Disclaimer: GG not mine. No money. Me broke.

Reliving the Past: Chapter Five

"Lorelai!"

I spun around. When I saw her, it was too late to pretend I hadn't heard her. Stephanie Parker… the self-imposed exile of the class. She thinks I'm the only levelheaded person around. Not true. I'm just the only one wiling to speak to her. I lend her my notes, she tells the teachers how nice I am, I'm happy. That's it. That's our entire relationship. I plaster on a fake smile that doesn't reach my eyes. "Hey Stephanie."

"I just wanted to say, thanks for the notes…" she hands them over to me.

The corners of my mouth quirked in what could be called a smile. "You're welcome." I walked away from her quickly.

Stephanie has been in this school for a month now. She wasn't picked on, she was ignored. She's not stupid; she knows she has no friends here. I don't think she cares actually. What she does care about is her schoolwork. If she could, I think she would prefer not talking to anyone in this school.

I walked over to Willow. She could probably tell what I was feeling from my expression. She looked at me sympathetically.

"Another run-in with Ms. Small-town-valedictorian-wannabe?"

I sighed. "Yeah. I swear… she's caught up now! She'd never have done it without my notes…"

"Here's a thought," Willow said mockingly. "You could… gasp… not lend her your notes!"

"But… that's rude!"

Willow gave an exasperated snort. "You are a strange mix of niceness and sneakiness."

I smirked (Hey, reminder… Tristan's my brother.). "Makes me original."

She groaned. "Let's get going."

We walked to class… but what I saw on my way there made me stop in my tracks.

"Your brother's on the move again…" Willow murmured.

My brother was hitting on Stephanie.

He was leaning against her, trapping her against the lockers. She was trying very hard not to look intimidated.

Then, for some strange reason, I did something I never did before.

"Tristan!"

My brother looked at me, and shot me a surprised look. I hardly ever called him in school. We moved in two completely different circles. Willow turned to me too, surprised.

"Go ahead Will, I want to talk to Tristan…" I whispered.

She nodded and walked into the classroom, still looking confused.

I walked to them, and Tristan straightened up, looking guilty, for God knows what reason. It wasn't as if I'd never see him do that before.

I glanced at Stephanie.

"I'll… be going now…" she stuttered, and walked past Tristan into her next classroom.

Tristan folded his arms and leaned against the lockers, watching her go into her classroom. I stood my ground, and watched her leave.

When she went in, I picked up my bag, and went in.

"Lorelai!"

I spun around. "What?"

Tristan looked at me strangely. "Why did you call me?"

"I wasn't calling you, I was saving you… or saving her…" I shrugged.  "I don't know. I was saving someone."

"What?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'll talk to you later, I've got to go to class."

"Lor, it's still ten minutes till the start of class."

"I have to review my notes!"

Tristan looked at me strangely.

"What!?"

"Nothing. See you later."

I walked into my classroom. Not surprisingly, only Will, Stephanie, and two other people were there.

I sat down in my seat in between Willow and Stephanie. I turned to my left where Stephanie was reviewing her notes.

"Stephanie?"

She looked up, surprised. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say… don't take Tristan's flirting seriously. He rarely means it."

Actually, I don't think he ever did. I said this all without a smile on my face… I rarely smile at her. Actually, I rarely smile, period. I don't think I've ever felt the need to smile since dad broke the news.

"Umm… I have a boyfriend, so you shouldn't worry. Tristan is safe from me."

I shrugged and turned to face the front.

*

"I cannot believe you. Hitting on the new girl?" I confronted Tristan angrily when I met him next to his car.

He leaned back, an eyebrow raised. "Lor, what is up with you? You never said anything about the girls I dated."

"Maybe it's time I did. Tristan… don't you see how wrong it is? She's the new girl, the one not worth anything!"

"So why are you getting so worked up about it? I know you don't like her."

"No, I don't… but I'm worried about you Tristan."

Tristan looked like he was trying not to laugh. "I'm not the one in danger."

"I mean it. When are you going to stop playing with all these girls and get a decent girlfriend?"

"Why should I?" He was getting defensive. Okay… bad move. I was the only one he talked to… if he shut me out…

"Did Dad put you up to this?"

"What? No!"

"Was it Luke? Grandma?"

"No, Tristan. This is I, Lorelai, asking you to be what you could be."

"Something tells me we're not talking about girls anymore."

I had kept my thoughts about Tristan to myself for the longest time. Something inside me snapped and I let him have it. About how he didn't care about grades and probably wouldn't get into a decent college, about how he played with so many girls, and how hard it was for me to trust anyone because of him, because they all wanted to be his friend or date him… I yelled at him because of how he treated dad, how he treated Luke and Grandma… and let's not even get started on grandmother and grandfather. All those little things that I let slide, I brought up again.

"…it's not fair to anyone, Tristan!"

He was shocked. He didn't say anything. I never got mad, much less get angry at him. At his hurt expression, I wanted to apologize, but I didn't. I knew I was right.

I sighed, and got into the car. We drove wordlessly to the house.

*

I went straight to my room, and right away went to read mom's journal. It was my habit. I had read a little every day… it had been a month since I got the journal and things just kept getting more interesting.

Since last month, in the Mom's journal escapades, Paris and Jess had gotten together, and Dad and Mom… well let's just say I'm glad Dad doesn't do subtle so well. Otherwise I don't think I would ever have been born. Talk about clueless. There are sometimes where dad is practically declaring 'I love you, take me, I'm yours forever,' and still she doesn't get it.

January 1

Oh my god. That's all I can say… never mind talking, that's all I can think since last night. Tristan and I went to that New Year's Eve party hosted by his grandparents like we planned. I saw grandma and grandpa at the party, and although mom was supposed to come, she didn't. Grandma said she was sure mom would have come if she had known I would be here.

Anyway, here's the story. The whole crazy story. Tristan and I arrived at Hartford and of course, we had to go greet the host and hostess. So we made our way over to his grandparents, who surprisingly were chatting with mine.

Sounds normal right? Nothing so bad happening yet… okay… so, at first it was all fine… how-are-you's, you're-the-spitting-image-of's, you're-so-big's… and then Tristan and I excuse ourselves and go dance.

Now all that was perfectly fine, no bad, all good. So, it's nearly the end of the party… and get this… we go to the library, and suddenly, Tristan's kissing me… and I thought that would be the most shocking thing in my day. So we break apart, and oddly I find myself at a loss for words. Tristan looked… scared after. As if he was afraid I'd run off… again. So, surprising even myself, I was the one who started the next kiss.

What Tristan told me was unforgettable. Until now I can recite it word for word. It went something like… okay, I know writing this down will make this journal seem like a trashy romance novel but it's my journal and I'll write what I like.

"Rory… I have a confession to make. I've loved you since high school. I don't know when I did… at first you were just the new girl, then suddenly… you were everything. As corny as it may sound, you made me who I am today. You changed me. I hated myself for leaving without telling you what I really felt, and when I saw you at Harvard… Rory, I can't tell you how much that meant to me. And when you started spending more time with me… Ror, being with you… It taught me to hope… as I had never allowed myself to hope before." 

And then we were kissing again… more intensely.

 

That wasn't horrible, it was very nice actually. I have no idea how long it lasted but suddenly, Tristan stopped short and I had no idea why. (Here comes the horrible.) I opened my eyes to find my grandparents and his staring at us. They had been in the library the whole time.

That wasn't even the worst part yet.

There I am, stammering, trying to think of a suitable apology… Tristan not helping anything, he was just standing there staring at his grandfather… and get this… they were SMILING.

Grandma's comment: I can't wait to plan the wedding.

Grandpa's comment: So much better than Dean.

Tristan's grandfather: DuGrey and Gilmore… a match made in heaven. Think of the fortune.

Tristan's grandmother: I can't wait to plan the wedding.

Tristan: embarrassed or stunned silence

Me: …

Within the next few minutes we were all seated at the dining table, discussing future wedding dates, number of kids, possible places to live… even talking about a merger between Gilmore Enterprises and DuGrey Corporation.

God… then they started talking about what schools our kids would go to. For high school, Tristan's grandparents wanted that military school Tristan went to… my grandparents wanted them to go to Chilton… For college, grandpa wanted Yale… Tristan's grandfather wanted Princeton.

After, they started talking about names… don't even get me started on the arguments.

Don't even get me started on the wedding. Grandma wanted an Elizabethan theme, Tristan's grandmother wanted Victorian… the grandfathers wanted traditional. The one thing they were all in agreement on in terms of the wedding was BIG. They all wanted a huge wedding. Grandma wanted to show off probably, and Tristan's grandmother was probably thinking the same thing. Grandpa and Tristan's grandfather wanted the publicity.

When things couldn't get worse, Tristan's parents came in. When the story came out Tristan's dad started in with the business, all these new developments that could be done... Tristan's mom joined right in with our grandmothers, talking about my dress, the theme, the motif… right down to the caterers and florists. They were even talking about flower girls!

Tristan and I just sat there, too mortified to do anything. In between the debate between white and pink roses, and Gilmore-DuGrey Incorporated and DuGrey-Gilmore Incorporated, Tristan finally snapped.

He raised his voice to be heard over the din. This was another of his memorable speeches for the night. "People! We're not planning whether to send our kids to Princeton, Harvard, or Yale, we're not planning how many kids… as a matter of fact; we're not planning on having kids. We're not even planning to get married. We're not engaged. In no way are we planning a future."

Of course he was ignored. "Do be quiet, Tristan, I'm in the middle of an important discussion. Richard, don't you see, it should be DuGrey-Gilmore. Tristan is the male heir, and will run it eventually. Therefore, the DuGrey name should be more…"

That entire planning session took four hours. I thought old people got tired right away, apparently not. They scheduled their next meeting, their agenda… and on their next meeting, my mom and dad were supposed to be present. They had to know whether the Haydens wanted in on this too.

They made us stay for the next couple of days, ignoring our protests that we had class. (Which we didn't. Not until Jan. 7. They saw right through that.)

So, my grandparents took me home, and Tristan went home with his parents. You'd think that with all the wedding talk, they'd give us time alone, but no. They whisked us off saying something about bad luck before the wedding. I had barely touched Tristan when grandma pulled me away, told me to say good-bye and we were out the door.

It's six in the morning now, and I am still completely shocked.

My cell phone is ringing. It's Tristan.

*

I closed the book with a smile.