CHAPTER 12

Sunday afternoon arrived too soon for Tristin. He hated leaving her behind but he at least knew where he stood with her. That gave him a chance to be optimistic once more.

He blared his stereo having Linkin Park sing him back to Princeton. He reminisced over what transpired between him and Rory.

"It looks like I left you a souvenir," he mused.

"What kind of souvenir?" Rory asked, folding one of his shirts and stuffing it in his duffel.

"This one," he said as he proceeded to nibble on her neck.

"Tristin!" Rory scolded. She pushed him away and walked towards the mirror. She saw the love bite that decorated her neck. The skin burns caused by Tristin's five o'clock shadow magnified the hickey. She was amused at the thought that she felt like she finally belonged to someone. She was surprised that "someone" ended up being Tristin.

He came up behind her and stared at them through their reflection. "You know," he said, "This has been one of my best weekends, ever."

Rory faced him and laid her hands on his chest. "You think?"

"Very much so," he whispered. He took her right hand and kissed her knuckles. "I got to see old friends, see my cousin," he enumerated, "get back with you."

"Are you serious?" Rory squealed. "Don't tell me that you think this was a good weekend just because we're together."

"I'm serious, Rory," he stated. "I really was bummed with the way things ended the last time we were together. We said a lot of angry words."

"And we did a lot of things we should have not done," Rory said longingly. The word 'angry sex' immediately popped in her mind.

"I dreaded coming here because I thought you'd hold a grudge against me," he said almost too quietly. "I'm glad we've patched things up and I am hoping we could become more than just friends... or enemies for that matter," he muttered.

"What do you suggest?" she innocently asked.

"I want to be your man; your kept man," he proposed.

"So you weren't really kidding last night, were you?" she posed the question. She herself pondered the possibilities.

"I gave it a consideration once or twice," he admitted. "Look how long we've been apart before we got to this point," he suggested.

"Three years, one summer and an almost three hour drive," Rory sighed.

"Who would've thought?" Tristin grimaced. "All I'm saying is that I'm yours if you would have me." He took her in his arms and kissed her on the lips slowly and tenderly.

"Do you really have to go?" Rory whined between kisses.

"Yes," Tristin regretted saying. "But we could meet each other in DC and join Graham for the weekend," he suggested.

"Do you want to do that?" she asked.

"For you, anything," he responded, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Tristin," she hesitated saying. "What would you do if..."

"If what, Rory?" he asked.

"If I said 'I love you' but I am not ready to just jump into this relationship this quickly?" she asked, making space between them.

His heart sank at her question. "I'd be upset but I'll give you the time to think it over."

"What if I did something so heinous that it can actually come between us? Would you still take me as I am?" she blabbed.

"Rory, whatever it is you've done before we commit to this relationship, I will accept at face value. I won't lie and say I won't be upset but I understand that excess baggage is part of this deal. Remember, I have some of mine coming into this, too. But we owe it to ourselves to at least give us a chance," he said solemnly.

'Confession time, Rory,' she said to herself. "Tristin, I'm pr-,"she got cut off.

"Tristin, let's go!" Graham barged into Rory's room.

"Just a second," Tristin barked at his cousin. "What were you going to say?"

Graham stared at Rory. Rory looked at Tristin before dropping her gaze to the floor.

"You probably have to go," she muttered. She tried to hold back the tears welling up from her.

Tristin looked confused. Graham quietly exited the room after saying, "I'm sorry". Tristin sighed and grabbed his bag. "Promise me you would call me if you need anything."

"You call me," she said. She took a marker from her desk and wrote her cell phone number on his palm.

"I will," he promised. "Hey, you know I'm in this for as long as you want me to be in it. I've lost you once before. I will not let it happen again."

He was almost out of the door before he dropped his bag and jogged back to her. "Here, take this," he whispered as he took his ring off of his index finger. He slipped it on to her middle finger. It was loose but he closed his fingers around hers to keep it in place. "Think of me when you wear it. I promise to take it back from you whenever we see each other. You keep it when we're apart."

"I can't," Rory wailed.

"Yes, you can. Are you afraid of commitment?" he asked.

"I'm afraid of falling in love," she confessed.

"Don't," he said. "It's the best thing that's happened to me yet," he said. "Bye, babe."

Tristin heaved a sigh as he saw signs for the New Jersey turnpike. It is six days too long before he sees his Rory again.

.xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Rory was not the same after Tristin left and Graham knew it. Rory was Tristin's Helen as to Rory, her Paris. He knew that he didn't have a chance with Rory even if somehow, Tristin became the biggest ass and rejected her. He gambled on the fact that Rory would tell Tristin about the baby and that would be the end of their relationship. Rory would then see him as the good guy and they'd be marching off into the sunset hand in hand.

Alas, it didn't happen and he knew why.

Graham hated wishing evil towards the only person he confided to since he was a child. But he was not seeing straight. He wanted Rory for himself and he knew that it was an uphill battle that may end in futility.

It was Monday, six o'clock in the afternoon and both he and Rory were done with classes for the day. The rain was pouring outside and the wind blew mighty gusts. She lay on his bed, reading her notes from her ethics class, oblivious to everything around her. He was by his desk reading his material from his Sociology course. He stole a glance at her still form. A patch of skin from her midriff was exposed. He stood up and approached her. Her intense stare into her notes didn't even alert her that he was headed her way. In one fell swoop, he kissed her midsection affectionately.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked while swatting him on the back of his head with the book in her hand.

"Greeting the baby," he said. "You're starting to show."

Rory grimaced. She started wearing her sweats more often to conceal the little pooch she was starting to develop. "It's not that big yet."

"No, but in a month or so, you're not going to be able to hide it anymore," he informed her.

"Thanks for the biology course, Darwin," she responded.

"So,' he said, pulling up his chair next to her and straddling it. "Have you decided what gender you'd like the baby to be?"

"Definitely a girl," Rory said without hesitation. It's bad enough that she doesn't want a reminder of a mini-Dean running around her household. She still hasn't figured out a plan when to tell her mother about the kid. What would her mother say? What would her grandparents say? Will they ask who the father is?

"She's going to be a handful," Graham said thoughtfully. "Beautiful and a handful."

"Beautiful? Definitely. A handful? I don't think so," Rory negated him. "My mom said I was a great child. I would like to think that my daughter would be an angel. I'd be able to dress her up, braid her hair..."

"And be worried half of the night wondering who she's going out with and if she's protected," Graham sighed.

Rory put her book down and pulled herself up to a sitting position. She took Graham's hands and put it in hers. "You're going to be a great dad someday."

"And if and when that happens, I hope I have boys," he muttered, raising his eyebrows in unison.

"And if they were girls?" Rory posed the question.

"Heaven help me. I'll be spoiling them rotten," he chuckled. "Did you know that I had a sister and a brother?"

"You did?" she said in surprise.

"Yeah," he said, sorrow in his voice. "They were twins. I was three years old. They were premature and mom was sick when she delivered them. My sister died a few hours after birth. Her lungs just can't take it. My brother survived for a few days but I think he got lonely without my sister. At that time, I didn't understand what was going on but I resented my siblings for a long time because I thought they took away my parents with them when they died. When I got older, I realized they were grieving. I guess I should consider myself lucky. At least my parents spent time with me. Tristin... He wasn't so lucky. He was an oops child and they let him know it."

Rory was surprised with the revelation. "I didn't know that."

"Yeah. It was tough on him when he realized that his dad never really wanted him. He married Tristin's mom so that they wouldn't sue the family. We were surprised that they stayed together for so long," Graham imparted the information. "To be honest with you, I think that if he was a girl, they would've aborted him."

"Isn't that a little too extreme? This isn't China, you know," Rory inquired.

"It's still a man's world in the financial field, Rory. Maybe grandpa suggested to my uncle to keep the baby to carry the family name and the business," Graham shrugged. "Oh, the joke was on them when Tristin didn't get into the business world," Graham chuckled.

"He isn't? Rory asked. "I thought he was taking up business courses in Princeton?"

"No," Graham let out a short laugh. "He's getting a degree in architecture. The old man was not pleased with his decision."