Title:
Miss Me?
Author: DaxisSteele
Rating: PG
Summary: Senior year, One bus, two enemies, 14 hours together.
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. Characters do
not belong to the author.
Chapter Four: Declaration of War
Tristan picked up her bag of food and led her back to the bus. Threatening growls of warning emerged at the snickering from classmates as they made their way to the back of the bus. Rory just ducked her head and hid her teary eyes behind a cascade of hair. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with any of them. Whatever had been decided between the two of them seemed so fragile and she didn’t want to risk tipping the scale in the other direction by giving her classmates the chance to push them apart. She got the feeling from the steely glares on her back that this was going to be a long uphill battle with the popular clan. She was neither rich nor prestigious, she was just plain old Rory Gilmore and the circles that Tristan ran in were going to eat her alive at least when his back was turned. She crashed down into the bus seat next to him and sighed. "Hey," he lifted her chin to face him. "Don’t sweat it. They aren’t going to give you any trouble." She smiled slightly and nodded, not in the least reassured. She knew how these games were played. It was the little things that finally broke you. Insults thrown in passing when she stepped within earshot, nudges in the hallways, papers accidentally getting knocked to the floor and evil glares that could stop a rhino in it’s tracks. At least before she only had to worry about Tristan and Paris tormenting her. Now she would have the entire female population drawing a line in the sand daring her to try and cross. "It took me two years to win you over, I’m not letting you go now that I’ve got you." He whispered and pulled her against him holding her possessively in his arms.
He was certain he could protect her from them. His status in the game was too high to be crossed and they all knew. Crossing Tristan DuGrey was social suicide and no one was dumb enough to risk that. He shifted sideways so that he could pull her back against his chest. Rory sighed heavily as he nuzzled her cheek silently praying he was right. "I’m not going anywhere." She laid her head back on his shoulder and pulled his arms tighter around her waist.
"I thought nothing was going on between them." Madeline quipped at Paris.
"That’s what he said why?"
"They don’t look like nothing is going on."
Paris darted out of her seat to the back of the bus. When she saw the two cuddled across the bench seat it took all of her resolve not to scream. "Who the hell does she think she is?"
"Apparently the flavor of the week from the looks of it."
"Shut up, no one asked you." Paris shot at Louise. "No one comes into my school and does something like this."
"You mean play tonsil hockey with Tristan? Every girl that comes into this school does that."
"Are you talking again?" Paris glared at her. "She is going down. It’s about time someone ripped Rory off her high horse."
Tristan sat still as a statue afraid to wake her if he moved. He had dreamed of days like this for so long now that he was terrified of interrupting the sanctity of it with movement. She was so beautiful sleeping peaceful in his arms. The fear that she would wake and recant everything that had happened between them made him wish she would remain asleep locked in this moment forever.
Rory opened her eyes wondering if he was awake yet. She wished she could stay in this one perfect moment forever but she knew it wouldn’t happen. At some point the protection of his arms would have to be abandoned to face the cruelty of her classmates on her own. She had heard them earlier when they thought she was asleep. Paris never did have any tact. A sigh past heavily over the frowning lips and she turned her head to look at her sleeping warrior. She had no doubt he would do everything in his power to protect her from the backlash but she had a feeling his protection would just make the backstabbing increase in severity.
"Morning Sleeping Beauty." He watched her eyes intently, gauging for a reaction to what had happened the past few hours.
"Morning." She smiled and nuzzled her face into the strong muscles of his neck. "How did you sleep?"
"Oh you know. As well as can be expected with an armrest in your back."
She chuckled knowing the answer to her question before she asked. "Do you want me to move?"
"Yes." That wasn’t the answer she was looking for, but frowning she complied and leaned away from him. "Whoa Tiger." He pulled her back against him. "I was just kidding." He brushed her hair aside and kissed the exposed skin of her shoulder. "Did I ever tell you how sexy you look in my clothes?"
"I wonder if we could say the same about you. I have this great purple mini that would really show off your legs." She smiled as he just shook his head and grunted.
"Are you always bad with the sarcasm."
"You should know that by now, but no, I’m not always this bad. I get worse when I haven’t had my caffeine fix."
"Oh man." He groaned mockingly. "Supply of caffeine will remain on hand at all times."
"You think I am bad you should see my mom. She takes addict to a whole new level not thought humanly possible until now."
"So this obsession is hereditary?"
"More like a legacy. She has passed the torch onto the next generation. Of course her reason is suspect."
"Why is that?"
"Luke never says no to me but I needed to actually drink coffee before I could start ordering myself a cup."
"Who’s Luke?" The inner workings of her life fascinated him, her everyday happenings sounded like a soap opera.
"Mom’s main supplier. He owns the coffee shop. He thinks he is destined to save the Gilmore girls from a fatal attraction to coffee."
He smiled. "Not going to happen is it?"
"Not in this lifetime anyway." She sighed. "Paris hates me."
"Why?"
"Why do you think?"
"Oh. How do you know?"
"I heard her talking while you were sleeping. She’s definitely miffed at me."
"I’m sorry, Rory. You don’t deserve that."
"Can’t do anything about it now. I’ll deal with it." She tried to smile reassuringly but failed miserably.
"Everything will be fine." He hugged her tighter.
"How far are we from Hartford?"
"About a half hour. Do you need a ride home?"
"No, that adds another hour onto your trip."
"That’s ok. I don’t mind." He didn’t want this trip to end.
"Well ok, as long as you promise we can stop at Luke’s for coffee."
"Time for your fix?"
"Bout an hour over due."
"Am I going to survive the trip?"
"I’m not making any guarantees, there’s this whole Gilmore Werewolf legend, also part of the legacy. Has something to with caffeine levels in the blood stream."
"I’ll be sure to pack my silver bullet."
"Well isn’t this cute." Rory cringed at Paris’ voice. She felt Tristan tense behind her with irritation.
"What do you want Paris?" He almost growled the words.
"Just getting my bag."
"Don’t let us keep you." The obvious desire to get rid of the unwelcome company dripped from his words.
"Don’t worry I am leaving. The present company makes my stomach turn." Rory wished she was immune to Paris barbs but after two years of her nasty comments it still hurt and it was only going to get worse.
"This is going to be fun." She grumbled to Tristan after Paris had retreated. "Can’t wait for tomorrow morning."
"I will take care of it."
"No, don’t. It’ll only make it worse. She'll give it up after awhile, and if not, hey only eight months until graduation." She knew Paris would never give up this feud. It was going to be a long eight months.