Author's note: An incident during Xmas break propelled me to write this story. It's slightly different from the ones that I've written in the past, but I still hope that people will like it. I know that I keep saying that I'd appreciate it if people would review my work, but I can't emphasize enough how much it would mean to me if you, the reader, would take time out to say a few words about this particular story, whether good or bad. What makes this story so special, you ask? Well, let's just say that this one has closer ties to my heart…… (And I'll just leave it at that…)

Special thank you and shout out to Jen for beta-ing this one for me….!

Summary: Rory spots an ex-boyfriend with a new girl in a coffeehouse, generating a trip down memory lane, and eventually causing her to realize something she thought she'd lost. (one parter) TRORY

Setting: It's sometime after Rory and Tristan graduate from college. I guess that's everything that you need to know. I mean, this is after all only a one shot deal.

Agapé

'til cjc'

She glanced at them from a few tables away. An unsettling feeling was stirring in the pit of her stomach. Something that most likely wasn't due to the half eaten bean burrito on her plate or the massive amount of coffee she'd had that day. It was because of the two people sitting not more than five tables away from where she was seated by the window. The guy and the girl were in the middle of a conversation, while waiting for their orders. She could see how the girl's head would slightly tilt down in a feminine manner and make her long brown hair fall to the sides of her face when she'd laugh at something the guy said, causing him to instinctively tuck it behind her ear. Rory had been discretely looking at them for the past fifteen minutes, not being able to resist the urge to avert her eyes from the pair. The moment she saw him walk in the door with her, the food in front of her was practically forgotten, and the sight of him suddenly grabbed her attention.

"Hey."

Tristan turned around and saw Rory slowly approach him. "Hi.", he said carefully. She looked so damn cute, he wanted to give her a hug like the other numerous times they'd met, but seeing the apprehensive look on her face, he opted not to. Instead he let her take the seat next to him on the park bench he'd been sitting on.

"So…" she started.

"So…" Tristan mimicked.

Rory fidgeted with the beaded bracelet around her wrist. "My mom told me the funniest thing the other day." she said, attempting to make it seem like nothing.

"Oh, yeah?"

Still toying with her bracelet, Rory looked at everything around her but the boy sitting next to her. "Yeah, she said she heard this rumour about you."

"About me?"

She nodded. "And how this rumour also involves me."

"Well, we are friends so that doesn't really come as a shock." he commented offhandedly.

"But this time it involves you and me in an unfriendly manner."

Tristan whirled his head towards Rory, seeming quite offended. "What? People are saying bad things about our friendship? Come on, Rory! You know better than to listen to a bunch of high-class pompous airheads who don't know anything!"

"No! No!" Rory turned to him, feeling as if she was going about this the wrong way. "That's not what I meant."

"Then what do you mean?" he pushed, wanting her to cut to the chase and just say it.

"Uhm.", she looked down at her lap, frantically searching her head for the right way of saying what she was about to say. "Well, my mom heard that you like me." Timidly, she looked at the boy in front of her and continued. "In a more than friendly kind of way."

"Oh.", he replied.

She couldn't really tell what was going on in his head, and his simple answer didn't reveal much either. "So, do you?" she asked boldly, yet a hint of quivering could be detected in her voice.

It took a few moments until her question registered in his head. Finally locking eyes with her, Tristan breathed deeply before answering. "Yes."

Rory let out a sigh and a faint smile crossed her features. "Good.", she said as she took his hand and entwined it with hers. "Cause I like you too."

She subconsciously took another bite of the burrito and briefly looked at the book she was reading. After re-reading the same paragraph without really grasping its meaning, Rory gazed out the window instead and saw that it was still raining. In the window she caught a glimpse of a reflection of the couple and turned her eyes towards them once again. They had now gotten their orders and were busy eating, but still engaging in conversation. She saw how he would smile at her and intently listen to every word she said. Yes, he was quite a listener, she recalled. He had the ability to look into the depths of your eyes, making you all giddy and causing you to shudder due to the intensely soft way he would look at you, and therefore make you forget what you were talking about. She had often complained about his unnerving way of looking at her, and how it made her uncomfortable and not be able to look him in the eye, but he'd just simply laugh it off and say that it wasn't anything personal. It was just the way he was. He couldn't help the fact that she was just so darn beautiful.

"So, by the way, did you have a good time?" Tristan asked over the phone. He was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Uhm…" Rory replied, pretending to think it through. "Considering it was a Hartford event, in which my presence was mandatory otherwise my life would be at stake, and that there were hardly any people I knew, plus the fact that they didn't serve coffee and I had to bribe one of the servants to sneak out and go buy me a cup, it was horrible."

Tristan smiled. "You know, a simple 'no' would have sufficed." he joked.

Rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's comment, Rory merely went on. "The only good thing was that I got a killer dress as reimbursement." Glancing towards her closet door where her dress was hanging nicely, she remembered the look on Tristan's face when he picked her up.

"And got to spend the evening with the most dashing guy around." he added.

"Well, that wasn't anything special. I get to do that practically every evening."

"So you think I'm dashing?"

Rory could almost hear his leer through the line. "No, I only commented on that it wasn't anything out of the extraordinary that I spent yet another evening with you. I didn't say anything about the dashing part."

"Yeah, but you didn't disagree with that statement either." Tristan persisted.

"Okay, okay." she gave in, not having the energy to further discuss this particular matter. "You are the most dashing guy around and I'm so lucky to have spent this evening with you." she faked an exasperated tone. Truthfully, she had a great time with him that evening and couldn't imagine having gone to the event with someone else.

"See, that wasn't so bad, now was it, Mary?" he grinned. "Besides, I got to spend the night with the most gorgeous girl around so I also got my end of the deal."

"So you've repeatedly told me.", she commented dryly, not letting his indirect compliment affect her demeanour.

Raising an eyebrow, Tristan was caught off-guard with his girlfriend's reply. "Well, I seem to recall a certain someone turning a slight shade of sheer pink whenever I uttered such sweet words in her ear tonight.", he reminded.

Rory tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. It was true. Despite how long they had been together, she still had the tendency to blush whenever Tristan would compliment her on her looks, and that evening had been no different. At the risk of seeming too girly, she liked that he would comment on how nice she smelled, how her eyes shone and even how irresistible she looked in her pj's on a Saturday afternoon with no make-up and her hair unruly.

Interpreting her silence as concurrence to the point he was trying to make, Tristan asked. "What are you thinking?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Rory was still smiling when she replied. "I'm thinking that I have a really pointy ass.", she said as she skilfully balanced the phone on her shoulder and carefully rubbed one of her butt cheeks in an effort to try and revive some form of feeling in them.

"Well, mine is quite round, and extremely firm, if I do say so myself.", Tristan remarked, half joking and half confused, and wondered at what made Rory make that comment.

"No, it's just that I am only now realizing the painful consequences of sitting on a hard-wood floor for a long period of time." she clarified. "And that my butt provides no kind of cushion effect whatsoever to prevent such matters to occur."

Tristan let out a laugh, and envisioned Rory sitting on the floor with an indignant look on her face, massaging her butt. "If it's any comfort, I would do my best to help you with your ordeal had I in fact been there." he offered, a small insinuation meaning in the background. Taking a look at the digital clock on his nightstand, he sighed. "It's 4:30 already."

"We've sure been talking for a while now." Rory commented, letting a yawn escape her mouth.

"Yeah, we have." he agreed. Rubbing his eyes, he suddenly felt tired and exhausted. "You want to go to bed now?"

"I think that would be good idea, but then again the mystery of how I'll be able to get up and walk to my room with the sudden disfunction of my rear still remains."

"A single 'yes' would have sufficed.", Tristan humoured yet again, making fun of her way of dragging the answer around the bush before beating it around like a dead dog.

"Okay, I'm hanging up now." Rory playfully threatened.

Taking it as a hint that it was time for her to go, Tristan put all jokes aside and acted serious. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked, but more as a rhetorical question.

"Yep, your place after class?"

"See you then."

"Good night, Tris."

"Night, Mary."

He hadn't changed much since she last saw him. Blonde tousled hair, broad shoulders and startling blue eyes. It's amazing how little a person changes in a course of two years, on the outside that is. Rory was sure that she could easily spot him in a crowd, his boyish charm and handsome features standing out like bright neon lights in a deserted highway. When she'd first met him, she wasn't really all that impressed. To the dismay of her friends and relatives, Rory didn't think that he was the epitome of all that is hot. Even after Lorelai had uttered the words; 'Are you BLIND?' during one of their movie nights, which still didn't get the covers off of her eyes. No, she still held strong on the fact that there were cuter guys out there and he wasn't anything to go ga-ga over. It was only when he started calling her, every now and then at first and then eventually on a regular basis, just to chat, was the time she slowly came out of her shell. They became friends and though she'd never admit it, the more she got to know about him, the more she was intrigued. Speculations of them being more platonic started circulating after a while, but she'd simply ignore them and insisted that they were just friends. Boy, had she been wrong.

"Tristan!" she squealed, as she stood up from her former position, out of his grasp.

"What?" he asked as if he didn't know what caused his girlfriend to act like that.

Rory looked at him with suspecting eyes, narrowing them as to give a more inquisitive stare, yet at the same time, revealing a blush in the apples of her cheeks. "You know what!" she replied in a hushed manner.

"Come on, Rory. It's not like this is the first time I've kissed you." he argued, while playing with a strand of her hair.

"Yeah, but usually we don't have an audience."

Tristan looked around the nearly deserted park, and spotted a few joggers doing their daily run and random passer-bys a couple of yards away. "They don't care, okay? I mean, it's not like they come out here to spy on lovesick couples making out."

"I know that, smartass." she pointed out, as she sat upright, completely facing him. "It's just that I don't feel comfortable doing this for the whole world to see."

"What this?" Tristan feigned innocence, and inched closer to his girlfriend, making a point of invading her personal space.

"Playing dumb isn't going to get you anywhere, Tristan." she said, trying to seem serious.

"Then what will?" he asked, as he brought his lips to the column of her neck, peppering it with light kisses. "This?"

Rory involuntarily closed her eyes, sudden shivers going down her spine. She could feel his warm breath on her skin as he worked himself towards her earlobe. "Or maybe this?" He asked playfully and continued his assault, fully aware of the effect he had on her. Moments later he felt her hand playing with the soft hair at the base of his neck as his lips found its way to hers. He had kissed a lot of girls before, but somehow kissing Rory Gilmore felt like heaven. He knew that being with her would be different, but it was almost as if her whole utter existence purified his soul, making his life seem vivacious and all of a sudden meaningful.

Tristan reluctantly pulled away, suddenly aware of the need to breathe. He rested his forehead on hers and closed his eyes. He didn't need to look at her to know that she was blushing. "Well, I guess it's safe to say that whatever issues you had with PDA are finally resolved."

"Yeah, I guess so." She smiled as she brought her right hand to his cheek, rubbing it gently with her thumb. "But I think I might need a few more sessions." she said before capturing his lips once again.

It was Hell. To put it bluntly. She never thought that she would be feeling like this, especially after all this time. But seeing him with another girl was just as heart breaking as when they had broken up. The only difference being was that they are in a crowded coffee shop and not in the privacy of her room. Two years had gone and she still felt it. In the pit of her stomach. The butterflies, the rollercoaster and her heart beating at a rapid speed. She had herself convinced that she was beyond that, that she was over it and the fact that she herself has had a steady boyfriend for the past a year and half now was enough to tell the world that he no longer affected her in any way at all.

Rory gathered her stuff, getting ready to leave. She walked past tables to get to the exit, and as she reached the door, she stole one last glance at the couple. This time he was sitting alone, an empty seat beside him. Then, all of a sudden something struck her.

He was smiling, in a content, goofy kind of way. The way that he used to when he'd drop her off from a date, or when they'd just lay in the park staring at the sky.

Seeing that, she couldn't help but grin as well. Things between them now might not be the way it used to be, and who knows if things will ever be like before. But she didn't care. Somehow she knew that no matter what they were doing in life, or who they were with, and even the fact of how long time has passed, she'd still love him with all her heart and soul.

He was happy, and that was all that mattered.

Stepping out into the road, Rory looked ahead. The rain clouds were starting to move aside, enough to let a ray of sunshine peak through. She started walking down the street, a faint smile still on her face. He'd revolved through her life like a twisting tornado, and stolen her heart in the process. But in her mind, she had a lifetime full of memories.

Something that she'll always treasure, and something that not even he could ever take away.

The End