Chapter Text
Rory went to this party with full intentions to forget about Dean. She went to go have fun with Lane and not think about how heartbroken she was. Not to her surprise, the music was lame, the people were snotty and she was sure the punch was spiked. Not wanting to risk a roofie, she asked Paris to grab her a soda.
When Lane and Rory were mid conversation with Paris, a guy comes up to them and asks Lane to dance. Just one dance. And off she goes, making Rory promise to pull her out of the situation with any sickness that would make sure that they would both have to go home for.
Half an hour later, the two are still dancing. Rory smiles to herself, happy that Lane not only found someone she likes, but also someone that Mrs. Kim would approve of. After checking in quickly to make sure Lane was having a good time, she makes her way back to Paris, who asks her the time and soon after she quite literally scurries to the door.
‘Jeez. She couldn’t get out of here quicker’ Rory thinks to herself.
Standing there for a second, thinking about what she should do with herself now that she’s alone, she finishes her soda and discards it on a nearby table. Finding a corner with little people to judge, she pulls her book from her purse and begins to read.
“What the hell were you doing in the bathroom with Austin?” A sudden change in tone from the loud, gleeful tone of everyone else around pulls Rory’s attention from the pages she found herself captivated in.
She brings her eyes up from her book to see Tristin. Nothing short of fuming, his jaw tightening at the words from the girl he’s arguing with. She can’t quite hear the girls words even though she’s shamelessly eavesdropping at this point. It’s not like she’s doing it on purpose. The conversation the two of them were having isn’t exactly the quiet type.
“Summer. You’re my girlfriend.”
“Oh so you’re a caveman now?”
A few quiet words are exchanged between the two of them before both of them go in opposite directions.
About ten or fifteen minutes later, Rory feels both restless and curios. She decides that she wants to explore the house a little bit more. The sound of god-awful piano playing catches her ear and she follows the sound, leading her to something she wouldn’t have expected. Or rather, someone.
Tristin.
Usually, she’d avoid him at all costs. It’s clear that he wants nothing to do with her, so why would she act any other way? Rory asks herself that same question just as she starts to open up her big fat mouth and speak.
“I’m sorry”
“Huh?”
“About summer. It sucks”
“No shit.”
Oh wow. She’d never heard him swear before. He must be pretty upset. and judging by the grimace he makes when he takes a sip of his drink, she confirms that the punch is in fact spiked.
“Wanna talk about it?” She asks in hopes to lighten the mood even slightly.
“Not really.” He mutters, pressing his hands to the keys again. She sound makes Rory cringe and grind her teeth.
“How’d you do on that biology test? It was pretty heard wasn’t it?”
She takes a few steps closer to the piano he’s sitting at.
What is she doing?
He lets out a wry laugh at her poor attempts to change the subject, but he still entertains it.
“Yeah. It was pretty hard”
“I got a B plus” she shrugs and sits herself next to him on the piano bench.
“Good for you.” Several moments of awkward silence. “Where’s your boyfriend? I’m sure he’s looking for you right now.” Being this close to him, she can smell not only the alcohol on his breath, but his cologne too.
“Um…” she takes a long pause. “He’s not my boyfriend anymore.”
“Oh, shit. Sorry”
“It’s fine”
“When did it happen?” He asks, seeming to almost actually care about her answer. Tristin turns to her, finally meeting her eyes for the first time all night.
“Last night”
“Damn. Well, if it makes you feel any better I don’t think me and summer are together anymore. We can both be single and bitter together.” He chuckles and Rory catches herself laughing along with him.
“Are you guys gonna..get back together or whatever?” And there’s that dry dismissiveness that she knows so well.
“He made his decision pretty clear. What about you and summer?”
“Same here.” He takes another sit from his drink, finishing it and sitting the empty cup back on top of the piano.
“I didn’t know you drink.” She breaks the silence with a question. A dumb one at that.
“I don’t.” And that answer tells her everything she needs to know. He’s more heartbroken than he’s willing to let himself admit.
“Why are you here?” He looks at her. Really looks at her. His baby blues burning into her eyes. It’s like he’s trying to look into her soul.
“I didn’t want to be sad about dean, so u thought it’d be a good idea to come to a party with my friend, Lane. She’s out there dancing with a guy so I-“
“No. I meant why are you here. With me.”
“I heard the piano and thought someone was having a stroke or something and fell on it.”
“That bad?” He laughs a little. An actual laugh for the first time in forever.
“Oh, you’re awful.” She giggles.
“So, you’ve just been wandering around since your friend went off with that guy?”
“Well, no. I was reading when u heard you and summer arguing and-“
“You were reading? At a party?”
“Yes.” She blinks at him, confused.
“You found a book, sat down, and read it?”
“No. I brought my book with me”
“You’re…odd”
“Gee, thanks”
“Why’d you and dean break up?”
“Long story, trust me you don’t wanna know”
“Oh god. What’d he do?” He raises an eyebrow.
“Nothing. He broke up with me.”
Rory looks down at her shoes, not wanting to relive her very first heartbreak.
“He’s a fuckin’ idiot. I never really liked him.”
Her eyes go wide at his sudden kindness. Or, what would be seen as kindness in his own odd little way.
“You never really liked me all that much either.”
“What makes you think that?”
He tilts his head in what could’ve been mistaken as genuine curiosity.
“I could’ve sworn you hated me.”
“Rory.”
The way he says her name makes her face heat up in a way she didn’t know was possible. A way that dean never did. A way that makes her feel an entirely new way.
“I don’t hate you. You’re smart, pretty, you’re funny. You’re a little weird, but in a good way.”
“You think I’m pretty?”
“ I do have eyes. Who wouldn’t?”
“Oh…”
“What?” His entire demeanor changes to something apologetic. “I’m sorry, that was inappropriate of me”
“No, it’s okay.” She’s says in a low voice. A voice she’s never heard herself use before. “You’re not too bad looking yourself”
He doesn’t say anything. He just…looks at her. His eyes her low and a little bloodshot from the liquor. Before she knows what’s fully happening, he kisses her.
He kisses her.
And she doesn’t pull away.
He kisses her, and she kisses him back. She can taste the alcohol on his tongue, and it makes her head a little foggy. Her thoughts are completely scrambled. She doesn’t know what she’s doing, but she can’t stop either.
“Rory.” He groans, pulling her closer. She can tell he wants to do more than kiss her, but he keeps his hands off of her out of respect for her boundaries. But as soon as she put her arms over his around his neck, his hands are on her upper waist just as fast.
Without her realizing, she’s in his lap now, and the kiss is deeper. Hungry. Like he’s been wanting this for a long, long time. He bites her little a little bit and it pulls a noise out of her that he just might do anything to hear it again.
He stands up, picking her up like she weights nothing and setting her down on the piano. He starts to move his hand from her knee to the hem of her dress and she shudders at the feeling, but she doesn’t stop him.
She doesn’t want him to stop.
Suddenly, he pulls away. He lets out a desperate sound at the sight before him. The look in her eyes, her flushed face and unsteady breathing makes him wish he never took his mouth off of hers.
He shouldn’t be doing this. Not here. Not now. And most certainly not with her. She’s so good. So sweet, so cute so fucking nice. He just wants to see how far he can take this. What she would look like sprawled out over the piano. Bare and begging for him. He twitches at the thought and the parting of her lips lets him know that she felt it.
Shit.
Her mind is in the same place. And she doesn’t know why. She’s looking at him with her big doe eyes and she’s loving what she sees. His pupils are so big she can hardly see the color in them anymore. His breathing is heavy and she can almost hear what he’s thinking. God, she wants him to-
“Rory!?”
Lane. She’s looking for Rory.
She quickly fixes her skirt, and with his help she hops down from the piano.
“Sorry.” She mutters as she looks around to find her purse.
“It’s fine.”
“This- this wasn’t- it was just..”
“A one time thing?” He gives her a lazy smirk that makes her want to kiss him again.
She turns his direction, intending to respond, only to see him holding the strap of her bag, dangling it like a carrot for a bunny rabbit.
Huh, Rory the bunny. That has a nice ring to it, he thinks. She quickly grabs her purse and heads towards the door without so much as a goodbye.
And there tristin is once more. Alone. But he’s happier now. It could be the buzz he got from the punch. It could be the sudden rash behavior that’s uncommon in Rory. He doesn’t know, and he doesn’t care. All he knows for sure is that he wants her. Bad. Worse than he did before.
Lane gives Rory an odd look. Under pressure, Rory blurts out. “What?”
“You look weird.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have that look on your face” Lane squints, pushing her glasses up.
“What look?” Rory doesn’t realize how guilty she sounds until the words leave her mouth, too late to take them back.
“That look that says you were just doing something you had no business doing. Like you got caught”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Rory shrugs and makes her way to the door as fast as she can and Lane is already asking her a world of questions.