Just Friends (Dan Howell)

Chapter Nineteen

7:30.

I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling. My phone had just chimed and an alert had appeared: Radio Show! I'd totally forgotten to get rid of the notifications. Now I felt sick. I wondered where Jenny was right then. What she was doing. Was she thinking about me? Was she, like me, remembering life from exactly one week ago?

Jenny grinned hugely, throwing Lillette a grey cardigan. "Come on, Lil! We're gonna be late to the radio station!"

"I know, I know," laughed Lillette, putting on the cardigan. "Come on, let's get out of here. Our microphones await!"

Jenny opened the front door, Lillette stepped through, and then reached behind her friend, shutting the door on their joyful faces.

I smushed a pillow over my face, trying to muffle the tears. I can't cry again. I haven't got any tears left to shed. I need to do something productive. Something to take my mind off things, something handy. I sat up, swinging my legs over the bed. "I'll make a video!" I said to no one in particular.

Jenny giggled, making funny faces while Lillette roared with laughter. Lillette pulled herself together enough to face the camera and say, "Hey everyboo, I am Lillette, this is my best friend Jenny, and we're gonna do the Best Friend Challenge."

Lillette turned to face her friend, who stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes. They both collapsed in laughter, then Lillette grabbed a pillow and started beating Jenny, who returned with full force. Soon, the Best Friend Challenge had turned into a full-fledged pillow fight.

Even after Lillette turned off the camera and tried to focus on the actual video, she couldn't wipe the stupid grin off of her face.

I finished setting up all my camera equipment, and clicked record. I took a deep breath and looked into the camera. I said slowly, "Hello, everyboo. First of all, I'd like to apologize for not being active this last week. Some stuff came up and I've been super busy." My voice broke. I'll need to edit that out. I returned to the camera.

"Anyway, I've decided that I needed some help. Normally I enjoy giving you guys advice, and I've decided it's time for you to return the favor. I love you all to death, but we all need a helping hand now and then. So please bear with me, guys." I cleared my throat. "So, we're gonna get theoretical here."

I took a huge breath. "So let's say, theoretically, you do something stupid that doesn't only hurt yourself, but hurts a bunch of your friends as well. Then, you continue to screw up, so you end up just pushing your friends away. You want to fix it, but whenever an opportunity to make things better arises, your mind totally blanks and you just make it worse." I swallowed hard. "What should you do, then? In order to fix it?"

Phil put his arm around Jenny, smiling down at her affectionately. Jenny flushed, and snuggled against her boyfriend. Lillette watched, a little wistfully, and curled up on her corner of the couch, watching tv. Suddenly, Dan entered the lounge, smiling, with Louise behind him. He saw the three friends on the couch.

"Excuse you, Lillette," he said in a teasing tone. "You're in my sofa crease."

"Too bad, Dan-yulllll," Lillette stuck her tongue out, smirking at him. "I have too low of an energy rating right now to get up."

Dan sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine." He turned to sit in the armchair, but Louise was already sitting there, her knees pulled up to her chest.

Dan just kind of stared at her. Louise giggled.

"Ruuuuude!" Dan cried in a sing-song voice.