A Difficult Ending
Chapter one: The customer
----
"Rory, you've got a break in ten minutes."
"Alright." She grabbed the rag from under the counter and started to wipe the counter clean, when a customer appeared.
"I would like a mocha cappuccino."
"Sure thing." She turned away without even bothering to glance up.
She heard him chuckle slightly as she filled the big mug.
"Did you go to Chilton?" He asked.
"Yeah, I did, how'd you know?"
"I went there too."
She turned around, a smile on her face. "Really, wha-" she stopped, her mouth slack. "Tristan?"
He nods "Good to see you Rory."
"Wow." She hands him his coffee. "You look…" her eyes roved over him, if anything he was even better looking than he had been in high school. "Really good."
He smirked. "So do you." He gave her the money for his coffee. "Would you like to go to dinner tonight?" he gripped his coffee nervously, "catch up on each others happenings?"
"That would be great." She glances up at the clock, "I'm going on break right now if you want to go sit down I'll be out in a second."
"Sure."
A moment later she was sitting across from him at a booth by the window.
They sat in awkward silence for a short moment before Tristan looked up from his mug. "I have so many things to say to you." He smiled. "I just don't know what order to put it all in."
"You could start by telling me why you never actually asked me out at Chilton. You knew Dean and I had broken up for good."
"Stupidity I guess."
"Is something wrong Tristan?" she looked around. "For a beautiful Saturday morning in New York you seem troubled."
He shakes his head. "No, I just have a lot on my mind."
She peers into his strikingly blue eyes, searching for answers that weren't there. "Why didn't you ever write me?"
"I thought you deserved better than what I could give." He took a sip of his coffee. "I thought you were going to be a journalist."
"I am, for the New York Times. But I work here on the weekends, I like this place."
He smirked. "Or is it because you have no other way to spend your time? How could a stunning Gilmore in her prime not be dating, married, or engaged to a strapping young lad?"
"Strapping?" she laughed. "I kind of like being single, I've learned that all the guys here are only in a relationship to get something. And I was never a fan of things like that."
"I know." He laughed. It gave her goose bumps. She had forgotten what he could do to her; his laugh could make her heart skip beats.
"I missed you Tristan."
His mug halted its path to his lips. He places the nearly empty cup on the table. This was the first time words had ever failed him in front of a woman.
She glanced at the clock. "I need to get back to work. If you still want to go out to dinner tonight, I get off at five-thirty."
He nods his head as she scoots out of the booth. "Yes, I do." He pauses under her friendly gaze. "I missed you too Rory."
----
"Where are we Tristan?"
"My house."
"I thought we were going out for dinner."
"I never said where." He pulled the keys out of the ignition. "I usually love to cook for company."
She laughed. "You look a lot like someone who could burn microwave popcorn."
"Don't underestimate me Rory."
"What are we eating?"
"You'll have to wait and see."
----
"Macaroni and cheese?"
"Bon a' petite."
"I could live off this stuff."
"I actually do."
"I was expecting caviar or something gross like that."
"Inexpensive meals taste better." He took a seat next to her and smiled.
"I never asked you what you do for a living Tristan."
"I am, unfortunately, head of my families business. I didn't really have a choice in the matter. My father past away the year I graduated from college of a massive heart arrack. Being the only son and heir to the DuGrey fortune and business, I had no choice but to accept my 'destiny.' After he died I promised myself that I would always make my life and family more important than the business. The last thing I would ever want is to become my father."
She gripped his hand. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it. My mom took it pretty hard, but for me it was just a release from his verbal abuse."
"Why aren't you married?"
"Never found the right person I guess." He noticed her hand was still gripping his. "I never got over someone." He stared into her eyes unblinkingly.
Suddenly her hand was no longer over his, but shyly tracing a path over his jaw. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch as her fingers moved across his cheek.
And then it was gone.
He opened his eyes.
"Guess I got a little carried away." She whispered. "Sorry."
They had both been startled by the electrical shock between them.
"Tristan the first time I saw you I thought, 'wow, what a stuck up rich boy.' But then I got to know you a little bit better, I found that that was just your exterior- the show you put on. I grew to like you. When you left Chilton and never contacted me I gave it up. I figured it wasn't worth it.
"I saw you in the shop today and it all came back to me."
"I know how you feel." He stood from his chair and moved closer to her, rested a hand on the back of her neck and bent to kiss her.
It was sweet and short, but it was enough to get his point across. Rory wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him closer.
He smiled against her lips. "I'm glad you came to dinner Rory." He ran a hand through her hair and groaned and kissed the side of her mouth. "But I need to know something. Would you go to a movie with me tomorrow?"
"Sure. But it has to be a good one." She laughed.
"I want to take this
slow."
"Alright." She released her hold on him and smiled
shyly.
"Good" he walked back into the kitchen. "Do you want some more mac' and cheese?"
"Sure."
----
A/N: I know, this is really short. But I promise you, the next chapter will be longer, hopefully. Let me know if you like it please!
-over and out-