Unpopular Opinion: Tristan & Rory should have dated.

(Everyone please tell me if you agree with me or not. I really want to know what you all think of Tristan really.)

I LOVE the bad boy who is really a soft boi, they have this hard exterior and bad attitude because it's their defense mechanism. They are usually insecure, care ALOT about what others think of them, and probably have trust issues brought on by a neglectful parent. The bad boy persona is all a show to protect themselves from getting too close to someone.

I believe Tristan was flirting with Rory at first but in a very arrogant and mean way (ie the bad boy persona), to either impress his friends, or get the attention of the new pretty girl, who knows. Later on in the show, I believe he became very attached to Rory, maybe just a crush or something, the one girl in the entire school that he couldn't have perhaps, and maybe that was the whole reason for his crush on Rory, he just wanted her because he couldn't have her. But I think as time went on, he really just wanted to be liked back.

At the party the night they kissed, it gave Tristan a little hope that he was finally gonna get the girl. But then, Rory brushed it off like it was no big deal and it meant nothing to her, but it obviously meant something to him. I feel this constant rejection broke Tristan's heart, especially when Rory and Dean got back together and they made out right in front of him. That was just the nail in the coffin. Now, with a broken heart, Tristan started hanging out with the wrong crowd doing illegal things and getting into trouble, most likely to get the attention of his father, or maybe just to forget about his broken heart, or quite possibly to get kicked out of Chilton to get away from Rory. His last scene in the show was so sad, and I believe that Rory cared about Tristan deep down, in a platonic way of course. She always went on about how smart he was, she asked him what was wrong all the time, made sure he was okay, etc.

He constantly starts fights with Dean because he's insanely jealous of him. He fights with Rory just so he can talk to her, their entire relationship was built off of their arguing and Rory hating him, he has no other way of reaching out to her without her immediately shutting him down and insulting him. Yes, Tristan has major egotistical issues, maybe even misogynistic values, and a little bit of a man-whore, but I believe that Rory would have set him straight like she tried to do with Jess. I think she would have been such a good influence on him and he would have turned into a good guy. I feel like we never got to see the real Tristan. He was always putting on this persona, and only a few times we saw him let that go, and that was only with Rory. I would have loved to see their relationship go further, to see if Tristan really did have potential.

(I also did not like Rory&Dean's relationship. They had nothing in common but shared attraction. It was simply puppy love).