Rory tugged at the hemline of her dress for what seemed like the millionth time. She should have never let Louise talk her into something so short…and ineffective. Tristan Dugrey had not made a move, more than that he had yet to even show any intention of making a move. Rory gritted her teeth with frustration as another slightly inebriated guy leered at her. This was not the attention she had been hoping for. She left the room, slowly giving up on her plan.

The room that Tristan was in was smoky. He had to squint to see his best friend David's face.

"So what's up with the sophomore man?"

"what do you mean?"

"you getting some young ass?" His friend leered unintelligibly.

Tristan smiled slowly, "you're wasted."

After David had passed out for the night, Tristan had decided he was ready to leave. He considered finding Cassidy and checking if she wanted a ride home, something that he felt he should do more than he really wanted to. He looked around the house and then walked outside to see if she was on the patio. Coming down the steps, he came across one Rory Gilmore. She was sitting quietly on the bench placed neatly by the flower bushes that Madeline's family's gardener tended to.

"Hey," Tristan said as he joined her on the bench.

He surprised her; she looked over quickly and then visibly relaxed.

"hey."

"So you were the hit of the party tonight," his tone belying some of the questions he had.

Rory shrugged and briefly considered responding with a quick remark but then settled on honesty, "not with everyone."

She looked at him pointedly.

He shrugged, "you look good. You know that…"

"but?"

Tristan paused for a second as he sensed she wanted a straight answer.

"Seeing you all dressed up like that, surrounded by Chilton people, dancing with the football team doesn't do it for me."

Rory let out a quick breathe. "But seeing me with my hair in braids, reading a book, and eating lunch by myself did?"

Tristan leaned his face in closer to her, their noses were almost touching. "Yeah it did."

Rory sighed again. She seemed utterly confused.

"hey Mary, you know I liked you chaste," Tristan said jokingly.

Rory rolled her eyes in response but not before Tristan saw the hurt that was in them. He realized she was much more upset than she was letting on.

"Hey," he said and he lifted her chin slightly so that she was looking at him, "don't be offended. I just…I guess I don't like to see you faking like the rest of us. You don't look like you tonight and I certainly don't want to be the reason you are pretending to be something else."

Rory closed her eyes for a second and then opened them. She looked somewhat less upset and she gave Tristan a weak smile to signify they were okay.

"Can I ask you why you did it?" Tristan said, testing the silence between them.

Rory looked down at her feet again and then forced herself to look in his eyes. A faint blush tinged her cheeks but in spite of it she didn't look away. "I thought you had it all figured out that I was dressing up for you."
Tristan smiled. "I got that much…but why?"

"Why do you think?"

Tristan shook his head, "I never really get you Gilmore. First I'm not allowed to talk to you and then it's fine for me to maul you in the supply closest as long as no one sees us. And then I leave you alone like you tell me to and you come to a party all dolled up trying to get my attention."

Rory blushed again and then answered back quickly, accusingly. "You lost interest in me."

Tristan didn't say anything and instead just continued to watch her.

She cleared her throat. "All this time, even when nothing was…something was going on between us. Even my mom and my best friend knew it. And then that day in the classroom, you and I and you wouldn't …I didn't know what to do. You were being insufferable and cocky, and I hated you for it."

Tristan grimaced a little but nodded for Rory to continue.

"So I told you nothing would ever happen between us and I knew I shouldn't have done that because it wasn't true. I knew it wasn't true. Something had already happened between us, I just hadn't realized it yet. And then that awful day with Chester and you were so angry at me. I tried to tell you but you didn't want to hear it so I arranged the English thing to try and talk to you…"

"and I was an ass." Tristan interjected.

"yeah. You were," Rory answered honestly, "but you were sort of justified. So I couldn't let you win and that's how we ended up like we were. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but I was still too afraid to admit what I wanted. And then you lost interest in me and you found someone else and you left me so confused that I let Madeline and Louise remake me."

Rory took a deep breathe after finishing that. She waited with trepidation in her heart, she had never been that honest with Tristan before.

Tristan looked at her slowly. "We are a mess."

Rory regarded him carefully and with a touch of sadness said, "you grew up"

Tristan raised an eyebrow at her and said, "I did?"

"Yeah. You did. Before you would have made me pay for admitting all that stuff. You would have loved it, knowing you were right all along. Or …" Rory trailed off.

"Or what?" Tristan asked curiously.

"Or you would have accepted it and taken it at face value. You wouldn't have hesitated. You would have kissed me," Rory finished boldly looking into his eyes.

Tristan considered this. Rory tugged at her dress once more and said sadly, "you used to like me more."

"You hated it when I liked you so much."

"No, I didn't," Rory said quietly and Tristan saw the tears begin to well in her eyes.

"Don't cry," he said much more sternly then he intended.

"I know," she snuffled, "unfair tactic."

She collected herself and then shook her head ruefully, "don't worry Dugrey. I've learnt my lesson tonight…I'm not going to try and trick you into liking me again."

She stood up to go and Tristan felt something quicken in his chest. He wasn't sure what he wanted anymore but he couldn't let them leave things so decided.

He let out a slow wolf whistle as Rory started to turn around. "Louise and Madeline sure know how to dress them." He gave her the famous Dugrey gaze, slowly raking his eyes over her body.

Rory turned back and despite trying to give him a stern look, a smile tugged at her mouth.

"Are you going out with Cassidy?" She asked daringly. Cards on the table.

He gave her an impish smile and answered, "yes," while shaking his head no.

She sighed and squinted her eyes at him, "well let me know when you figure it out."