DICLAIMER: Tess is mine! All mine! *evil laugh* Aside from her…everything belongs to A.S.P and The WB.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: At least this part is up faster than the other one! Lol, school finishes next week, so the next chapter should be up by next Saturday…*crosses fingers*. After that I will have two weeks of freedom, so things will be moving along faster =D. Sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger, but I had to do it ;). And um…people's thoughts are in bold.

CHAPTER 5: THE FIRE IN YOUR EYES

"Ok, here's some cash and the cell phone, call me if there's any trouble ok?"

Rory frowned. "Trouble?"

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Well, Jess will be there."

"Mom!"

"I know, I know…I don't know him properly…blah, blah, blah…where'd Lane go?" Lorelai asked.

"She went to find a lipstick from your collection."

Lane popped her head into the kitchen at that point.

"Hey Lorelai, is it ok if I wear this?" she said, pointing to her lips. It was Lorelai's favourite maroon lipstick, which went great with Lane's black strappy dress.

"Sure sweetie. Of course…you are already wearing it, so there's a 0 to 1 chance I would've said no."

Lane smiled mischievously. "Thanks"

Lorelai stood up from the dining table and put her mug in the sink.

"I'd better go get some coffee before the market closes. We're all out. See you later girls, have fun" Lorelai said while kissing Rory's forehead and grabbing her purse. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do" she grinned and walked out of the backdoor.

DING DONG

Lane clapped her hands excitedly. "That must be Andrew. He seemed like the punctual type."

Rory adjusted the strap of her baby pink halter dress.

"Well, don't keep the man waiting!" she said, and gave Lane a nudge towards the door. Lane swung the door open, and couldn't help laughing at the very well dressed blond boy leaning against the doorframe. He openly looked Rory up and down.

"My, my, my Mary, aren't you all grown up."

"Tristan." Rory practically spat out.

"Hey Tristan." Lane said grinning.

"How are you Lane?"

"Good thanks." Her smile widening as she spotted Andrew coming up the driveway. "I just got better."

Andrew made it to the doorway, his eyes fixed on Lane.

"Hey Lane…you look amazing" he said, and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thanks." She said, and blushed a little.

"You must be Rory" he extended his hand, and Rory shook it. "Nice to meet you."

"You too" Rory said politely.

Andrew turned to Tristan finally, and they did some cult-ish handshake that was very hard to follow.

"Hey man"

"Hey." Tristan turned to Rory. "So now we…"

"Wait for-" Rory started, until she saw Jess and Tess make their way up the driveway. Tess was wearing a strapless knee length black and white dress, complete with a spilt up her thigh. Jess looked obviously pleased to have her on his arm. Once they made it up the stairs, they had another round of meet and greet. Tess's eyes fell on Tristan immediately.

"Wow, Rory was right. You are cute."

Tristan cocked an eyebrow and smirked at Rory.

"And the truth comes out…"

"We should probably get going." Rory said quickly.

Andrew nodded. "Well…we can't all fit in one car, so how about Lane can come with me, and you guys can go with Tristan."

"Wai-" Rory started, but it was too late. Andrew and Lane were already half way to the car. She sighed.

"Let's go, I guess."

In the car

"We're almost there." Tristan said, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. No doubt it had been a tension filled car ride. He had noticed Rory continually shooting glances at the backseat, where Jess and Tess were whispering and laughing, and he could practically see the fire in her eyes. Only this wasn't a fire of passion. He knew the fire well…it was the fire of jealousy.

Tess tapped Tristan on the shoulder. "What exactly is this party for, anyway?"

Tristan shrugged. "Some Chiltonite passed an exam or got a car or learnt how to pee standing up. I'm not very clear on the details."

Rory wrinkled her nose. "How come I didn't know about it?"

Tristan shrugged. "It was a last minute thing. Most people got invited by word of mouth"

"Still…it's only polite to ask" she said, obviously hurt.

Tristan shrugged. "Do you talk to many Chiltonites?"

"Well…there's Paris."

"There's why you didn't get invited…not very many people are game enough to ask Paris to a party, therefore she couldn't have passed the message to you."

"Whatever. Park the car buzz cut boy."

Tristan groaned. "I try to be nice…"

In the party

The gang fought their way to the main part of the club. The air was heavy with a mixture of smoke, sweat and the hot lights. Andrew and Lane split immediately, heading straight for the dance floor. The rest of the teens all followed Tess to what seemed like the only empty table in the place.

"This seems like a very trendy place" Tess said over the music.

Tristan shrugged. "Some people just have too much money."

Tess laughed. "How I wish I was one of those people".

The foursome sat around talking as well as they could over the music for a while, until a dark haired stranger approached their table.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked Tess, offering her his arm. She shot Jess a nervous look, who was giving the stranger the evil eye.

"Sure" she stood up and let herself be lead to the dance floor.

Tristan looked around, until he spotted someone he knew. "I'm gonna go say hello, ok?"

Rory and Jess nodded as Tristan got up and left.

"I guess it's just you and me kid." Jess said, smiling at Rory.

Rory rolled her eyes mockingly. "Woooooonderful" she drawled out.

Jess couldn't help laughing despite himself.

"Hey, you have to be nice to me, otherwise I will get up and leave you in the midst of all these rich snobs."

Rory looked alarmed. "Ok, ok…how about we get a drink? I think I saw a punchbowl over there."

"Lets go" Jess said, following Rory down the stairs, which also led to the dance floor.

"You want some?" she offered, once they had made it to the punch.

"No thanks." He said, spotting Tess, with her arms around the stranger. He knew that she was just doing it because she was a flirty dancer, but it still drove him crazy looking at them.

Rory took a sip of her drink and wrinkled her nose. "This tastes funny."

"Does it?" Jess asked absently, his gazed fixed of Tess and the guy.

Rory shrugged. "Eh, it's not that bad." She said while pouring herself another cup.

Jess snapped out of his trance. "Mind if I go outside for a minute?"

Rory pouted. "But you said you wouldn't leave me!"

"I know, I just…" Jess couldn't stand being in that place for another second."…gotta get out of here"

Rory sighed and downed her third cup of punch while watching everyone around her have fun. This led to her fourth cup, then fifth, and she was filling up her sixth when Tristan found her.

"Rory…what are you doing by yourself?"

She turned around and gasped. "Hey you!"

Tristan frowned. That was the nicest reception he had ever got from her, and he was wondering what was wrong. Then he noticed the cup in her hand.

"Rory, how many of those have you had?"

She put on a serious face and help up one finger in the air. She then slowly held up two, three…all the way to six. Tristan groaned inwardly and poured himself a cup. He smelt it and groaned out loud this time.

"Rory, this punched is spiked."

She giggled. "No it's not silly."

Tristan assessed the situation in his head. Maybe she's not drunk…maybe she just feels like being nice to me. She's not drunk…she's not drunk…everything is fine he tried to convince himself.

Rory wrapped her arms around Tristan's neck.

"You know what Tristan?" she said, her body so close to his that he could feel her heart beating.

"What Rory?" he asked, playing along.

"I've missed you sooooooo much."

"Oh boy" Tristan muttered. "She's completely delirious"

"And you know what else?" She asked seriously, her words slurring slightly.

"What?"

"Remember at…oh, what's her name…the dumb one."

"Madeline" he said, trying to stifle a laugh.

"Yeah. Remember at her party, how we kissed on that piano bench?"

"Yeah."

"I've always wanted to do that again." She said, and pulled Tristan's lips closer into a deep, passionate, kiss.