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:Toeveryone still reading this fic! We appreciate the feedback!
Chapter 18: You taste like honey, honey
"Food, Schuyler Vaughn," Cole demanded as he strode into her room behind the blonde. She flopped down on her bed and merely raised an eyebrow – her way of saying 'go to hell, schmuck'. He tried to ignore the creamy expanse of skin that was exposed to him that very moment as her shirt rode up her stomach. Then - to torture him, he was sure – she raised her arms above her head and stretched languidly. Concentrate on your other basic needs, Cole. "You promised food, Claymore. I'm not starving because you decided to play matchmaker for our blind, clueless friends."
"I said there was food in my room," she sighed and rolled over on her stomach. "You can get it yourself; it's under Rory's bed. And, while you're at it, you could turn on the CD player." Any sort of distraction around Cole Montgomery would be nice. Especially when they were alone in a bedroom together. Damn Rory and her UST thoughts.
He shook his head and then dropped to the floor to look under Rory's bed. He reached in a pulled out a bag of Cheetos and a box of Twinkies. "Schuyler Vaughn, this isn't food. I need meat and grease and cheese. I'm a growing boy."
"I'll tell you where we keep the meat if you turn on the stereo," she told him with a smile. Vaughn felt herself growing flirtatious and that was odd. But it was Montgomery, and there was no danger in baiting him, even if it was a different kind of bait. Nothing would come of it.
Flirting came naturally to Cole, no matter who was on the receiving end of it. He leaned back against Rory's bed and smiled. He let his eyes move slowly, lazily down her body – taking extra time on the swell of her breasts - and then back up to rest on her own, darkening gaze. "Don't bother. I know where you keep it, Skye."
Her nose wrinkled at the nickname, before her features smoothed out. Really, no one knew how to annoy her more than he did. "Does this mean you're interested in having a conversation with me then, Cole?"
Ruffled her feathers, did he? He decided to test how tightly he could wind her up. "Conversation," he conceded with a shrug, stretching his legs in front of him. "Or anything else that requires the use of our lips."
Without meaning to her, the tip of her tongue came out and wet her lips. "Sounds creative."
She was in unusual form this afternoon. It was probably all that stupid UST talk Rory had started. He kept his eyes on her, however, grinning crookedly. "Come closer and I'll show you how creative."
Vaughn rolled over onto her back and wondered what they were actually doing before pushing the thought away. "Oh no, I'm far too lazy for to go over there. You'll have to work for it." She wasn't even sure what she was talking about any more. Certainly not that. Or maybe a little of that. Maybe going away on break had messed her up in the head.
Cole shook his head a little. He should have known she'd be a tease about it. He just wondered if she was good for the follow-through. He got up and went to her bed, sitting down beside her, careful not to touch her just yet. "Alright. I met you more than half way. Do you agree?"
Vaughn blinked and looked up at him. Her breath catching just a little as her body and brain started to register his proximity. This was weird, this feeling. She had felt this feeling before, but never with him which was weird, because they had been this close before. But they had been, like, nine. And this was definitely a different experience. And much more...compelling? Whatever, it was, it caused her to raise herself up on her elbows and nod. "Okay."
From this close up, with those kissable lips and violet eyes, Cole could forget just how annoying Schuyler could be. Instead she was just really…hot. His gaze dropped to her lips and he had to fight to keep his wits about him. There was still a power struggle underneath the tension that was cackling around them. This was all just a game to her, he had to remember that. "Remember when we were nine?"
Confusion clouded her eyes. "Nine?" She had kind of forgotten anything but this moment since her eyes had locked down on his lips. "Why?"
"Nicky had locked us in my room one hot, summer afternoon and the entire house was empty? No one heard us screaming or banging on the door," he reminded her gently, laughing a little. "And he turned off the central air conditioner? You don't remember?"
She shook her head. "Not really."
Cole didn't know why he was hurt that she had forgotten. That afternoon had been fun after they had given up trying to get out of the room. They had opened the windows and played video games and watched movies, pigging out on the stash of food he kept in his room. "It was a good day, minus the heat. We went to the carnival at night after we were let out. I think I won you something…"
Vaughn's mouth fell open as memories flooded her. "It was a stuffed unicorn. It was orange."
He leaned back on his elbows and gave her a sideways look. "It was ugly as hell. You named it something equally revolting."
"I named it Cole." Vaughn stuck her tongue out at him.
"Only because you loved it so much," he shot back at her. "You carried it everywhere."
"I needed something handy for when I wanted to take my frustration out on something," she smiled sweetly. "And to not get in trouble for it."
"Knew you liked it rough," he said, winking.
"Only with you, Montgomery." And then she realized how that sounded and she couldn't stop the blush from creeping up to her face.
He chuckled slightly and brought his face a little closer to hers. "Don't I feel special?"
"Um…" Vaughn was smart. Really, she had even gotten into Yale. So she was. But at this moment, she honestly couldn't think of a single intelligent thing to say, so she just kissed him. And that probably disapproved her earlier thoughts about the fact that she was smart, but he was so close...and so kissable...and so Cole. And it was weird. But she just had to kiss him or mumble something stupid, and the former seemed much more appealing.
Okay, so this was what it was like to have the wind knocked right out of him. He knew that they had been flirting and hinting, but he would never have imagined Schuyler would actually kiss him. Not that he was complaining. In fact, the instant her lips touched his, he curled one hand behind her neck while his other went to her hip, encouraging her to come closer so that she was almost on top of him. She complied and with the new angle, he deepened the kiss, excitement and heat coursing through him when she moaned softly.
This was so much better than anything his imagination could have conjured up.
It was a good kiss. Better than any kiss she had ever been given, or at least it had to be since Vaughn couldn't really remember any other kisses at this moment. And the fact that his tongue was distracting her from the fact that it was attached to Cole Montgomery was rather disconcerting. Maybe this is how the whole mess with her mother and his father had started. The thought was a wake up call. Because of all people to model her behavior after, her mother was really on the bottom of the list. And she had worked way too hard to avoid such a thing. So she placed the palm of her hand on his shoulder and pushed him away, and gasped as their lips broke contact.
Cole was glad that she broke the kiss, he was rapidly forgetting the fact that they needed to breathe. Panting heavily, he remained still and watched the various emotions play across Schuyler's face, relieved that disgust wasn't one of them. Barely being able to speak, he whispered, "Schuyler…"
She shook her head. "I have…" Her voice trailed off. She didn't know what she had to do. But she had the greatest urge to run and hide in her brother's house until Cole had graduated from Yale and moved away. It wasn't a typical reaction from her that was more like something her roommate would. "I…am going to go."
She wasn't going to go hide. But being somewhere other than alone in the room with him seemed like a very good idea at the moment.
Okay, not the reaction he was expecting. Exasperated, he sat up as she hurriedly got off her bed. "This is your room."
So it was. "Okay, you can go then."
He ran a hand through his hair and looked at her incredulously. "You're kicking me out?"
"Well, you wouldn't let me kick myself out." Oh God, she was growing inane. "So, yes, leave." Vaughn paused, and then added, "Please."
"Un-frickin'-believable," he muttered, extremely pissed off as Vaughn walked to the door and opened it for him to leave. Cole shook his head and tried to grasp onto sanity before he exploded. The girl hated him when he mocked and annoyed her and she was kicking him out when he kissed her…he should've known. "Fine, I'll go."
He grabbed her waist and then hauled her to him to crush his lips against hers in a fierce kiss before pushing her aside and stalking out of the room, cursing.
- & -
Being on a date with Tristan was much better than being on a date with Cole. This wasn't to say that Cole was a bad date but with him, Rory was simply comfortable in his presence and totally relaxed, like she was when she was with Vaughn.
With Tristan, she was…uncomfortable. But in a really good way.
She blushed when he looked at her, intensely while they ate dinner. Smiled when he complimented her dress. And they slipped easily into their routine banter as they strolled around the Yale campus, debating, bickering, interspersed with perfect companionable silence.
"Are you going home for Christmas?" Rory asked suddenly, mindlessly.
He looked at her oddly. "That's the plan. Unless I can find a way to stay here undetected or Cole takes pity on me and I go to New York with him."
Her eyes widened in surprise. "You'd really rather spend Christmas, alone, on campus than go home to your family?"
Tristan shrugged, hands deep in his pocket. He did like spending Christmas with his grandparents, they're gifts were always extravagant and worth the crap of a DuGrey family holiday. "There's a lot of drama on Christmas. I think my parents might get divorced."
Wow, he thought, he hadn't told anyone that.
Her eyes softened and she titled her head to the side. "Oh Tristan, I'm sorry."
He shook his head, avoiding her sympathy in her eyes. "No, it's a good thing. My parents have hurt each other too much, for too long. I think it's the right thing for them and one of them finally had the guts to do something about it."
Rory wondered why she'd never known about this Tristan. The mature, aware, Tristan. "But I'm sure that it's still painful for you. I know how it hurt me every time my parents tried to get it right, only to end up hurting each other over and over again. Without meaning to but still…every time I'd think, this is it. Finally, we'll be a family."
She wasn't sure why this was tumbling out on her first date with him, no less.
He touched her hand, nodding. "I know what it's like. I'm sorry. That's why I don't want to go back, to pretend that everything is okay and watch my parents try and remain civil with each other. Plus, we don't do holidays well. As a general rule."
"You went home for Thanksgiving."
"Cole was there," he reminded her and then turned, smiling charmingly. "You were there."
She flushed and dropped her gaze to his lips for a mere second before lifting her head to meet his eyes. "I'll be there during Christmas too. Stars Hollow is the place to be, after all, in the snow. I buy the best gifts. And there'll be an empty seat next to mine at the table Christmas Eve…"
Tristan stepped closer, twining his fingers with hers. "Is that an invitation, Gilmore?"
Her breathing hitched a little and one corner of her mouth lifted in a smile. "That's a promise."
Grinning, he lowered his head, softly brushing his lips against hers.
She sighed and leaned into him, giving him all the encouragement he needed to deepen the kiss. Bringing his arms around her waist, thinking about how perfectly she fit against him and mentally kicking himself for wasting so much time to make a move. This was what he wanted ever since he was sixteen.
Rory was berating herself for fighting this inevitability with everything that she had. Her hands slipping into his thick, soft hair. As Tristan tongue moved inside her mouth, making her tingly and hot, the reasons for her barricades were suddenly not so important. He was a good kisser; she knew that from their brief encounter at Madeline's party, almost three years ago. But there was Dean back then and Tristan had a reputation. And now? A voice asked her, through the fog in her brain.
Now, things were very, very different.
They broke apart, gasping for breath, foreheads touching. He smirked a little, breathing still shallow. "You're not running away."
She chuckled, fingers playing with the hair at his nape. "I don't have anywhere to be just now."
His lips trailed over her forehead and cheek. "Good to know."
Then, because her nerves were still frayed from the kiss, she laughed. "If someone told me on my first day at Yale that I'd be kissing you before the end of the semester, I would have laughed in their faces."
Tristan frowned and pulled away. "Why? Is kissing me such a ludicrous idea?"
"No," she answered solemnly, although amused. "I just wasn't in a very good place at the beginning of the semester. You know, with Jess and all. And plus, it wasn't like we were exactly friends."
He tightened his grip on her, she snuggled against him. "And whose fault is that?"
Of course he'd blame it on her. "You weren't exactly the easiest person to deal with, DuGrey. You made it damn near impossible."
"That's because I didn't want to be your friend." He lifted a brow, wiggled it suggestively. "I wanted to be so much more. And I was right. You caved in, eventually."
She shook her head and laughed. "See? Impossible."
"Come on, Gilmore," he stated, kissing the corner of her mouth. She leaned into him, loved absorbing the warmth radiating from him as the winter breeze picked up slightly. "You know you want me."
She sighed, dizzy from the feel of his lips on her skin and decided to play along. She fluttered her lashes and swayed slightly in his arms, raising her voice to a falsetto. "Oh yes, Tristan. I do! Take me!"
"Yes ma'am," he responded and brought his mouth to hers again, for a long, lingering kiss just as it started to snow.
