Heroes of the Past and Present

Disclaimer: Do not own Victorious, do not own the video game

A/N: Now we're back in the present day

Chapter 41 (Taking Chances and Growing Stronger)

Trina sat with Sinjin and Tori in her living room. With them were Salome and Bryan, whom she was surprised to see. After all, when she was told they were reaching out to her, she didn't believe it. She told her dad there was no chance they'd even show up if she agreed, that chances were slim. Now, she'd eaten her words quite clearly. Many things were changing for her.

Tori's friends were doing the best they could to deal with their own troubles, Beck and Jade were still separated obviously. Not much time passed, nearly a week. Robbie stuffed his puppet away, swearing off the thing and working on his own issues. Tori informed Andre that she just wasn't comfortable with the possibility of dating him right now, she couldn't forget about seeing that video. Andre and Robbie could see her sister's face, they should have known to do something or to stop the act, but they never did, and Tori couldn't wrap that around her mind. It was mostly Jade and Cat that hung around now.

"I'm glad you decided to at least talk to us again," Salome started. Salome sat in the recliner, her fingers twiddled together between her knees as she smiled warmly at Trina. Bryan was seated beside her legs on the ground, his back was pressed against the chair. "I know it takes some amount of trust, I just…I'm sorry we drifted the way we did. It wasn't fair to you."

"I guess my anxiety attacks were pretty stressful for you guys."

"It wasn't even that," Bryan commented, "Every one of us would have and should have been there for you because that's what good friends do." Trina felt her heart lift and leaned back and tried not to smile too much. What was it then that drove them away if not her emotional issues? "No friendship should be able to drop because of what other people are doing and saying. We just got tired of hearing all the comments from your sister's friends. When we moved, all we saw on your page was negativity from most of them just making fun of you. It's no excuse, but at the very least, we are sorry that we just drifted apart like that."

"Well sometimes friends drift apart," Trina admitted. The others, such as Quentin, had just drifted away over time. She was sure Salome and Bryan had too. "It happens…" Salome looked to Sinjin and chuckled under her breath.

"Sinjin was the one who stuck by you through everything though…I'm glad to see that. You say you spoke with Lindsay too?"

"Briefly. She automatically assumed we were in a relationship."

"Are you?" Salome's pitch rose and excitement spread over her face. Trina laughed while Sinjin proudly put an arm around her shoulders and brought his left leg up to rest on his right. Blushing, Trina slowly nodded, and Salome clapped. "I knew it! I knew it would happen." Salome raised an eyebrow and tapped her chin. "So are you happy?"

"Of course I am…Sinjin is…" She looked to Sinjin and brushed her hair over her shoulder. He smiled at her, melting her heart in a single motion. She closed her eyes and grinned. "He's one of the better men out there. I trust him."

"That's great. That is very important." Salome's eyes flicked towards Sinjin and she wagged her finger in mid air. "Now you'll take care of her. If you don't, I'll haunt your sleep." Sinjin laughed and Tori shook her head.

"He should be more worried about me haunting him," Tori stated. She nudged Trina in the ribs, beckoning her. "Trina you didn't tell me your friends were this cool. How come you never introduced me to them?"

"You got caught up with those other people," Bryan replied for Trina. Tori sighed and lifted her shoulders.

"Yeah I figured as much. I never meant to let my friends drive all of you away, and I got caught up in the moment myself. We've been working on that." Trina rubbed her neck, laughing nervously. She was getting past her trust issues, though she was still concerned about various things. The one thing she always remembered in such a case was what her ancestor told her, to do what her heart said and to be willing to take risks There was still that hesitancy that would likely always be there. "Granted some of my friends I'm not sure if there's much future friendship with unfortunately…" Tori bowed her head and shrugged her shoulders. Salome looked concerned while Bryan merely shrugged.

"What are you worried about?" Salome inquired. "Surely you're getting along with them well?"

"Some of them have to seriously change before I can continue a friendship with them. Jade, on the other hand, is actually becoming a pretty good friend. I'm not really comfortable being friends with Beck, though…" Trina didn't like having to be the reason Tori decided not to stick around with some of her friends, but at the same time, it was nice that Tori was sticking up for her and what she believed and felt. Beck triggered something terrible in Trina's mind, the expression on her face and the fear she felt was evident, Robbie and Andre didn't do a thing for her, but they lied to her father and made her feel even worse. It was that knowledge that led Tori to her decision. "I'm willing to be friends with him though if he works on himself, but there's definitely going to be some limits. There are many things I'm not going to tolerate."

"That's great Tori, I'm glad you're drawing that line in the sand for you and your sister. If both of you can be happier, that's what's really important." Trina reached over and grabbed Tori's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. Tori's face lit up and she moved her head to Trina's shoulder. Salome grinned for a minute and clapped her hands together. "So, Trina! Your new boyfriend got you a couple Shakira tickets?" Trina nodded and leaned over to kiss Sinjin's jaw.

"Yes."

"You're going to invite Lindsay, right?" She frowned for a minute, and leaned back, still unsure whether she wanted to do that. She hadn't put much thought to it, though Sinjin and Tori both seemed to think she ought to. "Come on girl, Lindsay was your best friend and she introduced you to Shakira. You can't not invite her can you?"

"I don't know…" She didn't know what she was afraid of. She gave Salome and Bryan a chance to come and talk, and surely Lindsay was waiting for her to call her. "I mean Sinjin won the tickets and we're just now starting to date…" Sinjin moved his hands behind his head and chuckled.

"I have to take care of Courtney the day of that concert. She's latched onto me since I got home, Trina. I can always catch the concert on television. Lindsay's the one that wants to start over, I think she deserves to go to that concert with you. Besides, I'm not going to stand in the way of your best friend, I know my place."

"What does that mean?"

"Boyfriend."

"Yeah…"

"There will be other concerts, Trina. This is one of those moments where you and your childhood best friend can bond over a subject you two bonded over so long ago. Shakira. Not to mention, they're backstage passes." Trina hummed lightly and looked towards him, still unsure what she should do.

"I don't want her to think I'm trying to buy her friendship again."

"Something tells me you wouldn't come across that way." She was grasping at straws really, she wanted to invite Lindsay, but was so scared of the pain of losing her best friend that she didn't want to go through that again. She didn't want to fight with Lindsay, she didn't want to push the girl away or anything, and she was terrified Lindsay would fade away. Sinjin studied her fading expression and reached down, squeezing her hand. "Trina?"

"What if we get together and we fight again? What if she fades away, disappears? What if something goes wrong or I say something, do something that she doesn't like?"

"What if, what if, what if? Well…" He closed his eyes and brushed his hair back, chuckling softly. "If you ask me, I think that's a lot of dancing around. Let me put in another what if for you to consider?" Her eyes drifted towards her hands, now fiddling with the bottom of her shirt. She looked back up to Sinjin and raised her eyebrows, eager to hear what he was to suggest. "What if you didn't try? What if you didn't contact her? What if you never attempted to jumpstart your friendship with her again?"

"You two had a great thing," Bryan's right knee rose into the air and he hung his right arm over it. Trina looked towards him, feeling a wave of hope coursing through her. "You and Lindsay were almost as inseparable as you and Sinjin. If not more. If her biggest concern was you not standing up for yourself and she left because of the fighting, well things are different now aren't they? Not to mention, it was all in the past."

Tori propped her head onto her hand, resting her elbow on the armrest, "I agree with them Sis. You and Lindsay go as far back as I remember. If I were in her shoes, I'd want to make up with you." Tori chuckled and smirked a bit as Trina raised an eyebrow. "Okay so I was sort of in that situation…but Trina, let's not forget. You're the one that said 'okay' to letting Salome and Bryan come here. You gave Jade a chance…" She blinked a few times at her sister and looked away, jerking back slightly. Salome and Sinjin smiled knowingly and Bryan smirked at her. "Not only did you give her a chance, you and Jade are starting to become good friends."

"Yeah, I did…"

"So if that happened. Don't you think, of all people, if you gave Jade a chance, that Lindsay deserves that too? Jade, the one who treated you like dirt from day one, over Lindsay…self explanatory. I mean it's so much that I wonder why we're even having this discussion at this point."

Sinjin reached behind Trina and high-fived Tori. She rolled her eyes and smirked as Sinjin pulled back and looked into her eyes, "I'd say you know what the answer is. You're just afraid of the unknown, and that's fine. I think you need to not only take a risk, but remember Lindsay before you two split apart. You can have that again." She let her eyes fall towards the right as she thought on his words.

He was right, they all were, there was no sense in denying it because she didn't want to. She daydreamed of her younger years, when she was happier. She and Lindsay did almost everything together. Lindsay had always been there for her, through thick and thin. She'd gone through stressful times herself, Trina had forgotten this, and that's truly what started the entire fight. Around the time of their separation Lindsay lost a close relative and Trina hadn't reacted as she would have normally because she was dealing with Tori's friends. Both girls seemed insensitive to the other's situation, so a fight broke out and they broke up.

"I miss her, I do…"

"That's not a bad thing either, Trina." Her eyes shifted over in time to catch Sinjin picking her phone up from the end table. She locked her gaze onto the phone, waiting anxiously as his hand drew closer. "She left the ball in your court, didn't she?"

"Yeah she did. We got caught up with the whole ancestor rescue thing."

"Now you're free, Shakira's concert is in about a week, and everyone here seems to think you should try and reconnect with her. Do it through Shakira."

Tori leaned forward and put a hand to her shoulder, "Take the risk, Sis. What do you have to lose?" Trina chuckled vainly and closed her eyes.

"I'd rather not think of what I have to lose."

"Well you certainly could lose the chance to reconnect, Trina. She wants to, she put the ball in your court, so how long do you think she'll wait before getting broken up and thinking you don't want to talk to her?"

Trina felt her heart sink and she slowly turned her gaze to the phone resting in Sinjin's palm. He had the contact list already open and Lindsay's name was highlighted. All she had to do was strike the call button, and it would be set in stone. Her mind wasn't strong enough to talk her out of her heart. If she hit that call button, the internal struggle may finally end. Dare she take that risk? Was she ready for that step?

"You got this, Trina. Are you really debating this?" She closed her eyes and slowly reached for the phone, but set her palm on it while curling her fingers around Sinjin's hand. She looked into his soft, passionate gaze and felt her heart grow still and calm as the silence in the air. The phone beeped under her palm.

Then came the ringing.

One last chapter left. Tell me your thoughts on this one