AN: My mind is reeling—I just saw tonight's episode, and the teaser for the
next few weeks along with the last scene on the golf course—AHH! Killing
me. I digress. Thanks for the reviews and suggestions. On with the story.
The next morning Rory hit the snooze button in her sleep, rolling over on her other side. The actual sound of the alarm never entered her consciousness; her hand reaching out to it was a pure reflex. She had finally gotten to sleep around an hour before, and her body wasn't really ready to get out of bed yet.
Upon the third time of the alarm going off, Paris shot up in bed and looked around the room. The sound of the alarm had startled her out of the deep sleep she had fallen into.
"Rory!"
Nothing.
"RORY!"
"HHmmmph?"
"RORY, we have class in five minutes! Get UP!" Paris jumped out of bed and ran around the room, attempting to look presentable enough to leave the room. When Rory didn't move again, Paris rushed to her side, jumped up and down on the bed and shook her.
"GOD! Paris, WHAT?"
Paris grabbed the alarm clock and shoved it in Rory's face. Panic spread across her features and she jumped up, knocking Paris off the bed.
"I have my first test in Econ today!"
"C'mon, if we leave in thirty seconds and run, we might make our classes."
"Damn, Damn, Damn!!!!"
With that, the girls flew off to their respective classes. It had seemed like such a great coincidence, that they both had 7:30am classes on the same days, Wednesdays and Fridays, so that they would be more likely to get the other up, blah, blah, blah. This was just the kind of morning that was screaming at her to stay in bed, that the day was just going to be unpredictable, getting more and more complicated.
The test was okay. Luckily she had studied for it the night before, but she was so flustered, having run to class, it took her the first three minutes of sitting down just to catch her breath. She almost considered starting to work out—nah, she'd just get up a little earlier in the mornings. At any rate, since she did well on her test she decided to reward herself with skipping her other class that day and going back to bed. The entire night prior she'd had a reoccurring dream about Tristan telling her that he was leaving Chilton. Every time he told her he was leaving, but each time she reacted differently in her dream. Sometimes just watched him go like she really had, sometimes she cried out for him to stop, running into his arms and kissing him. Okay, more than one scenario included the kissing. . .
Mmm, the kissing in the dream had been nice, but that was NOT why she wanted to skip class and go back to sleep. She really didn't need to go to her psychology class, she had already done the reading for the week, and it wasn't important. Possibly dreaming about Tristan again had nothing to do with her decision.
She dropped her bag in the room and flopped down on her bed. Looking at her desk, she saw that she had a message in her voicemail. Letting out a deep sigh, she pushed herself up and walked over to the phone and dialed, flopping down again on her bed.
"You have one new message."
"Rory, hey, it's your mother. You do remember me, don't you? I'm the woman that lives in the house you took lodging at over the holiday season. Now, I realize since you haven't been back here since your stay you were thinking you were successfully avoided being billed for my services. Now, between three weeks lodging, plus food and the laundry services, well, young lady, you've racked up quite a bill. If you don't have sufficient funds, you may be able to work out a payment schedule with me, some sort of alternative payment program. I'm thinking coffee and some serious together time. So here is your last chance—call me back today, or tomorrow I finally sign us up for that Mommy and Me class. Love you babe!"
Rory rolls her eyes and begins dialing again.
"Yo!"
"Yo?"
"Rory?"
"Yo."
"Okay, no mocking Mommy."
"Speaking of Mommy, don't you think I'm too old for a Mommy and Me class?"
"Hey, Sookie raves about those classes. And Davey loves them too. In fact, he was the one that suggested it to me."
"He hasn't learned to speak yet."
"Telepathy, Hun, telepathy. It's all the rage. You should try it. Go ahead, right now. What am I thinking?"
"Uh, probably about the nice padded walls at the home I'll be checking you into this weekend."
"Funny. So what's up?"
"You told me to call you. I have a bill."
"Hey, it got you to call me. How've you been? When can you visit?"
"Actually, I was thinking about coming home this weekend. Will you be around and all that?"
"Yeah, yeah. When am I not around?"
"Mom, you've been at Jason's a lot."
"Not a lot."
"A lot, a lot."
"Hmm. Well, not this weekend. This weekend, it's all me and you."
"Cool."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, just tired."
"All-nighter?"
"No, not really. Just some, strange dreams."
"Oooh, what kind of dreams?"
"Just dreams."
"Spill it, who are you dreaming about?"
"Mom, come on. I need some rest."
"You're going back to sleep—to dream about someone?"
"No, because I didn't get restful sleep last night."
"Who are you dreaming about? Is there a new boy toy you aren't telling me about?"
"I dreamed I had this really mean mother who hounded me about anything and never let me sleep until I snapped and switched her coffee to decaf."
"Evil, evil child. I didn't teach you to be so mean and sarcastic. I blame Jess. Eww, you weren't dreaming about Jess, were you?"
"God, no, Mom. It was Tr—"
"Tr what?"
"Tristan."
"Tristan?"
"Yes, from Chilton?"
"Man, that was like years ago. Was he that hot?"
"Good bye mom. See you Friday."
"Wait! How hot was he?"
Rory hung up and put the phone down. She looked over at the computer. The thought of emailing him had crossed her mind, as she did have his email now. Although if she has his, didn't that mean that he had hers too? If he had been in contact with Paris all this time, surely he knew they roomed together. He could have contacted her if he had wanted to.
This is crazy. Why would he have wanted to contact her? Paris never talked to her about him, why did she assume they talked about her? Emailing him would be stupid. She wouldn't email him. But since she did have some extra time, she should check her email.
Just as she sat down in her chair at her desk, Paris came into the room. Rory looked up and noticed that Paris' face looked a little green.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm peachy."
"What are you doing back?"
"What are you doing back?"
"I was tired."
"So was I."
"So I'm going to rest now."
"Yeah, I was just going to check my email and take a nap, too."
Rory directed her gaze back to her computer screen and opened her email account. She had one new message.
'To: rgilmor@yale.edu
From: tdugrey1@unc.edu
Subj: Re:FOR: What Happens When
What happens when Rory Gilmore emails me? How is Ms. Gilmore doing these days? I'd assumed you would be up in Boston these days, but I guess what they say about assumptions is true. I would love to hear what got you to New Haven.
Tristan'
'Is my heart still beating?' She could feel herself blushing. He emailed her. How had she emailed him, she didn't email him! She checked her sent messages, and sure enough, she had emailed him, along with every other person Paris had sent that forward to. Perfect, just perfect. Still blushing, she was seriously hoping Paris was asleep. She closed the window quickly and turned to see Paris looking even greener than she had a moment ago.
"Paris? Are you okay? Seriously, you look—"
Paris cut her off and ran out the door to the bathroom. Rory sat looking bewildered, worried about her friend and wondering what in the world she was going to say if she emailed back a one Tristan Dugrey.
The next morning Rory hit the snooze button in her sleep, rolling over on her other side. The actual sound of the alarm never entered her consciousness; her hand reaching out to it was a pure reflex. She had finally gotten to sleep around an hour before, and her body wasn't really ready to get out of bed yet.
Upon the third time of the alarm going off, Paris shot up in bed and looked around the room. The sound of the alarm had startled her out of the deep sleep she had fallen into.
"Rory!"
Nothing.
"RORY!"
"HHmmmph?"
"RORY, we have class in five minutes! Get UP!" Paris jumped out of bed and ran around the room, attempting to look presentable enough to leave the room. When Rory didn't move again, Paris rushed to her side, jumped up and down on the bed and shook her.
"GOD! Paris, WHAT?"
Paris grabbed the alarm clock and shoved it in Rory's face. Panic spread across her features and she jumped up, knocking Paris off the bed.
"I have my first test in Econ today!"
"C'mon, if we leave in thirty seconds and run, we might make our classes."
"Damn, Damn, Damn!!!!"
With that, the girls flew off to their respective classes. It had seemed like such a great coincidence, that they both had 7:30am classes on the same days, Wednesdays and Fridays, so that they would be more likely to get the other up, blah, blah, blah. This was just the kind of morning that was screaming at her to stay in bed, that the day was just going to be unpredictable, getting more and more complicated.
The test was okay. Luckily she had studied for it the night before, but she was so flustered, having run to class, it took her the first three minutes of sitting down just to catch her breath. She almost considered starting to work out—nah, she'd just get up a little earlier in the mornings. At any rate, since she did well on her test she decided to reward herself with skipping her other class that day and going back to bed. The entire night prior she'd had a reoccurring dream about Tristan telling her that he was leaving Chilton. Every time he told her he was leaving, but each time she reacted differently in her dream. Sometimes just watched him go like she really had, sometimes she cried out for him to stop, running into his arms and kissing him. Okay, more than one scenario included the kissing. . .
Mmm, the kissing in the dream had been nice, but that was NOT why she wanted to skip class and go back to sleep. She really didn't need to go to her psychology class, she had already done the reading for the week, and it wasn't important. Possibly dreaming about Tristan again had nothing to do with her decision.
She dropped her bag in the room and flopped down on her bed. Looking at her desk, she saw that she had a message in her voicemail. Letting out a deep sigh, she pushed herself up and walked over to the phone and dialed, flopping down again on her bed.
"You have one new message."
"Rory, hey, it's your mother. You do remember me, don't you? I'm the woman that lives in the house you took lodging at over the holiday season. Now, I realize since you haven't been back here since your stay you were thinking you were successfully avoided being billed for my services. Now, between three weeks lodging, plus food and the laundry services, well, young lady, you've racked up quite a bill. If you don't have sufficient funds, you may be able to work out a payment schedule with me, some sort of alternative payment program. I'm thinking coffee and some serious together time. So here is your last chance—call me back today, or tomorrow I finally sign us up for that Mommy and Me class. Love you babe!"
Rory rolls her eyes and begins dialing again.
"Yo!"
"Yo?"
"Rory?"
"Yo."
"Okay, no mocking Mommy."
"Speaking of Mommy, don't you think I'm too old for a Mommy and Me class?"
"Hey, Sookie raves about those classes. And Davey loves them too. In fact, he was the one that suggested it to me."
"He hasn't learned to speak yet."
"Telepathy, Hun, telepathy. It's all the rage. You should try it. Go ahead, right now. What am I thinking?"
"Uh, probably about the nice padded walls at the home I'll be checking you into this weekend."
"Funny. So what's up?"
"You told me to call you. I have a bill."
"Hey, it got you to call me. How've you been? When can you visit?"
"Actually, I was thinking about coming home this weekend. Will you be around and all that?"
"Yeah, yeah. When am I not around?"
"Mom, you've been at Jason's a lot."
"Not a lot."
"A lot, a lot."
"Hmm. Well, not this weekend. This weekend, it's all me and you."
"Cool."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, just tired."
"All-nighter?"
"No, not really. Just some, strange dreams."
"Oooh, what kind of dreams?"
"Just dreams."
"Spill it, who are you dreaming about?"
"Mom, come on. I need some rest."
"You're going back to sleep—to dream about someone?"
"No, because I didn't get restful sleep last night."
"Who are you dreaming about? Is there a new boy toy you aren't telling me about?"
"I dreamed I had this really mean mother who hounded me about anything and never let me sleep until I snapped and switched her coffee to decaf."
"Evil, evil child. I didn't teach you to be so mean and sarcastic. I blame Jess. Eww, you weren't dreaming about Jess, were you?"
"God, no, Mom. It was Tr—"
"Tr what?"
"Tristan."
"Tristan?"
"Yes, from Chilton?"
"Man, that was like years ago. Was he that hot?"
"Good bye mom. See you Friday."
"Wait! How hot was he?"
Rory hung up and put the phone down. She looked over at the computer. The thought of emailing him had crossed her mind, as she did have his email now. Although if she has his, didn't that mean that he had hers too? If he had been in contact with Paris all this time, surely he knew they roomed together. He could have contacted her if he had wanted to.
This is crazy. Why would he have wanted to contact her? Paris never talked to her about him, why did she assume they talked about her? Emailing him would be stupid. She wouldn't email him. But since she did have some extra time, she should check her email.
Just as she sat down in her chair at her desk, Paris came into the room. Rory looked up and noticed that Paris' face looked a little green.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm peachy."
"What are you doing back?"
"What are you doing back?"
"I was tired."
"So was I."
"So I'm going to rest now."
"Yeah, I was just going to check my email and take a nap, too."
Rory directed her gaze back to her computer screen and opened her email account. She had one new message.
'To: rgilmor@yale.edu
From: tdugrey1@unc.edu
Subj: Re:FOR: What Happens When
What happens when Rory Gilmore emails me? How is Ms. Gilmore doing these days? I'd assumed you would be up in Boston these days, but I guess what they say about assumptions is true. I would love to hear what got you to New Haven.
Tristan'
'Is my heart still beating?' She could feel herself blushing. He emailed her. How had she emailed him, she didn't email him! She checked her sent messages, and sure enough, she had emailed him, along with every other person Paris had sent that forward to. Perfect, just perfect. Still blushing, she was seriously hoping Paris was asleep. She closed the window quickly and turned to see Paris looking even greener than she had a moment ago.
"Paris? Are you okay? Seriously, you look—"
Paris cut her off and ran out the door to the bathroom. Rory sat looking bewildered, worried about her friend and wondering what in the world she was going to say if she emailed back a one Tristan Dugrey.