Not My Idea

Chapter 3- I Am a Huge Fan of My Date

Oh no... This was a problem. I felt as mind began to buzz, and the butterflies in my stomach became T  Rexes. I stared at Dan. He hadn't seemed to notice me yet, but I knew any second now he would see me fangirling and the whole date thing would be ruined even more than it already was.

I took a deep breath, remembering what my therapist had always said (yes I had a therapist, don't judge). Turning around for a second I rubbed my temples.

"Dan is just a normal person, who your sister set you up with. You are just a normal girl who is not obsessed with him and his life. Just go and sit down, and talk with him. There is nothing to be afraid of, OK?"

I turned around, slapping a bit of an unsure smile on my face and shoving my hands in my pockets. Just a normal girl... I walked to the booth, the dinosaurs still running in my stomach, now subsiding to bull elephants.

"Er, hi. I'm Chloe, you're here for the date, right?" I smiled a little, trying to look a little normal at least. My inner fangirl was dying a little, but I was doing my best to contain it.

"Uh, yeah. Hi, I'm Dan. Your sister is Lauren?" I blushed for no apparent reason. God, I was already screwing this up!

"Yeah, my sisters' Lauren. So where'd you meet anyway?" I asked. He looked slightly weirded out, and I internally died.

"Uh, would you like to sit down?" he asked, looking concerned. I blushed even brighter red, and slid into the booth across from him. I finally just stopped smiling, having had enough of this act.

"So. Uh, I guess we should talk about datey things," I said, trying to be a normal person rather than a socially awkward goose. Dan chuckled.

"Maybe so. So, if you don't mind me asking, are you American? You have a bit of an accent," he said, just making me blush even more. God, I was blushing too much, I was going to freak him out. I hoped that the layers and layers of makeup were covering my beet-red face.

"Yeah. I moved here about a year ago from LA. My sister, who you met, came here for some sort of job in fashion. I wouldn't know about it. So uh, have you lived here in London long?" I said, smiling naturally instead of the fake thing I had done before.

"I moved here two years ago with my roommate, Phil, for work. I used to live in Manchester, I grew up there." I nodded, like I didn't already know this stuff. As I said, trying to be a normal non-stalker person.

"That's cool. So, what do you do for work?" I asked. I wondered how he would explain YouTube without "scaring" me away.

"Well... It's pretty hard to explain. Basically, I make videos and post them on the Internet, like comedy and vlogs. You know what a vlog is, right?" I nodded.

"Yeah, I know what a vlog is." I replied. He smiled.

"You seem to be taking my profession very seriously," he said, "What do you do?" I mimed being deep in thought.

"Well, actually, my job is hard to explain as well. Basically, it involves sitting all the time, in my house, not really doing anything. So I'm kinda jobless at the moment." I explained. Dan nodded, understanding. I guess YouTube didn't really count as a job for him either.

"Hm..." he muttered, "So what about-"

"Would you like to order?" asked a waiter. Both our heads snapped up, to see the same waiter as before.

"Um, yes, actually, that might be nice," sassed Dan, "I'll have a pepperoni pizza. Chloe, what would you like?" he asked. I almost died, realizing that Dan Howell was actually asking me what I wanted for dinner on an actual date.

"I'll just have some cheese pizza," I said. The waiter scribbled down our orders and walked away. Dan and I went back to talking.

"So, as I was saying before, what do you like to do for fun? My job is really more of a hobby for me, but I definitely have a love for video games. I play piano as well." I laughed in return.

"Yeah, I'm a bit of an amateur photographer. I also love reading, and I would love to start acting again." I thought about the last time I was in a real play, way back in high school at the local theater.

"That's awesome," he replied, "I used to do a lot of acting, but a few friends of mine convinced me against it. Worst decision of my life!" he said. He seemed to find it amusing, but I could tell he was also a little upset about it, the way he laughed.

"So... What are we supposed to talk about now?" he asked, after a long space of silence. This was going downhill very quickly, and we hadn't even gotten our food yet.

"I don't have a clue. Sports? I know those are normal things." I said, trying to show a little bit of my inner nerd.

"Yeah, because sports are totally my thing," said Dan, smirking. God, that smirk was even hotter in real life. My head pounded, yet again gaining a new realization of what was happening. The blue whales were returning to my stomach, and I did not like it.

"Same. Uh, that Malaysian plane? I dunno. I seriously haven't been on a date in years!" I said. Dan nooded, an understanding look on his face.

"Same here. I've just been 'forever alone' for a while." he said. I smiled.

"You don't even know!" I said, bursting out into laughter, "You don't even know!" We laughed for a little, both arguing over who was more forever alone and awkward. I knew I was, but Dan wouldn't give up. After a bit, our food came.

"Cheese pizza?" asked the waiter impatiently. Great service they had there.

"That'll be me," I said, taking the plate from him. It was kind of hot, and it hurt my hand a bit. OK, it hurt a lot. I preactically dropped the plate on the table, causing a bit of the tomato sauce to splatter onto my shirt.

"Shoot!" I yelled, gaining the attention of ever other person in the restauraunt. I blushed and dabbed at the stain, really only spreading the red mess of tomato and grease. I sighed. It was right on the white design as well...

"Here," said Dan, taking off his leather jacket and handing it across the table. In my little dillema, the waiter had given him his pizza and walked away. I shook my head.

"No, it's fine." I dabbed a little more at the sauce and put the napkin down. It was useless.

"Seriously, take it. I don't care." I sighed dramatically and took the jacket, which smelled like mints. I tried not to smell it visibly, but it was a little hard.

"Thanks." I said, shoving my hands in the pockets, a habit I had yet to rid myself of. We ate in silence, neither one of us really wanting to ruin the moment. The pizza was pretty good, though mine had a bit of 'jumper' flavor in it.

"Anything else?" asked the ever-unenthusiastic waiter. I looked at Dan, who shook his head.

"No thanks!" I said, smiling. The date was pretty much over. I had survived. The waiter placed the check on the table, both me and Dan grabbing for it.

"No! I will pay," he said, slowly easing the bill out of my hand. I sighed. Dan took out his credit card and put it on top of the receipt.

"So would you mind giving me your phone number?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Oh. My. God. This was a dream. I recited my number, in a situation that had only occured during sleep. The waiter swooped by and took the check, and returned it quickly. We got up, and I took out my phone to text Lauren. First, I simply sent out on word.

How?