Rory awoke the next morning with no idea of what to do. She figured she would either know when she got there, or fake it.

"Come oooooon, we're going to be late!" Lorelai called from the bottom of the stairs.

"No. Way." Rory lept from her bed, and down the stairs.

"Since when are you awake at this hour?" she demanded, and her mom smiled.

"Since never, but I figured you would need coffee for today." Rory had told her everything last night, and her reaction had been much the same as Lane's:

'So, what do you think I should do?'

'Malarbglickle hinsenshmooger.'

'What?'

'Chickenbutt! Ooh, looks like someone is up way past her bed time...and having sugar so late at night! This can't be healthy...'

'Mom! Give me back my ice cream!'

'Oh! The clock just struck midnight Cinderella, time to go get your Sleeping Beauty sleep!'

Okay, so her reaction hadn't been the same at all. Rory looked at her mom for a second, and then ran to get dressed. She forgave her for eating her rocky road.

-

Tristan had come early to school, and was standing at Rory's locker. He paced back and forth across the hall, and angsted about his situation. Yesterday's admission of love could set him back months in his plan of attack. Most likely he had scared Rory so badly she would never want to speak to him again, and then who would he take to prom? Shut up Tris, he told himself, prom isn't for another year and a half, and that joke wasn't even funny the first time you said it to yourself.

Students began filing into the halls, meeting their friends and grabbing their books. Suddenly he spotted Rory far down the hall, and their eyes locked.

Oh, Rory thought, coming closer to Tristan, that's what I'm going to do. She stepped up to him and dropped her coat and bag on the floor. Standing still a moment, she waited to see what he would do.

After a moment he opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted when she reached up and pulled him to to her, meeting his lips with hers. He responded immediately. The kiss deepened and he picked her up and moved her against the row of lockers. Sometime during the duration of the spine tingling kiss, his tongue slipped into her mouth, and she invited it.

Ah, but to talk about the actual kiss. Well, Tristan DuGrey has never been one to be strongly effected by a kiss, which is probably why he went through girls so quickly. Currently he was weak in the knees, and could only think of grasping Rory closer.

Rory was undergoing a similar thought process. Dean had never kissed her like this--ever. Tristan's hands encircled her waist and she ran her fingers through his hair--why had she never touched it before? It was even softer than it looked, and she felt a euphoric sense of excitement wash over her.

They both came out of the kiss panting, with their foreheads resting against one anothers.

"Mary," he ran his hand through his hair and vocalized after what could have been either a second or an hour of silence. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She looked up at him seriously. "I can take care of myself, Tristan. I just..." he kissed her forehead lightly and smiled at the freedom of it.

"What?"

"I really don't want to hate you." she murmured. He stared at her in surprise, and a small sort of awe. This was a novel approach.

"Please don't make me hate you." she repeated, a note of pleading finding it's way into her voice.

"Ah, Mary, I think it would be pretty stupid to do that, don't you?"

He kissed her again, and they went to class holding hands, fingers interlaced.

-

-

-

Now I have gone to all this trouble writing you a tale of..well...uncertainty and cowardice...but that's not the point. I live for your comments, even though they may not be so nice, because it is ultimitely them which will decide whether or not I write more stories.

Yes, I am begging for responses. Yes, I suppose that does make me a glutton for attention.

Deal with it.

The button is right there. Right there! No, further down, and to the left...good. Now push it.