Title: Imagine Me Without You (Chapter 3)
Pairing: TRORY
Summary: you have to read the story to figure that out. This is for all you TRORY fans :)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. Just an obsessed TRORY-aholic. I am however highly upset that Tristan and Rory couldn't even share one last kiss because BEAN was there! The title of this series was inspired by Jaci Veasquez's Imagine Me Without You. It's such a pretty song!
Rating: PG-13 for now?! I think...mild-cussing here and there, so beware!
E-mail: gigi@xquisite.net
Etc: This is my first fan-fic. I appreciate "constructive" critcism. Love Gigi
Chapter 3: Homecoming/Wallowing
[On a bus driving back to Hartford, Connecticut]
He had been gone now for over 5 months now and after careful consideration, the Dugreys decided that it was time that Tristan come home. The country club gossip mill had wondered where the charming young man had gone to and the Dugreys could no longer lie about his disapperance. He had been sent away to military school as a punishment to the prank he had pulled in late Fall 2001 with two other Chiltonites. He didn't go a day without regret for what he had done. It was a childish act of foolishness and he payed for it. After staying in a place where no one cares who you, where you're not the star, and where you worked hard to receive respect, he was more than ready to come home, although not glad as one would usually be. He would be coming back home, to a home that was broken. There would be no welcome for him at the Dugrey residence, that he was sure of. But a hope that never died in him, even when he was miles and miles away from home and Chilton, was the hope that'd he would see Rory Gilmore again.
Rory Gilmore was a one-of-a-kind girl. Witty and smart she was, a girl with substance. She at first was like no other conquest to Tristan. But when his charmed failed to win her over, he knew then that Rory Gilmore was something different. She was far from normal, extroardinary really, and she was far more than the word "pretty". She was beautiful. She had baby-blues that sparkled like diamonds, which was more than enough to spread a smile on Tristan's chiseled face. Her smile and her banter was enough to make him day dream about her in class. He wished that Rory would look at him in a way that no other girl looked at him. He longed for nothing but for her to adore and accept him because he had already accepted everything about who she was.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
The Dugrey residence didn't look the slightest bit different as he walked through the front door. Tristan expected the house to be vibrant in color but he realized that there really never was any "color" inside the Dugrey mansion. The Dugreys didn't go for "color". They wanted to scream out money and indeed it did. Tristan's maid approached him as he stood in the grand hall looking around at the emptiness and dullness of his home. She asked to take his suitcase but pleaded to her in sincerity that he could carry it up to his room himself. The gestue astonished her and she smiled warmly at the change in the young Dugrey. His hair was no longer a messy tuft of blondness but a clean-cut shaven style, with blonde spikes that he perfectly knew how to style. Even without hair, the young man was no doubt handsome. The venture from home had apparently instilled maturity in him. The maid hesitantly placed her hand on the shoulder of the handsome fellow.
"Welcome home Mister Dugrey. Welcome home. Is there anything that you would like? Anything you need?"
He turned to smile back at her and replied that he did not need anything at the moment. She walked away and Tristan walked up the flight of stairs with his suitcase in hand. The air was filled with a tinge of bitterness, nothing new. He approached his bedroom door and stood before it with anticipation. "Odd' he thought to himself, "why would I be hoping for anything different in my room?" He turned the knob to discover that his room had been left untouch, like he had never left. The comforters were still plush, posters of numerous bands plastered on the wall, all reflections of who he was. He casually dropped the suitcase to the floor and being free like a child, he fell backwards onto his bed. He was home.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
"Honey, I think the dip doesn't have enough of the chip" as she watched Rory dip the small chip into an ocean of onion dip, staring blankly at a taped re-run of Smallville.
She didn't care to notice, apparently still upset over last weekend's incident. She had broken up with Dean and the outcome was not turning out how she liked. If anything, she knew it was the right thing to do; she had no regrets about breaking up with the jerkball at all. It was a Friday night and the common dinner at the Gilmore residence in Hartford had been cancelled because the grandparents were out of town. Lorelai wanted to go out with Luke that evening but saw how lonesome Rory was and decided to keep her company. Luke was more than understanding, knowing that Rory would always come first in her life.
"Honey, did you hear me at al? HEY! There's a cockaroach in the corner!"
Rory immediately dropped the chip into the dip and forced her eyes to look at every corner of the living room. Cockaroaches irked her. When she found none to be present, she exchanged an icy-glare to Lorelai.
"That was mean."
"But you looked.", hoping her smile would crack out a little one onto Rory's face. It failed.
Rory then looked down at the chip that sank into the onion dip. Lorelai decided that they needed to talk about the Dean-issue and turned off the television. As she was about to sit down right next to the ailing girl, Rory said that she didn't want to talk about it, which really meant that she did.
"I don't understand. I'm supposed to be relieved that I broke up with him, right? I didn't expect to feel so confused. I don't even want to wallow---"
Lorelai cut in. "You're not supposed to." Rory exchanged her mother a estranged look. "You're not supposed to wallow over a jerk. That's the #1 rule. If he's a jerk, then you're not allowed to wallow for him. He doesn't deserve your wallowing. I want you to know that you did nothing wrong."
She still stared down at the chip in the dip, when Lorelai took it away and said that a chip with too much dip doesn't give you much lip. Lorelai could see the waterworks would start soon and she opened her arms to her babe. Rory fell in and softly sobbed into her mother's arms. A mother's love and concern was always a comfort to her, she thought, as Lorelai stroked her hair. After a moment of silence, she arose out of the loving arms and wiped her shedding tears away. She straightened her baby blue pajamas and pulled her hair away into a ponytail.
"You're right mom. He isn't worth wallowing over. I'm just frustrated becase I know now that he's a jerk. A jerk who didn't love me at all. It just hurts a little to know that spot where he used to be in my heart is now just a puncture wound."
Lorelai didn't want to push it but she ached to ask a question that was sure to hit a sour note.
"Babe, did you love Dean?"
"No......I didn't. That was a mistake on my part. I figured I could learn to love him but I just couldn't produce those feelings for him. We should've broken up a long time ago. He said something that I'm scared to admit that I believe."
"What's that?"
"He said that no one else could love me or care about me the way he did. I'm scared that's true."
"Honey, I can't believe that you would believe what that jerk said. You know that's not true. None of it. When you find the one that you love, you'll know it. He will trust you, he will love you, he will respect you, he will bring out the best in you, he will accept everything about who you are. Rory believe me, when you find that someone, you're not going to let him go. I know that you'll be able to love him and have that love returned. Do you get that Lorelai Leigh Gilmore?"
The words caused Rory to shed more tears but tears of happiness and hope. She wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and hugged her tightly. What would she do if her mom wasn't around?
"Now honey, you might want to dig that chip out of the onion dip. It's starting to look like a wart with chives. Wait, that's a piece of my hair."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
After unpacking his suitcase, Tristan decided to relax. He popped in Incubus's latest CD into the CD player and fixated himself onto his bed until he was comfortable. A soft knock was heard at the door, when Tristan pressed the pause button to ask who it was.
"It's the person who sent you away.", as the older but still handsome Dugrey opened the door.
"Oh, you." He didn't know what to say and decided to say hush, as he usually did around his father.
"The maid said she let you in earlier this evening. How was your trip back?"
"It was alright. The country club talk much about my so-called vacation father?" as he stared right into his father's cold-stone eyes. Both were in a state of awkwardness but thoughtfully exchanged half-smiles. The two looked alike, one younger and older of course. Mr. Dugrey still stood his ground on the doorway and looked around his son's room. Having Tristan there of course livened up the room. The two were complete opposites. He indeed loved his son but knew of no good way to show him how much he cared for him. It wasn't the Dugrey way and he saw much of the tradition rubbed off onto Tristan. But he knew somehow that Tristan was unlike the rest of their family line; he could learn to love.
"Well, I see that you need to get your rest. Enjoy the weekend while you can, you're going back to Chilton on Monday. By the way, I forgot to give you something."
As he strided over to the desk drawer, he pulled out a fairly large enveloped package. He slowly walked up to Tristan, who held out his to receive the weighty object. He looked down at the package and saw no writing and looked up once more to see his father in the doorway.
"Goodnight son. Welcome home."
He sincerely replied, "Good night Dad. Thanks for taking me back." The words had affect on his father as he smiled and quietly closed the door behind him.
"Hmm, what could this be?" as Tristan pondered what was fitted inside. To kill the curiosity, he tore open the package and pulled out the 2000-2001 Chilton annual. He stared at the annual with question and realized that he never got one. He was still confused but nonetheless amused, as he saw that there were several issues of the Chilton newspaper stuffed into the envelope. Tristan scanned through a few and saw on the front pages, where the ground-breaking news were, that Rory's name was under those headlines. "Figures" as he smiled to himself. He would read them later, knowing that'd he take great interest in reading them, just because she wrote them. Because he never took a look at last year's annual, what perfect opportunity than to do so now. He expected to find the yearbook empty with no signatures but he was wrong. Opening the cover, he sees a paragraph of words inscribed on the bottom right corner.
"I managed to save you an annual, seeing that its fine craftmanship not be forgotten. Why? Because I'm in it a lot. I had to fend thousands of girls to be on the very first page. That's a first, huh? I'm the first thing you see Dugrey. ANYWAYS, you're already cocky as it is. The Hartford gossip mill found out that you were coming back at the end of the school year. Don't be a fool; I didn't miss you. I'll see you on Monday. Your entourage will be waiting. - Paris Gellar"
He chuckled to himself. Silly girl. He turned the page to see thousands of signatures, mainly of girls, telling him how they missed him so and how gorgeous he was. He disregarded them with no interest and skimmed through the pages. Nothing yet had caught his interest until he got to the sophomore class section. He looked through the columns and saw all the familiar faces. He thumbed through and saw his picture. Oh how he missed the hair. He smirked and turned to the next page and came upon Paris's picture. Although he wasn't attracted to her the way he was to Rory, Paris was pretty. She had hair that most people would love to have, a silky blonde touch to it. Rory was right, she had substance and wit. Paris knew what she wanted and Tristan admired her for it. He snapped out of his thoughts and skimmed through the rest of the section. Unfortunately, Rory's picture was nowhere to be found, since she had transferred in late into Chilton. A bit discouraging, he didn't need a picture to remember how she looked. He would AWAYS remember the way she looked.
It was already 11 and Tristan had grown tired of thumbing through the annual and ignored the messages from his "entourage" which all sounded the same but forced himself to stay awake. What he saw next almost took his breath away.
It was a picture of him and Rory sitting closely to one another in the courtyard, smiling and gazing into each other's eyes. Her smile twinkled although it was in black and white. He then remembered it was the same day they had spoken about "the kiss". Tristan ran his finger over Rory's face, saddened by the memory of how they last saw each other.
She looked so cute in her Juliet outfit, fitting how she was his Juliet, knowing that they couldn't ever be together. He remembers so clearly how bright she shone that night. He would've kissed her but Bag Boy was staring. He had decided to back off and tell her to take care of herself. Oh what he would've done, just to experience heaven once more. So he stepped back and walked away from his Juliet and tasted the bittersweet taste of longing. He regretted all the lost time he had used to frustrate her. The frustration that led her to hate him. And even after his admittance of fault, she forgave him. What a heart she had to share.
After staring at the same page for almost half-an-hour, he got up from bed and went to his deskchair, which hung his jacket. He picked it up and looked at the PJ Harvey tickets that still retained its color on his shelf. He turned away and carefully pulled a dried daisy out of the inside pocket. He smiled at the tiny, frail thing, tenderly caressing the dried petals. It may have been weathered and lost its color but it was long-lasting stability that he connected to Rory. She was tiny and beautiful but even when the looks will fade, he knows that on the inside, which is what trully makes her beautiful, will always last. After getting comfy on the bed once again, he pulled the annual closer to him and delicately placed the daisy into the page that showed the memory of what could have been a friendship and perhaps a love between Rory Gilmore and Tristan Dugrey. He ran his finger slowly down her face once more and whispered, "I'll see you on Monday....Rory." With a sigh and a yawn, he shut the annual up and turned out the light.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
It was now 11 and Rory decided to go to sleep in awhile. She brushed her hair as she stared in her vanity desk mirror. Out the corner of her eye, she could see the box she stuffed with everything that ever reminded her of Dean. She made sure that it would make its way to the trash this time. She felt more at ease about the conversation she had with her mom and promised herself that she wouldn't get so close in so little time to the next guy that came into her life. Smoothing her hair down, she instinctively turned around and saw the baby blue envelope placed right next to the photo-less frame of what used to hold a picture of her and Dean. She picked up the frame and tossed it into the box, grinning that she was now free of him. Her mind told her that she could do better than Dean and she admitted that the time spent with Dean was not a waste but a rude awakening. She'd never ever let that happen again. Ever.
She got into bed and took with her to bed the mysterious envelope. It managed to spring forth a bit of happiness and hope into her life when she received it and she refused to throw it away, even if she didn't know who sent it to her. She claimed it to be her new good luck charm. Laying upright, Rory opened up the envelope again and pulled out the index card. She looked at it more carefully and admired the simplicity of the dried daisies beauty. Without hesitation, she softly caressed the tiny daisies, careful to not tear them. It made her happy, this gift. Indeed it was a gift, a gift from heaven. She was glad that she had received it. A yawn overcame her, which let her know that it was time to go to sleep. She tucked the card back into the envelope and got up to put it into her backpack. Her "good-luck" charm would always be with her. Rory walked up to the light switch to turn the day off and let night in. Quickly slipping into bed to escape the spring chill, she closed her eyes and thought of a better tomorrow, even if it was going to be at Chilton.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
END CHAPTER 3
Pairing: TRORY
Summary: you have to read the story to figure that out. This is for all you TRORY fans :)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. Just an obsessed TRORY-aholic. I am however highly upset that Tristan and Rory couldn't even share one last kiss because BEAN was there! The title of this series was inspired by Jaci Veasquez's Imagine Me Without You. It's such a pretty song!
Rating: PG-13 for now?! I think...mild-cussing here and there, so beware!
E-mail: gigi@xquisite.net
Etc: This is my first fan-fic. I appreciate "constructive" critcism. Love Gigi
Chapter 3: Homecoming/Wallowing
[On a bus driving back to Hartford, Connecticut]
He had been gone now for over 5 months now and after careful consideration, the Dugreys decided that it was time that Tristan come home. The country club gossip mill had wondered where the charming young man had gone to and the Dugreys could no longer lie about his disapperance. He had been sent away to military school as a punishment to the prank he had pulled in late Fall 2001 with two other Chiltonites. He didn't go a day without regret for what he had done. It was a childish act of foolishness and he payed for it. After staying in a place where no one cares who you, where you're not the star, and where you worked hard to receive respect, he was more than ready to come home, although not glad as one would usually be. He would be coming back home, to a home that was broken. There would be no welcome for him at the Dugrey residence, that he was sure of. But a hope that never died in him, even when he was miles and miles away from home and Chilton, was the hope that'd he would see Rory Gilmore again.
Rory Gilmore was a one-of-a-kind girl. Witty and smart she was, a girl with substance. She at first was like no other conquest to Tristan. But when his charmed failed to win her over, he knew then that Rory Gilmore was something different. She was far from normal, extroardinary really, and she was far more than the word "pretty". She was beautiful. She had baby-blues that sparkled like diamonds, which was more than enough to spread a smile on Tristan's chiseled face. Her smile and her banter was enough to make him day dream about her in class. He wished that Rory would look at him in a way that no other girl looked at him. He longed for nothing but for her to adore and accept him because he had already accepted everything about who she was.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
The Dugrey residence didn't look the slightest bit different as he walked through the front door. Tristan expected the house to be vibrant in color but he realized that there really never was any "color" inside the Dugrey mansion. The Dugreys didn't go for "color". They wanted to scream out money and indeed it did. Tristan's maid approached him as he stood in the grand hall looking around at the emptiness and dullness of his home. She asked to take his suitcase but pleaded to her in sincerity that he could carry it up to his room himself. The gestue astonished her and she smiled warmly at the change in the young Dugrey. His hair was no longer a messy tuft of blondness but a clean-cut shaven style, with blonde spikes that he perfectly knew how to style. Even without hair, the young man was no doubt handsome. The venture from home had apparently instilled maturity in him. The maid hesitantly placed her hand on the shoulder of the handsome fellow.
"Welcome home Mister Dugrey. Welcome home. Is there anything that you would like? Anything you need?"
He turned to smile back at her and replied that he did not need anything at the moment. She walked away and Tristan walked up the flight of stairs with his suitcase in hand. The air was filled with a tinge of bitterness, nothing new. He approached his bedroom door and stood before it with anticipation. "Odd' he thought to himself, "why would I be hoping for anything different in my room?" He turned the knob to discover that his room had been left untouch, like he had never left. The comforters were still plush, posters of numerous bands plastered on the wall, all reflections of who he was. He casually dropped the suitcase to the floor and being free like a child, he fell backwards onto his bed. He was home.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
"Honey, I think the dip doesn't have enough of the chip" as she watched Rory dip the small chip into an ocean of onion dip, staring blankly at a taped re-run of Smallville.
She didn't care to notice, apparently still upset over last weekend's incident. She had broken up with Dean and the outcome was not turning out how she liked. If anything, she knew it was the right thing to do; she had no regrets about breaking up with the jerkball at all. It was a Friday night and the common dinner at the Gilmore residence in Hartford had been cancelled because the grandparents were out of town. Lorelai wanted to go out with Luke that evening but saw how lonesome Rory was and decided to keep her company. Luke was more than understanding, knowing that Rory would always come first in her life.
"Honey, did you hear me at al? HEY! There's a cockaroach in the corner!"
Rory immediately dropped the chip into the dip and forced her eyes to look at every corner of the living room. Cockaroaches irked her. When she found none to be present, she exchanged an icy-glare to Lorelai.
"That was mean."
"But you looked.", hoping her smile would crack out a little one onto Rory's face. It failed.
Rory then looked down at the chip that sank into the onion dip. Lorelai decided that they needed to talk about the Dean-issue and turned off the television. As she was about to sit down right next to the ailing girl, Rory said that she didn't want to talk about it, which really meant that she did.
"I don't understand. I'm supposed to be relieved that I broke up with him, right? I didn't expect to feel so confused. I don't even want to wallow---"
Lorelai cut in. "You're not supposed to." Rory exchanged her mother a estranged look. "You're not supposed to wallow over a jerk. That's the #1 rule. If he's a jerk, then you're not allowed to wallow for him. He doesn't deserve your wallowing. I want you to know that you did nothing wrong."
She still stared down at the chip in the dip, when Lorelai took it away and said that a chip with too much dip doesn't give you much lip. Lorelai could see the waterworks would start soon and she opened her arms to her babe. Rory fell in and softly sobbed into her mother's arms. A mother's love and concern was always a comfort to her, she thought, as Lorelai stroked her hair. After a moment of silence, she arose out of the loving arms and wiped her shedding tears away. She straightened her baby blue pajamas and pulled her hair away into a ponytail.
"You're right mom. He isn't worth wallowing over. I'm just frustrated becase I know now that he's a jerk. A jerk who didn't love me at all. It just hurts a little to know that spot where he used to be in my heart is now just a puncture wound."
Lorelai didn't want to push it but she ached to ask a question that was sure to hit a sour note.
"Babe, did you love Dean?"
"No......I didn't. That was a mistake on my part. I figured I could learn to love him but I just couldn't produce those feelings for him. We should've broken up a long time ago. He said something that I'm scared to admit that I believe."
"What's that?"
"He said that no one else could love me or care about me the way he did. I'm scared that's true."
"Honey, I can't believe that you would believe what that jerk said. You know that's not true. None of it. When you find the one that you love, you'll know it. He will trust you, he will love you, he will respect you, he will bring out the best in you, he will accept everything about who you are. Rory believe me, when you find that someone, you're not going to let him go. I know that you'll be able to love him and have that love returned. Do you get that Lorelai Leigh Gilmore?"
The words caused Rory to shed more tears but tears of happiness and hope. She wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and hugged her tightly. What would she do if her mom wasn't around?
"Now honey, you might want to dig that chip out of the onion dip. It's starting to look like a wart with chives. Wait, that's a piece of my hair."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
After unpacking his suitcase, Tristan decided to relax. He popped in Incubus's latest CD into the CD player and fixated himself onto his bed until he was comfortable. A soft knock was heard at the door, when Tristan pressed the pause button to ask who it was.
"It's the person who sent you away.", as the older but still handsome Dugrey opened the door.
"Oh, you." He didn't know what to say and decided to say hush, as he usually did around his father.
"The maid said she let you in earlier this evening. How was your trip back?"
"It was alright. The country club talk much about my so-called vacation father?" as he stared right into his father's cold-stone eyes. Both were in a state of awkwardness but thoughtfully exchanged half-smiles. The two looked alike, one younger and older of course. Mr. Dugrey still stood his ground on the doorway and looked around his son's room. Having Tristan there of course livened up the room. The two were complete opposites. He indeed loved his son but knew of no good way to show him how much he cared for him. It wasn't the Dugrey way and he saw much of the tradition rubbed off onto Tristan. But he knew somehow that Tristan was unlike the rest of their family line; he could learn to love.
"Well, I see that you need to get your rest. Enjoy the weekend while you can, you're going back to Chilton on Monday. By the way, I forgot to give you something."
As he strided over to the desk drawer, he pulled out a fairly large enveloped package. He slowly walked up to Tristan, who held out his to receive the weighty object. He looked down at the package and saw no writing and looked up once more to see his father in the doorway.
"Goodnight son. Welcome home."
He sincerely replied, "Good night Dad. Thanks for taking me back." The words had affect on his father as he smiled and quietly closed the door behind him.
"Hmm, what could this be?" as Tristan pondered what was fitted inside. To kill the curiosity, he tore open the package and pulled out the 2000-2001 Chilton annual. He stared at the annual with question and realized that he never got one. He was still confused but nonetheless amused, as he saw that there were several issues of the Chilton newspaper stuffed into the envelope. Tristan scanned through a few and saw on the front pages, where the ground-breaking news were, that Rory's name was under those headlines. "Figures" as he smiled to himself. He would read them later, knowing that'd he take great interest in reading them, just because she wrote them. Because he never took a look at last year's annual, what perfect opportunity than to do so now. He expected to find the yearbook empty with no signatures but he was wrong. Opening the cover, he sees a paragraph of words inscribed on the bottom right corner.
"I managed to save you an annual, seeing that its fine craftmanship not be forgotten. Why? Because I'm in it a lot. I had to fend thousands of girls to be on the very first page. That's a first, huh? I'm the first thing you see Dugrey. ANYWAYS, you're already cocky as it is. The Hartford gossip mill found out that you were coming back at the end of the school year. Don't be a fool; I didn't miss you. I'll see you on Monday. Your entourage will be waiting. - Paris Gellar"
He chuckled to himself. Silly girl. He turned the page to see thousands of signatures, mainly of girls, telling him how they missed him so and how gorgeous he was. He disregarded them with no interest and skimmed through the pages. Nothing yet had caught his interest until he got to the sophomore class section. He looked through the columns and saw all the familiar faces. He thumbed through and saw his picture. Oh how he missed the hair. He smirked and turned to the next page and came upon Paris's picture. Although he wasn't attracted to her the way he was to Rory, Paris was pretty. She had hair that most people would love to have, a silky blonde touch to it. Rory was right, she had substance and wit. Paris knew what she wanted and Tristan admired her for it. He snapped out of his thoughts and skimmed through the rest of the section. Unfortunately, Rory's picture was nowhere to be found, since she had transferred in late into Chilton. A bit discouraging, he didn't need a picture to remember how she looked. He would AWAYS remember the way she looked.
It was already 11 and Tristan had grown tired of thumbing through the annual and ignored the messages from his "entourage" which all sounded the same but forced himself to stay awake. What he saw next almost took his breath away.
It was a picture of him and Rory sitting closely to one another in the courtyard, smiling and gazing into each other's eyes. Her smile twinkled although it was in black and white. He then remembered it was the same day they had spoken about "the kiss". Tristan ran his finger over Rory's face, saddened by the memory of how they last saw each other.
She looked so cute in her Juliet outfit, fitting how she was his Juliet, knowing that they couldn't ever be together. He remembers so clearly how bright she shone that night. He would've kissed her but Bag Boy was staring. He had decided to back off and tell her to take care of herself. Oh what he would've done, just to experience heaven once more. So he stepped back and walked away from his Juliet and tasted the bittersweet taste of longing. He regretted all the lost time he had used to frustrate her. The frustration that led her to hate him. And even after his admittance of fault, she forgave him. What a heart she had to share.
After staring at the same page for almost half-an-hour, he got up from bed and went to his deskchair, which hung his jacket. He picked it up and looked at the PJ Harvey tickets that still retained its color on his shelf. He turned away and carefully pulled a dried daisy out of the inside pocket. He smiled at the tiny, frail thing, tenderly caressing the dried petals. It may have been weathered and lost its color but it was long-lasting stability that he connected to Rory. She was tiny and beautiful but even when the looks will fade, he knows that on the inside, which is what trully makes her beautiful, will always last. After getting comfy on the bed once again, he pulled the annual closer to him and delicately placed the daisy into the page that showed the memory of what could have been a friendship and perhaps a love between Rory Gilmore and Tristan Dugrey. He ran his finger slowly down her face once more and whispered, "I'll see you on Monday....Rory." With a sigh and a yawn, he shut the annual up and turned out the light.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
It was now 11 and Rory decided to go to sleep in awhile. She brushed her hair as she stared in her vanity desk mirror. Out the corner of her eye, she could see the box she stuffed with everything that ever reminded her of Dean. She made sure that it would make its way to the trash this time. She felt more at ease about the conversation she had with her mom and promised herself that she wouldn't get so close in so little time to the next guy that came into her life. Smoothing her hair down, she instinctively turned around and saw the baby blue envelope placed right next to the photo-less frame of what used to hold a picture of her and Dean. She picked up the frame and tossed it into the box, grinning that she was now free of him. Her mind told her that she could do better than Dean and she admitted that the time spent with Dean was not a waste but a rude awakening. She'd never ever let that happen again. Ever.
She got into bed and took with her to bed the mysterious envelope. It managed to spring forth a bit of happiness and hope into her life when she received it and she refused to throw it away, even if she didn't know who sent it to her. She claimed it to be her new good luck charm. Laying upright, Rory opened up the envelope again and pulled out the index card. She looked at it more carefully and admired the simplicity of the dried daisies beauty. Without hesitation, she softly caressed the tiny daisies, careful to not tear them. It made her happy, this gift. Indeed it was a gift, a gift from heaven. She was glad that she had received it. A yawn overcame her, which let her know that it was time to go to sleep. She tucked the card back into the envelope and got up to put it into her backpack. Her "good-luck" charm would always be with her. Rory walked up to the light switch to turn the day off and let night in. Quickly slipping into bed to escape the spring chill, she closed her eyes and thought of a better tomorrow, even if it was going to be at Chilton.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
END CHAPTER 3
