Disclaimer: Is Tristan Back on Gilmore Girls? No? Then I still don't own Gilmore Girls, it belongs to the WB.

A7N: I am so glad that you've liked this story so far. I want to thank every single person that took the time to read and review my story, it means a lot to me, really!! I think I don't have any clarifications for you, so on to the next chapter of my story. Hope you enjoy reading it, as much as I enjoy writing it.

Everytime There´s a Concert

Chapter 5: Actions speak louder than words.

So, after saying good night everyone went to their respective houses. Janine being the kind of girl that she is started the conversation, after they closed the door to the apartment building, when the guys drove off.

"So that was Tristan, huh Rory?"

"Yup. . . in the flesh" Rory answered.

"Well hon, I have to tell you something. . . but before I do keep in mind that I love you, you are my best friend in the world but. . . the way you spoke about him, even though it was in your usual sweet way, one would have thought of Tristan like, I don't know, this really ugly guy, that would have a tail on his butt and, from time to time, you could actually see horns forming on his forehead whenever he spoke with you. . . but he is nothing like that, I mean, if you pay attention when you are looking, you could actually see a greek god, but if you don't, he strikes you like, I don't know, THE HANDSOMEST GUY ALIVE, or something resembling to that standard. . . just my opinion" Janine finished this very accurate description of the main guy in this story.

"Well, you never did ask if he was handsome, truth be told" Rory said as a way of defending herself, but trying no to laugh.

"True, True, I never did, that is a fact" Janine said a little puzzled "but, I don't understand how something that obvious would slip your mind mentioning it. I know no matter what he did to me, I would have mentioned how extremely gorgeous he is". "He is handsome, I'll give you that" Rory said, thinking a little of the time they had spent together that day.

"Thank you. So, did you have a good time?"

"I did, amazingly. . . I mean, it was nice, being there and hanging out and talking to him, really talking to him. It's amazing, but it got me thinking, that this could very well be the second, or maybe third time that I've had an actual conversation with him. But somehow I felt that I was talking to a completely different person, and apparently I was. He was telling me about school and how it changed him to be there, it gave him a new perspective in what he wanted to do, asides from leaving that place, and it made me happy to hear that." Rory answered back, amazed at what she was saying. Never in her wildest dreams did Rory Gilmore think that she would be speaking that way of, no other than, Tristan DuGrey. But then again she never thought that she would ever see him again. Little did she know that life had all sorts of things planned ahead for her.

"So, from what you tell me, you had a nicest time than what you are willing to accept, huh?"

"Apparently so. . . apparently so" Rory finished as they were finally walking inside their apartment.

When they did, Janine saw the red light of their answering machine was flashing, and it read that they had 6 messages. So, she pushed the play button.

* Beep *

"My dearest Rory. . ." the unmistakable voice of Lorelai was heard, mocking an old movies´ way of reading a letter, "We are all doing well around here, we miss the way you always made coffee in the morning, and complained how your nut of a mother always woke you when you didn't want to. . . a enough of that, call me honey, OK? Bye"

* Beep *

"Rory, it's mom again. . . Luke is denying me coffee again, and he is being mean to me. . ." you could hear Luke's voice in the back saying "Lorelai, come on, stop calling Rory for this stuff. . . can you hear him sweetie, see, he doesn't even want me to talk to you anymore. . . Lorelai give me that phone. . . Rory its Luke, everything is fine. It's just that your mother in on her 9th cup of coffee today, and I think it's unhealthy. . . You know I am only protecting you Lorelai, because I love you. . . so good bye Rory"

Rory laughed at this message. Hadn't Luke learned by now, that there was no way in the world that a Gilmore would last without coffee.

* Beep *

"Janine, this is your mother" both girls laughed at the difference between one message and the next "I hope you are doing well, I was just calling to say hi, tell you I loved you, and wish you a nice week. Good bye Honey"

Janine's mom was one of the nicest, calmer persons that ever walked the face of this earth. Which was very contrasting from Lorelai's personality. But they, both, have had great mothers.

* Beep *

"Rory, Janine. . . this is John from the video store. Guys come on, you cannot keep doing this to me. You have to come and return the movies you rented a week ago, or this time I will really have to charge you the late- return fee, I promise"

John was the greatest guy, he would always threat them about charging them the late fee, but never did. Both girls knew he had a crush on one of them, but they didn't know which one.

* Beep *

"Hey Rory, hey Janine, this is Lane. . . just calling to say hi. . . got to go, I have a bunch of things to do, bye"

Lane had always many things to do, she would probably be running around school right now trying to finish them. The good thing is that no matter the distance, they always managed to be in contact. And although she had never met Janine, they always spoke on the phone whenever Rory wasn't home, and had gotten along ever since.

* Beep *

"Janine, this is Drew. . . Just calling to say hi, I had a great time tonight, and hope we can do it soon. . . see I told you I would call, didn't I?"

Both girls just looked at each other. Janine was 14 shades of red after they heard the message that was obviously recorded, right after they left, but just before they came into the house.

Needless to say, Janine was ecstatic. Not once before, had a guy had done that for her. Not that she had had so much experience with guys, but still, no one had ever done that for her, and it made her feel giddy.

"Pretty impressive!!" Rory noted, at the well thought phone call.

"Yeah, it was. . . can we play it again?" and before Rory could answer Janine was playing it over and over again. She had found a great guy.

"We haven't had time to talk about this guy, you know? Judging by your reaction, you obviously like him." Rory stated, expecting her friend to continue the train of thought.

"I do. He is nice, and polite, and educated. . . he pulled a chair for me you know?"

"I know, I was there"

"No, I mean he did it all the time, every time we were going to seat, he would pull the chair for me. You don't see that as often. And did you see the shoes?"

"They were. . . black?" Rory said not knowing what to answer.

"Besides that. He has neat shoes. And I have always thought that if a guy takes care of his shoes, he would take as good care of a girl as he does for his shoes"

"You are comparing yourself to a pair of shoes?"

"No, not the shoes. Ok I know it sounds weird. But if he can take care that well of something that meaningless, he would take so much more care in something more important."

"I don't understand, but obviously you do, so as long as you understand yourself were okay" Rory said very confused by the comparison.

"And he is nice, Rory. So nice. We were talking while we walked here. He is not your average guy. He is flirty. Very flirty. . ."

"But you can hold your own on that department"

"Yeah, but still. . . he never made any annoying or disgusting remark . . It was without a doubt PG-Rated flirting. Which is the nicest kind. The kind you built castles around."

"That's great. I'm happy for you. . ."

"I know you are" with this they hugged and Janine walked to the bathroom and started to change and prepare to go to bed.

Rory on the other hand, grabbed the phone and dialed the familiar numbers to her Stars Hollow house.

"Coffee Central, Lorelai speaking"

"Hey mom!"

"Hey kiddo, I knew it was you"

"Really! So did your mind reading abilities finally kicked in, or did you decide to finally buy a phone with caller ID that will help us return phone calls when we cannot possibly find the darn thing"

"As much as I would like to answer option a, which is the coolest, I would have to say option b, which is the lamest" Lorelai answered, a little disappointed.

"It's OK mom! Keep trying, they would kick in eventually. . . I promise"

"Yeah, I know. . . but in the meantime, tell me what have you been up to today?"

"Well mom you are never going to believe what happened. Out of all the people in the world who do you think I ran into today at the coffee house?" "Tom Hanks"

"No. . . Tom Hanks?"

"Yeah, well, in 'You've got mail' he seemed pretty fond of coffee, going to starbucks every morning, and then having more coffee at the bookstore. . . it just seemed appropriate to think of him"

"No, mom"

"OK, tell me who then"

"Tristan"

"Tristan? Tristan who? . . . Oh my God, Tristan. Tristan who called you Mary; Tristan, the guy who got shipped off to military school, for good behavior, Tristan. . . Tristan the guy you kissed at that party, that time. . ."

"All of the above, mom. That Tristan."

"And how, tell me everything"

"Well we were at the Coffee House with Janine and she ran into this guy that she met last night. . ." and so, Rory started to tell her about everything that had happened that day.

"Wow!" Lorelai said, very surprised "so he really did change. Huh never underestimate the power of the army men."

"He was really nice mom, and I'm glad about that. He seems pretty together."

"How so?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, in the way he talks to you, in the way he expresses himself in general, the way he spoke of his dad, with whom Paris told me he never did have a good relationship with. Can you imagine that he didn't even call me Mary, at all!!" she said, realizing that herself.

"Wow! I am truly amazed"

"I am too."

"So, are you going to see him again?"

"Yeah, like I said, he is friends with the guy Janine likes, and apparently is going to start going out with, so we will be thrown together a lot, I think."

"It doesn't bother you?"

"No, why should it?"

"Well, maybe he is just pretending he changed, as a new approach to actually try and get you this time"

"As oblivious as I can be to certain situations sometimes . . ."

"Most of the times" Lorelai interrupted.

"Most of the times, I can tell you that he wasn't lying or trying to make this into a new way to get to me. And, he asked for a chance and I am giving it to him. "

"Well, I hope you are right about this Rory, 'cause I wouldn't want you to get hurt by him"

"It's OK mom, don't worry"

"Ok. . . well I think we should stop monopolizing the phone, don't you think. Good night kiddo!"

"Good night mom" and with this Rory hanged up the phone.

-* Back to the guys *-

"Janine, this is Drew. . . Just calling to say hi, I had a great time tonight, and hope we can do it soon. . . see I told you I would call, didn't I?" and he closed his cell phone.

"Man, you really like this girl, huh?" Tristan asked amazed at the gesture his friend had with Janine.

"Were you with us tonight, 'cause if you were you would've seen what an amazing girls was sitting right next to me"

"I was, but just in case you didn't notice, right at that very same time I was sitting right next to the girl I have been longing for ever since I left Chilton all those years ago"

"I know. . . Janine and I were discussing, what were the odds of something like this happening to us, all four of us? Because Rory never expected this, that I am sure of"

"Well first, I am now a firm believer that faith works in mysterious ways, and second of all 'Janine and I' what was that?, are you suddenly a married couple?"

"No, but it was with her that I was discussing said matter, hence the 'Janine and I' part. Is that just not done with you?"

"No. No, it's not that, but you have never referred to a girl that way. It just struck me as odd, that's all"

"Tristan, man, I've never met a girl like her, she is absolutely amazing"

"Yeah, contrary at what you may think I did pay attention and I notice how you looked at her. You were totally amazed by her."

"That's because I am. I really can't wait to see her again"

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship" he said, repeating what Rory had said to him once, so many years ago. He smiled at the thought, and then smiled even wider after he finally found out what that had meant and were she was quoting it from. He must've looked so dumb asking her 'who's Louis?'

"What?" Drew asked.

"Nothing"

They finally reached Tristan's apartment building again. And as was done the night before, Drew got into his car, and Tristan walked in to his apartment.

-* The Next Day *-

The girls returned from school, with all this books for research. So they proceeded to grab their respective laptops and work on what seemed was going to be a long afternoon. They sat on their dining set, which was never used for dining, only for homework. It was a funny thing. They would start the week being able to find the table, because they would remove all the papers that would pile up during the week. By Wednesday, you could hardly tell there was a table under those mountains of paper and books. By Friday night, the table was lost. So Saturday was "Clean the Table Day" at their home. They would get a big trash bag, and start checking the papers and books, see which they could throw away, check due dates on the books they would get from the library and organize everything there. Cleaning the table took the most part of the day.

But they liked that, compared to cleaning the bathroom. They would do rock, paper, scissors, two times out of three and that was the one that had to clean the bathroom. But hey, someone had to do it.

So, as their were working, and reading, and typing frantically on their computers, the phone rang.

"Let the machine answer it" Janine said, to concentrated to get up and answer the phone. When all of a sudden:

"Hey Janine, it's Drew. . ." when Janine heard that she got off the seat and ran as fast as she could to the phone.

"Hey, Hey, it's me" she said, almost out of breath because of the hurdles that she had to go through to get to the phone.

"Did you just get in from the Marathon?" he asked jokingly.

"Yeah, it was tough." She answered smiling.

"Are you too tired to go out and have a cup of coffee with me now?" He asked hoping her answer would be no, and yes to the coffee.

"Well, I don't know, we have all this homework to do and. . ."

"Hey, you should go" Rory whispered as she got closer to were Janine was standing with the phone "I'll help you finish up when you get here, go!"

"But I guess I can spare some time to go with you" she said a little confused, but trying to follow the train of the phrase she had started.

"Great! Come down here, I'm waiting for you"

"Were you that sure that I was going to say yes?"

"No, just hopeful" he answered.

"Good answer! I'll be right down" she blushed.

Trying to be as natural as she could be, she brushed her hair, and teeth, and went down stairs to meet him.

"Good Luck!" Rory said when Janine was closing the door to their apartment.

"Thanks" and with this, she left.

Rory stayed at home working on one of the papers she had to turn in at the end of the week, but if Chilton had taught her anything was not to leave all for the last minute, so she never did. That attitude, helped her keep at Yale a 4.0 GPA, which was admirable.

Janine had been gone for over an hour by now, and Rory was working on something else, when the bell of her apartment rang. She got up to the intercom and asked:

"Who is it?"

"It's Tristan"

Rory was totally surprised at this unexpected guess, but she still managed to answer

"Come on up"

Couple of minutes later, Tristan was walking in to her apartment.

"This is a surprise. Big Surprise"

"Well, you said I could call. So I thought that I would"

"I thought you meant on the phone" she said a little amazed.

"Oh, sorry. I could go if you want . . ."

"Don't be silly, come in. Have a sit. Would you like some coffee"

"Coffee sounds great. I hope I am not interrupting" he said as he saw the pile of books and papers at the table.

"Oh! That! No don't worry, I was just getting ahead on some work."

"A very Chilton-esk trait"

"I know, the things that stick, huh? Judging by your experience, you carried that trait into the next level, graduating early"

"Yeah, the trait and the exasperation of being in that place and wanting to get out" Tristan said, only half-joking.

"So, would you like to watch a movie? I believe that I have one here somewhere"

"Sure, whatever you like would be fine with me"

"Great, just let me find it. . . aha!! Here it is"

Rory pulled out a copy of Casablanca. When Tristan saw it he chuckled and said

"Louis, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"

"You figured it out" Rory said, remembering that conversation, and being happy that he figured it out. But she didn't know why, she would be happy of either of those things, but she was.

"I did. Once I was hanging out with my friends, and that being a famous quote I heard someone say it and I asked what that meant, and they told me about Casablanca, then I rented the movie to fully grasp the concept of the quote, and now here we are" he finished.

"So, you researched and everything, huh?" Rory said, realizing that she had indeed made a mark on that boy so many years ago. Or so it seemed.

"Yes, I did" he said proudly.

"Ok, so. . . do you want to watch it again? 'Cause if you don't we watch something else"

"No, Casablanca is OK"

"Coffee is ready"

"You need help"

"No, that's OK, I can do this even in my sleep", and so could he, but she didn't know. When he met her, he started to drink coffee so they would have at least one thing in common. But as time went by, he got used to the flavor and loved it, and he drank coffee ever since.

"OK, I'll wait here then" not really being any far from the kitchen.

Rory came back, handed him the mug, and sat next to him on the couch. Then the movie started.

There was no awkwardness between them, fact that made them feel at ease, and they started talking about everything and anything.

"So what happened to your Harvard dream?" He asked.

"How'd you know about that?"

"Paris"

"Oh, yeah, Paris. Well the applications came, and I applied. I also applied to Yale, because my grandpa is a Yale-man. Harvard rejected me, apparently not enough extra-curricular activities in my transcript, and they don't like that. So the next best thing was Yale. And as it turns out I love it here, I am relatively close to home, which is always a plus, and I love the program, and the people, and how they treat me here."

"So you don't regret not going to Harvard?"

"I did at first, but not anymore. How about you?"

"Well, like I told you last night, I finished Military School early; and then I went to Florence and majored in Graphic and Web Design, which was very cool, and since the program was for three years instead of four, here I am"

"Wow, Florence, that was one of my favorite places when I went with my mom"

"You went to Europe with your mom?"

"Yeah, you see, my mom and I we get along perfectly, she is my best friend, and we had planned that when I graduated from high school we were going to go backpacking thru Europe, and so we did for two months. It was fun, but we ended up exhausted"

"I bet you did, but you enjoyed it so that's the important thing"

"That we did"

"So was your boyfriend devastated when you left?" this was the chance that he had been waiting for to find out about her love life, and he seized the moment.

"Who, Jess? Well we had a very independent relationship, we were sad, but he never wanted to make me feel bad for leaving" Rory answered almost not noticing how the question was phrased at the perfect moment in the conversation. Tristan had achieved his goal.

"Jess? What happened to Dean?"

"We broke up at the beginning of my senior year in High School"

"What happened?" He asked concerned and relieved.

"Jess happened" she said shyly.

"Oh!" he answered surprised.

"Yeah, well, I didn't notice when it happened. You see Jess was the nephew of . . ." and Rory started to tell Tristan of everything we already know about Jess and how their relationship started ". . . afterwards Dean caught up with the fact that I liked him and we broke up"

"I'm sorry, I think, but it obviously made you happy, so I am not that sorry" he said a little confused, fact she picked up from the tone of his voice.

"That he did, he made me very, very happy, while it lasted. We broke up a little over a year into our relationship. Distance got the best of us, he went to NYU, and things got a little more difficult with time, so we decided to call it off. We still keep in touch, even more now, that my mom is dating Jess' uncle."

"Well that's great" he said finally. But at the same time a little concerned that he was still in her life, mainly because the reason they broke up was not because they stopped loving each other, but because of geography.

"And how about you, because if I recall correctly you were quite the ladies man" Rory asked.

"Well, at military school you would only see girls on your day off, which was once every two weeks, so you couldn't really date that much, or that often."

"But you still dated"

"I did, but nothing serious"

"Well, you never did date seriously at Chilton either."

"Touché. . ." but what he really wanted to say was, how she could have make him change all that if she had just agreed to date him back then.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound that way"

"Well after all it is the truth, right?"

"Yeah, but. . ."

"Don't worry Rory, you were just calling them like you saw them. I don't get hurt that easily."

"OK, so then what happened? I mean you left for Florence, and you weren't in military school there, so what did you do?" She said moving the conversation along the same line where it was, all of a sudden she felt curious about what they where talking about.

"Well I was in Florence for a little over three years and I dated this really great girl. . ."

"Girl! As in Singular!!" Rory said shocked.

"Yes, I told you that Military school changed me. And with this girl everything was great, but you know what they say, nothing ever lasts forever, and this wasn't the exception. We broke up, a few months before I came back here, I think before Christmas last year, and that was it. Then I dated a little but nothing formal, and then I came back here, and here we are" He finished, actually feeling happy to see Rory's reaction at the topic. She had shown interest at least on knowing about him, and what he had been up to, so that made him glad.

"I guess so."

"So Rory, I think that Casablanca being over is my cue to leave." He said as he got up from the couch and took the mug to the sink.

"What time is it?" Rory asked a little concerned because Janine hadn't come back home and she had been gone for hours.

"10 past 10, why?"

"Janine, went to have coffee with Drew this afternoon around 5 and she's not back yet"

"Would you like me to call Drew and find out where they are?"

"They're supposed to be at the Coffee House, so we can go and check ourselves"

Rory grabbed her coat from the rack, and so did Tristan and as they were walking out of the apartment, Rory leading the way, she ran into Janine and Drew kissing good night close to the door, so she turned around and put her finger to her mouth signaling Tristan to be quiet, and then placed her hands on Tristan's chest and make him go back inside.

When she placed her hands she could feel his hard chest against her delicate hands, and she actually felt something resembling shivers.

And when she pushed him back inside, she met those beautiful blue eyes and she actually felt electricity go thru her, and she just stood there holding his gaze, without even closing the door.

And as she was looking into his eyes he felt that the air wasn't enough but he didn't want to breathe fearing that she would move, and it felt so nice to be this close to her, that he actually forgot to breathe for a minute or two.