Tristan put his arms around Rory and let her cry to him. He didn't know what to say; her confession had come as a total shock. She was supposed to be perfect, but perfect girls don't have sex with married men. Tristan didn't know what came over him, he knew it was the wrong time – but he said it anyway.
"15."
Rory looked at him; somehow she just knew what he meant.
"How many did you love?"
"None, but I cared very much about three of them."
"Tell me about your first time."
Rory wished she could get her first time back; if she could just do it over again. Sure she loved Dean and he loved her, but that wasn't how a first time should be.
"Louise."
"Louise Grant?"
"Yes. We were 14 and had just started at Chilton. We both admired all of the older kids and wanted to be like them. We started dating and one night we decided that we wanted to do it. I did care a lot about her but suddenly all these girls were falling at my feet so I broke it off. That's when I became the person you saw when you came to Chilton sophomore year."
Rory was silent. She remembered the way Louise would drool over Tristan, it never seemed possible. She became more curious to know about these girls that won Tristan's heart. The other 12 were just random flings, each one a "flavor of the week."
"Was Summer the second one?"
"Yes. She got my mind off another girl I had a crush on. But after what happened at Madeline's party, I couldn't even look at her. She's one of two girls who ever actually hurt me."
"Who's the second?"
"A girl I never got the chance with. She couldn't stand me, but I was just so intrigued by her."
"The same girl you told me about after your date with Paris?"
Tristan thought back to sitting in that classroom talking to Rory all those years ago.
"Hey, I'm sorry Paris is upset, okay? But is it better that I keep dating her if I like someone else?"
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Oh…I didn't realize. So…you're still not over Summer, huh?"
"Umm…yeah, I'm not over Summer yet."
The way he said it, Rory knew that it wasn't Summer. There was some other girl that had Tristan DuGrey's heart then. Rory became curious as to who it was. She never though of him as the type who would let himself be hurt by a girl. That night Rory saw a side to Tristan that she'd never seen before.
"The third was Taryn, the girl who's been trying to make you break this date."
"The one who hates me?"
"She doesn't hate you…she hates me."
"It doesn't seem that way," Rory responded still speaking softly and lying in Tristan's arms.
"We dated for four months before sleeping together…she didn't want to and I was willing to wait because my heart wasn't fully in the relationship. After the sex I realized that I really cared about her but I didn't want to hurt her."
"You really cared about that other girl, didn't you."
"I still do."
Rory looked at Tristan and saw a look of complete sincerity. No, it couldn't be. He didn't like me in high school. At that moment she didn't care if he was in love with someone else because she wasn't sure she liked him. In his arms for some reason she just felt comfortable and protected. His touch still gave her chills and his smirk still stayed in her mind. Her thoughts were cut off when she heard her cell phone ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey cousin, hear the good news?"
"Yeah, mom told me during dinner at the grandparents. So we're going to be step-cousins. I just wanted to say hi, I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."
"Okay. Bye, Jess."
"Bye Rory."
Tristan wasn't sure if Rory caught on that he was in love with her, but he didn't care. She was lying in his arms and they were talking. He finally wasn't acting like a third grader in front of her and was letting her see the real person. The silence was going on for two long so Tristan interrupted it to find out more about Lorelai Leigh Gilmore.
"I spilled out my heart, now it's your turn. Tell me about your parents."
"My mom got pregnant with me when I was 16 and her and my dad decided not to get married. My grandparents hated that – they hated that she was pregnant. They were always hard on her because she didn't want to be one of the Hartford elite."
"I know that feeling."
"She moved to Stars Hollow when I was born and worked at the Independence Inn as a maid and slowly got promoted until she was running the place. Now she owns her own Inn with her best friend, Sookie, who was the head chef. She's always been my best friend; we talked about everything. I remember when Madeline and Louise first met her they couldn't believe that she was my mother and how close we were. There were only two times she was disappointed in me and both times were because of Dean."
"I told you I didn't like him, Mary."
"The first time it was your fault," Rory responded with a smirk of her own.
"My fault?"
"The Chilton Formal when you started a fight with him. We went back to Stars Hollow and he was still aggravated telling me that you had a thing for me. We ended up at Miss Patty's, the place where we had that Romeo and Juliet rehearsal, and fell asleep. My grandmother happened to be at my house the night before and she was pretty hard on my mom."
"I know how that is."
"What about your dad? Do you ever see him?"
"He's remarried and his wife had a baby, my half sister, Georgia. He comes by every once in a while but he's never been that big of a part in my life. Him and mom almost got back together but then he found out Sherri was pregnant so he didn't break the engagement."
"Wow."
Tristan didn't know how to respond. Jealousy was taking over; when it came to family, Rory had it all. His parents were more like her grandparents who cared only about how they looked towards the other Hartford elite.
"Why didn't your dad give you a second chance before sending you to North Carolina?"
"A troubled son doesn't look too good to those Hartford elite. I was never close to my parents, especially not like you are to Lorelai. They had to keep up appearances and I was never a son to them, just a tax write off."
Rory was left speechless although she always assumed that he was brought up the same way as Lorelai. He just didn't get pregnant and leave at 16, he was sent to military school. Rory took Tristan's arms and wrapped them around herself and noticed that he didn't fight her on it.
The truth was Tristan was in heaven…even reliving bad memories and thinking about how much his "privileged childhood sucked" he had the girl of his dreams. Just then Rory decided to stand up and start walking down the beach.
"Walk with me?" she asked innocently.
Tristan didn't even have to think twice before getting up and joining Rory…his Mary…in a walk in the beach.
"This seems a little cliché, Mary."
"I know – but I like it."
He took her hand in his and they continued to walk and talk. Rory decided that they needed a more base level topic to talk about so neither of them would get emotional. They started discussing Paris and how she and Rory became friends after all of that time they hated each other.
"Mary, what would you do if I kissed you?"
"Tell you to learn my name."
Tristan pulled Rory closer to him and gently brushed his lips against hers. She felt her entire body tense up as he put his hands around her waist. He licked her lips asking for entry and she allowed it. They continued to explore each other's mouths and Rory became less tense. She let herself fall into Tristan's embrace. When he pulled away she asked, "Tristan, that girl you fell for all those years ago. Was she?"
"Yes, Rory, she was you."