First Date
A/N: I do not own anything. Copyrights remain with their respective owners.
We now come back to a fluffy one-shot after the last one which was a bit emotionally heavy. Anyway, please review. I'd like to hear your suggestions. Especially if you have any other one-shots that you want to be written.
Rory Gilmore was inhaling a mug of coffee in her apartment, as she waited for seven o'clock to roll around. Tristin had called her not long after they had re-met through her colleague Liz who was dating Tristin's older brother, Charlie. Three nights ago they had set up a date, but Tristin hadn't told her where they were going.
She had finished work early that day, and had actually taken less time to get ready then she usually would have taken for a date, because it was casual. She had just put on some fitted jeans, and a matching blue top which showed the barest amount of shoulder, not too risque, but not too conservative either. She was no longer the sophomore high school Mary, Rory thought to herself. If someone had told her in her sophomore year that she would be looking forward to dating Tristin Dugray, she would have laughed out loud.
But the Tristin Dugray, the man was so much different from Tristin Dugray the boy who had been at Chilton. And he was in the elevator on the way up to her apartment to pick her up. She remembered the first time she had met Tristin Dugray on her first day at Chilton. He had dubbed her Mary. She remembered laughing with her mother at the old Biblical insults that Chiltonites back then still used. Her mother had then dubbed him Bible Boy. Then he had become the Spawn of Satan as he annoyed her more with his innuendo and leering.
The Tristin Dugray that she had re-met at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, he oozed attractiveness as if it were just something natural to him. The arrogance she had known had become self-confidence and assurance, the leering had become natural flirting. It was as if every negative trait she had seen at sixteen was now a positive trait in her twenties. She smiled as the doorbell rang. She opened the door.
And there he stood leaning against the door, nonchalant, smiling. God, the way his body looks so casual yet so inviting. "Hi, Rory," he said, "you ready to go," She shook away the errant thoughts as she collected her handbag and locked her apartment door. Going down the elevator she asked him where they were going. "It's a surprise," Tristin replied. As they stepped into the waiting limousine, she noticed a thermos of freshly brewed coffee sitting in the cup-holder. Tristin gave it to her and said, "for you."
Rory took a large gulp of the coffee, savouring its bitter and tart flavour. Tristin laughed as she put the cup back in the cup-holder. "I see your love of coffee hasn't changed at all." The limousine continued to drive through the streets of New York as it made its way towards the secret destination.
The limousine pulled up outside a small restaurant that was lively and buzzing with people, but not rowdy. It was obviously not a fine dining restaurant but rather a restaurant where people went with their families and friends to. As Rory exited the limousine she said, "this looks like a good place to eat." As Rory and Tristin entered they were greeted by a waiter at the door and seated at a table for two.
Rory pored over the menu as it was handed to her and began to weigh up the options for eating. She was definitely avoiding the salads. As she made her decision she asked Tristin where he had come up with the idea for this restaurant.
"Charlie recommended the place," Tristin said in reply, "I've been here before as well." When Tristin had come to New York, last summer break, he had come to eat here with Charlie and Lucas and found that although the restaurant wasn't one of those posh restaurants that his parents had always preferred, the atmosphere and the noise of the place made him feel like he was not alone, instead it made him feel as if he were dining with a large family.
A tall, blonde waitress came up to the table and pulled out a small paper pad. Rory and Tristin both ordered their food and then the waitress left the table to put their orders in to the kitchen. Rory and Tristin fell into easy conversation at first, talking about how their weeks had been.
Tristin said that he had spent some time on holiday, and then some time with his brother Lucas at Dugray Global Industries helping the company out. There was a meeting with some producers at one of the TV studios out here for a possible part in a new show that he had attended with his agent, but neither knew whether Tristin would be offered the part.
Rory expanded on what had happened in the Romeo and Juliet play straight after Tristin had left, "Paris played Romeo." Tristin laughed at the thought that popped into his head, imagining Paris kissing Rory on the lips. "Of course, that wasn't as bad as the second time when Paris kissed me to get free drinks at a college party." Rory added. Tristin's laughter was added to the boisterous atmosphere around them in the restaurant. "Rory," he said, between laughing.
"It's not funny," she replied. She quickly changed the topic, "anyway, first year at Yale, I spent most weekends back home in Stars Hollow. I first saw your brother then too, at Open Mic Night at the campus pub. Half the floor in my dorm building of freshman girls were always talking about the blonde, debonair but aloof musician that played on Saturday nights."
Tristin replied, "That's so like Charlie, he was always really cautious around girls, even when he was younger."
"Whereas you'd have your flavour of the week," Rory joked.
"I haven't had flavours of the week since I left Chilton," Tristin replied, quietly. "That was a long time ago for me."
"Military school must have really changed you." Rory said.
"Yeah," Tristin replied, "it did. It was a really hard time, with drill sergeants waking you up at five am in the morning for three mile runs. It was really hard to adjust to having to do everything for myself at Cedar Pines and people not caring that I was a Dugray. But after a while, I learned to do things for myself and Charlie transferred down to Duke for senior year. Charlie gave his Saturdays to visit me at school almost every week of senior year, my marks picked up and I was accepted into Harvard, Yale and Stanford."
"Three of the best colleges in this country. I'm impressed Tristin." Rory replied.
"Senior year I made some of my best friends at Cedar Pines. My best friend from Cedar Pines, Jake, he's in Afghanistan, serving as a marine. I still keep in contact with a lot of my classmates, Tristin continued to describe his experiences at Cedar Pines, "In military school, each class sort of becomes like a brotherhood, friends for life."
"How did you end up picking Stanford?" Rory asked.
"How did you end up picking Yale," Tristin shot back, a smirk crossing his features.
"Oh, I made a pro/con list, and Yale won out over Harvard." Rory replied, "Yale was closer to home so my mother was close by."
"I actually almost went to Yale," Tristin replied, "but in the end I decided to go to Stanford." It was the truth, but Tristin left out the reason why he had changed his mind. He had been set to go to Yale with Charlie, but after their falling out at the end of his senior year at Cedar Pines when he had found out that Charlie had collaborated with his father to watch over him, he had changed to enrol in Stanford for college.
"It was the furthest from Hartford, right?" Rory asked, guessing that Tristin wanted to be as far away from Hartford and society as possible. She had learned whilst she dated Logan that Hartford socialites most likely had a pretty empty home life.
"Yeah," Tristin replied casually, "I went there for my first year, and then summer that year, one of my friends at Stanford, Juliana, got me into modelling, had some success with photoshoots, and then someone from ABC saw me, and cast me on Superspies. I liked acting and the people there, so I dropped down to part time at Stanford, whilst acting on the show."
As he finished, the first course, the antipasti arrived, and Rory and Tristin began to eat the smoked Italian meats, and the fetta and olives on the platter. Rory and Tristin both sampled everything on the platter, including the standard salami, smoked ham to the more exotic meat. The garlic bread that accompanied the main course then came, as the antipasto platter was removed.
Tristin asked Rory more about her college experience, "I met a lot of new and interesting people at college. Paris and I became really good friends, and we worked together at the Yale Daily News. Paris's current boyfriend, Doyle, was editor there when we joined as staff reporters."
"That's good," Tristin replied.
"Before Doyle, she was dating a Professor old enough to be my grandfather, so Doyle was definitely a step up," Rory said. Tristin laughed.
"Paris dated a Professor?" Tristin asked, trying to imagine, Paris Gellar with a sixty year old professor on a date. Suffice to say, the picture was not pretty.
"Yeah," Rory replied, "she did. She was serious about it too." Rory changed the subject, "I found out about the Life and Death Brigade, joined for a while too."
"Oh," Tristin answered, "the secret societies of socialites at Ivy League colleges. Lucas was in something like that at Harvard, and so was Charlie before he came down to Duke."
"I met a couple of great friends there, Finn and Colin and Steph." Rory left out her ex-boyfriend, Logan from the conversation, the first date was not the time to talk about ex-boyfriends.
"Hartford socialites," Tristin replied, "think I've heard of them around the Hartford gossip chain before I left for military school. Haven't really been back to Hartford since I left Chilton." He hadn't returned to Hartford for a long time, except for his oldest brother Lucas' wedding. Otherwise, he spend most of his time back in Stanford or LA.
"They are," Rory answered, "they're nice in their own way. Got me to come out of my shell a lot. Tried a lot of exciting things with them. It was fun," she continued, "I applied for the Reston Fellowship at the New York Times but didn't get it but I got a job writing for an online publication following the Obama election. Some of my articles got picked up by the newspapers. After the primaries I got the job at International News, wrote more articles on domestic politics, met Liz, and then got roped into that double date."
"Where you saw me again," Tristin finished. The main course, being pasta arrived at the table just as they finished. They continued to eat, Tristin having ordered fettuccine, and Rory having bow-shaped pasta. In between eating, they continued to talk about their friends.
"At Stanford," Tristin said, "in my first year, my room mate, Eddy and I hung out at the beach a lot. He taught me how to surf on the weekends. It was really good being independent, being away from Hartford and my parents. Made a lot of other friends as well. Summer came, and I went to visit Eddy and the others who were from LA, one night our group went to pick up Juliana from her work for her birthday, the photoshoot was running late, and the head of the booking agency who was took one look at me, and wanted me to drop by her office the next day. Since I wasn't going to go back to Hartford that summer, I decided to take the chance. It got me a job that summer. It felt really good to make my own money instead of relying on the family."
"One look from the head of a booking agency and she picked you," Rory asked, jokingly, "I see that you still have that way of charming the ladies."
Tristin sputtered, taken by surprise, "no, it was strictly professional between Marcy and I. She wanted me for a job with Armani, in a suit. I suppose it fit well because I was used to wearing formal clothes my whole life. The photographer on the shoot said it looked like I had worn Armani my whole life, the way I fit into the clothing and carried it." He leaned in closer, over the food as she leant closer as well, whispering, "he was probably right." The countless society parties that he had been to through his childhood and teenage years meant that putting on a suit and making it look good was almost second nature.
Rory could feel the his breath tickling her ear, sending chills down her body, as they both pulled away, rejoining the friendly conversation that they were having before. Rory was processing in her mind the way that even a simple whispered comment from Tristin was making her feel on the first date.
Rory took a sip of the Italian coffee that she was having with the meal. "I used to want to be a foreign correspondent, but I think when travelling on the Obama campaign trail I began to become more interested in reporting on politics and how the government affects people's lives. I did do some foreign news when I first joined but I think I missed home too much so I switched back to domestic news. I was lucky that there was a position open domestically."
"Because you got to see me again," Tristin quipped, smirk on his face. Rory took one look at that familiar smile, it had annoyed her when she was a young, innocent high school girl, but now, as an independent, successful woman, it was attractive.
"Yes," Rory replied, "because I got to see you again," the banter between Tristin and Rory continued, as dessert came, a large slice of cake for each of them. As they polished off dessert, and Tristin paid the bill, they left the restaurant. Rory felt like they had just left a family party such as the family-friendly atmosphere in the restaurant. She and Tristin took a short walk to where the Dugray's motor vehicle would be meeting them.
As they walked the short distance to where the car was parked, Rory and Tristin unconsciously held hands, swinging them as they walked and chatted. To any outside observer, it looked so natural, and Rory and Tristin themselves really didn't realise it until they got to the limousine and the driver opened the door for them. As they sat in the backseat of the limousine, driving back towards Rory's apartment, they continued to chat.
The limosuine pulled up to Rory's apartment building and the driver stopped and opened the door. Tristin and Rory both stepped out and Tristin walked her to the door. As they stood at her door, while Rory quickly retrieved her keys, Tristin mused on how good a date this was. As Rory found her keys and put them into the door of the apartment building, she said, "let's do this again," before leaning in and kissing Tristin on the cheek, "call me," she finished, as she let herself in the apartment block.
Tristin himself was still a bit shocked when he felt Rory kiss him on the cheek. He turned around walking back to the limousine, his driver closing the door behind him, as they drove back to Charlie's apartment to drop Tristin off, before the driver would take the car back to the garage at Lucas' place.
As the limousine moved through the streets, Tristin sat reflecting on how good the date had been, how much Rory had changed from the shy, naïve high school girl to a sophisticated and successful woman, and how, he had been attracted back then, and still was attracted now. He knew he liked her a lot and it was definitely worth another date.
Rory let herself back into the apartment that she lived in, kicked off her shoes and sat on the couch, after making herself a cup of coffee. Picking up the phone, she dialled a number, ringing her mother, Lorelai. The date with Tristin had been almost perfect, after the last few dates she had had with other men had fizzled. Tristin she felt, she definitely wanted to see again. As she heard the ring tone through the earpiece of the phone, she waited for her mother to pick up on the other end, knowing that the phone was probably lost somewhere in the mess of the lounge room downstairs.
"Hi mom," she said, as she heard Lorelai pick up on the other end, "you would not guess how good my date was tonight..."
A/N: Please read and reviews are very much appreciated. I'm new to this fandom so any help on characterization and facts and tidbits is very much appreciated.