Rory sat idly drumming her fingers on the library table as she wondered if Tristan would show up. She had already been waiting for fifteen minutes later than their planned starting time. She decided she would count to five and if he wasn't there she would just accept that he would rather face a 'F' and a conference with his father than an afternoon with her.

One one thousandth, two one thousandth, three one thousandth, oh.

There he was and Rory struggled with herself not to stare as he scanned the library impatiently.

Look down, look down dammit, she told herself urgently but her eyes were drawn to him like a magnet.

And then like a train wreck their gazes collided, hers desperately trying not to seem eager and his unreadable as the sea which shared his eye color.

Rory willed herself to break their exchange and look down at the neatly stacked books beside her. Tristan walked slowly to their table, weaving between groups of people, brushing off their greetings.

He stopped in front of Rory but didn't say anything and instead gave her a measuring look.

"Hey," she said quietly.

He sat, shifted in his chair until apparently reaching comfort and replied curtly, "hey."

Rory sighed, obviously Tristan wasn't exactly happy about their new study arrangement.

"Well," she began fidgeting with strands of her hair as she spoke, "I guess we should get started."

Tristan quirked an eyebrow at her but didn't say anything. Rory thought to herself that she would probably be more comfortable if he had chosen to inject some innuendo there.

Deep breathe.

"Okay, well did you our last assignment?"

"Usually not doing the work come within the territory of failing a class," Tristan snapped.

"ookay," Rory said uneasily, "well I'm going to go look in the stacks for the books I used for it and you can just …sit there I guess," she trailed off miserably.

What was I thinking? He obviously does not want to be here spending any time with me. Why did I think this would work? Rory wandered to herself glumly as she scanned the bookshelf.

She grabbed a familiar looking text listlessly and rallied herself before turning to walk back to the table.

She, however, had not prepared herself for Tristan to be standing right behind her, leaning against the opposite wall of shelves.

"Ahhh," Rory gasped breaking the library's quiet.

She then blushed immediately and said hastily, "I didn't hear you walk over."

Tristan shrugged, as if dismissing the comment, and responded, "why are you doing this?"

Rory's gaze shifted to the book in her hand and she responded lightly, she hoped, "I needed extra credit and Mrs. Pagley suggested it."

Tristan voice came back fast but not rushed, "she said it was your idea."

Rory's cheeks tinged with a blush and she met his gaze indignantly, "it was my idea to get extra credit …I had no idea you were who I would tutor," she whispered back furiously.

Tristan's face didn't register any reaction but instead he asked, "why would the classes' top student need extra credit?"

Rory mind blanched but then she quickly responded, "if you really must know I didn't do well on our last test. And I don't want it pulling down my GPA. Okay? Now can we go back to work?"

Rory turned to walk back to the table and but Tristan caught her arm, pulling her back into the isle with him.

"Tristan," she whispered warningly yanking back her arm from his hand.

"Pagley said you wanted more extra curriculars."

"So?"

"So," he said as if he was unraveling a detective case, "you said you needed extra credit."

Rory blinked up at him, she couldn't believe this was happening.

"Well…" she began, "I needed both alright? What's your problem anyway?"

Tristan glared at her fiercely, "Jesus Rory, why can't you ever be straight with me?"

Rory swallowed slowly, "what do you mean?"

Tristan took a step closer to her, ignoring the looks their carried voices had attracted from other studiers, "I mean, you are so afraid to admit the truth."

"what truth?" her voice cracking over the last word.

"that you arranged this all. That you don't need extra credit. That you have been lying about your feelings for me this whole time."

"I.." Rory stammered, unable to think while his face was just inches away from her own and his eyes were trained on hers.

Rory had never seen anyone look so disgusted with her before.

Tristan sneered, "far be it for perfect little Rory to admit that she might actually like evil despicable me. I almost forgot Rory…you couldn't possibly like me. You are too good for me, right?"

Rory shook her head in disagreement motionlessly.

"Really?" Tristan gave her an ugly look, "because that's how you act. I try and reach out to you and you run away again and again. And now," his voice rising in anger, "you arrange all this to get me here, I show up, and you still can't just admit what you want. I don't know if it's because you are afraid of what I'll say back or you are just disgusted with yourself for condescending to have feelings for someone who is below your standards, something you make painfully clear in our every encounter or what but it's getting ridiculous."

Rory couldn't even begin to respond. Her throat felt painfully dry and she hated the way he was looking at her and twisting all her intentions.

Tristan leaned down and whispered into her ear, "you know what, Mary, maybe you should be nervous about what I'd say back. I bet you thought if you ever did finally tell me the truth I would be bowled over. I would beg for redemption and hope for forgiveness for everything I've done up until now."

He stared down into her eyes. Two unblinking sets of pure blue glared at each other.

"Don't flatter yourself Mary. You are just another girl …not my priest and certainly not the girl I'm going to change for."

Rory had been silent until now, really just feeling awful about how Tristan viewed her. Feeling guilty about how her treatment of him had been perceived but then he had to get so ugly about it. So completely and unnecessarily mean, even if they were never going to be anything she had still thought he had some consideration for her feelings. Rory was a sensitive girl, she hated the idea of making someone else feel bad and she always felt guilty for the smallest of trespasses. But one thing she did not take well was humiliation. She would not allow Tristan Dugrey to humiliate her.

Her chin flew up and she shot back, "How about you stop flattering yourself for a second? You really think that if I wanted a relationship I would come to you? No way in hell." Rory stepped back and stared into Tristan's cloudy eyes.

"I just got out of a relationship, a real one-one that would put any of yours to shame, and the last thing I'm looking for is another one. And don't worry Tristan, you would be the last person I would consider for anything meaningful."

"so why are you here?" Tristan said in a low challenging tone.

Rory made sure to maintain eye contact and she answered in a mean tone, "I was looking for some fun. Something completely meaningless. And hey, you're the guy to see for all things empty and shallow right? So don't worry, Tristan, I was far from hoping to make you my boyfriend…I just figured you'd be used to interaction that means nothing to everyone involved."

Tristan's face steeled against her words but Rory could see the hurt in his features. It stained his eyes but then in the next second he had submerged all real feelings under his carefully constructed façade.

"You sure you can handle no strings Mary?"

"I'm not a Mary anymore and do me a favor and don't get attached. I won't."

With that Rory turned and stalked out of the library, leaving Tristan and their study plans behind.

Sitting on the bus she quietly reflected on how she had just agreed to be Tristan's next fling, his lip lock nothing girl.

"So wow…that's just so unlike you. I mean you are the quintessential girlfriend girl," Lane said.

"I know."

"So why'd you do it?"

Rory lifted her head from the pillow it had been resting on.

"You don't understand Lane. You should have seen him. He was so sure of himself and being so cruel about it…I couldn't take it."

"So you are punishing him by hooking up with him?"

"I'm doing it because I know what he wanted to hear. He wants to hear me admit that he was right all along…that I think of us together. I couldn't let him no that he means something to me so I had to prove that he didn't."

"by hooking up?"

"By…seeing him just as he presents himself. And I don't know, Lane, I just had to demean him in some way."

"Well you sure do demean in interesting ways. So you think you can handle that?"

"I have to. I can't let him win."

"But Rory, this isn't a game."

Rory stared at her best friend stubbornly and then nodding her head as if conceding the point she said, "no, it's more like a war."

AN: Perhaps not what you were expecting but i'm hoping this won't be the typical trory. i like my tristan with some backbone. , sorry this has been so slow going but the reviews really do keep me interested!