Chapter Sixteen

Emily and Richard watched Rory's behavior towards Dean in shock. On one hand they were excited that she seemed to be ending things with Dean. On the other they couldn't believe she was being so rude to Dean. It was true that they didn't care for the boy one bit but they still couldn't believe that Rory was capable of being so cruel. They watched Lorelai say something to Dean and then dart up the stairs after Rory. Dean walked back into the dining room and sat back down uncomfortably. No one said a word the entire time.

xxxxxx

"Lorelai Leigh Gilmore you open this door right now!" Lorelai yelled through Rory's bedroom door

The door flung open. "What!" she snapped

"What did you just do?"

"I'm sorry. Did you hear him?"

"Yes. I heard him begging you to love him." Lorelai snapped

Rory shook her head. "I don't." she snapped back

"Because of Tristan?" Lorelai asked

"No!" Rory yelled. "Because of Dean! He's obsessive and possessive and unnecessarily cruel to people he doesn't know..."

"And we're still not talking about Tristan?" Lorelai asked "Because hun, it kind of seems like we are."

Rory threw her hands up in the air. "Ok fine. Maybe we are. I don't know. All I know is that I haven't even liked let alone loved the Dean I've known for the last five months, probably even longer."

Lorelai looked at her in disbelief. "What?"

"Please just drive Dean home and come pick me up in the morning. We can talk about it then. I promise we'll have a real talk and I'll explain tonight. Just please get him out of here before I decide hurting myself is more important than hurting Dean. Because that's what I've been doing and I can't do it any longer." she said her eyes filling with tears

Lorelai sighed. "Ok sweets. I'll be back for you around 9. Please be up and ready I don't want to deal with Emily any longer than I have to." she said before walking out the room and shutting the door behind her. She paused by the door long enough to hear Rory sink to the floor on the other side of it and start bawling.

xxxxxx

Lorelai walked back down the stairs and into the dining room where Dean, Emily and Richard were waiting for her in complete silence. "Well?" Richard asked breaking the silence

Lorelai sighed. "Rory's spending the night here and I'll pick her up at 9. I'm going to take Dean home. But I need you both to promise me that you won't try to talk to her."

"I don't think that I can do..." Emily started

"Mom look, if you talk to her I can't guarantee she's not going to bite your head off. I'm asking you not to talk to her more for your piece of mind then her's. She's upset and she's hurting and she just wants to be left alone."

Emily nodded. "Fine."

"Dad?"

Richard nodded. "Of course."

"Great." Lorelai said sighing and then turned to Dean. "Come on kiddo. Let's go."

Dean wordlessly followed Lorelai out the door and into the car. Every time he thought about opening his mouth he shut it again. When Lorelai finally pulled up to his house he moved to get out but was stopped by her voice.

"Dean."

"Yeah?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but she should have done this months ago. Before you got any deeper. This isn't because of you. This is all on her. I just wanted you to know that." she said softly before letting him get out of the car.

Dean nodded at her. "Thanks for the ride." he said before shutting the door.

Lorelai sighed before putting the jeep back in drive and driving home.

xxxxxx

After breaking up with Dean and crying her eyes out on the floor she felt restless. She couldn't believe the way she had spoken to her grandparents but she wasn't sorry for a single thing she had said. She had meant them all. They had no right to belittle Tristan the way they had and Dean had no right to wish him miserable. Rory looked up at the door when a knock sounded above her. Rory looked at her watch. It was late. Later than she had thought. She reached up and opened the door. She looked up at Emily sighing. "Come in." she said softly

Emily walked in slowly. She knew she had told Lorelai that she wouldn't say anything to Rory but she couldn't help it. "I wanted to talk to you."

Rory sighed. "Grandma could we please not do this tonight..."

"You know I don't mind you being here, but you will never speak to me the way you did tonight again. And you will never defend Tristan DuGrey to me. You say he's unhappy, that's good, he should be. And you would do good to put him out of your mind as well. He's not nearly good enough for you. He's a juvenile delinquent for goodness sake Rory!"

"Grandma..." Rory snapped angrily

"You had no right..."

"You had no right!" Rory snapped

Emily looked at her angrily. "Excuse me?"

"You don't even know him."

"Rory..."

"You don't know what he's been through. You don't know how his parents treat him..."

"Lorelai Leigh.."

Rory shook her head "No I'm wrong maybe you do. Because it's the same way you treat Mom." she yelled. "Like she's an afterthought until you want to be in complete control of her life. You make her hate you. You make her want to rebel against you and it's sad because she doesn't even live with you anymore and she's still doing it. That's all Hartford society is about isn't it. Making your children as miserable as possible without having to actually exert any energy." she said angrily. "No wonder he pulled half the crap he pulled. Please leave me alone."

Emily stared at her in shock. Lorelai had warned her. She simply turned around and listened as Rory slammed the door shut behind her.

xxxxxx

Rory didn't know what had possessed her when she shimmied down the drain pipe outside her window. She just knew that she had to get out of the house. She felt repressed and she was already restless so she just climbed down. She wasn't even sure of where her feet were taking her until she stopped walking and looked up at Chilton. She slipped past the gate, her feet acting on auto pilot and when she stopped walking she realized that she was standing in front of the bench she had begun to think of as theirs. She sat down at it, immediately flooded by memories of Tristan. A smile danced across her lips, remembering the smile on his face when she had reassured him that her crying fit had nothing to do with the kiss that they had shared. She laughed loudly when she remembered the way his face twitched, his voice requesting a repeat performance.

It was weird how much of that day she remembered considering she had spent the majority of it a nervous wreck. But the memory was still strong, vivid in her mind. She remembered how nervous he was, flinching when her hand almost brushed up against his own, casting nervous glances at her when Louise mentioned being the lady in waiting so that she could have sex with Tristan, and refusing to be the king to her queen. She hadn't expected him to be nervous. She knew she would be but she had never expected it of him. Granted she knew better than to honestly think he would be running around school bragging about finally breaking through the outer shell of the Chilton Mary. Nor had she expected the almost sad look on his face when they were talking about how un-meaningful the kiss really was.

She hadn't been lying to him when she told him that the kiss was nice. It was. It was very nice. Nice enough that when she spoke to Paris a few days later she couldn't help it when her heart and stomach flipped, upset, jealously, when Paris told her that he had kissed her good night. She of course ignored it immediately and never told anyone about it. It was bad enough that she had told Lorelai about the kiss at the party she wasn't about to tell her that Tristan kissing Paris had affected her in any way whatsoever. Suddenly anxious to get away from the memories of that day she hurriedly moved from the bench.

Her feet once again acting on auto pilot she wasn't surprised when she ended up towards the front of the main building. Standing in front of the building staring into the fountain her eyes clouded over with tears as the memory of Dean showing up replayed over in her head.

She hadn't meant it. She knew that when she said it. She had never hated him. He made her nervous and anxious but she had never felt hate for him Even she had to admit that he was charming and his brand of charm was hard to hate, or ignore.

She had wanted to go to PJ Harvey with him. She loved PJ Harvey and probably would have gone if her friendship with Paris hadn't been up for grabs. She could have overlooked the fact that he wanted the concert to be date and just gone, reassuring him and herself that they were only friends the whole time. But she knew what it would do to her and Paris' semi-truce. And she had been right. The mere mention of the tickets and what their initial purpose had been seemed to be enough for Paris to end their truce.

Her heart pinched tightly, her eyes brimmed with tears when she remembered him snatching her books away. Tears ran down her face when she saw the look on his face when she had called him pathetic. Another thing that she had said that she had never meant and wished she could take back. She choked back a sob when she remembered saying something very similar to him in front of Patty's, a place she still couldn't go near the second she saw the piano. She sank to the ground leaning up against the wall imagining the look on his face when she told Dean that she loved him and what it must have looked like. She pulled her kneed up flush with the rest of her body. She simply stopped holding back the tears that had been threatening to plummet down from her eyes and cried for the loss of a boy she had never really opened herself up to but couldn't seem to move past.

xxxxxx

Nine o'clock may have come fast for Richard and Emily but not fast enough for Lorelai. When the clock ticked to five after nine and Rory still hadn't come outside she was the farthest thing from happy. She sighed angrily and got out the car. Ringing the doorbell, she was surprised when it opened almost immediately, Emily Gilmore behind it. "Mom." she said startled

Emily Gilmore looked worried and upset and she was sure Lorelai had picked up on it right away. "We were just about to call you." she said frantically ushering her inside quickly

Lorelai looked at her mother and father nervously. "Mom... Dad... what is it?"

"We can't find Rory." Emily rushed out

Lorelai looked at her blankly for a moment before the words replayed through her head until they made sense. "What do you mean you can't find Rory?!" she snapped worriedly

Emily shook her head fiercely. "I went in a few minutes ago to make sure she was up and ready to go and she wasn't there. The bed hasn't been slept in and the balcony door was open..."

Lorelai's jaw dropped. "Are you telling me that Rory, my Rory, my level-headed think first before you leap Rory snuck off in the middle of the night?" she yelled loudly

Richard sighed, "Lorelai is the yelling really all that necessary?"

Lorelai looked at him apologetically before whipping back around to face Emily angrily. "What did you do?"

"What?" Emily asked defensively

Lorelai shook her head. "Don't you what me. When I left here last night she was upset, crying her eyes out actually, but she was still rational. What did you do? Did you talk to her? Tell me you didn't go in there and talk to her mother?!"

Emily looked guiltily at the floor. "I just though she should know that she couldn't speak to us that way again."

Lorelai shook her head angrily, began gesturing wildly and pacing frantically. "No. You told me. You promised me you wouldn't talk to her. You said more than that. You had to have. Rory wouldn't have just taken off unless you really upset her." Lorelai snapped. Then realization set in, obvious in her facial expressions. "You mentioned Tristan didn't you!"

Emily huffed. "I hardly could have known she'd react this way..."

"Did you not see her at dinner last night? Dean insulted him and she broke up with him!" Lorelai said incredulously

"Lorelai..." Richard said tiredly

"I have to find her." Lorelai said grabbing up her purse

"I already put in calls to her Chilton friends." Emily called after Lorelai.

xxxxxx

"I hardly doubt that we'll hear anything but I'll keep my ears and my eyes open Emily. And I'll let you know if I do." Paris heard her mother say into the phone

Her ears perked up when she head her mother mention Emily. "What's going on?" Paris asked once she had hung up the phone

Paris' mom shrugged. "The Gilmore's grand daughter ran off apparently." she said dismissively

Pairs' eyes widened. She knew that Rory had been circling the drain the last couple of days ever since Duncan came back but she hadn't expected her to slide down it so soon. "What do you mean Rory ran off?"

She sighed. "Honey I don't know. They had an argument about something over there last night and she was upset. When her mother came to get her this morning she was gone."

Paris nodded. "Oh."

"Emily just wanted to know if we'd seen or heard anything. I guess they're trying to find her." she said turning around to look at her daughter but found the room empty. "But I guess you don't care." she said to herself

xxxxxx

Paris sighed. She looked at Rory sadly. If she had ever hated Rory for some Tristan related reason, all of it faded away with one look at Rory. She was lying on a bench in the quad, curled up in a ball shivering. She quickly walked back to the car, grabbing the extra jacket and the coffee she had brought for her and headed back towards her. She didn't say anything at first. She just simply looked at her. She had tear stained cheeks and Paris was almost certain that her eyes were close to being swollen shut from crying. She frowned when she heard Rory whimper through chattering teeth. "Rory." she said softly but firmly trying not to startle her but trying to wake her at the same time. She watched Rory closely while she pried her eyes open and was rewarded with the sight of bloodshot blue eyes realizing that it was daytime.

"Paris?" she said hoarsely

Paris nodded. "How did I know I'd find you here Gilmore?" she asked handing Rory the jacket and then the coffee

She took both eagerly. "What... what are you doing here?"

"You're kidding right?" Paris scoffed. "You're lucky it's me and not the National Guard. You scared the hell out of your grandmother."

Rory groaned and looked down at Paris' watch. "Please tell me that it's not really nine thirty and that you set your watch an hour ahead so you could sneak out a party early last night and then forgot to set it back."

Paris shook her head. "Sorry. I can't do that."

Rory sighed and pulled the jacket tighter around her. "You know this is where I convinced Tristan to go out with you." she said laughing slightly before taking a sip of her coffee

"What?" Paris asked loudly

Rory shrugged. "We were sitting here talking and he told me that he was swearing off girls for a while." she said pausing while Paris laughed, "I know. That was my reaction exactly. Anyway I told him that instead of swearing off girls he should pick one with substance. Someone who's smart, ambitious, driven. And I don't know... he seemed up for it and I knew you liked him, so I suggested you."

Paris shook her head tiredly. "Of course he seemed up for it you moron. He was hoping you were talking about yourself. The only reason he followed through and asked me if because you asked him to."

Rory shook her head nervously. "No... no.. he kissed you..."

"Goodnight. He kissed me goodnight. I know I told you it was this amazing kiss and it was to me. I had wanted to kiss Tristan for so long he could have kissed my hand and it would have been amazing, but that's all it was. A goodnight kiss. And he probably did it just because he was so ecstatic the night was finally over."

Rory sighed and pointed across the quad. "And over there... in front of the fountain..."

"Yeah?" Paris prodded happy that Rory was finally talking about this. She was tired of seeing Rory so broken.

"Over there is where I told him he pathetic." she said tears stinging her eyes

"Ror..."

"He stole my books. He was holding them ransom until I agreed to go to the concert with him." she said furiously wiping tears from her face, "And I told him to keep them, that he was pathetic. And then Dean showed up..."

"I heard about that. It was all Louise could talk about for a week that summer, Farmer Boy showing up and the two of you having some heart swelling romantic moment that..."

"That crushed Tristan. Go ahead you can say. He was standing there, watching, listening. I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my head when I told Dean that Tristan wasn't my boyfriend and that I hated him. I head him throw my books to the ground..."

Paris shook her head. "Rory it's not your fault that you wanted to be with Dean instead..."

Rory shook her head fiercely. "I didn't..."

"Are you saying you wanted to be with Tristan instead?" Paris asked shocked that Rory was finally admitting that she had feelings for Tristan

"NO... not at all. I'm just saying I didn't want to be with Dean. I just wanted everything to go back to normal again."

Paris nodded silently. Rory had stopped crying and they both sat in silence until Rory broke it by laughing. "What?"

Rory shook her head. "Nothing. It's not even funny. I just don't remember how I got over here. Last night I remember sitting down by the fountain and crying and I haven't the slightest idea how I got here."

Paris sighed. "I guess you moved to a place where you had a happier memory on auto pilot."

Rory shrugged. "Can you drive me back to my grandparents so my mom kill me please?"

Paris nodded laughing. "Of course. I mean if you're dead I'm a shoo in for valedictorian."

Rory laughed as well and followed her to the car. The drove in silence and they were in front of the Gilmore home almost instantly considering Chilton was barely five minutes away. Rory was obviously stalling and she was grateful that Paris hadn't made her get out and was letting her. She sighed before taking a deep breath. "He's in military school in North Carolina. I don't know which one. I don't know for how long. All I know is that he's in military school in North Carolina."

Paris let the information sink in. If she knew him the saw she thought she knew him she knew he was miserable. "Oh." she said softly

Rory nodded. "And I know he spent Christmas and New Years alone. Maybe even Thanksgiving."

Paris nodded. She believed that. The DuGrey's never had a real use for Tristan, except for Janlen and he was always so ill lately even he didn't have time. "Thank you for telling me." she said genuinely

Rory nodded. "I figured I should probably tell someone." she said slowly, "and I figured you were the least likely to run your mouth and just keep it to yourself." she added before getting out of the car and walking into the house.