Troubled Past

Ch.5: My Girl's Better

Disclaimer: Ditto to the first chapter.

by StoppedataLight

When their lips met, a spark was ignited and couldn't be stopped.

Rory woke up the next morning on the floor of her dorm room. When she groggily opened her eyes, she saw that she had fallen asleep fully clothed in between her couch and coffee table, and that Tristan was next to her.

Then she remembered. The kiss. It had been one of the best she had ever had. When they kissed it felt right, like everything was going to work out. He had an affect on her that she hadn't felt in a long time. It felt like they kissed for hours before they drifted of to sleep with his arms around her.

Rory could feel the body against her stir. He was waking up. She stayed where she was and didn't let him know she was awake. He froze too, his arms not moving as he slowly adjusted his legs underneath him. She could tell he was trying to not to wake her up. Tristan slowly lifted one arm from her, then tried to maneuver her where he could get the arm underneath her. Instead she mumbled like she was still asleep and rolled over so she was completely on his arm. It was all she could do not to laugh.

He sighed, and laid back down on the hard floor. She felt warm inside knowing that he would let his arm go numb so that he wouldn't have to wake her up.

Rory rolled over so she was facing him, and stuck her tounge out, causing Tristan to laugh, he knew he'd been played.

"You were awake the whole time weren't you?"

"Yep." She answered cheerfully. She sat up so he could move his arm, and crossed her legs Indian style. They both looked at each other and smiled.

"So." He stated.

"So." She smiled.

"That was..."

"Good."

'Very good."

"So."

"So."

"What does this mean?" She asked and Tristan looked at her as if he thought she would suddenly change her mind and decide he was an ogre who was still as bad as he was in high school.

"I don't know.... What do you want it to mean?"

"What do you want it to mean?" This was getting them nowhere.

He decided to take the risk and bear his feelings. "I want it to mean something." Okay, so it wasn't profound but it was a start.

"Me too."

Tristan punched out on the time clock, and started to leave the workroom. He was officially done with the first day of his new job. He had never worked in a stock yard before so he had to learn everything new. Basically, his job was to operate a fork lift and make sure the crates got packed. Nothing major, but it payed really good, and he could work easily around classes.

He had even met a really cool guy that was going to be working similar shifts. He was going to college too, so he would be working mostly nights with Tristan. It was his first year at the community college near Yale, but he was Tristan's age, and was from outside Hartford. The guy seemed pretty cool so far anyway. He could tell that he was the rebellious type, the kind that had probably spent the most of his high school time in detention. He had mentioned that he had failed his senior year, and being the dumb ass he was, refused to take it over again. But in the past few years he had been trying to get his life together and had gotten his diploma.

"Hey Tristan! Wait up dude!" He turned around and saw his co-worker catching up.

"Hey Jess, what's up?"

"Nothing much. Was gonna see if you wanted to grab a beer or something to celebrate our first day done."

"Nah, not really a big drinker."

"Yeah, me neither. Used to be. In fact I was a big one. Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll." They laughed. "But nah, I cleaned up my act during senior year, for a girl."

"She must have been something special."

"Oh she was dude. Too good for me, but for some reason she didn't care."

"You still with her?" Tristan could tell the answer before he said it. His eyes had been bright at the mention of her, but when he asked they got dark again.

"No. I was an asshole and ran away after I flunked out. Took me eight months to come back, but I ran again. Then a few months later I told her how I felt, but it was too late. I don't know, I've tried to get over her, but I just cant' you know?"

"No exactly what you mean. I was in love with this girl in high school, but of course I was an ass, Mr. Big Man on Campus, and instead of acting real, I teased her and she hated me. She had this asshole bag boy for a boyfriend, and ended up running back to him right before I got shipped off to military school."

"Military school? Harsh. Bet that wasn't a joy ride."

"You ain't kiddin, it was living hell." Tristan said laughing.

"But you know what? It just goes to show that you never know what fate has in store."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, after I got out of the military, I went to Harvard for two years, and then came back. After five years, it turns out... she's here."

"Are you serious?" Jess said laughing.

"Nope. Dead truth. Two weeks ago I was moving into my dorm, and I dropped a desk leg on my foot, she heard me yell and came to make sure I was alright. Turns out she lives right across the hall."

"Oh my god! That's like a damn movie plot or something."

"Yeah, we started hanging out, then last night I was at her place watching Willy Wonka-"

"Willy Wonka?" Jess raised an eyebrow jokingly.

"Yeah I know, tell me about it. She loves it, we've watched it twice in the past two weeks."

"The girl I was telling you bout was the same way. We watched it all the time and she would always sing with the Oompa Loomphas.

"She does too!" They both started laughing. "It was must be a chick thing." He shook his head.

"But during the movie we kind of stopped watching and just played around, and we kissed... for like an hour."

"Dude, I'm happy for you."

"I've been like estatic all day. I can't stop smiling." Jess laughed at his new friends face.

"Yeah I can tell."

"But what my point is, you never know. Things work out sometimes, you just have to be ready."

"Yeah, the past few years I've been trying to straighten my life out. Like stopping all my old shit, and getting my diploma, going to college. I can't try to do anything about it until I prove to her that I'm worth her love."

"You go dude. You gotta fight for her. Show those other dudes whose boss! Sneak in there and win her back!" He thrust his arm forward like a sword.

They had reached the parking lot, and were standing by Tristans car.

"Hey, instead of grabbing a drink, why don't you come by my place? You can meet her, see what you think. We can grab some sodas, watch tv, whatever, hang out."

"Sounds good to me, I don't got anything else to do."

"Cool. Jump in."

"Yeah, plus I'm dying to meet this girl, see why you like her so much."

"You'll like her. She's awesome, there's no one better."

"Except my girl." Jess said, opening the door.

"Puh-lease. I'm sure she's cool but not better than mine."

"Uh-huh. We'll see."

Tristan laughed and pulled out of the spot and headed towards Yale and Rory, who was listening to music, waiting for Tristan to come by, and totally unaware that her night was about to get eventful.

Please review and tell me how you liked the chapter. I'm really proud of this one, and the way they were both talking about the same girl without knowing it, so I would love all of you forever if you could send me a short review.