Disclaimer: "I Miss You" was shamelessly stolen from Incubus off of their "Make Yourself" album. Gilmore Girls and all entities, characters, dialogue, blah blah etc. are property of ASP and the WB.
A/N: Call it boredom on my part. Call it pure insanity. Or call it my next project. For some odd reason, while randomly wandering around my dorm room one cool autumn night at TCNJ, inspiration struck. As I picked up my Incubus CD, Make Yourself, I saw the connections many of the songs had to all things Gilmore-mainly, the whole Trory relationship as well as the connection to Chad Michael Murray. Anyway, what I will now attempt to do is write a fic based on the lyrics of a song. But the trick is, not only do I have to write each chapter in relation to the song lyrics, I must also weave them together in a fic that will 1) make sense, 2) have some sort of worth in the Trory realm of things, and 3) interest all of you, the faithful Trory readers. If anyone cares enough and is still reading this, bless your soul. To everyone else, you're not reading this anyway, so who cares? By the way...no promises on updates (if it merits being updated). This is going to be the mother of all challenges...here's hoping I come out with what little of my sanity is left. =)
I Miss You
Chapter 1: To See You
Graduation Day. After twelve years of wandering its impossibly hostile hallways, Tristin Dugrey is finally free of Chilton. His last exam has been taken, his locker has been cleaned out. All traces of his life have been removed. Free at last. Except... the graduation ceremony. The insufferably long formal ceremony that will take place on the football field where he and the Class of 2003 will finally part ways. It is time to throw their wings to the air and seek their fortunes elsewhere. As far as Tristin is concerned, good riddance. With a few notable exceptions...
Best not to go into that now. No one at Chilton deserves his good graces. They sure as hell haven't shown him any. No one has allowed him to break free of his gilded cage, to shed his filthy rich persona. Well, almost no one. But that isn't the important thing now. Time to focus on the future, the future so close at hand that he can almost reach out and touch it.
Alright, who is he kidding. He is dying inside. The majority of his class he can care less about. But there is one girl who will always hold a place in his heart. And he has ruthlessly destroyed everything that they have held dear in their relationship. That's how she sees it, anyway. What she doesn't realize is that Tristin is doing it for their benefit. Tristin knows he is in love with her. He knows that she is in love with him. But he also knows that they are about to embark on the biggest journey of their lives...separately. They need time to evolve into the people they are meant to be. And they can't do that while still together. So Tristin had broken things off. He knows that intellectually, both of them understand why this must be done...but their hearts will never understand.
She will go off to Harvard and he will go off to Princeton. They will grow and change. Tristin knows that even after the four years of separation are up, he will continue to love her as much as he always has. He hopes to God that she will feel the same way. If he has somehow sabotaged their relationship in the hopes of making it stronger, he will be devastated. He knows he is taking a huge risk...he was lucky enough to win her over the first time. If he manages to do it a second time, there will be no doubt in his mind that they belong together. That which does not kill us...
She is the only one who has ever really seen him. The real him, hidden beneath the smirky exterior. He likes to think that he was the first one to see her, all the secrets she keeps hidden from the world. But he knows that is not true. Many people love her for the same reasons he does. They know her secrets. But no one in the world except the two of them knows their secrets. Like the time that the two of them, both top ten students, cut class one day to feed the ducks at the pond. They had forgotten to bring bread, so she had crumpled up a bag of chips and flung the pieces above her head, laughing as little golden flakes rained down on both of them.
Tristin sighs nostalgically. For the last time, he walks out of the wide double doors to the Chilton courtyard. Behind him, hordes of underclassmen joyfully throw their notebooks in the air. Showers of paper fall from every opened locker, left carelessly in layers in the hallways. School is out.
He finds her there, sitting by the fountain. She is waiting for him. Old habits die hard. He walks up to her as he always does. She stands to meet him. They briefly touch hands and he leans over to kiss her forehead. It pains them both. Everything they've ever wanted in another person, standing right before them, but unable to claim the other for their own. Not yet.
They avert their eyes quickly, each unwilling to show the other just how much they are hurting. "See you tonight?" he chokes out.
"At graduation," she whispers tearfully. Then she runs to the bus.
Tristin watches her go. Her hair flies wildly behind her in her haste to get away from him as fast as possible. He shoves his hands in his pocket and walks to his car. His shoulders slump and his stride is slower, more deliberate. He is dying inside. He needs to see her. And he needs her to see him.
***
He does see her that night. She walks up to the podium, looking ethereal in her flowing white graduation gown. She clears her throat self consciously, then begins her salutatory address. He doesn't hear a word of her speech. He closes his eyes and listens to the steady timbre of her voice. As her speech draws to a close, her voice gets tender, and he knows that she is speaking directly to him. "Here's to discovering ourselves. We will meet again someday, when the time is right." Thunderous applause accompanies her walk back to her seat in the front row. As she passes his chair, she winks at him. He smiles in return. Everything will be alright. She sees him.
A/N: Call it boredom on my part. Call it pure insanity. Or call it my next project. For some odd reason, while randomly wandering around my dorm room one cool autumn night at TCNJ, inspiration struck. As I picked up my Incubus CD, Make Yourself, I saw the connections many of the songs had to all things Gilmore-mainly, the whole Trory relationship as well as the connection to Chad Michael Murray. Anyway, what I will now attempt to do is write a fic based on the lyrics of a song. But the trick is, not only do I have to write each chapter in relation to the song lyrics, I must also weave them together in a fic that will 1) make sense, 2) have some sort of worth in the Trory realm of things, and 3) interest all of you, the faithful Trory readers. If anyone cares enough and is still reading this, bless your soul. To everyone else, you're not reading this anyway, so who cares? By the way...no promises on updates (if it merits being updated). This is going to be the mother of all challenges...here's hoping I come out with what little of my sanity is left. =)
I Miss You
Chapter 1: To See You
Graduation Day. After twelve years of wandering its impossibly hostile hallways, Tristin Dugrey is finally free of Chilton. His last exam has been taken, his locker has been cleaned out. All traces of his life have been removed. Free at last. Except... the graduation ceremony. The insufferably long formal ceremony that will take place on the football field where he and the Class of 2003 will finally part ways. It is time to throw their wings to the air and seek their fortunes elsewhere. As far as Tristin is concerned, good riddance. With a few notable exceptions...
Best not to go into that now. No one at Chilton deserves his good graces. They sure as hell haven't shown him any. No one has allowed him to break free of his gilded cage, to shed his filthy rich persona. Well, almost no one. But that isn't the important thing now. Time to focus on the future, the future so close at hand that he can almost reach out and touch it.
Alright, who is he kidding. He is dying inside. The majority of his class he can care less about. But there is one girl who will always hold a place in his heart. And he has ruthlessly destroyed everything that they have held dear in their relationship. That's how she sees it, anyway. What she doesn't realize is that Tristin is doing it for their benefit. Tristin knows he is in love with her. He knows that she is in love with him. But he also knows that they are about to embark on the biggest journey of their lives...separately. They need time to evolve into the people they are meant to be. And they can't do that while still together. So Tristin had broken things off. He knows that intellectually, both of them understand why this must be done...but their hearts will never understand.
She will go off to Harvard and he will go off to Princeton. They will grow and change. Tristin knows that even after the four years of separation are up, he will continue to love her as much as he always has. He hopes to God that she will feel the same way. If he has somehow sabotaged their relationship in the hopes of making it stronger, he will be devastated. He knows he is taking a huge risk...he was lucky enough to win her over the first time. If he manages to do it a second time, there will be no doubt in his mind that they belong together. That which does not kill us...
She is the only one who has ever really seen him. The real him, hidden beneath the smirky exterior. He likes to think that he was the first one to see her, all the secrets she keeps hidden from the world. But he knows that is not true. Many people love her for the same reasons he does. They know her secrets. But no one in the world except the two of them knows their secrets. Like the time that the two of them, both top ten students, cut class one day to feed the ducks at the pond. They had forgotten to bring bread, so she had crumpled up a bag of chips and flung the pieces above her head, laughing as little golden flakes rained down on both of them.
Tristin sighs nostalgically. For the last time, he walks out of the wide double doors to the Chilton courtyard. Behind him, hordes of underclassmen joyfully throw their notebooks in the air. Showers of paper fall from every opened locker, left carelessly in layers in the hallways. School is out.
He finds her there, sitting by the fountain. She is waiting for him. Old habits die hard. He walks up to her as he always does. She stands to meet him. They briefly touch hands and he leans over to kiss her forehead. It pains them both. Everything they've ever wanted in another person, standing right before them, but unable to claim the other for their own. Not yet.
They avert their eyes quickly, each unwilling to show the other just how much they are hurting. "See you tonight?" he chokes out.
"At graduation," she whispers tearfully. Then she runs to the bus.
Tristin watches her go. Her hair flies wildly behind her in her haste to get away from him as fast as possible. He shoves his hands in his pocket and walks to his car. His shoulders slump and his stride is slower, more deliberate. He is dying inside. He needs to see her. And he needs her to see him.
***
He does see her that night. She walks up to the podium, looking ethereal in her flowing white graduation gown. She clears her throat self consciously, then begins her salutatory address. He doesn't hear a word of her speech. He closes his eyes and listens to the steady timbre of her voice. As her speech draws to a close, her voice gets tender, and he knows that she is speaking directly to him. "Here's to discovering ourselves. We will meet again someday, when the time is right." Thunderous applause accompanies her walk back to her seat in the front row. As she passes his chair, she winks at him. He smiles in return. Everything will be alright. She sees him.