| university | d.h

| ten |

// Dan //

I rush to rejoin my own table again, more than eager to escape Alex and her best friend from Hell. My little confrontation could've gone a lot worse than it did, and it also could've gone without Tyler Oakley fucking cackling the entire time. But at least the whole thing was successful, or as successful as it could've been.
I managed to convince Alex that she should go out with me again, and now I have another chance to prove that I'm not really that much of an asshole. And I did the whole thing without causing too much of a scene, which is not something I'm usually too good at. Fucking props to me.
"Who was that?"
"And why was she with Tyler Oakley?"
The questions fly at me before I'm even seated, and I ignore every single one of them, taking my phone out of my pocket and pretending to be busy.
"Cmon dude, give it up. You looked pretty spooked when you saw her over there."
Dalton pries, as he always does, and I continue to ignore him, as I always do.
"Her name is Alex. She's Tillie's best friend."
Phil offers from across the table, and I shoot him daggers to the best of my ability, even though he's not looking at me. The last thing I need is for all of the guys to find out about how often she ditches me and annoy me about it for the rest of my fucking post secondary career.
"She's rejected him a few times, so he's very keen on getting her to go out with him."
There it fucking is. Thank you Phil, you grade A asshat.
He casually takes a bite of his burger, as if he didn't just ruin me forever, and all of the eyes in the booth fall on me, as if waiting for an explanation. Waiting for me to admit that I, the legendary Dan Howell, was rejected by a girl for the first time since they'd met me. I shake my head and catch eye contact with Phil, giving him my best 'I'm going to fucking kill you later' stare. He pretends not to see it.
"She's just a dumb girl." I say, looking away from her table as I do. 
"Are you doing her?"
Dalton asks, staring at me expectantly.
I take a sip of my drink, debating whether or not this piss-stupid conversation is worth the lie. It doesn't take me long to decide, after all, if there is one thing I have learned from being friends with Dalton for a few years, it's that there is only one right answer to any question that he asks, and that had better be the one that you chose.
"Maybe."
I shrug, trying to be nonchalant. I know that Phil can see right fucking through me, because he always can, but all of the other boys hoot and reach around each other to clap me on the back and ruffle my hair. All of them except for Michael, anyway, who scoffs at me and rolls his eyes. Michael has never been one to kiss and tell, or reward other people for doing so. He has also never been one to treat girls like toys, and whenever anyone else does he gets pissy and annoyed. It drives the other boys crazy, not being rewarded for getting some, but I look up to him. My attempts in the past to change my ways and stop sleeping with every girl I see have been wildly unsuccessful. Michael is everything that I wish I could be, and he is definitely one of the most decent people I've ever met, and it always seems that he plays his cards right because he is usually the only one of us that can keep a girlfriend. Or the only one that wants to.
Taylor is the only girl that is with us tonight. This dinner was supposed to be an unofficial guys night out, but Michael didn't seem to get the memo and brought her along anyway. Not that I mind much, I like her, but the other guys are a bit pissed off. Mainly because they can't land girls of their own to bring to dinner.
"Dan. Wake up,"
Dalton snaps his fingers in front of my face.
"We're going out. Go get your little play thing, she can come too."
He nods in the direction of Alex's table, cocking an eyebrow at me. I glance at the booth where she sits with Tyler, laughing and enjoying herself, and I can't bring myself to invite her to some sticky, packed night club where she will have way less of a good time and quite possibly see me at my worst once again.
"I don't know, man."
I say nervously, playing with the stud in my eyebrow. Alex going out with the guys doesn't sound like a good idea, especially after I just implied to Dalton that I'm sleeping with her. If I'm not careful, the lie could catch up to me faster than I can say 'I fucked up'.
"I'll go get her."
Taylor speaks up from across the table, standing from her spot beside Michael and shrugging his arm off of her.
"She looks nice."
I can do nothing but squeeze my hands together in my lap and fucking wait for the humiliation that will come when Alex accompanies me on my guys night out and discovers that I lied and told six of my mates that we were sleeping together when I can hardly get her talk to me most days.
My eyes and hands stay focused on the table in front of me, folding my napkin over and over out of boredom (and slight panic), until Taylor returns to the table with Alex. And Tyler.
"He's coming too."
She smiles, gesturing to Tyler and everyone else in the booth nods along, not seeming to care in the slightest. I try my best to ignore my nerves - after all I have lied to dozens of girls before Alex without the slightest concern - but something just feels so wrong this time. It took me too long to get her to go out with me again after the first time, and every time after that she changed her mind, and I don't need my blabbing friends to come and fuck everything up for me.
I nod at Alex awkwardly, lay thirty bucks down on the bill to cover Phil and I's fraction, and stand to join everyone else headed toward the door. Someone grabs my hand and yanks me back before I can get very far.
"Come here."
Phil pulls me off to the side, dropping my hand to cross his arms over his chest. I groan at the look on his face, I know it to well. The "Dan you fucked up again you bloody twat" face.
"What?"
I sigh, rolling my eyes because I know it pisses him off. My friends have filed out of the restaurant by now, except for Alex and Tyler, who stand waiting for Phil and I by the exit.
"You shouldn't have said that. About Alex, I mean. You know everyone's going to make comments about it."
I groan, more angry at myself than at Phil. He's right, I know, but that doesn't mean I'm going to admit to making a mistake.
"It's going to come back and bite you in the arse, Dan. You've just barely got her to talk to again and you're going to ruin that with a stupid lie?"
"I get it Phil. Trust me, I get it, okay?"
He nods, drops my arm.
"Just be careful, okay? I don't want to see you hurt again."
I scoff and roll my eyes, taking a few steps closer to Phil to be sure our conversation can't be heard by Tyler and Alex a few feet away.
"I'm fine. Can we not do this mushy heart to heart thing right now, please? Let's go."
Phil glances hesitantly at the double glass doors and at Alex, then back at the doors. Eventually he sighs and let's go of my elbow, exiting quickly and leaving me alone with Alex and Tyler, awkwardness filling the space between us. I reach an arm forward to hold the door open for the two of them, and quickly join my friends at the car to avoid any unnecessary interaction between Alex and I about the conversation she may of just overheard. Tyler shrugs and leans back against Michael's truck in nonchalance. Alex, however, looks uncomfortable, either from the whisper-fighting she just had to witness, or the fact that she is currently standing amid a circle of ten fuckboy idiots. I don't blame her either fucking way.
Most of the boys climb into Michael truck, playing a game of imaginary seat belts, and Tyler, Alex, and I get into Phil's car. The drive there is not as tense as I believed it would be, much to my surprise, but that is mainly because Alex and Tyler are locked away in the back seats where I can't see them.
"So, where are we going?"
Tyler squeezes himself between mine and Phil's chairs, sitting his elbows on the armrest compartment and leaning in. I'm tempted to shove him back into his seat and tell him to shut up, but I resist because it has become obvious that Alex likes him for some reason that I can't even begin to try to understand.
"We're going to a bar opening. It's not far, 'could probably walk back to the school if we get too shitfaced."
Phil responds, always the ever-friendly one.
Tyler nods a little and retreats to the back seat again, talking quietly with Alex.
I continue to ignore the twisted feeling in my stomach, reaching to blast the radio and block out the sound of Alex's laughter, even thought this will most likely be the last chance I'll have to hear it before my asshole friends bring up the inevitable and she banishes me forever.
I lean my head back against the seat with a sigh and close my eyes for the rest of the trip, mentally preparing myself for the night ahead.

ayyyy. so my shitty updating is slowly loosing me all of my readers/voters/commenters exc, so im not sure whether or not im going to continue this story. i apologize to all of the older readers who stopped reading because my shit wasn't together, and while i would love to continue this story, it's really not worth it unless it's making other people besides myself happy as well. so here is a short little chapter because i wanted to get this a/n out there and tell you guys what's up. but no matter what I do from here, thank you so much to everyone, new and old, that has read or is reading this story and giving my their votes and support. love you all