Hey besties! I hope you enjoy. Pic up there is of Daniel <3

Please vote and comment, thank you.

-

DANIEL'S P.O.V

A knock at the door quickly had me jumping up in a panic. I looked around quickly for my underwear and slid them on. I opened the door to Adrian and rubbed my eyes. "Good morning." He said, looking down at me. "Morning." I replied, yawning. "Sorry to wake you, I'm heading out. I was wondering if you could do me a favor?" He asked. "Yeah, of course." I said.

"Send me the list of foods you want for the chef, unless you want to go grocery shopping with me?" He said and I cocked my head to the side. "Ah, it doesn't matter to me. I'm down for anything." I said, looking him right in the eye. He looked me over and I felt my face get red. Maybe I should have put clothes on.

"I think the chef can take the weekend off and could you do me one more favor?" He asked. I nodded my head and smiled. He bent down to my height and got close to my ear. "Could you maybe keep it down at night, I know we have our needs but you got a little loud." He said, he lingered near my face for a moment before pulling away and I slammed the door in his face and turned my back to the door.

It was so on.

I could hear him laughing loudly as he headed downstairs. My face was bright red. I sat on my bed and looked at my phone. Whatever, I wasn't going to feel embarrassed. I decided to get ready and pulled out a pair of jeans. Before going to bed last night, I had cleaned myself up a bit. I stored the baby wipes in the night stand and looked around for my crewneck.

Throwing that on, I reached for my Vans and combed my hair back. I dialed August number and he picked up on the second ring. "How you feeling?" I asked.

"I'm okay, you?" He asked, I could tell he was still feeling down.

"Well since you ask. I used.. well no, I forgot to use the toy but I did have some fun time by myself last night and low and behold, Adrian heard it." I said, sucking my bottom lip in as I walked downstairs into the kitchen. August burst out laughing and I smirked. I didn't like to see him hurt.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" He asked.

"I did and that's why I don't care. I had fun, however I do feel bad that I woke him up." I said, grabbing the jar of overnight oats that had my name on them.

"So.." August started and I stuck a spoonful of cold oats in my mouth. Yum, he added that cookie butter that I loved. "Are we feeling him even more?" He asked and I sighed. I leaned against the island and fought a mental battle in my head. I had to let August know I was still there.

"I like Adrian, a lot." I admitted. Pushing my spoon into the oats again. August squealed. "You are literally living in that mans house, do I need to spell it out for you?" August asked and I rolled my eyes. "He kind of blew me off last night though, I thought he was going to hug or kiss me but he didn't.. I think he might still be upset about me staying in my car." I said.

"Make the first move!" August yelled into the phone.

"Oh wow, thank you August for making sure I go death by thirty." I shouted back. He giggled and hushed me.

"Daniel, this is your chance. Make the move first ." August said excitedly. I put the empty container down and thought for a moment. Maybe it was safe to finally feel these feelings. I mean, if the people I hurt most could forgive me.. maybe I could forgive myself. This fine specimen of a man was interested in me, maybe I could explore this and make better memories.

"How would I make that move?" I asked curiously.

"Be there in fifteen." August said before hanging up on me. I stared at my phone with a blank expression and headed back upstairs to finish getting my stuff together. Henry's named popped on my screen and I quickly answered it.

"Good morning, are you ready to do the new challenges on the game?" Henry asked and I chuckled. "Nice try but I'm not skipping today and you shouldn't either but I am down to play after work." I answered and he groaned. "Boo, I'm throwing tomatoes at you." He said, I shook my head and put my air pods in.

"Whatever , how was class?" I asked.

"It was good, I got the notes if you need them and brownies. That's right, my girl shipping them to me overnight delivery !" He rooted. Brownies did sound good but August was on his way. "Do you have room for one more?" I asked him and he groaned. "I don't even want to share with you, I just wanted to bribe you into doing these challenges with me."

I scoffed. "Henry, I will see you in class, bye." I hung up before he could protest and he texted me a meme of a video game character. I checked up on Aspen and Taylor before packing my bag and heading back downstairs. I made sure everything was turned off before heading out of the door. I headed to the front entrance and out of the gate.

The wait was about three minutes when August pulled up, I slid into the passenger seat and raised an eyebrow at the goofy look on his face. "May I help you?" I asked, taking the pineapple juice he held out for me. "It makes you taste good." He said, wiggling his eyebrow.

I set the can down and glared at him. "Why did I open my mouth?" I said more to myself.

"Because we're best friends." August sang before starting his car and driving to campus. "So let me get this straight, Adrian blew you off and this is when you decide to confess your feelings?" August ask, sipping on a slush. I was going to get annoyed. "I don't know August." I simply said and I could feel him frown. I am the one who brought it up. I just didn't know how to get my head and thoughts together.

"Okay, so you like him, yes." August said and I nodded. "This honestly all ties down to you not wanting to get hurt." August said and I turned to look at him confused. "Oh please Daniel, you keep saying you're not good enough for him and you're gonna make him look bad and blah blah, truth is you're scared he's gonna see who you really are and break your heart." August said. I looked down at my lap, quiet.

"Okay so you have a violent past, you did drugs, you sold your body, you sold drugs, yo-".

"Where is this going, August?" I asked, cutting him off. He gave me an innocent look. "I was getting to the good part my sweet Daniel, sure you don't have the best track record, hell I don't but the good thing about life is second chances.. sometimes thirds for the right reasons. A lot of what you did came from things you did to try to help someone." He said, pulling into campus.

"Who have you hurt the most?" August asked.

"Taylor, you.. Aspen." I said.

"Wrong, you. We've all already forgiven you, you are literally in my car right now. I bought you fun time stuff. We are locked in." August said, holding up his fingers that he crossed. I rolled my eyes and got out of the car. "I don't understand why." I said , quietly and August groaned.

"Because I know you! I know who are you , what kind of person you really are. You're not like your father." August said giving me a look. I didn't want to talk anymore. "August, chill." I said and he shook his head no and grabbed me. "You're not like your dad." He said again.

"I'm going to class." I said, walking off toward the entrance. What started out as a plan to seduce Adrian, quickly turned into me already wishing I never mentioned anything and had just planned better to not get seen in my car.

"Sit by me and I'll tell you how to defeat the final boss." Henry bribed, coming up beside me. I turned to see August still staring at me and turned my attention back to Henry. I know I could just mention that August played the game too but I just couldn't be bothered.

"Bet."

-

"Oh dude, these are amazing." I said, taking another bite of the brownie. After classes I went back to Henry's dorm and was knowing sitting at his desk. I was jealous of his PC setup. "So, remember that guy I was telling you about?" I found myself saying. Henry looked up from his tablet and gave me smirk. "Spill." He said, setting his tablet down and giving me his full attention.

"So for reasons I don't care to explain.. I'm staying with him for a few days." I mumbled and Henry shot up and clapped. "That is your in." He said but frowned when he saw my face. "No no no we talked about this, our insecurities are getting in the way of good things." He said and I almost melted into the chair the way I slid down it.

"That's what August says but.." I started but didn't know how to finish.

I needed to respond to August text, I couldn't blow him off. My dad was a touchy subject but August was just being my friend. "What happens when he meets someone else? Huh? And regardless you guys drift apart?" He asked and my heart sank.

"Henry, I have to go." I said, realizing I had to go get Austin. He nodded and I packed my stuffed and was about to walk out when I realized I didn't drive here. I groaned and was about to call an Uber but Henry stopped me. "I can just drop you off?" He suggested. I thought for a moment then nodded.

I let him drop me off a few gates down just to respect Adrian's privacy and ran to his house. I quickly grabbed my keys and uniform before heading to the Highschool.

"You're late." Austin said, sliding into the passenger seat. "You're welcome for picking you up." I replied and he rolled his eyes. "I know you're only doing this as a favor to my brother so drop the good guy act." He said sarcastically putting his seat belt.

"Oh well then you realize how much he cares about you." I said, turning up the music and starting my drive back to his house. Once we arrived, he paused for a moment before thanking me. "If you ever want to grab food or play a game just let me know." I said. He nodded and I waited until he was inside before taking off to the bakery.

"So I speak the truth and you decide to replace me?" August said as I tied my apron around me. "It's not like that, we just played some video games." I said and August gave me a dull look. "Whatever, I'll take over the front you can go hide in the back." He said, brushing past me and walking to the register.

I threw a towel over my shoulder and headed to the sink. I'd try my best to stay out of August way this shift.

-

Once the last customer left, I closed the blinds and locked the door. August rolled in the mop and I stared at him. "I could send you a picture." He said sarcastically. Karla stared at us both before walking to the back. "Don't think your partners would appreciate that." I shot back, wiping the tables clean. "They don't appreciate our friendship so what's new?". August said aggressively moving a chair to mop.

"Ouch." I said, grabbing the towel and walking off. "Daniel, I don't want to fight." August said. I didn't want to fight either. "It's literally giving Taylor and Dawson all over again, you see how long it took for Taylor to admit his feelings for Dawson, all that hurt for nothing when they felt the same way about each other?" August said, giving me a knowing look.

"That's different Jane was saying all this shit to Taylor." August threw his hands up "Exactly, you're communicating with everyone else ad listening to everyone else when you should just be talking to Adrian!" August shouted. We both did not miss Karla sneaking out, she blew us a kiss and the sound of her car speeding out of the parking lot has us both laughing.

"Okay..you're right, that does make sense." I said. He was right, I had to get information from Adrian himself. "I know I'm not like my dad but when I look in the mirror and think about the things I've done... all I can see is him." I admitted. August pulled me into a hug. "You deserve to be happy too but you have to want to be." August said, pulling away and going back to cleaning.

It was around eight when we finished, I greeted Tyler who had pulled in to accompany August home, that was really nice. Jaybre was doing a lot better, Hunter had took some time off work to give him his full attention.

I put in the gate code to get into Townhomes and pulled into Adrian's driveway. We had only sent a few texts today and his car was parked. My engine died down and I sat in my car for a moment. Why was making choices so hard, I had to stop going to my friends for answers and just trust my own judgement.

Henry asked how I would feel if Adrian started seeing someone else. Well, I could only that someone was better than me and treated him well.

I put the code in and walked through the front door, "Hi." I spoke first, clutching my bag. He looked up from his book and smiled. "How was school and work?" He asked.

"They were both fine, just took some notes and was on dish duty, you?" I asked. "Nothing too crazy, just another twelve hour shift." He replied and I nodded. "I'm gonna get ready for bed." I muttered, heading up the stairs. "I made dinner, soup is in the microwave." He said and I kept going. "I'm not hungry."

I closed and locked the door behind me and threw my bag to the floor. I jumped into the bed and covered myself with the blanket. I was getting a headache.

A bad headache.

---

Daniel is annoying me.

vote

comment

fan

love me <3