Thank you guys so much for all the reviews and birthday wishes! You guys are amazing!
Thank you to my beta, Lourenda.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
(ooh! and just like everyone else I am super happy the little bar thingy now works!)
Rory and Casey walked into the office so Rory could finish up her daily paper work.
"So, I guess you don't hate society boys as much as you said you did in high school." A voice said from behind causing Rory to jump.
Turning around she was greeted with a emotionless Tristan, his face showed no signs of anger or even sadness and his eyes gave nothing away either. Rory hadn't seen this look in his face since Chilton and she was hoping she'd never have to see it again.
"Tristan."
"I mean you always hated the over-privileged, but my god Huntzberger and Morgan, they are probably some of the most privileged people in America." Tristan scoffed.
"Hey, Cas," Rory called not wanting Casey to hear whatever was about to be said, "How about you go see if Sammie or Eric needs help cleaning up."
Casey looked at Rory warily but nodded and walked out of the camp office.
"They are good people, Tristan. They build up walls to protect themselves, but once you get to know them they are caring, sweet, kind people." Rory defended her friends.
"Ok, so you can take the time to get to know them, but I was written off?" He yelled angrily.
"You scared me Tristan! Call me stupid or naïve but I was scared of you. You held all this power and confidence that could have destroyed someone like me!"
"Yeah, like Huntzberger and his cronies are so much nicer."
"It was high school, Tristan! I've changed, I told you that but you don't seem to listen. I've made mistakes and they were there when I made them! Why the hell can't you understand that?"
"Why won't you tell me how you've changed?" Tristan questioned back.
"Because you won't want me anymore!" Rory yelled letting her insecurities get to her once again.
Tristan was taken back by her answer and by the time he came to his senses she was gone.
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Rory walked out of the office and walked to the craft area to find Sammie and Casey talking while sorting out markers. "I'm almost done," Casey told her.
"Take your time." Rory mumbled sitting on a chair.
"What's wrong?" Sammie asked.
"Nothing."
"Liar." Casey accused.
"It's nothing, really," Rory said. Her resolve weakening as tears began to stream down her face.
Both Sammie and Casey stopped sorting and walked over to Rory. "It looks like I'm not the only one in need of ice cream."
"No, you're not," Rory sniffled. "Sammie, we might be a bit depressing to be around but you're welcome to join us."
"Actually, I just broke up with my boyfriend, so I was going home to watch all six seasons of Dawson's Creek on DVD," Sammie laughed. "I'm in for some wallowing ice cream."
"Let's go." Rory said standing up and searching through her purse for her keys. "I don't want to be here anymore."
Casey and Sammie nodded as the three girls walked towards her car.
"Where's your car, Sammie?"
"Garage…My mom dropped me off today."
Rory nodded and unlocked her doors, Casey got into the backseat and Sammie got into the passengers seat. Rory was about to get into the drivers seat when someone grabbed her arm. She turned to look and saw Tristan with a determined look in his eyes.
"Rory, I let you run away at Madeline's party, but I refuse to let you run away again."
"Don't you get it?" Rory asked trying not to let tears fall again.
"No, obviously I don't! I don't understand why won't even give me a chance to understand!"
Rory just shook her head, "You've gotta trust me that you are better off not knowing."
"I don't believe that, Rory. You said you've made mistakes, but I've made some too!"
"I told you to leave it alone." Rory whispered before getting into her car and driving out of the parking lot.
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Rory, Sammie and Casey went out for ice cream and each ordered three different flavors. Rory quickly learned that Sammie was a great person to have as a friend and Casey was just like a little sister.
They kept the conversation light and the older girls gave Casey advice when she asked questions. It had helped them all keep their mind off their individual problems for the time being.
Rory and Sammie dropped Casey off and they began to drive in the direction of Sammie's apartment complex.
"So, do you mind if I ask what's going on between you and Tristan?"
"It's a long complicated, story. Most of it doesn't even include him."
"How about we go to my place and order a pizza, pop in Dawson's Creek and wallow." Sammie suggested.
Rory glanced over at her and smiled gratefully, "I'm in."
By the end of the night Rory had told Sammie everything from the fight that took place between Dean and Tristan at the school dance to sinking the yacht and taking the camp counselor job to complete her community service hours. Sammie had told Rory about how she had caught her boyfriend cheating on her with another guy and about the pregnancy scare that almost got her disowned from her family.
The two had become fast friends and though they both had grown up under different circumstances they both seemed to be able to relate to each other.
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The next day Rory walked into the camp office just in time to get her paperwork, hand Sammie her coffee and get down to the table before her campers arrived. She figured the less down time she had the smaller possibility there would be of Tristan cornering her.
Darla and Danielle were half way through attendance when Tristan's campers walked up to Rory.
"What's up?" Rory asked Ryan one of the boys Tristan was in charge of.
"Tristan's not here and since you're his co-counselor you've gotta take our attendance." the boy told her handing her the list of names.
Rory was a little shocked that Tristan wasn't there; he was beyond dedicated to this camp. He loved the campers and the campers loved him. "Oh, ok. Umm, listen for me to call your name."
Rory did Tristan's role call and finished just as the bell rang. Rory had never had to do a class by herself before and to be honest she was worried. It was hard enough keeping track of 20 kids with two counselors.
'Its creative writing,' Rory thought to herself. 'You used to be a journalism major, you know a few adjectives and verbs….This won't be difficult.'
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The first period ended and Rory was exhausted there was no way she could do this six more times by herself. Getting permission from Wendy she made a phone call, hoping to get the help she severely needed.
Half way through the second class Rory heard a familiar voice, "Have no fear, Huntzberger's here."
'I'm already regretting calling him.' Rory thought to herself.
"Hey, Ace. Need my help?" He asked cockily.
"Shove it, Huntz." Rory told him then clapped her hands getting the camper's attention "Guys! This is Logan Huntzberger, he's a really good friend of mine and an excellent writer and he's going to help you guys out so do not be afraid to ask him questions!"
"Did I mention I don't do well with kids?" Logan said leaning over to whisper in her ear.
"What do you mean? You're great with Kiah."
"Yeah, Kiah…She thinks I am her uncle. These kids are complete strangers!"
"Don't worry about it; you can't be as bad as Paris is around kids."
"That's a vote of confidence." Logan deadpanned.
"I owe you." Rory told him.
"Big time." He mumbled before walking over to a little girl around the age of nine who wanted to know how to spell alligator.
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The day had gone by smoothly with only two more classes remaining and though Logan was no where near as good of a counselor as Tristan was he sufficed well enough.
The sixth class had started when Rory heard someone yell out for Tristan to come read their story. Rory turned her head to see Tristan looking well rested and he didn't seem to be too concerned that he had missed practically the whole day.
Rory walked up to him "Where the hell have you been?"
"Leave it alone, Mare." Tristan said casually throwing her own words back into her face.
Glaring at him she went back to helping Kiah with her story about her Uncle Finn and a rugby playing kangaroo.
Tristan looked around and noticed a blonde man kneeling down to help a camper; taking a closer look he realized that blonde guy was none other than Huntzberger. Grabbing Rory's arm her pulled her aside "What's he doing here?"
"Well, you see you left me alone in a class that is very demanding of adult attention and I needed a little help because silly me forgot to charge my superpowers last night. I called both your home and cell number, but no answer. So, I ran it by Wendy and she said I could bring in some outside help. Who better to bring in that the king of writing himself?"
"Mitchum was busy so you had to bring in the slacker prince?"
Rory rolled her eyes, "I needed help. You weren't here."
"Well, he can leave now." Tristan told her.
"He's been here all day, there is one more class and I am sure the kids wouldn't mind having an extra person around to help them spell. Plus, it's not like…" Rory began but was interrupted by Shelby asking her for help. "We'll finish this later."
"Can't wait." He said dryly leaning down to give his attention to a camper who wanted him to read their story.
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The rest of the class had gone by smoothly, except for Tristan sending the occasional snide remark in Logan's direction. Rory had walked back to the office with the campers while Logan and Tristan stayed behind to clean up.
Logan wasn't blind and he saw how much Tristan liked Rory. Though, it bothered him slightly, he knew deep down that he and Rory were better off as friends. He also knew that it was driving Tristan crazy not know the status between Rory and himself. Deciding to throw him a bone "So, how long have you liked Ace?"
"Ace?"
"Rory, Ace reporter." Logan explained though at the moment that really didn't apply, he still was working on how to fix that.
"Oh, um…I don't."
Logan gave a small, "Yeah, right."
"I don't." Tristan defended, slightly annoyed that this guy he had met, maybe twice, at society parties was acting like he knew him.
"I'm not stupid nor am I blind. I can tell you've got feelings for her."
"Aren't you two dating?" Tristan asked remembering that he'd seen them hug the day before.
"No, not anymore. We're better off as friends."
"Why's that?"
"Incase you haven't noticed she's a pain in the ass." Logan laughed.
Tristan smirked, "That she is."
Logan was about to walk out of the Creative Writing Room when he stopped in the doorway, "She likes you, you know."
"I don't think so. She just keeps telling me she's changed."
"Maybe she has." Logan shrugged.
"For some reason she believes that if I know why I won't want her." Tristan told him.
Now that shocked Logan, who wouldn't want Rory? He tried to go over why she'd say that, but he came up with nothing. "I'll talk to her," he mumbled before exiting the room.
Tristan stared as Logan walked out of the room. 'That was odd,' he thought. He'd never really known Logan too well, his parents had introduced them once or twice at different society parties, but then they both went in their separate directions. It struck him as odd that someone with a reputation like Logan Huntzberger would want to help him.
Though, he also assumed that Logan would want to help Rory if they were friends, as he'd claimed.
Logan walked towards the table where Rory was sitting with her campers so he could pick Kiah up. He might not really know DuGrey, but he could tell Rory liked him. She'd been stealing glances at him for the last two classes, and when he walked into the room her face seemed to light up, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
He figured being in Tristan's good graces might help him get Rory back on the path she was on before the yacht incident, before his coldhearted father shattered her dreams. He wanted Rory back in Yale and he wanted Rory to be a journalist, and he was going to enlist whomever he could to help him.
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Logan left with Kiah, along with a promise from Rory that they'd talk tonight because she had some serious explaining to do about Tristan. How Logan had already gathered information on Tristan she didn't know, but she decided that as much as he fought it he had that instinctive reporter gene in him.
Tristan was walking towards the office when Rory caught his arm and pulled him to face her, "Why the hell were you late?"
"Why is it any of your business?"
"Tristan I'm serious, why were you so late? You love this job, the kids and they love you. It's not like you to be late." Rory said her voice softening.
But Tristan's attitude stayed cold, "You've worked with me a total of two weeks and one day, Rory. You haven't a clue what my work habits are." He told her, though she was right. He loved this job and the kids and he usually did everything he could to be on time.
Rory's eyes looked down "Why can't you just answer my question? Were you avoiding me? Do you not want to be around me anymore?"
"Rory…" He began. The truth was he had actually come in late today because he wanted her to have some time to cool off and not to force her to be in such close proximity to him all day long.
"I'll quit, if you want me to," she said cutting him off. "You were here long before I was and if you don't want me here I'll leave. We shouldn't make the kids suffer because we can't work out our screwy relationship."
"No, Rory. You won't quit. You don't need to quit, I won't let you quit." He told her firmly. "You leaving would make the kids suffer because they love you and though we seem to not be able to see eye to eye on anything I'd miss you. I like having you back in my life even if you aren't too keen on me being in yours."
"I like you in my life." She admitted quietly.
"Then it's settled you are not going anywhere, anytime soon. Plus, you can't leave. You need the hours."
Her eyes shot up to meet his, "I…"
"Stop, don't worry. I'm not going to push for information. I'm just saying I'd rather you work them off here then at some soup kitchen…I hear they are full of pervy old men."
A smile appeared on her features, "As opposed to here, where there are pervy, tall, blonde twenty year olds lurking around."
"Yeah." He smiled back.
Rory took a deep breath "Tris, umm…I've got plans tonight but tomorrow could we go for…maybe coffee…or something else if you don't like coffee. I've learned not everyone likes coffee as much as I do. We could get ice cream or possibly even go to a pizza place or something or even just to a…" Rory rambled but Tristan stopped her.
"I'd love to."
"I'll tell you a time tomorrow?"
"Ok." he told her before they walked in separate directions. Rory into the office to hand in her paperwork and update Sammie on the events that had taken place today and Tristan walked in the direction of the pond to talk to Eric.
And so ends another chapter…Reviews are always appreciated!