The next morning, the first thing my eyes fell upon was again the crumpled sweater. I hopped out of my bed excited, feeling light and energetic. I slid into the lounge on my socks, where Kayla sat on her laptop.
She took one look at me and laughed, "Look Fee, you can straighten your hair, but you can't straighten your sexuality. I always knew you liked me," she joked.
"Shut up, it was for a video," I respond, pouring some coffee.
She got up from the couch, pouring more coffee for herself, "Do you fear my queer, Fee?" she asked and I laughed.
"I'm kidding," she said, slapping my ass as she walked to the fridge, "You're as straight as they come. Besides, you're too hung up on one particular man," she winked.
I laughed and poured a cup of coffee for myself, watching Kayla make some eggs. "I know what I want to do today," Kayla declared, dropping her spatula.
I rolled my eyes, Kayla always comes up with the most ridiculous adventures. She never fails to keep me on my toes.
"What?" I mused, taking a sip of coffee.
She came over to me, placing both hands on my shoulders, and looked me straight in the eye.
"I want to go to laser tag."
I burst out laughing, and she stepped back. "You're kidding right?" I said.
"Not at all. Look, it's already raining, today would be a boring day anyway. Plus, it would be a lot of fun." She said, and then a smile grew on her face, "And I know just who to invite."
Of course, she meant Dan and Phil, and I shook my head. "I hung out with Dan last night. I don't want to seem desperate."
"But Fee, you are desperate. Come on!" she said, and I crossed my arms. "Defiantly not."
She almost admitted defeat, but just as fast, she stepped around me and grabbed my phone out of my back pocket.
"Kayla, no." I yelled, reaching for it. She ran from me and around the couch. Her laugh filled the room as I chased her around. At the same time, she spoke into the phone, "Siri, call Dan Howell."
"No Siri, don't do it!" I yelled, climbing over the couch to her. As I tumbled over the cushions, she made a b-line straight to the bathroom. I ran behind her, and pushed against the door. She finally pushed me away, throwing the lock on and I slid down the door.
"Ophelia," I heard Dan say over the phone. She put the damn call on speaker.
"Actually Dan, its Kayla here. Ophelia and I were just wondering if you and Phil would like to come to laser tag with us later." She said confidently.
"Um," he laughed. I put my head in my hands, he most defiantly thinks we are insane. "That actually sounds like a lot of fun."
My head jerked up. Did he say he wanted to go? Holy shit.
"That's fantastic!" Kayla said, but her tone to me gave a big fat 'I told you so.'
"Yeah, I just have to check with Phil, so I'll text you guys in a bit." He said.
Kayla unlocked the door and I got up from the ground. She looked at me, a smug grin on her face.
"Sounds good, I'll text you the details later." She said, walking back to the kitchen, where her breakfast was brown—almost black—from abandonment.
"Bye!" he said, and they hung up.
I rolled my eyes, walking back to my bedroom but not failing to yelling, "I hate you," back at Kayla.
I emerged from the steamy bathroom a few hours later, expertly ready for laser tag. My legs are squeezed into tight black jeans, my torso in a black, long sleeve V-neck. I threw on a leather jacket and put my curly hair into a high pony tail, as small strands of hair fell and framed my face. When I came into the lounge, Kayla laughed.
"You look like you are about to go on a top-secret mission to assassinate someone," she said. I shrugged my shoulders.
"This is laser tag," I said to her, "Don't you like my effort?"
She looked me up and down once again, "Dan will." She winked.
I rolled my eyes, grabbing my purse, "Let's go, we said we would go to their flat at three."
When we arrived at their flat, Phil answered the door. As always his height towered over us, but in his own way, he was still a fluffy teddy bear.
"Hey guys," he said. "I'm so excited for this. I can't remember the last time I went to laser tag." Phil continued. Dan came thumping down the stairs behind him.
"Hey Kayla," he said, and then turned to look at me, "Ophelia." A grin grew on my face at the sound of my name from him.
"Daniel," I responded and he smiled.
As we were walking to the tube, we chatted about YouTube among other things. Of course, Dan didn't fail to point out that we were matching, in our black. I responded that he always wears black, so it's not that serendipitous. Phil then spent the rest of our journey repeating the word 'serendipitous' as he thought it sounded cool.
"Kayla, do you know how much the tickets will be?" Dan asked as we walked into the laser tag place, pulling out his wallet in the process.
"I know the laser tag guy," she responded casually, "so don't worry about it."
I rolled my eyes, "Of course you do."
"Yeah, we fucked."
Phil coughed, and Dan laughed at Kayla's bluntness. I wasn't fazed, now used to Kayla's typical candor.
We got our tickets, Kayla not failing to wink at the guy she knew from the ticket desk.
As an acne-ridden teenager showed us how to use the guns and the rules of the game, Dan leant down and whispered in my ear.
"You're going down, Burns."
I smiled and shook my head, "No, Howell, it will be you who is going down." I whispered back, and I felt his shoulders next to me move as he laughed.
"The way it will work," said the teenager, "points are gathered by each person, depending on how many people you shoot, or deducted if you have been shot. The penalties are that when you are shot, you have to wait 45 seconds to 'reload,' basically your gun won't work for that 45 seconds. The other would be, if you are shot three times in one minute, you are out of the game, and you will exit the way you came," he said in a monotone voice. Sounds easy enough.
The kid counted down, and with a quick 3, 2, 1, the door opened to a dark room. Each of us took off in separate directions.
As I ran away from the others, I noticed the room was set up like a maze, with walls taller than even Dan and Phil (if that's possible). I could smell the distinct scent of fake smoke, and I saw at my feet there was some, emitted for ambiance. There were a few black lights and lasers, which made my shoelaces stand out.
I kept my gun to my chest, slowly peeking around a wall when I heard footsteps. I saw Phil walking backwards slowly away from an opening near him. Quickly, I stepped out and shot him in the back. I heard him yelp, but before he could turn around I was already gone. I circled around, keeping my giggles to myself.
Before I knew it, I was ninja rolling around the place, shooting people every time I caught a small glimpse of them. Maybe I should have been a cop instead of a YouTuber. Kayla got out quickly, and it wasn't hard, between Dan, Phil, and I.
As I jogged around another corner, I saw Phil leaning up against a wall. I was just about to shoot him, when I saw the whites of someone's eyes, illuminated by the black light. They were Dan's. I met them, and he smirked at me, silently raising a finger to his lips to keep me silent. I knew what he wanted to do. Together, we counted on our fingers, 3, 2, 1...
And then we ran towards Phil, shooting mercilessly at him. He screamed, trying to run away from us, but we laughed and shot him more. He was soon out, and he sunk to the floor.
In a moment, I stopped my running, and pointed my gun to Dan. He turned around, and his face dropped as I pulled my trigger. That's one.
His gun lit up red, meaning he has 45 seconds. He didn't run. I saw Phil gasp at the dramatic scene.
"Ophelia," he said, testing me.
"What," I responded in the same tone.
"Do you really want to do this?" he asked, being jokingly dramatic.
"Yes." I pulled my trigger again. That's two. "I want to win."
"I don't think you do, though, Miss Ophelia. I think you want me to win." He said.
"And why is that Daniel?" I asked in a sweet tone, my gun still pointed at him.
"Because...if you do, I will...I will..." he trailed off, trying to think of a bribe. "Oh," he started. "I will buy you dinner at your favorite sushi restaurant." He said.
"Oh yeah?" I laughed, going along with his joke.
"Yep, just you and I." he said and I flinched. A night out with just Dan? Would it be like a date? We held eye contact for a few moments, even though it felt like hours.
He cut off my thoughts when his gun lit up with green, indicating the 45 seconds were over. He immediately shot me three times, and the lights on my gun turned off.
"Ha! I won!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air. Phil started clapping for Dan.
I walked passed him, keeping my head down so he wouldn't see the blush on my cheeks, "shut up."
We exited the room, and our stats came up on the board. Although I came in with more points, Dan was the winner because he shot me three times within the minute.
"Oh wow, I really thought Fee was going to win," said Phil as we walked over the laser tag's place pizza parlor. We each got a few slices, however throughout dinner I remained quiet, engrossed in my thoughts.
How can Dan have so much control over me? Will he really take me out to dinner? Does he think of me as only a friend? These questions and so many more swirled around my head as I wondered what in the hell Dan Howell has done to me.
sorry i took so long to update, so here's an extra long chapter! Don't forget to vote and comment what you think! Thanks for reading:)