Welcome to Trainwrecks: Season 2 (2005-2006)! If you haven’t read Season 1, please start there! Trainwrecks is a free-to-read fiction serial that follows a group of six Seattle-adjacent friends from the year 2004 to the year 2015. Join Luna Cruz, Sebastian Velasquez, Dimitri and Victoria Hale, Duke Kingston, and Jasmine Nolan as they stumble their way from adolescence to adulthood, falling in love, making mistakes, overcoming their pasts, and staying together through it all.
For series introduction, character profiles, relationship charts, and general orientation, check out the Table of Contents!
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Luna sat in her living room, her enormous lilac dress spilling outwards in an explosion of fabric. By itself the dress had been almost perfect, but the little stars she’d sewn onto it had made it hers. She sniffled, grabbed a tissue from the box Sebastian had left for her, and dabbed at her eyes. She’d yet to put on eye makeup because she’d yet to stop crying, and the fact that she’d be puffy-eyed and tired looking in her photos only furthered her misery. Her parents had tried to cheer her up to no avail.
She’d lost her boyfriend and her escort. And now she not only had to pretend she was happy, but lie to people about why she and Patrick had broken up. She hated lying. But at least it was for a good cause. More than she wanted to go back to the happiness of last week when Patrick was still hers, she wanted him to be safe, and she’d protect his secret for as long as she needed to.
She heard someone approaching and blew her nose, wondering how much happy she could fake. And then Dimitri, clad in a suit and looking like an out-of-place yuppie, sat on the coffee table in front of her, and her misery intensified. As if she didn’t already feel bad enough. Now she didn’t even have a boyfriend to distract her from the fact that Dimitri was mad at her and she didn’t know how to make things right between them. She dabbed at a fresh round of tears. Dimitri cleared his throat. “I know it’s your party and you can cry if you want to,” he said, “but if you cry all day, you’re going to make everyone feel bad.”
Luna sniffled. “Patrick’s not coming.”
“I know,” Dimitri said gently.
Her bottom lip trembled. “We broke up.”
“Because he’s gay?”
A pinprick of fear stabbed Luna’s heart, and she looked up at him with wide eyes. “Who told you that?”
“No one.” He looked away from her. “Jasmine and I were suspicious. We didn’t want to say anything to you because he was your first serious boyfriend, and we weren’t sure you’d believe us.”
“Please don’t tell anyone,” Luna whispered. “It’s not safe for him to be out yet.” She remembered how Patrick spoke about his father, his lack of hope at ever being understood.
Dimitri made his first attempt at a smile. “We won’t.”
She stifled a sob. “Great, now I feel like an even bigger idiot.”
“That wasn’t my intention.” He waited until she’d stopped weeping to speak again. “Come on, Moon. You keep crying like this and people are going to blame the escort.”
Luna’s eyes welled up. “I don’t have an escort.”
Dimitri reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a lilac-colored tie. “Yes, you do.”
She pressed the back of her hand against her mouth and let out a squeaky sob. “But… but you’re mad at me… and I kept… t-turning you down…”
“What, and you thought I’d leave you hanging just for that?” He slung the tie around his neck. “I’m an asshole, not a dick. But because I am an asshole, and because you kept turning me down, and because I’m still mad, this huge, wonderful favor is going to cost you.”
Of course it would, but at this point, she’d do anything to get back in his good graces. Luna blew her nose. “What do you want?”
Dimitri finished tying his tie, stood up, and held his hand out to her. “For you to be happy.”
She stared at his outstretched hand, her heart beating fast. He’d come to her rescue. Even after they’d spent all this time fighting. Even after she’d hurt his feelings so badly. Even though he was the last person she would have asked to be her escort. When she’d needed someone, he’d come, no questions asked. So she allowed him to help her to her feet, and even managed to give him a watery smile. “I’ll do my best,” she said.
No more crying. This was her party, the biggest event of her young life. Her sadness could wait until later.
~*~
One quick reshuffling of the court later, Luna’s cousin Pilar gladly stepped down from her duties, claiming she’d been a dama way too many times already. Thirteen guys and thirteen girls flanked Luna at the church as her pastor prayed a special blessing over her, and fourteen total couples participated in the group waltz, which went off without a hitch thanks to Jasmine’s relentless training. It wasn’t perfect or traditional, but the birthday girl wasn’t technically turning fifteen, so no one minded.
The main event was held at a hotel in downtown Seattle. A DJ had been hired for the occasion, but before he got into his set, Jasmine and Sebastian took the stage with their church band friends to play a special song as their gift to Luna. Duke, who had only ever heard them sing separately, got goosebumps when they reached the actual duet portion of the song. Was it too late to convince them to start a band with him?
Duke was in a good mood, all things considered. Luna had recovered from her heartache enough to enjoy her party, even if she was a bit quieter than usual. And much to everyone’s relief, Dimitri had turned out to be an excellent escort, responsible and respectful and mature, if only on the outside. He anticipated a fair amount of gloating in the future.
Now it was hour four of the party, and the DJ was playing “Mr. Brightside” which had caused a teenage mosh pit to form on the dance floor. Duke had brought his camera along to practice taking shots in less-than-ideal lighting. He got several great photos of his friends singing at the top of their lungs, and though he understood why Patrick Ashley had backed out of attending the party, he still felt bad for him for missing it.
“I’m surprised you’re not out there.” In all the noise, he hadn’t noticed Victoria coming up beside him. “You love this song,” she said.
Duke brought his camera back to his eye. “Trying to build a portfolio. My parents said if I want a car, I gotta earn one, so I’m going to see if I can find clients this summer.” He snapped a picture of Dimitri running away from Xiomara. That was a keeper.
“I’m getting my nose pierced this summer,” Victoria said.
Duke temporarily forgot he was mad at her. “Huh?”
She pressed her lips together, but her smile escaped anyway. “It’ll look cool, right?”
It would look cool. She had enough of her mom’s attitude to pull it off. But still, the prim and proper Victoria Hale, walking around with a nose ring? “Is this part of your new Juilliard persona or something?”
“No,” she said. She lowered her head and her hair tumbled over her shoulder, blocking her face from view. “I’ve decided not to go.”
Duke nearly dropped his camera. What the hell was she saying? She’d spent her whole life training for that damn school, and all of a sudden she wasn’t going?
“Not right now, anyway,” she continued, tapping the floor with her heel. “I’ve already asked them to withdraw me from consideration.”
“But why?” he blurted out. It was her dream school. The only thing she’d been talking about all year. She’d practiced like a madwoman to nail that audition, had suffered so much, worried so much, had let their relationship fall to pieces over it, and she was letting it go? It took everything in him not to yell at her to take it back. He’d go to New York and insist they reinstate her application if he had to.
Victoria tucked her hair behind her ear. “Leaving Seattle feels… premature.” She looked back at him. “I have my whole life to be a pianist, but I only have two more years to be with all of you. It’d be silly not to make the most of that.” For a moment, she was absolutely radiant, and Duke’s wounded heart reacted in spite of itself. But he still almost retreated when she took two steps closer and held out her hand. “Can we start over?”
Duke’s eyes darted from her hand to her face and back again. Juilliard, he wanted to tell her. Think about your future.
She took another step forward. “I’m Victoria Hale, Dimitri’s sister,” she said, her gaze unwavering.
And in that moment, Duke realized that perhaps she was thinking about her future. A different future, born of her time spent with all of them, that she never could have conceived of if she hadn’t come to Seattle. And this new future, she seemed to be saying with her outstretched hand, included him.
He moved his camera to his other hand, reached forward, and shook her hand once. “Duke Kingston.” Manners, his mother would have hissed at him. “Nice to meet you.”
Her green eyes sparkled in the light. “Nice to meet you, too.” She inclined her head towards the mob crowding the DJ table. “Would you like to dance?” she asked. “The photographer should get to have fun, too.”
If he was being completely honest, he did not want to dance with her. He didn’t want to hold her at arm’s length, consumed with desire for this beautiful girl but too afraid of all the ways she could hurt him to pull her closer. It was the whole reason he’d switched waltz partners at the last minute. But wasn’t that the point of starting over? To forget the past and build something new with the person standing in front of him right now? This Victoria, whoever she was, had chosen him. And that wasn’t nothing.
“Sure,” he said, setting his camera on a nearby table.
“I should warn you, I’m a terrible dancer,” Victoria said as they started towards the dance floor.
Duke smiled. “As long as you’re not worse than the birthday girl, I’ll survive.”
Author’s Note: Two friendships patched up in one night! After months of pain, all is well with the Trainwrecks kids. *holding a baseball bat* For now. :D
Aww this sweet episode was everything I needed. Dimitri only asking for Luna's happiness - what a softie! And the "start again" meeting between Victoria and Duke was ahhh.
TBH, I'm a bit worried about Victoria's decision to let go of Juilliard (for now) after working so hard for it...
AAAAHH YES YES YES FINALLY THINGS ARE HAPPY AGAIN!!!!! Dimitri and Luna making up was SO CUTE I wanted to die IM SO HAPPYYYY
And I was not expecting the double whammy of Victoria turning down Julliard AND wanting to patch up with Duke but I'm SO GLAD she did IT WAS ADORABLEEEEEE !!!!
I'll be happy to rest in this peace for as long as it lasts. That between-seasons hiatus might actually be a good thing for that reason. :P
😊😊😊😊 YAY YAY YAY RECONCILIATIONNNNN