Paper Machet

“So listen sweetie, I left you money for food on the front table, numbers to reach me on the fridge, and some frozen pizza in case of emergency. Oh, and The Yearling in case you have trouble falling asleep.”
“Mom, I’m perfectly capable of staying home by myself for a few nights. Besides I have an art project I need to work on. I’ll probably spend most of the weekend on the floor in the living room while blasting some music.”
“Oh Rory, when will you learn that mother’s always fear leaving their child alone for weekends? Especially teenage children in small towns. You have the knives locked up, right?”
“Michael Myers won’t find anything here. I’m safe. Now I’m hanging up, and you are, too.”
Rory hung up the phone, smiling at her mother’s silliness. You would never know she was the younger of the two. Her mom was her best friend. They shared clothes, music, and movies and saw nothing wrong with it. It helped a little that there were only 16 years difference between the two.
“Stupid art project,” she mumbled to herself. English she could deal with, History-no problem, but art? Art was a completely different story. In what world will making a paper machete model of their partner’s face? And the best part was her partner.
Tristan DuGray.
To put even a finer point upon it, it was Halloween weekend. So, no time to go around with Lane, stuck in an isolated place with the anti-Christ of Chilton Prep School, and no mom to run interference.
“What did I do to deserve this?”
And of course, at that moment, the doorbell rang.
Rory sighed with defeat as she got up to answer the door.
“What are you looking at!?” and exasperated Rory let out.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” replied Tristan. He was as calm as anything, sitting there watching her, with his patented smirk on his face. He knew he was busted, but that didn’t take away from any of the fun.
She looked incredible as always. In her regular clothes, her personality showed through. She had on a button down sleeveless shirt with a darker bra underneath. Her skirt wasn’t that short, but short enough to entice him. Between that and her innocence, it was almost too much to bear.
If only she didn’t hate him.
Rory was already back to drawing his face, to see if she could capture it correctly. He was gorgeous and he knew it. As much as she despised him, she couldn’t deny her physical attraction to him.
While she kept busy with the picture, he was fantasizing about her. He knew exactly how he would have liked to get to know her better.
It started with him leaning over and brushing her hair out of her face. She would look up, startled of course, and then smile. Her smile was beautiful. Slowly he would lean in to kiss her full on the lips, and then back away so he could see the desire in her eyes. ”Ahem!”
Tristan snapped out of his dream and back to reality. “Fuck,” he mumbled under his breath.
Rory was staring at him intently, with a question in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.”
“Well that’s bull.”
“What? Nothing is wrong, I just got lost in thought.”
“What were you thinking about?”
“Am I under interrogation here? What’s with all the questions?”
“I want to know what goes through Tristan’s DuGray’s mind.”
Rory Gilmore was smirking. Rory was smirking at him, not the other way around.
“My my, Mary, do I detect some flirtation underneath that sarcasm?”
“You still haven’t answered my question,” she said, blushing.
“You’re correct.”
“Come on! What distracted you so much for twenty minutes that you can’t share?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“You are so frustrating. Of course I want to know, I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”
Somehow he ended up within inches of Rory, and he doubted she realized it yet.
“You’re sure.”
“Yes, I’m su—”
And that’s how it started.