~Rory and Tristan~ The Early Years!!

-2-

Monday morning I get to school and I see Tristan getting his books out of his locker. I walk over and he notices me. "Well, hello Mary." He says still going along with the whole "Mary" thing. "Hello Tristan, how are you?" "I'm well. How about yourself?" "I'm fine," I said vaguely. "Well now that we're all caught up, should be discussing a time and place to study?" He says looking bored. "Uhm sure, that sounds good. So are you free tonight at 5?" I ask trying to get him to be a little more focused. "Sure that sounds great. So your place at 5?" He asks, but as soon as I try to answer, the bell rings, and he takes off for his next class.

~Later that day~
School ends and I get on the bus to Stars Hollow. I finally arrive after 30 minutes. I get off and Lane is waiting for me with a coffee in her hand. "Hi," She says. "Hi," I say with a straight face. "I thought you might like some coffee since you always do." "Thanks," I say a little more calmly. "So this feels very awkward," Lane says a little nervous. "You know I'm a big girl, Lane. I don't need you to protect me from things." I say trying to reassure her. "I just didn't want to make you any sadder than you already are." She says trying to comfort me a little. "How is you telling me that Dean is your study partner gonna make me sadder?" "I don't even wanna bring up his name around you." "That's crazy." "Have you seen your face when you mention Dean?" "My face is fine," I say really frustrated. "Your face is not fine. Your face is far from fine." "I'll get over it." "Well, you're not over it yet." "Well, maybe I'd get over it a little quicker if everyone weren't so busy running around trying to protect me from all the bad scary things in the world." Finally over all of this protecting madness. "Fine! I won't protect you anymore." "Great. Glad to hear it." "Next time we're walking down the street and you're about to walk headlong into oncoming traffic, I'll just give you a little push." She says with sarcasm. "Exactly what I'm talking about." " And in the spirit of not protecting you anymore, I was gonna tell you I couldn't study tonight because I have bible class, but that's not true. I have to meet Dean again." "Great. Thanks for the honesty." " And I'll probably have to see him again this weekend cause the project's due on Monday." "Whatever. I don't care I'll see you when I see you." "Fine," "Fine," "Bye."

As soon as our conversation ends mom shows up. She talks about how I need to get over Dean breaking up with me. I get mad at her because she didn't tell me that she and Max were talking again. She says she needs to go into the market and that she'll meet me at home. That's when I storm off. I head home and the next thing I knew my brain snapped and I was packing for an overnight trip. When I finished packing the next thing I knew I was walking to the bus stop on its way to Hartford. I had the study date with Tristan and I wasn't just going to cancel on him so I headed to where he lived so that we could study there.

~30 minutes later~
I arrive at his house and I knock on his door. He answers it. "Well, this is a surprise." "Hi, Tristan." "I thought we were going to study at your house." "I know, but I just had to leave." "Why is that?" " I had just gotten into a fight with my mom. I just had to get out of my house, that town. I just had to get out of there." "Okay well, if you want you can stay here tonight." "Oh no, I don't want to be a burden." "You won't be one. We have a guest room that you can stay and I can get some food made for you." "Really? Thank you." "You should probably call your mom though. She could be really worried." "No, she'll be fine for one night. I know that we're supposed to study tonight, but I was wondering if I could head to bed." "Sure, that sounds fine. You don't want anything to eat?" "I'm not really hungry." "Okay, well let me show you to the guest room." "Okay." "Here it is." "Wow, this looks great. Thank you." " No problem. Just let me know if you need anything." "Thank you. Goodnight Tristan." "Goodnight Mary." He says closing the door. As soon as the door clicks my cheeks feel hot. I change into my pajamas, get under the covers and fall fast asleep.

~Tristan's POV~
I go into the guest room Rory is staying in and I take her phone. I call her mom to tell her that she was staying with me and my family tonight. When she picked up she sounded worried. "Hello," she says. She sounds like she was crying. I mean who wouldn't when they find out that their child disappeared? "Ms.Gilmore." "Who is this" "This is Tristan Dugray, ma'am." "You did the play with Rory. Is she with you?" "Yes ma'am." "Okay well, I will pick her up tomorrow afternoon. Would you mind giving me the address please?" "Of course." "Thank you. Have a good night." She hangs up and I put Rory's phone back in the guest room. After I leave the room I head to my room. I take off my shirt and put on a pair of pajama pants. I get under the covers, close my eyes and I fall asleep.