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As Tristin pulled away first, dozens of thoughts were running through Rory's mind. Was it too soon after Dean? What would her mother think? Almost more importantly, what would Paris think? Everyone at school knew that Paris had a thing for Tristin. And he had just kissed Rory. The worst part of all, Rory felt like she had kissed him back!

They sat there for a moment. Rory was utterly frozen. Tristin didn't know what to think. He was almost in as much shock as Rory. He took her hand in his. "Do you want to try this?" he asked outright.

"What?" Rory became unfrozen.

"Do you want to try a relationship?"

"I...I don't know." she said honestly. And it was true.

The next morning, Rory dragged Loralei out of bed at an unholy hour--9:00--and announced that she had some major guy stuff that she needed Loralei to help her with.

Loralei groaned. "I can see it now..." she said, squeezing her eyes shut against the bright sunlight. "Thirty something beautiful mother kills sixteen-year-old annoying daughter."

"I have major guy stuff!"

"What kind of guy stuff?"

"Last night, you know I went to Madeline's party."

"Yeah."

"Well, Tristin was there."

Loralei nodded mechanically. Maybe if she nodded she could get away with nodding off to sleep.

"And we were in a room alone...and we kissed."

Loralei suddenly looked very much awake. "What?"

"We...kissed."

"You kissed someone other than Dean?"

"Yes. Well, no. Sort of?" Rory was confused now. "Well, he kissed me and then I half-kissed him back."

"Rory," Loralei said, "You can never half-kiss a guy back. You either do or you don't."

"Well, then I guess I kissed him back. It happened really fast."

"What happened then?"

"Well, Tristin asked outright if I wanted to try a relationship with him."

"He did? That's weird! What did you say?"

"I said I didn't know."

"Good answer. But do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Want to date Tristin?"

"I don't know!" Rory was exasperated. She didn't know if she was ready for a relationship. She thought about Dean for a long minute or two. Had she jumped to a conclusion? What if Ashleigh was Dean's cousin or something? Rory would feel really stupid if that was the case.

She picked up the phone and dialed the number she knew almost better than her own.