Daniel arrived about 15 minutes ago. I was able to greet him with a quick kiss before my parents asked to speak with him in private.
They've been in their study talking this whole time. It was frustrating to feel all of his emotions and not be able to comfort him through them.
I know my parents wanted to speak to him alone so he could be in private to react however he needed to, but I can't help but feel like shit because I'm not in there to be there for him.
When another 10 minutes go by I'm beside myself worried about what's happening behind that door. Unfortunately my dad has the place sound proofed so I can't hear a damn thing.
When they finally walk out Daniel smiles at me reassuringly, but it obviously doesn't match what I know he's really feeling.
Daniel shakes hands with my dad and hugs my mom before turning his attention to me.
"Ready to go?"
I smile at him cautiously and nod. He rests his hand on the side of my neck and pulls me towards him to kiss my forehead as if saying don't worry.
I always worry though. It's like I was born worried. I don't actually know how to not be.
"Well you guys have fun and be safe tonight." My mom gives me a pointed look and it makes my stomach turn.
"Okay bye!" I say grabbing Daniels wrist and tug him towards the door.
"Contraception sis!" I hear Maya call from upstairs. My parents avoid eye contact with me by walking towards the kitchen with smirks.
Daniel snorts but turns away from my reddened face.
Fucking assholes. All of them. If my parents weren't less than 10 feet away I'd scream at Maya to go fuck herself.
When we walk out Daniel immediately grabs my hand and interlocks our fingers.
"Sorry my sister is an ASSHOLE!" I yell a little louder knowing for a fact she can hear me from her window.
Daniel chuckles as he leads me to the passenger side of his car and opens the door for me.
"She's just telling you to be safe is all." He says with a knowing smirk.
"I'm just glad you weren't here earlier." I mutter as I sit in the car and thank him for opening the door for me.
When he gets in the drivers side he looks over at me. "What happened earlier?" He questions.
"I was traumatized. That's what."
Daniel smiles to himself. "It's times like this I'm grateful for not having real parents."
"That was fuckin dark." I remark making him laugh out loud again.
"Well it's the truth. I never had to do the whole sex talk thing." He says. "I mean I had to take health in middle school but, besides that." He says and shrugs.
"Well you're not missing much." I grumble.
Daniel laughs and rests his hand on my knee.
"I like your normal outfit by the way. Hope you don't mind if it gets dirty." He says giving my figure a heated once over at a red light.
"Look. You were very vague. Normal in girl world means like three different things." I point out.
"How is that possible? It's one word." He teases.
"Well it could mean a T-shirt and jeans or shorts. A nice blouse with jeans. Or a romper or a simple dress." Those are all the things I pulled out of my closet and threw on the floor when I got frustrated...
Daniel laughs and shakes his head. "Okay okay. I'll be more specific next time." He says giving me a teasing glare.
I smile cheekily at him before I realize he said getting my clothes dirty.
"Hold up. Why would my clothes get dirty? What are we doing?" I question.
Daniel smiles at me. "It's a surprise."
"Daniel."
"Princess."
I sigh and shake my head at him.
"Stop pretending you don't like it when I call you princess." He says squeezing my thigh.
"And what makes you think I like it" I say crossing my arms over my chest.
When we pull up to another light he turns to me and makes direct eye contact with me. He's so close it actually feels like he's reading my thoughts.
My cheeks heat up and his smirk deepens.
"I know. Princess."
I bite my lip nervously and he glances down at my lips.
Just as he leans in a loud car horn sounds from behind us. We pull away, both of us with shy smiles and red cheeks.
"You're such a tease you know that?" He says side glancing at me with a smirk.
"I am not." I pout.
"See. That shit. Right there. Do you realize how goddamn cute you are?"
"I did literally nothing." All I did was pout. Then again, every time I watch him fix his hair or stick his tongue out when he eats, I think it's the cutest thing. "And why do you keep changing the subject? Tell me where we're going." I laugh.
"I told you it's a surprise. Now sit back. Relax and enjoy the ride." He says with a wide smile.
I sigh and playfully roll my eyes. Daniel chuckles lowly next to me and turns up the stereo.
We catch the end of a song, and when the next one starts my jaw drops.
"You know this song?"
Daniel looks over at me with a gleaming smile. "You know this song?" He asks.
"Lilith showed this to me like a month ago and it's all I've been listening to." I giggle.
"Dance Gavin Dance is good." He says with a smile.
"So is Bilmuri. He's got this other song that I've had on repeat forever called Lens. Oh and another called Timing. Fuck I love his music." I smile.
When I look over at Daniel he's got a wide smile on his face when he glances at me.
"What?" I ask.
"Nothing." He smiles with a shake of his head.
"Was I blabbing? I'm sorry." I whine.
Daniel looks over at me and grabs my hand. "It's not blab." He chuckles and squeezes my hand. "Sometimes I feel like I have to pull words out of you. I like when you talk to me. Especially about the things you like." He says glancing at me again.
I'm fucking speechless. How do I respond to that?
"Don't get quiet on me again princess." He teases.
I can't help but blush at his words. I genuinely don't know how to respond. That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.
When I get excited about something it's like the flood gates open and I don't stop talking. I've always thought I annoyed people so I usually keep it in.
Daniel is still waiting on my response, so I say the first thing on my mind that's been bugging me since we left the house.
"Did you- you and my parents Uh. Talk?"
Daniel takes in a deep breath and nods. "I don't really wanna think about it." He says. "I'd rather just spend time with you." He smiles.
My heart almost stops in my chest. I can tell whatever conversation he had with my family was weighing on his mind, but he was doing his best to block it out just for us.
I say okay and we each fall into a comfortable silence. When we arrive in the midtown area of Houston I'm even more curious as to what we're doing. This area was pretty popular for tourists so I knew we'd be doing something interesting.
Daniel pulls into a parking lot and a wide smile takes over my lips.
"Painting with a twist?" I ask excitedly. I'd always wanted to go to one of these classes. When I was younger Lilith did a lot of art lessons with Maya and I. I loved them. I think Kai even still has some of our work hung up in their house. My favorite thing to do with her was paint. I took art classes and stuff over the years at school but never fully committed to it.
"How did you-" I start. But Daniel finishes for me.
"I may have talked to Maya. We're still learning things about each other and I wanted to do something special for you. Something I know you'd like." He says once we park at a space right up front.
"Daniel." I say. My words get caught in my throat. "This is the sweetest thing anyone has done for me." I say looking over at him.
The adoring look in his eyes makes my stomach do flips. I wanna kiss him so bad but I'm shit at initiating anything. Any time we've kissed it's because he's kissed me.
Oh fuck it.
I lean over the middle of the car and grab his cheeks and pull him in for a kiss. His eyes widen against my lips only for a second before they fall closed and he kissed me back.
When we pull away he looks dazed. "Well that was unexpected." He smiles. "Please do that more." He adds with a slight whine in his tone.
I laugh and nod my head and pull him in for another quick kiss. "Thank you." I say.
"You're welcome." He says and gives me another quick kiss before pulling away.
"Okay let's do this, class should be starting soon." He says with a wide smile.
I eagerly get out of the car and meet him at the front and take his hand in mine. He squeezes it as we walk up the steps and open the door.
The room is cold, and smells like paint. Canvases with many completed paintings are hung on each side of the wall. Two long tables are set parallel to each other with different sizes of canvass on easels all along them.
"Hey y'all! Welcome to painting with a twist! I'm Priya and I'll be your instructor this evening. Could I get your names?" She asks with a beaming smile.
"Danny and Angie." He says squeezing my hand again.
"Great! Here are your name tags, and the canvases you guys got are the 16X20. You can have a seat, feel free to eat or drink anything you've brought. Class will be starting in about 10 minutes."
Daniel and I put our name tags on each other and take our seats.
On the canvas is an outline of a mason jar filled with sunflowers.
"I love this!" I squeal and look over at Danny.
"Oh don't forget your aprons!" Priya calls from the front of the room where there is a stage with her own canvases on a taller easel.
Daniel gets up to grab us our black aprons that say painting with a twist on the front of them. He hands me mine and slips his on himself. I was struggling to get the tie around the back of mine and I think Daniel noticed.
I feel his hands brush over mine and a low chuckle behind me.
"Don't laugh at me." I whine.
"I'd never laugh at you." He says lowly in my ear.
His voice sends shivers up my spine making me actually shiver. I hear him laugh quietly again and I just roll my eyes. Ass.
Once he ties the apron around me he leans down and presses a kiss to my covered mark. I had to bite my lip to suppress the noise that almost came out of me.
"Hope you don't mind. I didn't bring anything to snack on because this is only part one of our date." He says as he places his hands on my hips and turns me to face him.
"That's fine." I smile.
Daniel nods with a smile and gives me a peck on the lips.
We both take our seats and carry on light conversation as more people file into the building.
Priya comes around the room with plates of the paint and brushes we'll need for the painting. I'm so giddy I'm practically vibrating in my chair.
"Alright ladies, gents, and all non binary humanoids! Class has officially begun!"
Daniel and I share an excited look and then our attention to the stage where Priya now stood.
"So first off everyone welcome to Painting with a Twist! My name is Priya and I will be your instructor for the evening. As you can see all the paints and brushes have been laid out for you, but if you guys would like a different color for any part of your piece just let me know!"
A few people request a new color, I was trying to hold back a giggle when Daniel asked for purple for his flowers because it was his favorite color.
Once everyone settles with their extra colors she begins the instruction. As she's showing us each step I feel Daniel stealing glances at my canvas. We were only filling in the background of the piece, so when I was finished I watched Daniel complete his.
He stares at his painting with his tongue barley poking out the corner of his mouth. His eyebrows were creased in concentration and his jaw was tight.
"Ease up a bit." I chuckle.
Daniels face relaxes as he looks at me with a humorous grin. "Hey. Not everyone has natural talent." He says jutting his chin to mine.
"It's just the background." I laugh.
"I know. I'm nervous about the rest." He chuckles and finishes up the remaining piece of the background.
Priya goes on to the next step which is starting the base of the mason jar and the flowers. I was pretty immersed in the project and felt a sense of peace I haven't felt in a while.
I think I missed painting. Maybe I'd have to plan something with Lilith one day.
When we got to the part of adding more details to the flowers I could sense Daniel getting slightly frustrated.
"My flowers look like a bad high hallucination." He grumbles.
I look over at his purple flowers and smile.
"Hey if I was hallucinating and saw those flowers I'd be enamored by them." I remark. They really didn't look bad. He's so hard on himself.
Daniel smiles and tries to his his blushing cheeks from me. "You're just saying that." He says with a shy smile.
"What did you tell me the other day? I don't have to be anything else but myself or hold back anything I think because we were literally made for each other." I say in a guy voice to mimic him.
He smiles at me and shakes his head. "Don't throw my words at me."
"Well don't say bad things about your painting. You literally can't mess it up. Just keep going." I say with a squeeze to his thigh.
Daniel blushes again and nods before going back to adding the details to his painting.
The class went on for another hour and before we knew it our pieces were done.
"Wow." Daniel says as he looks over at mine. When I look at his I'm just as shocked.
"Pleeease let me keep yours. It matches my room." I swoon.
"Only if I can keep yours." He says.
"It's a deal." I smile and stick my hand out for him to shake.
He shakes his head and grabs my chin with his thumb and pointer finger and places a soft kiss on my lips. "Sealed with a kiss." He says against my lips.
"You guys are too cute!" Priya pulls the both of us out of our little bubble and I'm hit with a wave of embarrassment.
A few other people in our class were looking at us with hearts in their eyes which only makes me blush more.
"Did you guys want a photo together?" She asks.
I look over at Daniel and he shrugs. "Sure."
I give her my phone and Daniel and I stand side by side with our purple and yellow flowers. He holds his with one hand and wraps the other arm around my shoulders and presses a kiss to the side of my head. I smile embarrassingly wide, and even make eye contact with one of the older couples that were in the room. The two of them beam at us as we pose for the photos.
The old couple smile lovingly at each other before pecking each other's lips and it's like I've fast forwarded 50 years. I imagine Daniel and I still doing fun new things like this as adults, and still looking at each other the way the older couple did.
"You're both so photogenic! Thank you guys for coming out tonight." Priya says as she hands my phone back.
Daniel and I share a shy look at her compliment before drying our paintings with hair dryers and grabbing all of our things.
"So what did you think?" Daniel asks as we exit the building.
"I loved it! Kind of reminded me how much I enjoy painting." I say smiling up at him.
Daniel smiles at me and leans over to kiss the top of my head.
"I'm glad. Now on for part two!" He says excitedly as he takes my painting and sets them both in the backseat of his car.
He opens the door for me again and then hops in on his side.
"What's up your sleeve now?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.
"You're just gonna have to wait and see" he says with a wink and takes off down the road.
I only rolled my eyes playfully and sat back. I wasn't sure where the rest of the night was going, but I was just glad to be with him.