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Trinity rolls her eyes again once Mel turns her head away from her. She knows it would hurt Mel to see her react like this, but she can't help it. This is so ridiculous. Still, she'd promised Mel she'd at least come to the festival and check out the haunted house where she is working as a scare actor. Trinity is a woman of her word, so today she's going in with Mel.
Trinity gets roped into helping set up some of the booths at the festival when they arrive. As an actor for the haunted house, Mel has a much later arrival time than many of the other participants, but there's still plenty to do before the festival opens in an hour and a half. Trinity is more than happy to lend a hand wherever she can. Being on the gymnastics team doesn't allow all that much time to do things outside of eat, sleep, work. Really, it's a sign of how much she adores Mel that she's managed to scrounge together enough time to actually participate in this. Meeting Mel in her required writing class freshman year had truly been a lifesaver and for that reason, and that alone, Trinity is allowing herself to be dragged to this festival.
Mel's girlfriend, Parker, is coming a little later with another friend of hers too. Trinity's met Parker lots of times and likes her very much. She's looking forward to seeing her again. In fact, she thinks she sees Parker with another woman now.
"Heyyyy Parks and Rec!" Trinity greets Parker.
Parker rolls her eyes. "Hi Ghost."
The other woman looks between them, clearly baffled. "Parks and Rec? Ghost?"
Parker smiles at her. "Parker became Parks and Rec, and Trinity became the Holy Ghost, and then just Ghost."
Trinity sticks her hand out. "You can just call me Trinity though. Or even Trin if you like." She takes a moment to study the girl. She's very pretty. Like, makes Trinity's heart skip a beat pretty.
"Samira." She takes Trinity's hand and shakes it, still looking quite unsure. "It's nice to meet you, Trinity."
Parker checks her phone. "Actually, do you guys mind keeping each other company? Mel texted, she needs me to run and get something at the store."
"I'll take good care of Miss Samira." Trinity says, looping her arm through Samira's and pulling her away. She waves to Parker, who waves back as she heads back out towards the parking lot.
"I promised Mel that I'd go through the Haunted House attraction. Are you down to go and then we can explore some of the other stalls after? I know I saw apple cider and doughnuts at one of them."
Something flickers across Samira's face before she nods firmly. "Sure, that sounds great." Surprisingly, she hasn't let go of Trinity's arm, so Trinity leaves it there. Let it never be said she is anything but a gentleman to a pretty girl. Trinity steals a glance at Samira again. Her face is set and she has a tight grip on Trinity's arm, so Trinity decides to try to loosen her up while they wait in line.
Trinity leans over and nudges Samira. With a teasing lilt in her voice, she says, "Don't worry, if you're scared, you can always hold onto me." She leans back to take in the blush she can see dusting Samira's cheeks. A lesser woman might not have noticed it against the darker skin, but Trinity is watching carefully and she does. She takes pity on the other woman and switches the topic.
"So, you have classes with Parker?"
"Uh, yes, we met last year in our historiography class. She decided we were friends the first day, and that's pretty much been that."
"Parker's really cool that way. I met her through Mel and we clicked pretty much immediately. All the way down to the nicknames. She's one of the only people who actually plays along with that and gave me one back. She rocks." There's silence for another few minutes before Trinity keeps going. "So you're studying history then?"
Samira nods. "My goal is law school, so I'm double majoring in history and English."
"Law school? Fancy there."
Samira shrugs. "It was the Indian Parent Approved path that appealed to me most."
"That sucks." Trinity nudges Samira's shoulder. "My mom is controlling my major, too. Except I'm doing finance because she wants me to be an investment banker." Samira wrinkles her nose. "Oh I'm not going to be. I don't know what exactly I'm going to do, but I'm definitely not doing that. But I'll get the finance degree on her dime at least. And it gets me out."
"I can certainly understand that," Samira says firmly. Trinity gives her a grin. "I know my amma expects me to do something safe, like corporate law. But I'm planning to be a civil rights attorney."
Trinity whistles. "Damn girl. I feel safe with someone as smart as you protecting my rights." Before Samira can respond, though, they have made it to the front of the line and the attendant waves them in after reminding them not to touch the scare actors and to "have a spooky time," which makes both Samira and Trinity snicker.
It's a fairly basic haunted house, to Trinity's eye. Certainly nothing she hasn't seen before, which suits her well. Samira, however, has reached out and has a death grip on her hand. When the creepy laugh echoes through the building, Samira somehow manages to tighten her grip even more. Trinity pulls her in close.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Trinity whispers into Samira's ear. "You don't need to be afraid, just hold on to me, yeah." She's surprised to see Samira's shoulders actually relax a touch. It makes something soft curl inside her gut that she doesn't want to examine right now. Instead she just murmurs the tricks she knows they are doing into Samira's ear. It seems to help settle her, and they manage to make it through the house with minimal screaming. A quick wave at Mel as she intones a threat about the house claiming them as victims, and they are through.
Samira stumbles out the exit, Trinity's hand still gripped in hers. Once they are outside, Trinity gets a good look at Samira's face and it's more frightened than she expected. She pulls Samira to the side, against a fence nearby and gathers her into her arms.
"Hey there. We're all good." Samira very tentatively hugs her back. They stand there for a few minutes, while Samira's heart rate steadies. Trinity's heart, meanwhile, is beating out of her chest, but that is neither here nor there.
Samira pulls back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."
Trinity shrugs. "It's all good. But if you don't like haunted houses, why go with me? Mel would have understood if I didn't go."
Samira chews her lip. "I've never done one before. I didn't know how I would react." She gives a lopsided smile. "Turns out jump scares are not for me." A pause and then Samira continues, quieter now. "And I wanted the pretty girl to think I was cool enough to handle it."
Trinity feels the same soft feeling rush through her again, but sets it aside. "Awww you got a crush? On lil ole me?" Samira avoids her eyes, so Trinity settles into something a little more serious. "I think you're pretty cool even though you're not a fan of haunted houses."
"Yeah?"
"Oh yeah. Now, come on, let's check out some of the other stalls. I'll get you cider and a doughnut and we can hang out some more." Trinity extends her hand to Samira, who stares at it for a minute before taking it.
"Okay, but I'm not really a fan of cider."
Trinity smiles indulgently at her. "You can get whatever your heart desires as long as you don't let go of my hand." With Samira's hand securely in hers, Trinity feels that warm, soft feeling sweep through her again, but this time she doesn't push it away. Everything about this feels right and she is going to take full advantage.