Chapter 12: Daria Digs
Daria practically sleep-walked up to her bedroom after she and Jake got home from dropping Jane off. She was ready to hop into bed until she came to Quinn's room. Quinn turned and preened before her mirror modeling a short blue and yellow uniform which Daria at first took to be a Lawndale High cheerleader uniform. Then she remembered that Quinn, as one of the four best players in Lawndale High's short badminton history, was preparing to face rival teams for school glory, Ms. Li's edification and possible side bets.
"What? No aubergine? Sandi must be crushed. Can she even play in primary colors?"
"Oh hi Daria. No, Sandi has to get used to wearing bright blue and yellow. Me too, although I think a blue a few shades lighter would better highlight my hair. Do you think if I got the football team behind it we could tone down the school colors?"
Quinn followed her to her bedroom. Daria was considering various ways to tell her to get lost but Quinn spoke up.
"Did you and Jane work hard on Mai's farm? I hope Jane didn't strain her rotator crust or whatever you call that shoulder thingy. We have our first big match next week. Oakwood has had a badminton team for a couple years but Ms. Li says we can take those girls. She kept saying something about the Vegas odds being in her favor too. I think that means we have the home court advantage."
"Thanks for the tip, Quinn. Dad and I might have to call a couple people later about that. No, Jane and I are fine. Her dad worked us slavishly but her mom fed us excellent bread and water."
"Oh, that's good. I think if you work hard like that you can even have it with butter. Umm, Daria?"
"Uhm, Quinn?"
"So you and Mai?"
The urge to beat Quinn into getting lost rose strong in Daria but she realized that would only send Quinn running and blabbing to her parents. Daria was trying not to deal with the idea of telling her parents about her and Mai. She knew it was called coming out but she almost wasn't sure what she had to come out about. She and Mai had tried to talk about it but soft lips always got closed by other soft lips. They had made a half-promise to discuss "our relationship" sometime in the indefinite future.
"Me and Mai what, Quinn? And ten bucks not to answer that and not to talk about it ever again. Eep." Daria realized she was acting too suspiciously.
"What? No, don't worry, Daria. Well, okay, twenty. No, I mean I know this is just you being weird again. You gotta be you and this is just another way of doing it. It's okay if it's kind of gross and strange. I think I can grow into handling it."
"Well, gee thanks, Quinn. I was so worried about how this was all going to affect you. But I'm glad you're being so mature, not that I'm admitting anything."
"Oh, it's okay. I am a freshman now after all. Soon I'll be going into the world and meeting all kinds of other weird people. Good to get used to it now, I guess."
"I'm glad to serve my purpose of easing you into the big, wide world, Quinn."
Daria beat down her beat down Quinn impulses and broached a more important topic.
"But, okay, you're sort of cool with Mai, not that I'm admitting anything, but what about Mom and Dad? Do you think they uhm, suspect? And how do you know anything anyway? It's not like Mai and I have been holding hands and skipping down Lawndale High hallways."
"Oh, Daria. You're so innocent. Half the school knows and doesn't care. You guys even convinced Sandi that you couldn't possibly be my sister since I can't possibly be gay. I wasn't sure myself until I saw Upchuck crying over a volleyball game program and sobbing something about 'precious, sweet chrysanthemum of the Orient lost to me'."
"God, yet another reason never to go to school again. But what about Ma and Ba? I mean Mom and Dad?"
"Oh? Well, remember when Mai came to pick you up? Dad thought she was my date! Eep, yipe, but he didn't seem more than usually upset about the idea. Of course, I had to make sure he saw Corey open his car door for me. And...and I even let him kiss me on the cheek before our fifth date just so Daddy could see it." Quinn shuddered with the enormity of that concession.
"Mom, I don't know about, Daria. She's busy at work but you know as a lawyer she's used to reading people all the time. I don't know how good her gaydar is...teehee...Stacy taught me that word, but if I were you I'd be prepared with a good excuse or a good coming out story...ha...Tiffany taught me that one. But Dad wants to partner with the Lings, Mom told me; that's going to bring everybody together more often, you know. But you know what? I think Mom was sort of betting on you and Jane. And what's not to like about Mai anyway? If you can ignore her mouth, she's actually really nice to people, even the unpopular ones. And she's a brain and an athlete."
Daria stared at her little sister. She was half overcome with fatigue and half pumped up at Quinn's perceptive rambling. She yawned hugely and yielded to her tired muscles.
"Thanks Quinn, you're being amazingly, uh, mature about this all. But I'm beat and we've got school tomorrow."
"Sure Daria. You know I'm actually happy you're finding someone. It'll take your mind off all those weird books and Mai's pretty popular. Everyone needs a popularity boost."
"Yep, that's exactly why I'm doing it-not that I'm admitting anything."
Quinn moved for the door. "Oh, Daria. I've got a couple bottles of Fashion Club evaluated and approved fat-free creamy salad dressing in the fridge. Feel free to douse some on my celery and carrot stix tomorrow."
"Thanks, Quinn. I might just do that."
The thought, however, made the jaiozi in Daria's tummy tumble alarmingly. Still she got ready for bed without incident. Sleep was slow in coming and she lay in her bed with faces flashing before her eyes. All happy faces, fortunately, but still a bit creepy for her. Jane and Tom. Quinn. Mai. Trent and Jane. Mr. and Mrs. Ling and her own parents. Pris and Siobhan and even the girls from the disbanded Pipsqueaks. After giving her pillow a few swift punches Daria found a dreamless night.