Thanks: Chelsea, Elise, Angel Monroe, Trory4ever, Mrs. Mariano, des, eek, meeeee!!, Rory DuGrey, Lilly, colleen, Loz`, jen, just me, Julianne, jody, me, lilacmoon, ff.net author, Jell, Anna, klm111a, Lieke, piper-h-99, Surya, trory-goddess, swimminsweetie, Vfoxy713, angelic, Melanie, rory jess, dfsd, fff, GiveMeYourLove.

PS. I did not say whether I was going to make this a Trory or a Literati… Stop jumping to conclusions, you guys!!! Anyway, there'll be elements of both…

Chapter 4: Making Plans

That shrill loud noise permeated through her dreams, and woke her up. She mumbled rudely under her breath as it interrupted her dream about Michael Vartan. He was just about to rescue her from an evil villain. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, simultaneously rubbing her eyes. Glancing at her campers, she realized that Lana had already run off to the outhouse. That girl is too perky for her own good.

She saw that Holly and Stella were already up and on their way to the outhouse. Then, she realized that Grace was still asleep under the covers. How can she sleep through that god-awful noise? Rory went over to the side and shook her slightly. Grace mumbled something under her breath and then rolled over. Rory shook a little bit harder the second time, but to her chagrin, there was no response. Rory sighed and shook even harder. This time, Grace sat up.

"What are you doing?" she screeched, practically burning Rory's ears off.

Rory flushed, wanting to give the girl a good long lecture, but controlled herself. This was not the time or place for it. "You have to wake up now."

"What? It's too early. Are you crazy?"

"I agree that it's too early, but you really have to wake up now because breakfast is at seven and if you miss that, you have no food until lunch. And to answer your second question, no I am not crazy."

Grace reddened. "Yeah, I'm a bit cranky in the morning."

This girl doesn't give an inch. Rory nodded, and stepped on the floor, picked up her clothes and went to the outhouse.

The group of eight boys that she and Eve handled for her first arts session was easy-going. They were approximately 8-10 year olds and instead of being the boisterous crowd she expected them to be, they were quiet and actually listened to instructions. Rory discussed with Eve, and they finally decided to let the boys bring the surrounding area onto paper. Eve handed out the materials and equipment, and then they trooped out into the great outdoors, settling between the lake and the forest. The boys immediately started looking for what they wanted to draw, and once they found it, sat down on the ground and began sketching.

"Remember not to get out of sight," warned Rory. She sat down on the ground, as did Eve.

On the far side of the lake, Tristan was teaching a group of 6 year olds (probably Kaye's group) basic swimming strokes. She caught his eye and waved at him. He grinned and waved back.

Eve gave her an evil look. "You know him?"

"Tristan? Yeah…"

Eve rolled her eyes disappointedly. "Guess he's off limits then."

Rory felt a kick to her stomach, and was tempted to say 'yes, he is' but then again, she never told a lie if she could help it. "We're not going out."

Eve gave her a broad smile, and stood up. "Then you don't mind if I just head over and talk to him?"

Rory shook her head to signal 'No, I don't mind', but Eve was already on her way to Tristan. My god, she moves fast.

She sighed to herself, and decided to ignore whatever Eve and Tristan did. The truth was that she did mind, but couldn't do anything about it. It's not like she owned him. You don't even like Tristan in that way, riiiight? She lay down on the soft green grass and put Tristan and Eve at the back of her mind. She breathed the fresh air and calmed down. The boys were being quiet and god forbid, actually concentrating on what they were doing.

"Need any help?" asked Jess, his face looming above hers.

Rory sat up so fast that she could practically feel the blood rushing to her head. Her heart started beating faster. "Umm, no… everything's going okay."

Jess sat down heavily next to her. "We need to talk."

She could feel her heart doing triple beats and doing gymnastic tricks in her veins.

"I can't, I'm busy," she finished off lamely.

Jess looked at her with an amused grin. "If this is your definition of busy, I'd hate to see…"

Rory interrupted him with a heart-wrenching sigh. "Okay, let's talk." It's about time you talk to him anyway. You can't ignore him forever.

Jess grew quiet, carefully thinking about how he should phrase his reply. When he did speak, his voice was evenly toned and calm, not betraying the frantic pace of his heart. "What are we? Good friends with benefits, good friends with no frills, or are we not going to be able to have a decent conversation ever?"

Rory thought it over. "Didn't you miss something out?" Like… lovers?

Jess gave her a sidewise glance. "Yeah." A pause. "But, I'm cool with whatever you decide."

Rory's brows furrowed together. "So if I told you that I hated your guts and I never want to talk to you again, you'd be cool with that?"

Jess sighed patiently. "Rory, you know what I want. The question is, do you want the same thing?"

Rory frowned. "I don't know. I seriously don't know what I want."

Jess flicked his thumb over to Tristan, who was trying to fend off Eve's overly blatant flirting, and trying to teach the kids how to swim at the same time. "You're thinking about pretty boy over there, aren't you?"

"What??!" exclaimed Rory, surprised.

"Look Rory, I'm not blind," he said wryly. "I see the way he looks at you." He paused and gave her a watery grin. "It's the same way that I look at you."

Rory grabbed a nearby flower and began to shred it systematically. "We're just friends," she mumbled.

Jess nodded, and didn't pursue that line of conversation anymore. He figured it wouldn't help as it would just make her more confused and probably make him more annoyed at blondie over there. "How about we go check out that town tomorrow?" He grinned at her. "And we can have some coffee as well."

Rory glanced up, forgetting all about the half-shredded flower. She bit her lip, and decided that she should go to have coffee with Jess. After all, they had tons to catch up on. She gave him a tiny smile. "You know I can't refuse coffee."

"Okay, then. I'll drive us there in my car. Does 3 o'clock sound okay to you?"

"Yeah."

Jess stood up. "See you then, I'll go tell Linda about our plans."

"Bye."

To be continued…

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