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 9: I think there's still a piece of my heart on your face

Beyond The Pleasure Principle by Sigmund Freud. Cole believed that they really hadn't gotten that far in his Intro to Psychology class. He was pretty sure that personally, he would never be ready to read anything by Freud. The man made absolutely no sense. Although certain female issues could be explained by his theories. He sighed and reached for it anyway, just to see what it was about. A smaller hand appeared from nowhere and reached for it at the same time and he turned abruptly to confront the impatient person, their hands clasped together around the binding. "Hey!"

It was unfair for a person to get a book before based on the sheer fact that they were a foot taller than her. So maybe, just maybe sometimes Vaughn was a bit pushy when it came for reaching things. Still, she had never believed that fate would be so cruel to have the other person that was reaching for the same book as her, be Cole Montgomery. "I don't suppose you'll allow me to just have that book, will you?"

He tried not to think of her as the girl he had caught making out with his roommate but the annoying brat who had made his childhood, well, colorful. "Now what would be the fun in that, Schuyler?"

"It would make life a lot easier," Vaughn offered. Well, her life at least.

"I have to read this." He pretended to be serious; bugging her definitely brightened his day. He pursed his lips in mock regret and tugged the book out of her grasp. Then he gave her a once over, made her squirm. "Unless you're willing to pay the right price for it, Schuyler Vaughn."

"I'm willing to kick you where it counts," she offered, it was natural to slip out, and be inimical to Cole, which was funny because she was kind of in the mood where you wanted to get in and out as quick as possible. "Is that what you had in mind?"

He gave her a distasteful look and handed the book over. "You take all the fun out of making a pass, Claymore. I should have known."

Vaughn hugged the book close to her chest, and set her disbelieving gaze on him. Right, like he meant that. "But it got me the book all the faster, didn't it?"

He didn't know she'd be so shocked by his proclamation. Interesting. "That's because I wasn't really going to read it anyway. The words 'beyond' and 'pleasure' just got to me." She gave him a withering glare but he ignored it and continued. "So, Killianski's neurotic, isn't he?"

She blinked at the subject change. Okay, she could be friendly. "Yes…but…" Vaughn stopped herself before she stuttered. "You are not in that class with me."

"That's what you would like to think, Schuyler." Before he could stop himself, his hand moved up to tug at the curl that had escaped the worm-like thing she had tied her hair with and rested softly against her cheek. "That shade of blonde is hard to miss."

Every single thing within Vaughn froze, and she wasn't sure if she was more shocked at the gesture or the fact that she hadn't automatically stepped back. "Um, it's nothing spectacular. Just strawberry-blonde."

Maybe it was the proximity of their bodies or the slight whiff of that sweet perfume she wore, but he couldn't seem to let go of her hair or step back. Instead he wrapped the curl around his finger and looked right into her eyes. "I like it."

Her eyes wouldn't leave Cole's. It was weird. It was almost preternatural. "It's just hair."

Right. It was just hair. He blinked as her hair uncurled from his finger. He stepped away at the same time she did and the awkwardness doubled. He cleared his throat, scratched the back of his neck and thought of something – anything - to say. "So why are you reading that book anyway, Skye?" Ah, that old nickname she hated. Good one Cole, he thought.

Vaughn growled, she couldn't help it. There was something about that nickname she absolutely loathed. It may have had to do with the fact that her mother had spent her childhood fluttering about her, proclaiming how much 'prettier' it was than Schuyler. But it was time to get over that. "To familiarize myself with Freud. His stuff wasn't exactly available to me in high school."

"Freud spewed nonsense," he offered as they sat down at the table nearest to them. "Come on, Oedipus complex? I'm sorry, I don't want to sleep with my mom."

"Why not? Not only does everyone else, but from what I hear they also act on it."

He clenched his fingers tightly, ignoring the anger. Schuyler knew how to push his buttons. That's what she's doing now, he reminded himself. "I think you have our mothers mixed up, Skye."

Ouch, okay. Just another reminder on why she and Cole would never get along. They knew how to hurt each other far too well. Vaughn suddenly wanted to go home, lock herself in her room and stare at the wall for a few hours. Too bad she didn't have a home to go to. "I have to go." She stood back up, and took a few steps backwards. "I told Leo, I'd call him tonight."

He didn't want to make her leave but he surely wasn't going to ask her to stay. He nodded. "Tell him I said hi, will you?"

"Yeah, that'll happen," She'd like to say she walked calmly to the desk to take out the book. But it pretty much took all her control not to run.

~*~

The dorm room was empty when Vaughn got back to it, and she as fond as she had grown of her roommate, she was quite happy about that. She had always felt odd about talking on the phone to someone when someone else was in the room. She sat on the bed and dialed her brother's phone number.

"Damn it!" Leo said into the phone as he stubbed his toe against his daughter's empty playpen.

"Glad to hear from you, too, Leo," Vaughn returned, her brother had never learned to control his emotions. It seemed to be something they had in common.

"Hey kiddo," he said, stumbling onto the couch and lifting up his toe to examine it. He hated it when he was alone at home and injured. "I bumped into Torie's playpen. Kaylee says I'm becoming accident prone."

Vaughn twirled the cord around her finger. "She's not very observant then. I noticed it around the age of eight." She grabbed a pillow from behind her and put it on her lap. "How's Torie?"

"Growing way too fast. I swear she said 'Dada' the other day."

She smiled. "That's great, Leo. I miss you guys."

Leo leaned back against the sofa, flinging an arm over the back. "We miss you too, kiddo. So, how's college life treating you? Make any friends? Enemies? Meet any republicans?"

Leave it to her brother to ask as many questions as possible in less than five seconds. "Pretty good. Yes, a few. I get along with my roommate. Only an old one. And, enough for a lifetime."

Leo processed all that information, matching up all his questions with her answers and then frowning. "Who's the old enemy?"

"How many old enemies do I have?"

Realization hit and he let out a whoop of laughter. "Cole Montgomery goes to Yale, doesn't he?"

Vaughn sighed, she had forgotten about the more annoying traits of her older brother. "I'm not finding it very funny, Leo."

"You're not supposed to Vaughnie," he replied, using another one of her much-hated nicknames. He and Nicholas had teased her mercilessly with that one. "This is rich. So have the two of you tried to stay out of each others' way?"

Oh, how she wished. "If only we could. My roommate's befriended him; I've befriended his roommate. He's every-frickin'-where."

"He's not as bad as you want to believe he is, Schuyler Vaughn," Leo replied taking a tone with her that he knew she wouldn't like. "What happened was six years ago."

Vaughn tugged on a curl. Right. "He's still an ass."

"You're the one being stubborn, sister dearest."

She grinned. "This surprises you, dearest brother?"

He laughed, running a hand through his hair. "Not in the least. Try to be nice, kid. It might work wonders."

"I'll be nice when he's nice." And let's face it; he was almost as much to blame for their inimical relationship as she was.

"Fair enough." Leo glanced at the watch and realized it was time to pick Torie up from his in laws. "I gotta run, Vaughnie. Keep your nose clean, kid. And lay off the coffee."

"All right, watch your feet," she warned her brother. "Bye Leo."

~*~

Tristan had every intention of going straight to the library to start research on the paper that was due next week, but he stopped as soon as he saw Rory sitting, with a look of extreme lassitude in her posture and in her face. He was always was prone to procrastination anyway. This was just fate's way of reminding him of it.

"Too tired to make it to the dorm?" he asked as he sat down next to her.

Rory summoned all her energy so that she could turn to face him but it felt like there was no part of her body that didn't ache. She belatedly remembered why her mother was so against exercise and sports. What ever made her think she could do all those push ups? She pouted. "I'm sore," she whined.

Tristan couldn't stifle an amused smile. "What have you been up to?"

She really wanted to snap at him but she had brought this pain upon herself. She sighed dramatically. "I exercised."

He took pity on her, and started to gently massage her shoulders. "Why would you do a silly thing like that?"

She leaned into him and closed her eyes, welcoming the relief. Oh, he was good. "Mm. I don't know. I think because my mother wasn't here to hit me upside the head. Vaughn is crazy."

Tristan chuckled. "She's your roommate, you should know that by now."

His hands moved lower, between her shoulder blades. She almost moaned. "Where did you learn to do that? Wait! Don't answer that. I probably don't want to know."

She didn't. "So what exercising madness did Vaughn drag you into?"

"She took me to the gym." Rory decided to leave out the part where she actually agreed to go along. Tristan didn't need to think she was a complete moron.

"And you couldn't stop her from forcing you?" Tristan teased. "I mean you're only, what? A foot taller than her?"

She opened her mouth to retort but closed it again when she couldn't come up with anything. He continued to grin and work his magic on her lower back. "I was bored."

"So you decided to see how close you could get to death without committing suicide?" Tristan had forgotten how much fun it was to tease Rory Gilmore; he was half tempted to add a 'Mary' in there. But he had better restraint now then he did when he was sixteen.

He was teasing her; she knew it. She'd forgotten how easily he could get under her skin. "When you say it like that, it sounds silly. But at the time, it sounded pretty healthy because you know, exercise is supposed to be good for you."

"Yes, but beginners are suppose to start off slow."

"I know that!" she cried as his hands stopped their ministrations and rested on her shoulders again. "Could we stop picking on me, now?"

"That depends, how bad of shape is Vaughn in?" When she turned and glared at him, he decided to stop. "You want some ice cream?"

She took that as a peace offering and smiled widely. "Always!"

Tristan stood up and held out his had. "Come on then, there's a Ben and Jerry's around here."

She accepted, wincing a little as she stood up. "I never thought I'd say this but I should have listened to my mother. I'm just not built for some things."

What she was built for, he'd rather not think about. He'd gone down that road before and ended up in Military School. It was better to concentrate on ice cream. Right, ice cream. "Forget about the exercising and focus on the Vermonster I'm buying you."

She clung to him happily, without realizing what she was doing. "You're my new best friend."

So he was wrong. Rory Gilmore wasn't trying to kill herself; she was trying to kill him. Tristan patted her back, and stepped back from her embrace. "Remember that if I ever do anything stupid."

She managed a nervous laugh, embarrassed by her sudden touchy-feely tendencies. She cleared her throat. "You could even try and not do something stupid."

"I could, can't tell you if I'll succeed or not," he held the door open for her when they reached it. "How's this for a beginning?"

"Very chivalrous." She smiled and stepped in, thinking about how much the gesture was like her father's gallant one earlier in the week. Huh, had Tristan just reminded her of her father? Before she could dwell on that, she noticed a familiar figure leaning against the counter. That bored expression, that indifferent attitude. It was hard to miss. He saw her then, and straightened immediately as she approached. "Jess."