CHAPTER 7
"At the rate you're studying, you and I are bound to flunk midterms," Marty chuckled, taking a seat next to Rory on the picnic bench and table set that took a large section of his single man dorm room.
Rory stared at the bedside clock that just rolled on to nine o'clock. It was a cold Tuesday night and she was in no mood to hit the books.
"You and me fail? Ludicrous," Rory denied as her heart skipped a beat as she faced Marty.
She and Marty came up with a system in their sophomore year of college to split the reading assignments and share notes in all the classes they had together. As much as she wanted to bust out of the old college walls, this moment she shared with Marty was one she would miss the most.
"You have been tapping the same page for the last half hour. The History of Communication is interesting but not worth concentrating that hard on," he chuckled, cupping her shoulder before getting up.
"Want a soda?" he asked while looking at the contents of his little refrigerator.
"Please," Rory sighed. She dropped the pencil on the book she was taking notes from and dragged herself away to the couch parking her behind in front of the TV.
"Here you go," he handed the open can of Vanilla Coke.
Rory took the can graciously. Almost simultaneously she reached out for the remote and started channel surfing. One thing she took pleasure in was going through the screens as quickly as she could without having Paris remind her she had television ADD.
"So, give me the 411 on Tristin," Marty ordered as he reached for her legs and draped it over his thighs.
"Tristin? What about him?" Rory asked. For once, she was grateful that she shaved her legs. Having him run his hands over her shins made her stutter.
"Do you think he likes Kaylee?" he asked.
Rory's heart plummeted. How could he touch her and then think of another girl?
It had been two weeks since the foursome got together as a group and Rory couldn't be any more pleased at pace of the events that unfolded around the newly formed group. With Rory's frequent trips to Stars Hollow and Marty's job with the caterer, Tristin appointed himself to be Kaylee's companion when he was able to spare the time. Rory frequently found Marty in a state of discomfort when Kaylee would update him with her escapades with DuGrey. Rory ended up reassuring her friend whenever such moments arose.
"As a friend? I think so," Rory mumbled.
"That's good," he sighed. "I really don't know him and I just want to know that he's not going to hurt her… I have to play big brother if he did her wrong, you know. He's a great guy and I don't want to end up punching him out or something."
Somehow, Marty stumbled through those words, blushing as he tried to correct himself.
Rory smiled wanly. "Tristin really isn't a bad guy."
"If Tristin is such a great guy, why aren't you snagging him yourself?" Marty teased.
"Well," it was Rory's turn to blush. "I've got to swim outside the Hartford gene pool."
Marty laughed out loud, alternating between running his hands over her legs and massaging her sock covered feet. Rory's heightened senses made he cozy up to her couch buddy.
"Anyway, I am not the DuGrey type, if you get my drift," Rory took another swig of her soda. "His family is influential and neurotic. The two of us together is like trading proverbial baggage within the same circles. But other than that, Tristin's actually very smart. He's mischievous and pretends not to care but he does."
Almost instantly, Rory forgot that Marty existed. Her thoughts wandered, to Tristin and the past they shared.
"Who are you trying to convince that he's a good guy? You or me?" Marty broke her reverie.
"Just identifying the heroes, buddy," she responded, a little slow in recovering from her daydream.
"Alrighty. Something's bugging you. Out with it," Marty tried to coax out a better answer from Rory.
"Nothing's bugging me!" she exclaimed.
"Bull," he called her bluff.
"What do you think about mandatory wearing of T-shirts in beaches to prevent melanoma?" Rory inquired, changing the subject.
"You, are a butthead," he enunciated each word while tickling the soles of her feet. Laughing out loud, the two got up and started chasing each other in the enclosed space. They stopped running after each other when Marty's next-door neighbor pounded on the wall. Rory gave him one good shove before settling back on the couch.
"Kay called today and said Mimi's doing great. At the rate she's improving, Kay said she probably would be going back to England sooner than she expected," Marty related to her.
"So is that good or bad?" Rory asked.
Marty got lost in his thoughts for a moment. "I don't know. I will miss her, definitely."
"Yeah," Rory replied as she leaned against his shoulder. "Bet that would be hard since you've hung out with her a lot the last couple of weeks, huh?"
A pause filled the void between them. Out of the blue, Marty asked, "Hey, Rory, would you like to go out to dinner next Saturday?"
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Tristin was more than preoccupied when he stuck his arm through the armhole of his shirt. Rory called him up the night before asking him to meet up with her before he headed back to Brown. Maybe he should've realized that something was amiss.
"Guess what just happened?" Rory greeted him, giddy with excitement.
"What?" he asked. He welcomed the distraction as he took off his glasses and laid them next to his laptop. It was almost eleven and he wasn't getting anywhere with his writing homework. "Tanh realized he's actually straight?"
"God, no," Rory guffawed. "If that ever happened, I'd quit college and have myself committed to an asylum."
Tristin hadn't laughed out loud in a long time. "Alright, I give. What just happened?"
Rory stalled in giving him the good news. "Ooh, before anything else, what do you think of Kaylee?"
"Kaylee? What does she have to do with your news?" he queried.
"Because I want to know that you're not really that against girls… still," Rory clarified.
"Kaylee's cool," he admitted. "I won't kick her out of bed if she offered."
"That's the DuGrey I know," Rory mocked despite a twinge of jealousy pricking her. "Can I infer that you have recovered from a broken heart?"
"What do you want me to say?" Tristin tried to eke an answer from her. "Besides, I am not recovering from that stupid malady. Trust is the issue, not the ability to have a heterosexual partner next to me."
"I just want you to say that you're happy and that… you'd forget Summer," Rory mumbled quickly.
'Easier said than done,' Tristin said silently. "Happy?" he snorted. "That's the last thing I'd ever hear from you, Gilmore."
"Hey, I have to live up my end of the bargain, right?" Rory sighed. "Walk me to class tomorrow after Tanh's class."
"Fine," he promised before hanging up. He rubbed his eyes as he reflected on the conversation he just had with the perplexing nymph.
"Damn it!" he exclaimed. "She didn't tell me what just happened!"
He walked out of the dressing room, looking around. He was the last person left in the room. Alone. He sighed.
"Might as well not postpone the inevitable," he muttered under his breath.
He didn't know what to expect but there she was, leaning up against the wall, talking to Tanh. She had a few books cradled in her arms, her coat almost dragging on the cold tile. She was fully immersed in whatever Tanh was telling her at that moment.
"Well, Alex was getting too possessive this early in the relationship," Tanh continued on as he rolled his eyes. "So, I said we're over."
"Hi," Tristin interrupted apologetically. He wondered why he all of a sudden felt like an intruder.
Rory smiled at him. If he wasn't mistaken, he saw her hold her breath, albeit rather quickly. The coquettish deed, no matter how innocent it was, made the butterflies in his stomach flutter so hard that it made him queasy.
"Tristin!" she greeted. With a spring to her step, she lunged towards him, planting a kiss on his cheek.
Tristin blushed. "What was that for?"
Rory leaned her head up against his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his bicep. "Because I snagged me a date with Marty and it's all because of you."
Somewhere deep inside, he should be patting himself on the back for doing what he was supposed to do. However, he felt more than rotten when he heard her voice, dreamy in thought. And he knew it wasn't him she was thinking about.
His voice was caught in his throat. It was bound to happen. He just thought it wouldn't happen so soon.
"Congratulations," he choked out. The smile that spread on his lips didn't quite match the lackluster in his eyes. "It's about damned time he picked up on the cues."
His fingers sought her hand and raised her soft hand to his lips to kiss.
"Yeah, but you helped accelerate the process," she said.
Tristin wasn't sure why he still walked her to her class. He should run away—and fast.
"Oh! Classes are cancelled," Rory sighed as she read the posted note.
"Snow? I thought the nor'easter wasn't supposed to come in until tonight?" Tristin read the note alongside Rory. "Damn, I had a test this afternoon, too," he mumbled. Not that he cared about the test but Rory's news just didn't make it convenient for him to linger in a place that made him feel claustrophobic.
Tristin briskly walked across the hallway to the window facing the parking lot. He remembered walking in the campus with nary a snowflake in sight. Now, he can't even pick out his car from the lot even if his life depended on it.
"Guess, you're going to be stuck here for a few more hours," Rory commented as she took her space right next to him. "Are you okay?" she asked in a timid voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine," his morose response muffled as he ran his hand over his mouth.
"It's really not that bad here, you know," Tanh realized the sudden tension between the two. "Push comes to shove, you guys can spend the night over at my room. It would be a big slumber party."
Tristin closed his eyes and counted to ten. He just needed to think. "I'm sorry. I just have a lot of things in my mind and being stranded here isn't making things any better."
"Is there anything we can help you out with?" Rory eagerly volunteered her services to him.
"I just need to make a few calls," he admitted after a few seconds.
"Alright," Tanh conceded, grabbing Rory by the wrist. "Hey, if you decide that you want to hang out, we're going to be at the auditorium." Tanh ripped a page off of his notebook and wrote down directions. "Dining hall's down there," he directed.
Tristin was a little embarrassed by his sudden display of panic. "Thanks." He crumpled the piece of paper and shoved it in his pocket. "Why the auditorium?"
"I'm making the poster for 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'," Tanh admitted with pride.
Tristin made a small "o" with his mouth before he saluted them away. Slowly, he pivoted on his right heel and strode away from them.
Rory was confused and looked at Tanh to give her an explanation of sorts.
"Don't worry, he'll be back," Tanh reassured her as he linked his arm around hers. "Now let's go get us something to eat."
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"Did I do anything wrong?" Rory finally asked as she looked up from her book. She was sprawled over the bed prop on stage while Tanh took various shots of the stage for the play's advertisement.
"You? Do anything wrong? No!" Tanh said acerbically.
"Now what was that supposed to mean?" Rory asked in her defense.
"Nothing," he said in mocked innocence, taking a picture of her from the corner of the bed.
"We had a pact and he served his purpose," Rory pointed out.
"Yeah. I don't think he expected things to fall in place this conveniently for you and Marty," he said as another click went off.
Rory laid on her back as she stared at the light fixtures glowing in different hues and directions. "It can't be that."
"Why not?" Tanh challenged her. "I've never seen someone pretend to be unaffected by good news, pact or otherwise."
Rory felt a twinge of guilt. All she wanted was a shot at Marty before they parted ways. Tristin being part of the equation was an afterthought she should've deliberated about harder in hindsight.
"I told you to think about this convenient arrangement of yours weeks ago. Now that it's backfired…" his voice trailed.
"Whatever, Tanh," Rory sighed before closing her eyes.
Between her lids closing and Peter Gabriel serenading her with "Solsbury Hill" on the background, she didn't hear her friend excuse himself out of the room to get more film.
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Tristin sauntered through the auditorium doors like Tanh had advised him to. It was eerily quiet. If it weren't for the lights on the stage and the coat casually draped over a chair on the stage, he could've sworn that he was abandoned.
Then a book fell on the stage floor with a loud thump. He sped up his pace and approached the raised floor. Quietly, he trudged up the stage and watched Rory while she slept.
Slowly, he took off the knapsack that adorned his shoulder and laid it on the floor. He hesitated for an instant before he sat next to her on the edge of the bed. All the feelings of self-pity and envy vanished when his eyes laid on her.
He didn't know how long he stared at her but she eventually stirred from under his gaze. She blinked slowly as she awoke from her nap.
"Tristin! You're here," she greeted him with her sleep-laced voice.
"Nice nap?" he asked her as he unconsciously reached out to push away a curl that covered her eye.
"Yeah," she purred. "How's everything?"
"Good," he said nonchalantly. "I just had to make a few phone calls to check up on my class schedules. It appears that classes may be cancelled until noon tomorrow."
"So what are your plans for tonight?" Rory asked, getting up to a sitting position.
"Keeping you company?" he suggested with a smile.
"I'd like that," she said, smiling at him.
"So how can I accomplish this task?" he solicited her advice. "Wait, will Marty be upset with me if I kept you company?"
"It will be our little secret," she said in a whisper, a wink accompanied her statement. "How about we start you out with your first lesson on feminine trust?"
He let out a throaty chuckle. "This would be interesting."
"I think I remember from memory that you are not the kind that learns from one lesson," Rory said mysteriously.
"No I don't," Tristin chuckled in admittance.
"And so we start the lesson again," Rory murmured.
"Does this mean I have to date Paris again?" he asked, now lying on the bed himself.
"Only if you want to," she said between bouts of giggles.
The laughter in the room subsided as they tried to catch their breaths.
"You excited about your date with Marty?" he asked boldly.
Caught off-guard, Rory's blue eyes turned a shade darker as she focused on Tristin's face. "I think I'm more anxious than excited."
"Why? You've known him forever," he said.
Rory fell back on the bed, this time resting her head on his abdomen. "I don't know."
Tristin played with the lock of hair that fanned itself out on his chest. Both of them contemplated Rory's big date and her ambivalence to it.
"Hey, Rory, promise me one thing?" he asked.
"I still haven't fulfilled the first!" she reminded him.
"This won't be hard," he assured her.
"What is it?" she asked, enjoying the tingling sensation his playful touch had evoked.
"De marche à côté de vous est plus belle que toutes mes rêves," he uttered, his French rolling from his tongue.
Rory lifted her head and looked at him. "My French is rusty."
"Just think of what I said if things get sour between you and Marty," he said.
Unbeknownst to the couple, Tanh was clicking away, taking shots of them without their knowledge. "Perfect!" he muttered under his breath.