CHAPTER 2

Gawking was the perfect word to describe what she was doing at the moment. Her lips parted, her throat felt parched. The two words reverberating in her head were "naked" and "Tristin". Neither was ever put in the same sentence by her in her entire life. Swallowing the sight of the being in front of her made her feel dirty but at the same time titillated. His masculinity finally answered the whys the Chiltonite girls spoke of him in hushed tones. "Endowed" all of a sudden was a term she became well acquainted with. If she were to be Catholic, at this point, confession was her only option.

Rory tried to speak but no words came out of her mouth. She tried to point but she seemed frozen on the spot. She felt like a caricature off of a cartoon show whose jaw had literally hit the floor and needs to be put back in place.

If anything else, she welcomed the jarring vibrating tool on her hip that woke her up from the surreal event unfolding in front of her.

"Surely you know that such devices are supposed to be turned off before entering the class Miss…" Professor Manalt asked, waiting for Rory to introduce herself.

"Lorelai Gilmore. Rory," she stuttered. "I…Tanh…"

Rory slowly backed away from the room, not wanting any more distraction than she already had caused. However, in her trepidation, she accidentally steps on the leg of an easel, bringing it to a crashing tumble on the cold tile. Brushes, pens and loose sheets fell clumsily around her.

Like a petrified rabbit, she took off, not looking back.

"Agh!" Rory screamed.

She woke up covered in sweat. She had to get over Wednesday. She looked at her bedside clock that glared 6:30 at her. She might as well get an early start on her Friday.

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Paris was a little perturbed that Rory for once remained quiet throughout a meal despite her constant haranguing.

"Rory, what has gotten into you? You usually are first to attack me when I speak of the overextension government has put on the First Amendment," Paris criticized.

"What?" Rory responded blankly.

"See? Tabula rasa in action,"� Paris huffed. "Why do I even try?"

Before Rory could protest, Tanh interfered the conference going on between the two girls.

"Tonight, nine o'clock, the Alchemy and no excuses that you're going home. You promised you'd act as a chaperone between me and Alex," Tanh threatened Rory when he plopped his tray on the table.

"I am not going home," she keened. "Grandparents are out of town and mom's got a function at the Inn. I have to entertain myself here in town."

"Good," Tanh said. "I don't want to disappoint your blind date."

"No!" Rory replied indignantly.

"David will be looking forward to actually seeing you," Tanh dangled the information in front of Rory.

"You're kidding, right? Tell me you conned him to ask me out or something, please? I am so humiliated," Rory groaned. "I agreed to chaperone, not to be set up on a date."

"Am I invited to join you guys?" Paris chimed in.

"Yes!" Tanh said.

"No!" Rory protested simultaneously.

"What are you hiding, huh?" Paris grilled.

"Nothing!" Rory's eyes bugged out.

"Fine. You just don't want me around when your blind date turns out to be the loser of the week," Paris huffed, feeling left out from the conversation.

"Paris? Have you ever had a moment where you think you're in a nightmare and you can't seem to wake up no matter how hard you try?" Rory pried.

"Yeah, when I found out that I did not getting into Harvard," Paris said without taking a moment to pause. "For once in my life, I felt like a loser. I was so zombiefied that I didn't want to acknowledge my existence. Maybe that's how people who lose religion feel. Why'd you ask?"

"Because tonight is going to be the reality to my nightmare," Rory preceded her thoughts by making the statement. "I… I saw Tristin DuGrey in Full Monty and now I will never be able to take that visual out of my mind!"

Paris choked on her tofu strawberry shake. "Did I hear you right? Rory, you can't joke about something like that. You just dreamt that. Tristin DuGrey is not part of our vocabulary anymore. He is part of our past that's better left unmentioned."

Rory was amazed that Paris had finally learned to speak in the speed she was accustomed to hear from her mother. She knew that mentioning Tristin usually had that effect on the girl.

"Okay, I dreamt it,"� Rory implied with sarcasm. "But don't think for once that he isn't worth a Playgirl centerfold."�

"You're such a tease,"� Paris snorted. "Honestly, you've seen him in the buff? How good did he look? Sinewy? Hairy? Details; saturate me with details!"�

"How far do you want to go?"� Rory teased.

"Black hole far. I need some pornographic memories to keep me awake for cyberprof to keep me awake this afternoon,"� Paris responded in eager excitement. "Damn if I always thought it was perverted to think of him as hunk material when we grew up almost like siblings but after hearing stories from his conquests, I'd be lying if I said I didn't fantasize a bit."

"Ew, Paris!" Rory tried to stop her friend from talking.

"Is that what his name is? For sure I thought it was David," Tanh mocked. "Hard like stone..."

"Tanh, shut up!" the two girls yelled at him in chorus.

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Tristin looked at his watch for the millionth time that night while he passed the time sipping beers and playing pool at the Bar with a couple of the college students from the area.

He remembered approaching Tanh the moment he was able to take a break from posing. He was amazed at the number of women that circled around him but at that instant, their constant chatter was more of a nuisance than anything else.

He deferred questions he preferred not to answer. He cinched his robe loosely around his waist and marched purposefully to the two men at the corner. All he could hear behind him were sighs of disappointment.

"I knew he's too beautiful to be straight,"� one girl uttered.

"So, who was that girl that bolted out the door?"� Tristin rudely interrupted the two to get into the conversation.

Tanh was slack jawed. "Why?"

"Well, I just want to apologize to her if I offended her,"� he made up an excuse.

"Rory? Be Offended? Surprised, maybe. Offended, no,"� Tanh replied with his arms crossed in front of him.

"So that's her name? Rory?" he asked.

Tanh rolled his eyes. "Yes, it's Rory."

Tristin nodded his head and backed away. "I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation. If you see her around, can you pass along my apologies?"

The guy next to him, who identified himself as Alex, elbowed Tanh.

"We're going out for drinks this Friday at the Alchemy. You can tell her yourself,"� Tanh supplied the information. "Nine-ish?"

"I'd be there. Thanks," Tristin was glad for the invite. He hoped that the Rory they spoke of was one and the same.

"Hey buddy, it's your turn," the cocky blonde tapped him on the shoulder waking him up from his contemplation.

Tristin focused on the cue ball positioned awkwardly enough that he might have to scratch the striped ball in front of his solid ball. Taking the chalk, he rubbed the tip of his stick methodically before bouncing the cue ball on the sidewall to sink his ball on the opposite corner pocket to earn him the lead. One shot later, he cleaned out the table by sinking in the eight ball.

"Good game," the blonde slapped a crisp fifty-dollar bill on his chest. "Rack up another round?"

"Nah, I've got to head on out to the Alchemy. Can you tell me how to get there?" he asked.

"The Alchemy? That's for kids, dude." he said, shrugging. "Don't tell me you're here waiting for a blind date?"

"Well, it isn't that blind but something like that," Tristin tried to be vague, picking up his leather jacket that draped a seat.

"Tell you what, why don't we take you to the Alchemy and if your date blows, we can hang out at Lounge 215," his newfound buddy said.

"I'd appreciate that," Tristin said.

"By the way, my name's Logan."

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"Isn't it strange that we are in a club that has sponsored a Maxim Magazine party which I might add degrades women? Not to mention the factoid that our gay friend dragged us in here. Is there no end to our downward spiral to mediocrity?" Paris panted after grinding away with a handsome, albeit professor-looking man on the dance floor.

"Uhm, yeah," Rory said, not paying attention to Paris' rambling.

"Rory, you're ignoring me again." Paris said, chugging down the drink Rory was nursing in her hand.

"Hmm, and it's such a pleasant feeling after downing three island iced teas," Rory replied, her head swimming as she faced Paris.

That was when she saw Tristin emerge from the sea of club hoppers. He wore a black Ralph Lauren shirt that hugged him all in the right places. The mechanic pants he wore showed a hint of the boxers he wore underneath. All Rory could think of was skimming her fingers on top of the elastics that held the fabric in place.

Rory didn't know whether she lost her breath when she caught sight of Tristin or the fact that Paris had to point out to her that Tristin was approaching them.

"Rory, your blind date really is Tristin? That's…" Paris' voice trailed from her ears.

Almost like her body was refusing to take orders from her brain, Rory took determined steps towards Tristin to meet him half way.

"Rory?" Tristin barely got out of his lips before Rory crushed her lips against his like her life depended on it.