Rory was glad that the monotony of the holidays were over. Back at school, she could stress about other things then her relationship with Eric, whom she liked, but she knew it wouldn't be enough to have a lasting relationship. She knew she was just a little too eager to see Tristan again.

She went to her locker in the morning, and was happy to see Tristan there waiting with a cup of coffee in his hand.

She gave him a hug as she took the coffee from him.

"Thank you."

"Well, just a small thing to brighten up your day now that we're back at school."

"Oh, here. This is yours." She handed him a small box.

He opened it.

"It's the same watch NASA astronauts supposedly wear in space. Watch out for it, it was expensive."

"Wow, thanks Rory."

"So how did you know that that book was one of my favorites growing up?"

He just shrugged, "Lucky guess. Let's get to class."

They walked to class, just chatting a bit and went to their separate lab benches.

During lunch Hannah made a comment that cleared up a lot for Rory.

"So, did he get you the book?" she asked.

"Huh?" Rory said a bit confused.

"Tristan. I mean. I was pretty surprised when the King of Chilton came up to me and asked what you liked best in your childhood."

"Oh, so that explains it."

"He just told me he wanted to get you a book, but a special one."

"I told him you really wanted to watch the new movie coming up."

"Yeah, he got me the book."

"That's sweet of him. Are you guys dating?"

Rory shook her head, "No, Eric asked me out over winter break."

"Really?" Hannah squealed.

Rory faked a grin and went back to her juice box, staring avidly at the small nutrition fact on the back.

After school, Rory was waiting at the bus stop, when someone honked at her. She peered up from her weekly novel and smiled at Tristan who was sitting in his car.

"Hey Mary, want to drive?"

"Sure," Rory said, thinking he was kidding.

"Okay." He got out of the car and threw her the keys.

"I thought you were kidding. I'm going to crash your car Tristan!"

He shrugged, "Then I can get a new one."

"You want me to crash your Porsche?"

"Just get in."

"No, I don't have my license."

"So, do you have your permit with you?"

"Yeah, but aren't I supposed to drive with a mature adult?"

"I'm mature."

She rolled her eyes at him and said, "No, I'm serious."

He came up to her and whispered, "I won't tell if you don't."

Tristan pulled her up and dragged her to the driver's side of his car. "Come on, this will be a thrill."

"You know, I'm not much of a speed demon like you."

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen the way you drive."

"Right. Get in and stop wasting my time."

Rory was about to protest again, but he had already gotten into the passenger side.

Rory slowly started the engine, checked her mirrors carefully, and put on her seat belt.

"Come on, you need to get going."

"I'm just being careful and doing what my instructor told me."

"Your instructor was full of it. Trust me, no one follows those rules exactly."

"Yeah, and that's why the number of teenage deaths from driving have risen over the years."

"Yeah, because slow people like you can't drive."

She gave him a playful glare and started to move the car. She drove around with him for a while. He made her nervous just looking at her, but every time he would yell, "Drive faster!" she would abruptly speed up, going a bit too fast for her own tastes.

"Geesh Mary, you really do suck at driving."

"I warned you."

"Yeah, well, just drive to your house I guess."

"Fine. You're not allowed to say anything to me all the way there."

"Okay."

There was an odd silence for about ten minutes, then she said, "Well, why aren't you saying anything?"

"You told me not to talk to you."

"I meant about driving."

"Oh, be more specific then."

She smiled at him.

He told her, "You know, I've been thinking. I just want you to know. If I ever decided to have a girlfriend, you would be my first pick."

She abruptly stopped and looked at him.

"What are you doing? You can't stop in the middle of the road."

She continued again after peering back and seeing a small line of angry drivers.

"I just mean that you know, when I finally grow up."

"And what makes you think I will be available?"

"Why wouldn't you be?" he asked. Rory just left it at that, not wanting to tell him or to find out if he knew about Eric or not.

When she got to her house, she got out and handed him the keys. "Thanks Tristan, this was actually kind of fun."

"Great, we can do it again tomorrow."

She just smiled and went into her house. She watched from the window as he backed out of her driveway, waving goodbye to him before he sped off. She smiled contently at herself and noticed that her cell phone had two missed calls from Eric. She went to call him back, only talking to him briefly before telling him she had a lot of work to finish before dinner.

The next day at school, Rory had some strange feeling that Tristan was ignoring her. During chemistry, he didn't even once look up at her and didn't walk her to her next class. During history, he wasn't in class.

After school, she looked around for him and saw in the parking lot with Jamie. She walked up to him, surprised to see Jamie actually smiling at her, though it didn't seem very genuine.

"Hey Tristan," she said, greeting him cheerfully.

"What are you doing here?"

"My driving lesson."

"I'm busy."

Jamie jumped in, "Maybe you can ask Eric."

So that was what the whole day was about. Rory glared at Jamie and then back at Tristan. "So you found out huh?"

"Yeah. The dumbass was blabbing to all the guys during practice."

"You don't have to call him names."

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you were dating him."

"Listen Tristan, I don't criticize the people you go out with, so don't criticize Eric."

"Whatever, I have to go," he said turning away, pulling Jamie with him, who was still showing her annoying smile.

"Fine, be immature."

He quickly turned around and shouted, "What do you see in him anyway?"

Rory was a bit taken a back. "He's a sweet person. He can make a commitment!"

"He's also such a dumbass."

"He can speak five different languages!"

"Ooh, maybe I should bow to the language King then. I definitely can't compete with that Rory."

"What!" she said, now fuming. "You didn't want a relationship Tristan."

"Yeah, but with Eric. He's such a jerk."

"How do you know?"

"Look at the way he acts."

"He's been nothing but a gentleman."

"Whatever."

Jamie jumped in, "I think he's weird."

"Be quiet, this has nothing to do with you," Rory quipped back.

"Don't talk to her that way," Tristan told Rory.

He put his arm around her waist and kissed her smack on the lips. Rory was close to tears, but held them in. "This was not worth it," she told herself in her mind.

Jamie smiled again at Rory, looking smug and triumphant.

"I have to go," Rory said, running off. She quickly wiped away her tears as she got to her bustop. She was supposed to be going to work right after school and didn't want her mom to say anything.

Rory spent the rest of January busying herself with work and school. She tried her best to ignore Tristan, who was trying his hardest to make sure that she knew everything about his personal life. He made out with girls in the corridors, even held hands with a few. He told all of his friends to stop talking to her, though Beth smiled at him once in a while.

Rory continued dating Eric, however, he continually complained about how Tristan seemed "to have it in for him."

"He and the other guys just happened to forget to tell me that practice was canceled. They

also happened to lock me out of the lockeroom one day."

Rory didn't say anything and just suggested to "ignore him."

It got especially worse when Valentines Day approached and word got around that Tristan actually had a girlfriend; he was dating Jamie.

One day, Rory was watching silently as Tristan came up and started making out with Jamie. Beth who was looking at the whole scene came up to Rory and said, "You know, he knows you're watching, that's why he's putting on his act."

Rory, a little flustered by her comment, quickly grabbed her books from her locker and began to walk, Beth following beside her.

"He doesn't act so lovesick when he's around the rest of us."

"I don't care."

"You two are being dumb."

"No, he is."

"I have to admit. He is. I love Tristan, but he is a big jerk some time. You have to forgive him though. He doesn't know any better. If you know his family, you'd know what I mean. They aren't exactly the most loving."

"Listen Beth, he can do whatever he wants."

"Don't worry about it. He'll get over you and Eric."

"Good, he'd better get used to it. What did he think? That I would keep following him around."

"No, he just gets angry when he can't have what he wants."

"I don't know. He seems to like Jamie a lot."

"Yeah, in more ways than one trust me. Jamie's my friend too, but she's been obsesses with Tristan since forever. She jumped at the chance to be his girlfriend."

"So they are dating then."

Beth sighed, "Yeah, they are."

Don't worry, Trory soon! Thanks for the reviews