Disclaimer: I've had many things to do so I haven't had time to buy Gilmore Girls, so it still belongs to the WB.

A/N: So here is the next chapter, thanks for the reviews to everyone, and as of now I figured out (thanks to RoryLeighDugrey) how to accept anon reviews so, I will appreciate it if you take the time to review my story.  OK! So on to the next episode.

Everytime There's a Concert

Chapter 4: Redeeming Yourself

They both stood shocked there looking at each other, not really knowing what to say.  Needless to say that, mixed feelings were the "special of the day" (bad joke, I know).

First we have Rory; she didn't know what to say or how to react, considering that just last night this boy, who was standing right in front of her, was the topic of a heated discussion between Janine and her.  And who said that accepting the fact that he had been in love with her so long ago, wasn't going to bring him back?  Not that she wanted him back, but it still was shocking to see him.

Then we have Tristan, poor Tristan!  All of a sudden all these things that were "on the back of his mind" just came rushing to him at the very moment that he put his eyes on her.  She was still the same girl that he had left that night at Chilton dressed in a Juliet outfit, wishing that she would ask him to wait, but never did.  Of course he had been a jerk ever since he met her, and treated her every which way, expecting some kind of response from her part that never came, because she was with. . . what's his name again?  Well anyway, she was there standing in front of him.  All the time he had waited for this moment was finally here and he said:

"Hi, Rory" still he didn't know if he was doing the right thing.  You could tell by the tone of his voice that he was a little unsure of the reaction that will come from her, but to his relief, she said:

"Hey, Tristan. . ." but couldn't say anything else.  Don't get me wrong, her lack of words wasn't because she had any feelings for the guy, but it still was shocking to see someone, after such a long, long time; a guy who she had been discussing and remembering just yesterday.  Little did she know that she was going to be proved right on something: he did have a good side to him, and he was going to reveal it to her if she gave him a chance, but for the moment:

"You know what guys?" she said to the two very confused friends Drew and Janine, and a still very shocked Tristan "I think I should go, I have my coffee with me so, I'm good. . . you guys can hang out" and she said to Janine "I'll see you at home, ok?"

"Are you sure?" Janine asked, still a little confused.

"Yeah, bye guys. . . it was. . . nice seeing you again, Tristan" she said politely, as it was her usual way.

As she started to walk out of the coffee house, Tristan said "I should go to talk to her" and finishing this sentence, he rushed behind her.

"Rory, wait please!" Tristan said as he reached her.

"Hey, I'm. . . I'm going home" she said a little uncomfortable, while she pointed nowhere exactly.

"Come on, please, don't leave on my account" he asked sincerely.

"Oh, um, I'm not. . . I. . . just have some stuff to do for school, and I just cannot let it go that easily" she lied.

"You are not that good of a liar, Rory Gilmore, and if you were here it's because you have a little time to spare, so please stay"

"Yeah, but. . ."

"Please, let me prove to you that I am not the same person that left Chilton over the Duncan and Bowman fiasco, I have changed since you last saw me. . . I'm just asking for a chance to prove to you that I am being honest. . ." he said politely "I'll buy you a cup of coffee" he added.

"Sure. . . I'll stay. . . but so more for changing, if you are trying to bribe me with coffee" she said loosening up a little now.

"Well I didn't change everything, I still know how to persuade people. . . but this time is different" he said matter-of-factly.

"Really? And how is that?"

"I believe that this time I am doing it for the right reasons" he answered.

"Oh! Um . . . Let's go in then" she said and led the way into the coffee house.

-* At the same time, inside the coffee house *-

"Could you have thought that we would bring those two together after all this years? You did know about them, right?" Janine asked curiously.

"Do I ever? Yeah, I knew about her. . . but, wow! I never thought that things would turn out this way. . . I mean what are the odds of something like this happening, I've never would've thought that the beautiful girl I met last night was even remotely related to the girl that has obsessed my friends' existence for years at a time, and bring them together" He said a little excited to finally put a face to the picture of the girl that Tristan had mentioned so many times over the years, and to see that maybe, now, Tristan would be happy and try to make things right, which ever the outcome.

"Yeah. . . well lets hope that he fixes the image that she has of him, at least, apparently she is going to give him a chance, 'cause they are talking and she is not biting he's head off"  she said as she pointed out  the window at both of their respective friends who were talking calmly.

"Well. . . could she do that, you know bite his head off" he asked silently.

"No silly. . . her mouth is not that big" she said kiddingly.

"I'm serious!" he said.

"Of course not!! She's Rory, she doesn't even eat anything from the cow that she is not supposed to eat, and she loves to eat.  Look I know you don't know her, but trust me, she is the most calm person that you would ever have the chance to encounter, so if your friend Tristan is making a good point he probably has good chances" she said, knowing exactly what she was talking about.

"So speaking about chances. . ." he said.

"Yeah" Janine said as she turned to face him.

"What do you think about our chances, do you think we have a good chance?" he said turning on such a charm, that Janine almost forgot how to think for a moment, but then she regained her composure and:

"Well, this was a chance encounter; you will have to keep your promise and call me, and will take it from there, Okay?"

"Oh, you can be sure I am going to call you, but what do you say, that for the time being, we just grab a table. . ." he said as he started walking towards an empty table ". . . sit down. . ." he said as he pulled a chair for Janine "and finish our coffee. . . lets call it a pre-date, pre-phone call, cup of coffee"

"Well, apparently it's a plan" she said as she sat down.

-* Back in the same time frame *-

Both Rory and Tristan walked back into the coffee house, and sat down at the table where Janine and Drew were sitting already.  There was an awkward  silence, but Janine decided to break it:

"So, you're Tristan? It is nice to meet you" she said emphasizing the words 'you are', sometimes being so direct was a flaw, especially in moments like the one they were going thru.

"Yes I am, and you are Janine, so it's nice to meet you too. . . what do you mean by 'you are'?" Tristan asked a little puzzled, with a slight smirk on his lips, which, as we all know, is his trademark.

Rory at this moment was trying to kick Janine under the table and making faces so she would shut up.  But wasn't able to do so.

"Well, I've heard a little about you" Janine answered not picking up on the signals that her friend was sending her way.

"Really!" he exclaimed a little too pleased with that fact, "Rory, have you been talking about me. . . and here I thought that I hadn't made an impression on you" he said a little teasingly, but expecting a positive response.

"Hey buddy, sometimes being talked about, is not always good, you don't know the kind of stuff she told me about you. . . but being the good friend that I am, here goes a try: how about . . . a certain PJ Harvey concert?" Janine said, waiting to see the expression on his face.  She had hit the target.

"Man, that is so true. . . my friend, you have been burned!!" Drew said to Tristan  laughing, and Tristan laughed to.

"Janine, I am going to like you, you are the kind of person that the world needs right now. . . and not only the world, if you know what I mean?" Tristan answered, and as he said those last words he pointed to Drew.  Janine actually blushed at the comment.  Drew didn't miss a thing.

"So Tristan. . . how did you manage to make my friend come in here with you?" Janine asked, she was extremely curious about the whole Tristan-Rory situation, and Drew wasn't doing much to stop her, because she was asking all the questions that were on his mind. . . boy, did he like the girl.

"Well, you being a friend of Rory should know that she thinks there is always good in everyone, considering that I have always proved her wrong about that, I was amazed that when I asked her to stay she did, after a little persuading that I had to do, but it was only means to an end."

"Yeah" Rory finally spoke up "he promised a cup of coffee that, as of right now, I haven't seen here" she said this as she pointed at the table in front of her.

"Oh, right! I'm on it" he got up from the table and went to get Rory's cup of coffee.  When he did, the questioning switched to Drew.

"So, Drew, it is now your turn. . . you are very eager aren't you?" Rory asked, referring to the whole car incident that had happened last night "considering that in the middle of the night, you would do what you did last night, screaming that way to a girl that you barely know" she finished.

"Well, Rory.  I act that way only when I like a girl, and well, I like your friend" he said this looking at Janine, who tried not to be affected by the comment, but it was useless, she had been.

"Well she is a great girl, and because she is a great girl I think I should tell you that you will never meet someone like her, ever." Rory said almost threatingly.

"Well, I am sure that what you say is true, and I really want to have the chance to share her greatness. . ." he said, and as he did he tried to sound as seriously as he could, because he honestly had never been this serious.

And when this was finished, Tristan finally showed with a cup of coffee for everyone, because it would have been too rude to just show up with coffee for Rory.  "Man, it takes forever to get coffee here, doesn't it?"

"Well," Rory said "it happens when you sell the greatest cup of coffee in a six-mile radius"

"Yeah, that, and the fact the service is lousy, and it does take forever to get a cup of coffee here, no matter how descent the coffee is" Janine said to all three of them.

"So. . . a six-mile radius?" Drew asked.

"Yeah," Janine said "she tried every single coffee place in a six-mile radius, she knows from experience. . . if someone knows coffee, Rory does"

Rory was nodding in agreement while Janine gave this information to Drew.

"You know what?" Tristan asked "how about if we go out for dinner, it's a little early, but that way we have more time to talk, and you guys can be home early enough that you won't feel guilty later. . . what do you say?"

"Sure" Janine said, without even looking at Rory to consult about the invitation.

"Hey, Janine, I'm not sure. . ." Rory said.

"Come on Rory, please. . . its just dinner.  You guys pick the place, and it's our treat" Drew said, taking a little of the blame. . . that, and that he would have the chance to spend more time with Janine.  So they both win.

"Quick dinner?" Rory asked.

"As quick as you want it to be" Tristan said, but hoping that she would be in the mood for a six-course dinner.

"Ok! Sure. . . lets go.  How about pizza?"

"I'm all for pizza" was the answer that came out of the mouth of both Tristan and Drew.  Janine was always agreeable with Rory's taste for food, because she had almost the same.

The evening went by, with all four of them talking and laughing about everything, as openly as if they had known each other for what seemed like years.  Swapping stories, joking, and everything was so great that everyone forgot about the 'uncomfortableness' that had reigned at the beginning of their conversation at the coffee house.

When dinner was finally over, the guys got the bill, paid, and left.  They had walked there, so they took the same path back to the girls' home and where Tristan's car was.  As they were walking, Janine and Drew stayed behind and walked by themselves, and Rory and Tristan were forced to do the same.  As they were walking down the street, Tristan asked:

"So, what's the verdict?" Tristan asked Rory.

"The verdict?" Rory didn't understand where Tristan's train of conversation was going.

"Do you think I changed enough to be worthy of your friendship?" he said this, really meaning the part about the friendship, but hoping that in that way he would win her over, and have a chance of something other than friendship.

"Oh, that. . . well you have been in your best behavior, I'll give you that.  No 'Mary' comments, no leery remarks, just a really good conversation. . . Not that I am complaining, but I need to ask"

"Ask away" Tristan said.

"What happened to you? I mean, you left this really egotistic, selfish, cocky boy. . . but the person that I encountered today, you are a totally different Tristan, so I kept wondering what happened to you?"

"Well, as you may remember the last time I saw you, I was being shipped off to a Military School in North Carolina"

"Uh huh!" Rory said.

"I arrived there the same guy that you described just now, the egotistic, cocky, 17-year-old, but when you have people on your face reminding you, all day, every day, that you are worth nothing, that you were sent there because if you hadn't you would amount to nothing. . . 'cause all the guys at my military school, where there for similar reasons as I was, so imagine if you may, a room filled with as many. . . let's call them Tristan-like characters. . . in there as possible and all those angry army-frustrated men. . . well that changes almost every kind of guy.  It gives you a new perspective in life."

"As many Tristan-like characters, boy that has got to be a lot"

"It was.  But, I do have to say, that now I thank my esteemed father, Mr. Andrew DuGrey, that he sent me there.  Because then, after realizing that I didn't like that place at all, I started pulling my weight in school, and all of a sudden I was ahead of class, and graduating early, which gave me the ticket to get out of there, and then I went to College, graduated last spring.  And now here I am."

"And, where does Drew come in to this whole thing? You seem pretty close"

"Well, he was one of the Tristan-like characters that I mentioned"

"And how did that happened?" Rory asked, all of a sudden trying to figure out how two guys those, as described by Tristan, were very alike.

"Well, like I said, in that place you get to re-examine your priorities.  And, well, we did and then we started to get along." Tristan said, not really knowing at what moment Drew and him had become friends, real friends.  But then again guys don't remember those kinds of details and Rory understood that.

"Well, this is us.  So I guess I'll be seeing you around, because the way things are going between them" and as she did that she pointed to Drew and Janine, who were romantically walking hand in hand down the street way behind Tristan and Rory "we are going to see each other a lot, so. . . good night Tristan.  I really had a great time tonight."

"Hey Rory, before you go. . ."

"Yeah. . ."

"Do you think I could call you sometime, you know, to hang out and stuff?"

Rory gave him this look, and as in response, Tristan said

"It would be totally innocent, just to hang out, have coffee. . . something like that"

"Sure, Drew has the number, feel free to call. . ." She said, but then doubt hit her but it was too late.

"OK, I will" he said as casually as he could possibly managed, but thanking the fact that he was getting closer to Rory than he ever did when they were in school.  And that made him happy.