A/N: Hehehe…. I apologize, plz forgive me! What I meant when is that Tristan will finally appear in THIS chapter… And the relation between Jess and Rory will be clearer now! N/way, I hope u enjoy!

That Summer

4.We're Here

"Are we there yet?"

"For the tenth million time, no!" the driver replied, starting to get annoyed by her best friend.

"Actually, it was only the um… twelfth time?" smirked Jess.

"You actually counted? Gee, I didn't know you had that much time to spare." Countered the Korean girl.

"Hey, do you prefer me to bring my water gun and shoot at every passing car?"

"And have a mob of angry drivers chasing us? No way! Beside, I'm sure you can even aim right."

"I'm from New York, what do you think I did in my free time?"

"Actually, I'd rather not ask."

"Guys…" Dean sighed.

"What?!"

"We're here." The two friends finally noticed that the car had stopped and that Rory was already out of the driver seat, hands on her hips.

"Oh."

"What her said."

---

"Hey guys."

Paris had greeted them at the door and was now guiding them towards the living room. They were the first ones there, apart from some of the blonde's girl cousins.

"This is John." She nodded towards a sandy-haired boy. "Jane, Amy, Carol and Steve." She pointed to three girls and another boy. They smiled at each other before sitting down a bit awkwardly at first but the host soon eased them and soon they were chatting animatedly.

The doorbell soon rang again and Madeleine and Louise appeared a few moments later. Less than an hour later many more persons followed.

---

"Um… we're still missing a few persons…" Paris frowned. The others shrugged and resumed their conversations. Just like an answer to her question, the bell rang again and the guests paused, raising their eyebrows.

The girl walked to the door and opened it to reveal the last guests.

"You're late." was the first words that came out of her mouth. She smiled.

"Hey Par- woah!" one of the boy exclaimed, hugging the girl that had flung herself at him at the sound of his voice, almost knocking him of as the others observed, amused.

"Lane." He simply said, giving her a light kiss. She beamed at him and Rory could only giggle at her friend's excitement. But she suddenly tensed when she felt hands on her shoulders.

Turning around, she came face to face with to none other than Tristan, with his usual smirk. Somehow he had slipped in unnoticed and she starred at him for a while before grinning.

"How did you get in?" she whispered, although she didn't why she was.

"Came with Henry…" he replied equally softly "…and Kyle." He motioned to a boy standing behind Henry and she waved at him.

"How are you?" she turned back to him.

He smiled and shrugged then his gaze landed on Dean. He almost wavered before quickly recovering his usual smirk and cast a glance back to her. A breath of relief escaped him when he saw that her attention was back on Lane who was clutching his Asian friend.

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That's it for now! So bring on the reviews!!! (constructive criticism is always welcome.)

Vi. Nguyen

written mid-May 2002