There's No One Here, There's No One In The Crowd
Chapter 1



She watched him from behind the scences, hidden in the shadows. As of lately, she found herself doing this more and more. She found it was the only true way of finding out exactly who he was, and why he didn't allow anyone to see it. She watched as he moved his way down the halls of Chilton, waving and grinning at those he thought were worthy. That grin, that unbelievably fake grin he held and used at any time he pleased, to get away with just about anything. Girls fell over themselves when he used it, guys followed his suit. It was like he was the King of Chilton, and it wouldn't surprise her if he knew that and used it to for all it's worth.

Didn't he understand she wasn't blind? God, that annoyed her more than anything. All it took was one moment, and she knew he wasn't everything he wanted the world to think he was. He wasn't the surpreme player, he wasn't the asshole. He was scared. He was just plain scared.

Shutting her locker softly, hoping not to draw any unwanted attention to herself, she made her way down the halls, the hard material of her shoes making a steady rhythm on the tile floors. It freaked her out a little that she already had his entire schedule memorized. That she knew exactly where he would be on a certain day at a certain time. It scared her even more that she cared, that she wasted her time following him around on certain days when she was able, when she was free. And she had a lot of free time lately.

Two months without Dean. You'd think she'd be completely over him by now, wouldn't you? She couldn't help it. She felt guilty. It was her fault they broke up, it was her fault she crushed the heart of her first love, and that guilt sometimes was overwhelming. What had possed her?

-Flashback-

"And, I knew you'd like this..." Dean said, smiling, as he pulled a book out from him bag. Handing it to her, he watched as her face brightened, and he couldn't help but smiling a little brighter himself.

"I know you've been looking for it, so I did a little searching on-line and there you have it. Do you like it?" He asked, connecting his hands behind his back and rocking on his heels.

Her eyes widened and she smiled up at her, her cheeks glowing. "Of course I like it! I love it! Thank you!" She squealed, throwing her arms around his neck, and hugging him.

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her small frame, lifting her up slightly.

"Happy 3 month anniversary. I love you, Rory." He whispered, his face pressed into her hair. He snuggled her closer and savored the smell of her hair.

"Happy 3 month anniversay. I love you too, Tris..." Her soft voice trailed off as soon as the word left her mouth. Her eyes widened, then snapped shut suddenly, hoping that she hadn't said the words out loud. She felt Dean's strong arms tighten around her, his harsh breathing tickling the soft skin on her neck.

Pulling her back, he held her at arms length and stared at her. He watched her eyes look up at him slowly, the straight back down at the floor.

"What?" He asked harshly.

"I didn't mean that Dean, you know it. It slipped. I had a dream, and it was weird, and it's been on my mind all day. It just was on my mind!" She said quickly, her blue eyes raising to meet his now dark ones.

"You were thinking of a dream about Tristan while telling me you loved me? You better stop explaining now Rory, cause you're not doing yourself any good." He stated, stepping away from her and turning.

"Dean! Stop! It was a mistake. I love you, you know that!" She cried, making her way towards him. He turned suddenly, causing her to stop suddenly.

"Right now Rory, I could care less what you feel towards me. This," he waved his arm in front of him, gesturing to the both of them, "is over. And until you can make up your mind, don't seek me out. Please Rory, just leave me alone." He finished, staring at her for a moment, just long enough to see the hurt mocking her in his eyes, before turning and walking away, making his way through the streets and into the darkness.



Ever since then she's been obsessed. She knew it was crazy, and she knew she must be crazy to be pursuing this, but he had no right. Tristan had no right to break his way into her dreams, break his way into her mind and mess everything up, even when he's not physically there. How was he able to do that? Mess everything up, without even being in the same county? So she dedicated herself to her school work, withdrew herself from her town life, only calling on her mother and Lane. Rarely did she visit Luke's, rarely did she walk throughout the streets of her town, out of fear of seeing him before she was ready. So she decided to find out exactly why Tristan had came into her dreams that night. Why that dream had meant so much to her, and why she replaced Tristan's name with Dean in those 3 words she'd barely told anyone but her mother.

Leaning agaisnt a light post outside the local pizza joint, she watched him through one of the painted windows. It didn't matter that the cold was bitting and nipping at her fingers and nose, all that mattered was him, and that little girl Rory had seen him with a few times now.


*Take a bow, the night is over
This masquerade is,
getting older*



She was probably the cutest little girl she'd ever seen in her life. Her long sandy blonde hair was pulled up into two pig tales on either side of her head, her bright blue eyes wide and full of excitement. Her rosey cheeks and pink lips were smeared with pizza sauce, and Tristan was giggling at her, watching her as she picked another piece of cheese off her pizza and pushed it into her tiny mouth. She watched as he took a napkin from the end of the table and gently wiped the sauce off the little girls face, grinning all the while.

And it was a beautiful grin. Not one of his fake cocky grins he had mastered at school. No, it was real, it was innocent. Something she never thought Tristan could ever be, and she found herself almost hating him for how well he could play both roles. Angel and Devil. The grin held a certain happiness she'd never seen radiate from him before. It reached all the way to his eyes, and even from her distance she could see the pleasure in them. The pleasure in not having to please people around him by being the Tristan they've grown acccustum to over the 12 years of knowing him. The pleasure of being himself.


*Light are low, the curtains down
There's no one here
(There's no one here, there's no one in the crowd)*



She watched as he got up and made his way around the table, picking the small girl up in his arms and heading towards the cashier. This was her que to go, and she found herself longing to stay and watch him off, but the parking lot was well lit and slightly small, and she didn't want to risk him noticing her. Taking one final look at him, she turned on her heel and made her way to her mothers jeep, forcing herself not to give into the want of looking over her shoulder and watching him exit the building. Pushing herself up into the jeep, she rubbed her cold hands together for a moment before starting the car and exiting the parkinglot.

The trip home was a long one, and she didn't even bother trying to turn her brain off from the millions of thoughts running through her brain. Over the past 2 months, Rory Gilmore had turned into a completely different person. She still was witty and intellegent, and she still read all the time and joked with her mom. Her grades hadn't suffered, infact, they'd gotten better, but she'd been thinking a lot more, about a lot of different things. She'd always known where her life was going education wise and career wise, but as a personal matter she'd never given it much thought. She thought she'd always have Dean, that she'd go away to college and come back and he'd be there, waiting for her with an engagement ring and a purposal tucked safely in his back pocket, but now that image was crushed, gone.

She never thought of herself as a girly girl type. Her mother had lived her life as a single mom, with no desperate need for a mans attention and she was the same way, but she also saw the hurt in her mothers eyes, and sometimes, loneliness. She wanted to have a husband, she wanted to have children, she just didn't know if it was possible.

And that dream. God, it had been so weird. She had gone to bed completely exhausted, having spent the entire night with her mom, wondering around the town before coming back and watching movies until 3 am. The next day would be sunday, so she would be allowed to sleep in as much as she wanted, but she didn't have a Tristan thought all day, all week for that matter. It's not like he took hold of her thoughts before all this, and out of no where came this really amazing dream, that held the power to completely destroy everything.

That little girl. She suspected it was Tristan's little sitter, but she'd never heard him or anyone ever speak of Tristan having any siblings. But the way he handled her, the way he smiled at her, the way he looked when he was around her completely blew her mind, and surprisingly, lifted her heart. It brought him to a completely different light in her mind, and she smiled just thinking about it.

Whatever Tristan was, it was sure he was an actor. And a damn good one at that.