Author's Sort of Late Night Ramblings- I know, I know, I am SO sorry for the extremely long wait for this chapter! Things got crazy, and I didn't really have time to write. The only option was failing out of college, and I really don't want to say 'Welcome tothe ZOD, how may I help you' for the rest of my life. I feel bad about it, but chapter four is really, really long! I hope that you all take that little olive branch as a peace offering and don't kill me!

This chapter is kind of a bridge from the first part to the rest of the story. It sets up a lot, you might not even see all of the little tidbits, but trust me, they are there. You also get to know my new characters that I introduced you to in the last chapter, hopefully you all remember Lulu and Mollie! They are interesting, and are a very central part in Tristan's life.

Thank you to my wonderful, super de duper beta, Sara, who is incredible at stroking my ego! She is great at telling me her honest opinion of my writing, and has been my life saver many times! Her stories, especially 'But I Love Him' are awesome, so go and read them!

My favorite baby sister, Erin. This chapter is for you, as you finally gave me that swift kick in the butt that I so desperately needed to get back in gear. Without you, I would still be putzing around, and all of my readers would be left hanging!

To my readers, thank you so much for putting up with me. It makes my day to see a review in my inbox, I get so excited whenever I get one! (HINT, HINT!)

Disclaimer- I don't own Gilmore Girls, or the good town of Newport, Rhode Island. Come to think of it, I don't own The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, either! (Actually, I do own a copy of this perfectly lovely story. I also own the sequal, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, and in January, I will also own the third, Girls in Pants, the Third Summer of the Sisterhood.) It's a must read, so well written. It is quirky, and fun, and the four girls weasel their way into you heart from the very first page!

Enough of my yammering, on with the story!


Chapter Four- Regrets?

"Tristan?"

"Rory?"

Oh God

Oh God.

"You two know each other?" Lulu asked, noticing the deer in the headlights look currently residing in both teen's eyes.

"Oh! I remember!" Emily smiled warmly. "Tristan came to Rory's birthday party. They were friends at Chilton."

"You could say that Grandma." Rory couldn't tear her eyes away from him. What were the odds that she would ever see him again? Before last night, she hadn't seen him for over three years. Now, she was faced with spending the entire summer with him.

"Yeah, you could say that." Tristan agreed, still staring at Rory. What was she doing here, in his grandmother's house? He knew that Lulu was having her best friend and her granddaughter stay for the summer, but...

No.

Rory Gilmore was staying here, in HIS grandmother's home for the summer. Tristan didn't know what to think about this surprising new development. On the one hand, he and Rory Gilmore was going to be living under the same roof. They would be around each other all the time, she couldn't escape him.

And on the other hand, he and Rory Gilmore were going to be living under the same roof. They would be around each other all the time, and he couldn't escape her. That was the reason he had decided to come to visit his grandmother in the first place. He didn't want to deal with seeing her around Hartford, watching her from across the room at parties, and not be able to be with her.

"Why don't I get you settled into your rooms while Tristan and Mollie go and get changed?" Lulu suggested, still watching the way that neither Tristan nor Rory could tear their eyes from the other. "Then we can all meet on the veranda for a late lunch."

"What a wonderful idea, Lulu." Emily smiled, linking arms with her old friend. "Come along Rory."

Finally tearing her eyes away from Tristan, Rory wordlessly followed Emily and Lulu from the room, leaving a confused Tristan and a very nosy Mollie behind.

--&--

Rory looked around at her new surroundings. The bedroom that she had been given was beautiful, deep blue walls, high ceilings, and windows that looked out over the sweeping expanse of gardens in the back of the house, gardens which seemed to go on forever, meeting the ocean in the far off distance.

But the beauty of her surroundings was lost on her at the moment. All she could think about was Tristan, and that kiss that they had shared, and the fact that he was in Newport, staying in the same house.

She had never expected to see him again. The truth was, she had thought about him a lot over the last three years. Rory hadn't told anyone about that, not even her mom. She just couldn't, not when she didn't really understand what she felt for him.

While she felt something for him, something that never really went away, Rory knew that she didn't love him. How could you love someone that you didn't even know? But she did care about him, and she definitely didn't hate him.

Rory had always felt drawn to him. What girl in their right mind wouldn't be? He was hot, there was no denying that. But it was so much more than that. It was the way that his blue eyes would sparkle on those rare occasions when he would genuinely smile. The look in his eyes when he would back her up into her locker. The way that he smirked when they would banter. Or the playfully teasing way that he would call her 'Mary.'

She had kissed him again. The first kiss they had shared had been great, but the second, even she, the proud owner of The Oxford English Dictionary, couldn't put the second kiss into words. They all seemed to pale in comparison.

That was the problem.

What right did she have to feel like that, after what she did? Rory wished, more than anything, that she could take back that night. But she was stuck with it. She had wasted a big moment in her life, one that she could never take back. Her first time had been with someone that she didn't love, who didn't love her, and on top of it all, didn't even belong to her. She had slept with a married man. Someone else's husband.

What if she made another mistake? What if she was only imagining that she had feelings for Tristan? Before she had slept with Dean, she had really believed that she had loved him. And maybe she had, in a friendly, first boyfriend kind of way. She definitely didn't love him enough to have sex with him.

There was only one person who could help her.

"Gilmore Crematorium, you choke em, we smoke em!" Lorelai's cheerful voice rang out through the phone.

"Well, that's one way to get rid of those pesky telemarketers!" Rory laughed, temporarily forgetting her problems.

"Rory?"

"No, it's your other daughter."

"Wait, how do you know about Candice?"

"Mom."

"Don't worry, you're still my favorite. I did give you my name, after all."

"Mom, please be serious."

"What's wrong, Hon?"

Rory didn't know where to start. "Well, you see..."

"No, I don't."

"Don't what?"

"See. After all, you are in Newport, and I am in Stars Hollow, where you abandoned me to go and play polo and shop for tiaras with the rich people." Lorelai rambled. "So I couldn't possibly see what you are seeing."

"If you can't be serious, just tell me, and I'll go and find someone else to talk to!" Rory yelled, all of the emotions of the last twenty four hours finally getting to her.

"Babe, calm down." Lorelai soothed. "I promise to be serious, unless, you don't want me to be, in which case, I will be funny, sweet, or whatever you need me to be. What happened?"

"Everything is so messed up."

"What is messed up?"

"Everything. I thought you were listening."

"I am, I just don't know what 'everything' entails."

"Tristan is here."

"Tristan who?" Lorelai asked, bewildered.

"Tristan Dugrey? Bible Boy? Spawn of Satan? Boy who made my life hell for my first few months at Chilton?"

"He's there? In Newport? With you?"

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"I know." Rory sighed, walking over to the window seat, looking out at the beautiful landscaping.

"It's been what, three years since you last saw each other, right?"

"Not exactly."

--&--

After showing Emily and Rory to their respective rooms, Lulu went on the prowl for her grandson. She didn't know what was going on, which she hated, but she was definitely going to find out, even if it killed him.

Tristan knew that she would be on the lookout for him, and had successfully evaded her so far. He should have known that when Lulu Carrington wanted something, she usually got it. It was a trait that she had passed on to both her grandchildren.

So, after a good hour and a half of searching, she finally found him in the billiard room. Why she hadn't decided to look there sooner, she didn't know. It had always been a favorite place of Tristan's, reminding him of the hours of talking he and his grandfather had done while playing.

If only Teddy were still with us, Lulu thought, clutching the locket around her neck, closing her eyes. Her husband, God rest his soul, was good with Tristan, always patient, understanding, as he had been with her. She had a good relationship with both her grandchildren, but Tristan and Teddy had always had a special connection. Maybe it was because Tristan was so like her, and Teddy had spent almost sixty years learning how to handle her.

"So, would you like to tell me what that was is going on?" Lulu asked, announcing her presence at last. Tristan jumped, and turned quickly.

He didn't know why he was so surprised. Tristan knew that she would find him eventually, she always did. But he didn't want to talk, and he hoped she would get the hint.

But she ignored his pointed look. "I guess not." Lulu smiled kindly, deciding to take a different approach with him than she normally took with Mollie, or even Teddy.

Tristan was very different. He kept things bottled up inside, very rarely letting anyone see what was going on inside of him. He had always been like that. Yet another thing that she had passed on to him, Lulu thought wryly. His parents, her daughter Clara and her husband Gregory, had definitely not helped the matter, never paying much attention to him, and sending him away...

It still saddened her that Clara had let Gregory enroll him in that horrible Military School, especially one so far away. How in the world had she, who had raised both of her daughters to be independent, confident, and opinionated, ended up with two that were so submissive? Where had she gone wrong?

Picking a pool cue from the rack, Lulu decided on her plan of attack. "Okay, I'll make you a deal. You. Me. One Game. You win, you get to walk out of here, and get to keep whatever is bothering you to yourself. But if I win, well, get ready to sing like a songbird."

"I don't like those odds." Tristan grumbled, not wanting to talk. Why couldn't she leave him alone?

"Well, the only other option is that we skip my kicking your sorry little butt around this pool table, and go straight for the jugular." Lulu shrugged, a smirk on her face at seeing his eyes roll at the thought of him losing. "This way, you get a glimmer of a chance to keep your secrets."

"You're going down." Tristan said, causing the smirk to turn into a wide grin as she saw the competitive nature that her family was known for shine brightly in his blue eyes.

"Whatever let's you sleep at night, pal." Lulu said, the trash talk beginning.

Almost a half an hour later, it was Lulu who was the victor. "Eight ball, corner pocket." She said, watching as the cue ball knocked the last solid in. Inwardly, she did a little happy dance. "Pay up."

Tristan sighed, and pulled himself up to sit on the green felt next to his grandmother. "That's her." He said reluctantly.

"That's her?" Lulu repeated, confused. What kind of an answer is that? Then, it dawned on her. "Oh! That's her."

"Yeah."

"Well, this is rather fortunate, don't you think?" She smiled, nudging Tristan's shoulder with her own.

"I'm not so sure about that." Tristan jumped off the table to pace in front of her. "The girl I've wanted for so long, is right here, what if nothing has changed?"

"That's not true, Tristan, and you know it." Lulu stated firmly. Why was he trying to make it sound like he hadn't changed? Why was he trying to hide the fact that he had grown up?

"Yeah, I changed. A lot of good it did me." Tristan said, a hard edge in his voice that Lulu hadn't heard in years. "Even now, three years later, I still can't get her out of my head. Why can't I get her out of my head?"

Maybe you're not supposed to. Lulu thought to herself. He was so agitated, he had run his hands through his messy hair a half a dozen times in the past two minutes. Why was he so agitated? This was not the way that you normally react at just seeing someone after years of not having any contact. Something else was going on here. "Did something happen yesterday?"

"I went to that stupid party, you know, the one that Mother was trying to force me into going to." Tristan began, resuming the steady pacing that he had been doing moments ago. "Anyway, I made small talk for a little while, then I escaped, like I always do. I searched for a while, looking for a good hiding place, and finally ended up in the music room."

"Mmhmm." Lulu murmured. "Continue."

"So, I'm sitting there, playing the piano, when it hits me. This is THE music room. I was sitting at THAT piano, on THAT bench, where I kissed her for the first time."

"Wow." Lulu raised her eyebrows, then narrowed her eyes a bit as his words sunk in. "What do you mean, 'for the first time?' What haven't you told me?"

"I'm getting to that, Gran."

"Oh."

"So, just as I'm thinking about this, guess who walks into the room, and back into my life."

"Well, I'll be damned." Lulu looked shocked. "You kissed her again, on that same piano?"

"Yeah." Tristan involuntarily smiled at the memory of her lips on his. "She dropped her earring, and ended up hitting her head on the underside of the piano. Then I kissed her."

"Well, I guess that takes care of that."

"Takes care of what, Gran?" Tristan asked, looking very confused.

"If I'm not mistaken, didn't the young Miss Gilmore tell you a few years ago that, 'barring safe or piano falling on her head,' never go out with you?"

"Yeah?" Tristan didn't quite see what she was getting at.

"Well, considering that if one actually did fall on her, she probably would be six feet under by now, I think that just hitting her head should suffice in taking care of that."

"That's what you think." Tristan's blue eyes clouded over again. "She ran away again."

"Again?" Lulu sighed, understanding his weird behavior towards the girl now. In his eyes, everyone left him. His parents had never stayed long, always flitting off to one exotic location or another, leaving him with a long string of nannies, and when his grandfather had passed away five years ago, Tristan had closed down, keeping everyone at arms length. "Oh, Tristan, I'm so sorry."

"I just wish that... never mind." Tristan trailed off, and Lulu let it drop, not wanting to alienate him just now. "I just had to get out of there. I couldn't just stay there, knowing that she would always be across the room, wherever I went."

Lulu remembered the myriad of expressions that had run over the girls face only a few hours ago. "Maybe luck is on your side for once. She's not seeing anyone. Emily told me that much on the phone a few days ago. You're never seeing anyone significant. Maybe, just maybe, being under the same roof..."

"That's a nice little thought Gran, but you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?" Lulu asked, wondering what was so wrong with what she had been thinking.

"She still doesn't want anything to do with me." Tristan said, his voice cold as he turned to the door, yanking it open and leaving her to follow after him.

--&--

Mollie knew that eavesdropping was bad, she really did. But this was just too juicy to pass up. Tristan, and the girl whom he was crazy about under the same roof? Another kiss? Running away again?

She didn't have any time to react as Tristan suddenly opened the door, causing her to topple backward to avoid being trampled. "Ouch!" Mollie squeaked, her head hitting the marble floor with a thud.

"Serves you right." Tristan glared at her, offering a hand to help her up. "You know what they say about curiosity killing the cat, don't you?"

"Then I guess I'm lucky that I'm a girl, and not a feline." Mollie answered, rubbing her head. "I think I'm bleeding."

"No, you're not." Tristan rolled his eyes. "If you were, your hair would no longer be blonde, but bright red."

"I'd make a very attractive redhead." Mollie grumbled. "It's just that blondes have more fun."

"Tristan, we're not-," Lulu charged out the door but stopped talking as she saw Mollie. "Hello, darling. What are you doing out here?"

"Learning the evil's of eavesdropping." Tristan smirked, remembering how his cousin had gone flying.

"Hey, I wouldn't have to resort to that kind of tactic if you'd just tell me what's going on." Mollie countered, still soothing the knot that was quickly forming on the back of her skull.

"Why are you both so interested in my life?" Tristan asked, frustrated. "Why don't you both just leave me alone and focus on your own lives?" He turned away, starting to leave.

"Tristan, we're not finished." Lulu said, putting a hand on his arm.

"Yeah, Gran, we are." Tristan answered, pulling away. "I need some time to think."

Mollie and Lulu watched as Tristan disappeared around the corner. "Well, I suppose you can't blame him. His pride took a serious blow last night."

"I think that maybe your dear cousin is right." Lulu said, ignoring her last statement. "Maybe we should focus on your problems for a little while."

"Maybe we shouldn't." Mollie backed away from her grandmother. "Maybe we should go back to Tristan's problems."

"That wasn't really a suggestion, Molls, and you know it." Lulu advanced on her granddaughter. "Why don't we play a nice, friendly game of pool?" She suggested, leading an unsuspecting Mollie into the billiard room."

--&--

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, you know that party that I went to last night?"

"Uh huh."

"Tristan was there."

"Uh huh."

"And we started talking."

"Uh huh."

"And it wasn't the horrid experience that it could have been."

"Uh huh."

"Is that all that you are going to say? Uh huh?" Rory asked, getting agitated with her mother again.

"Uh uh."

"That's it, I'm hanging up." Rory snapped.

"NO! WAIT! DON'T HANG UP! I PROMISE TO BE MORE VERBAL!" Lorelai screamed. The only problem was, Rory hadn't attempted to hang up the phone yet.

"Ow! Mom, what the hell are you trying to do, deafen your only child?" Rory said, nursing her ear after switching the receiver to the other one.

"Sorry, you just said that you were hanging up, I needed to find some way to stop you." Lorelai giggled. "And besides, usually when someone says 'I'm hanging up', they hang up."

"Yeah, well..." Rory trailed off, still coddling her left ear, though the pain had been fleeting.

"Okay, so back to what you were saying." Lorelai said, returning them to their original conversation. "You saw him, you talked, and it wasn't horrible. Gotta tell you, I'm not seeing the problem here, Sweets."

"Well, I'm getting to it."

"When?"

"Now."

"So, what happened?"

"Wesortakissed." Rory said quickly.

"What? Come again?"

"We sort of kissed." Rory repeated, louder and slower this time.

"Wow. On that same piano."

"Well, next to it."

"Same difference. And not the point."

"Yeah, I know." Rory sighed.

"So, what happened after?" Lorelai asked, wanting all the details.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"No."

"Well?"

"I sorta, mighta, kinda, maybe... ran away again." Rory admitted softly.

"What do you mean, again?"

"I did run away from him for real a few years ago."

"How do you run away from someone, anyway?"

"I don't know."

"And I thought you said this kid was hot."

"I don't remember saying that, Mom."

"Well Ror, in general, the boy who rules the high school is pretty easy on the eyes. Or his trust fund is the biggest." Lorelai giggled.

"Alright, so Tristan might not be horrible to look at. But that doesn't fix the problem."

"What exactly is the problem?"

"That I'm a bad person." Rory said softly, her eyes filling with tears. "What right do I have to feeling like that when I slept with Dean?"

"First of all, you are not a bad person, you are a good person who did a bad, and very stupid thing. One mistake doesn't change who you are, honey." Lorelai soothed, trying for the millionth time to make Rory understand that someone is not defined by their mistakes alone. "And second, feeling like what?"

"I don't even know how to describe it, Mom." Rory said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "When he kissed me... I don't know, it just seemed..."

"Unreal?" Lorelai supplied, knowing the feeling well. "Like you couldn't believe that any person could actually make you feel like that?"

"Yeah." Rory smiled softly. "I just don't want to make another mistake, Mom."

"Honey, making mistakes is a part of growing up. I make them all the time."

"Well, I don't." Rory said. "At least, I didn't."

"Rory, if you don't make mistakes, how are you going to learn?"

"I can learn by your mistakes."

"As appealing as that it, you need to make some of your own." Lorelai smiled. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I have to think about it."

"Didn't you just tell me that Tristan is staying at the same place you are?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, didn't you also tell me that when Tristan kissed you, fireworks went off, people burst into song, and flowers magically bloomed?" Lorelai prodded.

"I didn't say that."

"I know, I embellished a little."

"I'd say, a little more than a little."

"Well, how can you ignore feelings like that?"

"That's part of the problem."

"What's the problem?"

"I don't think that I can ignore the way I feel about him." Rory sighed into the phone. "And I don't think I want to, either."

--&--

Mollie was relieved. She had narrowly defeated Lulu at the last shot of the game. They had really cut it close, fortunately, Mollie had won, and got to keep her secrets. Not for long, though, for she knew that it was just a matter of time before her grandmother figured it out.

"Wow." Mollie said out loud, to the empty hall. "I can't believe that Tristan is so lucky." Her grandmother had filled her in on what had happened between her cousin and Rory Gilmore, and she was surprised at how serendipitous this summer was. After all, what were the odds that they would both be in the same place at the same time? It seemed to Mollie that John Cusak was about to jump out at any moment.

However, it was not John Cusak that she very nearly collided with as she rounded the corner. Mollie screamed, and stumbled back, while the other person did the same.

"Geez, you scared the living daylights out of me!" Mollie said, putting a hand over her heart as her breathing returned to a normal rate.

"Yeah well, ditto." Rory mumbled, standing up. She had lost her balance and fell back. "You sure scream loud. Only my mother is louder, and that is saying something."

"Why thank you." Mollie smiled. Maybe she could get the scoop straight from the other horse's mouth. While she knew what Tristan thought and wanted, no one had any idea about what Rory felt. "So, how's it going?"

"You mean, other than huge bruise I'm getting?" Rory smiled, rubbing her butt. "This floor is really hard."

"Tell me about it." Mollie groaned, running a hand over the large bump on her head. "So, you're spending the whole summer here."

"That's what they tell me."

"Ooh, I love that book." Mollie exclaimed, pointing to the copy of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants that Rory had in her hand. "I've read it like five times already."

"Really? I'm just starting it, but I love it already." Rory's eyes sparkled, excited about finding another person in the house who enjoyed the book as much as she did.

"I guarantee, you will adore it." Mollie assured her. "It's an awesome book."

"That it is."

"Do you like to read?" Mollie asked, and Rory laughed.

"Well, I packed more books than I did clothing, so I'd say so."

"Really?" Mollie was surprised. "So did I!"

"My mom always makes fun of me for that."

"Yeah." Mollie's eyes clouded over.

"So, what else do you read?" Rory noticed the change in her, and wanted to steer the conversation back from where it had gone, even though she wasn't sure what exactly had triggered it.

"The question is more, 'what don't I read', than anything else." Mollie said. "I'm working on reading every book in this house's library. Except the Hemingways. I can't suffer through his works."

"I think that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Rory said a grin forming on her face. "Hemingway is brutal."

"Yeah, Tristan hates him too." Mollie couldn't resist casually dropping his name into the conversation, to see how Rory reacted. "Pop loved him, and was always trying to convert us over to the dark side."

"So, you and Tristan are close?" Rory asked, trying not to sound too obvious.

"Yeah." Mollie smiled inwardly, not letting Rory know that she knew what she was doing. "He's a great guy. I know I can always count on him to be there for me when I need him."

"Really? Because the Tristan Dugrey I knew isn't that kind of guy. Rory commented, raising her eyebrows. "He was cocky and annoying, self centered, and-,"

"Yeah, that's who he used to be." Mollie cut her off, silencing Rory. "He's different now, back to the way he was before that, before Pop died."

"Your grandfather?"

"Yeah. He and Tristan used to be really close. When he died, Tristan couldn't deal with it, and kind of closed in on himself." Mollie explained. "I think he was angry at Pop for dying, even though he's never said it. Tristan just started doing stuff that he knew that Pop would hate, like meaningless sex and drinking and partying."

"Oh." Rory couldn't think of anything else to say.

"But then he got himself shipped off to military school, and it kind of beat him back into submission." Mollie continued, noticing the way that the girl's facial expressions were changing. "Slowly, he kind of reverted back into the old Tristan. The nice one. The fun one. The one that people can count on for more than a good time. Although, from what I've heard, you can still count on him for that too." She made a face. "Ew. I just talked about my cousin having sex. Gross."

"Bad pictures?" Rory asked, not surprised when Mollie nodded. "Yeah, I've been getting them a lot lately too." Rory made the same face just thinking about her mother and Luke. Oh, the therapy bill was going to be a big one.

"Really?" Mollie closed her eyes, and was yet again greeted by unpleasant images. "So, what's Yale like?" She inquired, trying to change the subject.

"It's a great school." Rory smiled. "I love it. The professors and the classes are really hard, but you learn so much."

"You sound like the tour guides." Mollie rolled her eyes. "Are the parties any good?"

"I wouldn't know." Rory said. "I'm not much of a party girl."

"Well, we can change that."

"I don't know, you'll be fighting against nineteen years of not partying."

"I've had harder challenges."

"We'll see about that." Rory smiled, glad to have made a new friend in the house. Maybe this summer wouldn't be so bad after all.

--&--

The gardens really were beautiful. They were vibrant with color, healthy and dewy. Emily was right, Rory thought, as she walked aimlessly down one of the many paths. She heard a faint splashing sound not too far ahead, and decided to check it out.

There he was. Tristan was standing at the edge of a large pond, a small pile of smooth, flat rocks next to him. He chucked another one at the water, causing it to hover over the surface for a few moments before sinking beneath the murky depths.

"How do you do that?" She asked, breaking the silence surrounding them.

Tristan turned around sharply, not expecting to see her. They hadn't spoken since the night before, and he honestly hadn't expected her to be the one to make the first attempt at conversation.

"Do what?"

"That." She repeated, pointing to the pond.

"Skip rocks?" He asked, watching as she nodded her head. "Well, first you have to find a nice, flat stone. Then, you throw it parallel to the water. Oh, and it doesn't hurt to have some pent up frustration too."

"I guess I deserve that."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry Tristan."

"Yeah."

"I am."

"Then why do you keep doing it?" He asked, turning to skip another stone.

"What do you mean?" Rory asked, although she already had a pretty good idea of what he was talking about.

"Why did you run away again?"

"Tristan, think about it. We haven't seen each other in three years, and all of a sudden, we're kissing at some party."

Tristan smirked a little. "Trust me, I remember."

"I don't do things like that. I don't just meet up with hot guys and start making out with them."

Tristan smirked again. "You think I'm hot?"

"Not the point, Tristan." Rory rolled her eyes.

"Alright, we can come back to that later." Tristan relented. "You still didn't answer my question."

"I don't know what I'm doing. I have made some really, really, really big mistakes lately, and I just don't want to add any more to the pile." Rory explained softly.

"So, what, that kiss was a mistake too?" Tristan asked, his eyes growing cold.

"No, it wasn't a mistake." Rory said quickly. "I don't regret it."

"So, you don't regret it." Tristan asked, moving closer to her.

"No I don't."

"And I know that I don't regret it." He said, getting even closer.

"Yeah, but..." Rory trailed off.

"No, no buts. Let's just leave it at you don't regret it, and I don't regret it."

"Are you a closet FRIENDS fan?" Rory asked, giggling softly.

"What?"

"That sounds a lot like what Rachel said to that Joshua guy in the fourth season."

"Yeah, okay." Tristan tried to play it off, rolling his eyes.

"You are!" Rory gasped, jumping up and down. "You are a closet FRIENDS fan!"

"So? It's funny, plus, Jennifer Aniston is hot." Tristan shrugged.

"Pig."

"Whatever you say."

"However..."

"Now that's just a fancy 'but'." Tristan smiled.

"Seriously, we haven't seen each other in three years."

"Yeah, I know."

"And then, within like ten minutes of our little reunion, we are joined at the lip."

"Yeah, I know."

"And then I realized something."

"What is that?"

"I don't know anything about you." Rory said, wringing her hands. "We were never friends. We don't know anything about one another."

"What are you saying?"

"That maybe, we could try to be friends."

"Friends?" Tristan repeated, a skeptical look in his eyes.

"Friends." Rory said firmly.

"I guess we could try that." Tristan smiled at her. For a while.

"Great." Rory smiled back at him. A bell rang out in the distance. "What's that?"

"That, would be the dinner bell." Tristan said, grabbing her hand. "We better get moving, Gran hates when people are late for meals."

"But it's not dinner."

"Late lunch, same bell."

"Oh." Was all Rory could say, as she followed behind him as they made their way to join the rest of their group on the veranda.


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