Chapter Ten: Unwanted Kisses and Wanted Estates

"Paris?" Rory called, pushing open the dorm suite door. Shrugging her jacket off, and unwrapping her scarf from around her neck, she glanced around the common room, "Paris? Are you home?" Waiting a moment for an answer, which she didn't receive, she sighed, dropping her jacket and scarf onto the chair beside the door. "And I guess not."

Walking towards the little kitchen, she switched the coffee pot on, before setting on a quest to find a poptart in one of the cupboards.

Knock, knock.

Turning in the direction of the door, she tilted her head, "Come in! It's open!" She called, returning to her mission of finding a poptart.

"That's dangerous, you know. Telling people to just come in."

Gripping onto the handle of the cupboard, she took in an unsteady breath, before turning to look at her visitor. "What are you doing here?"

"I've missed you, Rory… It's December seventh! It's been over a month, and I came to see if you were ready to try it again." Taking steps further into the common room, he closed the door behind him, before crossing into the 'doorway' of the kitchen.

Staring at him with doe eyes, she shook her head, rubbing her temples, "I can't believe you came here!" She yelled, closing her eyes, and wishing him away. "Why are you here? Why would you ever think I'd want to see you?"

"Because I know you miss me as much as I miss you, Rory. Come on—let's just try and be together again."

"God, Tristan! Are you stupid? I don't want to be with you!" Slapping her hand against the counter, she laughed bitterly, "You're such a narcissistic jackass!"

"Shut up!"

"No! You deserve everything I say! You're self-centered, egotistical, dense, cruel, rude, crude and a horrible person for doing what you did!"

"Shut up, Rory!"

"Make me!"

"Fine!" Placing both of his hands on a side of her face, he roughly pulled her to him, before crashing his lips against hers, savoring the flavor of cinnamon and vanilla on her lips. Pressing against her, he let a sigh escape his lips slightly, before kissing her gently.

Closing her eyes, Rory fisted Tristan's shirt in her hands, before groaning, "Tristan---"

"Rory, don't… just… just feel…" He mumbled, pressing his lips against hers again, letting his hands fall from her face to her waist. He gently pulled her into him, and groaned at the amount of contact he was having with her.

Gently sliding his tongue across her lower lip, asking for entrance into her mouth: he waited. He waited to see how far she would allow him to take it. He waited to see if this would open the door to her heart once more.

Parting her lips slowly, she furrowed her brows slightly, before pushing forward, and backing Tristan towards the common room. Tristan slipped his tongue quickly into her mouth, reacquainting himself. He grazed his tongue over her teeth, before meeting her tongue in a battle for lusted control.

"Tristan," Rory sighed, pulling away slightly, opening her eyes and looking at him, "We can't…"

"Rory," Tristan groaned, pressing his forehead against hers, encircling her waist in his arms, "I want you to feel how much…" he started, taking one of her hands in his own, and guiding it down his stomach till it rested on his belt buckle, "how much… I want you… and how much I need you… Rory… please, if not for the sake of getting back together, then for the sake on how crazy you're making me right now…"

"Tristan.. I can't… we can't…"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't love you…"

"Rory," he groaned, breaking away from her completely, grabbing his hair in frustration, "Did you love me on my birthday? Did you love me then? Because I sure as hell know I fucked you then!"

"Tristan, please," Rory sighed, dropping onto the couch, and placing her head in her hands, "It doesn't feel right!"

"Rory, what the hell is your problem? I've put myself on the line for the past month for you, and even before then! I'm asking you to just give me another shot because everyone makes mistakes!"

"But your mistake was one of the worst possible ones!" Rory retorted, looking at him, fire in her eyes. "What is my problem? What is yours? If you loved me so much, which I highly doubt you did, you wouldn't have had sex with other girls while we were together! That's not a mistake, that's just you thinking with the lower part of your anatomy! You could have stopped whenever you thought about me, but I'm sure you didn't. Rory wouldn't find out, right? She's all the way in Connecticut! There's no possible way she'd know! Well, Jesus Christ, Tristan! I found out!"

"Rory, stop. I was just trying to make a point!"

"And you're pissed off the rocker because your point was plausible, right? You forgot one thing Tristan!"

"Yeah, and what's that?"

"I didn't get into Yale on my daddy's money! I'm smart! I have a head, and I know how to use it!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're unreliable, and an idiot! You disgust me, Tristan. You think the only way a relationship can be considered real is if the girl is dropping on hands and knees begging you to have sex with her!"

"I do not!"

"How about the bimbos you had in your bed when we were together, Tristan? How was that for a relationship? Because I know that sex was the basis of ours!"

"It was not!"

"Oh, please!" She yelled, standing, and meeting his gaze, while walking forward, and stopping from being a foot in front of him, "How did it feel Tristan?"

"How did what feel?"

"How did it feel screwing the Chilton virgin? How did it feel finally knowing that she succumbed to your Kingly wiles, Tristan? How did it feel to know that you could boast about getting her into your bed, saying she was a virgin when she came, but a Magdalene when she left --- knowing full well that none of your friends would know about Dean or Jess?"

"I never—"

"No, Tristan. How did it feel? Did it feel like you won the war? That you could finally say you had the Chilton Virgin notch in your bedpost?"

"Rory… I haven't thought of you like that in years…"

"I don't care. We're over, Tristan. We've been over for a month, and you just… you really need to stop coming to Yale… You need to never call me again… you seriously just need to go."

"Rory…"

"No, Tristan," she sniffled, rubbing her temples with her thumbs and index fingers, "Please go. I don't want to see you again…"

Defeated, he sighed, pressing a kiss to her forehead, before pulling back, and looking at her. Biting the side of his cheek, he let his gaze settle on her lips, and before he could comprehend what he was doing, he leaned forward and kissed her. Pulling back quickly, he stroked her cheek, before backing up and fumbling with the door knob while still facing her, "I'm sorry," he said, opening the door, and turning slightly, "that I hurt you like I did…" Walking out of the door, his head not held so high, he sighed, closing the door behind him, leaving Rory to clean the battle wounds he'd rehashed.

Biting her lip, Rory willed herself not to cry. As the door snapped closed behind him, her cell phone began to ring, and she groaned. "Hello?" she said, after pulling it from her jacket pocket, that still resided on the chair beside the door.

---&---

Bursting through the door of her childhood home, Lorelai glanced around, taking in a deep breath, before hanging her coat on the coat stand herself. Letting herself get acquainted with the warmth of the inside, she bent down and brushed the snow off of her shoes, she laughed slightly, noticing the change in tiles.

"Mom?" Lorelai called, straightening herself, and walking towards the parlor, "Mom?"

"Lorelai?" Emily called, walking down the stairs, and watching her daughter look around the parlor, "What brings you here? Is everything alright? Is Rory hurt? Is she okay?"

"Everything's fine, and Rory isn't hurt." Lorelai smiled slightly, taking two glasses off of the drinks table, and filling them with white wine, "I just realized I hadn't been here in a while."

Emily nodded, accepting a glass of wine from Lorelai, before motioning for her to sit, as she, herself, took a seat in one of the antique chairs. "So, what brings you here?"

Lorelai took a seat on the love seat, and sipped her wine, taking in a deep breath, "Well, Sookie and I have big news."

Emily's smile faltered slightly, but she nodded, "Do go on."

"We're franchising the Inn, mom." Lorelai grinned, setting her wine glass on a coaster on the coffee table. "We're opening our second Inn in Lenox."

"Massachusetts? Your father and I have a very lovely home there."

Raising her eyebrow, Lorelai looked at her mother, "Since when?"

"Since I had the need to buy a new vacation home, Lorelai. Honestly, you act like having more then one home is absurd."

"Mom, you seem to forget that I have more then one home."

Emily smiled, and nodded, "I do. I'm sorry."

Lorelai shook her head, and picked her glass up again, "Anyway, I was in Lenox over the week, inspecting vacant lots and things, and that's when I realized.."

"Realized what, Lorelai?"

"That the Vanderbilt Estate was for sale…"

Emily's eyes widened, and she leaned forward, "The Vanderbilt Estate?"

"Yes," Lorelai said, "It was amazing, mom. The architecture, and everything… But it just… It didn't capture my eyes as an Inn… So I bought it."

"You bought the Vanderbilt Estate?" Lorelai nodded, and Emily quickly set her wine glass onto the coffee table, "Lorelai! You bought the Vanderbilt Estate!"

"I know," Lorelai nodded, "and I came here to let you know that you and dad could use it any time you wanted too… I didn't buy it for just Rory and me, I bought it for you and dad too."

"Oh my," Emily smile, clapping her hands together, "This calls for a celebration! Call Rory, and let her know she's invited to dinner tonight. I'll have Martha cook something extravagant!" Standing, Emily quickly exited the parlor, and went in search of the cook.

Pulling her cell phone out of her hand bag, Lorelai flipped it open and pressed the number one button, allowing it to call Rory's cell phone manually. Tapping her fingers on her leg, she listened as it continued to ring.

"Hello?"

"Rory! You're coming to dinner tonight at your grandparents."

"Why?"

"We're celebrating."

"Celebrating what?"

"Celebrating that I have now voluntarily immersed myself into the Elitist world."

"That's cause of celebration? Are you sick?"

"No," Lorelai said, casting a glance around her parent's parlor, "Anyhow. Dinner is at seven, so be here by seven o' five just to irk my mother."

"Will do."

"Hey—are you okay?"

Rory let out a sigh, and shrugged, fully aware her mother couldn't see the action, "I'm just peachy."

"What happened?"

"Tristan showed up."

"Again?"

"Yes," Rory told her mother, walking across the room, and walking into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. "We kissed."

"Rory!"

"What?"

"You kissed him?"

"I stopped it."

"Rory…"

"No, I told him to leave… and he left… but before he left I told him I never wanted to see him again… Oh mom, it was horrible. I said horrible things."

"But he did horrible things, Ror. I'm sure what you said had nothing on what he did."

"I said I didn't get into Yale on my daddy's money. And that I actually had a head, and I used it."

"Ouch…"

"And I also told him he was a narcissistic jackass…"

"You swore? I'm proud—"

"And I also kind of said that he thought the only way a relationship was real was if the girl was on her hands and knees begging him to have sex with her."

"Oh, wow, Rory… are you feeling alright? Because that's something mommy would say."

"I just… He makes me so mad! Ugh, it's like he can read my mind, and figure out a time to do something like kiss me when he knows there is a very low chance that I'll backhand him."

"Did you slap him?"

"No…" she paused for a moment, "I should have slapped him? Ugh, I should have slapped him!"

"No, honey, I was kidding. But hey, tonight, after dinner, come back to the Hollow with me, and we'll have a movie night/movie morning. We'll eat junk food, watch sappy romance movies like A Walk to Remember, and we'll just eat so much sugary foods, Luke'll have a heart attack."

Turning towards her bedroom door as it opened, Rory's jaw dropped slightly, "Sounds like a plan. I'll see you later."

"Bye Rory."

Closing her phone, Rory set it on her bed, before walking to Paris, and enveloping her into a hug, "Paris, what happened?"

Paris let out a blubbering sigh, and buried her head into Rory's shoulder, "Doyle broke up with me!"

---&---

Author Note: Well, there's a little Trory action for those who love Tristan. Now, here is a semi-cobble-stoned way for the long awaited wait for PDLD. Now, I'm not saying when they'll get together, but let's just say, Finn will play a much larger part from here on out.

Review, please! ) , oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to those fellow Americans!