Danielle woke up the next day at eleven. She quickly got dressed and left the house. She felt like she had no friends to turn to so she walked to the café. She hoped she wouldn't run into Ethan after all the things Allison said the previous day. She walked inside and took a seat in the back booth. She put her head down and tried not to think of anything.
"Can I help you?"
Danielle looked up disappointed to find another waitress standing in front of her.
"A cup of coffee please."
The waitress nodded and got her, her coffee. She sat there sipping her cup slowly. She felt so alone and lost.
"Maddison is probably with Allison; Andy probably hates me right now, and Ethan's probably with his girlfriend..." She thought to herself.
Danielle grabbed her phone from her pocket. It was on silent. She checked it and noticed that there were messages from Maddison, Andy and even some from Ethan. Danielle decided to call Andy, he was her best friend and despite everything she knew he cared about her. After twenty minutes Andy arrived at the café and took a seat in front of Danielle who looked very upset.
"Danielle are you okay? Maddison told me what happened between you and Allison."
"Oh she told you. Everything?"
"Yeah. Forget about Allison, she's just a b-"
"She's right."
"What?"
"She's right. I'm nothing and everyone could care less about me."
Andy stood up and took a seat next to Danielle.
"You're not nothing, and I know for sure that people care about you. I care about you, a lot and I promise I'd never leave for forget about you or hate you. Never."
"You're just saying that to make me feel better."
"I swear I'm not. I love you Danielle. You're my best friend and I never want to lose you."
Danielle managed to smile under all her tears.
"Can you keep a secret?"
"Of course."
Danielle lifted her shirt a little revealing her stomach all bruised and cut. She could see the sorry look in Andy's eyes as they glanced over her.
"I'm a mess." She managed to say with a chuckle before bursting into tears.
Andy touched her hand.
"You may be a mess but you're my mess, and I want to try and fix you if you'll let me."
Danielle picked up her head and gave Andy a big meaningful hug. She felt like she could trust him with her life and it relieved her that she told someone about her depression. She pulled away from Andy slowly. Their arms were still wrapped each other and she felt his breath on her face. Without thinking she closed her eye leaned in and kissed Andy. She was expecting Andy to pull away but he didn't. He gave her a long tender kiss. Suddenly she opened her eyes and pulled away from Andy pushing him back.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to."
"Danielle I-"
"I'm sorry I have to go."
Without another word Danielle quickly pushed passed Andy and headed for the exit wiping her lips. She took a deep breath as she got outside and walked down the block. Her head was throbbing and she felt bad for leaving the way she did. She walked to the park and sat on a bench with her hands to her face. She thought about his big beautiful blue green eyes and his smile to die for. She realized that Allison was right and that soon, especially after that he would end up forgetting Danielle.
"Hey."
Danielle looked up to find Ethan sitting next to her.
"Great, not you."
"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you with my presence."
"It's not you, I'm just having a bad day. More like a bad life."
"Come on don't say that. What are you doing here anyways? Maddison got me worried about you."
"You worried about me? Please."
"I'm serious; I thought it was about something from yesterday."
"Well it's not."
"Then what is it?"
"Why do you care?"
"Come on, don't you trust me?"
"Should I?"
"Well I trust you."
"You never even told me anything."
"Well want to know why I'm here?"
"Sure I guess."
"Vanessa broke with me."
"Oh I'm sorry."
"It's okay. It's dumb to think that you can be in love, we're only kids. We don't know love yet."
"I wouldn't know."
"Anyways I choose to come here because whenever I'm sad I come to this park. I used to have a white puppy named Snowy when I was a boy and he was like my best friend. My parents got him just before I was born and he was like a big brother."
"Aww."
"Yeah, then four years ago he died. Honestly I cried for the longest time. Then I remembered that I used to always come here with him. When I first let him off his leash I was so scared he'd run away, but he didn't."
"I'm so sorry."
"I never told anyone that, no one seemed worth telling or interested enough to care."
"I always listen, no matter what."
"How about you give me a chance to listen?"
"There's nothing to say."
"There's always something to say."
"Well one time my brother threw a toy at me and broke my nose."
"Better than nothing I guess. I've never broken anything."
"Lucky you, it hurts."
"I can imagine."
"If you don't mind, I'm gonna go. I really just want to be alone." Danielle said while standing up.
Ethan stood up as well and reached for Danielle's hand. "Can I at least walk you home?"
Danielle's eyes fell to her hand for a second, and then she pulled her hand back.
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"Well why not?"
"It just isn't."
"Oh. Okay then."
Just as Danielle was about to turn to walk away she felt guilty. She knew Ethan was just trying to be nice. Her head was throbbing even more at this point and she felt sick and dizzy.
"Actually I change my mind, can you walk me?"
"Sure. Are you okay? You look pale."
"I'm feeling a little dizzy."
"Well you should hold my hand so you don't lose your balance or anything."
"Seriously? You think you're slick?"
"I'm only trying to help you."
Ethan smiled at Danielle and she smiled back. She grabbed his hand and they walked away from the park to her house.
