Ch 25

Promising his grandfather he wouldn't touch the two idiots had been one of the stupidest things he'd ever done. He regretted it immensely and immediately. However, knowing himself the way he did, he knew that just because he made the promise, didn't mean he'd ever actually intended to keep it. That was, at least, until he saw Rory. Tristan knew that if he reneged on his promise Janlen would put him and his lying ass back on the first plane out of Hartford.

A look of determination fell over his face as he stepped out of his car and onto Duncan's driveway. There was absolutely no chance he was leaving Rory again until both Duncan and Bowman understood the consequences of putting their hands on her. He promised not to touch them, he never said he wouldn't have words with them.

He knocked forcefully on the door, and hoped that Duncan's parents weren't home. He wasn't sure he'd make it through the door if they were. The door opened suddenly and a maid he didn't recognize stood inside it. He smiled politely at her as she moved from in front of the door and let him enter. At her expectant look he replied easily, "I'm looking for Duncan. Is he here?"

The maid nodded. "Mr. Raymonds is upstairs in his bedroom."

Tristan nodded. "Thanks." he told her before heading upstairs. He'd been to Duncan's house plenty of times so he knew exactly where he was going. Regardless of how many times he'd been there, he was still astounded by the lack of taste Duncan's mother had. The house was decorated in a very tacky and uncomfortable manner, and Tristan didn't understand why the woman didn't hire a decorator. He took his time walking down the bright blue hallway, rolling his eyes at the ugly pictures adorned on the walls before finally coming to Duncan's door.

Suddenly, standing there faced with Duncan's door, he wasn't sure what he was going to say. He knew he wanted to make it clear Rory was off limits, but aside from that, he wasn't sure what the exact wording would be.

One of the worst decisions he'd ever made was befriending Duncan and Bowman, and he knew that. He'd been hurting and lonely, and they were just there. Being rejected by Rory had caused more damage than he'd expected and pulling pranks with them seemed more fun than thinking about her. Not to mention, Janlen once again had grown ill and being home or at the hospital was too much for him this time around.

Once he'd been forced to partner with her group for the Shakespeare project, he'd found that acting like an idiot with them hadn't done a thing to rid her from his thoughts. The only thing it had accomplished was irritating Rory and proving to her that he was nothing but a joke, just as she suspected.

He was still lost in his thoughts of Rory, still trying to decode the proper words to direct at Duncan, when Duncan's door opened suddenly. Tristan saw a look of shock on Duncan's face and sighed inwardly. The boy looked genuinely pleased to see him.

"Tristan!" Duncan said excitedly. "Man, what are you doing here? I thought your parents had shipped you off to boarding school in Switzerland."

Tristan nodded. He didn't need the truth about where he was to become public knowledge. He was perfectly content with the school's population thinking he was enjoying himself in Switzerland. Knowing what he knew now, he wished he'd left it alone and left Rory to think the same as well. He couldn't help but think that if he'd never told her the truth, she'd have been better off.

Instead he told her and only her the truth, and hadn't even bothered to be discrete about it. He'd simply left her to fend off the wolves he called friends. He winced as he felt his anger once again come dangerously close to boiling over and turned his attention back to Duncan. He was standing there looking just as stupid as always, and Tristan wanted nothing more than to knock that stupid smirk off his face.

He still hadn't been able to come up with the perfect words to say, and it was then that he decided that he wouldn't say anything, not a single word about Rory, and wait for Duncan to hang himself. He knew, knowing Duncan, it wouldn't take long. "Yeah, I'm on break." he replied easily.

Duncan smiled excitedly and moved to let Tristan into his room. "It's good to see you. What's up?" He asked after making himself comfortable on the side of his bed.

Tristan shrugged and looked around the room. Nothing had changed. He moved to sit in one of the uncomfortable chairs the room held, before finally answering the question. "Nothing much. I was forced to come home for break," he said his voice laced with fake bitterness.

"I heard Switzerland is really cool," Duncan said understandingly. "I bet there's a lot of Swiss babes there just itching to get a turn with you."

Tristan nodded. "I'm thinking of installing a revolving door," he quipped half heartedly before changing the subject. "What's going on here in Connecticut?"

Duncan shrugged his shoulders bored. "Not much. The females at Chilton are still mourning your loss."

Tristan's raised his eyebrows at that. "Really?"

Duncan nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, Summer and Rory have been going at it like cats and dogs over you."

Bingo. "Rory?" Tristan asked, "Rory Gilmore?" At Duncan's nod, Tristan smirked slightly. "Who'd have thought she'd miss me?"

Duncan laughed. "Well, she misses you alright. You'd get a kick out of it actually, seeing her crying all over Chilton. Who knew all you had to do to get the girl was disappear."

Tristan's jaw tightened. "You think I'd enjoy seeing her crying all over Chilton?" he asked with slight annoyance, "Speaking of Chilton, I went by there earlier around lunch time."

"Yeah?" Duncan asked.

"Yeah, I wanted to see if you and Bowman wanted to skip out and go hang out like we used to, but someone said you were both suspended."

Duncan shrugged. "Yeah, for two weeks, but today was the last day. We head back Monday," he said carelessly.

Tristan nodded. It was obvious from Duncan's tone that the suspension hadn't fazed him a bit. "What did you guys do this time? Move Charleston's office furniture to the roof again?" he asked laughing slightly.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "Nah man, nothing as entertaining as that. We just got in trouble for irritating another student."

"You got two weeks suspension because you irritated someone?" he asked suspiciously. "Who do you have to harass to get that kind of suspension?"

Duncan sighed. "Evidently, Medina's golden child." Duncan's eyes widened the minute he said it. Commenting on Rory's cat fights with Summer and crying binges were one thing but admitting to Tristan that he and Bowman had begun making a habit out of taunting and tormenting Rory Gilmore was not smart.

"Rory?" he asked, his voice low and menacing "You've been harassing Rory?"

Duncan flinched slightly at the frightening tone Tristan's voice had taken. "It wasn't anything major, or anything. You know how much of a pushover Gilmore is..." he said defensively.

Tristan shook his head. "It must have been pretty bad if Charleston suspended you." He couldn't believe that Duncan was still insulting her while he stood right there in front of him. "And Rory is in no way a pushover."

Duncan sighed. He really should have known better than to open this can of worms. "Look man, I know you had a thing for her and all but..."

"But what?"

"It was just harmless fun." Duncan said bored.

"Antagonizing Rory was harmless fun?" he snapped angrily. At this point his desire to continue playing clueless was overridden by his desire to smack the boy in front of him. "You knew she was blaming herself for my sudden disappearance so you kept at her and you kept at her, until she broke."

"If you already knew what happened, then why even bother pretending you didn't?" Duncan asked annoyed, "And for the record, it wasn't just me..."

"I'm hoping you'll pass the message along to Bowman."

"And what about Summer?"

"From what I've heard, I think Rory and Paris can take care of Summer on their own."

Duncan rolled his eyes. "Summer's had Rory bawling in the cafeteria for the better part of the last six months, it sounds like Rory can barely control herself, let alone Summer."

Tristan's eyes squinted in fierce anger. "So you and Bowman decided to make it worse? Was it fun? Did you enjoy badgering her, telling her it was all her fault I was gone?"

Duncan shrugged. "Right up until the moment the bitch hauled off and hit me." he admitted. He didn't see any point in lying. It was obvious Tristan knew everything.

Tristan's hands fisted tightly, and he stood up from his chair. He took several deep breaths trying to kill his desire to cross the room and break Duncan's jaw. He couldn't believe, knowing how angry Tristan was, that Duncan had the nerve to speak so negatively about Rory. "Does it really look like calling her a bitch is the smartest thing for you to say right now?"

The look on Tristan's face caused a set of shivers to run down his spine. "She had no right to hit me..." he demanded standing up from his place and the bed and taking a few small steps towards Tristan in what he hoped was a confident manner.

Tristan looked at him in disbelief and scoffed. "You made a sexual comment towards her and then tried to touch her. You're lucky all she did was slap you."

Duncan shrugged. "So what? I didn't touch her."

Tristan shook his head. "Which is why you're still standing and not lying on the ground clutching your broken jaw," Tristan pointed out carelessly. "The mere fact that you thought either of you had the right to even speak to her like that, tells me you're both stupider than I ever realized."

Duncan shook his head. "Look, man, can we just start over here. You're home and it's good to see you, despite your momentary freak out over Mary."

The word 'Mary' was enough to make Tristan's resolve falter. He crossed the room and was in Duncan's face long before he realized he'd move. "No, there is no starting over here, you jackass. And don't you dare call her that!" he yelled loudly.

Duncan laughed slightly and shoved Tristan lightly. "Why do you even care? She never gave you the time of day, Tristan. She didn't care about you at all. Not until you were gone. I bet that hurts doesn't it?"

Tristan couldn't believe that Duncan had shoved him, and he briefly entertained the idea of finally putting his hands on the boy. Surely Janlen couldn't fault him for defending himself. Tristan took a menacing step towards him and smirked when Duncan stepped back scared. "Why I care about what happens to Rory Gilmore is none of your business. I want to make this very clear to you, the next time you or one of your cronies even thinks about speaking to her or touching her, or even so much as thinking about her, I will make you regret it."

Duncan's eye twitched nervously. "I'm not scared of you."

Tristan laughed as Duncan's actions contradicted the statement. "Yes, you are. And you should be," he snarled threateningly. "Stay away from Rory," he warned before turning and walking towards Duncan's still opened door.

"I thought we were friends," Duncan called out.

Tristan turned around and glared. "You were wrong," he growled before walking out the door.

By the time he was back in his car, he was fuming. It wasn't the conversation he wanted to have and he wasn't sure if Duncan had been adequately warned; but he knew that if he had stayed any longer, he might not have been able to restrain himself from hitting the jackass. Duncan's indifferent attitude, his obvious lack of regret, and his admittance to trying to hurt Rory all made him so angry he couldn't see straight.

His good mood from earlier was gone and he missed it. He couldn't stop thinking about the way Rory had felt in his arms, the way it felt to have her pressed so tightly against him. Holding her had felt better than he'd ever imagined and it killed him to know that all he had was a weekend with her before he was forced back to North Carolina, for who knows how long. Maybe if he could convince his father that he'd behave, he could spend the summer here. A summer with Rory could do wonders for him, and for her.

He looked at the clock and sighed in relief. It was almost time to pick up Rory.