Title: The ultimate curve ball

Author: Joy

A/N: No one has explained ISM to me. Someone please do that.

13. Talking to Lorelai

Rory waited for her mother to pick up her cell phone. "Fruits of my loins...how's it going? Have you changed your mind and are planning on coming home this weekend?"

"Yes and no," Rory responded.

"Cryptic much," Lorelai groaned. "What's the situation? Does this have anything to do with someone you ran into today?"

"How do you know about that?" Rory asked.

"A burger man told me," Lorelai responded.

"And how would he know?"

"A normally inebriated Aussie told him."

"What was Finn doing at Luke's?" Lorelai the third asked Lorelai the second.

"I think trying to buy his way in food and coffee into your good graces...something about running interference for Logan, who Luke has nicknamed the weasel."

"I'm sure Tristan will love Luke's new nickname."

"Tristan? As in the guy that gave you hell your first year at Chilton? That wasn't a joke?" Lorelai asked.

"I ran into him on campus...and...well...he's really changed," Rory began.

"Super hot, huh?" her mother teased.

"That was always true...this is more the he grew up kind of change."

Tristan wagged his eyebrows at her and smirked, assuming they were talking about his good looks or charm.

"I see... Does this mean things are over with you and Logan?"

Rory bit her lip, "Probably...but not yet. That is kinda what this weekends about."

Lorelai growled, "I am not okay if you trade one sex king for another...let me just say that."

"No mom. I said he grew up. He has already told me he's not going to pursue that aspect of our relationship until things are over completely with Logan."

"But he is willing to wait while you figure out what you really want?"

"Precisely," Rory chimed in.

Lorelai grinned evilly over the phone, "So what does that have to do with this weekend."

"Um...well..." the younger woman blushed.

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It was unclear to Tristan what was being said but it appeared whatever Lorelai had last spoken caused Rory to look like she had swallowed a guppy. He motioned for the phone, which Rory handed over, snagging his phone for her own purposes.

"Hi Lorelai, this is Tristan, a.k.a. Bible Boy, Evil Tristan, and my favorite Spawn of Satan which slams my dad too."

"Good humor. I like that. Now explain why my daughter lost the ability to talk," Lorelai inquired.

"I kinda showed up and turned her world upside down...She's still trying to get her equilibrium."

"Hmmm. Nope...more than that. She doesn't know how to tell me something and it's something to do with you."

Tristan to a deep breath, "I have asked Rory to come visit North Carolina, where I live at the moment, with me this weekend and she's accepted. I wanted to talk to you before that happened so you would be okay with this."

Lorelai flustered a bit, "I'm sorry. Did you just say my daughter agreed to go to another state with you? Knowingly agreed to go with you?"

"Yes...Just listen to my case. I have gotten you and Rory out of Friday night dinner so that you and I and maybe Rory can have some time together for you to get to know me a little bit on your terms...well not the day but definitely location without a parent in sight to hound you. I also showed your father that life as a Huntzberger may not really be in Rory's best interest since they would insist on her being a socialite rather than being a correspondent."

"Once again slightly speechless, you convinced my dad to let me out of dinner AND see that Logan is not necessarily Rory's ideal match?"

"Yeah," Tristan said firmly. "I didn't want to do this without getting at least marginal support from you."

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Lorelai could make or break the trip in actuality. Rory might still go but then there would be strain between the two over a guy again. There was one thing on Lorelai II mind so she asked, "Is this about liking my daughter or a steal the head man on campus's girl?"

Tristan took a deep breath; "While a nice side effect of going out of town is getting Rory away from my rival I am aware he can do the same thing the following weekend. This is about the fact that there is a festival in North Carolina that I would like to take Rory to this weekend that is once a year. We can stay with a friend of mine that goes to Carolina. We may make a trip to the coast so she can see where I work and live. I also want to show her Duke gardens while the wisteria is still blooming."

Lorelai could tell he was sincere, "Why my daughter? Why has it always been my daughter with you?"

Tristan was slightly taken aback and didn't really want to answer in front of Rory. She seemed to understand and wandered into a bookstore while he was outside. He sighed and said, "Because she's practically perfect."

"Okay that I'm not buying."

He groaned, "You know that Rory and I kissed at a party once right?"

"Yeah, of course," she fussed.

"Rory was different than every other girl I knew. Now one or two of my friends knew that I really had a thing for Rory but you don't tell Tristan DuGrey how to get the girl. They knew I was going about it wrong but I had an ego that wouldn't quit. Now at first she was a Mary and I will admit she was a conquest but soon I realized that she was so much more than that. I screwed up a lot with her I know...I had already made an ass of myself at our dance because I wanted to take her. I really wanted to take her, but she was going with some other guy... It doesn't matter. The point was I was an ass... After that I realized that she wasn't gonna come around with that boyfriend in the way so I tried to like someone else. I chose a bad someone else. Here I was the bloody 'king of Chilton' and I had been dumped in front of most of my social circle. The player had been played."

"Kid, get to the kiss," Lorelai chided.

"Alright...I was sitting at the piano feeling awful and Rory came in and was nice to me. After everything I had done and said, Mary was still a Mary and was nice to me. Her boyfriend was gone she told me...how I got that moment of brilliance I will never know...and I kissed her. She knew I was gonna kiss her. I took my time so if she wanted to back away she could but she didn't so I didn't and for the first time in my life I knew what it felt like to kiss a girl I actually cared about."

"This does not inspire much confidence," Lorelai groaned.

"I tried to tell Rory I had feelings for her but she just took it to mean I liked my ex-girlfriend. Later I tried to get her to go with me to a concert that I knew she would love and...I screwed up again... She said she hated me...yelled it in fact. I don't think any words in my life hurt more than those. I kinda took a nosedive after that. Ending with me getting a few more doses of hurt by your daughter, before I got shipped to military school... Rory knew something was wrong with me and tried to help but it hurt too much for her to keep saying our kiss meant nothing. In the end she was the only one I said goodbye to, the only one who noticed, and the only one who cared. That being the last impression I had of her I carried this idealized Rory in my head that was still a Mary that I needed to become worthy of before I saw again."

"So are you worthy now? She's not really a Mary anymore," Lorelai stated.

"One of my friends told me not to come back until I had spoken to Rory. I needed the reality so I wouldn't keep screwing up all my relationships."

She sighed, "I know that one kid. I kept screwing up all my relationships because I kept waiting for Rory's dad to get his act together, but once he did he got another girl pregnant. A real case of 'Be careful what you wish for'."

"I get that...having Rory tell me about what happened with Dean and this stuff with Logan, that's definitely not what I expected from her at all," he said with a groan. "But I needed to hear it. I needed to realize once again that she wasn't perfect."

"No kid, she's not. And I got to tell you as much as I love my kid taking after me she got my lousy relationship trait down pretty good...You need to realize you may get hurt. She may run."

"I have to take that chance. I'm not gonna get a third one."

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"Paris," Rory began when she reached her roommate. "You will not believe what's happened?"

"You ran into Tristan DuGrey, realized he has been in love with you since we were sixteen, and have spent the day being disgustingly cut with one another?" she responded.

"Ruin my fun...How do you know anyway?"
"I was there to see Huntzberger stare dumbfounded as you kissed another blond pretty boy in front of our dorm... It was a Kodak moment."

"Are you mad?" Rory asked worriedly.

"Hell no...I always knew he would come for you, I just wasn't sure when," Paris answered.

"Oh...if Finn comes by with food for me, tell him I'll call him later."

"Oh he's here...along with the rest of the crew. Logan is muttering something like, 'its not too late' or some crud like that. Also I think you should know, from the rambles I have heard, he followed you to dinner," Paris stated.

Rory was floored, "You kidding. Where are you?"

"In my room while they set up in the main room."

"I'll deal with it when I get home."

"Well move it along, or you might have a homicide on your hands."

"Way to work on those social skills Paris."

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Tristan began to panic when the pause on Lorelai's end of the phone lengthened.

"Okay, we'll have dinner at my inn at seven tomorrow. You and Rory should come right after her classes so she can take you around town," Lorelai explained.

"I'm not sure she will want to do that," Tristan stated. "This trip is sort of about us. I think to Rory it's about proving that someone other than Logan can challenge her. To me it's about showing her how much I have changed. I can't give her everything that Logan could, but I can give her a way to be in both worlds without having to give one up."

Lorelai listened to this kid that was a lot like her and knew he fit and that he was right. He could give her both worlds.

"I followed your lead ya know?" he said suddenly.

"Excuse me?"

"I followed your example. I broke my mold by using my father's disappointment in my favor."

"How?"

"A friend from school lived in the area. His dad taught me how to manage money and take care of myself. He showed me I could survive without my parents. I had a house in North Carolina in my name. A car in my name. Accounts in my name...now granted that is a lot more than what you took with you but I learned from you."

Lorelai smiled, "That was some good sucking up kid...I'm looking forward to meeting you again, tomorrow."

"Same here Lorelai."

"One last question...did you really tell Rory you wouldn't sleep with her while she was still with Logan?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Tristan smirked, "I am not gonna be a causal lover or rebound guy. I left behind those attitudes about sex and love in high school. Besides, I find that whole situation with them very creepy."

"Good man. Kiss my daughter for me," Lorelai stated affectionately.

"I will be happy to kiss your daughter for any reason, but goodbye."

"That was smooth."

"I used to be the king of Chilton."

"And now?"

"I'm just a guy trying to get the girl any way I can," Tristan confessed.

"Goodbye Bible Boy."

"Bye Lorelai."

TBC...

Next chapter: angsty...be prepared.

I start a new temp job tomorrow, so I have no idea what time I can update. You guys may have to wait until evening or I may do it before I leave...we'll see. But that means I need you to REVIEW immediately so I can adjust the story.

So...Please REVIEW. Please REVIEW. It will give me courage to go back into an office for the first time in a year.