Hello to all the readers. All of your reviews are grately appreciated. I love hearing what you think. This is chapter 21. This story was never supposed to be this long. They were supposed to meet again and fall in love and that was it but along the way my ideas changed and I realized that writing a story about how they meet and fall in love and everything is perfect would never have worked.

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So on this August 19th Tristan and Rory were sitting in the living room watching a movie, or more like staring at the T.V. both lost in thought. They both knew too well what tomorrow was and neither one wanted to talk about it just yet. They needed this one last night of holding each other and being near each other because in their hearts they knew it would be the last time they'd sit that way. He had his arm around her waist and she had her head on his chest, his chin was resting on top of her head so that he could smell her fruity shampoo. And they sat there, all night, saying nothing, not even moving when the movie ended. The chances were that in the morning they'd still be in that same position, just holding on to something that had never even started.

CHAPTER 21

When Rory woke up on august 20th she was on the sofa in Tristan's arms. She didn't want to move, she didn't want to have to leave the comfort of those arms because she knew that once she did it would be for the last time. It pained her and saddened her to know that this day had arrived so quickly. In just a few hours she'd have to get in her car and leave all of this behind. Not only would she be leaving a job and a great apartment but she would also be leaving one of the biggest pieces of her heart.

When she had left Stars Hollow she just wanted to get away from her old life and her problems. She had wanted to finally let go of her old life and move on. Little did she know that she'd connect with a guy that she had never gotten along with, fall in love and then have to leave him behind. In an effort to get away from her problems she had managed to cause some more for herself. One minute she was thinking that she never should have came to North Carolina and the next minute, she knew that if she hadn't, she never would have had the chance to meet up with Tristan again and to fall in love.

Rory believed that it was fate that had brought her here and that it was fate that was sending her back home to her old life. Maybe it was because the feelings were a one-way thing. What if fate had decided that she should go back because Tristan didn't have the same feelings for her? She couldn't help but wonder what fate had in store for her and Tristan when she got back home. Was their fate to be torn apart and never to be together or would they someday in the future meet again. After all it had taken them almost two years from the time he had left Chilton and Hartford to the time when they had stumbled upon each other in his store. It was also fate that the store's manager had hired Rory without even knowing that Tristan and Rory knew each other.

For now she would just have to follow her dreams of pursuing her education and go back to Yale. Maybe she would even forget about Tristan. Maybe he'd forget about her. Maybe they'd keep in contact. Maybe they'd get married. Maybe they'd fall in love with other people. All of the maybes kept swimming in her head. She was unsure of a lot of things. How was she supposed to know what the future held? All she did know was that this decision to go back to Yale was the best one for her.

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When Tristan awoke he found that Rory was still in his arms. She was awake but she seemed to be lost in thought. He could see the sadness in her eyes. He knew that she cherished their friendship and that it pained her to have to leave just when they had started to finally become the best of friends. To him it was more than just friendly feelings but he knew that she didn't need those feelings clouding her mind right now. Telling her would simply complicate things for her and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Hey Ror, sleep okay?" It wasn't exactly the perfect question for this moment but he didn't know what else to say to her.

"Oh, hey Tristan. I didn't really sleep that much. How about you?" She said finally looking at him.

"Well, under any other circumstances I would have slept with a baby having you beside me but I didn't sleep that well either."

"I guess I should probably get up huh?" the question was there but she didn't even move.

"You could but you could stay here for a few more minutes right?"

"I have to finish packing. I have a long drive ahead of me." She finally got up then.

"I'll help. You do your room and I'll roam the apartment looking for whatever you might have forgotten." He told her as he got up from the sofa.

Rory went to her bedroom and started to put her things in her bag. With all the shopping she had done with Kat and on her own she way more luggage than what she had left home with. As she was emptying her dressers she came across the stack of photos from their fun day. She had never had the chance to show them to Tristan and tell him how she felt. She would just have to keep them and cherish them. They would be her reminder of their time spent together and of the bond they had created. She suddenly had a little idea. She knew her mother always made double copies of every picture so she sat down at the desk and started to separate them into two piles. Maybe in the end she'd leave him a little something before she left.

Once all packed she headed for the living room where Tristan was sitting. He had managed to fill a small duffle bag with stuff she had left around the apartment.

They looked at each other neither able to speak. Their eyes said everything. He knew that the time had come, that she'd get in her car and drive away. So he got up and walked over to her.

"Time to go huh?" He said in a voice just above a whisper.

"Yeah, it is."

"I'm going to miss you, you know?" What else was he supposed to say?

"I'll miss you too Tris." She said as she looked at her feet.

"I don't want this to be goodbye I might see you some time in the future but I don't know when. I'd much rather it be goodbye, I'll definitely see you later like at Thanksgiving or something."

"Don't let it be two years again, you mean? After all this time we're much better friends than we were then and we'll most likely stay in touch this time. Stars Hollow isn't that far you know?" She smiled a little at this but he could still see the tears welled up in her eyes.

He closed the gap between them then and hugged her tight against him. He could feel the tears fall on his shoulder. He stroked her hair, not wanting to let her go. Before letting her go he placed a small kiss on her forehead and looked at her.

For the first time since she'd known Tristan, Rory could see tears in his eyes. She had no idea that he was capable of that. Actually she knew that the old Tristan would never have cried in front of her but he had changed a lot.

"You better call Mary, or else I'm gonna have to hunt you down at Yale." He told her trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Maybe I'll just let you hunt me down then." She looked in his eyes again and placed a quick but sweet kiss on his lips.

It took all of his willpower to not deepen that kiss with Rory. He just knew that he couldn't do that to her. It was time to say goodbye, not to tell her how he felt.

"So...I guess it's time to go. Goodbye Tris."

"Goodbye Mary, be careful out there."

After another minute of staring in his eyes she got in her car and once again left it all behind.

AN: I decided to stop right here. There will definitely be at least one more chapter. They will both discover something that the other left for them. The chapter will mostly contain their POV and their feelings after their apart. As for more chapters, well it will all depend on you. If you decide that you want to see what happens after she goes home and what they both decide to do. I do have an idea... I'd love to know what you all think.