Subj:[gilmoregirlsfanfiction] FIC: "Commuinty Service" (R/T) Date:1/31/02 7:04:13 AM Eastern Standard Time From:elizamou@gps.edu Title: COMMUNITY SERVICE Author: Lizzy Lou Distribution: Just Tell Me Spoilers: um... Up to Run Away, Little Boy Rating: PG or G but G sounds too Disneyish Summary: It's Community Service Week at Chilton Prep... Pairing: Rory/Tristan Disclaimer: A 14 year old could not write such great episodes, thank you for playing. Tuesday: Woodpark Elementary Another day of community service, this time at Woodpark Elementary playing with the kids and helping the teacher. It was Chilton's Community Service Week. Hopefully Paris hadn't signed up for this one too! It was hard enough having her yell at her that it was her wall she was putting together; she didn't want her yelling that she wasn't coloring inside the lines or something stupid like that. When she finally found the elementary school it was 7:45. She climbed out of her car, grabbed her backpack and huge thermos filled with coffee and slurped up the life-giving beverage quickly. As she walked in she heard an all too familiar voice. "Rory? What are you doing here?" She turned around. Tristan. Rory groaned and attempted to look annoyed and attempted to ignore the Texas-sized butterflies attempting to flutter in her stomach. "I might ask you the same question, Mr. DuGrey, given that you're supposed to be at military school somewhere in North Carolina." "I came back yesterday: the start of Community Service Week. I'm going to Chilton again. My parents thought it was too disgraceful to have a son holed up at military school when they could be matching him up with some rich snobby girl. I picked Community Service Week: it seemed like the perfect to blend back into the school," he said disgustedly "Oh...okay then, well welcome back. What did you do yesterday?" "I came here." "Fun?" "The kids are a riot." "Ah...any other Chilton kids here?" "Not many, but no Paris. So, let's go, ready?" "Yeppers!" Rory said, peppy and cheery after she had taken another sip of her strong black coffee. Lunch Room They spent most of the day in different classrooms helping different teachers. They met up again in the lunchroom. "Yuck! Who pairs pizza and corn? It's not like peanut butter and jelly or bacon and eggs or Lorelai and Luke or coffee and muffins! This food is as bad as it was when I went to elementary school." "Lorelai and Luke?" "My mom and her coffee provider slash secret love slash my father figure." "Ahh...well, I must admit, this food is so much worse than the food was at Chilton during elementary school." "Brrrring! Brrrring!" the bell rang signaling the end of lunch period and the beginning of... "Recess!!! Yea!" Rory called. "Well, you certainly are chipper." "Considering that my mom is an angel why wouldn't I be!" she said, referring to the coffee that her mom had secretly packed in her backpack. Rory had discovered it while digging for her copy of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. She quickly ran out the door leaving Tristan to stare after her quickly moving body. 'God she's beautiful.' "Hurry up, Tristan!" he ran to catch up. The Grounds Rory ran over to the swings and ardently demanded, "Push me!" to Tristan. "Yes, Your Majesty." After awhile she got tired of it, grabbed Tristan's hand and pulled him over to a group of kids, trying to ignore the tingles that ran through her arm. "Hi! I'm Rory and this is Tristan. Can we play tag with you?" "Sure! Not it!" one of the kids replied. Everyone caught one except for Tristan, and he was left to stare blankly at the receding backs of the kids and Rory. "Tristan! You're it, idiot!" Tristan finally caught on and ran after Rory. She was faster than he had realized but his height allowed him to easily catch up to her. "Tag! Got you! You're it!" Tristan yelled joyfully. He accidentally pushed Rory too hard, so, naturally, she grabbed out to the closest solid object, which happened to be him, and they fell down on top of each other. Their faces were inches apart; the gap was about to close. They had almost forgotten about the kids standing around them until they heard the familiar rhyme: "Tristan and Rory, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage!" shouted by all of the kids. They quickly rolled apart, embarrassed. "Perhaps we could finish this later, Mary?" Tristan muttered. "Hah-hah." "No, seriously, Rory." "Tristan, that was just a temporary lapse of sanity," Rory stated, unable to admit it to herself that she had wanted it to happen since the kiss at Madeline's party. "Oh," he replied, trying not to look or sound hurt by ending with his trademark smirk to brush it off. "Are you guys finished yet?" "Yep!" "You're it, Rory. Remember?" one of the kids said. "I remember all right and you all better watch out!" "Oh I'm so afraid!" "You'll be sorry you said that, Mr. DuGrey," Rory said as she ran after him. Recess was soon over, and everyone ran inside. Rory hung back, trying to sort out her feelings. 'Maybe I'm on the rebound? I mean, Dean and I only broke up a couple of weeks ago. I don't think that counts as the rebound anymore. Hmm...I don't know. I mean, school just started. Maybe I'm just nervous about seeing him again after so long. He left more than six months ago. I'm just not used to him...that's gotta be it. What else could it be?' Tristan saw Rory lagging behind and jogged back to walk with her. "Earth to Mary! Earth to Mary! Come in please. Uh-oh! I think we're losing contact!" Rory gave Tristan a dirty look. He quickly recovered with, "Oh...she was just going through the atmosphere for a longer amount of time than usual; that's why we couldn't hear her!" "Oh, so now I'm Apollo 13?" "That's a great new nickname...Apollo!" "Stop it!" "Why?" "Because...because I'm not a spaceship." Rory finished lamely. "Well you are incredibly spacey!" "Hah-hah-hah. I'm rolling on the floor laughing." "Oo! Oo! Let me get down there with you. I could teach you a few things." Tristan wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Tristan! There are kids here!" "Speaking of kids...what ever happened to bag boy?" "Broke up, two weeks ago." "Oh, I'm sorry. So...did you hear about the big statue they're putting up in the park in Hartford?" he asked, sensing she wasn't comfortable talking about it yet. "Yep...my grandmother's on the advisory board for the park." Rory answered, thankful that he had changed the subject. "She's so excited about it, especially since it's going to be of some guy that's supposedly my great-great uncle who was in the Civil War or something like that." "Fun, fun: history! My favorite subject!" Tristan replied sarcastically. "Well at least it's an easy A!" "Sure, sure. Come, on. We're supposed to go help the teacher in art now!" "Okay...what're they doing?" "Clay." Art Room The kids were incredibly good at messing themselves up with any and everything. The glaze for their clay animals was all in their hair, on their clothes and on their skin. The clay was underneath their nails and in every little crevice of their bodies and clothes. Rory was also covered with everything: she had been stuck with the messiest kids, and she wasn't that neat with art herself. Tristan, on the other hand, was spotless. "You look like my mom at night!" was all Tristan could say when he saw Rory's clay covered face and paint splattered clothes. "Oh thanks! I feel so much better! Do they happen to have any kind of shower thing here? I have a change of clothes, once again courtesy of my mom, the angel." "No, but my house is really close if you want to use the showers there." Rory sighed, "I guess it's my only option. Is school almost over?" "Ten minutes." Rory faced the longest ten minutes of her life. The teachers decided that the kids could have a recess for the rest of the day and went off to the teacher's lounge for a coffee break, leaving Tristan, Rory and a handful of other Chilton kids to look after the kids as they ran wild. "Waahhh!" one kid cried. "Play with me!" another. "Now I know why I never took up babysitting." Tristan just sat there, watching his watch. "Five... four... three... two... one... okay, kids, schools out!" A collective scream of joy went up as all of the kids ran back towards the school to get their backpacks. "Come on, Mary. You can follow me in your car to my house." Tristan said as he hoisted her backpack over his shoulder. "I can get that!" "Hey what can I say? I'm a gentleman!" In Rory's Car What the heck is wrong with me? I'm supposed to hate his guts or something! All I can think about is how nice it was not to push talking about Dean. I mean, he probably would understand, though. How many guys want to go out with me? I should've known all along that Dean was seeing some cheerleader secretly! It got kinda obvious near the end. 'Sorry, babe, I've gotta baby-sit Clara.' And then when I'd call and talk to him his mom would say, 'Oh, he's out with some people. Baby-sitting Clara? No way! We hire Judy down the street to do that, and we didn't even ask her to today!' How could I've been so naïve? Tristan's Car God, why did she have to come here and intoxicate me again? I can barely breath when she's close, let alone coherently speak! I was hoping Community Service Week would be a good time to find some dumb cheerleader-type and bury my thoughts about her in unwanted kisses. But no! She had to show up here on the second day! Now I know I'll just follow her around the rest of the week, sign up for whatever she signs up for and attempt to be her partner in everything. They finally arrived at Tristan's house and both buried their thoughts of each other. Whoa! This house is bigger than Grandma and Grandpa's! How can three people live in this all by themselves! I bet Tristan has his own wing! "Right this way milady," Tristan said in a fake British accent. "Why thank-you, kind sir," Rory said, playing along. DuGrey Mansion "Okay, here's the shower. My room's right next store, come in there once you're finished." "Thanks, Tristan." "You're welcome, Mary." Did Tristan just say Mary like a pet name? Did I just say Mary like a pet name? "Tristan?" "Finished so soon?" "No, I just realized I need a towel and soap." "Just use the stuff in there." "Thanks." Rory ran back to the shower, got in and quickly washed herself. "I'm really finished this time, but I need a hair dryer." "Oh, sorry, here." Tristan handed her one. "Thanks so much." "No prob." Rory dried her hair and walked back over to Tristan's room. She found him lying on his bed with his head off the side and his eyes closed. Rory softly walked up and sunk down so she was right next to his ear and yelled, "Boo!" at the top of her lungs. Tristan had known she was in the room the second she had walked in but decided to play along and screamed like a girl just to humor her. "I wouldn't have expected you to scream like a girl Tristan! I though you were some big macho type." "We all have our feminine sides," he said in a high girlish voice, playing along. "Some more than others," Rory quipped. They sat for a few minutes in uncomfortable silence until... "You hungry, thirsty?" "Got any coffee?" "What kind do you want?" They had walked down to the kitchen, and Tristan had opened a cabinet filled with every type of coffee that could be found in the greater Hartford area. "You really know a way to a girl's heart, Tristan. I bet you take all the girls here, to your kitchen!" "If I'd know that this was the way to your heart I would've given you some long ago. You want me don't you?" "To borrow a line from Ten Things I Hate About You 'Am I that transparent? I want you, I need you, oh baby, oh baby.'" "What would you say to...seeing me in a tub full of coffee, naked." "I'd mourn the loss of the poor coffee. It would be immediately contaminated after touching you!" "Touché!" "Look, Tristan...I've got to go! It's already 5:00, and I need to do some homework and be home by 6:30." She started toward the door. "Wait..." she turned around. "What are you doing tomorrow?" "Um...I think I signed up to help with Widow's Harvest." "What's that?" "They help widows around the area do odd jobs that they need done and can't do themselves." "Might see you there, then." Luke's "Evil Tristan's back?" "Yep." "When can I meet him?" "Hopefully never." "Aww... come on! He can watch Willy with us on movie night!" "Fine... if I see him again this week I'll tell him my crazy mother wants him to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!" "Whatever you want...just invite him to come on Saturday." "Fine! Only if you'll not tell any embarrassing baby stories, steal his coffee or anything of the sort. Ooo! I forgot to tell you about his coffee stash! He had a cabinet filled with every kind that you could find in Connecticut it looked like!" "I definitely need to meet this guy! He had his priorities in order!" Wednesday: Mrs. Gillian's Home Tristan had arrived early to see what this Widow's Harvest thing was all about. He looked around and noticed people staring at him. Duh! His mother hadn't circulated the news that he was back yet! He walked around chatting it up with friends and old girlfriends alike. That was when he saw her. She was like one of those visions on cartoons that when you see them they're all glowy and music plays. She was attempting to carry an oversized bag. "You don't have to take it!" "I'm a gentleman. Why wouldn't I?" "Sure, sure, you just think that. Carry it if you like. Are you doing anything on Saturday?" Was she asking him out? He decided to play it cool. "I don't know...why?" "My crazy coffee-crazed mother wanted me to invite you over to watch Willy with us, and I agreed to ask in a moment of coffee induced hysteria." "William Shakespeare?" "No, silly! Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!" "Ah... sure." "Only guideline is you bring the coffee!" "What kind?" "All of 'em!" "It's a date." "No, it isn't." "I was just using the cliché meaning that I'll be there." "Oh. Just making sure." The rest of the day was uneventful. Luke's "You actually asked him? I was just kidding around." "I got him to bring coffee." "How did I get such a smart daughter?" "Obviously not from your side of the family." Lorelai sat there pouting when Luke came over to their table. "Hey, Lukey-poo!" "Lorelai, no pet names." "Aww...pweas?" She put on a puppy dog face. "Wanna come watch Willy with us on Saturday?" "Willy who?" "Men are so stupid," she said to Rory, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, of course!" "I guess." "Great... you bring the snacks!" "No coffee!" "We've already got someone bringing that." "Oh really, who?" "Evil Tristan." "Bring Jess, Luke." "Sure, Rory, if you want him there." "I want him to meet the Devil Incarnate." "Whatever." *END PART ONE* Community Service Part Two GILMORE HOUSE (Well duh...where else would they have the movie!) "Ding-dong" "They're here! They're here!" Lorelai and Rory ran towards the door. "Hah hah I beat you," Lorelai taunted Rory. "No, fair! You got a head start." "D'ya wanna answer the door or me?" "I will, consolation for losing. Hi there..." "Hi Ms. Gilmore, Rory." "I'm Lorelai and you must be the famous or should I say INfamous Tristan." "So I do get talked about outside of school!" Rory continued to stare at him, "Rory? Are you in there?" "Hello, hello, hello/Is there anybody in there?/Just nod if you can hear me/Is there anyone at home?" Lorelai said, quoting Pink Floyd. "Oh, sorry, hi, Tristan." "Hello there, Rory." "Ding dong!" "I'll get it, stay here you little lovebirds." "We're not..." they both started at the same time but Lorelai was already gone. "Luke! Jess! Hi! Come in and meet Tristan the coffee bearing god!" "Ok, Lorelai...calm down. I see you've already had some coffee or two tons." Luke said. "Jess! You are the food-bearing god! Two gods...how are we going to choose, Rory?" "We will make sacrifices to you. Bow down to you. We will sacrifice Paris to you." "Aw...be nice Rory, Paris isn't that bad!" "You wouldn't know, Tristan. She's obsessed with you; she hates me because of a certain pair of tickets last year." "She's not over that yet?" "She holds a grudge well." Jess stood there watching the two battling teens. Rory finally noticed him and said, "Oh, sorry, Jess this is Tristan, Tristan, Jess." "Nice to meet you, Jess." "Tristan." "MOVIE TIME, MOVIE TIME!!! Yeah!!!!!" Lorelai yelled, interrupting the moment. They all sat there watching the movie quietly until the first song. "Oompa, Loompa, dopeda di..." Lorelai and Rory went. The three guys sat there wondering what they were doing. They sang through all of the songs until the end of the movie. By that time, however they were too high on coffee and candy to fall asleep that night. "Aww...it's over! Let's watch it again!" "Sorry, Lorelai, Jess and I have to go. The diner does open on Sundays." "Bye Luke, Jess." "Bye-bye Lukey, Jessy-poo!" "Bye Luke, Jess, bro." Tristan and Jess had found they had a lot in common while watching the movie. Tristan was the prep school bad boy, and Jess was the small town A Walk to Remember bad-boy. The only difference between them was the fact that Tristan was hopelessly in love with Rory, and Jess only felt brotherly feelings for her. (A/N: don't worry, I want Jess and Rory together now because Tristan is gone...sniff... but if Tristan came back I'd want Trory pairing.) "Do you need to go, Tristan?" Rory asked. "My parents don't care where I am, as long as I do nothing to disgrace the DuGrey name." "Okay. Well we were planning on watching late night I Love Lucy re- runs next." Lorelai said. "I think I'll pass. I don't have good Lucy memories." "Break-up with an old girlfriend?" "Nah...just don't." Rory didn't want to push it. "See you Monday!" "Ahh yes, fair Mary." "Tristan..." "Bye, Rory." End part 2 Part 3: Another Manic Monday (I love saying that!) "Stupid, stupid locker. Die! Die! Die! I hate you I hate you I hate you. Open, pretty please adorable little thing? Come on? You know you want to!" a hand reached down and the locker popped open. "How do you know my combination," she turned around, "Tristan?" "I don't, I just have a way with lockers. They love me." By that point Rory was furiously digging through her locker, but to no avail. "Where is that stupid book?! I know I didn't take it home over the weekend! We had no homework!" "Here you go; it had fallen out of your locker." "Thanks... Where's my stupid pen...I am going to go crazy!!!! Oh, here you are little baby!" she tested the pen, "You devil pen! What happened to all your ink? You were brand new!" "Here, you can borrow one of mine." "Thanks." "Ready for class now?" "I hope so!" Math Class (A/N does anyone happen to know her math teacher's name? I'm just using my 7th grade Pre-Algebra teacher because I loved her so much then she decided to leave and go back to England and leave us in the hands of a horrid teacher. I love my 8th grade Algebra teacher too, but Mrs. Wilson doesn't sound as cool as Mrs. Montague...are you still reading my ramblings? Go on to the story!) "Okay, class. Get out a fresh piece of paper and a pencil. Pop quiz!" Mrs. Montague said in her British accent. A collective groan traveled throughout the class. Mrs. Montague pulled up the overhead projector white thingy (A/N anyone know what it's called?) to reveal some lovely Calculus problems that the author doesn't know how to do because she's only in Algebra so she won't try to give an example. 30 minutes later "Thank you class, please put down your pencils and hand in your quizzes." Quizzes arrived from all over the room to her desk. "Thank you, take out your notes now." She pulled the projector thingy back down and began to write example problems and show the class how to do them. In the Halls After Class "Could this day get any worse?" "Hello there, Mary." "I guess it could." "Look, I just wanted to borrow your history notes from when I was gone. You do owe me." "Oh, okay, sure, but I do need them tonight." "I'll copy them on the Xerox® machine and bring them to your house later." "You don't have to do that." "Well you said you needed them." "Yeah, but we do have a copy machine at school. You don't need to take them home." 'How could I've forgotten about that?' "Yeah," Tristan recovered, "But it doesn't copy as well as the one at my house." "Okay," Rory said skeptically, "I'll give them to you next period. History is my next class." "I have that too." "Oh, goody, goody gumdrops." "You know you want me." "Do I have to quote Ten Things I Hate About You constantly around you? Here goes then, 'Am I that transparent? I want you, I need you, oh baby, oh baby.'" (A/N I know I'm overusing that-twice already- but I love that line to death.) "Hah, hah, hah. Oh, by the way, will Jess be around?" "After you drop them off go by Luke's and find out." "I don't live in Stars Hollow. I don't know where that is." "Oh, right, well I'll be going there anyway. I'll take you there after you give me my notes. You two really hit it off, huh?" "Yep, we found out we have a lot in common." "Well, you remember where my house is, right?" "Yep." "Okay. So it should take you like 15 minutes to copy them and then and hour to drive there... okay so you should be there in about and hour and a half." "Sure, I'll be there like 20 minutes after you get there so why don't you just come with me?" "I don't have anything to change into." "Then get changed when you get to your house." "Um... I don't know." "C'mon, Rory, I don't bite!" "Okay... I guess." "Great, let's go to class, Juliet." "Oh great, a new nickname." So the rest of the day passed uneventfully as they tend to do in my stories after the nice conflict of the day and it was soon 3:30. "Ready to go?" "I guess." Tristan's house was incredibly close to Chilton so it only took about ten minutes to get there. "Okay, why don't you go have some coffee or something? You remember where the kitchen is, right? I'll be down in 20 minutes or so." Rory walked over to the kitchen and tried in vain to find the cabinet that held the endless supply of coffee. "What are you looking for, hun?" Rory jumped, "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to startle ya," the plump lady said. "That's okay, I wasn't expecting anyone to be down here." "Who are you?" "I'm Tristan's friend, Rory." "Ah," she nodded knowingly. "No, just friend, nothing else." Rory said catching on. The lady smiled secretly, "So what were you looking for?" "The coffee cabinet." "Oh, yes. It's right here. What kind do you want?" "Um... whatever kinds the best." "How about this great mix that I came up with the other day: hazelnut, Cappuccino, French vanilla and hot chocolate? I'm Marnie, the cook, by the way." (A/N: that mix really does taste good, I make it at school a lot!) "Sounds great, thank-you." Tristan came down the stairs finding the two of them sitting cozily deep in conversation. He sunk over and covered Rory's eyes. "Guess who?" "Ooo, ooo, could it be the old but still incredibly hot Brad Pitt?" "Very funny, ready to go." "Sure, bye Marn!" "Bye, you two!" 'Those two are so in love with each other. If only they'd admit it.' Luke's "Hi Luke! Coffee! Coffee! Coffee!" "You just had coffee with Marnie, Rory." "It's out of my system, now." "No, Rory." "Jess, reason with him please?" "Here you go, Rory, drink it fast before either of them see." "Thanks, Jess. Here's Tristan. He wanted to see you, but I've gotta go." "D'ya need to be walked home?" Tristan asked. "Stars Hollow's not the highest city on the list of crime rate." "Yeah, but look outside." She looked out and saw Dean making out with some empty headed blonde. (A/N: I have nothing against blondes, have you seen legally blonde? I am blonde in the summer!) "I think I'll be fine, but thanks for thinking of me, Tristan." "No prob." END PART THREE Part Four: Jess the Meddler... Part A: Tristan "You like her, dude, don't you?" Tristan just sighed and watched her walk away. "Anyone in there?" Jess waved his hands in front of Tristan's eyes. "Tristan, this is earth. We must've lost you for a minute, but we hope you're back now... Tristan? Dude! Stop staring at her." Rory disappeared behind the corner. "You were saying?" "You like her." "It's obvious to everyone but her." "She may be book smart, but she's really not emotionally that smart." "She's certainly mastered the playing with emotions part. Dude, I've gotta tell you something, but you can't tell her I told you!" "Promise, but she's like my sister... Lorelai and Luke'll be getting married any day now." "Really?" "No... they just flirt enough for it. So what were you gonna tell me?" "Okay... so we were at this party, and she was helping me through this break-up I'd just had with a girl. I didn't like the girl, but she left me with something before she went off to make-out in the bathroom: Rory. I had gone off in this room to be by myself, and she heard me playing the piano in a room and came to see what it was. She found me and we started talking-she had just broken up with Dean for the first time 2 or so days before, and I had gotten my first dump. We were talking, and I just leaned in and kissed her. She responded until she remembered that she had just broken up I think and ran away. That Monday we both 'mutually'-but not mutually on my part- that it was on the rebound and she set me up with Paris... of course it didn't work. I had fallen way to much for her by that point." (A/N: okay, okay, okay...so boys don't talk like that... but can we pretend that he's one of those sensitive...hot...dream boys that we'll never ever meet for just a minute?) "God, you really love her don't you?" "Yeah... but she'd never love me." "We'll just see about that." A plan was beginning to form in Jess' head. "I've gotta go do my homework now. I was just supposed to drop off Rory and her notes. Shoot! She forgot to take them." "I'll take them over to her for you." "Thanks and tell her I'm sorry I forgot." JESS THE MEDLER: Part B: Rory 'Perfect...' Jess thought, 'Now I can see what Rory thinks about Tristan. Gotta play it cool though...don't want her suspecting.' "Jess!" "Rory? I was just coming over to your house." "O-kay...but is Tristan still here? I forgot to get my notes from him." "That's why I was coming. He says he's sorry he forgot to give them to you." Jess fell in step with Rory and began to walk her home. "You don't need to walk me home. This isn't New York!" "I'm not. I'm just walking with you to your house. We need to talk." "What about?" "Tristan." "Oh great." "I want to know how you feel about him." "Did he set you up to this?" "Nope." "How can I be so sure?" "Do I need to revert back to my childhood? Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. I pinky-swear." He held out his pinky and Rory hooked hers with it, "I swear no crosses count-not even my nose hair!" "I guess I believe you." "Good. Now, what do you think about him? I know you like him-a least a platonic like or else you wouldn't put up with him so much. But, do you like him more than just on the friendship level?" "Um... well that's a toughie, and I haven't even put on my thinking cap yet!" "I'm serious, Rory. I see you sometimes look like you want to kiss him or something." "How would you know that?" Rory asked, obviously flustered. "It's in your eyes." "Fine. I guess the eyes don't lie. You got me there. I like him a lot but sometimes he just pushes my buttons and I wouldn't even consider us friends. Even then, though...He almost kissed me when we were at that school. The funny thing is...I wanted him to." "Do you like him: yes or no?" "Yes...No...I don't know." "Yes or no, Rory." "Oh, fine. As much as I hate to admit it, yes." "Thanks, Rory, see ya." They had gotten to Rory's house, "You were a big help." "O-kay...whatever. See ya tomorrow." END PART FOUR! PART FIVE: EVERYONE'S IN ON IT EXCEPT THE TWO THAT IT APPLIES TO... "Mom? Are you here?" "In my room." "What are you doing there?" "Updating my list of 'Fifty Nifty Ways to Torture Rory's Boyfriend.' I've got fifty-one now." "I have no boyfriend." "Right..." "Truly." "Mmmhmm... Well I came up with a great one anyway." "Which would be..." "Call him incessantly telling him I'm you and then hang up." "Fun... Can I try it with your boyfriend?" Lorelai walked down the stairs. "What boyfriend?" "Someone whose name starts with an L." "Oooo! Is it Landon Carter from A Walk to Remember?" "Given that he's a fictional character played by Shane West... no. But it is someone you know quite well and see EVERY SINGLE DAY! Oh and the last letter of his name is E, and there's a 'uk' in the middle." "No... Luke is just my wonderful coffee provider." "Just admit it, Mom." "Ahh! Die evil daughter!" A pillow came flying at Rory's head. "Evil mother!!!" As we leave the Gilmore Girls they are whacking each other with pillows quite hard. Jess was walking along the main road of Stars Hollow thinking. 'I wonder if she would...no that would never work. Hey...what about if...nah, they'd never fall for it...I've got it! The classic "come meet me, but you'll actually be meeting the other person, and I will only show up with a picnic basket and blanket." Hopefully they'll fall for that...I'll have to ask Rory for Tristan's number.' Jess started walking toward the diner. "Bring...bring...bring..." "Where's the phone, Mom?" "Um...I think it's underneath the pile of pillows we made." She began to dig furiously through the pile, "Got it...Hello? Hey Jess...Yeah she's right here...oh...okay...sure...here she is." She handed the phone to Rory and mouthed 'It's Jess' to which Rory mouthed, 'No...really? Sure you don't call Sookie that?' "Hi Jess...Tristan's number?...Okay let me go get my facebook and get it...sure...just hold on for uno momento, por favor." Rory walked to her room, and Lorelai went to pick up the phone and bother Jess. "Hi Jessy-poo, Lorelai here...no, she's still getting it...because I want to know why you need his number...yeah right, sure...tell me the truth...you want to get them together?...not gonna work...because they won't admit it to themselves yet, let alone each other...okay, I'll help if you really want...tell Rory to meet you at the lake on Friday...yes I'm sure that's plenty of time...it's only Monday, Jess, don't stress," Rory's door started to open, "Look, Jessy, I've gotta go, Rory's back with the number...Okay here she is." Lorelai proceeded to hand Rory the phone; Rory mouthed, 'what in the world were you doing' and gave her a mean look. "Yeah, Jess, I'm here...his number...yeah...it's 695-0352... (A/N: made up number FYI) Okay...sure, it was no problem...see you tomorrow...bye!" she hung up the phone, "What in the world were you doing?" "Just makin' friendly conversation." "Why?" "Felt like bugging him." "Oh really?" "Yes, evil daughter." "Die, evil mother." Rory threw a pillow at her mom to continue the Gilmore Girls Pillow Fight '02 THE NEXT DAY not much happened but we're (me and my 5 other personalities) gonna say it anyway. "Oh, Rory?" "Yeah?" "Jess called before you got home and said to meet him at the lake on Friday." "I guess I can do that..." "He said it was kinda important." "Then why won't he tell me today?" "Guess he wants it to be a surprise?" "Maybe." UP AT LUKE'S HOUSE ABOVE THE DINER... "Tristan? Jess...Yeah...Rory gave it to me...well anyway I was wondering if you could meet me in Stars Hollow on Friday?...At the lake...I'll give you directions...you know how to get to Stars Hollow, right?...okay...once you're there you might want to park in town and walk...go past the park...go down the path and there it is...k, see ya then...bye." END PART FIVE!!!!! PART SIX: SITTIN' ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY...I MEAN LAKE So of course the rest of the week went by quickly. Rory had a test on Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone, Sophecles' three great works all at once, but of course she got an 'A' which is almost what your esteemed author (HAH!) got on her Oedipus the King test (an 87%-B+ and I'm quite proud!) Tristan did a little worse at an A-, which is still better than your author here! Both were wondering what Jess wanted but neither brought it up with the other for some incredibly odd reason...but it's obvious why! :) I can manipulate them and bend them to my wills... they will not be the same when you get them back BWAH HA HA .:Continues to cackle evilly as she types the rest of the story:. SATURDAY AT THE GILMORE HOMESTEAD (jk) "Rory, hun, it's 1:45...you might want to get a move on if you want to be at the lake on time." "Thanks for reminding me, Mom, I almost forgot... almost." Rory ran to her room and grabbed her green sweater, a book and a travel mug of coffee and ran out the door. AT THE DUGREY MANSION ABOUT AN HOUR EARLIER Tristan looked over at his clock, "Shoot, I have to go." He put down the book he was reading: Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals, a book that he had heard Rory enjoyed. (I just finished it...it's incredibly good! I recommend it...even if you don't like non-fiction like moi!) Tristan ran out to the garage and opened his car door, sat down, put the keys in the ignition and drove away towards Stars Hollow (A/N: DOES ANYONE KNOW THE POPULATION OF STARS HOLLOW, OR DOES IT NEVER SAY???) BACK TO RORY!!! Rory was humming on her way to the lake and skipping along the road. She turned down the path to the lake. I wonder what Jess wanted. She walked toward the dock. I wonder where he is. She walked out on the dock. I wonder why there's a picnic basket there? TRISTAN NOW... Tristan opened the door to his car, got out, shut it and locked the door behind him. He walked past the park and quickly noticed a path. I wonder why Jess wanted to meet here? He walked down the path and reached the lake. I wonder where he is. He noticed a dock and walked towards it. I wonder why that girl is there? Wait...that girl...is that Rory? He walked out on the dock. "Rory?" she looked up startled at hearing her name from someone besides Jess. "What are you doing here?" "Shouldn't I be asking you that, Mr. DuGrey?" "Not this time... Jess told me to come here today." "I wonder where he is... but there is this picnic basket out here." "Why?" "Don't know but there's a note on it." She picked up the paper and proceeded to read it, "'Tris and Ror- Surprise! If you're reading this you've probably realized by now that I'm not gonna show up. I've got confessions from both of you-don't deny it and you know what I'm talking about...well...here's your chance. I "borrowed" some food from the diner. Yes Rory, there's coffee, cheeseburgers and fries and cake, cookies, ice cream if it hasn't melted and pie. And don't worry Tristan-I didn't tell her what you told me. Same to you Ror only change the her to him...I know what you're both thinking...but just eat it and maybe it'll help. I know, I know, Rory-it's kinda like our picnic for the picnic basket contest thingy. Just dig in... -Jess' Well that's odd. What should we do?" "I suggest we do what it says-eat." "Kay." They proceeded to open the picnic basket and found all that Jess had promised and more. There was a blanket and even a CD player with some music. They dug in to the food and quickly finished it all. Afterwards they had time to talk. "I wonder why Jess did this." "No idea." "Well it was nice of him." "Yep." They sat in comfortable silence for a while and Tristan's thoughts had time to go crazy: Why in the world did I just tell her I had no idea. I should tell her...no I shouldn't...I don't want to ruin whatever we have right now...I'll wait awhile. Rory pulled her book out and began to read. Of course she wasn't really reading. That couldn't interest her now...other things were on her mind. I know why Jess did this...he wants me to tell him...but what if he doesn't feel the same way? I should tell him...I don't know...I'll wait and tell him in a little bit...I need to work my wits up first. God, DuGrey...who cares...even if she doesn't like you, you should still tell her before you graduate and never see each other again or something...there's a small chance that she may like you too. I know I should tell him...Jess must see something I don't...Throw reason to the wind, Rory. Just tell him. They said each other's names simultaneously. "You first." "No, ladies first." "Just go, Tristan." She was going to make this difficult. Tristan took a deep breath. "Rory." She sat there expectantly, "R...Mary...Rory. Jules... (Short for Juliet...something that had replaced Mary lately). Jules, I've gotta tell you something." She sat there looking so innocent. "What is it, Tristan?" "I know why Jess got us here today." "I do too." "You do? How do you know?" "All I know is that he got me here because he asked me if I liked you and as much as I hated to admit it I told him yes." "You...you like me?" "Yes, Tristan. Now you know what I was going to tell you, what were you going to say?" Rory was surprise about how easy it was to say once she had the right words. "He got me here because I gave him a long speech about how you helped me at Madeline's party to get through my break-up and then the kiss and then the rebound slash you setting me up with Paris and then I told him I loved you." Rory gasped. He doesn't just like me? He loves me? Uh-oh, reminisces of the first break-up with Dean! "Tristan, you know I like you but I don't think I could tell you I love you yet. Those are special words that I've learned not to throw around. I got really hurt last time I said them." "I know, Rory, and I'm not pressuring you to, I don't want to lose you over something like that. Your love is precious, and I don't deserve it yet. I want you to say it whenever, or never if you never love me." "It's not that, Tristan, I just want to spend more time with you and learn more about you first. I really, really like you, and I may love you, but I want to wait and see more of you before I make that decision." "I know, Ror, I want you to say it whenever you're ready." "Thanks, Tristan." "Welcome, Jules." "Maybe I should stop torturing Paris by calling her Romeo and start calling you that...you were supposed to be my Romeo and you really are now..." "Perhaps I should go ahead and act that part I meant to act out that night." He began to quote Shakespeare, "'Oh true apothecary, the drug is swift, and with this kiss, I die.'" He leaned over and gently pressed his lips to hers. Rory responded, trying to get as close to him as possible, melding her shape into his. It was a sweet kiss, not at all pressuring or controlling. Through it, he was trying to convey that he would go at her speed and no one else's. They slowly pulled apart when Rory heard a familiar voice yell her name. She turned around. "Dean?" END PART SIX PART SEVEN: AND THE ALL LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER...OR DID THEY? (A/N: Sry if Dean comes across as a jerk in this. I needed a way to make my story work.) Great. I lay my heart on the line and her ex-boyfriend still finds a way to mess everything up. She'll probably run back to him if he'll take her. Can't I have one thing in my life that I love? "Dean, why are you here?" "I heard you talking. I thought you hated him." "Things change, Dean. I never hated him; I was just really mad at him." "I thought you loved me." He started toward them. "You broke up with me, Dean. I was heartbroken for awhile, but then Tristan came back and helped me through it." "I thought love was forever." "If love was forever then why'd you break up with me even though I said 'I love you'?" she stood up. She so beautiful when she's angry; her blue eyes are so fiery. I remember when that used to be the only way she'd look at me. Tristan stood up too. "I ask again, why are you with Mr. Accountant?" "Because I like him." "You know what he wants." Tristan started to say something but Rory stopped him. "He doesn't want to 'get me in bed' or anything. He didn't break up with me once for not saying 'I love you' and only get back together with me because I said 'I love you.' He said he'd wait forever to hear me tell him I love him, and you know what, Dean? I do. I love him. I never loved you. Good-bye!" she ran quickly by him. Without even thinking Tristan followed, not even stopping when Dean said, "Don't you remember I said I'd kill you if you ever came near her?" END PART SEVEN PART EIGHT: NOW BABY HERE'S THE TRUTH, I'M STILL IN LOVE WITH YOU He didn't know where she could be. He was lost. The town wasn't big, but if you didn't know where you were it was impossible. He finally sighted Luke's and decided to go see if Jess had seen her. He walked in and went to the counter. "Jess, do you know where Rory is?" "No, why, what happened?" he asked, genuinely worried. "We admitted that we liked each other; Dean showed up. She chewed him out and ran away." "Try her house, if she's not there try the inn." "Thanks." GILMORE HOUSE "Whoa, whoa back up there, hun. He told you he loved you?" "Yea, I wasn't sure if I did, but then when Dean showed up I told him I loved Tristan." "You need to go find him." "I know, he doesn't know his way around town." Lorelai's ears perked up. Was that a car door? I think it was. "Go outside." "Why?" "Believe me, you want to." Rory walked to the door and opened it. "Tristan?" "Yeah." "Sorry I ran off like that. Did Dean give you any trouble?" "He wanted to start some, but I was too worried about you. Did you mean it?" "Mean what?" "When you told him you loved me." "Yes." "I love you too, Rory." "I know." He leaned in. Rory closed her eyes and met him halfway. It was a tender kiss, like the end of You've Got Mail or maybe another sappy movie. It was little, but it conveyed how much they needed each other. They broke apart. Rory smiled, "Paris is gonna hate me even more now." "At least you won't have to call her Romeo." "You're right, that's you." Music started playing. It was "What I Really Meant to Say" by Cindy Thompson (I think) What I really meant to say Is that I'm dying here inside And that I miss you more each day And, Baby, here's the truth I'm still in love with you "Will you dance with me, Rory?" He gathered her up in his arms and they slowly swayed to the music. Lorelai peeked out of the curtains, "Awww... how cute! And they're even dancing to the music I put on..." she closed the curtains, "I'll sneak out the back and go bother Luke." THE END...finally. I don't know though. I was thinking of making a sequel about Lorelai and Luke and maybe a little more on the R/T/D thing. And maybe something about R/T/P...we shall see, tell me what you think. I know the ending's kinda bad but I'm still in my PJ's, it's early! (Actually it's 12:30 pm but I was up late to see who would light the Olympic torch-too cool that it was the "Miracle on Ice" hockey team!!!!-and at a Mardi Gras dance.) I think I might change the ending-not the idea...just the song...can anyone tell me a song that would work...thanks again!