I know I wasn't going to update till May, but when I read all those reviews i HAD to get started again! Thank you all so much!
Rory Gilmore stood in front of the mirror and checked again her outfit. They'd provided it for her, and she loved it on site, a white sundress, perfectly modest but still flattering.. They were going out for the day on "DUGREY X" Tristan's own Yacht. Shedidn't even want to imagine how inferior she'd feel the moment she stepped on deck, The whole date was against all Tristan policy. For one, he's hardly a boat man, and for two, it's not ending in a hotel room.
The other girls had been practically swooning when they got back, but refused to say what had transpired, preferring to snigger at them through sugary smiles and paste on cheap laughs at their expense.
Rory smoothed the dress against her stomach, it lay flat and pristine in it's clean white-ness. There's something about the color white that just screams "clean".
She took a deep breath and glanced where the cameraman hovered behind her, keeping the reflection of the obtrusive lens away from the mirror. "Ready." She told him.
I stood on the deck of the picturesque dock and gaped. The yacht was no boat, it wasn't even an glorfied TV version of a yacht. This thing was a mini cruise boat. It had four stories, at least. And it was their's for the whole day?
"It's all ours." Tristan grinned. He was wearing a white T-shirt, and crisp jeans, and his matching whiteunbuttoned button down long sleeve flapped in the wind.He said it as if readingmy mind.
"You don't strike me as a boat person." I replied as haughtily as possible.
"It's not exactly a boat then, is it." His smile was a lot...friendlier than before.
"More like a floating hotel." I conceded.
"'Zactly!" He grinned childishly and duffed a quick bow. "Step aboard m'lady." He affected an English accent and slipped a hand lightly on the small of my back.
I walked up the gang-plank, glancing back to make sure he wasn't going to push me in the water or something. It would be so like him to try and get back at me.
He grinned a boyish smile. "What Rory, afraid I'll push you in?" The smile made mybreath catch for a small half second. It wasn't teasing, it wasn't seductive, it wasn't a demonair smile worthy of James Bond. It was contatgious, the kind of smile that made her want to smile back...so I did.
"You wouldn't dare."I challenged, an iota of high school wit coming back.
"Oh, I'll savor the delicious splash." He grinned taking a sudden step foward.
Girlishly jumping back, I blushed and "Not here!"
"Water too murky?" He brushed by onto thefront of the boartand yelled up to the captain. "All aboard who's comin' aboard!"
The boat began inching away from the dock and I jumped safely on as the gang plank splashed into the water.
I glanced quickly at the cameras swarming the deck and looked at Tristan.
"You gotta love this weather, huh? Breezy, balmy, not too salty."
The change of character annoyed me. Not only that...the way he described the day was perfect. Since when did he know how to use an adjective that didn't describe a Friday night fling?
"Congratulations, your vocabulary has now reached three adjectives in a row."
He tilted his head slightly to the side. "Why do you have to be so mean, Mar?"
"Rory!" I corrected. For a second I felt happy. Happy that I had an edge over those beautiful girls. Even when I lose...I had him first. He asked me out before he'd met any of them.
"Why do you insist on calling me that!"
"Like the virgin Mary." He said. They both knew it. It was for the audience.
He grinned. "Wuddya want to drink?"
"Preferrably something that doesn't have a tendency to mix with sea sickness." I sat down on one of the deck chairs and he poured me a coke in a crystal champagne glass.
"Soooo." He flopped next to me with a beer bottle.
I glanced slightly over at him.
Lorelai leaned back in her chair and sighed, never taking her eyes off the TV. "Sookie, there is just something so James Dean about having a beer bottle don't you think? The brown glass ones."
Sookie agreed heartily. "I am so with you! That man is absolutely adorable. And the sunset! With the hair in the wind, and that outfit, and those abs!"
"Shuddup." Luke snapped.
"So?" I looked over at Rory and smiled. "How about a game?"
"A game?" She eyed me with innocent suspicion. I grinned. It was so nice not to have to spit out a witty comeback of a sarcastic and hot line of induendo.
"It's called Only Questions. Basically, we have a conversation, but we can only use questions. If you make a statement, you lose, or repeat a question, that's called a rhetoric, you lose. And first to win three 'rounds' gets a match point. And when I see you've made a statement I announce the score. Like if you messed up now I'd say "one-love", Love means zero. Or if I had one, then you won, it'd be one-all, it's all because we both have a point. The round starts when a question is asked."
She blinked. "So, how do you play?"
"By only asking questions."
"Statement, one-love!"
"You've played this before?"
"Do I look like I've played it before?"
"You didn't tell me you've played before, you cheater!"
"Statement, two-love!"
"Aha! She's killing him! I totally taught her this game!" Lorelai crowed happily.
"He looks so hot with the beer bottle dangling between his fingers." Sookie sighed.
"What's with the beer bottle! I have one all the time and you're not drooling after me!" Luke snapped in his usual less-than-charismatic manner.
"Oy! You don't let the sunset refract through the neck of it!" Lorelai shot back.
"I don't have a sunset it my apartment!" He argued.
"Or a Yacht." Sookie reminded.
"What does that have to do with anything?" He cried.
"Why do you want to be hot?" Lorelai asked pointedly.
"Don't you have better things to do than consider beer bottles in the sunset a turn on?" Luke huffed.
"They are a turn on!" Lorelai protested.
"Ah, statement, one-love."
I eyed her testily and took another polite swig of my beer. "Elvis or James Brown?"
"James Brown, hands down. But Elvis is hotter...Beatles or Jimmi Hendrix?"
"Beatles, by far. You've Got Mail or Sleepless in Seattle?"
"Both have Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. But You've Got Mail because it's cuter." She grinned and looked out to the sunset. "So, what have you been up to your whole life?"
"You want it all in one paragraph?"
"Do you have a lot to tell?"
"Do I look like I have a lot to tell?" He grinned.
"Do I look like I care?"
"Ah, rhetoric, one-love."
Rory grinned, more than thoroughly enjoying herself.
Imagine if I could be myself all the time. I could have a chance...I glanced over at the cameras around us and sighed a little to myself.
"So, you sail much?" She asked.
"Do you like the sea?"
"What?"
"Can't you hear me?"
"Do I look like I need a hearing aid?" She sipped her Coke. She's great at this game.
"Did your doctor ever recommend one?"
"What makes you think I've got a doctor?"
"Can't you afford insurance?"
"As a college student?" She grinned.
"You're a college student?"
"Haven't you been listening to me since we met?"
"Did I look like I was listening?"
"Rhetoric! One-all!" She glanced over the clear blue water and grinned wider. "I haven't had this much fun on a date ina while."
"Don't like dates?"
"I just haven't been on them in a while."
"Ah, statement, two-one."
She sighed lazily. "Tell me about military school."
"It was hard."
"How so?"
"Ever seen "G.I. Jane?"
"The one with Demi Moore?"
"Do you like Demi Moore?"I smiled.
"Doesn't she like Ashton?"
"Do you like Ashton?"
"Rhetoric. two-all."
"Do you want to be kissed?"I asked her suddenly without thinking.
She started. "What?"
"Would you enjoy the action of a kiss?"I carefully rephrased so I wasn't rhetoric, but watched her reaction carefully.
"Did I look like I was thinking about it?"
"Do you think I was reading you?"
"Do you want more Coke?" She turned towards the ice chest between their deck chairs.
"Wouldn't I rather have a beer?"
"Would I know which you'd want?"
"Did you answer my question?"
"Which question?"
"Didn't I ask a question about being kissed?"
"Did you?"
"Didn't you hear me?"
"Do you think I was listening?" Rory's eyes were searching my face.
"Were you?"
"Rhetoric." She whispered shakily."Three-one...I win."
I smiled and took a sip of my beer.
"He's so ha-a-andsome." Miss Patty burst in the door. "I ran here during commercials so I wouldn't miss anything!"
Luke gave her a grudged look. "You're watching too huh?"
"You don't think you can lasso Miss Patty into this game do you?" Lorelai smirked at Luke.
"I was asking her a question!"
"Statement. One-love." She grinned coyly and laughed.
A/N: It's longer! Hopefully you guys will like this chapter. You can thank Season 4.5 (one of my favorite writers on this site) for inspiring me with her WONDERFUL story and you awesome reviewers! It may not be perfect in language, so bear with it. Read and Review, it's what keeps me going!
I want to especially thank people who give me their gentle critiques on how I can improve my characters, or ideas on what else they think should happen. I know that technically it's months between filmy a show before it's on the air, but I think I like having the Stars Hollow reactions in the story. Tell me what you think of that.
My friend said it would be fun if the reviewers to go "vote" the girls off the show. Wuddya guys think of that?
You're awesome,
Thought's Pen