Disclaimer: Okay second part here. I've decided to make this my own
little story, which by the way it wasn't originally going to be. So now
I've accumulated some of my more favorite characters into the story and of
course trials and tribulations are bound to pop up, so keep an eye out for
updates. Plus, the coffee talk will definitely continue! (In my opinion
the coffee is the essence to the Gilmore lifestyle, it would not be the
same one bit without the high rush of caffeine consumption am I not
right!?)
A/N: This is the reedited version of chapter two. I found errors and went
through and fixed them the best I could but I decided against going through
and doing any serious rewriting because I want to keep it as original as
possible, at the moment that is.
***
Rory stands along the busy street in Hartford, waiting for her bus to arrive and wisp her away to her home, and her coffee. She has been stressed the entire day, and between dealing with overwhelming amounts of schoolwork and the 'evil trio' she has actually developed a nagging headache. She *needs* her coffee, as soon as possible. *Luckily I haven't run into Tristan,* she thinks to herself messaging her temples lightly. Jinxing herself yet again, the familiar ever-seductive male voice suddenly whispers in her ear.
"Mary," he says simply making his hot breath known against her ear. As hard as he tries, his attempts to sway her into liking him still has no effect on her. He is an attractive, very handsome young man, but the negative overrules the positive in his case. He is too arrogant and conceited for her liking, and she isn't about to become another one of his many 'conquest'. To him, Rory Gilmore is nothing but a challenge, or so she thinks in her own mind, but how would she truly know. She never gives him the time of day, but who can blame her. All he ever seems to want is to triumphantly get her to fall for him and make an even bigger name for himself.
He slowly steps beside her, his deep blue eyes locking in her gaze with an almost dominating, even challenging intensity. Not bothering to answer his remark she merely groans at him, looking up the street for hopefully an approaching bus, but none comes into view. She can still feel his eyes on her and she returns her gaze to him. Determined to ignore him she shrugs her shoulders lightly, watching each passing car intently. She hears him 'snuff' at her.
He continues to stand next to her in silence, rocking back and forth on his heals. *If he starts whistling I swear I'll scream,* she thinks to herself remembering an old cartoon with Elmer Fudd. Elmer had been, as always, after "that siwwy wabbit" and he stood outside Bugs's hole whistling and rocking back and forth with his gun cocked, evilly planning the rabbits death and picturing him as his stew.
The clunking of the bus's door swinging open suddenly brings Rory from her thoughts. She steps onto the bus, pays for the ride, and quickly takes her seat having already forgotten about Tristan's existence. It isn't until he sits down in front of her that she realizes he is planning on riding the bus as well. She gapes at him only to be returned by his famous smirk. Her eyes narrow as she crosses her arms and turns away from him to the window.
She proceeds to ignore him even though she is contemplating in her mind to why he is *her* bus. *Doesn't he have some expensive car that daddy bought him or something* she thinks to herself. Her eyes continue to stare out the window, with what to be seems immense concentration. Feeling his eyes still planted on her she begins to feel uncomfortable and she quickly shifts her weight in her seat, causing her incredibly heavy backpack to fall to the floor with a loud thud. Feeling slightly embarrassed she continues to focus all her attention to the slowly passing outside world, acting as if she didn't noticed that her bag had dropped. The empty bus seems to be deathly silent, and all she can hear is her breathing, and his which has miraculously matched her every intake of breath perfectly. She quickly steals a glance in his direction, somehow against her own will and better judgement, and as she suspected he is watching her intently. Suppressing an angry sigh her brows furrow, now even more determined to ignore him. There is no way Rory Gilmore is giving into Tristan Dugrey's intimidation games.
"You're trying so hard to ignore me Mary, and trust me its obvious," he says breaking the silence and startling her. Her eyes snap to his, gleaming with blazing intensity. Finally she decides to begin one of their many bickering matches, to which in her mind and in her own confidence, she is sure to win.
"Dugrey got something in your eyes? 'Cause you're staring a whole lot these days," she says simply. Okay so it isn't one of her better comebacks but she has yet to warm up. He smiles at her, a genuine smile that takes her by surprise. She quickly raises a brow, trying to figure out what he is possibly getting at. He pursues his staring at her, obviously trying to make her say something else, which he is successful in doing because she is getting irritated.
"Look Triston. I'm not playing along with another one of your games. It wouldn't be wise on your part anyway; I have yet to have my coffee," and with that she turns back to the window seeing the sign signaling the exit for her town of *Stars Hollow*. Somewhat relieved she turns and picks up her backpack, placing it on her lap ready to jump from the moving vehicle and away from him as quickly as possible. *Coffee, coffee, coffee* she thinks to herself reassuring that her stress reliever is waiting for her. *Only a few more minutes and I'll be there, at home, with my coffee!* she states in her mind as she watches the bus pass by familiar shops and familiar people walking along the rickety, chipper old town's sidewalks. Just the thought of coffee causes a small smile to appear on her face, and her anger to be lifted. Tristan immediately senses her sudden mood change and he quickly sets out to reduce it to a shriveling heap of anger.
"Don't you love me Mary?" he whispers seductively at her causing her to snap from her 'coffee thoughts' and to reality. Her face quickly falls at the site of him and his damn *smirk*.
"Why are you still here?" she snaps at him shifting her weight again in her seat. *Soon the coffee will be yours* she reminds herself attempting to calm her nerves. Her headache, which had disappeared at her thoughts of coffee, is suddenly returning full force. She growls to herself at this.
"What, did I make you angry? I thought we could hang out today too," he says swiftly turning in his seat and finally facing the other direction. The mentioning of *Rory and Tristan* hanging out catches her attention and she suddenly feels disgusted with him.
"Let me repeat myself, why are you here, on my bus!?" she says to him irritated. He doesn't respond, seeming to now ignore her causing her uncontrollable anger to rise even more. Just as she is about to say something Luke's diner catches her attention from the corner of her eye and she instinctively pulls on the cord signaling for the bus driver to stop, which he does with a sharp jolt. Jumping to her feet as fast as she can she quickly brushes past him towards the door, and as she steps down the first step she hears a whisper 'bye Mary' sounding more sincere than cocky, and startling her for a moment. She steps from the bus quickly strutting to Luke's, praying to herself that Lorelei will already be there.
***
"So Evil Tristan was riding the bus?" repeats Lorelei after Rory finishes explaining the eventful bus ride home. Sipping on her coffee Rory nods gently as they step through the front door of their warm home. Rory's teeth chatter regardless of the fact that she is drinking Luke's famous steaming coffee. As she slips off her jacket she takes another sip, the warmth rushing down her throat and settling in her stomach, warms her right to the bones. In silence the two proceed to the kitchen to perform their usual routine of sipping coffee, talking about their day, and Rory working on her homework.
In unison the mother and daughter plop into the chairs at the kitchen table, Rory's heavy backpack dropping to the floor with a loud thud and causing a raised brow from Lorelei.
"Hell's giving the usual amount of homework I see," she comments standing to her feet and rummaging on the counter for the newspaper. Taking a break from her constant thoughts of school, Rory focuses on her coffee. She smiles at the familiar scent of the slowly rising steam which hovers into the air from the cup. Her mom catches her daughter smiling, causing herself to smile as well. The two smile, drinking coffee and thinking of nothing else but that very moment, a moment precious enough to hopefully never be forgotten. But as usual the moment is quickly interrupted by an out of breath Jess who suddenly comes running into their peaceful kitchen, totally and completely out of breath. The two stare at him curiously.
"You forgot." he trails off panting too heavily to speak any further. Rory and Lorelei look to each other then back to the dark haired boy before them. Lorelei raises a brow, yet again.
"Forgot what?" she asks simply. He hunches over holding his knees in order to catch air in short breaths. Lorelei gently pats him on the back, more in a joking way rather than as comfort causing Rory to giggle from the funny faces she is making at him from behind his back. Jess peers at her curiously then stands upright shaking his head. From his pocket he pulls out Lorelei's precious cell phone causing her to squeak.
"I left that!" she exclaims grabbing it from his hand in excited surprise. He nods rolling his eyes and settling himself comfortably in a chair beside Rory, who is staring at her mother in wide-eyed mockery.
"MOM! You're cell phone was left behind! How could you?" she says mocking her mother's constant joking tone. Lorelei merely grunts as she inspects her cell phone as if it might have a disease or something or other. The two teens stare at her in disbelief, then look to each other and back to the frightful site of the completely grown women hugging her cell phone like it is a baby. Suddenly Jess turns to Rory.
"Rory I need your help," he says quickly motioning for them to go to another room, away from the crazy women. Rory nods and follows him into the living room, questions running through her mind. They quickly seat themselves on opposite ends of the couch. Rory turns to him as he sits, but she notices his lack of looking at her face and more at the wall behind her. She quickly looks behind her to the wall to see what it is that is so interesting, but nothing unusual stands out. She waves her hand in front of his face getting him to look at her. She gives him a questioning look.
"Sorry, I'm just.dazed today. You won't believe what happen," he says as a smile quickly crosses his lips. She raises a brow at him (A/N: they really like to raise brows.) shrugging and waiting for him to continue without interruption.
"I met a really awesome girl. Well actually she was a very difficult girl, playing hard to get and all but she was totally hilarious. I met her when I was in Hartford," he explains in a rush of excited emotion. Rory gives him a dumbfounded look.
"Why were *you* in Hartford?" she asks accusingly. She notices his face suddenly redden a little. He ignores her question.
"So this girl was totally beautiful, I mean gorgeous. The only problem was I couldn't get her attention. She kept totally blowing me off as if I wasn't even there," he says looking very disappointed. Rory blinks at him, wondering how it is that this conversation has to do with her. Before she can ask, though, he continues.
"I need your help. This girl was wearing one of your school uniforms so you might be able to give her a message for me, or at least this note," he says pulling out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. She stares at it a moment, totally surprised that he was so interested in a girl in a uniform. Sighing she takes the note from his hand reluctantly.
"Okay so what's her name?" Rory asks simply and purposely looking irritated at the idea of playing matchmaker. *Jess likes a girl from my school* she thinks go herself. *Weird*. He suddenly shakes his head.
"That the thing, she wouldn't tell me her name. She actually looked utterly pissed to be talking to me. Anyway, she's about 'yay high' with intense eyes and long straight light brown hair," he explains motioning with his hand the girl's height to be a little above Rory's jaw line. His hand accidentally brushes her cheek causing her to suddenly flinch unexpectedly. He pulls his hand back surprised.
"Um sorry, I didn't mean," he starts to explain but Rory quickly holds her hand up.
"It's all right you're hands are a little cold and it surprised me," she says quickly, lying to him and herself. Why had she suddenly flinched? She quickly brushes the thought aside returning to the thought of this mysterious girl.
"Okay so I'm pretty much looking for any girl in the entire school?" she asks bluntly staring at the white piece of paper in her hands. He doesn't respond only nods and quickly stands to his feet.
"Yeah so I got to go. Thanks for looking," he says and rapidly walks to the door not waiting for her to say goodbye. She stares after him feeling angry with herself for making him feel uncomfortable. She sighs returning to the kitchen to find her mother *still* fiddling with her cell phone. Her mother looks up at Rory as she walks in looking confused and disturbed. Rory quickly takes her coffee, no longer hot but warm, and she takes a big swig.
"What happen?" asks a concerned Lorelei. Rory shakes her head sighing again.
"Nothing. Jess has me on a mission. I have to find a mystery girl that he fancies and she goes to 'Hell' as well," explains Rory sadly.
***
Rory stands along the busy street in Hartford, waiting for her bus to arrive and wisp her away to her home, and her coffee. She has been stressed the entire day, and between dealing with overwhelming amounts of schoolwork and the 'evil trio' she has actually developed a nagging headache. She *needs* her coffee, as soon as possible. *Luckily I haven't run into Tristan,* she thinks to herself messaging her temples lightly. Jinxing herself yet again, the familiar ever-seductive male voice suddenly whispers in her ear.
"Mary," he says simply making his hot breath known against her ear. As hard as he tries, his attempts to sway her into liking him still has no effect on her. He is an attractive, very handsome young man, but the negative overrules the positive in his case. He is too arrogant and conceited for her liking, and she isn't about to become another one of his many 'conquest'. To him, Rory Gilmore is nothing but a challenge, or so she thinks in her own mind, but how would she truly know. She never gives him the time of day, but who can blame her. All he ever seems to want is to triumphantly get her to fall for him and make an even bigger name for himself.
He slowly steps beside her, his deep blue eyes locking in her gaze with an almost dominating, even challenging intensity. Not bothering to answer his remark she merely groans at him, looking up the street for hopefully an approaching bus, but none comes into view. She can still feel his eyes on her and she returns her gaze to him. Determined to ignore him she shrugs her shoulders lightly, watching each passing car intently. She hears him 'snuff' at her.
He continues to stand next to her in silence, rocking back and forth on his heals. *If he starts whistling I swear I'll scream,* she thinks to herself remembering an old cartoon with Elmer Fudd. Elmer had been, as always, after "that siwwy wabbit" and he stood outside Bugs's hole whistling and rocking back and forth with his gun cocked, evilly planning the rabbits death and picturing him as his stew.
The clunking of the bus's door swinging open suddenly brings Rory from her thoughts. She steps onto the bus, pays for the ride, and quickly takes her seat having already forgotten about Tristan's existence. It isn't until he sits down in front of her that she realizes he is planning on riding the bus as well. She gapes at him only to be returned by his famous smirk. Her eyes narrow as she crosses her arms and turns away from him to the window.
She proceeds to ignore him even though she is contemplating in her mind to why he is *her* bus. *Doesn't he have some expensive car that daddy bought him or something* she thinks to herself. Her eyes continue to stare out the window, with what to be seems immense concentration. Feeling his eyes still planted on her she begins to feel uncomfortable and she quickly shifts her weight in her seat, causing her incredibly heavy backpack to fall to the floor with a loud thud. Feeling slightly embarrassed she continues to focus all her attention to the slowly passing outside world, acting as if she didn't noticed that her bag had dropped. The empty bus seems to be deathly silent, and all she can hear is her breathing, and his which has miraculously matched her every intake of breath perfectly. She quickly steals a glance in his direction, somehow against her own will and better judgement, and as she suspected he is watching her intently. Suppressing an angry sigh her brows furrow, now even more determined to ignore him. There is no way Rory Gilmore is giving into Tristan Dugrey's intimidation games.
"You're trying so hard to ignore me Mary, and trust me its obvious," he says breaking the silence and startling her. Her eyes snap to his, gleaming with blazing intensity. Finally she decides to begin one of their many bickering matches, to which in her mind and in her own confidence, she is sure to win.
"Dugrey got something in your eyes? 'Cause you're staring a whole lot these days," she says simply. Okay so it isn't one of her better comebacks but she has yet to warm up. He smiles at her, a genuine smile that takes her by surprise. She quickly raises a brow, trying to figure out what he is possibly getting at. He pursues his staring at her, obviously trying to make her say something else, which he is successful in doing because she is getting irritated.
"Look Triston. I'm not playing along with another one of your games. It wouldn't be wise on your part anyway; I have yet to have my coffee," and with that she turns back to the window seeing the sign signaling the exit for her town of *Stars Hollow*. Somewhat relieved she turns and picks up her backpack, placing it on her lap ready to jump from the moving vehicle and away from him as quickly as possible. *Coffee, coffee, coffee* she thinks to herself reassuring that her stress reliever is waiting for her. *Only a few more minutes and I'll be there, at home, with my coffee!* she states in her mind as she watches the bus pass by familiar shops and familiar people walking along the rickety, chipper old town's sidewalks. Just the thought of coffee causes a small smile to appear on her face, and her anger to be lifted. Tristan immediately senses her sudden mood change and he quickly sets out to reduce it to a shriveling heap of anger.
"Don't you love me Mary?" he whispers seductively at her causing her to snap from her 'coffee thoughts' and to reality. Her face quickly falls at the site of him and his damn *smirk*.
"Why are you still here?" she snaps at him shifting her weight again in her seat. *Soon the coffee will be yours* she reminds herself attempting to calm her nerves. Her headache, which had disappeared at her thoughts of coffee, is suddenly returning full force. She growls to herself at this.
"What, did I make you angry? I thought we could hang out today too," he says swiftly turning in his seat and finally facing the other direction. The mentioning of *Rory and Tristan* hanging out catches her attention and she suddenly feels disgusted with him.
"Let me repeat myself, why are you here, on my bus!?" she says to him irritated. He doesn't respond, seeming to now ignore her causing her uncontrollable anger to rise even more. Just as she is about to say something Luke's diner catches her attention from the corner of her eye and she instinctively pulls on the cord signaling for the bus driver to stop, which he does with a sharp jolt. Jumping to her feet as fast as she can she quickly brushes past him towards the door, and as she steps down the first step she hears a whisper 'bye Mary' sounding more sincere than cocky, and startling her for a moment. She steps from the bus quickly strutting to Luke's, praying to herself that Lorelei will already be there.
***
"So Evil Tristan was riding the bus?" repeats Lorelei after Rory finishes explaining the eventful bus ride home. Sipping on her coffee Rory nods gently as they step through the front door of their warm home. Rory's teeth chatter regardless of the fact that she is drinking Luke's famous steaming coffee. As she slips off her jacket she takes another sip, the warmth rushing down her throat and settling in her stomach, warms her right to the bones. In silence the two proceed to the kitchen to perform their usual routine of sipping coffee, talking about their day, and Rory working on her homework.
In unison the mother and daughter plop into the chairs at the kitchen table, Rory's heavy backpack dropping to the floor with a loud thud and causing a raised brow from Lorelei.
"Hell's giving the usual amount of homework I see," she comments standing to her feet and rummaging on the counter for the newspaper. Taking a break from her constant thoughts of school, Rory focuses on her coffee. She smiles at the familiar scent of the slowly rising steam which hovers into the air from the cup. Her mom catches her daughter smiling, causing herself to smile as well. The two smile, drinking coffee and thinking of nothing else but that very moment, a moment precious enough to hopefully never be forgotten. But as usual the moment is quickly interrupted by an out of breath Jess who suddenly comes running into their peaceful kitchen, totally and completely out of breath. The two stare at him curiously.
"You forgot." he trails off panting too heavily to speak any further. Rory and Lorelei look to each other then back to the dark haired boy before them. Lorelei raises a brow, yet again.
"Forgot what?" she asks simply. He hunches over holding his knees in order to catch air in short breaths. Lorelei gently pats him on the back, more in a joking way rather than as comfort causing Rory to giggle from the funny faces she is making at him from behind his back. Jess peers at her curiously then stands upright shaking his head. From his pocket he pulls out Lorelei's precious cell phone causing her to squeak.
"I left that!" she exclaims grabbing it from his hand in excited surprise. He nods rolling his eyes and settling himself comfortably in a chair beside Rory, who is staring at her mother in wide-eyed mockery.
"MOM! You're cell phone was left behind! How could you?" she says mocking her mother's constant joking tone. Lorelei merely grunts as she inspects her cell phone as if it might have a disease or something or other. The two teens stare at her in disbelief, then look to each other and back to the frightful site of the completely grown women hugging her cell phone like it is a baby. Suddenly Jess turns to Rory.
"Rory I need your help," he says quickly motioning for them to go to another room, away from the crazy women. Rory nods and follows him into the living room, questions running through her mind. They quickly seat themselves on opposite ends of the couch. Rory turns to him as he sits, but she notices his lack of looking at her face and more at the wall behind her. She quickly looks behind her to the wall to see what it is that is so interesting, but nothing unusual stands out. She waves her hand in front of his face getting him to look at her. She gives him a questioning look.
"Sorry, I'm just.dazed today. You won't believe what happen," he says as a smile quickly crosses his lips. She raises a brow at him (A/N: they really like to raise brows.) shrugging and waiting for him to continue without interruption.
"I met a really awesome girl. Well actually she was a very difficult girl, playing hard to get and all but she was totally hilarious. I met her when I was in Hartford," he explains in a rush of excited emotion. Rory gives him a dumbfounded look.
"Why were *you* in Hartford?" she asks accusingly. She notices his face suddenly redden a little. He ignores her question.
"So this girl was totally beautiful, I mean gorgeous. The only problem was I couldn't get her attention. She kept totally blowing me off as if I wasn't even there," he says looking very disappointed. Rory blinks at him, wondering how it is that this conversation has to do with her. Before she can ask, though, he continues.
"I need your help. This girl was wearing one of your school uniforms so you might be able to give her a message for me, or at least this note," he says pulling out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. She stares at it a moment, totally surprised that he was so interested in a girl in a uniform. Sighing she takes the note from his hand reluctantly.
"Okay so what's her name?" Rory asks simply and purposely looking irritated at the idea of playing matchmaker. *Jess likes a girl from my school* she thinks go herself. *Weird*. He suddenly shakes his head.
"That the thing, she wouldn't tell me her name. She actually looked utterly pissed to be talking to me. Anyway, she's about 'yay high' with intense eyes and long straight light brown hair," he explains motioning with his hand the girl's height to be a little above Rory's jaw line. His hand accidentally brushes her cheek causing her to suddenly flinch unexpectedly. He pulls his hand back surprised.
"Um sorry, I didn't mean," he starts to explain but Rory quickly holds her hand up.
"It's all right you're hands are a little cold and it surprised me," she says quickly, lying to him and herself. Why had she suddenly flinched? She quickly brushes the thought aside returning to the thought of this mysterious girl.
"Okay so I'm pretty much looking for any girl in the entire school?" she asks bluntly staring at the white piece of paper in her hands. He doesn't respond only nods and quickly stands to his feet.
"Yeah so I got to go. Thanks for looking," he says and rapidly walks to the door not waiting for her to say goodbye. She stares after him feeling angry with herself for making him feel uncomfortable. She sighs returning to the kitchen to find her mother *still* fiddling with her cell phone. Her mother looks up at Rory as she walks in looking confused and disturbed. Rory quickly takes her coffee, no longer hot but warm, and she takes a big swig.
"What happen?" asks a concerned Lorelei. Rory shakes her head sighing again.
"Nothing. Jess has me on a mission. I have to find a mystery girl that he fancies and she goes to 'Hell' as well," explains Rory sadly.