Spaceking

Chapter 27: You're cute

"A boyfriend?" I heard Dan's voice sound through the phone. He sounded dissapointed. I felt disgusting. You did that. "No, she never told me about that." I grabbed the phone away from Julian. "That's because I didn't have one when I was with you, Howell. You have to believe me. And it's over. I don't have one anymore," I begged Dan to listen to me. I felt him hesitate while Julian was smirking at me. I felt the severe need to slap that smirk of his face. "Please let me explain more clearly, I'll call you on Skype tonight. Please hear me out." The line was silent, before a sigh was heard. "Okay, Jo, I believe you. Call me tonight, I have a couple of questions." I sighed, relieved. I released a breath I didn't realise I was holding all that time. "Okay, I will. I'm done around five, speak to you soon," I said, smiling. He hung up after that. I knew I had dissapointed him, maybe even made him angry. But I was so relieved he was going to let me explain. I turned to Julian. "You heard me loud and clear, and I don't care if you believe me or not. I love this guy. This, even though it was fun, is over. I should have known you could be this kind of jerk," I said to him, before walking away to open up the shop.

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"Hi," his voice made me smile. He didn't look as tired as when we spoke yesterday. But he didn't look very happy. "Hi, I'm sorry about that phonecall." He rubbed his eyes, and suddenly he looked tired again. My smile fell as I watched him. "It's nothing, no problem. But I don't understand, who was that guy? I want to know everything."

"His name is Julian, he's the owner of the bookshop where I work during my free time. He and I... let's say we had a..moment before I left for London." I swallowed hard before continuing. "I liked him, but he had a girlfriend. But you have to believe me when I say this.. When I was in London, I had already forgotten about him for the biggest part. Yes, he spooked around in my head sometimes, but from the moment I met you," I swallowed once again, "I never thougth about him again." Dan's cheeks turned pink, as did his ears, when I talked about London. I must have looked as bad, probably even worse.

"Why did he tell me he was your boyfriend?"

"Because he was. For around a month. When I was back home, he had dumped his girlfriend. He told me he liked me, and I desperately needed some kind of rebound, he was close..." I trailed off and didn't finish my sentence. "So he was just a rebound?" If possible, I felt my face become even hotter. "After a while, I started to like him again, but never as much as before. He had hurt me a lot with the fact that he had a grilfriend when he first kissed me." Dan looked pained. "You have been hurt too many times. I'm sorry I was one of them." I shook my head. "It's okay, really. I'm over it."

"Still. I'm sorry. I'll find a way to make it up to you." I smiled. "I believe you."

We were quiet for a moment, only looking at the other person. It was like I saw him for the first time. I once again noticed all of his seperate features. I was amazed by how handsome he was. We talked for a long time, until I had to leave to work on my paper.

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One month later. Me and Dan talked every night. It made me realise how extremely hard I had missed him during my time with Julian. Speaking of Julian, I quit my job at the bookstore as soon as I had found another one. It was a relieve, honestly. after he pulled that trick with Dan on the phone, we hadn't talked. So I think we were both kind of glad when I left. Dan and I... we were just friends. Even though it was clear now what we both felt, it didn't feel right. Maybe when I was back in England, something could happen. But just like that, while talking over Skype, it wasn't going to happen. I was finaly finishing up my paper that night, when I got a Skype notification. I quickly accepted his call. "Hello there Howell," I greeted. "If you don't mind, talk to me, but I'm just writing the last paragraph of my paper." I started typing again while Dan watched me. "You look so concentrated," he said. I looked up at his face. It was quite close to the screen. He was watching me intensly. "I'm sorry, if you want I can finish tonight too," I apologised. He shook his head. "No, it's okay! It's cute. I mean-" his ears were turning pink. "You're cute. You know, when focused." He looked away and I grinned. Even though I told myself we were just friends, it was clear that we were more. Just not.. Officialy.

I wrote the last sentence and sighed deeply. "Done!" I shouted as I saved it and put my Skype on full screen. "So how are you?" "I'm very good, thank you," he still wasn't looking at me. I chuckled. "You can look at me, Dan, I'm done being cute." His eyes slowly turned back to the screen. "You're never done being cute, Joanna." Fuck. Heating up, heating up. Why do you do this to me? "Oh!" He said, startling me. "I have a surprise for you. You know, for the nearing holidays." I frowned. "A surprise? But I'm here, and you're.. In England. How do you plan on giving me a surprise? And shit, if you give me one, I still need to find you one." I started to panic. What the hell was I supposed to get him? And when I got it, would I just mail it to him? "Don't worry, Joanna, you have more than enough time. And you don't even get to get me anything. I have something for you, because I promised to make it up to you." "Make it up to me?" "Don't you remember? I promised you after the accident with Julian." Ohh, I remembered alright. But how did he still know that? "I promised you, and you'll get a surprise. Soon." After that, he started talking about something else. He refused answering my questions about it.

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"Thank you, have a good day," I smiled at the customer as I gave her her change. She didn't smile back, but I also didn't expect her to. My new job was less exciting than working in a bookstore, but it payed pretty good. I sat behind a cash desk in a large store in the center of the city. I didn't like it that much, but it was okay. And I was used to rude customers, so they couldn't bug me either. I had mastered the art of staying friendly until the very end.

I wasn't the last one to leave that night, but it was pretty late. Still, there was the usual late customer; someone that didn't look up the opening hours and had a late shift at work. Someone that needed to get something, but stood before a closed door. Today, it was a young man. I coughed to get his attention. "I'm sorry sir, but we are closed." The man turned around at the sound of my voice. "You know how much I like to hear you speak in Dutch, but I don't understand a word of what you're saying, Joanna."

"Dan?"

"Surprise."