Damned

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ever since I said those three short, but oblivion filled words, Daniel acted differently. He wasn't as hostile towards Erik, protective towards me, or passive aggressive in general. In fact, he was oddly overly cheery. It was weird.

Like today, which was the day before Ivelyn's birthday and the last day to plan, he was running around with a big smile on his face. Everyone was at the venue helping. Danie was even being civil to Erik, which I had never seen happen before. Like, Erik had been hanging up some of the ribbons that needed to go ceiling to floor, but it wasn't twisting right, so Daniel rushed over to help him.

My jaw had dropped, making Mir and Kate bust out into laughter.

That had been three hours ago and Daniel was still in a great mood. I don't think I had ever seen him this happy. There had to be more to his splendid mood than just me saying those three little words, right? Except, that his mood had done a 360 the second I told him how I felt. Why was that? Had he really been that insecure?

I know I'm not always the best with my feelings, but I thought I made it pretty clear that I cared about him. Here he was, acting like a totally different person and I was questioning everything. That's why I put myself on cleaning duty. The place was pretty clean, to begin with, but it was the tiny details. It was scrubbing the windows and making sure the ledges were dust-free.

It was also the only job that was a one-person job.

I wasn't trying to be antisocial. I just needed some time to think.

I hadn't been alone since I confessed my love to Daniel. On Monday, he had surprised me with a giant bundle of red roses and watched The Office with me. Then, today he had shown up at my house at the crack of dawn to bring me breakfast. I hadn't even been awake, so when I opened the door in my PJ's he asked if he could stay.

He meant well.

I know he did, but-- I stopped myself, remembering what Phantom said about saying "but" after you say something meaningful, it takes away the meaning. Bottom line: Daniel meant well and I was glad he was in a better mood. I was just stressed because Ivelyn's party wasn't ready yet.

"Do you need any help?" Speaking of the Devil, Daniel popped up next to me. His face was in full smile. He was wearing a blue t-shirt that made his freckled pop. He bent down next to me, offering to help with the ledges.

I looked around, wondering what he could do.

"Uh, can you call the fire guy and make sure he signs the contract? I want to make sure we don't get sued if he catches anything on fire." I gestured towards my purse that was on a table about twenty feet away. Daniel nodded and rushed over to the contract.

That bought me about a half hour.

It wasn't nice of me.

I just needed a moment alone.

I finished the window ledges and then moved onto the floors, which was an impossible feat. Everyone was walking around, making messes, which made it the perfect distraction. After that, I tried to fix some of the ribbons Erik and Daniel had done. They needed to look like fire, which was hard to ask a silk ribbon to do.

Still, after a little finesse, it mimicked flames.

"I never noticed that you're a perfectionist," Mir commented. She was working on the tables, covering them with red table clothes and setting up the trays. The room was starting to come together. It wasn't quite red enough, but once everyone was dressed in red, I think it would look good.

"I'm not," I laughed. "I'm just trying to do my best Ivelyn impersonation." She grinned at my joke. I sighed, letting myself take a little break. "Mir, this party can't go wrong. I can't let Ivelyn down, not after everything she's done for me, for us, for this Coven." I gestured to everyone around us.