Author: Lannah

Summary: Students at Chilton head to Eagle Mountain for a ski trip, during the course of the winter holidays. Rory and Tristan meet under slightly different circumstances.

Pairing: R/T.

Glasses clinked.

People talked.

People laughed.

And Rory was stuck listening to the swell of the music and chatter from the kitchen with only herself for company.

Well, she and the flirty conversation coming from her grandparents' new maid – Macy, was it? – and the Devil himself, Tristan.

Usually, Rory was all for the prospect of being excused from a party her Grandparents' held; however, after being told to keep Tristan company for the remainder of Richard's birthday party and having Emily check in on her every five minutes to make sure she had not deserted the 'poor boy,' Rory found herself wholly welcoming the prospect of returning to the party and listening half-heartedly to endless conversations of mergers and shareholder values and other meaningless business conversation.

Emily would not allow it though. She claimed Rory had invited Tristan to the party – to which Rory had pointed out that it was actually she, Emily who had done the inviting, which Emily ignored – and that Rory simply could not leave him to fend for himself.

Well, Tristan was certainly fending for himself just fine at the moment, Rory noted sourly as Macy giggled at something he had just said. She brought over some more cheesecake which Rory immediately dove into.

"Macy!" Macy's giggling was cut short by Emily's snappy voice. "It's time for the hors d'oeuvres. And please, make yourself useful and go tidy the guest closet."

Macy immediately looked sheepish and disappeared from the kitchen without a backwards glance.

The heavy silence that settled over the room was periodically interrupted by Rory's fork clinking against her plate.

She could feel Tristan's eyes on her.

Finally, she looked up, blue eyes meeting blue.

He grinned.

Rory rolled her eyes and spoke up.

"I thought people with girlfriends aren't supposed to be flirting with other girls?"

Tristan's mouth curled into a smirk.

"You obviously do not know guys' first rule of dating, Mary."

Why did he have to be such an ass?

"Besides," Tristan continued, "…who said I had a girlfriend?"

"You know, you keep saying that. Is it really that hard not to notice the constant presence of Summer at your side?" Rory asked sarcastically.

"And yet you keep asking me that question," Tristan countered.

A gleam was present in his eye which annoyed Rory to no end. It was too much of a knowing look. As if he knew something about her that she herself didn't.

She didn't reply and continued to eat her cheesecake in silence.

"One would think that you're always looking at me, Gilmore," Tristan continued.

Rory ignored him.

"I mean why else would you notice this so-called constant presence of Summer at my side?"

"It was a rhetorical question," she grunted stabbing her cheesecake so forcefully, the fork made a loud scraping sound against the plate.

Thoroughly annoyed, Rory dropped her fork. Even cheesecake could not cure whatever it was that she was feeling. She herself did not know what she was feeling.

Tristan broke the silence that had settled upon them again.

"Summer and I aren't together," he said shortly. "She's not my girlfriend, we're not dating, we're not seeing each other…we're not…anything."

"That's somewhat hard to believe," Rory muttered disbelievingly.

"Summer and I…." He paused for a moment. "It's complicated. But, whatever it is…it's over. For good this time," he added as an afterthought.

"Well good for you then," Rory replied, her eyes wandering all over the kitchen except in his general direction as silence settled over them once more.

"Rory…" Tristan started quietly but he was interrupted by Lorelai entering the kitchen.

"Save me, please!" Lorelai moaned.

Making her way over to the kitchen table she dropped down on the unoccupied chair beside Rory and grabbed her unfinished cheesecake.

"If I have to listen to another conversation about who can do better business than the other," she grumbled through a mouth full of cheesecake, "…I swear I will shoot someone."

"That bad?" Rory asked sympathetically.

"Worse," Lorelai answered.

Looking around at the two sitting at the table, she continued: "So what are you two doing?"

Rory shrugged. "Nothing. Grandma actually let you leave?"

"Mmm hmm…well no. I snuck out when she wasn't looking," Lorelai replied slowly, her gaze focusing on Tristan who was still staring intently at Rory.

Before she could make any other comment though, Lorelai was interrupted by Emily's entrance into the kitchen.

"Lorelai, there are some people who would like to speak with you," Emily stated primly. "I would really appreciate it if you would stop leaving your father's party to go somewhere else and sulk."

Lorelai rolled her eyes and stood up from the table as Rory tried to hide a smile.

As she made to leave the kitchen, Lorelai added to Rory: "Quick, steal me a bottle of wine from their stash…make that two bottles…I'm going to need it."

"Don't you already have alcohol out there?" Tristan piped in.

"Hush, blond one," Lorelai answered. "And I can't really drink myself to sleep in front of all those people now can I? It would be highly improper," she said faking a very good Emily impression.

"You know what," Rory said hurriedly standing from her chair and started to follow Lorelai out of the room, "I'll come with you."

About a half of an hour later, Rory had made her way to her bedroom in her Grandparents' house in a ditch effort at losing Tristan. She was currently curled up on her window seat, staring out the window into the impeccably landscaped backyard.

She knew he would find her though.

He always found her.

Even when she did not wish to be found.

So many things were rushing through her mind at the moment she needed to clear her head and have some time alone to think.

She sighed as a gentle breeze blew threw her slightly open window.

She should not have been as happy as she was upon hearing the news that Tristan and Summer were 'no more.'

But she was. Happy. Relieved even.

Rory groaned.

"This can't be happening."

After all this time, after all her precautions against it, she found herself falling – no, already fallen – for Tristan DuGrey.

At that moment, she decided that her likeness for the boy, no matter how small in proportion would need to be extinguished. Immediately.

A voice at the door interrupted her musings.

"You know Gilmore, it's not very nice to leave your guest alone at a party."

Rory glanced over towards the doorway. He had ditched his blazer. The top few buttons of his shirt were still undone as they had been previously albeit more noticeable at the moment.

She was so fighting a losing battle.

"You're not my guest," was her slightly frosty reply.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Tristan sauntered into the room a small smile on his face.

"So this is your room…" he said by way of reply. "It's very…pink."

Rory found herself cracking a smile. A real one. Out of her own free will.

"My Grandparents' figured it was what every teenage girl dreamt about."

He chuckled softly, stopping at her bed. Waving his hand towards it, he asked: "May I?"

Rory's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You're actually asking my permission?"

Tristan grinned again and sat down. "I would have sat even if you did say no."

Rory rolled her eyes. Although this time, it was more in jest than in annoyance.

Maybe Macy had put something in her cheesecake.

"Why are you so quiet tonight, Mary?" he asked.

"I'm always quiet," Rory answered slightly turning to face him.

"Yes but this time it's more of a leave me alone kind of quiet," Tristan continued.

"Well it's a good thing you're smart enough to pick up on that," Rory replied mock sarcastically. "Now if only you'd follow through with it."

Tristan laughed again. "And why would I want to do that? I like having you around, Gilmore."

For some odd reason, Rory felt a strange fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"Even when I'm moody and trying to ignore you?"

"Even when you're moody and trying to ignore me," Tristan said a slight smile on his face.

Rory was quiet for a few moments, then completely turning her attention to Tristan she asked: "Why do you like me?"

Tristan raised an eyebrow in question. "Who said I did?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "I'm serious. I'm not joking. Why?"

Tristan regarded her closely for a minute with a look on his face that she could not quite place.

Finally, he shrugged and said simply, "I just do."

There was something else present in his voice. As if he were holding back something from her.

"Yes but why? Let's face it Tristan. As much as it pains me to say this, you can have any girl in the school you wanted. So why me?"

Recognition dawned on Tristan's face.

"You think what happened over winter break was a joke?" He asked a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

Rory did not reply. She was currently busy studying the appearance of her nail beds.

"That's low, Gilmore," Tristan muttered. "Even for whatever it is you think of me."

"Well can you blame me?" Rory asked heatedly, looking up to face him once more. "I've only been at Chilton for a month now and your reputation with girls isn't exactly a big secret."

Tristan let out a long breath. "You're different," he answered shortly. "And yes, I've had a few girlfriends-"

Rory let out a disbelieving snort.

"Fine," Tristan said impatiently,"…a little more than a few. But Rory, I'm a guy! Can you really blame me?"

He paused for a moment and then continued. "I don't do it on purpose. You know to make myself look like a player or something. I figure you kind of have to date around until you find the right person."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Rory muttered.

"Well, whether or not you agree with my way of thinking," Tristan said, the annoyance creeping back into his voice, "…doesn't matter now does it?

Rory said nothing.

Tristan sighed and spoke again, his tone significantly softer than before.

"I just…I haven't found a girl who I really really like. Who I can see myself actually wanting to be in a relationship with. Well, until now."

Rory's head snapped up quickly.

What did he just say?

Tristan let out a disbelieving laugh. "And we haven't even gone on a date yet so that has to be saying something."

Rory resumed fiddling with her dress again her gaze focusing outside the window once more.

They were silent for a few moments until Tristan spoke up.

"You know what I think," Tristan said slowly getting up off the bed and walking towards her.

He stopped right in front of her, entirely too close for comfort.

Rory nervously fidgeted with the hem of her dress.

She did not like him this close.

Whenever he was close it messed with her already messed up brain.

"I think that you like me," Tristan continued.

"And I think that you were dropped on your head one too many times as a child," Rory countered.

Tristan continued to speak as if he had not heard her. "You like me but, you won't admit it because liking me goes against everything you have ever set for yourself."

Surprisingly, Tristan was exceptionally good at reading people's feelings, Rory had to admit. Which in her case was definitely not a good thing.

But he was right. The reckless, bad boy type had not been on her potential boyfriends' characteristics list.

Rory looked up to meet his rather intense gaze. She could never force herself to look away from his eyes. They were magnetic, almost hypnotic and right now they were no exception.

"Is that really such a bad thing though," Tristan asked softly, lightly taking her hand.

Rory felt an unexpected shiver creep through her at his touch.

"I mean some of the best things in life come from things that you would never have expected."

Rory gulped and tried unabashedly to tear her gaze away from his.

A few more seconds of intent staring and who knew what would have happened.

Fortunately, she was saved from having to reply to his sentiment as a loud voice interrupted them.

"Rory. Tristan. There you two are!" Emily exclaimed standing in the doorway.

Tristan dropped Rory's hand so quickly it was if he had been burned.

"We're going to cut your grandfather's cake now, so please come down," Emily said.

Rory let out an extremely relieved breath she had not realized she had been holding.

"Of course, Grandma," Rory said getting up from the window seat and distanced herself as much as possible from Tristan. "We're coming."

"Well, hurry up," Emily said casting the two suspicious glances as they followed her out of the room.

It was a few minutes later as the guests were singing Happy Birthday to Richard while he blew out his candles on his birthday cake with Tristan standing beside his grandfather a large smile on his face, that Rory realized her plan to extinguish her liking of a certain, very good looking, blue-eyed boy, had failed miserably.

A.N. I'm sorry for the incredibly long wait between chapters. I guess this chapter is probably not as long as some would have liked but I think any more and it would have been repetitive.

And as always, feedback is extremely appreciated!