221Chapter 13-All At Once
Tristan's Mercedes pulled up in the driveway of his childhood home. Even though it had been somewhat of a prison for him in his teenage years, after his parents' deaths, he couldn't bring himself to sell it. It held too many memories.
Rory could remember exactly the first time she had set foot in the Dugrey mansion. It had been one day after school, when Tristan and her had been working on a school project. They had not been dating yet, but their relationship consisted of lots of bickering and sexual innuendoes. She didn't like Tristan at that point, but she had this undeniably urge to kiss him all the time. Maybe it was his messed up hair or little smirk on his face that she constantly wanted to wipe off. She couldn't admit she was attracted to him, but she knew there was something there.
The whole house still had that intimidating feeling about it, that still hadn't gone away in fifteen years. It was ornate and overly dramatic. And once Tristan and Rory crossed the threshold, Rory suddenly felt fifteen again.
Her mind threw her back to the time when she had her Chilton uniform on and a yellow backpack thrown over her shoulder. She always felt intimidated by Tristan and his house definitely reflected that. She didn't know what she was getting herself into when she walked into his house. She was still unassuming and definitely innocent by all standards.
Rory could even remember what he said to her, "So my room or the kitchen?"
"Kitchen," she responded, thinking that it would probably provide less innuendo.
"What? My room's too scary for you?" he teased.
"We can probably get more done if we are the kitchen. There won't be any…" the word she looked for seemed to elude her.
Tristan easily offered, "Distractions?"
"Yes, distractions." It sent an eerie feeling through Rory's spine as he finished the sentence for her.
They went into the kitchen and spread their study materials over the massive counter.
"Do you want anything to drink? Soda, water, and I think we have coffee?" Tristan asked, attempting to be a good host.
Immediately Rory responded with an easy smile, "Coffee, thanks."
"No problem."
"I was thinking that we could divide the project to make it easier. I can do the French Revolution and you can do the American Revolution. Once we get all the research together, then we do the compare and contrast part. Does that sound good?"
Without any type of smart remark he simply said, "Sure."
Surprised Rory stated, "Okay."
Tristan handed a ceramic cup to her, filled with brown liquid. She didn't notice him watching her, taking her first sip. She didn't notice that he found the act all too sensual for his taste, so he quickly turned away from her.
Setting the cup down, she faced Tristan. "Here are some books I picked up and you have your textbook right?" He nodded. "Good. That's all we really need."
"Good."
"Yeah."
Rory watched him take his attention away from her and focus on the books she had placed in front of him. She watched him flip through the first few pages of one of the books. Something caught his attention and he took note of it. He seemed studious at the moment and dare she admit it to herself, he looked almost normal. Normal enough to not be the Tristan Dugrey that Rory had grown to find intolerable.
That afternoon, Rory remembered he had been agreeable and overall accommodating. He wasn't pretentious or teasing. They actually had a few intelligent discussions that Rory even might have wished to last a little bit longer. She laughed with him. And not in the sarcastic way she had developed over the past couple months of them knowing each other. No, she truly laughed with him.
Four hours had gone by and as to be expected Rory's mom called, asking what in god's name she had been doing and Rory calmly explained she was at Tristan.
"Mom, I'm doing a project with Tristan."
"Bible Boy?" Lorelai exclaimed.
"Yes, Mom."
"Oh. That's an interesting development. Well I guess I can come pick you up."
"Oh, you don't have to. I'm literally two blocks away from Grandma's and it's already eight. I'll just spend the night there."
"Rory it's no problem for me to come get you."
"I know but you have to be at work early tomorrow and I don't want you to be cranky. I have an extra uniform at Grandma's and I'm sure she will be more than happy than to let me stay there."
"Okay, but call me in the morning. Promise?"
"Of course."
"Bye love."
"Bye Mom."
Rory pressed the button on her phone to end their conversation and turned back towards Tristan.
"Is everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. I'm just going to spend the night at my grandmother's. Star's Hollows too far for my mom to drive and I don't want her to be tired tomorrow so it's just easier for me to go there," Rory explained.
"Oh. The Gilmores live about two streets down."
"I noticed that on the way here."
"Oh."
"Yeah. So I guess I better get going."
Impulsively he asked, "Wait, do you want to stay for dinner? I know it's late and you probably want to get to your grandparents, but one of the servants already ordered pizza for me and it should be here any minute so if you want you can stay."
"I don't want to be a problem. It's fine. I can go." She started gathering her things.
"Rory, really it's not that big of a deal."
As if on cue, the doorbell rang. "See that's the pizza. Please stay. You are anything but a problem Rory."
She looked at him. He did seem like he wanted her to stay. "Pizza does sound good."
"So you'll stay?"
"Yeah," she nodded. Why not? She thought to herself. It couldn't hurt.
Little did Rory know that the pizza was a start to a relationship, one that would leave her loved, heartbroken, and eventually the rekindled kind of love. It was during the moments while they were eating pizza that Rory was finally able to admit to herself that she was attracted to Tristan. In fact, she even had the ability to show it by the end of the night.
Tristan walked her to the door and they were laughing. "That always was one of my favorite movies," he commented.
"It's a classic," she said referring to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. There was a pause for a moment and then she said, "I had a lot of fun tonight. Thanks."
"No problem. If it wasn't for you getting all those books we wouldn't have had so much time to just hang out," he thanked.
"It was nothing."
"So…I'll see you later."
"Yeah. Bye." For some reason, unexplainable to herself she leaned up a little bit and kissed him on the cheek and said softly, "You're not as much of jerk as you make yourself out to be."
Shocked by her actions, Tristan didn't say anything. Rory expected him to do something, like make some comment or anything, but he didn't respond. He just kind of stood there.
"Okay well I'm gonna go. Bye," she turned around to walk out of his house.
He grabbed her hand. "Wait." She glanced up at him nervously, unsure of what he was going to say. "Rory don't hate me after I do this."
"Do wh-" she was cut off by his lips pressing on hers. It was her first kiss. Well Dean had kissed her, but not like the way Tristan was. There were tingles throughout her body and she felt something, something very strong.
After a moment, he pulled away. He saw the look on her face and said, "I knew you'd hate me. Damn. I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
"No. I shouldn't have done that. It was really dumb. And you have that boyfriend. I think Paris said his name was Dean. Fuck. I just kissed someone's girlfriend."
She touched his arm. "It's okay. We broke up a couple weeks ago. You weren't kissing anyone's girlfriend."
Relief seemed to wash over his face. "Good. That's good."
"Yeah."
A thought seemed to occur to him. "Did he break up with you or did you break up with him?"
"He broke up with me," Rory stated, thinking back to when Dean told her he didn't want to be her boyfriend anymore after two months of dating.
"Why would he do that? He must be a real idiot!" he exclaimed.
"He wasn't an idiot. I couldn't tell him that I loved him," she explained. "That's why he broke up with me."
"Oh."
"I wasn't ready yet."
"Still he's an idiot. Any guy would be lucky to be with you."
She shook her head. "No they wouldn't be."
"Rory if you were my girlfriend I would hold onto you as tight as I could and never let you go."
"What are you saying Tristan?"
His blue eyes bore into hers. "I like you Rory. I like you a lot. I think I've liked you ever since that you walked in late to Mr. Medina's class. You're smart, beautiful and perfect. I just wish I had a chance with you."
Rory walked closer to him. "You do have a chance with me."
"You hate me though."
"No, I just don't like you when you're being a jerk. I like you when you're like this. Vulnerable, nice, genuine. You should be like this more often." This time she initiated the kiss. This one was longer and if it was possible, Tristan's touch made her even crazier.
Tristan pulled away to breathe and touched his forehead to hers. "Will you go out on a date with me Rory Gilmore?"
"Yes," she said full-heartedly.
With a smile on her face, she remembered the beginning of her and Tristan's romantic relationship. He was so perfect in that moment and she had him back.
"Do you want something to eat?" His question snapped her back into reality.
"Uhh, sure," she replied.
"Do you want pasta, take out of some kind: pizza, Chinese?"
Smiling she said, "Pizza. Definitely pizza."
"What's going on Rory? You have a very lovey-dovey look on your face," he commented while picking up the phone.
"Just remembering."
Knowingly he replied, "Our study date? The first time we kissed?"
"Yep." She went over to him and kissed him. "That was probably one of the best nights of my life."
"Really?"
"Of course. Isn't it one of yours?"
"It ranks up there. I just can't wait till I can declare to the world that you are my wife." He kissed her lightly then turned his attention back towards ordering the pizza.
Even though Lorelai and Luke were in the hospital she knew that Tristan was there to comfort her at anytime she needed him to. He was so important to her and now she was going to become his wife. Something that she dreamed about but never knew it was going to happen. Things would always stand in their way to make their relationship far from perfect, but Rory always knew that in the end it would work out. Because they made it work.
Even if their jobs forbid them from seeing each other, they were still going to. She had a feeling that she might be the one to give up hers and she was okay with that because it meant that she would get him. She would have him for the rest of her life and there would be no questions at all. She wanted to wake up next to him every morning and go to bed with every night.
She wanted the dream and she thought that maybe for once she was going to get it.