"Only for awhile, though!" Ace continued after a short pause.
"Jesus fucking-... Can you not give me a goddamn heart attack?! I thought you meant leaving for good, you asshole!" I let out a sigh of relief, trying not to smile as I playfully pushed him back.
His lips formed a great smile, "You'll just miss me that bad, huh?"
I rolled my eyes along with his words.
I then saw his smile slowly fading.
"When are you leaving?"
"Next Monday... I'll be flying out to America, and won't be back until June."
"So I won't get to see you when I come back, huh?"
"Well, no, but-"
The back doors suddenly swung open as Dan entered through, "(Y/n), we have to go, right now."
He took hold of my hand tightly, pulling me away from Ace. Dan started to lead me out, but we were abruptly stopped by Scarlett barging in,
"We have a problem out front!"
"What kind of problem?" Ace asked her.
"Why didn't you tell me you took a photo with a fan in front of the shop the other day?!" Dan immediately questioned me.
The three of them all looked at me, waiting for a response.
"I did that? .... How long ago- OOOOH."
"I.. Might've forgotten to tell you. She said to tell you 'hi' though! Why do you ask?"
"Phil finally finished editing and posting the video from last night; you know, the one with us in it."
"Oh, so THAT'S the problem." Ace leaned against the now opened back door with his arms crossed, looking out to whatever 'the problem' was.
Dan let go of my hand, allowing me to view at whatever it was as well. Standing on my tippy toes, I peaked over Ace's broad shoulders to see a large group of people standing outside of the shop...
And that's when I saw her.
The same younger girl I had taken a picture with the other day, standing right in front of the shops window and wearing a D&P merch shirt.
Ace moves aside and shut the back door closed once again,
"Probably best if you and Howell leave unnoticed, huh?"
"You didn't tell her you work here, did you?!" Dan asked me.
"No, of course not! Why the hell would I do that?"
"Well, maybe we all wouldn't be in this situation if you didn't take a picture with the girl in the first place!"
"What was I suppose to do?! Be a rude ass and tell her 'no'? She's one of your fans and I didn't want to make her feel more awkward than she already was, Daniel!"
"Um... guys?" Scarlett spoke up, but was quickly drowned out as Dan spoke again.
"You could've at least told me about it, did you ever think of that?! I wouldn't have practically showed everyone watching Phil's video that we're dating. Do you not understand how bad it is that they know where you work now?!"
"I literally just told you I didn't tell her! Would you rather us be kept a secret? Because I don't want that!"
"That's what I want if it means you're able to be safe and still live your life normally! I told you yesterday that I don't want you to lose your job because of me!"
"You're being ridiculous right now, Dan!"
"Says the one who can't seem to notice how worried I am about her!"
"I'm not a child!! I can take care of myself!"
"Really?! Because you often act like you can't!"
"Are you guys fucking done yet?!? I'm seriously getting a bloody headache just listening to you two!" Ace butted in, stepping in the middle between Dan and I with his back faced to me.
"Why do you always have to make yourself apart of things? Why can't you leave (y/n) and I alone for fucking once?!" Dan growled.
"I'm not about to argue with you, Howell! If anything, you should be thanking me right now; while you both were arguing, I told your little 'phandom' to fuck off and that (y/n) doesn't work here."
"Did you really tell them to 'fuck off'?" Scarlett questioned.
Ace snickered, "Rude employees don't really attract customers now, do they?"
"Ace!" Scarlett and I said in unison.
"Kidding! I told 'em to beat it, and when they asked about (y/n), I said I didn't know who the fuck she is; they're all gone now."
-
Dan and I said nothing to each other as he walked me back home.
The gloomy skies from earlier this morning brought rain... as per usual, and we had to walk in it.
In my arms, I closely held a bouquet of sunflowers that Scarlett had wrapped up for me. Dan walked close to me with his hood from his jacket up and his hands deep in his jean pockets.
Coming to a crosswalk on a busy intersection, I felt my body becoming colder and my throats getting a little itchy.
"If I get sick, I'm seriously going to flip out. No fucking way can I get sick on this week off, no way-"
My thoughts paused as I sneezed, making my throat burn a little,
"Nononononononono, this is bad. Very, very, bad!"
I felt warmth wrap around me, and noticed a hoodie being pulled onto my head. I looked over and saw Dan standing without his jacket on, since he had now wrapped it around me.
"I'm sorry for being an asshole earlier, I shouldn't have acted out that way. I became overwhelmed with being worried about you, and I didn't even notice I was just making everything worse. I'm sorry. You can be upset with me for as long as you want, but I can't let you get sick in the process."
"... Well, maybe I wanted to get sick so you'd feel even more bad about everything."
Dan obviously took me serious for a moment, but lightened up as soon as I gave him a soft laugh.
