Spaceking

Chapter 26: Forgetting You Became Easy

"Hi babe," Julian greeted me. He took my hand and pulled me to him. Immediatly, I leant back, away from him. It was a small movement, but he noticed it right away. He frowned. "What is it?" He looked worried. He looked like he thought he had done something wrong. Shit. How to tell him I'm the one that is ruining this? But since last night, I couldn't just stop thinking about Dan. I hadn't told him about Julian, because I made a promise to myself. To let Julian go as soon as possible. I was only lying to myself, and to him. Maybe this wasn't that serious for Julian too, but I was now certain it wasn't for me. 

"What happened? Did I do something?"

I shook my head, gulping on the air. "You didn't do anything. It's about what I did." He tilted his head, still frowning. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Oh!" he said. "Did you cheat on me?" He asked me. My eyes grew. Techincally, I didn't. I wanted to protest, but he cut me off. "Well, if you're saying you did but it meant nothing, I don't mind. As long you promise it was only a distraction, I can forgive you," he said. He looked quite sad, but the opposite came out of his mouth. I was confused. What kind of boyfriend doesn't mind when his girlfriend cheats on him?

"I did not cheat on you," I forced myself to say. "But.." I looked at him. He looked relieved but was squinting his eyes worried. I took a step back, further away from him. His gaze followed me, his shoulders lowering. "You don't like me anymore, do you?" I was surprised by what he said. I wouldn't have thought he would come up with that. But it did make things easier for me. I slowly shook my head.

"I'm really sorry," I started. "You're an amazing person, Julian, and I don't understand why you fell for someone like me in the first place, but I don't feel those things for you." He just watched me, not interrupting. I was glad he let me speak first. "I have felt that way about you," I sighed, "but then Amber came  in the picture and I tried to forget about you." He still didn't move, neither did I. The shop was supposed to open now, but Julian hadn't even opened the  curtains yet.

"Forgetting you became easy once I was in London. It was  a time to spend with my friends, no worries about home, or about you. It became even easier when-"

"You met someone else. You met someone in England, and now you can't forget about him." I nodded shyly. I felt as if his rage was nowhere to be seen, but was building up inside him. Saying one thing wrong could set him off. "I had the great luck to meet one of my idols there, and you're right. I can't forget about him." Julian scoffed lightly. "An idol? Isn't that a bit creepy Jo? Did you two even talk?" He was less worried now, his anger flowing out of him. He thinks I'm just fangirling.

"No," I said harshly, "You don't understand. I love him, Julian." There was a great power in those word, a lot of emotions. My words surprised me, but Julian didn't flinch. He laughed. "Love? Oh my God, Jo, I thought you were an adult. Fangirling over some foreign worldstar. As if you would ever stand a chance with someone like that."

I gasped, and for a moment, Julian looked guilty. He was about to apologise, but I took yet another step back and lifted my hands. "I understand. But I'll have you known that we talked." I grinned widely, deciding on going a bit further. "We talked, we laughed, we held hands, we hugged. Hell, I even kissed him, Julian. I slept at his place." I made it sound like Dan and I had a full-on relationship, but I didn't care. Julian had set me off and was getting it now. He now looked like he was watching a crazy person. I didn't care. I tugged on the hem of my shirt, Dan's shirt. "This is his shirt. He gave it to me." Julian now looked really uncomfortable, backing away aswell. But he still laughed in my face.

"Jo, don't make me laugh. You do realise you sound like a maniac, right? Some kind of crazy fangirl running free. It's never safe with one of those around." Furious, I pulled out my phone. He followed everything I did with a confident gaze. Unlocking it, I searched Dan's number in my contact list. I dialed it, praying that he would pick up. I held my phone to my ear, heading to the computer behind the cash desk. I opened up Google, searching Dan Howell. Julian had followed and now, I pointed it out for him. He sat down cautiously, scrolling through images and information.

"Hey, Jo! Miss me already?" Dan's voice sounded happy, extremely. I was proud to say that I made him that way. But of course, I was the one that had made him sad in the first place. "Hey Dan, of course I do. Don't act as if you don't miss me." Julian looked weirdly at me from behind the computer. Okay, so now I had only to come up with an excuse as to why Julian wanted to know who he was. I turned my back to him, holding my hand around my mouth, so only Dan would hear what I said.

"So I'm here with this friend who heard the stories and saw everything on Twitter. He doesn't believe it's really you though, and treats me like some kind of mad fangirl. If you would be so kind to introduce yourself?" I heard Dan hesitate on the other side. What a dumb excuse. If he saw everything on Twitter, he would have seen the verificated account. But Dan pulled me out of my thoughts. "Yeah, sure, hand me to him." I could hear he wasn't too sure about this, but apparently he wanted do it anyway. God, I loved him.

"Julian," he shortly said when I gave him the phone. He was still scrolling through the search results. "So, Dan Howell huh? I don't believe it for the slightest bit." I heard Dan hesitate for a moment, before Julian continued. "Prove it to me."

"I was born on the eleventh of June in the year 1991. I'm around six feet three long, Jo reaches my shoulders, nothing far above," he chuckled ligthly. I saw Julian's expression change sligthly. But Dan continued anyway. "Now that I proved I'm Dan, I'll prove to you that I'm close to Joanna. Her surname is Dewit, her favourite colour is the grey the sky is painted in when it rains. She's funny, and energetic. Her hugs are the warmest you can find. When you means a lot to her she'll hug you for a long time, she isn't uncomfortable with that. She's easily embarrassed and turns red easily. Her ears are the first thing to redden, it's cute. She doesn't comb her hair after showering until it's completely dried. She has a reason why, but when she explained it, I was a bit preoccupied with staring at a drop of water running down her neck."

The last comment made me blush immediately. Julian's eyes grew as he turned towards me. I smirked at him, ready to take my phone back now that I had proven myself. But before I could reach for it, Julian smirked as well and said to Dan:

"Wow, you know her well indeed. But did she also tell you that she has a boyfriend?"