Disclaimer: If I ruled the world.. c'mon, ya'll, sing along. No? Pfft. Anyways, I don't own anything but the things my warped mind creates.
Author: Me, duh! :) Umm.. Shay, yep.
Email: tlcforever@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13. Could be upped to a R eventually, I guess.
Spoilers: Season One is fair game. Anything after will probably be ignored.
Pairing: R/T, someday, somehow. L/L/C.. if I expand to include.. Pairing there is still up in the air.
Feedback: Is my reason for being. Or not. But still, its only a fair trade. I write for my readers, my readers review for me. See, it makes everyone happaaay.

Authors Note: Eeh.. If you read the authors note previously posted here, you may have noticed I was planning on rewriting past chapters. BUT, since Im lazy and have zero motivation to do so, I decided to leave it as is and all I can promise is to do my best to make all future chapters up to par. If you think a chapter sucks, by all means, let me know so I can attempt to fix it. Anyways, let me shut up so you can read.

This chapters title comes from the song "Do You Think of Me" by Mariah Carey.






"I Cry Real Tears"
Part Seven


And When You're Lyin' All Alone (Do You Think of Me)




The guy was nice, I'll admit. I was surprised. Most of the people my father brings home from the office are real jerks, emotionless, expressionless, you get the picture. But this guy, he gave me a smile, a real genuine smile and shook my hand and asked questions with real interest. I was a bit taken aback, I mean, this doesn't happen to me very often. But it was cool. My father left us alone for a few minutes when he received a call from one client or another. We sat in silence momentarily, regarding each other with respect. Finally he let out a chuckle and shook his head, with a smile on his face.

"So, Tristan.. I hear you attend Chilton."

Oh no, here we go. The last thing I wanted to talk about was school. Especially after what had happened over the past few days. Surpressing the urge to roll my eyes and stomp from the room like an impatient five year old, I nodded. "Yeah."

"And you're a junior?" He asked, leaning back in the lush black leather sofa he was sitting on.

"Yep," I said, letting my disinterest in the subject show on my face.

Mr. Hayden laughed. "Try not to get to excited. Actually, I was just curious. My daughter is a junior there also. Maybe you two know each other?"

I was silent for a second, wracking my brain. I didn't know any Hayden's at Chilton, did I? The name didn't sound familiar to me. Wrinkling my nose, I shook my head. "I don't think so. What's her name?"

Stupid question. I tell ya, somebody or something up there hates me, with the evil blows fate throws at me. Who would've thought, you know? Actually, scratch that, I should have known. With all the out-of-the-norm things that have happened to me the past week, concerning her, it just makes sense.

"Rory Gilmore."

Way to catch me off guard. This man was her father? I didn't even realize she had a father. I mean, I knew she had one, everybody does, but I didn't think that he was involved in her life or anything. I mean, it was always her mother. Pretty much everything that she said about her life concerned her mother and I've never heard anybody mention anything about her father. I sat there with my mouth open, not even noticing that until he cut in on my thoughts.

"So you know her then?" He asked with a slightly laugh.

Shaking my head to clear it, I gave a small nod of the head. "Yeah, we know each other. Kind of." Hey, it was true. We had been on the road to redemption, giving the friends thing a whirl, but I guess I screwed that one up again. I swear, I think I have severe mental disabilities.

Mr. Hayden smiled at that. "Great! I was hoping you knew each other. So you two will have someone to talk to Friday night."

"Yeah..." I agreed, not really hearing him. Wait - Friday night? What was going on Friday? "Friday?" I asked, confused.

"We'll be joining the Gilmore's for dinner Friday," my father informed me, coming back into the room at that precise moment. God, he had impeccable timing. I half wondered if he had been hiding outside the door, waiting for just the right moment to come in and pounce on me. Then my sensible side took over and reminded me he would never do anything to get his suit dirty.

Friday with the Gilmore's, with Rory. And destiny moves ahead, once again.


******



The next morning at school, I purposely avoided her. I doubt you even have to ask who 'her' is, but I'll enlighten you anyway. I wasn't ready to face Rory. Not yet. I'd have to, come Friday, since my father had all but ordered me to attend dinner with them, but that was still two days away. The avoidance was going good, the only time I had seen her so far was in class, and even then I sat as far away from her as possible. There were a few times where I felt her eyes on me but I ignored it and seconds later I'd feel daggers digging into me, coming from her direction. It was getting to her, I could tell. And for some inane reason, that brought me unparalleled joy. That's pretty much how it went the entire day. Well, until she scared the crap out of me by popping out of a room without so much as a sound and grabbing my arm.

"What is wrong with you?" She demanded, her blue eyes flashing in anger and hurt.

I stared at her for a second, willing my heart to stop its erratic beating and then gave her a impatient look. "What are you talking about?"

The coolness in my voice obviously irritated her because her face suddenly was set in a deep scowl. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Crossing my arms, I returned the scowl. "No, Rory, I don't know what you're talking about. I can't read your mind. So if you aren't going to give me something to go on here, I have somewhere to be," I said, and went to head down the hall when I felt her hand on my arm again.

"Why are you ignoring me?"

"Ignoring you? How am I ignoring you? Im standing here talking to you, aren't I? I don't think that constitutes as ignoring someone."

Rory's face started to turn a light shade of red and I half expected steam to start escaping her ears. "You're only talking to me because I grabbed you! You've been ignoring me all day. You haven't said one word to me, or even so much as looked in my direction and I want to know why!"

And ladies and gentleman, out comes Mr. Asshole DuGrey, once again. I glared at her, certain that my usual blue eyes had turned a steel gray. "Why should I talk to you or look at you? We're not friends. You said as much yourself."

"I didn't -" She stared but stopped and bit her lip instead. We stood there, watching each other for a minute before she spoke again. "I didn't mean that."

"Could've fooled me," I retorted. "Last I heard I was a cocky, egotistical jerk whom you didn't want to have the displeasure of my company. I'd say that pretty much puts an end to whatever kind of friendship we might have had."

Rory didn't respond, just shook her head and gave me a sad look, turned and walked out of the school. I stared after her, silently berating myself for being such an idiot. I really wish I knew what it was about her that made me act that way. Maybe its a chemical imbalance or something. Do they make medication for that?

Oh, who am I kidding. Nothing short of a miracle could help me.


*******


Sorry this is so short and it took me so long to do. I've written like five different chapters for Ch7 of this story and this is the first one I've semi-liked. I can't promise anything, but I'll try to update again soon. Please be kind, review. :)

- Shay