AN: I'm done! Surprised? I know I was when I finished. This story turned out so much different than expected. In my first version of the story Rory met her mother at a dinner with her grandparents, she slept with Logan after the dinner, Tristan found out and slept with this other girl and then Rory found out, got upset and got in a screaming, crying match with Lorelai and in the end she and Tristan are on and off again until he finally gets himself sent to military school and their relationship ends. That was my plan until I started typing and then this came out instead. Funny how that works out, isn't it? Anyway, I'm done rambling now. So until next time.. hope you enjoy this chapter!
Rory crept to the back of the crowd unseen. The people milling around moved to take their seats but she didn't join them, opting to stand in the back instead. Leaning back against a pillar, she closed her eyes as the headmaster talked; after her long flight she was exhausted. She opened them when she heard Paris Gellar start her valedictorian speech and she smiled slightly. The girl might not have been very personable but she sure knew how to captivate an audience.
She fidgeted when the headmaster went back up to the podium until she realized that he was going to call the graduates up to receive their diplomas. Straightening up and smiling, she looked at the robe clad group looking for a familiar blond head. She frowned when she didn't see him.
"Tristan Dugrey." The headmaster finally called and Rory smiled as he emerged from the seated students and went up on stage. He didn't see her as he got his diploma and sat back down as quick as possible and yet Rory smiled.
Remaining at the back unnoticed by most, she waited until after Logan was called and had seen her before she slipped out and walked to the parking lot. She didn't feel like watching all the graduates receive their diplomas; she had already been through that at her own graduation in Vancouver.
Her transition from school to school hadn't been difficult. She hadn't concentrated on making friends; instead she made sure that she had the marks to graduate and to get into a decent college. Having spent the last couple of months friendless and alone, she was happy to be back to Tristan and Logan, people who she could relax around.
It was almost an hour later that people began walking around the Chilton campus. Rory didn't move, knowing that she would eventually see Tristan and Logan. She talked to a couple students that she knew that stopped by when they had recognized her.
"Rory!" She heard and she turned around only to be met with Abby's smiling face.
"Hey!" She replied, slightly uneasy. She didn't know if Abby would be upset that she hadn't kept in touch when she had moved.
Abby reached forward and pulled Rory into a hug. "You're back?"
"Just for graduation."
She laughed. "Of course, I mean you couldn't leave your men to graduate without you."
"Maybe I came back for you."
"Sorry honey, I don't swing that way."
Rory laughed and pretended to pout. "Aw, shot down again. I guess I'm stuck with Tristan." She noticed an approaching figure. "Or hey, there's Alex. He's kind of cute."
Abby laughed. "I don't share."
"I don't care," she teased, laughing.
Abby laughed and looked at something behind Rory. She sighed. "My parents want me; we're supposed to go to lunch." She leaned forward and hugged Rory quickly. "I'll see you around, okay?" Rory nodded even though both of them knew that they would never see each other again.
"Hayden!" Rory heard from behind her and she quickly turned, recognizing the voice.
"Huntzberger!" She hugged him, holding on for a moment longer than she normally would; she had really missed Logan.
"What are you doing here?" A wide grin appeared on his face.
She nudged him in the shoulder. "I couldn't miss seeing you in a dress of course."
"Excuse me?" He said, mock indignantly. "I'll have you know that this is a robe, not a dress."
Rory laughed. "Does 'robe' not mean 'dress' en Français?"
He glared. "You're mean today."
"Long flight."
"Ahh," he replied as if everything suddenly made sense. "C'mon, I'm guessing that you want to go find Dugrey."
Rory sighed as if it were a lot that he was asking from her. "Well, I suppose if I have to."
Logan slung a friendly arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. "You have to." He laughed. "You guys are the most annoying couple ever. I never thought that long-distance fighting would be worse than when the two of you are fighting with me there."
Rory just laughed in response. She and Tristan had had their share of fights in the last months; their relationship was never easy. She had contemplated ending it a couple times but had always decided not to at the last minute and she was glad that she did. Logan had gotten his share of phone calls from her complaining about Tristan; she couldn't blame him for getting annoyed about it.
"Does he know that I'm here?" She asked after a moment. They still hadn't caught sight of Tristan yet.
"If he knew that you were here you would have seen him ten minutes ago. Hell, he probably would've run out of the ceremony for you." He paused for a moment. "It's sickening, that's what it is."
Rory was about to reply but that was when she saw Tristan standing in a group of new graduates, laughing at something someone had just said. Grinning, she stepped away from Logan and sped up slightly. Finally she was right behind Tristan and she moved to the right and stepped forward until she was part of the group.
"Hey guys, what's going on?"
Tristan looked at her in shock; he definitely didn't expect to see her here. Immediately his arms were around her waist and his lips were on hers. Rory pulled apart after a minute and laughed.
"So, I guess you missed me?"
He shook his head, unable to keep the grin off of his face. "Nope, not at all," he replied, leaning in to kiss her again, not caring about the group of people standing awkwardly around them. They broke apart a minute later and stood staring into each others eyes until Logan cleared his throat.
"Well, I'm out of here." He sighed dramatically. "I just thought that my best friend in the whole wide world would want to say good-bye to me before I left."
Rory laughed and left Tristan's comforting embrace to give Logan a hug. "I'll miss you Huntzberger."
He rolled his eyes. "I'll see you tomorrow at the airport."
"You started the whole dramatic good-bye bit; I was just playing my roll."
"Bye Rory."
She just laughed as she watched Logan walk away and turned back towards Tristan, putting her arms around his middle. She looked up when she realized that he wasn't responding and putting his hands on her waist like he usually did.
"What's wrong?"
"What does he mean by airport, Rory?"
"Airport, um, generally a place where planes take off and land?" She looked at him confused, not seeing why he was getting so bent out of shape over Logan mentioning an airport.
"I know what an airport is," he replied rolling his eyes. "What I don't know is why you are seeing Logan at one tomorrow."
"We're going to Europe together this summer." She bent her head, looking to his eyes. "Didn't I tell you that?"
They had wandered away from the group while they talked and were now in an isolated corner. Rory leaned casually against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest.
"No, you didn't." His voice was even, his face blank.
"Seriously?" She paused looking thoughtful. "I could have sworn I had told you."
"Well you didn't." Tristan looked upset and he backed up from Rory slightly.
"Sorry." She assessed his face for a minute. "I don't get what's the big deal though; Logan and I have planned this trip for like ever."
"You could have told me."
"I thought I had."
"And that makes it better?"
"No Tristan, it doesn't make it better but I don't understand why you're so mad. We'll see each other when I get back."
He sighed, shaking his head exasperatedly. "And when's that?"
"Beginning of August." She looked everywhere but at him.
"You're fucking kidding me! You're leaving for over a month and you couldn't be bothered to tell me?"
"I thought I had! I don't get what the big deal is. I leave and then come back and we'll spend the rest of the summer together."
"The big deal is that you didn't tell me! Maybe I had plans for the two of us this summer."
"Did you?"
"Does it matter now?"
Rory leaned her head back against the wall behind her. "We're always going to fight, aren't we?" She asked softly, looking into his eyes.
Tristan nodded. "Probably." He paused. "Don't change the subject."
She sighed. "This is stupid." She stood up straight and started walking away. "I don't want to fight over this; I don't want us to be one of those couples." She turned towards Tristan, gently touching his hand. "I'm leaving tomorrow at four; I'd really like it if you were at the airport to see me off." Leaning forward, she kissed him gently on the mouth. "Bye Tristan." She didn't know whether this good-bye would be permanent or not, all she knew was that she hated saying it.
Rory looked down at the clouds before her and sighed, leaning her head against the cool glass of the window. She could see Logan watching her worriedly from the seat to her left but she ignored him, not wanting sympathy. Tristan hadn't shown up at the airport, he hadn't called and so obviously he didn't care. Tears came to her eyes but she blinked them away furiously, not wanting to show weakness in public.
"It'll be okay," Logan murmured, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder, making Rory want to start to cry.
"I know," she replied, wanting to be brave, wanting to not care. The problem was that she did care and it hurt like hell.
It was noon, she was in Paris and yet Rory was sitting in her hotel room, the same place that she had been since she and Logan had arrived almost two days ago. Logan was out seeing the sites, meeting new people but she couldn't make herself get up and go out. He hadn't wanted to go, to leave her alone when she was like this but she had finally convinced him that she would be alright. That was lie; she felt worse than she could ever remember feeling.
Finally dragging herself out of bed, she made her way towards the shower, realizing that she shouldn't let her once in a life time trip be ruined by a boy. It didn't matter that this boy had unknowingly broke her heart or that it would all come crashing down when she arrived back in the States. Rory was determined to make the most of this trip and determined Haydens were never anything short of successful in their endeavors.
She was in the midst of getting dressed when there came a knock on the door. Quickly slipping on a t-shirt and taking the towel that was wrapped around her hair off, she walked to the door and opened it revealing Tristan Dugrey standing there with a sheepish look on his face.
"I missed you by ten minutes," he said, wanting to touch her but knowing that she was mad at him. "I was going to be there, I promise."
Rory shrugged. "It's not a big deal; we're not a big deal."
He reached out and grabbed her arm. "That's not true, Rory. It was a big deal and I fucked it up and I'm sorry. I'm an idiot and I'm sorry, really sorry. Please say you'll forgive me."
"There's nothing to forgive." She backed up towards the room, effectively cutting off his hold on her. "Look, it was sweet of you to fly all the way out here just to apologize but it was unnecessary. We're obviously just one of those couples that are never going to work; that are destined to failure. We gave it our best shot, let's just cut our losses, okay?"
"No."
She turned around quickly. "It wasn't a yes or no question."
He smirked. "Yes, it was and I picked no. I don't want us to break up. We're not one of those couples; we've made it through so much already. We're good together, hell we're not perfect but who is?"
"I don't want to go through this again, Tristan. Can't you just leave?" Her voice was tired, defeated and he hated it.
Leaning forward he kissed her, long and slow. She responded, arching her back into him. They broke apart a minute later and he leaned his forehead against hers. "Do you really want me to leave?"
She looked into his eyes, weighing her options. When she spoke there was not hesitation in her voice. "No, stay."
"I will, I promise," he whispered, his breath against her mouth. He closed the space between them and kissed her again and they backed into her room together, closing the door behind them.
The future wasn't certain, their life wasn't arranged but somehow that made it better, more real. In the fall the two of them would be attending separate colleges, making it even harder for them to stay together. They didn't know if they would last forever, if everything would be okay but at that moment they didn't care. At that point in time everything was perfect; exactly as it was supposed to be, just the two of them.
