I was pacing. That’s how nervous I was. I was at the bottom of the stairs that led to the entrance of the school. I was getting so many dirty looks because I was pacing into peoples way. I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I knew all too well.
"Hello?" a slightly muffled voice answered.
"Philip!" I whispered into the phone. I have no clue why I was whispering.
"Y/N?" he coughed slightly, "Everything alright?"
"No, everything is not alright! Who do you think you are getting sick all of a sudden?!" Phil laughed. How dare he laugh at me in my time of distress.
"Is this about Dan? He doesn’t know anyone else, Y/N. I felt bad leaving him stranded without anyone. I’m sure you’ll get on fine."
"But Phi—-"
"Hey Y/N! Sorry to keep you waiting," a voice cut me off. I quickly ended the call and turned to face Dan.
"N-no worries. It’s fine." I really need to work on not stuttering around him. Dan led me to his car. He was even nice enough to open my door for me. I watched as he walked around the car to the driver’s side. He slid in the car and stuck the key in the ignition. He started the engine and then immediately began fiddling with the radio. He wasn’t satisfied with any of the stations and ended up sticking a CD into the player. We finally pulled out of the parking lot and headed on our way.
"Muse?" I noted, clearing the silence from the car. Dan glanced at me briefly, slightly surprised.
"Yea," he nodded, "You know of them?" I shrugged, "They’re Phil’s favorite band."
"Mine too," Dan smiled, "This is a mix though. I hope you don’t mind being subjected to my musical tastes for a while." I shook my head. Wow, Y/N… you’re really great at keeping conversation.
"I’m sorry," Dan says suddenly. It was my turn to look at him in surprise. He was staring straight ahead at the road, but he had a slight frown on his face.
"For…?"
"Dragging you out like this. I’m shit at meeting new people. With Phil sick, I didn’t really like the idea of being alone. He told me you were one of the few decent people in the school. I know we’ve never talked before, so I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. I’m just so damn awkward sometimes."
"N-no. It’s fine. You’re fine. I’m kinda awkward too. It took Phil ages to crack my shell." Dan visibly relaxed, and I did as well. His little confession definitely made me feel a little more comfortable around him. Made me think we weren’t really that different. We sat in silence for a while, until Dan began to softly sing along with the music. We arrived at Dan’s moments later. I followed him to the door and waited patiently for him to unlock it. He stepped to the side and gestured for me to walk inside first. I walked in slowly. I was always nervous when I visited someone’s home. I’m accident prone, so I was always afraid I’d end up breaking something.
"Wow. You haven’t been in a school a month and you’re already bringing girls home?" a voice said, causing me to jump slightly. Dan walked up from behind me and peered at a young boy standing just down the hallway.
"Shut up, Adrian," Dan says, his cheeks go slightly pink, "It’s not like that."
"That’s what you always say," Adrian smirks. He tosses an apple in the air then takes a bite. He starts walking towards me and briefly stops at my side. I swear he checked me out before he ran up the stairs.
"Sorry about him," Dan apologizes, "He can be an annoying shit at time."
"He’s like a mini you," I blurt. Dan stares at me, then bursts out in laughter. He then offers me a drink and asks if I’m hungry. I just ask for some water, and follow him back into the kitchen. He pulls a couple glasses down from the cabinet and fills them with water. I take one of the glasses from him and take a sip.
"So what’s your monologue? Something Shakespearean?" I ask him. He shakes his head and smiles slightly.
"I usually go the Shakespeare route," he admits, "But I figured everyone would do Shakespeare. My monologue is from the play Charge.” I frown slightly, “Never heard of it. Show me what you got.” Dan’s cheeks turned red, and he turned away from my eyes. He cleared his throat a couple times before taking a deep breath. He closes his eyes and lets out another breath.
" Look, I don’t need you or anyone else to tell me about me. I don’t need you to think that without your help I wouldn’t be where I am now. I can do fine without your help. I got a GED. I went to a community college with money I earned at a warehouse. I didn’t go to Harvard, I didn’t get a scholarship and I’ll be goddamned if you think you can take any credit for where I am today." He pauses and runs a hand through his hair. He starts to walk the floor of the kitchen. I’m amazed at how easily he seems to fall into character.
“When I was a boy, I lived in a bad place. Broken down cars, broken down refrigerators and broken down lives were on half of the front lawns of my little street. Well, my mother planted a garden. She wanted people to see color before they went to work. She wanted to send the message out that beauty can grow where it wants. She would work from 6AM - 5PM, she would come home and cook me and my siblings dinner, help us with our homework. She was pissed off half the time and tired the rest, but we ate and got our homework done. When we went to bed, she went out to that garden for hours fixing it up. Pissed off and tired. But it was worth it all for five minutes of beauty at the start of the day.” He stopped pacing and frowned. I wasn’t familiar with the play, but I could tell he’d broken character. He opened his mouth then immediately shut it, setting into another frown. He dug around in his bag, producing a piece of paper moments later. The script, I assume.
"I can never get the last three paragraphs," he mumbles.
"That was amazing," I say. Dan jumps slightly. Almost startled, as if he’d forgotten I was there.
"Really?" he doesn’t believe me, "I could have done better."
"No. No. It was perfect. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone transition into character as smoothly as you did." Dan looked away from my eyes. He smiled just enough for me to see his dimples.
"Uhm, hungry? Wait… shit. I asked that already." He was flustered. I guess he didn’t get compliments like that too often. I heard the front door open. A very pretty woman stepped into the kitchen, arms full of groceries. Dan rushed to her aide.
"Oh, thank you, Daniel," she smiled. She dropped some of the bags on the counter then locked eyes with me. My shyness kicked in. I tried to melt into the stool I was sitting on. It didn’t work.
"Oh! Who’s this?" she smiled warmly at me.
"Mum, this is Y/N. She’s helping me since Phil’s ill," Dan introduced. I gave his mom a small wave. I really need to work on my people skills.
"We’re gonna head to my room and finish up," Dan says, picking up his bag. I grab my things as well and head out to the hallway.
"She’s a cutie," I hear his mum say quietly.
"Mum! It’s not like that!" he hisses. I continue towards the stairs. I turn towards Dan, pretending I didn’t hear what was said. His cheeks are bright red.
"You okay?" I do my best to suppress a giggle. His cheeks redden even more, and he clears his throat, "Yea, why?" I shake my head, turning away slightly so he can’t see the smile on my face. Dan darts past me and up the stairs. We walk past Adrian’s room, where he’s sat on his bed, messing around on his phone. He glances up at us as we go past to Dan’s room. Dan opens the door to his room and steps inside.
"Don’t forget to leave the door open!" Adrian calls.
"shut up!" Dan shouts back. I cautiously enter Dan’s room. I take in the clothes scattered across the floor, the band posters on the walls and the random knick knacks that are all over. Typical boys room. Dan looked at me, slightly embarrassed.
"Uh… sorry for the mess." He drops his bag on the floor, and goes to clear off the books and papers from his desk chair. He gestures for me to sit, and I oblige. He settles down on the floor in front of me. The paper with his monologue is back in his hands.
"How bout you give that to me," I start, "You go back through it from the beginning, and I’ll feed you lines when you get stuck?" Dan nodded and handed me the paper. We practiced like that for an hour and a half. He finally got it down. He was able to expertly flow through it, pausing at the appropriate parts.
"Thank you," he smiles graciously, "You don’t know how much you’ve helped me.
"it’s no problem. But… i should head home. I’ve got some work of my own to do."
"Oh my god! I’m so sorry. I wasn’t even thinking. You can do it here. Maybe I can help? It’s the least I could do." I shrug and pull my history book out of my bag. I hated history. There were just too many things I didn’t care about to memorize, and I wasn’t about that life. Dan scooted closer as I explained what I needed to do. It took another our for us both to collectively finish our homework.
"Is your friend staying for dinner?" Dan’s mum stuck her head in the doorway.
"Oh! no! It is that late?" I exclaim. I frantically begin shoving my things into my bag. What with helping Dan, actually doing my homework and just chatting, I’d completely lost track of time.
"I still need to stop by Phil’s and tell him what he missed. I’m sorry." I felt the need to apologize to this woman. I didn’t know her, and she didn’t know me, but I could feel the disappointment radiate off her.
"Oh, that’s fine, dear. Another time. Maybe Phil can join as well then."
"I can give you a ride to Phil’s," Dan shrugs slightly. I slowly came out of my panic and nodded at Dan.
"That’d be great. Thanks," I smiled.