Part 4: Shit... I'm Falling

"I am never going shopping with Emily Gilmore again," Rory said flopping down on the couch of the Huntzberger house next to Tristan, plopping her feet on his lap.

Tristan looked over at her and laughed at her appearance.

"Oh my god," he said, taking the pink lacy hat off her head and putting it on his own. He then looked at her dress and laughed harder. "Oh my god!"

"I am never going shopping with Emily Gilmore again," Rory huffed as she crossed her arms over her pink lace covered chest and glared at a laughing Tristan.

She had been on Martha's Vineyard for a month now. She had gotten to know each boys better and formed a closer friendship with Tristan, Colin and Finn. Logan was a little harder to pinpoint. She had the feeling that he didn't like her much.

"Hey Ror... Oh my god," Colin said coming down the stairs and laughing at her appearance. She looked down and groaned.

She was wearing a long pink dress that was made more for the 16th hundreds than the 21st century the way it was covered in pinkand white lace from head to toes, including the hat that Tristan was now donning on his head.

"That's it, I'm never coming back here if you are going to laugh at me," Rory said. Tristan put the hat back on her head, then stood up. As he was crossing, he tripped over something and grabbed on to the table so that he didn't fall flat on his face. He stood up straight and looked around for what he tripped on. Rory closed her eyes. Shit.

"Oh my god!" Tristan exclaimed. "Rory, stand up."

"No, that's okay," Rory said.

"Is that what I think it is?" Colin asked with a laugh as he came the rest of the way down the stairs.

"I don't know," Tristan said. She could hear the smirk, then she heard a pop and Tristan and Colin laugh. "Oh yeah, Colin. It was what you thought it was."

Rory got up and grabbed the parasol out of Tristan's hands. "You know what?" Rory said closing it and smacking Tristan's arm with it. "It's not my fault I'm too kind, that I can't tell my grandmother no."

"Hopefully you learned better, now that you're wearing... well, that," Colin laughed, earning a smack on the arm from Rory and her parasol.

"What the bloody hell is going on down here?" Finn said coming down the stairs, stopping when he saw Rory and biting his lip to keep from laughing.

"Don't you dare," Rory glowered.

"I'm sorry" Finn said. "I didn't know it was Halloween."

"Oh! I hate you all!" Rory exclaimed. "I'm going home and I'm going to go change!" She said storming to the front door and wrenching it open, only to come face to face with a pretty blonde girl. "Oh sorry," Rory said.

"It's fine, Um… hi," the girl said.

"Hi," Rory responded.

"This is Logan Huntzberger's place, right?"

"Yep, but I'm not sure where he is."

"Oh, I wasn't looking for him, I was looking for Tristan."

"Right, I'll go get him," Rory said going back to the living room The boys turned and smiled at her.

"Tristan, one word and I won't let the pretty blonde asking for you in."

"Blonde?" Tristan asked, "The only blonde I know is..." Tristan's eyes widened before he jumped over the couch and into the foyer, knocking Rory into the chair next to her. Before she could tell him off, she heard a squeal, then a slam.

"Who was at the door, love?" Finn asked helping her up.

"I don't know," Rory said with a shrug. "Just a blonde asking for Tristan."

Finn turned the Colin who sighed. "So much for guys' summer," he said before going over to the door. Finn and Rory followed him and saw that Colin had the door open to reveal Tristan making out with the blonde.

"Let me guess," Rory said, "Stephanie?"

"You guessed right," Finn said with a smile. "They'll be at it for a while. Come on, I'll walk you home the back way," Finn said before turning to Colin. "I'll be back."

"Yeah, whatever," Colin said closing the door.

Finn led Rory through the living room to the back door and onto the beach. They walked back to her own house in silence, listening to the waves roll in.

They had gone out a few times after their walk on the beach, getting to know each other better. He learned more about her absentee dad and the town of Stars Hollow in their time together, just like she had learned more about him and his strained relationship with his mom.

She had also gotten to know more about Colin. He was her equal when it came to arguing about political views. More than once Finn and Tristan had had to separate them from their heated arguments and opposing views, at times getting vicious to the point where out of nowhere food would fly at Colin's face, then Tristan would take Rory's spoon away.

Tristan was the one who knew her past better than anyone. Well, out of the four of them he was the one that knew her. He was the one that her mother knew and would ask about. And he was the one who would ask how certain people were. He was the one she talked to when something happened in the town knowing that he would find it as funny as she had.

Finn was… she didn't know what Finn was. Finn was the person who she told her problems too. The one she knew would probably help her fix them. But then he was also another person that she could tell the going-ons of her town. He was the person who humored her when the pepperoni on her pizza was mad at the mushrooms.

Logan, well, he was rarely around when Rory was at the house or with his friends. Whenever she asked about him, he was out on a date or asleep or just out. After the wallowing session at the Gilmore house, she hadn't seen much of him. Not that she was complaining. Though they tried to reassure her, she still thought that Logan didn't like her. It didn't bother her... much.

"We're having a bonfire tonight," Finn said, jarring Rory out of her thoughts.

"Really?"

"Yeah, Logan and whatever blonde he's screwing will be there, me, Colin and Tristan, and now Steph. You'll have another girl to talk to... that is if she detaches herself from Tristan long enough to talk to you."

"Is that your subtle way of inviting me, Finn?"

"My very subtle way, yes," he laughed.

"I'll be there," Rory said. "After dinner?"

"I'll come pick you up," Finn said, kissing her cheek as they reached the gate to her house.

"See you later, Finn," Rory said as she opened the gate and walked up the path leading up the back doors. She saw her grandfather and grandmother talking in the living room.

"Rory! See, Richard, she just looks darling in that dress!" Emily said. Richard looked up from his book at Rory and looked in her eyes giving her an "I'm-sorry-your-grandmother-is-crazy" pity look.

"Very darling," Richard agreed.

"If you don't mind, grandma, I'm going to go change for dinner."

"All right, dear," Emily said. "Dinner's in twenty minutes."

"I'll be down by then," Rory told her as she climbed the stairs the best she could in the dress. Once in her room she took it off and went to her closet, grabbing her bathing suit from her dresser, then a pair of jeans and a green short sleeved shirt that read I have gone to find myself, If I come back before I return, KEEP ME HERE! She put on her bathing suit, which consisted of little shorts and a tankini, then put on her clothes over it.

Knowing Finn and Tristan, and even Colin, being thrown into the ocean at least once was called for and she didn't want to be caught off guard like last time. She grabbed her beach bag and put in her towel, a book and a cell phone.

Her mother made it a habit of calling exactly at nine o'clock at night, knowing that her grandparents had probably already left her alone and she was locked in her room for the night, when truth was she was usually at the guys' house watching movies and eating junk food to get rid of the bad taste of whatever her grandmother had gotten the cook to make for dinner.

"Rory!" Her grandmother called. "Dinner!"

Rory grabbed her bag, slipping on her Converse and walking down the stairs, leaving the bag on the couch before joining her grandparents in the dining room. She sat down on the right side of the table, her grandparents at the head and started on her salad.

"So how were your friends?" Emily asked.

Rory smiled at her. "They're good, grandma."

"Now who are they again?" Richard asked.

"Tristan DuGray, I went to Chilton with him for about a year and a half before he left for North Carolina," Rory said, not wanting to say 'shipped off to military school.'

"Oh right," Richard nodded in remembrance. "Janlan's grandson."

"Yes," Rory agreed.

"And who else?" Emily asked.

"Just some friends of his," Rory said. "Tristan's girlfriend came today, so it's not just guys."

"A girl, staying with four boys? None of which she's related to?" Emily asked.

"No, she's related to Colin, they're cousins," Rory told her.

"Who else, Rory?"

"Well, Colin McCrea," Rory told her grandfather.

"His father, is it Andrew McCrea, right?" Richard asked.

"I think so."

"Fine man, Andrew, I've done business with him."

"Colin's nice. Then there's also Logan Huntzberger."

"Uh huh," Richard laughed. "A Huntzberger. You'd do good to become his friend, Rory."

Rory gave a small nod. She didn't care much that Logan's family owned newspapers, it would help having those connections. But seeing as she rarely saw Logan, let alone talked to him, she didn't think it was worth the effort being his friend.

"Then Finn Rothschild," Rory said.

"Rothschild?" Emily muttered. "Ah… the out-of-towners," she told Richard who gave a short nod. Rory rolled her eyes.

"They're from Australia, grandma, not exactly out of town," Rory commented. Emily didn't comment, instead she changed the subject.

"So what do you have planned for tonight, Rory?"

"My friends are having a bonfire down at the beach. Finn invited me to come."

"I'm so happy that you made friends down here," Emily said. "It'll give you more incentive to come back."

"Actually, they all go to Yale, grandma. But Finn, Logan and Colin are taking next year off to travel."

"Oh?" Richard asked. Rory nodded.

"Yeah, Finn's been telling me about it. They have their whole year planned. They're traveling around Fiji, then coming back," Rory explained excitedly, even if she wasn't the one going.

"They would be juniors, wouldn't they?" Richard asked.

"Yes, I believe so," Rory said, causing Richard to nod.

"Some damn fine connections," he muttered. The rest of dinner was filled with idle chit-chat between the Gilmores. By the time dinner ended, Rory was anxious to leave. She knew that Finn was probably already waiting for her.

"You can go now, Rory," Emily said, dabbing her lips lightly with the linen napkin.

"What?" Rory asked, a mixture of confusion and surprise lacing her voice.

"You've been fidgeting in your seat for the past twenty minutes. I know you want to go, now go."

Rory smiled and got up putting her napkin on the table, kissing her grandpa, then grandma.

"Thank you," she whispered before running out of the dining room. She grabbed her denim jacket off the hook, then her bag and left. She walked down the path and opened the gate to see Finn waiting for her.

"About bloody time," Finn teased as he took her hand and led her down the beach.

"Sorry, they held me captive."

"It's fine" Finn laughed as he pulled her instinctively closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"They asked about you guys," Rory said looking up at him.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Apparently being friends with Logan is some damn fine connection," Rory said with a roll of her eyes.

"They would say that," Finn said.

"I don't think he likes me much," she admitted.

"Who, love?"

"Logan."

Finn looked down at her and frowned. "What makes you say that?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know. I just have this feeling."

"If you want, I can ask," Finn said with a smile.

"No, it's okay," she laughed, then shrugged. "It's just a feeling." They walked in silence until they came to the group. There was a fire burning with four long logs around it. Colin was sitting on one by himself, Tristan and Stephanie on the one across from him, Logan and a blonde sat on another one, leaving an empty one for her and Finn. Everyone had a stick with a marshmallow on it, roasting it in the fire.

"Hey Rory," Colin greeted passing two sticks to Finn and a bag of marshmallows.

"Hey Colin, guys," Rory greeted as she sat down, putting her bag next to her. Finn passed her the stick and put the bag in between them.

"Steph, this is Rory; Rory, this is my girlfriend Stephanie," Tristan introduced.

"It's nice to meet you," Rory smiled shaking the blonde's hand. "Tristan's talked about you non stop."

"Yeah, he tends to do that," Steph laughed. "Sorry if he bored you."

"To tears," Rory teased. "But Finn found the electrical tape and it solved the problem."

"Electrical tape, that might come in handy," Steph muttered.

"For more than one thing," Tristan said suggestively causing Steph to giggle and cuddle up further to his side

"Dirty," Rory mumbled, causing Finn to laugh. She placed her marshmallow in the fire and rotated it.

"I don't get it?" The other blonde said. "What's the electrical tape for?"

"That, love, is Rose. She's Logan's date for the night," Finn told her, taking his own stick out of the fire.

"Nice to meet you," Rory said with a nod.

"You too," she said giddily.

"So Rory," Logan began. "What's in the bag?"

Rory shrugged, "A towel, a book and my cell phone." She took her stick out and blew on the marshmallow, before gingerly biting into it.

"You expecting a call?" He asked.

Rory nodded. "My mom," she told him, swallowing the gooey substance.

"You talk to your mom?" Rose asked in surprise.

"Avidly," Rory told her.

"Avi..."

"It means a lot," Colin clarified.

"Oh," Rose said with a nod of her head.

"Where does he find them?" Rory asked Finn quietly. He shrugged.

"We have the 'don't ask, don't tell' rule, love."

"Ahh," she nodded.

"So Mary, what's the book this evening?" Tristan asked.

"Mary?" Steph asked. "You're Tristan's Mary?"

"I wish you would stop calling me that, Tristan," Rory said with a glare as she put another marshmallow on her stick.

"You love it."

"It's nice to finally put a face to the girl who shot down my boyfriend," Steph said taking her own out and making Tristan blow on the marshmallow before putting it in her mouth.

"My pleasure," Rory smiled. "And it's A Clockwork Orange," she told him.

"Is that like about a clock thats like made out of like oranges?" Rose asked.

They all looked at her in disbelief, even Logan looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't hurt yourself by thinking too hard about it," Finn told Rose whose frown deepened. Logan whispered something in her ear, making her shrug and stand up.

"We'll be back," Logan said with a smirk as he wrapped an arm around Rose's shoulders and led her past Rory and Finn and down the beach.

"Seriously, where does he find them?" Colin asked.

"Hey! You stole my question!" Rory accused.

Colin shrugged. "I think it's on all our minds."

"Was it just me or was this one stupider than the rest?" Tristan asked.

"Stupider," Finn agreed with a serious nod. "Definitely... No, wait," he said with a brilliant smile. "There was the girl that thought daylight saving was a world wide shoe sale that took place during the day."

"She did not!" Rory laughed.

"It's true… Or what about the girl that tried to drown Logan's fish," Colin pointed out.

"Are you serious?" Rory asked.

"We caught her," Steph told her with a nod. "It was our senior year of high school. Poor fish, had no idea what fate would bring him," Steph said with a shake of her head.

"Jeez, that's sad," Rory said.

"The stupider the better," Colin told her. "It's makes it easier to make them leave in the morning."

"That's horrible," Rory told him.

"But true," Tristan said.

"Yes, you would know," Rory told him. "You dated Summer."

Tristan rolled his eyes. "That was different."

"How so? She was stupid," Rory pointed out.

"Hey!" Tristan protested, "She wasn't that stupid."

"When we were studying the Huns' invasion of Europe," Rory told them, "She thought we were talking about Han Solo."

"Wow, Tris," Steph said turning to her boyfriend, "I'm glad you raised your standards in girls."

"Or lowered them," Colin teased. "Depends on what perspective you're looking at it."

"Bastard," Steph said throwing a marshmallow at him.

"You're high on the standard list," Tristan told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Very high."

"You're just saying that in the hopes of getting lucky, mate," Finn laughed.

"Not true," Tristan protested.

"Cut the crap, Tris, you're getting laid, let's leave it at that," Steph said with a roll of her eyes, causing Rory to laugh. The sound of a light buzzing had her reaching into her bag.

"Mom?" Finn asked. Rory looked at the caller ID and nodded. She opened the phone and brought it up to her ear. Before she could greet her mother in the 'proper' way, her mother had started talking.

"What do Kirk, a parachute and Taylor have in common?" Her mother asked, seriously.

"Is this a serious question or are you just…"

"Come on, Rory, play with me! What do Kirk, a parachute and Taylor have in common?"

"If it's something dirty, I don't want to know," Rory said biting her lip to keep from laughing.

"Rory!" Lorelai whined.

"Are you serious, are you really frustrated with me right now?"

"You're no fun!"

"I'm sorry," Rory said with a sigh, deciding it was better to humor her mother, " What do Kirk, a parachute and Taylor have in common?"

"Nothing!" Lorelai laughed. "But you put them together and it's one hell of a laugh!"

Rory shook her head. 'That was pointless."

"Hey, you would have been laughing if you had seen it!" Lorelai defended. "It was inappropriate in so many levels. I have pictures."

"Of course you do," Rory said with a roll of her eyes.

"So how are you kid?"

Rory patted Finn's knee and gestured that she was going to leave for a minute. He gave a nod taking her roasting stick as she stood up and walked a few feet away from the group.

"I'm good," she said sitting down in the sand and bringing her knees to her chest.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"How are those friends of yours treating you?"

"Good," Rory told her, "We're actually on the beach right now, having a bonfire and roasting marshmallows. And it think it'll be more fun now that there's another girl in the group."

"Really? Do tell mommy."

"Tristan's girlfriend, Stephanie, came to visit him."

"She pretty?"

"Yes," Rory nodded.

"Is she nice?"

"Very, she's Colin's cousin. Now enough about me, what about you? Is Luke back yet?"

"Very subtle. You know you've been avoiding talking about the Aussie."

"I have not!" Rory protested.

"But I'll humor you," Lorelai told her as if se had never spoken. "Luke is back, he's a bit spooked."

"Spooked?" Rory asked in confusion. Since when did Luke ever get spooked, the word afraid or timid didn't even cross her mind when thinking of her surrogate father.

"Yeah, Sookie and me went to the diner the other day to have lunch and when we asked him about his trip, he got spooked and switched the conversation to women's basketball."

"Wow, I wonder what's happened."

"Well, I'll tell you something, it's nothing good, we haven't seen Nicole around lately."

"I wonder what happened."

"I'll try and grill him later. Now let's talk about the Aussie."

"Mom."

"Rory!"

"Fine."

"So… What's he like?"

Rory bit her lip and turned her head, that was resting on her knees to look over at the person in question. As if he sensed her watching him, he turned and smiled at her. She smiled back and he sent her a wink. Rory went back to nibbling her lip.

"He's... indescribable," Rory admitted watching as Colin said something causing Finn to turn back.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

"You wouldn't know subtlety if it bit you in the ass!" Steph yelled at Colin.

"Shut up, Steph!" Colin yelled back at his cousin.

"I love being friends with you people," Tristan smirked. "You're always good for some entertainment," he laughed as Steph threw marshmallows at him.

Finn smirked at the scene. Tristan was right, being friends with the McCrea cousins sure was entertaining. They fought constantly and repeatedly, mostly attacking each other's characters and dating choices. Though now that Steph was dating Tristan, most of the digs were at the blonde himself, but he took them lightly and shrugged them off, attacking back if the need be.

"Oh shut up, Colin!" Steph yelled.

"Nice come back!" Colin yelled.

"Even nicer one!" Steph yelled back, causing Finn to roll his eyes. He felt a shiver run down his spine and felt someone watching him. He turned around and found Rory looking at him. He smiled at her causing her to smile back. He sent her a wink and she said something into her phone while still looking at him.

"When are you going to ask her out?" Colin asked, causing Finn to turn back around.

"Hey Colin, feel that?" Steph asked.

"Feel what?" Colin asked confused turning to his cousin

'That little nip? Yeah, that was subtlety biting your ass."

"I'm ignoring you now," Colin said turning back to Finn. "So..."

"I don't think she's ready yet," Finn told him.

"She's more than ready," Tristan said.

"If you're thinking about fucking and leaving her, I'm telling you right now, don't," Steph told him. "From the few minutes I've talked to her, I like her and she's another girl."

Finn rolled his eyes. "I wasn't planning that. I really like her, truly like her. She's different from all the other girls," he admitted.

"But," Tristan prompted.

"She's been hurt, a lot," he said turning his head to look at her. She was laughing at something her mom said rocking back and keeping her balance with her toes. He turned back to the group and shrugged. "I don't want to end up hurting her too."

"Well," Steph smiled as she continued watching Rory, "From the looks of it, she really likes you too, truly likes you," she said repeating his earlier words. "And I think that you should let her decide on whether you're good for her or not."

"But-"

"Go," Steph said. "I don't like looking at your face for longer than necessary and the time limit ran out a few minutes ago," she said dismissing him with a hand.

Finn rolled his eyes, put the roasting sticks down and stood up, looking at Tristan who smirked. "You better get your bloody woman under control," he said.

"With that attitude I hope Rory turns you down," Tristan shouted after him. Finn smirked as he walked over to her and sat down next to her.

"Well, I hope you figure out what's going on," Rory said into her phone turning to smile at Finn. "Ugh, I'm never going shopping with grandma again... Worse!" Rory exclaimed. "You know those dresses from the sixteen hundreds... yes, with the parasols and bonnets. Well, I now have one. Bonnet and all."

Finn could hear Lorelai laughter from where he was sitting and had to smile at Rory's agitated voice.

"It's not funny!" Rory whined. "Mom! Thank you! I'm going to go... I can't leave you in a time of need if you're not in need; and not being able to reach the remote doesn't count. One month," Rory smiled. "Love you too. Bye." Rory hung up her phone and shook her head turning to Finn.

"My mother is crazy."

"So I hear," Finn laughed. "How is she?"

"Fine. Our town is crazier than ever. Since we didn't take a break and travel around Europe, she's starting to work on the inn. Just figuring out the blueprint of what she wants."

"That's good."

"It is," Rory agreed. "It's been my mom's dream to open this inn for more than eighteen years and now... it's happening."

"That's great, love."

"It is, isn't it? It's like everything falling into place for my mom. Now if only I could find her a man."

Finn laughed. "What about for you?"

Rory shrugged. "I'm not sure about the man part."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really, why's that?"

She turned to look at him and he saw the shyness in her eyes "'Cause the man I like hasn't made a move yet." She bit her lip and turned away. In the faint moonlight he could make out the blush creeping up, then tinting her cheeks.

He smiled at her bluntness. "Well, I knew Colin liked you, but if the bastard hasn't made a move yet, then I'll go talk to him about it." Finn said starting to get up. Rory looked at him in disbelief as she pulled him back down.

"Are you serious?" She asked wide eyed.

He laughed. "Just pulling your chain, love."

"Well, I'm not fond of getting my chain yanked," Rory told him.

"I'm sorry," he said leaning forward, his hand cupping her cheek. "Would you be terribly upset if the man you liked made a move now?"

"I don't know," Rory smiled as he leaned forward. "Depends."

"On what?" He asked, his lips a breath away from hers.

"If he's a good kisser."

Finn smirked before closing the gap and brushing his lips against hers, once, twice then capturing her lips with his, causing her to scoot closer to him. Before the simple kiss could go further, he pulled back lightly.

"So?" He asked.

"I'm not terribly upset," she said opening her eyes and looking up at him with those blue orbs.

"Good to hear," he muttered before going back in and kissing her again.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX