Zero

The bright mid-afternoon sun gleamed proudly from its place in a clear azure sky, occasionally obscured by the soft white wisps of clouds that were drifting by. The weather, warm but not unbearably so and without the undercurrent of humidity that so often plagued the small suburb of Lawndale, was almost perfect. Daria Morgendorffer allowed herself a brief moment of introspection as she considered the events that led to her enjoying such a beautiful day instead of holing herself in her bedroom until noon, which had become routine for her since she started her summer break.

She received a phone call at an ungodly hour of the morning from Trent Lane of all people. He needed to take a trip to Eagleton, something about a record store-Daria hadn't been paying much attention-, and he wanted some company. If she had been two years younger, she would've been beside herself. The prospect of spending an entire morning around him would've probably caused her to faint. As it was, she was less than enthusiastic about the proposition. For one, her bed was comfortable and she had no desire to leave its grasp until hunger pangs started gnawing at her stomach. The second reason (which was perhaps the most important) was that she hadn't said more than a few words to Trent since her high school graduation. This trip would undoubtedly be filled with awkward pauses and long stretches of silence that would bother her for the remainder of the day. She intended to say no. Somewhere along the lines, something got lost in translation because she ended up agreeing to the outing anyway. She blamed it on sleep deprivation, ignoring the small hope she had of rekindling an old friendship. Now, she was certain that she'd made the right decision.

A small serene smile graced her lips as she sat in the passenger's seat of Trent's car, the breeze blowing through her auburn hair. She was facing the windshield but she could see Trent out of the corner of her eye. He was humming what she vaguely recognized as a Nirvana song, lightly drumming his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove down the highway. She was surprised by how easily they made conversation, it was almost like they hadn't been apart at all. Trent was the same laid-back musician, shocking her as always by how perceptive he really was. There was a wisdom there, hidden beneath his calm exterior. Sometimes, she wondered if he realized how often his sentiments rang true. He may not have been book smart but he was socially adept, something Daria herself struggled to achieve.

"It wasn't so bad, right?" He cut his dark eyes over to her, a smirk plastered on his face.

"Let's see. You got accosted by a woman twice your age who assumed I was your little sister, the pizza we ate was so awful that I'm sure we could sue the place for false advertisement, and the record store you were raving about went out of business five years ago." She found herself actually laughing, "Yeah, I guess it wasn't so bad."

He joined in, pausing a few times to cough, "It was pretty awful. You probably wish you stayed home."

"No. I don't. I had a good time. Really. Thanks for inviting me out."

Trent had a hard time believing that the Daria sitting a few feet away from him was the same Daria that Jane introduced him to all those years ago. She had always been on a different level from most people her age, even then. She seemed to feel more than a lot of people, even if she'd never admit it. She was smart, perhaps too smart, which made her jaded and standoffish. But Trent could see that she was opening up. They had more than one candid conversation over the course of the trip and it was refreshing to hear her speak with such conviction, without holding back like she normally did. Finally, he felt like she was being herself around him. He was glad that she enjoyed herself, mostly because he was running out of people to hang out with. As much as he loved Jesse, he could only hear the word 'cool' so many times before he wanted to scream. He wasn't as intellectual as Daria, sure, but she never made him feel stupid. He wasn't ashamed to say that he learned a lot from her. He imagined what Janey would say once he told her about all of this. "So, you went on a protodate did you?". He had to find the humor in all of it. While he thought Daria was one of the coolest girls he'd ever met, a relationship between the two of them just wouldn't work. They both knew it. He was happy with their friendship and he suspected that she felt the same.

"I'm glad. Maybe we could do this again sometime."

"I have no objections. Except, next time, I get to choose where we go."

He chuckled, "Fair enough."

At that moment, they were both happy. For once, Daria didn't feel burdened by the weight of her coursework, by the threat of her parents impending divorce, by her own feelings of self-doubt. All of her worries were placed in the back of her mind to be dealt with at a later time. Trent wasn't reliving all of his failures, he wasn't contemplating about quitting the band, he wasn't imagining his future as a townie playing covers at McGrundy's. He was enjoying the few hours of contentment that he managed to squeeze out of an otherwise ordinary day. Real life was still going on around them but for now, it wasn't important.

As they sat in companionable silence, both lost in their own thoughts, neither anticipated that it would all come to a grinding halt.

The truck came out of nowhere.