AN: Hey, not actually sure what Tea's brother's name is, so I went with Danny. It's a nice name. He looked like a Danny, doesn't he? Lie to me, self-delusion is the source of some of my best work.

Warnings: language, Tea/Daisy friendship, gonna say OOC there at the end. Sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own "Skins".

Chapter Fifteen
Strong Till You Break

"Hey, it's the lesbian!" Danny shouts over the chaos that passes for conversation during Marvellli family dinners. Or any Marvelli family meal actually. Or any situation which requires the family to be in the same room for any period of time, really.

Tea's head shoots up from here she had been staring aimlessly at her mashed potatoes as the whole table quiets.

"I'll talk to him, I'll talk to him." Her dad says at his wife's pointed look.

Daisy comes in a second after Danny's returned to the table, cell phone back in its place, permanently attached to his ear. Tea stands, unsure if this is going to end in her having to smack down another friend who's decided she isn't. She hopes not. She loves Daisy. She really does. "We're gonna study." She shrugs, as if this had been planned, and abandons her mostly full plate to the eager hands and greedy mouths of her sister's sons.

The silence between them is heavy and uncomfortable as they go up the stairs and into Tea's room. The door closes behind them with a soft click, and then the deafening silence reigns over them again.

"Why'd you do it, Tay?" The words are barely a whisper, but they're heard.

"I don't know, Daze." Tea shakes her head because she doesn't know. "It just sort of...happened, I guess. He was my date, you know. The one my dad set up. And it was good. Best damn date of my life.

"He matched me, Daze. No one matches up to me. But he did. So I took him to Northern Soul and we danced and I kissed him."

"Wait, wait, wait. You kissed him?" Something in her tone rankles Tea. Like Daisy had been hoping that Tony had taken advantage of her while she was drunk and wasn't thinking clearly, and the blame for this whole thing could be pushed onto his shoulders and his alone.

"And then I fucked him." The words come out just a little spiteful, because the sex had definitely been her idea. Because she walked away from his kiss and waited for him to follow her to the couch. And he had hesitated, and he had asked, had wanted to be sure that she was sure. So this isn't his just his fault, and she's not letting him take the all the blame for something they fucking did together.

"But you're gay!" Daisy gasps, looking at her like she's never seen her before in her life.

"Didn't matter, Daze. We matched." Tea shakes her heads again. She doesn't know how to make her understand. Daisy's not like them, like her and Tony, she's not broken the way they are. And that's great for her, really, it is. But it also means that she will never grasp the importance of finding a person who tightens the screw and makes you work right again. Even for just a second. A person that connects when no one else does.

"So you've just been screwing around behind Michelle's back this whole damn time?"

"Not exactly. You know me, get some and get gone. It's what I do. But Tony wouldn't let it go. He just kept pushing and pushing. And, fuck, he was right, okay? He made me feel something."

"What? Loathing? Disgust?" Daisy throws out almost hopefully.

"Less alone."

"You're not alone, Tay. We have me and Abbud and anyone else you fucking want."

"You don't get it, Daze." Tea pauses, unsure how to continue without hurting the other girl's feelings. "It's like...you go on a date, Daze. You meet a nice guy. Cute and funny and interested in more than just your tits. And you take him and fuck him senseless. And he's great in the sack and not a complete asshole in the morning. How do you feel, Daze?"

"I don't know, Tay." Daisy's looking at her funny, trying to figure why they're talking about her instead of Tea. "I'd like him, I guess."

"And you'd want to see him again?" Tea presses and Daisy doesn't know what she's trying to get at but she hopes she gets there soon.

"Yeah, I suppose."

"Well, that all happens to me every night, okay?" Tea says, feeling something frighteningly similar to an emotional breakdown creeping up out of fucking nowhere. "I meet girls and they like me. They're hot, and I take them home, and we fuck like it's the end of the goddamned world. And then it's morning and I don't feel anything, Daisy. Utter and complete disconnect. I don't feel a fucking thing."

"Shit, Tay..." Daisy wraps her arms around her friend, and Tea doesn't know where the tears come from but suddenly she's crying like a little bitch and she wants to punch herself in the face for acting like a stupid, little girl.

"There's something wrong in my head, Daisy, and he fixes it. He fucking fixes it."

"Christ, it's okay, Tay." Daisy soothes, wondering how she could claim to be her best friend and not know something so fucking important.