"You're really meeting with him this afternoon?" Paris asks as they unpack.
"What, you think I'm making this up?"
"No, I just think it's weird."
"It is weird," Rory concedes. Six weeks of living with Paris would be exhausting. On the ride down, Paris had driven her crazy with plans for their senior year reign. What should they do first? Work on changing the cafeteria lunch menus? Try to talk Headmaster Charleston into adding Japanese and Russian to the foreign language options?
"So he really just wrote you a letter out of the blue like that?" Paris asks.
"Paris," Rory says.
"Sorry, sorry, it just seems really weird."
"Okay, we've established that it's weird, can we move on please?"
"You're cranky."
"I'm fine."
"Whatever you say. These dorms are a dump," Paris comments.
"Welcome to college."
"They're small."
"All dorms are small. Even at Harvard."
"Hopefully they're cleaner than this."
"I don't think Washington D.C. is known for its cleanliness. Besides, we're just residents for six weeks. You can deal with anything for six weeks."
"What time are you meeting Tristan?"
"Threeish."
"Where are you meeting?"
"Washington Memorial."
"How romantic," Paris says sarcastically.
"It's not supposed to be romantic."
"Is he gonna be spending the night here and stuff?"
"Paris! No! I swear to you, Tristan and me are just friends."
"Do we need to get one of those signs to hang on the doorknob 'if the dorm room is a rockin' don't come a knockin'?"
"You are disgusting."
"And you are blushing."
"Because you're gross."
"I wouldn't tell Tristan that you think having sex with him would be gross, it might hurt his feelings."
"Look, maybe he used to like me but that's over now. He's a totally different person. He actually cares about stuff that isn't himself."
"Wow," Paris says. Rory can't read her tone. Is she jealous? Pre-occupied? What? "So...Dean?"
"We broke up," Rory says.
"Because of Tristan?"
"No, not because of Tristan."
"You and Dean were really sweet together."
"I know, I kind of screwed everything up."
"By what?"
"Kissing Jess."
"That would do it."
"Pretty much."
"That seems really weird."
"I know."
"Not that Jess isn't great, because he is, I just don't see you doing something like that."
"Yeah, well," Rory answers, looking at her watch. 2:45. "I'm gonna run."
"Tell him hi for me."
"I will."
"And don't get mugged on the way or anything."
"Good tip."
"Just be safe, okay? Washington is a rough city."
"I'll be careful, thanks."
They smile at each other and then Rory makes her way from the dorms to Washington Memorial. It's a beautiful day, hot and sticky but beautiful. The sky is deep blue and the few clouds are tall and puffy. It's hard for Rory to believe the weathercasters are predicting rain for that evening.
Tristan is nowhere to be found at the memorial, so Rory stretches out on a bench and pulls out a book. While ordinarily she has no problem concentrating, today Rory finds her eyes drawn away from the pages by just about everything- a crying child, a crowd of college students playing softball down the road, a honking car. Finally she sits on the bench for so long the noise of city life fades and she can concentrate on the book.
"Some things never change," Tristan greets her.
"Like you being late?"
"Funny, funny girl. Sorry, my bus was behind schedule. Watcha reading?"
"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter."
"Danielle Steele?"
'Carson McCullers."
"I was close."
"It's a classic."
"It sounds like a trashy romance novel."
"Things don't change that much."
Tristan grins and takes a seat next to her on the bench. Rory closes the book and stuffs it into her purse. She's glad it's a hot day and her sweating looks heat induced. If possible he had become more beautiful over their six months apart. He's taller and more solid looking, with defined arms and a thick chest. His little boy charm is gone, the spiky hair buzzed, the blue eyes harder. Rory has a hard time not staring.
"You look good," Tristan says.
"Paris says hi," Rory answers, fingers knotting together in her lap. His voice is the same grainy drawl that attracted her to him in the first place.
"Well tell her I say hi back. How's she doing?"
"Good. She's still Paris."
"You guys getting along?"
"Yeah, it took a little bit but we're pretty close now. Actually she spent the night at my house a couple months ago."
Tristan laughs.
"That's hard to picture," he says.
"You're telling me. It just kind of happened. She showed up uninvited for help with homework and then she ended up smoothing over something with Dean and Jess later that night. After that we were friends."
"I can't even imagine that, she hated you so much."
"I know. Life's funny like that, isn't it?"
"It certainly is," Tristan says and Rory knows he's thinking about military school.
"Is there any chance you'll come back to Chilton?" she asks.
"Not really, I don't really have a reason to go back."
"I guess not," Rory says.
"I mean, I'm not exactly the person they remember, you know? I just don't want to deal with all the politics involved in going back to Hartford."
"So you're afraid," she surprises herself by saying. She can tell Tristan is surprised too. He laughs it off.
"That's one way of saying it."
"What's another way?"
"That I'm hungry and we should go find something to eat."
"Definitely."
"I am craving some kind of really thick sandwich with all types of meat on it."
"I was thinking a BLT."
"Ooh that sounds good too. We could do halfsies."
"We could do what?" Rory asks with a laugh.
"You know, halfsies. Like you get a BLT and I get a big meat sandwich and you take half of mine and I take half of yours. You've never done halfsies before?"
"No I've done that, I just didn't realize it had a cute little name."
"Well it does."
"Good to know."
"So tell me more about this Jess guy," Tristan says as they walk.
"What do you want to know?"
"Like…how'd you meet him?"
"He's the nephew of Luke, who owns the diner that my mom and I eat at just about every day."
"And he's our age?"
"Yep."
"And you kissed him?"
"Pretty much."
"So were you guys good friends or what?"
"No, actually we had never talked before and I walked into the diner one night and it was something about the way that he was pouring my coffee that I jumped up and kissed him."
"Well, you always have had a thing for coffee."
"We were friends. We were good friends."
"And you liked him."
"Like I said, we were friends."
"But you were attracted to him."
"Yes," Rory says. She sighs. "I was attracted to him. He actually reminded me of the way I imagine my mother at seventeen. He was angry and witty and artistic and I guess I kind of fell for him."
"He was angry?"
"His mom sent him to live with Luke because she was having problems with him. Jess had reason to be angry."
"I just don't see you with an angry guy, you know? I mean you're so sweet and perky."
"I'm perky?"
"Yep, perky."
"That makes me sound like a member of the cheerleading squad."
"And that's a bad thing?" Tristan asks. Rory thinks of Lane in her red and white cheerleading uniform, the way her face glowed after a good performance, the bond between her and the other cheerleaders.
"I guess not," she says.
The sandwich shop is a hole in the wall tucked between government buildings and Rory feels a little afraid of going inside.
"You think they're going to yell at you if you order the wrong thing or something?" Tristan asks.
"No, it just looks a little scary," Rory says.
"Come on little girl," Tristan opens the door and leaves her no option but to enter the restaurant, which is crowded for 4:00.
"That smells so good," Rory says.
"Like fresh bread," Tristan agrees. As they order, they both reach for their wallets.
"Let me take care of this," Tristan says.
"I can pay for my own."
"You don't need to."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm the guy and I'm paying."
"When did this become a date?"
"It's not, I'm just paying," Tristan says.
"No you're not."
"I am too," Tristan says and he bumps her out of the way with his hip, causing her to stumble into a rack of chips that teeters but doesn't fall.
"Look what you almost did," Rory taunts, face red.
"What I almost did? You're the one who started it. I told you I was paying and that's final. Consider it payback for all the mean things I did to you."
"All the mean things? Like what?"
"Like calling you Mary."
"That wasn't all that bad, toward the end I kind of liked it actually."
"Okay, well what about when I told Paris you were going to PJ Harvey with me even though you'd already said no?" Tristan says as they move to the end of the counter and pick up their sandwiches.
"Now that deserves some payback."
"Oh wait, but later that day you announced to the whole school that you hated me."
Rory blushes, embarrassed by how much she hurt Tristan.
"I…" she can't think of anything good enough to say.
"I'm sorry that was out of line," Tristan says, jamming his cup underneath the ice dispenser. "We've already talked through that and I promise this is the last time I'll ever bring it up."
"Fair enough," Rory says. She watches as he fills his coke to the top, waits for it to fizz down, tops it off, waits for it to fizz down, and tops it off again. "That is really annoying."
"What is?"
"You think you got that thing full enough? You know, it's free refills."
"Just habit, I guess," Tristan says, smiling. "I'm gonna grab us that table over there by the window."
"Cool, I'll be right there." Tristan winks at her before he walks away.
They sit in the sandwich place for a long time, talking about movies and school and life experiences. From their seat at the window, the two watch as gray clouds darken and spread across the sky. Finally, Tristan stands and throws away their empty plates and watery coke remains.
"I better walk you back, I don't want to miss my bus," Tristan says.
"You don't need to walk me back," Rory says. It is sprinkling outside.
"I want to."
They stand beneath the eaves of the sandwich place for a bit and stare at the increasing strength of the rain.
"You want my jacket?" Tristan calls over a roll of thunder.
"For what?" The air is thick and hot despite the summer shower.
"To cover your hair."
"Nah, it's fine."
Tristan stares at her and Rory blushes, shifting beneath his watchful eye.
"What?" she says finally.
"Just you," Tristan says, face breaking into a smile.
"So do we make a run for it?" Rory asks, trying to ignore the increased speed of her heartbeat.
"Let's go."
Tristan takes her hand, grins at her, and breaks into a sprint, giving her no choice but to be dragged along.