November 2015

Nicole plopped right onto her bed, breathing a heavy sigh. She had just returned from the Drama Brothers concert, a surprise to her when Noah picked her up. He got the tickets for them to go, as he knew she genuinely enjoyed the music. Speaking of Noah, she left him at the venue - after a small reunion with the boys of the Drama Brothers, Nicole told Noah and Cody they should catch up and quickly ordered herself an uber to trap him there. She hoped her plan had worked and they were hanging out together.

As she changed into her pajamas for the night, all she could think about was what happened after the concert. Cody had seen them from the stage and invited both of them backstage, and she talked to Trent. She had to admit, she always found Trent cute, and she found his backstory on the show rather harsh. She hoped all this time later he was doing all right, and was happy to see him start Drama Brothers back up. She kind of hoped she would get to talk to him again, but she knew she probably wouldn't. Trent was a big popstar in addition to his reality show credits, and it was just a coincidence that they finished each other's sentences when speaking for the first time. But still, it surprised her when she heard the notification bell ring and looked down to see a message and friend request from Trent Harris. She scoped through his profile and it all checked out, so she immediately pressed accept and opened his message.

12:32am

Trent Harris

Hey, Nicole! It was really nice meeting you. If you don't find this weird, I'd love to get to know you more.

She couldn't believe what she was reading; Trent wanted to speak with her. She sat and thought about what she could say back before typing up a response.

12:36am

Nicole Asper

Hi, Trent! Don't worry, I'm not weirded out. Thanks for adding me. I would love to talk more. :)

She waited for the message to show as read, then watched the three little dots jump up and down, signifying that he was typing. After what felt like an eternity, he replied.

12:39am

Trent Harris

That's a relief! I would love to chat with you tomorrow, if you don't mind, of course. We've got another show tomorrow and I'm exhausted.

She looked at the clock on her wall. She couldn't believe that it was nearly 1am by the time she got home from the concert. She hardly ever stayed up this late.

12:40am

Nicole Asper

Of course! I'll be looking forward to it. :)

She had to admit that she was starting to form some sort of crush on him. Nicole's main focus on the show was watching for Noah, of course, but when he was eliminated, it was fun getting into the show. Girls her age had been obsessing over Justin the first season, but for her, the guy she enjoyed seeing was Trent. He was so sweet to Gwen, and his guitar made him such a romantic. She plugged her phone in and went back on her bed, slowly falling asleep with a smile on her face.

After the concert, Nicole had the rest of the week to enjoy her time away from school for fall break. She hung out with her niece and nephew, of course, but she also got to see her Aunt Amelia and a few of her other siblings. Nicole had been glued to her phone the entire ride up to her university as she and Noah pulled up to the parking lot near her dorm building, and she could hear Noah call out to her.

"Hello, earth to Nicole. We have arrived." He said to her. She finished her text message and put her phone into her pocket as she opened the trunk of his car. "Who were you texting this whole time, anyway?"

"Just a group project." She lied. The truth was, Nicole had been texting Trent non-stop since their first Facebook message last week. Nicole's heart fluttered every time she learned something new about him, and Nicole knew there was something there between the two of them.

"Must be some project." Noah mumbled as he handed her a bag from the trunk. She led the way while glued to her phone, waiting for a response back from Trent as she texted him back. Nicole was reluctant to tell Noah about Trent, even though she felt like she was hiding a secret from him, she didn't want to put any additional stress on him. She had been speaking with Joshua since she left for school, since every time she called Noah, he would either let the phone go to voicemail or only stay on the line for a few minutes, and Joshua told her everything she needed to know. He talked to her about his outburst to Joshua in front of the kids, how he refuses to leave his room except for work and the one Ridonculous Race wrap party, and how he feels Noah needs to see someone for help. Hearing all this upset Nicole, and she didn't want to add to his list of things to be upset about if she tells Noah she's very possibly about to be dating someone he was on a reality show with.

As they walked up to the dorm hall, Nicole's phone buzzed, and as soon as she reached her door, she got her phone and looked at the text she got.

Trent

Can't wait to video chat with you soon!

She blushed and wrote a response out to him.

Nicole

Same here!

She pressed send and put her phone in her pocket as she watched Noah speak.

"We made it right before…" He looked down at his watch, then back at her in horror. "Oh, man. It's 10:30. We left at 8."

"Well, we did stop for dinner haflway through." Nicole told him. "You can stay on my floor if it's too late to drive back."

"No, I should go." Noah groaned. "I have work in the morning." Nicole reached her arms out to hug him as she put her duffle on the ground.

"It was good seeing you, Noah. I miss having you around." She said to him.

"I really miss having you around, too."

"I wish you would enroll in university already." Noah froze as she said that. He didn't know how to respond. Nicole didn't even know how this sentence got out of her mouth.

"I don't even know what I'd want to study." Nicole rolled her eyes at him.

"Are you kidding? Art."

"I haven't painted since…" She immediately cut him off. She couldn't believe she decided to have this conversation with him again, as it always ended the same way.

"I know, since mom and dad." There was a pause between the two as Nicole awkwardly looked down at her shoes. Noah spoke up again and cleared his throat.

"You got everything out of the car, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Just wanted to make sure before I head out." With another one of Noah's shutdowns out of the way, she went in for one last hug, which Noah locked her into. He didn't want to let go, and while Nicole didn't want to either, she knew she had to be the first to do so.

"Bye, Noah. See you at winter break."

"Bye, Nicole." Leaving Nicole was always hard for Noah. He always felt better with her around, which is exactly why Nicole knew she had to go to a university farther away from him - she needed him to learn how to function without her, and she needed to learn what life was like as Nicole, not as Noah's twin, or as the girl with no friends.

She walked into her dorm exactly how she left it - the bed was made, and other than a few socks on the floor, her room was pretty much spotless. She took her shoes off at the door, put her bags down, and took a second to decompress from the week with it now being behind her. When she was ready, she took her laptop out of her back and set it up at her desk. She logged into Skype and sent Trent a quick text.

Nicole

Ready?

She saw a call come in right away from Trent, and smiled as she pressed accept. She straightened her hair around with her hands and looked at herself through the reflection until Trent came on. He was in his hotel room for the night, and his hair was wet from taking a shower. He seemed to be in his pajamas, a white v-neck shirt and some blue flannel pajama bottoms.

"Hey, Trent." She said.

"Hey, Nicole. I'm so glad we're finally video chatting."

"Me too." Nicole straightened her back and smiled.

"How was the rest of your fall break?" He asked.

"It was nice to be with my niece and nephew again, and Noah as well. The ride back up was quiet, which, with Noah, is to be expected. He misses me when I'm gone, and we were really close growing up." Nicole sighed, not wanting to lay too much on him at once, but at the same time she was also feeling really good about letting this all out. "But anyway, the best part about being home was probably the home-cooked meals. Now it's back to the dorm hall for me."

"We eat out a lot on tour, so much that we really take home-cooked meals for granted." Both of them laughed. "You said you and Noah had other siblings, right?"

"Including Noah, there's eight of us, and we're all multiples." Trent made a shocked face.

"Seriously?"

"Joshua and Nathan, they're twins. Then there's the quints. Blair, Bryson, Valerie, Gerard, and Gavin. They're all way older than us, so it was mostly Noah and I while we grew up." Nicole felt weird talking about her family, compared to Noah who refused to talk about his family life, or life in general. Despite the fact that Trent and Noah weren't exactly friends during the show, it still felt like she was violating Noah's privacy by telling Trent these things, but it's her life, too, and she's entitled to talk about it.

"Wow. I can't imagine having eight siblings. I wouldn't remember anyone's names. I was actually an only child."

"Really?"

"An only child and a child of divorce." He said to her.

"Sometimes I wish I was an only child, too." Nicole told him truthfully. "How old were you when your parents divorced?"

"About eight or nine. My dad cheated on my mom. They were both really unhappy in their marriage. It's still tough now being around both of them at the same time, they really don't like each other." Trent said. He paused before getting to his next point.

"What are your parents like? They must really like kids if there's nine of you." Nicole's smile quickly faded as she looked down and paused on how she could answer this. She had been talking about seeing Joshua, Bethany, and her niece and nephew while being home, but she purposely avoided talking about her parents because it wasn't something she wanted to discuss over text.

"Can we talk about them another time?" Nicole asked. Trent could sense that there was something wrong.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." Trent said to her. The two of them stayed silent, as Trent wasn't sure how to move on, but the silence made Nicole want to speak up.

"My parents died." Trent's face turned red with guilt, and he put his hands over his mouth as he gasped. Nicole's eyes widened. She couldn't control the words that just came out of her mouth.

"Oh my god… Nicole, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I don't want you to feel like you had to tell me."

"Noah asked me to stay quiet about it at school when we moved to live with my older brother. He didn't want anyone to pity us. Then with Total Drama, he wanted to stay quiet more than ever."

"Oh, I see."

"It's nice getting to let this all out to someone. The last person I told about my parents was..." Nicole stopped herself, as she was getting emotional. She told herself she needed to stick to one area of her life at a time. "Nevermind. That's a story for another time."

Trent laid back in his seat as they tried to figure out how to recover from this. After a few moments, Trent spoke up. "Can I ask how they died?"

"Yes, of course." She said. "It happened when I was 15. There was an earthquake. I stayed home that day, and Noah went with them to this biking trail they go to on a mountain every other Sunday. But anyway, long story short, they fell off the side during the earthquake and their injuries were so bad that they just… died."

"Just like that?" Trent asked.

"Just like that." Nicole repeated. As she spoke to Trent, she had her head tipped down and was fidgeting with her fingers, but he didn't seem to mind.

"I'm so sorry, Nicole. That must have been really hard for you." Nicole knew she spent so much time emotionally recovering and staying silent to new people she met. She only opened up in therapy, and occasionally, her older siblings during the first few holidays without them. She could tell Trent truly cared about what she had to say, and she wanted to be open and transparent with him. She figured for once, she should take the opportunity to open up and tell her story without worrying about protecting Noah's wishes.

"I had no idea it happened until it was too late. After the earthquake, I tried calling the three of them. Nobody answered. I got Joshua to come over and we both blew up their phones, but eventually a Child Welfare Services worker came to my house to escort me to the hospital."

"That must have been really scary." Trent said.

"Noah was already at the hospital. He just had a broken bone. We didn't talk about it much, we mostly just cried." Nicole took a tissue from her desk and wiped her eyes. "Noah wasn't really himself after that, and a few months later was when he applied for Total Drama."

"I had no idea that Noah was dealing with all that while we were shooting Total Drama." Trent told her.

"He didn't want anyone to know. He made me promise I'd do my best to not get the news leaked. He just wanted to make us some money." She sniffled. "Sorry, this is so embarrassing. I promise I'm never like this."

"Don't apologize. I'm really glad you trust me enough to talk about this." Trent exclaimed. He wanted to try to find a way to make her feel better, so he decided to open up about his own struggles as well. "I want to be honest with you, too." He clapped his hands together as he prepared to say what he was about to say. "You watched all of Total Drama, right?" As she heard his voice, Nicole began to calm down a bit.

"Of course."

"You remember my relationship with Gwen."

"Yes. When she broke up with you, I felt so sad for you. It must have been hard." Nicole told him.

"I'm really glad that's the first thing you mentioned, and not my compulsions on TV." Trent said as he stared into the distance.

"Compulsions?" Nicole asked. Trent took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes through the screen.

"Yeah. It's… part of my OCD." Nicole was surprised to hear this, though she also didn't know much about OCD to begin with.

"You have OCD." Trent nodded his head as he continued on with his story.

"Things were going so well for us on Total Drama Island. It was just Gwen and I, and I didn't know it, but I was so crazy in love with her."

"I think all of Canada knew you were in love with her." Nicole noted. Trent laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head. Nicole could tell he felt a little uncomfortable. "It was so sweet, though. You stayed up with her all night during the Awake-a-Thon talking and getting to know her, and you comforted her so nicely when she had to be buried alive. I felt so bad when things ended."

"It took me awhile to heal from our breakup." Trent said truthfully. "I thought things on the Action set would go the same, but I was so wrong. I was so worried that Gwen didn't want me that I started having intrusive thoughts about what if I'm not good enough, or what if Gwen is only with me for the publicity? I thought the only way Gwen could still want me was if I kept giving her these grand gestures. Then when that didn't work, I started making sure her team won, and while I was stressed out, my number nine compulsion came out. I needed to do things in the number nine. The nine decorations on the sandcastle. Wiping the water bottle nine times after drinking out of it so she didn't get me sick. Truthfully, I still sometimes do things in multiples of three, hence the nine thing, which is why I hate that the world has made such a joke out of it. It's not a joke. It's my life."

"If what you were dealing with was OCD, why couldn't you say something on the show?" Nicole asked genuinely.

"The network wasn't ready to air something so, what they called, 'controversial'. They weren't sure how people would react, so we made up the grandpa story."

"Wow." Nicole said. "So what happened after Action?"

"Well, in between working with the Drama Brothers, and before going on tour the first time, I went back home and finally got back into therapy. I did an ERP therapy that's sort of like exposure therapy. It works really well with OCD." Trent paused for a moment. "I'm not weirding you out with the therapy talk, am I?"

"No." Nicole replied. "I went to therapy in high school, too. It didn't completely cure me, but it really helped me navigate life without my twin brother beside me. I was pretty codependent growing up, and still kind of am."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I was pretty shy growing up, too. A lot of kids used to make fun of me for some of my interests."

"What sort of interests were these?" Trent asked. She blushed again.

"It'll sound silly."

"I wanna hear it." Trent assured her. She looked over at her desk to her small crystal collection, along with the Halloweentown poster hanging over her bed, then she looked back up at Trent.

"I've always been really into witchcraft and astrology. In fact, my favorite movie as a kid was Halloweentown. I've been watching it every October for years."

"Really?" Trent asked.

"I know it sounds dorky."

"No, not at all. Honestly, Nicole, it feels really nice that we can talk to each other so open like this. It's so refreshing." He told her.

"That's a relief." She told him. "I feel the same way." The two of them moved on and discussed whatever else had popped up in their heads, and before any of them knew it, it was past midnight and neither of them could keep their eyes open.

"I really have to get going." Trent said as he yawned. "We're traveling tomorrow before our next show."

"I should probably go, too." Nicole said, yawning back. He looked at her before hanging up. He seemed nervous.

"I wanted to ask you something before we log off."

"Of course."

"Are you close to Stratford?"

"Kind of. Why?"

"We're doing a show there next week, and I'd love it if you could come to see us perform."

"Oh, sure! I would love that." She said to him as she smiled. Trent was surprised she said yes, and quickly became excited.

"Great! I'll put you on the list and text you the details on how to get here. I can't wait to see you again, Nicole." Nicole was smiling from ear to ear.

"Me too." She yawned yet again. "Goodnight, Trent. I'll see you next week."

"Goodnight. I'll see you." She smiled and leaned back on her chair as the call hung up. She couldn't believe how things were going between the two of them. She wanted to tell Noah right away and decided to give him a call, but after a few rings, it went straight to voicemail.

"The voicemail box is full. Try again later." The phone hung up and Nicole slumped in her seat. She took the full voicemail box as a sign to wait until things got a little more serious to talk to him about it all. She put her phone on the charger, and slowly and soundly brought herself to bed and drifted to sleep.

A/N: This was a very important chapter that really shows Nicole and Trent's early bond. This was also Trent's Nicole series debut! I am so excited to show more Nicole and Trent. Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a review!

~Sami