Disclaimer: Amy and Daniel Palladino, along with the rest of the WB, own Gilmore Girls. I'm just borrowing the characters. The Kinks own "Holiday."
A/N: First and for most, the songs to the musical Avenue Q have been inspiring my latest writings, so I apologize in advance. Haha. Man, I did not expect to update this quickly. Um, yay, I guess. I should be studying, as my finals are next week, but I'm not. I decided to make my viewing audience happy instead, haha. So, you better damn well enjoy this! I'm kidding! Whether or not you enjoy it, I don't care. Anywho, rambling and you probably don't read this anyway. Happy readings!
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It was fall again, which could mean only one thing: new parties to be planned. Halloween was the first of those big parties that needed a plan, a theme, something. Stephanie, Juliet, and Rosemary were left in charge of that one; costumes parties and decorations were the girls' forte.
Not that the three girls were doing any decorating themselves. They enlisted the help of Tristan, Colin, and Robert to do all the heavy lifting while Finn and Logan were put on drink and food duty. The girls sat around on the floor or chairs, talking and dictating the boys.
"I think it's a bet," Rosemary declared.
"A bet?" Juliet replied doubtfully.
"Between him and Colin, probably," Rosemary explained.
"I didn't make any wages with that idiot," Colin defended.
"Fine, so it was Robert."
"Don't drag me into this, Rose," Robert warned.
Stephanie reclined back into the plushy bean bag chair she was currently residing in. "I think she actually likes him."
Rosemary began to laugh. "She doesn't actually like him, Steph. It's all a game."
Juliet gestured to Tristan and Colin. "I don't like where the couch is." The other two girls nodded in agreement. "Move it against that wall."
Tristan lifted up one side while Colin grabbed the other side. Rosemary caught Tristan's eye and smiled approvingly at his body. He winked in return, flexing his muscles more than necessary. He'd been flirting with the stunning redhead most of the day, though he knew it probably wouldn't lead anywhere. There wasn't any harm in a little innocent flirting.
"I bet she's trying to make him jealous," Colin said.
"She wouldn't do that," Tristan shot back.
"I beg to differ, young DuGrey," Robert patronized.
"Well, if she is, they're closer than ever, so it must have backfired," Stephanie rationalized.
"Which is why she isn't being manipulative. They normally fight over things like this," Tristan argued.
"Big romantic?" Rosemary asked, slowly lifting her gaze to meet his.
He held it, smirking at her the whole time. "You have no idea."
"I'll bet anything that they whole thing is a set up between the three of them to fuck with our minds," Colin theorized. Robert nodded in agreement, downing the rest of his beer.
"Oliver Stone!" Juliet snapped. "Go preach your conspiracy theories to Mulder; we're having an actual discussion here."
"PMSing bitch," he replied, not even trying to lower his voice. She reached into her purse, pulled out the first thing she could find – a tube of lip gloss – and chucked it at his head. "Ow!" he whined, rubbing the back of his head. "Now you're gonna get it!"
"Really?" She cocked her head to one side. "Gonna threaten me to death?"
Colin lunged at her, toppling a chair in the process, and she jumped up shrieking. As he chased her around the room, Tristan took Juliet's abandoned seat next to Stephanie.
"Should I be more jealous than I am?" she asked him, not even masking the bored tone edging into her voice.
"And how jealous are you?"
"Not the slightest bit." She watched with a bemused expression as Colin snagged Juliet around the waist and pulled her toward him, running his fingers up and down her sides. "I think they make a cute couple."
Tristan tilted his head to the right side and squinted his eyes. "Maybe if you look at them like this. And Juliet brings all the cute into the pairing, if I do say so myself."
Stephanie laughed and shoved his shoulder. "You're making fun of me."
"I've been making fun of you since I could talk."
Before Stephanie could retort, Robert plopped himself down on her lap. "Oof!" she grunted. "Get your fat ass off me."
He didn't budge. "We've done all our work. Can we go play now?"
"Dirty!" Tristan muttered without even realizing it. Stephanie elbowed him, and he realized what he'd just said. Sure, he'd gone to see Rory a few more times over the course of the summer, but he didn't realize exactly how addictive her mother's vocabulary really was until he started using it without even knowing.
Lucky for them, Robert hadn't met Lorelai and therefore kept on gabbing. "It's boring here, and I have to help my date get ready for tonight." He wiggled his eyebrows.
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "What do you think, Rose, have they endured enough torture for today?"
"Torture? In our presence? Unheard of!"
Stephanie grinned. "You three are officially released from duty."
"Thank you, ladies!" Robert gushed, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Whatever. I still say they actually like each other."
"And I still say that you're doing 'shrooms," he teased. Her face turned indignant and she shoved a laughing Robert off her lap while Tristan and Rosemary just shook their heads.
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Rory Gilmore. Her name had been on the lips of the LDB members for months now, but in the past couple of weeks she caused a stir. Or, at least, those were the rumors. Nothing had happened yet to confirm them. Nothing, until now. Stephanie had confirmed, much to the delight of the party, that she was coming. Whether with him or not, only three people knew. Two of them hadn't arrived, and one wasn't talking.
Logan was mingling, his arm dangling around the pouty brunette that was clinging onto him. They knew not to ask him about Rory, but they couldn't help but be curious. The party was already an hour in, and neither she nor her alleged date were there.
The door opened and the party visibly turned to the door, some members even taking out their wallets in anticipation. They were sorely disappointed when Tristan and Rosemary stepped through it.
"Sorry to disappoint," Tristan told the crowd in a fake British accent.
"Want to get something to drink?" Rosemary asked him with the same fake accent.
"A girl who holds drinking above all other things, I like that." He held his arm out for her to link on to and they walked to the bar where Stephanie was balancing three drinks. Tristan took one, much to her relief.
"Hello, cos," he chirped.
"James Bond wasn't a TV show," she responded, referring to the Armani tux he was wearing.
"That's right, Jessica," he patronized. "By the by, where's Nick?"
She stuck her tongue out at him. "That's not funny; I'm going by the original TV show."
"I'm not funny? There's going to be Kissing Cousin jokes all night. It'll be like Arrested Development in here!"
"If you were dressed like Bo, then yes there would be. But you chose Get Smart."
"The Avengers," he corrected.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, turning to Rosemary. "Your cute leather body suit makes so much more sense now! Emma Peel, right?"
Rosemary struck a pose, touching her brown wig. "That's correct, Daisy."
Stephanie smirked. "You two have fun, the bartender's great. I must go entertain Logan and his incredibly hot, incredibly wealthy friend."
"Use a condom," Tristan dead-panned.
Stephanie's eyes widened and she put a drink down and hit him in the arm. He laughed, and Rosemary just rolled her eyes, leaning against the bar. "You two are so mean to each other."
"She doesn't have a brother, so I've taken over that role," Tristan explained.
"He's taken it over too well." Stephanie glared at her cousin.
"Yeah, well you need someone to tell you the truth once in a while."
"He's been using that excuse since he was seven." Stephanie picked up the drink from the bar and took the drink back from Tristan before he drank it.
"Hey, Steph?" Rosemary called to her friend before she was out of ear shot. Stephanie looked back. "Great booty shorts."
Tristan leaned against the bar to face Rosemary. "What do you feel like having, Mrs. Peel?"
"A Manhattan, Mr. Steed," Rosemary replied.
"A Manhattan for the lady, old boy, and I'll take a Strawberry Daiquiri," Tristan ordered, slipping the bartender a fifty. The dark haired boy took the bill.
"How many people did you three invite?" Tristan questioned.
Rosemary shrugged. "Small crowd, about seventy-five or so. Why?"
"Just wondering." He focused his attention back on the bartender. "Do you 'tend a lot of these parties?"
"Here and there," the bartender answered.
"He stopped for a few months, then came back," Rosemary explained. "He makes great Cosmopolitans and Apple Martinis."
"Thanks." He handed her the Manhattan. "Your daiquiri will be done soon."
Tristan leaned over to Rosemary to whisper, "Doesn't say much, does he?"
She giggled and shook her head. "I think we're the first people to try to engage him in conversation all night."
"Do you go here?" the bartender asked Tristan, pouring his drink into a glass.
"He used to," Rosemary answered for him. "Then he decided he was too good for us."
"I am," he defended, taking the drink. "What about you?"
"Junior year here."
"Very nice. What are you majoring in?"
But before the bartender could answer, Colin butted in. "Tristan, there you are!" He kissed Rosemary's knuckles. "The Avengers, how nice."
"See, Colin knows, why the hell doesn't Stephanie?" Tristan complained.
"Finn owns the DVDs," Colin enlightened.
"Can I get you anything?" The bartender addressed Colin with this question.
"Rum shot. Hey, I know you! You're Reporter Girl's friend!" He turned back to Tristan and Rosemary, ignoring the pained look on the bartender's face. "Speaking of, we're taking bets on them."
"I'm in," Rosemary automatically said.
"I thought we settled this: they're coming together. Here," Tristan told the two.
"First of all, no we didn't. Second of all, they never said they were coming together. And third, we're taking bets on whether or not they actually do," Colin informed him.
Rosemary took four hundred dollars from her purse. "Four hundred on not."
Colin took out a pad of paper and a pen, sticking the money in his pocket. "Not a very popular opinion. What about you, Tris?"
"Not betting."
"Tristan had moral issues about betting on girls he knows," Rosemary teased.
"What are you supposed to be anyway, man?" Tristan asked Colin, obviously trying to change the subject.
"A Redshirt," he answered proudly, throwing back his shot.
It was then that the door opened. Again, the party stopped to look at the person coming through. People had money riding on who came in. Tristan noticed Robert exchange a hundred dollar bill for two fifties. Finn ambled through the door, alone. A groan went out through the crowd and money rustled.
"Waiting for little old me to start the party?" He put a hand over his chest. "I'm touched." He met up with Logan right away and the two began a hushed, yet animated, discussion.
Colin looked down at his pad of paper, then back to Rosemary. "You'll get your money by the end of the night."
"I'd better," she threatened. "There's more shopping to be had."
"Isn't there always more shopping to be had?"
"True," she conceded.
"Where are you going? To dream of Jeannie?" Tristan asked him innocently, referring to Juliet's costume.
Colin grinned wickedly. "Who said there would be the need for dreams, let alone the time for sleep?"
Tristan took out his wallet as Colin walked away and addressed the bartender. "I think I'll take one of those rum shots."
"Who's Finn supposed to be?" Rosemary questioned.
"Dick van Dyke," the bartender answered.
Rosemary twirled the straw around in her drink and eyed him critically. "How do you know?"
"I watch the show."
Rosemary nodded but didn't say anything more to him, instead opting to talk to Tristan. "How about we go talk to Finn and Logan? We've barely talked to anybody, and Robert's Magnum, P.I. impression is scaring me."
"Whatever the lady wants."
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Rory showed up sometime later dressed in capris and a white t-shirt. She immediately struck up a conversation with Stephanie, barely even doing so much as looking at Finn. Nobody dared to ask either one about their situation, but instead took to observing them while they enjoyed the party. The only time they got anything was when Finn asked her to dance, thought many took the fact that he was dressed as Dick van Dyke and her as Mary Tyler Moore to be a clue.
"So, Finn," Rosemary drawled later that night. "Why the costume choice?"
Finn grinned at her and draped his arm around Tristan, throwing back a shot. They'd migrated to the bar, and Logan had gone off to talk to someone, leaving the three of them alone with an open bill. "It's fun to say."
Tristan laughed. "That is an excellent reason."
Finn leaned over Tristan to get a better look at the bartender. "I'll have a rum and coke, good sir."
"Same for me," Tristan chimed in.
"Same here, but make mine a diet coke," Rosemary added.
"And I'll have a Sex on the Beach," Logan interjected.
"Huntzberger!" Finn cried in delight. "You came back!"
"Having our own private party?"
"Hell yes!" Rosemary giggled.
"My god, she's three sheets to the bloody wind," Finn observed.
"She's a lightweight," Logan agreed.
"Am not!" she argued.
"And yet we keep liquoring her up," Logan perceived.
Tristan smirked. "Drunk sex is loud sex."
Finn shook his head. "Dirty, dirty boy," he chastised.
Tristan drifted away from the conversation, instead focusing on a figure across the room. She laughed at something Stephanie said and looked to the bar. She made eye contact with him and smiled. He smiled back, fleetingly for a second, until she turned away again.
Tristan tuned back into the conversation he was currently a part of. They were talking about Colin and Juliet, and whether or not anybody knew where they were.
"In between the sheets," Finn proclaimed.
Rosemary giggled. "Or on top."
"Who said a bed is involved at all?" Logan asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I'll be back," Tristan told them, excusing himself from the group. He made a beeline for Stephanie and Rory, purring, "Hello, ladies."
"Hey, Tristan!" Rory greeted cheerfully.
"Did you finally tear yourself away from the bar for a reason?" Stephanie teased.
Tristan made a face at her. "Yes, actually."
"Then by all means don't let me stop you."
"I wasn't going to let you," he informed her. "Rory, would you care to dance?"
She grasped his outstretched hand. "I would be honored."
He led her to the dance floor and they began to sway to the beat. "And how have you been since we last talked?"
"I've been good. Mom still has your Clash CD."
"I wondered where that went."
"You probably shouldn't expect it back."
"I figured, so I bought another one."
She laughed. "That's the best plan. She's in love with it; it's become a permanent feature in her car."
"I'm surprised it plays in that piece of crap."
"Hey!" she cried. "That piece of crap has made me late to many a function. I'll treasure those memories forever."
"What are you doing here?" he questioned after the silence lasted a few seconds longer than it should have.
She gave him a look, as if to ask what he was talking about. "Stephanie invited me."
"Never mind the fact that not three months ago you were crying about one of the guys currently in attendance?"
She shifted her weight uncomfortably. "There's more to it than you know."
"Can you fill me in, or will it be your secret?"
She smiled at him. "You're a good friend, but I can't share that with you."
He forced a smile back. Great, he was a friend. La-dee-freakin'-da. "It'll stay your secret then."
"How about a less depressing subject?"
"So now my questions are depressing you?" he teased.
"You know what I mean!"
He laughed. "Yeah, but you're cute when you get indignant."
She looked down and blushed. "Thanks."
"Mind if I cut in?" a new voice asked.
Tristan watched as Rory's face lit up at Finn's question, and he couldn't help but smile when he saw her like that, even if he wasn't causing it. "Sure, man, go right ahead."
Finn wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered something in her ear, causing her to laugh and tighten her grip around his neck. He said something else and she looked around quickly, then nodded furiously. Tristan focused his attention back on the bar where Rosemary and Logan were talking.
"Take her home, man, she's beyond wasted," Logan suggested in regards to Rosemary.
Tristan nodded, wrapping an arm around her waist. "Ready to go back to your dorm?"
Rosemary nodded, craning her head around him to look at the bar. "I lef' my drink there."
"We can get another one at your dorm."
She grinned at him. "You're cute. Wanna go try out some of that loud sex stuff you were talking about?"
A gasp went out through the crowd, and Tristan looked at the dance floor to see what was going on; Finn and Rory were just standing there, making out in front of everyone.
"Sure," he agreed, leading her out of the party.
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Special thanks to LandonLover for being a fantastic beta, and to Booksworms for giving me all those great words of encouragement. Both of you two rock!
Though I don't have the kind of time I wish I had to answer and thank you all (I should be studying, keyword being should), I can name you all in high praise for giving my story the time of day: smile1, princetongirl, tickle582, Poetic Angelica, Callista Wolfwood, ReeseAnn, hopefloats, smartcookie816, Fallen Heart, Gilmoregirl, JusT-aNoThER (the only person that got my House of Wax reference, go you!), TSOHoneybaby, Tooki, BumpyRider, KeitaWolf, KarahBella, jmarit17, and LoVe32. Thank you all so much!