Title: Don't Matter

Author: Gilmoregirl7878

A/N: I have no excuses for not updating for so long, except for my deepest apologies. Please, take this chapter as a gift from me! Hehe, that sounded kinda formal...weird.

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This is crazy.

More than crazy, this was...there were no words to describe what she was about to do. It was dangerous and stupid.

And yet, despite all this, she found herself climbing down off her balcony and walking down the street toward the park. The incident with the two thugs that Tristan rescued her from still fresh in her mind, she was constantly glancing behind her shoulder.

The huge relief to finally arrive at the bridge, but the relief was soon replaced with disappointment. He wasn't there. Of course he wasn't, she was stupid to think that she was important enough to meet her in the middle of then night. He was probably with one of those women that followed him around...

With that thought Rory quickly turned around and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" She heard a voice say from behind her. She turned around slowly and found Tristan standing on the bridge, watching her.

"I-you weren't here, so I was leaving," she explained nervously. She walked toward him and stopped a few feet away, looking down at her feet and blushing.

"You came," he said quietly, more to himself than to her, staring at her closely.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to, but..." she trailed off, to be completely honest, she wasn't sure why she had come.

"I know why you came," Tristan stated more confidently, the voice he had used moments ago was long gone.

"Really? And why's that?" Rory met his eyes for the first time and stared back, challengingly.

Tristan just smirked and walked toward her, until they were barely a foot apart. It took all the courage Rory could muster not to back up.

"You wanted to have fun."

"Fun? I have fun all the time."

"Really? When was the last time you were truly having fun? Exhilarating, no worries, completely caught up in the moment, fun?" He asked her in a low, mesmerizing tone. The truth was, Rory had never experienced a moment like that before. She just wasn't going to let him know that.

"All the time, I can't pinpoint a moment," she lied unconvincingly. The only response she got out of him was a small smirk and he stepped even closer to her, whispering in her ear.

"I think you're lying. You're here because you want to try something new. You want to experience excitement, danger...lust?" He said the last word almost question-like, but stared at her with knowing eyes.

Rory backed away from him and faced the stream that was running below their feet, a blush gracing her features.

"You're insane. And forgetful. I thought you said it was dangerous for a girl to be out on the streets in the middle of the night?" She challenged.

Tristan couldn't help but chuckle. "I promise you, no one in their right mind would go near you anymore."

"Yeah, and why is that?"

"Because they would have to answer to me," he answered simply. This startled Rory, and she looked at him, only to see him looking away.

"You know my brother."

"Yes, I do."

"And you told him about the other night with...with those men." Rory couldn't help the shaky breath that came out, thinking back.

"He has a right to know, he's your brother and he cares about you."

"Oh yeah? And how would you know?"

"I know a lot more than you think I do. I know that you finished school, got good grades and loved schooling. Although, just talking to you I could figure that out. I know that you hate the fact that very soon, your father will sell your future away to a marriage you don't want and man you'll never love." He continued.

"That's not exactly hard to figure out. There are many girls like me who feel the same exact way."

"I can tell you honestly, Rory. There are not many girls like you." Rory froze and wasn't sure of what to do.

"What?" She asked softly, staring at him waiting for him to continue.

"We're getting off subject," he chastised playfully.

"And what was the subject?"

"Lust. That's why you're here isn't it? Even if you don't know it yet," he smirked at her flustered and completely embarrassed expression.

"I-I have to wait until marriage."

"Have to?" He asked amused.

"Yes! It's-it's...," she explained, trying frantically to think of the right word.

"It's?" He asked amused, stepping closer to her.

"It's just the way it its! It's what I'm supposed to do!"

"Really?"

"Yes, really. So, now that you know that, we might as well both go our ways." She turned and walked away, but Tristan grabbed her elbow.

"That's what you think this is about?"

"The fact that you want to bed me isn't the reason we're here?"

"No."

Rory scoffed. "Please, I may be naive, but I'm not ignorant." She tried to walk away again, but Tristan's grasp was not weakening, and she ended up even closer in his embrace.

"But you've never felt it, have you? Desire? Someone's body up against yours, being completely lost in another person."

Rory's breath quickened at his words and for the first time she did, desire. She wasn't completely naive as she seemed, she heard things from Stephanie, Louise, and Madeline, who were far from virgins. They were against waiting around until marriage.

Tristan moved back to look into her hazy eyes and smirked. "Maybe now you beginning to."

He swooped down and captured her lips with his. Rory didn't know what to do, she just stood still. Slowly, she began to kiss him back. The hand that was lightly resting on the back of her neck didn't seem to bring her close enough to him and without thinking when she placed a hand on his stomach and slid it to his back, pushing herself closer to him.

He broke apart long enough to take a breath and kiss her again, but in that moment he broke away she opened her eyes and found his dark, clouded eyes staring back at her. The jolt she felt when she looked into his eyes made her push him away.

She stared at him wide eyed before turning and hurrying away.

Tristan watched her go before leaning against the railing and taking a deep breath, before a smile appeared and a soft chuckle escaped.

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Rory finally reached her balcony and collapsed on the floor of it. She was breathing was heavy, from the running or the kiss, she wasn't sure. She rested her head against the balcony railing and couldn't help the smile that made it's way to her lips.

This feeling, the excitement and something else Rory had never felt before was overcoming all her senses. Every time she closed her eyes his eyes were imprinted in her memory. The feeling of being that close to someone and his intoxicating scent surrounding her. Not the potent cologne that men wore when she was around them with her father, something natural.

She lightly touched her lips with her fingertips. Her lips seemed numb, yet tingly at the same time. She entered her room and stood in front of her mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips were fuller than usual and a smile that never seemed to fade, and her eyes sparkling.

She finally understood what her friends were talking about...and she couldn't blame them.

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"Rory, wake up. You have to be at the club in an hour and a half," a voice floated into her sleep and she groaned.

She opened her eyes to see her mother striding over to the curtain that hung over her balcony doors and opened them, light came streaming into the room and the light made Rory wince and close her eyes.

"Why do I have to be at the club this early?" Rory grumbled. Lorelai froze and stared at her daughter. That was the first time she had ever heard Rory mutter a word of disagreement towards her or Christopher. There was something different about her, but she couldn't place it.

"Your father wants you to meet someone. This is a very important meeting, so you must look your best." Despite her will, she briefly wondered if the meeting was with Tristan, but dismissed the thought.

She obediently put on the dress that Lorelai insisted she put on and had her make up and hair done by the maids. She hated getting dressed up, she loved the looser, less formal dresses that she wore out during the day with Stephanie or when she visited her brother.

These dresses were allowed her to show her collar bone then the collar of her top started, it was a button up top and her waist, which was made minuscule by a corset, was a black sash then her red skirt, which matched her shirt, fell straight to the floor.

"Good enough. Come now, we must be going. And please remember to be on your best behavior." Her mother ordered, walking out of the room leaving Rory to follow her.

The short and silent carriage ride brought them to the Riverside Club, where only the elite went. Rory was to meet her father and his guest with her mother for brunch. Normally, the women went to the club in the afternoon and left for the men to smoke and drink in the evening.

As Rory walked toward the table at which her father was waiting for them, her eye caught a flash a blonde and she looked over to a nearby table to see Tristan watching here, smirk planted on his lips. Rory quickly looked away and blushed. She looked away in time to see Lorelai watching her through suspicious eyes.

As they approached the table a older man she vaguely recognized, a young blonde whom she had never seen before, and her father all stood to greet the two women.

"Ah, here they are. Mitchum, Logan, this is my wife Lorelai and or daughter Lorelai, but goes by the name Rory. Rory this is Mitchum Huntzberger and his son Logan," Christopher introduced. Rory offered her hand to be kissed by both men and stared wide eyed Logan who winked as he kissed her hand.

She sat down obediently next to her mother at the table and waited for her father to start the conversation.

"Rory, Logan just returned from graduating at Yale University, he'll be working under his father at Huntzberger Publishing," Christopher explained.

"Yale is an excellent school, the studies must have been amazing. Huntzberger Publishing is an amazing company. Mr. Huntzberger, your newspapers are very well written." Rory couldn't help but gush. As soon as the words left her mouth, Christopher cleared his throat loudly, shooting a look at Rory, who looked down at the table top.

"Christopher, you have a very bright girl." Mitchum said, surprised.

"Yes, I let her go on with her schooling longer than I should have." Christopher admitted like that was a bad thing. Rory wanted to frown, but she needed to keep up a happy facade for appearances.

Rory snuck a look at Tristan and was shocked to see him giving a hard look at the table, but not at her, at Logan, who was staring right back. Rory silently looked between the two men, but was broken out of her thoughts by her father's voice.

"...wouldn't that be a great idea, Logan?" Christopher asked, looking at Logan expectantly.

"I'm sorry sir, it was a long trip and I'm afraid I'm still a little tired. What was it you were saying?" Logan lied smoothly, avoiding the glare Rory saw Mitchum give him.

"I was just saying how you and Rory should take a stroll by the river through the gardens. It's a beautiful day," Christopher hinted. Both Logan and Rory knew there was no suggesting behind this statement, they would go for a walk.

"It is a beautiful day. Well, what do you say, Ms. Hayden, would you mind taking a walk with me?" Logan asked, smirking at her.

"I'd be delighted, and please cal me Rory, Mr. Huntzberger." Rory accepted, smiling shyly at him, which gained an approving smile from her father.

"Well, then Rory, call me Logan." Logan took her arm and led her away from their parents and outside away from the club.

When they reached the edge of the garden and were close to the banks of the river, Logan let go of her arm and took a deep breath, facing Rory and smiling.

"It's kind of stifling in there," Logan said running a hand through his hair anxiously.

"Yes, it is." Rory agreed quietly.

"It's okay to relax a little bit, I promise I won't tell," he teased, smiling at her mischievously. Rory couldn't help, but laugh, relaxing for the first time that morning.

"So, you went to Yale University? That must have been exciting." Rory couldn't help, but ask eagerly.

Logan looked at her strangely. "You really like learning don't you? Yale isn't all that special, the lectures are boring and so are the teachers."

"Some of the smartest people in the country teach there, it can't be boring to listen to them!" Rory insisted. Logan stared at her curiously and Rory blushed, embarrassed by her forwardness.

"You're not like most other girls," Logan stated, staring at her.

Rory froze and looked away quickly.

"I can tell you honestly, Rory. There are not many girls like you."

"Is something wrong? Was it something I said?" He asked worriedly, noticing her paling face.

"No, it's fine. Just a dizzy spell."

"Are you sure? Because we can move the shade if you'd like."

"No, no. It's gone, I'm completely perfect."

"Yes, you are," Logan agreed, smirking at her, his eyes giving her a once over. Rory blushed and looked away and at the same time, noticed that the way he looked at her didn't give her the chills like when Tristan did.

"Logan Huntzberger," a all-too-familiar voice greeted, approaching them. Rory looked to see Tristan DuGrey walking toward them. His greeting extended toward Tristan, but his eyes following her. Rory looked away, managing not to blush furiously.

"Tristan DuGrey, it's been a long time." Logan shook Tristan's hand when he reached them, then put a hand on Rory's back.

"This is Rory Hayden, Rory this is Tristan DuGrey. We've known each other for a long time," he said cryptically.

"Actually Ms. Hayden and I have already met," Tristan answered, smirking at Rory who averted her gaze. Logan looked between the two of them uncomfortably.

"So, how long are you staying in the city?" Tristan asked, finally looking at Logan.

"I'm here to stay actually. I graduated from Yale and I'm to start working for my father immediately."

Rory watched their conversation with curiosity and interest. It didn't seem like they were friends, there was a level of tension simmering beneath the false pretenses. It also didn't seem like hatred, either.

"Well, I'm sure we'll see you around," Logan said. It didn't go unnoticed of the term we and that he was speaking for her now.

"Yes, I"m sure you will," Tristan agreed, a smirk just tracing his lips as his eyes met Rory's for a fleeting moment before he left them.

"Are the two of you friends?" Rory asked Logan once Tristan was a safe distance away.

"You could say that, what about you two? I could ask the same question," Logan asked coldly.

"He was one of the men my father introduced me to at a party the other day. One of the many men I was introduced to. I hardly remember him." Rory lied easily, surprising even herself at how truthful it sounded.

"You seem to have made an impression on him, but how could you not?" Logan said while leading her back into the club.

As they were leaving the club later that day, before she got into the carriage she saw Tristan walking down the street with his arm around a blonde woman, she was giggling. Tristan looked over his shoulder at her and locked eyes before kissing the girl in his arms, an embrace that made theirs' from the night before seem chaste.

Rory watched as he broke away from the girl and looked back at Rory before continuing his way down the street.

Rory got into the carriage with her parents and tuned out the chatter her father was making. She felt a strange tightening in her chest when she saw Tristan with another girl, a feeling she didn't recognize. She only knew one thing.

She wanted to see him again.

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A/N: Wow, this is one of the best chapters I've written one of my most proud of ones, at least. And its long!! Haha. So I'm sure you can start to see where this story is going to be heading, but I still have some plot twists stuck up my sleeve. He he.

I hope you enjoyed this, PLEASE Review!! I love them Oh-so-much.

Oh, and I might not update as much in the next couple weeks because August 30th is my SWEET SIXTEEN!! YAY! Hehe, so I'll be planning.

Later!!