Love can be a pain in the butt – Chapter seventeen
Loud splashes could be now heard, since the music had ceased, as one of the girls in the pool attempted to swim to the side. The other was trying to push her underwater. However, the other girl was unsuccessful as the girl swam to the side and slowly got out.
The girl squeezed the water out of her long brown hair and she rung the hem of her white dress. Her expression was one of white-hot rage.
She turned to the other girl who had just been pulled out of the water.
"You!" the girl screamed, "…damn bitch!"
Tristan's eyes focused to the girl who swore and his pupils dilated.
It was Rory.
The other girl, Summer stared at her, shock plastered on her face. It was soon replaced with a snicker.
"Ooh, who knew the goody two shoes had swear words in her vocabulary."
"And who knew the bitch of the south east could sink beyond her existing title."
Summer gave Rory a dirty look.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rory angrily asked. "Have you lost your mind?"
"No. I think you've lost yours. I told you to stay away from him."
"I'm sorry Summer. I seemed to have missed that part. You were too busy going on how you think your queen of the human race, and you know how that causes people to zone out."
By then, Rory had calmed down…only a bit though; she was still angry but not as much as a minute ago.
There was an under current of murmuring as the party guests were asking each other who was this 'he'?
Tristan bit his lip.
He looked at the two angry girls in front of him. He was slightly dazed; it really didn't take a smart person to realize from the start this verbal catfight that Rory wanted to throw out the adjective 'platonic' in the relationship as much as Tristan did.
Like the others, he continued to watch intently.
"Remind me to make it more clear next time."
"There's not going to be a next time Summer."
"You're right. Why don't we settle this tonight? Right here." Summer pointed to the ground as she edged closer to Rory.
"I don't think that is possible. You know very much, no matter how hard you try, that you can't keep me away from him, and that's a fact."
She looked at Summer. Her jaw was tense and her hands were clenched. Summer was glaring at her.
'She's faltering.' Rory observed as Summer's features softened for a second or two. 'She knows what I said is true.'
Summer's features had hardened again.
"Y-you want another fact?" she asked, "My people aren't meant mix with your type as you aren't meant to mix with mine."
Rory slowly shook her head.
"You are such an idiot! Your parents must be really rich to bribe Chilton to let their narrow-minded, bigot of a daughter to attend there."
Summer gasped. Her eyes narrowed.
"And you should be smart enough to keep your mouth shut!" Summer hissed.
"You know what would be even smarter? I'm really sick and tired of all your bull so I'm going to go and hope I will never have to see you or hear your irritating voice ever again. Goodbye Summer and have a nice life when you actually get one."
Rory began to walk away.
Tristan gaped at Rory. He had never seen her this…harsh. He wanted to follow her but he couldn't move. His cheeks went a bit red when he realised that he was…a teeny bit afraid, that if he went near her she'll take all her leftover rage out on him.
'Oh well that's a risk I'm willing to take' he thought embarrassed about the mere thought of being scared of Rory, his Mary who actually felt the same way he did, assuming. He hoped his assumptions were correct.
Rory was quickly heading towards the door when an old, snobby man in an expensive tux blocked her.
"You turn around young lady and you go apologise to my daughter!"
Rory scowled. She really wasn't in the best mood.
"Bite me."
The man looked appalled as Rory stepped around him and began to run outside.
She shivered as her bare skin and soaking dress came into contact with the freezing air. She hugged herself as she trudged through the snow towards the main house to call a cab.
It was only now, she realised how rude she was inside to Summer's father and unwillingly admitting, to Summer as well.
'Damn my niceness!" Rory cursed, she was on a roll with coarse language tonight.
'I'll apologise to Summer's father tomorrow. As for Summer, that's indefinite. Good thing grandma is still on vacation, I don't want to even think about what she'd do if she finds out about this.'
She was only a few feet from the main house.
"Rory!"
'Tristan.'
Every little trace of anger in Rory ceased to exist.
She turned around to see Tristan jogging towards her. Seeing him made her want to cry.
'My emotional roller coaster just won't end.'
She tried to hold back tears as Tristan stopped in front of her. He was looking very apprehensive.
'I know you know how I feel about you. Why do you have to be so damn smart? You weren't suppose to find out like this.'
That was what she planned to say to him. But all she managed to choke out was "I'm sorry Tristan, I need to go," and she turned around and ran off.
It took a few seconds for Tristan to process what Rory had said and to then see she already disappeared inside.
He broke into a sprint hoping to catch up with her. He was going down some steps when he slipped on the icy marble tiles. He oddly fell towards the bottom and when he landed, sharp pains erupted in his right ankle.
**********
Rory entered the house via the back kitchen door.
"Hey kiddo you're back early, how…" Lorelai stopped mid sentence as she looked at a soaking Rory.
"Rory! You must be freezing!" Lorelai's face was full of concern.
Rory passed her and squishly made her way up the stairs. Lorelai was about to head up the stairs as well when she heard the bathroom door slam shut.
**********
Rory turned on the tap and jumped into the bathtub with her gown still on. She hugged herself as she began to cry over how the night that looked bright had to turn so ugly and crappy.
**********
Tristan sped into the driveway, got out and hastily limped to the door. As he reached the porch steps, the door flung open.
"Lorelai."
"Tristan, have you seen Rory?"
"Rory's not here?"
"Come to think of it, a girl with the same description as her did come here a few minutes ago, but she was all wet and teary, did I mention zombie like?"
"Sorry to break it to you but that was Rory."
"Oh…can you please cheer her up? I don't think she wants to talk to me…yet. She's upstairs in the bathroom."
Tristan proceeded to limp inside
"By the way Tristan why are you limping?"
"I had a…little accident that involved an ankle."
"You OK? Do you need ice or anything?"
"I'm fine." Tristan lied.
His ankle had hurt like hell while he drove here.
Tristan smiled reassuringly before attempting to head up the stairs.
**********
(Knock on the door)
"Hey." Tristan cautiously limped into the bathroom, hoping that Rory was decent enough.
He came to a halt when he saw a fully dressed Rory in the bathtub, her wet hair was covering her face and she was hugging herself.
"Mary, why so down?"
Rory avoided Tristan's concerned gaze.
Tristan hesitated for a second before carefully jumping into the bathtub.
He gritted his teeth as his right ankle came into contact with the tub.
Tristan stared at her.
"I'm so sorry." Rory quietly apologised. She refused to look at him.
"Sorry about what?"
"For everything, everything that happened tonight. How I partook in ruining your grandfather's retirement party."
"You didn't ruin it, you made it really interesting. A party one will never forget." Tristan joked.
"Yeah, everyone got to see the bitchy side of Rory Gilmore. Real Kodak moment"
"Everyone has their days."
Rory sniffed.
"You're ruining your suit." Rory croaked.
"I don't care about my suit," he paused, "I care about you."
Rory looked up at Tristan as something struck a chord in her. She replayed the words he said in her head. 'I care about you.'
Tristan looked at her wondering if it what he said was inappropriate. He swallowed the lump in his throat.
"Rory?"
"You care about me?" Rory whispered.
"A lot."
"You care about me?" she repeated
"I might even be in love with you," he truthfully replied minus the 'might'.
Rory began to cry some more.
"I didn't mean to make you cry more."
Rory smiled and slowly ran a finger along his cheek and then to his mouth.
Tristan taking this as a sign, slowly leaned in, Rory inched closer when finally their lips met. Rory combed a hand through his wet hair as Tristan ran his tongue at the bottom of her lip seeking permission to deepen the kiss, which Rory granted happily. Tristan shifted a little to allow Rory to move closer.
"Ahh!"
They parted. Rory looked at Tristan, worried.
"Did I hurt you?" Rory asked.
"No. It's my ankle. I kinda fell down a few stairs back at the party. I was in hurry to catch up with this girl."
Rory laughed. "How sweet," she paused, "Sweet. That's one of the reasons why I love you."
Tristan grinned. Rory vigilantly edged closer to him.
"Come to think of it, I've become quite fond of your ego too. You could say it keeps me on my toes."
"Knew you'd come around Mary."
Rory chuckled.
"Shut up and kiss me…" Rory whispered.
"Will do."
Rory smiled as Tristan leaned in to kiss her again, the fourth of one of the many kisses Rory and Tristan were bound to share.
THE END
A/N: La finis! Complete! And before Christmas! Hope this wasn't too farfetched and corny.
I want to THANK all the people and extra terrestrial beings that have read this fic of mine and continued to read even with my irregular updating. To the reviewers, thanks for all the encouragement, support and positive feedback.
I also need to thank the people who have somehow contributed something to this fic, you people know who are.
To the people who gave me ideas, thanks for your suggestions and I'm sorry if I did not use them.
meeeee!!: you suggested I should write summaries. I know how annoying it can get when someone takes ages to update their fic and you have to read ALL the previous chapters to remember what's been going on, but since this story is already complete I see there is no point.
A little shout out to a bud of mine, Claudette…what did you think of it? I'm gonna miss you next year and I hope you make heaps of friends at your new school! But just because you made new friends doesn't mean you can forget me! And the others! : )
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Maria