I Won't Give Up •The Substitute Teacher Sequel•

Chapter 12

Daniel's P.O.V.

*beep* *beep* *beep* I spazz out in my bed. Every fucking time, I whisper under my breath.
"Hello?" I say to my manager, and best friend, Hope. She always manages to wake me up at like 7 in the morning with her stupid phone calls.
"Hey Daniel! I was calling to tell you thay tonight there is going to be an event at the YouTube space. It will be a great opportunity for you to meet knew people and get yourself out there," she says as if she is a commercial host, trying to convince me to do something.
"I'm down I guess. What time does it start?" I say sliding out of bed and rubbing my eyes.
"8 o'clock sharp. Don't be late Daniel. Lord knows you always are," she says with a sassy undertone.
"I'm a model. So it is fashinably late," I say as we both share a laugh over my completely stereotypical joke.
"Alright well I have to go. Bye!" She says and then hangs up the phone before I can even tell her bye.

I go about my day normally until it hits me, I bet Joey is going to be at that party. And I bet he is going to have his fuckboy with him. This may be the last shot I have at making him see that Preston is the wrong choice. I don't know what I will do to get him to realize it. But something will have to happen.

By the time 6:00 rolls around I decide to get ready. After all I don't want to be late according to Hope. I hop into the shower and you know, shower. When I get out I towel dry my hair a bit and then blow dry it. I then place a few products into it to take down the fluff and to make it stay in a perfect quiff. I put on very nice clothing and spritz a little Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce cologne, it is Joey's favorite. I brush my teeth and then I am ready. It is 6:45 and decide to go ahead and drive to the party considering I will probably get stuck in some heavy LA traffic.

While driving to the event I kept trying to come up with what I wanted to say to Joey. Hey I still love you. Get away from this dickwad and continue to love me. No too harsh. I really couldn't think of anything to say so I guess I will be playing it by ear.

When I get to the YouTube space it is already 7:45. Wow, it took an hour to get here. I must have been in some very deep thought. Okay, game face. My goal tonight is to atleast get Joey to forgive me, if that. I still don't know what I am going to say, which makes me even more anxious. I have never been good at waiting. I always just want to lay all of my feelings on the table. I want to be an open book with everyone while staying true to myself. And no matter how much I want Joey back in my life, I can't change myself.

The clock is ticking and I will say I am enjoying myself. I have talked to a bunch of really cool people. But I haven't found Joey yet. And believe me, I am freaking out. Because if I don't find him, I don't think I will ever get a chance to talk to him again. And that would just crush me. Because this whole time I have been spilling myself to him trying to get him to forgive me. And I would be upset with myself if I didn't get to just hear his voice one last time.

And then I spot him. I watched as Preston walked away from him to go get food or something. Leaving him there all alone. And I do what I have intended to do all night, I walk up to him. So let's see how this goes.

He turns around and his beautiful, perfect, dreamy smile on his face fades away when he realizes it was me taping on his shoulder.
"What Daniel for the love of god?" He says crossing his arms and looking at me like I just killed someone.
"Why can't you forgive me? Why are you holding such a grudge towards me and not Preston? Is there some double standard I don't know about?" I say. My voice is barely audible over the music. So, Joey grabs me by the arm and drags me to a room. It has two chairs and a coffee table seperating them. I take the one chair and he takes the other. And we sit there in silence while he thinks of the perfect way to answer my question.
"There is no double standard, Daniel. Preston just was easier to forgive. Sorry about it," he says shrugging like his words mean nothing to me.
"You don't love him," I say shaking my head and running my fingers through my hair.
"What do you mean? Of course I love him!" Joey screams very defensivly. Almost a little too defensivly.
"Are you sure about that? Or are you just trying to lie to yourself?" I say trying to get the real answer.
"Daniel, he has changed. And that is something you could never do," he says crossing his right leg over his left leg and placing his hands on his knees.
"Nooo. Preston hasn't changed. Preston just painted another pretty layer of happiness over his real self that will slowly peel off just to impress you! He is tricking you! I won't change for anyone. I am me and I am sorry I can't have multiple personailities for different people, Joey. That just isn't me," I say pointing at him very viciously.
"Daniel can you just stop trying?" He says uncrossing his legs but keeping his hands on his knees.
"Joey, you know what love feels like. But do you know how it feels to love someone with all your heart and watch them love someone else? Because I really think you don't understand how I feel," I say running my hands up and down my legs wiping the sweat off them.
"Daniel I really don't want to have this conversation anymo-" he begins but I cut him off.
"Stop balling up your feelings, Joey! Lord knows how much you hate that. Just be yourself and stop trying to act all big and bad when I know deep down you can explain this whole thing to me. Don't be fake just so Preston won't cheat on you, again," I yell at him but I keep my tone level. I know if I elevate my voice Joey will be fine. But once my tone gets elevated, it sets Joey off.
"First of all, I am not being fake. Okay? What the fuck do you want from me? What do you want? Because telling me would be alot easier than just beating around the bush!" He says throwing his hands up in the air and then bringing them down making a slapping noise on his thighs.
"What do I want from you, Joey?" I repeat to him to make sure I heard him correctly.
"Yes. What do you want, Daniel? Because I am tired of being apart of your little guessing games," He says in almost a whisper tone now.
"I want you to tell me you hate me. I want you to fucking drag me until I cry. I want to cry until I can't physically produce more tears. I want that more than anything. Because that would give me closure. It would will me to move on. But you can't do that. Can you?" I say inching closer to him, the coffee table acting as a barrier, and looking him directly into the eyes to prove a point.
"I-" he begins to say but the door opens. It is Preston.
"Is he bothering you?" Preston says walking over to Joey and lacing his fingers with his own. Watching him show affection to Joey cuts deeper than a knife.
"Preston, can you-" Joey starts but I cut him off. I can't do this.
"You know what, save it. Call me whenever your come to your senses and can talk to me without needing this fucker coming to your side for support," I say shaking my head and standing up.

I walk out the room and shut the door. Because I think maybe, just maybe, when I closed the door I left all my feelings trapped in the room. But that's the thing about emotions. They always find their way out. And this time they crawled through the cracks of the door making it back to me as I drove home to the sound of me crying. And that I guess is how my life is destined to be, lonley, miserable, and a constant mystery. And sadly, even some of the best mysteries can be left unsolved.

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Authors Note:
Will Janiel ever get back together? Will Joey tell Daniel he hates him?
Will Daniel finally give up?
I guess we will have to wait until next update! As always thank you guys so much for reading and I will see ya next update! Xoxo <3