"So, what is it?".

"Well, I didn't tell you some things. I don't know, I had a lot of things going on at the same time" Trent ". I'm sorry".

"It's okay" Tom soothed her ". What happened?".

She sighed and hugged her backpack, focusing her view on the floor of the car.

"A week ago, Jane drank too much. She got poisoned".

"Oh god, is she okay?" he asked, clearly worried.

"Yes, she is. She stayed a couple of days at the hospital. But she's home now. I was going to make Trent send her to rehab, but we decided to try this thing to let her try to recover at home".

"How did it go?".

Daria didn't answer and looked around the car nervously.

"Oh" he whispered, knowing that the answer wasn't positive.

"She had been drinking in secret during the time I thought she wasn't. And she... she got really drunk today, earlier. She got in a fight with Trent, she gave him a black eye, someone called the cops, she locked herself in her room but then she came out. We found her crying in Penny's room. Trent I and gave her a shower. Then she passed out and we put her in her bed. I'm staying with them tonight, Trent seems not to be doing so well".

"I can see why. This is insane. Poor guy, I feel bad about Jane too. She would've never done something like this before".

"I know. I'm going to make her go to rehab this time. She's not okay. There's no way Trent and I can do this by ourselves".

"Hey, at least you tried, right? What about the cops?".

"Trent convinced them that he could handle it. We need to keep her away from the cops, though, they gave her a warning that if they had to be called again they would have to arrest her for domestic violence".

"Wow. This really is unbelievable. I can't understand how it got to this".

"I can't, either. But it happened. Uh, I have to go now. I need to be going to Jane's".

"Don't worry, I can give you a ride" he offered.

Tom turned on his old, rusty car and started to drive.

After some moments of dead silence, Tom said:

"So... are you sure you want to stay in Jane's? I mean, things could get a little heavy when she wakes up".

"I do want to stay there" she assured him ". I'm sure she'll be too ashamed and hungover to make things heavy. Maybe just a little tense, but I can handle it. I've been taking care of her all week".

"Really? That's very impressive. No doubt why you were too busy to give me a call".

"Yeah, sorry about that".

"It's okay" he said while stopping in front of the well known Casa Lane ". Thanks, anyway".

"What for?".

"For trusting me. You trusted me enough that first night and decided to tell me what happened. Then you trusted me again and looked for me when you needed someone to talk to".

She opened the door and took her backpack. When getting out of the car, she turned her head and looked at Tom.

"Hey, thank you".

"No problem, I can give you a ride whenever you need one".

"Not about the ride. I mean, thanks for being there and listening".

He smiled and she stayed in front of the house until she saw the car turning left two blocks away of the Lane house. Daria turned around and started at the sculpture that Jane had on her front yard. She detailedly stared at the windows of the house, somehow paranoid that someone may have been looking at her getting out of Tom's car.

She walked closer to the house and saw through the window that everything seemed dead. Nobody there, just closed doors and silence. She took the key, opened the door quietly and put it back on her pocket. She closed the door and then went down the stairs. She went straight to Penny's room. The smell of alcohol was barely on the air and the hidden bottles were now visible She put her backpack on the bed and went to see Trent.


"Trent?" the tall, black-haired man heard as someone knocked the door of his room.

"Come on in, Daria" he replied.

Daria opened the door and entered to the messy room she already knew. The duck-shaped phone was on the night table as always and his two guitars were lying on the floor on one corner of the room, as Trent lay on his bed.

"Hey, I'm sorry I took so long. My mom insisted in making me eat dinner before coming".

"No problem" he looked at her with a curious look ". Where's your stuff?".

"I put everything in Penny's room" she answered while walking inside the room and sitting on Trent's bed next to her friend ". I decided I won't sleep in Jane's room, I don't want to bother her, and all the booze was in Penny's room so I'll get to check that Jane can't take it" she put her hand in her pocket and took a shiny, silver key and put it on the night table ". Here's the key. Thanks".

"Uh" he seemed confused ". I thought you wouldn't mind sleeping here".

"I am, Trent, I just told you that I'll sleep in Penny's".

He got up, sitting on the bed instead of lying on it, next to Daria and finally found himself able to look at her without trying to look at the floor instead.

"I mean, uh, I, like, wanted you to sleep here. With me " he mumbled.

"Eep!" the girl squeaked.

Trent smirked, recognizing that squeak from when Daria's mom had asked him to stay at their house.

Daria was blushing and she looked really red. She thought about Tom. She could never be sure if Trent felt anything towards her, but she could believe Tom if he ever told her he liked her. At that point, however, the events and Jane's insinuations about Trent's feelings toward her made her not be so sure about whether or not she had gotten over her crush on Trent despite of the experience with the multimedia project being a solid proof that it couldn't work out.

"Do... what do you say? It's okay if you don't want to... I mean, you'll be in Penny's room so if I need to talk to someone or anything I can go...".

"Okay" she agreed.

He raised an eyebrow, not sure if she had agreed to sleep in his room or to be available for him to go talk to her later when she was in Penny's room.

"I'll sleep here. It's no big deal. I know you're not feeling okay right now. Just, don't tell Jane" the last thing I want is to have her teasing me about this for the rest of our lives once she's sober again ". I'll go get my stuff from Penny's room and put my pyjamas on, I'm a little tired".

He nodded and kept staring at Daria while she left the room.

He smiled. That time when he had told her Daria he'd date her if she was a few years older, he recalled it being more than just a joke. He laughed afterwards, trying to make it sound less serious. He had been intrigued about Daria since he first met her. He didn't remember Jane having any friends, except for a few times he'd seen her hung out with a goth girl, and back then they were too young for him to even think about getting to know her sister's friend. But with Daria it was different. He found her funny, cute and nice despite of or maybe thanks to her constant sarcastic commentaries. He liked her. First he didn't think it was right, she was Janey's friend, not his, and she was a high schooler, way too young for him to be with her. But he really enjoyed spending time with her. He noticed she liked him back, it was obvious, thing he found kind of adorable.

A few moments later, Daria came in with some dark blue shorts and a lighter blue, baggy shirt. She had a backpack with her, where, Trent supposed, she had her toothbrush and probably some clothes. She left the backpack next to Trent's bed and closed the door of the room.

"I just went to check how's Jane. She's still asleep and I don't think she'll wake up any time soon".

She sat next to him.

"How are you?" she asked softly touching with one hand the side of Trent's face that Jane had punched ". Does it still hurt?".

"I'm okay. It doesn't hurt as much as it did before, but I think I'll get a black eye. Janey just got upset over the fight, you know she's not normally like this, right?".

"Yeah" she nodded as she said it ". That's why I need to help her. She's not like this".

"Maybe I was wrong. Janey can't always take care of herself".

"She needs some help every once in a while".

"Yeah".

Should I kiss her?, Trent wondered while looking at Daria, I don't know if she'll be okay with that but, shit, I feel like I need her more than I ever did before. I wish she knew it.

"So, where's the sleeping bag?" she asked.

"Uh" he hadn't thought about that, mostly because he was expecting to have her sleeping next to him, on his bed, and the sleeping bag had been thrown away by Jane after she had spilled some alcohol on it by accident while trying to cover up her drinking.

"Trent?".

"It's actually a funny story" more like a convenient one, he thought ". Janey kind of threw it to the garbage".

"What? Why did she do that?".

"Remember I told you she had been drinking this whole time? Well, she threw some booze on the sleeping bag. She freaked out and threw it so we wouldn't find out".

"Oh... But how will I sleep on your floor? No offense, but I'm afraid something that's been there too long gets jealous and attempts to murder me in the middle of the night".

"Well... you can sleep on my bed".

She blinked two times, now knowing that to say.

I think blinking twice means 'yes', Trent thought.

"I... I guess it's fine".

Just don't try anything, Daria thought, ... yet.

Daria moved and sat on the right side of the bed. Trent just looked at her, still wondering. She yawned and and closed her eyes for a moment.

He lay next to her, with his head resting on his arms. He could almost picture the whole thing as if they were a married couple in an average night before going to sleep.

"Janey would find it funny that you're sleeping in my bed" he commented with a smirk.

"But she won't find out, will she?".

"No, I guess she won't".

He thought about something, and then finally decided to say it only a few seconds later.

"Er, Daria?".

"Yeah?" she answered slowly and with a weak voice.

"Would you mind if I... hug you?".

The well known "eep!" came out of Daria's mouth again. Her face was, again, red.

"Uh... I... it's... yeah, sure, why not?".

Trent covered a nervous Daria with his arms. She thought it was weird, that it was even scary because it had shocked her, but she felt somehow protected and it was nice to have some human contact and be next to someone she loved so much. She just let her head lie on Trent's chest, like she had imagined many times back when everything seemed platonic. Tom's name didn't seem to be around her mind anymore.

"Trent?".

"Yeah?".

"What's going on?".

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean... you know. This wouldn't have happened a few months ago, would it?".

"I guess so".

"So?".

"I don't know, Daria. But right now, well, I feel happy to be here with you and I'm glad you're here. Is it okay if I really don't know what's going on?".

"Yeah, I think so. I mean, I'm happy that I'm with you, too. But, just promise me one thing".

"Sure, what is it?".

"This is dumb but, please promise me this is not just some kind of game".

"Daria" he finally had his chance to tell her what he'd wanted to tell her when he had heard Daria speaking to Jane about him just 'wanting to get laid' ", you know me better than that. I'm not doing this because I'm bored or because I want to have sex with you. It really isn't about all that stuff. It's something way more important than that".

"And what is that thing?".

"You heard Janey: I really like you".

She fell asleep with a smile on her face.