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
Dedication: To Cathy, for making us feel special with her wallpaper.
Chapter 17: Because I wanna know how you wanna feel
Vaughn hadn't taken much with her when she had left for
Thanksgiving break. It wasn't necessary. After all, she wasn't in short supply
of clothes or entertainment at her father's penthouse. So she had pretty much
brought whatever homework she had due with her. It was an easy walk back to her
dorm room, suffice to say.
She opened the door, and to her surprise her roommate was already there. "Well,
this is unexpected."
"Vaughn!" Rory exclaimed as she turned to see her roommate at the door, backpack slung over her shoulder. She ambled over and enveloped her in a hug. "How was your Thanksgiving?"
"It was okay," Vaughn brushed the strawberry blonde curls away from her face. "Yours?"
"Great," she replied enthusiastically as she sat down on her bed. Except for the Tristan almost-kiss thing which had sent her into a spaz attack that Lorelai and Lane had found completely amusing. "And kinda not."
That was surprising. Vaughn set her backpack down at the end of her bed. "What happened?"
She twisted the sleeve of her sweater in her fingers, looking down at the floor. "I kinda kissed Tristan. On the mouth. Well, not on the mouth. I was aiming for the cheek and I kinda…missed."
Laughter accidentally burst from her lips, and she covered her mouth with the sleeve of her sweater. "I'm sorry. Are you sure you really were aiming for the cheek?"
Lane had asked her the same question, with the same look of amusement on her face and Rory had given her the same answer, "Yes! I meant to kiss the cheek. It was an impulse. Don't mock me! I'm mortified enough as it is. I kissed him. On the mouth. Tristan!" She remembered the tingly feeling that had crept through her at the intimate touch of his lips. The feeling that had stayed with her all day, after that. "It wasn't the first time I kissed him."
Oops, she hadn't meant to let that slip.
Vaughn's violet eyes widened. "Oh really? When was this first time?"
"High school. At a party," she answered, biting her lower lip. "But that happened because we were miserable and alone."
"Uh huh," she nodded. She probably wasn't going to get much further with this questioning, once Rory was in denial over something. "What else happened during the holiday?"
"The usual. Mom and I watched movies, ate junk food and harassed townspeople." A wicked thought entered her mind that belied the innocent smile she aimed at her roommate. "Oh and Paris and Cole flirted like there was no tomorrow. They disappeared for hours…I don't even want to think about what they were doing."
Well naturally, if there was a girl....then Cole would find a way to whore himself out to her. "Isn't Paris your insanely prudish friend or at least uptight?"
Rory frowned inwardly. Paris wasn't exactly the go-to-girl when you needed to make another girl jealous. "Yes, she is. But it's Cole. Who can resist that smile?"
"Anyone with a brain?" Vaughn ventured. Then she remembered. "Oh, sorry."
She waved it off and curled her legs under her. "Vaughn, come on. You'd have to be blind or well, gay, to think Cole isn't good looking."
"You'd have to be superficial to think that's all that matters," Vaughn countered, folding her arms. She was stubborn on this issue of not admitting anything good about Cole. She liked it that way.
Rory shook her head and smirked. A habit she was picking up from Tristan, no doubt. "This isn't a question about how deep I am. This is about you and the fact that you find Cole attractive. And that eats you up."
"I'll get over it," she nodded her head. "Like the flu. Its hell when it's there, but it goes away after three to seven days."
"Stubborn as a mule," Rory shot back and then sighed. "He's a good guy. And whatever happened between you two that gets you so worked up whenever his name is mentioned is something that needs to be solved. Don't you think?"
Vaughn pretended to consider it for a brief...very brief moment. "No." She paused. "Though I was thinking that we need to expand our group. Four is an awful small number, don't you think?"
Living with Lorelai, Rory sensed the urge in Vaughn's voice to change the subject almost immediately. She would let it drop, for now. "I'm comfortable with small numbers. Makes it easier to remember names."
"I'm not talking like twenty to thirty people. Just a few. Six people would be another nice, even number."
"Well, do you have someone in mind? Someone in need of a social life and who'd want to associate in any way with Tristan DuGrey?"
"DuGrey can be a very powerful name, especially in Connecticut," she reminded her. "But we're hot. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult."
Rory shrugged. She was open to making new friends, although she was quite comfortable with their little dysfunctional quartet. "Why not? If Dawson, Joey, Pacey and Jen could do it, so can we."
She shook her head. "The point is so we won't become as incestual as them."
"Duly noted." She stretched. "Have you had lunch yet?"
"Not yet. You want to go out?"
"Sure."
~*~
Cole spotted the strawberry hair from a mile away and swore softly. Did she have some kind of radar or something when it came to him? Yale was a big school, how the hell did they manage to bump into each other so often? He put down his burger and sighed, preparing mentally for Claymore's acerbic wit. As she and Rory approached his table, he desperately wished DuGrey was there. Schuyler was so much tamer when he was around. "Hey Gilmore. Cruella."
Vaughn really hated Disney movies. She wondered what would irritate Montgomery the most.
"Hey Cole." She smiled at him as she slid into the seat next to him. "I heard you had a nice vacation."
If it was anyone else, he would have felt bad for being so mean but this was Schuyler Vaughn and she was just doing it to tick him off even more. He gave her a sweet smile and wrapped an arm around her in fake camaraderie. "That's because you weren't there, darling."
"Okay you two," Rory cut in, when she saw Vaughn's eyes narrow, "back into your respective corners. Can't you two be civil for even a little while?"
Her lips went into a pout, "I was being civil. He was the one that decided to be an ass." When they were children, Vaughn had been very good at placing blame on Cole. It wasn't difficult, since it usually was his fault anyway.
"I can't help it, Claymore. You just bring out the worst in me."
Rory rolled her eyes and wondered if anyone else in the cafeteria could feel the unresolved sexual tension radiating off her two friends. Grinning a little, she reached for a fry off of Cole's plate when she noticed a familiar pair of lips coming her way. Of course, those lips were attached to a head that was attached to a body but it was the lips her eyes zeroed in on. Speaking of unresolved sexual tension…
"Hey Tristan!" she stated a little too perkily.
Karma was such a well-deserved bitch. If Rory thought she was going to enjoy her and Cole's discomfort, then Tristan came over. It was wonderful. "Hey DuGrey."
"Rory," he bit back a smirk at her greeting. It probably wouldn't be right to pick on her. Especially if he wanted another kiss. One that didn't make her cry, or was cast off as a mistake from movement. "Hey Vaughn. Cole."
"Come, join us," Cole gestured to the empty spot next to Rory. "Scoot over, Gilmore."
Rory shifted an inch and Tristan sat down, his leg brushing against hers as he did so. She yelped slightly and knocked over her unopened can of soda. Vaughn laughed knowingly and she kicked her under the table. "Shut up."
"I didn't say anything," Vaughn defended herself.
"What's going on?" Cole asked, eternally clueless.
"Nothing," Rory replied, quickly glancing at Tristan to make sue he wasn't smirking. Luckily enough, he seemed as in the dark as Cole. "I'm just jumpy."
Rory made it awfully hard for him to not smirk or laugh at her. It was endearing and frustrating at the same time. "Vacations are supposed to relax people, Gilmore."
Vaughn shook her head, "Not when they have to be spent in company with Montgomery." Oops, there went her plan to be nice.
Cole smirked. "That's not what Paris Gellar would say."
"Well from what I've heard about Paris Gellar, it wouldn't seem as if she would know any better."
Rory leaned closer to Tristan and whispered. "He didn't really do anything with Paris, right?"
Tristan frowned, wondering why she cared. Maybe she still liked Cole. "He didn't say anything to me."
Rory's eyes widened as she glanced at the bickering pair in front of her. "Paris wouldn't, right? I mean, she's not his type."
Maybe maybe wasn't such a maybe anymore. Or maybe he just needed to stop thinking, because his thoughts were turning ridiculous. "I don't know his type."
"Duh, Tristan!" she exclaimed in a whisper. "Schuyler. That's his type. Are you completely blind? They're totally hot for each other."
"Hot to kill each other, maybe."
"Everything my mother told me about boys is coming true for me in this moment," Rory stated, letting out a heavy sigh. "You're hopeless and frankly, I'm disappointed. The bickering? The evil glares? All UST."
"What's UST?" Tristan asked, his voice accidentally slipping from a whisper to…well, what could be heard by anyone nearby.
"Who's got UST?" Cole asked suddenly, more interested in what Rory and Tristan were talking about rather than having to listen to Schuyler talk. "Is it like BO?"
"You have BO," Vaughn muttered, eyeing Tristan and Rory oddly.
Cole decided to ignore her in hope of her disappearing altogether. "Hey Gilmore, answer the question."
Rory sighed and suddenly Vaughn's idea of mixing up her social circle didn't seem that bad. "UST is unresolved sexual tension."
"Oh." Now Tristan got what she was talking about. And he couldn't resist, "Do you have it?"
Vaughn snorted.
Cole bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the horrified expression on her face. So much for not incriminating herself.
Rory's cheeks grew hot and she glared at him. "Not likely."
"I'm not sure I believe you," Tristan told her, leaning a bit closer.
Vaughn wondered if this was the part where she should leave so Rory could get that problem resolved. Most likely. She stood up. "Cole, walk me back to the dorms."
"Wha - ?" he asked. And miss out on the action? "I'm not done with my lunch yet."
"There's food in my room." Well, that wasn't exactly what she had meant to say.
Much more tempting, a voice jeered at him. Oh well. He was nothing if not a slave to his stomach. He pushed back, causing the chair to scrape against the linoleum. "Lead on, Claymore. DuGrey, Gilmore, try and keep it PG."
This time Tristan didn't even resist a smirk, "You too."
Vaughn flipped him off before she walked away.
"Oh God," Rory said as she sunk lower into her chair. How the hell did she get from setting up Cole and Vaughn to being alone with Tristan who obviously was not going to forget about her silly, stupid, aimless kiss? "I need new friends."
"No, I think it's complicated enough with just the four of us."
"I don't like complicated." Great, now she was whining. "I'm a small town girl. We only do things simply."
"I've been to Stars Hollow," Tristan reminded her. "I know that's a lie."
"Oh so now you know me?" she bit out, a little too harshly. He stared at her for a second and she looked away. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that."
"UST?" he ventured. Tristan figured he'd be lucky to get out alive at this lunch.
Despite herself, her mouth reluctantly turned upwards. Incorrigible to the core. She glanced up at him, letting her eyes lock with his own amused ones. Hell, why was she even fighting this? "Yeah maybe."
Well okay, that was an unexpected answer. Now, how did he handle this without screwing it up? "Really?"
She turned her body towards him, leaned in a little closer and shrugged. As long as she was on this bold streak… "We won't know if we don't try, right? I mean, only if you want to..."
Like there was any question of him wanting to. He had wanted Rory Gilmore starting in the tenth grade. Nothing in that department had changed. "Do you want to go somewhere?"
Her eyes widened in alarm. Maybe he had the wrong idea. "Like now? Or later…for dinner or something?"
"How about for dinner?" Tristan was praying he wasn't going to screw this up. It'd always been baby steps with Rory Gilmore.
"Dinner yes. We'd get hungry. Eventually. So yeah," she rambled and turned back to her lunch, taking a quick sip of her soda to calm her nerves. "Um, so this is like a date right?"
He felt confident enough to say this, "Exactly like a date."
She nodded and stared straight ahead. Jesus Christ.
