Author's note: Next chapter up!
Chapter 8: Leap of Faith
Tristan was more than startled when he opened the door to find Rory standing there, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes were wide open and her mouth was twisted as if she saw something that was out of the world. Unfortunately for him, his 'jerk' personality took over whenever he was startled, especially when Rory was involved.
He heard the question, wondered at the strangeness of it, and turned to Paris. "Isn't this way past your bedtime, Paris? Are you on crack?"
Paris growled low in her throat. "That is the second time that someone has suggested that I am on crack and it's ridiculous, especially when you consider that I don't even know where to purchases some, even if I wanted to be on it. But then again, I don't think I'll ever be on 'crack' as it is a terrible habit, you'll probably lose the function of half your organs by the time that you're 30 and be deluded by hallucinations and the giddiness that you feel when you snort some up your nose. No wait, you don't hallucinate by taking crack, you only hallucinate on LCDs. Scrap that hallucination part, I don't know what I was thinking about. Crack will make you lose all hold you have on the world, and you'll probably think that the old man down the street is your husband. I think the snorting will burn some of the hairs in your nose, making you more susceptible to influenza and you'll probably die of some horrible disease. Besides, crack is for people who are quitters, and as we all know, I, Paris Gellar, am not one. I don't want to talk about it anymore, the mere idea of me taking crack is laughable." She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself. "This is what I get when I try to help people." She shot a murderous glance towards Tristan, said a quick goodbye to Rory, and stormed away.
Paris left a huge hole behind her, and you could hear a pin drop in the silence that gaped. Tristan turned towards Rory, and grinned. "That girl is scary."
"I think that this is the first time that we agree on something."
Tristan laughed, and winked at her, noticing the immediate blush that crawled over her face. "I guess you're the one who wants to know if I'm going out with Eve."
He had put a little bit of thought as to why Rory would want to know, and the only reason he could think of was that she was interested in him. He had immediately disposed of that theory though, deeming it useless, because Rory couldn't be interested in him that way… could she?
Rory shrugged, looking to all the world as if she didn't have a care in the world, when in reality her heart was beating like there was no tomorrow. "I do not want to know if you're going out with Eve."
She thought self-depreciatingly that at this rate, her heart would beat way over than the average 100,000 times daily.
Tristan chuckled softly. "Don't lie, Rory. Your nose twitches and you blink faster."
Rory gawked at him, wondering if he was telling the truth, and just how close was he paying attention to her. "I'm not lying."
"There you go again with the lashes fluttering."
Rory snorted ungracefully. "I don't even know why I bother." She spun around on her heel, and was going to walk into the forest back to her cabin, when Tristan's hand reached out and clapped itself around her wrist.
"Don't go, Mary."
The contact with him was practically static. She could almost feel electric sparks fizzle the air. It was like, tingles up and down her hand and it thoroughly disconcerted her.
Rory looked at him squarely in the eye, not listening to the fears in her head, and said, "Why should I stay here when all you do is infuriate me and call me Mary?"
Tristan looked at his feet, feeling thoroughly chastised. Finally, he said, really softly, so soft that she probably wouldn't have been able to hear it if she was brushing her teeth; "I'm sorry. I won't call you Mary if you don't want me to."
Rory stilled. She couldn't believe it, were her ears deceiving her, or did Tristan Dugrey really just apologize? "Why do you insist on calling me Mary?"
Tristan frowned, thinking about her question thoughtfully. He couldn't help it, he just called her Mary without thinking. Although she didn't flat-out say that she didn't want him to call her Mary, he knew she would if he gave her the wrong answer. "I think you're different from everyone else, a little bit more pure and honorable. You would stand up for a cause you think is right, even if everyone you know is against it and for that, I admire you. You do not have to be someone else's idea of who you should be. That's why I call you Mary, because I figure that you're as close to heaven as I can get."
Rory was overwhelmed. "Either you're telling the truth and that you meant every word you just uttered or that you're the best liar in the world and those words are the biggest pile of BS ever."
Tristan laughed. "I was telling the truth, Mary."
Deep inside, Rory knew that he was telling the truth, and frankly it scared her. "What about my earlier question?"
Tristan looked at her thoughtfully. He knew what question she was referring to. "Am I going out with Eve?"
Rory nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
"The answer is no, I'm not."
"Really?" Rory practically shrieked. Her eyes shimmered and she felt elated.
Tristan smiled, noticing the change in her. "Why did you want to know anyway?"
"I… uh… had a bet with Mark and he said that you and Eve… were… ah… together, and I said… umm… no you're not."
Tristan chuckled. "C'mon Mary, you have to do better than that. Your nose is getting redder by the second."
Rory huffed. "Whether you believe it or not, I'm 5 dollars richer!"
She spun on her heel and walked off.
Tristan shouted after her. "I saw the 180 blinks per minute, Mary!"
The next day, after the kids were settled into the art session, Rory looked at Eve. She was filing her nails delicately, blowing on them periodically to clear the nail dust away.
"Eve, I found out something weird."
Eve glanced up at Rory, and frowned. "What on earth are you going on about?"
Rory smiled at the bimbo. "I found out that you're not going out with Tristan after all."
Eve rolled her eyes. "Gee, who cares? I will be going out with him. Give me a few days."
Rory laughed, the sound reverberating like thunder claps in Eve's ears. "Whatever you say."
The next session, Rory was free, but Eve had to go help out Mark. She glanced around the campsite, wondering what she should do, when she saw Tristan waving at her from the lake. She walked towards his direction slowly, noting that he wasn't in charge of a class. He must have had a free session as well.
Rory thought he looked delectable, standing there in the lake, water dripping down his chest in rivulets. He was very tanned, and it made his blue eyes more outstanding. She wondered if she was drooling, and shut her mouth just in case she was.
"Wassup?" asked Tristan. He smiled widely, his eyes twinkling like a thousand diamonds strewn across a blue blanket.
Rory smiled back at him. "Nothing, actually. I've got a free session."
Tristan's smile got wider, if that was humanly possible. "Me too. Hey, do you want to do something together?"
Rory thought about it. "Like what?"
He shrugged. "Anything, I guess." All he really wanted was to spend time with her, although he wasn't sure that was wise. He fell more in love with her every second that he spent with her, and he knew that was dangerous, because she would never like him more than a friend… if he was even that.
"Remember, we've only got one free session."
"Okay then, let's go swimming! I still haven't seen you in your swimming suit yet."
Rory squealed. "Ooh okay, but I have to change first. I have to tell you though, that I can't swim all that well."
Tristan smirked. "I'll be there, Mary."
Rory's eyebrow quirked. "Are you being insinuating?"
"Depends. Do you want me to be?"
Rory laughed, reached down and splashed him with water. "You're impossible."
After much water splashing, Tristan asked, "We're friends, right?"
Rory looked at him, surprised. "I guess so, why?"
Tristan smiled, grabbed hold of her ankle, and pulled her down in the water with him.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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