Dan and Phil imagines

Never Be Mine - Part 3

By the looks of things, we're the first to arrive. Obviously. We're greeted with smiles and offers of warm food from the mother, but the pleasantries only last so long.

'Okay, we don't have much to do, we just need to go over a few ground rules.' We all nod eagerly, desperate to avoid upsetting the large woman before us. 'No-one is allowed upstairs, there's a bathroom down here so direct everyone into that. We've moved all breakable property upstairs, so there isn't a need for any mess. The kitchen is out of bounds, only you four are allowed in there.'

'Wait- four?' I ask, obviously being better than everyone else in the room at maths.

'You didn't mention it?' Her daughter, Taylor, shakes her head. Seems I wasn't important enough to be told. Cool. 'Hah, no worries. We're got someone else coming to help us, he'll be here soon!' I just nod coolly. Coooool. 'Also, no drugs or alcohol please.

'I've warned the neighbours about the noise so they're all out tonight. Don't worry about anything, alright?' We're all given a quick squeeze before Taylor's mum leaves. We don't talk much, just get on with out assigned jobs. Mine- kitchen duty. I'm in charge of making sure no ones supplied excessive amounts of nachos or chicken nuggets. Just as I shove the next bunch into the oven, someone calls me from the doorway.

I almost throw the tray of frozen nuggets over the floor, but they managed to make it into the oven.

'Hey,' he's cool, calm and confident. Leaning against the door, he's a vision of beauty. I stutter, stumbling and tripping on my words. My tongue just doesn't want to work.

'Hey Dan,' I manage to splutter out, slamming the oven door to forcefully behind me as I turn. 'How are you?' I try to look chilled, leaning on the counter, but slip on a rogue chicken nugget and slam my arm against the marble with an unnecessarily loud thump.

'Oh my god, are you okay?' He glides over and grabs my elbow, lifting it gently from the worktop. We're only inches away, and I can barely breathe. We're so close. I glance up at him, open my mouth and -

'Dan, she should be- oh,' of course it's her. My best friends standing in the doorway, wiggling her eyebrows mockingly at me. 'Sorry, I'll be back later. Don't get too rowdy, don't want to over cook those nuggets.' She throws me a wink and slips away.

I don't want to say anything, I just want to bask in how close we are. I just want to take in his smell, his warmth. So, as you'd expect, I'm kind of annoyed when he breaks the silence.

'You're okay right? Nothing broken?' He chuckles, putting a hand on my back to support me as I get up. I just nod, unable to form any words. 'That's great, alright, well I've got to go help with some decor in the garden. I'll be back later.'

The instant he moves his hand, I feel myself release a breath I didn't know I was holding. He was so close to me. So. Close.

---

I watch the people filter in through the front door. They all look the same; the girls look like tasteful hookers and the boys are all dressed with a smart-casual look. Apparently I didn't get the memo.

For the next hour or so, I dance along to the radio, shoving treats and party foods at the hungry party-goers. Taylor comes to collect the many packs of marshmallows, telling me they're setting up the bonfire and I'm welcome to come.

Gracefully, I turn her down, saying that someone has to man the kitchen. She seems to get the hint, gently squeezing my shoulder and slipping out of the room. Knowing that no one can hear me, I crank up the radio and sing as loudly to the backstreet boys as I can.

Just as I'm gracefully arranging muffins on a cream plate, something creaks from behind, interrupting my song and forcing me to toss the muffins into the air and all over the floor.

'Jesus.' Damn my jumpy nature.

I drop to the floor and try to gather up the muffins, praying that the floor was cleaned recently.

'God, again. I am so sorry,' it's Dan. He's back.

'No, no, it's fine, I promise, no harm done, am I right?' You know that expression, don't hold your breath? Yeah, well, as I collect the muffin, I stand up and completely smash my head against the table. I scream an obscenity and drop to the floor in defeat.

'Woah,' Dan sits on the tiles beside me, coaxing me towards him. I lean into his chest and try to hold back the involuntary tears. 'It's fine to cry, you know.'

'But it doesn't hurt. It's one of those stupid reactions. It doesn't even hurt anymore.' I grunt. His hand rubs my shoulder slowly as I speak.

'Yeah, I get you. Here's a deal, I'll look away, you can deal with your tears, and then we'll dance.'

'Seems like a pretty one sided deal to me,'

'Yeah, you're a lucky girl aren't you?' I scoff and smack his arm, laughing. With his assistance, I manage to get up in one piece and completely clear my face. 'Woah.' He says in genuine shock.

'What? Oh my god, what's wrong?' He just stares at my face, mouth open, gasping. I suddenly feel self conscious as anothe Backstreet Boys song flicks on (yes, I managed to find the only station that plays Back to back Backstreet Boys songs on a Friday).

'You're not wearing makeup,' God. I knew I should have let her put makeup on me. God, he's going to say how ugly I- 'and you look beautiful?'

'Woah,' is all I can push out of my frozen mouth. 'I, I just, I don't, are you...' My mumbling continues for ages, and I'm unable to make a legitimate, audible point.

'Sorry, that was really abrupt. I'm sorry, I just never noticed.'

'You never noticed me before...' I say instinctively, instantly regretting the words. But there's no going back, they're out there now.

'Are you mad? Of course I did. You just never noticed me.'

'Are you completely wasted or is this all in my head? For months, I've been trying to find a way to speak to you.'

'Well, I'm sober and real, so I guess this is one of those movie-moment dual confessions.' A silence falls between us and I urge it away. Heck, I beg it away. I need him to say it. He doesn't. I avoid eye contact, warily watching the floor.

'So, what now?' The words come out as no more than a whisper, but they needn't be any louder for Dan gets exactly what I'm on about. He leans forward cautiously until there's a few centimetres between out bodies.

A long thin finger pushes a strand of my hair behind my ear and slips to my neck. Instinctively, as a nervous habit rather than a turn-on, I bit the corner of my lip, and glance up to him. Challengingly, I flick my eyebrows and the everything happens so quickly.

Our lips hit, sending tremors through my body. It takes about a minute, but we find each other's rhythm, and then he lifts me onto his hips and sits me on the counter so we're about the same height, arms around me. My arms fit nicely around his neck, and I draw him closer to me.

Even though there's no way to get any closer, in our passionate heat, we keep trying. His chest against mine, his hips against mine, his lips against mine. There's no space left. This is as close as we're getting without- no, I won't let it come to that today.

My hands fumble all over his back, and his all over mine, exploring, just feeling. I've never been able to do this, just be curious.

Eventually we stop so we can breathe again. His eyes are filled with such an awestruck wonder that I don't feel the need to breathe anymore, so pull him closer to me again. This continues for about ten minutes until we hear the latch on the door and know it's time to stop. He draws away, still seeing me with those bright eyes and starts to cross the room. When he reaches the doorway he says:

'I should..um..go, you know, to help with everyone.'

'Pfft, yeah, I get you. You know, Muffins are pretty important,' I laugh. But we both know that's not the end, you can't just walk out after something like that. I literally charge at him, and he spins me around on his hips one more time as we share a long, tender, sweet kiss before he goes. He brushes my waist with his hand as he walks out whispering:

'I'll be back.'

A/N

IM SORRY I HAD TO DO NOT HATE ME