Disclaimer.  Don't own them.

Every Time There's a Concert

Chapter 16: Trouble In Paradise

Days went by and things got tense.  The project that involved Tristan and Danielle Montgomery consumed a lot of his time; and that only meant that he was spending less time with Rory.  It wasn't that noticeable at first; an hour here, an extra hour there, then there was a Saturday, and one day it came to even one Sunday morning.

Rory was trying her best to keep her opinions to herself.  But when Janine and Rory got together, was a 'slamming' fest.  They would complain about that… person that consumed both their boyfriends time.  Two friends are supposed to balance each other, but in their case they were both on the same side of the scale; and the guys opinions didn't count for much.

Janine and Drew had started to grow apart over the last couple of months.  They had come across some obstacles in their relationship.  Rory was a little worried about her friend and in a way about herself and Tristan too.  Janine didn't exactly know when they started to go in different ways; but she knew that they hadn't been doing that well for weeks, and she thought that they were probably going under.  And Danielle's presence wasn't helping matters much.  Granted that her attention was centered on Tristan, but Drew's attention was centered on Danielle.  He gave her excuses, like every guy does, about brotherly love and how he had to be there for Tristan; but Janine knew it was more than that even if, when asked, Drew denied it.

It was sad.  For the both of them to know that one person could cause so much trouble in what, once, had been something close to perfect and amazing.

"Some things are just not meant to last as much as others," Janine told Rory one of the days that they had been discussing the matter… again.

"Yes, but the real question is, would we have been able to make them last longer if she hadn't made such an entrance?" Rory continued, while she ate some peanuts from the huge bowl they had in front of them.

"It probably is best you know.  What if it had taken longer, and I would have become more attached to him, and things didn't work out well?"

"But we are discussing this like if we already knew it was…"

Janine interrupted.  "Over? Rory, I have to face it.  It is over, and it probably wasn't meant to be."

"How can you take it so nonchalantly?"

"It was a guy I met at a bar, Rory.  It's not someone I knew from a long time and that had had this huge crush on me, like Tristan and you.  Not all of us mortals have amazing love stories like the one you and Tristan have." She added, self-deprecatingly.

"That's not fair, Janine." Rory said, as she threw a peanut back in the bowl.  "Tristan and I are having problems too; maybe not as big as yours but there is no point on making them look as less important."

"I know… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.  It's just that I am not feeling so good about it right now.  And look at your problems, you are having trouble because you guys love each other too much and my problems with Drew are because, apparently, we don't love each other enough.  I'm sorry if I make them look smaller, but it's just that I think that your problems are easily solved.  And mine, might not have another solution except for breaking up."

"I'm sorry, it's just…"

"I'm sorry too.  At this moment, we are all we have and I shouldn't say things like that."

"So what are you going to do?"

"His coming over tonight and we are going to 'talk', and we always know what that means 'it's not you, it's me' and 'I need time to figure out things' and 'we can still be friends, because I don't want to lose you' or something like that."

"I'm sorry" Rory told her.

"Not as much as I am…" she said with a sad smile.

And then their conversation got cut short.  Pizza arrived.

~*~

Tristan's Office A few days later

"So you see, if you turn this letter on the name of the magazine, you will be able to approach to new readers, that are in other age-group, making it more appealing to them, and that will result in a larger gross income, and later on a net income."

"So just shifting the letter position will do all that?" Danielle asked from her sitting position on Tristan's chair, looking up at Tristan who was really into explaining his point of view.  She noticed how his eyes sparkled whenever he was talking 'design'.

"You see, it's simple.  By shifting the position of the letter, you break the formality that the name and the block letters transmit, which just makes it more unreachable for teens for example.  But teens are a growing market, who influence many of the shopping done in their household and in what their group of friends prefer.  If you can hook one girl to the magazine on one issue, you'll see that on the next issue two or three friends of that girl are going to buy the magazine also, and so on, and so on.  It's something of a chain reaction, if you will.  But you have also have to put in some stories that will appeal to their age-group, because if not, you will loose those girls three issues later."

"Wow, that's very interesting." She told him as she turned her skirt-clad legs to where he was standing.  "Is this the last of the layouts?"

"Yeah, this is the last one." He told her as he moved from where he was standing, so he could avoid looking at anything he shouldn't be.

"So, we could go out and celebrate, right?"

"Oh, um… I don't think I will be able to.  I have been neglecting my girlfriend a little because of all of this, and I would really like to get to see her today for more than an hour."

"She's a lucky girl to have such a caring boyfriend."

"Oh, no.  I think I'm the lucky one, and I really don't want to screw it up…" he said as he fixed the sleeves of his shirt.

"So, if you have been neglecting her so much lately, why don't you do it just for one more night? She doesn't have to know, I won't tell her." She said as she walked to where he was and placed her hands on his chest, and leaned on his body.

"Nah.  I would know and that's enough for me."

"Come on, for old time's sake.  She could understand that, right? If she is as understanding as you say she is."

"Listen, Danielle, really.  I don't want to do this.  So if you don't mind I am going to leave right now, and you should do the same too.  It's really, really late." He said and with that he stormed out of his office and left her there standing in the middle of it.

She went out to dinner with Drew that night. 

~*~

She was looking at her watch again.  It had only been a few minutes since she last glanced at it.  He hadn't called or come over, and it was late.

"It's a good thing that there is only one fee for watches, because if they charged for every single time we glanced at them, they would make a fortune."

"Hmm?" Rory asked Alex, distractedly.

"You've been looking at your watch every two minutes since I got here.  Are you that eager for me to leave?" he joked.

"Oh, no, it's just that Tristan said he would call and come over, but he hasn't done either.  I'm just worried."

"Then call him. I bet he has a cell-phone." He said as he looked back at his books.  How could Economics be so boring?

"Maybe his busy or something.  I don't want to interrupt him."

"I wouldn't mind being interrupted by my girlfriend.  And I would mind it less if she looked like you." He said looking back up.

She wanted to laugh at his attempt of flirting.  But then again, she was Tristan's girlfriend, and no one flirted like Tristan.  Next to him everyone was an amateur.  The compliment affected her so little that she didn't even blush.  She just chuckled.

"Well Tristan has this really big project, and it's really important to him.  And I support him 100% so I wouldn't do something as calling him every time I need a fulfilled desire or caprice."

"Such a supportive girlfriend." He said sarcastically.

"That is the kind of girlfriend I am." She answered back.

"So what if…"

But she cut him off.  "I really don't want to continue discussing Tristan and the reasons why he calls or doesn't call, so I would really appreciate it if you could stop it." She told him.  "We have enough work as it is, to be preoccupying ourselves with something that only concerns me."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry" he told her, in his most apologetic manner, and still coming short of a real apology.

"I just like to keep those things to myself."

"I understand."

But she was done with tonight.  The fact that Tristan hadn't called had her distracted, so she decided to cut the study session short… with a small lie, "Listen, Alex, I don't mean to be rude but I have this horrible headache and I think that I need to call it of for tonight, if you don't mind."

"Oh, of course not.  Let me just finish this and I'll be out of your way." He said, referring to the last paragraph he was reading out of one of Rory's books.  "There! Done!" he said and started gathering his stuff.

"I'm sorry, but if I didn't feel really bad I would continue with this."

"I know, don't worry." He said as he took his backpack.  "Same time tomorrow?"

"I'll let you know, okay?"

"Sure… see you tomorrow" he said as he walked towards the door. 

As he was coming out of her apartment, he heard the elevator ding.  And he met with Tristan coming out of it.

Tristan was surprised to see him there.  Rory hadn't told him that she was going to have him over.  But then again she didn't need to report to him, right? She was her own person, and he trusted her.  But when he saw that Alex recognized him, and saw that smirk cross his face, he felt the need to punch his lights out.

"She's not feeling well, dude" Alex told him, as he was walking into the elevator.

There's the 'dude' again! "Thanks.  I think I will risk it and go in there.  My girlfriend might just need me…" he said with his own smirk as the doors to the elevator closed with Alex inside it.

"Good night, dude!" Tristan said to the closed doors.

When he knocked on the door to Rory's apartment, Rory greeted him with anything but a pleasant smile.  It was more like a frown.

"Oh, thank God it's you" she told him as she hugged him and they walked into the apartment like that.

"Who did you think it would be?" he asked her as he placed a small kiss on her neck.

"Alex" she answered simply.

"Yeah, I ran into the dude as I was coming out of the elevator.  What was he doing here?" he asked her, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

She smiled.  "Oh, you know, we were hanging out, talking, drinking coffee.  But then I took a glance at my watch and told him that my overprotective boyfriend was due over any minute now, and told him to leave before any blood was shed."

"Very funny girl!" he said as he placed another kiss on her neck.

"We were having a study session" she answered.  "Do you want some coffee?"

"No, I'm a little hungry.  What did you guys have for lunch?"

"Pizza"

"Do you still have some?" he said as he walked over to the fridge.

"Yeah, I think we do.  Would you like me heat it up for you?"

"Don't worry, I got it." He said as he walked around the kitchen getting plates and using the microwave oven as if it were his own.

"So, what did you do today?" she asked as she sat on the kitchen table.

"Oh, we went thru the layouts for the magazine.  And I am happy to report that the layouts will be at the main office tomorrow morning, and we just might be done with the first part of our first big project.  Do you want some?" he asked, referring to the pizza.

"No, we had plenty today… so you're done?" she asked, eagerly.

"At least for the first part… the layout was the first thing.  And if they like our work, we are going to work on the new webpage" he said as he removed the pizza from the microwave and placed the plate on the table.

"So you're done working with Danielle?" Rory asked a little too eagerly.

"Not nearly.  She's still the exec in charge of the account and we have to keep in touch with her as often as it is necessary."

"You know?  She's the reason why Janine and Drew broke up."

"I wouldn't attribute all the blame to her.  Drew had something to do with that too.  And besides, they had been having trouble even before the whole Danielle thing."

"Yeah, but if he hadn't been so adamant on fulfilling that girl's every whim, they could still have worked it out."

"That was his decision, don't you think? He is old enough to know the right and the wrong thing to do when in a relationship, so I didn't have a say in whatever he decided."

"He neglected Janine." The conversation between them started to get a little heated.

"Yes, Rory.  But that was even before the whole Danielle thing happened.  And besides, why didn't Janine do anything to stop it from happening? She could have done something about it."

"Yeah, like what? Parade around your office in dresses, or skirts and stilettos?"

"For one thing."

"That's not who she is."

"But she did let everything die between them.  She didn't even fight for it." He said, his pizza long forgotten.

"But he didn't do it either."

"He didn't know if she cared enough."

"But he didn't ask."

"Look Rory, for whatever reason our friends broke up, it does not concern us."

"In a way it does.  If he hadn't been so eager to protect you from whatever could happen between you and that… girl, maybe none of this would have happened."

"Protect me? What am I, five?  What are you talking about Rory?"

"He kept saying that that girl kept making 'moves' on you or whatever and he did that as a way to distract her.  By the way, it would've been nice to know if that girl was making some pass at my boyfriend."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're so big on the whole 'communication' thing, but you forgot to tell me how that woman kept making passes at you.  It would've been nice to know about that, instead of just pretending that I knew, pretending that you had told me what was going on."

"I thought that you might figure it out."

"How Tristan? Tell me.  Because it's not as if I'm hanging around your office seeing who comes in and out of it.  I trust you enough for you to tell me if something is wrong."

"And what good would it have made for me to tell you that some girl is trying to get me into her bed.  It would only make it more difficult for us than it already is."

"So you're saying our relationship is getting difficult?"

"You know it is, Rory.  Since I started this project, things have not been going that well.  We have been trying to ignore it, but it's not happening."

"And how do you figure?"

"For starters, the fact that you are looking for attention from someone other than me."

"What?" Rory asked him, incredulously.

"Why do you think you keep that Alex person hanging around you? Because you want the attention I'm not giving you."

"What are you…? Have you gone nuts? He's just a friend.  You know that."

"Yeah, but still…"

"So I'm starved for attention and that's why I keep random guys around?"

"Why else would you put up with him?" and then he let out an exasperated sigh, "you know what? Forget it! I'm not even hungry anymore."

"Tristan, if you thought that things between us weren't good, why didn't you tell me?" she asked defeated, as she stood a few steps behind him as he was on his way to the door.

With his hand on the doorknob, he answered "Because I thought that it would go away" looking down.

"If we didn't acknowledge it, then how were we supposed to work it out or make it go away? That's not how it works." She told him.

"And what are we supposed to do then?"

"I don't know.  Talk about it, maybe."

"Okay, then lets talk about it." He said as he removed his hand from the knob and walked back to the apartment's living room.  She followed him.

"Tristan, don't you trust me enough to tell me what was happening with that girl?" she said as she sat across from him.

"It's not that I didn't trust you enough to tell you.  But look at it from my point of view, there is no easy way to tell a girlfriend that someone is trying to persuade them to go to bed with her.  Imagine if the situation were reversed, would you be comfortable telling me that some guy was making passes at you so you would sleep with him?"

"There is no easy way to say it…"

"See."

"But I could always try."

"And what would you gain with you telling me?"

"I would be honest with you."

"Yes, but finding that out would only make me jumpy and jealous; what is the point to that?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she questioned him.

"Why, Ror? Listen, if you don't tell me that this guy is trying to get into your pants, it's because you're not entertaining the idea of it.  But if you do tell me, it's because you want me to be aware and that the thought of it did cross your mind… do you see where I'm getting at?"

"Yeah, I think I do.  But that works for guys.  For girls is different."

"Maybe the approach is different, but the result is the same: jealousy.  Simple as that."

"So you weren't planning on telling me about this woman and all that was happening?"

"Nope.  For both your sake and mine."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

"I didn't intend to.  Now do you understand my point? Now that what you thought is confirmed, does it make you feel better that you know?"

"Honestly, no.  I don't feel any better."

"The defense rests!" he said as he slumped over the couch.

"So you think that I let Alex hang around me so I could get the attention that I'm not getting from you?"

"Look, human beings are physical.  We need the contact.  I'm sorry I have been neglecting our relationship so much, but if I have it's not because I want too but because I have to.  It's my job and it's going to be my life's support.  And I'm starting, we're starting.  Once we have a routine figured out then things will get better, I promise.  In the meantime, I think we still have more of this coming our way."

"Tristan, I'm not a person that needs the contact.  I just need you.  I don't need anyone else to reassure me.  I only need you.  If you think that the reason why I'm hanging out with Alex it's because of attention, then you're wrong."

"Okay.  I can take that.  But are you going to deny that he flirts with you, and he tells you that if you were his girlfriend that he wouldn't neglect you as much as I am.  Because, by now, the guy has noticed that I'm not around as much as I should."

"No.  He does tell me that, he has said it several times."

"Do you think that knowing that is making me feel good? Its hard enough for me to be going thru this.  Working so much and being with you less.  And not only that, but also that some guy, who has noticed the same things I did about you, is after you and spends with you the time that I wish I could.  Do you think that knowing that is nice?"

"I know it's not."

"But I still have to deal with it, don't I?"

"Why are you talking to me that way?"

"Which way?"

"So condescendingly."

"I'm not…"

"Yeah, you are.  I don't need that.  I thought we were going to talk.  That we were going to figure out what was wrong with us, and here you are being patronizing, talking to me as if I wouldn't understand any other way."

"Rory, you're blowing things out of proportion."

"Look I really don't need this.  In fact, I'm tired of going around the subject so much.  If things aren't working out, then…"

"What? Tell me!"

"I think we should break up." She said and she got up from the couch.