Changed

A/N: I got a review from ucobgal that included the question "…how can they have Friday night dinner at the Gilmore mansion and then Rory having classes the next day? Is that somehow logical?" And I wanted to tell you that I had the little stars (*) there to show that there as a time lapse - that's what those generally mean - so there's your clarification.

Disclaimer: You know the drill…don't own anything but the plot.

Chapter 8: I Won't…Maybe


She felt so relieved…so happy. She had never felt this way about anyone before - the nervousness she felt in her heart as she saw Tristan, the butterflies in her stomach as he came closer to her, the smile that had always found its way to her face. She sat back comfortably in the desk as the teacher droned on about the Civil War. Why they had to teach that the Confederate and Union governments spent $3.3 billion on the war was beyond her. Thirty more minutes, she told herself.

* * *

She got up from her desk, slipping her books into her bag. She slung it over her shoulder as she walked towards the door. After she opened her locker, she noticed a note propped up against her other books.

Hey Mary,
Meet me after school near the bench.

I'll be missing you.

She smiled as she found herself moving at a faster rate to get all her books into her book bag. As she neared the predetermined location, she noticed Tristan slouching down in the bench with his eyes closed. She quietly moved towards him and took in the sight of how content he looked.

"Like what you see, Mary?" Tristan asked, with his eyes still closed.

"Eh…" she shrugged her shoulders, "not really." She smiled more as she saw his eyebrows scrunch together at her joke. "And what happened to you not calling me 'Mary' anymore?" she asked intriguingly.

"Well," he said while opening his eyes and turning towards her, "I didn't realize how much I liked calling you that until I actually stopped so I guess I'm going to have to take that little promise back." His smirk grew wider as Rory's eyes started to glare at him teasingly.

"Fine," Rory fake pouted. Then her eyes lit up as she displayed a smirk of her own. "I'll just have to stop kissing and talking to you then."

She got up and started to walk away from him. She only had to take a couple steps before she felt Tristan's arms around her waist - just the response she wanted. "You're not getting away from me that easy," he whispered into her ear before turning her around and kissing her. She pulled away seconds later, staring into his eyes. "Ok, ok…I'll try to stop."

Rory grinned before deciding to speak. "No, you don't have to…" she started to play with his shirt, "I actually kind of like hearing you say it.

Tristan chuckled before kissing her once more.

* * *

Rory and Tristan stepped into the living room and set their stuff on the couch. "Can I use your phone to call my mom?"

"Yeah, it's on the desk." Tristan nodded toward where it was located and Rory walked over, dialing the phone number to the inn.

"Hello, Independence Inn, Lorelai speaking."

"Hey, mom."

"Hey."

"I have a question for you." Rory's voice was tension-filled, and Lorelai quickly noticed.

"Uh oh…am I gonna like this?"

"I'm not all that sure…"

"What? You're killing me with this suspense."

"I'm over at Tristan's…" Rory briefly looked over at Tristan to see if he was listening.

~Silence~

"Mom?"

"I'm sorry…Tristan…as in the guy you slept with…?"

"Mom?! I didn't sleep with him…well, actually I did, but not that way!" A sudden image of how her mom had reacted to when she had fallen asleep with Dean in the dance studio flashed into Rory's mind, making her cringe at the thought.

Lorelai groaned, not wanting to fight with her daughter again. "I know, sweetie, I just don't want that to happen again until I'm dead and buried…even then, I might not want you in the same bed as a boy."

Rory laughed inwardly at her mother. "We aren't going to sleep again. It's just studying…in the living room."

"Oh, thank God for that last part!"

Rory softly laughed. "Yeah, I thought you might like that. So, I'll see you tonight?"

"Yep, bye, babe."

"Bye. Thanks, mom."

"Sure."

Rory hung up and looked at Tristan. "What?"

Tristan walked over to her and pulled her close to him. "I never thought you'd be so against sleeping with me." Tristan's smirk grew overtime.

Rory pushed him away, but not before turning a good shade of red. "We'd better start doing our homework." She sat down on the floor in front of the table and started to pull out her books.

Tristan smiled as she settled down. He walked over to her and sat behind her, moving her hair and kissing her neck.

"Tristan, what are you doing?"

"Kissing…you…" he breathed between kisses.

"I know that…" Rory softly pushed back against him so that they were leaning against the couch, "but we have homework to do."

"Who cares about homework? I'd be happy to fail if it meant spending just one minute with you."

Rory looked into his eyes, seeing seriousness…something that she loved. She turned back around and leaned back against on his chest. "Thirty minutes. Then we do homework." She smiled while linking their fingers together.

* * *

"Mom, I'm home!" Rory dropped her backpack near the door and found her mom sitting in the living room.

"Hey, how was studying?" Lorelai couldn't help but put emphasize the last word.

"It was fine, mom. We actually finished all our work." Rory went to sit next to her mom.

"Good…good. So, about our little…disagreement last night-"

"You mean the one where you yelled at me for what seemed like ten hours straight? Yeah, I remember."

"Hey, I wasn't yelling…I was venting."

"Whatever, mother. What about it" Rory asked.

"Well, I just wanted to apologize - though don't misunderstand, I don't want to find out that you slept with him again or will sleep with him again - for how…eccentric I was and for displaying my concern the way that I did."

Rory nodded her head. "So…if I don't tell you that I am going to sleep with him in the same bed or that I have again, you won't mind?"

"Rory!"

"I'm just kidding, mom."

"Oh, thank God! Don't scare mommy like that again."

Rory laughed, "I won't." maybe…

A/N: Yeah , I know. Kind of a sucky ending, but I have to do my homework (damn History, but I at least know some stuff, huh? How about that stuff I put in the beginning? Very clever on my part, though I did use the textbook…) and I wanted to put this chapter in, so I apologize. I actually might come back and change the ending completely when I find the time…who knows what I'll think of 'til then.