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 for her senior year, 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 isn't friends with Paris; I'm having fun with my own characters.
Rating: PG13
Chapter 17
"She knows, doesn't she." Mike stated, rather than questioned.
"No. Well, kinda... she doesn't know exactly what we're doing." Danny said.
"But she knows we're doing something."
"Yea..." he trailed off, and sighed, "but that's just our secondary concern right now."
"Then what's our primary concern?" Josh asked, frowning.
"She's thinking about Nick.
"She might not, I mean, she's always found a way to ignore him before, why not now?"
"Because out of all those times he's been mentioned, none of them were during a date with Tristan."
"Dude, don't pull an Amber on us." Charlie said, making a face, "We don't do the whole 'reading between the lines and thinking deep' thing that she does."
The three guys looked at Danny expectantly, waiting for him to simplify his statement, in return, he just said, "I don't know how to explain it, it's just... Why don't you just ask the girls, I'm not good at this kinda stuff."
The car ride home was silent. She thought that he thought that she wasn't feeling well, but he knew something else was up, he was sure of it, he also knew he would have a hard time getting it out of her though. She would actually have to admit that something was wrong first, and it by the looks of it, that wasn't exactly a likely option at this point, not with Rory and her cursed talent of denial.
Though she may have been closer to realizing the problem than she led on.
He gave her a quick side glance. She was looking out the window, seemingly finding interest in the nearly empty streets of Hartford, but her mind was else where, she had that far away look in her eyes—that was not a good sign.
What in the world did Danny say to her?
------
She had instantly regretted calling Danny right after the phone call had ended, actually before the phone call had ended. He had planted him in her head, right smack dab in the middle of her date with Tristan of all times.
She hated the fact that he was getting to her. After her conversation with Danny, all she had been trying to do was to push the mere thought of him out of her head, but she needed to up her efforts, because it was always just a matter of minutes before it made its way back.
She couldn't really imagine the guys doing anything major, they had promised her that they would leave him alone, and they always stuck to their word, well, with exceptions.
She inwardly sighed. That was it. They must have viewed this as another one of their 'exceptions'. And most of the time, there was a pretty vast difference of her take on exceptions and theirs.
Why couldn't they just leave it alone?
Amber threw the cordless phone on a nearby chair, and plopped face first down onto her bed, groaning into her pillow.
"What'd they say?" Chelsea asked.
Amber rolled over so that she was starring at the ceiling, and blew a strand of hair off of her face, "It's official. Our boyfriends are idiots."
"Dude, what the hell did you say to her?" Tristan demanded over his cell phone just after he had dropped Rory off. How could a simple call of Rory asking her brother about his Halloween costume from twelve years ago cause her to act distant for the entire rest of their date? She had only given him a quick peck on the cheek as a goodbye kiss for crying out loud.
"What did I say to who?" Danny asked, playing dumb.
"You know who."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
The girls had already been furious at his 'mindless acts of stupidity' when he had given them a heads up of what had happened after Rory had called, he really didn't need to hear about how it ruined their date as well, he felt bad enough as it was.
"Danny," Tristan said warningly.
"Nick." Danny mumbled in defeat after a few moments of silence.
"What?" Tristan asked, not sure if he had heard his friend correctly.
"Nick." he repeated dryly.
Tristan gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white, "And pray tell, why—"
"I didn't mean to!" Danny defended, already knowing what Tristan was going to say, "She overheard me when I told the guys to shut up and she got suspicious, and damn that IQ of hers... she just had to go and figure it all out."
Tristan sighed, "What were you doing anyway?"
"Hey sweetie." Lorelai greeted, walking into the lobby with a pile of mail in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the other.
"Hey." Rory said, closing the front door.
"You're home early."
"Yea." she stated simply, already making her way towards the stairs.
"How was your date?"
"Good."
"Did you have fun?"
"Yep."
"You gunna expand your vocabulary to more than just one syllable words?"
"Mmm hmm."
"Two syllables, we're making progress here. Though I'm not sure 'mmm' and 'hmm' really count as actual words." When she didn't get a response from Rory, who was still making her way up the stairs, she added, "Oooh, let me guess, he gave you one of those mind numbing kisses goodnight that left you speechless." She was only half joking. Actually, come to think of it, she wasn't joking at all, she had been a witness to one of their displays of affection one time; it wasn't particularly something she wanted to see again. Rory was still her baby girl after all. Lorelai just liked to picture sweet, innocent little kisses, and leave it at that.
"Huh?" Rory said, turning around at the top of the stairs to face her mother, only to receive a funny look.
"Oh, ummm, yea." Rory answered absentmindedly, before turning around again and disappearing into the upstairs hallway.
Lorelai frowned at Rory's odd behavior. If there was a mind numbing kiss, then she would have had a small, content smile playing on her lips and her eyes would have been be covered in a dreamy haze.
But there was no smile, or dreamy look in her eyes.
There was no mind numbing kiss.
That would be classified under the abnormal section.
Lorelai sighed as she realized the only possible cause for her daughter's distant state.
And so it begins.
A maid greeted Danny, Charlie, Josh, and Mike shortly after they rang the doorbell.
"Yes?" the woman asked.
"Hello, we're here to see Nick." Danny said.
"And you are..."
"Danny. Danny Hayden. And these are just some friends." he smiled.
"Is Master Nicholas expecting you?"
The four guys resisted the urge to laugh out loud... Master Nicholas.
"Actually, I don't think so, but we just came by to drop off a project for school." he said, holding up the pile of papers he had.
"Well, I could just deliver those to him." she said, reaching for the folder.
"Well there's actually something I need explain to him... about the project... for school."
She frowned and pursed her lips, "It's rather late."
"Yes, and I am very sorry ma'am, but this is really important, and I just think that it'd be better if we saw him in person."
She sighed. "Alright then, come in, I will inform Master Nicholas of your presence," she said, allowing them to step inside the mansion, then she added with a slight blush, "though I am not sure if he is available at the moment, he has a... guest."
That was not something they needed to hear. But the knowledge of him currently in the process of screwing some girl, only justified the reason they were here in the first place, it just made their plan more worthwhile. If they were lucky enough, the scene would even unfold in front of her.
"Thank you, and umm... okay."
Tristan looked at the red digits on his alarm clock that night. It was still early, well, early considering that he had had a date. He contemplated whether or not he should call her, but decided against it given her odd behavior when he last saw her. It would be pointless to have another one sided conversation.
Despite what Danny had told him on the phone afterwards, he couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that it was more than just about Nick. He had a part in this too. He was more than just the boyfriend, at least to Rory. All he needed to figure out was which role he was supposed to play.
But even though he didn't know exactly what it was, he did know that it wasn't one with a happy ending.
For now anyway.
------
Rory stared at the dark ceiling as she lay in bed.
Her date had ended early. It probably had to do with the fact that their conversation had become mostly one sided, with Tristan doing the talking and her adding a nod at what she thought were the appropriate places.
He thought that she was just listening, interested in the things he was saying since they never really talked much about him, but that theory soon went down the drain as soon as she nodded when he asked her jokingly if she wanted to go hit the gym someday.
It was then that he had decided that she wasn't feeling very well, and that he should take her home.
She felt guilty when she remembered his look of disappointment, which he quickly covered up with genuine concern. She inwardly sighed; guilt was not something she wanted to throw on top the growing pile of unwanted feelings. Unfortunately, that was something she had no control over, and guilt landed right on top with a big thud. She hadn't even bothered to correct him when he made the false conclusion that she was feeling sick.
Well, technically she was feeling sick, just not in the way that was intended.
She still couldn't believe that she had gone bungee jumping. The fact that Tristan had actually gotten her to agree to it in less than ten minutes was something that she found quiet astounding. Actually, it was something that anyone would have found astounding.
If he could convince her to make a two hundred and fifty foot dive so easily, she couldn't even imagine what he was fully capable of.
How? She didn't know. No one else would have been able to get her to do something like that. Not even her mom or her brother. And yet, she felt so safe with Tristan.
When he was there, she could do practically anything.
And if he wasn't there?
Well, she really didn't know what she would do if he wasn't there. But, she did know that it was not something she'd be able to handle well.
And that's when she knew that she had fallen head over heels for Tristan Dugrey. She had always known that she was falling for him, but she just never quite realized the impact of it. Could it be love? She wasn't really sure. This was completely different from the first time that she had been in love, or, the first time that she had thought she had been in love, though that didn't really turn out that well.
What she felt for Tristan was way beyond anything that had happened with Nick. This was something new. She was walking on unknown territory, oblivious to what was going to happen next. Maybe it'd be good, or maybe... it wouldn't. What if he—Rory closed her eyes, not allowing herself to venture forward into the thought. She didn't like this new concept of hers. Not one bit.
Then it finally clicked. All the weird emotions that she had pushed from her mind for the past week finally made sense. And at that point, it seemed that there was only one thing that she could do.
She wasn't going to give him the chance to leave her, or, hurt her... not if her heart was on the line.