Title: Girl Like That

Authors: Mrs. Witter (Jamie) and ChristineCS (Chris, duh)

Disclaimer: Jamie and I, despite the harem we own (we know it creates mass confusion about the ownership thing), do not own Gilmore Girls, their characters, matchbox twenty, their songs or Rob's awesome writing talent so we don't own the lyrics in the chapter title. We also don't own Mark Paul Gosselaar or Emilie De Raven, but you'll have to think about why that is added. We do however claim ownership on our own writing. So consider yourself warned.

Rating: PG – 13

Pairing: Rory/Tristan

Chapter 5: I couldn't tell, if anyone here was feeling the way I do

John Mellencamp. Uh, Tristan had had enough of Cole's type of music for one day. His eyes scanned the list on songs in the jukebox and rested on "The Distance" by Live. Once it was selected, he straightened and sighed. Much better. He turned and abruptly ran into a certain strawberry blonde. "Hey Vaughn."

"Hey Tristan," Vaughn listened to a few lines of the song he had selected before she recognized the song. "Oh, so glad to see you don't have your roommate's taste in music."

He grinned and gestured towards the pool table. "So do you have some time to play?"

Well it was definitely more appealing at the moment than studying. "There's always time for pool."

"Finally," he announced as he racked the balls together. "A girl who doesn't pretend she doesn't know how to play."

She chalked her cue as she replied, "Well, I have an older brother who taught me. Plus, I went to a Catholic Boarding school where all things forbidden must be done."

"My kind of girl," he winked and leaned down, positioning the cue between his fingers, ready to break. "So how are classes?"

"Well a lot better now that there isn't a few dozen theology classes mixed in," Vaughn replied. It was funny how a Catholic school reinforced her belief in atheism. But it was as Mark Twain said- the best cure for Christianity is reading the bible.

"Amen to that."

"Atheist as well?" Vaughn asked. "Well, closet atheist at least. I don't think my father would like it if I were all public about it."

"It's not a matter of not believing, I just don't think some people should write books about something they have no authority on." He aimed and sent purple ball sailing into the corner pocket. "So are your parents strict?"

No they were rather loose, her mother an adulteress and her father with his new girlfriend every other week. But image was everything, and she was a direct reflection of them. Scary thought, that. "Not really. My mom does her society thing, and my father produces plays on Broadway." She shrugged. "The Catholic school thing was more of a way not to deal with custody when they got divorced."

He understood all too well. Since she didn't seem broken up about it, he shrugged. "At least you have it better than me. I wish my parents would just let go, already. They aren't fooling anybody."

Vaughn set up her shot, "Well, image is everything."

"Spoken like true blue blood."

"Kind of hard to forget when they like to drill it into your mind every few hours or so," she replied. "The mantra of our lives."

He gestured around the common room. "At least it makes us appreciate our freedom more. Of course, coming to Yale was decided as soon as I was born but if you don't think about it, it's quite nice to be on your own."

"It's still in their limits that they set for us, but damn its good to have them leave you alone as long as you're discreet about screwing up."

He grinned. "You took the words right out of my mouth." He could relate to Vaughn; they seemed to have similar wavelengths and backgrounds. He hadn't done this in awhile but he thought, what the hell? "Vaughn, would you like to go out to dinner or something with me sometime?"

"Only if you take me some place trashy," Vaughn told him as she hit the ball, and then grinned at him. "The answer is yes, actually, regardless. Just stating my preference early on."

Oh yeah, it was a going to be a fun night. He hadn't had that in a long time. "I promise to take you some place trashy…right before I splurge on some place very nice. Deal?" He lifted his brow expectantly.

"You won't hear me complaining," Vaughn replied. A nice place, a trashy place, and a cute guy in one evening? That was nearly automatic happiness for her.

"Six o'clock, Friday night?"

"Sounds great."

~*~

Rory and Jess. Once whole, now split. Rory reached over and fingered the photo that her mother had taken of them in early spring, she had done that so often after he had left that the corner was beginning to curl. It was hard not to think of him when she was reading. Not only because they had shared the same passion for it, but also because he had written the margin in all of her favorite books. She had thought her Sylvia Plath books would be safe, she sighed, and they weren't. Rory diverted her attention away from her bulletin board; she really needed to take down the pictures that included Jess, by closing her book. Now what to do? Thankfully the phone rang and helped her temporize making that decision.

"Hello, Vaughn and Rory's room."

"Hey."

Oh wow, did the Higher Being upstairs hate her or something? Or just have a twisted sense of humor? "Jess."

"Please, don't bother to hide your excitement."

Rory tugged on a strand of her hair. She didn't know how to feel, much less be excited about anything. "The marching band is running late. As well as the cymbal-playing monkeys."

"Glad to know you went to so much trouble." He leaned back in the chair he was sitting in, running a hand through his hair. He was the one who called, it was up to him to try and make the conversation as civil as possible. It was still Rory. "So, how's the college thing going for you?"

"Like school but, um, bigger," Rory replied, wincing at how retarded she sounded. He wanted normal? She could do normal, she was sure of that. "How's the, uh, Dad thing going for you?" Gee, could she be any more insensitive? What if Jess wasn't ready for such conversation or if he wasn't getting alo...right, she was worrying too much. Time to stop.

He grinned. That tone of her voice was familiar, the nervousness was so comforting. He could imagine her sitting there, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth. "Like it was with Mom but with slightly better communication."

Rory's teeth released her lip, "Well that's good. I mean I'm not really sure how your relationship was with your mom..." Because he had never shared it with her, but no need to rehash old argument. "But it's good. Right?"

"It's good," he confirmed and then stressed on his next words, hoping to explain something to her without getting into a fight over the phone when they were miles apart. "It was something I needed to do, I figure."

"I know," she replied quietly. And she understood, she really did. And she hoped that Jess got out of this what he wanted, he deserved it. But still Rory couldn't help but think it was unfair. Really unfair.

He cleared his throat, a little overwhelmed. He had agonized over this call more than he had the one he had made to his mother. Talking with Liz was a walk in the park compared to this conversation. "Are you and your roommate best buddies, yet?"

"We're getting there," she answered. "Vaughn seems pretty cool so far. No secret weird fetishes uncovered yet."

"Check under her bed to make sure." He chose his next words carefully, not knowing how they would be received, if they were pre-emptive. "Would it be okay if I came to visit sometime soon. My dad and I are planning a road trip. A bonding thing. I'd like to see you."

Um, wow. "When?" Rory asked warily, because the truth was that she wanted to see him. She just didn't know if soon was a good option.

Okay, so it obviously wasn't the right time. Damage control. "We're still working out the kinks. I'll get back to you on it. I guess I just wanted to know if it was okay."

"It's okay," Rory assured him, resorting to twisting a strand of her hair. "As long as there is warning. Because it'd be bad for you to travel all this way and not have a hotel to sleep at. Or something like that."

"I just want to see you," he said sincerely. There was a pause, he heard some shuffling but she didn't answer. He sighed. "What are you reading?"

"The Bell Jar," she answered, opening up back to where she had currently reading, and looking down at the margins. "Huh, I don't think Plath would appreciate the comments you made regarding Buddy."

"I speak nothing if not the truth." This was good. Getting back into their old routine was both healing and painful. Maybe that's what they both needed because it was real.

"I miss you," Rory blurted out, the words pushing forth through her lips as if they'd been waiting there for a while and watching for the right moment to come out. And it was the right moment, because she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her.

He was relieved. Some part of him believed that she didn't. "I miss you, too."

~*~

"Nicholas," Cole greeted his brother right outside the dorm, surprised. It was very rare that the eldest Montgomery child would drop in on his younger siblings. Unless there was a family emergency or crisis. Nick was always there when you needed him, never when you wanted. "What brings you by?"

"I decided to see what I missed out on by going to Princeton instead of Yale," Nicholas shrugged. What did it matter? He did what he did on a whim. "How is Yale?"

Although he was suspicious of his brother's motives, Cole simply smiled. "It got me out of that mansion."

"And that's all that matters, right?" Nick asked, watching a female passerby. Not bad.

"You know it," he answered as the two brothers descended the steps. "Seriously, is there a particular reason you're here or am I to buy your earlier explanation?"

"No particular reason unless you want to count the one where I left the house because our dear sister was in trouble and she has that annoying habit of projecting our parents' anger onto me," Nick answered.

"Can't say you don't ask for it." One of the many things Cole was glad to be away from was Nick and Ronnie's disagreements and screaming matches.

"Nothing that could ever be proven," Nick reminded him as his gaze wandered and found an almost-red head. What was that called again? Right, strawberry blonde. Nice. Very nice. "She looks familiar," he tilted his head, as if that'd give him a better view. "But I'd hate to think I'd forget someone like that."

Cole followed his brother's line of vision and groaned. Someone up there was making him pay. "Once she opens that mouth, you'll be wishing you did."

"You know her?"

"You do too." She chose that moment to turn around and Cole turned to his brother, looking for some kind of reaction. Nick's face was blank. "That's Schuyler."

"No, it's not," Nick replied automatically. Schuyler Claymore was a bright haired, freckled midget that was forever following her brother around. Or beating up Cole. Heh. Schuyler was not curvy in a sexy sort of way. She was an almost nuisance.

"In a perfect world, yes it's not. In reality? Very much possible."

"Leo always leaves out the important stuff then when I talk to him," Nick mused aloud as she walked toward them.

He wondered if they could just turn and leave, pretending they never saw her. But he recognized that gleam in his brother's eyes. Damn it. He smiled tightly as Schuyler came to stand in front of them, grinning wildly at Nick.

"Nicky!" She greeted him, happy to see him. The one Montgomery she didn't feel the urge to throttle. "Has your life gotten so bad that you needed to see Cole for something to do?"

Nick laughed; he had forgotten how much Schuyler and Cole didn't get along. "Something like that."

"Don't you just feel the brotherly love?" Cole mumbled to no one in particular.

 Nick ignored his brother, focusing on Schuyler instead. A much more adorable vision anyway. "Wow, it's been...how long again?"

"Six years," Vaughn replied.

"And you were at that convent place."

"Unfortunately, the nuns got tired of her." She could test the patience of a saint.

"That's the nun's loss," Nick pointed out, "and Yale's gain."

Vaughn giggled despite herself, because she knew when she was getting played. But still flirting with a one-time childhood crush could be fun. "Well Montgomery's presence sort of evens it out."

Cole gave her a withering glare. "We'd love to stay a chat, Schuyler, we really would. But I have a class early in the morning so my brother and I really need to get going."

Nick didn't see what that had to do with him, "Act--"

"It's okay," Vaughn told him, before he could complete a word. "I have a class tomorrow too. Bye Nicky."

He watched her walk away and then turned to Nicholas who was openly staring at her swish of her hips and behind in her tight jeans. Cole hit him on the arm. "You are so transparent. It's sick."

"Don't tell me you're immune to that because of some sort of grudge you two hold against each other because of what happened six years ago," Nick argued with him. "Who knew little Vaughnie would grow up to have such great abs."

"You are a twisted man, Nicky." Cole emphasized his brother's name and fluttered his lashes. Then he grinned and glanced at Schuyler who was too far but unmistakable with that shade of hair. "I never said anything about immunity. I just said you were sick."

"You're just as sick, bro."

Cole couldn't dispute that. "I know. We're related. Unfortunately. So you coming to dinner or not?"

Nick shrugged; he was always up for food. "May as well."

"You're paying."