The late afternoon air was crisp, the sun was blazing over the horizon, a perfect time to be walking the streets of Moscow. While most major cities have parks filled with hustling and bustling, the small park belonging to Star-Cross Tower was calm and inspiring.
“Something has been bugging me since you arrived in Russia.” They were walking along the ‘Star Lit Path’, a path that Tristan knew would be lit by small lights in the cement when night fell. Though they were walking next to each other, they were not touching. Their afternoon had been lovely, visiting some of the known and unknown spots of Tristan’s second home. Between Mark and Zasha they were shown parts of Moscow, the city’s citizens don’t even know about. With all the sightseeing they were able to talk on many different and yet safe topics. They were careful to stay clear of any topic, such as Logan or why they were together in Moscow, in order to retain the peace that easily fell between them during their day of exploring.
Rory could tell that Tristan was relaxing and starting to show his true colors to her. Though he was not the cocky boy she knew at Chilton, he was not the stiff business man she had re-met just six weeks ago. He was well educated but not cocky, witty but not corny, sarcastic but not hurtful, he was different and yet the same person she always knew was behind his Hartford mask.
“What is that?” Rory said turning her head slightly to look up at him and could tell that he was pondering over something.
“Where are all of your books?”
“What do you mean?” She did not know how to respond to the blank question he asked.
“You always had at least three books with you in high school. You even showed up to a party with a book in your handbag.” They had stopped walking and Tristan reached for the small hand bag which Rory had been carrying all day. “This is not big enough to hold The Christmas Carol let alone War and Peace. So where are your books?”
“I have one at the apartment, but I didn’t think to carry one with me today.” She replied while turning to start walking again. Rory was a bit offended by Tristan’s question, but didn’t know exactly why.
“Just today or did you kick the habit.” He said with a smile, however since her back was to him she did not see he was joking.
Rory swung around and with her hands on her hips said, “I am the editor of an ivy league newspaper, a semester behind in classes, and a journalist major, I read more than any sane person, just because I don’t have a book on me at all times does not mean that I stopped reading.”
Tristan was surprised by the sudden defensiveness that overwhelmed Rory, and though his initial reaction was to also be defensive he took a small step back as if he was retreating. “I’m sorry Rory, I was just kidding around.”
Seeing how genuine he was Rory sighed, ran her hands through her hair and looked up at the half red half navy sky. “I’m sorry to, with the whole restarting school and getting my life back in order I have been a bit touchy with the whole ‘used to be’ issue.”
“I think we can both agree that we are not who we used to be.” Rory looked him in the eye and gave him a small nod. “But that does not mean we have changed completely. You loved to read and learn, seeing you now without a book, is like seeing the Mona Lisa without her smile. I just thought you were hiding a book in your coat or something.”
Tristan was started to see Rory’s eyes light up in realization. “I do have a book in this coat.” She started going through her pockets until she pulled out a small, well warn book. She tossed the book to Tristan with a big smile lightening up her entire face including her eyes, which were a sparkling bright blue.
He caught it with ease, but looking over it he did not see what was so special about the obvious self-published manuscript. “Jess Mariano? Never heard of him.” He said looking back up at her.
“Jess was my second boyfriend.”
“Another Stars Hollow sunshine boy?” He started looking through the pages and noticed the comments along the edges and the selected parts that were carefully underlined. “I never notice you writing in a book before.”
“I didn’t, well not until college. But that’s not the point. My mom said that everyone needed a bad boy and Jess was mine. He was nothing like Dean, and yet exactly what I needed. He let me be me, he understood Stars Hollow was my home, even though he thought the entire town should be institutionalize. This is his first book and it is magnificent. Though he tells me I am biased.” Tristan looked at the book then raised his eyebrow at her. “Okay so I am a bit biased, but I know writing and the book in your hand has the potential to be a best seller.”
“Hardly any book worth reading was a best seller when it is first published.”
“That’s what I keep telling him.” He handed the book back to her, and she flipped through a few pages as they started to walk. Tristan watched her smile at the book before putting it back in her pocket. This was the first time they had really talked about the past without arguing, which gave Tristan hope. Maybe they could open up and talk about what was really between them before she left in two days.
“Since you asked me a question about my past, I get to ask you one about yours.” Rory said without looking up at him. He could see the wheels turning in her head, she must have more than one question she wanted answered.
After giving her a minute to ask him a question, he laughed, “Okay Ms. Star Reporter, shouldn’t you be able to ask a question within milliseconds.”
She glared at him, “I want to word this right.” He nodded and continued to wait. It was another minute before she said, “What changed Junior year?” He raised an eyebrow asking her to be more specific. “You were always cocky and a jerk, but junior year you were mean and seemingly trying to get in trouble. Why, what happened for you to seek negative attention?”
It was Tristan’s turn to sigh and run his hands through his hair. A gesture they shared when they were about to face something they knew would be upsetting. Rory waited patiently for him to collect his thought and look back to four years earlier.
“A lot was going on in my family all of which was hidden from the public. Let’s be clear about one thing as I talk about my past, I am not using it as an excuse, it’s what happened and how I dealt with all the pain I was filling at the time. I’ve since grown from the boy I was back then, and have learned from my mistakes.” He needed her to know and understand what happened back then was his choice no matter how he painted the picture.
“You sound like a therapist.” She said in a small and clear attempt to let him know she was joking with him as well as understanding what he was saying. It’s not like she hasn’t made some bad decisions over the last few year, and though she would of liked to blame everything and everyone around her, those decisions were made by her and she was the one forced to face the consequences.
“Actually I flirted with the therapist to much for her to be any good. It was my captain at military school, my grandpa, Lina and Alexei, who finally got through my thick skull, that I was using everything as an excuses when in reality I alone was making all the decisions that lead to me being sent to military school and not being happy with my life.”
They had stopped walking and sat down on a small bench near a fountain. They were both facing the fountain as their conversation progressed, however with it being early spring the fountain was not running.
“I understand. What was happening with your family?” She asked plainly.
“My grandfather had a series of heart-attacks along with all the fun heart surgeries and therapy that follows such cases. He was in the hospital most of that year, with my grandmother never leaving his side. You might not know but I am closer to my grandfather than my own father, so seeing him so sick was hellish. My grandfather is, well similar to yours, tall, well built, not over weight just…, he is well my hero in more ways than one. And then one day he was old, thin, deadly white. No where near the man I grew up worshiping and playing with, I was not prepared to see him like that, let alone being told the next months would determine if he would survive.” Rory took his hand remembering the time she too saw her grandfather in the hospital and forever having that magnificent image of him skewed. He took her hand in comfort but just kept staring into the past. “My already absent father took over the family business completely, so I was seeing him even less. And then Liza was admitted to the hospital.” He shook his head as if he regretted the memory.
“Who is Liza?” Rory was following him, she remembered hearing her grandfather talk about Tristan’s, but she had no idea who Liza was in relation to the man remembering the most pain part of his life.
“Liza is my baby sister. She is two years younger, she went to a different private school to be closer to her best friends. But she was nothing like me, more of an opposite. I tried to protect her from people like me, I figured with her at Chilton I would be able to keep on protecting her, she swore to me that she would be fine without me, but she wasn’t, she barely survived her freshman year.” Tristan was close to tears, he had to remind himself that Liza was happily at Princeton right now, rooming with Calina and enjoying spending time with her new boyfriend.
“What happened to her?” Rory saw how hurt Tristan was just remembering, she could tell that at the time this was happening to him Tristan’s world was falling around him, but she needed to know how he felt at that time. He obviously cared that his family was hurting, but how did that relate to his decision to break into a safe?
“If you asked her, she would tell you that she was just a typically rich girl that fell into a depression. She laughs it off, and though I don’t think she should, she reassures me that she has dealt with what happened to her and is now happy.” Tristan gave the fountain a small smile at the thought of his sister, but shook his head. “What those who did not know Liza before high school don’t realize or know is that she was never a typically rich girl. She was shy and quite, but extremely happy. She loved going to all of mom and grandma’s events, but mostly because it made them happy, she was the first person to please everyone, and the last to think of herself first. That’s why I can’t just say she was simply depressed. Going into high school I prepared her for some of the types of students she would meet, but not every aspect. After all I didn’t want her to see my true school colors.” He said that with a frown. “I should have told her more about how cruel the boys could be, within the first week she was an object of a playboy’s attention. And though deep down I know he did not mean for everything to go down like it did, he was a major cause of the effects. Liza wanted to please him, and did almost anything he asked her too. She thought his friends were her friends, and when he smiled, he smiled just for her, nothing could be further than the truth. She was just an innocent in his eyes, a toy to be played. By the time Liza realized the truth of her suppose perfect boyfriend, she had been drinking heavily, had been known to use a few drugs, and when her rose covered glasses broke she soon followed. Liza caught him sleeping with her suppose best friend, the one that she went to the school for, she reacted by walking away, taking a bottle of vodka and a container of pills she found somewhere. My mom found her four hours later, she had driven home, but never made it out of the car. Liza was admitted first to the ER, and then into the psychiatric floor.”
Through out his tale Rory turned and watched his face as he talked, he continued to stare at the fountain. She had wrapped both her hands around his one, giving him all the support she could in a single gesture.
“Mom spent a lot of time with her, helping her recover, helping her grow stronger and get her mind and body back into control. She was heartbroken and had to learn at a young age the truth behind the elite social class. I told you she was not like me, I would have taken her pain if I could but as it was I couldn’t do anything. I was only able to see my sister and grandfather for short visits throughout the week, that’s why I started skipping classes. The times I was allowed to visit were during class times. But I couldn’t tell anyone because that would shame the family. Then I started getting into trouble, more correctly I made friend with the wrong two people. You weren’t the only one who tried to warn me and to tell me wise up, but they seemed to need me, or anyone who had more brains than them combined. In reality they needed my name and immunity from the law than me personally. I was stupid, and I disappointed my entire family by hanging around those two trouble makers. Telling my sister that I would not be able to visit for a while was hard, since she was already feeling abandoned by people she thought loved her, but my tears proved to her how sorry I was to be leaving her, but she had mom to help her get better. My grandfather was disappointed, though I think he could foresee how being away would change me for the better. And it did. At first I wasn’t allowed to talk to my family, but my father and mother changed that since Liza wanted to be reassured that I still loved her, and my grandfather wanted to make sure I was surviving.” Tristan smiled at the memory of some of the conversations with his grandfather while he was in North Carolina, how much they would laugh and joke, even though the timing was somewhat inappropriate. He sighed and finally looked down at the brunette at his side. “My family means a lot to me, though my father might not be the best father, my family as a whole as never stopped loving me.” Seeing how serious he was when talking about his family, Rory nodded in understanding and agreement. “Thankfully my grandfather had a full recovery and is now happily retired in Florida and Athens. And Liza is living with Calina, attending Princeton, and has a new boyfriend that she reassures me is the nicest guy she has every meet, besides me of course.”
Rory smiled, and hugged his arm in a gesture neither of them really understood. “You could have told me, back then, I would have understood probably better than most.” She said honestly.
Tristan sighed and shook his head in a negative gesture. “I was more obnoxious then, to the point you flat out said you hated me. Not to mention you were having your own problems with your boyfriend. You might not of said much, but I could tell that you were not always happy with Dean, and I tried to use that to finally get you to go on a date with me, it was stupid to try to play on your weakness like that, I know better now.”
“No, I never hated you, usually annoyed, but I only said I hated you because I thought Dean made me happy. When we were broken up I was hurting, and instead of realizing that I should move on, I went right back into his arms. I’m not saying that I regret my first attempts at a relationship, I just know better now what I was truly feeling in the past.” She took a deep breath, looked him in the eye, and said, “I think if things would have been different, I would have gone to that concert with you. We could have been friends. But the way you approached the situation was not the way to attract me, and the boy and girl we were back then are not the man and woman we are today.” She was dead honest and only a few inches away from him, he bent his head slightly and kissed her lips gently, in a way of intimacy, but not dominance or emergency. If he wouldn’t have initiated the kiss she would have, however he pulled away from her before either of them could react to the feelings they felt when their lips touched.
“Thank you for today, it was a pleasure to see Moscow with you.” Tristan said softly, their faces still close enough Rory could feel his breath on her face.
“We could spend more time together, if you would like.” She said in hope of showing him that though in the beginning this was all about a name, now she really did want to get to know the older, wiser Tristan.
“Why don’t we go back up to the apartment, and wait and see what tomorrow brings.”