Author's Note 2004/05/26: Here is another chapter, enjoy! Thank you Jayde for betaing this chapter.

The Thin Line Between Love And Hate
Chapter 9: I Might Start To Like Mondays

As Rory enters her first afternoon class, she sees Tristan looking out the window.  Walking to sit beside him, she whispers, "Can we talk?"

No even turning around, Tristan responds harshly, "We don't have anything to talk about."

"That's not true, and you know it."

Tristan looks at Rory, his eyes cold and unaffected, "Not now, Rory."

"When?"

"I don't know, definitely not in a classroom."

"Can we go for coffee after school?"

"I'll think about it."  Tristan turns back to stare out the window.  The teacher comes in, announces himself, and starts the lecture without pausing.  As Rory tries to concentrate on filling her sheet with notes, she glances sideway at Tristan who seems completely unaware of it.

 As the bell rings, signalling the end of the day, Rory walks slowly to her locker.  Every class she had in the afternoon, Tristan was in it, completely ignoring her.  The worst class was the last one, because she had Caroline in it also.  As she was discretely talking with Louise while waiting for the class to begin, Tristan entered the class, took a seat as far away from her as possible.  Seeing that Caroline had started to laugh while looking at Rory, she had seated herself beside Tristan and for the rest of the period; Caroline and Tristan had exchanged messages.  Rory had felt jealousy as she saw what could be the shadow of a smile on Tristan's lips and that it was intended for Caroline. 

As she opens her locker, "You didn't think I would let him get away, did you?"

Rory looks at Caroline tiredly, "What are you talking about?"

Leaning on the locker beside Rory's, Caroline smirks, "Well, since Tristan took from me what you probably don't want to give him, I couldn't let him get away with that.  We girls have to stick together."

Confused, Rory looks at Caroline, trying to understand the meaning of her words, "What?  He's not…"

"Don't deny it, I know it probably hurts you to see what he really is like, but you would have found out about it one day or another. It was better now than later."

"You don't unders…"

Pushing herself away from the locker, Caroline starts to walk away as she speaks over her shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of him, and I won't tell anyone that you were dating him."

Paris takes the place Caroline just vacated, "What was that all about?"

Rory looks at Paris, confusion in her eyes, "I have no idea."

Rory is walking to the bus stop, depressed.  Even though Tristan had said he would think about going for coffee, she had been certain he would give in.  But after the last period, he left in a hurry, not even going to his locker.  She sits on the bench, waiting for the bus to come.  As she takes a book from her bag, a silver Porsche stops in front of her.  A tinted window slides down, revealing Tristan in the driver's seat.  "If you still want to go, climb in."

Rory slowly puts her book back in her bag, picking her bag up.  She opens the door and sits in the passenger seat.  Her senses are teased by the aroma of coffee in the car.  "I thought we were going to go for coffee."

Tristan speeds away, concentrating on the road.  "You didn't think we would have that conversation in a coffee shop, did you?"

Rory looks out the window, focusing on the huge mansions they pass by, "I didn't even think you would speak to me."

"Well, I went to get coffee, now we're going somewhere private to drink it."

Uncertain of the way to respond, Rory remains silent.

As Tristan is parking the car in front of his house, Rory is surprised at the enormity of the mansion.  "Where are we?"

Stopping the engine, Tristan climbs out of the car, "My house."

Tristan closes the door behind him.  Seeing Rory hesitate, he walks around the Porsche, and opens her door, "Come on, I wanted somewhere private and here it's private."

"But maybe it's just too private."

Tristan takes Rory's hand, pulling on it to help her out, "I'll drive you back after we talk and that's all we are going to do."

Rory makes up her mind to follow him, walking pass an impressive number of luxurious cars.  "We forgot the coffees."

Tristan walks back in direction of his car, "Go on, I'll go get it."

Reaching the front door, Rory turns toward the parking space in front of the mansion to see Tristan coming back her way, holding two coffees.  Before Tristan has time to join her, the door opens, revealing a maid all dressed in black with a white apron.  Feeling a sense of 'déjà vu', she is about to speak when Tristan finally joins her.  "Hey Agathe, we are going in my hiding place.  Could you prepare us a pot of coffee and bring it to us when it's ready?"

As they enter the mansion, Agathe closes the door behind them, "I'll go do that right away Mr.Dugrey."

"Thank you Agathe."

As Tristan leads Rory through the maze of halls, Rory asks, "Funny, at the party at Louise, the maid was also named Agathe. Are all the maids named Agathe?"

"No, but my mom changes maid every week or so.  Instead of learning a different name every week, she simply calls every maid Agathe."

Tristan opens the door leading to the backyard; a patio is set beside a huge pool.  A small house as big as Rory's is situated in the leftmost corner of the terrain.  On the rightmost corner, there is a garden with multicolour roses.  Tristan is walking toward the rosebay, Rory inquires a little more, "But Louise's maid, why is she also called Agathe?"

"Because she's the original Agathe, she worked here for over a decade until she fought with my mom.  She left the next day and was hired by the Grants.  Ever since, my mom is looking for another Agathe but she hasn't found her yet."

"Oh, my grandmother should probably select a name too. She's constantly changing maids, and she never gets their names right."

Tristan chooses his favourite path in the rosebay as Rory follows closely, admiring the beauty of her surroundings.  Tristan stops in a little meadow, hidden by the roses, while he sits on the grass and Rory, imitating his actions, faces Tristan.  Tristan gives Rory one of the coffees; she murmurs a 'thank you' before taking a first taste of her coffee.  As an uncomfortable silence surrounds them, Tristan finally breaks it, "You wanted to talk, I'm listening."

Rory gulps down her coffee, hoping to gain confidence in this action.  Finally, she locks her eyes with his, her cheeks burning red, "Did you really mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"When you said that you felt like you were cheating on me?"

Tristan lies down on his back on the soft grass, "Unfortunately, yes."

As Rory admires his perfect profile, she lies on her side, facing him as he looks up at the sky, "I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything.  You don't like me that way.  I guess now you are going to offer me your friendship again and tell me it was a mistake again.  That you're still in love with Dean…  Yadayadayada."

"I'm not in love with Dean.  I'm not sure I've ever been in love with him."  Tristan remains quiet, fighting the urge to smile, "I never felt the tingles, and I thought I did but I didn't."

Hope in his heart, Tristan asks, "Have you ever felt them?"

Still looking at Tristan, Rory answers softly, "Yeah, with you."

Shifting his position to face Rory, "Where does that leave us then?"

Agathe enters the meadow at that moment, a silver tray with two giant cups of coffee, and homemade chocolate chip cookies.  "I thought you two might be hungry.  If you need anything else, just let me know."

Tristan sits up straight, takes the offered tray, and places it between Rory and him.  "Thank you Agathe but we got every thing we need for now."

As Agathe leaves, Tristan takes a cup of coffee, sips on it slowly, his eyes never leaving Rory.  Feeling uncomfortable by the intensity in his eyes, Rory asks, "What?"

"What are we?"

"I don't know."

"What do you want us to be?"

"I don't know.  What about Caroline?"

"I don't want to be with Caroline.  I want to kiss you."

"You were right."

"About what?"

"Not giving a chance to get to know you.  I think we should start by getting to know each other."

"Okay, can I kiss you now?"

Tristan gets up to sit over Rory's legs, his hands resting on the grass beside her head.  Rory blushes, "Can we keep it a secret?"

"Why?"

"I would feel more comfortable if I didn't become Tristan's newest conquest."

"They will found out eventually."

"Just until we get to know each other, until we decide if it's worth or not."

Tristan's lips graze Rory's, "Believe me, it is."

Tristan's hands go behind her back, holding her tightly against him.  His mouth kissing hers softly at first, becoming more and more demanding as Rory deepens the kiss. 

Author's Note: That's it for today, I hope you liked it.
Siaram