FicWad

The Silent Cynic
By Dr. T

Chapter 19 – Questions and an Incident

The second Saturday of the Institute, the program put on a party for the students in the rec area, situated on the second floor and between the two wings of the dormitory building. All the students and the 5 RAs were present. As at most of the few parties she attended, Daria was off to one side, observing. Jane was about twenty feet away, talking with five other members of the scenery group, and seemed to be having a good time. Quinn was, unsurprisingly, at the center of a much larger group, just far enough from the speakers which were playing a local pop radio station so that it didn’t interfere with the fair amount of flirting most seemed to be engaged with. Daria noted that Quinn kept glancing at Nikki, something that she seemed to be slowly doing more of as the days passed. Much of Quinn’s other free time was being spent with another member of the costuming group – when they had started nearly two weeks before, he was a rather over-the-top, stereotypically flamboyant teen named Kyle. While he had toned down some of the mannerisms, he had slowly changed his outfits towards a less flamboyant but feminine attire and today had asked all to address her as Kylie.

The first Saturday, the group had been taken to a rather uninspired (in Daria’s view at least) off-Broadway drama, while this afternoon they had seen a version of Sartre’s ‘No Exit’ in Brooklyn. Daria had liked the play for years, but again didn’t think much of the performance. As she stood and observed, she felt no interest in joining in those conversations discussing the play of the day, or discussing their various assignments, past and upcoming. She was even less interested in flirting.

As far as Daria was concerned, she was having a successful and mostly interesting, even fun, time this summer – her writing was always given at least modest praise, and the criticisms were constructive. She was easily the most-praised in her group, and was one of the three or four most commended within the entire group of writers, although not the most-praised overall. They had been told the previous Monday that there was a good chance that some of their scenes would be shot for a short film, which would be shown at various venues, and she had been told Friday that at least one of hers would be selected, although which was still under discussion, as all considered scenes would need to be edited if not rewritten.

While worried a bit about Quinn’s socializations, Daria was fairly-to-well-pleased all across the board when it came to her personal life. She and Jane were especially enjoying their evenings together. It was clear to all that they were a couple, and if anyone had a problem with that, no one had said or done anything against them. In any case, there were several other same-sex couples across genders that had formed since the workshop had started, all of which were much more obvious in their public affections than Jane and Daria.

While there were plenty of snacks and drinks laid out on tables on all four sides of the room, which were all being well-visited, Daria noted a member of her writers’ group circulating with an aluminum tray piled with brownies. Carol, from an elite New York private school, probably came the closest to treating Daria with a bit of contempt, mostly because her own writing was stiff and mediocre, and she was trying to maintain a snobbish contempt for everyone in the group who earned praise when she rarely did.

Carol finally circled around to Daria. “Brownie?” she offered.

Daria smiled slightly and gestured. Carol plastered a smile on her face, and said, “I should limit myself to one, but these are so good I think tonight I shall have a second.” She balanced the tray with her left hand, and Daria reached out to help steady it. “Thank you,” Carol replied, in a much more genuine tone. She took one of the brownies and bit into it, making a very yummy sound.

Daria used her free hand to choose one as well. She bit into it and chewed. It tasted different to any other brownie she had ever had, but it seemed different in a pleasant way. Unlike Jane, who snacked on almost anything, Daria generally preferred savory or salty to sweet, but that rarely stopped her. She smiled again. Carol stuffed the rest of the brownie into her mouth, nodded, and walked over to a nearby table and deposited the tray, still over half full.

Daria did not see Carol spit out most of the brownie out into a napkin and then smile.


About fifteen minutes later, Nikki surveyed the room, something she was doing about every five minutes. All of the RAs took their jobs seriously, but she was likely the most dedicated. When she turned back to listen to Quinn’s on-going flirting with several others in the group, she paused. Something niggled in her mind. She therefore replayed what she had seen, and came up with nothing, so she compared what she had just seen with what she had seen before, and realized that Daria was still at one of the snack tables, and was eating what was likely at least a third brownie.

She knew the students under her observation fairly well by now, especially Daria, Jane, and Quinn. If Daria had been over at the table where pizza had just been delivered, she might have ignored things, but she hadn’t been all that much into sweets outside of breakfasts. Daria loved pizza; why was she ignoring the pizza for brownies? Then Nikki remembered a party she had attended during her Freshman year.

Nikki moved quickly over to Daria, and when Daria detected the movement, she looked up from her half-eaten brownie and gave Nikki a wide smile.

Alarms went off in Nikki’s head.

“Enjoying yourself?”

Still smiling, Daria nodded vigorously.

“Good brownie?”

Daria smiled and nodded again.

“May I have a taste?”

Daria actually pouted for a second, seemed to reconsider, and then thrust the brownie towards Nikki while giving her an odd smile, looking a bit toddler-like. Nikki broke off a piece and tried it.

Suspicion confirmed.

Nikki came up with a plan. “You know, these might be even better warmed up and with some tea. Let’s take them to my room, okay?”

Stuffing the small remaining piece of brownie into her mouth, Daria nodded yet again, smiling broadly as Nikki grabbed the tray.

Passing Jane, Nikki paused and whispered in her ear, causing Jane to excuse herself and follow the duo out of the room and towards the elevators. When she caught up, she asked Nikki, “Are you sure?”

“Oh, yes.” She sighed. “If you doubt me, just take a look at her.

A concerned Jane looked at Daria, a bit dumbfounded for a second at her now-grinning friend. “You okay there, amiga?”

Daria nodded, again like a toddler, and then swayed the last few steps to the elevator.

“How many did she have?”

“Three or more, but at least these are small.”

Jane guided Daria into the elevator. “Yeah, but she got stoned once on a shot of NyQuil, although to be fair she also had a high fever.”

When they got off the elevator, Nikki managed to get Daria’s attention. “Go with Jane and I’ll be with you soon; let me go make some tea.”

Daria gave her a lazy ‘ok’ signal, and then reached for another brownie.

Nikki moved the try out of reach. “After tea, okay?”

Daria pouted but nodded. Jane steered Daria towards their room while Nikki went to call this in.

The on-site director lived in an apartment in the basement, and was at Nikki’s room when she came out with a mug of chamomile tea less than three minutes later.

“You’re sure?” she asked.

Nikki shrugged. “Hash or pot, not certain which. The tray is on my desk. Plain cheap aluminum tray, no way to tell who brought it. Hopefully that’s all that’s in ‘em.”

“Keep an eye on the girl; I’ll use your phone to alert security and then go tell the party the party’s over. Then I’ll alert the infirmary; if she seems at all anything worse than mildly stoned give me a call and I’ll have them come over.”

Nikki held up her keys to show she had them and then gestured at her open door. “Just shut the door.” She went to the suite door and was glad to find it unlocked. While Nikki had been in the first room often, she had not been in Jane and Daria’s room. She was a bit surprised that the bed had been well-joined, but a bit more surprised to find a bootless Daria seated on the bed, rocking happily back-and-forth, smiling happily while apparently mouthing something.

Coming closer, Nikki could faintly hear that Daria was whispering the theme tune to the Smurfs. “La, La, la-la-la-laa, La-La-La-la, Laaa….” Daria stopped when she saw Nikki. “You know what?” the barely audible whisper asked as Daria’s eyes went wide.

“What?”

“Quinn thinks you’re cute.” There was a slight note of anxiety in that hoarse whisper.

“I know, and even if I think she’s cute, nothing is going to happen between us.”

Daria nodded in acknowledgement, then cocked head to one side. “I think you’re cute, too.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m not cute,” Daria declared. Nikki and Jane looked at each other, each wanting to refute that but not sure how to without arguing with the somewhat-stoned teen, but then Daria looked at Jane and handed Jane her glasses. “But without these, I’m pretty.”

“You’re more than just pretty, with or without the glasses,” Jane replied, holding back tears; this was the first time Daria had acknowledged her looks to this degree without being snarky about it.

Daria smiled, and then looked back at Nikki. “Quinn is cute; you’re cute. I’m pretty; Jane is beautiful.”

The pair then coaxed Daria into drinking the tea, which she did after Nikki explained what was likely in the brownies, which managed to get through to Daria. When Quinn showed up about five minutes later, Nikki left it to Jane and Quinn to get Daria undressed and to prepare for bed. The pair then guided a still wobbly Daria down to the floor lavatory. Afterwards, Jane allowed Nikki to pull a desk chair into their doorway, where she would keep an eye on things until they were sure Daria wouldn’t have any kind of bad reaction.

She finally left around 2:30, with the two teens entwined in a peaceful sleep.


“So, we don’t have a certain culprit?” the director asked the assembled RAs the next morning.

“No,” one of the women answered. “Carol was passing around the tray, but claims she found it on one of the tables, liked the brownie, and so started passing them around.” She made a face. “As out of character it seems that she would willingly share anything, there’s nothing to really disprove it.”

“Daria confirmed that she saw Carol eat one,” Nikki added, “and that she did not claim to have made or brought them, although from her actions it seems almost certain she actually did at least know what was in them.”

The director sighed. “I’ll have a word with Carol, although I doubt it will do much good. How is Daria this morning?”

“She claims to still be a little fuzzy-headed. Her friend and sister are going to stick close to her all day to make sure she’s okay. Other than that, and having a large breakfast and being very thirsty, I think she’s okay.”

“Remind the kids that while they are in a college dorm, they aren’t college students yet,” the director said dryly. “They can do stupid things like this in a year or two.”

“Does telling anyone to wait until they’re older to do something stupid ever actually work?” one of the RAs asked.

“Sometimes, but not too often,” the director admitted.

*

Wednesday evening, just before Jane and Daria usually went to sleep, Quinn hesitatingly approached their bedroom door, which was still about a quarter of the way open. Daria was standing in front of the mirror on her dresser, brushing her long thick hair, which these days reached just down just past the bottom of her shoulders. Jane had pulled in a desk chair and was painting her toenails violet for some reason.

Quinn drew a deep breath, and knocked lightly. The two teens looked up, Daria giving her sister a very slight smile. Jane merely asked, “What’s up?”

“Can I like…talk with you two?” Daria and Jane exchanged looks, and Daria waved her sister in. Then she went back to her hair, leaving the talking to Jane. Years of experience meant that Quinn knew her sister would still be paying close attention.

Quinn pulled another desk chair into the bedroom and closed the door. That, and the look on her face, made the other two again exchange looks. Daria therefore set down her hairbrush and looked at Quinn directly. ‘Are you okay? You are not hurt or anything?’

Quinn smiled, knowing from the way Daria was signing that she was sincerely concerned, not over the top like their father often was, or half-accusatory like their mother sometimes was. “No, it’s nothing like that.” She squirmed a bit, and actually blushed a bit before she blurted out, “Can I ask you two, well, about…sex?”

“Well, when two or more people are attracted to each other or are horny….” Jane started. She stopped however when Daria lightly slapped her upper arm. She then made Jane and Quinn stand so that she could rearrange them closer to bed, where she then sat.

‘You can ask me anything,’ Daria told her nervous and embarrassed sister. She took Quinn’s hands in hers and had her sit. Jane followed suit. Releasing Quinn’s hands, Daria asked, ‘Are these questions of how to do it or when to do it?’

Quinn thought about that; obviously she had questions about both.

Nodding, Daria then asked, ‘Which do you need answers to first, or most?’

Now blushing much more, Quinn answered softly, ‘How.’

“How boys, or how girls?” Jane asked. “Or how both?”

“Both, I guess.”

“Well, if it’s about both at the same time, I have to admit neither of us have any experience in that, but other than that, I think between us we can cover most if not all of the basics. Depending, of course, on what you consider basics.”

Daria snapped her fingers to get their attention. ‘You can ask anything; we can discuss anything. Nothing will leave this room. Sister’s promise.’

Quinn now took Daria’s hand and agreed, “Sister’s promise.”

“Good friend’s promise?” Jane asked, letting Quinn know she would go along. Quinn already knew Jane understood about the promises between herself and Daria’s.

Quinn took Jane’s hand with her free hand, “Sister’s, or maybe sister-in-law’s, promise.”

“I’ve already got two too many sisters,” Jane retorted. “Sister-in-law’s it is.”

Quinn nodded, and went back to thinking about how to start. Finally Daria dropped Quinn’s hand and asked, ‘Is there some question that you just want to know, or some general question we can start with? We will cover everything you want to know; if we do not have time tonight, there will be time before we go back to Maryland, and we can talk when we get back as questions come up.’

Quinn nodded, but still paused. “Okay.” She paused and bit her lower lip for a second, and then blurted out, “Oral sex.”

“Certainly a conversation starter,” Jane admitted.

Daria shushed Jane with a gesture. ‘First of all, does this mean you and Tori have not, or do you mean with boys?’

“Both,” Quinn admitted. “Do people actually do…either? Like, I mean, do they actually like doing it, if they really do it?”

‘Yes,’ Daria responded. She looked at Jane.

“Tell her all you want,” Jane said with a shrug.

‘Jane and I have, although I grant we do it more as heavy foreplay than to climax. Neither you nor Tori have?’

Quinn just shook her head. “I just….” She wrinkled her nose. “And partly it’s because it just seems…icky…but also if I won’t, I don’t think she should.”

‘You do not think she should at all, or that she should not please you that way if you will not returning it?’

“Both,” Quinn said simply.

“Well, neither of us thinks it’s icky…well, I guess there are times it could be, but we either clean up well or, if it’s the wrong time of month, we generally just cuddle. Still, just because we like giving and receiving, doesn't mean you would.”

‘Do you two do more than…touch each other?’ Daria asked.

“Well,” Quinn admitted, “let’s say that above the waist, we’re pretty active. Below…well for one thing, she has a mini-vibrator.”

“And for another?”

Quinn thought, and then said, “I’ll be right back.” She got up and went towards her bedroom.

“I never thought we’d have this conversation with her,” Jane admitted.

‘I am glad we are, or at least she trusts us this much; are you sure you are okay with us being candid?’

Jane nodded.

Quinn came back with, of all things, a tape measure.

“Tori has more toys?”

“Well, mainly one, it’s….” Quinn estimated first the length and then the girth of the toy with the tape measure and showed them to the other two.

‘Okay, in terms of length, that is about a third longer than the top of the average range,’ Daria told her. ‘However, that is at best about two-thirds the girth of the average penis.’

“I’ve seen some porn actors easily four times thicker than that, but of course most of those guys are at least partially chosen for their size.” Quinn and Daria each stared at Jane. “What? When Mystic Spiral get together to watch a movie, do you think they’re watching rom-coms?”

‘And they just leave them lying around.’

“Yep.”

‘And you never shared?’

“Oops,” Jane admitted. “Sorry.”

Daria shook her head. ‘To get back to Quinn, what about the toy. Does she…?’

“No,” Quinn admitted, “I…used it on her a couple of times, but then she got this….” Her voice dropped into a mutter, where only what sounded like an ‘h’ and an ‘ns’ came out.

Daria and Jane exchanged puzzled looks. Jane suddenly guessed, “Do you mean you wore a harness that held the dildo, and you….”

“YES!” Quinn snapped as she blushed. “Well, once…the other times she’s been on top but I still wore it.”

Jane and Daria exchanged looks, and then both smirked. Daria also thought this might at least explain Quinn’s partial interest in Nikki and Kylie.

“You two make your plans later,” Quinn managed to tease.

‘Do you enjoy what you and Tori do?’ Daria asked.

Quinn nodded.

‘Does Tori?’

“I’m pretty sure.” There was a hint of a question in that answer, though.

“Let her try going down on you if she wants to,” Jane suggested. “If you don’t like it, don’t do it again, and just make sure you please her in some way no matter how much or little you enjoyed it if you don’t want to return the favor.”

“Okay, but what about….”

“Sex with boys or just oral sex with boys?”

“Both,” Quinn admitted.

Jane looked at Daria and nodded.

‘Troy and I have had intercourse just twice. He and I have had oral sex, giving and receiving, a number of times. We have also gotten each other off the same way, well, manually.’ She nodded at Jane, who simply gestured ‘go ahead.’ ‘Jane has had more experience than me, and with Paul and Tom.’

“No anal, though,” Jane interjected.

‘No, no anal,’ Daria agreed, blushing a bit, just like Quinn was again.

“I know Tori likes it,” Quinn said, going back to the original subject. “Not…not what Jane just mentioned, but, you know….”

“With the harness.”

Quinn just nodded, then went on, “but I just can’t imagine liking someone…penetrating me.”

‘Would it help if we got you a toy of your own to use by yourself?’ Daria asked. ‘Then you would be in total control.’

Quinn thought about it, and agreed.

‘As for, well to use the blunt term, blowjobs….’ Daria shrugged. ‘Troy seems to be right in the mid-range of ‘average’ size….’

“So is Tom, I think,” Jane put in. “Paul is a bit longer but still in the average range, and a bit…narrower.”

‘You must have overheard the same sort of talk in the locker room about this sort of thing,’ Daria pointed out.

“I kind of block it out,” Quinn admitted.

‘Okay, it seems while no one admits to loving to do it, it might just be because they’re being discreet. Some claim not liking it because of taste, during or especially at the end; others claim it makes them feel a bit used, because they are giving but not getting sexual pleasure. Others claim it makes them feel empowered, being in control and, even if not getting sexual pleasure, they are getting emotional and sensual pleasures. For some’ ‘like me’ Daria thought, ‘there’s likely a bit of sexual as well as sensual pleasure.’ Daria paused in thought, then went on, ‘It probably depends on both sides. Troy has never made me feel used; I…I enjoy making him writhe with pleasure.’

Daria blushed, as did Quinn yet again, while Jane just smirked, then put in, “I sorta feel the same, although I’d bet Troy is more responsive than Paul or Tom.” Jane thought, and went on, “I like doing it, but I don’t love it, and I don’t mind the tastes.” She smirked at Daria. “You enjoy it more than I do, right?”

‘Most likely,’ Daria confessed.

Deciding she needed to process what had gone on, Quinn left, first telling the pair she would likely have a lot more questions.


As Jane and Daria were spooning together a little later, Jane asked, “Can I ask you something?”

The two had worked out a series of signals, so Jane knew what Daria’s nudge meant. “Fine, may I talk about something?”

Yes

“I like Troy, and you liked Paul, right?”

Yes

“But neither of us were attracted to the other’s boyfriend, right?”

Yes

Jane hesitated, and then asked, “Do you find Tom attractive?”

Daria hesitated, and then rather than signaling, she moved so that she could whisper in Jane’s ear. “A little, but I wouldn’t trade him for Troy.”

“Troy will be gone most of the time next year.”

“I will not be going to go after Tom, and I will not have a three-way with you two.”

Jane smiled, satisfied.

“It’ll just mean you’ll have to wear the harness more often.”

Jane’s smile turned into a smirk. Obviously, Daria would be shopping for more than just a toy for Quinn.


The next night, Quinn returned. ‘More questions?’ Daria asked.

Quinn just nodded her head.

“Can I ask you something first…ow!” Jane gave Daria a dirty look. “Fine, MAY I ask you something first?”

“I guess,” Quinn agreed with a bit of hesitation in her voice.

“Are you interested in guys as well as gals? I ask, because to an outside observer, you might seem to be very interested in guys but are, well, skittish.”

Quinn hesitated, this time in thought. Finally, she spoke. “You know, sometimes I’m not sure. I…I actually like looking at guys more than girls. I just have a difficult time thinking about being physically close to them, but I don’t mind being close to girls.”

‘Is that why you are attracted to Nikki and now Kylie?’ Daria asked.

“Probably, but Nikki says she’s not into girls at all, and, well, Kylie’s been changing but I don’t know if he, err, she knows what she wants or is.”

‘Well, it’s too bad about Nikki, even if she’s really a bit too old for you.’

“She’s just turned twenty!”

‘And you’re sixteen, not eighteen,’ Daria reminded her sister.

Jane stepped in to prevent any argument from really developing. “Anyway, I need to talk to you about Kylie.”

“What?” Quinn demanded. “Why should I not, well….”

“Explore? Simple, I know for a fact that Kylie’s having sex with at least two of the guys here. I don’t know if this is new behavior or not, on Kylie’s or their parts. I don’t know if there are other guys, or girls, involved. What I do know is that if any one of those involved were active before this, there is an ever-growing possibility that one or more has an STD, and do you really want to explain to your mother how you caught one?”

Quinn clenched her jaw in anger at that lecture, but after nearly two minutes she demanded. “How are you sure?”

“I overheard one of the guys telling them that if they wanted to keep spit-roasting Kylie, then they use condoms and do it in his room, not in the showers late at night.”

“What does that mean?”

“Spit-roasting? It means while Kylie was giving one a blowjob while the other was well up his butt. Apparently, they did it late at night in a shower stall because they had run out of condoms and wanted to be able to clean up easily.”

“Eeew,” Quinn muttered as she colored a very deep pink at that blunt statement.

Daria took her sister’s hand for a moment to get her attention. ‘Do you want to talk about something?’

Quinn sighed. “I suppose not now; nothing is going to happen this summer.”

Daria hesitated, and then asked, ‘Would you like for me to talk with Nikki?’

“About what? She’s not interested in girls.”

‘Not in doing anything, no….’ Daria looked at Jane. ‘Do you think she would be willing to pose for you two to draw?’

“She might allow me to,” Jane responded slowly, “but I think anything more than that would smack of voyeurism at best.”

Daria had to nod in agreement, and Quinn with disappointment. “Best to leave it alone, then,” Quinn finally said.


The Sunday before the final week, the scenes selected for filming were announced. There would actually be two films, one where each scene would be treated as a stage scene and the other (involving a great deal more camera work) as movie scenes. Daria was mostly content to have one stage scene and two movie scenes selected. She would only be a primary actor in her Galatea movie scene but she would be an extra in a few others. One of the other writers had been inspired by Daria’s original acting to write a fully-silent movie scene, and Daria would play a secondary character in that.

The scenery and costume groups were very busy setting everything up, so that the stage scenes could be shot that Thursday, and the film scenes videoed on the final Friday. While Jane managed to easily duck out of any suggestion of performing (aided by the fact that while any writer not involved in a scene would be drafted to help redress the sets, there was still a lot of redressing needed so all the scenes could be shot), Quinn managed to insert herself as an actress in three scenes in total, and three more as an extra.

The final week was therefore a very hectic one. A number of the students, no matter which group they had been participating in, had at least some desire to act, either on stage or screen if not both. Seeing the effort involved in getting scenes set up, lines memorized on short notice, blockings for competing scenes overlapping, etc., made some question if acting was a career that was worth it. The stage scene actors also faced the fact that a number of summer students, graduate students, and campus staff were recruited to act as a live audience. Those actors quickly learned why they had been coached not to step on lines, especially not laugh lines or their dramatic equivalent, so a few of the scenes, although well-filmed, did not get the audience response the writer/director and cast had hoped for. This was especially true for the writer/directors who had cast their scenes more on the basis of friendship and/or looks than just talent. Those who looked for talent first (including Daria) got the best audience responses.


So that late the next morning (Saturday, August 14), as the trio said farewell to Amy and boarded the train, Daria was especially pleased with the previous five weeks. Her scenes in the two student films nicely rounded off her writing portfolio; she would start sending out applications as soon as the colleges she hoped for opened admissions (most around November 1). So she sat, holding Jane’s hand, and mentally prepared herself to transitioning back to Lawndale.

She really wasn’t ready to go back. Troy was at this point the only attraction of Lawndale that wasn’t currently either holding her hand or sitting nearby and sulking. Of the three, Daria had probably grown the most, in terms of confidence in her writing, her love for Jane, and most of all in accepting herself.

Of the three, Jane was the least changed by the five-week experience. She had had to quickly learn a new visual vocabulary, and had done so with little difficulty. After a somewhat slow start (caused mostly by her not realizing the limitations of the resources available), Jane had quickly surged towards the forefront of her group, both in concepts and in execution, although granted Daria had helped her recognize what was possible. Jane had surprised herself over the previous year, as Daria had drawn her fully into the idea of going to college and what she would need to do to join her friend at a top-tier (or at least a state school that approached the upper-tiers). She knew the recommendation letters and photos for her portfolio from the workshop would help her achieve that goal. However, as much as Daria was looking forward to seeing Troy, Jane was equally looking forward to seeing Tom. In addition, despite what she often claimed, Jane had some strong sentiment towards the town she had lived in her entire life. Neither Daria nor Quinn would ever think of themselves as Lawndale natives once they left (even if they were even less inclined to identity with Highland, where they had lived nearly three times longer).

Quinn had on the whole enjoyed the summer—what she had learned about costume design had increased her already high appreciation for fashion in general, and she had been praised even to her satisfaction for both her skill and imagination. However, she was still far less sure than her sister had been the year before over a path forward. She also envied Daria; like Daria, she had a wide-range and very different view of relationships than most. Both sisters were drawn to male and female; both had some real inhibitions to opening themselves up, especially towards males. Yet Daria had physical and emotional relationships with Jane and Troy, and seemed to be quietly but openly very sensual with both. Quinn had been surprised how open (if still discreet) Daria had been that summer about her relationship with Jane. Even if it rarely went beyond holding hands, quick hugs, and occasionally a kiss (usually on the cheek), there was no question that those two were a committed couple.

Quinn could still not understand that she was looking almost exclusively for the perfect partner, when she still had no idea what she wanted in such a partner. Therefore, she couldn’t find someone to start exploring the possibilities with. She didn’t believe that Daria had just been lucky that who she found so quickly were both working out well; she still expected a partner to just appear in her life.

Quinn was also unhappy because some of what she had managed to buy in New York was being shipped home – she couldn’t carry it all, and neither Daria nor Jane would help her. ‘At least Aunt Amy will ship it to me,’ Quinn thought as she gazed out the window. ‘Lawndale, who can be satisfied with Lawndale after five weeks in New York?’