~𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕠𝕣~ |𝕢𝕦𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕚𝕥𝕪 [COMPLETE]

14: Silence Falls

The man, Danni's father, gave me a stern look through his small framed glasses. He gave me a very strong handshake. Like holy honk this mans grip is STRONG.

"I'm Danni's Father, you can call me Mr. Raybourne or sir. Preferably sir."

"Nice to meet you, uh sir."

I placed the bear and card on the dresser next to Danni's bed and pulled up a chair to sit next to Danni's father. The three of us share a brief moment of silence, occasionally getting a glance at Danni before staring at the floor once again.

The tension in this room is so thick, I can cut it with a knife. I can only imagine the confusion they must've had when I entered the room. The awkwardness is finally broken when Lauren speaks.

"So Alex, How do you know Danni?"

"Oh uh well," I hesitate before saying anything else. I mean, I didn't want to tell their parents that I kissed them and haven't even gone on a date with them yet,

"I know Danni from a mutual friend. We started to click at the MCC Ball."

We all laugh, but not the serotonin kind. We laughed like when you hear a relative say something really controversial at a family event, just smile and wave boys.

The silence joins us again once more, until it was broken by Mr. Raybourne saying something i never knew I needed.

"So Alex, do you want to see a photo of Danni from highschool?"

"Yes sir, please." I say, scooting closer to him as he pulls out his phone.

Before he could even unlock his phone, we all turn as we see Danni beginning to stir. They take a moment to breathe before fluttering their eyes open. Danni takes a moment to take in their surroundings before sitting up.

Tubes leading from their nose and wires plucked into their arm move with them as they scan the three of us by their bedside.

"Do. Not. Show. My. Photos." Is the first thing Danni says making us all laugh. The serotonin kind this time.

~

Danni's parents left the two of us alone to talk. Kind of glad they did because Their father is s c a r y.

"What, exactly happened?" Danni asks, still kind of grogy from the sleep.

I explained everything. The ball, the forest, the ride to the hospital. They look at me while I was explaining as if this was all new information. I guess the hypothermia from the cold really got to them.

"...and that's basically it. I came here to visit, and met your parents." I said, resting my hands on my lap. I left out the part where I almost cried while holding them because I was so scared they could've left too soon.

Danni takes a minute to soak everything in. And then opens their mouth to speak.

"I'm really sorry if I scared you like that, I was just so embarrassed at the time."

Oh yeah, the Techno thing.

"He was being an idiot and It got really uncomfortable to be in that room at that point so i just...ran." They explained.