jealous ➳ daniel howell

17

I sniffle and slam Seth's apartment door shut, pulling out my phone. I call a cab and exit the apartment building.

I stand on the curb, biting my nails and wiping the tears off of my cheeks every few seconds. When my cab arrives, I head home.

The door is locked when I get there, everyone must be asleep. I grab the spare key from my clutch and unlock it.

I turn the lights on and immediately take off my uncomfortable shoes, placing my clutch on the table next to the door.

I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and two painkillers for when I wake up tomorrow.

I nearly have a heart attack when I walk into my room and see Dan sitting up in my bed.

"Rachel," He quickly stands up and walks towards me. "It's 4 in the morning. Do you have any idea how worried I was? Where were you?"

I try to cover up the red mark on my cheek with my hair as he gets closer to me, but it's no use.

"What is that?" He moved the strands of hair and tilts my head up, "Baby, what happened?" He whispers.

That was enough to let a tear slip down my cheek, "I don't want to tell you."

"Did you get in a fight? Who did this to you?"

I shake my head and just lean into him.

He gives me a tight hug and I just sob into his shirt, "You'll be mad at me if I told you."

"No...I won't," I feel him kiss the top of my head.

"...Promise?" I lean back and look at him.

He nods, "I promise."

He is so sweet, and so handsome. How did I get lucky enough to have him?

I bite my lip, "When I left Seven Grand with my friend, w-we went to another bar, and...I went home with a guy I met."

"Jesus, Rachel," he mumbles.

"Hey," I lean back, "You said you wouldn't be mad!"

"I'm-" he takes a deep breath, "I'm not mad...what happened?"

"Well, we..." I shake my head, "I can't say-"

"-If you slept with him, just tell me." He interrupts.

"No! We- we didn't!" I cross my arms, "I don't...I don't think I would be able to do that to you, no matter how drunk or angry I am."

"Oh. Okay. Good," He sighs, "...So, what happened, then?"

"We, we just...talked, and we had a glass of wine, despite how much we had at the bar. And, it was really nice...but then we started arguing. I don't even remember what started it, but things got physical. He smacked my cheek, and I headed for the door and he threw his glass, but it missed me just in time."

He blinks and I swear I see a tear roll down his cheek as he hugs me again, "I love you, Rachel."

I let out a small laugh, "I love you, too."

"That guy was such an asshole. And please...next time you go somewhere, just let me know so I don't worry, okay?"

I nod. "Yeah."

"I'm going to try to control my...jealousy."

I smile and lean up to kiss his neck, "And I'll try to talk to other guys less."

"No, you don't have to do that. That little argument we had earlier was my fault. Not yours. I should have really loosened up...I'm sorry."

"Let's just go to sleep. I'm tired, and tomorrow morning is going to be extremely shitty."

He nods and we lean back from our hug.

I place my water and my two pills on my side table and quickly change into my pajamas, feeling Dan's stare on me the entire time.

When I turn around, he's just staring up at me from my bed with a small smile on his face, "You are so beautiful."

I smile back at him and lay down, pulling myself into him and taking deep breaths until I fall into asleep.

•••

Am I having the world's most painful headache right now, or did a blood vessel pop in my brain?

I turn onto my side and see two pills and a bottle of water. I quickly lean up, causing my headache to hurt even worse, and take the pills. I then lay back down and cover my head with a pillow and yawn.

I was about to fall back asleep until I felt arms go around me. "Stop touching me," I say and move away.

"Well, aren't you a grump this morning?" I hear Dan ask in his husky morning voice with a small chuckle.

"I'm in excruciating pain, what do you expect?"

"You want me to get up and fix you breakfast?"

"Mmm, if you insist." I hear him get out of bed. "Wait, Dan..."

"Yeah?"

I uncover my head and slowly lean up to look at him, "What happened last night? I know we got in a small argument and I went to another bar with my friend Emma...but what happened after that? How'd I get home?"

"Um," he turns to face me, "You said you met some guy at the bar and after a few more drinks, you went back to his house. You said you got into an argument and that things got physical, you said he smacked your cheek, and you came home crying at 4 in the morning, but I don't know how you got here. I was so worried."

I look down, "Did I sleep with him?"

He shook his head, "You told me you didn't."

"I could have been lying. I was so drunk-"

"-No. You said you wouldn't be able to do that to me no matter how drunk or angry you were at me."

I give him a small smile, "Well, I guess I was telling the truth."

He leans down and gently kisses my forehead, "So, breakfast. What would you like?"

~~~