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 : Thanks for the reviews! You guys are the greatest..





Subtle Invitation
Part 05.






Rory sighed and stifled a yawn as she sat in the kitchen, staring at the coffee maker, willing it to brew faster. As promised, Lane had waken her at six that morning, blatantly ignoring that it was a Saturday, and demanded to know every second of her date the previous night. She had literally fallen off the bed when Rory had told her that her mystery date was in fact, not so mysterious. The fact that it had been Tristan had set Lane off and as much as Rory loved her friend, she would be the first to admit she was relieved when she had gone out to do a little grocery shopping. And then shortly thereafter, her mother had called, and began her interrogation, only, thankfully, to be silenced by Luke, who had taken the phone from her, apologized and hung up. Seriously, if she knew one date would cause this much fuss, she wouldn't have done it.

But then images from last night came flooding back, and she knew she still would've gone. Everything had been great.. Tristan had changed so much, but at the same time, he was still the same guy she knew in high school. Arrogant, cocky, flirtatious... gorgeous. Never in a million years would she admit it, but something about him had set butterflies flying in her stomach.

She came out of her daydreaming when the distinctive sound of gurgling came from the coffee maker, indicating that it was finally done. Standing, she refilled her cup and headed into the living room to catch up on some work.



******



"So?" Josh asked the following Monday, a grin stretching across his face as he waltzed into his cousins office.

Tristan merely glanced up from his computer with a raised eyebrow. "So, what?"

Josh rolled his eyes and flopped down in a chair. "So, how did things go Friday night?"

"Fine," was Tristan's halfhearted answer as his gaze returned to the computer screen.

"You ass," Josh chuckled, sitting back in his chair. "Come on, give me something to go on here."

Sighing heavily, Tristan pushed away from the desk and leaned back in the leather chair, his hands behind his head. "It was fine, okay? We met, we ate, we went skating, we went out for coffee, I took her home, the end."

"What happened to dinner, movie and putting her in a cab?" Josh asked, his expression amused.

Tristan shook his head in resignation, knowing full well that his nosy cousin wouldn't stop prying until he gave him the whole story. "We had a good time, alright? Neither of us wanted to go home after dinner, so went skating. It's not a big deal."

"Are you going to go out again?" Josh inquired, a twinkle in his eye.

"I don't know," Tristan stated briskly, turning back to his work, officially dismissing his cousin. Josh just shook his head in amusement before leaving the office, triumph running through his veins.


******


"You've got a call on line three," Melinda's voice echoed through the intercom, startling Tristan out of his working zone. Replying with a thin thank you, he picked up the phone and hit the line three button.

"DuGrey Enterprises," He greeted in a monotone voice.

There was a pause on the other end and then a deep breath. "Tristan, hi."

Tristan faltered for a moment. "Rory?"

"Yeah, hi. I hope I'm not bothering you. I called your apartment, but the maid, or whoever she was, said you were at work and gave me the number, so I called. Are you busy? I can call back later, if you're busy." Rory babbled from her desk at work.

"Rory, breathe," Tristan teased lightly, settling back in his chair. "I'm not busy. To what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?"

"Right, sorry," Rory sighed, silently berating herself for being such an idiot. "I'm just calling because, well, I had a good time Friday and I was wondering if you'd like to meet for lunch of something, today, next week, I don't know, sometime."

Tristan couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. Rory was asking him out? Their roles had definitely reversed compared to ten years ago. "My, my, my, how things have changed."

Rory groaned on the other end. "You know what, forget it."

The smile previous etched onto Tristan's face slowly faded into his patented smirk. "Forget it? Impossible. This is a monumental moment. Rory Gilmore has finally succumbed to my charms and asked little ole me out on a date."

"I revoke my offer. I don't think there would be enough room to fit the three of us in one room."

"Three of us. Wow, Mary, I didn't think you got down like that," Tristan replied, his eyes twinkling, knowing full well she was blushing on the other end.

Which, in fact, she most definitely was. "I was talking about you and your ego, Romeo."

"Of course you were," Tristan rebuked, certain he was getting under her skin. Sure enough, he was right as another groan echoed through the phone line.

"Okay, I'm hanging up now."

"So, lunch?"

A smile appeared on Rory's face across town. "If you're free."

"I'm always free for you, Mary."

"And there's that deplorable name again. You do know you're not sixteen anymore, right?"

"Oh, I know," Tristan replied, his voice suggestive.

Rory blushed once again. "Stop it. So, when?"

"Today? We could meet at that place we went to Friday around, I don't know, twelve thirtyor so?"

"Sounds good to me," Rory agreed. "I'll see you later, then."

"Yes, you will. Good-bye, Rory Gilmore."

Rory shook her head, but replied. "Bye, Lughead."


******


Two and a half hours later, Rory, donning her winter coat and hat, appeared in the doorway of her office. "I'm taking my lunch break, Susanna. Anyone calls, take a message. If my mom calls, tell her to call my cell."

Susanna Jenkins, Rory's assistant, nodded at her friend. "Will do. What time should I tell them to call back at?"

"One thirty? Two? Later this afternoon?" Rory contemplated, her face thoughtful.

"Two thirty it is," Susanna decided, smiling up at Rory.

Rory returned the smile. "That works. I'll be back later."

"Sure," Susanna replied, going back to her work as Rory disappeared out the double glass doors and into the whirling December wind.


******


"So, any ideas about lunch?" Josh asked once the conference meeting was over, leaving just him and Tristan in the room as they cleared the table.

Tristan scratched the back of his neck and gave his cousin a apologetic look. "Actually, I'm meeting someone for lunch, so you're on your own today."

Josh narrowed his eyes. "Meeting someone? Since when do you meet someone for lunch?"

"Since now, okay?" Tristan said, clearly annoyed.

"Who is it?" Josh asked, very much intrigued.

"A friend."

"Aw, c'mon, Tristan. You're abandoning me for someone else, I think I deserve to know who you're leaving me for," Josh pouted playfully, causing his cousin to roll his eyes.

"The girl from the other night, okay? Don't say anything," Tristan warned, tucking the last paper into a folder and turning to glare at Josh.

Josh put his hands in the air, in mock resignation, "I wasn't going to."

"Right. Shit," Tristan cursed, glancing at his watch. "I gotta get going. I'll see you later."

"Aye, aye, captain," Josh saluted before sauntering out of the room. Tristan watched him go and sighed.


*****


Rory sat at the bar inside the restaurant, idly running her finger around the rim of her coffee cup, glancing every so often towards the door, hoping to see Tristan standing there, looking for her.

But alas, it was twenty minutes after the appointed time they had set and he still was nowhere to be seen. Sighing, she handed Tim, the bartender and a good friend to her these past few months, enough money to cover her bill of three cups of coffee and stood up, pulling her coat on. Turning to retrieve her scarf, which had fallen onto the floor, her body tensed as the scent of cologne assaulted her senses and a husky male voice whispered in her ear.

"Going somewhere, Mary?"

Standing abruptly, she narrowly missed hitting his nose with her shoulder. Moving to look at him, she frowned, her eyes hardened. "You're late," she said pointedly.

Tristan stood before her, an apologetic smirk on his face, his hands shoved into the pockets of his dress pants, his hair tousled even more then usual, his eyes bright blue, removing any anger she had felt earlier. "Sorry," he shrugged. "There was a pile up on the bridge. Forgive me?"

Rory's face fell at the mention of the car accident, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. Two years later and even the slightest mention of a crash made her feel as though it had happened all over again. Reaching out to grab the bar in order to steady herself, she managed a small. "Oh, okay."

Tristan watched her, concern washing over his features. "You okay?" He asked, taken aback by the sudden paleness of her face.

Closing her eyes to collect her bearings, she nodded when they reopened. "Fine. I'm fine."

Sensing there was a need for a barrier breaker, Tristan ran his eyes up and down her body and let a smirk of approval cross his face. "Yes, indeed, you are."

His tactic had the desired effect, causing her to flush and smack his arm. "You... you... you're incorrigible," she finally managed to spit out.

"Actually, I think the word you're looking for is 'amazing'. Or perhaps 'magnificent.'" Tristan replied, settling down on a stool, a smile still present on his face.

Rory pretended to think it over, shaking her head. "Nope. Incorrigible pretty much covers it. Of course there is also annoying, arrogant and quite a few other adjectives."

Tristan clasped his heart in mock hurt. "Oh how you wound me."

"I try," Rory said saucily, taking a deep gulp of the now full cup of coffee Tim had just placed in front of her.

"Now, Mary, is that any way to talk to an old friend?" Tristan asked, feigning innocence.

Rory glanced around the restaurant and then back at him, her expression confused. "Friend? Where?"

Tristan managed to look considerably offended but then broke out into a wide grin. "I don't think my ego is going to handle all these beatings you give it, Gilmore."

"Good," was Rory's cheeky reply as she glanced over at him, her face mirroring the smile on his.



*****



Rory stumbled into her apartment later that evening, her face glowing with happiness, although confusion was very much apparent in her blue eyes. What had started off just being two friends meeting for lunch had ultimately turned into the two of them, herself and Tristan, spending the rest of the day together. The thought of returning to work for the afternoon hadn't even entered her mind when he suggested they attend a poetry reading uptown. That had been six hours ago. After the reading, he had announced he was starving, so they had stopped by a small but lively Italian place not too far from his apartment for an early dinner. It was then that she had spotted a bookstore, one that had just opened but had been recommended by many to her, and the two of them had spent the next couple hours there, browsing about, ending up in the romance fiction section, mocking some of the corny book covers, laughing at the clichéd descriptions on the back. Rory had found herself doubled over in laughter as Tristan 'acted' out some of the silly scenes from some of the books.

After that they had agreed to get some coffee in the stores cafe, where they had sat for quite some time, just enjoying each others company, entertaining each other with stories of their lives and jokes they had heard. She had learned more about him, more about what had happened since that night he had disappeared from her life and was shipped off to military school. She found out he had attended Princeton and was now running the New York branch of his fathers company. She had told him how she had attended Yale along with Paris, which had led to her spilling the beans about Paris and her now cousin, Jess. Tristan had found the shenanigans of Stars Hollow to be highly entertaining and made her promise that next them they were both in Connecticut, that she would show him around her hometown, which she more then happily complied to.

Time had seemed to fly by so fast that she was shocked when he informed her it was almost seven. Since she had taken a cab from work to the restaurant earlier that day, he had been adamant about driving her home. And now here she was, standing in the doorway of her and Lane's apartment, her lower lip tucked between her teeth in contemplation.

The thought had hit her like a ton of bricks, almost before she even realized it. She wanted to see more of Tristan. And later that night, when she lay in her bed awake, she would come to realize that not only did she want to see more of him, a burning in her chest told her she wanted to relive that brief moment at Madeline's party so many years ago, and feel his lips on hers once again.



******


Woo, an update! A-freakin-mazing, I tell ya. You guys have been so good at reviewing, I feel as though you should get some kind of reward or something. Hmm... How abouts you guys get me to 80 reviews and I'll have another update for ya this week? (Meaning by Sunday =D). Work for you? If so, you know what to do. (I'm such a review whore. Sigh).

Hope you liked!

-- Shay

5/15