Ch 6

The day of the race came. Rory reluctantly got ready. She would be missing the first half of Hannah's party to go and have Tristan ignore her once again while Jamie threw death glares at her.

Lorelai dropped Rory off who fought her way through the crowd to wear Beth was standing with her friends.

"Hey Rory, you look overdressed." Rory was wearing a knee length dress and an overcoat.

"Yeah, I'm going to a birthday party after this. I'm just staying for the race."

"Oh, that's too bad."

"No, the party should be fun. Have they gone yet?"

"No, I think they're going to go in a little while."

Tristan stopped by with Derek, with a girl hanging on his arm. When he saw Rory, he immediately let go of the other girl and to Rory's surprise, gave her a hug.

"Hey, glad you came."

"Yeah."

Tristan left to get ready for his race while Beth continued to smile at Rory.

"What?" Rory asked her.

"Nothing."

The engines revved and Rory watched as Tristan easily finished first again. When he got out, a whole bunch of girls approached him again. They made eye contact, but Rory quickly turned away.

Someone tapped Tristan while he tried to fight off the swarm of dangling girls.

"Hey Dugrey."

"What do you want Travis?" Travis always hated losing to Tristan in every race.

"I think you and I should try streetracing someday. This stuff is for wimps."

"Yeah, it keeps you from doing illegal things."

"You scared?"

"No."

"Then why not go for the challenge?"

"Because," but before he could finish, Travis said, "How about this Dugrey, you let me have a go at her, and we'll call it even." Tristan turned to where he was pointing and saw Rory, who waved at him. Fuming, Tristan turned around and punched Travis in the face.

"What the f Dugrey? I didn't know you had her already."
"She's not a freaking piece of meat." Rory who had seen this ran over with Beth, trying to keep Tristan from continuing the fight.

"Let's just go Tristan," Beth said to him.

When they had finally pulled him away and calmed him down, Beth went over to watch Derek's race while Rory stayed with Tristan.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing."

Rory still perplexed decided not to push him for an answer.

"Do you need a ride to your party?" he asked her.

"Oh no, my mom told me to just call her when I was finished here."

"No, come on, I'll take you." She followed him to his car in the parking lot.

"Thanks for coming Rory."

She nodded. She was exploding inside. Every time she was with him alone, she felt sad and happy at the same time.

"So, Rory, why did you think I wanted to date Gina?"

She blushed when he asked her that, "Oh, you told me that day in the hallway remember?"
He laughed, "I was being sarcastic."

They sat silently for a while. Tristan looked over at her. She was so beautiful it sometimes took his breath away. He slowly moved his hand to hers and was about to reach for her hand when she noticed what was going on and pulled it away.

"Don't Tristan."

"Why?"

"You know perfectly well why," she said, as tears began to form in her eyes.

"No I don't."

"You don't get it do you?" she said, "You keep giving me all these mixed signals."

'What do you mean?"

"Fine, if you really want me to say it," she said, her voice getting louder, and squeakier as she choked back tears, "I like you, a lot actually."

He looked at her, surprised at her confession.

"Rory, I,"

"No, Tristan, I understand. I've prepared myself for it."

"Rory, you know I don't have girlfriends. I have dates. And you just aren't one of those girls Rory. I know you."

"I know," she said, "Can we just forget about it please."

He quickly gave her hand a squeeze, not really knowing what to say next.

"At least, I've told you, and I can move on," she whispered.

He didn't say anything. He dropped her off. She let out a small "thank you" and ran up to the colorfully decorated house. He made sure she got in safely and drove off.

Rory barely spoke to Tristan for the weeks before Christmas break. In Chemistry, Ms. Imar had switched their lab partners. She knew he was avoiding her too. She knew he didn't like her, and he probably would never talk to her again after her outburst. She couldn't blame him though. She was sort of glad that she didn't have to deal with him. She spent her free time in the school library. Now that tennis was over, she could focus on finishing her large pile of schoolwork.

Beth who had talked to her in history, but other than that, Rory didn't really have any contact with their group. However, Rory didn't notice Tristan constantly stealing glances at her. He didn't know what to say to her to make her feel any better. Beth told him that he was being an idiot.

"Do you really think she's not going to go out with someone else?"
"No, she can date whoever she wants."
"Wow, you almost said that in a believing tone."

"Whatever."
Lorelai continued to push Rory into asking Eric to the Stars Hollow Festival. Rory had talked to Eric more and more these days and found out a lot of interesting things about him. His parents were ambassadors to the UN and he could speak five different dialects. Rory enjoyed her conversations with him, even if he wasn't Tristan. He made her smile and forget her worries for just a while. Eric ate lunch with her and her friends one day. They all seemed to really like him.

Jessica asked her, "Are you guys dating?" Rory shook her head, even though she knew that they probably eventually would, especially after she asked him to the festival.

So, finally on the last day of school before break, she asked him.

"Of course I'll go. What's you address?" She gave it to him.

"You can't miss it, just keep driving past Hartford until you see some silly people dressed as Snowmen and you'll know you came to the right place."

He laughed. "I'm glad I've gotten to spend more time with you these days Rory."

"Me too."

After school, Rory waited at the bus stop. As she was reaching for her book, Tristan came down and sat next to her.

"Hey Rory."

"Hi."

"Look, this is crazy. I miss talking to you."

"Yeah. I'm sorry about the other night. I was just upset."

"No, I understand. You know I don't want to hurt you Rory."

"I know."

"What are you doing for break?"

"Not much, just working at the inn, spending time with my mom. You?"

"My family's going to Switzerland."
"Wow."

"Yeah, we rented a place for the winter."

Her bus came to her disappointment.

"Here," he said, handing her a neatly wrapped package.

"You didn't have to. I didn't get you anything."

"No, it's okay. I've been the jerk. It's the least I can do."

She smiled and gave him a pat on the arm. She collected her things and went to the bus.

"Hey Rory," he said while she was about to get on. He ran up to her and gave her a hug and a quick kiss on the forehead. "Have a good Christmas. I'll see you after break."

"Bye Tristan."