Chapter Seven

"So, Rory, dear, how was the Valentine's Dance?" Emily Gilmore asked casually the next day.

Lorelai smirked at her daughter across the table. "Uh, it was fun," Rory said politely.

"I heard you had a very handsome date," Emily prodded further.

"I don't know about that," Rory said out of reflex. She was so used to insulting Tristan she forgot she was talking to her grandmother.

"How did you even know about her date?" Lorelai interjected.

"I have connections, Lorelai," Emily explained. "And I must say, Rory, I am impressed. Tristan DuGrey seems like a fine young man."

Rory wanted to laugh. She didn't think her grandmother would think he was a 'fine young man' if she knew about his reputation.

"DuGrey you say?" Richard chimed into the conversation. "Ah, yes, Janlan's grandson, right? Janlan is a fine man. Poor man works so hard he had a stroke a couple of weeks ago."

"I know, Tristan was really upset," Rory added, getting another smirk from her mother.

Lorelai had been teasing her about her new relationship with Tristan the entire journey to her grandparents. She seemed to find it amusing that Rory had actually believed her and Tristan could be just friends.

"So, you and this Tristan, you're serious?" Emily enquired.

"Mom, they only had their first date yesterday, give them a chance," Lorelai said.

"I am merely enquiring about my granddaughter's life, Lorelai. Is that so wrong?"

"Well it starts as enquiring and then the next thing you know you'll be inviting them to dinner."

"Now that you mention it, I think that's a wonderful idea." Lorelai groaned, but Emily took no notice. "Isn't it Richard? You haven't seen Janlan for quite some time; we can invite him and Tristan to next weeks Friday dinner."

Rory's face widened in surprise, and she tried to convey to her mother how much she hated that idea.

"Woah, getting a bit ahead of ourselves aren't we Mom? They've barely started dating."

"What is so wrong about inviting her young friend here? Surely you are not embarrassed of me, right Rory?"

"No, of course not, grandma," Rory said politely while Lorelai glared at her for being a chicken. "It's just that…uh…we're really busy at Chilton for the next few weeks, and maybe we can do the dinner after things have settled down."

"Very well," Emily agreed. "So, tell me about this Tristan? It's such a relief that you finally got some taste."

"Uh, I think Dean was good taste," Lorelai jumped in. She knew Emily was only impressed with Tristan because of his name.

"Oh, yes, of course. But Rory is no longer with that boy, and if I'm right it was not her choice for it to be that way."

Rory groaned inwardly as her private life was brought up at the dinner table.

"That doesn't mean he wasn't a good boy," Lorelai defended. "Just because Tristan has money does not mean he's automatically great."

"Well, no," Emily agreed. "But he must be special if Rory has taken to him."

Lorelai rolled her eyes, wondering why she even bothered.

"So, grandma how's things at the country club?" Rory asked, trying for a subtle subject change.

******

"My grandparents are your biggest fans. I swear my grandma is mentally planning the wedding already," Rory groaned. She was lying in bed talking to Tristan on the phone that night.

"Aww, isn't that sweet," Tristan grinned.

"I barely tolerate you enough to date you, if you think I'll marry you you're severely deluded," she teased.

"You wound me, Mary. I've already bought the rock," he joked.

"I'm not the rock type, Tristan. You should know that."

"I know. I wouldn't dare buy you anything expensive."

"Well, once in a while wouldn't hurt. There has to be some perks to dating you."

"If I could be there in your room I'd show you exactly what the perks of dating me are," he leered.

Rory blushed. She didn't need his encouragement to have those kinds of thoughts about him. They seemed to end up in her head without any help.

"Are you sure I can't come over, I can be there in twenty minutes?"

"And I'm sure my mother would appreciate the visit at one in the morning."

"You said she's a heavy sleeper."

"But she has a sense about evil boys trying to corrupt her daughter."

"So, I'm still evil, huh?"

"Oh yeah, very evil. You're going to need to do some major work before you lose that title."

Tristan grinned. "I like the sound of that."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Do you think of nothing else?"

"When you're involved? Not a chance."

"You're hopeless."

"Yep."

******

The rest of the weekend passed by pretty uneventfully. Rory hadn't looked forward to a Monday this much in a very long time, and she knew it was crazy. How the boy who once used to annoy her, could make her miss him so much, she didn't know.

She walked in to school, expecting to find Tristan waiting for her at her locker, but was disappointed when he wasn't there.

Paris was there however and Rory sighed. She was still not talking to her, and Rory knew she would not take the news of her and Tristan dating well.

Without saying a word to Paris Rory started arranging her books from her locker.

"Uh…listen Rory," Paris said, breaking the silence. "I may have been a little hasty in uh…refusing to speak to you lately."

Paris had realized that however much she wanted to; she couldn't blame Tristan not liking her on Rory. It was stupid. And despite everything she did, she really did like Rory most of the time.

Rory, knowing that was as good as an apology as she was going to get just smiled at Paris. "Uh, that's ok."

"So…uh…how was your weekend? Valentine's must have sucked now that you're not with that boyfriend of yours."

"Oh yeah…actually…"

"Do you think Tristan went to that Valentine's dance?" Paris asked. "Not that I care really. I just figured you'd know if he took someone."

"Actually Paris I…"

"Hey gorgeous," Tristan cut her off, coming up behind her and turning her so quickly she didn't have time to react before his lips found hers.

His hands snaked around her petite waist and his tongue sought entrance into her mouth. This wasn't a 'middle of corridor' kind of kiss. This was a full on 'I want you so bad' type of kiss. But that didn't seem to register on either of their minds. Rory was so distracted by Tristan's lips, that she totally forgot about Paris and the fact that she was in the middle of school. Her arms snaked around Tristan's neck, pulling him closer, letting him devour her.

Paris's mouth dropped open as she saw the two of them kissing. She couldn't really believe her eyes. She knew Tristan liked Rory, but she couldn't believe she had given in.

"I guess that's my answer," Paris mumbled as they pulled away.

"Oh Paris, I'm sorry I was going to tell…"

"Uh, don't worry about it," Paris mumbled, not having the energy to be angry. She closed her locker and walked off, leaving Rory feeling really bad.

"What was all that about?" Tristan asked.

"Uh, nothing," Rory lied. She turned to Tristan and put all thoughts of Paris out of her mind.

He leaned forward and kissed her again, but this time she pulled away.

"I think we need to have a talk about all the PDA's," she warned him.

"But I missed you!" he whined.

"You spoke to me five times on Saturday and eight times on Sunday…"

"But who's counting right?"

"…You can't possibly have missed me."

"I did," Tristan said, as he leaned forward to kiss her again.

"Tristan…" she said, trying to be assertive, but failing.

Noticing her blush, Tristan pulled away. "Sorry," he said, somewhat sincerely. "Do you want to come over after school to study? We'll have the whole place to ourselves."

"Yeah and we'll get so much study done that way," Rory said sarcastically.

"Well if you can't trust yourself to be alone with me, we could always go somewhere more public. I for one am completely capable of concentrating on studying."

"Yeah, sure you are."

Rory rolled her eyes as she took Tristan's hand and led him into their next class.

******

"Mr. DuGrey, as interesting as I'm sure Miss Gilmore's ear is, can you please try and concentrate on the discussion," Mr. Medina broke Tristan's thoughts.

It wasn't the first time this had happened to him, but this time he seemed embarrassed. And Rory, instead of being embarrassed just turned and smirked at her boyfriend.

When Mr. Medina wasn't looking Tristan stuck his tongue out at Rory jokingly and she rolled her eyes.

Tristan couldn't help it. It was hard concentrating when Rory was sitting a few feet away from him. He had barely been able to keep his eyes off her before they were dating, and now that they were together, all he wanted to do was kiss her, all the damn time.

He still couldn't really believe Rory was going out with him. She had been so determined not to give in to him at first, he was sure he would never get through to her.

But that had all changed the night of Madeline's party. He didn't know what had possessed her to let him kiss her, but that kiss had changed everything between them, even if they hadn't realized it yet.

He remembered why he had asked Summer out in the first place. It was to get over Rory. To stop her from consuming all of his thoughts. He was determined to prove he still had the control. But Summer obviously saw through him and decided to dump him in front of everyone. It was his fault it happened that way really, he needed to prove something to himself, and he couldn't.

And like fate would have it, it had been Rory that came to comfort him. The person who had started the whole thing in the first place. Or maybe it wasn't really fate. It was just like her. Rory would try to make someone feel better, even if they had been the source of annoyance in her life for months, because she was just like that.

If being sincere and really talking to Rory that one night had resulted in her allowing him to kiss her, he realized that maybe being himself was the way to get Rory to notice him. She wasn't like most girls. Most girls he knew were happy with his charm, his good looks and his money. That was enough for them.

That would never be enough for Rory. She wanted to look at her boyfriend and see the good in him. See what he really was and like him in spite of it. And that was what she was doing with him now.

With her he felt he could open up. He could be himself without worrying that people will think badly of him. He didn't have to worry that his secrets would be around the school. He could be himself, free of all the pressure to keep up appearances and it felt liberating.

She made him feel free. Like he could do anything. And as trite as it sounded, he hadn't been that happy in a long time.

******

"You say I'm the one who can't concentrate, yet Mr. Medina had to call on you three times today," Rory teased as she got into Tristan's car after school.

"What can I say, Ror? I can't concentrate on anything, but you."

Rory rolled her eyes. "You're crazy."

"About you."

"God, the lines just keep on coming."

"They're not lines," Tristan said as he started driving home. "They are completely sincere."

"When you say them with that smirk on your face, they're not sincere."

Tristan wiped the smirk off his face and turned to Rory, keeping an eye on her while driving. "Oh Rory, I can't think of anything else when you're around. I'm crazy about you. Marry me?"

Rory giggled at Tristan's serious expression because she knew he was still kidding. "Just drive Bible boy!"

Tristan laughed. "I can't win with you. You don't like the joking, you don't like the serious. What's a guy to do?"

"What can I say? I'm a tough girl to please."

"Don't I know it."

"Hey!"

******

"Tristan," Rory moaned as he kissed her neck, alternating between gently kissing, nipping and sucking at the skin.

She couldn't even remember how they ended up making out on the couch of the DuGrey mansion instead of studying like she planned. All she knew was that the minute Tristan pulled her onto his lap and started kissing her; all thought went out of her head.

Tristan's arm was resting on her waist while she had her arms wrapped around his neck. She had never felt like this before, this need to be closer to him somehow. It was crazy.

She hadn't done anything more than kiss Dean in the three months of dating him. And here she was on the first proper day as Tristan's girlfriend and she couldn't seem to stop his wandering hands. What was worse was that she didn't really want to stop him.  

Tristan moved away from her neck and kissed her again, causing her to lift up from his lap until she was straddling him. He groaned as her body came flush against his. Her hands moved to his chest, idly touching his shirt buttons. Tristan encouraged her and she slowly started tugging at the buttons, undoing the top couple of buttons before he took over and did the rest before pulling his shirt off.

Rory ran her hands over his chest and back, feeling the muscles ripple beneath them.

Tristan moved with her, so she was lying on the couch, his body covering hers, but her legs were still wrapped around him. His hand, which had remained above her clothes until now, slipped underneath her shirt, softly running over her stomach.

He looked up and met her eyes, which were filled with something he had never seen before. Desire and passion. For him. She smiled at him, as if only just realizing what they were doing.

"Hey…" His voice was so soft, Rory was sure she had never heard it like that before.

His fingers caressed her skin softly as he kissed her again. They lay kissing for a while until Tristan finally let go, pulling them both up into a seating position. Rory was still in his lap and her hands instinctively came around his neck.

He was drawn to her lips again, even though he was trying to pull away.

"God, Ror…"

"What?"

"I can't get enough of you," he told her honestly.

Rory blushed, realizing she felt the same way. It was like all other thoughts weren't important when he was near her. The feelings she had for him were just getting stronger.

She kissed him back, her hands running over his broad shoulders. Finally she pulled away and moved off his lap, as if just realizing she was sitting on him. "We should probably get back to studying, right?" she asked although she wanted to carry on touching him.

It wasn't like her to do this. To not care about anything but touching him. He made her act so crazy.

"Yeah." He leaned over and ran his hands through her hair, fixing the lose strands.

He picked up his shirt and pulled it on as she started opening her books again. He watched her for a minute wondering if he was dreaming. When she turned and smiled at him, before taking his hand and pulling him onto the floor next to her, he knew she was very much real.

******

Rory was standing in front of her mirror later that evening, looking at what was her first hickey. She hadn't even thought about it when Tristan had been kissing her, but now the evidence of their make out session was clear on her skin. She was planning to wear a white tank top, but now she would have to rethink that since you could see the red mark on her neck very clearly.

"Rory…" Lorelai walked into her daughter's room before Rory could cover herself. "Oh My God, that boy did not give you a hickey!"

"Mom!"

Rory tried to put on a jumper to cover it, but Lorelai would have none of it. "Show me."

"It's nothing."

"It is something if that boy's been sucking on your neck like you're…well something to suck." Lorelai took hold of Rory and inspected the mark. "I thought you were meant to be studying at Tristan's."

"We were," Rory lied. Lorelai just raised her eyebrows. "Mostly. We studied."

"It's a good thing your shirt covers this or you'd have a lot of explaining to do at school."

"I know."

"And don't think I'm cool with this. I am very not cool with this. I know you like this boy Rory, but you've barely just got together and you're already getting hickeys and playing tonsil hockey at every moment."

"We're not. Tristan's not like that." Lorelai just gave her a look. "Okay, he's not always like that. We were just kissing, that's all."

Rory couldn't believe she had to explain herself to her mother. She had never had to explain her actions to her Mom. She never did anything wrong before.

"I'm starting to regret encouraging this Tristan thing," Lorelai moaned.

"Why?" Rory asked. "He's a good guy, Mom."

"I know," Lorelai admitted. "He's also a lot more experienced that you and boys like that always have certain expectations."

"Tristan's doesn't expect anything," Rory assured her Mom.

The doorbell rang, ending the conversation.

"That's Lane," Lorelai said. "She rang to say she was coming over, that's what I was going to tell you."

"Oh, ok."

Lorelai went to answer the door and instructed Lane to go straight to Rory's room.

"What's wrong with your Mom?" Lane asked as she came into Rory's room. "She wasn't as chatty as she usually is."

"She's worried about me dating Tristan."

"Why?" Rory pulled her jumper to the side. "Oh my God, is that a hickey?"

"Yep. Stupid Tristan's lips."

"Yeah I'm sure you were thinking that at the time," Lane joked. "So, how was your first day as Queen of Chilton?" she asked, flopping down on Rory's bed.

"Weird."

"Explain."

"Well Paris apologized for not talking to me lately, only to see me and Tristan kissing and immediately retracted the apology. Then Louise and Madeline and a bunch of girls I don't even know started talking to me. And even a few of Tristan's friends started making conversation with me."

"Tristan really is the King of Chilton, huh?"

"Pretty much. But he doesn't care about all that stuff anymore. He spent most of his free time with me today. And come to think of it, he's been doing that for the past couple of weeks too."

"Now tell me how you got that hickey."

"I went to Tristan's after school to study."

"What were you studying? Biology?" Lane teased.

"No! Yeah, okay, maybe for a little while. But Tristan stopped after a while. The crazy thing is I didn't really want to stop."

"Whoa, Rory, you must really like him."

"I do. It's really weird, but I do. He makes me feel so different. And every time he's near me I feel like all my nerves are aware of him."

"Wow."

"Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel every time he kisses me."

"Well then I have one thing to say to you."

"What?"

"You're in big trouble."

******

The next morning Rory was startled by a horn sounding outside her house. Lorelai looked out of the window and then grinned at her daughter.

"Looks like you've earned yourself your own taxi service, Ror."

"What?" Rory opened the door just as Tristan approached. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was bored?" he said nonchalantly.

"Tristan, you did not just drive half an hour out of the way to pick me up for school."

"Well, Rory, since I am here I probably did. And I thought you were supposed to be the smart one," he teased.

He leaned over and kissed her softly and she melted into his touch.

"I am the smart one," she told him. "You didn't have to do this, you know."

"I know. Don't get used to it. I just felt like being spontaneous."

"Okay, let me just get my things," she told him, as she pulled him into her house.

"Hello Ms Gilmore," Tristan said.

"Vampire Boy," Lorelai acknowledged him, and Tristan frowned. "And how many times do I have to remind you its Lorelai. Calling me Ms Gilmore is only going to make me not like you even more."

"You don't like me?" Tristan asked.

"Not so much."

"Let's go," Rory said, quickly intervening before her Mom really started talking.

"But we were just getting started," Lorelai pouted.

"Bye Mom!" Rory called back, as she took Tristan's hand and dragged him out of the house.

"Why doesn't your Mom like me?" Tristan asked.

"Because of this," she pulled aside her shirt quickly and he winced.

"Oops."

"Yes, oops. You and your stupid lips," she told him.

"You didn't think my lips were stupid yesterday," he reminded her with a grin.

"Yeah, well, that was before they resulted in this thing on my neck," she said.

"I think it looks good."

Rory rolled her eyes. "You would."

Almost as soon as they got in the car Tristan pulled Rory closer to him, kissing her properly. She opened up to him, feeling little butterflies build in her stomach.

The butterflies were there every time she was near him lately. But especially when he was kissing her. Yesterday she could have gladly carried on making out with him for hours. She probably wouldn't have wanted to say no to anything he wanted to do, and that scared her. It was Tristan who had pulled away first. And she was grateful for that. But she knew then that the physical pull she felt towards him was only going to get stronger.

Finally Tristan pulled away with a grin. "I never thought I'd have Rory Gilmore making out with me in my car."

Rory blushed, she never thought she would be doing this either. "Well don't get used to it."

******

Rory was sitting in the lunch hall by herself that day when Tristan approached her. She was reading as usual and Tristan thought she looked so cute engrossed in her book. Not wanting to disturb her, he came up behind her, kissed her cheek softly and sat down next to her.

Rory was really surprised that he didn't greet her with his usual annoying comments and decided to take advantage of that and finish the page she was reading before she turned to him. But she had obviously given him too much credit because it wasn't long before she felt a hand come and rest on her thigh.

She shot Tristan a look but he was eating his lunch, not even looking at her. Playing along she carried on reading trying to ignore the feeling his hand was creating. Even through her skirt she could feel the heat from his hand on her skin.

He started running his thumb along her thigh in circles and Rory looked around self consciously, but no one could see what was going on under the table. She tried to carry on reading, but she realized she was reading the same four words over and over again, because she couldn't concentrate.

She knew he was just trying to get a reaction out of her and didn't want to give in. But when he lifted his hand ever so slightly underneath her skirt she let out a gasp and smacked his hand away.

He laughed, and then turned to kiss her properly. She kissed him back, forgetting that they were in the lunch hall.

"You're incorrigible," she told him.

"Yeah, but you like me anyway."

"I loathe you," she said, but the smile on her face gave her away.

"Sure you do, Ror." Tristan smiled. "So, what are we doing tonight?"

"We? Nothing. I, however, am studying."

"We can study together."

"I don't think so," Rory said firmly. "I got next to nothing done yesterday, and in case you didn't notice this school does not take nicely to slacking off."

"We'll be good. I promise."

"You? Good?" Rory started to laugh.

Tristan pretended to look offended. "Are you somehow insinuating that I can't keep my hands to myself?"

"Yep, that's pretty much what I'm saying," Rory agreed.

"But…"

"Nope. Sorry." He started to pout and Rory just rolled her eyes. "Don't do that. I'm sure you have to study too."

"I'd much rather spend time with you."

Rory smiled. "I know." She kissed him softly. "Maybe tomorrow, though?"

"I guess that will have to do." He got up, getting ready to go. "I have to meet some of the guys. I'll see you after school?"

"You don't have to drop me home all the time, you know. I can get the bus," she insisted.

"I know. But I like dropping you. See you then?"

Rory nodded and he leaned down to kiss her before leaving. She watched him go and realized that Lane was right, she was in big trouble.

******

"Are you sure I can't convince you to let me come inside?" Tristan asked as he pulled up outside Rory's house.

"Nope." She grinned as she leaned over and kissed him softly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I won't be distracting, I promise," he tried again.

"Your promises don't mean much," Rory teased.

"Rory, I'm shocked. I am nothing if not a man of my word."

"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes. "I'll call you la…" The words died on her lips as she looked at her house and noticed a tall figure standing on her porch.

Tristan followed her gaze and frowned. "What the hell is he doing here?" he asked.

"I don't know," Rory said honestly.

"I'm coming with you," Tristan said, not liking the idea of Rory talking to her ex-boyfriend.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Tristan! Don't be ridiculous. You're going to be late to meet your Dad anyway."

"But…"

She leaned over and kissed him again, shutting him up. "Bye," she said as she pulled away, leaving no room for argument.

"I'll call you later," Tristan promised.

Rory got out of the car and watched Tristan's flashy car pull away and drive off before turning to deal with the boy on her doorstep.

"You know, I thought for sure the gossip mill was wrong for once," Dean said, not looking happy.

"Dean I…"

"I was at the market when Kirk started babbling about a flashy car Miss Patty saw this morning. And I ignored it. And then he said some guy came to pick you up. And I thought he must be wrong. And then he described the guy and I didn't know what to think."

"Dean…"

"What, Rory? What can you possibly say to make this okay? You're with HIM? The guy who made your life hell? The guy you used to complain about all the time?"

"You don't know him," Rory defended.

"No, Rory, you don't know him. I know guys like him."

"Guys like him? He's not some stereotype, Dean. He's my friend."

"Your friend?" Dean laughed incredulously.

"My boyfriend," Rory said, feeling bad as she said it, but knowing she didn't want to lie.

"I don't get it, Rory."

"You dumped me, remember?"

"Because I loved you. I love you. But you obviously felt nothing since you moved right on to the next guy."

Rory felt conflicted. She knew Dean was upset, but she didn't think she deserved to be attacked for the choice she made after he left her.

"I cared about you. I still care about you. But you left me. You refused to talk to me. You wouldn't even be my friend. If you had maybe you would know that Tristan and I became friends. And yes, that friendship has led to something more."

"So, that's it? We're really finished."

"We were finished weeks ago, Dean. You ended it, not me. Don't make me feel guilty for moving on."

Dean sighed. He knew she was right, but he couldn't help feeling like punching something, or someone namely Tristan.

"I just don't understand."

"You don't have to understand. But you have to accept it."

He nodded, not knowing what else to say. When he planned to come here he was sure Rory would deny it, and prove to him that it was all a lie. But then he saw her with Tristan. He saw her kiss him before she got out of the car and he felt like he had been punched in the gut. But even then, he didn't think she would be like this. So strong in her decision to be with Tristan.

He turned and started to walk away.

"Dean?" Rory called after him.

"I can't be your friend, Rory."

"Okay."

She watched him walk away, a defeated look on his face. And although she felt guilty for hurting him, a part of her felt some sense of closure. She was closing the door on that first relationship that had been so sweet and innocent, and opening the door to something far scarier and maybe that much more special.

******