Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I own nothing…
Rory stepped down from the bus steps and looked up toward the sky. Clouds swirled ahead and the sky was a light gray. She inwardly groaned, knowing that showers were inevitable. Her eyes widened a substantial amount, remembering that she had left her umbrella on the kitchen table.
Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, she inhaled deeply once more before making her way into the school.
She entered the stifling building, pleased as she noticed the empty hallway. Walking briskly to her locker, she looked both ways before opening the compartment. Retrieving all of her books, she closed the locker and sighed silently. Leaning against the cool metal, she closed her eyes before sliding down to the floor.
Rory groaned audibly before resting her head against one of the lockers. She set her backpack beside her and wrapped her arms around her body, suddenly feeling chilly. The chill ran down her spine and she shivered some more, suddenly feeling like she was being watched. Looking around the seemingly empty hallway, her blue eyes darted to every direction but she saw no one.
Shaking her head, she groaned quietly before digging into her backpack for her notebook. Flipping to a random page, Rory began to immerse herself into her notes, finding it a decent time to study. Last night had been a bad one for the brunette. Instead of studying her notes and doing her homework, she had been thinking about a certain blonde playboy who refused to leave her be.
"Well, well, well…"
Rory looked up to the sight of one Paris Gellar, the blonde perfectionist was holding the strap of her backpack tightly while looking down at her.
"Paris," Rory grumbled before putting her notebook away, there was no point in studying now.
The blonde held her bag strap tightly, trying to contain herself from all of the questions in her head.
"Gilmore," she replied snidely.
"Well, that's a greeting," Rory mumbled.
"Thank my mother for that."
"I think headmaster Charleston already did it at last months parent-teacher's meeting."
Paris rolled her eyes, "You know why I'm here, right?"
"No, I don't," Rory replied, looking up at the blonde.
"Remember when I said I hated liars?"
"Yes…?"
"You're a liar Gilmore."
Rory was taken aback by her bluntness, "Okay."
"And that I'll stop at nothing to make sure that I make your life at this school a living hell. And I have the power to because I own this school," Paris remarked, her eyes met Rory's with an unfamiliar spark.
Rory swallowed, swearing that she had caught betrayal in her look, "When have I lied…"
"When have you never lied?" Paris bit back, "This thing with you and Tristan, you lied to the whole school about it."
Rory looked at her incredulously, she got to her feet to face her, and replied, "I have never lied about the situation between Tristan and I. There was nothing to lie about…"
"There was nothing? So you're saying there is something now?" Paris yelled, not at all caring that the hallways were filling up with curious students.
"No!" Rory fumed, her face turning red.
"You really have to come up with better lies Rory," Paris said.
Rory bit her lip, just now becoming aware of the students surrounding them. She could also feel his eyes penetrating through her body, just watching the scene unfold like the rest of the student body.
"What if there is something going on between Tristan and myself? How does that fact concern you Paris?"
"It doesn't," she replied offhandedly.
"Then why are you getting so angry?" Rory questioned.
"Because you lied," Paris yelled, her body shaking, "Because I thought that you were the only person I could rely on to tell me the truth."
Rory was flabbergasted by her revelation. She couldn't reply because she didn't know what to say. Swallowing down the guilt, Rory closed her eyes to gather herself before opening them again… only to find Paris gone. Instead, she met dozens of inquiring, curious faces of students who didn't even know her, who Rory didn't even know and yet they knew everything about her.
Sighing, she picked up her bag and turned around, adamant to find solitude somewhere. She walked away of the murmuring students… she could still feel his eyes on her back, following her every move. It wasn't until she turned a corner that she released the breath that she was holding.
-
The first half of the day went by slowly for the brunette. She spent her time in class jotting down meticulous notes and ignoring her classmates' inquiries about her altercation with Paris Gellar.
Paris Gellar did the same thing, she obediently listened to the teachers, wrote notes, did her assigned work and rudely told students to leave her alone.
All three, Tristan, Rory and Paris were in several classes together and this only caused more raucous throughout the whole school. Everyone was whispering about a possible love triangle between the three and that Paris was the loser in the situation because Tristan had chosen Rory over Paris.
Tristan hadn't approached Rory the whole day, in fact, he blatantly ignored her. He simply walked in class with his usual notebook and the pen behind his ear and walked straight to his seat, not even once looking her way.
Rory didn't exactly know how to feel by this. At first, she was relieved… she was embarrassed that he had witnessed the screaming match between Paris and herself. But as the day progressed, she found herself feeling a little angry and sad because he wouldn't talk to her, he couldn't even look at her.
She thought about the day at the teacher's lounge and what had transpired. She knew that she was no longer confused.
She liked Tristan DuGrey.
Simple as that.
And even though Rory Gilmore was no longer confused about her feelings for the said blonde, she still didn't know what she was going to do about it.
"Just walk up at him in front of the whole school and kiss him," Lorelai had told her daughter between bites of cookie dough "That'll get them talking. Oh and I'll get to meet Ursula again!"
"Be serious, mom," Rory replied, glaring at her mother before eating a spoonful of ice cream.
"You're in a tough one kiddo," Lorelai shrugged, somewhat sympathetic, "You like the bane of your existence… Lucifer himself."
"He's not that bad mom," Rory muttered, thinking back to the messages.
"Of course he isn't," Lorelai decided it was time to get serious, "You two just have to talk. All this playing around should stop and you two should just sit down and sort it all out. It's painfully obvious that this guy is crazy in love with you and you're lucky that you realized you like him too."
"Why am I lucky?"
"He's not going to wait for you forever kid," Lorelai handed her daughter some gummy bears, "If you don't act soon, he's going to be gone."
Her mother's words replayed in her mind over and over again, nagging Rory to no end. She glared at her fingers before closing her locker shut, wanting to find a peaceful place to calm her mind and sort out her thoughts.
And then she saw him. Standing in front of his lockers with a couple of his friends, his friends were chuckling at something Tristan had told them and he just stood there, smirking.
Rory took a deep breath before turning the opposite direction to walk away, not at all wanting to face the boisterous group.
If you don't act soon, he's going to be gone…"What am I doing?" she found herself muttering before gathering the courage she needed to turn her body around to their direction.
She paused in her spot before forcing her legs to move to where the group of guys were talking and laughing. Rory stopped walking a few feet from where they stood, she stood behind Tristan so he didn't notice her approaching.
The first one to notice her was Lawrence Harvey, whom Rory knew from her Geography class last year. Lawrence's eyes widened to some extent at her presence and he nudged the closest guy near him. Soon the other two knew of her presence and they all wore knowing smirks.
"Isn't that your girlfriend, DuGrey?" Lawrence remarked, his grin still firmly in place.
Tristan turned around, surprised to find Rory standing a mere two feet away. He hid his shock well and he swallowed hard, trying to think of a reason as to why she was in front of him, looking at him expectantly.
"Can I help you?" he wanted to punch himself as soon as the question left his mouth.
He watched her take a sharp breath before speaking, "Actually, I wanted to speak with you," her voice wavered a bit.
It was Tristan's turn to breath in deeply, attempting to compose himself. He had been avoiding her as soon as her fight with Paris had finished but she surprised him by approaching him. She always managed to surprise him; no matter how prepared he thought he was.
He refused to meet her eyes, not yet anyway. Instead, he turned around and signaled for his friends to leave. The three teenagers nodded, all of them suppressing knowing smiles before walking away. Tristan cringed, his ears ringing with his friend's loud laughter as they walked away.
Rory bit her lip, waiting for Tristan's go-ahead to talk. Butterflies swarmed her stomach and along with the flip-flops in her stomach, she was ready to vomit.
Tristan crossed his arms, "What did you want to talk about?" he asked.
"Just…" Rory sighed, "Why are you avoiding me?"
"I'm not."
Rory gave a snort, "Yes you are."
"Okay, yes I am."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"Stop playing around Tristan," she replied.
Tristan chucked and shrugged, "I think you should start following your own advice, Mary."
"What are you talking about?" Rory questioned, extremely puzzled and slightly annoyed. Talking to him was turning out to be a bad idea.
"Stop playing around with me!"
His answer knocked Rory's breath away. He rendered her speechless and she wasn't quite sure how to react to his revelation.
"I don't…"
"I thought that after the day in the teacher's lounge, something was going on between us. I didn't know what it was but I knew that I wanted to pursue every single part of it," his jar clenched and he still refused to meet her eyes, "But after this morning, I guess I was wrong."
"You mean, with me and Paris?"
"Yeah and the fact that you proclaimed to everyone in the school that nothing was going on between us."
"But…"
His eyes widened, "You can't be serious!"
"Let me explain," Rory stumbled over her words.
"No explanations necessary," he practically growled.
Tristan shook his head and finally met Rory's eyes. He felt somewhat happy that her eyes did nothing but widen knowing that she had just seen the rage dancing around in his. He shut his eyes tightly before stepping closer to where she was frozen. Surprising even himself, he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her closer to his body. Inhaling her scent for what would be the final time, he swallowed back the emotions and just continued to hug her.
"You had me the whole time," he whispered softly, "And you didn't even know it."
And he did it. He walked away from her… as much it pained him to do so; he was tired of being the one who chased after her, time and time again. He was tired of the one constantly getting hurt. Rory Gilmore would get his hopes up, over and over again. And she was always the one to deflate his high hopes, the pain of her words and actions were building up and this was the big finish.
He was about to turn the corner when a hand grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks. He turned around to find an angry Rory Gilmore; her face was red and her eyes blazing.
"Why do you always have to get your way, Tristan?"
"I beg your pardon?" he asked incredulously, wondering if what happened earlier was just another daydream.
"And why do you have to be so stubborn?" Rory asked, her pitch high.
"I'm not following, didn't you and I just…?"
"Yes but once again, everything was about you."
He stood still, gawking at the angry woman in front of him.
"This morning, when Paris asked me what was going on between us, I didn't know what to say because I didn't know. I was trying to sort out my feelings when Paris came and picked that fight. I know you're hurt by my words but…" Rory took a deep breath, "I didn't mean them. Not one word. The fact is, no matter how annoying you can be… and no matter how stubborn and how cocky you are, I can't help but be drawn to you, Tristan DuGrey."
"What are you saying?"
"What I'm saying is that… you should of let me explain," Rory cracked a small smile even though her insides were shaking with nervousness, "I hope I still have you because you have me, you always have, I just didn't know it."
Tristan grabbed hold of her tiny waist and pulled her close. Almost instantly, he fused his lips with hers, kissing her as passionately as he could. He felt her shudder and her arms encircled his neck, and if it was possible, brought his body even closer to hers. He nipped at her bottom lip, his tongue seeking entrance into her mouth. After what seemed like eons, she obliged and parted her mouth, allowing his tongue to enter and explore her mouth. Her own tongue met his halfway and they combined to form an exotic dance, making them both suppress moans.
They pulled away slowly, both breathless and chests heaving up and down. Rory closed her eyes, resting her forehead on his shoulder.
"Finally," she heard him whisper.
Rory looked up and grinned, "Finally," she repeated.
--
-Sigh-
The end is near, lovelies… the end is near.
I hoped you guys enjoyed that chapter.
Thank you all for the continued support, there are no words to describe how much your kind words have meant to me. They are what keep me updating!