Story: Wildflowers
Author: LitJJAiken
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Title: Don't Fade On Me
Summary: AU Literati with Trory undertones. Rory Hayden is sent to boarding school; Jess, Tristan, and others await her.
Disclaimer: I have nothing. Who on this site does have anything? I don't own Gilmore Girls and I don't own Tom Petty's "Don't Fade On Me."
A/N: I. Am. So. Sorry. My computer was unplugged for a week and a half, and I had half of this written, so I couldn't handwrite it while I was gone. Please forgive me. I've learned my lesson -- don't make updating promises.
Dedication: To Joan, for being a great beta and a great person to have a hate-on-Dawson-Leery session with. Everyone go read her story Everything's Changing.
Also have to shout out to Loz (perverts and pedophiles, oh my), Lauren, Hellie, Katherine -- obsessive fanatics rock (so do honorary OFs). To Summer -- if you all haven't read Drain the Glass, go read it.
"Was it love that took you under?
Or did you know too much?
Was it something you could picture?
But never quite could touch?"
"So over there are the cheerleaders," Cassie babbled on. "I'm not really sure what they cheer for, since we're not the most athletically focused school in the country. But they seem to like wearing the skirts."
Rory felt as though she were in the first scene of 10 Things I Hate About You, where Michael explained the school's social hierarchy to Cameron. Cassie had pointed out to her the jocks, the nerds, and now the cheerleaders. She wondered when they would get to sit down. Her plate was beginning to weigh her down.
Finally, a blessed empty table appeared. Rory inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
Cassie sat down at the end of the table. Rory was tempted to take the other end, but that would have been unnecessarily rude, so she sat Cassie's left.
Cassie gestured toward her own plate. "It may look bad, but it's really not. It's not your average public school cafeteria food."
Rory was about to reply when a blonde guy came up behind Cassie and snaked his arms around her neck. He had a mischievous look on his face. Cassie, however, didn't seem to want to join in the fun.
"Tristan, stop," she muttered. "Go away."
"Why?" he asked. "I'm just playing around." He looked up and gazed in Rory's direction. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"
Cassie sighed. "Tristan, Rory, Rory, Tristan," she said quietly. "Now you know her name, leave us alone and go . . . I don't know, go do whatever it is you do on Saturday nights."
"Well, you should know what I do on Saturday nights," he said suggestively.
Rory was trying to appear nonchalant, but she couldn't help it. She wondered what their obviously past-tense relationship was. They definitely seemed tense around each other -- well, Cassie did anyway. From the few seconds she had spent with him, Rory could conclude that Tristan didn't get nervous around anyone.
"Tristan, do you get some sort of perverse pleasure out of torturing me?" Cassie asked. Rory could tell she was struggling to keep from crying. Her voice was breaking in places.
"I'm not torturing you," Tristan said. He finally removed his arms from her neck and sat on the seat to her right, across from Rory. "I'm just trying to get you to talk to me without that desperate note in your voice, like you're trying to figure out the fastest way to run from me."
"What can I say, you make me want to run," Cassie said. "What exactly do you want to talk about?"
"Well, you could maybe try and acquaint me with Rory here," Tristan said, jerking his head in Rory's direction. Rory sent him a saccharine smile.
"Rory's my new roommate," Cassie said grudgingly. "She's a junior here. Look, Tristan, you've gotten what you wanted, you've annoyed me for the day, now can't you just go hang out with someone else?"
"Well, does Rory want me to leave?" he asked.
Rory just looked at him.
"Well, I'll take that as you're not saying no," Tristan concluded. "So . . . where are you from?"
Rory sighed. Maybe if she just answered a few questions he'd get bored and move on. "Hartford. Connecticut."
He actually seemed surprised. "Really? That's where I'm from. The DuGreys of Hartford."
Rory nearly choked on her water. "DuGrey?" she exclaimed once she had swallowed the water. "No way. I would know you if you were a DuGrey."
Tristan shrugged. "Well, I'm here most of the year, and rest of the time I don't really do the whole high society function thing. As long as I don't outright embarrass my parents, they don't really care." Cassie scoffed obtrusively at this. He ignored her and looked at Rory curiously. "What's your last name?"
"Hayden. My dad's of the Haydens. My mom is . . . er, was, of the Gilmores."
His eyes widened. "Really? Richard Gilmore? My grandfather does business with him." Another look of realization came across his face. "So your mom is Lorelai Gilmore?"
Rory looked down at her plate. "Um, yeah."
"Sorry," he said hastily. "I mean, I didn't mean to --"
"It's okay," she interrupted. "Really. How do you know about her anyway?"
"Oh, even though I don't show myself in public, and I live here, I do occasionally talk to my parents. There's no more interesting topic to them than a piece of gossip that's sixteen years old."
Rory laughed uncomfortably. Then, she finally noticed that Cassie looked slightly annoyed. She decided to involve the other girl in the conversation. "So, how do you two know each other?"
As soon as she asked the question, she wished she hadn't. They looked very uncomfortable. Rory inferred that they must have dated at one time or another. It surprised her. Cassie seemed to be straitlaced and focused, and Tristan seemed to be . . . well, a bit of an asshole. Then again, he came from Hartford high society. Being an asshole was practically a prerequisite.
"Um, we dated for a while," Cassie muttered.
"Yeah, until you broke it off," Tristan said. Rory swore she could detect a note of hurt in his voice.
Cassie glared at him. "That's not how it happened and you know it."
Just when Rory's interest was guiltily piqued, Tristan slid his chair back from the table and stood. "Right. Well, I'm not really interested in rehashing the sordid details of our angst-ridden relationship right this second. It was nice meeting you, Rory. Maybe we'll have a class together." He turned away and casually strolled toward a group of guys that Rory assumed were his friends.
"So . . ." Rory said gently. She didn't want to seem insensitive. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Nope," Cassie said sullenly. She stared into space for a moment, and then spooned some mashed potatoes into her mouth. And contrary to the way she'd acted all day, she didn't say one more word to Rory during the meal.
