AN: Thanks so much for the reviews…this story is getting such better feedback than my last one. Smile1 – thanks for reviewing all three of my stories with such great comments. Everyone else, I'm sorry for not mentioning names but thank you just as much.

Tristan woke up the next morning with a perplexed look on his face. His roommate, Alex, asked him what was on his mind, but Tristan wasn't exactly sure. He had a dream about his days at Chilton with everything blurry. Tristan remembered being the King of Chilton, everything else just meshed together during the long days of military school. Military school changed everything about him, except his love for girls. On the weekends him and some friends would sneak out and go to parties thrown by kids at the local high schools. As long as the officers didn't find out, he could continue to meet the locals and using the DuGrey charm to get whatever girl he wanted. None of those girls were a challenge to him; he couldn't remember a girl that ever was one. Tristan had an ego but there hadn't been anyone to burst it…at least none he could remember.

For some reason he couldn't get his mind off Paris's roommate. Why was she so damn familiar? He had to know her from somewhere…perhaps it was some social event that he had been dragged to? But if she was one of those Hartford socialites he would've known her as long as he'd known Paris. The girl seemed to be a good friend of Paris's and she didn't have any of those in high school except for Madeline and Louise so it had to be someone she met at Yale. There had to be a reason Tristan couldn't get his mind off it and Paris would be the only one to answer his questions.

Once again, Rory woke up to deal with a hung over Paris. She strongly hoped that it wasn't going to become routine for Paris to get that drunk. Rory decided to shower and after she was dressed she went to get coffee…for her and Paris. Upon returning to the room, Rory saw Paris stumbling down the hall to the bathroom. Rory waited in the room with the coffee forcing herself not to drink it because Paris needed the elixir of life more than she did.

On her way back to the room, Paris ran into Tristan who she could tell was looking for her. He saw that she wasn't exactly in her greatest form and offered to help her with the hangover. She responded that she could deal with it herself and walked away completely ignoring the fact that Tristan had something else to ask her. He simply watched her stumble back to her dorm room. He contemplated following her then realized she didn't remember running into him the night before or him carrying her back to her room. There were so many things to relearn about his childhood friend; they'd seen each other at social functions but otherwise there was no communication since he'd left Chilton.

"Paris, please tell me you're not going to make a habit out of this?" Rory greeted her.

"I'm tired of being boring, old Paris. I want to spice my life up a little."

"Coming from the girl who blamed her rejection from Harvard on sex then later dated a professor."

"This hangover thing isn't working too well for me, so getting drunk will be pushed back on the list…happy?"

"Very."

Rory hoped Paris was being honest with her and not just saying what she wanted to hear. Once the headache started to go away, Paris asked Rory about her date with Brian. Not a single detail was left out from Brian taking her hand leaving the dorm to the kiss goodnight, which Paris apologized for ruining. Paris couldn't deny that she was jealous that Rory found such a great guy so quickly, but she was too drunk to really do anything.

It suddenly clicked in Paris's head that Tristan DuGrey was at Yale. She'd run into him at the party on Friday night and again the night before and just now in the hall…but it didn't really set in. The guy that stole her heart from 6th grade until he left for military school was now there with her. She'd changed so much in the past few years that she was pretty sure she could get him on a date. Tristan DuGrey…here…at Yale. Brian showed up at the door to take Rory for coffee, so Paris took the opportunity to go find Tristan.

Paris walked by the coffee shop on campus to see her roommate sitting with Brian, smiling and laughing. Rory deserved to be happy after all the problems she had with guys in the past. Lost in her thoughts, she dropped a book she was carrying. Before she had a chance to pick it up, it was being handed to her by none other than Tristan.

"Thanks."

"No problem, I wanted to talk to you anyway."

"Really…about what?"

"Your roommate…there's something so familiar about her, but I can't place it. Has she been at any of those social functions our parents always drag us to?"

Paris couldn't believe her ears…Tristan didn't remember Rory. The way the two of them bantered in Chilton, his crush on her was so obvious. Rory was always the only girl that didn't succumb to Tristan's charms and now he couldn't even remember who she was. Then she realized that once again Rory was going to come between her and Tristan; he didn't want to talk to her, he wanted to know who Rory was.

Rory was having a great time just sitting and drinking coffee with Brian. He was unlike any other guy she dated and she even thought that this guy could get rid of the pain in her heart. Jess had destroyed her the day he left, she felt something for him that she'd never felt before – but it was over. Then there was Dean…the safe guy the first time around, but the mistake the second. Rory couldn't deny that she was afraid to put her heart out there again, but Brian seemed different.

The two sat there, both on their second cups of coffee (already a plus in the Gilmore book) just talking. Of course it wasn't all intellectual conversation, they were 19 after all. When the topic came to sex, Rory was a little awkward but tried to hide it. Brian could tell there was something that Rory didn't want to tell and changed the subject. She had only known Brian for two days and wasn't ready to trust him with what happened between her and Dean. She had a feeling that one day she would open up to Brian, he just seemed so great.

Something compelled Rory to look outside where she saw Paris talking to that guy who carried her into the room last night. Rory still couldn't help the feeling she knew him from somewhere, but she had no clue where. Brian noticed that Rory's attention was drifting and that she suddenly spaced out.

"Earth to Rory…" Brian said, laughing.

"Sorry, Brian, I just spaced out for a minute."

"Is something bugging you?"

"No, it's just that guy with my roommate…he seems so familiar, but I don't know why."

Brian told Rory that it was probably someone she's seen before and doesn't remember. If she didn't remember him, he wasn't worth remembering. Brian was right and Rory decided that she wasn't going to give this guy a second thought. The rest of the coffee date went extremely well and this time when Brian walked Rory back to her room he got what he wanted. He took her hand by her door and leaned in to gently kiss her; he then licked her lips asking for entry which she granted. The kiss was broken and Brian whispered a goodbye to a now floating Rory.

Paris had been sitting in the room with Tristan catching up on the past few years. Suddenly her feelings for him from high school were coming back even though she could tell he was still the same sex craved Tristan. In the back of her mind she didn't want Tristan to remember Rory because she was what kept them apart. Tristan had it bad for Rory in high school and although he never admitted it, everyone knew.

Rory walked into the room in a complete daze not noticing Paris or the blonde boy next to her and collapsed onto her bed.

"What has you so smiley?" Paris asked her roommate who was starting to become less oblivious.

"I just had an amazing date…and we have company?"

"Rory, this is Tristan, he went to Chilton with us…remember?"

Both Rory and Tristan had puzzled looks on their faces. There was definitely something about that name that stuck in Tristan's head, but after repeating it nothing came up. Paris was more happy than she let on about them not remember each other…it meant she still had a chance with Tristan. Besides Rory had a boyfriend, not that it stopped Tristan before. When Rory was with Dean, Tristan still tried his hardest to get under her skin.

Tristan gave Paris a kiss on the cheek and left the girls' room. Rory began to ask Paris questions about Tristan which she responded to vaguely. Nothing seemed to jog Rory's memory about him, but she continued to think about it. Paris admitted that she'd always had a thing for Tristan but never knew why and thought that she would have her chance. Rory wished her friend luck before starting to get ready for classes the next day.

Alex noticed that Tristan was still in the same daze as the night before. He asked about the girl and if Tristan found anything out and Tristan responded that they went to high school together. There had to be something significant about their relationship – he knew there had to be. He thought back to his days in Chilton but didn't remember Rory. Throughout military school he tried to get rid of a lot of bad memories and the old Tristan. While the memories were gone, his personality stayed completely in tact. It was probably because of the girls falling at his feet, they seemed to have an effect on a guy's ego.

Rory realized that she hadn't told Lorelai about Brian because she'd been so busy unpacking and taking care of Paris, so she decided to pick up the phone.

"Mom."

"Rory? Rory, is that you? I don't quite recognize your voice it's been so long."

"If Luke depriving you of coffee again?"

"Yes, he's a very mean, mean man."

Rory heard Luke in the background telling Lorelai that she should not be drinking more than five cups of coffee in a day. Ever since the two started dating their little arguments ended in Luke telling Lorelai she would probably taste like coffee for the rest of her life and Lorelai telling him to taste. Rory usually walked away when it got to that – she was close to her mother, but not close enough to watch her make out with the coffee provider.

"I met a guy."

"Wow, I was not expecting that. Tell mommy all the details."

"His name is Brian, he's a junior, and he's majoring in political science. I met him at that party Friday night then we went out last night and this afternoon he took me to the perfect place."

"Did this place have coffee?"

"Yes it did, and he drank as much as I did."

"I like him already."

Rory continued to talk to her mother about Brian and about the goings on in Stars Hollow. After that phone conversation she realized that there was someone else who would love to know she was moving on…Lane. Lane knew that something happened between Rory and Dean but was never told the details. She knew that Rory would tell her when she was ready even if that took a while. When Rory told Lane about the new guy she met, Lane was very excited for her best friend. The girls then talked about Dave because he called Lane a few days earlier telling her he missed her. Since Lane decided to take a year off of school, she planned to visit Dave in California. Mrs. Kim had started to be okay with Lane's way of life although she would never accept it. Lane always felt Lorelai was more of a mother to her anyway, so she didn't miss the motherly concern from Mrs. Kim.

After hanging up with Lane, Rory continued to get things ready for her classes. Her first class on Monday was at 11, so she could sleep probably until 9:30 and still have time for a shower, coffee, and breakfast. The phone rang and Rory and Paris looked at each other to decide who was going to answer it. From Paris's glare, Rory knew that it was going to be her responsibility. On the other end was Louise Grant, an old friend from Chilton. Rory was never that close to Louise or her sidekick, Madeline, but by senior year she got along well with the two. Paris on the other hand was always close to them but spread away from them through her relationship with Jamie.

Right as Rory was going to ask Louise if she remembered Tristan, Paris grabbed the phone. Louise gushed about Tristan being at Yale and asked if Paris was finally going to make her move. She could tell when she and Madeline ran into Paris and Rory at Spring Break that there was a change in Paris from the girl she'd been in Chilton. Louise asked her friend if Tristan was still crazy about Rory as he'd been in Chilton and Paris responded that they didn't remember each other. Louise couldn't believe it; Tristan DuGrey had forgotten his greatest conquest…the girl he couldn't have. After a little more catching up with Rory and Paris, Louise said that she had to go and the girls hung up the phone.

Tristan was still thinking back to his Chilton days – then it struck him. He remembered Summer breaking up with him at a party Madeline had sophomore year…the only time he'd ever been publicly dissed. Then he'd kissed a girl…the same girl who a year later was playing Juliet to his Romeo when he got shipped off to military school. Paris's roommate…Rory…was his Mary.