❝PROM NIGHT❞
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⋆𐙚₊˚⊹ chapter sixty-seven,
Gilmore Girls — Season Three

𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝟑𝐫𝐝, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟑
―୨୧⋆ ˚ LUCY'S POV

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          ❝𝐈'𝐌 𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐋𝐃, 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐌𝐄?❞

I spin around to find Tristan standing behind me, dressed in a dashing suit with a smug grin on his face. My eyes move up and down, taking in the boy before me, and my pink-glossed lips upturn in a soft smile because wow. I've seen him in a suit several times before, but every time I do, he looks better than the last.

  His eyes move up and down my body, taking in the ankle length satin midnight-blue dress I'm wearing. Thanks to Addy, I wear my hair back in a messy but classy bun, and I get to wear the most beautiful necklace which matches with the bracelet Tristan gifted me for my sixteenth birthday that I haven't taken off in two years. I think I look quite beautiful, and while I was opposed to prom, I'm actually pretty excited── especially because my date looks like he belongs on the front of one of those men's magazines.

Seriously, I don't think I can take my eyes off him. He's, well, beautiful in an indescribable way. I'm a lucky girl, I'll say that much.

He steps towards me, holding onto a corsage of pretty blue cornflowers. He lifts my arm, holding my elbow delicately as he ties the corsage onto my wrist. My smile remains as I lift my eyes, seeing that he's wearing a corsage of the exact same colour on the lapel of his suit jacket.

"You look beautiful, Blue." He pushes his mouth against mine quickly, and when he pulls back, a laugh bubbles from my throat. "What?"

I lift my finger, brushing his bottom lip. "Sorry."

He leans forward again, kissing me despite the fact that my lipgloss is wiping off onto his lips. When he pulls back, this time leaving me nearly breathless, he smirks. "What flavour is that?"

"Bubblegum," I answer, and he hums, licking his bottom lip. "Nice?"

"Oh, very." His hand slides into mine, and he pulls me closer. "Thanks for agreeing to prom. I know you were totally against going, but..." His eyes move up and down my dress again, that smug smirk never leaving his face. "...well, you look very, very ready for a wild night, Luce."

  "Wild night, huh?" My eyebrow raises. "We're going to the Stars Hollow High prom, Tristan, not Vegas. Instead of serving champagne, they give us juice boxes."

  He shrugs, arm coming to hold my waist. "I love juice boxes."

"We could just stay in for the night?" I suggest, still secretly loathing the idea of dancing around with a bunch of sweaty, hormonal teenagers.

He shakes his head, fingers running across the small of my back. "Just one hour, Blue. I promise, you'll have more fun than you realise." He pushes his mouth against mine briefly, obviously trying to persuade me and it works.

Tristan Dugray can persuade me to do the craziest of things which explains why I follow him headfirst into my high school prom. I hand in my tickets, I hold onto Tristan's hand, and I let him pull me onto the dance floor into a very slow, very moving first dance together.

  He holds me close, his eyes never leaving mine, and my cheeks heat in embarrassment. He always looks at me with such... want, and while I know how he feels about me, I still blush like a little girl with a crush whenever he looks at me. I can't help it.

  "Hey, you never answered my question earlier." I look to him, finding that we're the exact same height when I wear these annoyingly painful heels that I can't wait to take off later.

  "What question?"

  "You know what question, Blue." I look away, acting clueless, but I know what he asked earlier, and I know it was a joke, but it made my heart race when I heard him say the words, "Will you marry me?" I can just imagine hearing him ask me that in the future, and it made me all nervous and bubbly, but it was also just a joke. Right?

  I slide my hand up his shoulder, cupping the back of his neck. "Why would I answer? It was a joke, was it not?"

  He shrugs. "Doesn't have to be."

  "Tristan──"

  "Hey, you said it yourself," he interrupts. "We're not in Vegas, we're at your high school prom, but we could be in Vegas. Just say the word, baby, we'll get on a plane and get married in Vegas."

  I roll my eyes, finding him to be completely ridiculous. "I am not getting married in Vegas."

  "We could be Ross and Rachel."

  "They got that annulled," I bite back. "Are you saying you want to marry me and then get it annulled?"

  He shakes his head. "No, when I marry you, it's going to be the real deal, sweetheart, trust me." He spins me around, and because I don't expect it, I stumble over my feet but he thankfully catches me, pulling me back to him. "Sorry."

  I regain my posture, placing my hand back on his shoulder. "You're very silly, you know that?"

  "I'm in love, angel. I'm silly all the time."

The music begins to pick up and Tristan pushes me away, spinning me around, and this time I actually anticipate it. I spin back to him, lifting my arm so he can twirl too because he deserves to be spun.

We hold onto one another, kicking our feet to the beat and thump of the music, and we swing our arms around. We sway side to side, humming the tune to the song playing, and we move across the sports hall towards Addy and Nathan who are laughing and dancing to the music.

"Hey!" I yell over the music, waving my hand to my best friend. "You two look amazing!"

"So do you, Luce!" Addy yells back, reaching her hand out towards me. I take hers, squeezing it, and we laugh at one another before she turns back to Nathan and I turn back to Tristan who is spinning me away again.

Addy and Nathan will be off to New York soon, and while we've made as many plans as possible for the time we're both in Stars Hollow, it's scary to know that we'll be saying goodbye to each other soon. I know I'll be emotional saying goodbye to my best friend of fourteen years, but I have a strong feeling that we're going to be best friends regardless of the distance. She's my forever person, I know that much.

Dad has planned out our great American road trip which will begin the day after I graduate. We're travelling from New York to San Fransisco over a thirty-day period. We'll eat at all kinds of restaurants, sleep in all kinds of crappy motels, and see as many sights as possible. Once we return from our road trip, Dad will go on his cruise with Nicole for three weeks and I'll spend all my time with Tristan who will be leaving for Oxford and Addy and Nathan who will leaving for their family holiday and then for New York.

Tristan and I still haven't discussed him leaving so soon, but I'm not as nervous as I once was. In fact, I'm excited to see where life takes him once he gets on that plane and heads for Oxford. I know he's going to have an amazing time, and he'll be home for the holidays, so I'm determined to make our relationship work. I believe in us.

Tristan dips me, bringing me back to this wonderful reality, and he pulls me back up, pressing his mouth against mine briefly. "Hey, I, uh, need to talk to you in a bit, okay?" I nod, brushing my hand through his hair.

"Everything okay?"

"I think so," he answers, and I stare at him strangely. What does that mean?

Anyway, I don't focus too much on what he wants to talk about as I want to have a good time at the prom I didn't want to go to. We dance, eat from the extra long buffet table, talk with a few teachers and students, and then we're forced into taking a ridiculous group photo.

Standing in our couples, me and Tristan, Addy and Nathan, and Dean and Lindsay join together in front of the camera, smiling like lovesick fools as a photo is snapped of us── something we'll get to keep for eternity. Once I have the photo in my hands, I stare at it for a long while and I realise that I've got a perfect group right here that I'm going to miss deeply.

I look to Addy and Nathan, smiling at the two who managed to make everything work out even after Addy caught feelings for another person. They're a beautiful couple, always smiling and supporting one another. I adore them, and I'm so happy that they're getting their dreams in New York City of all places.

I shift my eyes over to Dean and Lindsay who seem happy. They're getting freaking married which still baffles me, and after telling Tristan and my dad, it's still the most shocking piece of news in Stars Hollow. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for them, I just really don't want to see Lindsay get hurt by getting married so young, but maybe they really are destined for one another. Like I said, Dean better not hurt her.

  I then look at Tristan── the love of my life who went and did something incredible. He got into two outstanding schools, and he'll be studying in England which I know he'll love. I'm beyond proud of him, and I adore him more than he'll ever know. Without him, I don't even know how I'd be, but I have a lot to thank him for. He deserves the entire world, and if I had any kind of power, I'd give it to him. I love him, and if he seriously did ask me to marry him, I would in a freaking heartbeat.

He leans down, brushing his lips against my cheek. "Can I talk to you?"

I nod, numb to the bone from his delicate tone. "Of course you can."

He pushes his hand into mine and he drags me away, pulling me out of the sports hall and into the corridor. From there, he moves quickly to find a classroom that's far enough away from any kind of socialisation. At first, I think he's trying to find a make-out spot, but the second we're inside the classroom, I know he wants to talk.

From the look on his face, it's serious, but I don't let it scare me.

"What's going on?" I ask, looking over at him as he leans back against one of the many school desks. He loosens his tie, and he inhales sharply. He looks stressed, and I can't figure out why because prom was his idea. "Tristan?"

"I have something to tell you."

"Yeah, I know. That's why we're──"

"I'm not going to Oxford."

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          ❝𝐈'𝐌 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐎𝐗𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐃❞

  Words I'd never thought I'd hear ever are being said to me, and I have no idea how to react. I guess I'm shocked because for the past two months I assumed he was going to Oxford. I thought the night we talked made that perfectly clear. I thought Oxford was what he wanted, but it seems I was mistaken, and now I have nothing to say but, "What?"

"I'm not going to Oxford."

"B-But I don't understand. You──" I pull out a chair, sitting down before I hit the floor. "Why aren't you going to Oxford. I thought... I thought that's what you wanted."

"So did I." Tristan moves towards me, pulling out a chair so he can sit down across from me. "But then I thought about it, like, really thought about it."

"Okay..."

"After we talked, I sat down and considered the pros and cons for both," he explains, using his hands to exaggerate his point. "I then spoke to Logan who, yes, would've said anything to get me to go to Yale, but he actually helped me see that Oxford just..." He shrugs, a smile tugging on his lips. "...isn't for me, Blue."

"You're going to Yale?" The words fly out of my mouth, and I can't believe how right they sound.

Tristan shifts forward, his hand moving to grasp mine. "Yeah, Blue. I'm going to Yale." His foot slides next to mine, and I crack a smile, annoyingly over the moon that Tristan is going to be going to the same college as me.

"And this is really what you want?"

I don't want him to regret his decision in the future, and even though he considered the pros and cons, he may still be in regret one day. It would kill me to know that he secretly wants to be in England but he stayed here.

"This is really what I want, Blue."

"Really, really?"

He takes my other hand, squeezing them tightly. "Really, really," he confirms. "And besides, I found out that in my third year, I can take a year abroad to another university──"

"Like Oxford," I say, and he nods. "So you'll still get to go, right?"

"Yeah, hopefully."

"So you're not going to Oxford," I mutter, nodding my head over and over and over again. "You're going to Yale."

"I'm going to Yale."

I stand up, moving around the desk to stand in front of him. He pulls me down, sitting me on his lap, and I wrap an arm around his neck, brushing my lips against his softly. "Are you really, really sure you want this?" I ask, and Tristan laughs.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm really, really sure?"

"Maybe just one more," I answer softly.

"I'm really, really sure. I've never been more sure of anything in my life, Lucy." His hand slides across my jaw, cupping my face. "I'm going to Yale, and in our third year, I'll apply to take a year out to travel to England and study under great professors. I'll still get to go, Luce, alright?"

"So why did you ultimately change your mind?"

"Well, Logan was persistent." I smile, knowing that he'd do anything in his power to convince him. "And I guess I didn't like the idea of being away for that long, you know? I'd be gone for most of the year, and I'd be so far away. I just... I just hated that idea when I really sat down and thought about it."

"It would suck not to have you here."

"It terrified me that I was going to be in a country where I didn't know anybody," he admits. "It terrified me that I'd be away from you, Logan, my sister, my friends. It just..." He sighs, a hand sliding across my back. "...really freaked me out, so I knew what decision I had to make."

"And this is really──"

"Lucy," he interrupts, voice stern, and I smile. "This is really what I want, I promise."

"You're going to Yale," I say, still in disbelief.

"I know what you were doing when we talked," he says, and I stare at him strangely. "You kept pushing me to go, but I don't think you actually wanted me to go."

I sigh, moving my eyes away from him. "What?"

"It's okay," he whispers, brushing his thumb over my cheekbone.

"I was just trying to push you because I thought you wanted it," I admit, and he nods. "I assumed you wanted to study in Oxford, so I pushed you even though it hurt me to do so. I wanted to support you, Tristan."

"You're pretty great, you know that?" I press my forehead against his, closing my eyes at the sweet, sweet feeling of this. "We don't have to say goodbye to each other, Blue."

"We don't have to say goodbye to each other," I confirm, my cheeks heating up.

"You okay with my decision?" I nod. "Really?"

I roll my eyes. "Yes, I'm really happy with your decision. I'm proud of you, Tristan, you know that, right?"

"And I'm proud of you."

"Do you wanna go back to the dance?"

"Do you wanna go back to the dance?" he asks, sliding an arm around my waist.

I stare at him for a long moment, and I slide a hand into his hair, smiling at the soft feel. "I don't know. I kinda just wanna stay right here."

Tristan grins, his lips hovering over mine. "Yeah?"

I nod in confirmation. "Yeah."

  I'm lifted onto the desk, and Tristan pulls me flush against him once he stands up. I wrap my legs around him, cuddling my arms around his neck as his mouth flattens against mine. He kisses me quickly, but he pulls back immediately, leaving me aching and wanting.

  He breathes heavily, forehead pressed against mine. "Wait, is your dad going on that cruise?"

  I exhale a laugh. "Uh, I'd really like if you didn't talk about my dad while kissing me."

  He pins me with a pointed look. "Blue."

  "Yes, he's going on that cruise after we do our great American road trip." I'm actually very excited for the road trip── more so because I get to spend time with my dad before college. "He'll be away for the entire month of July."

  "Well..." I swear a lightbulb lights up above his head as an idea comes to mind. "...I was thinking we could go away."

  "Oh, yeah?"

  "My family has that house in Maine, so I was thinking we could go, just the two of us." He raises his brow suggestively, and I grin widely, loving that idea.

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, I wanna take you away." He slides a hand up my leg, resting on my thigh. "You okay with that?"

  "Yeah, I'm definitely okay with that."

  "Then it's a plan."

  "Can you kiss me now?"

  Tristan grins, and his lips attach to mine again. As he kisses me, all I can think about is how we're going to get to do this constantly. There won't be any long-distance phone conversations. There won't be any tears shed because he isn't leaving. And there won't be any heartbreak.

  Tristan is staying here. He's going to Yale. We're going to have each other's backs for the next four years. We're going to have each other for the foreseeable future and I'm very, very happy about that.

  When he pulls back, attaching his lips to my neck, I let myself breathe. "I love you," I whisper, sliding a hand into his hair.

  "I love you," he mutters against the skin of my neck, and my spine tingles. "My little valedictorian..." I tense, and Tristan smiles against my neck before pulling himself back, realising what he just said.

  I shake my head. "No."

  "I've gotta see your Wall of Fame picture." He backs away from me, leaving me on the desk as he rushes out of the room.

  "Bastard!" I yell, listening to his footsteps descend down the hall.

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authors note:

prom night!!

and tristan isn't going to oxford . . . yes, i twisted it around and decided to send him to yale bcos i'm a hopeless romantic but college is going to be a very, very exciting, scary time for them . . . there will be a lot of drama

there's only one chapter to go and then i'll be writing the sequel . . . who's excited?