Troubled Past

Ch. 2: They-re Ba-ck

by StoppedataLight

Jess slowly walked around the campus of his new home, a small community college. It wasn't too far from Stars Hollow, but it was far enough when it needed to be.

He never thought he'd be the type to go to college, even a community one. People always said he had the "potential," Rory at least always did.

No matter how hard he tried to forget about her, he never would. He knew that. It was fruitless labor to even try. Every time he thought about her, the image of her at her dorm room that night he came back. The night she told him to go one last time, and he went.

Jess tried to get over her. He had tried dating, even having a girlfriend but, it was just another useless task. He knew it would take time, he just didn't expect it to take almost three years.

He made it to his old beat up car and unlocked the door. He didn't have anything better to do, so he figured he'd just drive around and see what he could fine nearby. Maybe he'd even find a good bookstore or Indian restaurant.

He kept driving and passed a huge campus off the road. Yale. The memory surfaced again. Probably wouldn't be too long until she moved back in there, he thought to himself. In fact, he had been avoiding Stars Hollow for that reason. She was probably cramming in time with her mom before she went back to school.

Luke had been bugging him to at least stop by. Even though they talked about once a week, he hadn't seen his uncle in two years, only once since his mom's wedding. The day Luke married Lorelai he came back and watched from inside the horse stalls at the inn. Luke knew he was there and that's all that mattered. He couldn't show himself though, he just couldn't. He had tried to focus on the ceremony, but he couldn't ignore her. She stood as her mom's maid of honor, never looking happier that they dad had finally come.

It had been a little over a year since the wedding, and since then Jess was always careful when calling, and never stopped by.

Lorelai had hated him with a passion since the day he stepped foot in that crazy town, whether he was dating her daughter, or she was married to his uncle or not. Both Gilmore girls hated him not though, and that much would never change.

Dean carried the last box into his new apartment and carefully sat it down on the kitchen counter. He looked at his watch and was pleased it had only taken him a few hours to unload his possessions.

He aimlessly walked around the space and sat down on the bare hardwood floor. The whole place was empty of furniture and held only various sized cardboard boxes that were marked in Sharpie, and stacked in corners.

After the divorce he had tried to stay in Stars Hollow but the looks and the comments... he couldn't escape them. He tried to pretend he didn't notice the harsh treatment or hear the names, but he did. He knew everyone in the town hated him for breaking the hearts of not one but two girls.

He managed to stay a year but decided it was best to leave, he had moved to Hartford, but hated it. So after his year lease was up he was out of there, and now here he was. His new apartment was about forty five- fifty miles from Stars Hollow, just far enough away.

After the whole incident with Rory at the end of her freshman year, he wanted to give her space, and he had for the past two years. He hadn't really wanted to be this close to Yale, but it was a big town and there was only like a two percent chance he'd ever see her, even then he could avoid her if it became necessary.

Rory Gilmore locked her dorm room door and let it slam behind her, there was nobody around to hear it, or so she thought. Right as she was about to head down the stairs, there was a loud thump and a sound of pain from the room across from her.

She slowly walked over to the half open door, and peaked her head in cautiously.

"Um.... are you okay?" She asked. There was a mumbled reply from an adjoining room, and then a tall built male walked into the one she stood in. He was dark blue sweats with a white t-shirt and he walked bear foot across the floor. His face was unable to be seen because he was carrying a large cardboard box that blocked his face.

"Oh, ok...um, I'll jus-"She stopped mid sentence. The guy had lowered the box and her mouth hung open. He was doing something with the contents and didn't notice her mouth hanging open, apparently he hadn't looked at her, that or he just didn't recognize her.

"Tristan?" He stopped dead in his tracks but didn't look up right away. He slowly met her eyes, though his didn't looked surprised and he took a deep breath.

Hope you like it. It'll get even better in the next few days. Please review me with your ideas, I always get writers block so it helps me a lot. Thanks, Paige