Everything
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot and the characters that you don't recognize from the show.
Summary: When Rory Haydencomes 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 and Jess don't exist. She's not friends with Paris; I'm having fun with my own characters.
Rating: PG13
Chapter 5
"Guess what?!" Kelly squealed to the rest of the group as they sat down at their usual cafeteria table during lunch.
"What?" Charlie asked with a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
"It's the Hartford's 18th Annual Carnival this weekend!!!!"
The nine other teenagers rolled their eyes, "Yes, we know, Kel." Danny said.
"We're going right?!?!?!?!"
"No." they all replied in unison.
"What?" Kelly gasped, with a look of shock and disappointment.
They rolled their eyes again, "We were being sarcastic. Of course we're going, we've all been going together every year since we were four." April said.
"Oooooh."
"So we'll meet there at 6ish?" Amber asked.
"As always." Mike replied.
"I missed it last year." Rory pouted.
"That sucks, we missed you. It was so much fun though." Kelly said, then after getting a kick under the table from Amber and Chelsea, she corrected, "I mean, it was sooo boring, it just wasn't the same without you."
Rory grinned, "Yea, I'm sure."
"I'm done." Tristan said, "Let's go."
And the five guys went out to the field.
"I will never understand guys and football." Chelsea said, shaking her head.
The rest of the week passed by uneventfully, but Tristan and Rory seemed to grow closer by the second, which didn't go unnoticed by their friends.
"So, where to first?" Josh asked as they entered the carnival that weekend.
"Do you even have to ask?" April grinned and the five girls ran over to the teacup ride.
Mike smiled and shook his head, "Twelve years and they still find that ride amusing." he said as they followed them.
"I think it's more out of tradition." Charlie said.
"Yea, probably."
Danny climbed in with Amber; Josh climbed in with April; Mike climbed in with Chelsea; Charlie climbed in with Kelly; and Tristan 'coincidentally' had to climb in with Rory, not that either of them minded. Of course Tristan had always enjoyed her company, but now Rory enjoyed his company too...
"That's not fair." Rory pouted.
"Sorry miss." the guy behind the balloon popping booth said.
"Wow, that's the first time that you've ever missed." Danny said as they walked towards the next game stand.
"Shut up. I wanted Pookey."
"Pookey?" Mike asked.
"Yea, the pink cow." she said, pointing back towards the biggest stuffed animal.
"You mean the pink pig."
"Whatever, it looks like a cow. Then again, it does kinda look like a pig. I'll call it a pow."
Then Tristan stopped, took Rory's hand and started pulling her back towards the balloon popping stand.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Getting you Pookey." he replied.
"You mean you're gunna save him from the evil grasps of a five year old with cotton candy covered fingers?"
"That's one way of putting it."
"Ooooh, my hero!" she mocked dramatically.
"Here." He handed the guy a dollar bill, who handed him two darts in return.
Rory was mad at the guy, even though she really did miss the balloon fair and square, but Rory was Rory and she worked in strange ways. She looked at the guy's name tag, "I don't like you, Kevin." she said, and stuck her tongue out, then turned her attention back to Tristan.
Kevin looked a bit taken aback by her comment while Tristan just smirked at her childish ways. She was just too cute.
Twelve dollars, twenty hits and four misses later, Rory triumphantly held Pookey, or at least tried to since it was about three-quarters her size.
"Thanks Tris!" Rory said, giving him a hug, or half a hug considering there was a big stuffed animal between them.
"Welcome." he said, hugging her back.
Chelsea looked at Mike, Amber looked at Danny, and April looked at Josh.
"What?" the three guys said in unison.
"Why don't you ever win me anything?" Chelsea asked Mike.
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, and she looked at him expectantly.
"Yea, why don't you ever win me anything?" April asked Josh and they repeated the same actions as Chelsea and Mike.
"Danny?" Amber asked expectantly.
"Well ummm..." Danny started.
Charlie, Kelly, Tristan and Rory watched the couples in amusement.
"Damn you, Dugrey." Mike muttered, "Fine, let's go." and he pulled Chelsea away to a game booth, closely followed by Danny, Amber, Josh and April.
"Awww, aren't you just the perfect boyfriend?" Kelly teased Tristan.
He shot her a warning look while Rory just pretended she didn't hear the comment.
'That was pretty sweet of him. Still, it didn't mean anything, he was just being nice. He doesn't like me and I most definitely don't like him. We're just friends.'
They watched the other couples; Danny missed the hoop at the basketball booth.
"Something tells me they're gunna be a while, why don't we walk around for a bit." Rory suggested.
"Yea." Tristan agreed.
Charlie and Kelly looked at each other hesitantly.
"Ummm, actually Charlie and I were just going to go, ahhh, over there-" Kelly said, pointing to a random place.
"Where?" Rory asked.
"Over there." she said, pointing to yet another random place.
"But you just pointed in the other direction."
"Oh. I did now did I? Well we're just going to go over there. To the place where I just- pointed."
"Ummmm o-kaaay. Well then we'll just come with you. To wherever you- pointed."
"NO!" Kelly and Charlie exclaimed.
Rory furrowed her brow while Tristan rolled his eyes knowingly.
"I mean- no. You two will just get bored. Yea, bored. You won't like it. We'll just meet you back here in..." Kelly paused and looked at Danny, who missed another hoop, "in about twenty minutes?"
"Uhhh, ok then. We'll see you in a little bit." Rory said, slightly confused, and walked off with Tristan.
"Kel, you suck at that." Charlie said.
"Shut up, at least it worked. What are we suppose to do now?"
"Aren't we suppose to go over there?" Charlie teased, pointing to a random place.
"I said shut up. Come on, you can win me a stuffed animal."
"Why?"
"Cause I don't wanna feel left out."
Charlie rolled his eyes but agreed nonetheless.
"First it was Danny and Amber, now it's Kelly and Charlie, what is up with them?" Rory asked.
"Uhhh, no clue. So, where to?" Tristan lied.
Rory giggled, "You made that rhyme."
Tristan grinned and shook his head, "Has anyone told you how much you're like your mom?"
"Yea, I kinda lost track after, I think it was 17... Hmmm, whatever, so I was thinking we go on- that ride!"
He groaned, "Haven't you already been on that, like, six times already?"
"Yea..." she pondered this for a moment, "still fun! Let's go." she said dragging him along.
"Where am I suppose to put Pookey?" Rory asked when they reached the ride.
"Just leave him here; we can get him after we're finished."
"K."
"Uh, are you ok? You look a little, pale, and, green, pale green." Tristan asked when they got off the ride.
"I knew I shouldn't have eaten that much. I don't feel so good." Rory groaned.
"Well that's what you get when you eat four orders of nachos, three hot dogs with cotton candy and an extra large coke."
Her response was another groan.
"Come on, let's get back to the others."
Rory nodded, he grabbed Pookey in one arm and put the other around her waist, while she leaned on him slightly.
"See, I told you, you shouldn't have eaten that much." Danny said when they got back. Amber, April, and Chelsea each held a giant stuffed animal in triumph, Kelly too.
"Yea, yea, I know." Rory said.
"That's why you should always listen to your older brother."
"By like, eight minutes!"
"Still older."
"Whatever."
"It's getting late, we should start to wrap it up." Tristan said.
The others agreed and headed towards the ferris wheel; they always ended the night with that ride.
"So I see Charlie decided to win you a stuffed animal too." Rory said to Kelly.
"Why of course, I couldn't be left feeling all left out now could I?"
"What happened to going... wherever you pointed?"
"Uhhhh, I pointed to one of the game booths."
"Really? I could've sworn you pointed to one of the rides, or, wherever."
"Nope, I wanted a stuffy."
"Then why didn't you just tell us where you were going?"
"Oh, I don't know... slipped my mind..."
Tristan and Charlie chuckled lightly, and Kelly heard a cough from Charlie that sounded a lot like 'You suck at this.' She shot him a warning look and then a guilty look to Tristan.
"What is with you guys?" Rory muttered.
Of course they all pretended not to hear her.
The teenagers got on, Tristan with Rory of course, surprise surprise.
"It's so pretty up here." Rory said when they reached the top; she was squished between Tristan and Pookey.
"Yea, it is." Tristan said. 'Just like you.'
They smiled at each other. Rory noticed that he had a genuine smile on, something people rarely saw. She also noticed something different in his eyes, the way he looked at her, but she couldn't quite place what it was.
Tristan's eyes flickered down to her lips, then back again, the two stared at each other, their faces slowly inching their way foward.
Suddenly, the ride jerked, snapping them both back to attention. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, neither making eye contact, but both wondering what would have happened if they had not interrupted.
"I had fun today." Rory said when they got off.
He smiled again, "Yea, me too."
"Ooooooh, gimme!"
"No, mom! Pookey's mine!" Rory exclaimed as Lorelai tried to grab the stuffed animal.
Lorelai pouted, "But I wanna big stuffy."
"Well aren't you and Dad going to the carnival tomorrow?"
"What's your point?"
"Get dad to win you one then!"
"But I want one now."
"She just doesn't wanna give it up 'cause Tristan won it for her." Danny said, walking into the room.
"Bible Boy won it for you?!"
"Yea, so?" Rory said.
"Well why didn't you just say so at the beginning?"
"What difference would it make?"
"Daughter of mine, Mr. I-have-the-hots-for-you won it. Why would I take something so precious away from you?"
Rory rolled her eyes, "He does not have the hots for me, he only won it because he was being nice and he wanted to save it from the evil grasps of a five year old with cotton candy covered fingers."
"Yes he has the hots for you and he only won it because, well, he has the hots for you."
"Whatever , I'm going to bed now."
"Ha! So you do admit he likes you!"
"I never said that! I just know that you're not going to give up so why should I even bother trying?"
"I win! I win!"
"Goodnight Mother." Rory said as she went upstairs.
Lorelai smiled at Danny, "I'd give it a few weeks."
Rory lay awake in bed, holding Pookey tight. She thought about her mother's words, as well as everyone else's. He couldn't like her, he was Tristan 'The Player' Dugrey. Sure he had become a good friend, but if they ever went out, she was sure he would dump her in a week, then it would just complicate things. Of course he stilled flirted with all the girls, but she hadn't actually seen him making out with any of them at school, or going out for that matter, since for the last week he had been spending most of his time with her and Danny. Then there was that almost kiss, or what she thought was an almost kiss, but she didn't like him, he just wasn't her type, they were better off as friends, good friends.
Only time would tell...