to trick your dear mummy who raised you with the wolves..." Rory puts up her hand to stop her mother's babbling.
"Mom! Once again, doing that 'making no sense' jingle you're so good at." Rory says, no longer tense, now that she was with her mom.
"So what was meaningless?" Lorelei bounds right into the subject.
"Nothing was, I was just... I was practicing my lines!" Rory says, the idea clicking in her head.
"Nice try sweetie, but no dice. I've seen that movie thirty times, thanks to a CERTAIN SOMEONE, who made me watch it over and over, and at no point in the film does she yell, 'Did you hear me? Meaningless!'. So spill." Lorelei says gently. This could be something big, by the way she had been yelling.
"Well, first off, Tristan made peace with me, which was really unnerving, because it was so unexpected. So we were rehearsing this scene, and everything was going fine. Until the end." Rory pauses.
Lorelei looks at her excitedly. "What? What happened?"
"We had to kiss. And the kiss, it was...oh God! It was incredible. It was unlike any other kiss I've ever had. I forgot my name in that moment. All I could think about was his lips on mine. I didn't want it to end, yet I wanted to pull away and scream at him for making me feel that way." Rory confesses.
"Oh my God! Wow, that's big news. What are you going to do?" Lorelei says pityingly.
"I don't know. Dean has never made me feel that way. He makes me feel safe. When ever I'm around him I feel content. But when I was with Tristan, I felt tingly and my heart was racing a million miles a hour..." Rory trails off, her mind lost in thoughts of the emotions she felt when she was kissing Tristan.
"But just because I felt something when we kissed doesn't mean anything. I'm not going to do anything about it. I love Dean! He makes me happy and safe. And up until today, I've loathed Tristan. This should be no contest. So why do I feel like I'm doing something bad?" Rory says gloomily.
Lorelei pulls Rory close and hugs her. She pulls back and looks at her daughter seriously.
"Honey, I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I think you should re-evaluate your relationship with Dean. Because if you really loved Dean, then you wouldn't feel something for Tristan when you guys kiss."
"I love Dean. I'll just make myself not feel anything for Tristan when I kiss him." Rory says stubbornly.
"How is Dean taking the whole you-Tristan thing anyway?" Lorelei changes the subject.
"Well," Rory looks uneasy, "I sort of, haven't told him."
Lorelei looks at her daughter in shock. " Does he even know you're in a play?"
"Yes, of course! But he doesn't know that I was paired with Tristan as the two leading love interests—again." Rory tries to make it like it's no big deal, but Lorelei knows better, she knows why Rory hasn't told him. She knows how Dean is possessive with her.
"I hate to say it babe, but you're screwed. Dean is going to flip when he finds out. Especially that you waited so long to tell him. Good luck."
"I'm going to need it!" Rory groans and puts her head in her mothers lap.
***
Rory walks to the supermarket where she is supposed to meet Dean. After her talk with her mother, she has some doubts about the relationship, but refuses to address them. She doesn't want to break up with Dean. She remembers the last time they broke up, and how lonely she was.
"Hey Dean!" Rory waves to him as she crosses the street to over where he is standing.
"Hey Rory." He hugs her, and Rory sighs a deep blissful sigh. She is happy to be in his warm arms. Thoughts of being in Tristan's warm muscular arms surface, but she ignores them. She wants to enjoy being with Dean.
"How are you? How is the play going?" Dean asks tenderly as they walk to Luke's.
"The play? Oh, it's going fine!" Rory chirps quickly. Dean looks over at her.
"Fine? That's not what you were saying last week. I believe you were alternating your hate between Chilton, Moulin Rouge, Paris and Tristan."
At his last word, Rory is once again reminded of Tristan, and after that, kissing Tristan. Which led to guilt. And anger.
"Meaningless." She mutters under her breath.
"What?" Dean asks concerned. Something is off tonight, and Dean is worried about what is wrong.
"What? Oh, nothing. I didn't say anything. Silence over here!" Rory bounces back into perky voice.
"You're acting strange tonight. Is anything wrong?" Dean questions her. She shakes her head and smiles.
"Nope nothing wrong. Well, actually, yes there is." Rory takes a deep breath.
"What? Is it school?"
"It's the stupid play. I'm Satine." Rory says.
"Wow, you got a lead part! That's great! Wait, why is this bad?" He looks over at her suspiciously.
"It's who's Christian." She says, knowing he is going to be furious.
"Who?" He asks wearily, knowing what's coming.
"Tristan." She finishes, relieved to finally told him.
"Ugh! I hate that guy! He can't even act, I remember that Romeo and Juliet scene. He was so smug about being Romeo. Why is he Christian? You should ask Paris to give the part to someone else, anyone else!" Dean spouts off angrily.
"She won't, because he actually does make a good Christian. And there's nobody else that can sing and act, so we got put together again." Rory said nonchalantly.
Dean glares at her. "You know, really not helping with the whole situation right now."
"I think you're doing a good job of holding in your anger. Usually by now you would be yelling and going to go look for Tristan to punch him out."
"I want to, believe me. I desperately want to. But I know you would be angry at me if I messed up the play." Dean admits to Rory, " But from now on, I'm going to come and watch your after school rehearsals whenever I can to make sure he doesn't try anything."
"Dean! You can't do that! Paris would be pissed and Tristan would just do something to provoke you, you know that. Besides, I can deal with him myself, I don't need you to watch over him. And I don't think we'll have too many after school rehearsals until a couple weeks before opening night. Right now we only have in class rehearsals." Rory tries to reason with him and Dean relaxes slightly.
"Fine, but if he does anything at all, tell me, and I'll deal with it, okay?" Dean says gruffly.
"Yes, Dean." Rory snuggles closer to Dean, and he relaxes completely.
"I just love you so much." Dean whispers into her hair. Rory tenses up. She has gotten used to hearing that from him, but today, it doesn't sound right. It sounds wrong, like it should be coming from a different person. But Rory forces herself to loosen up.
"Meaningless." She whispers, but the look of melancholy on her face and the sorrow in her tone tell us otherwise as she stares out the window of the diner.
***
"Okay people, listen up! We're not accomplishing as much as I hoped we would at these in class rehearsals. So I was thinking we could practice after school here. But when I asked the teacher about it, she said that the other class had already asked to use it after school....so how about if we practice at somebody's house?" Paris calls out.
"Tristan, your house has that big dining room, why don't we rehearse at your house?" Paris asks, and Tristan thinks about it.
"Sure, whatever. Are we doing it today? Because I'll have to clear it with my parents first." Tristan replies distantly as he stares off into space. As usual, his mind is on other things, or one certain person, to be exact, and he has trouble concentrating on what is actually being said.
"No, we can start at your house tomorrow if it's okay." Paris says, just as distantly, but for different reasons. She is so busy trying to figure things out in her head, trying to make things work.
"Okay, now get to work! Tomorrow at Tristan's house we'll practice the opening Moulin Rouge scene, so be prepared!"
Paris walks over to where Rory is standing, memorizing lines.
"Rory, are you free tonight? Because if you are, I was thinking you and Tristan could start practicing the 'Your Song' scene at Tristan's house. Because we haven't really focused on that scene at all, and I really want to finish going through all the scenes by Friday, so we can actually put the play together by Monday and start rehearsing it in order. So are you free?" Paris says all of this in one breath.
Rory takes a minute to think about it. She was supposed to help Dean with his Trig homework tonight, but she could probably do that later.
"Yeah, I'm free, what time should I be there?" Rory is nervous about doing another love scene with Tristan, they had been avoiding each other since the kiss.
"I still have to talk to Tristan about it, but I'm thinking around five to maybe six thirty, seven?" Paris rushes off without waiting to hear Rory's answer, and Rory replies to the air,
"Sure, that sounds fine Paris."
***
"Where's Paris?" Rory asks as she walks into the library, where Tristan is waiting.
"She just called me and said that she wouldn't be here until five forty five at the earliest because her mom is making her attend a family dinner thing." Tristan responds quietly. He isn't sure how to act around Rory. He is still stupefied from her kiss, and desperately wants to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless, as crazy and cliched as that sounds.
"Oh, well, should we start?" Rory looks anywhere but at Tristan, and is currently very interested in the floor.
"You don't have to be nervous around me, we're, almost friends now, right?" Tristan says, sick of the silence.
"Yeah, and it was just a stage kiss, between Satine and Christian!" Rory says, getting into it, reassuring herself that she has nothing to feel guilty about.
"It was..."
"Meaningless." They say to each other at the same time. The look at each other, startled, and then laugh shakily. Rory notices, not for the first time, how blue his eyes really are.
"So where would be a good place to rehearse?" Rory asks, more comfortable.
"My room, I guess, because isn't a bedroom scene?" Tristan isn't exactly at ease with the idea of Rory in his room but he figures there's no other room that would be as good.
"Okay, lead the way, navigator!" Rory jokes. She isn't exactly comfortable with being in his room alone with him but figures that he won't try anything.
***
Rory looks around his room. It's a typical teenage boy's room, with posters of rock bands and clothes strew all around the room.
"Sorry it's not very neat, I'm generally a messy person, and I don't like it when the maid comes and cleans in here." Tristan apologizes as he picks up the clothes and throws them into his huge closest.
"It's okay, you should see our house, it's extremely messy!" Rory laughs.
"Okay, so shall we get started?" Tristan asks, once the room is semi-clean.
"Yeah, lets start at, 'wonderful place for a poetry reading', okay?" Rory says. She doesn't really like this scene, because she basically is trying to make love with Tristan while he reads poetry.
"You got it." Tristan likes this scene, because Rory has to put her hands all over him, or, make it look like she is anyway. She essentially acts like a crazed madwoman in this scene. They slip into character and begin.
(Satine is in her little dressing room area, and Christian is looking out the window, waiting for her. She comes out)
"Wonderful place for a poetry reading, don't you think?" she says alluringly. Christian turns around.
"Some champagne?" she asks.
"I'd rather just get it over and done with." He answers nervously.
"Oh. Very well." She walks over to the bed and lies down on it. "Why don't you come down here, and get it over and done with?"
"I'd rather do it standing." Christian replies. Satine starts to get up, " You don't have to stand, I mean. It's just, sometimes it's quite long, and I'd like you to be comfortable. It's quite modern, what I do, and it may be a little strange at first, but, but if you're open to it, then you may find that you enjoy it."
Satine smiles, and Christian tries to begin.
"The sky....is blue? No.." Christian starts mumbling to himself.
"Um, is everything alright?" Satine asks, concerned.
"I'm a little nervous, and sometimes it takes a while for, inspiration to come."
"Ooh." Satine nods understanding. Then she gets up from the bed and starts walking over to him, saying, "Let mummy help."
"Does that inspire you?" Satine says, and then throws him on to the bed.
"Let's make love!" she says enticingly. "You want to, don't you?"
Christian struggles to get up. "No, I can't."
"Tell the truth, feel the poetry!" Satine says, trying to rip at his clothes.
"Yes, I need your poetry now!" She screams.
Christian gets up from the bed.
"It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside." He speaks while fidgeting with his hat nervously.
"I'm not one of those who can," he searches for a word, "easily hide!"
Christian looks over at Satine, who is staring at him, puzzled. "Is this okay? Is this what you want?"
Satine then understands. " Ooh. Poetry! Yes, yes, yes, this is what I want, naughty words!"
"I don't have much money, but boy if I did, I'd buy a big house, where we both could live!" Christian continues, while Satine is screaming, I love it! To herself and rocking back and forth.
"If I were a sculptor, but then again, no. If I were a man who makes potions a traveling show." He pauses, and Satine looks over at him.
"Don't stop!" she pleads. She keeps repeating that, but Christian still proceeds.
"I know it's not much." Christian looks over at Satine with disgust, " but it's the best I can do." He turns back to the window and belts out,
"My gift is my song!" He sings really quiet now, "And this one's for you. And you can tell everybody, that this is your song. It maybe quite simple, but now that it's done."
Satine just stares at him in astonishment and awe.
"Hope you don't mind, hope you don't mind, that I put down in words," He pauses, "how wonderful life is, now you're in the world!"
"Sat on the roof, and I kicked off the moss." Christian sings soulfully, "Well, some of the verses, they've got me quite cross. But the suns been kind, as I wrote this song, and it's for people like you that keep it turned on!"
Satine slowly gets up and Christian holds her close.
"So excuse me for forgetting, but these things I do!" Christian gazes straight into her eyes, "You see I've forgotten, if they're green or they're blue! Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean...Yours are the sweetest eyes, I've ever seen!"
Christian swings her around and they start dancing around the room, envisioning dancing on clouds in the sky, while Christian keeps singing.
"And you can tell everybody, that this is your song! It maybe quite simple, but now that it's done...I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind, that I put down in words..." Christian murmurs, "How wonderful life is, now you're in the world"
Rory, not Satine, just stares at him, and then, without thinking, leans in and softly presses her lips against his. Tristan is shocked, but he responds with a gentle force. They stay like that for about thirty seconds and then they hear a throat being cleared. They pull away, startled.
Paris is at the door of Tristan's room, uncomfortable.
"Hi Paris! We were, um, practicing!" Rory says, her voice sounding loud to her ears. All she can hear is her heart beating. Tristan wipes his mouth.
"Yep, busy rehearsing....so, how did your dinner go?" Tristan says, still occupied wiping lipstick off his mouth.
"Oh, it was a normal Gellar event." Paris says dryly. "It ended with my mother screaming accusations at my father and throwing perfectly good china at him, while my relatives cowered and took notes so they could report it back to the wolves at the club."
"Sounds like fun. I'm going to go tidy up. Where's the bathroom?" Tristan instructs Rory, and she leaves the room.
Paris turns to Tristan. "There was no kiss in the scene you were rehearsing, was there?"
Tristan looks at Paris guiltily and shakes his head. "It just happened, I had just finished 'Your Song' and she was supposed to deliver her line, but she just leaned in and kissed me, wham, out of the blue! God, I hate her, yet, I think I, lo- love her." His voice shakes at that last sentence, he doesn't say it often.
Rory is standing around the corner listening to him talk to Paris, and Paris replies to him, but Rory doesn't hear what she says. She gets a scared look on her face and turns around and starts down the stairs.
***
* And then one day
One magic day
He passed my way
While we spoke
Of many things
Like fools and kings,
This he said to me.
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return."*
Authors Note: Well, there it is, Part 2. Thank you to all of you who have reviewed, it makes me very happy indeed! I will probably get the next part out sometime next week or sooner, depending on how busy I am. I'm also thinking that there will be 2-3 parts left, but I'm not sure. Don't know where I'm heading with this, but we'll find out!