Disclaimer: See prologue page.
Chapter 8: Can't Back Down
"Do you think we could stuff him in a large suitcase?" Jess asked.
Jess, Rory and a perplexed Tristan were sitting on the porch steps of Shelly's home. Jess was leaving in two days and spending as much time with Rory as possible. Their discussion as of late was how to get Tristan into Harvard.
Rory pondered the thought. "Lane may still have the suitcase she took to Korea. I'll have to see."
Jess nodded. "You should do that."
Tristan looked from Rory to Jess and shook his head. "May I ask why you two are plotting a way to get me into Harvard?"
Rory ignored the question. "We could bribe the admissions office. Think they like Benjamin Franklin?"
Jess chuckled. "Maybe twenty or thirty of them."
"Do I not get my question answered?" Tristan asked.
Rory and Jess looked up at him. Jess smirked and Rory scooted up a step to sit next to him.
Rory smiled. "I just want you to be able to see me whenever you want."
"See, Rory," Tristan responded. "There are these funny things called planes. And cars. There's also a new invention called the bus. I hear that if you use any of those you can get where you want to go."
Rory playfully pouted. "No fair. Why can't we just bribe the admissions office?"
"Or stuff you in a large bag?" Jess asked. "You would probably fit in my duffel bag."
Rory's eyes lit up. "Good idea, Jess."
Tristan saw Joie walking towards them. "Joie, thank God. Sanity and salvation."
"And if you're really nice, I'll do a trick," Joie quipped.
Jess made room for Joie on the porch steps. "Rory and I are thinking of ways to get Tristan into Harvard."
"Without having to actually go to Harvard," Rory added.
Joie looked from Jess to Rory. "What planet do you two come from?"
Tristan laughed. "That's what I was wondering."
"Rory and I just think alike, that's all," Jess responded.
Rory grinned. "That was my answer."
Joie sat down next to Jess. "Do you have to go back to Stars Hollow this weekend?"
Rory looked at Jess. "Yeah, do you?"
Tristan sighed dramatically. "Does no one notice the cute and very loveable blonde sitting here?"
"We notice," Rory said.
"You're just not as sexy as Jess," Joie noted.
Jess looked up at Tristan and smiled. "I'm more loveable, I guess."
Rory giggled and looped her arm through Tristan's. "What are you going to do when I have to leave?"
The group went silent. Joie looked to Jess, who got up. Jess took her hand and they walked out into the field. Tristan looked at Rory.
"Wow," Rory stated. "I really know how to kill a conversation."
Tristan looked at Rory. "Rory, we have to talk."
Rory nodded uncertainly. "I really don't like that tone. Should I like that tone?"
Tristan sighed. "I can't let you stay here at the end of the summer just because of me. You can't just give up Harvard for me."
Rory looked into Tristan's eyes. She noted how sad they looked at that moment.
"I talked to Joie," Tristan began. "She told me that you were a great person, but that you had too much potential and I couldn't just let you give up your dream for me."
"It's not just for you, Tristan," Rory responded. "It's for me, too."
"Look, Rory, just think about it," Tristan said. "Don't make any irrational decisions right now. We'll enjoy our time together and see how it all works out at the end of the summer."
Rory shrugged. "Okay."
Tristan rested his hand on Rory's knee. Rory laid her head on Tristan's shoulder. The sun was setting. The sky had turned to different shades of purple, pink and orange. It was beautiful out.
Tristan saw the uncertainty in Rory's eyes and he took her hand. "Let's go out to the tree."
A smiled crept up to Rory's face. "Okay."
Jess and Joie sat out on the ground in the field. Joie's head was resting in Jess's lap. Jess was holding her hand.
"Gosh, this turned out so weird," Joie stated.
Jess nodded absently. "Yeah, it did."
"I mean, meeting you, Rory and Tristan, Rory's mother," Joie said.
"Yeah," Jess replied. "It all didn't seem real at first."
Joie smirked. "I can't believe you were interested in my sister."
"She was cute," Jess defended. "But that was as far as it went."
"She thought Dr. Seuss was a fictional character," Joie retorted.
Jess chuckled. "Yeah, she did."
Joie sat up and looked at Jess. "You haven't kissed me."
"Random," Jess said.
Joie nodded and leaned in closer. "You love the spontaneity of life, though."
Jess took her face in his hands. "Yeah, I do."
And Jess thought to himself, that he loved everything about life: spontaneity, sunsets and this kiss.
Rory rested her head on Tristan's stomach. Tristan was propped up against the oak tree.
"We made a perfect 'T', you know?" Rory stated.
Tristan smiled. "For Tristan, the great sex god."
Rory rolled her eyes. "But we're not narcissistic, are we?"
"Nope," Tristan responded.
They were silent. Tristan was absently stroking Rory's hair. Rory was running her hand over the grass.
"For true," Rory said.
Tristan looked at Rory. "What?"
"This 'T' we made," Rory whispered, her voice beginning to break. "It stands for true."
Tristan smiled. "I guess so."
"This thing we have, it's true, isn't it?" Rory asked. "We're not just for the summer?"
"Something this good can't be just for the summer," Tristan responded.
Rory looked up at Tristan. "We have three weeks until I go to Harvard."
Tristan nodded. "Yeah."
Rory sighed and rested her head against his chest. "I don't want to leave you."
"I know," Tristan responded. "I don't want you to leave."
Tristan heard Rory sigh and looked down at her. She was sleeping. He couldn't bear to think of living without her now, but he knew he had to let her go.
"I love you for always, Rory," he whispered.
Rory didn't respond, but he was okay with that. He didn't need any sort of verbal affirmation to know that she loved him. He saw it in her crystal blue eyes everyday. Her love was bigger than any sort of distance that would separate them.
In the end, that was all he wanted.