A/N: I posted this second chapter right after the first so an author's note isn't really necessary. Keep reading!

The next morning, the four girls woke to a horrible pounding noise to match the pounding in their heads. Rory moaned and sat up. She stumbled towards the door and opened it. Paris was standing their knocking and Connor was knocking on the boy's door across the hall.

"Coffee." Rory groaned when she saw the four cups Paris had on a small tray.

Paris handed one to her and barged into the room. She pulled a bottle of Pepto Bismol and Asprin out of her purse. She was already dressed in jeans and a plain tee shirt. Paris passed out coffee to all the other girls.

"So, we're going to get the final dress fittings like right now. Then I have some errands that I need you to do while I get my mom so get up and get dressed. Let's go!"

"Paris," Kaely moaned, "Slow down. We're so hungover."

"I have given you coffee and drugs. Now, grab your clothes from last night and get back to your own rooms to get ready!"

The other three girls stood slowly and headed out to the elevator. Rory dug around in her suitcase for some clothes and went in the bathroom to shower. When she came out in her jeans and her black tee shirt that said, 'Official Maid of Honor', in white letters, Paris was sitting on her now made bed.

"Did you make my bed?" Rory asked.

"Yes. Nice shirt."

Rory pulled a white one out of her suitcase that said BRIDE in big red letters.

"Gee, thanks." Paris said dryly.

"You have to wear it." Rory ordered.

"Fine." Paris grabbed it and changed quickly. "Let's go. We're meeting the other girls down in the lobby."

Rory followed Paris downstairs and after a few more cups of coffee, the other girls came and they were ready to go. They took a cab to the club where they'd been the night before and picked up Paris' car so she could drive them to the dress store.

They fitted Paris first. Her dress was long and white. The top was tight around her and the short sleeves were slightly off the shoulders. The stomach area was covered in shiny, glittery beads. The skirt part was silky and fell to the floor in pretty ruffles. It fit her perfectly and looked beautiful.

"What do you think?" Paris asked.

"Oh, Paris, you look beautiful." Rory gushed.

"She looks like a bride, that's for sure." Amy teased.

"Exactly the look I was going for." Paris joked back. "Rory, your turn. You're the only one who hasn't seen the dresses yet. Yours is different than the other girls, cuz you're my maid of honor."

"Aw, I hope it's not ugly. 'Cause then I would have to secretly resent you forever and ever."

"You're so dramatic." Paris rolled her eyes and shoved Rory into the changing room where her dress hung.

Rory pulled it on and walked out of the room to stand in front of the three way mirror and show it off for the girls.

"Wow, it's so pretty!" Rachel said.

"You look amazing, Rory." Kaely agreed.

"Perfect." Amy added.

"It's a bit loose right here." Paris went off in French at the seamstress who hurried off to grab a handful of pins.

The dress was really beautiful. It was all silk and a deep red color. It had spaghetti straps and a square neckline. It was tight around the bust and stomach with two seams going down the center. The skirt fell lightly to the floor. It wasn't poofy like Paris's but it would still swoosh beautifully when she moved. There was a silver silk sash tied tightly around her waist, the excess material hanging to her left side. It really was amazing.

"I love it, Paris. It's worth paying for this dress and I won't secretly hate you forever." Rory teased.

"Gee, I'm so thrilled." Paris replied sarcastically. "Change."

After Rory, the other girls tried on their dresses and the necessary alterations were made. The dresses would be ready to pick up the next morning. The other girls dresses were the same style as Rory's but they were silver instead of deep red and their sashes were deep red. They would compliment each other beautifull.

"Okay," Paris began after giving the seamstress her final instructions. "I need Amy and Rachel to go over to the reception hall and make sure everything is set there. Then head over to the caterers and make sure they have everything ready."

Amy began slowly, "Can't we just-"

Paris interrupted immediatly, "No, you can't just call. You have to go by or they'll lie. Rory and Kaely, I need you to go by the bakery and then to the tux rental place to make sure the guys already stopped by. Then I'll need you to go to the train station and pick up the minister we're having come in from England. I always dreamt of being married by a man with an English accent."

"Of course you did." Rory teased.

"Here." Paris gave each pair a sheet of paper with their instructions and the addresses of where they needed to be.

"Rory, I assume you'll be fine since Kaely knows French. Now hail some damn cabs and go!" Paris hurried to her car and the other girls rolled their eyes at each other and hailed some cabs.

Kaely and Rory settled in back to go to the tux place first.

"So, last night, you acted like you knew that groomsman." Kaely said nonchalantly.

"Tristan?" Rory asked. When Kaely nodded, she explained, "We used to go to high school together. He always called me Mary because apparently, I looked virginal. He was always such a pain in the ass but sooo cute."

"He's pretty damn hot." Kaely agreed. "You ever hook up?"

"Actually, I had just broken up with my boyfriend and I went to this party and he was there and we kissed. It was only for a few seconds and then I ran out."

"Was it a good kiss?"

"One of the best I've ever had." Rory said honestly.

"Then what happened?"

"He invited me to go to a concert with him and my exboyfriend showed up to get back together. I ran to my boyfriend and just left Tristan hanging. He and my boyfriend hated each other. I got back together with my boyfriend and then one night at this school thing where we had to perform scenes from Romeo and Juliet, Tristan showed up late and said he'd been pulled out of school. He was in our group and was Paris ever pissed."

Kaely laughed, "When is Paris not pissed? Why was he pulled out?"

"He'd started hanging with a bad crowd and they'd apparently gone into one of their father's safes, set off the silent alarm and the parents got to decide on the punishment. Tristan got sent to military school in North Carolina and I haven't seen him since."

Kaely's eyes were slightly big, "Wow. Big story."

"Yeah."

"You ever wish you would have gone to that concert with him instead of getting back together with your boyfriend?"

Rory sighed. She'd often wondered that herself. "I'm not sure. I'm really not."

"You're single, right?"

"For five months now. How about you?"

Kaely grinned shyly, "Don't tell anyone if I tell you this, okay?"

"Okay..." Rory said slowly, confused.

"It's just that it's Paris's weekend and her big day and I don't want to steal the spotlight from her."

"Okay..." Rory repeated.

"I'm engaged."

Rory's jaw dropped, "Wow! That's so amazing? Who is he? Have you been seeing him a long time? Where'd you meet?"

"His name is Jess, we've been dating for about two years. We met at a bookstore in Philidelphia where he used to work."

Rory blinked slowly and processed this, "Jess?"

"Yeah. I tease him all the time about it being a girl's name."

"Is he a writer?" Rory ventured.

"Yeah!" Kaely exclaimed, "How'd you know?"

"Jess Mariano?"

Kaely's jaw dropped, "Oh my god. You're his ex."

"What?" Rory was confused now.

"You're Jess's ex! Paris said you're from Stars something, Connecticut and Jess used to live there! And he said he had this girlfriend, like the first one he really thought he loved and he just bailed on her! You're her!"

"Hollow. Stars Hollow."

"Not the point!" Kaely gushed, "You're his ex! This is so ironic! What a small world! Oh my god." Kaely's tone went from excited to slightly upset, "Do you hate me? I'm so insensitive. I'm engaged to a guy who left you and here I am going on and on and oh my god. I'm so sorry. I'll shut up now."

"Kaely!" Rory exclaimed, "Don't even think about it! I'm so fine with you and Jess, it's not even funny. I'm way over him! I think it's so cute that you guys are together. You seem like you'd be polar opposites."

"It's our love of music that brought us together." Kaely shrugged. "So you're okay with this?"

"You better invite me to the damn wedding." Rory threatened playfully.

Kaely grinned, "He's going to be so shocked when I tell him."

Rory laughed, "Don't! Just invite me over sometime and be like yeah, this is my friend, Rory. And he'll be all what the hell?"

Kaely burst out laughing as the cab driver pulled over, "Oh my god, Rory! I love you! You're so cute and funny! If I were a lesbian and you were, I'd so ask you out!"

"Thanks, I think." Rory laughed as she crawled out of the cab. Kaely paid the driver.

"Merci." She said with a smile and they headed inside.

"So, we're here to ask if the boys were here?" Rory asked.

"Or we're to see them here." Kaely laughed as they entered and spotted them. The boys were all standing inside, wearing tux's.

"May I help you, ladies?" A man asked in slow, tentative english.

"No, we're with them." Kaely pointed at the boys and the man nodded and stepped back.

They hurried over to the boys.

"Connor!" Kaely gave him a little shove. "You're all dressed up!"

"I hate ties." Connor gave a small, fake shudder. "What are you ladies doing here?"

"You know Paris." Was all Kaely said. She set instantly to fix all of their ties. She went into a slight Paris mode, instructing the tailor what was wrong with the tuxes.

Connor laughed and stepped towards Rory, "Which means?"

"She wanted to make sure you'd been here." Rory shrugged.

Connor shook his head, "She doesn't trust me." He started talking about something else but Rory got a bit distracted.

Tristan was standing in front of the mirror, adjusting his tux. He was even better looking than he'd been in high school. He was slightly tanner and his hair was a bit shorter, but not by much. And he was way, way more muscular. If it was possible, he was taller too.

He made eye contact in the mirror just then and winked. Rory blushed and gave a small smile before quickly giving her attention back to Connor. He had finished what he was saying and standing quietly.

"Yep," Rory began as Tristan came to join the two of them, "Next we have to go to the bakery to pick up the cake for tonight and make sure the ones for tomorrow are completely ready."

"Sounds like my Paris."

"Then," Rory added.

"Oh boy." Connor laughed.

"We have to go to the train station to pick up the English minister to escort him to the Hilton."

"English minister?" Tristan asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Don't ask me. I'm just paying for this damn wedding." Connor shrugged and headed over to the tailor.

"English minister?" Tristan asked Rory again.

"Apparently," She explained, "It's been Paris's dream to be married by a man with an English accent."

"Hmm. Normally girls want to marry the guys with the accents. How 'bout you, Mary? Ever want a guy with an accent?"

Rory laughed, "Well there was Finn."

"Finn?"

"My boyfriend's friend was Australian. He was pretty damn hot too."Rory explained.

Tristan looked a little bothered, "You have a boyfriend?"

Rory winced, "Oops. Not anymore. Sorry. I've been single for about five months."

"What happened?"

"Logan cheated on me and I dumped him."

"Logan? Wait a second, Logan and Finn?"

"Yeah." Rory looked slightly confused.

"Logan Huntzberger and Finn Morgan?"

"Yes. You know them?"

"We used to hang when we were in middle school. Colin too right?"

"And Steph."

"Of course. The beautiful Steph was always hanging with the guys. She still like that?"

"She was five months ago." Rory shrugged, "I haven't really seen any of them since I broke up with Logan."

"Small world."

"No kidding. I am discovering this weekend exactly how small of a world it really is."

"What do you mean?" Tristan asked.

"Well, first you're Connor's best man. That was pretty random. And Kaely is engaged to my ex-boyfriend. And now you know the Limo boys."

"Bagboy? Kaely and Bagboy? I can't see it."

"No, not Dean. Jess."

"Oh. Different ex." Tristan nodded slowly.

"Yeah, Dean found out I liked Jess. So Dean dumped me and I dated Jess and then Jess took off for California with no warning and we were done. Then I went to Yale and met Logan. We hit it off and dated till well, five months ago."

"You have bad luck with guys." Tristan said.

"Hopefully, that will change. Maybe I'll meet a hot French guy while I'm here. They have accents right? I hear accents are all the rage." Rory joked.

Tristan teased back, " Actually, I hear there's going to be an English guy around in a few hours."

"But he's a minister." Rory shook her head and acted sad, "He has morals."

Tristan laughed and Kaely bounced over to them. "Hey, Tristan, do you know French?"

Tristan looked confused, "Yeah, why?"

"Well, Connor doesn't know what to get Paris for her wedding gift. So I'm going with him to pick it out. Rory said her French isn't so great. So, she needs someone who speaks it to go with her to the bakery. Plus, you're strong. Apparently, the cake is big and heavy. So will you take my place and go with her?"

"Sure."Tristan nodded, "I'll go change out of this tux." Tristan headed into a changing room.

"What was that?" Rory hissed at Kaely.

"What? You said you guys are fine. Plus, you seemed to be getting along really well. And you were clearly flirting. So I thought I'd give you an oppurtunity to spend time together."

"I was not clearly flirting!" Rory frowned.

"Um, you totally did the hair twirl."

"I did the hair twirl?" Rory cringed, "Damn, I was flirting subconsciously."

"Ooh, you guys are so cute together. Plus, Connor really does need help. And are we lucky he speaks French or what?"

"Or what." Rory muttered.

"Just go and have fun! Don't be afraid to flirt!"

"What if he has a girlfriend? Or like a fiance or something?" Rory whispered.

"He doesn't. I asked Connor." Kaely snickered.

"You're sneaky." Rory gave her a light shove.

"I know."

"Ready?" Tristan appeared next to her.

Kaely handed over the paper Paris had given them, "Here ya go. Better get moving. You barely have time to get to the bakery before you need to pick up Paris's dream minister."

Rory laughed and grabbed the paper from Kaely, "Let's go Bible Boy."

Tristan followed her out to the street and hailed them a cab, "Bible Boy?"

"Sure. Since you call me Mary, I call you Bible Boy."

They climbed in the cab before he answered, "I'm anything but."

Rory looked him straight in the eyes before answering, "I could say the same thing."

Tristan's eyebrows raised and his jaw dropped. He wasn't sure what to say to that. She was already twenty and he had assumed she was no longer innocent but he never dreamed that she would come out and say it like she did.

Rory reached over and gently closed his mouth, "Better keep that closed. I think there's a fly in this cab."

He laughed softly, "So, nice shirt."

Rory smiled proudly, "Thank you very much. I'm happy with it."

"So, Rory," Tristan specifically said her real name, "What have you been doing with yourself since I left. Start at the play and leave nothing out."

"Well, Paris played Romeo."

"Did she kiss you?"

"No. Thank God."

Tristan laughed, "Would you have liked it if I kissed you?"

Rory blushed a little, "I had a boyfriend, Tristan."

"I know. But see, onstage, it would have been okay. I wanted to kiss you good-bye, but Dean was watching and he would have been compelled to kill me."

Rory smiled sadly, "I know. You said as much."

"So then what?"

"Well, I was valedictorian."

"Really? You beat out Paris? Was she pissed?"

"Not as pissed as she was when she freaked out on C-Span."

"She what?" Tristan's eyebrows shot upward.

"She didn't get into Harvard. So she comes to give her speech on C-Span and she's hysterical and she goes off on how she thinks the reason she didn't get into Harvard is because she had sex."

Tristan tried to hold in his laughter but failed miserably, "Wow."

"Oh yeah. It was very entertaining."

"I'm sure. But speaking of Harvard, weren't you Harvard bound?"

"Yep."

"But you said you went to Yale." He got a sly grin on his face and continued, "Did you not get into Harvard because you had sex?"

Rory laughed, "Nope. I definitely got into Harvard. And Yale and Princeton. I chose Yale because it made my grandfather happy, and it was closer to home. Basically, on my pro-con list, it won by a long shot."

"Pro-con lists? You do those?"

"Yep."she prepared herself for the teasing that usually came after she mentioned them.

"I make them all the time. That was how I decided to go to Harvard."

"Really?"

"Yep. I wondered why I never saw you or Paris around."

Rory shrugged, "We both ended up at Yale until Paris left."

Tristan nodded, "So then what? Logan happened and that's about it?"

"Yep. I got editor of the Yale Daily News. That was exciting."

"Really? Congratulations."

"Thanks!" She smiled proudly, "I love it there. It's a huge responsibility, but it's definitely worth it."

"Sounds like you're living your dream. So you're a junior at Yale?"

"Going to be a senior in the fall. I have a late birthday. October 8th."

"4 somethingin the morning,if I recall correctly."

"God, I hated my grandmother for that." Rory shuddered in rememberance of that party.

"Did you ever get a better party for your sweet sixteen?"

"Oh yeah. My mom threw the best party ever. I got a laptop, and the whole town was invited. And there was a cake with my face on it and we had mud wrestling and started a food fight. And I got to wear a tiara and a feather boa."

Tristan laughed, "Sounds like a blast."

"What was your best birthday?"

"21st."

"How come?"

"My parents weren't there." He said seriously, "My little sister came to town though and my friends threw this huge party."

"Those are always fun. Oops, we're here."

Rory leaned forward to pay the cab driver and give him the usual, "Merci."

Tristan slid out of the car first and offered his hand to Rory. She took it but while they walked into the bakery, he didn't let go. She smiled happily and tightened her fingers around his.

He approached the counter and began in fairly slow french, "Do you have the cake ready for the Gellar and Donovan rehearsal dinner?"

The woman walked away and came back with a large white box. Rory peeked inside and saw it was the cake Paris had described previously on the phone.

"This it?"Tristan asked her.

"Definitely. Ask about the wedding ones." Rory reminded him.

"And are the cakes ready for tomorrow? Both of them?"

The woman nodded and said something back.

"Merci." Tristan smiled and picked up the cake. He turned to Rory, "She says they're delivering them tomorrow night, just before the reception and that Paris prepaid for the cakes."

"Good. Oops, I'll get the door."

They hit the street and Rory hailed a cab. Tristan set the cake between them and they both held it steady.

"So," Rory began, "Do you think we have time to stop at the Hotel and put this in the fridge before we get the minister?"

Tristan glanced at his watch, "You know, the hotel is actually on our way. We'll stop, you can hold the cab and I'll run the cake inside and we can take off."

"Good." Rory nodded and Tristan leaned forward to tell the cab driver of the change in plans.

"I'll be right back." Tristan grabbed the cake and went inside the hotel.

Only a few minutes later he returned and they were on their way to get the minister.

"So, Tristan, I told you my story since you left. Tell me yours. All I know is military school and Harvard."

Tristan shrugged, "There's really not too much to tell. Military school was hell, but that's where I met Connor and my other best friend Jason. No girls around so I didn't have any girlfriends. I think military school actually worked. I like to think I grew up a lot."

"You seem a lot different. Less immature. More wordly." Rory commented.

"Well, thank you. Then I went to Harvard. Had a few girlfriends, and now I'm going to be a senior. My life is definitely not as interesting as yours."

Rory smiled, "I'm sure there's plenty of anecdotes you're leaving out. But don't worry, I have all weekend. If you end up drunk tonight or tomorrow night, I'll take advantage of that."

Tristan just raised one eyebrow and Rory blushed, "That sounded really dirty. I didn't mean it like that."

"Sure you don't Mary. Now I know what your game is."

The cab pulled up at the train station and after Tristan paid the driver, they climbed out. Just before Rory slid out, Tristan caught her arm and pulled her close to whisper, "I'll be sure to have plenty of drinks tomorrow night."

Rory blushed even more and climbed out quickly. After that, there was no more hinting at anything. They had a minister to get.

A/N: So what did you think of this chapter? Even better? The next one is the rehearsal dinner and then the actual wedding. That means in one of those chapters, the Trory hookup will occur. Not sure which thought. I guess you'll have to keep reading!