Trent woke slowly. His eyes still felt heavy and he briefly wondered if he had slept long enough before realizing she had stayed. He let his eyes slip back closed.
His arm was draped across her. She was sitting up in the bed, reading or playing a game on her phone. He wasn't entirely sure and it didn't really matter to him. She was close and in this moment that was all mattered.
He allowed himself to sink lower into his bed. She stifled a chuckle. He felt as she shook her head.
"We both know you are awake, Mr. Sawyer." She called him by his formal name jokingly. In Greece after she'd learned his last name she had said it in response to being called Rena. Occasionally it still slipped from her lips.
"I am." He looked up at her with a sheepish smile. "You hungry?"
"I could eat. I'm assuming it's been what a day or two since you've eaten?" The state she had found him in the night before told her all she needed to know about his selfcare.
"Three." The smile remained of his face even as she glared down at him. "I'm gonna shower quickly and then we can grab something at the diner down the road."
Her hair tumbled down around her shoulders in waves from her shower the night before. She looked at the t-shirt she was wearing and knew she had no clothing appropriate to go anywhere. "Trent I have sweats and a tank here. Can we swing by my place so I can at least have sleeves?"
"You can wear that." His smile grew. "Alright I guess we can." He laughed.
Eventually hunger won out and he crawled from the warmth of his bed and her embrace. He turned the water to hot but not boiling before he stripped off his sweatpants and climbed into the water. Sleep had helped. He reached for the shampoo and proceeded to wash..
Serena was filling water to start making a couple cups of coffee when she noticed a slight noise by the door. Assuming it was a neighbor heading to work she continued to fill grounds into the basket. It wasn't until she heard the shuffling sound for the third time that she walked to door.
She stood on her tiptoes to look through the peephole. On the other side of the door a blonde man stood staring at the door. She jumped slightly at the sight but kept watching. He turned and walked away only to turn and walk back. Stopping and raising a hand to knock and then lowering it again.
She watched for a moment more contemplating going to get Trent from the shower before deciding if she screamed he would hear. She smiled at the image of Trent naked with shampoo dripping from his hair coming to her rescue. The man stopped in front of the door once again but before he could lower his hand she swung the door open.
The man looked shocked and confused at her presence. "Ummm I uh. I uh maybe got the wrong apartment." His stuttering was almost cute she thought until she noticed the circles under his eyes and the slight tremble in his voice. His hands were jammed into the pockets of his jeans and he looked childlike.
"Trent's in the shower. Come in." She glanced down at herself in Trent's t-shirt that barely cover her bruise covered hips. She opened the door wider and stepped back before turning to the living room and grabbing her clothing from the night before.
"No uh maybe I should just go." He ran a hand through his hair before turning as if to leave.
"Hey. Just come inside before the neighbors see me strutting around in basically nothing. You've been pacing the hallway for ten minutes. Whatever it is..." She stopped herself. "Come inside. I'm going to get dressed. Oh and I'm Rena." She wasn't sure why she had said the nickname Trent had given her but in the moment while wearing only his shirt and standing in front of a stranger in his apartment it fit.
"I'm Clay." He stepped inside and carefully averted his eyes as she turned to go get dressed.
She quickly slipped her flannel pajama bottoms on as she cracked the bathroom door. "Trent. Change of plans." He looked at her from behind the shower curtain questioningly. "Clay is in your living room."
Trent immediately reached to turn the water off. She handed him a towel as he stepped from the shower. He wrapped it at his hips as he crossed his bedroom and opened the door. She watched as he rushed from the room.
Clay was sitting on his couch when he got to him. "Hey. You okay?"
"Yeah I... I didn't know where else to go." A look of shame passed of his features. "I'm sorry for interupting." He glanced to the bedroom door.
"It's fine." Trent gripped the towel in place. "I'm gonna get dressed."
Serena stepped from the bedroom as he took a step in that direction. "So I'm going to run home and change. I'll bring breakfast back with me." For the first time Trent realized the shirt she had slept in was a Bravo t-shirt. "Clay, do you like pancakes?" She turned to him.
"Oh umm yeah but you don't ... I'll leave before you get back." He didn't meet her eyes.
"Then Trent will be forced to eat your share because I'm getting food for three." She smiled.
"Thank you." Trent said it quietly and they both knew he was grateful for more than just the breakfast she would be bringing back.
"I'll be back soon." She latched the door behind herself. And Trent went to put in pants.
Clay was about as uncomfortable as he ever remembered being. He knew Trent wasn't upset he came and it didn't appear that the woman, Rena, was either but somehow he felt like an intruder and wished he had agreed to drink it away with Sonny instead.
He was holding his head in his hands when Trent returned with clothes on and pulling a hoodie over his head. He shifted his sore muscles to look up at his brother. "I am sorry for screwing up your morning. She's pretty. I didn't realize you were seeing someone."
"Oh... I'm not. Serena and I have known each other for a long time. Since I was rehabbing my arm actually. It complicated." Trent didn't actually know how to explain who they were to each other. "So what going on, Brother?"
"I didn't sleep. I know you have Ambien on the plane, thought maybe you had some here too. Kinda stupid now that I think about it." Clay looked at the floor.
"It's not stupid, Clay. I do have some... my own prescription but it's the same dose. I'll give you some after Serena get back and we both eat." Trent turned toward the kitchen where coffee was brewing. "When did you last eat?"
"Uh three or four days ago, not sure really. Can I have some coffee?"
"You can have hot cocoa, Kid." Trent smiled at him.
"Yeah that would work too. Can't seem to get warm." Clay wrapped his arms around himself.
"You sick?" Trent took a step closer and pushed his hand to Clay's forehead.
"I don't think so, tired and hungry." Clay looked up at him in a childlike way he wasn't prepared for so early in the morning.
"Don't feel hot." Trent turned toward the kitchen. "Probably just exhaustion truly setting in."
"I can't stop hearing his words." Clay's voice cracked slightly.
"Yeah it was a rough one." Trent didn't mention the reason Serena was there or his desire to get high the night before. "Do you want to talk about?"
"Not really. Just sort of wanted you to know." Clay took the hot cocoa Trent offered.
"He reminded me of Brock." Trent sipped at the coffee he had poured himself. "Not sure why but that made it worse."
"It was his eyes." Clay wiped at his own glassy eyes. "He reminded me of... myself. I wanted my Mom so badly sometimes and she was gone. I wanted to somehow get his mom for him... to make it better." A tear slipped from his eye as he wiped it away.
"Rena will be back soon with food. Then you'll sleep. It will make it better." Trent knew he was lying but also knew Clay would be able to compartmentalize it once he had a full stomach and had slept.
"Why do you call her Serena and Rena?" Clay still held a childlike quality that made lying to him or hiding things from him harder.
"When I met her I wasn't who I am now. And when I saw her again after a couple years I guess I needed her to know that somehow so I called her Rena. She was having a pretty bad day... It seemed like she needed a friend." Trent looked over at him.
"So you're the only person that calls her Rena?" Clay looked confused as Trent nodded. "She introduced herself as that to me."
Trent laughed. "Cause that's who she is here."
The keys in the lock stopped the conversation as Trent moved to open the door and help her with the bags of food she was carrying. His stomach growled at the smell causing her to laugh. She moved into his kitchen and effortless retrieved the plates and utensils necessary for their meal. Clay watched her realizing she had spent more time in this kitchen than Trent had alluded to in their earlier conversation.
They ate quietly as both men basically inhaled the food. As they were finishing Clay's fatigue began to show even more. He yawned and his eye lids hung at half mast.
"Spare room?" Serena nodded toward Clay.
"Yeah." Trent looked from her to his brother who appeared oblivious to them. "Hey Clay, time for bed." Trent stood and took him by the elbow.
"Huh?" Clay was already half asleep and completely lost.
"Bed." Trent guided him to the spare bedroom where he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow. Trent pulled the covers higher and shook his head at his kid brother who looked amazingly young.
When Trent left the bedroom the dishes had been taken to the sink and the leftover food was put away. The space looked as it had before they had eaten. He smiled as he headed to his room where she was making his bed.
"You don't have to." He leaned on the doorframe.
"I know." She turned to him. "I don't know what happened and I don't need to, but whatever it was sort of wrecked you both a bit."
Trent nodded at her wondering where she was taking the conversation. "Yeah it did... It was a kid. It wasn't fast." He lowered his head.
"Trent... He came to you because he wasn't okay and you were there... but where do you you when you aren't okay?" She took a step closer to him.
"To you." Trent reached for her, pulling her close.