"Thanks for staying with me today, Daria" thanked Jane while she was painting her own hospital room on canvas ". And thanks about cleaning my room, too. That was really nice of you".

"Well, I knew Trent probably would've fallen asleep or just be pretty much his normal lazy self when he came back home so I decided to get this place ready for when you came back since the moment you left the house".

"Yeah, you were right about Trent. He's already snoring in his room. Speaking of which, do you want to sleep in Penny's room or Trent's?" Jane smirked.

Daria blushed and rolled her eyes, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"He just held my hand, it wasn't a big deal, probably by accident or something. Also, I'm already over Trent anyway" Daria replied.

"Right, and that's why your face is all red".

So it is all red right now, huh?, Trent thought, listening to the conversation between his little sister and her best friend, feeling like he shouldn't be doing it but his curiosity couldn't help it.

"Maybe I'm getting a rash from the stress of you going to the hospital".

"Nice try, but I can see that you're not as over Trent as you thought you were. He likes you, you know that, right?".

Or, you know, he's just taking advantage of your crush on him like he did that time when you got your belly button pierced, Jane thought, more as a joke than as an actual possibility but didn't say it out loud because even with the obvious sarcasm it would've sounded mean.

How does Janey know that I like her?, Trent, amazed, inquired to himself with widely open eyes.

"What makes you think he likes me?" Daria asked with her eyes as open as Trent's, somehow hoping there was an actual possibility of him liking her, thing that her voice made very clear.

"Well, he held your hand like it was nothing and he's not like that, Daria. He's not the kind of guy who normally would hold your hand as a friend. That means something must have changed".

Or maybe now that you're older he feels like it wouldn't be considered bad to have sex with you. Jane felt bad for thinking those things, she didn't think at all that her brother would do something like that.

"He probably just wants to get laid" commented Daria, coinciding with Jane's thoughts ". Maybe Monique refused to go back with him and he's out of options".

Trent was even more impressed, he almost felt the need to go inside the room and tell her it was not the case.

Why would she even think something like that? She's smarter than that, he thought.

"Wow, Daria Morgendorffer, saying something that could count as putting herself down".

"Why do you think I am putting myself down?".

Jane kept painting with different brushes, barely looking at Daria. She was trying to paint Daria like she had seen her in the hospital: sitting on the chair while reading the newspaper.

"You just assumed that if my brother wants to sleep with you it's because he doesn't have anyone else to sleep with. What if he wants to sleep with you, not because he's out of options, but because he likes you?".

I guess Janey knows me too well.

Daria looked around the room, unable to answer to her friend's question. In the inside, she wanted it to be true: she wanted to believe that if Trent was interested in her it wasn't because he was desperate but because he had taken the time to talk to her, to get to know her and appreciate all those things. On the other hand, she just couldn't make herself believe that someone, especially someone like Trent, could ever be interested in her. Her daydreaming about Trent always felt like something that would never happen, and the possibility of that becoming so real so suddenly terrified her.

"Can we please stop talking about this?".

"Okay" Jane agreed.

Trent quietly sighed and went back to his room after he didn't hear anything for a moment. He had been listening, he stood there, expecting to hear an answer, something that told him little about how Daria felt towards him. But he left disappointed after Daria had avoided to speak about it. It didn't surprise him that she did, though.

Jane was now painting Daria's hair. She had decided to paint her friend with the newspaper covering her face and a Sick Sad World ad on the back of it.

"Does that mean you're sleeping in Penny's room?".

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep here in your room" Daria said and she noticed Jane's expression of amazement ". You know, I want to keep an eye on you".

"You really don't think I can stop drinking, do you?".

"Hey, I'm not saying that" I'm just thinking it ". I just want to make sure you won't relapse".

"C'mon, Daria, you already checked all my room looking for booze and you didn't find anything, also Trent threw all his beer" Jane complained.

"You can always sneak out...".

"I won't" Jane seemed upset by Daria's commentary ". Why can't you trust me?".

"Because I did, Jane, and you ended up in the hospital. I don't want that to happen again. I'm sorry that I worry about you".

Jane looked at Daria, still angry and then said: "Okay. You can sleep in my room. But remember, if you want to put your hands on someone go see Trent".

Daria smirked.

"Don't keep your hopes up, I certainly don't feel like doing any of the Lanes tonight".