AN: Hello all! I'm back! lol I have to thank all of you who reviewed, I loved them all. They made me smile. lol I'm not making this long (for once) and I'm just letting you read without my rambling. So, All I have to say is that this chapter starts where the last one left off. I'm sure you all remember that. So, please, Enjoy.
J.
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Chapter 6: The Inner Workings of the Dog Park Burrito
Rory brought her mouth down to his, feeling his lips part in shock. She admitted to herself that she'd probably react the same way, but since she didn't really care, she took advantage of that fact, and let her tongue sweep inside of his mouth.
Brought back into reality by that gesture, Tristan pulled away, looking beyond Rory to the faces that were peering, albeit discreetly, through the window that was in the door. Looking into the flushed face of Rory, his eyes widened. "Okay, what was that for!"
Taking a deep breath, she stepped back, "Just what I said. Lets make it entertaining. If we're going to be the main feature for gossip, why don't we play it up?"
He frowned, "Okay, isn't the whole point to try to deny the rumors?"
Rory shook her head, "They're going to talk anyway, Tristan. . . Let's just. . . Let's give them somethin' to talk about."
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"So let me get this straight," Lorelai said later that day while sitting in Lukes Diner with Tristan and Rory, "You two," She waved a fry at them, "Are going to act like a couple, all lovey-dovey, and kissing, and all that at school as. . . payback for the gossip?"
"Basically, yeah." Rory smiled and took a fry, dunking it in the puddle of catsup on her plate.
Lorelai shook her head, "Doesn't that sort of . . .defeat the purpose of itself? Because all that I see that doing is causing more gossip."
"That's the point, though." Rory explained, just as she had earlier in the day with Tristan. "We know that it's one big joke. While the rumors go wild, we're just sitting there laughing at them."
"Huh." She shook her head at her daughter, "I still don't get it."
Rory sighed, and turned to her partner in crime, "Tris, You explain, I have to go to the washroom." She shook her head, and left the table.
Leveling her gaze on the squirming blond, she raised an eyebrow.
"Hey," He brought his hands up in defense, "I had nothing to do with this." Her eyes narrowed, "Seriously."
"Hm. . . So do you get it?"
"Not at all. But Rory is dead set on it." Tristan shook his head, "It was much more of a shock to me, I assure you. One minute she was growling about all of the ruthless gossips, and the next she was dragging me into an empty classroom and attacking me with her lips."
Lorelai snorted, "Really?" At his affirmative nod, she laughed. After a moment, she looked at him again, "So, why are you going along with it?"
Looking at Lorelai, Tristan hesitated, the truth was that really, the only reason that he had agreed to his best friends plan was that he would be able to finally do the things that he'd been longing to for years.
Smiling, Lorelai looked at the expression on his face, she reached over and covered his hand with her own, "No explanation needed." She winked at him as she saw her daughter emerge from the washrooms. "So! I got those pictures from the dance developed. . . What was Paris thinking!. . ."
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"Okay, so what exactly is going to go on today?" Tristan looked over at the passenger seat of his car at Rory as he pulled out of her driveway early the next morning.
She looked over at him as she took a gulp of Lukes coffee that he'd brought, "What?"
"With your. . .scheme. What exactly is the game plan?"
"Oh. Well, I was thinking that we could, I don't know, kind of ease into it. Like holding hands, cuddling, a few kisses. . ."
"Slow?" He repeated, "You want to take it slow, after your, or rather our, display yesterday?"
"Hmm." She tilted her head, considering.
"I mean, wasn't the whole point to prove everybody 'right' in thinking that we've had this clandestine relationship behind everybody's backs?"
"Right." Rory nodded, "So we just jump right into it. Making out in your car, you. . .pressing me against the lockers. . .You know. . . stuff that a guy would do to his girlfriend."
Tristan shook his head, and focused on the road. It was true, guys did do that with their girlfriends, even he had, with the one 'serious' relationship that he had had in his life. Well, it was as serious as it could be, seeing that it was high school, and he was in love with his best friend at the time. But he knew that if this whole 'relationship' wasn't a hoax, he wouldn't be one of those boyfriends who put passion on display. He also knew that he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation of being able to touch her, kiss her any time that he pleased.
"Okay, so basically, I have to devour you whenever we're in plain sight of everybody?"
"Basically, yeah." She chewed her bottom lip, "Is that alright? 'Cause I really don't want you feeling really weird about it. I mean, I know that you don't think of me. . ." She waved her hand, ". . .In that way. I know that. But it's all pretend, so that shouldn't matter, right?"
Tristan blew out a breath, in order to keep himself from bursting out in hysterics, "Right." he nodded, "Not that I don't think that you're desirable, and everything, because you are. You're the most beautiful girl that I know, but you're also my best friend, so. . ." He trailed off, inwardly cursing himself for even saying that much.
"Yeah," Rory nodded, seemingly not noticing anything odd in Tristan's behavior, "I know, I mean, It'd just be. . .weird, if we were really anything else."
"Right. . . weird."
Pulling into the Chilton parking lot twenty minutes later, Rory unbuckled her seatbelt, and turned toward him. She took his hand in hers, and then leaned towards him as he pulled into his regular parking space.
"Let the games begin." She murmured as her lips descended on his with a fiery passion.
Okay, he knew it was just pretend, but he also knew that the feel of her mouth on his was the best feeling that he had ever felt. Tristan tried to not kiss her back, and look like he was kissing her back at the same time, the sane side of his brain taking over, apparently.
Rory sighed, puling back, and brought her mouth to his ear, in which, he knew, to the outsider would look like a little appendage nibbling, "Kiss me back, Tristan."
He sighed, knowing that if he even let a little bit of his restraint go, he would eventually go crazy. The taste that he had gotten of her in the classroom had only succeeded in making him want more, and he knew that if he tasted her again, he wouldn't be able to stop. . .and he knew that this thing. . . this joke would have to eventually come to an end. He didn't have more time to think about it, for once again, Rory swooped down on him and placed her lips on his.
He refused to kiss her back.
He wouldn't.
He couldn't.
. . .But, no matter what his brain told his mouth, it wasn't cooperating.
So, while his brain was screaming not to kiss her back. . .
He did.
As if on their own accord, Tristan's lips opened under hers, his tongue venturing out to seek the satin part of her lips. Finding no opposition, he gently thrust his tongue onto her mouth, searching for her own, gently exploring her teeth, and tasting her again. The faint taste of her minty toothpaste, coffee, and something uniquely Rory.
It was only when the sounds of reality finally were acknowledged by his muddled mind, that he broke the kiss. He took a deep breath, and looked around the car. He noticed the people scattering, and attempting to look like they weren't looking at them, and then looked at Rory.
The complete shock on her face came as a surprise, and he wasn't sure if it was a welcome one or not. "Well, I guess we started off with a bang." he said lightly, trying to mask the reaction of the kiss that was currently coursing throughout his body.
"Huh?" Rory blinked and looked at him, "What?"
"I said: 'I guess we started off with a bang'." He was met with a blank look. "For the plan?"
"Oh." Rory shook her head, "Right, I knew that. We did. I bet we'll be having sex in the bathroom by lunch."
"Lunch?" He smirked, "I would have thought it would be by second period." Opening the door, he reached behind him for their bags. Putting them both over one shoulder as he stood, he watched Rory stretch as she stood, a hint of skin showing from between the lowered waistline of her skirt, and the loose knot that she had tied her Chilton shirt into. Upon closer inspection, Tristan noticed that she had actually shortened the hem of her skirt too; it was now dangerously close to breaking school policy. Added to that, she had put on black fishnets under her navy-blue knee socks, something he was sure was against an 'unwritten rule' of the very conservative school. Rory had evidently taken her role as the 'virtuous vixen', as he had come to think of her, very seriously.
Shaking his head, he strolled over to Rory and started to take her hand, changing his mind mid-motion, he put his arm around her instead. Walking into the school, pretending to ignore the whispers that this time he knew Rory was positively gleeful about, he nudged his chin against the softness of her jaw, muttering in her ear,
"And Act One, Scene One, begins."
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Rory was positively ecstatic when she dropped her tray beside Tristan's at a seldom-occupied table in the far corner of the cafeteria, she sat down, and smiled at him, her eyes wide with excitement, "Guess what."
Tristan looked at her, and resisted smiling indulgently, he was still preparing himself for the big act that they were going to perform at Rorys' locker in only a few moments, "What?"
"Well, I was in the washroom in second period—"
"Okay, now correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time you started a sentence out with 'I was in the washroom in second period. . .' it was in sixth grade, and you continued, only to tell me that you started your period, right?"
Rory rolled her eyes, fought down a blush, and then threw a playful glare at him. "Anyway. . ." She said pointedly, and then looked around, leaning closer, "I was in the washroom, and this group of girls came in, I don't know who, but they were talking about us. And one of them said that she knew that we had been 'going, like, out' for months. Apparently, she saw us making out on the hood of your car outside of a movie theater, but didn't say anything because they thought that nobody would believe her. And then," She continued, "another girl swore that she saw us 'doing it' –her words, not mine– in the backseat of my car only last week. I think that things are progressing quite nicely, don't you?"
"Oh, yes. I actually had guys coming up and congratulating me for finally 'doing the dirty' with you. I think things are going perfectly." He said sarcastically.
"Tris, that's the whole point. Being congratulated on that is a good thing."
"Yeah, right."
Truth be told, Tristan had almost bit off a chunk of the pencil that he was chewing when the first guy come over to him and pounded him on the back, while saying, quite loudly in his opinion, that is was 'about time that he'd gotten some from that Gilmore Chick'. After the round of coughing that he owed to the fact that he had a part of an eraser caught in his throat, he had just stood and glowered down at the much shorter guy, who upon seeing the anger that Tristan didn't even try to veil, babbled something of an apology, and then fled. Smart guy.
The rest of his morning had pretty much consisted of the same thing, although most of the comments had been phrased a little differently. Apparently guy number one had thought to warn his friends about him. Only the smart ones took the advice . . . which really wasn't saying much.
"Anyway, are you ready for after lunch?" Rory asked as she took a sip of her coffee, almost used to the bitter brew that the cafeteria served.
"You mean the 'Maul Rory Against Her Locker' scene?" Tristan said with arched eyebrows.
"That's the one. You prepared? Gum? Breath Spray? Mouthwash? Toothbrush?"
"Why do I have to be the one who does everything dental hygiene all of a sudden?" He asked as he bit into his bean burrito, the cafeteria's 'Special of the Day'.
Rory looked at him, a look not unlike disgust on her face, "Why? Tristan, do you not see what you are consuming right now? Now me, I'm the first to admit that I'm very adventurous with food. You know that, I know that, the entire town of Stars Hollow knows that. But Tris, really, how can you trust something that looks like the filling was scraped off of the shoe of someone who just walked through a dog park, and then slapped on a tortilla!"
Tristan looked at his burrito, still in his hand, and the and slowly put it down. Chewing methodically, he shook his head, and then reached for the napkin that was in Rory's outreached hand. After spitting out his suddenly unappealing lunch, he looked at her, "Now that was just mean. Just cruel. I was really enjoying that, and then you just had to go and. . ."
"Acquaint you to its inner workings?"
"As I said, just mean." And with that statement, Tristan stole her fries.
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I'd love to know what you think. Thank you for reading.
Jayde
