Chapter 8



Tristan starred at the boy in front of him. Honestly, though he wanted to believe Dean was a horrible guy, he wasn't. He made an honest living, even though to him it was an unbelievably uninteresting way to make a living, it was honest. Still, there was something about him Dean in the back of his mind that didn't sit well with him. A look in his eyes, an arrogance around him. Something both Tristan and Dean had, only Dean managed to hide it from the world, while Tristan fought to overcome his.

"My cousin and her friend want to play this game, and you're going to let them. I gave you the tickets already, and it's your job to let them play. Give them the balls and let them just do it!" Tristan said, his voice becoming louder and more impatient with every word. He wasn't there to start trouble, and frankly, he would have stayed as for away from this booth as possible, but Juliet had picked this booth before he had even started making his way towards her. The sudden urge to rip out his hair overwhelmed him as Dean's glare got even stupider looking.


Dean rested his hands on the top of the booth table, and leaned over, daring Tristan to continue the argument. "This is a Christmas gathering for Stars Hollow...Not spoiled rich brats from Harlow who want a taste of the small town life to take home to Mommy. Don't you have a banquet to go to or something?"


Tristan fought the urge to jump over the booth and rip Dean's face off. He flexed his hands out at his side to relieve some of the tension and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He would not blow up in front of his little cousin. "You know what? Just give me back out tickets."

Dean smirked, a twinkled glaring in his eyes. "Sorry...I've already torn the tips. They're useless." He tossed the tickets at Tristan, who barely caught them before they fluttered to the ground.

"Tristan? Can we play yet?" Juliet asked, yanking on Tristan's jacket. Her eyes were wide and her lip was out in a pout.

"Why wont he let us play?" She asked, then looked over at Dean and gave him her best innocent look. "Why wont you let us play? Do you need a nap?"


Dean starred down at the cute little girl, wondering if he should be offended, then gave her an overly sweet smile before looking back up at Tristan. "Aww, Tristan...is this one of your many daughters? I'm shocked really? I thought you would have left them all to be bastards."

Those who had heard couldn't help but wonder when Dean had become so cruel, and Tristan couldn't believe Dean had crossed that line. To insult not only him, but a small, innocent, little girl. His eyes widened slightly before the returned to a glare that would have frozen hell over. His fists clinched, and he was about to charge at Dean when Rory came out no where, calling his name sweetly and grabbing his hand, yanking him around, and kissing him full on the mouth. His eyebrows shot up, almost running completely off his forehead before he relaxed, realizing exactly what she was planning. The thought of being used only lasted for a moment before he gave in, allowing her hand to snake around his neck, tangling her long fingers into the smooth hair at the base. Following her lead, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him, his other hand cradling her head. The kiss was simple, nothing that would steam car windows or cause fireworks, but it most definitely caused steam to fly out of Dean's head.

Rory pulled away, grinning up at Tristan with a playful gleam in her eyes, hoping he'd understand the meaning behind it. "Come on! My Mom wants to buy us dinner...and if we don't go now, she'll buy us dinner and eat it herself." She squeezed his hand and prayed he wasn't going to mess this up, but she knew just how much he wanted to hurt Dean, and the fact that she was not only helping him do it, but started it herself blew her mind. She was becoming more different everyday.

Tristan removed the look of shock in his eyes within seconds, understanding better than anyone the meaning behind Rory's little mind-game with Dean. He smirked softly and licked his lips playfully, knowing the he had finally had one up on Dean. He tossed the torn tickets back at Dean, and he didn't bother to watch them flutter to the ground as Dean made no move to catch them, for he was still glaring in shock at the two. Obviously, he had missed something, and that didn't sit well with him at all.

Giving Dean a quick blank look over her shoulder, Rory pulled on Tristan's hand to make him move as he grabbed a hold of Juliet's hand, who held onto her friends hand just as tightly. Tristan turned and looked at Dean over his shoulder, a Cheshire cat grin playing on his lips, a twinkle of mocking in his sparkling blue eyes.

*Hide behind your smile..
All the world loves a clown
(Just make 'em smile the whole world loves a clown)*



He had finally gotten the girl.


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Rory couldn't stop her eyes from practically popping out of her head. Never in her life had she been so cruel and bold. She had just humiliated Dean in front of the whole town- in front of Tristan! The simple fact that Dean had been a complete, unreasonable jerk seemed to be over looked for the moment, because even if Dean had been a complete asshole tonight, Rory had been acting completely out of character.

And kissing Tristan? What was she thinking?

Truthfully, she hadn't really been thinking anything else but getting Tristan away from Dean, and the first thought that popped into her head (though, probably not the smartest one) was to kiss Tristan to shut them both up. Thankfully, or maybe not so thankfully, it had worked. She could still taste a small bit of mint on her lips.

"Oh darling, sweet, Rory...Could that have been a better performance? I'm impressed." Tristan commented behind her, his hand still in her as she literally dragged him across the snowy grass. She could picture the smirk playing upon his lips, and couldn't help but roll her wide eyes.

"Yes, Tristan, I know. Shall I take a bow now, or wait till later?"

Tristan opened his mouth to respond, but was stopped when Rory yelled, "Mom!", his arm almost being yanked out of his socket, and he had to make sure the little girls following were able to catch up as Rory quickened her pace and met up with a rather tall, beautiful older lady.

"Nice work hunny, there wasn't an eye in the place that wasn't on you two star-crossed lovers. I must say, I'm impressed by the way you handled that." Her mother's eyebrows raised, clearly showing her sarcasm.

"Just practicing to be the town joke." Rory groaned, yanking her hand out of Tristan's, who was still grinning.

"You're off to a great start, kid. May I ask who will be joining you as the lead in that joke?"

Rory fought to get her tongue moving. Introducing Tristan to her Mother was something she never planned to do, and now that the time had come, she definitely didn't want to. Tristan would now be a part of her life, now that her Mother would be meeting him. Her Mother was smart, and a very good judge of character, but once she met someone, anyone, it was hard for her just forget about them.

"Mom, this is Tristan. Tristan, this is my Mom, Lorelai." Rory said, waving her hand between the two of them lazily.

Tristan held out a firm hand and waited for Lorelai to slip her hand into his before shaking it gently. "Nice to meet you, Miss Gilmore. I can see where Rory gets her looks from. Same amazing blue eyes." He grinning, charming it up.

Lorelai looked him over once, shaking his hand "Mmmhmm, nice line there kid. How old are you, 35? Just call me Lorelai for now," She looked over behind Tristan, and the two little girls standing behind him on either side. "And who are these two little angels?" Lorelai asked, bending down slightly to look at them at eye level. One of the little girls hide behind Tristan more, while the other grinned broadly.

"This little one is Juliet," Tristan said, placing his hand on Juliet's back and pushing her forward a little.

Lorelai smiled at the little girl "Juliet, huh? Is Tristan here your Romeo?" She asked, playfully.

"Nooo!" The little girl cried, a look of bewilderment on her face. What was this lady thinking? "This is Peter Pan! Are you crazy?" She giggled "And I'm Tinker Bell, see?" She held out her hand and blew some invisible fairy dust on Lorelai, before jumping up and down.

Lorelai pretended to have a sneezing fit, while the little girl laughed up at Tristan, pulling on his coat happily. Rory did her best to hide her smile, but it soon broke through. The little girl was too cute.

Rory looked up at Tristan, and tried to picture him at Juliet's age. For some reason, a sweet little blonde headed boy, with a Kool-Aid mustache didn't seem to fit him. She knew for a fact that Tristan's childhood had been nothing like her own, because of obvious reasons. He grew up in a mansion, while she grew up in a tool shed. But aside from that, she doubted Tristan had a normal childhood at all. All she could picture was a little boy, stuck in a little boys suit, tugging at the tie was with strangling him, his mother snapping at him to leave it alone. And strangely enough, it saddened her.

"And this little girl, is Elly." Tristan said, trying to move the little girl from behind him. She refused to move, and gripped her hands in to Tristan's coat all the tighter. Tristan ran his hand over her hair gently and smiled at Lorelai "I guess she's shy."

Lorelai grinned down at the little girl, "Are you hungry?" She asked, raises her eyebrows. Elly nodded her head slowly, looking over the older lady standing in front of her.

"Do you like fries, Elly?" Lorelai asked and Elly nodded her head quicker. Lorelai held out her hand to the little girl and gave her a grin. "I know the best place in town to get the best fries you've ever tasted. Once you've had these fries, any of fry you have in life will pale in comparison. It will blow your mind, it will rock your world. The universe as you know it, will tilt. The moon will-"

"-Mom. She's like, seven. " Rory said, nodding her head.

"Right! Guess I'm just used to talking to you. Come on girls, lets go get some food," Lorelai held out her hand to the two little girls, and when the slipped their much smaller ones into her bigger ones, she began to walk in the direction of Lukes. "They have great milkshakes there too. It's like tasting Heaven. It's like drinking from the fountain of youth. It's like..."

Rory watched her Mom as she rounded the corner, her voice fading off into the distance before glancing back at Tristan, who now stood with his hands in his pockets. "I think we should go before they get too far ahead. My Mom is probably scaring them already."

Tristan nodded and began walking, Rory walking beside him. His hands were still in his pockets, his long, fancy 'lawyer' coat as Lorelai liked to call them, flowed behind him softly. He definitely didn't look like he was from Stars Hollow.

"Where is your Mom taking them, by the way?" He asked, not looking over at her.

"Lukes, it's just right there." She pointed, and he nodded again.

They had reached the door, and could see Lorelai and the two little girls sitting at a table with Luke standing over them. A rush of warm air hit their chilled faces as soon as the door opened, and they hurried inside, making their way towards the table Rory's Mom had picked out.

Luke looked up at the couple, as they were now taking off their coats and settling them onto the back of their chairs. Lorelai helped Elly out of her coat as Tristan helped Juliet, setting it on the back of her chair and telling her to settle down and behave.

"Who are you?" Luke asked, bracing his feet on the tile floor under him in a defiant stance as he looked down at Tristan.

Tristan smiled and held out his hand, "Tristan DuGrey, and you are?"

Luke just starred down at his hand for a moment. "Luke. I own this place." He took Tristan's hand for a short moment, making sure to show him just how much strength he had. "You don't live here. You're too much of a pretty boy to live here. Do you get manicures?" He asked and Tristan gave him a strange look before shaking his head and looking at Lorelai.

"Luke, can we just get five burgers and five chocolate shakes please?" She asked, grinning up at him sarcastically, telling him to behave. Luke nodded his head and gave Tristan one last look before making his way back to the kitchen.

"Is he always like that?" He asked, flipping his thumb over his shoulder in the direction Luke had taken off in.

"Oh no, he's never that charming. He must really like you." Lorelai joked, grinning at Juliet.

Tristan smiled up at Rory, and twirled his hand over the spoon in front of him.

"I hope he's not the only one."

He grinned as Rory's wide blue eyes met his calm ones.

Damn, I hope.