𝘕𝘌𝘞 𝘠𝘌𝘈𝘙ʼ𝘚 𝘋𝘈𝘠
𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘛𝘌𝘙 18
[𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠]
𐙚ᵈᵉᶜᵉᵐᵇᵉʳ ³¹ ²⁰²²
Daphné woke up in a bad mood.
It was partly because someone had eaten the last donut with red, white and blue sprinkles. And whoever that was wasn't admitting it.
Another reason why was that it was the last day of the year. It made her sad that it went by so quick, and it reminded her about how time goes flying without realizing it until the moment is over. It also made her wonder about how many things she missed out on, and how many things she'll miss out in the future.
But the main reason was Walker. The boy hadn't properly spoken to her since they got off the plane. They filmed scenes for Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but after that they went their own way, not even looking at each other.
That did not go unnoticed from their friends, since they basically live in the same house. They didn't ask anything because it wasn't their business at all.
She genuinely didn't have the guts to ask him about it. Some of her flaws were that she never liked to confront her friends, or anyone really, about mistakes they've done, or that she wasn't good at communicating or sharing her feelings.
Those things caused her and Teresa, her ex-best friend, to grow out and stop talking. She didn't want that to happen with Walker too. She didn't even want to stop being friends with Teresa! But her overthinking always got the best of her and she always regretted it in the end. But she had to just live with it.
That's why she decided to talk to him today.
She obviously wasnt going to do it in front of everyone. She had to wait for the right moment. And that's what she did.
She was walking down the stairs with Leah, who was talking about a dress she found in a store.
Daphné almost fell down the stairs, fortunately for her, she didn't.
“Oh, my God. You know what we haven't done in a while?” Aryan said, sitting on a barstool in the kitchen.
“What?” Charlie asked. Daphné and Leah sat next to them and poured cereals into their bowls.
“A movie marathon! Plus, it's the end of the year and I don't know about you guys but I don't have any plans for tonight. ”
“You're so right! And tomorrow is Sunday so we don't have to wake up early! But what should we watch?” Dior said.
Walker was about to answer before Leah stopped him. “Don't even think about saying what you're about to say, Walker”
“I didn't even say anything!”
“Of course you didn't” Daphné said. Even if her tone had a tinge of sarcasm, everyone knew she wasn't joking, and that she meant the past few days.
It created some sort of awkward atmosphere in the kitchen. Even Charlie, who was in the living room, could feel the awkwardness.
“Anyway..” Dior began “I think we should watch Avatar. Unless you guys already watched it?”
“Yeah, I'm fine with rewatching it” Daphné said.
“Yeah, I'm in”
“Me too”
“Same”
“What about you, Walker?” Leah asked him.
“Yeah, sure”
Aryan whispered something to Dior and she nodded. Daphné's eyes narrowed.
“I'm gonna go to my room now. Only Leah's allowed to come in.” Daphné said as she got up. She left the kitchen before returning quickly and saying “And maybe Dior, too”
And with that she was gone.
✯ ✯ ✯
Daphné was sitting on her bed. Her back against the wall and her knees up to her chest.
She had her sketch book on her knees. She was drawing.
It had been around seven hours since they came back from work. And fifteen hours since breakfast.
Daphné was still mad with Walker. And the donut thing. But mostly Walker.
She was a very petty person, so she definitely wasn't going to be the first one to talk, it felt pathetic and weak to do so. But at the same time, she had to do something, or else she'd get a repeat of 2020 with Teresa.
She didn't want a repeat of 2020.
Walker was downstairs doing God knows what. And if he was downstairs, she was going to be upstairs just for the fun of it.
It was 11pm and her friends were putting blankets and snacks in the living room.
She felt bad for not helping them, but there was no way she was going to be in the same room as Walker. It would be too awkward, not only for them, but for everyone too.
It wasn't her fault. Not at all. He was the one who started being weird for no reason. He was the one who ignored her. And he was the one who would pretend to be busy whenever she tried talking to him.
He was being an immature bitch for no reason. The least he could do was explain the situation and why he was caring that way, but no. He did what every boy does.
The voice of Charlie stopped her from going deeper into her thoughts. He told her to come down. She put the sketch book and pencil down and made her way to the living room.
“Hey guys”
They were all sat on the sofa. The only place available was the one next to Walker on the end of the sofa.
“Can you move?” she told him. Those were her first direct words to him all week, other than when they were acting.
“What?”
“I said: can you move? What are you deaf?”
“Why should I?”
Leah and Aryan looked at each other, grabbing some popcorn and shoving it in their mouths. It was like watching a movie.
“Walker, I am 𝘯𝘰𝘵 in the mood for your bullshit! Fucking move already!”
“No? I was here first.” he said, completely unbothered.
<𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙮 𝙝𝙚ʼ𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙖 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙨, 𝙄ʼ𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤. 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚.> she thought.
“I s-”
“Okay! Okay!” Charlie stopped her from saying anything else. “Just take my place. If you want.. Just... let's all calm down, yeah?” he said, looking at Walker when saying that last sentence.
Leah and Aryan were still eating the popcorn. Dior was drinking a Dr Pepper to hold her laugh. Charlie was just looking around awkwardly as he gave his place to Daphné.
She looked at Dior and saw her trying not to laugh, it almost made her laugh too. This was completely ridiculous. It felt like they were in 2nd grade.
“I'll be right back” Walker said before leaving.
When he left, Dior couldn't help but laugh. Which made Leah and Aryan laugh too. Daphne also laughed. Charlie looked at them and cracked a smile.
“That was so hilarious” Aryan said.
“For real! I felt like I was watching some angsty romance film or whatever”
“Hey, shut it, guys!” Daphné said, even thought she had a smile on her face. “Don't we have a movie to watch?”
“What about Walker?”
“He'll come back, don't worry”
✯ ✯ ✯
Walker, in fact, did not come back. And she was in fact, worrying.
It had been over half an hour since they started the movie, and he was still wherever he was.
Daphné remembered the mental note she made of talking to him today, and she took this as an opportunity to do so.
She cleared her throat before saying she had something to do.
She went upstairs and knocked on the door to Walker's room. She didn't wait for him to answer and opened the door.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Um, coming in?”
“You didn't even let me let you come in or not!”
“So?”
“I could've been taking a shit or something!”
“Well, you aren't, are you? And, how on earth would you be taking a shit in your 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮?”
There it was. The typical banter between them. It was like everything was normal. Except it wasn't.
“Whatever. What do you want?” he said.
“Okay, first of all, lose the attitude with me cause I'm this close to throwing a goddamn toaster at you. Second of all, what the fuck is up with you?”
“I don't know what you're talking about..” he shrugged.
“Oh, come on. You know exactly what I'm talking about!”
“If you do, then how come you're acting like nothing happened!”
Walker was standing up at this point. And now that Daphné could see his face better, he had bloodshot eyes and there were tear stains on his cheeks.
“Have- have you been crying?” she said, taking a step forward.
“No? Why would you think that?”
“Walker, why were you crying?”
“You're confusing”
“Excuse me?” she was ready to throw hands.
“Not- not in general. I meant that you're confusing 𝘮𝘦.”
“I'm so confused right now. What?”
“See?! You're doing it again!”
“If anything you're the confusing one! What are you saying? Did you smoke something or what?”
“Stop, okay?! Stop acting like you don't know what I'm talking about cause that's really fucked up!”
“But I don't! I really don't!”
“So you're saying you don't remember what you said in the plane? Bullshit.”
“What the actual fuck are you talking about?”
She was more confused than ever. And so was Walker.
“What you said in the plane! Like.. An hour before arriving!”
“Woah woah woah.. Are you being for real right now? I was asleep half the time there. Did I cuss you out or something? Cause I tend to talk in my sleep. Or did I say something embarrassing?”
Then the realization hit him.
“Oh, God. 𝘖𝘩. Fuck. Um, okay I may have fucked up a bit” he said.
“Will you just tell me what I said already!”
“No! Just forget it!”
“How am I supposed to do that when you literally stopped talking to me because of it?”
“You said you like me!”
“What?” she asked.
“Yeah. But now that you said you sleep talk. Maybe that's what you were doing.”
“Huh?”
“What?” he asked, now confused too.
“Oh, I'm not shocked. I just didn't hear you, could you repeat that?” she said.
“I said.. You said you liked me”
Daphné's jaw dropped lower than Annabeth and Percy did in Tartarus and her eyes widened.
“Okay, I definitely heard you this time..”
“Yeah.. But you were just talking in your sleep. Right?” he asked quietly. He hoped she'd start laughing and say “I'm just joking! I'm super in love with you and this was all a sick joke to test your love for me! Wanna kiss?” but she didn't.
In fact, she said nothing. She stared awkwardly at the floor. She didn't want to say no. As much as she wanted to, she could get the two-letter word out.
“Daphné?”
“What”
“Were you?”
“I'm right in front of you? Are you blind as well as deaf?”
“What?”
“You asked "where are you", did you not?”
“What? No I meant did you actually mean what you said?”
“I don't know, did I?”
“I don't know? I hope so?”
“What?”
“What?”
“You just said something”
“No, I didn't. You still haven't answered my question”
“Maybe”
“Maybe what?”
“I swear to God I'm more than ready to throw that toaster if you make me repeat myself.”
“Okay”
“Okay”
“Okay..?”
“Let's stop saying okay, you're reminding me of The Fault In Our Stars.” she said
“Ok- Acknowledged”
“So what now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I'm this close to beating your ass up. Hello?! Maybe the fact that I like you is still very much real?” she said. It felt weird saying it. It made her want to crawl into a hole and die.
“Right.” he was still trying to find the right words to say.
“How about we forget about this? Like haha I'm just joking”
“I can't though”
“You're gonna have to cause I will literally kill myself if you don't”
“I just can't, okay!”
“Well, why not?” she wanted to cry right then and there, but she didn't.
“So you know why I was avoiding talking to you?”
“Hah, you weren't avoiding 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 to me, you were straight up 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 me, idiot”
“It's because.. Well I- Okay. I lo- I liked you too”
“Liked? In past tense.”
“No! I still like you. I like you a lot, trust me. It's j-”
“No, you don't”
“What?”
“You don't like me”
“How would you know?”
“Cause I can tell you're only saying that so that I wouldn't feel embarrassed. I would have known if you like me”
“Please, you didn't even know the difference between cotton candy and fiberglass insulation until you had to spend a week in the ER. Trust me, if I didn't like you then I would say I don't like you. But I do like you! I was just scared and I got all confused and I let the fear take over and I avoided you.”
He kept talking but Daphné zoned out.
<𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮ʼ𝙧𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩. 𝙊𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙒𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙨𝙣ʼ𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠. 𝘽𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨. 𝙒𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙖 𝙙𝙖𝙢 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚->
“Okay, listen Walker. I'm gonna be so straight forward with you. I like you. You don't like me. It's as simple as that! Now let's go back before Leah and Aryan make a bet about whether or not we're confessing our love for each other. Which we kinda of are, except it's just me. L-”
“Daphné! Will you shut the fuck up? I do like you! Why are you so against the idea of me liking you?”
“Cause I can”
“This is serious.”
“Because you can't! If we both like each other then it would eventually just lead so some weird dating thing and then you'd probably fuck it up. Or me, I've done some questionable things in my life. But anyway, it wouldn't end well.” she was pretty sure there were tears in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Not now. “And most importantly, there is no way you actually like me. It's impossible! The only people who truly love me are my parents, and maybe some of my friends too, although I wouldn't get my hopes up. But that's it! I'm literally unlovable and you know what? I'm okay with that! I've learned to live with it, and I'm okay with it. I'm already rich, and I can work for myself. I don't need someone to love me if I have myself. I don't mind living the rest of my life being alone if I already feel like I am.”
Walker was speechless. In the six months he's known the girl, this was the first time he'd seen her like this. If this was just a little slip up, what was truly going on in her mind?
The only words he could say were “Why would you think that, Dan?”
“That's the thing” she said as she sat on his bed. “I have no idea. It's just that everyone around me seems to be getting in relationships and finding the supposed love of their life or whatever and I'm still stuck in not even knowing how to talk to boys. And they always tease me for it, which is so fucking annoying! It feels like everyone is falling in love and I'm falling behind.”
“You do realize I'm a boy right? And so is Aryan. And Charlie”
“Yeah, but it's because I kinda have to. I work with you guys so not being friends would be weird. That came out weird, I just meant that if I knew you guys from school or something I wouldn't even talk to you, even if I did want to be your friend.”
“Okay, okay. I'm really glad you told me this because it feels like you would have exploded if you hadn't. I need you to know that you aren't unlovable”
“And how would you know that?” she said, staring at the wall in front of her.
“Because I exist”
Daphné's head turned to him so quick she almost got whiplash. “Oh”
“Yeah. So jus-”
“Walker, man, as much as I appreciate that, please stop talking. I'm embarrassed enough and I don't need you pitying me. Forget I even said anything today, okay? I shouldn't have said any of that.”
“Okay, but you have to know that,even if you don't believe it, I did mean what I said. Everytime I'm with you it feels like there's fireworks going off in my stomach.”
“Walker”
“Yeah?”
“I can't do this anymore”
“Do what?” he said.
The way he said it. His tone made her want to just say every thought she ever had to him. But she couldn't, there were limits to what she could share, and she had already said too much. So she made up some other thing to say.
“It's just too... I don't know. All I know is I need to be away from you.”
“Okay then, I'll leave if you want” he said. Which was kind of ironic since they were in his room.
“No I meant, like, for a long time. I'm so so sorry, but I just. I can't even talk properly, what's wrong with me! I just can't be your friend right now.”
“Oh”
“Yeah. Oh. This makes the donut thing seem so stupid”
“What donut thing?”
“Forget it”
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
Suddenly the door opened. It was Aryan.
“Hey, Walk-” he said. Then he noticed Daphné was there too. “Oh, hey Daph. What were you guys doing, making out?” he joked.
“Aryan, come on, that's gross! No offense, Walker.” she said as she laughed.
“Fine. But you've been gone for like 20 minutes and you're missing out. Leah is simping so hard for Jack Champion it makes me sick”
“I love Jack Champion! I'll be down in a second” she said.
Arya closed the door. Leaving the pair alone again.
Daphné's smile faded as soon as the door closed. It made Walker wonder.
She was acting with Aryan like she usually does, so how did she switch up so quick? And if she did this with Aryan, who knows how many times it's happened? It wasn't his place to ask, but this new Daphné was so much more differently than the everyday one. Well, she wouldn't be the everyday one, more like the one she showed to be.
“Well, I'm gonna leave now. God, this is gonna be so awkward tomorrow” she said as she got up.
“Hey, Daphné?”
She turned around before she could open the door.
“Are you okay?”
She looked to the side and nodded. “Would you look at that. It's 12am already. Happy new year, Walker” she said. Then she left.
As she was walking down the stairs, she realised that she once again, lost her best friend. For almost the same reason again. Maybe she was just meant not to have those.
A/n:
Word count: 3146
Hey guysss
Writing this at 3am
This is so corny but who cares
My dad finally bought me a Red Bull I'm so happy
When you based Daphné off of yourself cause why not😍😋
My report card (idk if I'm using that word right) is coming this Wednesday I'm so nervousss
I need to sleep now so
Byeeeee
-kenza