The half-empty pizza box was strewn across the coffee table and the television screen that had previously been playing a movie had long since turned black. The entwined occupants of the living room couch noticed none of this; they were so wrapped up in each other.
Her hands were running up and down his bare back teasingly, tantalizingly. He braced himself with his bent arm, trying not to crush her as he kissed her lips, her neck, her chest, her stomach. Her lips moved to his neck and he groaned slightly, moving his head to capture her lips in his. They were completely unaware of the time, the place, the world; only conscious of the other.
Tristan pulled back slightly and smiled. "Hey," he whispered, running his hand down her bare back, enjoying how she arched slightly as he did so.
"Hi," Rory whispered back, smoothing one hand down the side of his cheek, giggling slightly as he moved forward to nuzzle her neck.
He kissed her neck playfully, sloppily and then laughed, his breath hot against her skin, as she squirmed. She moved her head so she could reach his lips and then she kissed him, deepening it slowly, ardently. Moving slightly so he was closer to her, he placed a hand on her bare waist, moving it up and down slightly and sighed into her mouth.
It was then that the two of them became aware of the front door opening and closing and the heavy footsteps from in the hall.
"Shit!" Rory exclaimed, pushing Tristan off of her slightly so she could grab her shirt that had fallen on the floor beside them.
Tristan rolled off of Rory and reached between the couch cushions trying to find his discarded shirt. He looked around desperately; the seconds seeming like minutes as he couldn't find it and the footsteps came closer.
"Here." Rory shoved the piece of fabric towards him, pulling on her own shirt in the process. He put it on quickly, for once not worrying about wrinkles that would surely be evident.
They had just moved to opposite ends of the couch, turning slightly to make it look like they had just been talking, when Chris walked into the room looking worn out.
"Hey daddy!" Rory's voice was too cheerful and high but Chris didn't notice, so immersed in replaying his night in his mind.
"Hey Rory, hi Tristan," he murmured, distracted. He finally looked up and saw the two of them for the first time. "It's getting kind of late; I'm going to head off to bed."
"Yeah, I should be going home." Tristan stood up, stretching slightly. "It was nice to meet you Mr. Hayden."
Chris smiled, although it was tired. "Tristan I told you; call me Chris. It was nice to meet you too."
"I'm going to walk Tristan out, okay dad?" Rory put in, so relieved in their narrow avoidance of an awkward situation that she didn't notice the weary and conflicted look on her father's face.
Chris nodded, leaving the living room. Rory stretched and lazily pushed herself up off the couch, sauntering over to Tristan.
"'It was nice to meet you Mr. Hayden,'" she mocked, laughing. "You're such a suck up."
Tristan rolled his eyes. "Well if he ever finds out what his daughter and I were doing right before he entered, maybe he'll remember how polite and well-mannered I was and decide to let me live."
Rory laughed. "Unlikely." She reached over and grabbed his hand. "Now c'mon, I'm walking you to your car."
"Don't I have a choice?"
"Nope," Rory replied, pulling him through the hall until they reached the front door. Rory slipped on a pair of discarded and well-worn flip-flops while Tristan tied his shoes and grabbed his jacket. They opened the door and stepped out into the brisk night, making their way down the long driveway towards Tristan's car.
"Pretty car," Rory commented as they rounded a curve and the car came into sight. Tristan stopped and stared at her.
"Pretty car?" He repeated incredulously. "My car isn't pretty!"
"Sure it is, it's silver and it's pretty."
"Cars aren't pretty," Tristan insisted, his voice indignant and slightly strangled.
Rory rolled her eyes. "'Cars aren't pretty, you can't dance to Nirvana,'" she mimicked before sighing dramatically. "You have a lot to learn Dugrey." She patted him on the chest and he grabbed her hand when she would have put it back at her side, interlacing their fingers.
They finally arrived at the end of the long driveway where Tristan's car was parked and he pushed her against it gently. He kissed her long and slow, and, when she would have deepened it, he kept it light. He pulled back after a moment, still holding her hand and kissed her cheek.
"I know I still have a lot to learn," he whispered, using his other hand to push the hair back from her face. "But you'll teach me, right?"
It was a loaded question that had nothing to do with the topic and they both knew it. As Rory looked at Tristan's anxious face she knew that it was all about to get more complicated and she was going to be way over her head.
"Yeah," she found herself whispering back, not entirely sure that she wanted to go down this road. "I'll teach you."
Sunday found Rory lounging around in her pajamas, watching movies and gorging on unhealthy food. She hadn't seen her father for any long period of time since Friday afternoon but she didn't think anything of it; he frequently worked late hours and weekends. Talking to Tristan on the phone had become an hourly activity as they were in that nauseatingly cute stage in their relationship. If they had a relationship that is and Rory wasn't exactly sure what they were. They were dating, they had fun together but Rory always avoided things becoming serious. Until Friday night, she had been sure that Tristan did too, but he had seemed to be thinking differently when he had said good-bye.
She sighed and picked up the phone, dialing a familiar number.
"Hey, you've reached Logan. I'm busy at the moment so call me back later or leave a message. Rory this doesn't mean that you leave countless messages; one is preferable."
Rory hung up before it beeped, smiling at his voicemail message. She was constantly calling him and leaving stupid messages, or holding the phone up to the radio when a song came on that she liked. It all drove Logan mad and he was constantly complaining about it even though Rory was positive that he secretly loved it.
She sighed; it was typical that just when she needed a look into the male psyche both her dad and Logan were unavailable.
"Who's that?" Rory asked bright and early Monday morning pointing subtly down the hall towards a blonde-haired girl who she thought looked vaguely familiar.
Abby turned and looked in the direction Rory was pointing. "Oh that's Paris Gellar, surely you've met her? Or at least heard of her; she's pretty intense, most people have had at least one run-in with her."
Rory's mind flashed back to her first day at Chilton and her face-off with the editor of the school paper, explaining why the girl looked so familiar.
"Why do you want to know?" Abby asked, interrupting Rory's musings.
"She's jealous." Alex smirked, nodding his head towards Tristan who Paris was blatantly flirting with.
Rory shook her head. "I'm not jealous, Tristan can do whatever or whoever he wants. It's just pathetic the way she's throwing herself at him."
Alex and Abby exchanged knowing grins having gone through the whole undefined relationship thing last year.
"Sure sweetheart," Abby said sympathetically. She and Alex turned to walk down the hall. "If I were you though, I'd go claim my territory," she added.
Alex snorted, looking down at his girlfriend. "How very caveman of you, babe."
"It worked with you didn't it?" Abby asked fluttering her lashes flirtatiously.
They turned and walked away, completely oblivious to the world around them, only seeing each other. Rory watched them go and sighed. Jealousy was an emotion that she hadn't felt in a long time. When she was really little, she had been jealous of the other kids who stayed in one place and had both a mother and a father. With her first boyfriend, she had been jealous when the other girls hit on him. Eventually she realized that being jealous gained nothing and she got over it. Boyfriends after that had never lasted very long; merely an escape from reality until she moved away and contact ceased. It had been so long since she actually cared for someone that this new feeling scared her and she promised herself that she wouldn't let it dominate her.
With that thought in mind, she started to her first class, books in hand. To get there she would have to pass Paris and Tristan who were still talking, but she resolved to ignore them. That was her plan at least, until she started to walk past them and a hand shot out grabbing her wrist, pulling her towards them.
"Hey!" Rory looked up into Tristan's pouting face. "You weren't going to come say good-morning?"
Rory laughed lightly and kissed the corner of his mouth. "Nope, I was waiting for you to come to me. Gosh Dugrey, I can't do everything," she teased, enjoying the way that Paris' eyes narrowed when she kissed him gently on the cheek.
Tristan wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, her back against his front. Resting his chin on the top of her head and ignoring the indignant look that Rory sent him, he turned back to Paris.
"Oh right! Paris, this is my girlfriend Rory. Rory this is Paris."
"Hi," Rory said smiling sweetly, placing her hands on Tristan's hands that were resting on her stomach and leaning back into him.
"We've met," Paris said stiffly. "I've got to go." She took off down the hall.
"What was with her?" Rory asked innocently, looking up at Tristan with wide eyes.
He shrugged and turned her around so that she was facing him, his arms remaining around her waist.
"So I'm your girlfriend now?" Rory looked up at Tristan teasingly; ignoring the fact that she had gotten a tingly feeling in her chest when he called her that.
Tristan sighed dramatically. "Yup, I decided that since I felt sorry for you, I would agree to let you call yourself my girlfriend."
Rory wrinkled her nose. "How very generous of you," she replied sarcastically. The bell rang making the two of them jump slightly. "I have to go."
"Nope," Tristan stated simply, tightening his hold on her. "You're staying."
"Tristannn," Rory whined. "I have to go."
Tristan sighed as if it were a big thing that she was asking him. "Fine," he groaned before brightening. "Kiss first."
Rory leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his, keeping it innocent knowing that they were in a school and half of the student body was staring at them.
"Can I go now?" She asked sarcastically, raising a questioning eyebrow.
"I suppose." He kissed her once more, swiftly on the mouth before letting go and heading to his locker down the hall.
It was at the end of the day that the two of them caught up again. Rory was once again at her locker, packing up her stuff and talking with Abby when Tristan wrapped his arms around her from behind.
"Hey," Rory greeted, looking over her shoulder at him.
"Hey." He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Hey Abby," he added as an afterthought, nodding to her.
"Hi Tristan!" Abby said. She looked down the hall and smirked. "Sorry have to go. My parents will be home in half an hour and so Alex and I only have 20 minutes."
She took off down the hall leaving Tristan and Rory alone. Rory continued to pull books out of her locker while Tristan let go of her and leaned against the locker next to hers, watching her. When her stuff was all packed up he picked up her backpack without a word and walked beside her towards the parking lot. About halfway there his hand extended slightly and grabbed hers, entwining their fingers.
When they reached Rory's car, Tristan put down her backpack and stepped forward, raising his arms and effectively trapping her between him and the car.
Kissing her neck, he whispered, "So this was good, wasn't it? We were good I mean."
With her eyes closed, she nodded wordlessly. His lips moved to her mouth and they kissed, really kissed, for the first time since Friday. Tristan groaned when Rory eventually pulled away.
"I have to go," she whispered, wishing that it wasn't true and that she could stay.
"Okay," he murmured back, kissing her hard before stepping back and lowering his arms, knowing that there was no point in arguing.
Rory got into her car and, with one last kiss, drove away.
It was a content and happy Rory that waltzed into the Hayden house that afternoon. She was surprised to see her dad's car in the driveway and immediately went to the kitchen, still walking on air.
"Hey daddy," she practically sang, kissing his cheek and opening the refrigerator, looking for food. "What are you doing home so early?"
"Oh, you know. Slow day at the office." He contemplated just blurting his news out right then and there. "You look happy," he said instead.
Rory grinned taking out an orange and beginning to peel it. "Tristan and I are dating now."
"Really?" He asked although it hadn't come as that big of a surprise; he had seen the way the boy had been looking at his daughter. "That's great. He seems like a nice kid."
"He's not," Rory replied immediately. "He can actually be really annoying, he's arrogant and he always gets what he wants." She paused for a moment. "But in the end it doesn't really matter," she added quietly.
Chris nodded, used to Rory gushing about her new boyfriends. She always did once she started a new relationship, although it never really affected her when they eventually ended. Teenage girls were mysteries to Chris.
Rory finished peeling her orange, taking the peels over to garbage can and heading towards the door.
"Hey Rory?" Chris blurted out, prepared to tell her everything, desperate from holding it in for so long.
She turned and looked at her father, a wide smile on her face. "Yeah daddy?"
He looked into her eyes and faltered. He grasped for something to say. "I love you, kid."
"Love you, too." She grinned and left the room, practically skipping to her bedroom.
In the kitchen, Chris put his head in his hands and sighed. He didn't know what to do, didn't know how to tell her. Everything was so fucked up and distorted now. He considered running from his problems, he and Rory could pack up their things and leave the state and she would never know the real reason why. Chris sighed again, realizing that Rory was just getting settled in and was happy; he couldn't take that away from her. Not seeing any other choice, he picked up the phone and dialed a number that had been scribbled on a small piece of paper.
"Hello, Martin residence."
Chris took a deep breath. "Hi, can I speak with Lorelai Martin please?"
