Title: Tough Luck
Part: 1
Author: Lex Morgan  lexmorgan007@yahoo.com 
Spoilers: none
Summary: Rory takes a job at the Hartford country
club, and meets a new guy, while running into some of
her classmates.
Disclaimer: no, i don’t own any of it, characters,
show, ect... except the new characters that I made up.


This takes place during the summer, but skip the last
few episodes, rory and dean never got back together,
Lorelai was never proposed to by Max, and Rory and
Tristan never kissed.


GILMORE RESIDENCE

“Mom, I’ll meet you at Lukes at 7:30, ok?” Rory called
as she was heading towards the jeep.
“Alright honey, have a good day.” Lorelai called back.

During one of their Friday night dinners with Emily
and Richard. Emily had asked rory if she would be
interested in a job at the country club this summer.
Rory hesitantly agreed, knowing that the country club
would be filled with snobs like Paris. But she did
need the money.

HARTFORD COUNTRY CLUB

Rory walked in and looked around, it was a nice place.
There were 3 pools, and a few hot tubs just past the
entrance. After that there was the tennis courts and
the golf course that she recognized from the day she
spent with her grandfather learning to play golf.
She found her way to the managers office and knocked
on the door. 

“come in.” a mans voice said
“hi, I'm rory Gilmore.”
“hello rory, I’m Henry. Your grandmother told me a lot
about you, and I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.”

He explained to Rory what the job would entail and
then showed her to the staff quarters, where they
spent their breaks. He introduced her to many of her
co workers and said he would have someone show her
around until she got the hang of it. 

“Hey Riley, would you come here a minute?” Henry
called out to the boy on the other end of the room.
“Yea, sure Henry, what do you need?” He asked as he
walked over.
“Riley Carson, this is Rory Gilmore, she’s new this
year and i was wondering if you could show her the
ropes.?” He asked
“Sure henry, I'd be glad to” Riley told him
“Alright then, if you need anything Rory, you know
where my office is, and it was nice to meet you.”
Henry told her as he waled away
“Thank You” she called after him

“Well it’s nice to meet you Rory Gilmore.” Riley told
her as he held out his hand.
“It’s nice to meet you too” she said as she shook her
hand.
“Well, why don’t I show you around, there's not much
to do right now.” He told her

Riley walked in front of her and Rory caught herself
checking him out. He had short brown hair with blonde
tips, that was sort of spiked at the top, and green
eyes. He was really tan and he had a great body.

“so” Riley asked “what grade are you in?” 
“oh, I'm going to be a junior, how about you?”
“me too” he said “what school do you go to?”
“I go to Chilton.” She told him
“Wow, you go to Chilton...if you don’t mind me asking,
if you go to Chilton why are you working here and not
lounging by the pool.” 
“oh, well I’m not rich, my grandparents pay for my
tuition.” She told him
“oh, so do you live in Hartford?” 
“no.. Stars Hollow.” 
“hey, i went through there once, there's a diner in a
hardware store right?”
Rory laughed “yea, thats Lukes, so do you live in
Hartford?”
“yea, but not the rich part, it’s closer to where you
live. I go to a small high school there”
“so how do you like working here?” she asked
“it’s alright, if you don’t count the members.” he
laughed
“yea, i know what you mean, I'm just afraid that I'll
have to see those kids from Chilton over the summer.”
“so.. i take it your not really friends with them.”
“to but it nicely...yea” She laughed

Riley and Rory got along really great, they had a lot
in common, they both loved to read and were great
students. Riley even wanted to go to Harvard when he
was older, he wanted to be a doctor. 
Rory’s first day was alright, she hadn’t run into
anyone yet, but Riley told her that most people don’t
show up until the second or third week of the season.

Rory was beginning to be really good friends with
Riley after the first week. They went and had coffee
at Lukes, and he even met Lorelai, who thought he was
great. And things at the club weren’t that bad, she
actually enjoyed it sometimes. She got to go swimming
after hours, and eat at the restaurant.

It was the middle of the afternoon on the Third week
and Riley and Rory were both on their break. 
“Hey Rory...lets go play tennis.” Riley asked her
“um.. i don’t really know how to play tennis, and I'm
not exactly a sports person.” She tried to tell him
But he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He dragged her
onto the court, and grabbed some rackets. 
They were both so horrible that they almost fell over
laughing after the first 10 minutes.
“When you said ‘lets go play tennis’ I thought that
meant that you actually knew how to play.” She laughed
as they were walking back to the clubhouse.
“alright..now your making fun of me.” 
“well, maybe if you had hit the ball over the net a
few times, I would have been able to hit it.” 
“Yea right, you were no Venus Williams out there
either.” he laughed
“Alright, next time, lets find something that we can
actually do, because that we really embarrassing”
“When you hit that guy in the head with the
ball...that was priceless.” He started laughing again
“Well at least I didn’t throw my racket when I was
trying to hit the ball.” she told him
“alright..alright..truce?”
“hmmm. i don’t know....”
“pllleassse....I'll buy you coffee.”
“oooh, i like truces.” They both laughed and got back
to work.

BY THE POOL

Rory was setting up some more chairs by the pool when
she noticed three familiar faces heading her way.
‘oh no,’ she thought to herself

“well, hi rory...didn’t expect to see you here.” 
“hi, Paris...Louise, Madeline” Rory answered not
giving them eye contact
“Wow, that must be embarrassing, having to work for
the people you go to school with, you know, maybe you
could set some chairs over there for us..i want to be
directly facing the sun.” Paris told her, laughing at
the same time
“sure Paris, whatever.”

Rory set up their chairs and walked away. 
“At least things couldn’t get any worse” she told
herself as she was walking back to the clubhouse. And
then she bumped into somebody and she looked up. 
“i guess i was wrong... hello Tristan.”

I decided to end my other story... true feelings..
where it is. But This is my new story, and I’d really
like to know what you think.. so please send me
feedback.
END PART 1
From:	lexmorgan007@yahoo.com (Lex Morgan)
Tough Luck- Chapter 2

Recap:
Rory set up their chairs and walked away. 
“At least things couldn’t get any worse” she told
herself as she was walking back to the clubhouse. And
then she bumped into somebody and she looked up. 
“i guess i was wrong... hello Tristan.”

Chapter 2
“Wow, couldn’t stay away from me could you Mary?”
Tristan asked her with a wide smirk on his face.
“Tristan, I work here, I’m not fallowing you.” Rory
shot back
“You know you want me Mary.”
“In your dreams” 
“Every Night.” Tristan smiled
“Your disgusting, i have to get back to work.” Rory
told him as she walked away.

Tristan just stood there for a few minutes. He didn’t
understand how she could not be falling at his feel.
Every other girl before her had.But then again, Rory
wasn’t the kind of girl that Tristan had always gone
for. She could actually hold her own in a
conversation, unlike many others who just sat there
and giggled, which is probably why getting her
attention was so important to him.  He shrugged it off
and went to lay by the pool.

Rory was still upset at the fact that she had to run
into all of her enemies, all in one place, and during
her summer vacation, which was supposed to be a
Chilton free time. 

“Hey Rory” a voice behind her called “can I talk to
you for a second.”
“oh, hey Riley, yea... whats up?” she asked him as she
walked in his direction.
“Well theres this carnival tonight in Hartford, and i
was wondering if maybe you wanted to go with me?” He
asked her
“Yea, that sounds great.” She told him with a smile on
her face.
“Good. I thought maybe we could go after we get off
tonight, unless you want to go home first.” 
“no, i have a change of clothes here, so that sounds
great.”
“ok”
They both smiled as they went and finished up some of
the work that they had to do.

Rory had pretty much avoided Paris and her gang as
well as Tristan, and it was finally the end of the
day, and she went and grabbed the clothes out of her
bag and changed out of the country club uniform, which
consisted of a white polo t-shirt and khaki shorts.
“So, you ready to go?” Riley asked as he came up
behind her
“yup.”

They got in his car and heading to the carnival.

“So.. what do you want to do first?” He asked her
“hmmm... how about we play some games.”
“sounds good to me.”

They headed over to one of the game booths. The object
of the game was to use a watergun and shoot water into
a little hole so that your balloon would be the first
to reach the top.
Riley and Rory both grabbed a gun and sat down on some
of the stools. They waited for the buzzer to start.
“you know I'm the champion of this game.” rory told
him
“is that right”
“yea.. so you better watch out.” They both laughed
Then the buzzer rang, and they both started shooting
water out of their guns at the target. Rory was ahead,
and just as her balloon hit the top, she felt water
hit her face.
“hey!” she yelled
Riley was laughing as he set down his water gun.
“that was not nice.” she told him as she grabbed the
water gun and sprayed him. They both laughed.
“you know what.” Rory asked as she picked up her
prize.
“what?” Riley asked
“your almost as bad as that game as you are at tennis”
She laughed
“hey!” he said as he grabbed her and started to tickle
her

Rory was laughing so hard that she fell over and
pulled Riley down with her. Riley was laying on top of
her still tickling her. Then they made eye contact and
they both stopped laughing, and Riley leaned in and
kissed her. When they broke away, they both smiled and
got up.

They spent the rest of the night playing all sorts of
games, and they went in the haunted house and ate
cotton candy and fried dough.

“alright,” he said “we need to do one last thing.”
“and what is that?” she asked him
“the ferris wheel!” he smiled as he pulled her towards
the line.

They climbed into one of the cars and the wheel
started to turn. They had reached the top when the
wheel sopped. It was beautiful, they both looked
around at the carnival that lit up the ground and the
pitch black sky. Just then, the fireworks show began,
and a thousand different colors filled the sky at
once. It was beautiful, and both teens were looking
up. Then Riley reached over and grabbed Rory’s hand,
and she looked at him and smiled. Then the wheel began
to turn again. 
It was a perfect ending to a perfect night.

TO BE CONTINUED

please...send me feedback!!!!! I love to hear what you
think.
Thank You!
Lex
oh.. and don’t worry, Tristan will be involved
sometime in the future chapters.
END PART 2
From:	lexmorgan007@yahoo.com (Lex Morgan)
Tough Luck- Chapter 3


Rory had arrived at the country club early this
mourning because her boss had called a staff meeting
about the annual Hartford country club get together.
It was basically an excuse for all the rich people off
Hartford to come together and compare how much they
were worth. Rory really wasn’t looking forward to it
because she knew that Paris and her gang and Tristan
were probably going to be there, not to mention the
rest of Chilton.

She walked into the staff quarters and hung up her
stuff went to take a seat. She saw Riley sitting with
an empty chair next to him.

“hey, this seat taken” she said pointing to the empty
seat next to him.
“It’s all yours” he said smiling
“So, I had a really good time last night.”
“me too, we should definitely do it again.”
“yea, we should.”

Just then Henry walked in and started the meeting.
“As you all know, it is almost time for the Country
Clubs annual gathering. And we need to get ready. SO i
figured i would assign you guys different jobs, in
order to prepare. Now this year is going to be a bit
different. Last year we noticed that the teenagers
didn’t seem to enjoy to gathering, mostly because it
was...well... boring. So this year we are going to
have a separate event just for them. I figured it
could be a dance type thing. Anyway, We are going to
have to start sending out invitations, and counting
the RSVP’S: Amanda, Emily, Caroline, Jeff, you guys
are in charge of that. We are going to need menu’s
made up, about what is going to be served, Jen, Alex..
why don’ you work on that. The dance.. Riley, Rory,
see what ideas you guys can up with for that. The rest
of you will be on decorations. We’ll have another
meeting closer to the event to see what you guys have
come up with. That's it.. get to work guys, and if you
have any questions, come and see me about it.”

Riley turned his attention towards Rory again.
“Well this should be fun...” He said
“yea, organizing a dance for the snobby kids of
Hartford... there is nothing i would rather do.” She
said sarcastically.
“well, at least I get to work with you.. so it won’t
be that bad.”
Rory blushed.
“Well we better get to work, maybe we can meet later
and talk about plans for the dance?”
“yea, sounds good... you want to meet a Lukes?”
“Yea...around 7?”
“sounds good... I'll see you later.” Rory said as she
walked away to begin her day of moving lounge chairs,
and directing people to the spa, not to mention
avoiding everyone from Chilton.

COUNTRY CLUB RESTAURANT

“Hey Rory, Gina got sick and has to go home, do you
think you could finish her shift till Lisa gets here..
it will only be for a couple of hours.” Henry asked
her

“yea, no problem.” Rory was actually a little relieved
to be spending the day inside, instead of under the
burning sun.

Tristan and a couple of friends had decided to meet up
and eat lunch at the country club and then go
swimming. They were waiting for a table when an older
looking lady showed them to one of the larger booths
in the corner of the restaurant.  She handed then
menu’s, got them some drinks and said that their
waitress would be with them shortly.

The lady headed back to the kitchen, where Rory was
waiting on some orders. 
“Hey Rory, you’ve got some more customers in table
12.”
“Alright, thanks.” Rory said as she headed out the
swinging doors and to table 12. She didn’t even look
at the customers because she was looking for her pen.
“Hi how are you doing today?” she said to them,, still
looking for her pen.
“well, well.. Mary.. what pleasant surprise.” Tristan
said with a huge smirk on his face.
“Rory stopped searching for her pen and looked up. 
“Err, i should have known something like this was
going to happen today.”
“oh, Mary, not happy to see me?”
“to say the least Tristan”
She was interrupted when one of his friends asked her
something.
“Hey haven't i seen you before” Matt asked
“um.. well..” rory stammered
“she goes to Chilton man.”  Dave, another one f his
friends answered.
“oh.. you were in my biology class last year weren’t
you?” Matt asked
“yea, i think i was” Rory answered
“well I’m Matt, that's Dave, Kyle, Jasper, Eric, and I
guess you know Tristan.” He said as he pointed to the
people around the table.
“hi.. I'm rory” She said, anxious to get away from the
table
“Well can i take your orders?” she asked the,
They all ordered and rory quickly waled away.

“Hey DuGray, isn’t that the girl that you were after
all last year?” Dave asked him.
Tristan ignored the question and watched rory as she
was waiting on other peoples tables.
“yea.. she’s the one that wouldn’t give you the time
of day.” Eric laughed
“shut up man” Tristan growled back.

Just then Riley walked in and headed towards Rory.
“Hey rory, i heard you were covering for Gina, how’s
it going?”
“well it was going fine, until i waited on a whole
table of guys from Chilton.”
“Well, don’t worry, I'm sure it will get better.” He
told her smiling
“So what are you up to?” She asked him
“You think you’ve got it bad, see that old lady over
there?” He asked pointing through the windows out to
the pool.
“yea” she answered looking at the old wrinkled fat
lady.
“well i had to help her put on her sunscreen” He told
her. “It was disgusting”
“Oh you poor baby” she said in a little kids voice.
“It was traumatizing” He laughed
“Yea, I’m sure it was” Rory was laughing to

“Hey rory, your orders are up” The cook called from
the kitchen

“well, that's my queue.” she told him
“yea, I'll see you tonight” she said as he leaned down
and gave her a short kiss on the lips.
Then he left and Rory went back in the kitchen.

TRISTANS TABLE
“Hey, DuGrey.. looks like you lost her to the pool
boy.” Eric laughed as they watched Riley and Rory talk
and then kiss.


End Of Part 3

Please send me feedback, I’m not really sure where I'm
going with this storyline quite yet, but if you have
any ideas, PLEASE send me feedback. I would really
appreciate it! Thanks.
Alexa
END PT 3

From:	lexmorgan007@yahoo.com (Lex Morgan)

This chapter was originally longer, but my computer
deleted it when I had just finished, so i had to write
it all over again, so i'm not sure if it's as good as
the first one. Anyways, I don't really know where I
was going with this chapter... but here it is. I still
am a little stuck on where to go with this story, so
PLEASE if you have any ideas, send them to me. I would
really appreciate it. Ok, i'll just shut up now so you
can read the story.
Alexa

Tough Luck- Chapter 4

 
After Riley left Rory went to pick up the order that
was ready for her. She couldn’t stop smiling, For the
first time in a while, she was really happy. She
picked up the burgers and headed toward the table of
Chilton boys, 

“Alright, here you go guys.” Rory set down the food
and started to walk away.
“So Rory.. was that your boyfriend you were over there
talking to?” Matt asked
“um...well” rory was a little flustered “We’re dating,
but he’s not my boyfriend”
“oh, i was just wondering. You two look cute
together.” He said as he smirked at Tristan.
“well, it looks like our little Mary has found herself
a Joseph.” Tristan smirked at Rory.
“God, Tristan... when are you going to grow up?” Rory
shot at him as she walked away.

“no wonder she never gives you the time of day,
DuGray, do you ever stop making fun of her?” Matt
asked him when rory walked away.
“yea man, your like the six year old in the sandbox
that throws sand at the girls he likes.” Dave added.
“just eat your food.” Tristan replied.

AFTER WORK- AT LUKE’S

“Hey mom” Rory called to her mom as she walked into
Lukes. She took a sea next to Lorelai, who was trying
to get Luke to refill her cup.

“Hey sweetie, how was your day?” Lorelai asked
“It was alright,.” Rory replied. “We had a staff
meeting to decide who was going to do what for that
Hartford country club gathering thing, and Riley and I
are planning the dance for the teenagers, so he’s
meeting me here so we can start”

“oooh, so i finally get to meet this Riley...I can’t
wait.” Lorelai screamed with a huge smile.
“Your like a five year old” Rory told her
“Thats what I’ve been trying to tell her” Luke’s voice
came from behind the counter. “So I'm guessing your
gonna want coffee too” he said as he placed a mug in
front of rory.
“Thanks Luke” Rory smiled as she sipped her coffee.

Riley just arrived and was walking through the door.
He looked around for Rory, and then spotted her at the
counter with what he guessed to be her mother.
“Hey Rory” He said as he came up behind her.
“Hey Riley, this is my mom.” Rory said pointing next
to her “Mom, this is Riley.”
“It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Gilmore.” He said
extending his and out to her.
“Nice to meet you too, but call me Lorelai, Mrs.
Gilmore is my mother.” Lorelai told him.
“Well kids, I’d love to stay and have you entertain
me, but I have to go back to the inn, we’re having a
wedding tomorrow, and I think Michelle has had a
nervous breakdown, so it was nice to meet you Riley,
I’ll see you later at home Rory. oh, bye Luke” She
called as she was walking out the door.

“So, do you want to go sit in at a table and work on
that dance thing?” She asked him pointing to an empty
table near the door.
“Sounds good.” He said and walked over to the table
with her.

2 hours and 7 cups of coffee later, they had come up
with some great ideas for the dance. They thought
about decorations, and food, and themes, and
invitations. The only thing left was the music.

“So what kind of music do you think we should have?”
He asked her.
“Well I don’t think we should get a DJ, because then
we’ll be listening to a bunch of boy bands all night.”
“A couple of my friends have this really great band
that I think would be perfect, you should come by and
see them, they’re actually practicing tomorrow night.”
He told her. “I could take you over there after work
tomorrow if you want.”
“That sounds great.” She told him as she smiled.

Just then she heard the door open behind her and she
looked to see who it was. Dean. She wasn’t exactly
excited to see him, she thought that this could turn
into a replay of last years Tristan/dean fight at the
dance, and she wasn’t really in the mood for that
right now. She winced as she saw Dean headed over to
their table.

“Hey Rory.” He said
“Hi Dean” She said back. “Dean this is..”
But Deans voice cut her off.
“Riley Carson” Dean finished for her. “I thought that
was you when I looked through the window.. God. How
have you been?” 
“It’d great to see you Dean, it’s been awhile. I’m
doing pretty good.. what are you doing here anyway?”
Riley asked him.
“I live here now, we moved last year.” He told him. “
I didn’t know that this is where you moved.”
“Yea, I live right on the edge of Hartford.” Riley
told him.
“Wait, “ Rory interrupted. “You guys know each other?”
She asked
“Yea.” Dean told her. “Riley and I went to the same
school in Chicago, but he moved out here a year before
I did.”
“Wow, this is really weird, I can’t believe out of all
the places to move, we live in basically the same town
in Conneticuit.” Riley said.
“Yea, hey, i play football with a bunch of guys on
Saturdays, you should come, we could catch up.” Dean
said.
“That sounds cool.”
“We meet at 10 outside Stars Hollow High.” 
“I’ll be there.”

“SO, how do you guys know each other?” Dean said 
“oh, we’re both working at the Hartford Country Club
for the summer.” Rory answered.
 Just then Riley’s pager went off.
“It’s my parents, I should probably get going.” Riley
told them. “It was really great to see you again Dean.
I’ll see you Saturday. And Rory, sorry to have to bail
so early on the project thing.. but we’re still on for
tomorrow night right?” He asked
“Yea, I’ll bring a change of clothes to work.”
“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said and leaned
down and gave her a small kiss on the lips.
“Bye Dean” he called as he waled out the door.

There was a bit of an awkward silence between Dean and
Rory after Riley left.

“So.. are you two...together?” Dean asked
“we’re dating” Rory said
“Thats cool.” Dean told her
“This is kinda weird” 
“what?” dean asked
“I was expecting another moment like last years dance
with Tristan, and instead it turns out you guys are
like best friends.” 
“Well Riley’s a good guy, and If your going to be with
anyone, I'd want it to be with someone like him.” Dean
told her. “Well I have to get back to the market now,
it was good to see you.” 
“bye dean” she called to him as he walked out the
door. Rory just sat there for a few minutes, she was
still a little surprised by what had just happened.
END PART 4

From:	lexmorgan007@yahoo.com (Lex Morgan)

Hey, I wrote this really quick tonight , so i hope you
like it . Thanks for everyone that is sending me
feedback, i relly  love hearing from you and hearing
your ideas. Thank You so much... Anyway here's the
story.
Alexa


Tough Luck- Chapter 5

Rory came home from Lukes and sat on the couch,
waiting for her mother to come home so that she could
tell her everything that had happened.
Finally Lorelai walked in the door.
“Hey hun, whats up? How was your date with Riley?” she
teased
“Well actually, something weird happened”
“Really...ohh story time, we need a pizza” Lorelai
picked up the phone and called for a pizza.
20 minutes later they were both on the living room
floor and rory was telling her mother about what had
happened while they devoured a large pizza.

“no” Lorelai gasped
“yes” Rory confirmed
“So Riley and Dean are friends?” 
“yes”
“that is weird”
“it gets weirder”
“wow”
“anyway, after Riley left I told Dean that I thought
it was weird, and he said why.I told him I thought it
could have been a potential replay of last years fight
with Tristan at the dance”
“and what did he say?”
“he said that Riley was a great guy and that if i was
going to go out with anyone, it should be him”
“wow”
“i know”

The two sat up half the night eating pizza and ice
cream, and drinking LOTS of coffee, until Rory finally
decided she needed to go to bed, because she had work
tomorrow.

“Wow, thats a role revisal.”
“What” Rory asked
“My daughter wanting to go to bed, because she had to
get up early and go to work. where has the time
gone... I remember it was yesterday when you were
eating mud pies and chasing fairies...how my little
girl has grown” Lorelai said sarcastically as she mock
cried.
“Good night mom” Rory called as she closed to door to
her room.

Work the next day had been considerably busy at the
country club. Luckily Rory hadn’t run into Tristan or
Paris, but on the down side she hadn’t seen Riley all
day either. When work finally ended she headed toward
the clubhouse to change and then find Riley.

“Hey Rory” He said coming up behind her
“Hi, I haven’t seen you all day.” 
“I know, it was really busy today, so are you ready to
go?” He asked
“yup, so where is this band practicing anyway?” She
asked
“oh, my friends house, it’s in Hartford.”

IN THE CAR

“So, your friends with Dean?” Riley asked wondering
what their relationship was.
“yea,” She replied. She was a little uncomfortable
with the subject, but she knew that someway or another
he would find out about Dean, and she figured that it
might as well come from her.
“So is that all you were? he asked
“he was my boyfriend” Rory replied
“was?” 
“We broke up a couple months ago.” 
“Oh, I was just wondering.”

By that time they had arrived where the band was
practicing. Rory was relieved that the conversation
was over, she didn’t want to relive her romance with
Dean.

They walked up to the garage door and Riley knocked.
About a minute later someone came to answer the door.

“Hey Riley, whats up man?” He asked as he motioned
Riley and Rory to come in.
“Rory this is Adam, he’s the lead singer.” 
“Hi Rory, glad you could make it. Let me introduce you
to the rest of the band. This is Justin, Ryan, and
Bailey. Guys, this is Rory.” They all came and said
hello to Rory and talked with Riley before they
started practice.
Riley was right, the band was great and Rory really
liked them, she knew that they would be perfect for
the dance. 

“Hey guys lets take a break, alright?” Adam asked

He walked over and sat in the chair across from where
Riley and Rory were. 

“So Rory, do you live around here?” Adam asked
“yea, I live in Stars Hollow” 
“oh, thats cool, so you go to Stars Hollow High then
right?” 
“Well actually I go to Chilton.”
“oooh, smart girl” He laughed “yea, my cousin goes
there”
“really what grade are they in?”
“He was a sophomore last year, so he was in your
class, hey, maybe you know him.
“whats his name?” Rory asked
“Tristan DuGray”

END PART 5
From:	lexmorgan007@yahoo.com (Lex Morgan)

This is a really short chapter, I've been really busy
lately, It's the end of the summer, which sucks,
because I don't want to go back to school. But I've
had a lot to do, so I'm not sure when the next chapter
will be out, but i hope it will be soon. Anyways, i
really appreciate all the feedback i've been getting
and I hope you keep sending it, also, please.. if you
have any ideas for the story- PLEASE send them to me..
Thank You so much!
ALexa

Recap:

“So Rory, do you live around here?” Adam asked
“yea, I live in Stars Hollow” 
“oh, thats cool, so you go to Stars Hollow High then
right?” 
“Well actually I go to Chilton.”
“oooh, smart girl” He laughed “yea, my cousin goes
there”
“really what grade are they in?”
“He was a sophomore last year, so he was in your
class, hey, maybe you know him.
“whats his name?” Rory asked
“Tristan DuGray”

Chapter 6

“Wait, did you just say that your cousin was Tristan
DuGrey?” Rory asked, shocked.
“Yea, so you know him?” Adam asked
“Regretfully” Rory answered.
Adam laughed, “So I take it your not friends?” He
asked
“To say the least.” 
“Yea, Tristan is hard to take somtimes.”
“He should wear a red cape and carry a pitchfork.” 
Adam laughed again. “Well we should get back to
practice.”

Rory and Riley watched the band practice for a little
while more, and then decided they had to leave, rory
had to meet her mother for dinner. Rory really liked
the band, so they asked them if they would like to
play at the dance, and they were excited. It was their
fist gig. 

“It was really nice to meet you Rory, I guess We’ll be
seeing you around.” He told her as he and the rest of
the band waved goodbye to them as they left.

Riley drove Rory over to Lukes.
“Well, i guess I’ll see you tomarrow” He said
“You can come eat with us if you want?” Rory asked
“I should probably be getting home, maybe some other
time.” 
“yea, well i’ll see you later.”
Riley leaned over and gave her a kiss, “bye”

INSIDE LUKE’S
“hey rory” Loreali called from a table by the window
“hey mom” Rory said as she sat down and drank some of
the coffee that her mother had gotten for her.
“So, how was your day” Loreali asked
“It was weird.”
“again?”
“yea”  
“Well, let’s her about it.”
“ALright, so Riley and I..” 
“oooohh” Loreali teasinly interrupted.
“mom!”
“sorry, continue.” Lorelai said
“ok, so as I was saying, before I was interrupted by
the 5 year old.. Riley and I went to see a his friends
band practice to see if they should play at the dance
we’re planning.”
“ok” Loreali nodded “sounds normal to me”
“would you just listen?” 
“fine” Loreali pouted
“So when the band took a break, I was talking to the
lead singer, Adam”
“ooh, i know, Riley got in a fight with Adam.” Loreali
excidedly added
“no!! would you please be quiet?”
“someone got up on the wrong side of the bed... please
continue”
“ok, so he asked where i go to school, and I said
Chilton. Then he said His cousin went to Chilton and
is in my grade. SO I said, who’s your cousin? ANd he
said Tristan DuGray”
“NO!” Loreali shouted “evil tristan?”
“yes!” 
“so is adam evil too?”
“no, adams really nice”
“hey, maybe he was adopted.”
Both of them Laughed
“First Dean and Riley are best friends, and then the
lead singer of this band is realted to the devils
offspring, it has been a weird couple of days.”
“I second that.” Loreali added.

COUNTRY CLUB - THE NEXT DAY

It was the end of another busy day. Rory had driven
the jeep in, so she decided to stay a little late and
finishing cleaning up the towels the were in a pile by
the changing rooms. It was really quiet and almost
everyone had gone home. As she had picked up the last
few towels, she heard something behind her.. Rory
jumped as someone tapped her on the shoulder.
“Rory, can I talk to you for a minute?” 

End of Chapter 6
From:	lexmorgan007@yahoo.com (Lex Morgan)

Tough Luck- Chapter 7

Recap:
COUNTRY CLUB - THE NEXT DAY

It was the end of another busy day. Rory had driven
the jeep in, so she decided to stay a little late and
finishing cleaning up the towels the were in a pile by
the changing rooms. It was really quiet and almost
everyone had gone home. As she had picked up the last
few towels, she heard something behind her.. Rory
jumped as someone tapped her on the shoulder.
“Rory, can I talk to you for a minute?” 

Chapter 7

Rory jumped at the sound of someones voice and let out
a quick yell. Then she quickly turned around.
“God, are you trying to kill me” Then she looked up to
see the person in front of her was Tristan.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you Rory.” He said
“wait.. you called me Rory.” she said astonished
“that is your name, isn’t it?” He asked
“Yea, but i never thought I'd hear it come out of
you.” She told him.
“Well, what can I say, I’m full of surprises.” He said
with his cocky attitude
“Tristan, what are you doing here, the club is
closed.” She said somewhat annoyed.
“Well, I needed to talk to you, and I thought that
best time would be after your done working, so here I
am.” He answered her.
“What could your possibly need to talk to me about?”
“Well, I know we haven’t gotten along well in the
past” He started to answer.
“Thats an understatement.”
“I know, but that's what I need to talk to you about.
See I realized that I never gave you much of a chance.
Since the first day you came to Chilton, I teased you
relentlessly. And well i was kind of hoping that we
could forget the past and be friends.”
“You want us.. to be friends” She asked surprised.
“Yea. I mean if you want to.” He asked
“Sure, whatever.” She said. “I have to, I’m meeting my
mom.” She said.
“Hey, I’ll walk you out.” He said as they both began
to walk towards the door.
“You know what” Tristan said
“what?”
“I think I like this friends thing buddy.” He said as
he put his arm around her shoulder.
“Tristan.. we’re not that good of friends.” She said
as she removed his arm from around her.
“Alright” He laughed “I’ll see you later Rory.” He
said as he walked towards his car.

GILMORE HOUSE

“Mom, I;m home” Rory yelled as she entered the house.
“Good, the pizza just got here.” Lorelai yelled from
the kitchen.
Rory walked in and took a seat next to her mother and
grabbed a slice of pizza.

“So, anything weird happen today?” Lorelai asked,
still chewing on her pizza.
“Well actually, yes.” Rory answered
“Well are you going to tell me?” Lorelai asked
impatiently
“Tristan wants to be friends.” Rory answered as she
grabbed another slice from the box.
“Evil Tristan wants to be friends? Why?’ Lorelai
questioned
“I don’t know” Rory answered.

DUGRAY MANSION

Tristan came home and ran up to his room. He had a
smile on his face. He was happy. Rory was his friends,
sort of. He had thought about what his friends had
told him the other day about being the 6 year old in
the sandbox throwing dirt. He realized that they were
right. He needed to grow up, face his problems with a
mature attitude. And that's when he decided that he
had to be friends with Rory. He had once seen in one
of his sisters magazines that the first step in a
relationship is friendship. He thought that if he
could get Rory to see the real Tristan, then maybe she
would begin to fell a quarter of what he felt for her.
He knew it was a long shot, with all the crap that he
put her through in the last year, but he decided it
was worth a shot. 

GILMORE HOUSE
“Mom, I’ll be right back, I have to call Riley and
tell him another idea i had for the dance.” Rory
called as she ran into her room with the phone. She
picked it up and dialed his number.
“Hello” someone answered
“Hi, Is Riley there?” She asked
“I’m sorry he’s not.”
“Well do you know where he is?” She asked
“He’s out on a date, he should be back in a little
while, do you want me to have him call you?” The woman
asked
“no..” Rory said as she hung up the phone. 
End of Part 7

I'm sorry for all the people that were starting to
like Riley. I realized that if I didn't get rid of him
soon, then I wouldn't be able to. I know it sounds
stupid. but the more I wrote about him, the more i
liked him. Anyways... please send me feedback. I think
I fanially know where I'm going with this story, and
theres only going to be a few more chapters. So
please.. tell me what you think so far.
Alexa

END PT 7
From:	lexmorgan007@yahoo.com (Lex Morgan)

I know that I haven't sent a chapter out in a while,
and I'm sorry about that. I've been getting ready to
go back to school on Thursday, and we just took my
brother to college for the first time. So things have
been a little hectic. This chapter is very short, but
I thought that I should at least send somthing out so
that you don't forget the story. Anyway I love reading
all your feedback. If you have any idea's of where the
story should go from here, please send them to me, I
would love to read them and I would love to possible
use them in later chapters of my story. Thank You
again for everyone who had read my story so far, or if
your just reading it for the first time. Also, I want
to say that I love all the nex fics that people have
been writing lately. There was a while where there
wasn't a lot being written, but now I see more and
more, and I'm really happy about it. Keep up the
writing, I love it. Alright..You probably want me to
just shut up already... so here's the next chapter.
Alexa



Recap:

“Mom, I’ll be right back, I have to call Riley and
tell him another idea i had for the dance.” Rory
called as she ran into her room with the phone. She
picked it up and dialed his number.
“Hello” someone answered
“Hi, Is Riley there?” She asked
“I’m sorry he’s not.”
“Well do you know where he is?” She asked
“He’s out on a date, he should be back in a little
while, do you want me to have him call you?” The woman
asked
“no..” Rory said as she hung up the phone. 

Chapter 8

She just stood there for a second, shocked. 
“Rory, are you coming back out?” Lorelai called from
the kitchen.
“I’m really tired. I think I am just going to go to
bed.” Rory called back.
“OK, I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”

Rory got herself into her pajama’s and curled up in
her bed. She started to cry, and as soon as she
started she couldn’t stop. Dozens of emotions were
coming out of her all at once. She felt sad, betrayed,
angry, worthless, and stupid. That was just some of
the feelings that were running through her. She cried
for a long time, until she finally fell asleep.

NEXT DAY

Rory woke not feeling do well. She walked into the
kitchen and saw a note from her mother:
Morning Rory,
I had to leave early for work, there’s a wedding
today. I probably won’t be home until late tonight, so
here’s some money to go to Luke’s or buy a pizza.
Have a good day. I love you.
Mom

She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the
kitchen table. Every time she thought about facing
Riley, it made her sick to her stomach. She just
couldn’t do it, not yet anyway. So she picked up the
phone and called in sick.

She went back into her room and got dressed. She
decided that she needed to have fun today. Maybe that
would take her mind off Riley. 
She walked down Main Street, all the way to Lane’s
house. She figured if anyone could help her get her
mind off Riley, it would be Lane. However, when she
got there Lane was nowhere in sight. She went into the
antique store and found Mrs. Kim. She told Rory that
this was the week that Lane went to Korean Bible Camp.
Rory walked away, a little disappointed. In the middle
of all of this, she had forgotten that her best
friends was gone for the week. Then she decided on
plan B, Dean. She walked to his house, and his mother
told her that he was gone for a couple days on a
camping trip with his father. 
Again she was disappointed. She thought maybe it would
be for the best anyway. It would be kind of weird to
be hanging out with Dean after their breakup, and the
fact that he was friends with Riley.
This brought her mind back to the problem...Riley.
‘How could I have been so stupid?’ she asked herself.
Then she started back towards her house. 
So, her day of fun was turning out to be....not so
fun. Lorelai was at work, Lane was at Bible Camp, and
Dean was at the market. This was one of the times when
she wished that she had some friends at Chilton. Then
something came to her. It was a longshot, and she
wasn’t even sure if she was thinking straight. But it
was worth a try. She picked up the phone book and
found the number. She dialed and waited:

“Hello?” A voice answered
“Hi, is Tristan there?”
“Yes, hold on for a moment please.” The women said.
“Hello?” Tristan's voice answered
“Hi..um Tristan.. this is Rory.” 
“Rory? Hi.”
“I know that we’re not that great of friends and all,
but Lanes at Bible Camp, and my moms working, and
deans working, and I really need somebody. Then I
remembered out conversation yesterday,and you said you
wanted to be friends..”
“Rory...”
“yea”
“Do you want me to come over?”
“yea”
“Alright, I’ll see you soon.” With that he hung up. A
huge smile spread across his face. Rory Gilmore had
called him. She needed to talk to somebody, and she
called him. 
He grabbed his keys and ran out the door to his car.

GILMORE HOUSE
Rory was sitting on the couch, thinking about what she
had just done. She called Tristan DuGray. ‘Why?’ She
asked herself. Maybe it was because she thought that
he could explain what was going on in her head. Maybe
he could listen to her and give her advice. They were
friends, right? Well not exactly, but she had nowhere
else to turn.


END PART 8
From:	lexmorgan007@yahoo.com (Lex Morgan)

I had some extra time today, so this chapter is a
little longer that the some of the other chapters. I
hope that you like it. And plase send me feedback!
Also, any ideas that you have would be greatly
appreciated. I don't think I will be able to get
another chapter out until late this week. School
starts on Thursday, and my school reminds me of
Chilton, so I'm sure we will be piled with homework by
the end of the first day. I hope you like the next
chapter, and please.. feedback!
Alexa

Recap:

GILMORE HOUSE
Rory was sitting on the couch, thinking about what she
had just done. She called Tristan DuGray. ‘Why?’ She
asked herself. Maybe it was because she thought that
he could explain what was going on in her head. Maybe
he could listen to her and give her advice. They were
friends, right? Well not exactly, but she had nowhere
else to turn.

Chapter 9

About 40 minutes after Rory had called Tristan, she
heard the doorbell. She quickly got up from her seat
on the couch, and answered the door.
“Hi Rory.” Tristan said with a smile.
“Hi, do you want to come in?” She asked nervously. She
didn’t know why she was so nervous around him. I guess
she just wasn’t used to him being at her house.
“Yea” he replied as he stepped in the door.
There were a few moments of awkward silence, until
Rory finally got up the courage to talk.
“So.. do you want something to drink?” She asked
“No, I’m fine.” He replied
“Well, do you want to sit down?”
“sure”
She moved over to the couch and took a seat at one
end, while Tristan took a spot on the other end.
“Rory?”
“Yea”
“Why did you want me to come over?”
“oh, well, I have a problem, and I had nobody else to
talk to.”
“oh” he replied. “Well, do I get to hear the problem?”
“I feel kind of weird talking with you about this.”
“oh, so it’s guy problems huh?” He asked with a smile.
“yea”
“Well then, think of me as one of your girlfriends and
spit it out.”
She smiled. She felt somewhat comfortable with him
there, like she could talk with him.
“ok, here it is” she started. “Well I called Riley
last night, and he wasn’t home. So I asked if she knew
where he was, and she said he was out on a date. I
know that we weren’t officially together or anything,
but I thought that he would have told me if he were
seeing someone else, don’t you?”
“wow, Rory, slow down.” He smiled at her
“oh, sorry.”
“I don’t think you should get to worked up over this
yet. I mean it could have been just dinner with a
friend or something. You should probably talk to him
about it. There’s probably a perfectly good
explanation.”
“But what if their isn’t?” Rory asked.
Tristan just sat there for a minute.
“Any guy that cheats on you Rory, doesn’t deserve you
in the first place.”
“Thanks Tristan.” She couldn’t believe it, he was
actually really sweet.
“Hey, you know what you need?” He asked her
“what?”
“to have fun. A couple of my friends and I are going
to go to the park and hang out for a while, you should
come.”
“I don’t want to intrude.” 
“No really, they would love to get to know you better,
and I promise.. it will be fun. SO are you going to
come?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, let’s get moving.” He said picking up his
keys and heading towards the door. 
“Tristan..” She said
“yea” 
“Thank You.”
“Your welcome Rory.”

They both got into Tristan's car and drove to the
Hartford park.
“I wouldn’t think of you as the kind of person who
would hang out in the park” She told him as they were
walking towards the place where he was going to meet
his friends.
“We’re just regular people Rory, we do regular
things.”
“ what do you do in the park?”
“Play football, eat, talk... play hide and go seek
with the little kids.” He smiled
She laughed. “That would be a sight to see.”
“What?” He asked
“You playing hide and seek with little kids.”
“Just wait and see.” He laughed.

By that time they had reached a big opening in the
park near the pond. There was a group of guys and a
few girls gathered around.
“Hey Tristan.” They shouted to him.
“Hey guys, I brought someone, i hope you don’t mind.”
He said looking at Rory.
“The more the merrier,” one of them answered.

Then one of the guys that she recognized from the
country club came over and started talking.
“Rory, right?”
“yea”
“we met at the country club the other day, I’m Dave.
I’m glad you could come.”
“Tristan, are you going to introduce us or what?”
Someone called from the group.
“Yea.” Tristan laughed.
“Rory these are my friends.. That Dave, Kyle, Jasper,
Eric, and Dylan.” He said pointing to them. oh and
that's Eric's girlfriend Emily. And over there is
Dave’s girlfriend Greta.” He pointed to the two girls.
“guys..” He heard someone clear their throat. “Sorry
Emily.. and girls” 
“Thanks.” 
“This is Rory.” 
They all welcomed her and the guys decided that they
wanted to play some football. 
“Hey Rory” Emily came up behind her.
“Greta and I are going to go for a walk.. do you want
to come?” She asked
“Yea, thanks.” She said getting up from the bench that
she was sitting on.
They walked toward the pond.
“So, are you and Tristan..” Greta started
“No!” Rory answered. “We’re just friends.”
“Well Tristan a really good guy once you get to know
him.. who knows, maybe you’ll like him” Emily told
her. She knew that this is the girl that Tristan had
the monster crush on and wanted to get some
information.
“Yea, I’m just starting to see that. This is the first
time that he has actually been nice to me.”
“Why are you two here together anyway?” Greta asked
“Well, I sort of had a problem and I needed someone to
talk to, and all my friends weren’t there, and my mom
was at work.”
“If you don’t mind me asking.. what was the problem?”
Emily asked
“Well, I found out that this guy I was kind of seeing,
was also seeing someone else. And I didn’t know what
to do about it.”
“So what did Tristan tell you” Emily asked
“He said not to jump to conclusions, it could have
been something totally different from what I thought
it was. And he said that if it turns out that it’s
true, then the guy doesn’t deserve me.” She said
“Well that's true, any guy that cheats on you is not
worth anything.” Greta told her.
“If there’s anything that we can do, just ask.” Emily
told her.
“So do you go to Chilton?” Rory asked
“Yea, but we’re a grade ahead of you, probably why you
haven’t seen us around.” Greta told her
“I for one, am glad that we still have a month left of
summer, I’m not ready for the piles of work that
Chilton stacks on you.” Emily said.
“I second that.” Rory told them.
“You know Rory, your fun to hang out with, we should
do this again.” Greta told her.
“Thanks, I would like that.”
“You know what?” Emily asked
“What?” Both Greta and Rory said at the same time.
“At least we don’t have to deal with that Summer girl
anymore, she was hard to take.”
They all laughed.
“We should probably head back and see what their up
to.” They all agreed and turned around and headed
back.
“Rory, we’re going shopping tomorrow night, do you
want to come?”  Greta asked.
“I’ve got to work until 5.”
“You work at the country club right?” Emily asked
“Yea.”
“Cool, we were going there tomorrow anyway, so if you
want to go we can stick around and pick you up after
your done.”
“That sounds great.” Rory said.
“Good.” 
Rory was happy that she had come with Tristan, she had
even managed to make a few friends that might be
helpful in the next year at Chilton.

THE GUYS FOOTBALL GAME

Dave saw that Greta and Emily had taken Rory on a walk
with them, and decided that this was the time to grill
Tristan about how this happened.

“So Tristan, you finally took out advice and were nice
to her?” Dave asked.
“Yea, i decided that I should be friends with her if I
ever want to think of being something more.”
“Well Mr. DuGray has finally come to his senses.” Dave
said. All the guys laughed.
“Seriously Tristan, she’s great.” Jasper added. “How
did you get her to agree to come with you?”
“Well you know that guy at the country club?” He asked
“Yea” Jasper answered
“They were having some problems. and She called and
asked for my help.”
“Why did she call you?”
“Everyone else was busy” 
Jasper laughed.
“So what did the guy do to her?”
“apparently he’s cheating on her.”
“Man, any guy that cheats on a girl like that isn’t
worth shit.” Jasper told him.
“I know, that's what I told her.”
“What did she say?”
“Thanks”
They all laughed.
Then a splash of water hit Tristan in the back and her
turned around to see a group of kids having a water
balloon fight. He looked at his friends and they all
nodded. Soon it was an all out war between these
teenage boys and a group of 10 year old children.

The girls finally arrived back at where they had left
the guys to play football.
“Hey,, where did they go?’ Greta asked.
Her question was soon answered when they felt a splash
of water land near them. They all screamed and then
turned around to see the group of boys having a water
balloon fight with the children. They all started
laughing and didn’t see Jasper and Dave sneak up
behind them and hit them with water balloons. Jasper
and Dave were laughing so hard at the reaction that
they had got from the girls.
“This is war!!” Emily shouted. She grabbed Rory and
Greta and took some balloons and filled them up. Soon
everybody was totally drenched and the balloons ran
out. It was getting later and a little colder, so they
decided to call it a day and go home.
“It was nice to meet you Rory” Jasper said. “I hope to
see you around more often.”
“yea me too.” Dave added.
“Thanks” Rory said.
“So Rory, we’ll pick you up at the club at 5 tomorrow,
ok?” Greta asked.
“ok” Rory smiled.
“We’ll see you guys later” Eric and Dave said as they
grabbed their girlfriends and headed to their cars. 
Soon everybody had gone, and just Rory and Tristan
were left.
“So did you have fun?” He asked.
“Yea, I really did.” She smiled.
“You look cold, we should probably get you home.” He
said handing her his dry sweatshirt that he had taken
off earlier.
“Thanks” she said as she put it on.
“So what are you doing with Emily and Greta tomorrow?”
He asked as they got into the car.
“We’re going shopping.” She said
“oh, girl bonding.” He laughed.
“I really like all your friends” Rory said.
“That's good, because I think they all like you.” He
smiled. He was happy being friends with Rory. If he
couldn’t be anything more, at least he got to see her
and talk to her. At least he was giving her the chance
to see the real him, and he hoped that she would feel
the same way eventually, that he feels about her. But
her could wait. He would wait forever for her.

They finally got to her house.
“Thank you Tristan, I really had a good time.” Rory
said
“I’m glad. Hey, maybe I’ll see you at the club
tomorrow.” He said
“oh don’t remind me of that, I have to face Riley
tomorrow.” She said, bringing her thoughts back to
what had happened last night.
“Rory, you’ll be fine, I know you will. And I’ll be
there tomorrow to help you if you need it, and so will
Emily and Greta, and Jasper and Dave and Eric and
Kyle. You have friends, don’t forget that.” He smiled
at her genuinely.
“I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t
come through for me today, Thank you.” She said as she
got out of the car.
“Bye Rory.”
“Bye”

She walked into her house feeling extremely better.
She had finally made some friends today. And believe
it or not, Tristan did have a soul.
“oh,!” she thought “I forgot to tell him that I met
his cousin!”

END PART 9
Tough Luck. 10/?
lexmorgan007@yahoo.com
Lex Morgan


Rory woke up the next morning feeling somewhat better about the whole 
Riley situation. She still didn’t want to deal with the fact that she  
was going to have to face him today.

She got dressed and her mother drove her to the country club so that 
Greta and Emily could pick her up later that day.  Luckily, when she  
got there, he was nowhere in sight. She went along her daily routine 
at the club. She folded towels, put them away, and cleaned some tables
and chairs.  Around noon, her boss, Henry, came and asked her to cover
for one of the waitresses again.  She was more than happy to do it,  
thinking that it would be the least likely place that she would run 
into Riley.

Tristan and his friends decided that they were going to hang out at 
the country club that day.  It was really hot so they figured that 
they  would just hang around the pool. Besides, it gave Tristan a chance 
to see  Rory again. They had gotten there around noon, so they decided 
to have lunch in the club and then go swimming.

Tristan, Jasper, Kyle, and Eric walked into the restaurant and were 
seated by the hostess.

“Hey Rory,” the hostess, Marie, called to her.

“Yeah?” she answered.

“I seated table 7,” Marie answered.

“OK, thanks,” Rory said as she grabbed her order pad and headed to  
table 7.

As she walked over, she saw Tristan and his friends sitting at the  
table.  She was somewhat relieved that he had come today.

“What can I get you guys?” Rory asked as she walked up to the table.

“Hey Rory!” Jasper said.  “What’s up?”

“Nothing much.  I’m just filling in for a sick waitress,” she answered. 
“So what do you guys want?”

They all ordered cheeseburgers and coke and then continued their 
conversation with Rory.

“So I heard you’re going shopping with Greta and Emily,” Eric said.

“Yeah.  They’re picking me up after work,” Rory answered.  “I should 
really get back to work, I’ll see you all later,” she said as she  
started to walk away.  

“Rory.” Tristan’s voice called.

“Yeah?” she asked, turning around.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.  

“Sure.  Marie, can you cover my tables for a few minutes?” Rory asked.

“No problem,” Marie called back.

Rory and Tristan walked out onto the deck in back of the restaurant.   
No one was there since they were still in the process of setting up. 

“What did you want to talk about?” Rory asked him.

“Did you talk to him yet?” 

“Riley?” 

“Yes.”

“No.  I’ve kind of been avoiding him all day,” she answered.  
“Successfully, I might add.”

“As proud of you as I am, you really need to talk to him.  The longer  
you let this wait, the harder it’s going to be.  You should just get it 
over with,” Tristan told her.

“I know.  I guess I’m just scared of what he’s going to say.” 

“Don’t be scared.  We will all be here for you if you need us.”

“I know.  Thank You Tristan.” 

“Your welcome,” he answered.

“I’m going to go back to work, but I promise, I will talk to him after  
my shift.”  

Then they both walked back into the restaurant together. 

After about a half an hour, her replacement came and Rory was off to do
some more work.  She went to the locker rooms and cleaned up all the dirty 
towels off the floor.  She had a huge pile that she was carrying  to the 
washroom, when she hit somebody. Both Rory and the towels fell on  the 
ground.

“Oh, I’m sorry.  I wasn’t watching where I was going,” a voice said as 
she was helped up.

“Riley?” Rory said as she saw who was helping her.  

“Hey Rory!  Where have you been?  You didn’t come yesterday and I tried 
to call your house, but nobody was home.” He told her.

“I was with some friends.  Riley?”

“Yeah?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“I need to talk to you too.” 

“Good.  We agree on that.”

“How about I meet you in an hour in the lounge?” he asked.

“Ok.” 

He helped her pick up the towels, and then they went their separate  ways.

About an hour later, Rory headed to the staff quarters.  “Hi,” she said 
as she spotted Riley in one of the chairs.

“Hi.”

“So do you want to go first, or should I?” she asked.

“You can go first.”

“Ok...I called your house the other night.”

“Ok....” He said, slightly confused.

“And you weren’t home.  You were on a date.”  Rory avoided making eye 
contact and instead looked at her feet the whole time.

“That’s what I needed to talk to you about-” 

“Look, I know we weren’t officially dating, but you could have at least 
told me that you were seeing someone else,” she interrupted.

“I wasn’t...well, I wasn’t until that night.  See, my ex-girlfriend  
broke up with her boyfriend because she decided that she wanted to try 
out relationship again.  I love her, so I thought the least I could do 
was give it a second chance.  I’m sorry.”

Rory didn’t know what to say.  She had cared about him, and he had hurt 
her.

“I know you’re probably really angry with me, and I don’t blame you,  
but we still have to work on that dance together,” Riley told her.

“I know.”

“So are you mad at me?”

“Yes.”

“But you’re still going to work with me?”

“Yes.”  She didn’t see what other choice she had.

“Good.  When?”

“You’re playing football with Dean on Saturday, so let’s meet at Luke’s 
afterwards and we can finish working on it.”

“Ok,” he said.   “Rory, I am really sorry, I never meant to-” 

“Are we done here?” she interrupted.

“Yeah.”

With that, she walked out the door.  Plopping down onto one of the  
lounge chairs, she just sat and cried. 

“Rory?” a concerned voice came from behind her.

She turned around to see who it was.

“Are you ok?” Tristan asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“No offense, but you don’t look fine.”

“I talked to him.”

“Oh.”

“He got back together with his ex-girlfriend.” 

“Rory, I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Rory told him wistfully.  “I really liked him.”

“I know, but he doesn’t deserve you Rory.” 

“He chose his ex over me, that’s got to tell me something.”

“Rory, you’re smart, and funny, and beautiful.  Any guy who can’t see 
that isn’t worth your time.”  

Rory just looked at Tristan.  He really was a human being.  She wasn’t
sure why he was comforting her, or why he was even friends with her,  
but she was really glad.  She didn’t think that she would have been able 
to get through this without him.

“Thanks,” she said giving him a hug.

Tristan smiled.  “You’re welcome.”

Rory hadn’t realized how long she had been sitting there.  Looking at  
her watch, she saw that it was five o’clock.  “Wow, I have to meet Greta  
and Emily already.  Thank You Tristan.  I’ll talk to you later.”

“Call me if you need anything.”

“I will.”

With that, she headed off towards the clubhouse so that she could grab 
her stuff and then meet Greta and Emily.  She was really looking forward 
to going shopping.  She knew that they would be able to help get her  
mind off Riley, and have some fun at the same time.

End of Part 10.
Tough Luck- Chapter 11
lexmorgan007@yahoo.com 
Lex Morgan


After Rory left Tristan, she ran to the club house so that she could change 
and meet Greta and Emily.  When she finished changing, she  walked out of 
the clubhouse and spotted Greta and Emily waiting at a table. “Hi” Rory 
said as she walked up to them.

“Hey Rory, are you ready to go?” Greta asked.  

“Yes.”

“Alright.  My car’s over there” Greta said as she pointed towards the 
parking lot.

“Let’s go,” Emily said.

They got into the car and drove to the Hartford mall.  Once inside, all 
they needed to do was decide where to go first.

“So where do we want to go?” Emily asked them.

“I think we need coffee before we start,” Greta said.

“My thoughts exactly!” Rory agreed emphatically.

“Well then, coffee it is.”

They found a coffee shop and sat down at a table to drink their coffee.

“So Rory, did you talk to Riley yet?” Greta asked.  

“Yeah,” Rory answered, remembering what had happened earlier.

“Well…what happened?” Emily asked impatiently.  

“He got back together with his ex-girlfriend,” Rory answered quietly.

“Oh…Rory I’m so sorry,” Greta said giving Rory a hug.

“Well, we’re just going to have to find you someone better then!” Emily 
smiled.

“Yep…we’re very good at that,” Greta added.  

Rory laughed.  “Thanks, but I think I’ll avoid the whole dating thing  
for a while.  It hasn’t gone so well in the past.”

“I think that you just have to find the right guy first,” Greta commented. 
“Well Ladies, I think it’s time to shop!” Emily said getting up from  her 
chair.

They went to almost every store in the mall and after about 3 hours of 
shopping, they had a total of 12 bags combined.

“Well, I think I’m done,” Emily said.

“Me too,” Rory added.

“Wait!  Shoes!” Greta exclaimed.

“Oh my god!  How could we forget shoes?” Emily laughed, making a face  
at Rory.

“You’re making fun of me, aren’t you?” Greta asked.  

Emily and Rory laughed good-naturedly.

Linking arms with the other two girls, Emily steered them towards the 
shoe store.

Emily and Greta were both trying on shoes, while Rory was looking  around.  
She had picked up what she thought to be the perfect pair of shoes, when 
she heard someone behind her.

“Well if it isn’t Rory.  No scrubbing pool chairs today?” she said laughing.

Rory turned around to see Paris, Madeline, and Louise standing behind her.

“I heard that even the pool boy dumped her,” Louise added.

“Wow, you must feel really pathetic,” Paris told her.

Rory didn’t know what to say.  They had hit her where she was most 
vulnerable at the moment.  But within seconds, she heard Greta’s voice 
from behind her.

“Paris, Paris, Paris....Who are you bringing to the country club dance?  
You brother?”

Paris just scowled and turned, walking away.

“Rory, don’t pay any attention to her.  She’s just a pathetic bitch,” 
Emily said coming up behind Greta.  

“Yeah, she’s not worth your time.”

“But she’s right.  I was dumped by the pool boy,” Rory told them.

“Think about it Rory.  She brought her cousin to the formal.  How pathetic
is that?  She’s just ragging on you because it makes her feel better about 
herself,” Emily said authoritatively.

“Thanks you guys.”

“Well we should get out of here.  I think my credit card is all worn out!”
 
They all laughed as they exited the store.

Greta and Emily drove Rory home.  When Rory got inside she told her mother 
everything that had happened.  They ate ice cream and watched sad romantic 
movies and by the end of her wallowing session, she felt much better.  
But then she remembered that tomorrow was Saturday, and she would have 
to see Riley.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON.- Luke’s

When Rory walked into Luke’s, Riley was sitting at a table talking and 
laughing with Dean.  ‘How much worse  can this get?’ Rory thought.   
‘Both of them at once?’ Rory slowly made her way to the table.

“Hi.” 

“Hey Rory!  How are you?” Dean asked.

“Fine.”

“Well, I’m going to get going.  I’ll see you next week, Riley.  Bye, Rory,” 
Dean said as he got up from the table and walked to the door.

“Hi,” Riley said.

“Hi,” she responded awkwardly.
 
“So where should we start?”

“I though that we could finish up everything today, and that way-” 

“You wouldn’t have to see me again,” he finished for her.
 
Getting to work, they got over the initial awkwardness and finished 
everything for the dance.  Riley said he would make sure that the band knew 
what time and where.  They sent an order for the invitations,  hired a 
caterer, and decided on decorations.

“So we’re done,” Rory said, relieved.

“Yes, we are.”

“I guess I’ll see you Monday then.”

“Rory, listen…I’m really sorry about what happened.”

“I know,” Rory said as she walked out the door.

SATURDAY NIGHT

Rory and Lorelai were having one of their famous movie nights.  This  
time they were watching “Stand By Me.”  They were both laughing and 
eating pizza when the phone rang.  Lorelai began tossing pillows and 
magazines all over the place in a desperate attempt to find the phone.  

“AhHa…Success!” she yelled as she picked up the phone from behind the 
latest issue of Vanity Fair.  “Hello?” 

“Hi, is Rory there?”
 
“Yeah, hold on for a second,” Lorelai said.  “Rory…It’s a boy!” Lorelai
teased as she threw Rory the phone.

Rory walked into the other room with the phone.  “Hello?” 

“Hi Rory.  This is Jasper…Tristan’s friend.” 

“I know who you are.”

“Well, I just wanted to make sure.”

“So…what’s up?” she asked, somewhat confused about why he was calling her.

“Well, tomorrow I’m having a little pool party kind of thing, and I was 
wondering if you wanted to come?” 

“Umm…What time is it?”

“From noon, till whenever people leave,” he answered.  “You’ll know  
most of the people there.  Oh, and Greta and Emily are coming.”

“Sure, that sounds great.  Could you give me directions to your house?”

He then gave her the directions to his house in Hartford. 

“So, I just wanted to tell you that I’m really sorry about how the  
whole Riley think turned out.  Greta said you were doing alright, but 
I just wanted to make sure.” 

“Thanks,” Rory said, touched at the thought.  “I’m better now.  I had 
my night of ice cream eating and movie watching…so I think I’m pretty 
much set.”

“Well, I’m glad.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Ok, bye,” he said hanging up the phone.

Rory returned to her seat on the couch and continued to watch the movie 
as Lorelai just stared at her.

“What?!?” Rory finally asked.

“Who was that?”

“A friend.”

“More information please?” Lorelai demanded.  

“Well, his name is Jasper.  He’s a friend of Tristan’s, and all he wanted 
to know was if I wanted to come to his pool party tomorrow afternoon.”

“And you said?”

“Yes.”

“All right then,” Lorelai said as she turned her attention back to the 
movie.

About a half hour later, the phone rang again, and Lorelai answered.

“Hello?” 

“Hi, is Rory there?” the boy asked.   “Why don’t I ever get any calls 
from boys?!?” Lorelai pouted into the phone.  “Hold on a second.” 

Tristan was laughing when Rory picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Tristan.”

“Oh, Hi.”

“Was that your mother?” he asked.

“Yeah.  She’s still pouting on the couch.”

Tristan laughed again. “She’s funny.”

“So, what’s up?” she asked him.

“Well, I heard that Jasper called you.”

“Yes.  He did.”

“And you’re going tomorrow, right?”

“That would also be correct,” she said.  

“Well then, I was wondering if you wanted me to come pick you up and  
take you to his house.” 

“Isn’t that kind of out of the way for you?” she asked.

“Well I figured that you don’t know where his house is, plus you don’t 
have a car, and rather then your mother not having a car all day, or 
having to drive you all the way there and back, I decided that I would 
offer my assistance.”

“Well, that’s very nice of you.”

“I know.”  She could hear the smile in his voice.  “Well what do you 
say?”

“Are you sure it’s not too far?”

“Rory, I wouldn’t be offering if I didn’t want to.”

“Ok, then.”

“Good,” he said.  “I’ll pick you up at 11:30.” 

“Ok, do you need directions?”

“Yeah.”

She gave him directions and then they said their goodbyes.  Rory walked 
into the living room, only to have Lorelai’s eyes locked on her once again.

“It was Tristan,” Rory said, anticipating the question she was about to ask.

“And?”

“He’s going to pick me up tomorrow.”

“Well, that was nice of him.”

“He said he knows,” Rory smiled.

“Well, two boys in one night?  What is happening to my little Rory?” 

End of Part 11. 

Tough Luck- Chapter 12

It was 11:30 on Saturday morning, and the doorbell to the Gilmore’s  house 
rang.  Lorelai was already gone for the day since she had another  wedding 
at the inn.  Rory heard the bell and yelled, “Just a second!” as she  ran 
down from her mother’s room where she was looking for the hair clips  that
her mother had borrowed from her a few days ago.  She ran down the  stairs
and opened the door.  

“Hey Rory,” Tristan said from the other side of the doorway.

“Hi Tristan.  Come in.  I’m almost ready,” she said. Rory ran back 
upstairs and found the clips in her mother’s room.  She quickly put them 
in her room and grabbed the backpack that she had  packed with her new 
bathing suit and an extra change of clothes just in case.

“Ok, I’m ready,” She said as she ran down the stairs.  Tristan was sitting 
on the couch looking through the magazines.

“All right, let’s go,” He said setting down the latest issue of People, 
and opening the door for Rory. They got into Tristan’s car, and began on
their way.  After 5 minutes  in the car Tristan told Rory that she could 
turn on the radio if she  wanted to. Rory pushed the on button to Tristan’s 
car stereo, and a CD started playing:

“What makes you different
Makes you beautiful
What’s there inside you
shines through me
In your eye’s I see
All the love I’ll ever need.”

Rory started to giggle and turned to an embarrassed Tristan.

“I never thought of you as the Backstreet Boys type,” she laughed.

“Tristan didn’t say anything, but quickly changed the CD to XTC’s “The 
Man That Murdered Love.”

“Wow, my best friend, my mom, and I love this CD.  We danced around the 
living room for an hour listening to it the first day it came out,” Rory 
said smiling.

Tristan smiled back, happy that she had forgotten about the whole 
Backstreet Boys incident.   “Yea, I like it to,” Tristan told her.

“What’s your favorite color?”  Rory asked 

“What?” Tristan said confused.

“Your favorite color?” Rory repeated.

“Why?”

“Because I realize that I don’t really know much about you, so I thought 
I would ask some things.”

“All right....Blue. What’s your favorite food?”

“Hey, I thought I was asking the questions.”

“What you said goes both ways.. so, favorite food?”

“Coffee”

“Coffee is not a food.”

“It’s the base of the Food pyramid at my house.” 

“Well, I guess I can’t argue with that.” Tristan Laughed.

“Hmm. Favorite book?” Rory asked.

“Catcher In The Rye.”

“How did I know that would be your answer?”

Tristan laughed. “Favorite number?”

“Interesting... 2,” she smiled. “Favorite movie?”

“We’re here,” Tristan said looking at Rory.

“I’ve never seen that.”

“No,” he laughed. 

“I mean we’re at Jasper’s.” 

Rory was slightly embarrassed that she had been too caught up in the 
conversation that she totally missed that he had stopped the car.

“Oh, then let’s go,” she said as she started to get out of the car.

“Rory.”

“Yeah?”

“Stand By Me.”

“What?” she asked confused.

“My favorite movie is Stand By Me.”

“Oh,” she said smiling.

They walked up and Tristan rang the doorbell.

“Wow.  This house is even bigger than my grandparents,” Rory said to 
Tristan.

He just smiled.

Then the door opened.

“Hey guys,” Jasper said, “Come in, everyone else is in back.”

“Ok.”

They walked into the backyard where there was a huge pool and a fairly 
large hot tub. Greta, Emily, Dave, Eric, and Kyle were already there. 
When Greta and Emily saw that Rory was there they ran up to her. “Rory 
you came!” Greta said excitedly.

“Yeah.”

“I’m glad…now let’s go get changed.  I want to show you guys my new 
bathing suit,” Emily said as she grabbed both Rory and Greta’s hands  
and pulled them into the girls pool house changing room.

“Wow, Em, that’s really cute!” Greta said.  

“I know…I found it yesterday, and I just had to get it.” Rory finally 
came out of the dressing area, feeling very  self-conscious.  She had 
never really worn a bikini before.  The one she was wearing was royal 
blue, and beautifully brought out her eyes.  She hesitantly  walked out 
to Greta and Emily.

“Rory, That looks so great on you!” Emily said.

“Thanks,” Rory said.

“Come on, lets go swimming!” Great yelled as she started walking  
towards the pool and the guys.

All the guys stopped what they were doing when they saw the girls enter 
the pool area.  “Wow,” Kyle said.

“Yeah, wow,” Jasper copied.

“Well are we going to go swimming or what?” Emily asked.

With that everyone got in the pool.  That is, everyone except Rory and 
Tristan. 

Tristan was still staring at Rory.  She looked amazing, and the blue of 
her suit made her eyes even brighter than they were before. Rory was also 
staring at Tristan.  He was in his swim trunks, and he  had a great body. 
His muscular chest looked like it was rock solid.

They were finally brought out of their trance when Jasper yelled. 
“Tristan, Rory!  Do you think that you two could stop staring at each 
other long enough to come play volleyball with us?”

Rory turned bright red, as did Tristan. Neither of  them realized that 
they had been staring at each other for as long as they had. The rest of 
the afternoon was great. They swam, ate, swam, talked, went in the hot tub.  
And then finally people started to leave.

“So Rory, are you ready to go?” Tristan asked.

“Yeah,” she answered.

“Wait,” Kyle said. “ You two came together?” 

“Yeah, Tristan picked me up, and he’s taking me home.”

“Oh.” Kyle said, raising his eyebrows at Tristan, who was trying to  avoid 
his look.

The car ride the way back was pretty quiet. 

“I can’t believe summer is almost over,” Rory said.

“Don’t say that yet! We still have two weeks!!” Tristan said.

“Ugh!! Chilton…I don’t even want to think about that place.”

“Yeah, me either.  Hey…think of it this way: You’ll have friends this 
year.” 

“Yeah, I guess that’s definitely a plus.”

“So what are you doing for your final weeks of summer?” he asked.

“Well my last day of work is next Wednesday.  So basically…work.”

“Hey, next Wednesday is that new country club dance thing right?” he 
asked.

“Yeah, are you going to go?” she asked

“I think so.  You’ll be there, right?”

“Yeah, oh…that reminds me.. I was going to tell you something.’’

“What?”

“I met your cousin.  His band is going to play at the dance!” she said, 
happy that she had finally remembered to tell him.

“Adam? Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow, I haven’t seen him in a couple months.” 

“You don’t  live that far apart, I would think that you guys see each 
other a lot.”

“Well my father and his father don’t really get along... so basically  
we see each other on holidays.”

“Oh.”

“Well, we’re here.”

“Yes we are.  Thanks for giving me a ride.”

“No problem.”

“I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah…bye Rory.”

“Bye Tristan,” she said as she got out of the car and made her way to the 
front door.

Tristan sat there for a minute thinking.  He had an idea.  He started his 
car and began to drive towards Adam’s house.

End of Chapter 12
Tough Luck- Chapter 13

Tristan had a huge smile on his face when he arrived at his cousins 
house.  He quickly got out of the car and ran up to the front door.  
He rang the bell, and within a few minutes Adam answered the door. 
“Tristan?”

“Hey Cuz. How are you?” Tristan said.

“Good, how about you…it’s been awhile,” Adam said.

“Yeah, I know.”

“So, is there something that you needed?”

“Well, I heard that you were playing at the Hartford country club’s  
dance next Wednesday.” 

“Yes I am.”

“Good.” Tristan smiled.  “Can I ask you a favor?” 

“Of course, why don’t you come in.” Adam said, as he closed the door 
behind Tristan.

TUESDAY NIGHT.
Lorelai and Rory were at the Hartford Mall.  Rory was still looking for  
a dress that she could wear to the dance.  She knew that she was just 
working there, but for some strange reason she felt as if she needed to 
impress somebody.  As they were headed towards that third department 
store that night, Lorelai stopped to ask Rory something.

“So…you’ve been talking to Tristan a lot lately,” Lorelai said.

“Yeah, he’s gotten to be a really good friend.”

“Friend?” Lorelai raised her eyebrows to her daughter.

“Yes.. Friend.”

“So you don’t have feelings for him that are more than a friendlike?”

“That would be correct.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mom, look, I think that’s the perfect dress!” Rory yelled as she ran 
over the a dress on the rack near them.

“Wow, that is perfect,” Lorelai said.

“I know.”

“Nice enough for Tristan?” Lorelai teased.

“Mom!!”

“Sorry.”

While Rory was trying to convince her mother that she didn’t have 
anything but platonic feelings for Tristan, she was still trying to 
convince herself of that. She had begun to look at him differently 
than she did before. Of course he had been nicer than he had been in 
school, but she had begun to care for him.. and the worst part is that
she didn’t know if it was only as a friend.

Lorelai and Rory agreed on the dress and they paid for it. They drove 
back to Stars Hollow, and made a stop at Luke’s so that they could go  
and get some coffee.

“Hey Luke,” Lorelai said as she sat down at the counter with Rory right 
there next to her.

“What, is this like the fifth time you’ve been in here today? Don’t  
think that I’m going to serve you coffee again.”

“Please!!!” Lorelai begged.

“No.”

“I’ll leave if you just give us some coffee.”

“Fine, have it your way,” He said as he poured two cups to go.

“So what have you two been up to tonight?”

“Rory and I went to the mall to buy a dress for Rory..  so she can look 
pretty for Tristan.”

“Mom!!” Rory yelled. “I do not want to look pretty for Tristan.”

“Whatever you say,” Lorelai said smiling. She knew her daughter, and  
she knew that  Rory was feeling more than just friendship towards Tristan, 
she  just hadn’t admitted to herself yet.

“Wait a minute.” Luke said. “Evil Tristan? You want to impress Evil 
Tristan?”

“Number 1: I do not want to impress him. and number 2: He’s now that 
former evil Tristan.”

“Well we should go,” Lorelai said as she picked up the coffees and  
headed towards the door.

When they got home, Rory was really tired, so she decided to go to bed.

As she was trying to fall asleep that night, she couldn’t stop thinking 
about what her mother had said.  ‘Why would I have gone to so much trouble 
finding the perfect dress, if it didn’t want to impress him. Even if I did 
want to impress him, there’s no way that he would want me.. I mean he’s got
a whole trail of girls that follow him. I’m just the pathetic girl that got
dumped by the pool boy.’  With that she turned over and went to sleep.


WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
Rory had an incredibly busy morning. She had to set up everything for  
the dance, not to mention avoid Riley who kept trying to talk with her  
about what had happened. Although she wasn’t upset about what had happened  
with him, she just didn’t know how to talk to him.

At about 5:00, Rory headed to the club house so she could see what time 
Henry wanted her there.

She knocked on his office door.

“Hi, I just wanted to ask you what time you wanted me to be here tonight?” 
She asked him.

“You know what Rory, just come when it starts, I have a whole crew of 
people setting everything up. Besides you already did all the work of 
planning it. SO have fun tonight.”

“Thanks Henry.”

“Oh, Rory, I forgot to give you this,” He handed her an envelope with  
her summer bonus and final paycheck.

“Thank You, “ She said as she gave him a hug.

“Your a great worker Rory, I’ll miss you. If you ever need a job, you 
know where to come. Have a good school year.”

Rory walked out of the office and grabbed the remainder of her stuff  
out of her locker. She threw it in the car and headed home. She still 
had  to get ready for the dance.


LATER THAT NIGHT
Rory had almost finished getting ready. Her mother was still doing her 
hair, and she was putting the final touched on the little makeup that  
she had on.  When they were finally finished, they both stood up.

“Wow, Rory you look beautiful. There’s no way Tristan could resist  you.”

“Thanks mom.” Rory said as she gave her mother a hug. 

She grabbed her jacket and headed for the car. She was nervous, she 
didn’t know how she was going to act around Tristan. What if she made 
a complete fool of herself?


HARTFORD COUNTRY CLUB
The ballroom was already packed with people when Rory got there. She  
hung up her coat and headed into the ballroom so that she could find  
Tristan. She looked for a while, but there was no sign of him. ‘maybe 
he decided not to come’ She thought. Then she heard a voice from behind 
her.

“Rory?” The voice asked.

“Yea.” She said as she turned around and saw Riley standing there in 
front of her.

“You look really beautiful.”

“Thank You.”

“Would you dance with me?” He asked.

“Um.. I don’t know.”

“Please?” 

“All right.” She said as he took her hand and led her to the dance  
floor. It was a slow song, he he put his hands around her waist and she 
held  his neck.

“I’m sorry, Rory, I never meant to hurt you,” he said.

“I know, I understand.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, besides I think I’m falling for somebody else.”

“I’m glad. You know.. Do you think we could be friends?” he asked.

“If it means I have to play football with you and Dean, than no.” She 
smiled.

“I promise.. no football.”

“Good.”

“So.. friends?” He said.

“Friends.”

Then the song ended and they separated.

“I’ll see you later Rory.”

“Bye Riley.

Then she continued to walk around, then she decided to go to the bathroom. 
When she opened the door, she was surprised to see  Emily and Greta 
already in there.

“Rory!” Emily said.

“Wow, you look great.” Greta said.

“Thanks.. so do you guys.”

“So we saw you dancing with Riley.. is everything ok?”

Greta asked.

“Yea.. we decided on friends.”

“That’s good.”

“So, have you guys seen Tristan?”

“No, I was about to ask you the same thing.” Emily said as all the  
girls came out of the bathroom.

“Hey Rory, you look great.” Dave said.

“Thanks.”

“So Greta, you want to dance?” Dave asked his girlfriend.

“Sure.”

Rory hung out with Emily for a few minutes.. until Kyle came and  decided 
to dance with his girlfriend.

“Rory.. You want to dance?” A voice came from behind her.

She turned around. “Sure Jasper.”

They began to dance to the song that was playing.

“Have you seen Tristan?” Rory asked him.

“No, I would have thought that he would be with you.”

“I haven’t seen him all night.”

“I wonder where he could be.” Jasper said.

Just as they stopped talking, the music abruptly stopped, and Adam came 
up to the microphone.

“Well, How is everyone doing tonight?” He asked. He was answered by a 
loud cheer.

“I would like to introduce you all to someone. He wants to sing  
something for you. So please welcome, my cousin, Tristan DuGray,” he 
said.

Both Rory and Jasper looked at each other.

“I think that’s you answer.” Jasper said.

“I didn’t know he could sing.” Rory said.

“Me either.”

Then Tristan emerged from behind the curtains holding a guitar. He was
welcomed with a few screams and hollers from the clapping audience.

He stepped up to the microphone, as Adam picked up the guitar behind  
him and joined the rest of the band.

“Hi. Um.. I don’t really know what to say.. but this song is for a special 
person.. you know who you are.” He said as he looked down at  his guitar 
and started playing.. soon the rest of the band joined in.



You don’t run with crowd
You go your own way
You don’t play after dark
You light up my day
Got your own kind of style
That sets you apart
Baby that’s why you captured my heart

I know sometimes you feel
Like you don’t fit in
And this world doesn’t know
What you have within
When I look at you
I see something rare
A rose that can grow anywhere
And there’s no one I know that can compare

What makes you different
Makes you beautiful
What’s there inside you shines through to me
In your eyes I see all the love I’ll ever need
What makes you different 
Makes you beautiful to me

You got something so real
You touched me so deep
You see material things 
Don’t matter to me
So come as you are 
You’ve got nothing to prove
You won me with all that you do
And I wanna take this chance to say to you

What makes you different
Makes you beautiful
What’s there inside you shines through to me
In your eyes I see all the love I’ll ever need
What makes you different 
Makes you beautiful to me

You don’t know 
how you touch my life
Oh in so many ways I just can’t describe You taught me
what love is
supposed to be It’s all the little things that make
you beautiful to me
(So beautiful)

Rory recognized the song from the Backstreet Boys CD that had accidentally 
turned on in his car that day that he drove her to the party. 

What makes you, what makes you different
Makes you beautiful
What’s there inside you shines through to me
In your eyes I see all the love I’ll ever need
What makes you different 
Makes you beautiful to me


When Tristan stopped playing he looked into the crowd and his stare met 
Rory’s.. she had tears in her eyes.

He got down from the stage and made his way through the crowd to where Rory 
was standing.

“Would you dance with me?” He asked.

“Yes” She said as she followed him to the middle of the floor, all of  
the sudden music started playing.

Do you remember the first kiss?
Star shooting across the sky
To come to such a place as this
You never left my mind

I’m watching from the wall
As in the streets we fight
This world all gone to war
All I need is you tonight

And I draw a line
To your heart today
To heart from mine
A line to keep us safe

All through the rising sun
All through the circling years
You were the only one
Who could have brought me here

And I draw a line
To your heart today
To heart from mine
A line to keep us safe
And I draw a line
To your heart today
To heart from mine
And pray to keep us safe

Watch the stars now moving
Across the sky
Keep this feeling
Safe tonight


They just stared into each other’s eyes as they danced. They both knew 
that this felt so right, being in each other’s arms.

“Tristan?”

“Yeah?” he said looking down at Rory.

“I think I’m falling for you.”

“Good…because I’ve already fallen for you.” He said as he leaned down  
and gave her a kiss.

THE END