Title: Love to Hate You

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.

Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape or form, affiliated with Gilmore Girls. I have about 2 to my name so if anyone wants to sue me, they won't be getting a whole lot.

Okay

Peering out from behind her locker to a hallway devoid of Tristan DuGrey, Rory breathed a small sigh of relief.

Yes. She was avoiding him. Again.

Rory was beginning to think that she had confrontation problems. Every time something significant happened between her and Tristan, she would clam up and avoid the situation in hopes that everything would eventually blow over or until he made the first move – which he usually did.

This time was different though. After noticing she was avoiding him when she turned and practically sprinted away in the opposite direction after Tristan had called out to her (she found out later that he had only yelled her name because she had left her calculus textbook on her desk), he now seemed to be avoiding her.

Or ignoring her.

Possibly both – she was not quite sure although, she was leaning towards the ignoring option.

Rory supposed she had been rather cold and distant towards him after the cutting of the cake at her grandfather's party two nights ago. In other words, she had not spoken more than two words to Tristan since then and she was now getting the sense that he might possibly be a little angry at her.

In her defence though, it was not her fault that her mind was so incredibly screwed up. She needed all of the alone time she could get to sort through the jumble of crazy thoughts running through her head at lightening-fast speed.

Simply, she needed time away from him because whenever he was around, he somehow – she did not know how – minimized her overly-analytical habits, turning her brain fuzzy, useless and very un-Rory like.

"Rory, are you listening to a word I'm saying?" Paris's impatient voice snapped at her, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Huh? Oh yeah...newspaper meeting...today..." Rory trailed off, her gaze now locked on a specific messy head of hair that had now materialized in front of his locker.

"Why are you always staring at him?" Paris asked, visibly annoyed. "You constantly looking at him is going to give him the impression that you like him. Isn't that what you've been trying to avoid this whole time?"

"I'm not always staring at him," Rory denied hastily but somehow her gaze managed to magnetically find its way over to Tristan's direction once more.

She sighed at Paris's disbelieving look as she shut her locker door and they began making their way towards the cafeteria for lunch.

"It's just that...why is he ignoring me?" Rory paused. "Okay, I know why he's ignoring me but he's never really done that before. It's weird. And it's not my fault...well, maybe it is a little but he should expect that from me. It's only normal. If I don't act like this then something would be wrong."

Paris looked suspiciously at Rory for a moment assumingly trying to comprehend her insane rambling and then her eyes widened.

"No!"

"Shut up," Rory muttered.

"But, you-"

"But, I nothing!"

"You don't..."

"I don't."

"You do!"

If possible, Paris's eyes grew even wider.

Rory groaned in defeat.

"It wasn't supposed to happen! Why did it happen? What is wrong with me?" she all but whined.

Paris remained silent, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Rory rolled her eyes. "This is the part where you are supposed to tell me that nothing is wrong with me. That I'm completely normal. That me acting like this is completely normal."

"You're not normal, Gilmore," was Paris's abrupt reply. "But, nothing is wrong with you," she added. "Tristan finally managed to get to you. I will give you credit though. You hung in there longer than most."

Rory glared at her. "Youre not helping."

Paris shrugged. "Im not here to help."

Entering the cafeteria, they made their way over to the lunch line.

"Look, the way I see it," Paris said, making a face at the glob of mashed potatoes that was now unceremoniously plopped onto her plate, "...whatever it is that you did or did not do, Tristan's not going to be the one trying to fix it anymore. So before everyone leaves for spring break tomorrow, I suggest you figure out what you're going to do about it."

She paid for her meal and headed over to a table where Madeline and Louise were already sitting leaving Rory standing in the lunch line, pondering her last words.

"The ball is in your court now, Gilmore."

She would do it. She would muster up the courage to just go over and talk to him.

She was brave - somewhat.

Bracing herself, Rory made a beeline for his locker hoping he would still be there. Preferably alone.

On her walk over, her mind tried to run through everything she would say or should say to him but she could not think of anything. She did not know what to tell him - especially after what he had said to her in her room. It was as if he could read her mind. And Tristan understanding how her mind worked better than she herself did, was just plain scary.

Rory paused in the middle of the hallway.

What would she say to him? "Hey Tristan, I think I like you now. Is it cool if we forget about my ignoring you all the time and acting like there was nothing between us and pretend it never happened?"

Like that would go over well.

She was not quite sure what the protocol was when confronting potential boyfriends.

She froze again. She just thought 'potential boyfriend.'

Oh dear.

Talk about jumping ahead of herself.

Hearing voices, Rory looked up quickly and found the eyes of the boy she was sort-of-hoping-but-not-hoping-to find, looking directly back at her.

He was not supposed to see her. Not now when she had found another way to force a panic attack unto herself.

However, what with the way he was looking at her, she could not help it. She did the only thing she knew – she turned back in the direction from which she had come and disappeared down the hallway.

She would confront him later. That is, if she did not find herself in a psychiatrist's office by that time as a result of an intense anxiety attack.

"Well, well, well. This is quite a surprise," a chirpy voice answered after Rory had dialled the number. "I thought you'd forgotten about me, Gilmore, now that you've joined the upper rankings of the elite schooling system."

Rory let out a giggle at the latter sarcastic remark. "You're one of them, Aleesha, give or take a couple of hours of driving," she pointed out. "And speaking of driving, I'm not the one who continuously cancels our plans to get together."

Aleesha let out a mock sigh. "It's not my fault I'm such a busy person with so many things on my plate."

"If you can count cancelling on me because you were afraid you'd miss Prison Break, as things on your plate."

"It's called an hour of Wentworth Miller, Gilmore."

"It's called TIVO, Evans."

"Touché," Aleesha replied with a laugh. "So what do I owe this lovely phone call during the middle of my lunch break?"

Rory sighed. "I need advice."

"Tristan?"

"How'd you know?"

"He seems to be the reason for all your advice needs lately."

Rory let out a short, humourless laugh and proceeded to fill Aleesha in on the recent developments (or really, the opposite of 'developments') between Tristan and herself.

"Who would have thought that I would be like this over a guy?" Rory asked, albeit more to herself.

"Have you seen the boy?" was Aleesha's response.

"That's no excuse."

"So you're finally admitting out loud that he is incredibly, gorgeously, beautiful?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Not in those words but, I have admitted it before."

Aleesha giggled on the other end of the line. "Alright, here's my two cents, for what it's worth. Tristan probably thinks you're stringing him along – don't interrupt me and try to deny it," she added cutting off Rory's beginnings of a protest, "…which means, he is probably feeling quite hurt right now beneath his tough, 'I'm-so-cool' shell and so the only way for him to deal with the fact that you're not going to do anything about the situation is to ignore you and hope he forgets about everything eventually. You both seem quite similar in that respect."

Rory wrinkled her nose at the phone. "What are you, a shrink?"

"No, but my mother is. I've listened in on her conversations many a time."

Rory could not help but laugh.

"It's up to you, Rory."

"That's what Paris said," Rory murmured, dejectedly.

"Well, that Paris is a wise one," Aleesha answered. "Scary, but wise."

Rory smiled sadly to herself. "I've screwed it up haven't I?"

"Just a little."

She laughed. "Thanks Leesh."

"Anytime, Gilmore," Aleesha replied. "And if you and Tristan do hook up by tomorrow, you're allowed to cancel on our plans this weekend."

Taking a deep breath, Rory finally made her way over to Tristan after school when she spotted him by his car.

"Hey," she mumbled as she approached his car.

Tristan looked up in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

He sounded slightly bitter.

"Oh you know, just trying to figure out which of these cars I should ask my Grandparents for as a gift for my birthday," Rory said airily, waving her hand absently.

He looked at her appraisingly for a moment then turned away and threw his backpack onto the back seat of his car.

When he failed to speak again, Rory spoke up once more. The cold-shoulder? Not really working for her.

"Look I wanted to talk to you," she said, somewhat uncertainly.

"Oh, so now you'd like to talk."

What was his problem?

Um…what?" Rory asked confused.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about," Tristan muttered.

When she did not respond this time, he let out an annoyed sigh.

"Rory, I can't deal with this anymore," Tristan said finally, turning to face her.

Now what did Aleesha mention to her, again?

"Deal with what?" Rory asked dumbly.

What was he so pissy about? She had made the effort to come over here and talk to him first. That should count for something.

Tristan sighed again. "This!" he exclaimed. "I've been patient. I haven't bugged you...much. I gave you an opening the other night. You could have taken it. You could have done anything, but no. You choose to ignore me and avoid me again," he snapped.

"We were interrupted," Rory answered shortly.

"You had the rest of the night. Not to mention, the last two days."

"Wait a minute," Rory said in disbelief, comprehension (or what she thought was comprehension) dawning on her. "You're mad at me because I didn't tell you what you wanted to hear the other night?"

Tristan rolled his eyes.

"You don't get it do you?" he asked exasperatedly. "Rory, you play me hot and cold. One minute I think, hey we just might be getting somewhere and every time I think that maybe, just maybe, youre coming around, that you can actually think about even being my friend at least, you start giving me the cold shoulder all over again and it's like I've taken two steps back."

Rory stared at him incredulously at a complete loss for words. Well, forget everything Aleesha had said.

"I'm playing you hot and cold? She asked furiously. "Me? You're the one who has been avoiding me all morning-"

"Because I'm tired of this bullshit-"

"- and you're always moody –"

"-because of you!"

"-and you're telling me that I'm playing you? You're worse than a pms-ing girl! See, this is why I can't deal with you!" Rory snapped angrily, glaring at him.

"Oh really?" he asked equally angry, taking a step closer to her. "Then tell me why, one minute you act as if you cannot stand me and the next, you're holding your breath when I come within a few inches of you."

Rory gulped. So he was right. His proximity to her had caused her heart to start racing and her brain to slowly start going fuzzy on her.

"I don't hold my breath when you're near me," Rory mumbled, avoiding his gaze and taking a step backwards.

Tristan took a step forward, seemingly unfazed. "No?"

"No, I-" Rory's defiant sentence was cut short as her next step backwards was blocked by the car beside his.

The smug, self-satisfied expression which crossed his face caused her to snap.

"Why won't you just leave me alone?" she cried. "I told you from the beginning and a million times more after that, that I was not interested. I'm not interested so why won't you just get that through your head and leave me alone?"

She regretted the words even before she had finished her sentences and all the more so as she watched the features on Tristan's face harden.

"Well, if I had not gotten it through my head before, then I certainly have now," he stated icily, his jaw clenched.

Rory sucked in a deep breath. "That's not what I...I didn't mean for it to come out like that..."

"Well luckily for you, you won't have to deal with me for a whole week since I'll be in another state," he muttered turning back to his car and made a move to get in.

"What?" Rory asked, surprised. She had not heard him mention anything about going anywhere for spring break. "Where are you going?"

"Look Gilmore, as much as I would love to stay and continue this lovely chat we are having, I have to take care of a couple of things before I miss my flight."

"Where are you going?" Rory asked again, dumbly.

He could not leave.

She had to tell him what was really on her mind and take back her previously angry words that she did not mean even though he was being kind of an ass before.

"California," he answered shortly. "I'm going with my father on his business trip."

"But we still have school tomorrow."

Wow, could she get any lamer?

"Well, I'm vacationing one day early," was his annoyed response.

He started his car and gunned the engine loudly.

"Tristan..." Rory started to say but he cut her off.

He nodded at a car beside him. "If you're actually going to do it, you should ask for the Mercedes CLK. It's classic. Elegant."

His gaze lingered on her for a second too long and before she could blink, he zoomed out of the parking lot.

"You should call him before he leaves," Lane said, absentmindedly twirling a strand of hair.

It had been an hour since that incident in the parking lot. Rory had called Lane over as soon as she returned home from school.

"Wait! No!" Lane exclaimed, shooting up excitedly from her spot on the couch. "You should find out what flight he's on, show up at the airport and just before he boards the plane, profess your undying love for him," she practically gushed.

"We are not a part of a cheesy, romantic comedy, Lane," Rory replied. And since when did you become so sappy or even watch those things?"

"My mother has now banned all romantic comedies from the Kim house. Apparently they portray unforgiving boy-girl interactions. So I've decided to watch as much as I can to see what Ive been missing."

Rory could not help but laugh.

"Maybe you should at least call him though."

"And say what?"

Lane shrugged.

Rory sighed. "He probably left for the airport already."

"I'm sure he has a cell phone."

Rory lingered for a moment, then making a quick decision, she picked up the phone and dialled Tristans number.

He answered, somewhat out of breath, after a few rings.

"It's me," she said quickly before she lost her nerve. She had to fix everything.

There was a distinct pause before Tristan replied with an "Oh."

At Lane's encouraging look, Rory chose to ignore the tone of his voice.

"Look, Tristan," she started, "…I feel bad about what happened earlier and I don't want us to leave things like we did..."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," he replied shortly.

"No it's not," Rory protested. "You're right-"

Tristan cut her off with a sigh. "I told you, it's fine," he then added, "…look Rory, I really have to go if I want to catch my flight."

"Oh, right. Sorry," Rory muttered quietly, swallowing back a surprising lump in her throat. "I still wanted to apologize though-"

"Fine. Apology accepted."

"Well good," Rory said slowly. "So we're cool then?"

"Sure, whatever," he answered impatiently and Rory snapped.

"Damnit, Tristan! Don't you realize that I'm trying to tell you that I like you?"

Her eyes widened.

Lane's eyes widened.

Uh-oh.

Those words were not supposed to come out of her mouth.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

More silence.

"Umm…hello…?" she asked uncertainly, almost afraid to hear his answer.

No reply.

Did he hang up on her? That Jackass!

"Tristan, are you still there?"

"Yeah…" was his slow reply.

"Okay…."

Some more nerve-wracking silence.

She chewed on her lip nervously trying to avoid the questioning looks Lane was throwing at her.

When he still did not reply, she sighed and asked: "Are you going to say anything?"

"I'm not really sure what to say…" his voice trailed off.

He did not know what to say? This was so not going the way she had hoped for. Actually, she was not completely sure what it is she had hoped for.

"Oh," Rory said, forcing brightness into her voice. "It was kind of unexpected wasn't it? Well, I'm going to let you go…you have your flight and all…so yeah…I guess I will see you back at school…I think…"

There was still no reply from him.

"Okay then, bye!" Rory said quickly and hung up the phone.

Noticing the sympathetic look Lane was giving her, Rory groaned and dropped back down onto the couch, burying her head in her hands.

"I hate my life," she mumbled, as Lane patted her back sympathetically. "Why did I go skiing? Why did I go to Chilton?"

Forget diamonds. Chocolate and ice-cream were a girl's true best friends.

Not too long after her awkward phone conversation with Tristan, Lane had left saying something about an early afternoon curfew. Rory had resorted to finding anything chocolate in sight and settled herself in front of the television for an evening of mindless channel surfing.

Not too long after, she was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.

Rory looked up from the television set confused. No one ever rang doorbells in Stars Hollow. It was either yell out one's presence or barge right on in.

Grudgingly hauling herself off of the couch, Rory headed over to answer the door. What greeted her on the other side of the door caught her completely off guard.

Tristan looked up from staring at his shoes and straightened himself from leaning on the doorpost, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"What are you doing here?" Rory asked in surprise, feeling her heart rate speed up.

Seriously, if the boy could cause a reaction like that from her by simply standing there, she had no hope.

"Well, after a phone call like that, how do you expect me to get on a plane to Cali?" he asked with a small grin. "Besides, spring break on a business trip with my father is about as much fun as it sounds."

"Oh," Rory muttered, dumbly. She was still in shock over his sudden appearance at her doorstep.

"So…," Tristan said, looking at her questioningly.

Rory sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I've been such a jerk to you recently, it's just that I-"

Before she could finish her sentence though, Tristan had moved closer to her, grabbing her waist and pulling her flush against his frame.

"No more talking, Gilmore," he whispered, lowering his mouth to her ear and causing her breath to hitch in her throat and a variety of tingles to make their way down her back. "You talk way too much."

Then suddenly his lips were on hers, kissing her like she'd never been kissed before. This kiss was definitely not like the first one in the snow which although still quite intoxicating, was sweet and innocent.

This one – not so much on the sweet side. This kiss was more intoxicating, hungry, rough and well, dare she say it, hot. He had now backed her against the open door, his body flush against hers and his lips expertly working against hers, deepening the kiss. His hands were everywhere, leaving trails of goose bumps all over her body – they travelled across her shoulders, down her arms, on her hips, back up to her face, entangled in her hair…when had her ponytail become loose? All Rory could do was grip onto his neck for dear life and feverishly kiss him back.

All too soon though, he was pulling his lips away from hers, causing Rory to let out an audible yet breathless, moan.

"I won't be able to kiss you like that again if I don't breathe right now," Tristan said quietly, chuckling.

"Breathing's overrated," Rory replied, a small smile crossing her face and letting her fingers run through his hair.

"Really," Tristan said, his familiar smirk crossing his face as he lowered his head towards hers once again, his lips a breath away from hers.

Whatever else he was about to say or do was cut short though as Rory's eyes widened and she stiffened against him.

How could she forget?

"Rory?" Tristan asked, warily taking in her expression and frozen form. "Look, whatever you do, just please don't run. Not again."

Rory blinked moving her gaze away from a point beyond his shoulder and stared up at him, surprised.

"Run?" she questioned. "I'm not going to run."

She grinned slyly. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't run. Not after a kiss like that."

Tristan stared at her obviously confused. "You're so weird, Gilmore. Then what are you freaking out about now?"

Rory sighed, letting her fingers run down the front of the school shirt he was still wearing. Feeling his muscles tense under her fingers, she smiled to herself inwardly.

"I forgot about my nosy neighbours," she nodded her head in the direction behind him. "It's Babette. Spying on me."

Tristan turned slightly and caught sight of a blonde head disappearing behind some curtains.

Rory groaned and buried her head in the crook of his neck. It felt rather nice even if she did feel another panic attack about to come on. "She's so going to tell my mother about what she saw."

"So?" Tristan questioned, seemingly unfazed.

"So?" Rory asked, looking up at him incredulously. "Do you know what that kiss must have looked like? My mother's going to kill me…"

Tristan grinned wickedly. "Well, let's have the last few moments of your life go out with a bang then, shall we?"

Rory shook her head ruefully. "You're terrible," she muttered but even as the words came out she could not resist the magnetic pull of his eyes and especially that of his mouth.

"You know you want it," was Tristan's last words as his mouth covered hers and once again, she found herself entangled in his arms.

As Rory lost herself in his amazing kisses all over again, she retracted a certain thought she had had before. She was actually very glad she had gone on that ski trip after all.

The End

AN: Wow, finally. I can't believe it's been over a year since my last update. I hope the last chapter was worth it. I didn't mean to end it quite so suddenly but with my ridiculously long waits between updates, I figured I should.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story and read it (and to those who will read it!) and reviewed. I really do appreciate it. Thank you again!