Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Author's note: I am starting this chapter in hope that it won't take to long to update as it did last time.  Some one said, that she hoped that I didn't have another trip planned anytime soon, so to put everyone at ease: if I do, I'm taking my lap-top with me.  So here is the next chapter for my story, and I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for everyone for still keeping up with this story ;oP.

Every Time There's a Concert

Chapter 15: Tristan's Past and Rory's "friend"

When the end of the day came, Vicky came into Tristan's office to check on his schedule with him, and curious about the meeting they had that morning. 

"Tristan. . ." Vicky called as she knocked on the door.

"Come in, come in. . ."  He said and gestured with his hands for her to do so.

"Are there any appointments that you've made without my consent" she asked as a way of joke.

"No, but remind me please to call:" he said and looked through his post-its that were all over his desk and his computer screen, "Miss Montgomery" and as he said that, Vicky scoffed "and we'll get to that scoff later; Mr. Adams, because I need to check on something on his website, but was vague on what was wrong; tell Drew that there is a skip on the Flash presentation for the dealership, the one we where working on last week, and that we have to work on that tomorrow, so tell him to make time for that; I don't know about you but I'm running a little low on some supplies. . ."

"Mostly post-its, I presume"

"Observant.  Yeah, mostly post-its and the paper that we use to print adds for presentations"

"I still have 2 packs in the storage room"

"Ask Drew if he still has some, and if he tells you he is running a little low also, give one of the packs to each of us, and make a list of supplies so we can order them later on tomorrow."

"Sure thing; anything else?"

"No, at least on my part. . . Thanks"

"Tristan, may I ask you a question?"

"Asides from the one you've already asked?"

"Yeah, an extra. . . How did your meeting go this morning?"

"I guess you could say we made an impression.  We got the account"

"That's a good thing, right?" She asked, since Tristan was a little less-than thrilled.

"Oh, Yes! Of Course, it's a good thing... it's amazing actually"

"Then why don't you seem so thrilled?" Vicky asked.  Call it women intuition of the fact that maybe she knew that Tristan had picked up the same thing she did.

"I'm happy about the account, I really am.  What I'm not happy about is the person that we are going to have a contact inside the company with, you know?"

"There was something about her. . ."

"I know! I told Drew the same thing, but he was blinded by... something else"

"Janine would probably enjoy finding out this piece of information"

"She probably would, but she is not going to find out about it from us"

"So, what do you think that is wrong with this woman?"

"I don't have the slightest idea.  You know that for a moment, I thought I knew her"

"Did you guys have a conversation?"

"Not really.  We went straight into the presentation after you came out of the meeting room, and then she left... so, no, we didn't.  Why?"

"No, just wondering"

"Well, what was your reason for wondering?"

"You see, as she was coming out of the meeting room, she asked me if you guys were friends, so I said yes... that you graduated from high school and college together."

"Uh huh"

"And then, she asked if you had both attended Chilton"

"How would she...?"

"Exactly what I thought"

And then it came to him.

Flashback *Tristan's Freshman Year at Chilton*

"There is that Montgomery chick staring at you again" Tristan's friend, Greg, pointed out as she had finished taking her things out of her locker and waiting for the next bell to ring.

"So?" Tristan asked.

"Well, she has the hots for you man, go for it!"

"Nah, she's not exactly my type"

"Then do it as a favor to her. . ." David, another one of Tristan's friend, added.

"Level with me here. . . I'm Tristan DuGrey, I don't do anything as a favor to anyone, especially a girl, besides she would be the type of girl that after making out will think I'm her boyfriend or something"

"She is a senior, for God's sake!"

"Well that just doesn't make her any more desirable"

"But she is a senior. . . "

"Yes, and if I recall correctly Kelly is a senior too, and so was Andrea, and Gabriella. . . so being a senior is not exactly a selling point for that girl" he said as the girl kept staring at him from across the hall.

"OK, then lets make it interesting" Greg said as the three where standing together.

"Lets... what do you have in mind?"  Tristan asked.  This was going to be good.

"Let's make a bet"

"A Bet?"

"Yes, it is an action known by men which involves money and. . ."

"I know what a bet is. .  . How is that supposed to make it interesting? I've got money"

"Maybe bet is not the best word"

"And your parents are wasting all their money in your education, and you cannot even find the correct word"

"A wager if you may"

"OK, go on" Tristan interest piqued.

"We start with a hundred dollars, and the farthest you go, the higher the wager gets…  What do you think about that?"

"I think that you better have enough money to back you up." He said and shook hands to finalize the agreement.

And with that, he walked over to where Danielle was standing.  He leaned on the locker next to where she was leaning.  That day he made a date with her.  And two days later, he collected one-thousand dollars from Greg.

He had slept with her.

*End of Flashback*

"Oh, Dear God!!!!" He said with a look in his face like the one people get when they know they are going to get run-over by a car.

"What?" Vicky asked when she saw Tristan's expression.

"I know her," he said as he turned to see her.

"We already figured that much.  From Chilton, right?"

"Yeah, but you don't understand.  I know her.  As in my past lifestyle."

"What do you mean by that? Really, Tristan, you have to walk me through this.  I'm a little rusty on those expressions."

"Vicky, do you remember how my father used to tell me to settle down?  And how he used to say that I needed to find one girl and one girl only?"

"Yes, as I recall you were quite the ladies man."

"So, that's how I know her."

"She was one of the… oh, I see know."

"No, Vicky.  It's what you think times ten.  I slept with her, when I was a freshman, and she was a senior… so many moons ago."

"And what happened?"

"It was kind of a bet." Tristan answered, embarrassed of his own actions.

"And what happened?" Vicky repeated herself.

"Well, after… you know… I avoided her and stopped talking to her altogether.  It hadn't been her first time, but she really, really liked me."

"So what do you think is going to happen?"

"At this point I don't really know what can happen.  I can only hope for the best."

"Do you think Rory will get upset about it?"

"I don't think so.  She's a great girl, and I'm going to be honest and tell her what happened, so there aren't any surprises.  But she knows that I had a past before I was with her, just as she had a life before I came into it."

"Are you going to tell her what happened to be honest or just to save your ass?"

"I guess a little bit of both.  I've waited for Rory too long to screw it up now.  I won't let it happen."

"Just figure out the right way to tell her this.  It is always hard to hear it."

"Thanks… I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yes.  Good bye Tristan."

"Bye Vicky." He answered and she closed the door to his office behind her.

~*~

Rory was walking toward her car, when she heard a male voice call her name.  "Rory Gilmore!" and with that, she turned and waited for the person to approach her.

When he was getting close to where she was, she finally recognized him.  "Hey Alex."

"I'm sorry that I had to yell to get your attention, but I saw that you were getting away and I needed to ask you something."

She waved a dismissive hand, and said, "Oh, don't worry about it! What did you wanted to ask me?"

"I was wondering if you had the notes and photocopies for the econ essays that we have to write for next week."

"Yeah, I do.  I don't have them with me, though.  But I can bring them in tomorrow if you really need them."

"I do.  I really do.  The thing is that I kinda needed them for tonight, because I'm really behind on that assignment."

"It's a lot of work, I can tell you that."

"You weren't a cheerleader where you?"

"No, why do you ask?" she asked him a little confused.

"Oh, nothing.  So would you mind if I came over to your dorm and borrow them for tonight? I'll give them back tomorrow, I promise."

"Um, I live off-campus.  But you can tail me if you want and I'll give them to you."

"Sure.  Thanks.  You're a lifesaver.  Wait for me here while I get my car and we can drive over to your apartment."

"Okay."

And so she did.  She pulled out her car and waited for him, until she saw a sports car come up and do a change of lights behind her, and they were on their way.

The drive to her apartment was short.  But then again, there wasn't that much to New Haven anyways, so every drive anywhere was always short.  They parked their cars, one next to the other, and after a few minutes (Rory had to gather all her stuff from the back seat of her car) they where on their way up to her apartment.

When they arrived at her floor, they descended the elevator and walked toward her apartment.  And they were met by a surprise.

As Rory was getting her key, the door sprang open and this tall, blond guy came out.  When Alex saw Rory's face light up, he knew who the blonde-haired person was.  Rory Gilmore had a boyfriend. 

~*~

"Hey!!" she said as she saw Tristan open the door.

"Hey!" he answered back and gave her a small kiss on the lips.  But his eyes were on the person that was standing behind Rory.

With her free hand, she held his.  And then introduced them, "Tristan, this is Alex.  He's in my econ class.  Alex, this is my boyfriend Tristan."

Tristan extended his free hand to Alex, "Hey man," was the simple greeting.

"Nice to meet you dude."  Alex shook his hand.

Dude? Tristan almost scoffed at the word.

"Alex is just here to pick up some stuff," Rory tried to explain.  "Come in," she told them both.  Alex stepped in before they did.  Tristan gave Rory a little squeeze on the hand and when she turned, gave her a questioning look.  She just shrugged.

She gave Alex the stuff that he had come over for.  And he went on his way.

~*~

When Tristan and Rory where alone, he asked her.  "Who was that?"

"I told you, he's in my econ class…"

"Yeah, but since when do you know him?"

"We met today." She said as she busied herself by making coffee.

"And all of a sudden he needs something from you?"


"If you ask me, this is just for convenience."

"If you ask me, this is just to get you.  You didn't tell him you had a boyfriend" it was a statement, not a question.

"It didn't come up.  Tristan, I hardly know the guy.  We spoke, I don't know, barely two of three minutes before class and a minute before we got her and that has been it.  You're right I didn't have time to give him a report of my status, captain."

"Rory, I'm not joking."

"Obviously.  What has your underwear in a bunch anyways?"

"That guy, for starters."

"But there is more to it than that, isn't there?" she asked him, finally getting the coffee ready.

He took a deep breath.  "I need to tell you something."

"It sounds serious." She said as she sat down at the kitchen table.

"It is… a little," he said, sitting right in front of her.

"Remember I told you that I had a major meeting today?"

"Yeah… how did it go?"

"We got the account."

"Tristan, that's great." She said, eagerly.

"I know…"

"So, why are you like this?"

"Well, you see.  The exec that came to the office today was a woman, and I kinda know her."

"In what way, do you kinda know her?"

"Well, before you came to Chilton, on freshman year to be exact, my friends and I did this bet, where I was supposed to get a certain amount of money if I went out with this girl…"

"And this girl was the exec that came to the office today, right?"

"Yeah…"

"And how much money did you get?"

"We started with a hundred dollars and the farthest I went with her, the more money I got…"

"But you have money…"

"Yeah, but I also was a 15 year-old kid that was getting laid a lot…"

"So how much money did you get?"

"A thousand dollars"

"Oh, my God!"

"I'm not proud of it.  So much so, that I didn't even remember her, until she asked Vicky about me and Vicky told me.  Then, it finally came to me."

"Why are you telling me this now? You know it's not necessary.  I know that you had a life.  In fact I witnessed a couple of years of that."

"Yeah, but there is something about her.  She's trouble, Ror."

"Then be extra careful.  But there is not much we can do about it, right? It happened, and we can't change that.  So we just have to learn to live with it."

"Your right, but I still thought that you needed to know about this."

"Thanks.  So besides that horrible woman, how was your day?"  And with that, they continued with an easy conversation.  Rory told Tristan how she had met this 'Alex person' (as Tristan kept calling him), and about her classes; and Tristan told her about Vicky and the whole post-it thing.  Rory backed Vicky on the electronic thing, and insisted that they took Saturday and go 'hook him up' with a palm-pilot.

The rest of the evening was spent in a comfortable conversation, they had dinner.  And then, finally, said good night.