Dan was back in time for New Years Eve. Usually I spent that night at Nate's house but I didn't want Dan to be alone. I told Nate I would not be spending this year with him. He seemed a little sad but agreed.
Sure, all three of us could have spend the night together but something deep inside of me was against it. I liked spending time with Dan alone, even if that was selfish of me. I was allowed to be selfish sometimes, everyone is. Ultimately this didn't hurt anyone... right?
Dan was happy when I asked him whether I could come over and spend the night. "I thought I had to spend the night alone with my mom and sister," he laughed over the phone.
"Not if I can help it. Would your mom be okay with me sleeping over?"
"I don't think she would have anything against it. What about your parents though?"
"They think I'm going over to Nate like usually and that they can deal with. I slept over at his house so often already, you know, we've been friends since kindergarten so they can't just suddenly say no."
"So you're lying to them then?" Dan asked amused.
"No, I'm just not telling the whole truth. What does it matter if I sleep at your house or Nate's? It's just that they know Nate while they don't really know you."
Later that day mom asked me if she should drop me off at Nate's but I told her I wanted to walk. It did confuse her a little but she accepted it, what proof did she have that I wasn't going to Nate's?
Dan gave me his address and it turned out his house wasn't that far away, about twenty-five minutes on foot. My heavy backpack didn't help but what was I supposed to do about it?
When I arrived in front of his house I was amazed. It was a huge house, three stories, and a seemingly huge garden. How were they able to pay for it if his mother was a photographer? I figured his dad must have lost a lot of money during the divorce if that was the house they were living in.
Going to people's houses that I had never been to always made me nervous. But I couldn't just stand in front of it and do nothing so I bravely walked up to Dan's house and rang the doorbell. It didn't take long then Dan opened the door for me with a bright smile and promptly pulled me into a hug. I breathed in his scent, he smelled fresh like he had just showered and that was mixed with his own scent which was already incredibly attractive.
"Welcome back to California," I joked with a blush when we separated and he closed the door behind me.
Dan laughed. "Thank you, I definitely missed the temperatures, it's fucking freezing up in Washington. You look like you walked here, you want a drink?"
I nodded. "Yeah I walked. A drink would be awesome."
"Alright, follow me then. Quick warning, you're about to meet my mom and sister."
Quickly I brushed through my hair with my fingers and wiped under my eyes in case my mascara had smeared.
"Don't worry, you look pretty," Dan told me with a smile and then turned around and led the way into the living room.
That comment only made my heart, which was already beating fast, beat even faster. I followed him, briefly looking at the family pictures hung up on the cream colored walls; they made me smile.
"Here she is!" was the first thing I heard from his mother. She walked over to me and shook my hand. "Hi, I'm Victoria," she introduced herself.
"Allie," I said and made an effort to smile back at her.
I took a closer look at Dan' mom. She must have been in her late 30's, early 40's but still a very beautiful woman, I could see where Dan had gotten it from. Her brown hair - the same brown as Dan's - was pulled into a low bun, not a single strand had fallen out. I wasn't sure what it was but she gave off an aura of gracefulness.
"Very nice to meet you Allie, make yourself at home."
"Thank you."
Next Dan's sister introduced herself and good lord, I was immediately flabbergasted. "Hi, I'm Zoey," she said with a perfect smile.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Allie," I managed to say somewhat normally and smiled back at her. She was incredibly beautiful just like the rest of the family. She also had the same hair color as Dan and their mom, though she had dip-dyed her ends a fiery red. To be honest, she looked exactly like her mom only younger.
Then my eyes fell on the pin on her denim jacket. "Oh," I said and she followed my gaze. "Shit, sorry, that came out wrong, I didn't mean that negatively," I laughed. "You're a lesbian?"
She nodded with a smile. "Yes?"
I took off my backpack and pointed to one of the pins on it, a bisexual pride flag.
"Ah, a fellow member of the gays, a woman of culture I see," she laughed.
Dan appeared next to us again and shoved a cup with water in my hands. "Pleasant surprise?" he asked me.
"You could say so," I answered and emptied the cup in one go. "Ah, better."
"Alright, we'll just go upstairs so she can drop her stuff off," Dan announced and pulled me back out of the living room. I managed to set the cup down before we were out of the room.
"So that's my family," Dan filled the silence as he walked up the stairs with me.
"Your sister is amazing," I said with a smile, still enraptured by her.
"What, do I have competition now?" Dan laughed as he opened the door to his room.
Unable to answer anything to that I just laughed nervously at his question.
His room wasn't very special, just a room with typical blue walls, a bed, a desk and a wardrobe. Several guitars and amps were standing on the right side of the room, a keyboard stood next to it. At the end of the room there was also a door that led to what I assumed would be his bathroom.
"Damn, I wish I had my own bathroom," I pondered.
"It's pretty cool, it's the first time I have my own bathroom too."
I discovered a small stack of books on his desk, ones I had recommended to him when he had asked me about it.
"Oh, I didn't know you actually read those!" I said excitedly and walked closer to get a better look at them.
Dan was suddenly all awkward, but like, in a cute way. "Yeah, well I trusted your judgment," he said, scratching his neck and with a blush on his cheeks.
"Cute," I remarked and pulled my backpack from my shoulders. "Actually, I have a present for you. I got you something because I felt bad that I didn't have anything for you."
Dan seemed relieved about the change of topic and started laughing as he took the present from me. "You didn't need to. I didn't give you a present just because I wanted one too."
"Well I got you something anyway, because I wanted to."
"Alright, I guess I deserved that," he accepted my mockery of the words he spoke to me when he had given me my present. Dan opened the present.
I had gotten him the first book of my favorite book series, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. "Before you say anything, let me explain," I requested.
"Go ahead."
"This is a very special book. It's sort of the first 'proper' book I ever read. I did read as a child but this one is the first book that isn't a children's book and it kicked off my passion for reading young adult books. It's the first in the series and there are multiple series set in this universe. Maybe you remember how I said the Shadowhunter chronicles are my favorite series, back in the bookshop. This is the first one. Maybe not chronologically but the best way to read is in publication order... I'm drifting off sorry. I'm not asking you to read all of the books. If you're interested after this then that's great but like, I don't want to force this on you," I laughed. "I just wanted to give you this book because it means a lot to me and I wanted you to be able to get to know me through this."
Dan smiled. "You're a fan of getting to know other people through what their passionate about, huh? Okay, I'll read it."
I smiled brightly at him.
"Thank you for the book, I think it's a great present," he said and hugged me once more, again there was his heavenly scent. "Anyway," he said when he pulled away, "mom said it's okay that you sleep in this room, we're gonna put an inflatable mattress on the floor so you have your own space. So drop off your things then we can go back downstairs, mom made some snacks."
_____
It was interesting chatting with his family. They seemed like very lovely people and the snacks his mom had made were really good. I got to hear stories of their old life in Washington and made Dan show me pictures of his childhood home simply because I was interested in seeing different places.
"You don't have to show me pictures of you as a baby, I only want to see your house and like, what it looks like near Seattle, I've never traveled much. I only know California, come on." That wasn't entirely true, I had been to Washington D.C. once to visit the White House when Obama had still been president.
Dan caved in and I got to see lots of pictures which I found more than interesting.
"So tell us about yourself then," his mother said when the pictures had been put away.
"I, uh... I'm not sure there is much to tell, my life isn't all that interesting," I admitted.
"Ah, I'm sure there's something. Anything really. Did you grow up here?"
I nodded. "Yes. We used to live in a different house until I was five but I was born here. I have a twin sister and yeah, that's pretty much it."
"What about your parents?"
What about my parents? I though angrily.
I shrugged. "They're my parents, that's all I can say about them. My mom is a stay-at-home mom and my dad works in an office, that's it. We disagree on most things so I spend most of my time in my room hoping no one bothers me, or I'm with my friends."
Dan's mom chuckled. "Okay, I get it. Anyway, I'll go and prepare dinner now. If you do think of anything interesting, just let me know." And thus she was off and we were left with only Zoey.
"Okay, I actually have a question," Zoey said with a smile.
"Shoot."
"Since when do you know you're bisexual?"
"Yes, that's an excellent question," Dan agreed with an amused look on his face.
I hadn't told him before. Not because I didn't want him to know, but rather because I didn't feel the need to.
"I was thirteen when I first realized I liked girls and fifteen when I realized it meant I was bisexual," I explained. I didn't have a problem talking about it as long as my parents didn't know about it.
"And how did you realize it?"
"Well, the thing is, I have always had crushes on girls without knowing. Shego from Kim Possible, Jade from Victorious and so on, I just never realized they were crushes because I didn't know girls could be in love with other girls. I was raised strictly catholic so you can imagine that my parents tried to keep it away from my sister and me.
"But then I watched Glee when I was thirteen, without my parents knowledge, and there was Santana and she was a lesbian and I had the biggest fucking crush on her. So I though, what if I'm lesbian? But I knew I also liked boys so I sort of... pushed the idea back but when I was fifteen I re-watched Glee and I was at that same point again. I still had this crush on Santana. So I thought about it and realized I was actually bisexual," I explained.
"Oh, interesting. You procrastinated being gay," she laughed.
"Yeah, basically. What about you? Since when do you know?"
She sighed. "I guess I always knew it. I never really had a conscious moment where I realized I was a lesbian, it was more of a feeling deep down that I always knew about. I didn't make a big deal out of it and I think barely anyone was shocked when I came out. Daniel were you shocked?"
Dan shook his head. "Nope, I knew since you were five and kept making me watch Winx Club with you because 'the ladies are so pretty'," Dan laughed.
"See? It was pretty casual," she laughed as well.
I nodded and lowered my eyes. "I wish it was that easy for me."
"What do you mean, don't your parents know?" Zoey asked.
"Nope. And I think they would faint like, on the spot if I told them. They're very religious and they're definitely are against gay people, so it's not very great living in a house like that. Though I think they would not be as shocked as they would be if I was a lesbian. They would probably, try to downplay the fact that I liked girls and just focus on the fact that I do like boys."
"Aw, that sounds awful! I hope one day they'll be more accepting," Zoey said encouragingly.
"I hope so too. Basically I'm only waiting for the right moment to tell them. But I want to be able to move out at home first, just in case it goes wrong."
"That's understandable. You should only ever come out if it's safe for you."
_______________
Oh look at that, I split the chapter in two :D
Originally it was one very long chapter but in the editing process I decided to split it up so you'll find out how the rest of Allie's New Year's Eve went on Saturday ;)