Chapter Text
"get up."
it feels similar to a bucket of ice cold water being thrown in her face, but trinity jolts naturally - eyes blearily opening and blinking a few times until the soft blurred lines of the room around her form into concise shapes and forms. and standing above her; yolanda garcia. her frequent fling and ex of a few years. standing with a bored expression on her face, a look trinity was accustomed to, a look that said; time to get out, santos.
and so, willingly, trinity sits up and rubs her eyes, the bedsheet that smelt of deep cinnamon slipping down her body until it pooled around her bared hips. a shirt was tossed almost instantly to her, and trinity caught it with a small grimace - the fabric scratchy in all the wrong places as she slid it on, hiding her body. "what time is it? christ..."
"three P.M."
trinity pauses, and then groans, reaching and rubbing her head. "fuck, whitaker's gonna kill me..."
yolanda cocks her head slightly, before grumbling and fishing up the rest of trinity's clothes off the floor - soon tossing a small bottle of ibuprofen over and nodding to a day old water bottle on her nightstand. "handle your hangover and get dressed. throw up on my shit and i'll ruin you."
"pretty sure you already did," trinity grins, but catches yolanda's faint glare, and sighs, looking down and opening the bottle as the rest of her clothes are tossed next to her. "got it, no jokes this morning..."
her hands open the lid and fish out two of the long, white pills, and she tosses them up into her mouth - grimacing at their faint taste as she reaches for the bottle and undoes it, taking a long sip and then grimacing further at its faint warmth. The pills slide down with little trouble, but still trinity sighs at the feeling. her hands paw for her clothes beside her as yolanda turns to leave. "need you out in five, frank's coming over."
trinity barely contains her eye roll as she pushes up on wobbly legs and slides up her panties along with her pants, grumbling as she grabs her bag and tosses her bra inside - slinging the bag over her shoulder and leaving yolanda's room, hair tie between her teeth as she gathers her longer brown hair into a small half up, half down style. It drapes slightly over her shoulders, and the hair tie leaves her teeth in order to hold the pony tail up. she reaches the door with ease, only to open it up and see the devil himself.
just kidding, of course. it was only frank langdon.
a grumble leaves her lips. "langdon."
"santos." the man echoes, raising a brow at her state. "here late, don't you think?"
"speak for yourself."
frank merely gives her a hum, before gliding past and to yolanda who greets him with a grin as they clap hands. trinity's grip on her bag tightens, but she says nothing, instead leaves - digging around for her phone in her pocket and pulling it out. naturally - it's a mess of dennis' number. roughly thirty missed calls, and multiple messages filling up her lock screen. another sigh as she shuts the phone off and tucks it away.
you'd think the poor boy had separation anxiety.
actually, maybe he did.
trinity pulls her phone back out, despite herself, and presses call on his contact. it takes two rings before he answers.
"trin? are you okay? where are you?"
"don't sully your pants, dude," she sighs, eyes grimacing as the sun hits her when she exits into the parking lot. "on the way back now, spent the night at yolanda's."
dennis sighs, and she can practically feel him visibly soften. "oh. why didn't you text me and let me know? I was worried sick."
"pretty sure I told crash."
the boy huffs on the other end, listening to the beeping of trinity's car as she slides in and starts it up. "put your seatbelt on," she grumbles and follows his order. "and I haven't spoken to tori. she's been studying nonstop, you know exams are soon right? can'taffrd to be missing your studies with..stuff."
'stuff' was a pretty accurate way to describe yolanda, she guessed. accurate, but not what she'd use.
"well im on the way home now, like I said, so you don't have to worry." a soft eye roll, "acting like my house wife..."
dennis grumbled and quieted for a moment. "...I was worried sick. you always call. or you text."
trinity would never admit the way his worry made her soften slightly. no, she tucked it down, shaking her head. "well im driving now so im getting off-"
"trin-"
"see ya, huckleberry."
she ended the call quickly, sighing and reaching to rub her head gently as she reversed out of the parking lot, and shifted onto the road. her car hummed beneath her, guiding along. dennis was, unfortunately, right. she had exams soon and even though her major wasn't anything to scoff at, she desperately needed to study - less she have to repeat her final year. the thought alone killed her. dennis was on his final year, and despite victoria being younger, she too was. their other friends and all finished prior, and yolanda herself had graduated when trinity was on her second or so year.
trinity refused to fail.
even if the last thing she wanted to do today was study.
trinity's key pushed lazily into the lock of her apartment door, and she opened it with a sigh - groaning instantly upon the sight of dennis standing with his arms crossed. "god, what more do you want from me?"
dennis pouted in a way that made her viscerally angry.
"an apology maybe? I thought you died."
"heh." trinity schooled her expression when dennis glared. "not yet, lover boy. I got a few years left in me."
she brushed past him, and dennis' hands weakly clenched and unclenched.
"don't say that. you're turning my worry into- into a joke."
"because it is a joke!" trinity turned, waving her hands in exasperation. "i'm twenty-seven! what, I can't leave my apartment in peace anymore? christ, dennis, I just needed a night away after everything."
dennis frowned tighter, his eyes weak. "after what? you never showed up for the study session. tori hadn't seen you in weeks. you aren't here anymore! it's like i'm living with a ghost!"
"then go somewhere else!"
the words are quick, and hot, and make dennis stop all together. trinity closes and opens her mouth - once, twice. she then looks away, hands beginning to fidget softly at the hem of her top. "...I didn't mean that." she whispers, sighing and reaching up to rub her head. "look, dennis, it's just - I wanted one stress free night so I went to yolanda. is that so bad?"
the boy across from her was quiet.
achingly so.
she knew she messed up, knew she hurt his feelings in some capacity.
but trinity didn't know how not to.
she always told him he was too damn sensitive.
... though maybe, she was just too rude.
her words are weak as she whispers. "dennis, i'm sorry.."
"..it's not going to last." he whispers, making her look up. his eyes are anywhere but her. "you and yolanda aren't going to last-"
trinity's anger flares again. "are you serious? I apologize and you throw this in my face?"
"how many times have you called things off already?" dennis takes a step forward, finally looking at her. really looking at her. and trinity hates it. hates that he can see through the wall she spent years putting up. "she's not your endgame, trin. she hangs out with langdon despite everything in our first year-"
"don't."
"don't what? call your fling out on her actions?"
"that's not what she is!" trinity snaps, her hands shaking slightly. "you don't get it, you never do-"
"why?" dennis scoffs. "because I know when i'm wanted and when im clearly not?"
the admission hangs between them,
a silence of shaky breaths and even shakier eyes. a part of trinity aches. it's a horrible feeling, choking up her throat and making her eyes dare to gleam with faint tears. dennis swallows, stills himself, and looks down at the ground. "you want me out? fine. but don't pretend like you have everything figured out with her. she's using you, and i'm not-" his breath is weak in a way that makes trinity feel even worse. "..i'm not going to stand by and watch her ruin the girl that I know. the girl that I love."
trinity swallows again, thick and uneven. "...it's not like that."
all dennis can do is stare at her, before he shakes his head and moves past her.
a shot of panic hits her square in the chest.
"w-where are you going?"
he doesn't stop as he moves on past her, to his room, and shuts the door. he doesn't slam it - no, dennis never slammed anything, but shutting the door said all it needed to. he was upset, and it was because of her. but trinity - her jaw clenches as she calls out.
"so this is what we're doing now? really? you can't just hide in your room all day!"
she calls, her voice desperate.
"do you hear me?! you can't just-"
her voice chokes up, and she sinks down, sniffling and wiping her eyes. damnit. now she'd fought with him and he-
he was right.
of course he was.
she knew that.
but she didn't want to lose him.
ten minutes pass of her soft tears and weaker sniffles, bated breaths hiccuping in her throat. finally, she stands, and staggers over to his room, knocking gently. "dennis please," she whispers, peeking the door open. he lays on his bed, back to her, small breaths leaving. she knows those breaths. "dennis I.."
her voice is weak.
trinity moves forward slowly, and sits down at the edge of his bed, looking down at her feet.
"...i'm sorry." she whispers. "you're..you're right. of course you're right, I just- it's hard."
he peeks at her.
progress.
trinity's hands pick at the skin of her thighs through her pants, and dennis moves to gently hold her hand and stop her. the action is both heartwarming and aching all at once. trinity breathes out a shaky breath. "she's the only person who sees me."
dennis' lips press. "what about me?"
a weak smile forms. "you're not exactly my type."
dennis groans, though his lips quirk. "you know what I meant."
a faint laugh drifts between the two of them. trinity sighs and looks up from her feet, over at him. "she's...different. I know things aren't cookie-cutter perfect with her, but she sees me enough and that's a..companionship that I need. I can't just solely get it from you, you know? it's not like you and me. it's different."
dennis hums, squeezing her hand slowly. "...that doesn't mean you have to shut me out." he hesitates. "im sorry I said all that stuff. I can't help but worry about you- you..you're kind of my only friend."
trinity breathes out.
"..god that's sad."
"hey." though he's grinning now, glancing down and shaking his head. "...I guess It is pretty sad, huh? god.."
trinity laughs, watching as he falls back against the bed and groans. "my only friend is a loser lesbian...!"
"hey!" the tears are gone now, replaced with matching grins as trinity reaches and shoves him. "you aren't any better, ass eater."
"hm," the boy hums, resting his arm over his eyes, though peeking and glancing at her - that smile still there. "guess you're right, i'm no better...scissor sister."
"and proud of it!"
another shared laugh.
this time, dennis raises his fist up. "cool?"
trinity sighs, rolls her eyes in exasperation, but hums, knocking her fist against his. "yeah, we're cool."
"do we have to?"
trinity whines as dennis grips her hand gently, tugging her up the steep steps of the public library and inside. after they'd made up, dennis took the liberty of texting victoria and telling her they were on their way to study. the sweet girl was overjoyed, speaking animatedly about how her friend emma was already there and they could have one big study session.
yay...
dennis led her in, wandering to a quiet corner and practically tossing her into the seat across from victoria.
"she lives," victoria grinned. "what was with that text last night? 'at Y, don't worry huckleberry'?"
trinity sighs. "old news."
victoria glances at dennis, who nods along, sliding trinity her laptop as he opens up his notes.
the younger shrugs it off, gesturing a hand to the pretty girl beside her. "this is emma, she's a freshmen,"
emma waves excitedly, giving a wide smile. "it's nice to meet you both! I think i've seen you around the cafeteria, dennis?"
dennis nods along, giving a polite smile. "I go there when trinity rots in her room."
"alright," trinity groans, unslouching and opening her computer. "are we going to study or not, nerds?"
victoria roll her eyes, but the general consensus of the group is to study.
emma floats around with different books, her pretty baby-blue cased laptop open and her typing muted by a keyboard cover. victoria jots down notes vigorously, glancing between her own laptop and the notes she writes - even having dennis quiz her a few times - and dennis, for his part, attempted to read through his notes, but glanced at trinity's laptop so much that she just passed the thing over to him to use.
the shuffling of her chair caught the others attention as she stood, and raised her hands in mock surrender. "im going to find a book, chill."
shaking her head, trinity took barely ten steps away - when the small voice of a little boy filled the library.
"maman! superman!"
she blinked.
and suddenly, a little boy had run up to her.
a wide grin on his face as he pointed at her shirt and grinned. "superman!"
looking up - trinity's heart seized as a woman frantically rushed over.
a beautiful woman.
"kian! what did I say about running away?" her hands found her son's shoulders, holding him gently and sighing. "i'm sorry, he usually doesn't run off like this.."
but when she looked up - soft brown eyes meeting trinity's?
the youngers world stuttered.