Everything
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot and the 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 and Jess don't exist; she's not friends with Paris.
Rating: PG13
Chapter 8
"Where were you?!" Amber exclaimed when they entered the beach house, "I wake up at three o'clock in the morning, you're not there, Tristan's not on the couch, I check to see if Rory's there; she's not. Where the hell have you been?!"
Charlie, Kelly, Mike, Chelsea, Josh and April were sitting at the kitchen counter with there heads propped up with their hands; no doubt woken up by Amber.
"We couldn't sleep. The neighbors were too loud." Danny replied simply.
"So where'd you go?"
"To the neighbors."
"To what?"
"To ask them to be quiet."
"Well they aren't being quiet."
"I know."
Amber looked at the three of them, "Is something wrong?"
"No."
"What happened?" Amber asked.
"Nothing."
"Danny, come on, I'm not stupid, I know something happened."
"I never said you were stupid and nothing happened!"
Now they had Charlie, Kelly, Mike, Chelsea, Josh, and April's attention, although they were still very sleepy.
"Danny!"
"Sorry." he mumbled.
She sighed and looked over at Rory, who was leaning against Tristan with her head on his shoulder, giving them an expectant look.
"Nick." Rory mumbled.
"What?"
Rory sighed, "Nick was there." she said a little bit louder.
"Nick?"
Silence.
"As in cheating bastard Nick?" Amber asked.
"Yea... cheating bastard Nick."
"W-what-" Amber stopped when she saw Danny and Tristan giving her a drop-it-and-I'll-tell-you-later look, "Well, ummmmm, okay, I-I guess we should go back to bed then."
The teenagers silently agreed and went upstairs.
"Come on." Tristan said, nudging Rory, she was perfectly capable of going to bed herself but she grabbed his hand anyways, pulling him upstairs.
She went inside her parents' room and climbed into bed. Tristan kissed her on her forehead.
"You okay?" he asked softly.
She nodded.
He turned around to leave when he felt her grab his hand.
"Tris, can you stay with me?" She asked quietly, "Just until I fall asleep?"
"You sure?"
"Yea."
She scooted over to make room for him and he climbed in next to her. Her head lay on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.
"Remember Ror, don't let him get to you."
"I won't."
They were silent for a moment.
"Tris?"
"Yea?"
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"For being there."
"Your welcome." he paused before adding, "You know I'll always be there for you."
"I know." she whispered before drifting off into a light slumber.
When he was sure she was asleep, he carefully detangled himself and started to get off the bed.
"Don't go." she mumbled; she wasn't exactly a deep sleeper.
"Rory,"
"Please Tristan."
He sighed, knowing how persistent she could be, even when she was half asleep, he got back in, and she snuggled into him, falling back to sleep.
He stared at her sleeping form, she looked so peaceful and innocent. Damn Nick for hurting her. Tristan knew he would never hurt her, he'd kill himself if he did. Then he recalled April's words from a few days ago, 'Oh hun, she already likes you as more than a friend. I'd say it started about fifteen and a half days ago.'
Yes, the five girls knew each other better than anyone, so what they said about each other was pretty much always true. Usually he would know better than to keep his hopes up, but when in came to Rory there was no controlling how he felt, and after what April had said... his hopes had soared sky high.
Rory sat at the kitchen counter with everyone else the next morning, sipping her coffee. She hadn't had a nice sleep like that for ages, even if it was just for a few hours. It was almost good enough to make her forget about Nick, keyword, almost. She didn't care what he thought. Really. But the fear of relationships- that she thought she had gotten over -had resurfaced; it may not have actually occurred to her, but seeing him had made her go on red alert in terms of relationships wise.
Amber, Chelsea, Kelly, and April were twitching in their seats with anticipation, while a part of them felt a genuine concern towards Rory for what had happened with Nick (they had been given a quick recap by Danny earlier that morning), a bigger part of them wanted to know what had happened with Tristan last night.
As for the guys, the big brother side of them had taken over and they wanted nothing more than to just go next door and beat the crap out of Nick, but they knew better, so they sat there expressionless, giving Rory a concerned glance and Tristan a curious one every now and then.
Tristan braced himself for the questions that would be shot at him once Rory left the room, he knew there was no avoiding them so it was just better to get it over with, especially after the looks he and Rory got this morning when they came out of the same room.
"So..." Charlie began, interrupting the silence, "What are we doing today?"
"I don't know, we could just hangout at the beach and maybe walk around town later." Danny said.
"Suits me." April said.
"Ummm, I'm gunna go change then." Rory said, gulping down the rest of her coffee before leaving the kitchen.
When they heard the door close upstairs, the girls wasted no time.
"So what happened?" Kelly asked Tristan.
"What do you mean what happened?" Tristan said.
"Last night..." Chelsea said.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh don't give me that, you know exactly what I'm talking about."
"I do now, do I?"
"Yes." they replied in unison.
The guys just watched in amusement, pretending they weren't really interested, but really, they were dieing to know what happened.
"Huh."
"Tristan," April pleaded.
"April," Tristan mimicked.
"Ok, if you don't tell us what happened we're just gunna jump to conclusions." Amber said and the others nodded their heads in agreement.
Tristan sighed, "Nothing. We just slept."
"What do you mean you slept?" Kelly asked.
"You know, you close your eyes and fall asleep. You kinda have to do it to stay alive..."
Chelsea rolled her eyes, "What else?" she asked impatiently.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing."
"Seriously?"
"Yes!"
"Not even a little bit?"
"No! Look, it'll happen when it happens. If it happens that is. I know you mean well, but you gotta get off my back. Trust me, I know what to do." Tristan said, growing more annoyed by the second.
"You do?" Amber asked.
"Yes." 'Ha ha. Yea right.'
"Really?"
He glared at her.
"Fine." Amber said dramatically, "We'll leave you alone."
"Thank you. I'm gunna go change and then we can head out or whatever." And with that Tristan went upstairs.
After a few moments in silence, Josh asked, "He has no idea what to do, does he?"
"Not a clue." April said.
More silence.
"You're not gunna leave him alone, are you?" Charlie asked.
The girls snorted, "No." they replied in unison.
Amber, Kelly, April, and Chelsea smiled at Rory.
"What? Rory asked.
"You are so checking him out." Kelly said, referring to Tristan who was playing volleyball with the rest of the guys.
"What?! Checking who out?" But Rory's blush revealed to everyone that she was in fact checking him out.
"You know who."
Rory shook her head.
"Ror, it's okay, I'd be checking him out too if Josh wasn't here." April said.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Funny," Chelsea said, "Tristan said the exact same thing this morning."
"Tristan? What does Tristan have to do with anything?"
"She's playing it dumb." Amber said to the others, who nodded their heads in agreement.
"I am not."
"Ror,"
"Yea?"
"It's okay to admit he's an absolute hottie –don't tell Danny I said that by the way- we won't tell."
"I- shut up."
"Don't worry, it'll be out little secret." Amber whispered loudly.
Rory glared at her.
"So, ummmm, how are things going with you two anyways?" Amber asked, attempting to make it sound like a casual comment but failed miserably.
"Don't start." Rory stated simply.
"What?" Amber asked innocently.
"Don't start on that he likes you and you like him thing again. I've heard it enough times."
"Well clearly the message hasn't gotten through that thick head of yours."
"I don't have a thick head."
They raised their eyebrows.
"Will you give it up?"
Amber sighed, "You just don't get it do you?"
"Get what?"
Amber turned towards the three other girls, waving her hands in the air, she said to them, "She's as blind as a-a-"
"Blind as a Rory?" Kelly suggested nodding her head; her response was met with four strange looks.
"What?" Kelly asked.
Amber frowned, "Well, ummmm, I was gunna say as blind as a bat, but as blind as a Rory works too... I guess."
"I don't like him and he doesn't like me! Why can't you guys just understand that?! We're just friends." Rory scowled.
"Oh puh-lease," Amber said with a flick of her hand, "I know a crush when I see one, and that guy has got it bad." Amber said
"Amber,"
"I'm serious! We all see it. Your parents see it. The whole Chilton population sees it. Hell, even a stranger on the street would see it!"
"Give...it...up."
"So you don't deny that he likes you?"
"Yes! I mean, no! I mean, yes, I do deny it because he does not like me! Jeez! How many times do I have to tell you that?!"
"I don't know, how many times do we have to tell you he has the hots for you? And so do you."
"I have the hots for me?"
They gave her a you-know-what-I-mean look.
"Look, I know how I feel. And I think he's a great friend, but I can't see us as anything more so just please leave it." Rory pleaded.
"You are so damn stubborn."
"Who's stubborn?" Tristan asked as the guys came up to them.
"Rory." Chelsea said.
"Am not!"
"Are to!"
"Am not!"
"Are to!"
"Am-"
"Okay, let's just pretend I never asked." Tristan said.
"I'm not stubborn, am I?" Rory asked Tristan.
"Uhhhhh...n-" he saw the looks he was receiving from the girls, "I mean, ye-" then looked back at Rory's cute little face; he looked back and forth between them, not knowing what to say, before Rory frowned and pouted slightly, "No, not at all." He lied.
Rory gave them a triumphant look, "See?"
They rolled their eyes.
Amber put her face in her hands and groaned, "This is gunna take forever."
The only person who didn't hear her was Rory due to the fact that she had already turned her full attention back to her book.
"Rory, it's a chair." Tristan said as the two stared at the display through the window.
"No, it's a giant coconut."
"It's a chair. You can sit on it."
"So? You could sit on a giant coconut."
"It's still a chair."
"More like a coconut."
"Guys, it's a chair that's meant to look like a coconut; a coconut chair." Danny said.
Tristan and Rory stared at the object for a moment.
"I still think it's a giant coconut." Rory said before the girls dragged her down the street to another shop.
"She's so stubborn. It's obviously a chair." Tristan said.
"I thought you told her she wasn't stubborn." Danny smirked.
"I-" Tristan paused, thinking of something to say, "Did you see the way she was looking at me?" he defended.
The guys shook their heads in mock disappointment.
"Come on, I wanna stop Chelsea before she maxes out my credit card." Mike said, walking away.
"Don't worry," Danny said, patting Tristan's back with an almost sympathetic look on his face, "She'll come around."
'Hopefully.'
A/N:Thanks for clearing me up on the Willa Wonka and Charlie thing; it's kinda weird how the re-make is different from the original movie which is different from the book, but now I'm unconfused, kind of, lol.