DISCLAIMER: I own Tess and my hermit crab (who died =( )…and that's about it. Everything else is the property of Amy Sherman-Palladino and The WB.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ok, so I was wrong. This chapter took a heck of a long time to do! I'm sorry! Blame school! My teacher's are the spawns of Satan! Lol, I promise I will try harder to get chapters up quicker. Anyway, the juicy parts are coming soon! Enjoy! And Review! Review Review! ;)

P.S. I'm sorry Susie! You know about my laziness issue =D. You update your fic(s) and I will update mine quicker lol ;).

CHAPTER 4: DO YOU WANT THE GOOD NEWS, OR THE BAD NEWS?

Next Day

RING RING!

"Mom, can you get that?"

"Uh, not exactly hun!" Lorelai yelled back

"Why not?" Rory said, finally coming out of her room.

"I'm kind of…busy."

Rory groaned. She didn't even want to know what her mother was doing. She searched the kitchen for the phone, and finally found it under a copy of The Stars Hollow Gazette.

"Hello?"

"Hey Rory!" Lane's voice chirped.

"Oh, it's you." Rory said in a sulky tone.

"Come on Rory! It was an honest mistake! I owe you, ok?"

Rory sighed. "Lane, the way you're going, you're going to owe me Brad Pitt by the time we graduate."

Lane laughed. "ANYWAY, I just wanted to inform you of the plans for Saturday. I told my mother I'm sleeping at your house. Andrew will be picking us up at your house, and you can take the Jeep if there s too many people for one car."

"And your mom is ok with this?" Rory asked suspiciously.

"Well, I told her that I was going to your house to teach you the bible. I'm suggesting you read it. There'll be a quiz on Monday."

"Lane!" Rory growled into the phone.

"Did the teen sensation call you yet?" Lane asked curiously.

"Tristan?"

"Well, yeah."

"No, he hasn't. He's probably not coming." Rory tried to sound happy about it, but couldn't hide the hint of disappointment in her voice. And Lane noticed.

"I'm sure he'll call any minute now."

'I really don't care." Rory said haughtily.

"Sure you don't. Are you going to invite Jess and his friend? I've been dying to meet this mystery lady." Lane asked.

Rory chose to ignore the first comment. "I'll drop by Luke's today." She promised.

"Ok then, thanks again Rory. I'll see you too. I'm so excited! Bye!" she said and hung up.

"Yeah, well that makes…one of you." She said into the dial tone.

THUD!

"Mom, are you ok?" Rory yelled upstairs.

"I'm fine, fine!"

"Ok then!" Rory said and started wondering back to her room, when the phone rung for the second time in five minutes. Rory stared at the receiver.

"No way." She muttered. She stared at the phone, completely ignoring her mother, who was standing at the door.

"Uh…Rory? The whole communicating by phone concept actually starts when you pick up the receiver. Unless you have a special telepathic relationship with the telephone, in which case, keep staring at it by all means.

Rory leapt back, startled. "Oh yeah…I know." She lifted up the cordless receiver cautiously.

"Hello?"

"Hey Mary."

Rory rolled her eyes. "You." She said quietly, before she noticed her mother with the 'I'm the cat that ate the canary' look in her eyes.

"Uh…can you hold on a sec?" she asked, and slowly backed into her room, her gaze never leaving her mother's, who had started to gasp.

"Oh! Oh! Rory has a boy on the phone! Rory has a boy on the phone!" she sung. Rory slammed the door as fast as she could, praying Tristan couldn't hear her mother.

"You still there Mary?" he asked, with an amused tone.

She cleared her throat. "Yeah, I am. What can I do to help you Tristan?"

"I don't think you want to know the real answer to that question."

Rory could practically HEAR the smirk in his voice; She couldn't help the blush that was slowly but surely rising to her face.

"Wow, I was right to say you haven't changed a bit" she muttered.

"But I have changed Rory." Tristan said seriously.

Rory remained silent. Tristan could feel the uneasiness and moved on.

"So, anyway, got all the details for Saturday?"

"I can't believe you're still insisting on coming."

"Relax Mary, I'll stay out of your way. I understand that you wouldn't want to hang out with someone you hate."

Rory frowned. "What?"

"Nothing."

"But…" she paused as memories of a few years ago flooded into her brain. "Oh, you…and Dean…and…oh."

Tristan wanted to move on quickly, before she could say anything. "And I should meet you where?"

Rory considered that for a second. "You know what? How about you come here at 7:30? That way we can all leave together."

"We?" he asked.

"Well, you, me, and I'm pretty sure Jess and Tess will be joining us."

"Do you really think me in Stars Hollow will be a good idea?" He said haughtily.

Rory laughed. "Relax Tristan, Dean isn't here to beat you up. Jess might though."

"Jess? Who's…"

"Never mind. Will I see you at 7:30?"

"I'll be there."

"Bye Tristan."

"See you Mary."

Rory hung up and opened her door cautiously, trying to avoid her mother. Unfortunately, as soon as Rory pulled the door open, her mother came crashing in with a glass in her hand.

'Mom! Why do you have a glass in your hand?"

Lorelai thought hard for a second. "I was drinking water!"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Mistake number one- the glass is empty. Mistake number two- water? Are you serious?"

"Damn." Lorelai muttered. "So…who was the boy?"

"No one." Rory said quickly and grabbed her bag. "I'm going to Luke's"

Lorelai followed her immediately and they began walking down the road. "Why won't you tell me who it is? Is he a biker? A gang leader? Does he have tattoos on his face? Or even worse, does he own a Spice Girls CD?"

Rory remained silent.

"Rory! Why won't you tell me who he is? Is he…"

During her mother's rant, Rory spotted Jess and Tess on the gazebo.

"Gotta go talk to Jess mom! Bye!"

"Rory!" Lorelai stomped her foot furiously. "Don't worry daughter, I will figure out your secret." She muttered, and made her way to Luke's. Meanwhile, Rory had made it to the gazebo and was relieved to find her mother didn't follow her.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Rory." Answered Jess and Tess in unison, Rory noticed. It made her slightly uncomfortable.

"Well, I wanted to ask you guys something."

"Shoot." Tess said with a wide smile.

"Well, Lane got asked out by a guy to some party on Saturday, which means I have to go, which means Jess has to go so I won't die a slow and painful death by boredom, which means you also have to go…and somehow Tristan got invited as well." She said quickly.

Tess laughed. "And does the whole town accompany people on dates very often?"

"It's a tradition."

"Who's Tristan?" Jess asked jealously.

Rory waved her hand. "Oh…some guy that used to go to Chilton…he's not important."

Tess was interested. "Is he cute?"

"What?"

Tess spoke slowly this time. "Is…this…Tristan…guy…cute?"

Rory started stammering. "Uh, I, well, I guess…"

Tess grinned. "Cool."

"So do you guys want to come?"

"We would love to?"

"We would?" Jess asked quizzically.

"Yes."

Jess shook his head and looked at Rory. "She's like the mother I never wanted."

Rory laughed. "Ok them, be at my house at 7:30. Bye guys."

"Bye Rory." They both said. Tess looked at Jess pointedly.

"This should be interesting."