[Daria] With An "Uh", And An "Um" [4/?] (PG)

Jan 10, 2012 00:36

Title: With An "Uh", And An "Um" (Part 4 of ?)
Author: Kimmie
Fandom: Daria
Type: long fic, ongoing
Rating: PG (so far)
Disclaimer: Daria was not written by me! I only wrote this fic.
Summary: A "What If?" What if Trent moved to Boston after the end of the canon timeline?
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As Daria awoke, her thoughts drifted to just how comfortable it was to wake up wrapped in Tom's arms. This was the first time it had happened, though she'd slept in his bed at least twice a week this semester. She turned over in the dim light of the sun finding chinks in the armor of the blinds and ran her hands through her bed partner's hair. "Wake up, sleepyhead." When he groaned, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. Her hand trailed down to rub down the side of his face where they stopped along one ear. "Oh, no. Trent?!"

Trent woke up quickly as Daria practically threw herself out of the bed. "Daria?"

Standing mute in the center of the room, Daria just stared for a moment. She walked quickly to the door, and headed out to her bedroom, letting the door close loudly behind her.

Shrugging, Trent put his head back down and hoped for a little more sleep.

Downstairs, Jane was already awake and dressed and eating a danish. Hearing the commotion upstairs, she decided to investigate. She made her way up the stairs, pastry in hand, and listened. Daria seemed to be... hyperventilating? She rapped on the door with her knuckles and asked quietly, "Amiga? Can I come in?" When there was no response, she took it upon herself to go in anyway. Daria was sitting on her bed, arms wrapped around herself. "Daria? What's wrong?"

Daria turned to Jane and shook her head. "I... I slept with Trent."

Jane's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. "You what?"

"*Just* sleeping, Jane, because I thought he was Tom. He was in Tom's bed! I didn't have my glasses on, so of course I assumed it was Tom." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "But, I kissed him." She bit her bottom lip briefly. "Twice."

Jane took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay. That's significantly better than what I thought you were talking about at first."

"I cheated. On Tom." Daria's shoulders slumped forward. "I am a horrible girlfriend."

"No. You're a human being. Who needs glasses and didn't have them on."

Daria fell backward on the bed. "I slept with Trent's arms around me, with my head on his arm all night. I kissed him twice. It wasn't until I felt his earrings as I ran my hands through his hair that I had *any* clue."

"Oh, Daria..." Jane lay on the bed next to her and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl.

It was at that moment that Tom chose to knock on the door and open it. "Hey, what do you think you're doing in bed with someone else?"

Daria looked at him with alarm. "Um..."

Jane sat up and smiled at Tom. "Give us girls just a few minutes, would you? Also, um, Trent's in your bed."

Tom nodded. "Yeah. I saw him on my way out yesterday and told him he could use my bed instead of the air mattress."

Finally sitting up, Daria frowned slightly. "Where did you go?"

"Susie lost the lab data for our project and we had to redo it since it's due today. But it's been redone, and it's turned in now. I told Trent, but I guess he forgot to tell you. Sorry. I would have called, but you were meeting about your project when Susie called me in a panic."

Jane piped up as Tom finished, "Now that I think about it, I believe that Trent told me something about where you were, but we were both in bed by the time Daria got home."

Daria reached up and grabbed her head, tangling her fingers in her hair. "Yeah, and I have something to tell you and you might not like it."

Tom raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"Since I didn't know about you leaving and offering Trent your bed, I snuck in there last night and slept next to him, thinking it was you."

"Oh." Tom took a few steps and sat down in Daria's desk chair. "Well, as long as that's all..."

"It's not." Daria's knuckles were white with how hard she was clutching her head. "I also kissed him, thinking it was you. Twice."

Jane ran a hand down Daria's forearm reassuringly. "She didn't have her glasses on for any of it."

Tom sat back heavily in the chair. "Wow. Um. Wow." He stood up suddenly. "I'm going to get some coffee and think about this. I'm not really mad, though, just so you know." He left the room quickly.

Daria let her hands fall to her sides. "Okay." She looked at Jane suddenly. "I haven't even told you the worst part yet."

Jane rolled her eyes. "What? Did you touch his junk?"

"No." Daria punched her friend in the shoulder softly. "I liked it. A lot. And the very worst part is that I think the only guilt I'm feeling is about not feeling guilty enough."

"Well, you did have a crush on my brother for years." Jane looked at Daria and grinned, but the smile dropped almost immediately. "You never actually got over that crush, did you?"

With a sigh, Daria fell back on the bed. "I am officially a horrible person."

"Well, you're acting maybe a bit out of character."

"No. I'm just realizing that had Trent been a little more awake last night, there might have been more than kissing. I had a crappy project meeting last night, so I kind of came back here hoping to, um, take my mind off of things."

Jane pursed her lips. "Oh." She shook her head softly. "Trent would have realized and everything would have been resolved right away. As it is, you're just embarassed, but if you'd known it was Trent in there, you wouldn't have gone in, right?"

Grabbing a pillow, Daria dropped it on her face and stomped her feet on the bed. She pulled the pillow away, her hair suddenly a staticky mess. "See, that's just it. I wouldn't have gone in, but I would have wanted to." The pillow got tossed to the floor. "I thought I was a pretty good girl. I do my homework, I don't shoplift, I go to all of my classes, I didn't cheat on purpose... but if it comes down to what my mind tells me that I *should* do? Then I am completely amoral."

Snorting, Jane nudged Daria with her knee. "*You* are? You should hear about some of the fantasies I've had about the TA in my printmaking class. Ever seen the movie "The Pillow Book"?"

Daria looked intrigued for a moment. "Are you wanting him to write all over your body, or are you wanting to kill him and use his flesh to make a new sketchbook?"

"Hmm... both." Jane smiled. "Daria, everyone has *thoughts* about bad things. If they don't, it's only because they have the mental capacity of Brittany Taylor. It's what you do that matters." At Daria's momentarily stricken look, Jane revised her statement. "It's what you do *on purpose* that matters."

Sighing, Daria turned on her side. "I still feel ashamed of myself for not realizing earlier that it was Trent and not Tom that I was in bed with. They aren't the same build, so having arms around me should feel different from one to the next, And the lips! There's no way the kisses should have feel the same!"

"There was a certain amount of expectation in what you were doing, Daria. You expected it to feel the same way, so it kind of did. You had no reason to think that anyone would be in the bed other than Tom. Additionally, if Trent was asleep both times you kissed him, then he didn't exactly kiss back, so that's going to color the experience."

"Damn you and your logic. Have you been contemplating the vastness of the universe lately?"

"Ha!" Jane smiled. "Nope. I've been watching rom-coms while you were out with Tom. Well, and slasher flicks. Because that's just a rom-com if the male lead was *really* into you... In a creepy way."

"Thanks, Jane." Daria sat up and hugged Jane.

"You'll probably want to talk to Tom some later, though." Jane hugged Daria back tightly. "And, you're welcome, amiga."

Trent woke up when he heard the door to the room open. "Huh?"

Tom was standing there. "Sorry. I need to get ready for school."

"It's cool, man. Give me a second and I'll be out of here."

Tom looked at him silently for a moment as Trent untangled himself from the sheets. "Did you know that Daria slept in here last night?"

"Um... I thought that was a dream."

Tom shook his head and leaned against the closet door. "She told me she kissed you twice."

"Whoa."

"But you slept through all of it?"

Trent nodded. "Yeah. Dude, I would not steal another man's girl, well, unless she dumped him first, but then it's not stealing."

Tom took a deep breath and breathed it back out noisily. "Okay. I'm going to believe you guys."

"Hey, Daria's pretty decent. She doesn't go behind people's backs with stuff."

Tom smiled softly. "Yeah, um, sure." He gathered up a set of clean clothes and pointed toward the door. "I'm going to go take a shower. You can try to sleep a little longer if you want. I'll... I'll see you later."

Trent fell back against the bed and edged his way back under the sheets as Tom shut the door behind him. His fingers gently brushed against his lips as he stared blankly at the ceiling. "Whoa."
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End: Chapter 4.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 11b NC-17
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
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