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Thank you to Lourenda, my beta.
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Rory was driving to work as she was seriously contemplated making a dangerous U-turn and going back home. Her morning had gone from bad to worse.
After waking up a half hour late she had discovered all her shorts were dirty so she had to borrow Lorelei's, however Lorelai was not one for plain normal shorts, oh no every pair she owned either looked like she was getting ready to wrangle some cattle or had words across the butt. Then the coffee maker had started to spark and she didn't have any time to stop at Luke's. So her caffeine level was well below normal, and to top her horrible morning off she had horrible cramps.
'Kill me now.'Rory muttered as she noticed that her car was beginning to overheat just as she turned into the camp parking lot. She pulled into a spot just as her car began to smoke, turning it off she grabbed her things and slammed the door shut. Normally she would feel bad for taking out her bad mood on the car, which usually had been nothing but dependable to her, but right now she wanted drive it off a cliff.
Tripping up the stairs she stomped into the office and threw her stuff into her designated cabinet, she got her papers and a clipboard and began to them fill out, ignoring everyone around her including Tristan.
"Something wrong?" Sammie questioned pushing a cup of coffee towards Rory, who gratefully took it.
"Ugh!" Rory groaned as she finished off the coffee with a second gulp.
"I'm just going to leave you alone, because an unhappy Gilmore is not a pleasant Gilmore to be around."
"Everything ok?" Tristan asked cautiously sitting next to her in Sammie's vacated seat. He could tell she wasn't in a good mood, her lips were set in a firm line and a look of pure annoyance was set on her face.
"Yeah, I was just telling Sammie my diabolical plan to dump you, convince your sister to dump Eric and then Eric and I will run away together. We'll elope in Vegas, have five kids then send you taunting Christmas cards in the mail every year." She told him flatly.
"That all?"
"No, we'll also have a pet dog."
"Named Scruffy?"
"I was going to name it Tristan."
"Rough morning?" He asked ignoring her last comment.
"You could say that." She muttered not even looking at him.
"Anything I can do to make it better?" He questioned kissing her neck playfully hoping to get a smile from her.
She gently shrugged him off. "Not unless you can magically make my cramps go away." In any other circumstances Rory would have been so embarrassed by that comment she'd be on her fifth shade of red, but her morning had sucked and she could care less what Tristan had to say about it.
"I'd love to say I know how you feel. Actually, I wouldn't, but in my defense Adam didn't help pick the apple or maybe he did. It was an apple, right? My family never was very religious." Tristan babbled.
"Tristan," She said irritated, "stop talking."
"I'm going to assume that having your…thing isn't your only problem."
"I woke up late, all my shorts were dirty so I had to borrow mom's…long story short I have the word 'Angel' on my ass. The coffee maker broke, I waited in traffic forever so my car started to overheat and I don't feel well."
Tristan looked at her with sympathy in his eyes and gathered her in his arms, this time she didn't resist just pitifully leaned against him. "You're day will get better."
"How do you know?"
"You're with me? How can it not be better?"
"There's that ego I know so well."
He softly laughed and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Did you take anything for your…problem?"
"Why do you keep doing that?" She questioned tilting her head up to look at him.
"Doing what?"
"Every time you refer to my period or my cramps you pause then call it a problem or a thing."
"Its awkward saying it, I have no qualms knowing about it. In fact my darling sister puts tampons on my shopping list all the time and I buy them with my head held high. It's just…getting into detail makes me feel uncomfortable."
"So buying tampons you're ok with, but talking about cramps makes you uncomfortable?" Rory asked in amusement.
"Yes. Because I don't really know what she's doing with those tampons and I don't wanna know. As far as I am concerned there are millions of unopened boxes in her closet."
"That's weird."
"Nope, it's wishful thinking. Do not ruin my delusions."
Rory laughed but she actually thought it was cute that he'd buy his sister tampons, how many brothers would actually do that? "You're a good brother."
"I know, I tell myself that every time she goes on a date with Eric and I don't kick his ass."
Rory just smiled, "Do you have any ibuprofen?"
"I have stash of it in my cabinet."
"Could you spare a few for your pathetic girlfriend?"
"It could be arranged." He smiled kissing her quickly before getting up.
"You're a lucky one." Sammie grinned sitting next to Rory again.
"Why?"
"You have met your boyfriend before, right?"
"Obviously."
"Then how can you not tell he's nothing short of perfect?"
"Nobody's perfect."
"He's pretty damn close." Sammie said looking Tristan up and down.
"Please refrain from checking out my boyfriend."
"If she doesn't stop will there be a chick fight? I love chick fights." Tristan said as he walked up to Rory and handed her the pills along with a bottle of water.
Shaking her head, Rory kissed him then downed the ibuprofen "Of course, you're my man and I have to defend you against other women looking at you like a piece of chocolate."
"Really?"
"No, but I will get really mad."
"I'll take what I can get and isn't the saying 'piece of meat'?"
"Don't get me wrong women like meat and all but usually its men who would drool over a steak not a girl."
"If they were real hungry they would."
"You are really reading too much into it."
"Sorry." He laughed pulling her towards him and gently kissing her temple.
"You two are so cute!" Sammie squealed.
"And on that note, I'm going to go wait for my campers." Tristan said walking away.
"Me too." Rory agreed leaving a grinning Sammie behind.
-----------------------------
"I'm full." Rory said placing her empty plate on the table in front of the couch she was sitting on.
"It's about time." Tristan laughed. He and Eric had gone out and gotten lunch for Rory, Sammie and themselves from a deli about a block away. Rory had just eaten, in record time, half a sub, a travel size bag of chips and half of his container of macaroni salad.
"I skipped breakfast." Rory defended resting her head against his shoulder.
"I like that you eat, it's fun to see how much you eat then guess when you'll be hungry again."
"See, I'm not only a girlfriend I'm a game too."
"Two in one," he smiled and wrapped his arm around her. "Still have some room left?"
"In my stomach?" Rory questioned, "Why?"
"I may have gotten you this."
"Chocolate!" Rory said as her eyes widened as she saw Tristan present her with a chocolate bar.
"Even though I am almost positive my sister doesn't have the same issue you are currently having, I might have remembered a time or two when she said she'd kill for chocolate."
"You bought me chocolate."
"Yes."
"Even though you are completely disgusted with why I want the chocolate, you bought me it anyway."
"Mhm."
Rory didn't know why but that little gesture meant the world to her. She didn't know if it was because all her previous boyfriends probably would have been horrified at the concept of knowing she had her period and stayed away from her for the better part of a week every month. Or maybe it was the difference between the man sitting next to her and the boy she knew in high school, either way that silly candy bar seemed to have a huge impact on her. "You are the sweetest guy I've ever met."
"That's a big assumption considering we've only been dating two and a half days."
"Are you saying you're not sweet?"
"I'm saying…There's more to me." He grinned as he pulled her towards him and crashed their lips together.
Rory shifted slightly so she could wrap her arms around his neck as he pinned her against the back of the couch. He deepened the kiss by tracing his tongue over her lips asking for permission to enter, which she gladly granted.
Breaking away from him, Rory's chest heaved up and down. "Campers, Tristan. We've gotta go."
"Don't wanna." He mumbled kissing her neck.
"You loved the campers until we started dating."
"Yeah, but now we are dating and they seemed to be getting in the way of our-" He stopped and brushed a kiss over her lips, "kissing time."
"Work does tend to do that." She laughed pushing him off of her.
"I won't see you for the rest of the day."
"No, you will. You just can't speak to me."
"War week sucks."
"It's a crucial point in the game. We only have two more challenges left."
"Guys are going to win."
"Silly, silly boy." Rory muttered pulling him into kiss her again. Just as Tristan began to get into the kiss she pulled away and he groaned at the lack of contact, a small smile graced her lips as she stood up. "Girls always win." And with that she walked out of the office leaving a stunned Tristan behind.
-----------------------------
"We have to dance?" Tori asked obviously not happy about the current challenge.
"It's not like we are asking you to be hip hop masters. We want you to do things like limbo and the hustle." Sammie explained.
"Oh and the Macarena! I requested the Macarena!" Rory added excitedly, she might not have been feeling well, but any chance she got to do the Macarena and not get strange looks she jumped at.
"Who likes the Macarena?" Aubrey questioned.
"I do." Rory said as if it were obvious, "and go ahead and mock me, but may I remind you I am in charge of your free time privileges."
"That's no fair!"
"Life's not fair."
"Attention!" Wendy said through a microphone. "Counselors have already assigned you to which dance you are doing. It is not necessarily about having the most rhythm and knowing the correct steps, it's about the creativity and energy you put into it. Group one, the electric slide is up."
The music started and the campers began to dance as Rory and Sammie stood off to the side. "Look! They can even do the electric slide better then me!"
"Not good at dancing?"
"Sure, I can do my best to fake club dancing but actual dancing not so much."
"Anyone can grind up against someone and call it dancing."
"I can't even slow dance. Learning to waltz for my Deb ball, the local dance teacher made me sit in the corner at one point so I wouldn't hurt my boyfriend at the time."
"Are you serious?" Sammie laughed.
"Yep."
"That's horrible, maybe you just need someone who is really good at dancing."
"Nope, I tried to dance with Logan, who was forced to take lessons and we pretty much stood there swaying."
"That's really all slow dancing is."
"I was off beat."
Sammie stifled a laugh "Oh…"
"It's ok you can laugh, my mother does."
"So you weren't destined to dance, you're still pretty."
Rory laughed, "Nice save."
"Group two is up!" Wendy announced as another group of kids made their way out to the dancing area.
"So, who do you think will win? Boys or girls." Rory asked.
"Um…If girls don't win today the boys will, but if we tie it's anyone's game."
"If I've told you once I've told you a million times, Mary. Boys always win."
"Tristan, you cheater go over to your own side!" Rory said without even turning around.
"I promise I won't tell your secrets."
"We're not telling secrets, now go!" Sammie said tossing an empty water bottle at him.
"That's reason!" Kiah accused.
"Treason." Shannon corrected.
"Oh…That's treason!"
Tristan laughed and picked up the little girl, "Do you even know what treason means?"
"Uh huh, Rory taught me it. It means to do something to make your own team lose."
"Would you really tell on me?" Tristan said pouting.
Kiah seemed to be contemplating it. "No…You're cute," she giggled.
Tristan smiled, "Why thank you…I think you should tell Rory that because she doesn't seem to appreciate my good looks."
"She's a silly girl!"
"I agree."
"Kiah, why don't you go get ready for your dancing event."
"Ok." She nodded wiggling out of Tristan's arms and running up to the others in her group.
"Aren't you risking being tarred and feathered by being over here?"
"What can I say, you're worth the risk." He said wrapping his arms around her waist.
"You're just trying to make up for calling me a silly girl." Rory pouted crossing her arms over her chest.
"But you're my silly girl."
"Being your girl just makes me sillier." She smiled kissing his cheek and pulling herself out of his arms.
"That hurts."
"You'll survive."
"If I don't you'll be really sorry!"
"Maybe."
"I know when I'm not wanted!"
"Apparently, you don't."
Tristan scoffed at her and walked back over to the boy's side.
"You're mean to your boy toy." Sammie laughed.
"It's payback for all the times he was mean to me at Chilton."
"You really need to let that go."
"It's hard when my friend Paris is constantly calling me to make sure that Tristan is behaving himself, she still thinks I haven't succumbed to his charm."
"Are you ever going to tell her?"
"I'm kind of afraid to."
"Hiding you're relationship is only going to make her more mad."
"You've never met Paris ; she's going to be mad either way. I'm just preventing myself from dealing with a premature Paris rant. I mean, I like Tristan…A lot and I'm pretty sure he likes me a lot but we've only been together two and half days. I want to make sure it works out."
"I see where you are coming from, but I think you're being paranoid. It'll work out."
"How are you more sure than I am?"
"You don't get an outside look at the two of you, you've been a couple for weeks. Just now it's official."
Rory didn't say anything and just directed her attention back to the campers dance competition.
-----------------------------
The last competition of the day was the Macarena and Rory was determined to take part in this one.
"Wendy! Please, I love the Macarena!" Rory begged.
"Rory, you have to find a male counselor to do it as well. It's only fair to make things even."
"But no one will…Not even my boyfriend."
"I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do, it wouldn't be fair."
"I will do the Macarena even if I have to blackmail someone!" Rory yelled walking off towards the boy's side, "Which one of you is doing the Macarena."
"I'm pretty sure we all made it clear that none of us were." Jeff told her.
"Yeah, I don't like taking no for an answer."
"Make Tristan do it."
"Well, Jeff…It seems Tristan is a jacka-" Rory began but noticed a seven year old boy sitting next to him, "Rabbit and doesn't know how to do anything but hop. He's not a very good dancer."
"Nice save." Tristan snickered and received a dirty look in return.
"If I do it will you stop complaining?" Jeff asked.
"I would and you'd be my bestest friend forever."
"Fine," he sighed, standing up, "but you owe me."
"You're the best, I love you!" Rory exclaimed excitedly and ran back to tell Wendy that she was officially allowed to participate.
"How's if feel to have your girlfriend telling other men she loves them?" Eric laughed.
Tristan glared at his friend as he punched him in the arm. "I don't know…How did that feel?" he muttered turning his attention to the dance floor where the opening cords to the Macarena began to play.
She might not have been good at any kind of dancing, but Rory had the Macarena down. Right arm; palm down, left arm; palm down. Right arm; palm up, left arm; palm up. Tristan watched as his girlfriend did the motions to the silly nineties dance. He looked on as Rory's hands went down to her waist and her hips swayed from left to right and back again. His mouth suddenly went dry, how could she look so sexy doing such a ridiculous dance?
His eyes darkened with want as he watched her, he knew she was gorgeous but this had upped her sex appeal up about a hundred notches. She wasn't even trying to be sexy, she just was and that turned him on even more. 'At work' Tristan thought to himself. 'I cannot think this way at work, with children around, with my boss around. Think unsexy things…Eric, Grandma, baseball, fishing, cold showers, ice fishing, Rory ice fishing, Rory shivering, warming Rory up while ice fishing…'
"Bet you wish you were doing the Macarena now." Eric joked bringing him out of his thoughts.
"Fuck off."
"Language, Tristan!" Eric scolded. "There are children around," he said sternly then chuckled as he walked away.
The girls were announced the winners at the end of the day. Tomorrow was the last day of war week and the game was tied.
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"So, its Thursday…Have you started the list of torturous things you are going to make me do this weekend?"
"This weekend?" Rory asked. They were in the office after the campers had left finishing up for the day.
"You forgot? Our bet; Girls win endurance games you pick the weekend activities, boys win I pick. Ring a bell? If it doesn't I'd be glad to pick our weekend activities, but I'm guessing they'd be a bit different than yours."
Rory glanced over at his smiling face, "I can't."
"Can't?"
"Can't do it this weekend."
"Why?"
"I've got plans." She said busying herself with her paperwork.
"Doing?"
"Stuff?"
"Rory…"
"I forgot I made plans with Logan ."
"Logan?"
"Yeah."
"As in Huntzberger, your ex-boyfriend. You made plans with your ex-boyfriend."
"It was before we started dating, which you have to admit is logical. I made them Monday, we got together Tuesday."
"What are you guys doing?" He questioned. Tristan knew she was right, they had just started going out so he couldn't hold that against her but it still bothered him.
"I don't actually know."
"You don't know?"
"Are you going to repeat everything I say? No, I don't know. Logan tends to keep things on a need to know basis." She realized that the more she told him, the more he wanted to probably forbid her from going.
"I don't like this." He told her leaning up against the counter.
"I know."
"Logan and you are…"
"Just friends. Breaking up was my idea but he understood where I was coming from. We're still friends; we still care about each other." Rory explained to him, she wasn't going to sugarcoat her relationship with Logan . She did still care about him and she wasn't going to stop talking to him just because her new boyfriend didn't approve.
"Just friends."
Smiling she leaned up and pressed her lips to his. "Just friends."
"Next weekend you are all mine."
"Next weekend is ours, I'll even let you pick a few of our activities. Depending on my mood I might even get rid a few of the rules that were set before."
"I'll just have to make sure you're in a good mood." Tristan said encircling her waist with his arms.
"That's harder than it sounds."
"I think I'll manage."
"You two are disgusting!" Eric muttered walking past them.
"Remember that comment when you pick my sister up!"
"It always comes back to the sister thing, doesn't it?"
"I warned you."
"I know." Eric sighed defeated before walking away.
Rory just laughed at the exchange and rested her head on his chest, she was really happy. Her boyfriend was the epitome of perfect, she had made some amazing friends, her community service hours were starting to dwindle and for once fate was working in her favor. However, she couldn't help but feel like this was the calm before the storm.
Again, I apologize for the long wait to get this story. I hope you liked this chapter, please review.