Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
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Jason McPhee was anxiously awaiting the arrival of his father, Alexander McPhee. The teenage boy was extremely nervous, his stomach churned at the mere thought of the possibility. Inhaling deeply, he continued to pace at a rapid rate while he checked his wristwatch occasionally. Finally, Jason heard the front door creak open… he waited a few minutes, knowing that his father would immediately go to his office. Jason then walked slowly toward the room… knocking quietly; he waited until his father's booming voice was heard from the other side. Licking his lips, he entered the room cautiously.
"Hi dad," his voice was low and soft.
"Jason," his father did not look up from his lab top computer.
"I'm sorry to bother you but I have a question regarding the death of Esther DuGrey."
Alexander McPhee finally looked up; he stopped his typing and leaned back against his leather chair. "Alright, what is your question?"
Jason chose his words carefully. "Are we invited to the funeral?"
His father laughed, "Of course we are boy! We're one of the, if not the most successful and prominent families in all of Hartford. Plus, our families are very close."
Jason nodded obediently, "Who else are invited?"
"Esther was a very well liked individual. In fact, she and your grandmother were very close," his father seemed to have ignored his question. "She was not like her brother, Janlan DuGrey… Janlan is rather uptight, wouldn't you say? Esther was a carefree woman and she loved her family dearly. But yes… back to your question, I believe that only the families who were close to her are invited… for example, the Gellar's, the Fitzgerald's… the Gilmore's…"
Jason nodded his head, cursing incoherently in his mind.
The elder man resumed his typing "Is there anything else Jason?"
"No, not at all," he replied, biting the inside of his lip to keep from screaming.
"Well then, I have some work to do."
"Of course."
Jason walked from his father's office to his bedroom. Once again, he snatched the bottle of Vodka from his stash and drank a generous amount. He ignored the pain in his throat and continued to be drowned in his own thoughts. He emptied the last remaining drops of the alcohol and was now feeling the effects. As each second passed, and as he was becoming even more lightheaded… his anger was slowly building. Minutes had passed… then the minutes had slowly turned into hours and he had not moved. Jason continued to stand in the middle of his large bedroom, his head directed to the ground with his eyes closed shut… in his hand was the empty bottle of liquor being squeezed tightly.
--
Tristan clenched his fists as he sat, eating his dinner slowly. He would occasionally look up and meet his parent's disinterested faces, then look back down once more to his plate of food. Swallowing the last of his chicken, he excused himself from the table and jogged upstairs to his bedroom. Closing and locking the door, he let out an unmistakable groan. Nothing had changed. Being home was still an uncomfortable experience for Tristan… his parents almost seemed irritated at the thought of their only son returning home from military school. His jaw tightened as he recalled his wonderful homecoming. He had come home to an empty house… instead of welcoming their child home; the DuGrey's had decided that brunch at the country club was much more important.
He needed to get out of the house… to organize his thoughts and calm his raging anger.
He drove his car aimlessly… he had no real destination. The loud music coming from the stereo of his car prevented him from collecting his thoughts. He bobbed his head slightly to the rock music that filled his car. Sighing, he continued to drive at an alarming speed.
He slowed down gradually as he was nearing a red light… as he was waiting for the light to turn green, his thoughts shifted from the current speed limit to Rory Gilmore. He groaned and punched the steering wheel softly. He couldn't think about her… he needed to stop. She was after all off limits. Sighing, he turned into a small town… he studied the small town carefully… almost as if he recognized it.
A sudden memory flashed through his mind… and his blue eyes widened slowly. Parking his car, he inhaled sharply and, with shaking hands, he opened the door and stepped out of the black Mercedes-Benz. He started to lean against his car for support… what the hell was he doing in Stars Hollow? "Oh great DuGrey," he muttered quietly to himself as he started playing with his car keys "Just get back in your car and get out of here."
Tristan looked around casually… his mouth was suddenly dry and he desperately needed something to drink. All right… buy something to drink and then get the hell out of here. He noticed the people passing by looking at him… and one particular man pointing and whispering quietly into a cell phone. Fast.
His eyes caught sight of a small grocery store just across the street. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he crossed the street and walked into the market hesitantly. Looking both ways, he walked around until he found a drink to his liking. Finally settling on a Pepsi, he walked to the cashier to pay for his drink. As he was nearing the check out counter, his well-known smirk resurfaced and he desperately tried to hold in his laughter.
"Well, well, well…"
The cashier froze. He allowed the receipt in his hands to fall to the ground. He looked up and met the eyes of the familiar teenage boy. "What the hell are you doing here?" he growled softly.
The smirk on Tristan's face widened "I see you've been promoted. You're not bagging groceries anymore," he failed to answer his question.
Dean's fists automatically clenched, and his face turned tomato red from anger. "Again, what the fuck are you doing here?"
Tristan motioned to the bottle of soda he was currently holding. "Can I just pay?"
"No, not until you tell me what the hell you're doing in my town."
"I was passing by and I got thirsty," Tristan sighed; he was getting rather annoyed of the onlookers whispers.
"Bullshit."
"Just let me pay for my fucking drink."
Dean had had enough… he could no longer control his tempter. Grabbing Tristan's collar roughly, he brought his face close to his. "Get out," he whispered, his voice harsh and full of hatred.
Tristan pushed him away, so hard that Dean staggered back, he frantically tried to keep his balance but failed. Soon the taller of the two found himself underneath what was once a pyramid of paper towels. Dean sprang to his feet quickly and lunged for the blonde boy.
Tristan moved away from his path and reached into his pocket. Pulling out a twenty-dollar bill, he roughly threw the money to where Dean stood, panting. "Keep the change, bag boy."
--
"Two cups of coffee please."
Luke looked up and rolled his eyes. He walked over to where the two Gilmore's sat and groaned. "What do you want?"
Lorelai smiled innocently "Perhaps you didn't hear me. Two cups of coffee please."
"And two burgers with fries," Rory replied.
"And two cherry Danishes," Lorelai finished.
"Hi Kirk," Rory greeted the man, who was busy trying to catch his breath.
Kirk waved hello and walked slowly to where they sat. He took a seat beside Rory and attempted to regain his breath once more.
"Exercising?" Lorelai asked.
Kirk shook his head, and within a few seconds he had finally regained his composure. "There was a fight."
"What? And we missed it?"
Kirk nodded "It was something alright."
"Who was fighting?" Lorelai asked, suddenly very interested.
"Dean-"
"What?" Rory's eyes were wide with shock.
"Dean and this guy I don't know. It seemed like they were fighting over a bottle of Pepsi."
"Ooh, I wonder who it was…" Lorelai grinned.
"He drove a Mercedes."
"A Mercedes?" Rory was intrigued. The person couldn't be from Stars Hollow.
"A black one… with tinted windows."
"Sounds mysterious," Lorelai chuckled.
"There was a lot of profanity used," Kirk recalled.
Rory frowned… she was no longer hungry. She watched her mother and Kirk bicker on about what happened and what was said during this alleged fight. She pushed her plate away and stood. She bid her mother and Kirk goodbye and asked for her coffee to go. Quickly, she raced outside… she needed to find Dean to ask him what had happened. She drank her coffee quickly, hoping that the caffeine would wash away the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.
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Hah, I'm so proud of myself. Another update… and you guys didn't have to wait a few months. I'm just trying to update as much as I can before school starts… so more chapters are coming.
Anyway, how are you all? I'm doing quite lovely if I do say so myself. I dragged my friends to see A Cinderella Story with me. I had fun drooling over CMM.
Jazz14: I live in Vaughan, not far from Toronto. =)
Wow, you guys rock. Thanks for the reviews… and please keep them coming. A big ass thank you to the people who answered my questions. And whoa, I didn't notice that this story had an R rating (thanks to Bella for pointing that out)… I changed it.