Rory exited her dorm room, turning to lock it behind her before strolling off through the halls of the large school. Yale to her, had become almost like a second home. She couldn’t seem to remember a time when she had been going to school anywhere else, and her time here had to be generating some of the best memories of her life.

She knew that a great part of this had something to do with Logan Huntzberger. The guy was more than good looking, she found herself thinking, remembering that handsome face – crisp blonde hair, and dark brown eyes – once again, and wondering how the hell she found herself in situations like this.

Sure it wasn’t such a big deal. After all, she had her schoolwork, and this took up a great deal of her time, not to mention she had friends and family that needed visiting back in the small town of Stars Hollow. This of course, left her with little time left to do much else, and almost no time at all for a relationship. Being with Logan just helped her keep herself free from any unnecessary emotional drama or entanglements of any kind. And besides… this was college. It was how it was supposed to be, right?

Still, that couldn’t help change the fact that seeing Logan out with another girl had hurt. Seeing him act with that girl just how he acted with her seemed too painful to really dwell on too long, and she had to admit that she’d been thinking quite seriously about breaking the whole thing off. Even those times when Logan was around, and treating her like a complete goddess didn’t make up for this constant feeling of paranoia and pain when she realised that he was with other girls… that perhaps she wasn’t even his favourite.

It was stupid really, that she was allowing all this to happen. It seemed almost hypocritical, considering the many times she’d sneered at the behaviour of people like Logan and herself when she’d been back at school. She’d always asked herself why they couldn’t get themselves some self-respect and break it all off. Now she knew just why it was so hard. Sometimes things just weren’t as easy as they seemed. Logan, just like Tristan had been, was…

She stopped dead; that phrase ‘Speak of the devil’ had never seemed more pertinent than it did now, and she stared in stunned amazement at the young man who had just walked out a classroom ahead of her, his tall figure incredibly familiar, but surely not... It couldn’t be him.

Hurrying forward a little, Rory was hesitant in calling out to him. What if it wasn’t him? She didn’t want to make a fool of herself after all. She’d seen that kind of thing enough in movies and on TV to know that it was a pretty humiliating situation. Still… she was almost positive, and after all, if it wasn’t him, he wouldn’t turn around, right?

“Tristan?”

She almost died of fright when the young man’s confident step faltered a little, turning slightly to look who had called him, before he stopped dead when his eyes met those of his ex-girlfriend.

“Rory? No way! What the hell are you doing here?”

Rory just kept looking up at him in disbelief, shaking her head slowly from side to side as though trying to either shake this image of him – which couldn’t possibly be real – out of her head, or come to terms with the fact that he was really here.

“What am I doing here? I go here,” she explained with another shake of her head, her surprise still echoing throughout her voice. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Tristan just shrugged. “I just… I transferred from Oxford,” he explained with a bit of a shrug. “In the end I wasn’t a fan of England, and I missed my friends and family too much.”

“You missed your family?” Rory asked, disbelieving this fact. She was very well aware of just what Tristan thought about his family. Having dated him for a year back at school, she had learnt quite well that his parents cared little for him apart from the fact that he do well in his life so as not to shame them, and he didn’t have any brothers and sisters that she knew about.

“Yeah. Mostly my grandfather. He’s a pretty good guy. It’s hard to comprehend that he and my father are related.”

Rory just nodded in stunned disbelief, still marvelling at just how surreal it was standing here in his company. She hadn’t seen him for almost two years, since she’d graduated from Chilton, and she had begun to be comfortable in the knowledge that she might never see him again. There had been rumours he’d moved overseas to study – rumours that now appeared to be true – and she’d been more than okay with him being gone from her life. Still… now, with him being back, it seemed things just weren’t meant to be that easy.

“But what about you?” he asked, indicating the campus with a slight inclination of his head, his dark blue eyes never moving from hers. “I thought you were going to Harvard.”

Rory just smiled faintly, shrugging only slightly when he pointed this out to her. It was true that he’d thought she was going to Harvard. Indeed, for the longest time, she’d dreamed of going to Harvard, and the idea of attending any other university had simply been ludicrous. “I don’t know. Faced with the decision, Mum and I made a list, and Yale came out on top.”

Tristan just nodded slowly, blue eyes steady on hers, and for a long moment neither of them spoke a word. It wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but Rory had to admit that it was also not quite her idea of a fun day. Seeing him here at a time in her life like this… It was so far from desirable that she wanted to cry.

“Sorry for crashing your party.”

Rory almost jumped in surprise when he spoke again, and she quickly shook her head to deny that she didn’t want him there. Granted, she far from wanted him anywhere near her, because it was a well-known fact amongst those who knew her that Tristan DuGrey had always had a less than desirable effect on her emotions.

“No! It’s totally fine. Don’t worry about it,” she offered hurriedly, both of them knowing just how false such reassurances were. “It was just a surprise seeing you here, that’s all.”

“You’re not kidding,” he offered quietly, before glancing briefly over his shoulder as though there was somewhere that he had to be.

Offering him a brief smile, she pointed behind him to the hall she’d been making her way to before she’d spotted him. “Well… I really should be going. I’m supposed to be meeting someone,” she offered, neglecting to mention the name of this someone – Logan, but Tristan didn’t need to know that – before waving a brief goodbye. “I’ll see you around?”

Tristan just nodded, watching her in silence as she turned and hurried off.

Rory had to admit that knowing Tristan now attended Yale with her made something odd arise in her stomach. More than anything else, she knew that it was composed mostly of awkwardness, because things had been far from friendly when they’d met up that morning. Then of course, she knew there was some part of her that was annoyed at him for showing up and proceeding to make her school not her most favourite place in the world. And, of course, that almost miniscule part of her that admitted that she was still attracted to the guy.

She didn’t think that she’d ever get over it, of course. Tristan was more than a little good looking, and immeasurably charming when he wanted to be, and she knew that if he took a shot, she’d be hard-pressed to fight that attraction that she felt for him. It was hard to deny, after all, when a good looking guy like Tristan flirted his ass off with you.

Another problem was the one that would arise if Tristan discovered just what it was she was doing with her love life at the moment. There had been a time where she’d harpooned him for doing just what it was that she was doing right now, although in a slightly different sense. He’d been the player, whereas in her situation she was more the victim. She knew of course, that should he find out, he’d have brought up the fact that she’d settled for Logan but not for him. Perhaps he’d be a little jealous?

She shook those thoughts from her head with a short sniff, shaking her head slowly in dismay at the thought that slipped into her mind. Yeah right. Tristan wasn’t jealous. They’d dated for one year, and that was several years ago now. Even when he’d been approaching at the end of the year, she’d seen that he still felt something for her, but none of that had been present in those blue eyes this time around. Just surprise. And some sort of dismay.

Fighting against the urge to pull the whole situation apart for the tenth time that week, she dismissed all her thoughts to the back of her mind and sidled up to the young man in the black leather jacket. “Hey Logan.”

“Ace!” he greeted her, turning to pull her into a quick hug, before pulling away again, an arm draped casually over her shoulders. “Colin here was just talking about you.”

Colin’s eyes narrowed slightly, before shaking his head in dismay. “A party,” he offered with a nod, holding out a small piece of paper to her, the details written clearly in black ink. “My birthday. Invite only, but that’s a plus one.” The way he said it, and the short, almost uncomfortable looks he was shooting at Logan told Rory quite clearly that Logan was not going to invite her, and he would not be her plus one. That familiar feeling of rising hurt within her, only fuelled by the arm around her shoulders, rose up where once again, she fought it off; only this time, her thoughts were not diverted to something else. This time, she wanted to get back at him for what he was doing to her. Revenge in a sense.

“That’s great, Colin,” she offered him with a bright smile, her blue eyes sparkling merrily. “Thanks. I know just who to bring.” And she did, her mind almost maliciously adding the finishing touches on her plan. “You guys’ll love him.”