Changed
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter, too.
Disclaimer: You know it, I don't own it.
Chapter 7: Working It Out
Rory's eyes fluttered opened, noticing the secure warmth around her. She took in a deep breath and raised her eyes to find Tristan holding onto her, still asleep. She automatically smiled as she gazed over every feature on his face. She turned to where the clock was located on Tristan's stand and read 7:30. She turned back to sink into Tristan's embrace before it finally hit her. She quickly sat up and yelled out, "7:30! How can it already be 7:30! I was supposed to be there an hour ago!" She shook Tristan, then got up off the bed to change as Tristan reluctantly opened his eyes.
"Rory, what's wrong?" Tristan rubbed his eyes, obviously not having heard Rory's outburst.
"What's wrong? What's wrong?! I was supposed to be at my grandparents' house an hour ago! And why the hell didn't you set your alarm clock like you said you would?" She frantically made her way to the bathroom to slip into her dress, unaware of how she had just exploded at Tristan.
"Rory, I'm sorry. I guess I just forgot," he lied. He couldn't help it. He wanted her all to himself tonight, but it didn't hit him until that precise moment how much of an impact doing, or not doing, something so simple would have on her. He stood in front of the door, resting his hand upon the cold wood.
Rory quickly put on her dress, then opened the door and pushed past Tristan to find her shoes. "I have to go now, before I'm even more late."
"Well, I'm sure that everyone will understand once you explain what happened."
Rory paused in her tracks. "'Explain what happened?'" Rory looked at Tristan with disbelief. "Oh, yeah, what a great idea. 'Hey, mom, grandma, grandpa, the reason why I'm so late tonight is because I fell asleep with my boyfriend in his bed.'" Rory scoffed before sitting down in a chair to get her shoes on. "That wouldn't give them all a heart attack."
"I just meant tell them that we got so caught up in studying that we lost track of time. I'm sure that they would understand and forgive your tardiness."
Rory looked up at Tristan after finishing buckling her heels, displaying a very agitated look. "Can you just drive me over there? Please?" Her voice was cold - for some reason unknown to her. She didn't know why she was acting so terrible to Tristan; it was true - if she told everyone that she lost track of time studying, they would forget about it and go about their business as usual.
Tristan tried to conceal the hurt on his face, but it didn't go unseen by Rory. Her face softened after seeing his look, and sighed deeply while walking up to him. She rose her hands up to his chest. "I'm really sorry, Tristan. I didn't mean to act so mean towards you, I just have to go. Ok?" She peered into his eyes, as hers gave off how sorry she really was, before placing a soft kiss on his lips.
Tristan pulled away from her and grabbed his keys from his desk. "Let's go."
Rory's heart seemed to pain as she sensed how hurt Tristan still was. She mentally slapped herself for acting so stupid and talking to him like that. She silently grabbed her backpack and clothes then followed Tristan out of the house.
* * *
It wasn't until when Rory was in front of her grandparents' house that she felt how empty and cold she was without Tristan's arms around her. She slowly lifted her hand and rang the doorbell. The maid opened the door, greeting the woman who felt like she was shrinking down in size after each passing moment. "Good evening, Miss Gilmore. Your grandparents and mother are in the dining room." After saying her 'thanks' and taking off her jacket to hang on the coat rack, she took her time in making her way to the dining room where everyone was located.
"Rory, where have you been?" Emily asked inquisitively, purposely making the look of 'you-should-know-better-than-to-be-late-to-an-engagement-you-promised-to-be-at'.
"I'm so sorry, everyone. We were just so caught up in studying, that we lost track of time and we didn't notice how late it actually was until just a few minutes ago." The excuse had rolled so easily off her tongue that she found herself totally disgusted. How could she lie to her family so simply?
"Oh," Emily's face lit up, "well, come on and sit down. You must be starving. Who were you studying with?" Rory inwardly laughed at her grandmother's ability to change moods without any thought or trouble.
Before she could open her mouth to answer, her mom chimed in. "Well, she was with her boyfriend," Lorelai said while making kissing noises.
Rory sighed and slightly rolled her eyes at her mom. She looked up to see the perplexed expressions on her grandparent's faces. "I was studying with Tristan DuGrey."
Richard's voice seemed so delighted. "Really! What a fine young man. I must say that you have very exquisite taste in men."
Rory stared weirdly at her grandpa at what he had just said, and also kind of silently chuckled because his words made Tristan sound like some kind of heavenly food. "Um, thanks," Rory said unsurely.
"Wait," Emily's scrunched a little while recalling the past, "weren't you going out with that boy…Dean?"
Rory uncomfortably shifted in her seat at the sound of her ex-boyfriend's name. "Yeah, but we broke up a while ago." Rory couldn't help but see the ever-growing grin on her grandfather's face. "What?"
"All the better with. You were too good for him, Rory. You fit better with someone like Tristan DuGrey."
The room fell silent as Rory remembered the night when her grandpa had carelessly brushed off Dean and rudely ignored his presence.
* * *
The car ride home was silent and seemed to take three times as long. Tonight was like hell at dinner. After her grandpa had made that remark, she and Lorelai had gone to Dean's rescue, arguing that he was probably the best first-boyfriend any girl could have. But that only made him more mad as he saw his daughter and grand-daughter try to prove his opinion wrong. They had left the house in anger and now here they were.
Lorelai started to drum her fingers on the steering wheel before asking the question she had wanted to ask all night long. "Were you actually late because you were studying?" She trusted her daughter with all her heart, but Tristan was someone that threatened that trust.
Rory continued to stare down at her dress, playing with the silky fabric. "We fell asleep," she replied softly, now hoping that her mother didn't hear.
A worried look overcame Lorelai's features as she feared the worst. "Oh," she answered simply. "Were you at least in different parts of the room.?" she asked with hope evident in her voice.
Rory scrunched her eyebrows together a little before answering, almost sure that she would regret it. "No. We slept in the same bed." Rory closed her eyes, expecting her mother to stop the car and kick her out of it, or something equally as bad, if not worse. But Lorelai said nothing, she just remained silent.
Rory almost let out a sigh of relief as their house came into view. Her mother had hurriedly gotten out of the car and scampered into the house. Rory slugged towards the house, not wanting to argue. She stepped through the doorway and went to her room to grab some pajamas. She then went to bathroom, wanting to shower off the incident that had happened, both at her grandparents' and her explosion at Tristan.
She got out of the semi-elegant dress and under-garments and steeped into the shower, inviting the hot water to stream over her body. She just stood there, with her hand on the still cold tile in front of her. She wanted to cry, not really sure why.
* * *
She sadly sifted through the hallway. It was already lunch and she had yet to see Tristan. Tiredness poured out from her as her limp body parts tried to carry her up to the library. She didn't feel like eating; she couldn't. she forced her body to go a little further as she was near a far corner of the almost empty room. She sat down lazily and rested her head on the table, wishing that she had a pillow with her. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, she heard his voice.
"Rory?"
Her head shot up to meet his gaze, filled with worry. She tried to smile, but was even too tired to do that. She had so much trouble falling asleep last night, plagued with memories of how much she had hurt him and the fear that he would no longer want her. "Yeah?" she replied before returning her head to her previous position. Her response came out more like a yawn than anything else.
"Are you alright? You don't look too good."
Rory's answer was muffled, "Well, thanks, you look good, too."
Tristan took a seat next to her and rubbed her neck softly with his hand. "Really, what's wrong?"
She sighed deeply. "I was so worried about last night that I couldn't sleep."
"Really? I was pretty sure that your grandparents and mom wouldn't be that mad-"
"No, I wasn't up because of that." she interrupted, "I was up because I couldn't help but think of how much I disappointed you last night - at how stupid I was."
He scooted toward her and gently maneuvered her head so that she would face him. "You didn't disappoint me and you weren't stupid, in fact, the chances of you doing any of those are very, very slim." His voice was soft and tender in saying every word as she listened to him. She loved to hear him speak, even if it was only one word.
"But I was. I yelled at you like an idiot and didn't even notice how much I was hurting you until I saw the look in your eyes." And his eyes - that was another thing she loved about him - one of many. They were this deep blue that gave so much meaning to his feelings, his feelings for her. They also displayed a plethora of emotions that she seemed to be the only one who was allowed to decipher.
"Just stop, okay? You did nothing wrong; you had every right to freak out, and I did go back on my word - I didn't set the alarm clock when I said that I would." He stood up, bringing her with him so that he could hug her.
This felt so right to Rory. She felt so safe in his arms, so complete. She smiled up at him and kissed him softly. "So you're not mad?"
"Of course not." He kissed her again before reluctantly letting her go. "We should get to class." He motioned up to the clock, whose time seemed to pass so quickly while they were talking.
"Yeah." She grabbed her backpack and started to head for the door when Tristan called out to her.
"Rory?"
She turned, looking back at him with adoration in her eyes. "Yeah?" she asked sweetly.
"Can you come over again today?"
"I don't know. I have to clear it with my mom. After our fight last night, I'm pretty sure she doesn't us to be in the same room that has a bed in it by ourselves."
He slightly chuckled. "So, she knows, huh?"
"Yeah, but I'm kind of sure she won't mind if I promise her that we'll be studying the whole time."
"Wow," Tristan went to stand in front of her, intertwining his hands with hers, "the whole time? I don't know if I could do that." His smirk appeared on his face as Rory playfully rolled her eyes.
She pushed away from him then shot a playful glare at him. "If you're going to act like that, mister, I might just stop talking to you altogether." She took a few more steps before looking back at him again. "I'll see you tonight, Tristan." She smiled at him before turning around and heading out the library.
"What are you doing to me, Rory?" he asked the air as he smirked once more.
