Disclaimer: They are not mine. I own nothing but my ideas.
Breakfast at Tiffany's, Lunch at Armani, Dinner…Rory turned her head towards Tristan, her sense was quite eerie considering her eyes were still covered by the face towel.
"Oopma loompas, I appreciate the service but I highly doubt stalking me is a good idea. You exist only in my imagination so go away." Rory's tone was quite babyish as she attempted to rid herself of the jittery feeling of being watched.
"First of all, I've never gotten green hair, even from the chlorine in the pool AND, I assure you, the tan is all natural care of Mr. Sun." Tristan caught Rory's attention as she whipped off the face cloth and with shock lost her balance and fully submerged from view. She came up sputtering and wiping her eyes. Tristan continued, "I do not use the fake and bake orange stuff. Finally, must I mention that my stature is nowhere near that of a dwarf? None of my assets can be considered below average." With that he moved his hands inside his pockets making the pants move up and down.
"Whaaaa……" Before Rory could begin yelling at Tristan about his lack of manners, he continued.
"I knocked on your door, many many times. The door was unlocked and the door to the bathroom wide open. I just came in to tell you that I'm not expected in the office until tomorrow. So today we are going shopping. Birthday shopping. I told you that I have years of birthday and Christmas presents I want to make up for so I am taking you no limit shopping. Then my sister called Aspara and booked a full body treatment for you at 4 then the stylist will be here at 6 to get you ready for the Black and White charity ball thing at the Raffles Hotel tonight. Finn's parents roped him into going since they knew he was headed here, and I'm a platinum donor to the hospital so I have to buy a ticket. Oh, my sis is flying in today, and with luck she should be here in time to go with us tonight. I'm sure you'll get along marvellously. Well, if you're almost done your bath, if you can get ready, I'm ready to go when you are." With that veritable speech through, Tristan exited the bathroom before Rory could get a word in edge wise.
Rory promptly closed her open mouth. Drained the bath, rinsed her hair and proceeded to dry and curl it. She put on a pair of kitten heel slippers and a sundress along with blush and lip-gloss. Half an hour later, she met up with Tristan. As they left the apartment, Rory asked. "Where's Finn?"
"Oh, he found my big screen TV in the games room, and the satellite dish. I left him in there, something about ManU against Liverpool and how he wouldn't miss it for the world. He'll go out and buy a tux later."
"Oh" replied Rory.
With that they got into the car and Walter drove them back down to Orchard Road with instructions to come back and pick Tristan up at 4. Their first stop was Ngee Ann City, a huge shopping mall along the Road taking up two city blocks. It was simply huge. Inside, it held a wealth of the most desirable goods, everything from Aigner to Zara. As soon as Rory walked into the cool refreshing air-conditioned mall, she looked up, stacked layer upon layer for as high as she could see up the atrium were her favourite brands from ogling Vogue magazines, and some she had never heard of. She was in every girl's paradise and for once, she could spend, without a care.
Five hours later, sitting in a Delifrance café, Tristan and Rory surveyed the damage. By Tristan's books, Rory's use of his card had been tame as he knew it probably would be. If he had suggested a no limit shopping spree a regular little leech might have wheedled Harry Winston tiaras, Mikimoto pearls and other six or even seven digit items. A silver necklace and bracelet in the now fashionable thick chunky style with a Please Return to Tiffany and Co. charm hanging off of each was Rory's choice from Tiffany and Co. A quilted purse with metal handle from Chanel with matching wallet had been the next purchase. She had spent ages in Louis Vuitton looking at the shoes but had instead bought a pair of stiletto sandals to go with her ready to wear gown for that evening she had bought from Dior. Three more pairs of sandals bought from the department store Takashimaya and Tristan had suggested she pick up an additional suitcase to house it all. Instead of going back to the department store, Rory decided to push her revenge and see how far Tristan would let her go. She led him back to LV and purchased her suitcase and a matching carryon case in the traditional LV print. Tristan simply wordlessly handed his card back to the staff without a glance at the price. All in all, Rory was getting annoyed at her revenge plan. She had bought stuff she would never in a million years think of buying on a whim, let alone all on one day. Every time Tristan handed over his black card, and simply signed the bill happily Rory's guilt grew. With every additional four and five digit item he placed on credit, Rory's sinking feeling dampened what should have been a dream day.
Over his cappuccino, Tristan broke Rory's mental recap of her morning. "I was thinking, you don't really have all that many items, there's a rather large Zara store that you still haven't been through and there's Nine West and Armani Exchange. I think those stores are more to your every day tastes." With that Tristan went back to his cappuccino leaving Rory amazed. She wondered, exactly how far would he be willing to go, and how much would he be willing to pay to conquer her?
Rory simply sat there slightly downtrodden at how her revenge was going, here he was treating her like a princess without a care in the world, not even teasingly complaining about the hole in his pocket due to Rory's spending, not even complaining once of boredom.
Tristan's phone alarm rang reminding the couple of the time.
"Oh, sorry Rory, I'm afraid we'll have to hit those stores later, I've got to get you to the spa for your treatments. Its not far but we've got to leave now." Tristan moved to get up.
"Okay." Rory said relieved that she didn't have to spend any more money right now.
There exists a dichotomy between the love all women have of being pampered and catered towards by a man they love, and the guilt at spending money when they know their man would never spend that much on themselves.
As they walked down Orchard road to the spa Rory analyzed Tristan. He seemed slightly distracted, and every once in a while would run his hand through his hair. Their conversation covered a multitude of topics, all light and not terribly important. When they reached the penthouse spa at the top of the building, Tristan signed Rory in and absentmindedly kissed her on the cheek.
"Don't worry about the bill, just enjoy yourself. Alison has put your treatment on her tab. Either Walter or myself will be back in a couple of hours to pick you up." With that Tristan left, but before he was out of earshot, Rory could have sworn he added "hope you feel better" to his parting words.
The receptionist attendant directed Rory to a seating area of plush sofas while they finished preparing her outdoor cabana. Rory sipped the fragrant ginger and melon tea offered to her while resting her head on the buttery leather of the sofa listening to the mini waterfall built into the wall bubble and laugh away. She was almost dozing off from the relaxing environment when a little Chinese woman dressed in a white dress and white shoes similar to that of a nurses uniform politely cleared her throat to get Rory's attention.
"Miss Gilmore, if you would please follow me." She spoke. Rory was lead down a hallway with small rattan cupboards along one side.
The floor was rough unfinished marble covered with a smooth dark wooden slat raised pathway.
As the attendant opened one of the cupboards, she indicated, "Please leave your belongings here and put this pair of slippers on. "She took a pair of deceivingly comfortable rattan slippers out of the open cupboard; she then pulled out a plush towel and terry robe. Through these doors are the private showers, please rinse off, there are shower caps in the boxes in the baskets by the showers. Change into the robe and I will be waiting here when you return."
As Rory entered the women's changing room she was amazed, the vanity mirror area was done in creamy marble with countertops, hairdryers and vanity chairs. The shower areas on the other hand were separated by frosted glass doors leading to the individual showers while the floor of the shower had the same wooden slat floor. On a whole, the shower area had a tropical oasis theme. Rory relished the beating water on her back from the shower head. In the coolness of the air conditioned bathroom, the warm water beating on her back felt good. It made Rory forget all her worries and just concentrate her direct sensory input. She almost forgot why she was there until she heard a knock on her glass door.
"Miss Gilmore? Are you ready? The cabana has been prepared and the masseuse is waiting." With that she turned off the spray, dried and donned her robe.
Once again she followed the attendant down another hallway. This hallway led to the outside gardens surrounding the penthouse spa. Along the way, little private cabanas lined the path along with individual steam rooms, each hidden from view of others by well-placed palms and ferns. Rory was stunned by her cabana, it overlooked the entire city skyline, and although life continued at its normal frantic chaotic pace for the people below her on the street, Rory felt nothing but absolute calm and quiet. She was amazed that to even hear the noise of the large city below her, she had to strain her ears, something she was not going to do again. As her masseuse beckoned for her to get on the table, Rory unknotted the robe and climbed up. Modestly, Rory lay down first on her stomach and let the masseuse pull the robe off her after placing the towel covering her bum. As the masseuse along with the humidity, calming nature music and jasmine incense worked their magic, Rory's last thought was 'this is the life' before she succumbed to the lull of the temporary Shangri-la Tristan had thoughtfully booked for her and she let herself simply be.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs
A/N: To all my dear reviewers: You guys are great! Firstly, thank you for the complements and the suggestions made. I do consider them, and I re-read and re-read all my reviews a bunch of times to bask in the glory. I do dislike writing Rory this way, but I think within the frame of her character on the show, especially the ending of season 5, it is completely plausible at this confused moment, if she never sorted it all out, it wouldn't take much to push her over the edge and not want to take a chance on a guy. However Rome wasn't built in a day. Thank you for your patience while I develop the plot, this little obstacle to the troryness will soon be overcome and our dear couple will soon be a few steps closer to where they want to be.
Fallen Heart- I'm not offended, the thoughts were bothering me too. This chapter is a weird mess of styles because I don't like the thoughts breaking the flow of the chapter, but I want to have an insight into their minds. Especially when Rory's POV is kind of all over the place. There is a difficult and unique style of Flaubert's that I want to try. He used it in Madame Bovary. It's where the story is written in the third person, yet you have insight into one characters feelings and explanations of their mannerisms and behaviour; like a combo of first and third person. I'm seeing if I can write with just Rory's feelings about the world around her, and leave the rest up to her interpretation. Her insight and feelings will equilibrate soon so her view on others will be more accurate. In this chapter, it's a weird mix though. I've got a line or two of Tristan's impressions.
I will let you in on a secret, I'm great at setting up and developing plots, always have been, but I've got a nasty habit, I kill off characters when I get writers block regarding their future or when the character has outlived their usefulness. So, please review, inspire me to continue instead of just abandoning my poor creation.