Reviewers: Thank you so much for reviewing! This fic wouldn't be here without any of you!
Authors Note: Yay! The show is back! This chapter was written slightly differently than normal...just in a weird mood I guess. You might not notice it or you may notice it who knows it seems different to me Anyways I know its not a very long chapter but I'm back in school now so don't have as much time to write as I did during the break. My new fic is out! You should all check it out! It's a Trogan... I know I've told you all that before but it's actually out now!
Oh my god! That episode was amazing! Yay good Logan! Your in my good books again! They have to get back together there perfect together lol. Well if Tristan was there then I couldn't pick anyways GOOD BOY LOGAN
Dedicated: This chapter is dedicated to my other cousin Nicole congrats on the new baby! Ethan was born on Sunday January 8th!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. And am NOT making any money off of this so don't sue.
Recap:
Tristan could see by all the emotions that played on her face that she struggled with what exactly she wanted to say and how she wanted to say it. "I can't do this anymore!" she finally blurted out.
"Do what?" Dylan questioned, clearly confused.
'What an idiot!' Tristan thought. 'God! I knew it! I knew she couldn't handle this. I knew this would be too hard for her. I just knew it.' he berated himself.
The self pity party in his head was interrupted as Rory continued. "I can't do this! Us! You and me AND me and Tristan! I can't have two boyfriends! I can barely deal with one!" Rory replied trying to keep the tears from falling down. "Besides, it's not fair to the both of you, and it's not fair to me. It's not who I am and I don't want to make it who I am!" she finished as one tear finally escaped and rolled down her cheek.
"Fine!" Dylan responded, leaving the room quickly, clearly upset.
"I'm sorry." She said so softly, looking at the ground as another tear got loose.
"It's okay Rory." Tristan replied slowly moving closer to her. "We never should have even entertained the idea." He stopped directly in front of her. He lifted her chin up to face him, wiping her tears away with his thumb. Looking into her eyes he said. "I knew you wouldn't be able to go through with it."
"You did?" Rory holding his gaze, trying to read his expression.
"Yeah I did" Tristan responded, not taking his eyes off hers. "I think you should go after him."
"What?" she said softly.
"Go after Dylan" Tristan said looking down. He spoke so softly that Rory wasn't sure she heard him right. Rather than interrupt him to repeat himself, she let him continue. He finally looked up at her and continued "I didn't get much sleep last night cause all I could think about was what we were doing. What you were doing. I didn't want you to get hurt, and that is exactly what's going to happen if we go through with this plan of yours. I had already made up my mind before finally falling asleep last night…or early this morning. But I digress. I know what I have to do." He paused for a moment, and just looked at her face. Memorizing each angle of her cheeks, the softness of her lips, the deep blue of her eyes, as if it was the last time he would look at her again. Then finally he looked once again into her eyes, took a deep breath and sighed "I have to let you go. As much as I love you, I know I have to let you go, because I know it's the right thing to do." Immediately, Rory began to protest. "Tristan…" But Tristan cut her off.
"Rory, as much as it'll hurt me to see you with him, I'll be fine as long as you're happy" he explained.
"Tris..." Rory started to say again, her voice thick with emotion, but Tristan held up his hand to interrupt her again. "Let me finish…Please" he pleaded, looking into her eyes, his voice just as thick. Rory just nodded. "There's this old saying if you love someone set them free and if they come back to you then it was meant to be. That's exactly what I'm doing, Ror. I'm letting you go, setting you free. If you come back to me, then I'll know we were meant to be together." He looked at her one last time, and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.
With that said, Tristan quickly fled the room leaving Rory completely and utterly alone.
Chapter 26
Two Weeks Later:
Chilton was in an uproar. Since the big break up Tristan was never seen without his crew and Rory was never seen period. The only time anyone saw her was in class. Right before the bell she would slip in quietly and sit in the back of the room. Not talking to anyone. Her eyes once held such a beautiful sparkle and now that sparkle was gone. No trace of a smile was evident on her face. Some wondered what happened to that girl that was so full of spirit. Most of them, however, didn't seem to notice or care. Tristan was not one of those people. He definitely noticed the change, and it was killing him knowing that he was the reason. It was so hard for him to not be able to just walk up to her and hug her or kiss her or even something as simple as making her smile. God...even talking to her would be better than this self imposed hell. Yes, he realized that this was all his own doing…this made it just that much harder. They hadn't talked to or seen each other since the incident. They had both grown quite adept at avoiding each other. Whenever one saw the other they went in the other direction. It was killing the both of them, but being as stubborn as they were, thinking it was "for the best", they kept on.
Lunch Time:
"Hey, Dugrey!" Alex shouted "Over here!"
Tristan moodily walked over to the group. Plopping down in one of the chairs, he frowned "Why aren't we at our table?" his voice coming out uncharacteristically sounding almost like a whine.
"A bunch of freshman took it" Brent answered shrugging his shoulders.
"Stupid idiots" Tristan replied angrily standing up.
"Where are you going?" Alex asked standing up as well.
"To get our table back!" Tristan growled, about to make his way to the aforementioned freshmen.
Knowing that his best friend was going to do something irrational, Adam grabbed his arm to stop him and said "Tristan cool down…It's only a table."
Realizing how stupid his actions would have been, he relented "You're right" Tristan said sitting down "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it" Brent replied, shrugging his shoulders "We all know how much you miss Rory." The other boys at the table looked at him with wide eyes.
"I don't miss her!" Tristan snapped.
"Sure you don't" Brent said in a sarcastic tone, while nodding his head.
"I don't!" Tristan yelled quickly standing up and stalking over to Brent "and I told you yesterday not to say that name around me!" he finished glaring at Brent.
"Why not?" Brent yelled, standing up also "If you don't miss her or care about her, then why do you care if we say her name or not?" Both boys were now face to face and glaring at each other.
Noticing they had begun to draw the attention of other students, Adam saw this as the perfect opportunity to put a halt to the stand off. "Hey guys! You don't want to do this!" he said stepping in between them. Turning to Tristan he lowered his voice "You need to calm down."
Both boys ignored him, sidestepped him, and once again, were toe to toe.
"I. Don't. Care!" Tristan said slowly through his teeth, looking like he was going to explode.
"YES! You! Do!" Brent said back just as slowly, punctuating each word by poking Tristan in the chest. "If you didn't you wouldn't be as fucking moody as you have been! Where the hell is the Tristan we all know and love? Huh?" He said looking around as if trying to find something. Turning back to Tristan he continued his rant. "I'll tell you where he is! He's gone! He left when you and Rory broke up I never thought you would let a girl get you like this! She destroyed you!" When he was done, he looked at Tristan with disgust, and shook his head. "I'm outta here!"
When Brent turned away Tristan finally snapped, and lunged at him. As soon as he caught hold of Brent's shirt, everything that was just said sunk in. Just as quickly as Tristan grabbed Brent, he let him go. He looked around wide eyed, as if he had just woken up from a dream and had no idea where he was. 'Oh my god!' Tristan thought 'What am I doing? Brent is right. I have been a moody bastard.'
Tristan quickly muttered an apology and fled. 'I need to go somewhere quiet. I just need to think.' he thought 'I'll go to the library or something.' With his mind set, Tristan took off towards the library.
Rory wasn't faring any better. Rather than being moody and taking out her anger on everyone like Tristan had been doing, she was withdrawing herself from the real world. She would only speak when spoken to, to anyone. No matter who it was.
Rory rushed into the library after second period. 'Only one more day of this before Christmas holidays!' she thought 'I won't have to deal with this place again for two weeks!' Sitting down and settling into her favorite chair, Rory pulled out a new book that she had just gotten yesterday. She had read through the first half of the first page, before her mind began to wander. 'I can't believe I let Tristan go!' she berated herself. 'Being apart from him has made me realize how much I truly do love him.' realizing what she had been thinking, she shook her head 'NO! Don't think about him!' She silently scolded herself 'Just concentrate on your book and not all your stupid decisions. You do not love him! It was just a…a strong like! You don't care! You're a Gilmore and you can get over this!' she nodded to herself with determination and went back to reading her book.
Little did she know, that while Rory was reading, she had an audience. Eddie was a player and was always competing with Tristan. He always hated Tristan because he always got what Eddie wanted. He was always being compared to Tristan, always one step behind it seemed. Well this time he would get what Tristan wanted first.
'This is the perfect revenge!' he thought to himself as he watched the coffee haired beauty. 'If I can get her to go out with me, then sleep with her, I can finally top Tristan!' he grinned evilly. 'I'll finally be the first to get something he never did! Her body!' Smirking to himself Eddie strutted up to where Rory sat. He grabbed a, set it down in front of Rory, and sat down facing her. Rory, being so engrossed in her book had yet to notice him. Realizing that she still hadn't looked up from her book, he cleared his throat. "Good book?" he questioned.
Startled, Rory glanced up quickly. She didn't think anyone else was in the library, so she was shocked when she saw the boy who was sitting so close to her. Even though she was caught off guard, she was able to hide her surprise. "Mm-hmm" she answered looking back down at her book
Not liking how close this boy was sitting to her, she thought 'Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away.' She thought wrong.
"What are you reading?" The boy asked, obviously not taking the hint.
"A book" Rory answered not looking up.
"I can see that" The boy said, smirking "Look…you don't know me…but I know all about you."
"Oh you do, do you?" Rory said setting her book down "And just what do you know?"
"That you are by far the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." The boy said sweetly.
"Oh…uh…really?" Rory replied blushing, surprised by what he said. 'Maybe he's not so bad, after all. I could always use a new friend in this place.' she thought regarding the boy in front of her. "What's your name?"
"Eddie" he replied happily. 'She's putty in my hands.'
"Oh hey, Eddie" Rory replied, smiling. "It's a pleasure to meet you"
"The pleasure is all mine" he said still smiling 'and the pleasure really will be all mine.'
Nodding, Rory turned back to her book. She read a sentence before Eddie spoke again "What are you doing?" he asked, somewhat confused.
Now, Rory was annoyed. "I'm reading…what does it look like?"
"Mmm…Feisty… I like!" Eddie exclaimed, quickly leaning in and kissing her.
Rory jerked away quickly "Hey!" Rory yelped, while wiping her mouth "What did you do that for?"
"You know what for, Mary" Eddie replied leaning in and kissing her again.
"Stop it!" Rory yelled jumping up from her seat, knocking it backwards. She tried backing away from him.
"You know you like it!" Eddie said grabbing her arm, and pulling her to him then slamming his lips roughly to hers again.
Tristan entered the library briskly. Walking over to the reading section of the library he almost stumbled, when he came across the seemingly intimate scene. From where he was standing, all he could see was that Eddie was kissing Rory and she seemed to be enjoying it.
'I knew she didn't love me!' Tristan thought angrily, as jealousy seared threw his veins. 'I should have known she would do this. God! I'm so stupid!'
Just when Tristan angrily turned away, he heard her yell "No! Let me go! Stop!" The fear in her voice was evident.
Tristan turned around again, just in time to see that Eddie was trying to force his lips again on Rory's, and that Rory was struggling to get away.
'That bastard!' Tristan thought as he ran up to them and quickly pulled Eddie away.
"Back off Curtis!" he said deeply "Leave her alone." He was now facing Eddie, looking like he was ready to kill the boy.
"Oh!" Eddie said, obviously amused. "And I suppose you're going to stop me?" he said smirking while stepping closer to Rory. Rory had her eyes on Tristan the whole time. She was so happy to see him, but at the same time shocked that he was helping her, especially after all that had happened.
"Yeah, I am." Tristan replied, looking Eddie in the eye with a look that clearly said 'You're dead.'
"Oh…ok!" and with that Eddie ran out of the library.
"Are you okay?" Tristan asked, stepping a little closer to Rory, concern was written clearly on his face.
"I'm fine." she answered softly looking into his eyes. She missed looking into those eyes. She almost forgot how easy it was to get lost in them. "Thanks for saving me" she said, her voice still soft.
"You're welcome" he said, his tone matching hers. They stood there for a few more seconds, blue on blue. Then as quickly as the moment came, it left. Tristan was the first to break eye contact. He cleared his throat and mumbled, "Ok, well…see ya!" and quickly left the library, almost similar to how Eddie had. As if his life depended on it. Rory just sat back down in her chair, staring at the spot Tristan had just been standing in. She sighed, putting her book down, knowing that she wasn't going to be getting any reading done.
Unknown to both of teens, Paris and Adam had witnessed the entire exchange from behind a huge bookshelf.
"We have to get them back together!" Adam whispered urgently.
"Yeah we do" Paris agreed, shaking her head. "I don't know about Tristan, but Rory's been miserable without him." She frowned slightly as she glanced at her friend through the shelf.
"Oh, believe me, he's been miserable without her too" He replied, looking in the same direction as Paris. They both sat on the floor and faced each other, when Adam said "But what can we do?" He knew that he wanted to help his friends…he just didn't know how.
The two sat there in silence for a few seconds before Paris declared "I've got it!" her eyes widening with excitement.
"What?" Adam questioned, his interest now piqued.
"Well you know the party Alex is having tomorrow?" she said, almost jumping out of her skin.
"Yeah" he replied with an implied 'Of course, I know!'
"Well…" she continued "this was what I was thinking..."
Okay that was crappy if I do say so myself. I suppose its fairly good for one sitting. This chapter is short I know sorry I blame school. When I sat down to write this chapter I had completely different ideas to what I was planning on writing. Actually I wasn't even planning on having Rory and Tristan talking to each other or really going near each other but I had an idea, so I went with the idea. If I hadn't this chapter would have ended a lot sooner than it did. Yay! I finally put Paris back in! I don't like writing her, I have a hard time writing for her in character but oh well she's back... for now anyway. Well I guess that's about it the newest chapter will be out soon. After I update my other fic that is maybe my HP one too… hmm haven't updated that in awhile. Sorry for rambling! Remember to check out my new fic!
Eddie Curtis: Same height as Tristan, auburn hair, medium length and slightly muscular. Don't worry we won't see to much of him
Warnings for next chapter: Find out what Paris's plan is.
Please review! The more reviews I get the faster I'll update! I really do! It reminds me every time I check my emails that I have to update! And makes me feel guilty until I do!