Supine 'til Aurora • Dan Howell

• Chapter 17 •

"Why did you want to be with me?"

Dan's eyebrows raised, his face dotted with sudden blotches of redness.
"Uh- Well- well I-" he stuttered, "I-I liked you a lot, Ava. I always thought you were, well, great, and completely stunning- I-," he paused, biting his bottom lip, my insides boiling, "when we first met on that bridge, the whole scenario and how you handled it made me want to get to know you. You captivated me, Virtanen. And I knew that I'd want to be your friend. I never thought that nearly 4 months later I'd be dating you, but I'm so overwhelmingly happy that I am, albeit a little shocked that someone like you could like me, but-"
He paused again, looking back at me.
"Sorry. Did I cringe you out?" He smiled sheepishly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No. No, not at all. That was lovely, I-"

"Dan?" Phil's voice called from the background, another string of words that I couldn't decipher following, the audio cutting in and out.

Groaning, Dan apologised, "Sorry. We need to go to this thing with Louise and she's just arrived."

"Okay, don't worry, it's fine."

"Talk later?"

"Yep."

The sound cut out, leaving me alone on my bed.

I thumped back onto the covers, grinning massively at Dan's words replaying in my mind.

You captivated me, Virtanen.

None of this seemed to be real still, and I couldn't believe I was going to have to go back to Helsinki and leave this behind for who knows how long, certainly if I didn't get the job.
There's Skype, but that isn't the same, and my heart bled thinking of the friendship and relationship dying at the possibility of me not seeing Dan and Phil for months.

Oliver and I had grown used to not seeing eachother for sometimes years at a time, but that made our bond stronger. Nothing terrified me more, than the friendship I had with both these men shattering purely because Skyping wasn't enough.

○○○

Before I knew it, the 8th of January had arrived, and that meant going back to Helsinki, and yet, I still hadn't heard back from Sophia, which to me, suggested I hadn't gotten the job.

Waking up felt exceedingly difficult. This was the coldest day here so far, and the air was bitter and chilled, matched with the pouring rain, resulting in the most horrendous weather to travel in, so much to the point I was worried the flight would be cancelled.

Folding my clothes into my suitcase, and pushing them down flat, I sighed, watching Alex run around my bedroom chucking all my stuff over to me. Stupidly, I hadn't packed the night before, and had left everything until this morning, meaning I was in a massive rush to do everything in the 3 hours before my flight.

Ashton seemed to be a lot more flustered than I was; all I could think about was leaving Dan here.

At 20 to 6 we left the apartment to go to the airport. Getting a taxi was difficult, but the drive was short thanks to minimal traffic.

Paying the driver, Alex, Ashton and I hopped out the vehicle. As they headed to grab my luggage, I pulled my umbrella out the boot, and opened it in an attempt to shield the three of us from the downpour.
Ashton yanked the suitcase up and wheeled it along next to me, Alex holding my carry on.
We scattered into the main building, glancing round at the signs to locate my flight.

"There it is." Alex pointed up onto the right screen, "Helsinki. The gate isn't open so you have plenty of time."

Slowly, I nodded, glancing around the grey glass panelled airport, people running in every direction, the sound of clicking wheels from the rolling suitcases clattering off the polished walls.
My chest knocked around with every heartbeat, saddened by the fact I hadn't had the chance to say goodbye to Dan and Phil.
Ashton gave me a wistful smile, before heading towards the check in desk, both me and Alex following.

After about 20 minutes, we reached the desk, a red haired man grinning up at us through his thin rimmed glasses. He scanned the paper I had printed off with my flight number on, and printed me out a ticket.

Exiting the cue, I hugged Ashton and Alex goodbye, pressing my lips together to avoid crying. I hated this element of having a holiday here. Leaving them was the worst part. As Ashton began to give me a lecture on air safety, I zoned out, my mind phasing back to think of Dan and how I didn't say goodbye. I knew I'd see him on Skype soon enough, but that was never the same as a physical presence. My entire body felt heavy at the thought of the relationship not working because of the distance between us.

Just as Ashton finished his lecture, two 6 foot men entered through the glass doors, one of them crashing into the frame as it opened, the other almost falling over someone's suitcase, earning a vicious glare from an elderly man as he shuffled quickly away. The one who has crashed into the door was unmistakeably Phil, who had turned bright red and was rubbing his arm.
Dan's eyes locked with mine as Alex and Ashton registered what I had seen.
My lips broke into a huge smile, as I walked over to them both, barely managing to contain my happiness.

"I thought you two would be asleep." I raised my eyebrows, earning a sheepish grin from Dan.
"We couldn't not say goodbye." Phil exclaimed, wrapping his arms around me and giving me a tight hug. "I can't believe you're leaving already."

"I know. It went ridiculously fast. The next time I come back here will probably be next Christmas."

Dan pouted, "No luck with the job then?"

I shook my head, pulling my phone out of my pocket as I felt it begin to buzz rapidly. Pressing it to my ear, the three of us headed back over to Ashton and Alex.

"Hello is this Ava Virtanen? This is Sophia's assistant calling about the job interview?" A chipper voice asked.

"It is." Glancing up at Ashton, I mouthed "It's the job people." Earning an excited thumbs up as he whispered to the others what was going on.

"Great! I have some good news: you got the job! You'll start on the 20th of January, will that be okay?"

A broad smile spread across my face, as I welled up with happiness. "Thank you so much."

She laughed and gave me a few more strings of information before she hung up.

I had the job.

I was going to move to England.

________

So things are picking up again! Keep reading. The book is about to get dramatic.... x