Everything
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot at characters that you don't recognize from the show.
Summary: When Rory Hayden comes back to Chilton, she still sees Tristan Dugrey as her brother's annoying friend that won't seem to leave her alone. But when opinions change, friendships can form, and maybe, it could become something more.
Good to know: Rory went to school in England for a year, then comes back to Chilton for her senior year. She hangs out with her old friends. Lorelai and Christopher are married and they live in Hartford. Dean doesn't exist and neither does Jess; she's not friends with Paris.
Rating: PG13
Chapter 3
The next morning, Tristan awoke as the sunshine poured on his face. He vaguely remembered where he was, as his eyes were still closed, but considering the great feeling he had at the moment, he decided that he should fall asleep like this more often. Very relaxing. But that theory soon went down the drain as soon as he opened his eyes.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" he screamed, eyes wide with shock.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Lorelai screamed, jumping back slightly from her position in front of the pair.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Rory screamed, flinging her sleep filled eyes opened at the glass shattering noise.
"Lorelai! Do not do that!" Tristan said, referring to the way her face had been stuck up to their (his and Rory's) own just moments ago, "You scared the living—"
"Well good morning to you too, Tristan." Lorelai interrupted sweetly, recovering from her mild heart attack all too quickly, resting her elbows on the edge of the couch and propping her head up with her hands, "Why are you touching my daughter?" she asked.
At first neither he nor Rory knew what she was talking about. He wasn't touching Rory... both of them looked down at their oh-so-cozy position—okay, so maybe he was. Not for long though, as they pulled away quickly as soon as they noticed.
"Oh, ahhh, hi mom." Rory said nervously. Why was she nervous anyway? Oh right, she had just fallen asleep with a guy, but not just any guy. Tristan Dugrey.
"Hello." Lorelai greeted in the same sickening sweet tone, "Why were you sleeping with Danny's friend that you ever so nicely like to refer to as cocky evil jackass?"
"What the hell is going on here?" a robe clad Christopher asked as he came into the room, closely followed by a disheveled Danny, "I wake up to three blood piercing screams, and my wife is not in bed. Now Tristan is on the couch with Rory looking like they both just woke up, and my son is bent over laughing for some reason. Oh, and I don't smell coffee."
"You should see the looks on your faces right now, they're hilarious!" Danny laughed, wiping a fake tear from his eye.
"Would somebody please tell me what's going on?" Chris asked impatiently, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Tristan? Rory?" Lorelai inquired.
"Yes, Tristan? Rory?" Danny repeated, grinning. This was going to be good.
"Why didn't you wake us up?" Rory hissed at her brother.
"I would have," he said with mock seriousness, "but you two just looked so cozy together, I didn't want to intrude."
"Not helping." she said in a sing-song voice.
"Oh yes, very, very cozy." Lorelai said, nodding, "Now Tristan, why were you sleeping with my daughter?"
"Well, you see, we were watching a movie..." Tristan started.
"And then we kinda fell asleep." Rory finished.
"In each others arms." Lorelai added.
"Umm, well, uhh, I guess that was just a subconscious thing..." he said, looking anywhere but Rory's beet red face.
"Uh huh..." Lorelai said, pretending to ponder about what he had just said.
Silence.
"I guess I should probably get going now." Tristan said, standing up, desperate to escape the stares of Rory's parents.
"Yes, you should." Chris agreed curtly.
"Ummm... bye then." Tristan said, heading towards the door, with Danny right behind him.
The two boys walked together in silence until they reached the door.
"You are so dead." Tristan said, turning around to face his supposed best friend.
Danny smirked, "Can you honestly say you weren't happy about it?"
"Yes!" Tristan exclaimed. How on earth could he possibly be happy about the situation?
"I meant the part where you and Rory fell asleep, not the part where my mom caught you."
"Oh... well, no. But still, now I've probably scared her off." he said, not even thinking as the words tumbled out of his mouth.
"So you do admit you like her!"
"I never said that!" Tristan defended, "It's just that we were just starting to become friends." he finished lamely.
"Whatever man." Danny said, shaking his head, "I'll see you at school in a couple of hours." And with that, he pushed Tristan out the door before he could say another word.
------
Christopher had gone back upstairs to get ready for work, leaving Rory and Lorelai alone in the wreck room.
"What?" Rory asked as she noticed Lorelai smiling at her. She was surprised at how she could turn from evil mom to nice mom in one point five seconds flat. Then again, Lorelai was never really the type of person that anyone could figure out.
"He likes you." Lorelai stated.
"No he doesn't." Rory said, she was sick of everyone telling her that, "We're just friends!"
"Hey," Lorelai said, putting her hands up in the air, "I never said that you guys were together or anything, I just stated that he likes you, and—wait, since when were you two friends?"
"Since he apologized for being a jerk and suggested that we be friends because he and Danny are friends." Rory said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"That's just an excuse."
"No it's not!"
"Hun, you should've seen the way he looked when he was sleeping, I don't think I've ever seen anyone smile in there sleep. Not even your father after we've-"
"Omigod! My virgin ears!" Rory yelled, shutting her eyes and putting her hands over her ears, humming the Pippi Longstocking song to herself.
"Sweetie," Lorelai said, pulling her daughter's hands away from her ears, "ya gotta face the facts. I mean, how do you think you and Danny got here in the first place?"
"I so did not need to hear that." Rory said, making a face, "Besides, he was probably just having a good dream! A lot of people smile in their sleep when their having a good dream."
"Maybe... maybe not. You didn't look too bad yourself."
"What's your point?" Rory snapped.
"Nothing."
"I don't like him!" she protested.
"Yeah, yeah." Lorelai grinned, "Not yet anyways..." she coughed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"We're barely friends!"
"Yes I know. I'm just saying he liked you before you left and now that you're back he still does. It's just a matter of time before you like him too. I mean, with that body, who wouldn't?"
"Ewww, you did not just say that." Rory said, making another face, her mother seemed to have a talent for grossing people—her in particular—out, "I do not and will not like Tristan Dugrey. Ever. And he doesn't like me. Just because I'm friends with him does not mean that I like or will like him 'cause he is still a womanizing player!"
"Why don't you ask Danny to keep you updated on his dating status." Lorelai suggested.
"I don't think he'd be able to keep up." Rory said dryly.
"Someone talking about me?" Danny asked as he entered the room.
"Oh yes, I was just telling Rory here to ask you to keep her updated on Tristan's dating status." Lorelai said with an innocent smile. A smile that meant that she was obviously up to something. And a smile that was not missed by either of her kids.
"And I was just telling her that you wouldn't be able to keep up." Rory added, glaring at them both.
"Oh, you'd be surprised." Danny said with a raise of his eyebrows.
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"It's just that after you left he didn't date for a couple of months, then he started dating again and, yes, I couldn't keep up, but now that you're back..."
What was with people and the 'after you left and now that you're back thing'? God, it was like everyone she knew had met beforehand and decided what they were going to say to her. She was hearing the same things over and over again.
Rory could picture it now. They met here, at her house, and they all sat down nice and neatly on the couches, legs crossed, armed with a pad of paper and pen. They discussed the things that would irritate her—mainly Tristan, well, just Tristan—and turned it all into a script. Taking a sip from their glass of water when their mouth got dry from practicing their lines, and—okay, now she was getting ahead of herself... kind of.
"Now that I'm back..." Rory continued, snapping herself from her train of thoughts.
"Well, you'll figure it out soon enough."
"I hate it when people do that."
"Yeah, well, tough. I'm going to get ready for school."
Rory stared at his retreating figure in confusion.
The script thing really seemed like a major possibility at the moment.
"Hey Ror!" Amber chirped, the four girls walked up to Rory's locker.
Rory glared at her.
"What?" she asked innocently, smirking inwardly knowing exactly why she was glaring.
"Why didn't you wake us up?!" Rory demanded, throwing a textbook into her backpack.
"Ooooooh, that."
"Yeeees, that." Rory mimicked, annoyed with her friends.
"Well you how you are when you've just woken up..."
Rory still glared and Amber shot a 'help me' look to the others.
"Well we ever so pleasantly woken up by my mother." she snapped.
"Ouch. Sorry." Kelly said sympathetically.
"Yeah, I'm sure." Rory said sarcastically, walking towards her math class though the bell had yet to ring.
Amber smirked at the others before they caught up to her.
"Come on Ror, don't be mad." Amber said.
"It was sooo embarrassing!"
"You guys fell asleep, what's wrong with that?" Chelsea asked.
"What's wrong with that?! I was all cuddled up to him and we just started being friends and now I think my parents are suspicious."
"By the way you two looked together I'd be too." April said muttered.
It was April's turn to receive a glare.
"Sorry." April said quietly, looking away, holding back a smile, something she seemed to be doing a lot within the last couple of days.
"Next time we'll wake you up." Kelly promised, trying to somewhat stop the steam from coming out of Rory's ears.
"There won't be a next time." Rory said.
"Sure there won't." Keyword: somewhat.
"Hey Rory." Tristan said hesitantly, walking up to her and leaning against a neighboring locker at break.
"Oh, hi."
Silence.
"Look-" they said in unison before letting out a nervous laugh.
"You go first-" they said together again. They smiled nervously.
"Ok, I'll go first," Rory said, avoiding what she was sure would progress into an echo of a conversation, "Look, I'm sorry about my mom, if she freaked you out this morning or something... you know how she is."
"Yeah. And I shouldn't have fallen asleep..." he said, not realizing how lame that sounded.
"Well no one can help it if they're tired... or in your case, bored."
"Yeah..." Tristan said, chuckling a bit.
"So... we're ok?"
"Yea, we're ok." 'Phew.'
Then the bell rang.
"Ummm, I'll see you later?" Tristan asked.
"Yeah," Rory smiled, "see ya."
"How is it that guys find running around a field with a ball, tackling each other fun?" April asked. The five girls sat on the bleachers at lunch.
"Beats me, I've been going out with Mike for two years and I still don't understand him." Chelsea said.
"Soooo?" Kelly asked and all the girls turned expectantly at Rory.
"What?"
They rolled they rolled their eyes. Sometimes it was a real wonder how she could have a three digit IQ.
"Are you still freaked out about the whole you and Tristan sleeping together thing?" Amber asked giving Rory an isn't-it-obvious look.
"You make it sound like, we, ummm, did more than, just sleep, when you put it that way."
"Well did you?" Kelly asked, very well knowing the answer to the question, but asking just for kicks.
"What?! NO!" Rory yelled shocked, causing the five guys to look up from their game.
"Calm down Ror, we know, we're just teasing. But seriously, are you?" Chelsea asked.
"No. We're okay."
"You're okay?"
"Yea, I mean, despite the fact that it was still kinda embarrassing, he came up to me this morning and we just made a mutual understanding."
"Huh."
------
"What do you think they're talking about?" Tristan asked nodding towards the girls as he passed the football to Danny.
"Well from the looks of it: you." Danny said, tossing the ball to Charlie.
"Me?"
"Yea, I mean, look at the way they're nailing Rory." Mike said.
"What has that got to do with me?"
"Well you remember how cozy you two were last night?" Josh smirked and Tristan glared at him.
"I can't believe you guys left us like that. You know how easily that could've scared her off?"
"And why wouldn't you want to scare her off?" Charlie asked.
"Because she's my friend." Tristan said, knowing where this was headed.
"But you want to be more than friends." Mike stated.
"Shut up."
The four guys smirked. His defenses were weakening.
"I mean, so what if I do, it's not like she's ever gunna like me." He said bitterly.
"Not now." Danny said, "But that doesn't mean not later."