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 : Bleh, sorry for taking so long with this. I just couldn't find the inspiration until the lovely Tristan staring at Rory's ear scene on GGBeginnings was shown last night. *sigh* Oh how I miss those days. Anyways, *crosses fingers* lets hope this turns out the way I want..
A HUGE huge thank you to Linda, for being my partner in crime and betaing this for me.
This chapters title comes from the song "Damaged" by TLC off their album 3D. And while I'm here, let me plug the GG fanfic awards - http://www.after-tonight.net/fanfic :) GO! Please?
(sorry for the huge arse block of crap up there. :)
"I Cry Real Tears"
Part Eight
I think you should know that, I've been damaged
The next two days were easy, in the sense of avoiding Rory at school. After our last confrontation, she pretty much went out of her way to keep out of mine, so I didn't have to try too hard. Every time we caught sight of each other, she would turn on her heels and head in the opposite direction. In class, we sat as far away from each other as possible. Originally, our History teacher had assigned us to be in the same group, but after some minor complaining on her part, we were separated into different ones. I didn't really know what to make of all of this. It hurt like hell to be around her, knowing she hated me so much, but it also drove me crazy to not be around her. I was not looking forward to Friday, I can tell you that much.
******
Friday morning, Chilton
I was tossing my Literature book into my locker in between second and third hour when Ryan approached me, his mouth turned up into a self-satisfied smirk. One I immediately disliked, and caused an intense feeling of apprehension to come over me.
"DuGrey, buddy, what's up," Ryan greeted, slapping me on the back, his eyes taunting me.
"What?" I asked rudely. I wasn't in the mood for this today. Mainly because within the next 8 hours, I would be in close proximity with Rory, forced together by our families, despite the tension between us.
Ryan's grin intensified at my tone. "Somebody's moody today. I just wanted to let you know that I'll see you tonight."
Tonight? Turning, I looked at him, confusion written as plain as day on my face. "What are you talking about, Sieks?"
"Dinner with the grandparents," Ryan announced, the look of amusement planted on his features. "Apparently there's a joint venture between our fathers' companies and Mr. Gilmore's. My father informed me about tonight and I casually mentioned that I knew Rory. Next thing I knew, I'm being ordered to make an appearance."
Great. Just great. Not only did I have to contend with Rory, I also had to deal with Ryan and his parents. And before I go any further, let me tell you that his mother makes mine look like Mrs. Brady. "Well I guess I'll see you later
then," I said as civilly as possible. Thankfully the bell rang then and I grabbed my book, tossing a good-bye over my shoulder as I headed to my Calculus class. What a night I was in for.
*******
"Bad day?" Eric asked with a grin as I slammed my books down on the kitchen counter. I turned to glare at my brother before grabbing a coke out of the fridge without answering him. That done, I picked my school stuff back up
and headed up to my room, ignoring the fact that he was right behind me. He followed me into my room, the grin still present on his face as he crossed his arms and gave me a pointed look.
I glanced over at him wearily before flopping down on my bed. "What do you want, Eric?"
Eric smirked, one eerily close to being identical to my own. "Father wants you downstairs, ready to leave in an hour."
"So," I shot back, slipping the shoes off my feet and laying back onto the fluffy pillows.
"So, there's somebody he wants you to meet," Eric finally responded. The only word to describe the tone of his voice was gloating. I immediately knew what that meant, of course. One of my fathers business associates wanted his
daughter and I to "get to know" each other and what better way to do that, then over dinner. Is it just me, or does it seem like suddenly the entire population of Hartford would be joining us at the Gilmore's tonight?
"No thanks," I muttered, rolling over and closing my eyes.
There was silence for a second and I half wondered if he had actually left, but as soon as that thought floated through my head, it was tossed out the window as he sat down on the bed next to me. "Maybe you should consider it, Tristan," he said.
My eyes opened at this, his voice was actually somewhat compassionate. What the hell. Flipping over, I stared at him for a moment. "What's up with you?"
I couldn't help it. My brother and I have never gotten along. Not even when we were younger. He always went out of his way, whenever my parents weren't there to do it themselves, to make sure I remembered that I was inferior to
him, that I was the unwanted, unexpected second child. That I could never compete with him, that I would never be more then a nuisance in my parents' eyes. The only time that we even turned to each other was a year earlier,
when our grandmother had passed away. And even then, as soon as the funeral and the appropriate grieving period was over, we were right back to where we had always been.
Unexpectedly, at my words, my brother blushed. Yes, he blushed. The one person who always had the utmost self- confidence, even more then I, blushed. I couldn't believe it. For a second there, I almost thought I was losing it.
Clearing his throat, he smiled weakly. "Nothing, I just thought it would be a good idea, to get on Father's good side."
Yeah, right. My father didn't have a good side, especially when it came to me. I could never do anything right, whereas Eric could no do no wrong. I let out a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, right."
Suddenly Eric's demeanor changed, his blue eyes, matching mine perfectly, pleading. "Alright, I'll be honest. The girl Father wants you to bring tonight, her name is Dayna Mathis. And see, Dayna has this older sister,
Carla..." His voice trailed off and I finally realized where he was going with this.
"…And one isn't allowed to go unless the other goes, too, right?"
"Tristan, I swear, if you do this, just this once, I'll do anything to pay you back."
Choking back the laughter that was threatening to spill from my chest, I stared at him for a minute, contemplating the situation. Did I really want to do anything for him? And did I really want to show up at Rory's
grandparents' house with another girl? Not that it mattered. On one hand I didn't like the idea of doing any type of favor for my brother, but on the other hand, since Rory and I weren't exactly on speaking terms, it might be nice to have somebody else there to talk to. "Fine," I found myself saying.
Eric's face broke into a rare smile and he quickly got up from the bed. "Thanks, Tristan. I owe you big."
"Yeah, yeah," I brushed that off. Once he'd left, I sighed and went to get ready.
******
"Ah, there he is," my father announced with false sincerity as I came down the stairs forty-five minutes later. All eyes turned to me and I forced a smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Tristan," an older man with a graying mustache greeted, shaking my hand firmly. "I'm Ben Mathis."
"Nice to meet you, too," I responded dutifully. I've been through enough of these formalities to know the drill. Didn't make them any more appealing, however.
I was then introduced to Margaret Mathis, Ben's wife and the elder daughter, Carla. Glancing around, I wondered where my date for the night was hiding. Mr. Mathis noticed this and he chuckled, one of those airy, stuck up rich
folks laughs.
"Looking for Dayna, I suppose. Your mother was just showing her the garden, I'm sure they'll return soon."
As if on cue, my mother, in all her self-absorbed glory, appeared in the doorway, wearing an awful gaudy blue dress, with a diamond necklace so large it nearly blinded me. She entered the room with a tall, intense looking girl following behind her. I took in the girl's presence. Not what I was expecting, that's for sure. She was at least 5'7, but nicely proportioned, (I'm a guy, what I can I say), with shoulder length dirty-blonde hair. As they came closer, I took notice of the dark green color of her eyes and smirked at the way she blatantly perused me. Her eyes traveled up the length of my body before her eyes collided with mine and she smirked back at me.
"Tristan, allow me to introduce you to my daughter. Dayna, Tristan. Tristan, Dayna." Mr. Mathis said with pride, his arm around Dayna's shoulders.
"It's an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. DuGrey," Dayna purred as our hands came into contact.
I knew right away the game she was playing. It was the one all the girls who had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting my parents played. But she played it very well. Better then most, I noticed. "The pleasure is all mine, Miss Mathis," I returned, bringing her hand up to my mouth and placing a tiny kiss on the skin. She giggled coyly and I glanced over at our parents, both of whom were watching proudly. I smothered a laugh and turned my attention back to Dayna. Maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad after all.
******
end part eight
Next up - The dinner! Heh. Surprises, surprises.
Review and you shall receive :)
--Shay
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 : Bleh, sorry for taking so long with this. I just couldn't find the inspiration until the lovely Tristan staring at Rory's ear scene on GGBeginnings was shown last night. *sigh* Oh how I miss those days. Anyways, *crosses fingers* lets hope this turns out the way I want..
A HUGE huge thank you to Linda, for being my partner in crime and betaing this for me.
This chapters title comes from the song "Damaged" by TLC off their album 3D. And while I'm here, let me plug the GG fanfic awards - http://www.after-tonight.net/fanfic :) GO! Please?
(sorry for the huge arse block of crap up there. :)
Part Eight
I think you should know that, I've been damaged
The next two days were easy, in the sense of avoiding Rory at school. After our last confrontation, she pretty much went out of her way to keep out of mine, so I didn't have to try too hard. Every time we caught sight of each other, she would turn on her heels and head in the opposite direction. In class, we sat as far away from each other as possible. Originally, our History teacher had assigned us to be in the same group, but after some minor complaining on her part, we were separated into different ones. I didn't really know what to make of all of this. It hurt like hell to be around her, knowing she hated me so much, but it also drove me crazy to not be around her. I was not looking forward to Friday, I can tell you that much.
******
Friday morning, Chilton
I was tossing my Literature book into my locker in between second and third hour when Ryan approached me, his mouth turned up into a self-satisfied smirk. One I immediately disliked, and caused an intense feeling of apprehension to come over me.
"DuGrey, buddy, what's up," Ryan greeted, slapping me on the back, his eyes taunting me.
"What?" I asked rudely. I wasn't in the mood for this today. Mainly because within the next 8 hours, I would be in close proximity with Rory, forced together by our families, despite the tension between us.
Ryan's grin intensified at my tone. "Somebody's moody today. I just wanted to let you know that I'll see you tonight."
Tonight? Turning, I looked at him, confusion written as plain as day on my face. "What are you talking about, Sieks?"
"Dinner with the grandparents," Ryan announced, the look of amusement planted on his features. "Apparently there's a joint venture between our fathers' companies and Mr. Gilmore's. My father informed me about tonight and I casually mentioned that I knew Rory. Next thing I knew, I'm being ordered to make an appearance."
Great. Just great. Not only did I have to contend with Rory, I also had to deal with Ryan and his parents. And before I go any further, let me tell you that his mother makes mine look like Mrs. Brady. "Well I guess I'll see you later
then," I said as civilly as possible. Thankfully the bell rang then and I grabbed my book, tossing a good-bye over my shoulder as I headed to my Calculus class. What a night I was in for.
*******
"Bad day?" Eric asked with a grin as I slammed my books down on the kitchen counter. I turned to glare at my brother before grabbing a coke out of the fridge without answering him. That done, I picked my school stuff back up
and headed up to my room, ignoring the fact that he was right behind me. He followed me into my room, the grin still present on his face as he crossed his arms and gave me a pointed look.
I glanced over at him wearily before flopping down on my bed. "What do you want, Eric?"
Eric smirked, one eerily close to being identical to my own. "Father wants you downstairs, ready to leave in an hour."
"So," I shot back, slipping the shoes off my feet and laying back onto the fluffy pillows.
"So, there's somebody he wants you to meet," Eric finally responded. The only word to describe the tone of his voice was gloating. I immediately knew what that meant, of course. One of my fathers business associates wanted his
daughter and I to "get to know" each other and what better way to do that, then over dinner. Is it just me, or does it seem like suddenly the entire population of Hartford would be joining us at the Gilmore's tonight?
"No thanks," I muttered, rolling over and closing my eyes.
There was silence for a second and I half wondered if he had actually left, but as soon as that thought floated through my head, it was tossed out the window as he sat down on the bed next to me. "Maybe you should consider it, Tristan," he said.
My eyes opened at this, his voice was actually somewhat compassionate. What the hell. Flipping over, I stared at him for a moment. "What's up with you?"
I couldn't help it. My brother and I have never gotten along. Not even when we were younger. He always went out of his way, whenever my parents weren't there to do it themselves, to make sure I remembered that I was inferior to
him, that I was the unwanted, unexpected second child. That I could never compete with him, that I would never be more then a nuisance in my parents' eyes. The only time that we even turned to each other was a year earlier,
when our grandmother had passed away. And even then, as soon as the funeral and the appropriate grieving period was over, we were right back to where we had always been.
Unexpectedly, at my words, my brother blushed. Yes, he blushed. The one person who always had the utmost self- confidence, even more then I, blushed. I couldn't believe it. For a second there, I almost thought I was losing it.
Clearing his throat, he smiled weakly. "Nothing, I just thought it would be a good idea, to get on Father's good side."
Yeah, right. My father didn't have a good side, especially when it came to me. I could never do anything right, whereas Eric could no do no wrong. I let out a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, right."
Suddenly Eric's demeanor changed, his blue eyes, matching mine perfectly, pleading. "Alright, I'll be honest. The girl Father wants you to bring tonight, her name is Dayna Mathis. And see, Dayna has this older sister,
Carla..." His voice trailed off and I finally realized where he was going with this.
"…And one isn't allowed to go unless the other goes, too, right?"
"Tristan, I swear, if you do this, just this once, I'll do anything to pay you back."
Choking back the laughter that was threatening to spill from my chest, I stared at him for a minute, contemplating the situation. Did I really want to do anything for him? And did I really want to show up at Rory's
grandparents' house with another girl? Not that it mattered. On one hand I didn't like the idea of doing any type of favor for my brother, but on the other hand, since Rory and I weren't exactly on speaking terms, it might be nice to have somebody else there to talk to. "Fine," I found myself saying.
Eric's face broke into a rare smile and he quickly got up from the bed. "Thanks, Tristan. I owe you big."
"Yeah, yeah," I brushed that off. Once he'd left, I sighed and went to get ready.
******
"Ah, there he is," my father announced with false sincerity as I came down the stairs forty-five minutes later. All eyes turned to me and I forced a smile.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Tristan," an older man with a graying mustache greeted, shaking my hand firmly. "I'm Ben Mathis."
"Nice to meet you, too," I responded dutifully. I've been through enough of these formalities to know the drill. Didn't make them any more appealing, however.
I was then introduced to Margaret Mathis, Ben's wife and the elder daughter, Carla. Glancing around, I wondered where my date for the night was hiding. Mr. Mathis noticed this and he chuckled, one of those airy, stuck up rich
folks laughs.
"Looking for Dayna, I suppose. Your mother was just showing her the garden, I'm sure they'll return soon."
As if on cue, my mother, in all her self-absorbed glory, appeared in the doorway, wearing an awful gaudy blue dress, with a diamond necklace so large it nearly blinded me. She entered the room with a tall, intense looking girl following behind her. I took in the girl's presence. Not what I was expecting, that's for sure. She was at least 5'7, but nicely proportioned, (I'm a guy, what I can I say), with shoulder length dirty-blonde hair. As they came closer, I took notice of the dark green color of her eyes and smirked at the way she blatantly perused me. Her eyes traveled up the length of my body before her eyes collided with mine and she smirked back at me.
"Tristan, allow me to introduce you to my daughter. Dayna, Tristan. Tristan, Dayna." Mr. Mathis said with pride, his arm around Dayna's shoulders.
"It's an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. DuGrey," Dayna purred as our hands came into contact.
I knew right away the game she was playing. It was the one all the girls who had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting my parents played. But she played it very well. Better then most, I noticed. "The pleasure is all mine, Miss Mathis," I returned, bringing her hand up to my mouth and placing a tiny kiss on the skin. She giggled coyly and I glanced over at our parents, both of whom were watching proudly. I smothered a laugh and turned my attention back to Dayna. Maybe tonight wouldn't be so bad after all.
******
end part eight
Next up - The dinner! Heh. Surprises, surprises.
Review and you shall receive :)
--Shay
