Disclaimer: Amy and Daniel Palladino, along with the rest of the WB, own Gilmore Girls. I'm just borrowing the characters. "Connection" is owned by Elastica.
Timeline: Paris, Rory, and Tristan are juniors in college. This starts up about eight months after my story ended.
A/N: This whole story is dedicated to Jess. You can all thank her, because without her it wouldn't exist. Yes, I do have a whole thing planned out this time. So, happy reading!
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"Where do you want this?"
Rory looked over at the door where James and Tristan were holding up a couch. They were helping James and Maggie move into their new apartment, they being James and Tristan. The two had insisted that they bring everything in themselves, to be chivalrous, but were now seriously regretting their offer.
"Mags, where do you want this?" James repeated a little louder, spreading his legs further as he lifted the couch up higher and got a better grip on the bottom.
Maggie quickly spun around. She had long strawberry-blond hair and was wearing an old Rod Stewart t-shirt, her own personal joke. "What? The couch? Oh, over there." She pointed to a wall adjacent to the front window.
"Rory," Tristan whined after he'd put the couch down. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. "My back hurts."
"That's what you get for volunteering to bring everything in," she pointed out.
"I take it back," he told her.
"I'll give you a back massage when you get done," she suggested, rubbing her hands over his back to temporarily soothe him.
"You're the best girlfriend," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her.
"You're not too bad of a boyfriend yourself," she teased.
Tristan feigned surprise. "Why, I believe I just got a compliment from one Miss Rory Gilmore. Now, the question is, do I get a kiss for good luck or not?" he asked in a fake, fairly bad Southern accent.
"My, my, my, whatever do you need luck for?" Rory replied in the same phony accent, using her hand to pretend to fan herself with.
"Tristan!" Maggie sing-songed from across the room. "The armchair isn't gonna move itself!"
He groaned and leaned his forehead against Rory's. "She's an evil, sadistic taskmaster."
"Once again, I will point out that you volunteered."
"You're in league with her, aren't you?"
"Yes, you caught me. It's our will to dominate you by having you move heavy pieces of furniture," Rory said drolly.
"My suspicions have been confirmed."
"All this furniture moving is making you paranoid."
"That means your plan is working."
"I'll inform Maggie."
"So-" Tristan leaned down to whisper in Rory's ear. "What about that kiss you promised me?" He lightly blew in her ear, causing her to giggle.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down so she could kiss him. Unconsciously, he started playing with her hair, twirling it around his fingers.
"Will you two stop being so damn cute? It's disgusting," James snapped as he carried a box past them.
"I think somebody's jealous because they're not getting any," Tristan speculated. Rory hit his arm. "Ow! What?"
"That was from Maggie." On his off look, she elaborated, "We're in cahoots, remember?"
James shoved Tristan as he passed him. "Stop flirting, DuGrey. We have manly work to do. And after, I'm buying us about twenty rounds of beer."
"And that's my exit cue. James might not be returning, just to be warned." He gave Rory another kiss and whispered, "I like your shirt today, Mary." He winked at her and followed his friend out.
Rory blushed slightly. The two had been dating for around eight months, and he never ceased to stop making her do that. But amid their banter and his sexual innuendo-and he still hadn't given up that nickname for her- he was very sweet to her. On their first date, he'd gone to great lengths to make sure it was perfect. He took her out to lunch, then to a coffee shop. They ended up in a music store for the rest of the afternoon singing Blondie songs and trying to find CDs from all the bands Dave Grohl was in at one point or another.
"How much longer should we make them suffer?" Maggie asked, snapping Rory out of her reverie.
She looked at the other girl. "I don't know. We'd be more of a burden than a help, so at least until it's time to bring in all the light things."
Maggie laughed. "I like the way you think."
"I think you should make them bring it all in, then force them to move all the furniture until it's asymmetrical," a new voice chimed in. The girls turned to see a guy standing in the doorway. He looked about their age, maybe a year or so older. He took off his sunglasses. "Nice place. And it only took you all summer to find it. Gonna paint it, or did the papers state that you have to keep it this color?"
"Fuck you, Colin," Maggie coolly replied.
"I keep offering, but you always turn me down," he retorted with a sly smirk.
Maggie's face split into a grin, and she launched herself into Colin's arms, giving him a huge hug. "How has your summer been?"
"Good. I went to Cabo for a while, then flew to Anguila for August Monday. Best holiday, in my opinion. I got back a few days ago and heard you were moving, so I decided to come by." He looked around. "When are you having the party?"
"Not until school starts."
"I'll spread the word that it's next Saturday." Before she could reply, Colin gestured to a bewildered Rory. "Who's this?"
"Oh! Introductions! Duh! Ok, Colin, this is Rory. Rory, Colin," Maggie introduced.
Colin shook Rory's hand. "Pleasure to meet you. How's your summer been?"
Rory was struck at how he went to joking around with Maggie to polite so quickly. "It was good."
He smiled at her. "Good. Well, I'd love to stay here and chat, but I've gotta go. See you Monday, Mags. And to you, Ror, I'll see you around." He gave Maggie one last hug, and walked out, barely acknowledging James and Tristan as he passed them.
James narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Colin's retreating figure. "What was he doing here?"
"So much for nonchalance," Tristan whispered to him with a snicker.
"Dude, shut the hell up."
Maggie was oblivious to the whole thing. "He was just here to check out the place and ask when the party is," she replied cheerily, giving James a kiss. "The chair can go next to the couch."
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"To our new apartment." James lifted up his margarita. The other three lifted there's up also, clinking glasses with each other. Said apartment was still in disarray. Boxes were all over the place, and furniture had yet to be moved to its final resting place.
Tristan finished his drink. "I'd love to stay with you two some more and help unpack, but Rory and I have plans to go not watch some movies."
Rory giggled and took Tristan's hand. "We'll see you later."
"If we don't see you by Sunday, we've probably been buried by all our crap," Maggie joked.
Tristan and Rory got into his car. The Clash filled the hot air around them. It was late August, and a new heat wave had settled in. He grabbed Rory's hand and placed a kiss on her palm, then trailed kisses up her arm until he got to her neck. She sighed as he kissed the skin behind her ear.
"You know how I said that your shirt looks good today? I meant that it'll look good on my floor."
She giggled. "Don't you think pick-up lines are a bit redundant at this point?"
He nipped at her earlobe and she gasped. "Yes, but so is calling you Mary."
"That's because you've disillusioned yourself into thinking that my name is Mary. I don't think that you've learned my actual name yet."
Tristan chuckled huskily and captured his lips with hers, inching his hand up her shirt. Rory was the first to pull away. He pretended to pout. "Am I not good enough any more?"
"We both know that you don't actually mean that. Your ego won't allow you to think that way."
"Ouch. For a second there I actually thought you were serious."
Rory laughed. "Are we gonna stop at the video store on the way back?"
The two had been living in Stars Hollow for the summer. Zach had invited Tristan to stay with them while he was off from school, but Lane told Rory that it helped that Tristan paid rent, which meant there was more money for food. Rory had an internship at a Hartford newspaper, so out of sheer boredom, Tristan got a job. He worked at the bookstore, something he thought of as a notch above working in a grocery store. However, Rory was happy because he got books at 15 off.
"That depends. Do you still have the movies we rented a couple nights ago?"
"No. And besides, do you really want to watch Some Like It Hot with my mother and I again? Didn't we torture you enough?"
"No. I'm secretly a masochist, or haven't you figured that out already?"
"I always pegged you as a sadist."
He leaned over and gave her another kiss. "Nope, it's always been masochism for me." She mock glared at him as he turned on the car.
"Does that mean we aren't going to rent any more movies?"
Tristan smirked at her. "No, that doesn't. But I want to be able to pick out at least one this time."
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Rory sighed as Tristan put in the movie he'd picked out. She curled up on the couch, and he sat in front of her so she could give him that massage that she'd promised him.
"I still can't believe you talked me into this."
"2001: A Space Odyssey is a great movie," he argued. "It's much better than A Clockwork Orange."
She rolled her eyes, but smiled in spite of herself. "Speaking of odd universes, my grandmother wants you to come to dinner with us tomorrow."
"Again?"
"I think she's gonna fit you for your tux this time."
Tristan groaned and flopped his head back onto the couch. "That's not funny."
"-And I think that the theme is going to be sort of like my debutante, but with less drunks," she continued, acting like she hadn't heard him.
Having heard that story more than once, he snickered. "But you're still not funny."
"Relax, Sam, I'm kidding. She's only planning our wedding in her head." She leaned down and kissed him, then stretched out on the couch, laying her head down on a pillow and hanging her arms around his neck.
Lorelai came backfrom Luke's later that night to find Tristan curled up on the couch, his head drooping to one side. Rory's head was lying near his feet. She smiled and put a blanket over each of them before quietly heading upstairs.