𝔹𝕝𝕦𝕖 𝕁𝕖𝕒𝕟 𝔾𝕚𝕣𝕝

Chapter Twenty-Four

When Jess finally understood that Freddie wasn't going to try to steal Dani from him, they became quite good friends. They both had the same careless attitude, although Freddie's was more happy than Jess's, and the same ability to shoot back witty comments automatically. The three had spent the past days together at Luke's, helping out at the diner, which Freddie was brilliant at and the others weren't, and generally reeking havoc which they were all brilliant at. If Luke had thought Jess and Dani were bad, he nearly had a heart attack when he realized what they would be like with the tall blue-haired boy who was laziness and bony elbows and sunshine as well.

But the thing about Freddie is, he is good at hiding things. He knows how to switch off emotions and cover them up with a crooked smile and lazy remark or cheeky wink, leaving everyone clueless to his real feelings. He knew how to control himself, how to come up with excuses as to why he was staring at Dani like that, or why he hugged her tighter then usual or why he spent more time with her than alone like he usually did or why he had to turn away whenever Jess and Dani kissed, not because he was disgusted or embarrassed but because it hurt him. He knew how to cover these up because he knew it would never work, him and Dani and that hurt to, but it was for the best, he told himself, to stay friends. But he didn't know if he could hide the fact that he was, like Jess and Tristan and probably many other unfortunate boys, utterly in love with Daniella Hayden.

Because that's what Dani did, unintentionally, she made people fall in love but she never knew.

***

Dani was curled up with her mother on the sofa after watching The Shining and Bring it up Baby with her. Freddie had left to help at Luke's halfway through the first film.

"You sure you're okay?" Dani whispered, not really sure how to help her mom. A wedding gift had arrived for her and Max earlier on and Lorelai had supposedly brushed it off.

"Yeah, hun, always." Lorelai smiled, "But thanks for asking."

Dani shrugged, "You would do the same." She was about to say more when the phone rang and Lorelai got up to answer it. Dani sat up as well, stretching her stiff limbs.

"Hey Blue, it's for you. Tammy." Lorelai passed her the phone, "I'll have it back after though, I need to call some people."

"Mmkay. Hey Tam." she took the phone and went into her and Rory's room, plonking down on the mattress.

"Hey. Do you have Freddie at the moment?" Tammy asked, "He didn't say where he was going but I just thought."

"Yeah, he's staying here for a while." Dani nodded, "He's fine." she added, knowing how much Tammy worried about her older brother.

"Well, Dan, I think he still has a crush on you." Tammy said in one breath.

"Tammy, we've been over this, Freddie doesn't like me, and even if he did, I don't like him." Dani groaned. "He said that two years ago and we've barely talked since then."

Freddie had told Tammy that he had a crush on Dani two years ago and she had told Dani straight away, even though Freddie told her not to. Dani had shrugged it off as teasing and forgotten about it since.

"But, Blue, he asks about you all the time, he wasn't going to make it to my birthday until you were mentioned and then his calendar magically cleared and he's there now with you. Just think about it." Tammy begged.

"No, Tammy. Freddie doesn't like me and I don't like him. I'm dating Jess anyway and I'm not letting your stupid ideas get in the way of that." Dani snapped, getting fed up. She knew that her tone would bounce off Tammy who knew her too well to know that she wasn't really angry.