Disclaimer : I think I have exactly $25.00 to my name. Suing me for borrowing such characters will get you
nothing more then that. Don't bother.
Feedback : Wowie, lotsa reviews for this last chapter. Thank you thank you thank you!
A/N : This chapter is reaaaaaaalllllly short, just tying up some loose Trory ends. I promised some Trory goodness / happiness awhile back and that IS coming, as you will read. Keep reviewing, you all are slowly giving me my inspiration back.
"Don't Say You Love Me"
Chapter 12
The rest of the night was part avoidance, part heartbreak. Rory did her best to steer clear of Tristan and Tristan was heartbroken. Not so much by the fact Rory hadn't returned his feelings, but because of the way she had reacted. He hadn't expected her to run from him and the fact she did brought on more painful memories, from the night they had first kissed. They both said their goodbyes to Summer and Jake, both promising to keep in touch, both retired to their respective bedrooms after they had left and both spent more then half the night awake, thinking of the other. By the time Tristan finally decided it was time to talk to Rory, fate was pulling out its hair with frustration.
Saturday Evening - Stafford Park
The park was full of people, more people then one would ever expect to find in a small town like Hope. Most were campers, barbecuing out of their tents and RV's, having bonfires with friends and family, some swimming in the lake and others just having a grand ole time. Lorelai and Luke had disappeared some forty-five minutes ago when their picnic had run out of drinks. Tristan himself, had wandered away shortly after they had left, leaving Rory sitting alone on the blanket, her thoughts a million miles away from her. Okay, maybe not a million, a mere few hundred feet would do, seeing as thats where Tristan stood, watching her. He wanted to go over there, sit down and talk to her like they would've been doing had he not spilled his heart out to her the day before. She hadn't spoke to him in nearly twenty-four hours and it was slowly driving him insane. This was exactly what he had been afraid of, why he had been so reluctant about telling her. Their tentative friendship had been going great until then. Sighing, he headed over to the dock to think and more importantly, to force himself to not stare at Rory.
******
Yawning, Rory fell onto her back, staring up at the stars in the sky. It was amazing how many more stars there were up here compared to the city. Even in Stars Hollow there was a minimal amount of stars. But here, the entire sky was lit up by these tiny twinkling objects. As soon as the word 'twinkling ' entered Rory's mind, the image of Tristan's blue eyes did as well. She missed him. He was so close, but still worlds away and it was her fault. She was the one who refused to even look in his direction. He had been honest with her, direct with his feelings and she ran. Why had she run? She was the one who had asked him, it wasn't like he had just come up to her and said, "Hey Ror, I love you. I've loved you for as long as I've known you. Just thought you'd like to know. " She should've expected that something like that would happen. And now that she did know, different things he had said or done for her suddenly popped back in her head, and she realized that it had been there all along. She had just been too blind to see it. Groaning, she shifted her gaze, sitting up abruptly when she saw a man approaching her. The guy, tall with dark blond hair offered her a smile.
"Hello, I hope I'm not bothering you."
Rory shook her head and managed a small smile. "Not at all."
The guy squatted down and extended his hand. "Justin Manach."
"Rory Gilmore."
"You're not from around here, are you?" Justin chuckled.
"Its that painfully obvious, huh?" Rory laughed.
Justin scratched his head, smiling. "Yeah, kind of. I came over here to see if you wanted to join my friends and I. I noticed you're sitting here all alone and you're too pretty to be all by yourself. So what do you say?"
Rory blushed and shook her head slightly. "I would love too, but Im not here completely alone. My mom should be back soon
and my friend," she paused, wincing at that word. She wasn't sure if she deserved to call him that now. "is around here somewhere."
"Would you mind if I joined ya until they came back then?"
Hesitating for a mere moment, she relented. "I would love that."
Justin eased his way into a sitting position on the blanket and met her gaze. "So, Rory..."
*****
Just go talk to her, dammit, Tristan was silently screaming to himself. He was driving himself insane, by prolonging the inevitable conversation that they HAD to have. Even if they were destined to only be friends, he needed her in his life and he wasn't about to just let her go. The short two weeks they had been friends were without a doubt, the best two weeks of his life. Sighing, he forced himself to get up and head back to the blanket. They were leaving for Hartford the next afternoon and there was no way he was going home without resolving things with her. Avoiding any and all of the ogling girls that had glanced his way as he covered the ground back to Rory, Tristan inwardly sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. A few minutes later he was abruptly halted, no more then twenty feet from her, by the scene of her talking and laughing with an unknown man. His heart began to pound fiercely, his blood racing through his veins at the speed of light and he was once again losing the battle he had fought time and time again in high school - the one on one war with jealousy. Swallowing hard, he marched over to them, a scowl on his face. "Glad to know I was missed."
Rory glanced up in surprise, her heart breaking at the hurt and anguish so clearly presented itself on his features. "Tris.."
"Who is this?" Tristan interrupted.
"Justin Manach," Justin introduced himself, standing to shake his hand.
Tristan ignored him, his eyes burning into Rory. "So this is how you pay me back for loving you? I knew I shouldn't have said anything." He said, surprised by his own harshness. He immediately wished he could take the words back as Rory's face paled.
"Its not like that, Tristan," Rory managed to get out before he continued on his attack.
"This is exactly why I didn't tell you back then. Because I knew that you would just stab me in the back, running back to your bagboy boyfriend. Where is he now, huh? He's gone and here i am, still pathetically in love with you. Do you have an idea how much I hate that? How much I hate knowing that you have my heart and I have nothing of yours in return. Hell, I don't even have your friendship anymore." Tristan said, his voice breaking with emotion.
Rory stared at him, her jaw dropped. She had to tell him. Wait, she had to tell him what? That she was sorry? No, she wasn't sorry. She was glad. Glad that he loved her. Glad because she... because she was falling for him too. But somehow she knew that he wouldn't accept those words now, now that she had unintentionally broken his heart. "Tris, can we not do this here? Can we go talk somewhere?"
Tristan's scowl lessened a little at the look of pain on her face. He had caused it, he had caused her this pain. And it was a feeling he didn't like, a feeling he despised. And now, staring at her, with tears in her eyes, his felt all his anger fade away. Mutely he nodded, "Yeah."
The other guy, the one who had caused him to fly into a jealous rage was forgotten, by both of them. They packed up the few belongings that were on the ground and walked in the direction of the water, enveloped in silence. Finally, when they reached the shoreline, Tristan spread out the blanket and helped her sit down. Neither of them tried to fight the sparks that flew with that single contact. They both sighed simultaneously, glancing at each other with hesitant smiles before sighing again.
"Im sorry," Rory whispered after a few seconds.
Tristan shook his head. "I'm the one who should be sorry, Rory. I had no room to go off like I did."
Rory glanced over at him, with his head hanging shamefully down and one hand absentmindedly playing with the sand. "No, you didn't, but Im not mad. Im sorry about last night, though, I shouldn't have run and I shouldn't have avoided you. You have been nothing but completely honest with me about everything, even things that I know are hard for you to admit and all I could do was run away from that."
"Yeah, well, love's a bitch. Maybe I should've held it back, I don't know."
"No, Im glad you told me," Rory said softly, placing a hand on his upper arm.
Tristan's eyes shifted to her. "You are?"
Rory nodded. "Yeah, I am. It made me think alot and realize some things."
"What kind of things?" Tristan asked, afraid to hope what she could mean by that.
Scooting a little closer to him, Rory smiled. "Why I ran."
Tristan felt a lump form in his throat. "Why?"
"Because I was afraid of what I felt."
"And whats that?"
"Strongly, about you. I got scared, and refused to admit that much to myself. You've only been back in my life for two weeks, Tristan, and this is happening so fast. You're the first guy I've had feelings for since Bag - er, Dean and that scares me. I don't want to get hurt like I did by him."
Stunned into supreme happiness by this revelation, Tristan wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezing it slightly. "I won't hurt you, Rory. Never. And we can take things as slowly as you need. Just give us a chance."
Rory leaned back into his embrace, her eyes searching his. No, he wouldn't hurt her, not now, not ever. He would never do the things Dean had done to her, never break her heart. And she knew. Smiling, she pushed a lock of his hair out of his face. "I'll give us a million chances," she whispered.
A grin spread across Tristan's face, lighting it up to a degree neither knew he was capable of. "And I'll give us a million and one," he whispered back before kissing her softly.
*****
From afar, wrapped in her boyfriends arms, Lorelai watched the two with a smile playing with her lips. She had known from that first day something would eventually happen between the two. Tilting her head back, she caught Luke's grin. "You owe me ten bucks, buddy," She giggled.
Luke rolled his eyes, tightened his grip on her waist and kissed her.
*****
TRORYNESS!! Yay. I know this was short and rushed, but that was warned in the beginning. More, whenever I get the chance.
*~* Shay *~*
nothing more then that. Don't bother.
Feedback : Wowie, lotsa reviews for this last chapter. Thank you thank you thank you!
A/N : This chapter is reaaaaaaalllllly short, just tying up some loose Trory ends. I promised some Trory goodness / happiness awhile back and that IS coming, as you will read. Keep reviewing, you all are slowly giving me my inspiration back.
Chapter 12
The rest of the night was part avoidance, part heartbreak. Rory did her best to steer clear of Tristan and Tristan was heartbroken. Not so much by the fact Rory hadn't returned his feelings, but because of the way she had reacted. He hadn't expected her to run from him and the fact she did brought on more painful memories, from the night they had first kissed. They both said their goodbyes to Summer and Jake, both promising to keep in touch, both retired to their respective bedrooms after they had left and both spent more then half the night awake, thinking of the other. By the time Tristan finally decided it was time to talk to Rory, fate was pulling out its hair with frustration.
Saturday Evening - Stafford Park
The park was full of people, more people then one would ever expect to find in a small town like Hope. Most were campers, barbecuing out of their tents and RV's, having bonfires with friends and family, some swimming in the lake and others just having a grand ole time. Lorelai and Luke had disappeared some forty-five minutes ago when their picnic had run out of drinks. Tristan himself, had wandered away shortly after they had left, leaving Rory sitting alone on the blanket, her thoughts a million miles away from her. Okay, maybe not a million, a mere few hundred feet would do, seeing as thats where Tristan stood, watching her. He wanted to go over there, sit down and talk to her like they would've been doing had he not spilled his heart out to her the day before. She hadn't spoke to him in nearly twenty-four hours and it was slowly driving him insane. This was exactly what he had been afraid of, why he had been so reluctant about telling her. Their tentative friendship had been going great until then. Sighing, he headed over to the dock to think and more importantly, to force himself to not stare at Rory.
******
Yawning, Rory fell onto her back, staring up at the stars in the sky. It was amazing how many more stars there were up here compared to the city. Even in Stars Hollow there was a minimal amount of stars. But here, the entire sky was lit up by these tiny twinkling objects. As soon as the word 'twinkling ' entered Rory's mind, the image of Tristan's blue eyes did as well. She missed him. He was so close, but still worlds away and it was her fault. She was the one who refused to even look in his direction. He had been honest with her, direct with his feelings and she ran. Why had she run? She was the one who had asked him, it wasn't like he had just come up to her and said, "Hey Ror, I love you. I've loved you for as long as I've known you. Just thought you'd like to know. " She should've expected that something like that would happen. And now that she did know, different things he had said or done for her suddenly popped back in her head, and she realized that it had been there all along. She had just been too blind to see it. Groaning, she shifted her gaze, sitting up abruptly when she saw a man approaching her. The guy, tall with dark blond hair offered her a smile.
"Hello, I hope I'm not bothering you."
Rory shook her head and managed a small smile. "Not at all."
The guy squatted down and extended his hand. "Justin Manach."
"Rory Gilmore."
"You're not from around here, are you?" Justin chuckled.
"Its that painfully obvious, huh?" Rory laughed.
Justin scratched his head, smiling. "Yeah, kind of. I came over here to see if you wanted to join my friends and I. I noticed you're sitting here all alone and you're too pretty to be all by yourself. So what do you say?"
Rory blushed and shook her head slightly. "I would love too, but Im not here completely alone. My mom should be back soon
and my friend," she paused, wincing at that word. She wasn't sure if she deserved to call him that now. "is around here somewhere."
"Would you mind if I joined ya until they came back then?"
Hesitating for a mere moment, she relented. "I would love that."
Justin eased his way into a sitting position on the blanket and met her gaze. "So, Rory..."
*****
Just go talk to her, dammit, Tristan was silently screaming to himself. He was driving himself insane, by prolonging the inevitable conversation that they HAD to have. Even if they were destined to only be friends, he needed her in his life and he wasn't about to just let her go. The short two weeks they had been friends were without a doubt, the best two weeks of his life. Sighing, he forced himself to get up and head back to the blanket. They were leaving for Hartford the next afternoon and there was no way he was going home without resolving things with her. Avoiding any and all of the ogling girls that had glanced his way as he covered the ground back to Rory, Tristan inwardly sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. A few minutes later he was abruptly halted, no more then twenty feet from her, by the scene of her talking and laughing with an unknown man. His heart began to pound fiercely, his blood racing through his veins at the speed of light and he was once again losing the battle he had fought time and time again in high school - the one on one war with jealousy. Swallowing hard, he marched over to them, a scowl on his face. "Glad to know I was missed."
Rory glanced up in surprise, her heart breaking at the hurt and anguish so clearly presented itself on his features. "Tris.."
"Who is this?" Tristan interrupted.
"Justin Manach," Justin introduced himself, standing to shake his hand.
Tristan ignored him, his eyes burning into Rory. "So this is how you pay me back for loving you? I knew I shouldn't have said anything." He said, surprised by his own harshness. He immediately wished he could take the words back as Rory's face paled.
"Its not like that, Tristan," Rory managed to get out before he continued on his attack.
"This is exactly why I didn't tell you back then. Because I knew that you would just stab me in the back, running back to your bagboy boyfriend. Where is he now, huh? He's gone and here i am, still pathetically in love with you. Do you have an idea how much I hate that? How much I hate knowing that you have my heart and I have nothing of yours in return. Hell, I don't even have your friendship anymore." Tristan said, his voice breaking with emotion.
Rory stared at him, her jaw dropped. She had to tell him. Wait, she had to tell him what? That she was sorry? No, she wasn't sorry. She was glad. Glad that he loved her. Glad because she... because she was falling for him too. But somehow she knew that he wouldn't accept those words now, now that she had unintentionally broken his heart. "Tris, can we not do this here? Can we go talk somewhere?"
Tristan's scowl lessened a little at the look of pain on her face. He had caused it, he had caused her this pain. And it was a feeling he didn't like, a feeling he despised. And now, staring at her, with tears in her eyes, his felt all his anger fade away. Mutely he nodded, "Yeah."
The other guy, the one who had caused him to fly into a jealous rage was forgotten, by both of them. They packed up the few belongings that were on the ground and walked in the direction of the water, enveloped in silence. Finally, when they reached the shoreline, Tristan spread out the blanket and helped her sit down. Neither of them tried to fight the sparks that flew with that single contact. They both sighed simultaneously, glancing at each other with hesitant smiles before sighing again.
"Im sorry," Rory whispered after a few seconds.
Tristan shook his head. "I'm the one who should be sorry, Rory. I had no room to go off like I did."
Rory glanced over at him, with his head hanging shamefully down and one hand absentmindedly playing with the sand. "No, you didn't, but Im not mad. Im sorry about last night, though, I shouldn't have run and I shouldn't have avoided you. You have been nothing but completely honest with me about everything, even things that I know are hard for you to admit and all I could do was run away from that."
"Yeah, well, love's a bitch. Maybe I should've held it back, I don't know."
"No, Im glad you told me," Rory said softly, placing a hand on his upper arm.
Tristan's eyes shifted to her. "You are?"
Rory nodded. "Yeah, I am. It made me think alot and realize some things."
"What kind of things?" Tristan asked, afraid to hope what she could mean by that.
Scooting a little closer to him, Rory smiled. "Why I ran."
Tristan felt a lump form in his throat. "Why?"
"Because I was afraid of what I felt."
"And whats that?"
"Strongly, about you. I got scared, and refused to admit that much to myself. You've only been back in my life for two weeks, Tristan, and this is happening so fast. You're the first guy I've had feelings for since Bag - er, Dean and that scares me. I don't want to get hurt like I did by him."
Stunned into supreme happiness by this revelation, Tristan wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezing it slightly. "I won't hurt you, Rory. Never. And we can take things as slowly as you need. Just give us a chance."
Rory leaned back into his embrace, her eyes searching his. No, he wouldn't hurt her, not now, not ever. He would never do the things Dean had done to her, never break her heart. And she knew. Smiling, she pushed a lock of his hair out of his face. "I'll give us a million chances," she whispered.
A grin spread across Tristan's face, lighting it up to a degree neither knew he was capable of. "And I'll give us a million and one," he whispered back before kissing her softly.
*****
From afar, wrapped in her boyfriends arms, Lorelai watched the two with a smile playing with her lips. She had known from that first day something would eventually happen between the two. Tilting her head back, she caught Luke's grin. "You owe me ten bucks, buddy," She giggled.
Luke rolled his eyes, tightened his grip on her waist and kissed her.
*****
TRORYNESS!! Yay. I know this was short and rushed, but that was warned in the beginning. More, whenever I get the chance.
*~* Shay *~*