Thank you all so much for the reviews! I meant to get this up yesterday but some things came up.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The next day Rory walked into her homeroom and found a red and green wrapped square box. Inside the box, wrapped in bubble wrap was a beautiful snow globe. The snow globe scene was of a boy and a girl snuggling inside the sled of a sleigh ride. The note attached to the globe read:

Summer may be the preferred season for some but you can't cuddle with someone you love in one hundred degree weather.

Yours truly,

Santa's Helper

Rory sighed sadly, she didn't have anyone to cuddle with in a sleigh ride. Jess had turned out to be better as a friend and Dean had dumped her without looking back. She'd created this mess for herself but as she closed her eyes she imagined cuddling in a sleigh ride with someone, someone whose face wasn't exactly clear enough for her to see.

She couldn't believe how ridiculous she was, being jealous of a ceramic snow globe couple. 'God I'm pathetic' Rory thought to herself as she gently placed the snow globe back into it's box and took out her notebook for class.

----------------------

Tristan walked into his homeroom to a wrapped box as well, the silver paper with a bow tied around it had caught most of the other students attention. Sitting down quickly, he unwrapped it the box and then stared at it strangely.

"What is it?" His friend Josh questioned.

"My English secret Santa gift."

"They honestly thought you'd like this?"

"The presents are supposed to represent the holiday season."

"And it does."

"I've never actually done one before."

"Seriously?"

"Yup."

"That's kind of sad."

Tristan glared at his friend, his family wasn't exactly the type to spend a lot of time together meaning there was no time to sit around and make a gingerbread houses. "I've always wanted to make one though."

"Then this person made a lucky guess."

"Yeah, I guess they did." Tristan agreed. Even in the two days the project had going on for Tristan had loved both of his gifts. He'd taken the snowflakes home and put them safely in a plastic bag, so they wouldn't get ruined. Now, he was going to go home and make a gingerbread house…Alone. 'Boy am I pathetic.' he thought to himself as he heard the teacher begin the lesson.

----------------------

The bell rang signaling the end of first period and students filled the hallways, Rory walked out of her classroom and saw Tristan walking with the her present in his hands, deciding she wanted to know what he thought of it, she walked over to him "A gingerbread house?" she questioned getting his attention.

"Uh, yeah…My secret Santa got it for me." He admitted, hoping she wouldn't make fun of it.

"Do you like it?"

"Yup, I've actually never made one." He admitted.

"Really?"

"My family isn't really into the whole holiday thing."

"Well, word of advice never eat the candy from inside the box. If you want to nibble while you work buy real stuff."

"Speaking from experience?" He laughed.

Blushing, Rory nodded. "Yes I got really sick and it wasn't fun."

"Thank you for the advice." He smiled at her as the bell rang.

Rory looked at the room she was supposed to be in "Have fun making the house." She said brightly before walking into the classroom.

She was gone before Tristan could reply. Deciding he was going to go put the gingerbread house kit into his locker before he lost it or something happened to it, disregarding the fact that he was supposed to be in French class.

Looking down at the box for further inspection he noticed a note taped to it, on the same snowman stationary from before.

Big and fancy ski cabins are a fun place to hang out but they aren't nearly as tasty to eat.

Sincerely,

Your very own Cindy Lou Who

He read the note smirking as he remember what Rory just told him. He probably wouldn't have tried to eat any of the candy pieces but he would have been curious as to if they were actually edible.

He arrived at his locker and put the combination in, as he opened the door glitter flew out at him. He liked the snowflakes, he really did. He just wished that whoever made them could have lightened up on the glitter use.

----------------------

The hallways were silent as Tristan, who had received detention for skipping his second period class, walked through them. He was walking towards his locker to get his coat and the gingerbread kit when he heard a bunch of slamming and incoherent words of anger.

As he turned the corner he came in contact with the sight of Rory Gilmore hitting her locker with a pile of books strewn around her. Her face was red and she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Is there a problem, Mare?" Tristan asked leaning up against the locker next to hers.

Rory, in response, kicked her locker and groaned as it once again didn't open. "Stupid Paris!" she mumbled and then looked at him desperately.

"What'd she do?" He asked as he gently pushed her aside and hit the center of her locker making it open instantly.

The look on Rory's face was disbelief at the ease in which her locker opened for him, deciding it was a sexist metal contraption, she didn't comment on how easily he opened it.

"I was on my way to the bus stop when she caught me and dragged me into a newspaper meeting. Halfway through said meeting everyone decided to ditch but I figured I should stay or else Paris's head might explode. Well, I didn't figure she'd stick me with their work but she did. Then ranted for the next ten minutes about how no one respected her authority before storming out, leaving me to close up the newspaper office." Rory explained as she angrily shoved books into her locker.

Unfortunately, Rory shoved the one of the books in too roughly and her arm hit her book bag. The book bag that wasn't very stable on the hook and crashed on to the floor with a thump followed by the sound of shattering glass.

"No!" Rory exclaimed as she dropped to the floor and began frantically searching through her bag.

"What was that noise?" Tristan questioned as he watched the scene unfold in front of him.

"My…" Rory trailed off as she pulled the box that was already wet from the shattered snow globe inside, "snow globe." she finished sadly.

Tristan leaned down and looked carefully as she sorted out the broken glass and ceramic base of the snow globe. "Why did you have a snow globe at school?"

"It was from my secret Santa." She told him, her face becoming red and she tried to hold back tears. The day had been really stressful and the breaking of the snow globe had only made it worse.

"It's just a snow globe." Tristan said trying to make her feel better, only that seemed to make it worse.

"It was not just a snow globe! It was so pretty and it made me wish I could go on a sleigh ride! I didn't even have it for twelve hours before I ruined it! It was probably expensive and I ruined it." Rory rambled.

He didn't know what to do, comforting wasn't really his forte. Kissing and anything else of that nature he could do but comforting he was at a loss. "Uh, it's alright…You're secret Santa will never know it's broken."

Rory sniffled. "I guess."

"I know this sounds like a really lame pick up line and I'm sure you'll mock me for it but how about you come to my house with me…You can help me make my gingerbread house."

"Is that some clever innuendo for something dirty?"

Tristan lightly laughed. "I promise nothing dirty will happen…Unless you want it to." He said winking.

"Don't you want to make your gingerbread house with someone in your family or girlfriend or your bed buddy or something?"

"There is no one I'd rather make it with than you." He assured her, "What do you say?" he asked as he stood up and held out his hand so he could help her up as well.

Rory looked at his hand hesitantly. "Fine."

"Great." Tristan smiled and began to help her gather her books.

----------------------

"You don't put the gumdrops there!" Rory chide.

"It's my gingerbread house! Why can't I?"

"Because then it won't follow the picture!"

"Point being?"

"It has to follow the picture on the box!"

"No it doesn't! In fact, no more picture for you!" Tristan said stealing the box out of her grasp.

Rory pouted and pushed her hair out of her face. "You and my mom both do that, you know."

Tristan looked up at her and smiled, "You've got frosting on your face."

She looked adorable as her face turned a light shade of pink, bring her hand up to attempt to brush the frosting off but missing it completely. "Gone?"

"No." He told her as she tired again, "Still there."

"Where is it?"

He set down the plastic bag that he was holding full of peppermint candies and moved closer to her. Tristan brought his hand up to her cheek and wiped the frosting off. His hand lingered as his head moved until they were centimeters apart.

Tristan was about to close the space between them when he heard the kitchen door open, revealing his mother. "Hello." She greeted.

Quickly moving back, Tristan looked at his mother attempting to hide his look of disappointment "Oh, uh…Hi, Mom. This is a friend from school, Rory Gilmore."

Alyse DuGrey looked carefully between her son and the girl he introduced as a friend. This was the first time she had encountered a girl over their house who wasn't leaving Tristan's bedroom with rumpled clothes and messy hair. "Nice to meet you, Ms. Gilmore."

"You too, Mrs. DuGrey."

"Call me Alyse."

Rory smiled nervously then glanced at Tristan, hoping for him to relieve some of the tension in the room.

"We were making a gingerbread house." Tristan explained as he motioned to the countertop with a half built house and varies colorful candies on it.

"A gingerbread house?" Alyse questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"It's an English project."

"It's coming along nicely."

"Thanks."

"Is it staying here?"

Tristan inwardly winced at the tone of his mothers voice, he prayed that she didn't make a snooty comment about it not matching her perfect Christmas décor. "It was going to…"

"Good, the house could use some fun decorations." Alyse smiled, "Besides it looks as if it were right out of a picture. You two work well together. Now, I'll leave you two to finish. I'll be upstairs if you need me."

"Alright." Tristan said, "Bye."

Alyse left the kitchen leaving the two teenagers alone. She'd never seen Tristan so…She didn't know exactly what his behavior was but it wasn't the usual nonchalant and carefree demeanor that it usually was. She had a feeling that her son had finally found a girl to gain and keep his interest, that alone impressed her. The fact that this girl had managed to get her son to build a gingerbread house was something else altogether.

Back in the kitchen, Rory turned to Tristan "Your Mom seems nice."

"Yeah."

"You sound so sincere." Rory told him sarcastically.

"She is nice, it's just she's caught up on…appearances. When she's not she's actually pretty cool."

"You used to be close?"

Tristan sighed, he never talked about this with people much less the girl he had a crush on. "Yeah…It hasn't been like that for awhile. I feel like being sent to military school I disappointed her now she doesn't want to talk to me anymore."

"I'm sure that's not true." Rory offered but she knew by the look on his face that he didn't want to be pitied. He didn't want to be the 'poor little rich boy'. "How about we finish this? It's getting late."

Grateful for the change in topic, he nodded. "Ok…But I'm still not giving you the picture back."

"Oh come on!" Rory whined.

I know, this chapter is extremely cliché with the frosting on her cheek…But truth be told I always thought that would be completely romantic. Reviews are welcomed.