Disclaimers and summary: See chapter one.

The seventh stranger
Chapter 6: Trading in my shelter for danger

Tristan drove around New Haven knowing that he couldn't go back to Hartford before saying goodbye to Gabrielle. He looked at the mostly dark windows; he saw an almost empty pub and stopped the engine of his car to enter the pub.

&&&

Rory wasn't in the mood to celebrate anymore, so Lorelai sent the girls away and approached Rory who was sitting on the couch looking out the window, "Want to talk about what happened earlier?" she asked.

"No"

Lorelai hugged her daughter and walked to the bed waiting for her to show any sign of movement at all and murmured, "Goodnight sweety." At the same time, she was thinking that it was the first bad first day in Yale that she had experienced.

&&&

Tristan sat at the bar and told the barman, "I'll have a double scotch to start but make sure I always have some more lining up." Tristan rested his head on the wooden counter while he waited for his drink.

&&&

Rory sat in the darkness still looking out the window when she heard, "He's going to come back you know? Maybe not tonight but tomorrow that's for sure."

Her eyes never wavering from the window, Rory asked, "How do you know?"

Gabrielle sat down beside Rory, "He's not stupid enough to leave without giving proper goodbyes to his sister."

Rory looked at Gabrielle sadly, "What do you think he is doing right now?"

Gabrielle let out a big sigh and rested her head on the couch. She stared sideway at Rory then said, "Escaping reality."

Rory got worried and demanded, "By doing what?"

Gabrielle took a couple of minutes to ponder her words. When she spoke, it was so low that Rory was wondering if the wind had taken over Gabrielle's voice, "Probably getting drunk." Gabrielle didn't wait for an answer and walked back inside her room. Rory remained alone in the living room. She got up and opened the couch to make a bed for him in case he decided to come back in the middle of the night.

&&&

"So, what's your story?" the barman asked.

Tristan leveled his head just enough to look at the man who stood in front of him, "You look familiar! Have we met before?"

The bartender laughed in a bitter sweet tone, "If you are used to bars like this then I might have been the one serving you"

Tristan looked at the barman and felt inexplicable anger toward him. He shook his head lightly from left to right, "No, I can't place it right now but if I know you from somewhere, it's from a very far past."

Then the bartender leaned on the counter to make himself more comfortable, "What's your story for you to be so bitter?"

Tristan finished his scotch and asked arrogantly, "Why don't you tell me yours then I'll tell you mine?"

The bartender filled Tristan's empty glass and with a half-smile walked away to serve a newly arriving costumer then came back to Tristan as if he never left, "My story is pretty simple, I was raised in a big city, my dad got transferred, I moved into this weird small town, fell in love with an angel, dated her for over two years. Couldn't bring her to love me the way I loved her. I got married to forget about her and now my ex-wife is eating me alive because I couldn't love her the way she loved me. Now, I have to work here if I want to pay the rent."

Tristan scrutinized the barman while finishing up another scotch; he would bet his hand on fire that he knew those eyes. Pushing the thought aside, he asked, "Why couldn't she love you back?"

The bartender looked into the stranger's eyes with another bitter smile, "I was too nice, I dumped her so she could go be treated like dirt by her wanna be James Dean."

Tristan held his head with one head as he finished another drink, "So what were you meant to be?"

The bartender laughed again, the sadness in his eye almost painful, "I was meant to be nothing, but my angel made me want to be more than I was. I became an accountant, funny because I've never figured myself to be the kind of guy to wear a tie. Accountant during the day, bartender at night. Now, what is your story?"

Tristan held out his empty glass and waited for it to be full of strong liquor, "I was meant to be a cold hearted jerk from the day I was born. Then one day in high school, I saw beauty, innocence and smarts in one person. I got obsessed with her, I teased, we fought, we kissed once then she broke my heart. I got into trouble, was sent away for stupid pranks, saw her a week ago. I lost my balance."

The bartender was at that point very interested in this man, "What happened after you talked to her?"

Tristan looked at the wall as he held his empty glass lazily and talked as if he was talking to himself, "I hadn't talked to her last week, only tonight. Last week, I saw this love-hate relationship and something broke inside me. Even though I was a thousand miles away from here, she was there and I bumped into her. Six years since I last saw her and I recognized her as if she was with me the whole time. Of course she changed, she aged as I have. But her essence is the same, breaking my heart. And the worst thing is that she goes to Yale, my sister is also going to Yale and they're suitemates."

The bartender raised an eyebrow as he held the bottle up to fill Tristan's glass once more, "How old are you? I should have asked for ID before you came in but I thought you were twenty something."

Tristan approached his filled glass, "I'm twenty-two, don't worry you didn't break any law, tonight anyway. Something about not having enough room this year, my sister is a freshman and my Mary is doing her Masters, I don't know how they got mixed-up in the same room but…"

The bartender blenched and cut Tristan off, "I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be back in a minute. Stay here, I want to know more. My sister is also a freshman maybe she and your sister could be friends." He suggested.

Then the bartender left but didn't miss, "Come on! You're not going to get sick now? Who's going take care of me?"

&&&

The phone rang and woke Rory from her staring place in the newly made bed in the living room. She answered it half awake, "Hum?"

"Rory, it's me Dean. I'm not sure but I think that, that asshole you went to Chilton with really needs a friendly bit of help, right now!"

Rory opened her eyes a little bit and asked, "Where are you?"

&&&

As she entered the pub, Rory looked around and saw Tristan talking to Dean half asleep on the counter while Dean listened unconsciously glancing at the entrance every so often. As he saw Rory, relief washed over his features and he was about to call for her when she held a finger in front of her lips. Slowly, she got closer to the two talking men and she heard,

"I really don't know what happened; I was the king of Chilton. Everybody loved me except her. She was broken up with her boyfriend when I kissed her, I made her cry. Then, after feigning to be her friend for a while, I gathered the courage to ask her out and created my own downfall. That's where everything changed, that last day of school when I had planned every little detail for the date I wanted to have with her. I wanted to threat her like the princess she was but she went back to that farm boy. God, I hated him back then! She told him that she loved him and that she hated me in the same sentence." He finished his glass and rested his head on the counter before saying to no one, "She was my downfall. I wasn't good enough for her, he was. I don't remember his name but he treated her right. I lost my throne because she made me drop my walls for her. I lost everything because I traded in my shelter for danger."

Tristan closed his eyes and Dean took the opportunity to look at Rory and saw tears glistening in her eyes. She mouthed 'thank you' to Dean before she dried her eyes and advanced to take care of Tristan.