Paris slipped on her black skirt as she got ready for her evening with Joey, Dean and Rory. As she applied her makeup, Paris immediately began to think about Joey. She was very intrigued with Rory's cousin after reading the interview that Rory did with her. She knew from reading the interview that Joey was very intelligent.

However, Paris also started to feel an attraction to Joey. She thought that Joey was very beautiful, much like Rory. However she had reservations about spending an evening with Joey, mainly because of the fact that Joey didn't like her. Paris knew that Joey had misconceptions about her and wanted Joey to get to know her better as a person. After finishing with her makeup, Paris took one last look in the mirror before she saw Dean's Jeep pull up in front of Gellar Manor. She immediately grabbed her purse, and headed downstairs.

* * * * *

Dean knocked on the door, which was answered by Maria. As Dean was talking with Maria, Joey and Rory stood outside the Jeep.

"I don't know about this," Joey said.

"Come on Joey," Rory said. "You can't break your agreement about this."

"I'm all for spending time with you, but why does Paris have to come along?"

"Because I want her to get out for a change and for you two to get to know each other."

"Rory, why would I want to tell that dork about myself?"

Rory quickly became offended by Joey's comment and snapped. "Look all I want is for us all to have a fun night together. Now is it too much for you to be civil toward Paris for at least tonight?"

Joey hesitated on giving Rory her answer, but then Rory gave Joey her 'sad puppy look,' which quickened Joey's thought process.

"Alright, I'll do it," Joey sighed as Dean and Paris approached the Jeep. "You always get me with that look."

"Hey Paris," Rory said as she spotted Dean and Paris standing in front of her and Joey. "You look very beautiful in that outfit."

"Why thank you," Paris said. "Hi Joey."

"Hey," Joey said with a forced smile on her face.

"You ladies ready to go?" Dean asked.

"Sure." Rory replied as she, Joey, Dean and Paris got in the Jeep.

As Dean drove the Jeep down the road, Joey and Paris took a glance at each other. Joey immediately rolled her eyes at Paris, who quickly turned around to look outside the window. Paris knew that this night was starting out rather uncomfortably for the both of them.

* * * * *

The Glorious Haven was bustling with its usual Saturday night crowd as Dean, Joey, Paris and Rory finished their dinner while having a conversation about the Franklin.

"I think the Franklin is a good paper, but it needs better stories," Joey said as she finished looking at a recent issue of the Franklin .

"Yeah, I agree with you on that Joey." Dean said. "For one thing, it needs more sports and maybe a comic done by one of the students there. It can be either one of those political comics or a funny one."

"I highly doubt that we'll expand our sports coverage anytime soon Dean, but I'll be sure to take your comic idea into consideration," Paris said. "Joey, what specifically do you see wrong with the stories?"

"Well they're not written good enough from an emotional point of view," Joey said. "At my class at Worthington, my professor told me that you can tell a lot about someone's personality by reading anything written by them. Like for example this editorial you did. It has a lot of great points in it, but it's too bland and doesn't leave an impression on the reader."

Paris confidence was immediately deflated when she heard Joey's criticism of her editorial. She always went out of her way to write the best editorials possible, and wasn't used to being criticized for them. Plus, she felt that Joey's comment was very cutting.

"Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom," Paris said as she left the table.

Rory immediately glared at Joey after Paris left and pulled her away from the table.

"Why did you have to say that to her?" Rory asked.

"I was being honest," Joey replied. "What did you want me to say? Tell her how great she is?"

"You were doing that to be mean to her."

"Rory, that's ridiculous."

"Yes you were."

"Alright, so I was mean to her," Joey snapped. "Big fucking deal."

"It is a big deal to me," Rory said. "Paris is my friend and I'm very disappointed that you're not showing her any respect."

"Rory, you seem to forget that this girl was trying to drive you crazy not that long ago."

"I haven't forgotten about that, but we're friends now. I wish you would get to know Paris, instead of going on about these misconceptions of her."

Joey looked at Rory, and immediately regretted what she had done when she saw the sad look on Rory's face. The last thing Joey wanted to do was to hurt her cousin.

"Rory, I'm sorry about what I did," Joey said. "I didn't know that it would upset you."

"It's alright," Rory said.

"I'll go to talk to Paris right now," Joey said as she went to the ladies room.

As she made her way to the ladies room. Joey felt mixed feelings about what she did at the table. On one hand, she was glad that she told Paris what she wanted to say to her. On the other hand, she felt terrible for how it made Rory feel. Joey decided that she wanted to make things right between her and Paris.

* * * * *

Paris washed her face and hands as she finished up in the bathroom. As she dried her hands, Paris looked in the mirror and began thinking about what had transpired between her and Joey so far. She began to feel irritated by Joey's behavior and wanted to tell her how she felt about it. Then as Paris was about to leave the bathroom, Joey entered. Paris quickly stopped in her tracks and stared at Joey.

"Hi Paris," Joey said.

"What do you want?" Paris yelled. "Are you here to bash me some more? Tell me how much of a bitch I am?"

"Look, I only came here to apologize to you, but evidently I made a mistake coming in here."

"What is it that you don't like about me? Paris asked, as Joey was about to leave.

"You know what I don't like about you," Joey said as she came face to face with Paris. "I don't like the fact that someone as intelligent like you would stoop so low trying to make things tough for Rory. She has never done any harm to you to deserve such treatment from you. Plus this jealously trip that you have about Rory getting that Tristan guy's undivided attention instead of yours is so petty. She set you up with a date with him, and you thanked her by telling her that you hate her."

"Look Joey, that was in the heat of the moment, I didn't mean what I said to her."

"Really. What about the time you told everyone about Rory's mom and Max dating?"

Paris was stunned that Joey knew about that.

"Did you know that really hurt Lorelai?" Joey said.

"I didn't mean to do that," Paris said.

"Yeah, you always never mean to do anything to anyone besides Rory. You know what Paris, Rory won't say what I'm about to say to you, and that is you're full of shit! You proclaim yourself as the ruler of Chilton by what you've done to Rory, but I know that it just masks the fact that you're a insecure, neurotic nerd who doesn't have a life and nobody likes."

Paris silently took in Joey's rant about her. She felt insulted by it, but knew that Joey was right about what she said. Paris felt tempted to shed a tear, but held it in and ran out of the bathroom. Joey stood there by herself briefly and breathed a sigh of relief that she got out what she felt about Paris. However, she began to feel remorseful about it after seeing the look on Paris face after she was done with her rant. As she left the bathroom, Joey immediately thought about apologizing to Paris.

* * * * *

Dean drove on the back road that led to the dark woods outside of town. He and Rory began kissing as Joey and Paris did their best to ignore them.

"Rory, this would be better if we had a little more privacy," Dean said.

"Guys, you don't mind if me and Dean had a little private time together?" Rory asked.

"We don't mind," Joey replied. "Right Paris?"

"Yeah," Paris murmured.

"Thanks," Rory said, as Joey and Paris got out of the Jeep.

"You and Dean are not about to do 'you know what'?" Joey asked.

"Of course not," Rory whispered.

"Okay, tell him to play nice."

"I will," Rory said as Joey and Paris walked away from the Jeep.

Dean quickly pulled Rory back in the Jeep to resume their make-out session.

* * * * *

Joey and Paris walked a safe distance away from the Jeep. However, they stayed away from each other after what had happened earlier between them. The two came to a stop by an old car. Joey sat down on its hood, while Paris stood across the trail by a tree. The two didn't say a word to each other for a few minutes as the sounds of crickets chirping filled the night. Then, Joey decided to break the ice and went over by Paris, who quickly moved away from her.

"Hey," Joey said as she grabbed Paris arm to stop her from moving away.

"What do you want?" Paris asked as she quickly pulled her arm away.

"I want to apologize to you about what I said to you. I know I had a lot of issues about what you did to Rory, but I was way out of line saying what I said to you."

"It's alright, you had every right to do that. Besides, you know the old saying, what goes around, comes around."

"I know it seemed like I was being mean," Joey said as she moved closer to Paris. "It's just that I don't want Rory to go through the same terrible experience I had to go through when I was in school."

"May I ask what were your bad experiences?" Paris asked.

"Basically people made various cruel remarks about how poor I was, my sister's interracial relationship, and my dad being busted for dealing drugs. I tried to not to show it, but those things really got to me at times."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that."

"It's alright, at least I got through it."

Paris felt bad for Joey for what she went through and got her thinking about how fortunate her life was to a certain extent.

"Tell me Paris, what made you do those things to Rory?" Joey asked. "Is it because of the whole Tristan and the fact that she was threatening your position as the number one student at Chilton?"

"Yes," Paris replied. "But there's a lot more that. What I did to Rory was not just jealously, but from a feeling of inferiority compared to her."

Joey was stunned by Paris revelation. "Inferiority? What makes you think that you're inferior compared to Rory?"

"Well the whole thing with Tristan pretty much started it. I've always felt a certain superiority compared to most people, but Rory changed all that. She s really shocked me at how intelligent she is and getting Tristan's undivided attention. Naturally I was pretty pissed off about it and did whatever I could to beat her. I could compete with her in academics, but it didn't mean much to me. She could get a couple of guys like Dean and Tristan to almost kill each other over her, while I couldn't even get their attention if I tried. I'm not beautiful like her and don't have a mom who gives a damn about me like her. Sometimes I feel like I'm nothing compared to Rory."

Joey felt bad for Paris after hearing her revelation. She immediately put her hand on Paris shoulder to comfort her.

"Paris you shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Joey said. "You're not nothing. You're a very beautiful, intelligent person who s very capable of being whatever she wants."

"Thanks Joey, " Paris said, flattered by Joey's comments. "It means a lot coming from you."

"You're very welcome."

Paris and Joey got up off the old car and begin walking back to the Jeep. As they made their way down the trail, Joey tripped on a rock. Paris immediately went down to see to check on her.

"Are you alright?" Paris asked as she kneeled down next to Joey.

"I'm fine," Joey replied. "I just got a little cut on my hand."

Paris took Joey's hand and wiped it off with some tissue that she saved in her pocket and put a bandage on the wound. As Paris finished putting the bandage on Joey's hand, she looked at Joey and saw her with a beaming smile on her face. Paris immediately smiled back at Joey. This helped fuel Paris growing attraction to Joey. She liked Joey for the same qualities that Rory had, such as her beautiful eyes, intelligence and winning smile. However the thing that Paris liked the most about Joey was her world-weary wiseness. As they were about to get up, Paris quickly leaned over and her lips met up with Joey's for a kiss. Joey quickly pushed Paris away after a few seconds.

"What the hell was that?" Joey asked, befuddled about Paris action.

"Oh my God Joey, I'm so sorry!" Paris said. "I didn't mean to do that, but I couldn't--"

"Look Paris, I want you to know that I don't swing that way, but I don't have anything against you for being like that."

"Hey Paris and Joey!" Dean yelled. "Come on, its time to go."

The duo immediately walked towards the Jeep.

"Just don't say anything about this to Rory." Joey whispered to Paris before they got in the Jeep.

"I see you two are getting along," Rory said.

"Yeah we talked a lot and got to know each other better." Joey said as she briefly looked at Paris, who gave her an awkward look.

As the Jeep went through the dark roads, Paris began to feel mixed feelings about her kiss with Joey. She was glad to get it out of the way to express her attraction to Joey, but also knew that it could complicated not only her relationship with Rory, but Joey's with Rory also.

To be continued...