Author's note 2004-08-14: Wow, so far that was the worst chapter to go over. This chapter originally 1103 words and it now has 3877 words, as you can imagine, some scene were added but basically everything is more in details. So, thank you to my sweat Raven who made me redo it twice but without who I couldn't continue this, and to Arlene who took time to reread scene multiple times and helped me get the feel of a first date again.

Stay
Chapter 5: First Date

"Yes Grandma… I know but it would mean a lot to me if you met him… Why don't you want to meet the guy I'm dating?... Well, we have our first date tonight… If you count out yesterday but it wasn't an official one… No, I used to go to Chilton with him… Tristan DuGrey… Ha! Now you want to meet him!... Yah, we'll be there at seven… Bye"

"What was that about?" Paris asked as she set her book aside on her bed.

Rory replaced the phone on its base, "Tristan is coming to Friday night Dinner tomorrow."

Paris chuckled, "Poor boy, I almost feel sorry for him. Does he know what he's getting into?"

Rory lay back on her bed, a smile on her face, "Apparently."

Paris shifted her position forward a bit and inquired, "Does it mean that I'm relieved of my phone duty?"

Rory glanced at the phone, mentally willing it to ring but at the same time aware that he wouldn't call, "Absolutely."

Paris smiled inwardly remembering Rory's first year at Chilton and how oblivious she was of Tristan's attention and now? Less than twenty-four hours after meeting him again, she had already slept over at his place and he was meeting the parents the following night. She voiced her thoughts unconsciously, "Didn't know you had it in you Gilmore. You move fast for someone who claimed she hated him years ago."

Back to reality, Rory murmured almost to herself, "I never really hated him, he was obnoxious and couldn't take 'no' for an answer. Somehow, yesterday I saw the Tristan who tried to be my friend, even if it lasted only for a couple of weeks." Then, she sat back straight, glaring at Paris, "And for your information, I don't move at all, I let him carry me!"

Paris chuckled, "Same difference, Gilmore. Same difference."

Rory looked at her night clock and stood up, "I have to get ready. He's picking me up soon."

Paris raised an eyebrow significantly, "Tonight also? Wow! Mary sure changed over the summer." She paused for effect and as she saw Rory's cheek burn a deep red, she added innocently, "Where are you going?"

Rory answered casually, "We're going to go nourish ourselves then walk our different path to rest on our respective beds."

"Are you sure you'll come back tonight?" Paris said slowly, satisfied to see Rory's features flustered.

"Of course!"

Paris feigned disinterest as she picked up her Political Sciences book, "Well, if you change your mind, don't bother calling. I'm tired and will be going to bed early."

Rory bowed mockingly in front of Paris, "Then I'll make as little noise as possible to be sure not to disturb you."

Paris snorted at the sarcasm evident in Rory's voice. She opened her mouth to respond something back but Rory was already exiting the room.

A little while later, Tristan sat on Rory's bed having a discussion with Paris while he waited for Rory to come back. Tired of Paris and her unending questions, his eyes glanced around the room hoping that Rory would open the door and save him from current misery. Not that he disliked Paris, he always liked her in a brotherly fashion, he loved to tease and infuriate her, but Tristan wasn't in the mood for that. He kept feeling the growling of his stomach. He looked at his watch once again, noted that Rory was more than fifteen minutes late. He sighed in frustration when finally Rory entered the room.

Tristan looked at Rory, completely forgetting about Paris and said, "Hello beautiful." He got up from the bed and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

Rory blushed, "Hey, ready to go?"

"Yes." Tristan gallantly offered his hand and she accepted it gladly. They were nearing the door when Paris chirped, "Have a nice evening!"

Tristan and Rory looked at each other, surprised that Paris was still in the room. They glanced at Paris and said at the same time, "Bye Paris."

Tristan winked at Paris and added with a smirk, "Don't wait up, we won't be back for a while."

Tristan brought Rory to a cozy Italian restaurant where the pasta was homemade. Rory observed her surrounding with amazement; she admired the paintings in the soft light. While Tristan held her chair for her to sit, she blushed at the gesture, sat down and watched him as he took his place in front of her. She opened her menu and feigned to be concentrating on the offered meals to try to regain her composure as the nervousness of the first date hit her. She cast a glance in Tristan's direction and saw him unfolding his tablecloth and placing it on his knees.

Rory closed her menu and declared, "I can't decide, everything looks amazing."

Slightly amused, Tristan asked, "Do you want me to help you decide?"

Perfectly capable of choosing her own meal alone, Rory was about to decline but soon came to realize that the small talk over food might break the uncomfortable tension due to her shyness. She asked, "What do you suggest?"

Tristan opened his menu, and asked, "Let's see." He flipped the pages, "Do you like meat?"

Rory smiled, "A meal without meat isn't complete."

The pages of Tristan's menu flipped again, "What would you prefer? Lamb, chicken or veal?…"

After Tristan had finally gotten Rory to choose her meal and ordered, they sat at their table staring at each other but neither one knew what to say to the other. After the waiter came back with their potages, Rory took her spoon and started to eat imitated by Tristan, both relieved to have something to do.

Finally, Tristan broke the silence, "Was Brad a good kisser?"

Surprised by his question, Rory almost spit her soup out, "Ummm, who?"

Amused by her reaction, he smirked, "You know, the one that took my place to play Romeo."

Rory laughed lightly, "Can't tell you, never kissed him. He transferred school the same day you did. But he came back during senior year."

Tristan smiled mischievously, "Then who took my place? Madeline or Louise?"

She chuckled, "Paris played Romeo." As she saw his delighted expression, she added quickly, "and before you ask, there was no tongue involved."

Tristan leaned slightly over the table and whispered, "Why not?"

Blush covered her cheeks, "Because, she's… well she's…" She gulped down her glass of water. "She's not my type. If I wanted to have a try out on the other side it would certainly not be Paris."

Having too much fun with this conversation, he asked, "Who would be your type?"

"No one!" She exclaimed a little too loud, and as she saw people staring at her, she hissed at him. "No one, now would you change the subject please?"

With a smile and joy in his eyes, he declared, "Heard you were valedictorian, how did Paris take that? I'm sure I missed a big show."

"Let just say that she gave me a report of all the Valedictorian that turned badly." She started to laugh, followed shortly by his laugh. A little more serious, "but I think that she didn't get the Valedictorian place because of her hysterical outburst live on TV."

Tristan got serious, "I saw that, felt really bad for her." He paused to take a sip of water. "Although I have found it weird to see the two of you work on a speech together."

Proudly, Rory said, "I was her vice-president last year. Wow, you missed out on so many things."

"Tell me how that could have happened."

She sat back in her chair, contemplative, "Well, it really started after you left. One day, we did a thing at the Inn, it was great, she came to bring me papers for the Franklin and we had place, I invited her to stay and…"

Rory sat back in her chair, looked at the server placing the coffee cup in front of her. She murmured a 'thank you' and watched him leave to attend other tables. Rory was happy of their first date but sad at the same time because it was ending.

Tristan looked intensely at Rory as she seemed lost in her thoughts. He asked as she took her first sip of coffee, "Would you like anything else?"

She smile brightly, "No, it's something that I don't say often, but I think I've eaten a little bit too much." Tristan made a discrete gesture to the waiter that was responded by a little nod of the head and he returned his attention to Rory.

As she finished her last drop of coffee, the server came back with the bill, Tristan handed out his platinum credit card, signed the slip without looking at it. He got up, helped Rory out of her chair, with a charming smile, he murmured in her ear, "After you."

Hurriedly, Rory walked toward the entrance to hide the sudden blush created by his lips close to her ear igniting shivers inside her. Sadness crept over her as she realized that the night was over. As she was about to open the door, Tristan's hand closed around the handle, he opened the door and held it while she came out of the restaurant.

Nervous, not knowing how to end it, Rory whispered when Tristan joined her, "Well, I had fun tonight."

Tristan leaned on the wall, "Yeah, me too."

Rory gave Tristan a small kiss on the cheek, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

A smirk on his lips, "You didn't think I would let you walk back alone, did you?" He took her hand, intertwined their fingers together, "but it's still early, and maybe we could take a walk?"

Sudden warmth invaded her, as she looked at their joined hand, with a timid smile on her lips, she replied softly, "I would love to walk with you."

As they walked aimlessly under the sunset, their hands still joined, Tristan's thumb caressed the palm of her hand, distracting her a little bit from the portrait of Stars Hollow that she tried to explain but enjoyed the little gesture at the same time. "…and then Kirk wanted to start his own business, he had heard about a woman that was selling shirt with the news printed on. He stole that idea but instead of the full news he wrote only a single sentence like 'Babette ate oatmeal'." Tristan started to laugh while Rory continued, "The only time he sold some of his shirt was when I decided to attend Yale, and my mom bought them all. And that was right after…" She stopped in the middle of her sentence, her eyes fixed on the orange and pink colored sky.

Tristan stopped walking and faced Rory, concern marked on his face. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, "What's wrong Rory?"

She looked at him tiredly, "Nothing." Then thinking more about it, she decided to be honest, "I guess I just miss home."

Tristan looked at his surroundings and saw a bench not far away. He led Rory to the bench and sat down on it, Rory followed his motion. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she rested her head on his shoulder. He whispered in her ear. "You'll be there tomorrow."

A tender smile crept up her face, "I know."

They stayed there watching the rest of the sunset quietly. As the first star began to shine, Tristan said softly, "Change of subject, when did you and Dean break up?"

Rory looked at the deep blue sky while she answered, "About a year ago."

Tristan gave her a small squeeze on the shoulder and asked softly, "What happened?"

Rory sighed, and breathed out, "I was into Jess."

Tristan rested his head over her, "What happened with Jess?"

Rory closed her eyes and enjoyed the current embrace. After a couple of minutes, she whispered, "we dated for about six months. One night, we got into a fight and I wanted to go to him afterwards but I couldn't. To make peace. Then, one morning on my way to Chilton, he was in the bus, he apologized, said he would call but left without saying goodbye."

He squeezed her shoulders tighter, "Sorry about that."

Rory raised her head, looked into his eyes and murmured, "No, you're not."

"I am." Tristan looked intensely in her eyes before breaking the eye contact by forcing her head back to his shoulder, "If you got hurt then I'm sorry."

Rory said uncertainly, "Well thanks. I guess."

Interested to know more, he asked as his hand traced small circles around her shoulder, "And ever since?"

Rory smiled, her eyes sparkled with excitement. She shifted her position to face him. "I was away all summer; I went backpacking around Europe with my mom."

Disappointed at the loss of contact, Tristan imitated her movements to face her. "Must have been fun."

Excitedly, she started to relate her summer. "It was amazing…"

The moon high in the sky, Rory and Tristan resumed their walking. They talked and compared what they had liked and disliked of every common place they had visited in Europe.

After a moment of silence, Rory inquired timidly, "Did you have anyone special in your life?"

A glimpse of sadness appeared in his eyes but was immediately replaced by his usual unwavering look, "Nope."

With a glint of amusement flickering in her eyes, Rory asked teasingly, "You seriously want me to believe that you haven't dated anyone in the previous two years?"

A smirk on his face, he said, "Well, you know me; I can't go a week without a date, so yes I did date. But as always, it was never serious."

Rory stopped walking, faced him and asked, "Why?"

Tristan seemed a little uncomfortable with that topic and would have preferred to continue with Rory's love life instead of his. "Well, in military school, we only had a night out per month. It's hard to start a relationship that way. During break, I entertained my father's business associates daughters but then again it's not the best way to have something serious. Now, can we change the subject?"

She enjoyed seeing the usually perfectly in control Tristan DuGrey uncomfortable. "No, we won't." Then, her smile disappeared as she thought that maybe, she was just another conquest also. "How come you never tried?"

A small blush appeared on Tristan's cheek, his voice barely above a whisper, "I didn't want to have a broken heart again."

Rory was surprised to realize that Tristan was able to blush. She took his hand and whispered to herself, "You've been in love before."

"Is that so hard to imagine?" He snapped, hurt showing in his eyes.

She squeezed his hand and explained what was on her mind, "No, yes, I don't know." She took a deep breath and resumed, "It's just that I've never seen you date a girl for more than three weeks and I know it was a couple of years ago and that we were kind of young but I never thought of you as the type to be heartbroken by a girl. Well maybe except for Summer but you got over her a little too fast to be in love with her, plus…"

Tristan cut her off with a smile, "Rory, you're babbling."

She looked ashamed and whispered, "Sorry."

Tristan smiled brightly and explained, "It's okay, don't worry. You were right; I've never been in love before."

Stunned, Rory asked, "How can you be broken hearted then?"

Tristan started walking again as he explained, "I liked a girl who was beautiful, smart funny and very, very odd. One night we kissed but she told me that it was something meaningless that should have never happened."

Rory looked at him "Must have hurt."

He sighed deeply, "yes, but I don't really want to talk about her. I wasn't in love with her as much I liked her enough to care about her."

Rory forced him to stop walking, concern printed in her features, "What happened after?"

He started to walk again and whispered, "Nothing."

She followed him, inquiring, "Did you try again?"

Tristan frowned but answered anyway, "No, I stayed away from her after that."

Rory made him stop walking again, scrutinizing his expression, she murmured, "She's an idiot, breaking your heart like that!"

Tristan was stunned, he looked at her and tried to find a sign that she knew he was talking about her, but she stayed in front of him clueless. Then he realized that she just called herself an idiot for not liking him back. He tried his best not to laugh at the situation and said, "Don't worry about it, it's in the past now." He looked at his watch, "It's getting late, do you want to go back now?"

Rory sighed in resignation, "I guess so."

He tried to make one last suggestion, hoping it would work, "Because if you don't want to, maybe we could catch a movie at my place."

She hesitated and whispered, her big eyes shinning, "That'd be great but…"

"I'll walk you back after." Tristan cut hurriedly.

"Okay then." Looking at him, she asked, "What do you want to watch?"

He let go of their entwined fingers to hold her shoulders, "I don't mind, anything as long as you're there."

Grinning, she exclaimed, "Let's go to the video store."

Rory chose the movie 'Pretty in Pink' and was waiting for Tristan. She sat on his couch, her feet under her, a blanket that was previously on a chair now spread over her legs. Tristan came back with two mugs of coffee. She took the offered coffee with a little smile then pushed the play button. Tristan sat straight, at the other end of the couch. A little frown on her eyebrows, Rory felt disappointed by his sudden coldness and was unable to understand his sudden change of attitude. As Rory concentrated on the movie, Tristan kept stealing glances in her direction, wanting to ravish her but at the same time, expecting the first move to come from her this time.

As the movie progressed, both of them were lost in their thoughts and barely paid attention to it. The tension in the room increased by the minute, Rory stopped the player, turned to face him, and exclaimed, "Speak to me!"

Tristan looked at her with a blank expression, "What?"

Rory moved a bit, stretching her legs on the couch, softly she asked, "Talk to me."

He shifted his current position for one more comfortable and faced her, "Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

Tristan took one of her feet in his hands, massaging it softly. Rory gasped and breathed out, "I don't know."

His eyes looked into hers intensely, his voice husky, "I don't feel like talking anymore."

Disappointed, Rory suggested timidly, "Do you want to finish the movie then?"

His fingers pressed harder over a tight spot on her foot, "No."

Not certain of the way she felt, she asked, "Do you want to walk me back to my room?"

He dropped her foot and his hands moved up her legs, barely touching her. His eyes burned with something Rory could not identify. He shook his head to make her understand that his answer was 'no'.

Slightly uncomfortable, his hands were still moving higher, she asked, her voice shivering, "What do you want to do?"

His hands rested on her waist for a moment before meeting in her back. His face now close to hers, he whispered, "To kiss you." Before she could react or think, his lips were pressed on hers. He laid back on the couch and brought her to rest on top of him. Tristan's hand moved up and down her back, his tongue tasted her lips, willing her to respond.

Rory was surprised but delighted, she opened her mouth, inviting him inside. As their tongues mixed together, he held her tightly.

He left her mouth to explore her neck, dropped butterfly kisses on his way down. Bolts of electricity weakened her body at every new touch, she moaned and murmured relieved, "I thought you had changed your mind."

He stopped to look into her eyes, and tried to understand what she meant but her eyes were dark with passion. A smirk on his face, he captured her lips again, and inquired, "About what?"

She sat back between his legs and heard a grunt. She moved her hand over his chest, feeling the muscles hidden under his shirt. "About kissing me."

"Not a chance of that happening anytime soon." He sat up straight, wrapped his arms around her, "It's just I wanted you to make the first move tonight. Show you that I can be a prefect gentleman if I want to."

She held him back, resting her head on his shoulder, she asked playfully, "You were pretending to be nice?"

Tristan moved his long legs, pushed her back on the couch, "No, but right now I feel like the worst gentleman." She rose an eyebrow questioningly, and he explained in a murmur, "I would make you mine right now." A kiss dropped on her mouth. "I would seduced you and lure you into oblivion, I would thrust inside of you while you would scream my name." To tease her and to make a point, he press his lower body against her, forcing her to feel his hardening erection but as he saw fright replaced the passion in her eyes, he kissed her softly, "But I won't. I'll wait for you to be ready."

Suddenly uncomfortable, Rory tried to push him away but his hold on her was too strong, she whispered, "I think it's time for me leave."

His mouth caught hers, he held her tightly, "Stay, I promise I won't ravish you unless you ask me to."

Her voice shaky, "But you said that…"

His lips muted her. "I have never forced myself on anyone, I won't force you either. You more than anyone else."

She relaxed a bit at his words then asked, "Why?"

He groaned in exasperation, not feeling like talking anymore, "Because I'm obsessed with you."

Surprised by that answer, she asked again, "But why?"

His tone impatient, "Because, you're different." His hand cupped her cheek, caressed her lips with his thumb, "stop talking… kiss me."

She gladly obliged and as they kissed, his hands roamed over her flat stomach, going up to feather touch her breast. She moaned, felt dizzy and hot, "Tristan, I should probably go, it's getting late."

He sat back on the couch, feeling very uncomfortable in his jeans, "Stay, I'll just hold you. I promise I won't steal your virtue tonight."

Her hair messy, her lips swollen, her cheeks flustered, she asked hopefully, "Promise?"

"Yes."

She leaned to give him a kiss, she inquired, "Do you have a shirt and shorts to lend me?"

He made her sit on top of him, straddling him, he attacked her neck hungrily and murmured, "Anything you want."