#dani2

After making it clear that she thought his dick game wasn’t “that good” and that she thought he was no more than a pervert, Glade’s reasons for keeping his contact with Dani completely non-sexual were threefold. For one thing, he had already decided their working relationship while she designed and created a custom Halloween suit for him should be entirely professional—fewer distractions meant better attention to detail after all. But the note they ended on when they had last hooked up inspired another two motivations for keeping things PG between them. The first was admittedly petty: she had insulted his pride and implied that he couldn’t get some whenever he wanted, so he wasn’t planning on making himself available to her even if she wanted some. (Glade was pretty sure she was more pent-up than he was if she was so ready to jump on him before, when she clearly couldn’t stand him. On the other hand, he had no issue finding others to get off with in the meantime.)

His last reason was less about punishment and more about reframing…If Dani knew nothing about him but that he was a horny motherfucker, of course she would dismiss him as a perv and mark down everything he did to some deviant whim. For the first time since they’d met, Glade had seen a glimpse of a future in which the two of them could actually become friends—their shared interest in a particular holiday being a good jumping off point for bonding—and it would never happen if she kept seeing him as a sex-driven degenerate. That was only part of his personality: he had a lot more to offer! Since the first text messages establishing the commission process and their first meeting for measurements, he had refrained from saying all of the sexual innuendos that came to mind (which was a hard ask, honestly) and only teased Dani in the same light-hearted way he would treat his friends. It was quite a change, considering they had never had such innocent interactions before, but after the first few conversations Glade thought she had finally stopped expecting him to try anything more.

“This one’s for Daniiiii….Devito”

She thought it was going to be another one of his heartbreak songs, or maybe even another rendition of ‘Gives You Hell’ — both while annoying as it would have been to hear especially considering how Dani thought that she and Slightly were finally making some strides in amending the issues they had with one another, at least either song choice would’ve been familiar for her. Expected even. So while at first, the redhead had a skeptical look on her face when her ex-boyfriend dedicated his karaoke song of choice to her, she also still put up a smile when a few people nearby turned to look at her. Nervous and unsure, her hand reached over to grab Dipper’s, feeling glad that she had him there besides her at the moment. Maybe they should go make their way towards a different part of the apartment and not listen to Slightly’s song? But before she could utter that suggestion, Slightly began singing.

If you change your mind, I’m the first in line Honey, I’m still free Take a chance on me

What.The.Hell. Eyes opening wide and her hold within Dipper’s hand tighten, Dani could only stare at her ex with shock. He was not doing this right now. In front of all these people? In front of Dipper? She was in such a state of shock that once the song finally came to an end, it hadn’t dawned to her that there were still people looking at her. Waiting, as if they were expecting some kind of reaction from Dani. And when she turned her gaze back towards Slightly who was looking directly at her as well, all the redhead did was shake her head. Releasing Dipper’s hand, Dani turned and left the room. She pushed through the crowd, not caring where she was going just as long as she got far away from that room as possible. Away from Slightly— only for someone to grab her hand and stop her. Turning, she now became face to face with her ex who began to spew out words about them getting back together. “What? No!” She rejected, pulling her arm away from him. Was this the reason why Slightly invited her to this party in the first place? To try and get back together with her?

Shaking her head once again, Dani turned away and continued to walk. While doing so, the redhead inhaled deeply, trying to force away the stinging within her eyes as tears were starting to force their way out. She still cared about Slightly. She did, and if this were any other day, a different time, than maybe she would reconsider. After all, she spent months feeling bad about herself for not being able to give him her all. Months of accepting the fact that he might just hate her for not loving him the way he loved her. Heck, months of not trying anything with Dipper because of the guilt still eating her away from the inside because Dani felt like it wouldn’t be right for her to be happy when Slightly wasn’t. And yet now? With things seeming to move forward between her and Dipper? And now that she and Slightly had finally talked things out and what she thought was them being on better terms, now he does this? And in front of Dipper too? The worst would be if he overheard Slightly, a thought in which Dani didn’t want to consider until she finally found herself outside the apartment, into it’s front yard.

Rubbing her eyes, she heard the sound of footsteps behind her causing the redhead to sigh. “Please, don’t.” Dani mumbled, slowly turning to look back at Slightly once again. Likely taking her expression into account, her ex blurts out if being drunk was an excused for all this, causing her to sarcastically laugh at him. “That makes it worst!” Dani shouted, not caring if anyone over hears her. Yet as quickly as that outburst came, the exhaustion replaced it soon after as more tears fell out. “I’m sorry, Slightly. But I really can’t.” Dani whipped more tears away. Really, she couldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair if she did agree, no matter what kind of feelings were still there, they just weren’t enough. “You know it wouldn’t be fair on either of us if we tried, right?” She then said, before finally walking back towards his direction. “You should be with someone who can give their all to you and…..” Pausing right before him, she sadly smiled. “I think we both know that person will never be me.”

“I’m sorry.”  

So…He was more than a little drunk. He had started doing shots after his run-in with Tink and then seeing Ember again completely wrecked him for the rest of the night. It was all just too much to handle sober, so he turned to alcohol. That ended up being an even worse decision than he could have predicted—instead of numbing his feelings, intoxication just exacerbated them and he was reeling, grasping for something steady. In a world where people just ghosted instead of being honest about their feelings, who could he count on? There had been one person he had ever dated who hadn’t lied, hadn’t cheated, hadn’t disappeared without a trace. At the time when they were together, the knowledge that Dani had feelings for a friend of hers, even if she had no intention of acting upon them, was too much for Slightly. But maybe he should have considered it in another light: Dani cared enough about him to be forthcoming about it. She had still wanted to see where things could go for them…In time, their relationships might have grown more important to her than the love she had for this other guy. She might have even loved Slightly back eventually. But he was impatient and distrusting, unable to wait it out and risk letting himself be burned once again by someone who could dump him at any moment for all he knew at the time.

Maybe it was all him. Maybe he was the problem. He was the one constant in all of his failed relationships. There was just something about him that kept people from wanting to stay, and the one who did he had driven away by being suspicious that she would eventually abandon him, too. If he recognized this, though, he could actually do something about it, fix the problem. Fix himself and be the person he should have been the first time around. Getting up to dedicate a karaoke song to his ex-girlfriend was a blur, and any “thought process” that went into his decision to sing an ABBA song after Dipper’s rendition of another of their numbers earlier in the night was directed by all the alcohol pumping through Slightly’s system and clouding his judgment. This certainly wouldn’t have happened if he was sober. It also wouldn’t have happened if Tink hadn’t kissed the boy he liked and turned the kaleidoscope of hopeful butterflies he’d been feeling earlier in the night into a swarm of hornets in his head (Prettier, smarter, braver, who wouldn’t choose her? He couldn’t compete even if he’d wanted to.) Nor would it even have happened if he wasn’t painfully reminded of another failed relationship of his—it was really a perfect storm of circumstances that put the idea in his inebriated brain that getting Dani to take him back would somehow make him feel any better. Yeah, if it weren’t for all that, the self-respect wouldn’t have entirely fled his body.

He wouldn’t be chasing after his ex, begging her to get back together for reasons that would be unclear even to himself come tomorrow morning. “You’re the only one who was ever honest. Isn’t that—that more important, maybe? The exciting stuff at the start of a relationship always fades away, and then they’re gone. But a…” He struggled to find the word, stuttering for a moment. “Commitment! That sticks. I get it now! Why shouldn’t we try again?” He blinked and they were outside. Please, don’t, she said, turning back with tears on her face. Had he really just made her cry? What the hell was he doing? She rebuffed his excuse of being drunk, though it was truly the only one he could offer right now. And then she was giving him the answer he had asked for, why they couldn’t try again. How the person who could give their all to him would never be her. And she was right—his shitty decision making in his current state aside, he did know that. But that was the fucking rub, wasn’t it? If Dani, the one who had tried harder than anybody to love him, wasn’t the one who could give her whole heart to him, then nobody was. Nobody, nobody would take him for what he was. Couldn’t she see that? Whether she realized that or not, he couldn’t argue with her, and he wouldn’t make her lie to him. He’d done his share of being pathetic the last time they’d had an emotionally vulnerable conversation; this was just earning more pity and it wasn’t productive.

I wake up from a peaceful sleep.I’m alive.I think to myself, knowing I had a stranger in my spare bedroom. I get my running shoes on and go on a run. With my iPod on full blast, I run on the beach to my favorite band, Boyce Avenue, until I tire and walk up the hill to my house.

I open my door and go check on the boy in my spare room. He’s gone. His bed was made and the banana was eaten and thrown in the trash can with the glass of water in the kitchen sink. There was a note on the bed.

Thank you so much for the hospitality. I would love to formally introduce myself to a lovely stranger. Meet me for coffee at 10 xxH

H? What does H stand for? I look at the clock; it was 9:15. I had nothing planned for today so I decided to shower and put on a band t-shirt and some high waist shorts with minimal makeup and went down to the coffee shop down the hill.

I decided to sit down and wait for H to arrive. I was early so I decided to read The Great Gatsby and then I see a shadow cast down on me. I look up to see the actually sober H standing there. His cheeky smile spread across his face as he looked at me. He extended his hand then he spoke.

“I never really introduced myself, but my name’s Harry. I want to apologize about what you saw last night, but I also wanted to thank you for helping a complete stranger last night. I never knew there were such courteous people out there but now I met you and now I do know.” I took his hand. “Nice to meet you Harry.”

“Will you please tell me your name?” He asked. “I have been dying to know.”

Maybe it was my stubborn attitude I had at the moment, or it was the fact that this gorgeous boy standing in front of me, but I decided to make him work for my name. “If I tell you my name, then I have given you what you’ve wanted. You have to talk to me first.” I said raising my eyebrows. “Stubborn, I like it.” He grinned and sat down next to me.

We started talking about all of us. He said he was from England and he decided to come to Avila to get away from the stresses there. I decided not to push him on that because he seemed very upset about it and it probably caused the excessive drinking last night. So to change the subject, he asked about me. I told him I was a student at Cal Poly and I was here on vacation before my family came for Thanksgiving. After talking about our lives, we started to talk about books and movies and music and everything in between. We were interrupted by the owner of the coffee shop.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we are closing now.” He said. I looked at the clock; it said it was 2 o’clock. Four hours!!!! Time flew way too fast and I didn’t really wanted it to end.

Practically reading my mind, Harry said something to me: “Erm, I know this is sudden, but if you don’t happen to be doing anything today, would you like to go around town with me?” He asked carefully, making sure to not push it.

I responded, trying not to sound too eager. “I had nothing planned today, so sure! By the way, my name is Dani.”

~~~

We went to the pier and got deli sandwiches and saltwater taffy. We went on the beach, searching for sea shells and cool rocks. The day seemed endless, until we got ice-cream and sat on a bench, watching the sunset together.

“Let’s play truth or dare.” Harry said with a cheeky grin. Personally, I thought it was a childish game but hey, why not be a little spontaneous. I agreed. He asked me the popular question and I answered “Truth.”

“Where does this day rank on your favorite days?” He asked me. Honestly, it was one of my favorites; I had no plan, we did whatever we wanted to, and there was no stress involved at all.

“In my top ten,” I said. He smiled like he accomplished something great and we looked into each other’s eyes like we’ve known each other for ages. Blushing, I looked away and asked him truth or dare.

“Truth,” he responded. I’m not very creative, so I asked him, “What has been your favorite day ever?”

“Today!” He said excitedly. I laughed like it was a joke, but he stopped me. “No seriously! I haven’t had a day like this ever. I did nothing but absolutely everything at the same time and I spent it with a beautiful girl who I was so lucky to ever meet.” I smiled, blushed, and took his bowl from his ice-cream and went to throw it away with mine. I came back and he asked me “Truth or dare?” “Dare” I responded and he said right away “Go swimming.”

I rolled my eyes, but I never not do a dare, so I took off all my clothes but my undergarments and ran into the freezing cold ocean. I screamed, it was freezing! I then asked him the common question and he said “Dare” so I told him to join me. He did, not before taking off all his clothes except for those Calvin Klein boxers. He ran in the cold water to me.

There we were. Two random strangers who came together by fate. We were practically naked right next to each other in this water then I realized we had no towels, and it was so cold.

“Do you want to go back to my house? I have towels there!” I offered and he agreed. We ran quickly up the hill, still half naked, to get to my house as fast as possible. We got in my house, laughing at what we just did. We weren’t even half a foot away from each other when he asked me, “truth or dare?”

“Truth,” I answered. He gazed at me with those piercing green eyes and moved closer, if that were even possible.

“Would you be okay if I kissed you right now?” He asked. We were touching, our wet bodies close together with us staring at each other. Then I whispered, “Why don’t you find out?”

And with that we were kissing. It was soft at first, us kissing in my little blue house. Then, it was passionate. He grabbed my waist and lifted me on the counter so I could be the same height as him.Tall and strong,I thought as I wrapped my legs around his body.And ripped.He picked me up and walked me to my bedroom. He dropped on the bed leaving me on top of him. We rolled (that sounds weird, but that’s what happened soo…) and he went on top of me.

“Harry?” I said as he moved to kissing my neck. “mhmm” he responded, which sounded like a mixture between a moan and a response.