After talking to Lane and her mom about the disastrous dinner party, Rory felt much better. Though she sulked for a bit longer, she knew it would be ridiculous to hold any sort of grudge against Tristan. He didn't even know what those girls had said, and Rory wasn't planning on telling him.

So when school came on Monday, Rory felt much better and able to face Tristan again. Patrick asked her how her thanksgiving was, and she just mentioned going to a friend's dinner party when Tristan walked in, dropping his stuff next to hers. Today was just lecture so Rory didn't really talk to Tristan at all. He walked out with her at the end of class though.

"You're feeling better right?"

"Oh, yeah," she replied confidently.

"Good. Maybe you just had the stomach flu or something."

"Yeah."

They were walking down the hallway when a girl came up to Tristan. Rory recognized her as a sophomore. She gave Tristan a hug, and Rory felt a twinge of disappointment as Tristan smiled. She handed both of them a flyer.

"I'm having a party at my parents this weekend. They're going to Spain."

"Cool, I'll definitely be there."

There was a silence, and then Rory noticed that both were waiting for her to reply.

"Oh, I'll see if I can make it."

"Okay, great, the more the merrier," she said happily. She gave Tristan a kiss and walked away. Tristan watched her go and said, "You know, Gina is great. You'll get to know her better at her party."

Rory didn't say anything, but Tristan didn't seem to notice. Rory had really lost all hope that Tristan liked her in any way other than a friend when he said.

"If I was forced to actually have a girlfriend," he laughed, "I would pick her."

Rory tried at all costs to smile throughout lunch, chatting away while her thoughts drifted to Tristan.

In history class, they were given a huge final assignment to be turned in before winter break. It seemed as if all the teachers were giving tests or large projects. Not wanting to face Tristan or talk to Beth's group right now, Rory dashed out of class right when the bell rang.

Rory was just having a terrible week. She had gotten a French exam back that was way below her usual standards. Plus, her tennis coach was working them even harder as the Final Tournament approached. Rory came home every day that week exhausted. Plus, she wasn't much of a help at the inn with her mind always on her schoolwork.

"Hon, you need to take a break," Lorelai told her.

"I know."

"How's things with Tristan."

Rory paused before answering, "Mom, and I dumb?"
"What, no of course not. Why?"

"For chasing a guy who will never have a real girlfriend and who would rather date tons of other girls than me." Rory told her mom about Gina and the mixed signals she was getting from him.

"Hon, with guys like Tristan, you can't really expect much from them right?"

"I guess."

"You need to try to get past him. Have any other guys asked you out?"

"Well, Eric, but that was a long time ago."

"So, ask him out."

"What? No. I mean, I can't do that."

"Why not, we live in the 21st century."

"No, I mean, maybe he's moved on."

"It wouldn't hurt to try. Invite him to the Stars Hollow Christmas Festival. That should liven up your spirits."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good, that's settled. Stop thinking about him Rory. It's not worth it."

Though she understood what her mom was saying, she still instinctly chose not to go to Gina's party because she couldn't stand seeing Tristan all happy with some other girl. Plus, if she distanced herself, maybe her infatuation would wear off, and she would really start to like Eric.

Rory asked her mom for an extra shift at the inn the night of the party, saying she just wanted to make up for her terrible work the past few days. Her mom agreed.

"How about you invite Lane to the Inn, and you guys can join Sookie and me after work for a girl's night out."

"Okay, sounds good."

Rory was busy helping Sookie put whipped cream on some desserts when her cell phone rang. She picked up, but all she could hear was booming music in the background.

"Hello?"

"Hey Rory, are you coming."

"Oh, hi Beth. No, I have to work tonight."

"Oh, that's too bad. It's an awesome party."

"Oh, tell Gina I'm sorry."

"Why? It's not like she'll notice. There are tons of people here. I guess she wasn't expecting. She's not too bright you know," Beth said, giggling a bit.

"Oh, well Tristan seems to like her."

There was a pause, "Tristan, Tristan likes every girl who will give into him."

"Oh, no, he just told me that she was girlfriend material that's all."

"Oh, I see. Well, I'll talk to you later okay."

"Okay, have fun."

Beth hung up, smiling to herself knowingly. It was so obvious that Rory liked Tristan, but she wasn't about to tell her best friend this. She wanted him to figure it out. Tristan came up to her yawning a bit.

"I'm getting bored," he told her.

"Why, I though you were going up to Gina's room."

"Nope. Someone just put dye in her pool so now she has to go deal with that."

Beth laughed, "I guess that's what she gets. So, I hear that you are thinking of dating Gina."

Tristan looked at her as if she was crazy, "Who the hell told you that?"

"I can't tell you. But, come on Tristan, you could have at least told me that you finally wanted to settle down, even if it is with Miss. Sophormoron."

"First of all, you know I couldn't have a girlfriend, and second, you could at least tell me who is making these crazy accusations."

"Fine. Rory was just telling me," she started before he interrupted her.

"Rory's here? How come I haven't seen her?"

"No, she called me."

"Oh, when is she coming?"

"She's not. She had to work tonight."

"Damn, now tonight's really going to suck."

"Okay, can you let me finish."

"Yeah."

"Rory seems to be under the impression that you want to date Gina."

"Why?"

"Maybe you said something to her. I don't know. You can be an idiot sometimes."

"I never told Rory that I wanted to date Gina."

"Fine. There's Derek," she said while walking off. Then she turned around and said, "You know Tristan, you should really get a clue and try to see what's going on here." She smiled as she left a confused Tristan standing by himself.

On Monday, Rory was busily working on charting lab results when Tristan came in, late as usual. Tristan who had been thinking about what Beth said all Sunday was still confused as to what she meant by looking at the clues. But, he was determined to make it known to Rory that he had no intention of having Gina as his girlfriend.

"Hey Rory, how was your weekend?"

"Oh, the same really, not too exciting. How was yours? Beth told me the party was fun," Rory said, not looking up from her work.

"No, it was boring. It was pretty funny when Gina's pool turned neon green." Tristan knew he had made a mistake by mentioning Gina's name because Rory began to erase her paper furiously.

"But, I went home early you know, like I said, one of the most boring parties I have ever been to." He glanced at her. She was no longer erasing, but she wasn't looking up. He took her pencil away from her, forcing her to look at him.

"Rory, are you mad at me?"

"No, why?"

"Because you're looking at me."

'That's because I'm working Tristan," she grabbed her pencil back from him.

They worked in silence for the rest of the period, and Rory packed up quickly. Tristan walked out with her, but noticed that she was walking at an unusually fast pace.

"So, there's another race this weekend," he mentioned to her.

"Uh huh."

"Derek's throwing the party this time."

"Okay."

"You're coming right."
"I think I'm working."

He grabbed her arm and spun her around. "Well, try to get off then."

"Why do you want me to go?"

"Because, I'll dedicate my race to you," he said with a wink.

"I'll see. I probably won't go to the party though. Hannah's birthday is this weekend."

"Whose that?"

Rory sighed and said, "She's one of my friends Tristan."

"How come I don't know her?"

"Because you spend all of your time outside, and the only people you know are your friends and who your latest conquest was."

"Look, Rory, I don't really know what your problem is, but would you stop blowing up at me."

"I'm sorry okay. I've just been having a stressful few days."

"Okay, try to come okay?"

"Fine. I'll see you in history," with that she walked away.

Beth who heard the whole conversation came up to Tristan and said, "You know, she's right. You could at least try to know who she hangs out with Tristan. It might be of use for you in the future."

"Why?" he asked.

Beth shrugged, still smiling her knowing smile.