It was a couple days after Dani had met David. So far mentally, Dani was doing okay. She wasn't having a mental breakdown and she wasn't having nightmares. Maybe the occasional solitude and isolation from Christian was what she needed. Speaking of him; unsurprisingly, Christian didn't even call Dani or even give her any updates letting her know that he and his friends made it to the festival. Dani was unsure whether to be annoyed or unsurprised. Then again, better to be alone than to be with someone who makes you feel alone. But she decided to think more about David instead. He made her feel happy and wasn't indifferent towards her. She looked at his phone number in her contacts. What was he currently up to? Dani was a bit nervous to call David. She hesitated a little, constantly debating with herself whether to call him or not. She felt anxious because she didn't want to come across as rude or try and barge in and invite herself. "Are you kidding yourself Danielle?" Dani asked herself in thought, "Christian would make you feel like you're being rude when you're not trying to be rude, and he would pressure you into apologizing when you don't even have a reason to apologize, all because you want to please him! D.C. doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would think I'm rude if I wanted to hang out with him today if it came on such short notice. Just call him, you dummy!" Dani breathed in, closed her eyes, and then dialed David's number, quite nervous. She hadn't felt this shy in a long time. Less than a minute later David said on the phone, "yello?"

"Hey David," said Dani as she smiled while listening to David's neighborly voice. "Oh hey Dani!" David replied on the phone, "what's the good word?" Dani shrugged and said, "oh, it's getting a little boring for me since I'm all by my lonesome. I was wondering... you wouldn't mind if I came over to your dorm and hung out with you, would you D.C.?" She let out a sigh of relief feeling better now that she let that out of her system. "Sure, I wouldn't mind hangin' out with ya, Dani." D.C. replied on the phone, "I'm totally cool with that. What time do you want to come over?" Dani looked at the time and asked in reply, "how about 1:30?" David replied on the phone, "sounds good. That should give me enough time to organize and clean up so that I don't smell like a beast." Dani giggled, "okay. See you at 1:30, D.C." David replied on the phone, "see you then Dani. I'll text you my address." And that's when he hung up. Dani smiled and sighed happily, and a minute later, Dani received a text from David that showed his dorm address. Soon it was almost 1:30, and Dani was outside David's dorm room. She knocked on his door, looking at the time. Less than a minute later, David answered the door. "Hey Dani," he said jovially. "Hey D.C." replied Dani as she beamed happily at David, coming in. She looked around his dorm. His dorm had pictures of his family and friends, pictures of himself when he was younger, movies, books of various genres including comics, and exercising gear such as dumbbells, weights, and so on and so forth. "Wow, this is a really nice place..." Dani complimented. "Thanks, it's a pretty decent for a dorm room." David humbly said. They sat on the couches and David casually asked, "so it's just you in your dorm room?"

"Well normally my boyfriend would be with me," explained Dani, "but he's at some festival in Sweden with his friends." David gave a dumbfounded look and said, "and he just left you?" Dani raised her hands a little and said, "to be fair, he didn't even tell me he was going. I literally found out around 2 weeks ago. I found out through a friend! Because he pulled this crap at the last minute, I decided I didn't want to go, if that makes sense." David nodded and said, "I can understand your logic. Not to compare and contrast, but if I was Christian, I would have told you at a more convenient time and let you know face to face instead of having you find out through some mutual acquaintance." Dani smiled a little and said, "thanks for that D.C. At least you're honest."

"Hey, you want to hear a clean psychology joke?" David offered. "Oh boy, well I hope it's a good one," said Dani. "Trust me, it's a good one," promised David as he began his joke, "it was the day of the finals in psychology class and the psychology teacher got out his chair and said, knowing everything you've learned this semester, I want you to prove to me that this chair does not exist. Students got out their pencils and papers and wrote furiously. But one particular student finished his paper in less than a minute. Weeks later when all the finals were being graded, this particular student's paper was the only one with a 100% A+. His paper consisted of only two words. Those two words were, what chair?" Dani listened to David's joke, and when she got the punchline, she laughed. Dani hadn't laughed like that since her family died. "Oh my gosh, that is so funny!" she laughed, smiling at David. "Trust me, I got plenty more jokes where that came from," said David. Dani smiled sweetly and said, "thank you David. I haven't laughed like that in a long time. Heck, Christian never made me laugh like that..."

"Not that it's any of my business or anything," said David, "but if Christian doesn't make you feel happy or doesn't show the same affection as you want, why do you put up with him?" Dani felt as if David had read her mind. "I don't know..." Dani admitted, "I always thought I loved him. But he doesn't reciprocate my affections, he hasn't been helping me through this dark time, it's as if I've had to process the grief on my own, and he's constantly gaslighting me and making me feel guilty for speaking my mind when I shouldn't have to feel guilty because whenever I speak my mind it's often warranted! Fuck, he doesn't even give me massages anymore! I mean, if the boyfriend isn't even going to give his girlfriend a massage when she needs one, what good is he?" She gave a worried look and said, "I'm sorry for venting this out on you David." She could feel the tears welling up and she forced herself to stop, wiping them away. D.C. wrapped his arm around Danny and said, "no I get it, you thought that you loved Christian but he makes you feel more alone. It's not your fault, that's on him. My favorite comedian was in a film and he once said a quote that stuck with me. He said in the film, I used to think that the worst thing in life is to end up alone. It's not. It's to end up with people who make you feel alone..." When Dani listened to what David said, somehow he sounded older and wiser when he said it. But these were words that were food for thought. "You got that from a Robin Williams movie?" she asked. "They spoke to me in a way," admitted David. "Well, I certainly relate to that quote," said Dani. David held her hand and seriously said, "Dani if you need someone to talk to and Christian isn't there for you, I'm always here." Dani tearfully smiled and said, "thank you David. That means so much to me..." She adjusted her hair a little and shyly said, "D.C.... my birthday is in 3 days. If you're not busy on that particular day, would you want to hang out with me on my birthday?"

"Sure," replied David, "I could buy you a birthday cake and take you to a bar and buy you a drink. I'll even give you a foot massage afterwards. I'm uh, joking on that last part though..." Dani giggled, "I'd like all that a lot. And I'm taking you up on that foot massage offer Mr. Chaney." David smiled and said, "alright. It's a date then. Well, not a romantic date, but it's a birthday meeting between two friends that are of the opposite sex." Dani blushed and softly laughed, "it's a date." A couple hours later it was soon time for Dani to go home and when she was outside David's dorm room, he said, "well; see you on your birthday." Dani nodded and replied, "you too." As she left David's dorm room to go home, Dani debated with herself whether she had romantic feelings for David.