Spaceking

Chapter 20: Scared I'll Bite?

It was two weeks later. Me and the girls were halfway our trip, with only another two weeks left in England. We had done a lot in London, almost evrything really. So we had decided to spend some time in other places, letting our hotel in London know we would be away for a couple of days. We were going to Brighton for two days, then Bath for two days and then we would come back.

I threw my backpack in the trunk of the car, slamming it shut after Lisa placed our shared beautycase in it too. "All set?" A man's voice sounded behind us. We turned around, seeing Jolene run up to Phil, kissing his cheek.

Oh yeah, that happened. Only two days after I told Phil to take care of it, he apparently told Jolene how he felt. That he wasn't sure yet whether or not he loved her, but was certain he was in love with her. It had melted her right away, as she had kissed him fiercly and let him know she returned those feelings. After that, they were always together, not that I minded. Me and Lisa had spent some amazing times. And of course, Dan had been with me several times. He had confronted me about lying again, and that time I broke. I had still been weakened by my feels moment with Phil. Dan had not been angry with me. Instead, he comforted me and made sure I got through it. He also called out the haters on social media. People were nicer to me now, understanding that first; me and Dan weren't anything but friends (sadly enough), and second; I genuinely liked him as a person, not just because he was famous.

As Jolene and Phil were going for some PDA, Dan came up to Lisa and I. "Who's driving?" He asked. Lisa stuck her hand in the air. "It's my car, no way Jolene or Jo are getting their hands on it," she said, petting the car while grinning.
"Will you miss me?" He pouted, turning to me. Luckily, Tim came out of the front door of the hotel that moment, so Lisa quickly left. If she had stayed, she would have embarrased me, without a doubt.
I smiled up at Dan, trying to read in his eyes whether or not he was kind of serious. But I saw no glints of hidden emotion, just plain teasing. I mentally sighed. Would he ever even think about it? It's not like I thought he would, but a girl can dream.
"Nope, Howell," I sang. "Only in your wildest dreams."
"Ah oeh- aaaah," Dan continued to sing Taylor's song. I raised my brows. "What a talent you have young man," I told him. He nodded, puffing out his chest and holding his chin high. "What would you expect from someone like me?" He asked. I chuckled. "Nothing less."
He looked down on me for a second, before pulling me into his chest and hugging me tight. "I am going to miss you Jo, you know that right?" I rubbed my head against him lovingly. "I'll miss you too, Dan. But it's only for four days."
"Five if you count driving."
"Fine. Five. But you're a big boy, you'll survive."
"Barely."

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(A/N: while they're away from others, the three of them speak Dutch. Time to test your imagination.)

"I'm thinking luck more than anything," I chuckled, spitting around in my ice-cream. I put a spoonfull in my mouth. We had arrived in Brighton yesterday around five, because we had left in London quite late. Phil and Jolene (and Lisa and Tim, really) were almost glueed to one another, and it had been impossible to leave. So we didn't do anything but settle in in our room once we arrived. Now, the next day, we had been to the beach and walked around. I was very tired and hungry, so I decided it was time for a pit stop. Lisa and Jolene got pancakes, I got ice-cream. We had just been talking, when Jolene brought up Phil and actually asked me how I met Dan. She said she was thankful I did, otherwise she wouldn't have met her Philly. So I shrugged and answered.
Lisa shook her head. "No way. Like you two connected right away? I say fate," she said, still shaking her head. I laughed. "You don't even believe in fate."
"But it's far more romantic than luck," Jolene said. "It is," I agreed, "it's just not something I think exists."
"More like, the will of the universe?" Lisa asked me, pointing out my interst in space and everything around it. I nodded. "If you want to go there, yes. More likely."
"Isn't it the same as fate though?" Jolene stuffed more pancake in her mouth. I rolled my eyes at her. "The universe has quite a few scientific explanations, and then there's fate," I answered. "Which has none." I rested my case, eating the rest of my ice. "Ready?" I asked, and Jolene and Lisa nodded, standing up. As we made our way out and walked further alongside the street, a voice called me.

"Hey, is that Joanna?" Footsteps as I froze. "Joanna Dewit?" The british accent morphed my surname in something it wasn't. Normally I wouldn't care. Dan did it too. But this didn't sound as caring as when Dan pronounced my name. There was anger in this voice, maybe even hate.
Shit. A fan. What were the chance I would cross paths with one? And still she found me. Flashed through my head. But either way, I put on a smile and turned around. "That's me."
The girl in front of me was a bit taller than me and looked around my age. She had the most beautiful- almost white- hair, that flowed down her back with small beaids in it. She looked like Daenerys Targaryen, her blue eyes even having a glimpse of violet in them. Her scowl was directed towards me, with great enthousiasm. I had to prevent myself from cringing. She kind of scared me.
"I don't like you," her deep voice continued. "I made sure you knew that from the beginning, you might remember my tweet. No one that bitchy should even come close to him." She repeated her words to me, and her username flashed through my head. I'mnotthekhaleesi. Of course.
"I don't want you to speak to her," Lisa said to her, pushing me behind het. But the girl just smiled. "Why? Scared I'll bite?"
I stared at her, hoping my voice didn't tremble. "People like you have no effect on me," I said, and as I hoped, I sounded calm. Daenerys smiled again. "People like me? I have no idea what you mean. But I always have effect on people, Jo." She spoke my name harshly, and in that moment a hand came down on her shoulder. All of us turned to look at the person.
"Maybe you shouldn't be so mean to her. It's not like when you are, you'll get closer to Dan. Please go away," Zoë Sugg spoke fiercly. The girl left, and me and my friends were speechless.
"Thank you so much," I breathed. She smiled. "No problem Joanna," she put out her hand. I shook it. "I'm Zoë."
"I know," I grinned widely as she introduced herself to the rest of us.
"Perfect! Then we all know each other," she clapped her hands. "How do you know me?" I asked her.
"Well, I saw Dan's tweet and knew immediately what was going on. I followed your feed for a while and I have to sat," she said. "You handled it very well."
She turned away, pointing to a cafe on the other side of the street. "So what do you say? A drink? My treat."
We followed her, and Lisa looked at le, smiling. It was as if her eyes told me:

The will of the universe.