Changed

A/N: Italics represent thoughts, whose they are should be pretty obvious.

Disclaimer: Don't own Gilmore Girls, don't own Rory or Tristan or any of the other characters I mention either.

Chapter 3: Those Strong, Blue Eyes

"Mom, I'm home!"

"Hi, sweets, I'm in the living room!"

Rory set her backpack down next to the couch then sat down next to her mother.

"How was your day at school?"

"It was okay, but I had a hard time focusing."

"And why's that?"

"I don't know," Rory semi-lied.

"Sure…" Lorelai nodded curiously while watching her daughter tense up slightly. "Alright, spill."

"I don't know what you mean." Rory tried not to look at her mom, because she knew that if she did, the look in her eyes would give it away.

"Yes, you do. Something's is up. And if you don't tell me now, I will find a way to find what you are hiding."

"I'm not hiding anything." She paused. "I was talking to Tristan this morning and he did me this favor by making Paris go away, which I have to figure out how he does because that would really come in handy in the future, anyway, I said 'thank you' then he kissed me and said 'no problem'."

"Oh. Wait! He kissed you?!"

"On the cheek, mom."

"Oh…oh! That's why your attention has been all wacko - you were thinking about him!" Lorelai was proud that she came to that conclusion, but Rory was beginning to freak out.

"He is not the reason why I haven't been able to focus, mother!" Rory turned and stomped to her room, slamming the door behind her. Oh, crap…why did I act like that?

* * *

~ The next day at Chilton ~

Rory trudged through the halls of Chilton, regretting how she acted towards her mom; she wasn't even sure why she reacted that way - why she was so defensive.

She looked up at her locker, ready to reach up to put in the very familiar combination when she noticed that she had an audience.

"What are you doing here, Tristan?"

"I wanted to tell you something," he said coolly.

"Are you actually going to tell me or change your mind like you did yesterday?" Rory asked half-seriously, half-sarcastically.

"Yes," Tristan rolled his eyes, "I'm actually going to tell you, but not now - after school."

"Okay, but why can't you tell me now?"

"I just have to figure out what I'm going to say to you exactly."

"O…kay…you're going to plan out what you're going to say to me?" Rory asked confusingly.

"Not exactly plan, but…work out what I want to say…"

"When do you ever 'work out what you want to say'?" Rory was now enjoying herself listening to Tristan's responses.

"Well, probably started just last night." he said plainly.

Rory stood there, staring at him with curious eyes.

He shrugged his shoulders. "What?"

Just as Rory was about to answer, the bell rang, signaling their presence in their class. She quickly grabbed all the books that she needed from her locker and headed off to class with Tristan following closely behind.

"Don't you have to get to class?" Rory asked, picking up her pace.

"My class is this way."

Before they knew it, they were both stepping into the same class. They both looked at each other and started to smile when the teacher came up behind them and told everyone to take their seat. Tristan sat down at the back of the room - where he usually sat with all of his friends - and Rory sat near the front.

Rory couldn't help but feel like Tristan was staring at her, watching her every movement as she was trying to listen to the teacher talk. She unconsciously turned around, only to be met with his strong, blue eyes - those beautiful, piercing eyes that radiated this feeling of warmth towards her. Her face soon began to beam with happiness and soon found him smiling back with the same emotion.

"Ms. Gilmore!" The teacher's voice soon shocked Rory back into reality as she abruptly turned around to meet his eyes.

"Yes?" she replied, hoping that he didn't know who she was staring at.

"Would you mind keeping your eyes towards the front and paying attention to the lesson rather than staring at Mr. DuGrey back there?"

Rory's face turned red as everyone in the classroom started to laugh. "Yes, sir." She sank down into her desk, wishing that she could just disappear.

* * *

"What was that?" asked an inquisitive voice from behind her.

"What was what, Paris?" Rory sighed flatly, hoping that Paris wouldn't pry too much - but to no avail, Paris proved her wrong.

"That little staring match between you and Tristan in class. Don't think that I, or probably everyone else, didn't notice."

"It was nothing, Paris. Now can you just leave me alone? I have to catch my bus." Rory walked off, expecting Paris to keep questioning her, but Paris didn't, surprising her again.

Rory got to the double-doors that led outside. Just as she was about to step out, she saw Tristan in the parking lot, waiting. Who is he waiting for - me? Then Rory remembered that he wanted to tell her something after school. But she couldn't face him, not after what happened in their class. She stood there, her body tensing up after each moment passed, trying to come up with a way to dodge Tristan, all the while making her way to her bus on time. When did my life become this complicated?

"Rory!" She looked up and noticed that Tristan had seen her. She reluctantly walked towards him, trying not to look at him in the eyes, but couldn't help but to.

"Hey," she said softly while looking down at the ground.

He nodded. "So…what's going on?" Rory could tell that he was trying to lighten up the mood.

She looked back up at him, smiling slightly. "Nothing much. You?"

"Not much here either."

They stood in silence for a few more moments before Rory finally broke it.

"So, you wanted to tell me something?"

Tristan looked at her, attempting to remember what he had wanted to say to her for the longest time now, but he forgot. The moment she looked at him with her soulful eyes, he forgot. His gaze soon shifted as he noticed her bus driving away. "I think you missed your bus," he said while pointing behind her.

Rory turned and groaned out loud as her transportation had driven away without her for the second day in a row. "How am I going to get home now?" Rory whispered to herself, forgetting the pair of blue eyes that was staring at her still.

"I could drive you home."

She turned her attention back to Tristan who looked at her with hope in his eyes - hope that prayed that she would accept his offer.

"Okay," she answered with a thankful smile.

* * *

The car ride to Stars Hollow was quiet, excluding the occasional cough or sigh that occurred. Tristan pulled into her driveway and turned off his engine.

"So…"

"Um, I should probably get inside."

"Yeah, that would be a good idea. Let me walk you."

They both got out of the car and walked up the steps to her house.

"Wait, you wanted to tell me something, right?"

"Yeah, but it can probably wait 'til tomorrow."

"Why don't you just tell me now?" Rory tilted her head slightly, looking to see if she could somehow read what he wanted to say.

"It's not the most easiest thing I've had to say, so you can kind of see the hesitation here."

"Well, then find some other way to tell me. You could write it down, or maybe do that charades thing-"

Tristan cut off her sentence as he brought his hand up to the side of her face. He took a couple steps closer to her, only a few inches separating them.

Rory could feel her heart race faster and faster as Tristan came closer to her. As he started to lower his head to her lips, they heard a voice.

Rory tore her gaze away from Tristan and looked towards where she heard her name being called.

"Dean."