Just Friends (Dan Howell)

Chapter Seventeen

"Come on, Lil... please have some ramen... Lillette, please, for me!"

I sighed, accepting the steaming bowl from Jenny, but not touching it. I wasn't hungry. The smell of food made me feel ill.

"Hey, Lil... w-well, Phil invited me to... t-to come w-w-with him a-a-and some other Y-YouTubers tonight...." Jenny stammered.

"Who?" I asked.

"Well, f-from what he's t-t-told me, it's h-him, Louise, Joe, Alfie, Zoe, Marcus, Caspar, Pj, Chris, a-a-and... well... d-d-d... Dan." Jenny was shaking.

"Great," I said bitterly, scooping up a spoonful of broth and drinking it. The soup tasted like sawdust in my mouth. "Have fun."

"He said y-you could come t-t-too, if you w-w-wanted to...." Jenny trailed off.

"That's very kind of him," I said. "But no thanks."

"I wanted you to come, Lil," Jenny whispered. "We haven't hung out in almost an entire week. We're gonna have to hang out soon, the radio show is tomorrow night!"

"That's very sweet, Jenny," I drawled, drinking more sawdust-soup. "But I'm gonna pass. I have better things to be doing."

Jenny was silent. I saw her clenched fists trembling. Then she snapped.

"Better things, Lil? Like what? Sitting there, thinking about how much your life sucks? You haven't contacted your fans all week! They're going crazy with worry! I've seen your subscriber count, it's fallen! Just six days without contact and they're leaving you, Lil! You need to get back up off your ass and make an effort. I get you don't want to talk to Dan, or even see him, okay. But you are going to come with us tonight, and you are going to have fun with me." She was breathing heavy.

"Why should I bother?" I snapped.

"Because of me!" Jenny shouted. "I know that you may not care about any of your friends at the moment, but we care about you, Lil. I'm tired of seeing you sit on the couch all day. I've seen you crying at night! I'm just so done with seeing you act so miserable over something that's so easily fixed!" She took a deep breath, then grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me. "Lillette Kaila Baker, I know that you are somewhere in that shell! I want my best friend back!"

When she said that, something stirred within me. Somewhere in that shell....

She was right. I'd withdrawn into a shell of myself. Lillette was somewhere deep within this suit made of skin and muscle, miserable, waiting for this bad thing to pass. Jenny was right about another thing. This was easily fixed. As much as it annoyed me to think about, I had to apologize. I hated being the first to apologize.

"Please, Lillette!" Jenny begged.

"Where were we planning on going?" I asked.

Jenny flashed me a relieved smile. "Well, we haven't gone to a party in a while... how does the club sound?"

"What."

~~

I figeted with the collar of my dress. It was dark blue, tight, and short. Jenny's was similar to mine, except grey. We stood in line to the club, and loud, pounding music could be heard within.

I was nervous, because I was about to be introduced to a bunch of famous YouTubers. Even worse, I was a fool on the dance floor. So, I was gonna get introduced to a bunch of famous YouTubers, then I'd humiliate myself while trying to dance.

We finally entered the club. Jenny was delighted. How did I let her talk me into this?

As soon as we stepped in, I was engulfed in strobe lights and horrendously loud music. Ugh! Was that... Justin Bieber? Yuck!