Chapter 7
First impressions
~~~
```FLASHBACK```
Coming out of the drugstore, colliding with a hard wall.
"Geez look where you're going next ti -" she was cut off, her breath catching in her throat.
"How about next time you and I meet in a less hostile manner, not that I'm complaining understand." His eyes roaming the length of her body, sending shivers down her spine.
"Go to hell!"
"Ooh, temper. I like, adds some spice to the equation don't you think?"
Looking into the cockiest pair of blue eyes she'd ever seen.
Wanting to run.
```END FLASHBACK```
~~~
Skye's instinct was to high tail it right out of there, her blood thundered in her ears as she stared at him in disbelief.
If she weren't so shocked she would have laughed at the irony.
"Skye?" she heard Jess' voice penetrate her confusion, "Skye!"
She blinked uncertainly, focussing on Jess' face filled with concern. He was standing next to her. She hadn't even realised he'd stood up.
"Do you two know each other?"
"No!" she denied vehemently, while at the same time he answered,
"Yes."
She turned to him incredulously and was met with the same arrogance she had encountered at their first meeting.
Her momentary vulnerability was replaced with anger at his impertinence but her years of learning to keep her emotions in check covered her disadvantage well.
The only indication that she had been caught off guard was one she was not aware of - her eyes, burning a brilliant heliotrope.
"Well which is it?" Jess asked.
"We have met." Tristan answered.
"Unfortunately." Skye added, causing Rory and Jess' eyebrows to rise enquiringly.
"But we haven't been formally introduced." He carried on, unfazed.
"Pity we have to change that." She drawled pointedly, as she sat down next to Jess, which just happened to be opposite Mr hot shot.
Rory cleared her throat uncertainly and proceeded to make the introductions, despite the tension that had set in.
"Skye Matthews, Tristan Dugrey."
"Skye, pleasure to meet you." He said urbanely, offering his hand when it was clear she had no intention of putting her hand out first.
"The pleasure's definitely all yours." She said, shaking his hand with barely veiled contempt.
She shot an apologetic look at Rory who was looking quite uneasy at the turn of events.
"I'm sorry." She said a while later when it seemed that the walls were closing in because of the discord.
"It's okay." Rory said genially.
"No, its not. I'm taking my feelings about something else and projecting them onto the wrong situation and I apologise. Maybe I should just go and we can try this again some other time." She said standing up.
"Skye wait!" Jess said, holding onto her arm.
She saw the expression in his eyes and guilt flooded her. She was acting totally out of character and she didn't know why exactly, she just knew it had
something to do with the guy across from her, even if she had given some other pretext.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was obviously something more to the story but for the moment Jess was forced to be patient, as he silently willed her to stay.
She got the message, as he knew she would but he was still relieved when she sat down again.
"Why don't we just order?" he suggested to smooth things over.
"Do you think we could just start again?" Skye asked, slightly aversely.
No one saw any reason not to, thank goodness. Jess eyed Rory surreptitiously, her confusion clear but to her credit she didn't say anything which might have added to tension.
The four of them sat in awkward silence until Skye jumped up, "I'll get the drinks."
"I'll come with you." Jess offered and was met with a succinct glance from Skye, which he chose to ignore, "What will it be?"
"Cherry soda for me thanks." Rory said, grinning at Jess.
He winked at her in return, it was clear they had the same idea.
"Same for me." Tristan said with an indolent smile.
Jess wasn't sure if he liked the guy or not but something told him whatever Skye had to say would help clear things up.
"Coming right up." He took hold of Skye's elbow, leading her away so he could find out what was up.
He didn't miss the way the way Tristan's eyes followed her across the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What was that?" Rory asked him, the moment they were out of earshot.
"What?" he asked innocently, even though he knew exactly what she was talking about.
"Tristan - " she warned.
"It's nothing." He said, he said dismissively, still watching them.
He wandered what the deal was between her and Jess, they looked really comfortable with each other.
"If it's nothing then why can't you keep your eyes off her?" she reasoned.
"What? That's crazy talk." He denied. He felt like he'd been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar, which was ridiculous.
"If you say so." She said smugly.
"I say so!"
"If it's nothing then you can tell me right?"
"We bumped into each other a couple of days ago, literally." He conceded reluctantly.
"And?. no Tristan don't tell me -"
"Geez Rory! What do you take me for?" he asked defensively.
"Well, back at Chilton..."
"That was different, I was different. I'm not like that anymore."
Rory looked at him dubiously.
"I'm not!" he stressed.
"I believe you, so what else."
"We hardly spent a couple of minutes in each other's company Rory, it's not a major deal. Some comments were made in passing and that is all. The end, finis, got it?"
"Got it." She said smiling, but he didn't notice because he found his eyes drifting elsewhere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Everything alright?" Jess asked when they got back to the table.
"Yes." Rory answered.
She noticed that Skye seemed more relaxed and she was glad. Maybe she was making too big a deal of their reactions to seeing each other but she knew she wasn't misconstruing the way Tristan had looked at her, the way he was still looking at her.
Jess took hold of her hand across the table, squeezing it gently, reassuringly.
She couldn't wait to hear what Skye's take was but Jess mouthed the word 'later' and she smiled.
The soft lights highlighted the richness of his hair and Rory ached to run her fingers through it.
"So," Skye cleared her throat, "Tristan," saying his name with a hint of denigration, "I understand you know Rory from Chilton."
For a moment Rory thought he was going to reject her olive branch but he didn't.
"Yes, freshman year my whole life changed when Mary graced us with her presence."
"Mary? .Okay private joke, understood."
"By you maybe, but I wanna know." Jess retorted, even though he knew all about Rory's dealings with the Chiltonites.
"It's stupid really," Rory blushed.
"I don't mind spilling." Tristan answered.
"So spill already, that is if it really is okay with you Rory." Skye said, and Rory got a glimpse of the Skye she'd gotten to know back in Stars Hollow.
"If you must." She conceded happily.
"The girls at Chilton, sorry a lot of the girls at Chilton," he corrected when Rory glared at him, "weren't exactly shy. They used their uniform as a platform to advertise their bodies if you will. The guys,"
"Meaning you?" Skye asked without rancour, this time.
"The guys," he winked, causing a faint smile to cross her lips, " were used to the teases and the like and so along comes Miss goody two shoes here," he motioned to Rory, "and completely threw us for a six."
"Yeah, she has that affect on people." Jess agreed gently and Rory felt warm all over as he traced lazy circles on her wrist with his thumb.
"Anyway, because she wasn't exactly vamp of the year, and owing to the fact that she wasn't a conformist we nicknamed her Mary."
"As in virgin Mary."
"Uh-huh," he said, sipping his drink. "I will admit though, I'm not proud of the way we treated you back then." He turned to Rory apologetically.
"Apology accepted. Besides the past is the past."
Jess started laughing all of a sudden and the three of them looked at him quizzically.
"What's so funny Mariano?" Skye asked.
"I was just thinking about first impressions."
Rory smiled knowingly.
"Will somebody please share the joke?" Tristan asked "Or is this another one of those private things?"
"Rory once commented on how the saying goes first impressions count but that hardly anyone looks deeper, to see that they can be illusory." He explained.
"That's true." Skye agreed, "but sometimes you can hit the nail right on the head." She said, looking across from her over her glass.
"Jess, why don't you and I go get another round?" Rory asked pointedly.
He looked like he was going to argue but thought better of it; Rory was relieved as she led him away. Maybe all Skye and Tristan needed was some time to air their grievances.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Her contradictory emotions intensified with being left alone with him. She called Jess a traitor and all sorts of synonyms in her mind.
She just had a sudden urge to provoke him but to her disconcertion and reprieve he let the dig slide.
"So what's your deal Skye?" Tristan challenged instead.
"Nothing exciting." She said ambiguously.
"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" he insisted.
"Fine, ask away." She sighed.
"I take it you're a New York native?"
"Born and bred." She said proudly.
"So what school do you go to?"
"Don't go to school."
"Why not?"
"Other commitments."
"Like what?"
"Are you always this inquisitive?"
"Are you always this evasive?" he threw back at her.
His insistence was causing rivulets of panic in Skye. But outwardly she exuded self-control.
"What are you hiding?" he asked again.
"What makes you think I'm hiding anything?"
"You've answered two questions with a question." He remarked.
"Just trying to even out the playing field. Nothing wrong with that is there?"
"Three." He mused.
"Funny."
"And we have a statement." He exclaimed humorously, his eyes twinkling a clear azure.
"Seriously though I'm only trying to get to know you." He said, when she offered no reply to his bantering.
"Let's get one thing straight Tristan, you will never know me." She said bristly, her eyes hardening to indigo chips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBC. sorry guys, I know it was a really crappy chapter but I'll make it up to you I hope. Next chapter will definitely have more R/J interaction!!
First impressions
~~~
```FLASHBACK```
Coming out of the drugstore, colliding with a hard wall.
"Geez look where you're going next ti -" she was cut off, her breath catching in her throat.
"How about next time you and I meet in a less hostile manner, not that I'm complaining understand." His eyes roaming the length of her body, sending shivers down her spine.
"Go to hell!"
"Ooh, temper. I like, adds some spice to the equation don't you think?"
Looking into the cockiest pair of blue eyes she'd ever seen.
Wanting to run.
```END FLASHBACK```
~~~
Skye's instinct was to high tail it right out of there, her blood thundered in her ears as she stared at him in disbelief.
If she weren't so shocked she would have laughed at the irony.
"Skye?" she heard Jess' voice penetrate her confusion, "Skye!"
She blinked uncertainly, focussing on Jess' face filled with concern. He was standing next to her. She hadn't even realised he'd stood up.
"Do you two know each other?"
"No!" she denied vehemently, while at the same time he answered,
"Yes."
She turned to him incredulously and was met with the same arrogance she had encountered at their first meeting.
Her momentary vulnerability was replaced with anger at his impertinence but her years of learning to keep her emotions in check covered her disadvantage well.
The only indication that she had been caught off guard was one she was not aware of - her eyes, burning a brilliant heliotrope.
"Well which is it?" Jess asked.
"We have met." Tristan answered.
"Unfortunately." Skye added, causing Rory and Jess' eyebrows to rise enquiringly.
"But we haven't been formally introduced." He carried on, unfazed.
"Pity we have to change that." She drawled pointedly, as she sat down next to Jess, which just happened to be opposite Mr hot shot.
Rory cleared her throat uncertainly and proceeded to make the introductions, despite the tension that had set in.
"Skye Matthews, Tristan Dugrey."
"Skye, pleasure to meet you." He said urbanely, offering his hand when it was clear she had no intention of putting her hand out first.
"The pleasure's definitely all yours." She said, shaking his hand with barely veiled contempt.
She shot an apologetic look at Rory who was looking quite uneasy at the turn of events.
"I'm sorry." She said a while later when it seemed that the walls were closing in because of the discord.
"It's okay." Rory said genially.
"No, its not. I'm taking my feelings about something else and projecting them onto the wrong situation and I apologise. Maybe I should just go and we can try this again some other time." She said standing up.
"Skye wait!" Jess said, holding onto her arm.
She saw the expression in his eyes and guilt flooded her. She was acting totally out of character and she didn't know why exactly, she just knew it had
something to do with the guy across from her, even if she had given some other pretext.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was obviously something more to the story but for the moment Jess was forced to be patient, as he silently willed her to stay.
She got the message, as he knew she would but he was still relieved when she sat down again.
"Why don't we just order?" he suggested to smooth things over.
"Do you think we could just start again?" Skye asked, slightly aversely.
No one saw any reason not to, thank goodness. Jess eyed Rory surreptitiously, her confusion clear but to her credit she didn't say anything which might have added to tension.
The four of them sat in awkward silence until Skye jumped up, "I'll get the drinks."
"I'll come with you." Jess offered and was met with a succinct glance from Skye, which he chose to ignore, "What will it be?"
"Cherry soda for me thanks." Rory said, grinning at Jess.
He winked at her in return, it was clear they had the same idea.
"Same for me." Tristan said with an indolent smile.
Jess wasn't sure if he liked the guy or not but something told him whatever Skye had to say would help clear things up.
"Coming right up." He took hold of Skye's elbow, leading her away so he could find out what was up.
He didn't miss the way the way Tristan's eyes followed her across the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What was that?" Rory asked him, the moment they were out of earshot.
"What?" he asked innocently, even though he knew exactly what she was talking about.
"Tristan - " she warned.
"It's nothing." He said, he said dismissively, still watching them.
He wandered what the deal was between her and Jess, they looked really comfortable with each other.
"If it's nothing then why can't you keep your eyes off her?" she reasoned.
"What? That's crazy talk." He denied. He felt like he'd been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar, which was ridiculous.
"If you say so." She said smugly.
"I say so!"
"If it's nothing then you can tell me right?"
"We bumped into each other a couple of days ago, literally." He conceded reluctantly.
"And?. no Tristan don't tell me -"
"Geez Rory! What do you take me for?" he asked defensively.
"Well, back at Chilton..."
"That was different, I was different. I'm not like that anymore."
Rory looked at him dubiously.
"I'm not!" he stressed.
"I believe you, so what else."
"We hardly spent a couple of minutes in each other's company Rory, it's not a major deal. Some comments were made in passing and that is all. The end, finis, got it?"
"Got it." She said smiling, but he didn't notice because he found his eyes drifting elsewhere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Everything alright?" Jess asked when they got back to the table.
"Yes." Rory answered.
She noticed that Skye seemed more relaxed and she was glad. Maybe she was making too big a deal of their reactions to seeing each other but she knew she wasn't misconstruing the way Tristan had looked at her, the way he was still looking at her.
Jess took hold of her hand across the table, squeezing it gently, reassuringly.
She couldn't wait to hear what Skye's take was but Jess mouthed the word 'later' and she smiled.
The soft lights highlighted the richness of his hair and Rory ached to run her fingers through it.
"So," Skye cleared her throat, "Tristan," saying his name with a hint of denigration, "I understand you know Rory from Chilton."
For a moment Rory thought he was going to reject her olive branch but he didn't.
"Yes, freshman year my whole life changed when Mary graced us with her presence."
"Mary? .Okay private joke, understood."
"By you maybe, but I wanna know." Jess retorted, even though he knew all about Rory's dealings with the Chiltonites.
"It's stupid really," Rory blushed.
"I don't mind spilling." Tristan answered.
"So spill already, that is if it really is okay with you Rory." Skye said, and Rory got a glimpse of the Skye she'd gotten to know back in Stars Hollow.
"If you must." She conceded happily.
"The girls at Chilton, sorry a lot of the girls at Chilton," he corrected when Rory glared at him, "weren't exactly shy. They used their uniform as a platform to advertise their bodies if you will. The guys,"
"Meaning you?" Skye asked without rancour, this time.
"The guys," he winked, causing a faint smile to cross her lips, " were used to the teases and the like and so along comes Miss goody two shoes here," he motioned to Rory, "and completely threw us for a six."
"Yeah, she has that affect on people." Jess agreed gently and Rory felt warm all over as he traced lazy circles on her wrist with his thumb.
"Anyway, because she wasn't exactly vamp of the year, and owing to the fact that she wasn't a conformist we nicknamed her Mary."
"As in virgin Mary."
"Uh-huh," he said, sipping his drink. "I will admit though, I'm not proud of the way we treated you back then." He turned to Rory apologetically.
"Apology accepted. Besides the past is the past."
Jess started laughing all of a sudden and the three of them looked at him quizzically.
"What's so funny Mariano?" Skye asked.
"I was just thinking about first impressions."
Rory smiled knowingly.
"Will somebody please share the joke?" Tristan asked "Or is this another one of those private things?"
"Rory once commented on how the saying goes first impressions count but that hardly anyone looks deeper, to see that they can be illusory." He explained.
"That's true." Skye agreed, "but sometimes you can hit the nail right on the head." She said, looking across from her over her glass.
"Jess, why don't you and I go get another round?" Rory asked pointedly.
He looked like he was going to argue but thought better of it; Rory was relieved as she led him away. Maybe all Skye and Tristan needed was some time to air their grievances.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Her contradictory emotions intensified with being left alone with him. She called Jess a traitor and all sorts of synonyms in her mind.
She just had a sudden urge to provoke him but to her disconcertion and reprieve he let the dig slide.
"So what's your deal Skye?" Tristan challenged instead.
"Nothing exciting." She said ambiguously.
"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" he insisted.
"Fine, ask away." She sighed.
"I take it you're a New York native?"
"Born and bred." She said proudly.
"So what school do you go to?"
"Don't go to school."
"Why not?"
"Other commitments."
"Like what?"
"Are you always this inquisitive?"
"Are you always this evasive?" he threw back at her.
His insistence was causing rivulets of panic in Skye. But outwardly she exuded self-control.
"What are you hiding?" he asked again.
"What makes you think I'm hiding anything?"
"You've answered two questions with a question." He remarked.
"Just trying to even out the playing field. Nothing wrong with that is there?"
"Three." He mused.
"Funny."
"And we have a statement." He exclaimed humorously, his eyes twinkling a clear azure.
"Seriously though I'm only trying to get to know you." He said, when she offered no reply to his bantering.
"Let's get one thing straight Tristan, you will never know me." She said bristly, her eyes hardening to indigo chips.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBC. sorry guys, I know it was a really crappy chapter but I'll make it up to you I hope. Next chapter will definitely have more R/J interaction!!