Disclaimer: Amy and Daniel Palladino, along with the rest of the WB, own Gilmore Girls. I'm just borrowing the characters.
Jess- You know what? The story arc does sound good. But I don't want Dean to return. Mostly? I can't write the damn character! It's so hard... sigh. The travesties. Well, I'm watching the 101 Greatest SNL Moments. That has nothing to do with anything, but I love it. Yo estoy Espanol, tambien! It's hard! And I have a test on Monday. It sucks. I should probably actually study, though... I might cheat off Blake. Or he'll cheat off me, which is more likely...
smile1- Whoa. I hadn't even realized that... Thanks. I should work on that... it's all this school work! I'm slipping! Agh! Ok, I'm in a really weird mood.
Ms. Vaughn- Lane's band is the best thing in the world. There's nothing better than Sebastian Bach, Todd Lowe, and the germaphobe one.
Chubs88- I'm the knower of all things witty. Yeah, I'm kidding. I sold my soul so I could write this story. But you get brownie points, you do. Yay!
talia7899- Correct! And maybe a trory kiss is in the future... but you still get the brownie points anyway. Not that they mean anything, but it's nice to pretend.
xoxocmmxoxo- Hee! Drunken rants! I would've loved to see that.
More thank yous to Jazz14, Sarah45, TiCkLeDpInK22, Kristy Anne Halliwell (Krissy, Callista NicTeryn, Amanda, Lioness-07863, OTHlover04, and mz.sammiz . I love you all alot!
A/N: Ok, the song was "Asshole" by Denis Leary. Yeah, I'm completely in love with that song. And the music video. But mostly the song. Wow, I tried driving today. You know what I found out: I shouldn't. Haha. I have a book report due on Monday, so I'm gonna make this short and sweet coz I'm not even half done with the book. Be surprised this is even out. My muse attacked me during class. It was sad.
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Rory lay in bed at five in the morning on the Friday two weeks before Christmas. Mid terms were coming up, but she'd woken up due to a rewrite of a thesis paper at two that morning. A thought had come to her, resulting in her awakening and an eventual rewrite of the whole paper due in class that day.
There were many reasons sleep was eluding her at the moment. Dean's leaving just a week before, mid terms the next week, Tristan's odd behavior the past couple of weeks, and of course Christmas shopping were the top things on her list.
After finally realizing that any attempts to fall back to sleep would be futile, Rory changed out of her PJs and into a pair of sweats and an old sweatshirt to go get coffee. There were quite a few students around, Rory noted. Whether getting up early for a morning job and afternoon classes or an early morning class, she didn't know.
She got in the coffee line that seemed to be the shortest and took out her money. The sun was just peaking over the horizon, barely giving off any more light than the street lights scattered around the campus in a seemingly random pattern.
"Morning class, also?" a voice asked from behind her.
Rory turned, startled at the person who was talking to her. "No. Couldn't sleep. What about you?"
He yawned, and then laughed slightly. "My professor rescheduled a seven o' clock class to six instead of canceling it."
Rory got up the counter and ordered. "You sound excited."
"Oh yeah, I really am. I can't wait to get to class so I can thank him for having me wake up this early," he said sarcastically.
Rory laughed. "I'm Rory, by the way." She held out her hand, and he shook it after ordering his drink.
"Rory, huh? Interesting name," he commented.
"It's actually Lorelai because my mom named me after herself, so to avoid confusion my nickname became Rory," she explained.
"I'm Thomas," he introduced.
"Thomas," Rory repeated.
"Well, if you want to get technical, Thomas is my middle name. I'd tell you my first name, but that'd ruin the mystique and I'd have to kill you in a way somewhat akin to a Shakespearian tragedy. And that would just take too much thought and way too many soliloquies," he told her.
"That it would, and we couldn't have you turning out like Macbeth," Rory agreed.
"Of course not. Anyway, I'd better be off to class. It was nice meeting you, Rory," Thomas said.
"Nice to meet you, too," she replied, and they parted ways.
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Tristan was just sitting there. Somebody would open up the door soon. He and James had gotten up at the same time because of James's early class, so Tristan had gone for a run. And ended up here. He couldn't help it. It just happened. He'd been avoiding her, trying to give her space, and yet there he was.
Paris would be out soon, he was sure of it. Only half an hour until six-thirty. Didn't Rory say that she had a class at seven? She'd be out soon, unless he's already missed her. Then he'd be shit out of luck.
He was just about to leave when Rory into the hallway from outside, which confused him. Nonetheless he stood up, taking in the evident shock on her face until it turned to anger.
"You've been avoiding me," she accused.
Well, that was certainly to the point. "No," he denied.
"I'm tired, Tristan, not dumb," she sighed. "And the risk of sounding like I'm seven, you have to!"
"No I haven't," he bickered back. "I've just been giving you your space."
"I don't want space, I want my friends with me," she replied.
Tristan blinked. She actually thought of him as her friend? Though neither of them had even said it, he secretly always thought of her as his friend now. But to have her say it... friends. He could deal with it. He always was good at lying.
"But you're here," she continued. "There has to be a reason, unless you've suddenly turned into Jack Torrance. So why?"
Tristan smirked. "Jack Torrance? With your disturbing knowledge of all movies and books ever made, and that's the best you can come up with?"
"You try being witty while running on three hours of sleep," Rory replied.
"Three? What have you been doing? Late night partying?" he asked seriously, looking her in the eyes.
She laughed slightly at the look on his face. "Don't you know it. You're just jealous 'cause you weren't invited."
The door to their dorm opened and Paris came out. "Are you two just going to stand there all day and wake the whole dorm, or are you going to come in?"
"I'm sorry, did we wake you?" Rory asked worriedly.
"No, my alarm went off a few minutes ago. But I heard you two out here. Neither of you are particularly quiet, you know. I'm surprised no one's thrown things yet," Paris replied, saying the last part under her breath.
"Why thank you, Paris. I'm glad to see one of you still has manners when it comes to guests," Tristan said, throwing a smirk at Rory.
"You're pushing it, DuGray," Paris muttered, going back into her room so she could get clothes to change into after her shower.
"Really, not so much love at once," Tristan replied sarcastically.
Rory lay down on the couch and shut her eyes. "What are you doing today? Hitting on college girls and getting invited to parties?"
"Actually, no. I'm going Christmas shopping and then out to lunch with James," he replied. "Bye, Paris." Paris waved to him as she passed him to go to the showers.
"Hmm, I should do that. After sleeping for one hundred hours, that is," Rory added on after thought, moving to make herself more comfortable. Tristan lifted her feet up and sat there, laying her feet back down on his lap.
"You haven't gone Christmas shopping yet?" he teasingly asked.
"Hey, Mr. I'm-Too-Cool-For-College, some of us still actually have classes and homework," she pointed out.
"What time is your last class?" Tristan asked.
Rory paused for a moment. "Uh, eleven. Why? That's too late for breakfast."
Tristan laughed. "Not according to some people."
"Touché."
"No, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to lunch with James and me, then we could go Christmas shopping. I need your help on picking things out for Lorelai, Lane, and Paris. Not to mention anyone who might castrate me for not getting them presents," Tristan asked her.
"Sure. I think Paris is going out with Professor Fleming today," Rory replied, making a face.
Tristan smirked. "Uh-oh, someone's not very approving."
"It's not that. It's just weird. My grandfather introduced them. They went to college together." Rory made another face, mixed in with a wide yawn.
"I think I'll leave you alone," Tristan suggested, getting up.
Rory pouted. "Really? Then I'll miss class because I'll have no one to wake me up because I'll be too lazy to get my alarm clock and missing class will mean not turning in the thesis paper I redid last night, thus the reason of my lack of sleep because I got an idea for the paper and ended up redoing the whole thing."
Tristan laughed. "Do you always talk this much when you haven't had a lot of sleep?"
"Yeah," she admitted.
"Fine, I'll stay," he conceded in defeat.
"Yay," she murmured, turning another way and falling asleep.
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Rory opened her eyes. Tristan was flipping through her Pride & Prejudice book. He was sitting in the same position he'd been sitting in before. One of her legs was strewn over her lap, and the other foot was pushed up against his thigh.
"What time is it?" she asked.
Tristan turned toward her and frowned. "You do realize all your books are written in, right?"
"What time is it?" Rory repeated, sitting up.
"Some of them are funny, though," he continued, pretending that he hadn't even heard her question. "But I never thought of you writing in books."
"Jess did," Rory impatiently told him. "What time is it?"
Calmly, Tristan looked down at his watch. "Nine-thirty."
Rory's eyes widened. "What? You didn't wake me up?"
Tristan smirked. "I'm kidding, it's eight-twenty. But you should've seen the look on your face."
Her eyes went from wide to narrow slits in a split second. She leaned over and smacked Tristan's arm. "That was mean!"
He shrugged. "Maybe. But it was funny."
She stuck her tongue out at him and got up. Tristan trailed after her, resuming his reading. "The notes are sometimes more interesting than the book," he commented.
"Jess'll be pleased then," she replied, gathering up some clothes.
Tristan flopped down on her bed. He turned one way, then the other, and finally laced his fingers together behind the pillow he had his head laying on. "This is comfier than my bed."
"You sleep on a couch," she pointed out.
He shrugged. "Too true."
"I've got to go take a shower and then go to class, but meet me here at eleven-thirty," she told him.
"Fine, I'll just wander around aimlessly until you come back," he dead-panned.
"Glad to know you'll have something to do," she quipped.
"I'll miss you!" he sing-songed to her as she went out the door.
"Thank you," she replied. "But you have to go, also."
He pouted. "Really? I don't wanna."
"Too bad," she said, pointing to the door.
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Tristan showed up right at eleven-thirty like she'd asked him to. She looked at him, then her watch, and back up at him. "You're on time."
"If this is shocking, you should see me at formal parties. I actually hold a conversation that doesn't involve the opposite sex or what party I went to," he told her teasingly.
She rolled her eyes. "But guys aren't supposed to be early. It's so the girl can have more time to get ready."
"What's the point?" Tristan asked. "You're just gonna make me wait anyway."
"The point is that you're supposed to be late," Rory replied.
"Now you're just arguing in circles," he pointed out.
Rory walked back into her room while Tristan made himself at home on their couch. "What time does James's class get out?"
"Around twelve-thirty. Probably about twelve-fifteen. But I thought we could go get coffee first so you don't go through withdrawal and kill somebody," he said.
"That's ridiculous. My mom would kill somebody, not me," she replied.
"Not up to her level yet?" he called to her.
She appeared in the doorway of her room. "Not yet. She has sixteen years on me, remember that."
"Are you ready?" Tristan asked.
"Yeah, but I think that I should make you wait a couple more minutes while I do nothing in my room," she said.
"You could, but you'd be missing coffee," he pointed out.
Rory paused. "Fine. You win; this time. But remember, I'll get back at you somehow."
Tristan smirked again and opened up the door to let her pass. "You wish."
They arrived at a coffee shop a couple blocks away from the restaurant Tristan said they were meeting James at. Rory had only been there once, but she remembered that they had good coffee. Usually she just got it from the campus, and while some were good, most weren't as good. Growing up with Luke's coffee was definitely a double-edged sword.
"How have your classes been?" Tristan asked after they ordered.
"Good. Tiring. Because of midterms next week, the teachers have been piling the homework on us. I'm actually hoping to get a job soon, though. I already have all my classes scheduled for the morning so I could do my homework in the afternoon," she told him.
"What were you planning on doing? Working in a coffee shop?" he teased.
"Actually, no. I can drink coffee, there's no doubt about that, but I can't make it to save me life," she admitted.
"Ah, so the mystery of the missing coffee-maker in your dorm room is solved," Tristan quipped, leaning back and stroking his chin as if in an old black and white detective movie.
"What about you? Are you going to stay with James the whole year?" she asked.
Tristan shrugged. "Not sure. Depends if he wants me to or not. If not, I have another friend at Princeton that I haven't seen in a while."
"Did James go to Chilton?" Rory questioned.
Tristan laughed. "Not if he could help it. He comes from California. I met him at military school. He was my bunkmate."
"California, huh? Have you ever been there?"
"A couple times," he answered.
Their coffee came a few minutes later, and their conversation kept up a steady flow until Tristan's cell phone rang twenty minutes after twelve. Rory took it upon herself to enjoy the people-watching so as not to try and listen in on Tristan's conversation. It was hard not to, however, considering he was sitting approximately three feet away from her.
"Hey," Tristan answered.
"Man, you'll never guess the amount of crap Professor Jacobson piled on us for homework this weekend," James complained.
"I'm guess you're out of class?" Tristan asked.
"No, they just removed the 'no cell' rule," James replied sarcastically. "Of course I'm out, what do you think?"
"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Tristan teased.
"No, somebody woke up on the early side of the bed," James corrected. "Man, I'll be at the restaurant in, like, five minutes."
"I invited Rory," Tristan told him. Rory turned at the sound of her name, but didn't say anything.
James frowned. That name sounded familiar, but not because Tristan talked about her all the time. Did he have a dream about her? He could practically see her in his mind's eye due to Tristan's adjective-heavy descriptions.
Brushing it off, he replied, "Cool. It'll be nice to meet the girl who's stolen my boy's heart."
"Have you ever considered taking your comedy act out on the road?" Tristan asked sardonically.
"I have, but alas it'd never worked out," James said dramatically. "Can't wait to see you squirm."
And before Tristan could come up with a retort, James had hung up on him.