Chapter 6


A/N: Hello again! Thank you all for you're wonderful reviews!! And Chad fans, show your love by emailing fanfiction.net and requesting a One Tree Hill section!!



Rory dragged her backpack into her dorm room and lethargically plopped down on the couch. After a tough day of Yale, she was exhausted. All she wanted to do now was to snuggle into her warm bed, read a book, and drink insane amounts of coffee. She walked over to the mini kitchen and started to make coffee.

"Hello, Rory," Paris greeted, walking in the door.

"Hi, Paris," Rory mumbled.

Paris walked over to the blinking answering machine.

"How long have you been home?" she asked.

""Why?" Rory questioned.

"We have messages, you should have checked them."

"Sorry," Rory said.

Paris shuck it off and listened to the machine.

One call was from Lane, saying she got home alright; she had left the day before. There were 3 calls from Lorelai saying how much she missed Rory, and how difficult Luke was being on the home front, and the last message was from… Tristan.

"Hey Rory," his husky voice said, "Oh, and Paris," he added hastily, "How are you girls? Anyway, I just called to check in. Rory, call me back when you get this. Bye."

Paris frowned. Not one of the messages were for her. Sure, she was acknowledged in Tristan's, but she wasn't the point of his call.

"So now he's calling you? What are you two, a couple now?" she accosted Rory.

"He called you, too," Rory quipped.

"But he called for you," Paris reasoned.

Rory was silent.

"And Rory," Paris went on, "Why are you being so buddy-buddy with him in the first place?"

"Oh," Rory grimaced, "I just got a horrible flashback to sophomore year at Chilton.".

Paris huffed, "I'm just curious, you went from loathing him to… however you feel about him now, based on only a few recent meetings."

"Paris, I can't believe you're still jealous when it comes to Tristan. We're friends, if that even," Rory explained.

"I'm not jealous."

"Whatever," Rory said, "Call me when the coffee's done."



Rory shut the door to her room a bit more forcefully than intended. Where did Paris get off calling Tristan and her a couple? The most they could ever be was friends, and that was a long shot.

Rory smiled to herself remembering Tristan's words on the answering machine: "I just called to check in…" She had never had a guy check in on for no reason before, and she thought it was a sweet thing to do.

She sighed and picked up the phone, her mind in an inner turmoil deciding whether or not to call back Tristan. Was he really worth jeopardizing her friendship with Paris? Sure, Paris was one of her best friends, but she was acting very immature. And plus, it wasn't fair to Tristan if she just ignored him on account of Paris' juvenile jealousy.

With a new determination, Rory picked up the phone. After all, she had been in college for two years, and still hadn't made many new friends, so what was the harm in this? She dug in her purse for Tristan's number, and finally, found the crumbled, beige paper.

One ring… two rings… three rings. Rory was about to hang up the phone, when a voice clicked on.

"Tristan's house of fun, how may I help you?"

Rory snickered, "I'm sorry; I thought this was the house of freight…"

"No, that's after dark," Tristan said simply.

"Thanks for clarifying," Rory said dryly.

"Anything for my Mary," he cooed.

"Your Mary?" Rory questioned.

"Who else calls you that?"

Rory thought for a moment. "Oh shut up."

"That's the best you can do?" Tristan asked incredulously, "No wise crack?"

"That would require coffee in my system, and I have none."

"Well that's just unacceptable," Tristan said condescendingly, "I have an idea, though; I'll take you out for coffee."

"I already have a pot going," Rory answered.

"Save it for later," Tristan suggested.

"I hate cold coffee."

"Mary, is there anyway I can win with you?" Tristan asked comically.

"Hmm…" Rory pondered, "Slim to none."

"I should just crawl into my hole."

Rory laughed, "Have fun."

"Maybe you could join me. We could be alone in the dark…" Tristan said coyly.

"Hanging up now," Rory warned.

"Wait," Tristan said, "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"A little thing called class."

"Okay, see you then!" Tristan said quickly and hanging up.

The dial tone rang in Rory's ear. What did he mean by that?

A/N: Kinda short, I know, but that's all I could squeeze out. Also, it kind of seems like a lot of the Trory interaction is by phone, sorry about that, but that's how it's worked out so far. Please review and let me know how you like!