A/N - Sorry this took so long but I completely forgot about what happened in the movie. Anyways since I've been studying for my first final my imagination is shot and most of the parts come directly from the movie. By the way I love the part in the movie where Katie or Rory is talking about a bronzed Embry or Tristan (completely random, I know).
"Hey your guys," Rory greeted meeting them at the café on campus grounds the next morning.
"Persian religious teacher, nine letters," Lane asked as soon as Rory had sat down.
"Zoroaster," Rory responded.
"Great, good and evil," Paris shot back finally looking up from her Physics book.
"My book is Genius–Genius capitalized."
""Damn it I should know this he's a physist," Paris ranted out her frustration.
"Feynman. F-e."
"Damn it, Rory, I know how to spell Feynman. Sorry, my McKenzie interview is in half an hour," Lane reasoned, referring to the consulting company both her and Rory hoped to work for.
Jerome glancing back noticed something or rather someone as the three girls argued. "Hey, um. Rory, um, I love being friends in quotation marks. It just makes me so horny," Jerome mocked, referring to Dean, the idiot whom the rest of the gang wondered about how he was accepted into college.
"Shut up, Jerome. We are friends," Rory said noticing her sheepish looking "friend" who was headed her way.
"Right, and I'm sure he doesn't want to get in your pants, Ror," Paris stated nonchalantly.
"Hey guys what's up?" Dean asked taking a seat uninvited.
"Hey we were just talking about friendship and how-" Jerome was quickly cut off by Rory who finished for him. "And how we will all eventually sell out."
"Some of us quicker than others," Paris responded cynically, never looking up from her textbook.
"Well I think it's about doing what makes you happy," Dean responded, oblivious to the true nature of the conversation.
"Dean, you're just so...hopeful," Lane stated out loud, inwardly wondering how someone could so...so blind.
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"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Detective, but I have already spoken to two other detectives. I'm not sure how much more I can tell you." The trustee for the DuGreys stood before Jess.
"Yeah, well, I just have a few more questions. What makes you think Tristan DuGrey is dead?"
"Its purely his account activity," the man answered back.
"What account activity?" Jess asked confused.
"That's just it there is none. Nothing has been touched for years. Detective, it takes several years for a missing person to be declared dead. It's been two. The people at the DuGrey Foundation, the people who get all the money, they want this to be over, rather quickly I might add."
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Rory finally rises from her nap only to be greeted by something sitting on the edge of her bed under a blanket. "I take it your interview didn't go well."
"They hated me," was the distorted answer.
"I hate to go now but stay in here and I'll talk t you when I get back," Rory said changing into clothes suitable for her interview.
"No, no go out and celebrate after. You're only going to make me feel worse by your damn achievements."
"Bye Lane."
An hour later and outwardly calm and an inwardly frazzled Rory stepped out of the interview office. The interview had gone fine it was what the situation had reminded her of that had made her so chaotic within.
Almost able to hear his temper tantrum that day Rory fell back into a blissful flashback , right there in the hallway.
"Damn it, stop. People that was...appalling at the best." Tristan's frustration referring to the first attempt at a group audition for the senior play. "You, you, and you," he pointed at three girls and motioned for them to step out from the crowd. One of them was Rory. "You, start," he stated referring to the one on Rory's right. She began, he cut her off after a moment, and motioned for her to leave.
"You," he motioned to the blonde on Rory's left. Again she began and he cut her off. The remaining one was Rory.
"Begin," he demanded she stare at him, stricken. "Again." He didn't cut her, instead he motioned for the next person to begin their lines.
Afterwards Tristan had asked Rory to stay so he could talk with her. Usually she would think that he was taking as a chance to come onto her but with his seriousness about the play, she reasoned that it would be strictly professional.
For the next few days after her interview Rory found herself holed up in the library desperately trying to finish off her thesis.
"Ms. Gilmore," Jess politely called out standing behind her.
Rory turned around surprised but only saw the detective. "May I ask you a few more questions?"
"Only if you hurry I really need to finish this," she gave in trying not to be overly rude.
"Not one for small talk. That's alright a person can piss their life away talking to idiots. So, um, about this kid, Tristan, do you think that he could have killed himself?" he hurried on noticing her reluctance.
"Nobody with Tristan's self-regard would kill himself. Nobody. He would have himself bronzed first. In fact, if you see a statue of him somewhere check and see if there's a person inside," she answered honestly yet bitterly.
"So he hurt you that much."
"Honestly that is none of your business," she said for the first time turning around to look at him since the conversation began.
"Actually, it's my job, so it is my business."
"You know I would just love to pal around with you right now but for once I am actually trying to move on with my life so if you don't mind..." she trailed off angry at this stranger's impertinence.
He got up and left but only a moment later she was interrupted by her friends.
"Hm...10:30 on a Friday night. I wonder where Rory is?" Jerome mocked coming up behind her.
"We're leaving," Lane stated excitement evident in her voice.
The trio grabbed Rory barely giving her time to save her thesis and pulled her in the general direction of a party.
After a couple hours of drinking, not too much but enough that the three of them including Paris were drunk, and partying they went back into an abandoned room where strobe lights were flitting across the ceiling and all but passed out. They remained awake enough to carry on an unintelligent conversation during which Rory spent most of her time looking at a glass pane that saw into the hallway. Halfway through the rambling conversation she saw a figure come up to the window. Rubbing her eyes and sitting up against the wall Rory recognized the face. But you see, that was impossible because the person in the hallway was the missing Tristan DuGrey.
