"What are you doing here!?!" Rory all but shrieked, drawing Luke out of the storage room.
"You know, usually it's you who's the one screaming. Rory tends to be the more rational Gilmore girl," Jess said referring to the disgruntled Rory.
"You can't be here. You're not here. You're a figment of my imagination. I'm slowly going insane," Rory mumbled, pacing in front of the door while the rest watched her bemused.
"Hey you look familiar," Lorelai said finally noticing the reason Rory was currently in a state of denial. The other two behind the counter nodded their agreement and Tristan smirked at them.
"I'm really hurt that you don't remember me, Lorelai," he sniffled and pretended to wipe away a tear, "after all you did call me the son you never had."
"Tristan!" everyone exclaimed at once, at once realizing who the blonde in front of them was.
"And now they get it," Rory said to no one in particular, having stopped her pacing and settled for sitting with her face promptly buried in her hands.
"What's a Tristan?" now everyone including the upset Rory and shocked Tristan looked over to see where the puzzled voice had originated from. Standing next to the counter was an obviously forgotten Dean who stared at the rest perplexed by the sudden appearance of the stranger. He was visibly confused as to the purpose of people exclaiming a name.
Tristan turned to Jess who he had instantly recognized upon walking into Luke's. "Who's floppy hair boy?"
Jess smirked, notably happy to have someone else making fun of Dean. "I prefer to call him BagBoy. It does suit him much better."
"Hello? I'm still here," Dean said infuriated at the two boys who were plainly ignoring and provoking him.
"Oh, we know," both answered at the same time then turned to each other, smirking. Lorelai was intensely amused at her 'son's' reappearance and Luke had already moved on with his life and was taking someone's order.
"I repeat. Who are you?" Rory lifted and turned her head towards the three boys, knowing how Jess and Tristan were going to start harassing Dean. Yet, she was too mad at him to care if the two long lost best friends tore him apart.
"I don't think that BagBoy deserves to know who I am. What do you think Jess?" Tristan said edging closer to the curious one.
"Oh, yes. He hasn't been here long enough to know how we are. He doesn't deserve to know the rest of us," Jess nodded his approval and began to corner Dean.
"Hey, I could take you," Dean proclaimed trying to have some dignity in the situation.
"No, no. I'm sure my friend Jess here could beat your BagBoy ass all the way back to where you came from," Tristan said this while pushing him a little, ignoring the warning looks sent over by Luke.
"Yeah, well, I could kick your ass back to where you came from, accountant."
"Was that supposed to be clever? Tristan's from here and you know how protective we get of our own kind," Jess said nodding to Tristan to begin the fighting.
"Hey! No fighting in the diner," Luke paused as Dean smiled triumphantly at the pair, "Take it outside." His look turned to worry as the two boys each grabbed a shoulder and threw him out the door, onto the sidewalk. He had landed face first half on the sidewalk, half on the street. This time the two boys smirked triumphantly as they watched Dean slowly pick himself up. Turning around Tristan was met with a very angry Rory who had apparently revived from another cup of coffee.
"I repeat: What are you doing here?" she pronounced every syllable slowly and loudly as if speaking with a two-year-old. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Jess sneak into the kitchen, holding his hands up in defense.
Tristan merely grinned at her obvious annoyance and responded, calmly, "You shouldn't be too surprised, Mary. I did tell you that I was going to visit." He waited as the remembrance of his previous words in school dawned on her. "Now where's Lane? Or does her mother still hold her hostage like when we were little?"
"Oh yeah! Remember those really evil looks she used to send me back then like: 'Go away, you're corrupting my daughter.' I swear those get worse and worse every time I see her. Like, just right now I was passing by the store and she did it again! I don't think Laney will come out to play anytime soon." The babble had obviously come from Lorelai who while talking animatedly hit Jess over the head as he came behind the counter once again.
Jess shot her a dirty look as she mumbled a 'sorry' and went back to bothering Luke. Tristan grinned and took a seat next to Lorelai, gesturing to the one next to him for Rory. She sat down as he requested then reached over and pushed him off the stool.
"Jerk, you took my seat."
This time it was Jess who smirked at Tristan's newly formed injury. "So Tristan how's the good life been?"
Tristan shrugged casually after he had reseated himself and responded lightly, "Oh, you know, same old, same old. Women, cars, women. Hey, can I have a Coke?"
At this both Gilmores turned and stared at him with wide eyes.
"What?" Tristan immediately responded, preparing himself for any bodily harm that may come again. Receiving no answer from the still shocked Gimores and amused Jess he questioned again, "What? What did I do?"
Lorelai being the first to recover answered in an overwhelmed tone, "Did I not have a hand in rasing you? Did I not introduce you to coffee at four-years-old? Did I not fulfill my ultimate duty? How dare you order a...a Coke!" She spit the last word out as if it was the thought of life without coffee.
Tristan now realizing his mistake turned to Jess with frightened expression, "Get them four cups of coffee, now. And forget about the Coke."
The two on either side of him immediately brightened. Lorelai checked her watch absentmindedly then looked up, startled. "Make that to go, Jess. I just remembered that I have some damage control to do. Bye, kiddies. Don't have fun without me." She was out the door as soon as Jess handed her two cups of coffee.
"What have I told you about giving that women coffee, Jess?" The gruff question came from Luke who had just come out of the kitchen
"Uh, just do it?"
Luke shoved two plates of food into Jess' hands then ordered, "Go." And went back into the kitchen.
Both Rory and Tristan chuckled lightly at the scene and then Tristan turned to Rory who was calmly sipping one of the four cups Jess had placed in front of her. "So why did we start fighting today in class?"
Rory seemed to think about this for a moment then responded carefully, "It's just that your grandfather was such a big deal to you when we were younger and I couldn't really believe that you would forget something as important as the day he died. That and I was still a little steamed about the argument we had last time we met up again." She knew that there were some things she should still be mad at him about but once he dropped the spoiled rich kid act and went back to normal, Rory couldn't help it if they went back to normal too.
Tristan dropped his head in embarrassment and appeared to be going over Rory's answer with some consideration. "I never really forgot I just pushed it into the back of my mind cause I didn't really want to remember a time when I was happier...although not to say that Chilton isn't fun." Rory caught the meaning of his words and playfully shoved him with one hand. "And to be honest I don't even remember what we fought about last time."
"I think it had something to do with you and being corrupted into society's standards. Or you bad-mouthed coffee. Think it's the first one not really sure."
Smirking at her attempt to lighten the situation Tristan answered calmly, "Although you would be one to fight over coffee, I think the first choice is more rational. So I'm pretty sure that's enough of serious talk. What do you plan on doing the rest of the day?"
"What do you mean what am I going to do? Have you not noticed that my backpack is practically bursting open? Or do you just not remember the term homework?" Rory remained incredulous to the fact that Tristan barely acknowledged their workload.
"Oh, that. I'm sure I can get someone else to do it for us. We can go see a movie or something instead." Tristan on the other hand was amazed that Rory had willingly brought up homework instead of ignoring it.
"You know, Tris, I worked really hard to get into Chilton and I think that I'll keep on doing the same," she stated this a bit matter-of-factly. Both once again reminded that they weren't the same little kids from before.
Tristan noticed the lack of ease between them due to the new difference of opinions and decided now would be the best time to leave. "So I guess I'll be going, Ror. You have a lot of catching up to do. I'll see you tomorrow in school."
"Wait, Tris, are you still going to be the same jerk like today?" Rory asked the question hesitatingly and so quietly that Tristan had to strain to hear it.
"I've got to do what's expected of me," he responded as if the question didn't even require any thought. Motioning a 'goodbye' to both Luke and Jess Tristan started for the door when Rory spoke up again.
"I remember a time when you didn't care what was expected of you and you didn't bother to live up to their expectations anyway." Her voice took on a reminiscent tone and Tristan glared at her disapprovingly.
"Well, there's not much to be expected of five-year-olds. Besides you don't even know what's required of me." The words were said with some finality and when Tristan left even the sharp sound of the door slamming could not bring Rory out of her reverie.
Five minutes later Rory had not yet moved and no one had dared to approach her. Suddenly, she stood up and left, dragging her backpack, without saying a word to anyone. Not bothering to check for any messages Rory went straight into her room and began the tedious task of catching up although she was running on auto pilot. When Lorelai returned once again from work Rory was still working hard and opted for a quick pizza dinner. After finishing late Lorelai insisted on knowing all things that had happened concerning Tristan.
Rory went over everything from their spontaneous and foolish argument in class over his grandfather to threats from random girls and finally the last conversation in the diner. While Rory remained confused about Tristan's sudden changes in demeanor, Lorelai understood perfectly the effects that two different lifestyles had on him.
After a semi-peaceful night of sleep Rory prepared herself for the hell that was Chilton and when she finally arrived, a surprise was in store for her. Despite the fact that their meeting had ended on a somewhat sour note she hadn't expected for Tristan to ignore her the entire time. The only time he had even noticed her was when their teacher had singled them out.
"Mr. DuGrey and Miss Gilmore, I assume you two have sorted out your differences and we can conduct today's lesson with peace and order."
Rory blushed brightly at the reminder of their actions while a quick glance towards Tristan indicated that he remained staring blankly at the chalk board.
"Well?"
The second question brought their attention back to the teacher and they nodded barely which was enough that the teacher began his lecture. Through the rest of the class period Rory took notes feverishly while periodic peeks at Tristan noted that he had not even picked up his pencil. By the end of the school day Rory had several encounters with Tristan while he refused to even acknowledge her presence and at lunch she found him making out with a girl somewhere near the cafeteria.
The bus ride home once again reverted Rory back to her thoughts and she had to be reminded to get off on her stop. To her relief Dean was no where in sight and she headed to Luke's gratefully.
"So was the second day any better?" Jess asked casually as he poured her a second cup. A glare was Rory's only response and he backed off wisely.
"Okay, guess not."
Rory heard the bell jingle and from her position that required her head buried in her arms she noticed that someone had taken a seat beside her. At first she figured it was Lorelai on her break but the figure said nothing at all to her or any one else. Lifting her head Rory turned to look at the figure and saw that it was not Lorelai. In fact the person was the last Rory was expecting to see. But then again it was obvious her expectations were never going to be met.
A/N - Okay, so maybe Rory and Tristan stopped arguing way too fast but remember they still have old memories of playing together as little kids. And maybe they remember way too much for five-year-olds but hey they seem pretty smart on the show. And maybe people have way too many mood swings. I hope this chapter was less confusing than the ones before. Thanks.
