Trompe Le Monde

Author: Genevah

Rating: M – just a pre-cautionary measure

Disclaimer: I claim to own nothing.

Summary: Sometimes the one you're with isn't always the one you need.

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..…'.'Chilton'.' …..

The temperature in Hartford was a comfortable 65 degrees with skies so clear that the sun had full reign to spread its warmth. A welcoming indication that spring was nipping at the heels of old man winter.

It was yet another end to a school day when Tristan stepped out from the confines of Chilton finding himself embracing the inviting warmth and letting it settle on his taut skin. It barely calmed the aggravation he felt since fifth period when he witnessed Huntzberger working his charms on Rory.

The part that gnawed at him was that she ate it up like it was her favorite flavored ice cream. It was so uncharacteristic of her. She usually despised arrogant, self-righteous heirs like Logan. What had changed?

Tristan continued towards his car. The final bell rang only two minutes before but he was already well on his way to the senior parking lot. He didn't want to get sucked into the mindless chatter of his fellow classmates so he eliminated the last stop to his locker making sure he had all the required reading materials needed for the evening's assignments with him at his last class.

Two chirps disarmed his vehicle and he deposited his Chilton blazer and textbooks in the back seat.

Tristan was a fine specimen of a male eighteen year old. Any girl could easily lose her breath if they saw him at that moment. His slender 6'0 frame with impeccably sculpted lines and planes leaned languidly against the passenger door of his sports car. It was as if he was posing for a photo shoot modeling ridiculously overpriced aviator sunglasses. Nevertheless, he was a perfect still shot of seduction and desire. And if that wasn't enough to wet a girl's appetite, his navy blue striped tie was loosened and slack around his neck and the buttons on his long-sleeve oxford shirt were undone revealing the white tee underneath that barely hid the expanse of his well toned chest. It was sometimes too easy for him to be that beautiful.

As carefree and relaxed as he looked on his exterior, inside he was a mess of emotions as he anxiously waited for Rory.

He found that he didn't have to wait too long when he spotted Rory and her bright-ass school bus yellow backpack coming into full, rather stunning view. His heartbeat quickened as per usual, unable to ignore her simple yet complicated beauty.

As she approached him he could see that the wheels were churning in that head of hers processing the ever infuriating smirk on his face. It only took a few seconds for realization to set in.

"Shut it Tristan." She ordered at once before he could even open his mouth to greet her. It was obvious she knew what he was up to. "I'm not in the mood."

He cocked his left brow at her, his tongue peaking out, wetting his bottom lip. "Well then, let's work on getting you in the mood. Shall we?" He told her as he stepped into her personal space toying with the black strap from her book-bag that dangled by her hip. Hey she set herself up for that one.

Rory rolled her eyes at him and cast him a look of something fierce. Though Tristan remained unaffected by it. It took years of practice to get him to that point. She could be deadly with her wicked expressions when the receiving party was none the wiser.

"You know..." He started, shoving his sleeves up his arms one after the other and stepping back to lean against his car again, "I never would have guessed-"

"What exactly is it about 'shut it' do you not understand? Would you prefer I show you?"

She was fiesty today. He loved fiesty Rory.

"If it involves your lips and mine then by all means, I'm a fast learner."

This time Rory stepped into his personal space and stood on her tippy-toes to barely reach his eye-level. It appeared as though she was aligning their lips for the ultimate kiss. Tristan found himself stupidly holding his breath.

"I don't think Jacqueline would appreciate that. Would you?" She clearly hung around him way too much. The smirk on her face mimicked his perfectly.

He shook his head, letting reality set back in. He ignored her comment and continued where he originally left off, "-I thought you were more of a brunette kind of girl."

"And here we go..." Stepping back, Rory folded her arms in front of herself, her stance feigning exhaustion.

Tristan smirked. "I mean come on. Logan Huntzberger? He's clearly a blonde, and as natural as they come."

He noticed the light blush that colored her cheeks at the mere mention of Logan's name and he immediately detested her reaction. It was until that moment he loved to see the pretty blush. Now not so much.

Rory sighed dramatically glancing up to the sky begging aloud, "Why me?" Her cute pout made his teasing worthwhile.

He was instantly mesmerized as his eyes subtly roamed the length of her neck, fixated on the visible pulse on her porcelain skin. He quickly averted his eyes the second she righted herself so she wouldn't catch him.

She didn't.

"What Tristan? What is it that you are dying to know?"

Tristan merely raised his eyebrows at her and she knew exactly what he wanted to know.

"Fine. Yes. I find him mildly interesting. There. Are you satisfied?"

"Mildly interesting. That's an odd choice of words to describe the guy Ror, I think I'd be offended if I was him."

"Well be glad you're not. Now can we drop this and move on to a more entertaining subject that doesn't include me?"

"Ah but I like this subject. It's one of my favorites."

She glared at him.

"This guy's a joke Rory and you know it."

"Are we seriously doing this?"

Tristan nodded.

"I've talked to Logan twice. Nothing earth-shattering."

"I saw the way you looked at him," Tristan disagreed, his voice held a hint of something akin to disappointment. That look turned his world upside down. He knew Rory would someday start going out with guys though he never thought he would feel so strongly against it.

"I look at him the same way I look at my cat."

"You don't have a cat."

"That's beside the point. The point is that if I had a cat I would look at him in the same manner as I would the cat."

Tristan looked confused. "Lovingly?"

Rory let out a frustrated growl.

"No! I'm allergic to cats."

"You lost me here Rory."

"Forget it."

"Oh no no no... your lame attempt to sidetrack me won't work. You almost got me there Gilmore."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Tell me how I looked at him then."

"Like he was a piece of meat."

"Oh shut up. I did not!" Rory slapped Tristan in the arm as she blushed fiercely, embarrassed that more than likely she looked like an idiot when she talked to Logan.

"You like him." It came out as a statement rather than a question.

"I don't even know the kid."

"But you want to get to know him," he hedged. "Admit it, he was me 3 years ago."

She laughed, truly surprised by the comparison.

"I mean why waste time getting to know him when you could just as easily date me." He said ever so charmingly.

She found the truth in that statement utterly hilarious.

He smiled brightly. "Aaah you just thought about it didn't you." He pointed at her teasingly.

She rolled her eyes at him. He would always say stuff like that. Always jokingly of course because the boy did have a girlfriend. "Whatever. Can we go now?" she asked and reached behind him to grab the handle of the passenger door but he wouldn't budge, "Move please."

"I'm just getting started." he said, looking at her from the side. "Hey, this is new to me. All these years I thought you were immune to the opposite sex. I thought for sure you'd be nun-ing thru college."

Tristan knew it was bitch ass thing to say, but part of him was selfishly getting back at her for making him feel the way he was feeling about this whole thing. God he was so insanely jealous of this guy he couldn't stop fucking with her.

She looked at him somewhat taken aback that he said those things to her. After a minute of silence she turned and began to walk away from him.

That was unexpected.

"Fuck me." He muttered, pushing off the car and shifting his sunglasses to sit atop his head.

He quickly went after her, effectively grabbing her elbow to stop her.

He looked so apologetic... she actually felt herself forgiving him instantly. So not fair she told herself.

"Hey... don't choose now to be offended by the shit I say... I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean it." His voice was low and sincere.

Rory looked away. What he said had stung and on a normal day she wouldn't have let it get to her, but for some reason today of all days it did.

"Rory? Come on. Would you at least look at me?"

Nothing.

"God I'm sorry." He ran a hand up and down the back of his head, then brought both of his hands on her shoulders so that his face was directly in front of hers, desperately trying to get her to look at him. "I'm sorry," he sighed, "I'm having a fucked-up day. I really am sorry."

She shrugged him off. "You can be so obnoxious sometimes."

"You forgive me?"

"Drop the Logan talk and we'll call it even."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her back to the car.

"Starbucks?" Feeling the need to be a gentleman, he opened the passenger door for her.

He paused for a long second, openly staring at her as she secured her seatbelt. He finally closed her door once she was settled and made his way to the driver's side silently cursing his character flaw along the way.

Once he was in the driver's seat he dared to bring up on topic of Logan again. "Could you just ease my curiosity. Why him? He doesn't strike me as your type." He just couldn't let this go without knowing exactly why Rory liked this guy. What was it about Logan Huntzberger that he didn't have?

"Since when have you become an expert on whom my type is?"

Tristan sighed heavily. It was such a simple question. Why was she making it so damn difficult? Didn't she know what this was doing to his pride?

"I wasn't implying that I was. I'm entitled to my opinion aren't I?"

"Why would you want to have an opinion on whom I should or should not be interested in?

He shook his head. "You're doing this on purpose aren't you?" She was going to make him work before he'd get an answer out of her.

"Doing what?" She asked innocently.

"Would you please just answer the question?"

"No. I'm not answering your question."

He raked his hand through his hair and looked out the window in an attempt to pacify his self. It was getting to him. She was getting to him.

"Why are you upset Tristan?"

He gave her a sarcastic laugh. "I'm not upset. Why would I be upset?"

"I don't know. I don't get why you're acting this way."

"I'm acting this way because you can't answer a simple question."

Were they arguing? Rory couldn't believe they were arguing. Arguing about a guy who probably doesn't even remember her name. This was completely insane.

They sat in silence for the longest moment.

"It's hard to explain." Rory gave in. "He's... I don't know... I guess I kind of enjoy the attention he gives me. God it so sounds stupid when you say it out loud. It's not like it's even anything. He flirts with alot of girls... I'm not sitting around hoping that one day he'll ask me out."

Well, he could deal with that answer, Tristan thought.

"What does it matter to you if I like him or not?"

He seemed to be contemplating that very question before she had even asked it.

"I guess I'm just trying to look out for you. I know his reputation and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Oh." Mild disappointment could be heard in her tone, but it didn't occur to him to pay the slightest attention to it.

He started the car and they rode in silence all the way to Starbucks.

..…'.' …..

"Mom?" Rory called out once she entered the house.

"Kitchen." Lorelai looked up to see her daughter looking quite distraught. "Whoa, who's cat died?"

"Oh Rory… the kid's jealous of this Logan guy." Lorelai broke it down to her daughter, after she recapped what happened between her and Tristan that afternoon.

"That's ridiculous. Tristan is not jealous."

"Is it really that ridiculous Rory? I mean think about it. Wasn't he pulling the old school-boy tactics like pulling your hair and teasing you because he liked you?"

"Mom, that was three years ago. He's done with that... he's clearly moved passed it." Several times. With several different girls. Rory found herself frowning at the thought. She made up her mind not to analyze those thoughts. They were becoming frequent and too damn confusing.

I wouldn't be so sure of that, Lorelai thought to herself.

Rory started to get up from the couch. "I'm going to go to bed early tonight."

"Hey! Wait a minute." Lorelai grabbed her wrist before she was out of reach. "You haven't given me any dirt on this Logan guy yet."

Rory closed her eyes, scratching her brow. She just wanted this day to be over.

"Tomorrow. I promise."

"Okay, sweets." She gave her daughter a comforting smile. She could tell that she was having a trying day. "Good night."

..…'.' '.' …..

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