Rory collapsed in her bed and immediately fell asleep. Putting all boy related thoughts out of her mind.
At 2:31, she awoke with a start, she knew the time as it was flashing at her from her clock radio. She could hear the sound of something tapping on the window.
Rory slowly got out of bed, stretched and walked over to the window. She wiped away the fog that had built up and searched for the source of the disturbance.
At that moment a pebble hit the window, bounced off of the frame and landed in the bushes. Rory opened the window to see who or what was out there.
She made out two figures, sitting on a bench across from the dorm, slightly illuminated by the street lamp.
"Rory" one called out.
"Mary" the other added.
Rory focused her eyes, trying to fully wake up.
"Tristan" she called out in a hushed voice tentatively, "Jess, is that you" she added.
The pair waved in reply.
"What are you two doing out there" she asked confused.
"Come and find out" a voice that she presumed was Tristan's called out.
"I'm not coming out there" Rory stated in reply adamantly.
"If you don't, we'll just sit here all night and through rocks at your window" Jess answered.
"Fine, but only for a minute" Rory replied back closing the window.
She put on a jacket over her pyjamas and struggled in the dark to try to find some shoes.
Rory slowly made her way to the hallway, trying to logically comprehend what was going on. What were Tristan and Jess doing outside, in the middle of the night, together?
She exited the building and made her was across the path to where the two had camped out.
"You came" Tristan stated grinning goofily.
"Did I have a choice" Rory replied taking in the state the two of them were in.
"No, not really" Jess replied moving into the light.
Rory gasped as she took in his appearance, his eye was all puffy and a purple bruise was creeping on to his left temple.
"What happened" Rory asked shocked.
"Let's just say, Tristan's fist had a problem with my head" Jess replied candidly.
"Tristan?"
"Hey, he started it" Tristan replied smirking, "Anyway it's all in the past, the two of us have worked through our problems over a couple of beers and now were cool, right man"
"Right" Jess replied shaking his hand.
"You're drunk?" Rory asked directing her question at the both of them.
Tristan and Jess greeted this insinuation with mock horror.
'Us drunk, never Miss Gilmore, I'm as soberer as a judge, I swear" Jess replied, holding his hand up to his heart.
"Soberer" Tristan spat out laughing, "Man what a lightweight, I on the other hand am perfectly lucid".
"Yeah, right" Jess replied.
"Hey, what can I say, Jess here just can't hold his liquor. Maybe because he's such a little fellow" Tristan replied laughing, "No place to put it" he added in a whisper.
"Watch it pretty boy" Jess mumbled back.
Rory just stared at the two of them, bantering back and forth. She couldn't say she was surprised that some kind of fight had erupted, she saw that one coming, but she was surprised that they seemed to almost maybe like each other?
"Not that I really want to talk to either of you, but what is going on here, why are you two out here, throwing rocks at my window" Rory asked exasperated.
"They weren't rocks, they were pebbles, little tiny pebbles" Tristan replied, using his fingers to demonstrate their size.
Rory sighed, waiting for a real answer.
"Ok, sit down and I'll tell you the whole story" Tristan continued patting the space between the two of them.
Rory relented and sat down on the bench, folding her arms to try and retain some warmth.
"Hey can I put my head on your shoulder, cos it's really…heavy" Jess asked through half closed eyes.
"Whatever" Rory replied, not knowing what else to say, and turning her attention to Tristan.
"Here goes" he began, "So I came back to my room, and who should be there sitting on the couch…"
"That would be me" Jess interrupted sleepily.
"Let me finish" Tristan shot back "So I walk in and this guys sitting on the couch, making him self comfortable, playing pro-skating with Jake"
"I was on level 5" Jess informed her holding up five fingers.
"Shut up, ok so Jake tells me that this is Rory's friend Jess, and let me tell you I was surprised that you would want your friend to crash with us considering what happened this weekend…"
Rory interrupted him, "About that…"
Tristan cut her off, "No, it's ok, this is not the time or place" he said quietly, looking at Rory sincerely, or as sincerely as anyone who had ingested eight beers in a short amount of time could look.
"Where was I, so anyway I immediately knew that this was the guy, the one you had left Dean for, and he seemed to know something about me too, so it comes as no surprise that things got a little bit tense"
"To say the least" Jess piped up.
"And then we kind of got in to fight, things were said, punches thrown, and let me tell you if Jake and Phil weren't there, this dude might have ended up in the hospital"
"Dream on, Fabio"
"Like you could take me…" Tristan began.
"Ok, ok, I get it you two got into a fight, the guys broke it up and then what, you decided to drink yourself into oblivion" Rory interrupted, getting increasingly frustrated with the both of them
"Well, Phil thought the left over beer from this weekend would calm us down" Tristan informed her.
"Great idea, add alcohol into the mix" Rory sighed, "So why are you out here?" she added.
"Jess needed some fresh air, so we went for a walk and ended up back here, right outside your room" Tristan stated.
"And you felt the need to drag me into your little romantic moonlight stroll because?" Rory asked sarcastically.
"Because we had to tell you something" Tristan stated dramatically.
"What"
"Um well…I can't really remember" Tristan replied sheepishly, "Hey Jess, do you remember".
They turned to look at Jess who had by now fallen asleep.
"We should get him to bed" Rory sighed. Tristan nodded in agreement, and between the two of them, they managed to carry Jess upstairs and put him into the spare bed.
Rory took of his shoes, while Tristan grabbed some spare blankets.
They quietly closed the door behind them and Rory made her way out into the hall.
"So, I should go" Rory started, making to leave, "And look, I'm sorry for dumping him on you, he just turned up and we didn't know what to do with him".
"Hey, I'm the one who should be apologising" Tristan replied.
"You're right"
"I am sorry" Tristan replied genuinely
"I don't know if that's enough" Rory replied.
"I…I never meant it"
"I don't know if I believe you", Rory shot back turning around and starting down the hall.
"Rory wait" Tristan yelled walking to catch up with her.
"For what" she replied stoping and turning around, "This isn't going to work, we can't be friends".
"I don't want to be friends" Tristan replied softly.
"What do you want then?" Rory asked exasperated, looking up at him searching for some clue as to what made him tick, what made him do the things he did, or say the things he said.
"I just want you" he replied, caressing her cheek. Rory stood there paralysed, wanting to move but not being able to.
"I'm not going to do this again" Rory said suddenly, stopping him in his tracks.
Tristan said nothing and turned away quietly, heading back into his room. This time it was Rory's turn to look on.
***
The next morning Rory made her way upstairs to the boy's room. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. She realised it was open and let herself in.
No one was in the lounge room, so she knocked on Tristan's door.
"Enter" a voice mumbled from inside, Rory let herself in. The curtains were drawn and only a thin sliver of the morning sunshine lighted the room.
Jess was lying in bed, looking the worse for wear. His face had gotten bigger and his hair was strewn in every direction.
"He's gone to have a shower" he stated sleepily.
"I came to see you" Rory replied sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Oh" he replied.
"I had this whole speech ready, about how much you hurt me, about what a coward you are, but I realised I don't care" Rory stated softly.
"Gee thanks" Jess shot back sitting up slightly against the pillows.
"That's not what I meant, It's just this summer, I…I travelled, I saw the world and now I'm here at Yale, I made it, you know and that just puts things into perspective. It's not that what you did wasn't bad. And I know we're over, hell the whole freaking world knows we're over. It's just that I don't want to dwell on the bad aspects of us. I didn't want to pine for what we had. I want to remember the good parts, I want to put us in a special place in my heart and look back on it with a smile…"
Jess interrupted her, "Rory…" he began.
"No, I don't need an apology and I don't want to know why you came here" she continued, "That won't help things, I don't want to hate you, I know you're more then the way you acted, and first and foremost we were friends. I want you to be happy, to be the person you don't think you can be".
"So I've made my peace, anything you want to add" Rory finished.
Jess sighed, "How do you do that, rise above it, I wish you'd just call me an ass because that's what I am".
Rory just smiled, "Ok you're an ass"
"Thankyou" Jess replied smiling back at her, "I'll leave this afternoon".
Rory nodded in reply," You should stop in and see Luke".
Jess nodded back as Rory made her way towards the door.
"Hey Rory" he called after her.
"Yeah" she replied.
"I did"
"Did what?" Rory asked confused.
"Love you" Jess continued.
Rory stopped for a minute and contemplated his words, "I know" she added softly closing the door behind her.
To be continued…