- Chapter Two -

Thursday night;

"Please baby," she whispered seductively before nuzzling into the crook of his neck and trailing kisses down his chest. She felt him react beneath her as she sat atop his lap, straddling him with one leg dangling on either side. A smirk instantly spread across her lips; now busy working their way down his chest.

"Rore...," he stuttered, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her even closer. "I can't, I'm sorry…I tried already but the new bouncer at the club's really tight about IDs and…"

"Try again," she interrupted, this time with less affection, and stifled any retaliation on his part by pushing him further down on the bed and crashing her lips against his. Seconds later, she pulled away and waited for a response and grinned as he nodded his head.

---

Friday morning:

Despite herself, Rory had been watching the guy. Ever since Monday, when he'd smiled at her so genuinely, and so unlike most of the other guys at school, her interest had been peeked. It had been a while since Chilton had had a guy who'd managed to catch and keep her attention for a more than a couple of days and the fact that the new guy had managed to do so, puzzled and intrigued her.

It was definitely something worth exploring, to say the least.

A slight pressure on her shoulder brought her back to reality and she looked up to meet Finn's eyes as they smiled down at her. Hand slung across her shoulders, he sat down at their usual table, with its usual occupants.

Generally there were four girls and three guys; Paris Geller, Louise Grant, Madeline Lynn, Finn Morgan, Collin Fitzpatrick, Logan Huntzburger and of course Rory Gilmore. Chilton royalty.

Within the span of three years they had become almost legends at Chilton, taking on an almost celebrity like status.

Paris Geller, known for both her drive and intelligence, was literally, to everyone except the handful she considered friends, the most intimidating person alive. Her words stung like a whip and at times even reduced professors to blithering puddles.

She'd never been in love, and planned on never being in love. Currently, she only had one goal in life; getting into Harvard.

Louise was one of the most interesting people Rory knew. Sometimes it seemed to her that there were two Louise Grants. One wore her heart on her sleeve and would do anything for her friends. The other seemed to lack a heart and exuded a kind of coldness that chilled you to the bones. This was the Louise that came out when it came to guys and sex.

She had a similar kind of drive to Paris but instead of going after grades, she went after men. Unless she was interested in you, a guy did not stand a chance. But if she was interested in you, there was no stopping her. Tall, blond and a bombshell, with the sultriest voice imaginable, Louise always got what she wanted.

Maddie, as her friends affectionately called her, worked in the same way as Louise. But unlike Louise, everyone could see how big her heart was. At times a bit flaky, Maddie was just as well known for her quirkiness as for her beauty. With her raven hair and sweet features, she also had a line up of admirers.

Then there were the guys.

Finn, able to drink anyone under the table, was quite possibly the funniest person alive. And his antics only multiplied in hilarity with Logan and Collin as his accomplices. Embodying the words, tall, dark and handsome, Finn had looks and charm, along with an Australian accent that helped him go home with a different girl almost every night of the week.

Collin, the most reserved of all six, was also the only one who'd ever really been in love…and was still in love. Good looking, rich and very intelligent, Collin was also the only one with a plan for the future he actually liked; after graduating from law school, he planned on marrying his girlfriend, and then moving as far away from his family as possible. At one point, he had even considered living in the Arctic.

Logan, possibly the richest one of them all was also the one with the biggest family responsibilities to uphold. As the sole male heir he was expected to put aside his own dreams and one day take over the family business.

So, under the motto Carpe Diem, ironically the name of the last boat he had sunk, he used his looks, charm and name to wow the ladies…and sleep with as many of them as possible. Practice, he called it, for married life.

Then there was Rory, the apple of her grandparent's eyes, as they often told their friends. Raised mainly by their butler, while Emily and Richard were busy at some social engagement or another, she had only acquired their attention after having been told by a teacher of her high aptitude and IQ.

She grew up groomed to both please a husband and take over the world, under the combined yet drastically different approaches of Emily and Richard.

But however much they tried to force her to emulate them, they could not force out the characteristics belonging to her mother now slowly becoming apparent in Rory.

Rory had never known her mother. She recalled once asking her grandmother about it. She had told Rory that Lorelai, her mother, had walked out of her life a week after she had been born. Then she was told never to ask such questions again.

All she had of her mother was a black leather jacket emblazoned with a blue rose, and a note tucked inside the pocket, saying how perfect her beautiful baby girl was...a rose in a garden of weeds.

She often spoke to Robert about her mother and every chance he got, he told her proudly how much she resembled her mother, in both attitude and appearance.

Rory was naturally beautiful with porcelain perfect skin, delicate features that extenuated her big, inquisitive blue eyes and dark locks that fell about her shoulders like a waterfall. But though they certainly helped, it wasn't just her looks or her beautiful smile that made people gravitate towards her.

It had something to do with her confident gait and the way she carried her self, a gravity defying head-high, shoulders squared walk that oozed sensuality.

It also had to do with the way she looked at you when you were talking, all attention on you as if you were the only person in the room. Everyone excluding her five friends, who knew her better than anyone else, thought she was perfect and as such assumed she lived a perfect life.

All a part of the mask she wore. Silk and sequence masquerading the scars and imperfections hovering just beneath the surface.

No one, to an extent, not even her friends, knew how broken she felt. She sometimes wondered whether she was born a mess and whether it was the reason why her mother had left, why her grandparents never had time for her, why she could never get close to anyone.

Hidden under a practiced smile and a cool confidence, these insecurities never breached the surface.

All seven came from old Hartford families, dripping with money and power. Born with silver spoons in their mouths and raised in the lap of luxury, all led similar lives, paraded before society like show dogs and expected to one day marry a suitable young man, or take over the family business, and eventually produce heirs.

"You okay love?" Finn's voice called to her and brought her back to reality.

"Huh? What?...No, yeah I'm fine…just a little stressed I guess," Rory heard her self respond.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Louise inquired as she finished applying a final coat of red polish onto her nails.

"Jack's taking care of it…since these three jerks won't come with us," Rory responded, jabbing Finn in the ribs and referring to him, Collin, and Logan.

"Sorry love, but Collin has a date with the future Mrs. Fitzpatrick and my mate Logan and I have other plans to attend to as well," Finn put in and winked at her.

"Which is code for, we have dates with two sluts that we can't miss," Paris put in before returning to her book.

"Jealous doll?" Finn grinned at Paris.

"Are you kidding?" Paris scoffed. "If I feel anything it's sympathy for the two airheads who are stuck with you two for dates…"

"You wound be deeply Paris," Logan interrupted, feigning mock hurt. "I thought you knew me better than that. We're going out with four airheads, not two."

The whole table, excluding Paris, erupted with laughter.

It felt good to laugh.

---

Friday night in Star's Hollow:

"You know I was quite the disk jockey in my day…they called me…Kirk…"

"And what was that short for," Tristan mocked as he cleared away the last of the dishes.

"Well…Kirk…it was short for Kirk…" Kirk responded, clearly missing the sarcasm. "I could teach you a thing or two if you'd like…of course I'd have to charge you…"

"Go home Kirk," both Tristan and Luke yelled unanimously.

"I can't…mother's having her special friend over for dinner and I'm not allowed to disturb them."

Tristan just shrugged before grabbing his equipment off the counter, saying a quick good bye to a now irritated Luke and heading for Hartford.

---

"Hey Louise, did you see the new guy in class?" Madeline inquired from inside her walk in closet. "Gorgeous or what?"

"To die for," Louise responded as she walked up to the full length mirror and began to readjust the length of her mini skirt. Shorter was always better in Louise's opinion. Her outfit wasn't exactly slutty, but it also didn't scream conservative.

At present, she had on a black camisole, black mini skirt that hugged her curves and a thin scarf that looped her neck and wound its way down to the floor.

Madeline was dressed in a similar fashion; red camisole with a skirt slightly longer than Louise's and a long necklace adorning her neck.

"Why the hell are we even going to this stupid thing?" Paris questioned as she entered the room dressed in a sweater and jeans.

"Because Paris…it's, get ready for this…fun!" Rory responded as she followed Paris into the room.

At the moment, she had on a pair of low rider jeans that hugged every curve and covered much of her stilettos, along with a dark blue camisole that further increased the intensity in her eyes and showed off half an inch of midriff. Over that, she had on her favorite leather jacket and as always, dozens of bracelets and bangles adorned her wrists.

"Is it just me or does the idea of sneaking into a club, being groped by 40 year old perverts going through marital issues, and then inevitably getting thrown out have the word stupidity written all over it?"

"It's just you," the other three all chipped in.

"And besides, it's more like 20 year old perverts," Rory teased.

"So what did you two think of that new guy in class," Madeline inquired as she walked over to Paris and Rory as they sat on the bed waiting for Louise to finish up.

"I checked his GPA from his old school, impressive enough, and his academic history as well as…"

"Damn…I just checked out his ass. You ran a search on his background? Remind me never to get on your bad side," Louise interrupted, putting on the finishing touches on her make up.

"And anyways, that's not what I meant. Who cares how smart he is Paris. What I meant was did you see those eyes…and that body…"

"Careful Maddie or you'll start drooling on the bed," Rory teased before rising from the bed, and skillfully avoiding the question.

All week, she'd had a difficult time not casting a glance his way or returning those smiles he sent her and she didn't know why. The mere thought of letting some guy get to her repulsed her.

"I think his name was…hey Maddie, what's his name? Christian…or Justin or…" Louise began but was cut off as Rory spoke up.

"Tristan," Rory corrected automatically and realized her error too late.

For a moment, all three girls simply stared at her and then three equally mischievous, equally intrigued grins spread to their faces.

"Uh…we better get going," Rory spoke up, side-stepping towards the door. "I promised Jack we'd be there at 9:00."

---

He watched from his platform above the dance floor as the lights came on and began to cast eerie shadows all across the floor. It was always a different experience watching things unravel from above.

Then taking the throngs of people now entering the dance floor as his cue, he switched on the power and brought the turntables to life. And with two tracks in place, he began to spin, much to the pleasure of the crowd below, already moving to the pulsating rhythm of the song.

The strobe lights kicked off and gave way to a moment of total darkness. The crowd cheered and the track stopped for a second.

Then blue lights kicked in from beneath the floor, sending a glowing hue through the club's artificial fog and a new track, even faster than the previous one kicked in.

---

After a long conversation, between Jack and a surly looking bouncer, in which his father's name came up quite often, they all entered the club, annoyed Paris in tow.

And like clockwork, within minutes Louise and Madeline were off with one guy or another, and Paris was winding her way towards a booth to sulk and bide her time in.

"So babe, you wanna dance?" Jack questioned grabbing Rory's hand and leading her towards the dance floor, before she could decline. They reached the center of the floor just as another song, with a faster more intense pace, picked up.

Jack grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer and seeing no other option, for the moment, Rory just moved her body along side his, hoping to get lost in the dance.

---

Holding the left piece of his head phones to his ear, he used his right hand to repeat a few seconds of a track through a system of loop playbacks. He then moved to the tempo mode, securing his ideal track pitch and speeding it up.

A few years ago, he'd started off with just vinyl but after watching a few of his favorite DJs spin off CDs, he'd decided to combine the two and spin off both.

The image of him a few years ago, practically booed off stage as he messed up a session, made him laugh. He really had come a long way. Now his skills were actually in demand. He let the song die down before quickly moving to another track.

---

"Jack…" Rory called over the music. "I'm going to go find Paris okay?"

"Why?" he called back, pulling her back to him. "Don't you want to dance?"

"Not really," she put in before removing his hand from across her waist and disappearing into the crowd. He'd gotten them in, so his part was done. She felt no guilt.

---

No one ever really stood out from the crowd from where he stood. Lost in the spinning and music, they all just became a mass of bodies, moving to the beat as one. But tonight was different.

As he reached to switch records, his eyes fell on not a person but something that was on that person, some kind of blue object almost glowed against the backdrop of eerie lights and darkness.

For a moment, he followed it with his eyes but once again coming to his senses, he returned to his job

---

Rory found Paris, as usual, engrossed in a book.

"Come on Paris, dance with me."

"Go dance with your self Gilmore," Paris yelled back over the music.

Rory laughed before dragging her best friend onto the dance floor.

---

There it was again, that blue symbol. Like a rose in a garden of weeds, he thought, something his father's girlfriend always said. Even as he returned to the spinning, he couldn't take his eyes off it.

"Hey Tristan…you're off for the night," Kline, the manager, called from below.

Tristan nodded in response before, putting on his final track and letting the other DJ take over.

He wound his way down the catwalk and made for the bar.

"Coke please," a voice from behind called as he reached the bar. The bartender nodded before turning in Tristan's direction. "Uh…the same," he ordered before grabbing a seat on a barstool. Moments later, the bartender placed a glass of coke on the counter.

Tristan reached for it and as his fingers clasped around the drink, he felt a pair of fingers clasp around his.

He turned to meet the owner and smiled upon recognizing the fiery brunette from Chilton.

Rory recognized him instantly and quickly removed her hand from over his.

"Here you can take it, I don't mind waiting for the next one," he offered smiling.

"Thanks, but I think I'll just wait for the next one," she responded before breaking eye contact. Seconds later, the bartender placed another coke on the counter. Rory reached up for it and throwing another glance at Tristan turned to leave.

As she turned, he caught sight of the object he had seen earlier from above, a blue rose.

"So you really are a rose in a garden of weeds," she heard him call from behind. For a second, she stood frozen to the spot, and then letting curiosity get the best of her, she turned back towards him.

"Excuse me?" she inquired, a small smile curving at her lips.

"Uh, your jacket…it caught my attention when I was upstairs…"

"Wait, you're the DJ?" her interest peeked she interrupted.

"No, I hang around upstairs, dropping chandeliers on people," he smiled, and watched with pleasure as a smile crept to her face.

"Actually I just started here a couple of weeks ago," he replied before taking a second look at her. In the blue light, she oddly seemed even more beautiful. "You're in my first period class right? Dante's?"

"Yeah," Rory replied, her interest in the guy growing stronger by the minute. Usually she just enjoyed the thrill of the chase. But now, she was genuinely interested in the guy…something that sent a slight shiver up her spine.

For a moment, the two simply sat in silence.

"Listen, seeing as you're obviously dying to dance with me…shall we," she spoke up.

"Well, I'm kind of tired…you know with all the wrist movements and nodding of my head…" he teased and was surprised to see something of disappointment cloud her eyes. "But I can tell you're desperate…so…" he finished with a grin and extended a hand for her to take.

"But I gotta warn you, I can't dance…" he continued the teasing.

"Good," she leaned in and whispered, a soft smile once again lighting up from behind her eyes "I can teach you."

She laced her fingers with his, propped her glass on the counter and led him onto the dance floor. She didn't know why, she didn't know how. All she knew was that at the moment, it somehow felt right.

"I'm Rory by the way," she called over the music.

"Mary?" he called back, unable to decipher the name she had given over the music.

Hearing only the last of what he'd just yelled out, she nodded.

"I'm Tristan," he called back.

They reached the floor just as another song picked up and the lights changed from blue to a deep red. Almost instantly her arms went up around his neck and found a rest on his shoulders. He in turn drew her closer and circled her waist with his hands.

Softly, in tune with the rising beat, she ground her hip into his and almost absent mindedly, her fingers began to trace patterns across the exposed skin at the base of his neck.

He felt a soft shiver run through his spine at the feelings her touch evoked. Grinning and trying to keep in control, he lowered his hands to her hips and tightened the hold over them.

She was taken back by how gentle he was. Jack would have been all over her by now, his hands resting well below her hips.

She moved in further and moved her hands over to his chest and began to slowly sway her hips in tune with the music. He felt her move and responded immediately, tightening his hold over her hips and allowing her to lead. Slowly, she swayed her body in unison with his.

A moment later, she turned so she had her back to him and covered his hands with her own, moving her slender fingers up and down his arms, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. She closed her eyes, leaned back against him and once again, the two began grinding to the methodical rhythm.

A moment later, a soft smile in place, she leaned further back and whispered, "I thought you couldn't dance?"

"Credit goes to my teacher," he replied, grin in place.

He moved his hands up her arms, leaving a soft ringing of bangles in their wake, down her sides and back over to her hips where his thumbs began to trace patterns onto the exposed skin just above her jeans, sending a shudder through her veins.

They stayed like that for what seemed like only mere minutes, swaying in unison to the mesmeric, irresistible rhythm, everyone else around them fading into the background, not recognizing the hours as they slipped by.

---

Hey everyone. Just a little clarification. I used to write under the account forever cynical and I had about two chapters of this story (under the title, Roles are Reversed) in that account. But because of a problem with my email, I had to change my account.

I also had a story called Bound To Purgatory in my old account, but as a result of my summery (there was a curse word in it), that story was deleted by the site. I didn't have most of that story backed up on my computer so I was really crushed.

Anywho, for those who asked, yes this is a repost and I am glad you guys still found it interesting. Thank you for all the reviews. They serve as a major boost for my ego.

Cheers.