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 Six: Definition of Intent
"Hey Mary." Rory groaned as Louise and Madelyn materialized behind her in the hall. It had been a really long week and she was not looking forward to the barrage of insults that would soon be tumbling her way. Today alone, Paris had dumped her lunch tray in the cafeteria right in front of Tristan’s friends. Grace and Charlotte, two of the maven’s of Chilton Cheerleading, had publicly announced her virginal status in Economics and Louise had knocked all of her notes on the floor in Calculus. She really wasn’t looking forward to any more harassment. In an attempt to ignore them she opened her locker and contemplated what she needed to take home.
"You know you brought this on yourself right? What were you thinking? You and Tristan? Please, he is so out of your league." The verbal jab hurt as much as she tried not to show it.
"So how’s this work again?" Rory stood absorbed in her books. "You make my life a living hell just because I’m dating Tristan? Massive public humiliation and such, am I getting all of this right?"
"That about sums it up." Louise chirped with a demonic smile.
"And all of this stems from Paris’ deep seeded resentment of my ability to have the one thing she can’t."
"Right again."
"And what do I get out of this arrangement?"
"Public harassment and aggravation." Madelyn’s smirk held promise of torture to come.
"Sorry, old news, had that since my first day here. Try again please." She sighed and closed her locker. "For what it’s worth tell Paris I’m sorry this is hurting her." She walked down the hall before anything else could be said.
"Hey beautiful, how was your day?" Tristan popped out from the corner where he was silently watching over the encounter. He really wished there was something he could do to help her.
"I would rather have hot pokers shoved in my eyes then live through today again."
"What happened?" He knew of course everything that had been done to her when he wasn’t looking. He had eyes and ears all over the school.
"The spawn of Satan has the locker next to mine and she’s building an army of minions from the abundant population of bitter socialites to destroy me. Other than that everything is fine." She groaned heavily.
"Wow, a personal crisis of biblical proportions all over your relationship with me. Mary, I’m impressed, fighting of the Army of Darkness just so you can keep dating little ole me."
"Sorry to burst your bubble oh Godly one, but I think there is a little more to it than that." She grumbled as she exited the building. "How was your day?"
"Infinitely better than yours I would assume, but then again I am the crowned prince of Chilton, few dare challenge me in public."
"What a sad commentary on our times." She smirked relaxing into the banter. "An egotistical maniac has enough power and money to make Solomn jealous and a wise gentle soul is trampled on like the green stuff they try to pass off as meatloaf in the cafeteria." He laughed at the mental image.
"Need a ride oh gentle wise one?" He draped his arm across her shoulders.
"You don’t have to do that." She smiled at his consideration.
"I have nothing better to do, besides you can help me with my Physics lab."
"Ah, the hidden agenda rears its ugly head." She chuckled as she climbed into the passenger seat. "Why am I dating you again?"
"Cause I’m incredibly sexy." She raised a brow in mock confusion and he pleaded, "cause I’ll buy you a cup of coffee?"
"In that case I think I’ll keep you." He smirked but was humbled when she added a qualifier. "For now."
"Hey!" He looked about ready to protest further when he saw the look on her face. "Are we approaching werewolf territory again?"
"That would be an emphatic yes. Can’t this bucket of bolts go any faster?" She wanted to get back to Stars Hollow away from the hell that had become her academic life. "If you really want help with Physics we can go to my house after we hit Luke’s. I’m meeting Lane there for our daily homework gripe session."
"Who’s Lane?"
"My best friend. She’s dating your friend Henry."
"The one with the psycho mother that makes her go to bible school all summer?"
"That’s the one."
"This could be interesting." He sat silently in contemplation for a moment. "I’m sorry I am making your life hell, Rory." His voice was quiet and she almost didn’t hear him.
"Tristan, you are not making my life hell. Paris is doing that all by herself. She’s never really liked me very much, this is just the curler that snapped Shirley Temple’s neck."
"What was that?"
"Sorry, Lorelei expression. She felt sorry for the camel, thought the guy should be carrying the straw himself instead of the camel but she hated Shirley Temple. She thinks Temple is the devil incarnate." She smiled at the memory of the conversation with her mother. "I think Grandma made her watch Animal Crackers one to many times."
"One of these days I’m going to have to actually have a conversation with your mother. I’m jealous; I only get to watch it from the sidelines. I want to play too."
"Just don’t stand in between her and her coffee."
"Check." He parked the car and followed her into the diner to sit by her mother. "So what are you doing this fine Friday night?"
"Dinner with Emily." Rory snickered at Lorelei’s gripe.
"Every Friday we have dinner at the Gilmore Chateau." She attempted to sound snooty but failed miserably behind the giggling. "Mom tries to get out of it every week but it never works. I find them funny, sort of like those specials on the nature channel where the parents try to eat their rebellious young."
"Ouch, sounds like my family."
"Why don’t you come tonight and watch the show?" Lorelei saw a glimmer of hope.
"I wouldn’t want to intrude."
"Oh, you wouldn’t. I’m sure Emily would love to know her beloved Rory has a boyfriend." Lorelei was delighted someone else would be at the center of attention.
"Mom, can we be dating longer than a week before we send him into the middle of a war zone please?"
"That’s ok, I would love to come. Are we allowed to place bets on the fight?" He smirked.
Lorelei laughed. "Ooh, this is going to be fun!!!"
"Luke, can you do something about her please?" Rory whined.
"She’s your mother." He shouted from the kitchen.
"Yeah, but she listens to you."
"Like you do?" He called back.
"Argh." She flopped down on the stool in frustration. "Can we get two specials with coffee to go please?"
"No, it will stunt your growth."
"Too late. Can I have the coffee please?" She started whining.
"This is new." Lorelei whispered to Tristan. "She usually never has to whine. Good at it though when she wants to be. It’s the Bambi eyes. I want Bambi eyes. Not fair that she got ‘em and I’m stuck with Thumper eyes. Not nearly as effective."
Tristan just shook his head and laughed. "She’s about to hit werewolf stage too."
"No." He called from the safety of the kitchen where he couldn’t see the pathetic expression on her face.
"I promise I won’t ask you for coffee for the next four hours at least."
"No good, you aren’t getting any."
"But Luke, I had a really crappy day at school and Paris destroyed my lunch so I’m really hungry and Mr. Chrisin took my latte from me this morning and said I couldn’t have it for lunch even though there was milk in it."
"Is there anything in the world that will get you to stop begging?"
"Coffee."
"Fine, rot your insides but don’t go crying to me when it catches up to you." He mumbled as he handed over the burgers and filled two cups of coffee.
"You’re right. She is good. Lord help me if I ever try and win an argument." He whispered conspiratorially to Lorelei. Lorelei laughed knowing Tristan wouldn’t stand a chance trying to refuse Rory anything. She could see it on his face, he was wrapped around her daughter’s finger whether she knew it or not.
"You don’t stand a chance." He smiled knowing she was right.
Rory turned beaming victoriously. "You ready for the history of Babylon?"
"I hate Chilton." He groaned.
"No argument here." She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door. "Bye Mom. Five o’clock, she’ll string you up if we are late again."
"What are you complaining about you didn’t have to go last week."
"Yeah but I had to eat with Paris."
"I'll let it slide this time. But just this once because you were adequately tortured on your own."
"Five o’clock Mom!" With that they were gone.
"So, you’re Tristan?" Lane was having some trouble forming sentences with her tongue dragging along the floor.
"Yep."
"Hey Lane, do you want to put your tongue back in your mouth? You’re drooling."
"Sorry, Rory, but you neglected to tell me how absolutely hot he was."
"You’ve seen him before."
"But not up close. I mean come on Rory, he’s definitely hunk material! How could you be keeping those eyes a secret?"
"Um, still in the room here."
"Sorry. Lane has a problem with subtly. She doesn’t have any." Rory turned back to her coffee. "So what do you need help with?"
"Where should I start?"
"That good huh?"
"I think Brody lost me about the third word out of his mouth."
"Ouch. I thought you were pretty good with science."
"Biology and chemistry yes, but not with Physics. I think it’s the way he teaches. Doesn’t make much sense to me when he explains things. I mean how am I supposed to figure out the bank needed on a NASCAR track with just the weight of the car? What does that even mean." He groaned and put his head in his hands.
"Can I remind everyone again that I am so glad I don’t go to Chilton?"
"Thanks. Now that we have that out of the way we can move on." Rory chuckled at Lanes out burst. "Something tells me this is going to take awhile." She took her last gulp of coffee and began to sort through his jumbled notes from class. It was going to be a long evening indeed. She didn’t even want to think about dinner with her Grandparents tonight.