CHAPTER 3

"Elsie! Chandler! I am so glad you were able to make it," Richard Gilmore greeted the family that arrived at the door.

"Richard, long time, no see," Chandler chuckled, cupping the elder man on the back.

"Yes, too long. So I see you brought your son tonight," Richard said.

"Yes, meet my son, Tristin," he introduced.

"Ah, I think we've met before," Richard acknowledged the young man. "You went to school with my granddaughter."

"That I did, sir," Tristin responded politely as he accepted Richard's handshake.

"Ah, yes. A very proper gentleman. May I offer you a drink. Elsie?" Richard asked.

Tristin left his parents continue the over inflated praising they so loved exchanging. He was right. He was in the same house almost five years ago. Amazingly, he forgot about the whole incident. Anything that ever happened to him in Chilton was a blur. Maybe this was the right time to revisit the past.

He casually surveyed the room. He was not surprised to see Madeline and Louise still joined at the hip, undressing each and every guy under the age of thirty with their roving eyes. He was glad that some things never changed. He grinned as he saw Paris. It's nice to see her make peace with her former high school nemesis. He saw Buckley and Reiner. Competition, he thought. Then he stopped on his tracks. Was he really considering wooing the elusive Rory Gilmore?

"A drink, sir?" the bartender asked when he leaned over the wet bar.

"Scotch, neat," he ordered.

He took the drink offered to him graciously and walked towards the corner of the room where he inconspicuously watched the blonde guy dancing with the brunette girl on the dance floor.

"So did you miss me?" Logan asked Rory as he spun her on the floor.

"Of course," Rory whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I like your dress. It's very pretty," he said as his voice became husky.

"Hmm, you know I just dress for you," she suggestively responded.

"Don't tease me like that," he groaned. "It's bad enough I could feel your parents' and grandparents' eyes on me. I'm still waiting for your grandma to sic the dogs on me."

"Oh you're just overreacting," Rory laughed.

Halfway through their dance, Rory's grandmother tapped Logan on the shoulder.

"Logan, I need to speak with you," Emily indicated.

Logan shot Rory a confused look. She mirrored it back to him. Logan inhaled deeply and said, "I'm all yours."

"Splendid. Over here," Emily said as she walked away. Logan trudged behind her.

Rory was disappointed with her family's attempt to separate her from Logan. She walked to the bar and got herself a vodka and cranberry. She found a quiet spot right next to the bar and daydreamed.

She was making a mental list of what she had to do when she got back to school that Monday. She also thought of the last minute Christmas presents she still had to purchase. Amid her mental tasking, she felt like she was being watched. Then, an only too familiar feeling all of a sudden overcame her. Her suspicions were confirmed when his voice reverberated in her ear, sending shivers down her naked spine.

"So, how much is it to buy a rack of lamb here?" Tristin queried.

"The price of Admission to Chilton," she quipped.

"You know, if you really wanted me, I'm only a phone call away," Tristin whispered in her ear.

"And what makes you think that I want you?" she asked without looking at him. She could feel the heat emanate from his arm; enough to give her goose bumps. Strangely, she can't wipe the smile that was forming on her lips.

"Well," he indicated, "you have a blonde guy with a devil-may-care attitude... Tell me, is his name Tristin, too?"

"I guess military school didn't get rid of any of that attitude of yours, huh?' she snipped back.

"I'm so glad that you're still feisty," he chuckled. "I'd hate to see my Mary lose her spunk."

"Ugh," she said finally facing her aggravator. "You're incorrigible."

"And you're still hot," he retorted, snapping his teeth at her.

"I never had been yours," she snapped back at him. Still, smiling, she put her empty glass on the tray that passed her. Tristin did the same and followed her.

"Ah, but it's not from lack of trying," he said. "Come on, Mary. We're older, smarter..." Tristin realized that he followed Rory up the stairs into her bedroom at the elder Gilmore home.

"Smarter, eh?" she guffawed. "I felt that we were back in our high school years."

He watched her touch up her lipstick. He found the action very suggestive. Tristin had to adjust himself as he sat on her bed.

"Well we still haven't clawed each other's eyes out," he said, rummaging through her purse. He found her cell phone and programmed his cell phone number in it.

"What are you doing?" she screeched as she saw him pawing her purse.

"Looking for your book?" he responded innocently as he rang his cell phone with her phone number.

"Give back my phone!" she said, launching her body towards his extended arm.

"Who's your boyfriend?" he asked, spinning around to deny her access to her cell phone.

"Logan? Why do you want to know about him?" she asked now trying to climb on him just to retrieve her possession.

Tristin tried to look for his number on her speed dial and sent that number to his cell phone, too. "Nothing. I just wanted you to admit that you're in a relationship with a wannabe me."

"Oooh," Rory flashed him angry eyes. "What have I done that you have to torture me miserably?"

"Nothing," he admitted. He was so close his aftershave titillated her nostrils. "I just wanted to see if our... attraction for each other is real."

The tension between them was broken by the sudden interruption of her dad and mom crashing into the room, giggling.

"Whoops!" Lorelai giggled, apparently tipsy with alcohol.

"Rory!" Christopher called out.

Rory and Tristin jumped away from each other immediately after Tristin handed her cell phone back.

"Uh, you guys can't be in this room together," her mother tried to scold her daughter, holding back a giggle or two. "Get back downstairs."

Tristin and Rory, red as can be, exited the room double time. Christopher and Lorelai fell into fits of giggles.

"You think they were trying to do something naughty?" Christopher asked as he tried to catch his breath.

"I hope not," Lorelai said between giggles, trying to catch her breath herself. Both of them sat on the carpet floor next to Rory's bed. When the couple realized what they just witnessed, both of them sobered.

"That was us twenty years ago," Lorelai said quietly to Christopher.

"Has it been that long?" he asked.

"Yeah," she reminisced. "And now, we have this beautiful girl. And you have Gigi, too."

They stared into each other's eyes. Christopher was first to look away. "What went wrong between us, Lor?"

"Nothing. We grew up," she said.

"You think we can have it back?" he asked.

Lorelai looked at him sadly. "I think we'll always have it, Chris. But I'm happy with Luke."

Christopher unfortunately knew that fact. Luke was there for Lorelai and Rory more times than he ever would like to admit.

"I think we have to take our own suggestion and get back downstairs," Lorelai said.

"You're right," Christopher agreed unwillingly.

Both got up on their feet and proceeded to walk downstairs.