Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls.

A/N: I apologize for the wait. For You I Will is being worked on right now as well. Hopefully I'll be able to get the prequel to Ordinary Outcome up in the coming weeks. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 6: Gut Instincts

"So you're coming tonight, right?"

Rory looked up to the expectant eyes of Louise, closing her book around her finger. The boys at the military school were throwing a graduation party, with a subsequent book burning later at night. She sighed. She hadn't really been in the mood to do anything, especially with her newfound realization of her feelings for Tristin. "Is my presence necessary? Like absolutely, need-you-there-because-Paris-might-kill-someone necessary?"

Louise smiled and shook her head. "Nope. It's Tristin's-going-to-be-there-so-you-have-to-be-there-as-well necessary." Rory sighed in response, prompting a whine from Louise. "Come on, Rory. You promised you'd go out with me this week. You have to come to this."

Rory rolled her eyes. "I've been busy this week, Louise." Which was partially true. She'd been busy explaining away any feelings she had for Tristin. Or, better yet, feelings she didn't have for Tristin. Because she didn't have any feelings for him. At all. "Besides, Tristin's going to be plenty busy with the rest of the girls there. I don't see why my presence is mandatory."

"You make it sound like a school field trip," Louise joked. "Just come tonight. I swear I'll never ask you to do anything for the rest of the summer." Rory narrowed her eyes at Louise. Louise held up two fingers. "Scout's honor."

"You're not a scout," Rory responded, turning her attention back to her book. "So don't even try that one."

Louise sighed loudly. "Please, Rory. You don't even have to stay that long. It would mean a lot to me if you went. You're my best friend. And you haven't done anything since you figured out that you might actually—gasp—have feelings for Tristin."

Rory rolled her eyes in response. "If I tell you I'll go for an hour will you leave me alone about that? Besides, I'm not even sure if I have feelings. More like… instincts."

"Whatever," Louise scoffed. "And yes, I'll leave you alone about these so called instincts if you'll go."

"Done," Rory relented, raising her hands in surrender. "I'm there. But only for an hour and I am not talking to him. Or looking at him, for that matter. I'm not even going to think about him."

"Sounds like a good plan," Louise responded. "Cleopatra."

"Get out of here, Lou," Rory said. "Go play with your Ken doll."

"There are so many dirty responses I could give you, but I think I'll spare you the images," Louise told her, smirking. The petite blonde scampered out of the room quickly, leaving Rory to herself. Rory made an attempt to read, but found herself getting distracted each time she started reading. She sighed and set the book down, making her way to the common area where Jess and Finn were sitting.

Jess looked up from his book as Rory entered. "Hey. I take it Louise conned you into the party?"

Rory groaned in response, ignoring the smirk Finn gave her. "Yes. And she wants me to be there solely because Tristin's going to be there." Finn chuckled, and she smacked his chest lightly. "This is not funny. I'm not even interested in the guy and—"

"I beg to differ, love," Finn interjected. "I seem to remember your crisis the other day after realizing just precisely how you felt. I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and say you're in the denial stage of it."

Rory turned to Jess, jerking her thumb in Finn's direction. "Has he been drinking?"

"Surprisingly, no," Jess responded. "Which I'm guessing is why he's talking sense."

"Nonsense is what he's talking," Rory said, standing up and going back to her room. "I do not like Tristin like that. He's such an egotistical jack ass and he just expects every girl to fall at his feet. Like all he has to do is snap his fingers and I'm there. Well here's a newsflash for Mr. I'm-God-So-Bow-Down-To-Me: I'm not falling at his feet. Nope. Not me."

"Cleopatra," Finn said, standing up. "I need beer. All this sense talking made me thirsty."

Rory rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Nonsense you mean."

"As you have already pointed out, love," he told her as he walked away. Jess chuckled and Rory glared at him, but didn't look up from his book. "Ah, sweet nectar of the gods!" Finn's declaration caused Jess to chuckle again.

"Don't let Rory hear you say that," Paris called from her room. "She's already on the edge about Tristin!"

Jess finally glanced at Rory and caught her glare. He threw his arm around her and she leaned into his embrace, pouting. "See Ror? Even Paris can see it. Now you know you have a problem when even Paris can see past your defense."

--

"So she's here, right?" Tristin asked Logan and Louise as they sat around the fire, surrounded by a bunch of the guys they'd graduated with. "Because I don't see her. You're absolutely sure she's here?"

Louise giggled, hearing the panic in Tristin's voice. "She's here. She just told me she wouldn't even look at you tonight. She's in the denial stage. Just give her, oh, five minutes and she'll be in the friendly stage, where she tries to decide if she's crazy or she really likes you."

Tristin rolled his eyes. "I don't even know if I like her."

"Please," Logan scoffed. "You've been moping for the last week and a half because she hasn't called and you haven't seen her. In my book, that amounts to liking someone."

"Or depression," Louise added. "Have you been feeling any other emotions other than sadness in the last week and a half?"

"Funny," Tristin stated. "Cute girlfriend you have there. Tell me, has she ever been told that she's insane?"

"Only by Rory," Louise responded. "Of course it was after I gloated about her liking you and after calling me insane she also said something to the effect of 'you're always right, Lou, how does that happen?'" Louise smiled. "I of course told her that I'm always right in the ways of love."

"And not insane," Logan added.

"And not insane," Louise echoed, cuddling into Logan's arms. "I'm so glad we're past the stage of denial."

"I'm not in denial," Tristin said. "I'm just… I just… I don't want to get rejected."

Louise nodded, smirking. "Well, here's your chance, cowboy. She, Jess and Finn just walked over. See?" She pointed over to the bar.

Tristin followed Louise's finger to the three brunettes and sighed. "And she brought them with her."

"Hey, if you want to be with Rory you're going to have to deal with those two," Louise said. "That's your package deal. It's like a buy one get two free sale. Only you're not buying her."

Logan smirked. "We hope."

Tristin rolled his eyes at the couple and stood slowly, brushing off his shorts. "I'm going to go… walk. Or something."

"Have fun walking," Logan said.

"Or something," Louise added.

Tristin shook his head as he walked down to the shoreline. He took a seat just above where the waves were washing in. He needed time to gather his thoughts before talking to Rory. He'd only just discovered that he possibly liked her. He didn't want to get psyched up for her to like him back only for her to shoot him down.

He sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. It had been so long since he'd actually liked a girl. Actually, he never really had liked a girl, with the exception of the elementary school crushes he'd had when he was little. But when he'd gotten older, he had realized just how petty the girls at school were, and had vowed to never date.

And then she popped up. And now he was analyzing whether or not it was really a good idea to like her.

"Hey, stranger." The greeting startled him, and he looked up and saw Rory walking over to him. She looked as nervous as he felt. She was standing, fidgeting with her shirt and he breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he was not alone in being uncomfortable.

"Hey," he greeted. "How's… uh… how are you?" Get a hold of yourself, DuGrey, it's just a girl… who you happen to really, really like.

Rory smiled at him. "I'm… okay. How are you?"

"I guess I'm just a little confused," he responded honestly. "I mean… I've been hearing some interesting things this past week."

"Yeah," she said. "Me, too. Well, not really hearing them. More like… realizing them, too. And hearing them. Not that I've been fishing for information or anything like that. I've just been… sorry. I'm rambling."

He chuckled. "Yeah, but I won't hold that against you." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You can sit down if you want. I won't bite."

"Unless I ask, right?" she asked, taking a seat beside him. "I mean, if I ask then that kind of means you have to do it. Since I… asked. Right?"

He rolled his eyes. "You are one crazy girl."

"I've heard that rumor before," she said.

Silence enveloped the pair as they watched the waves wash in. They stole glances at one another over the course of a minute. Finally, after one last glance cast toward her fair-haired companion, Rory decided to be the first to take the leap.

"I heard you had feelings for me."

Tristin looked at Rory fully now, not hiding when she looked straight back at him. "You sure know how to dive right in."

She shrugged. "I didn't really feel like waiting until retirement to talk about it. Besides, it's not like it's a big deal. Weirder things have happened."

"Weirder than realizing that I, Tristin DuGrey—"

"And I, Rory Gilmore-Hayden—"

"Like each other?" he finished.

She shrugged again. "It still sounds weird. No matter how much I admit it." She sighed, picking at an invisible spot in her jeans. "I mean, I just don't do the dating scene. It's never really worked for me. I've never seen the point in committing to something."

"Except for, say, a cell phone plan?" he asked.

She nodded, smiling triumphantly. "Exactly!"

"I know exactly what you mean," he said to her, then after a beat, "but would it be so bad if we liked each other? Think about it: the two most notorious players, finally settling down."

"We'd definitely be the talk of the town," she commented. "But still, don't you think it's too much of a risk? I mean, you saw how we acted that morning at breakfast. We'd kill each other, Tristin."

"We might," he responded. "But it's a risk I'm willing to take, Rory. I've never liked a girl before."

"Boys more your thing?" she quipped, giggling.

"You know what I mean," he said.

She nodded in confirmation. "Yeah. I do. I've never really liked someone. Not like I like you."

"And the thought of a relationship is the only thing besides children that scares the hell out of me, but—"

"You're scared of kids, too? Wow, I thought I was the only one," she interjected.

He sighed, taking her hand in his. "But I think if we don't try this… this one thing, we'll regret it."

"Or we'll be badgered to death by Louise and Logan," she added.

He offered her a half-smile. "Either way, it's going to be painful. So I say we go for this. If worse comes to worse, then when they bury us they can truly say we tried everything."

"The murder-suicide option is open?" Upon his nod, she grinned. "I guess it won't be so bad as long as we have that option open."

He scooted closer to her. "Rory."

She looked at him, unsure. Was this what she wanted? Did she really want to try something so… so… new? Different?

Possibly amazing? She smiled at the thought. This really could be something amazing. It could be something good for her, too. She knew that much. She looked into the blue eyes of the boy sitting next to her and offered him a smile. "You really want to try something like this with me?"

He smiled back. "If you're willing to try something like this with me."

She squeezed his hand that had been holding hers. "Let's do it then." She brought her other hand to the side of his face. "Let's be a couple."

He chuckled, resting his other hand on her waist as they turned to face each other. "Ready for me, Gilmore?"

Rory rested her forehead on Tristin's. "Only if you're ready for me."

And as he kissed her that night, she felt the summer take an interesting turn. In the form of her boyfriend. Tristin DuGrey.