You guys are great!!! So far I've got like 75 reviews! * dances with my Stitch toy *. Once again all my thank you's to: Dontia, gohuskers8604, Phoebe, Trory4ever, Lor, Silver Angel, Marie, KittyWhiskers, Me!!, blitzen, rgilmore03, gilmorgal669, Seehoo, Crono, sonar, CaffineLFNDGG, Francesca, Marie, apple_eye, dodgerluv, Laine, Sarah V, SmoothAsVelvet, Coffeeaddict4life, floor and paula, flossie, & 2 anonymous reviewers!
Yes, I know we would all love to see CMM in a towel. * heheheh. In this chapter, I explained why Carla has a different surname.
NOTE: Rory has never mentioned Tristan in front of Jess.
For all who wanted to know: my trip was fabulous but tiring!
Chapter 5
Rory's mouth was still dropped open. And she could tell that she was blushing. Tristan grinned.
"Rory, shut your mouth or all the flies will come in. Besides, you didn't tell me why you're here in the first place," said Tristan.
Rory shut her mouth in a flash, but didn't know where to look. Every time she looked down at the carpet, her eyes went straight up to stare at his bare chest. She shut her eyes.
"Your mum crashed into my mum's jeep," Rory mumbled, her eyes still shut tightly.
Tristan squinted down at Rory. "Right. Why do you have your eyes shut?"
Rory panicked. What was she supposed to say? Oh, the truth is I can't look away from your naked chest. Why do you have to go around opening doors half-naked?
"I got some thing in my eye," lied Rory. She hoped he would believe her excuse, but all of those thoughts fled her mind at the hearty laugh coming from Tristan.
"Right. Or is it the sight of my six pack and muscled arms?" teased Tristan.
Rory almost fainted. He can't possibly know that I think he's hot, can he? She skimmed her mind for sharp retorts.
"What six pack and muscled arms?" uttered Rory, only her thoughts betraying her voice.
Tristan laughed. "Score two for Mary."
An uncomfortable pause settled in the air, with the two of them looking at anywhere but each other.
Finally, Tristan asked, "What are you doing here?"
Rory was silent for a while. She had almost forgotten what she was going to fetch in the first place. "Umm, I need bubble bath solution."
Tristan nodded. "OK. But I don't have any. You'll have to wait and I'll go look in my sister's room."
Rory consented, and turned to leave, but Tristan stopped her. "Come in. You can keep me company. Besides, I've got some books in here from my dad's library that you might like to read."
Rory's face brightened at the mentioning of such books, and she let him lead the way into his room. It was enormous, even bigger than the bedroom she was staying in. He ushered her into another doorway, which was filled with bookshelves.
"So, Mary, what do you think of my collection?"
Rory ran her hands through the titles, which were mostly classics.
"They're wonderful," she breathed.
"I know," said Tristan. He watched her admiring the books. "I'll just change for dinner and you can just sit here and read the books."
Rory nodded, too absorbed in her activity to do anything much.
Tristan walked away with a smile.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Jess was tired, and he didn't have any spare clothes. He opened the closet, which contained a few nice shirts and cocktail dresses. He smiled. This household is always so prepared
He took a quick shower and changed into the clothes. With nothing better to do, he walked around the hallway. He came to a door that was half-open, and being the curious person that he is, looked inside. There was a little girl playing with blocks, and a frantic nanny who was trying to feed her with food. The girl appeared four or five years old and she looked angelic with blonde hair and blue eyes. Jess walked in closer. This girl reminds me of someone. But whom?
The girl looked up at the approaching footsteps and appraised Jess. "Hi. Who are you?" asked the girl in a chirpy voice.
Jess smiled awkwardly. He didn't know how to treat children. Quite frankly, they scared the hell out of him. "I'm Jess."
"Isn't Jess a girl's name?" was the girl's witty response.
Jess was at a loss for words. How am I supposed to respond to that? "Well, yes I guess it is."
"Then why are you called Jess?" asked the girl again.
Jess shrugged. "Who knows, parents are a weird thing."
The girl smiled. "I know. My favourite doll is called Jess-a-rina. She's very pretty, and I love her hair." She held out the doll to him. The doll had jet-black hair that was extremely straight.
"This is a pretty doll," commented Jess.
The girl shot up a smile at him. "My brother says that Jess-a-rina isn't as pretty as me."
Jess mulled over this new piece of information. "I'd say that your brother is smart. You're twice as pretty as the doll is. And you have a nice laugh."
The girl smiled. "My name is Clementine, but everybody calls me Tiny."
Jess smiled a rare true smile. The name fits her totally.
"Jess, come play with me. I'm trying to build a castle for Jess-a-rina and Bell-a-rina to play in. She's my other doll." Tiny cleared a space next to her. The nanny walked away as Tiny had finished eating. Jess sat down, and began to help Tiny.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Tristan had finished dressing. He fetched Rory from her temporary haven with the promise that she could borrow all the books she desire. They walked to Tristan's sister's room.
"So, how come you don't have the same surname as your mum?" asked Rory with curiosity. She would never have guessed that Carla Harrison is Tristan Dugrey's mother.
Tristan eyed her. "Mum's a bit of a feminist. She had a wonderful career when she married Dad, and thought it would be better if she just kept her surname. That way, it would be less confusing for her customers."
Rory nodded. "That makes sense. So where are we going now?"
"Tiny's room to get your bubble bath," said Tristan.
Rory was puzzled. "Who's Tiny?"
"That's my sister. We all call her Tiny, although her real name is Clementine. It just sounds so posh to belong to a young girl of age four. Besides, she follows her namesake."
Rory laughed. Tristan stopped at a door and stepped inside. Rory followed suit, and thought she heard Jess's laughter.
I must be imagining things again
Then, she saw Jess. And she saw Jess see Tristan. Rory braced herself for the awkward conversation she thought would follow. She opened her mouth to introduce them to each other, when…
"Jess?" asked Tristan in disbelief.
"T?"
Jess jumped up, and gave Tristan that guy shake. (A/N: You know that guy thing where they shake their fists around or something, I don't know how to describe it but it looks pretty funny to me. I always think they're trying to be macho. )
"You know each other?" asked Rory in incredulity.
To be continued…
Read and review!