Wow, I'm astounded by all the reviews for Chapter One! Thank you all so much for such wonderful comments. :) Anyway, read on.

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"I've got to say this," Tristan remarked, putting his sunglasses on, "you've picked a winner with James."

"Why thank you, I had no idea my choice of boyfriend was so widely applauded." Rory was feeling more comfortable. At least she was dealing (albeit rather slowly) with the fact that Jess and Tristan had just…popped up from her past. And were going to be staying at the same beach house. And that they were dating her boyfriend's sisters. Hmm…maybe she wasn't dealing terribly well with it.

She felt like asking someone to pinch her, but Paris' pinches really hurt.

"I mean," he continued, "he's good looking, got a beach house, and gorgeous sisters, right Jess?"

"Yup," Jess replied, keeping his eyes on the road.

"He's a better bet than Stockboy, any day."

"Stockboy?" Jess actually sounded interested, for once. "Is he talking about Bagboy?"

"I like to call him Dean," Rory said, exasperated, "but yes, I think so."

Both of them grinned, no doubt thinking of the various ways in which they annoyed Dean while pursuing Rory.

"What is he doing now?"

"If I tell you, you're going to laugh at him, so I choose to maintain a dignified silence."

Tristan made a puppy-dog face at Rory, which she saw in the rear-view mirror.

"Do you know how ridiculous you look?"

"It's worth it."

"Well, if you must know, he's now happily married to Lindsay, and still living in Stars Hollow," Rory said, rather defensively.

Jess and Tristan waited a moment, then both burst out laughing. The car swerved a little, rather alarmingly.

"I hope you got him some tinned goods for his wedding gift," Jess snickered. "Bagboy would appreciate thrift."

"Or better yet," spluttered Tristan, doubling over with laughter, "some flour at a two-for-one sale. I sure he would have been touched."

"Are you quite finished?"

Tristan smirked.

"I had more, but…never mind."

***

"So how do you know Blondie back there?" Jess asked.

Rory opened her mouth, but was beaten by Tristan.

"Well, seeing as you were good enough to ask, I shall tell you." Tristan stretched expansively in the backseat, and began. "Well, we were all at good old Chilton a few years ago: me, Rory, oh, and Paris too. You've got no idea how much I missed the place when I got sent to military school. I mean, North Carolina is some hell-"

"Get on with it," snapped Paris, who was eager to hear the story for herself.

"Right. Anyway, having being voted Chilton's Sexiest Male 3 years running, I had the pick of the girls, including the two lovely ladies sitting with us now."

Tristan paid no attention to the chilly silence that followed, and continued with his rather skewed version of events.

"So, having kissed the beauteous Mary here, and come out of a fight with Stockboy triumphant, I was unfortunately condemned to a year or two of dictator-type drill instructors." He paused for dramatic effect. "All that kept me going was the constant flood of love letters that the amorous Miss Gilmore here sent me every day. Racy stuff."

"Tristan!"

Tristan had the grace to at least look a little ashamed. "Okay, okay. Uh, that last part might not be completely true."

"Yeah, I guessed," Jess said sarcastically. "Because that's when-" He broke off, glancing at Rory, who refused to look at him.

"What?"

"Never mind."

"No, tell me, I'm intrigued, really I am."

Rory crossed her arms, her mind filled with thoughts of the way that she and Jess had parted.

"Look, can we stop soon? I have a headache."

"Looks like there's a gas station coming up," said Paris, perusing the map. "We can have lunch."

"And I can drive," piped up Tristan from the back.

All three glared at him.

***

Wiii-chug-dongggg, wiii-chug-dongggg.

Rory frowned, and Tristan looked over at her, temporarily distracted by the way she looked in the yellow sundress, with her hair flying in the wind.

"Not to cause alarm, but can you hear that noise?"

"What does it sound like?"

"Hard to explain." Rory's forehead wrinkled in thought, something that Tristan thought was adorable. "Sounds a bit like the noise Jess would make if he was strapped into a chair and forced to listen to Hilary Duff at full volume."

Tristan and Jess winced simultaneously.

"I don't suppose," remarked Paris caustically, "that it could have anything at all to do with that popping noise we heard a few miles back that you two said was a 'fanbelt doing its job'?'

As the others stared ahead, the car ground to a halt, making an ear-splitting screech as it did so. Tristan got out and gave the front wheel a kick.

"Damn rental. Just when I started driving."

"Coincidence? I think not," remarked Jess. Rory smiled, and Jess felt an unexpected surge of memories flood over him. She's moved on, he told himself. Don't waste your time.

"Everyone!" Paris gathered the other three into a vague circle. "Okay. We've got to get a plan going. How are we going to get out of here?"

Blank faces. Silence.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm here then," Paris said crisply. "We should split up. Two of us should go to the gas station, which according to this map is about half an hour's walk from here. The other two, stay here."

"Why?"

"Because our suitcases are here," Paris said with immense sarcasm. "I don't know about you, but I don't want 'no clothes' to be added to 'no transport' and 'no food'."

"I'll walk," Rory offered.

"Me too," said Tristan quickly.

"I've got it," said Jess.

"No, I'll go."

"I said I'll get it." A defiant tone had crept into Jess' voice.

A silence ensued. Rory didn't know where to look, or what to think. Maybe they're both hungry, she thought.

"Fine, then you get it," Tristan said, coldly.
"You wanna get it so bad, then you get it." Jess folded his arms.

Paris exploded. Or rather, imploded.

"You two are the most thick-headed, brain-dead imbeciles I have ever met." Taking a deep breath, she repeated a mantra that sounded suspiciously like 'Calm down, Paris, they are lower life forms' under her breath. "I'm going to toss a coin. Heads, Tristan goes. Tails, Jess goes. Happy? I don't care. Here goes."

The glinting silver coin flipped slowly in the air, caught expertly by Paris as it fell.

"Right," she said, flipping it onto her palm. "It looks like you'll be going with our every-popular Rory."

To be continued…

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Hope you enjoyed Chapter 2. I'll stop holding you readers hostage with threats of pulling the story if there aren't enough reviews, but…please don't stop reviewing. :) Next chapter: who is Rory's companion? Also, the temperature rises as Rory finds competition. Or rather, it is the competition that finds her. And just where is that boyfriend of hers?