Ch 4

Rory tapped nervously on her lab table after looking at her exam. She as glad that she had gone over the principles of gas laws. Tristan who was sitting next to her grabbed her hand to make her stop, sending a tingle through her body.

"Stop it Mary," Tristan said with a wink. He had come to call her that over the past few days. He assured her it was a friendly nickname, nothing else.

Ms. Imar who saw them asked both of them to stop talking or they would have their tests taken away.

She mouthed to him, "You got me in trouble." He just smiled and went back to his test. Rory couldn't help but smile when she looked at him concentrating. Since the party, he had been much more cooperative during lab. Not taunting Patrick anymore, he actually did his fair share of the work. He hadn't been absent for a change, to Rory's pleasant surprise.

She wished she could talk to him a bit more outside of class. She enjoyed their little conversations. However, he had his cliques and girlfriends to attend to, and she had her friends, tennis, and the paper. Plus, Lorelai had gotten Rory a job at the inn, helping Sookie in the kitchen. She was to be the errand girl and official taste tester.

She was also sitting in the Hartford Coffee Shop one day after school and some guy she recognized as a senior from Chilton had come up to her, striking a conversation. His name was Eric and he was on the water polo team. He seemed perfectly nice, but when he asked Rory out, she declined. She didn't really understand why she did, but she just didn't want to date him. He seemed a bit flustered by her response, but continued chatting with her anyway.

During history, while they were doing practice essay work, Beth came over to her and said, "So Rory, how have things been?"

"Good."

"What are you planning to do for Thanksgiving break?"

"Oh, well, the inn my mom and I work for always holds a huge turkey fest so I guess I am going to go to that."

"Oh neat. How do you like Chilton, has anyone asked you out yet?"

Rory glanced at her nervously, "How did you know about that?"

She laughed, "Eric doesn't keep his mouth shut, even when he is rejected."

"Oh, I just didn't want to lead him on."

"Oh, you don't have to defend yourself. Tristan was happy to hear about it."

Rory glanced over at him. She saw him looking at her too, but they both glanced away at the same time upon eye contact.

"Why are you telling me this?"

Beth shrugged. "I don't know. Talk to you later."

Rory felt a bit confused about what Beth had told her. Why did Tristan even care who asked her out. For a few fleeting moments, she actually thought he liked her, but shook it off as way too hopeful. She had already admitted to Lorelai that she did have a crush on the Chilton King. Lorelai didn't seem surprised though. Rory continued her work, still mulling over her thoughts.

With midterms over, Rory could now focus on her work at the inn. Sookie was making her run tons of errands to get ready for the Turkey fest. Lorelai mentioned to Rory that she could bring a guest if she wanted.

"I might bring Lane. She was complaining to me about having to spend another thanksgiving with her austere extended family."

"You know who I am talking about."

Rory gave her mom a quick glance and then said, "I'm sure he has plans."

"I'm sure you can't ask him if he has plans or not."

Rory spent the week before thanksgiving break, trying to get up the nerve to ask him. However, she always put it off every time she saw him because he was always with someone, a friend, or another girl. She kept mumbling to herself about how stupid this whole thing was and that he'd probably just say no.

However, on the last day of school before break, he beat her to it. During lunch, she was absorbed in her book and eating her soft serve frozen yogurt when she heard a bunch of whispering. She looked up and saw Hannah and Jessica looking towards the entrance of the cafeteria. Rory turned around and saw Tristan approaching their table, looking handsome as ever. She tried not to panic, but she couldn't really stop her hands from shaking.

He sat down across from her greeting everyone at the table as if they were old pals, and then turned to Rory. Rory could feel the stares of many people, and especially could see the glares of some girls.

"Hey Rory, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?"

"Oh, I," she had totally forgot about the inn.

"Well, my parents are insisting I bring someone to their dinner and since Beth is going to be away and you are the only other presentable girl I know that won't bore me to death the whole evening, I was wondering if you wanted to come."

"I, umm, I think I need to ask my mom."

He smiled at her, his dazzling blue eyes staring at her amusingly, "Okay. Just call me when you know then." He got up from the table and abruptly left the cafeteria.

Later that day, she was sitting with Lorelai, helping to calculate some of the inn's bills.

"Of course you can go," Lorelai told her.

"But, won't you need me at the inn?"

"I'm sure we can manage hon."

"But," Rory was about to being again.

Lorelai interrupted her, "For the fifth time Rory, you can go. Hon, you need to stop putting life on hold. Don't be so afraid of things."

"I'm not afraid. And you do know that this isn't a date right?"

"Of course."

"Stop mocking me."

"I'm not," Lorelai said chuckling.

"I was his second choice."

"You'll be his first choice next time," she said, playfully rubbing her daughter's head.

Rory got home that day and nervously dialed Tristan's number.

"Dugrey residence."

"Oh, yes hi, umm," Rory stumbled out, "Umm, can I talk to Tristan please."

"May I ask who is calling?"

"Rory Gilmore."

"One moment please."

Rory waited and then he picked up. "Hey Rory."

"Hi Tristan. My mom said I could go."
"Great. Just wear something semi formal. There will be a lot of boring adults there."

"Yeah."

"Glad you could come."

"Yep."

"Means a lot to me."

"Just glad I could help."

"You know, you've become a really good friend Mary."

Rory stopped at the word friend. She knew it. She began to relax, knowing that she would not be dating Tristan any time soon.

"Well, just make sure you're not late picking me up. I like my turkey earlier in the evening."

He laughed and said, "All right, I'll pick you up at five then."

So, Thursday quickly came, much to Rory's dismay. Her mother had made her an exquisite party dress to wear to the dinner. Though she as trying to calm down, Rory was practically shaking as 5:00 rolled around. She hadn't really ever been to one of these high class society dinners before. She didn't really know what to expect.

Lorelai sat with her daughter, twirling her hair as if she were still in elementary school. They both heard a car pull up to the driveway. Lorelai got up first and went to the window.

"Whoa, he drives a Porsche?" she asked Rory.

Rory rolled her eyes and went to the door, opening it as Tristan reached for the doorbell. He smiled at her and said, "Well, don't you look ravishing Rory."

"Thank you, you look very clean cut as well."

"Umm, thanks."

Rory made introductions. She had told Lorelai before not to make rude or especially to not make strange comments to Tristan.

"So Tristan, what time will you have my daughter back."

"Oh, we shouldn't be too late Ms. Gilmore, these parties are pretty boring."

"Call me Lorelai."

"Okay, Lorelai, we should be back before ten."

"Okay."

"We should get going then," Rory said.

As they were leaving, Lorelai gave Rory an approving look and the thumbs up.

The first part of the ride was pretty quiet. Rory didn't really know what to say.

Tristan glanced at Rory every once and a while. She really was beautiful. Though she dressed plainly sometimes, it was this that made her even more appealing to him. She didn't need to wear flashy outfits to get his attention.

When they arrived at his house, Rory was shocked.

"How many people live in your house?"

"Me, my mom and dad, and my grandfather. Why?"

"Why would you need such a big house?"

He laughed, "So I never have to talk to any of them."

"I guess you aren't as close to your parents as I am to my mom."

"Yep, I guess not."

Rory got out of the car and fixed her hair a bit.

She was surprised when Tristan took her hand, leading her to a couple with blonde hair.

"Mom, Dad, this is Rory Gilmore. Rory, these are my parents." They arrogantly said hi to her.

"So, Rory," asked Tristan's mom, "What do your parents do?"

"Oh, I just live with my mom. She works at an inn in Hartford."

His mom and dad gave each other odd glances, though Rory didn't notice it.

"And who are your grandparents?" his dad asked.

"Umm," Rory didn't really know how to answer this question. No one really had asked her a question like that. What did he mean by who her grandparents were. They were old, nice people she wanted to tell them.

But, she only let out softly, "They passed away when I was younger."

There was an odd silence, and then his mom said, "I'm sorry dear."

"It's okay. It was a long time ago."

Tristan, fuming at his parents for their blatant rudeness, grabbed Rory's hand and led her away.

"I'm sorry about them. They've never met a non-debutante before."

"It's okay."

They spent the evening making the rounds. People asking similar questions. Rory could tell that most people there did not approve of her because by the end of the night, everyone basically ignored the two. Tristan was over the moon by it because he'd rather not talk to the swarm of girls eyeing him. Though, he didn't appreciate it when his parents constantly brought over and introduced him to another girl, while completely pretending that Rory wasn't right next to him. Though, he knew the introductions meant some more fun for him in the future.

He found out that Rory really could eat, unlike most girls he took to these gatherings.

"What can I say, I go weak at the knees when I see apple pie."

They went to the ballroom and danced for a while. Then the song changed to a slow one, and though Rory was heading back to her seat, he grabbed her hand and placed his other hand on her waist.

"Ow," she said.

"Sorry, I didn't pay attention in etiquette class."

They chatted while they danced. He pointed her out to some people and told her the stories about them and how they got their money.

"I'm glad I met you Gilmore," he told her.

"Same here. Though I did think you were an arrogant pighead at the beginning."

"I can be like that sometimes."

She rested her head on his shoulders, and he just took in her scent. He kissed the edge of her forehead. Rory felt so happy that she didn't notice that the song had ended.

"Rory," he said, snapping her out of her daydream, "Let's go sit down."

She followed him, noticing that every girl in the room was looking at her curiously. She knew what they all must think, but she didn't care if Tristan didn't.

"Do you want to go get coffee before I take you home," he asked.

"Of course," she said eagerly.

He went to go grab their coats and she waited by the door. She saw two girls from behind the tree pot she was standing behind.

"Did you see him with that girl?"

"Yeah, who is she is?"

"Just some girl he knows from school. My parents told me she's dirt poor."

"She must be, did you see her shoes?"

Rory glanced down at her shoes. They were a bit worn out, but she still liked them.

"And I heard her mom is some sort of inn worker."

The other girl laughed, "I bet she cleans."

Rory stepped out from behind to the shocked surprise of the two other girls. She could feel tears begin to appear, but she said confidently to them, "My mom manages the inn for your information, and I hope that one day when I'm more successful than the two of you, you will do me the pleasure of coming to clean my inn."

With that, she stepped out into the cold air, forgetting she didn't have her coat. Rory wiped the tears from her face and tried to put on a tough face when she heard Tristan come out.

She was glad he didn't notice her eyes in the dark night. She didn't really feel like talking anymore.

"Hey Tristan."

"Yep," he replied as he unlocked his car.
"I'm kind of tired, do you think you could just drive me home?"

He glanced at her, "You sure?"

"Yeah."

Not asking any questions, he drove her home. However, he knew from the silence all the way back that Rory wasn't telling him something.