the Secret Life of Damien Carmichael

3. Daydreaming (part III)

The Dining Hall was largely empty upon Damien's arrival, save for Carrie who was sitting in the far corner of the room. She waved excitedly to him, beckoning him over as if she expected him to sit somewhere else. It was then that Damien noticed she had once more roped Oliver into sitting with her. Oh buggering hell, what is she thinking? He pointed to the lunch queue indicating that he was going to get something to eat first, and could only hope that she didn't decide to out him to Oliver before he finished. He didn't really think she would, but the constant fear of being found out loomed over him all the same. Such was the closet curse, so long as he remained closeted, he was always at risk of being discovered.

Sucking in a deep breath, Damien grabbed his lunch and made his way towards Carrie and Oliver. He didn't know why Oliver was even sitting there. He couldn't help but wonder if he'd end up leaving the second he sat down, but he opted not to focus on that too much, crossing the long empty Dining Hall, he made his way towards Carrie's table and took a seat beside her.

"I would ask why you picked a table as far away from any human as possible given it's empty but that seems to answer itself," Damien replied as he sat down. Oliver eyed him but otherwise said nothing. Damien's knee jerk desire was to want to be catty or snotty in defense, but something about the look on Carrie's face told him to keep his mouth shut. So he did.

"Damien, you know Oliver," she said. Damien smiled at him, Oliver merely nodded politely. Damien frowned and began to tuck into his lunch. "I was just telling Oli here about your love for the Wisher trilogy, turns out he's a big fan too," she said with a smirk. Damien held back a groan, but only just when his phone buzzed suddenly.

Damien raised an eyebrow, pulling the phone out of his pocket, it was a text from Carrie. He didn't remember giving her his number but then he was sure it had to have happened when he was drunk.

Carrie: I didn't tell him about your writing, obviously. Give me some credit.

Damien sighed, he was somewhat comforted by this, though he wasn't super thrilled that Carrie was just telling this person who he was certain wanted nothing to do with him, personal details about his life. He supposed the Wisher trilogy was a safe enough topic. There was nothing inherently gay about the series, which was for many fans part of the problem with it, and why fanfiction had become so popular.

Locking his phone, he slipped it back into his pocket and turned to Oliver who seemed to be staring intently at his food in an effort to avoid any actual conversation. Carrie looked perturbed. He almost felt bad for Oliver.

"What was your favorite book?" Damien tried.

"Nightmareworld," Oliver said quietly. Damien's eyes widened, he hadn't honestly expected an answer, and he certainly hadn't expected Oliver's answer to be the same as his own.

"Mine too," he admitted. Oliver looked up then and gave him a brief sort of smile. The sort of smile that held in it a question. Damien swallowed trying to keep his face impassive.

For her part, Carrie looked if anything relieved, and a little too smug for her own good. "It's inarguably the best of the three," she said with a smile.

"I mean they're all good in their own right," Oliver said. "But Nightmareworld holds a special place in my heart." Damien stared at him then. He didn't want to overthink the meaning of what he was saying. After all, a lot of people loved Nightmareworld. It was the penultimate book in the series, the one in which everything changed.

"What's your favorite part?" Carrie asked, looking at Damien. Damien swallowed. He was fairly certain she knew the answer to this already. It was the part everyone in the fandom loved.