"You're officially stuck with me Gilmore."
--☆--☆--☆--
Josh felt like an idiot. He couldn't believe he had suggested going to the dance as friends with Cassie. He wanted her to be his date, not just his friend. The Dawson boy felt stupid for even suggesting it but he thought it would be better to go with her as friends instead of not going with her at all.
Now Josh was heading towards the line to buy two tickets to the formal. One for him and one for his friend Cassie. He got in the line and stood in annoyance, realizing this would take a couple minutes.
Josh rocked back and forth on his heels, waiting for something to do. He didn't know the guy in front of him so when someone arrived behind him, he prayed it was someone he could talk to.
"Oh, hey," He smiled awkwardly, seeing none other than Rory Gilmore.
"Hey," Rory smiled looking up from her book.
Neither of them knew what to say. It's not like they had been friends for weeks and conversation happened easily between them. Rory and Josh knew nothing about each other. Their only connection was Cassie.
"Buying Cass's ticket?" She asked, gesturing to the line they were both in.
"Yeah... you buying your own?" Josh asked, his eyebrows raised slightly. Rory looked up, it didn't take her long to realize that she was the only girl in the line.
"And my dates," She added, earning a curious look from her sister's crush.
Josh smiled, brushing his shoulder against hers. "Oo. Who's the lucky guy?"
Rory blushed slightly, thinking about her bag boy. "He goes to our old school. His name is Dean."
"Dean?" Josh questioned and Rory nodded. "So I get to meet this Dean at the dance?"
"Yes,"
"Well good. I'm looking forward to meeting Dean," Josh smirked, enunciating the word Dean. "And you know if he doesn't treat you right I know someone who can beat him up," Josh told her as he pointed to himself.
"I'll keep that in mind," Rory said with a smile. It should be noted that at this very moment Rory was thinking that Josh was the perfect guy for her sister.
Josh smiled then turned to face forward, letting Rory continue her reading. He looked up seeing Tristan head towards them with two tickets in his hand. "Hey man," the two of them did a little bro handshake. One that would've made Cassie cringe, if she were there.
Tristan nodded at his friend, giving him about two seconds of his time before he noticed Rory. "And she's reading again. How novel."
"Goodbye Tristan," Rory said immediately.
"Did you get the novel thing? Because..."
"I said goodbye," Rory repeated.
"What are you doing here? Besides keeping my boy company," He said, grabbing ahold of Josh's shoulder.
"Keep me out of this," Josh said as he turned around to look at Tristan and Rory.
"I like lines," Rory said, answering Tristan's question.
"The guy's supposed to buy the tickets," Tristan informed her, and he wasn't exactly wrong. Rory was the only girl in the line.
"Really. Does Susan Faludi know about this?"
"Unless of course there is no guy," Tristan taunted.
"There's a guy."
"A cheap guy," The Dugray boy commented.
"Dude," Josh tried to interrupt.
"Well, what can I say? I like 'em cheap. Sloppy too -- bald spot, beer gut, you know, and the pants that kind of slip down in the back, giving you that good plumber shot. That sends me through the roof," Rory informed him, earning a laugh from Josh who was now fully paying attention to their conversation.
"So who is he?" Tristan asked with genuine curiosity. He glanced over at Josh, who didn't give him any hints on who the guy was.
"How many languages can you say 'none of your business' in?" Rory asked him.
"Does he go to this school?"
"No, he doesn't," Rory answered.
"Uh-huh," Tristan nodded, not fully believing her. "Well, look, OK, I'll confess something to you. I don't have a date."
"Well I hear Squeaky Fromme is up for parole soon. You should keep a good thought."
"Damn," Josh laughed. He never realized how quick Rory was. He knew that Cassie was, but he hadn't spent much time with the older Gilmore since meeting her.
"Well I actually thought you'd like to go with me," Tristan admitted.
Josh shook his head, subtly. He knew that Tristan had a thing for Rory, he has since the first time they spoke. And Josh has known the entire time. At first he thought it was cute, it's been a long time since Tristan actually liked someone. But now Josh knew that Rory had a boyfriend, which meant Tristan already lost his opportunity.
This caught Rory's attention. Causing her to look up at Tristan with a slightly annoyed look on her face. "You did not."
"I did too."
"You did not because you are not stupid."
"Why thank you," Tristan said with a smirk.
"Slimy and weasely, yes, but stupid, no," Rory added at the last second, making Tristan's cocky expression fall slightly. "You'd have to be stupid to think that, given our history, I would ever, barring a piano or a safe falling on my head, want to go anywhere with you, ever."
Tristan would never admit how much Rory's words annoyed him that day. He knew he had been an asshole to her in the past but he kind of assumed since her sister and his best friend were getting together they'd have a clean slate. "OK, fine. I'll take Cissy."
"I'll send her a condolence card," Rory muttered, looking back down at her book.
"Yeah. Well at least she won't be buying her own ticket," Tristan added at the last second before walking away.
Rory looked down, she didn't know why she felt kind of bad. It's not like she liked Tristan at all, why did she care if she hurt his feelings. Josh turned around seeing the somewhat guilty look on her face.
"You did good," Josh told her, earning a confused look from Rory. "No one's ever stood their ground like that around Tristan. You did good."
"Thanks," Rory smiled.
"Not a problem," Josh sent her a friendly wink before grabbing two tickets and getting out of the line. "I'll be seeing you Rory."
Josh walked down the hall, searching for one girl. He didn't notice the longing looks he got from the girls he passed. Or the excited looks when they thought he was approaching them with two tickets in hand. Josh didn't notice any of them.
He smiled when he saw her, she was putting a book in her locker. It was such a simple thing but Josh could watch her doing it for hours. He walked over to her, standing right beside her. Josh felt her tense slightly when she realized someone was behind her.
"Hey gorgeous," the nickname slipped out before he could stop it but when he said that he could see Cassie relax. She closed her locker, turning around to look at him. Not realizing that she accidentally trapped herself between him and the lockers behind her.
"Gorgeous huh?" Cassie asked, trying to keep her smile to a minimum. Something she didn't find difficult to do around Josh until a couple days ago.
Josh smirked at her, thinking his nickname was rather fitting for her. "Wanna see what I got?"
"Okay..." Cassie said in a slightly nervous tone as she looked up at Josh.
He reached into his pocket, pulling out the tickets he had just bought for them. "Ta-da," He said in a sing-songy voice. "You're officially stuck with me Gilmore."
"Heaven help me," Cassie smiled, taking one of the tickets from Josh's hand to look at.
"So what time should I pick you up?" Josh asked her, moving a little bit closer to her.
"You want to leave Hartford, drive to Stars Hollow, then drive back to Hartford?" Cassie questioned with a confused look. Josh simply nodded, saying that's exactly what he plans on doing. "I could just get a ride with Rory, save you some gas."
"I'm a gentleman Cassie, I'm picking you up," Josh insisted.
"But Rory is going with-"
"Dean?"
"How do you know about Dean?" Cassie's head tilted to the side in confusion.
"Rory told me," Josh answered with a smug look on his face.
Cassie laughed, shaking her head at Josh. "Rory told you?" She questioned, wondering when her sister talked to the boy she liked.
"Yeah," Josh nodded, that smug look still very much present on his face. "She and I are friends."
"Oh really? What else did you and Rory talk about?"
"That's between me and Rory," Josh told her. Cassie laughed, shaking her head at him but smiling nonetheless. "So, I'm picking you up," He said, going back to the original topic.
"Or I could get a ride with Rory and-"
"No. It's final, I'm picking you up," Josh told her, ending the discussion.
"God, you're stubborn," Cassie said, shaking her head at him. He crossed his arms, waiting for her to say it. "Fine, you can pick me up."
"Good," Josh nodded, smiling at her. Josh looked down at her, wanting to say please can we not go as just friends. He wanted to ask, but he didn't want to scare her. Because no matter how much he wanted to ask, he could also see her trying to back away from him. So he didn't say what he wanted to and instead he said, "I'll see you on Saturday Gilmore."
"See you Saturday, Dawson," Cassie smiled awkwardly, walking away from Josh.
--☆--☆--☆--☆--☆--
Cassie was pouting. She didn't really know why. Technically she had the guy, and she had a dress, and her sister, but she was pouting. She had just walked out of Luke's with a pile of books in her hand.
The dance was tomorrow and all Cassie could think about was how she was supposed to go with the guy she had a crush on, not knowing if he actually liked her. Cassie walked across the street towards the gazebo, letting out a huff of air since the books in her hands were obnoxiously heavy.
"Hey."
"Oh Jesus," Cassie flinched when Dead approached her with a friendly wave. "Why do you walk so quietly?"
Dean laughed, choosing to ignore her question. "Need a hand?"
"Uh..." Cassie paused, thinking about if she wanted help from Dean. She knew she was supposed to try to be friends with him, for Rory. Yet somehow something about him was a little off to her. "Sure." Dean reached up, grabbing two books from her pile, making it much easier for her to carry. "Thanks."
"No problem," Dean smiled politely and the two of them started walking towards the Gilmore house. "So are you going to the dance tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I am," Cassie told him, feeling a little awkward around Dean.
"Do you have a date?"
"Mhm," Cassie hummed. Dean gave her a look, as if asking her for more information. "His name is Josh."
"Oh," Dean nodded, almost like he knew something. "Right, Rory told me about him."
"She what?" Cassie's head turned so quickly that she thought it might spin right off. "What did she say?"
"Not much. Just that there was a guy named Tristan and Josh who ran the school."
Cassie felt much better knowing that Rory wasn't telling her boyfriend all of her secrets. "Oh, yeah... I guess that's true," Cassie nodded then she turned to look at Dean. "You're a guy."
Dean laughed curiously. "Yeah..."
"Would you ever ask Rory to go to the dance with her as friends?" Cassie asked him, but Dean was either confused or didn't want to answer. "Dean."
"No, I wouldn't," Dean finally answered. "Unless..."
"Unless what?" Cassie looked up at him eagerly, waiting for Dean's answer.
"Unless I actually just wanted to be friends with her," Dean told her.
"That's not helpful Dean," Cassie told him. "I was looking for a more philosophical answer than that."
"Sorry," He shrugged. "So the dance tomorrow, think it'll be okay?"
"I think," Cassie let out a sigh, "You better treat my sister right or someone," She pointed to herself, "will make your life a lot more difficult."
"Ah, I was wondering when you'd threaten me," Dean smiled as they continued walking towards the house.
"Rory's not just my sister, she's my best friend," Cassie reminded him, not liking the cocky look he had on his face. "I mean it, you try anything and everyone in this town will sharpen their pitchforks."
"Okay," Dean gave Cassie her books back, letting her walk the rest of the way alone.