Are We or Aren't We?
Chapter 7 – Melodrama
Rory stood still, the sound of the door slamming still ringing in her head. Jess' voice kept repeating itself, Whatever Rory.. Just – whatever. And on his face – a mixture of pain and disbelief. As if everything in his world had suddenly gone wrong because of her. No one had looked at her like that before. Except – she got a mental picture of another face, shock registered on it. And those eyes, so blue, digging into her. Tristan. He'd looked at her like that after she'd slapped him.
But what was wrong with her? She'd always been the calm one in any situation. She'd had to be, with a mother like Lorelai. So now, why was she constantly losing it? And why was she constantly hurting people?
But she could try to make this all right. This time, at least, she had another chance. Quickly, Rory headed towards the door, grabbing her coat from its hook on the way out.
* * *
"Well Tristan," said Lorelai, smiling, and finally emptying her coffee cup. "I'm taking you to meet my daughter now. With your wonderful sarcasm and her love of debates, you'll be a perfect match."
"Great," Tristan said, although his own smile faded a bit. "But I have to say that I've learned by experience that a relationship can't be based on verbal competition alone."
"And who said anything about a relationship? I'll just warn you that my daughter has the perfect boyfriend already so you can just keep your little hands off of her!" she said with a wink.
"I second that," Luke said, turning around from behind the counter once again. His face had turned darker and Tristan could tell he was serious. "I don't care how happy I am to have one over Taylor – if anything happens to her, well Lorelai, you just tell him what happened to Dean." At that name, Tristan took in a sudden breath.
"Dean?"
"Yup. Her boyfriend, and only love despite Luke," said Lorelai not noticing the expression on Tristan's face. "And I won't tell you what Luke did to him. Hasn't it been said that the imagination is the worst conjurer of fear?"
"Yeah," Tristan said weakly. Luke looked hard at Tristan. But then the phone rang, and he turned to answer it.
"Yes, this is Jess' guardian. Oh, Mr. Louis," Luke's tone turned defensive immediately. Lorelai took Tristan by the shoulder.
"We'd better go. If the principal of Stars Hollow High School calls I imagine this has something to do with Jess." At that name, Lorelai's voice turned mock disgusted.
"Jess?" Tristan asked as they headed out the door.
"Yes, the illustrious Jess. The one of great troubles and a murky past. Don't worry, you'll learn about him sooner or later," Lorelai said dryly. "Sooner or later he's bound to steal something from you."
"I'll take that as a warning."
"You do that," Lorelai said. She closed the door behind Tristan. They were back out on the street. It was deserted except for one lone guy heading towards them. As he got closer Tristan recognized him as the kid from the principal's office who'd gotten suspended. Lorelai turned around and gave a snort.
"Well, speak of the devil," she said. "That's him."
"Him?"
"Jess," she said. Tristan turned back to look and then visibly gave a start. He was no longer looking at Jess but behind him. And behind Jess came – came a thin girl with long brown hair trailing behind her as she ran. She was heading towards them. Rory. For a split second Tristan let himself believe she was coming to him. But then he heard her call out in one brief syllable : Jess! And his hope evaporated. It was always going to be like this.
* * *
"Jess!" Rory yelled as loudly as she could, her breath now coming in pants. She was not exactly into physical exercise. He didn't turn around, just kept on walking. Vaguely in the distance, Rory could see two people watching her. But she didn't care about that right now, her whole being was focused on him. Finally she reached him, touching him on the shoulder until he swung around to face her.
"What, Rory," he said roughly, refusing to look at her.
"I want to talk to you-"
"As I remember," Jess cut in, "You didn't want to talk to me. So if you'll excuse me I don't feel like talking right now either." And he actually made to turn back around.
"Jess!" Rory said once more, this time her emotions getting the better of her. Tears had welled up in her eyes. Jess kept still, and then slowly brought his eyes up to hers. She looked into his brown eyes and realized that she was looking into him. She took in a breath and pressed her lips together.
"Then why did you come to me?" she finally whispered.
"You seriously don't know?" Jess said, seemingly incredulous.
"No."
Jess stared at her. And then in one swift moment he stepped up close to her and pulled her towards him, pressing his lips against her own. For a brief second, Rory let herself go, letting herself stay for longer in the kiss than she should have and still remain loyal to Dean. But then she pulled away. And there was an awkward silence as they both stood facing each other, neither daring to look at the other.
* * *
Tristan turned away, not able to look. It was too much. This was all going to be too much – living in the same town as Rory and seeing her with every guy but him. Beside him, he heard Lorelai gasp, throw back open the diner door and shout Luke!! before running towards Rory and Jess. Tristan found himself following her slowly. Luke burst out through the door, passing Tristan easily. Rory and Jess were apart now, and as Tristan watched, he saw Lorelai take a running leap and then launch herself on top of Jess.
"Get away from her, you creep!" she was yelling as she attempted to wrestle him down. Jess had a shocked expression on his face, and Lorelai was actually gaining ground on him. Tristan couldn't help but let out a small bitter laugh. This all would have been funny had it not been so depressing. But then Luke was there, pulling Lorelai off Jess and holding them apart.
"What the hell is going on?" he finally yelled. "Jess what happened?"
"He forced himself onto Rory!" Lorelai cut in when Jess didn't respond.
"No, Mom!" Rory tried to put in.
"I saw him – don't try to protect him, Rory!" Lorelai put in again.
"What do you mean forced? Forced Rory to do what?" Luke said, now glaring at Jess.
"He kissed her, he pushed himself onto her!"
"Jess," Luke said with a warning tone. "Is this true?" Jess was looking at both of them, something close to contempt on his face.
"Whatever," he said softly, enunciating each syllable perfectly.
"Why you little-" Luke suddenly said, advancing towards him. Rory jumped in between, now crying openly and slightly hysterical.
"He kissed me! That's true. But that's all! So stop it, both of you! This is between me and Jess not you and Luke, Mom!" Rory said.
"That's all?" Lorelai said. "First it's a kiss, and the next time it's rape. You know how it is, Rory!"
"Oh my god, mom! You are so – why are you always doing this to him? Look!" Rory suddenly turned back towards Jess and kissed him hard on the mouth. Then she turned around defiantly. And looked straight into those blue eyes that had kept on haunting her. Everything now seemed to move in slow motion.
"Tristan?" she whispered, and as everyone turned to look at Tristan, he saw Rory's eyes suddenly lose focus and he ran to catch her.
Thanks for reading! Please review, and if you have any suggestions e-mail me! I'd love to know where you think this should go.
