Disclaimer : Lada. Don't own anything except what my deluded self creates. Lada.
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Authors Note : Hey everyone, Im back! I sincerely apologize for not updating this story since March (*gasp*), everything was just really screwed up. Initially I intended on writing this chapter myself, but then I got a volunteer for a co-writer who was going to write it, but it never happened and so finally I decided to just do it myself. Umm, so yes, Im still looking for a co-writer, if anyone's interested just send me a small sample of your writing and we'll go from there :) Anyways, yep, so here we go. Chapter 19 of... who knows how many more there will be. Bleh, so this chapter pulls together a few loose ends that people have asked me about. Like who Crystal is and what exactly happened between her and Tristan. :) Tata.
Chapter 19
"Call me crazy, but --"
"Okay, crazy," Lorelai interrupted, smirking at her daughters disgruntled expression.
Rory shook her head, "Mom.."
"Sorry, natural reaction. Go ahead."
Sighing, Rory fell backwards on the couch, her eyes closing. "I don't think anything happened while he was in New York," she finally let out. "But there is something he isn't telling me. Something about that girl."
"Just ask him," Lorelai simply said, shaking the small bottle of red nail polish before opening it and starting to apply it to the youngers toes.
"You make it sound so simple..."
"It is so simple, Ror. Sweetie, if he loves you at all, he'll be completely honest with you if you ask him too. And I think he does."
Rory sighed again, but nodded. "I guess so. I'll ask him tomorrow."
Lorelai shook her head before smiling sadly at her offspring. "Ask him tonight."
*****
When Rory arrived home from her mothers house, Tristan was making his way around the kitchen in an attempt to put together dinner. She leaned against the doorway, arms crossed and a bemused look upon her face. Clearing her throat, she grinned. "Well, here's something I never expected to see. Not in this lifetime anyway."
Tristan turned at the sound of her voice, his grin matching hers. "That's me, always full of surprises."
"That you are," Rory said, coming and kissing his cheek lovingly. "You're home early though. Everything okay?"
"Never been better," Tristan murmured, wrapping his arms around her waist, the ingredients and cooking utensils forgotten. "Where have you been?"
"My moms... speaking of which, we have to talk."
"Uh-oh.. That can't be good."
Rory shrugged slightly, tugging on his hand and leading him towards the two stools that sat at the island in the kitchen. When she looked back at him, her eyes were darker and troubled, her brows furrowed in confusion. Although his heart was beating erratically, Tristan managed to keep his hands steady and pushed a wisp of hair out of her face. "What's wrong, Ror?"
Gulping, Rory collected her wits. "Nothing, I hope. There... I just... I have a question I need to ask you and I need you to be completely, one hundred percent honest with me."
Fear was rapidly building within Tristan's body, but he nodded. "Okay."
"When... when you were in New York and I was sick.. my mom brought in the paper and," Rory paused, her eyes gauging his reaction to what she was saying, "in it, they were talking about the merger between your dads company and Westing Inc and about this party they had to celebrate it and you see, there was a picture of you.. mentioning that you would take over the company one day.. but the picture... there was someone with you... I just... who is she?"
Any hope that Tristan may have clung to that Rory hadn't seen the impromptu photo that had been taken during the party flew out the window as soon as she opened her mouth. Dread filled his every pore and he quickly sucked in a breath. He couldn't lie, she had asked him to be honest with her and he knew she deserved nothing but the absolute truth. Licking his lips and taking a deep breath, he fixed his gaze on her. "Its an extremely long story," He began lamely, but by the looks of things, she wasn't going anywhere until she found what she was after.
"Please, Tris," she begged softly.
Absentmindedly, he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, trying to put his thoughts into words. He couldn't deny her the truth. Truth she deserved to know. "Her name is Crystal Hennis. We met while I was attending Princeton. Her father was alumni and she was interested. We had a little fling."
"There's more to it though, isn't there?" Rory perceptively asked.
Berating himself for underestimating her perceptiveness, Tristan merely nodded. "Like I said, its a long story, one that's not all that great. You're sure you want to hear it?"
"Hold on," Rory grinned, jumping up. Five minutes later she rejoined him with a mug of coffee in her hands. He couldn't help but chuckling at her. She nodded, indicating for him to continue.
"Okay.. it was my junior year at Princeton, I was at the top of my class, playing football, had the girls, parties.. you know, classic uni-guy stuff... I met Crystal through one of my frat brothers, who dated her cousin or something like that. I knew of her dad, since he was alumni at the univ and stuff like that... Anyway, my friend sweet-talked me into going on a double date with him and his girl and Crystal was "my date". She seemed nice enough and we got along okay. We agreed to meet up again the next weekend to go to a party of one of her friends. When we got there, I got my first peak at how she really was. Pretty much the exact opposite of the sweet, innocent seeming girl I had met a week earlier, but she intrigued me, I wanted to know what she was about. So we started to hang out more and more and one night she tells me about this party some people she knew were having in Manhattan. We went into the city and got to the party... I don't remember much from the party, just drinking a lot and ending up in bed with her," Tristan paused, shaking his head in disgust. "The next day we were coming out of the hotel and she runs into this guy... an ex-boyfriend, I guess... big, ugly guy. I found out later that he had just gotten out of jail, because he was circulating drugs underground or something like that. Crystal was supposed to have served time too, but her dad got her out of it somehow. Anyway, he saw us together.. and to make a long story short, I spent the next week in the hospital. After I got out, the police ended up taking me into custody because someone told them that I was involved with Crystal and her ex with the whole drug deal. By the time all of that was straightened out and I managed to get home, word had gotten back to the school officials and they were threatening to kick me out. Luckily, my dad pulled some strings and they allowed me to stay. I didn't see Crystal again until that night at the party.." He stopped again, glancing at her. "This all sounds like one bad soap-opera, doesn't it?"
Rory giggled slightly. "Yeah, it does."
Sighing, Tristan took her hand into his, "Im sorry I never told you about her. I should have, it would've saved a lot of hurt and anger on both our sides, but I didn't want you to think any less of me then you already do."
Rory gently ran her thumb over his cheek, gazing into his eyes. "I don't think lowly of you, Tristan. Im not mad at you for not telling me and I don't think any less of you because of something you unknowingly got caught up in."
"So we're okay, then?" Tristan asked, his eyes lighting up with hope.
"As soon as you smooth things over with my neurotic mother, we'll be fine," Rory said with a smirk of her own.
Tristan laughed, finally free of his tale, and swooped down to meet his lips with hers.
******
Short, filler, crappy, crappy chapter but I wanted to get something out for those who have been askin about this story. The drama isn't over ! Just a forewarning :) Anyways, next chapter should be out in a week or so. Til then *waves*
-- Shay