AN: Here's the next one: Here I Go Again – Whitesnake. I've been seeing a lot of Trory's lately, and felt like doing this one.
This one is set post Dean the second time and post Jess's disappearance – prior to graduation at Chilton.
I don't own the band, or the song.
I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time – Whitesnake
He entered the hallowed halls of Chilton and wondered if she would remember him. He'd been such an ass to her when she'd started here that he wouldn't be surprised if she blocked him from her memory all together.
A bell rang indicating that classes done for the day, and students began to pour out of various classrooms. He wanted to duck into the restroom and hide until he was officially reenrolled for classes, but he wasn't quick enough.
"Tristan?" he heard a familiar voice call out to him before he could move. It was the same voice he'd heard countless times in his dreams, it sounded as angelic as he remembered.
"Hey Mare, I'm back. Did you miss me?"
"The name is Rory!" she shot back instantly. "It's four letters, two syllables, not hard to remember."
He stood still, letting her approach him. "I know. I just like to watch your cheeks turn pink when you get angry." He smirked at her, and opened his arms for a hug, not quite sure how she'd respond. She looked at him curiously, then walked into his arms.
"It's been a long time. How've you been? When did you get back? Are you back for good? What are you doing here?" The questions rolled of her tongue a mile a minute in her familiar manner, and he realized exactly how much he missed her.
"That's a lot of questions Mare," he started, "do you have a time for a cup of coffee? It'll take a while to explain it all."
"I always have time for coffee," she said with a smile.
"Shall we then?" he asked as he extended his arm towards her to guide her out of the building. She wasn't moving, so he looked down at her to find a suspicious expression on her face. He couldn't help it, he laughed out loud. "I was just planning on taking you to the coffee shop around the corner. Sheesh."
"All right," she said finally, letting him lead her out into the parking lot.
He led her towards his Porshe, and opened the passenger side door for her.
"I thought you said the coffee shop was just around the corner."
"I've been deprived of my baby for the better part of a year now, I'm driving her every chance I get," he explained.
She looked around the parking lot before climbing into the car, no doubt making sure someone saw her leaving with him, in case he decided not to bring her back. "Relax Mare, I'm not going to kidnap you. Besides, I'm sure the majority of the student body is going to be gossiping about seeing you get into my car."
"That wasn't why I was looking around. I know you won't kidnap me. I was looking for Paris."
"Why were you looking for Paris?" he asked, confused. The last he knew Paris hated Rory. "I thought you two hated each other."
"We've got a tentative truce going. I just hope this doesn't screw it up."
"How would this screw it up?" He was generally curious. "Last I heard she was seeing someone. Hell, last I heard, you were seeing someone."
"You been keeping tabs on us DuGrey?" she asked with a smile.
"Not really. You know, just the typical Hartford Gossip. My grandmother tries to connect with me by telling me about my former classmates." He started the car and backed out of the parking spot, heading for the street.
"Ah. Well, she's right about Paris, she's been seeing Jamie since summer, but then again, you never know what will set Paris off. She's wrong about me though. Jess took off for parts unknown a while ago," she told him wistfully.
"I thought Bag Boy's name was Dean?"
"It was. You don't think it's possible for me to get more than one boyfriend?" she asked sharply. He glanced over at her, surprised to see that she was actually hurt by his unintended insinuation.
"That's not what I meant. Of course you could have a million boyfriends if you wanted them. It's just that when I left, you and Bag Boy seemed to be going hot and heavy."
She seemed appeased by this answer, and they spent the rest of the short drive in silence.
They arrived at the coffee shop, and he parked quickly, but not quickly enough. "Hurry up Tristan, I need my coffee," she said heading towards the entrance while he locked the car.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," he told her, jogging toward the door. He opened the door and the smell of fresh roasted coffee smacked him in the face. He wasn't a huge coffee fan so he tried not to grimace at the overwhelming smell. Rory, on the other hand, had such a blissful look on her face that she looked intoxicated.
"Mmmm," she moaned, "I love the smell of fresh roasted coffee." From this moment on he would love the smell of fresh roasted coffee as well, it would forever be associated with Rory and the look of sheer bliss.
They took their place in the very short line, and soon enough it was his turn to order. "I'll have a tall drip, with room," he told the barista, "and whatever she's having," he added pointing to Rory.
"I can get my own coffee you know."
"I know you can, but today it's my treat."
"Fine. But I'll buy next time," she told him, then turned her attention to the barista, "Can I get a venti white chocolate caramel mocha, with an extra shot?"
"Of course," the barista said.
Tristan looked at her with awe, "what on earth did you just order?"
"Coffee," she said with a tone that implied the word duh, to the end of her sentence.
"No where in that order did I hear the word coffee," he replied.
"It's implied in both mocha and extra shot."
He gave the cashier a 10 dollar bill, grabbed his drip and headed towards an empty table. He sat down, pulled the lid off his coffee, and added cream and sugar, then waited for Rory's coffee to be ready and for her to join him. He took the extra moment to try and figure out how much he wanted to tell her. He looked up when he heard the chair across from him slide across the hardwood floors.
"Alright DuGrey, enough stalling. Time to answer my questions," she said with a smile.
"Okay, what was the first one again?"
"Tristan!" she exclaimed exasperatedly.
"Right, how've I been?" he repeated her first question, then paused to think about it for a second. "I've been okay. Military school's no fun, but it's probably been good for me. Made some friends, learned some discipline, all that stuff."
"I'm glad then," she replied, acknowledging what he said, but not wanting to disrupt his flow.
"Let's see, what's next? Oh yes, when did I get back? I got back two days ago. I spent yesterday and most of today getting stuff straightened up at home. I am back for good – at least that's my intention. And what was the last one?"
"What were doing at Chilton?" she reminded him.
"You're a smart girl that one should be fairly obvious," he said with a grin. She shot him a dirty look and he decided just to answer her question. "I have to finish high school somewhere. What better place than Chilton?"
A flurry of emotions crossed her face. Happiness, sadness, frustration, excitement and she finally settled on society mask that betrayed no emotions at all.
"What's going on in that pretty little head of yours Mary?" he asked genuinely concerned.
"So you're back."
"Yep."
"And you're still calling me Mary."
"Yep."
"So should I expect to find you making out with Barbie of the week on my locker tomorrow morning?"
"What? No! Why would you think that?"
"Well, it seems like you've been gone for a year, and you come back like nothing's changed. I'm just trying to prepare myself."
"It may not look like it, but I have changed. That's why I'm back. My dad finally decided I'd learned my lesson," he told her, looking down at his coffee, annoyed that he had to expose that part to her. It made him feel like such a child. He was only back because his daddy said it was okay.
"So no Barbie tomorrow then?" she reiterated.
"I'm good but not that good." She looked up at him and he smirked. "Give me at least a week. Besides, I think I've out grown my Barbie phase. I'm moving on girls I can actually hold a conversation with."
She looked at him curiously, with a bit of surprise.
"Who knows, it may even be you," he said cockily.
She smiled slightly, blushed, then controlled her features into a glare that said 'never gonna happen buster'. "In your dreams DuGrey."
"We'll just see about that."
She was single, and potentially interested, this time around was going to be so much more fun!
AN: All right, please review and let me know what you think.
Also, any requests for what's next?
Thanks for reading and reviewing - S
