I woke up to the sound of my cell phone ringing, stumbling out of bed and almost falling I picked it up and I saw the name Jamie flickering, "What?"
"Did I wake you up?"
"Yeah."
"Good." I heard her laughter, "David is here and I want you to come by."
"I'm sleeping."
"It's three pm, it's about time you wake up."
"What?"
"We'll meet you in Sarah's Café."
"Jamie, are you dense?" I took a deep breath in, "I was asleep when you called."
"Dear cousin of mine, get your ass out of bed and I promise your coffee's on me."
"Where are you?"
"We're walking, we should be there soon."
"Your boyfriend just heard our conversation?"
"He didn't hear you if that's what you mean."
"Fine, give me 10 minutes and I'm out of here."
"Take 20 and take a shower."
"The fact that anyone could stand to be around you for more than 5 minutes is surprising, not to mention liking you enough to want to be your date."
"Why don't you get your sorry ass in here and ask that anyone. By the way, we're here so get moving."
"I'll be there in a few minutes."
Walking inside the café I spotted a familiar face, Rory was at the counter, helping a customer. Her eyes met mine and she smiled in acknowledgment, I walked over to her, a smile forming, "Rory, how have you been?"
"I'm good, what can I get you?'
"Actually, I'm here to meet my cousin and her boyfriend."
"Smart girl, making sure to be in a public place."
"Yeah, the thought has crossed my mind."
"I'm beginning to like her."
"I thought you would." I looked around the room and spotted Jamie, "Well, I'm going to join them."
She looked in the direction I was looking, "Okay."
"Feel free to come by the table, I'll introduce you two."
"I will. That's my table."
I smiled, "Then I guess I'll see you in a bit."
I walked over to their table, feeling weird, Jamie has never done that before, she always kept her boyfriends at a safe distance.
The moment she saw me she stood up, her boyfriend also getting up, looking nervous, the things she must have told the poor guy…
I noticed that Jamie was looking at me threateningly, "Hi, Tristan, I'd like you to meet David."
He stepped forward and extended his hand, "It's nice to finally meet you, I've heard a lot about you."
I shook his hand, "Well, I've heard nothing about you."
"But that's only because my cousin is a snob, we haven't had a real conversation in a really long time" Jamie explained with an annoyed smile.
I smiled, "It's nice to meet you too."
We all took a seat, Jamie looked more and more nervous with every passing second that it made me smile
"What?" She asked suspiciously.
In that exact moment Rory came over, "Hey, David, how are you?"
He smile, thankful for a friendly face, "I'm good, how are you?"
"I'm great." She said with a smile, "So, what can I get you?"
"Coffee." I said.
She smiled, and wrote it down, Jamie and David made their order and she left to get us our drinks.
"How do you know Rory?" I asked David.
"We had a class together last year." He explained.
"Right."
"Tristan, stop being so annoying." Jamie warned.
"I'm just making conversation."
"No, you're just being your old self."
"How did you two meet?"
"I accidently spilled some coffee on her and that started a conversation."
"Smooth…"
Tristan…" Jamie was getting mad and I realized that I was out of line.
"I'm sorry." I exhaled loudly, "I get a little protective over Jamie."
He smiled in relief, "That's okay, she's worth protecting."
Rory walked over with our drinks and placed them on the table. I thought of asking her to take a break and join us but the place seemed busy so I decided against it.
I did, however, introduce the two girls to one another.
When David and Jamie left and the place seemed less crowded Rory came to join me for a few minutes.
"You see? He's not so bad."
"He seems to care about Jamie, I guess he's okay."
"He's a good guy, Tristan."
"If you say so."
"He's every girl's dream." She said honestly.
"Even yours?" as I asked this the conversation took a more serious note.
She thought for a moment, "I don't know. But I'm not interested in him if that's what you're asking."
"Right." It took a few seconds before I spoke again, "Are you seeing someone?"
"No." a pause, "I date a little but nothing serious."
"Why not?"
"I guess I'm not ready yet?"
"But you've had a boyfriend before."
"Yes, I did. And he hurt me." She took a moment and then she went on, "But deep inside I knew it was coming."
"And you still went out with him?"
"Yes, because he made me laugh, we had a lot of things in common." She smiled, "He was right for me at the time."
"When was this?"
"It started in junior year, while I was still with Dean, and all through senior year."
"Was he from Chilton" I doubted that he was.
"No."
"What do you mean it started while you were still with Dean?"
"I don't really know when it started, but we broke up."
"You dumped him for another guy?"
She smiled, "No, he dumped me." She looked at her watch to avoid eye contact, "Look, I really have to get back to work; my break's been too long as it is."
"Okay, I have to get going anyway."
"But I'll see you around, right?"
"Yes, you will." I smiled softly.
"Good." She smiled.
With another smile her way I left.
Walking out of class a couple of days later I bumped into someone, she dropped her books and while bending over to pick her things up I heard her mumbling to herself something about incompetent people, her voice and tone unforgettable.
Yes, you guessed right, Paris Geller in all her glory.
"Paris, we've been over this, stop being so mean to people."
A little shocked she stared for a moment before she spoke, "Daniel said something about you attending Yale but to actually see you walking out of class is a bit surprising."
"Still as sweet as ever…"
"Decided to come back to the face of the earth?"
"Why aren't you at Harvard?"
She smiled, "It's nice to see you."
"It's been a while, that's for sure."
"I was surprised to hear that you're not majoring in business."
"Yes, I hear that a lot, I guess I'm not interested in becoming my father."
"Well, that's always good."
Her cell phone rang and she answered it, there was silence as she listened, then she turned serious, "Calm down, I'll take care of it." Another moment as the person on the other end of the line spoke, "Yes, I was on my way back." Another pause, "Sure, don't worry, I'll bring some ice cream and coffee with me." She seemed worried for some reason, "Rory, I know how you drink your coffee, there's no need to remind me again." At the sound of the familiar name I looked up and found Paris looking at me with a knowing smile as she hung up the phone.
"What?" I asked, feeling uncomfortable for some reason.
"Don't tell me that you still have a crush on her."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about Rory Gilmore."
I took a deep breath, "And what do you mean I still have a crush on her? I never even liked her." That was just pathetic.
"Sure," another knowing smile, "that's why you kept teasing her." a pause, "Made out with your 'flavor of the week' at her locker." Another pause, "Almost got in a fight with her boyfriend." That girl is so annoying when she wants to be, "And you even kissed her once…"
That took me by surprise, "What, how do you know about that?"
"She told me."
"And what did she say?"
"For someone who's not interested you sure are eager to know all about her…" Paris Geller is a bitch.
"So why did she call?" I asked, changing the subject.
"We're out of coffee and ice cream."
"And that's some sort of an emergency?"
"It is for Rory."
"And why are you the one to bring her all that?"
"Because she's my roommate."
"And you're friends now?"
"A lot has changed since you left, Tristan."
"I know, but people neglect to mention things, important things." I shouldn't have said that last part.
"So Rory being my roommate is important…" Think before you speak.
"No, I just think that it's weird that you haven't mentioned it considering that you're convinced that I was in love with her or something like that in high school."
"Do you remember the last time we talked?"
I thought for a moment and then admitted quietly, "No."
"Exactly."
"I'm sorry, it's been a busy couple of years."
"I'm not mad, I just haven't had the chance to mention anything." She looked at her watch, "I really have to go, but I'll see you later."
The rest of the week passed with no special occurrences.
I went to class, spent some time with Jamie and by doing that got to know David a little better. I also got around getting on Paris and Daniel's nerves, all in all, quite an accomplishment. The only person I had yet to see was Rory, and I have to admit that I sort of missed her.
I was in my apartment, in the living room, staring at the walls and trying to figure out what color to paint it.
To tell you the truth it's an impossible task for a guy, they have millions of shades for every color, and they even bother to name each shade with the most ridiculous names.
You see, it was either doing that or studying, and I wasn't in a studying mood at the moment.
Finally frustrated, I decided to go for a little walk, to clear my mind.
On my way out of Sarah's Café I ran into Rory, just then I realized just how much I missed her.
"Hi."
"Hi, Tristan." She smiled at me, "It's been a while."
"Yeah, I've been studying a lot lately."
"That's a change…"
"Not with much success I might add."
"How come?"
"I don't know, I don't really feel like talking about it."
"It's weird, seeing Tristan Dugrey dwelling over school work."
"A lot has changed since high school." I heard myself repeating Paris' words.
"I know that." She looked at me, as if trying to figure out something, "You're different."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
She smiled softly, still lost in thought, "What's your major, maybe I could help."
"Journalism."
She looked completely shocked, "Why?"
I smiled, "Because I like reading newspapers."
"Let me guess, one of Noah Cain's assignments."
"How did you know?"
"He's tough. But he's the best."
"Well, maybe you should take his class again for me. I just think he's crazy."
"Trust me, you'll thank him eventually, he's a bit eccentric but he's a genius."
I took a deep breath, "I don't think so."
"Why are you so frustrated?"
"Because I've never had to work this hard, and it feels like it's never good enough for him."
"We could do the assignment together." She said with a smile.
"You'd do that for me?"
"Yes, I would."
I smiled, "Thank you."
"Are you free this evening? Let's say six pm?"
"Sure, where should I meet you?"
"I get off work at six, meet at the café and we'll start."
"It's a plan."
"Are you telling me that it's your decision to work for a living?"
"I don't have rich parents, Tristan, I'm gonna have to work for a living all my life."
"Yeah, but your grandparents offered to cover everything while you're in school."
"If I let them help me now I'll probably need their help for the rest of my life, and it's not like I'm not taking their money. They're paying my tuition." She took a sip of her coffee, "Besides, I like working here. I get to meet new people all the time, and the satisfaction of having control over my life."
"Should I read in between the lines here? Are you implying that I don't have control over mine?"
"No. I was talking about me."
"That's so cute."
"I talk about me and somehow you bring the conversation to yourself, you're so self-centered." She smiled, "Do you want some more coffee before we start?"
"Sure, that would be great, thank you."
As she put two cups of steaming coffee on the table she spoke, "Brace yourself, it's going to be a very long night, and even then I'm not sure we'll be done."
"Hey, if you're not complaining why should I?"
"I hate this assignment." I said, putting my book down.
"Don't tell me that you're bored."
"No, I just think this guy's wrong."
"And who asked you?" she put the book down, "You're not supposed to agree with him, you're supposed to write about the cold hard facts."
"I can't see any facts, just crazy theories."
"You're not here to criticize, just write what the theory's all about."
"I'm really grateful that you're here but I've had enough of this for the day, it's late and we should call it a day."
"You're right, it is late and since you seem to be reading really slowly I think it's a good idea."
"Hey, if the guy bothered to write in plain English I wouldn't have to read every sentence about three times, he's so full of it." I said defensively.
"Are you going to complain about every single thing?" she asked, smiling.
"Maybe if you stop implying that I'm slow I might stop complaining."
"Look, it's late, why don't we do this tomorrow, I'll meet you in the library at three pm."
"Are you telling me that you're willing to go through this again?"
"Actually, I had fun tonight, it was pretty amusing."
"Yeah, it was" I said after a moment of thought, "But don't you have something better to do with your spare time?"
"It's late, I'm sure we can do this tomorrow."
"Come on, I'll walk you and we'll do it on the way." I smiled.
"I think I'm gonna help Jane close up but I'll see you tomorrow."
"Three o'clock." And with one last smile I left the café.
"I'm not writing this. He's completely wrong."
"No one wants to know what you think, at least not yet. Right now just go over the main points of this theory then when you get to the next part trash it all you want."
"But this is literally crap."
"For your sake I hope you're going to be more articulate or you're going to fail."
"Please tell me that you agree with me…"
"And what if I don't?"
"Are you actually telling me that you find something logical in this piece of-"
"No." she cut me off, "But I'm not one to judge." She looked at me for a second before going on, "Besides, some parts of this article are actually correct."
"But the main idea is off base, that would make the entire hypothesis wrong."
"Okay, maybe you're right." I felt a swell of pride, I just beat Rory in an argument, "But the thing is," she went on, "this theory led to so many other theories that were breakthrough in their way of thinking because of all the ideas mentioned in this crappy theory as you put it.
If you think about it, it's actually made progress possible." And the pride was all gone…
"You have a point there." I admitted unwillingly.
"Didn't I tell you that when you're with me you should be open minded?"
"But are you?" I asked with a smile.
"Get your head out of the gutter"
"But then it's no fun."
"You really need a cold shower…"
I smiled, "Are you willing to join me?"
"I think I should leave."
"Okay, fine, I'm shutting up now."
"Oh, I almost forgot, give me your phone for a second."
"Why?" I said handing it to her.
"I'm sure you've noticed it too, whenever I want to get together I have to rely on fate and that's pretty annoying." She said dialing her own number, when her phone rang she gave me my own back and we both saved the numbers.
"And you want us to get together?"
"Well, don't you? We seem to be getting along very well."
"I have to agree with you on that." I said smiling.
"And just so you know, my dorm room is-"
"I know where it is, Paris already told me."
"Really, she didn't mention seeing you."
"Actually, come to think of it, you called while we were talking, asking for ice cream and coffee."
"You'd have to be a little more specific, that happens about twice a week."
"Wow." I said, impressed in a way.
"So when is this due?"
"In a couple of days, but I'll probably finish this today."
"In that case I should probably go, but we'll talk." She said getting up.
"I'll call you." And with a wave she was gone.
"I've been here for about an hour and all you do is talk about Rory." Jamie said, smiling.
"No, I'm telling you about this assignment."
"If that's what you need to tell yourself…"
"Jamie, you're looking at it the wrong way."
"Tristan, I know that you don't want to hear this but I know you."
"So what?"
"You talk about her the same way you did in high school."
"I didn't talk about her in high school."
"Yes, you did."
"Well, even if I did, I left Chilton and it ended there."
"No it didn't."
"Jamie, I have no idea what it is that you want from me."
"Look, I don't know whether it's the same thing from high school or if it's new and more mature, but you can't fool me."
"We're friends, I like her, but nothing's going on."
"You know what, I'm not going to argue with you over this, call me whenever you're ready to admit it and let me know."
"Don't hold your breath."
"I won't." Right then my phone rang, the caller ID read MOM
"Hi mom."
Jamie picked up her things, mouthed an "I'll see you later" and left.
"I called yesterday, didn't your roommate give you the message?"
"I was going to call later this evening."
"How's my favorite son?"
"I'm your only son."
"That's beside the point."
"So, why are you calling?"
"It's our twentieth anniversary this weekend, we're hosting a party."
"Do have to come?"
"Your father insists."
"Fine I'll be there Friday afternoon."
"Alone?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I just want to know what's going on in my son's life."
"Stop trying to guilt me, mom." I thought for a second, "I guess I can ask someone to join me."
"Anyone special?"
"Just a friend."
"Do I know her?"
"I'll see you Friday, Mother."
She laughed, "Bye."
This was not a thing to do over the phone, when you invite someone to a party you have to do it in person. So I called her, asking if I could come over because I had to ask her something. We decided to meet in my apartment.
I was just making some coffee when she knocked on the door, I opened the door and let her in, she was dripping wet from the rain and I couldn't help but smile, she looked so cute.
"Did you walk here?"
"Yes." She said, taking her coat off.
"Why didn't you call me? I would have come to pick you up."
"That's okay, I like walking."
"Have you ever heard of a thing called umbrella?"
"I don't like umbrellas." She hung her coat on the coat-hanger.
"Would you like some coffee?"
"Thank you. That would be great." I left to get us some coffee, in the mean time she walked into the living room.
"It's a work in progress." I said, walking into the living room a couple of minutes later.
"What is?" she turned to look at me.
"This room." I handed her one of the cups in my hands, "I still haven't had the chance to work on it."
"Well, let me know if you need any help."
We took a seat, "Thanks."
"So, you wanted to talk about something…"
"Yes. I wanted to ask you something." I took a deep breath before going on, for some reason I was getting a little nervous, "You don't have to agree to go with me but I was hoping you'd join me this Saturday."
"Join you where?"
"My parents are hosting a party, it's their twentieth anniversary."
"And you want me to go with you?"
"Yes."
"Why?" she asked.
"Because you could make it more enjoyable." I answered honestly.
She smiled softly, "I'd love to go with you."
"Good."
We sat there quietly for a while, just drinking our coffee when suddenly she spoke, "You really have to do something with this room." The only thing I could do was to laugh in response.
A few days later I was back in Hartford.
I was in the living room, all dressed up and waiting for Rory. We decided, or rather she did, that there was no reason for me to pick her up and that she will meet me in my house.
I was talking with some of our guests, glancing at the entryway in the hopes that she'll finally walk in. It wasn't like Rory to be late and in all honesty I was getting worried. Hearing my phone ringing I excused myself and answered the phone, "Hey, why aren't you here yet?"
"I have a flat tire." She said in explanation.
"Where are you?"
"About two miles from your house, it's raining pretty hard."
"Don't worry, I'm on my way."
I pulled my car next to hers, her eyes met mine and she smiled. A few seconds later she was sitting beside me.
"When did this happen?"
"About an hour ago."
"And why didn't you call?"
"I thought I'd put the spare tire and go on but it turns out that my mom had a flat tire about a month ago-"
"And she didn't get the original fixed." I said in understanding.
"Right. And then it started to rain."
"So why didn't you call me?"
"I didn't want to bother you, I called a tow truck and they said they'd be here."
"When was this?"
"As soon as I realized that I'm stuck."
I picked up my phone and dialed, "Hey John, I need you to come and pick up a car."
Five minutes later a tow truck pulled over and out of it came John, "Helping a damsel in distress?" he asked, smiling.
"Something like that."
He seemed amused, "You can go, I'll take care of your car."
About ten minutes later we walked into the house through the kitchen door, a little wet from the rain.
"I had no idea it was going to be this cold tonight." She said as we were taking our coats off.
"Do you want some coffee before we join the party?"
"Yes, thank you."
We eventually joined the party and I introduced Rory to my mother. Later that night my mother said that she liked her and implied that she'd love to see her again (with me). After that I couldn't find Rory, I looked everywhere but she was nowhere to found.
Finally giving up I stepped outside to get some fresh air and there she was, right in front of me, on the balcony, lost in thought.
"Are you all right?" I asked, walking over to her.
She turned around to face me, "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just tired."
"Do you want me to take you home?"
"No." she shivered from the cold.
Not really paying attention to what I was doing I pulled her closer to me, knowing that it would help to keep her warm, "Do you want to go inside?"
She looked up at me, "No."
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear I said quietly, "Have I told you that you look beautiful the evening?"
She smiled softly, looking down to the ground, embarrassed, "No."
Hearing her answer I couldn't help but smile, "Is that the only word you know?"
"No." she made eye contact again.
Unable to control myself I bent down and gave her a soft, lingering kiss.
When she didn't say anything I smiled, maybe Jamie was right after all…