AN: So people obviously weren't happy about the return of Lorelai.. shrugs don't know what to say about that! Yes Lorelai is Rory's real mother in this story but I'm not going to say anymore about that.. Thanks so much for reviewing-- I can't believe I have more than 100 reviews, I thought I was going to get maybe 20 at the most! Before anyone says anything about the way I potrayed Logan, I'm basing his reaction to Tristan on the way that my brother reacts when he meets guys that I know.. sorry if people don't think he'd act like that but he considers Rory his little sister... I hope you guys like this chapter!
Rory was sitting in the back of the classroom in a seat that she had claimed as hers. It had been occupied when she started at Chilton but by her second day it had been left vacant for her. She tapped her pen against her paper, glancing frequently at the clock hanging to her left. Her paper was filled with doodles and scribbles, nothing legible. The teacher droned on and Rory sighed; never had she had such a boring English class. She wondered what Tristan was up to at that moment.
Tristan. Everything between the two of them was going well, granted they had only been dating for just over a month. They had fun, having had a blast the previous night when they had gone to the movies together. Buying a huge amount of candy, impossible to eat in one sitting, they had half-watched the movie, half-watched each other. Everything was going perfect so far and that worried Rory for she knew that she was already getting in too deep with Tristan. He was perfect for her; he was good-looking, sarcastic, funny and he never took anything too seriously. Rory sighed and resolved just to concentrate on the now and forget about the future, it would come soon enough.
Mrs. Marks was cut off half way through her lecture when the door swung open and a familiar blond-haired boy walked in. The girls in the class immediately straightened, Rory included. He surveyed the classroom, his eyes pausing on Rory for a second and he smirked as her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Hello," Mrs. Marks said cheerfully. "Can I help you?"
He handed an official looking piece of paper to the teacher and looked on casually as she read it. Eventually she looked up and smiled at the whispering class.
"Attention class. We have another new student." She turned towards the new student. "We've had two already this year, quite unusual for us." The boy nodded knowledgeably in return, looking uninterested. "Anyway this is Logan Huntzberger. Please make him feel welcome here at Chilton."
She looked around the classroom for an empty seat and, not finding one, she turned back to Logan. "It appears that we don't have an empty desk. We'll get you one for tomorrow but for the rest of the class just sit with one of your fellow classmates."
Logan nodded and started to walk towards the class when the teacher stopped him. "I almost forgot. Do you want to tell the class a little bit about yourself?"
Logan stared for a moment, looking thoughtful. "No, I think I'm good," he said simply, smiling charmingly at the class. He ignored the teacher's annoyed look and put his notebook down on a desk occupied by a short brown-haired girl and grabbed a chair from the side. He grinned at the girl and she blushed prettily, smirking in triumph at the rest of the girls in the class, who glared jealously in return.
Rory was sure that she was gaping in shock. Logan was the last person she expected to walk though that door although she should have predicted that he would do something like this eventually. Logan was the overprotective type; when she had found out that her first boyfriend had been cheating on her, he had made her ex's life a living hell until he was finally expelled from that particular school for it. He had always treated her like a sister, except for that first awkward period when they had first met at the age of thirteen when they were unsure whether they wanted friendship or something more. They ended up picking friendship and it was the best decision that either had ever made.
She watched as Logan leaned over and whispered something into the brunette she remembered was named Madeline's ear. Glaring at the clock, she wished that this class was over; she wanted to talk to Logan and find out what he was doing here at his school.
Finally the bell rang and Rory was put out of her misery. Watching as Logan was held back to talk to the teacher, she waited in the hall right outside of the door for him to come out. Minutes later he did, not looking surprised when he saw her standing there.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
He grinned lazily and spread his arms out in a gesture of innocence. "What, not happy to see me?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Not at the moment." She crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back against the wall. "You could have told me, Logan." She paused. "Why are you here?"
Logan sighed. "I don't know. I missed you," he admitted quietly. "And I came to an agreement with my father to allow me to come here." He grinned ruefully. "It took a lot of convincing considering we seem to get in trouble whenever we're together but in the end he caved." He paused, judging her facial expression. "I just hate that we're at separate schools, you know? We should be in this together."
Rory smiled, remembering why she became friends with Logan in the first place. "Maybe I missed you a little but that's only because everyone blames the guy when we get caught." She stepped forward and hugged him, holding on for a moment.
He laughed as she let and swung an arm around her shoulders. "Aw c'mon Hayden; you know you love me."
"Don't know why though."
They made their way towards Rory's locker, aware that almost every eye was on the two of them. Whispering to each other, they looked intimate, as if they were in their own separate world. His arm wrapped around her shoulders, her arm around his waist; they were too close to have just met. To Tristan Dugrey who was watching, this looked like competition and he was very competitive.
"Want to give them a show?" Logan leaned in and whispered in Rory's ear, smiling mischievously.
Rory shook her head, laughing. "I'm actually seeing someone and he'd probably be pretty pissed off if you kissed me."
"You're seeing someone?" Logan repeated, not very surprised; Rory almost always had a boyfriend and at least one other guy waiting in the wings for their shot.
"Yeah." She shrugged. "We've been dating for like a month now. Sorry, I must have forgotten to tell you."
Logan laughed. "You always do." He looked around as they reached Rory's locker, dropping his arm. "So do I get to meet the guy?" He smirked. "I have to make sure he's good enough for you."
She rolled her eyes in response. "You hate every guy I date, Logan. Don't see why this one will be any different."
"That's not true. If I hated every guy you dated then I would never have any friends."
Her eyes narrowed and she put her hands on her hips. "Excuse me?"
Logan smiled sheepishly. "It sounded better in my head?"
She rolled her eyes, something she found herself doing constantly when she was with him. "Sure it did."
Finally opening her locker, she placed her notebook from her last class into it and picked up the one for her next class.
"Don't suppose I could borrow your English notebook, could I?" Logan asked, fidgeting and pulling at his tie; he hated asking for favors. "The teacher said that I needed to copy what the students have written down so far this year."
Rory shrugged and pulled her notebook back out of her locker. "Sure, they won't be much help though."
He flipped through the book, noticing nothing more than doodles, scribbles and blank pages. He rolled his eyes. "Thanks Ror, this'll really help me."
"I told you that they wouldn't be much help." She sighed dramatically. "You have no faith in me Huntzberger." She grabbed the notebook back from Logan and shoved it into her locker.
"Hi!" There came a voice from their right. Both Logan and Rory turned to see who had spoke and saw Abby there. "I'm Abby," she introduced smirking, looking Logan up and down.
"Logan," he replied smiling, always the charmer.
Abby's eyes widened in realization. "Ooh you're Rory's friend; she told us about you. She wasn't lying when she said that you were hot."
Alex cleared his throat from behind Abby. "You think he's hot?" He asked indignantly, a hand clutching his chest dramatically.
"Not as hot as you," she replied automatically, hooking an arm around his neck and kissing him, pushing him against her locker.
Rory rolled her eyes at Logan and shrugged helplessly. "You get used to them."
"I'm sure," he replied doubtfully.
"No really," she insisted. "They grow on you."
"Yeah like fungi," Tristan put in, coming up behind Rory and wrapping his arms around her waist.
Rory grinned and placed a kiss on his cheek. "And what have I told you about being cliché?"
Tristan pretended to think for a minute. "That it turns you on?" He smiled wickedly and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Rory laughed and loped her arms around his neck. "That too." She kissed him slowly, not caring about the hallway of people watching and forgetting about Logan until he cleared his throat impatiently.
She pulled away quickly, giggling as Tristan tried to pull her back. "Not now! You have to meet Logan!" She turned to face Logan and smiled apologetically. Gesturing between the two of them, she made introductions. "This is my boyfriend Tristan. Tristan this is my best friend Logan."
Tristan held out a hand, his years of etiquette lessons coming into play. Logan looked like he was an equal and, according to the rumors that Tristan had heard, he was and that meant that he needed to be treated with respect. Logan shook it with obvious reluctance.
"I've heard a lot about you," Tristan said, trying to play nice, knowing that Logan was important to Rory.
"Oh yeah?" Logan replied, looking like he could care less. "Funny, I've heard nothing about you."
Rory swatted his chest immediately. "Logan! What is wrong with you?" She turned to face Tristan. "I'm sorry," she apologized, rolling her eyes. "He's kind of overprotective."
"I'm right here you know," Logan put in unnecessarily.
"Yeah, I know," Rory replied, rolling her eyes. "But until you learn how to play nice, I'm ignoring you."
"I always play nice," Logan retorted suggestively, causing Tristan to tighten his grip on Rory and narrow his eyes. Logan looked to the crowded hallway for a moment before catching the eye of a girl. "Excuse me, there's someone that I'd like to meet."
He walked away without a backward glance causing Rory to roll her eyes. Even though Logan was constantly with other girls, he always made time for Rory when she needed it despite what other people thought.
"So, that's Logan," Tristan finally said.
"Yup," Rory replied, leaning up to give him a kiss. "He's kind of a jerk sometimes when he's doing his overprotective act."
Tristan raised an eyebrow. "Did the two of you ever date?" He tried to keep the suspicion out of his voice but was unsuccessful.
Rory rolled her eyes. "Don't do the jealous bullshit; that gets old really fast."
"I'm not jealous! It was just a question!"
She turned back to her locker and pulled out her notebook, sighing. "I know, I'm sorry," she said quietly. "It's just a lot of people don't get that Logan and I are just friends and are always going to be just friends. Everybody always thinks that someday there's going to be something more and it bothers me."
He placed a hand on her hip and put his chin on her shoulder. "I'm sorry Rory," he murmured. "I was being an idiot."
Rory closed her locker, turned around and, smiling wickedly, pulled at Tristan's tie, bringing him closer and kissing him. He pushed her back into the lockers, his hands on her hips, hers around his neck. They separated almost a minute later when the bell rang.
"I'll see you later?" He whispered against her lips.
"Definitely." She turned and sauntered down the hall, not looking back but knowing that Tristan was watching her walk away.
Tristan remained at Rory's locker for no more than 30 seconds when Logan approached him.
"So you're dating Rory," Logan said finally after sizing Tristan up.
"Yup and you're her best friend."
Logan nodded. "Yeah and that means that it's my duty to kick your ass if you even think about hurting her."
Tristan looked at Logan closely for a minute. "I don't want to hurt her." He paused. "But it really doesn't matter what I say; you're never going to like me."
"Rory deserves the best; nobody's ever going to be good enough for her. I'm not really concerned about you sticking around for long though."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Tristan was getting angry and it annoyed him further when Logan remained calm.
Logan laughed mockingly. "I've known Rory for years. She dates a guy, they have fun and eventually he falls in love with her; they always do. Whether or not he intended to at first, he becomes serious about her and then she distances herself and dumps him because she can't handle it."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Just giving you some advanced warning, you know, just in case you wanted to get out now."
Tristan glared angrily at Logan. "What, so you think that I'll dump Rory just because of her past relationships? You're fucking crazy; I don't need to listen to this."
Logan nodded almost as if he expected this answer. "Look, you seem like a nice guy, really, but you're getting too deep too fast and it's going to end soon." He laughed almost scornfully. "You won't last; they never do so why not get out now while your pride's still intact." He turned to walk away and took note of the way that Tristan's eyes narrowed at his words.
Tristan stood there dumbly for almost a minute after the bell, finally just decided to leave the school seeing no point in sticking around knowing that he couldn't concentrate. Logan's words ran through his head on repeat and, when he reviewed his and Rory's relationship, he couldn't help but think that maybe they made sense.
Rory pulled up in her driveway after school and wasn't surprised that her dad's car wasn't there. Chris had been working late nights and weekends for the last month and when he wasn't working he was out with Lisa; she barely saw him and when she did it was only for a minute. She sighed, thinking of the empty house, not wanting to spend the night alone. Making a quick decision, she backed up out of the driveway and drove away.
Tristan was watching T.V. when the doorbell rang and he made an aggravated sound before getting up and making his way towards the door. He had only gone to his first class that day before coming back home, only to sit around all day and broad. As he made his way through the hall, he realized that this day had accomplished nothing and he still didn't know what to do about Logan's advice.
He opened the door and was surprised to see Rory's smiling face.
"Hey," she said, stepping forward and kissing him lightly.
"Hi," he kissed her back before opening the door wider and gesturing for her to come in.
She followed him to his room, knowing as well as he did that all the other rooms were too formal to be considered comfortable. Over the past month she had spent a considerable amount of time at Tristan's and knew her way around quite well. She was also well aware that Tristan's parents were on their second honeymoon in the Bahamas and that he was staying home alone.
"So what are you doing here?" Tristan asked as they arrived at his room. "Not that I'm complaining." He leered at her jokingly.
Rory shrugged. "I don't know. You weren't at school and I missed you." She pouted and sat down on his bed, crossing her arms.
Tristan sat down beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders and holding her close. "I know but it was such a boring day and so I didn't feel like hanging around."
Rory nodded and bit her lip. "It wasn't because of Logan, was it? He didn't say anything to you, did he?"
He looked down at her and saw that this question meant a lot to her, saw that Logan meant a lot to her, more than he did to her and he knew that if it came down to it, she would choose her best friend over her boyfriend.
"No." He shook his head. "Logan said nothing."
"Good," she replied, smiling. "I know he didn't make the best first impression but he's really a great guy. He just thinks of me as a sister and doesn't like me dating, is all."
He nodded, not saying anything for a minute. "So you just decided to come over because you miss me?"
Rory laughed. "Hardly. My dad wasn't home and I didn't want to hang out alone for the rest of the day."
Tristan frowned. "Where's your dad?"
"I don't know, work or something I guess. He hasn't really been around much for the last while."
"I thought you two were close?"
Rory looked down, clearly uncomfortable with the subject and shrugged. She brightened after a minute. "So did you hear about that new movie that's coming out?"
As she went on to describe the movie, Logan's words ran through Tristan's head once again. The two of them never really talked about anything serious, instead concentrating on more shallow topics and, when they weren't talking, they were making out. Tristan didn't even know what the situation with Rory's mom was like but with the way she reacted when asked personal questions, he didn't want to ask. He wondered if Logan knew about Rory's family situation and then hated himself for becoming the jealous boyfriend.
It was almost an hour later and the two of them were lying on Tristan's bed, talking about nothing in particular. Tristan's head was propped up on his arm while Rory was lying flat on her back. Not being able to resist the urge, he leaned down and gently kissed her.
She kissed him back, pulling him down closer to her and running her hands down his back, before pulling off his shirt. He unbuttoned her school blouse, taking his time and making sure that his fingers lightly brushed her chest and stomach as he did so.
He pulled back minutes later when she pulled him even more on top of her, wrapping her legs around him and reached for his belt.
"Rory, we should stop," he whispered, trying to get his breath back.
"No, we shouldn't," she whispered back, nuzzling his neck.
"Rory," he groaned.
She pouted and, reaching up to grab his face, kissed him gently. "Tristan, I want this. Don't you?" Her eyes were wide, her face vulnerable.
With a muttered curse, he leaned down and kissed her passionately, deepening it quickly; showing her in actions rather than words. He pulled her close instead of pushing her away and gently undid her skirt. One look at her face and there was no turning back; all he could do was comply with her wishes and hope that this wouldn't change anything between them. Even as he thought it, he knew that it was fruitless, that everything would be different from there on out.
Afterwards as he lay there, her naked body pressed up against his, his mind raced. He didn't regret it; couldn't regret it but still he was uneasy. He wondered why Logan's word had unsettled him so much; after dating so many girls he had been threatened by so many friends/parents/siblings that finally none of them meant anything to him and he was able to laugh them off. He didn't understand why this time it meant so much more to him, why he was dwelling on it. He sighed, pulling Rory closer to him and resolved not to think of it; for at that moment in time, everything was perfect.
