Trent abruptly turned to Daria when they came to a clearing in the
trail.
"Hey."
Daria just looked blankly at him. "Uh, hey."
"Can we talk?"
She stared at him, eyes widening. "About what?"
"I don't care. We can keep walking, but we have to talk. The silence is getting to me. Too many things going on in my head that I can't figure out."
"Oh," Daria said, a little taken aback. This was the most un-relaxed Trent had ever sounded. "Sure."
He turned around and they kept walking. "Uh. . . So. . . How's life, Daria?"
"I'm out of high school- that makes it vastly better than it was a month and a half ago."
"Yeah. High school sucked."
Silence.
"What happened to Tom?"
"We broke up."
"Oh. You want to talk about it?"
"Not really." She got an unusually nasty scrape on her leg and winced. "What happened to Monique?"
"She moved to New York. We had broken up, too."
"You want to talk about it?"
Trent momentarily turned his head to quirk a smile at Daria. "Not really."
"Thought so."
More silence.
"How's the band?"
"Same as usual. Little gigs, little crowds, but mostly our own music. And Max seems to be getting better on the set."
"That's good. Pretty soon you'll be able to give him *two* sticks."
Trent chuckled.
"Yeah, but I bet he could beat your sister in Trivial Pursuit any day."
"Unless she pulled out the 'Cosmopolitan' edition. Then we'd all go down in flames."
Trent shuddered at the thought of a 'Cosmo' version of Trivial Pursuit.
"How's your family?"
"Neurotic as always. Yours?"
"Wouldn't know, haven't seen them in months. Jane seems to be okay." The wheels in his mind turned a little quicker. "Is Jane okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is she. . . happy? Things are a lot more complicated from when she was 10 and I was 15. I guess we don't talk about everything anymore. She got over the thing with Tom, right?"
"Yeah." Daria felt a returning wave of guilt wash over her. "Lucky for me. I'd be pretty lost without her, actually. Quinn might be dead by now if Jane wasn't around."
"And that's a good thing?"
"For Quinn it is. Anyway, I'd say Jane's doing fairly well.
"Good. She deserves it."
The walked in silence for a moment as Daria mulled over her earlier thoughts of Trent. They stopped when they came to a big clearing in the trees, and the path became more rocky. Ahead of them, there was what looked like the side of a hill, minus any vegetation. Just rocks- big rocks, small rocks, medium rocks; all leading steeply down to the lake. There was a narrow path going across them to the other side, and they crunched their way slowly towards the middle of it. Trent and Daria stood and looked down at the lake, then both instinctively began to pick up good sized rocks and tried to chuck them into the water.
Daria had been right, the sun had showed up and now it was a great deal warmer. She sat down on a boulder behind them and took off her jacket, casually watching Trent throw rocks. Feeling rather pleased with herself for not completely choking up earlier, managing to have a semi- normal conversation with the only guy able to leave her speechless, she leaned back on the rock and closed her eyes, rejoicing in the warmth of the sun. Eventually Trent copied her.
"This is nice," Daria said.
"Yeah. I wonder what Janey and Jesse are up to. . ." Trent tried to push those thoughts out of his mind.
"Why do you care so much? It didn't used to bother you."
Trent's eyebrows inadvertently furrowed. "I don't know." He paused. Why did he care so much? For a while there, Jane and Jesse had almost been a couple- he was sure they'd already made-out a few times. Why did it bother him now? "That's a good question."
"You know she's not gonna do anything stupid. I don't think."
"I know. It just bothers me."
Daria just waited for more explanation.
"We're such slackers. Janey deserves better than that."
"*Now* you're cracking down on slackers?" She tried to subdue his worries. "You like Jesse, right? I mean, he is your best friend; he's got to have some redeeming qualities."
"Yeah. He's a good guy. I just. . . things have been kind of tense with me and Janey lately."
"You don't say."
He turned to glare at her, but her eyes were still closed. He sighed and rested his head back down. "She's all grown up, now. Going to college."
"And you won't be able to take care of her anymore."
"Exactly."
"So you're becoming over-protective in the last few months you've got with her, consequentially putting unneeded stress on the relationship."
"You saying I should lay off?"
"I'm saying you should sort out your reasons for not wanting her to be with Jesse."
"Well. . ." He tried hard to come up with some stuff that would justify his actions. "He is a slacker."
"That's one semi-legitimate reason. Let's go for two."
Trent stood up and began to throw rocks again as he thought.
"Um. They don't have much in common."
"Shouldn't you let them decide that?"
It was about this time that both Daria and Trent realized they were having an actual conversation. That was something that hadn't happened since that trip to Alternapalooza. Trent thought it was cool to finally have another friend who could actually speak in coherent sentences. Daria was undoubtedly smarter than him- but she didn't seem condescending, she just seemed like she actually cared what he thought and said, which was nice for a change. Daria, on the other hand, tried not to linger on the fact that this was the longest conversation she had ever had with Trent; and the fact that she wasn't acting like a complete idiot. If she thought about it too much, surely the spell would be broken and she would turn into a bumbling idiot as usual.
"Jesse could get easily distracted by other girls. . . You know, like ones that hang out after our shows."
"Does he usually go for girls like that?"
"Well. . . . not really. But sometimes."
He threw a really big rock that made it to the lake with a very nice splash.
"He's a lot older than her."
"Do you think that's a bad thing?"
"I don't know. I mean, she is eighteen now. And out of high school. It seems like the age gap should bother me, but it doesn't."
"Well, that's good." Daria felt her emotions cringe and rejoice simultaneously at his previous statement. It was if her excuse for Trent not liking her had been blown away- meaning she really was just some unattractive loser. But it also opened the door to the idea that he could like her now- if she could figure out how to be something other than an unattractive brain.
"Maybe I'm jealous."
That brought Daria out of her reverie. "Huh?"
"I haven't had a girlfriend since me and Monique broke up in November." He sighed and sat down. "I guess I'm lonely." Laying back on the rock with his hands behind his head he decided to spill his guts. It'd been a while since he'd had anyone interested enough to listen, and letting some stuff out would be good for him. "Jesse always gets the girls. He's the hunk. I'm just the skinny dude with holes in his pants."
Daria turned to face Trent, unsure how to console him. Luckily he spoke again before she had a chance to reply.
"I guess I don't think it's fair that Jesse can have any girl he wants, and then he goes after my sister. . . No girls seem really interested in me. They'll hang out after a concert and fool around with me- but that's just the band thing. After that I never see them again. 'Oh, it's lonely at the top.'"
Daria smiled a tiny bit. "I don't think you're quite at the summit of stardom, yet, Trent."
He grinned at her. "Just give it time, Daria- give it time." Then his mood and expression retreated to their melancholy state.
Daria sat down on a rock facing him. "I'm not really sure how to . . . console you, or anything Trent, but. . ."
"It's alright- it's just good to have somebody listen. It's not like I could really talk about this with Jesse."
"Yeah, I guess so. But, for what it's worth, I don't think you're just the skinny dude with holes in his pants." She blushed furiously and stared at the ground. "I mean, I'd pick you over Jesse in a heartbeat." 'Holy shit,' she thought. 'Did I just say that?'
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
They heard crunching from the trail behind them. Jane and Jesse walked up.
"Yo." She looked at the pair of them. "We hike all this way to find the two of you just 'lounging' around? What kind of trail demons are you pretending to be?"
Trent closed his eyes. "Sleepy ones."
Jane quickly ran over to him and pulled him up. "Oh no you don't." She got him up and looking semi-alert, then turned to Daria and Jesse. "C'mon, let's get going- if we get back soon enough, it'll still be warm enough to go swimming!"
"Yeah!" Jesse said.
Trent handed Daria her jacket from off the rock and the four of them took one more look over the lake before heading down the other side of the trail.
"Hey."
Daria just looked blankly at him. "Uh, hey."
"Can we talk?"
She stared at him, eyes widening. "About what?"
"I don't care. We can keep walking, but we have to talk. The silence is getting to me. Too many things going on in my head that I can't figure out."
"Oh," Daria said, a little taken aback. This was the most un-relaxed Trent had ever sounded. "Sure."
He turned around and they kept walking. "Uh. . . So. . . How's life, Daria?"
"I'm out of high school- that makes it vastly better than it was a month and a half ago."
"Yeah. High school sucked."
Silence.
"What happened to Tom?"
"We broke up."
"Oh. You want to talk about it?"
"Not really." She got an unusually nasty scrape on her leg and winced. "What happened to Monique?"
"She moved to New York. We had broken up, too."
"You want to talk about it?"
Trent momentarily turned his head to quirk a smile at Daria. "Not really."
"Thought so."
More silence.
"How's the band?"
"Same as usual. Little gigs, little crowds, but mostly our own music. And Max seems to be getting better on the set."
"That's good. Pretty soon you'll be able to give him *two* sticks."
Trent chuckled.
"Yeah, but I bet he could beat your sister in Trivial Pursuit any day."
"Unless she pulled out the 'Cosmopolitan' edition. Then we'd all go down in flames."
Trent shuddered at the thought of a 'Cosmo' version of Trivial Pursuit.
"How's your family?"
"Neurotic as always. Yours?"
"Wouldn't know, haven't seen them in months. Jane seems to be okay." The wheels in his mind turned a little quicker. "Is Jane okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is she. . . happy? Things are a lot more complicated from when she was 10 and I was 15. I guess we don't talk about everything anymore. She got over the thing with Tom, right?"
"Yeah." Daria felt a returning wave of guilt wash over her. "Lucky for me. I'd be pretty lost without her, actually. Quinn might be dead by now if Jane wasn't around."
"And that's a good thing?"
"For Quinn it is. Anyway, I'd say Jane's doing fairly well.
"Good. She deserves it."
The walked in silence for a moment as Daria mulled over her earlier thoughts of Trent. They stopped when they came to a big clearing in the trees, and the path became more rocky. Ahead of them, there was what looked like the side of a hill, minus any vegetation. Just rocks- big rocks, small rocks, medium rocks; all leading steeply down to the lake. There was a narrow path going across them to the other side, and they crunched their way slowly towards the middle of it. Trent and Daria stood and looked down at the lake, then both instinctively began to pick up good sized rocks and tried to chuck them into the water.
Daria had been right, the sun had showed up and now it was a great deal warmer. She sat down on a boulder behind them and took off her jacket, casually watching Trent throw rocks. Feeling rather pleased with herself for not completely choking up earlier, managing to have a semi- normal conversation with the only guy able to leave her speechless, she leaned back on the rock and closed her eyes, rejoicing in the warmth of the sun. Eventually Trent copied her.
"This is nice," Daria said.
"Yeah. I wonder what Janey and Jesse are up to. . ." Trent tried to push those thoughts out of his mind.
"Why do you care so much? It didn't used to bother you."
Trent's eyebrows inadvertently furrowed. "I don't know." He paused. Why did he care so much? For a while there, Jane and Jesse had almost been a couple- he was sure they'd already made-out a few times. Why did it bother him now? "That's a good question."
"You know she's not gonna do anything stupid. I don't think."
"I know. It just bothers me."
Daria just waited for more explanation.
"We're such slackers. Janey deserves better than that."
"*Now* you're cracking down on slackers?" She tried to subdue his worries. "You like Jesse, right? I mean, he is your best friend; he's got to have some redeeming qualities."
"Yeah. He's a good guy. I just. . . things have been kind of tense with me and Janey lately."
"You don't say."
He turned to glare at her, but her eyes were still closed. He sighed and rested his head back down. "She's all grown up, now. Going to college."
"And you won't be able to take care of her anymore."
"Exactly."
"So you're becoming over-protective in the last few months you've got with her, consequentially putting unneeded stress on the relationship."
"You saying I should lay off?"
"I'm saying you should sort out your reasons for not wanting her to be with Jesse."
"Well. . ." He tried hard to come up with some stuff that would justify his actions. "He is a slacker."
"That's one semi-legitimate reason. Let's go for two."
Trent stood up and began to throw rocks again as he thought.
"Um. They don't have much in common."
"Shouldn't you let them decide that?"
It was about this time that both Daria and Trent realized they were having an actual conversation. That was something that hadn't happened since that trip to Alternapalooza. Trent thought it was cool to finally have another friend who could actually speak in coherent sentences. Daria was undoubtedly smarter than him- but she didn't seem condescending, she just seemed like she actually cared what he thought and said, which was nice for a change. Daria, on the other hand, tried not to linger on the fact that this was the longest conversation she had ever had with Trent; and the fact that she wasn't acting like a complete idiot. If she thought about it too much, surely the spell would be broken and she would turn into a bumbling idiot as usual.
"Jesse could get easily distracted by other girls. . . You know, like ones that hang out after our shows."
"Does he usually go for girls like that?"
"Well. . . . not really. But sometimes."
He threw a really big rock that made it to the lake with a very nice splash.
"He's a lot older than her."
"Do you think that's a bad thing?"
"I don't know. I mean, she is eighteen now. And out of high school. It seems like the age gap should bother me, but it doesn't."
"Well, that's good." Daria felt her emotions cringe and rejoice simultaneously at his previous statement. It was if her excuse for Trent not liking her had been blown away- meaning she really was just some unattractive loser. But it also opened the door to the idea that he could like her now- if she could figure out how to be something other than an unattractive brain.
"Maybe I'm jealous."
That brought Daria out of her reverie. "Huh?"
"I haven't had a girlfriend since me and Monique broke up in November." He sighed and sat down. "I guess I'm lonely." Laying back on the rock with his hands behind his head he decided to spill his guts. It'd been a while since he'd had anyone interested enough to listen, and letting some stuff out would be good for him. "Jesse always gets the girls. He's the hunk. I'm just the skinny dude with holes in his pants."
Daria turned to face Trent, unsure how to console him. Luckily he spoke again before she had a chance to reply.
"I guess I don't think it's fair that Jesse can have any girl he wants, and then he goes after my sister. . . No girls seem really interested in me. They'll hang out after a concert and fool around with me- but that's just the band thing. After that I never see them again. 'Oh, it's lonely at the top.'"
Daria smiled a tiny bit. "I don't think you're quite at the summit of stardom, yet, Trent."
He grinned at her. "Just give it time, Daria- give it time." Then his mood and expression retreated to their melancholy state.
Daria sat down on a rock facing him. "I'm not really sure how to . . . console you, or anything Trent, but. . ."
"It's alright- it's just good to have somebody listen. It's not like I could really talk about this with Jesse."
"Yeah, I guess so. But, for what it's worth, I don't think you're just the skinny dude with holes in his pants." She blushed furiously and stared at the ground. "I mean, I'd pick you over Jesse in a heartbeat." 'Holy shit,' she thought. 'Did I just say that?'
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
They heard crunching from the trail behind them. Jane and Jesse walked up.
"Yo." She looked at the pair of them. "We hike all this way to find the two of you just 'lounging' around? What kind of trail demons are you pretending to be?"
Trent closed his eyes. "Sleepy ones."
Jane quickly ran over to him and pulled him up. "Oh no you don't." She got him up and looking semi-alert, then turned to Daria and Jesse. "C'mon, let's get going- if we get back soon enough, it'll still be warm enough to go swimming!"
"Yeah!" Jesse said.
Trent handed Daria her jacket from off the rock and the four of them took one more look over the lake before heading down the other side of the trail.