Revelations

"This is gonna be great!" Jazz smiled as she grabbed Trinity's hand. "With all the studying I've been doing it's been months since I had a decent sleepover!"

Danny and Tucker snickered under their breath when Jazz practically dragged Trinity up the stairs. Only when the two were out of earshot did the teen boys burst into uncontrollable laughter. Confused, Sam tilted her head and crossed her arms.

"Like, what are you guys laughing at?"

"Nothing, nothing," Danny put his hand on her shoulder. "Come on, let's set up the games console and play some dance games."

"Okay." She murmured, looking up the stairs before she walked into the living room with Danny and Tucker.

Meanwhile, in Jazz's room, Trinity's heart was going at ninety miles an hour. The red-haired girl was rattling on about something, not that Trinity could hear thanks to the sound of her pounding heartbeat ringing in her ears. She stood rigid by the closed bedroom door as Jazz got the sleeping arrangements ready, pulling out pillows and a spare duvet from the closet.

"I hope you're okay sleeping on an airbed."

"Listen, Jazz, about earlier," She swallowed and took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry if I overstepped any boundaries or made you uncomfortable."

"Don't worry about it," Jazz stopped what she was doing and smiled at the red-faced woman in front of her.

"I know ya probably don't swing my way, huh?" Trinity gazed up at her, eyes full of remorse and wonder.

"Well, I don't know." She declared.

She sat at the foot of her bed and patted the space next to her. Slowly, the bashful Trinity sat beside Jazz, struggling to look her in the eye after what she had done.

"You're the first girl to ever show me affection, and what with you being 3 years older than me; I know that you have experienced things I haven't."

"Being bi has its advantages," Trinity blushed and nervously fussed with her long black hair. "blokes love a bird who plays for both teams, I just hope you don't think less of me for spreadin' my love around."

"Do you think less of me because I've spent most of my teen years studying?" Jazz queried; eyebrow raised.

"Of course not!" Trinity blurted out. "I mean, part of me wishes I had done that, but I've never been that intelligent, and then there was the accident…"

She trailed off. Again, her thoughts went back to her brother. How she missed him when they were apart, and how she wished they could spend more time together. But with their parents gone, someone had to take on their parents' responsibility. Ryan was closer to being 'of age' than she was, so almost immediately after the funeral – and with little more than a week to grieve – he was suddenly thrust into the Manson world of business meetings and conferences.

And she was left in the hands of 'childminders' and overpriced tutors until she too reached 17. She often wondered why she hadn't been invited to join Ryan in learning the family business once she was the right age; perhaps they thought she wasn't classy enough or clever enough. So, she did whatever she wanted. She went out every weekend, threw massive parties, did some photography courses and even considered learning to sew.

Ryan never got those kinds of opportunities; for him it was work, work, and work. There were times when Trinity wished they could've swapped places – let him have some fun and give herself a chance to learn about business dealings. The guilt was too much sometimes.

"I miss my brother…" She whispered.

She sighed and did her absolute best to hold back the tears, but Jazz saw right through the façade. Determined to be a great psychologist one day, she knew the look of inner turmoil when she saw it.

"Would you like a hug?"

Trinity wasn't sure she'd heard right. Here was this beautiful, sweet, kind girl – whom she'd forced her attentions on – and she was offering her a hug. Trinity nodded and shuffled closer to Jazz, who wrapped her arms around her waist. Face burning and arms shaking, she returned the gentle embrace. She breathed in; how lovely and comforting this girl was. Such a beautiful scent filled her senses. To have such a beauty in her arms was intoxicating… Trinity's eyes snapped open and she quickly pulled away.

"Are you okay?" Jazz questioned.

"I had to stop myself." Trinity looked away, ashamed of the thoughts buzzing around in her mind.

"Stop yourself from doing what?"

"Losing control…" Now she was shaking; embarrassed of herself and her behaviour.

They sat in silence. Even though it was clear that her actions had not made Jazz hate her, if they did then she would not have invited Trinity to sleep in her bedroom, but she still felt awful for being so vigorous.

"If this is about your problem, it's okay," Jazz assured. "I know all about it."

"Most people know about my alcoholism…"

"No," She shook her head. "I mean your other problem."

"But… but how?" Trinity stammered.

"Danny and I go to the same school, you know?" she mentioned. "You amassed quite a reputation in just one day."

Trinity hung her head shamefully.

"It wasn't hard to figure out, but there's nothing wrong with having Hypersexuality disorder, Trinity."

"There is if you're a Manson," Her tone turned sour and semi-sarcastic. "Manson's don't have mental issues; they have real problems like drinking too much or being a wanker."

Jazz let slip a small giggle at hearing the British girl swear.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh," She apologised and wrapped her arm around Trinity's shoulder. "maybe you shouldn't take their opinions to heart – Sam doesn't think less of you for being different, in fact, I'm sure that she feels better knowing that she isn't the only Manson who is breaking the mould."

Trinity smiled. She thought back to the six months when she and Sam were together. Playing video games, going for long walks, having girly sleepovers and even doing basic things like shopping or laundry were fun.

"And what about your brother?" Jazz asked. "I bet he wouldn't change you for anything."

Reminded of her brother and his visit tomorrow, Trinity suddenly jumped up.

"That's right!" She cheered. "And he'll be here tomorrow!"

She spun in a circle and squealed as she leapt over to Jazz for another hug. She was so warm and comforting that suddenly, Trinity didn't care if she was overstepping her boundaries. Jazz's hugs made her feel safe and wanted. Then she felt a hand stroking her long black hair. Her feelings were bubbling up as they had done earlier, and she could feel the softness of their bodies pressing together.

Okay, you can let go of her now…

Trinity pulled back for a moment to look at Jazz. She was blushing red and appeared nervous. She touched the girl's hot cheek with her bandaged hand.

Let go… let go before you do something rash…

"Jazz…" She breathed heavily.

She doesn't want you… let go!

Jazz placed her hand over Trinity's and smiled sheepishly. She was not afraid to admit that the brief kiss they shared earlier had awakened something inside her. Something she didn't even know was there. It had frightened her to begin with. She never expected to feel quite so… unusual. It was a good kind of unusual – like a slice of cake that turned out to taste better than first thought – but it was nonetheless unusual.

Trinity was experienced at these things, whereas she wasn't. Perhaps she could help her understand these strange new feelings. Perhaps Danny's idea that she should share her room with Trinity would prove to be one of the best ideas he ever had, whether he knew it or not. Jazz knew there was only one way to figure out all the conflicting thoughts in her mind. Silence took over again.

Trinity looked at Jazz, and Jazz looked back at Trinity.

"It's okay…" She assured as she bit her lip…


Sam jumped up and down in triumph for getting the high score – again.

"No fair!" Tucker pouted. "You've obviously played this game before!"

"What can I say?" Sam wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Trinity loves video games, and since she's alone most of the time she has several consoles to keep herself occupied."

"Come on, Tuck, it's your turn," Danny piped up.

"Okay, but I'm picking the dance track," He insisted. "I know you picked that last song so you could watch Sam jiggling all over the place."

"OMG Tucker, you perv!" Sam squeaked, kicking at the back of his leg as she handed over the wand-shaped controller.

Danny made no comment or denial, because for all his jesting, Tucker was right. If there was a song in this game that would make someone swing their hips and shake their torso it was 'Sway', and he wanted to see Sam sway.

"Speaking of pervs, I wonder how Trinity's doing." Danny mused.

"Oi!" Sam playfully punched Danny's arm. "Knowing your sister, she's probably being studied for her year-end thesis."

"Well, no offence, but Jazz could probably write a whole book about the amount of neuroticism Trinity has."

"She's a very complicated person," Sam nodded in agreement. "That's for sure."

"You mean… it's not… a Manson thing?" Tucker said in between dance steps.

"Oh ha, ha," She rolled her eyes and sat on the arm of the sofa next to Danny. "The fact is that Manson's who don't live up to the 'standard' are pretty much kept in the shadows; case in point, I didn't even know about Trinity until about two years ago."

"Are you serious?" Danny raised an eyebrow and looked at Sam in disbelief.

"My family has a very important standing in the business world, oddballs like myself and Trinity are under constant pressure to conform to Manson standards," Sam sighed. "Frankly, going to England was like a dream come true – I really felt like I could be myself there and wasn't sure about coming back to the US…"

Tucker fell flat on his butt and Danny just sat there silently. It was then that Sam realised what she'd said. Her hands flew to her mouth and she turned away from her two friends. What the hell did she say that for? Only the repetitive 'Game Over' sounds coming from the games console was slicing through the extremely awkward silence. After saying something so stupid she couldn't bear to face them and tore up the stairs, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

"She… she didn't mean that the way it sounded… right?" Tucker reasoned.

Danny looked at the arm of the chair where she was sat just moments before.

"C'mon, Tuck, we're her best friends," He said. ",f she was having second thoughts about coming back it's probably because she dreaded coming back to her parents constantly bugging her."

"Yeah, that must be it." Tucker agreed enthusiastically.

His smile soon faltered. True, they had all been friends for the majority of their existence, but the last six months had been rough. Sam hadn't been in contact with anyone while she was in England, not even her parents. Maybe it was part of her detox to remain isolated from her life in America, but how were they supposed to know if their friend was okay? How were they able to show that they supported her efforts if they couldn't call or write? They'd both taken the separation really hard, and even if Danny had it worse, Tucker certainly wasn't immune to feeling lost without the third corner of their triad.

"I should go talk to her…"

Tucker watched nervously as Danny slowly left his seat and walked upstairs. As he reached the top all was quiet, apart from the sobbing coming from the bathroom… and the giggling coming from Jazz's bedroom. He gently knocked on the bathroom door.

"Sam?" He paused. "You okay?"

She didn't answer, she just continued weeping. Danny sat down in front of the white barrier between them. It would be so easy to just phase through the door, but it didn't seem right. It would be better to wait for her to come out. Clearly, she was going through a lot right now. Her mind was being warped by the whatever-it-was that Trinity had been slipping into her drinks. Or maybe she was recovering from it, given that Danny had interfered with Trinity's most recent attempt to drug her. Pushing aside his anger at the British nuisance, he shuffled closer to the door.

"Sam, I just want to say, we know you didn't mean to say what you did," He rubbed his arm. "or at least, we know you didn't mean it the way it came out."

The crying slowed to a complete stop.

"Uh… Sam?"

The bathroom door shot open and she leapt into his arms, accidentally knocking him onto his back from his seated position.

"I'm so sorry Danny!" She wept. "I missed you and Tucker so much when I was over there! Really, I did! It was just so freeing to be away from the stress of school and my parents' expectations; that's all I meant!"

He sat up and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay," Danny assured, rubbing her back softly. "we figured as much."

She continued her remorseful weeping. Secretly she was really enjoying this close contact. His body was so warm, and she could hear his heartbeat, which was getting faster the longer she hugged him. Soon the tears were drying up and she was confronted by being in Danny's strong arms, looking up at his big blue eyes, wanting to stay like this forever.

Six months without him had been harder than the rehab, she couldn't stand not being able to contact him. She missed his voice, his smile, his sense of humour. It was then that she decided, no more being away from him. She leaned closer to him, pressing her chest against his, feeling their hearts beat in time with one another. His warm breath caressed her cheek as she swooped in and caught his lips with hers. Shocked at first, he eased into it, pulling her as close as possible. He had waited for this moment for so long, especially since he never thought it would actually happen.

"Sam…" He gasped as they pulled away slightly.

The mood was shattered however, by Trinity and Jazz, emerging from her bedroom looking dishevelled and giggling madly. They noticed Danny and Sam on the floor, wrapped in each other's arms and grinned.

"Well, well," Trinity began. "what have we here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Sam responded as she stood up and dusted herself off.

"I just needed a ciggy break is all," She replied, turning to Jazz. "wanna keep me company at the back door?"

"Sure…" Jazz smiled.

Trinity took Jazz's hand and led her downstairs, the two of them giggling once more.

"That didn't go how I thought it would." Danny remarked, referring to his secret plan to unnerve Sam's cousin.

"Me neither," Sam added. "Trinity doesn't usually sleep with girls when she's on holiday."