Finding Rory

Chapter 76: The Party

"Come on out and join the party!" Tristan called across the yard as he saw Neil walk to the patio door.  The engagement party was in full-swing with all of his and Rory's closest friends milling around the backyard.  Food and alcohol were free-flowing and the mood was light and festive.  Their friends came from a myriad of backgrounds and lifestyles, but they all shared in the excitement and celebration over Tristan and Rory's engagement.

Neil crossed the patio and hugged both Rory and Tristan.  "Congratulations again, you two.  I seriously wish you both the best in your upcoming marriage," he told them sincerely. 

"Thank you so much, Neil.  Hey, I had someone I wanted to introduce you to if you don't mind," Rory told Neil.

"Mare, Neil doesn't need your help meeting women," Tristan groaned as he rolled his eyes.

"Actually, I'm not going to turn down an introduction," chuckled Neil.  "Finding quality women at our age isn't as easy as one might think.  They're all already settled down and married or there's a really good reason that they're not."

"Well, I think you'll really like this one," replied Rory.  She grabbed Neil's hand and led him across the yard to where Kimberly was standing near their makeshift bar.  She stopped next to Kimberly and dropped his hand.

"Hey, Rory.  Great engagement party," Kimberly said as she turned toward Rory and the handsome man standing next to her.  She couldn't help but notice how gorgeous he was, with his dark, wavy hair, a bit of a five o'clock shadow, and beautiful eyes.

"Thanks, lady.  Hey, I wanted to introduce you to someone.  This is Tristan's old roommate from college, Neil Burke.  Neil, this is Kimberly - she and I work together and have become great friends the last couple of weeks," Rory said, introducing the two.

Neil smiled and reached out to shake Kimberly's hand.  "It's nice to meet such a beautiful friend of Rory's," he said as he shook her hand, and suddenly he began laughing at himself.  "I'm sorry - that was a terrible attempt at flirting," he apologized.

Rory and Kimberly began laughing with him.  "How you and Tris were ever ladies' men I'll never understand, because neither one of you are very smooth now," Rory teased him.

"And yet you're marrying him," he shot back with a raised eyebrow and a grin.

"Touche," she relented.  "I'll just go check with Tris to make certain everything's going well while you two talk."

Rory walked away and Neil turned to Kimberly.  He was certainly interested in getting to know her.  She was a natural beauty with an infectious laugh and a sincere smile, and according to what Rory had told him she was also quite intelligent and ambitious.

"Would you care to find a seat and talk over some wine?" he asked, motioning to the bar next to them.

"Yeah, that would be great," she agreed.

He turned and poured two glasses of wine and led Kimberly over to a nearby table in a quieter area of the yard.  He sat down their glasses and then helped her into her seat and sat down across from her.

"So Kimberly, tell me all about yourself," he said before taking a sip of his wine.

*                    *                    *

Paris knocked back another margarita and stood up on her chair.  She whistled loudly to get everyone's attention and spoke loudly as the group quieted.

"Alright, I say it's time we take a walk down memory lane and roast the happy couple!" she yelled loudly, and a bit too exuberantly.  She had called Colin during the week to discuss her plan, and he had of course shared it with the rest of Tristan's friends. 

Colin, Finn, Neil and Fitz all walked over to join Paris, and Tristan chuckled and wrapped his arm around Rory.

Paris took another drink and began spinning her version of the tale of Tristan and Rory's start.  "I thought it was only right that I kick this off, given that I had a front-row seat for the beginning of our power couple, who I'll refer to as Trory for the rest of the night.  I must say, it was incredibly amusing to watch this self-proclaimed King of Chilton fall hard for the Mary, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get her attention."

"Now, that's not quite true!  I seem to remember hearing that he got her attention a few times, but it never worked out like he wanted it to.  There was the time that he bought tickets to PJ Harvey in hopes of taking her out on a date, but she shot him down," Fitz teased, causing loud laughter to erupt in the group.  He'd met Tristan in military school and had heard all about the early days. 

"Oh, but my favorite is the story of him kissing her on a piano bench and her running away in tears!" Neil added.

"Laugh it up, everyone!  I've got my girl now," Tristan replied, laughing with everyone.

"That is a good one," Paris agreed.  "I myself am partial to the story of him getting in trouble in class for staring at her ear instead of paying attention.  That's one we'll tell the grandkids."

"You all should have lived with him!" Abby yelled.  "I've never seen such a love-sick teenage boy.  He would run around the house singing all of these sappy love songs, not realizing that we all heard him."

"That's enough out of you!" Tristan said with a smirk.

"And this is where I come in!" Lane yelled, moving toward the front of the group.  "Rory would come home from school every day complaining about this spoiled rich blonde who was hell-bent on making her life miserable.  Poor girl was so oblivious, she never realized that he liked her."

"Hey, you were no better!" Rory cried out, but she was laughing through the whole thing.

"All I'm saying is that you were dating Dean, but you were obviously hot for blondie here," Lane shot back.

"Ugh, Bag Boy!" Tristan groaned, and Jess joined him in his grumbling.

"Good riddance to that one!" Jess agreed.

"Speaking of good riddance, before Trory ever got their real start, Tristan was off to military school, and that night he became a no-show Romeo!" Paris yelled out.

"I had to kiss Paris because of you!" Rory said with a laugh as she slapped him playfully.

"Holy hell, kitten.  Why didn't you ever do that while you were at Yale?" Finn asked.

"We did on spring break," Rory laughed.

"Damn my spending all my time in college drunk in the pub!  I missed out!" yelled Finn, just as the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Fitz called as he turned to walk into the house.

"Well, if you're all through roasting us now, we have a few words we'd like to say," Tristan said.  He leaned down and kissed Rory, causing whoops and catcalls, and then continued.  "Rory and I are so grateful for the roles you've all played in our lives over the years as we lived our lives apart and then found each other again.  You'll all be getting wedding invitations in the mail very soon.  Before we let you all get back to eating, drinking, and being merry, we do have an announcement.  Rory and I are expecting twins in April, and we're so excited to begin a family.  Now, everyone enjoy the party!"

Tristan and Rory suddenly found themselves in the midst of all of their friends who were offering their congratulations, but the party suddenly went quiet at an unexpected intrusion.

"You stole my girl, and I'm not just going to stand by and watch!  I warned you that you hadn't seen the last of me!" Logan snarled, obviously drunk.

"Logan?!" Rory exclaimed in shock.  She thought he'd already gone back to London.

"Shit, I'm sorry.  I had no idea - he just said that he was a friend of yours," Fitz apologized as he watched the tension grow.