AN: I'm so sorry about the mistakes at the end of the last chapter (I can't believe I missed it). Thanks to finnlover for pointing it out to me! I had a lot of questions about Devin but I can't answer them (don't want to give up the plot).. And again, I'm sorry to everybody who wants this to be a Rogan but it's definately going to be a trory.. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
It was at the end of day on Friday and Rory was at her locker collecting her books for the weekend when Tristan approached her.
"So, Friday."
Rory turned and looked at him quizzically. "Yes Tristan, today is Friday," she said condescendingly.
He rolled his eyes. "It is? Wow! The things that you learn!" He said sarcastically. "Anyway, so I was thinking that we could hang out tonight."
She smiled and nodded. "Right, you mentioned that yesterday." She paused a moment, thinking. "You can come over if you want. We can watch a movie and order pizza or something."
Tristan leered. "I can think of other things that we could-"
"My dad will be home." Rory cut him off, laughing at his disappointed expression.
"My house will be empty," Tristan supplied, the look on his face equivalent to one who just discovered something important.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Maybe I'm suddenly busy tonight. My hair could use being washed."
He pouted. "Never mind; I'll be good. Movies and pizza at your house are fine," he said quickly.
She nodded. "That's what I thought. I should go but come over tonight around 7."
"Sounds good." He smiled and walked down the hall, looking back once to see Rory shutting her locker and walking in the opposite direction.
Rory was just putting the finishing touches on her make-up when the doorbell rang. Making her way downstairs, she glanced at her watch and was surprised to see that it was already 7:10. She yelled to her dad, telling him that she would answer it.
"You're late," she stated, after opening the door.
"No, I'm not," Tristan retorted immediately, always up for an argument. "You said 'around 7' and it is around 7."
Rory rolled her eyes. "This whole memorizing our conversations thing is really started to become annoying."
"You're just annoyed because I'm right."
Rory opened the door wider and gestured for Tristan to enter. He followed her through the entrance hall and into the living room, where she had stacked her DVDs and placed the take-out menus and snacks.
"So, what do you want to do?" She asked him, making her way towards the couch.
"Get food; I'm starving." Tristan sat down at the other end of the couch, folding one leg underneath him. He looked around the room, noticing that although the furniture was mismatched and everything was disorganized, somehow everything fit.
"What do you feel like?" She noticed the beginning of a smirk on his face and continued before he could say anything. "What do you feel like eating, I mean?"
"What else would you mean?" Tristan asked, looking innocently at Rory. He paused for a moment. "I don't know; pizza would be good."
Rory nodded. "Sure." She leaned over to reach the table to get the number for the pizza place. She dialed and talked for a few minutes before hanging up. "It should be here within 45 minutes."
Tristan smirked and leaned back, folding his hands behind his head. "And how should we occupy our time until then?" He asked suggestively.
"I'd suggest a nice, friendly game of Scrabble myself," said a voice from the door to the living room.
The two teenagers turned around, surprised to see Chris standing there.
"Hey dad," Rory greeted, trying hard not to laugh at the look on Tristan's face. "This is Tristan. Tristan this is my dad Christopher."
Tristan stood up. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Hayden." He looked nervous, knowing that Chris had understood what he was implying.
Chris laughed. "Chris is fine. What are you two up to this evening?"
"We ordered pizza and we're just going to hang out here," Rory replied, gesturing for Tristan to sit back down, which he did, still looking uncomfortable.
"Sounds good. Anyway, I'm off; I won't be home too late."
Rory's eyes narrowed. "Off where?"
"The parent meeting night at the school. You told me about it last week," Chris said, looking confused.
"Oh, right." Rory said, looking sheepish. "I forgot about that."
"I should get going; wouldn't want to be late and embarrass you. Nice meeting you Tristan."
"You too," Tristan called at Chris' retreating form. He sighed, loudly. "So, that's your dad."
Rory nodded. "Yup that's dad. You made a nice first impression," she added sarcastically.
Tristan looked sheepish and said, "I know, I'm surprised he didn't try to castrate me."
She shrugged. "My best friend's a guy so dad's got pretty used to leaving me alone in a house with a guy without making a big deal about it. Besides, Logan makes comments like that all the time and dad just laughs."
"And Logan is…?"
"My best friend," Rory supplied, looking curiously at Tristan. "Why?"
He shrugged uncomfortably. "Just wondering."
Rory pushed herself up and crossed her legs underneath her. She leaned back against the couch, looking at Tristan out of the corner of her eye. After a moment of silence, she reached forward and grabbed the remote for the CD player and turned on the radio. Flipping through the stations, she finally stopped at a rock station before turning to face Tristan.
"So, who are you?"
Tristan looked amused. "What, you invite so many guys to your house that you forgot who I am? And here I thought I was special." He pouted pathetically.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Wow, way to imply that I'm a slut."
Tristan protested loudly and apologized.
"Uh-huh, sure," Rory said doubtfully. She paused for a minute and shrugged. "I guess I just wanted to know more about you. I've known you like what, a week, two weeks?"
He looked thoughtful for a moment. "What do you want to know?"
Rory shrugged. "Anything, everything."
"That's too open ended. Give me something specific."
"Alright." She thought for a moment. "Favorite place?"
"My bedroom."
Rory threw a pillow at him. "Seriously!"
"I was being serious!" Tristan claimed, holding his hands up in defense.
She rolled her eyes in response. A new song came on the radio, catching the attention of both Tristan and Rory.
"I love this song!" Rory exclaimed, standing up excitedly, finding the remote for the radio and turning up the volume. Her eyes wide and excited, she reached forward and grabbed Tristan's hand, pulling him up as well. "Let's dance!"
"It's Nirvana," Tristan said, stating the obvious. "You can't dance to Nirvana, Rory."
"Of course you can. You can dance to anything."
She led Tristan through an elaborate dance involving jumping, spins, twirls and dips. He was usually a pretty good dancer, but Rory's dancing made him stumble and trip constantly. Dipping her low to the floor, he grinned down at her, enjoying her flushed face and sparkling eyes. Bringing her back up, he held her close, slowing her down considerably.
"This isn't how you dance to Nirvana," Rory whispered, her head on his shoulder, her breath hot against his neck.
"This is how I dance to Nirvana," Tristan replied, looking down at her and smiling.
The chorus came back on and Rory took the opportunity to go back to her complicated, fast dance. It wasn't that she didn't like being in Tristan's arms, it was the opposite; she enjoyed it too much. When the song was over, they collapsed on the couch, both breathing heavily and grinning.
Tristan looked over at Rory, noticing for the first time their close proximity. Not being able to help himself, he moved closer until his face was inches away from hers. As she gazed into his eyes, Rory felt a thrill of anticipation, knowing what was going to happen next and welcoming it.
"If I was really cliché," he whispered, moving closer until his mouth was right beside her ear. "I would tell you that you have never looked so beautiful and then ask if I could kiss you."
"But since you're not cliché?" Rory asked, breathless, waiting for what she knew was about to come.
"I'm not going to ask." He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.
There were no fireworks and the world didn't stop, but it was something special; it was perfect. Tristan moved forward, wrapping his arms around Rory's waist, enjoying the feeling of her hands running through his hair. They pulled apart minutes later although it seemed like hours later but it still wasn't long enough. Resting their foreheads against each other's, they gazed into the other's eyes, their breaths mingling.
"I hate to tell you this," Rory began, her voice slightly hoarse from the kiss that they had just shared. "But that was still kind of clichéd."
Tristan laughed. "Suddenly I'm a fan of the cliché." He leaned forward and kissed Rory again, one hand smoothing her hair behind her ear, the other on the small of her back.
"Me too," Rory whispered against his lips once they had broken apart, her eyes still closed. This time she made the first move and she kissed him, pulling him closer still.
Christopher Hayden walked into Chilton, wincing slightly as he did so. He hated being back here, hated the memories that this building and everything in it represented. Sighing, he looked at the piece of paper in his hand with the room number written on it and sped up, not wanting to be late.
The teacher had already begun talking when he walked through the door, but he made his way unseen to a seat at the back of the class. He only half-listened as the teacher droned on about the importance of the student's senior year and what it represented. Chris could barely remember his senior year and the parts that he could did not revolve around tests and graduation. By the time he had graduated from high school, he had already had the responsibility of looking after another life and that was much more important than anything the teachers could come up with. He didn't regret Rory as she meant everything to him and although he learned to never look back, he was still kind of bitter at the thoughts that being at Chilton resurfaced.
He listened as the parents questioned the curriculum and their children's best options for planning for their post-secondary education. He may have been bored but, as petty as it was, after years of having teachers make him feel uncomfortable, it was almost a relief to see them under pressure for once.
The teacher's speech was interrupted when a man and woman arrived at the classroom door a lot more loudly than Chris had. Chris ignored them, not caring one way or another who it was. He knew maybe half of the parents congregated in the stifling classroom and he liked less than half of those that he knew.
When the teacher got back on track and starting speaking about the student's ideal post-secondary education options, he decided to speak up.
"Where can my daughter go to learn more about this herself?" He asked, not really caring but knowing that he should say something. He didn't see the lady that arrived late swivel her head quickly and look at him in shock.
"She can make an appointment with the guidance counselor."
"And when would this meeting take place? During class time, I assume."
The teacher frowned. "Yes, usually those types of meetings take place during class time."
Chris smirked inwardly, enjoying this. "And how is that beneficial to my daughter's learning if she's missing valuable class time?"
The teacher's frown deepened. "Who is your daughter Mr.…?
"Hayden," Chris supplied, not seeing the mysterious woman's face blanch and her companion looking at her in concern. "And my daughter is Rory."
"Ah yes Rory Hayden," the teacher started, looking triumphant. "Good student but seems to have problems coming to class as it is. I don't think it would take too much out of her to miss a class to talk to the guidance counselor; it would probably be more productive than what she does when she misses class now."
Chris scowled, annoyed at this dig against his daughter. He knew that she wasn't the model student, that she didn't attend every class and that her homework wasn't always completed but this man didn't have to point it out.
As the other parents started to complain about their children and their problems, he leaned back in his seat, wishing that he was home. He looked at the clock and saw that there was still a lot of time left before he was able to leave. It was only a few minutes later that the teacher announced a five minute break causing Chris to look up in relief.
He made his way out the door with the other parents and contemplated leaving. Deciding that for Rory's sake he would stick it out, he turned to go back into the class. Bumping into a woman, he automatically reached out to steady her, murmuring an apology. His eyes widened as he looked down and recognized the blue eyes gazing back at him.
"Lorelai?"
"Hello Christopher."
