Disclaimer : All things GG are not mine, but ASP's. No copyright infringement intended.
Author : Shay (tlcforever@hotmail.com)
Rating : PG-13
Pairing : Established pairings for L/L & P/J. References to R/D & T/K. Eventual T/R
Spoilers : Anything up through season 3 is fair game, though I'll probably be selective about it.
Distribution : If you want it, take it. Just let me know.
Feedback : Tames the wild beast. Or something. I love feedback and will love you if you give it. :)
Authors Note : Hey, whaddya know it didn't take me a thousand light years to get the new chapter done. I should be doing my homework instead of this, but who am I to ignore it when inspiration hits? :) Anyways, onward we go..




Subtle Invitation
Part 02.






"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Rory muttered as she and Lane stood outside the restaurant later that night, trying to hail a cab home.

Lane turned to face her friend, the snowy wind blowing her scarf around her head madly and she grinned. "I didn't talk you into anything. You agreed all by yourself."

"You really need to stop talking to Paris," Rory proclaimed, narrowing her eyes at her friend. "Her powers of persuasion are rubbing off on you a little too much for my liking."

"Actually, this was all Lorelai Antics," Lane smirked, opening the door as a cab finally pulled up to the curb for them. Rory watched her friend get in, glanced heavenward and sighed before climbing in after her.



******


"So," Josh announced, appearing in the doorway of Tristan's office two days later. "I've found you a date."

"Great," Tristan said unenthusiastically, not looking up from his computer.

Smiling devilishly, Josh stepped the rest of the way into the room and dropping onto one of the leather chairs that sat across from the desk. "She's everything you'd want in a woman. Beautiful, intelligent, witty, independent. Who knows, she just might be the one," he said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows at his cousin, who glanced up just in time to see it.

Surpressing a grin, Tristan shook his head. "One date," he reminded him.

"For now." Josh conceded, winking. "You should call her later."

"No."

"C'mon man, I bet she sounds sexy. Maybe you could get her to talk dirty," Josh smirked.

Tristan rolled his eyes. "I agreed to a date. No prior or post contact. No phone calls, email, post cards. We'll go have dinner, we'll catch a movie, I'll put her in a cab and be done with it."

Josh gave him a disapproving look. "DuGrey, DuGrey, DuGrey.."

"Forget it, Josh."

"Fine, fine," Josh said in resignation, getting up from the chair. "I'll call her and set the date."

"Great," Tristan responded, his eyes turned back to his work. Josh stood there for a moment, his blue eyes clearly showing his confusion at how much his cousin had changed from his player days, which had come to an abrupt halt when he had met Karen, a little over a year ago. Shaking his head, he exited the office, closing the door quietly behind him.


******


It was evening time, a rare weeknight that Rory was actually home and not slaving over an article to meet a deadline. The two roommates had ordered pizza, consumed illegal amounts of caffeine and sugar, while chilling on the couch, wearing their pajamas and watching the Top 5 Mockable Movies, as approved by Lorelai.

It was after eleven when Lane suddenly jumped up and grabbed the phone, glaring playfully at her friend. Rory gave her a weary look but was daring enough to ask. "What?"

Lane giggled and jumped back onto the couch. "Let's call your voice mail!"

Rory scrunched her nose up in confusion. "I don't have a voice mail."

"Your personal-ad voice mail, silly," Lane grinned. "Let's see how many hunk-a-burning men are just waiting for you to fall for their charms."

"Probably none," Rory said quietly, not quite sure why that bothered her.

"There's only one way to find out," Lane said firmly, punching in the numbers necessary to access the messages. Putting the phone back to her ear, she listened for a moment before squealing loudly.

"Why are you suddenly acting all Sweet Valley High-ish?" Rory asked with a hint of a grin.

"Fifteen messages!" Lane stated proudly, ignoring the previous statement.

"What?" Rory exclaimed, "No way!"

Lane, still grinning, passed over the phone to Rory, who listened, her face turning to disbelief when the automated voice announced she indeed did have fifteen new messages. Confused, but somewhat flattered, she handed the phone back to Lane, who leaned over to the end table, hitting the speaker phone button. "We have to listen to them."

Rory merely shrugged in agreement and the two huddled over the speaker portion of the phone, entering the given password as needed. A beep sounded through the apartment and then a nasal and annoying male voice followed.

"Um, hello. My name is Garrett and I noticed in your ad, you mentioned that you enjoy classic books. I do as well. Perhaps sometime we could meet and read them together? If this sounds appealing to you, my phone number is 555-2739. I do hope to hear from you soon."

After the beep sounded, signaling the end of that message, the two girls exchanged looks. "Well.. um.. at least he sounds well educated," Rory offered.

Lane shook her head. "We still have fourteen to go."

Nodding, Rory motioned for her to go on. A few seconds later the next message began to play. It was clear after a moment that this man was worse than the first, with his mumbling and extremely quiet voice. The next was omitted, because Rory announced the man sounded too much like her grandfather, which would just be gross. The next had the two scratching their heads in confusion, as it was a woman on the other end. Or maybe it was a man with a very high voice. Either way, it wasn't happening. The fifth started with a man clearing his throat and both Rory and Lane stared at each other with open mouths as the first words came from a very familiar voice.

"Kirk?" They said simultaneously, bursting into loud laughter. Lane grabbed the phone and punched in the numeric number for pause, barely able to hold her hand still, as she was still doubled over laughing.

"Oh. My. God," Rory gasped, tears of laughter in her eyes. "How. Did. He...." Her voice trailed off as another bout of giggles hit her.

Lane shook her head and after a few moments and a couple deep breaths, she was able to control herself. "Well there you go. No need to look any further."

"Forget it," Rory protested, biting her lower lip to keep from laughing again.

"Wait till.." Lane started, but was interrupted when a flying pillow hit her in the face.

"Not a word to my mother!" Rory stated. "She'd never let me live it down, especially after the way I teased her when he asked her out all those years ago."

Lane let out a giggle at that. "I still can't believe he asked her out."

Another giggle escaped Rory as the memory of her mother telling her about the said event replayed in her mind. Shaking her head to rid herself of those thoughts, she motioned towards the phone. "Should we listen to the rest of them?"

"Definitely. Who knows, maybe there's one from Taylor, too," Lane teased.

Rory shoved her friend playfully. "Shut up."

"Or maybe Al."

"Lane!"

"Rune?"

"I'm going to bed."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Lane apologized with a teasing glint in her eye. "Let's see if there's any non-potential stalkers in the bunch."

Rory nodded and settled back in her spot on the couch. Lane skipped the rest of Kirk's message and went to the next. Out of the nine, there seemed to be one potential date, who sounded well mannered, educated and successful. The rest, however, failed to make them do anything but laugh. Finally, around one o'clock the next morning, the girls reached the last message. Lane surpressed a yawn and hit in the code. It was a second before a rich, husky voice echoed through the room. Rory sat up at the sound of his voice, her blue eyes widened. Lane, noticing such, turned up the volume on the phone. After listening to what he had to say, she glanced at her friend, who grinned and nodded.

"That's the one."

"You're sure?"

Rory nodded again and Lane replayed the message, taking down the callers name and phone number. Smiling, she handed the paper over to the other woman, who gazed down at it, looking hopeful, but somewhat afraid.

"What if he's some kind of mass murderer who stalks his prey through the personal ads?"

Lane rolled her eyes. "There's no way a murderer could sound that sexy."

"How do you know?" Rory asked stubbornly.

"Because," Lane reasoned. "A man with that sexy of a voice has got to be good-looking and good-looking guys usually don't like getting blood on their hands."

"Well, with logic like that," Rory deadpanned.

"C'mon, Ror," Lane urged, nudging her friends shoulder with hers. "You'll call him, you'll go out, you'll have a good time. He'll promise to call, but never will and you'll never have to see him again."

Rory sighed and nodded, glancing back down at the paper. Tristan, her mystery date.



*******
end part 2.


'k. I know this is short and has no Trory action, what-so-ever. But it's all I have. I'm sick, so cut me some slack, will ya :) I promise that the next chapter will be out soon and it *will* finally have some troryness. Stay tuned.


-Shay


Feb 3. 2003
2/15