Hold On to the Stars // A Daniel Howell Fanfic

Chapter 5

Now that I'm back in my Black Parade tshirt, my skinny jeans, and my maroon Vans, I feel more like myself. As we walk in Tesco, Julia keeps smirking. "WHAT," I finally say. 

She nonchalantly shrugs. "Oh, I don't know. It just kind of seems like you might like someone....a Howell someone, maybe??" She raises her eyebrows. "I mean, I don't know, it's quite possible I'm reading the signs completely wrong. The odd-dozen signs..." I whack her arm. "Okay, I'm sorry. But seriously, you made an effort to get dressed up when went out. And you seemed kind of disappointed when you didn't see him. And you've been checking Twitter a lot. Like a lot, a lot."

I sigh. "In all honesty, I don't know. I just moved here, and I met him in person for the first time yesterday. But he seemed really nice when we talked - -for the minute and a half we talked. And he is in no way unattractive, so you know..."

Julia doesn't seem satisfied. "Hmm." As we get everything we need, we keep up a pretty steady banter, but she seems like she wants to keep talking about Dan. Every time we even get near the subject of boys, though, I change the conversation.

When we're almost done, we head to the breakfast cereal aisle. Julia and I are debating over whether we should get Lucky Charms or Cheerios when we hear, "Phil, I swear to God, if you eat my cereal again, I will actually kill you." Julia and I whip around at the same time to see Dan and Phil standing on the other end of the aisle. Both of them are in pajamas, and for some reason, Phil is wearing fuzzy rabbit slippers. 

Julia starts freaking out and trying to push me towards them, but instead of going over to them, I loudly say, "I don't know, Julia. We could get some coffee to have at home, but this really tall lesbian spilled mine all over me yesterday, so it kind of makes me nervous, having it around." Dan looks up from his conversation and grins. "Ah yes. I believe I would be the tall lesbian."

Dan walks over to me and Julia, with Phil pushing the shopping cart behind him. I make no comment on the 7 boxes of cereal in their cart. "I just keep running into you, don't I," he says, his dimples showing. It takes every ounce of willpower to not get ridiculously flustered, but somehow I manage to. "Possibly I was the one who ran into you yesterday, but it's nice of you to take the blame." We laugh. 

Phil chimes in from behind Dan. "So why are you two here at 10 at night? I mean, we had a crisis because I may have eaten all of Dan's cereal without telling him - sorry, Dan - and Dan just realized that, but I'm figuring you aren't likely in the same situation."

I start to talk, but Julia kicks me and does instead. "Well, since Brooke just moved here, we spent the day getting things for her apartment. Well, I got things for her apartment, she just vlogged for her channel on Youtube and pretended she was helping."

"Oh, you have a Youtube channel?" Dan and Phil say at the same time. Phil coughs and Dan continues by himself. "That's so funny, we knew we'd seen you somewhere when we met you, we just couldn't remember where. You're BrookexRose, right?"

Great. Now I'm flustered. "Oh. Yeah, that's me. Well....I've just been making videos for a while now....I mean, they aren't the best...but know...." Phil interrupts me. "Actually, we both think they're really good. I think we're both subscribed to your channel, we have been for a couple years. And now that you're in London, you wouldn't ever want to do a collab with us, would you?" Dan nods. "Yeah, we'd definitely be super excited to have you on our channels. Or maybe the gaming channel, because you like gaming, right?"

Somehow I manage to choke out a "Yeah, that'd be awesome." They smile and walk away, but not before I hear Phil mutter to Dan, "Oh lord, you like her, don't you?" and see Dan elbow Phil in the ribs. Obviously, Julia doesn't hear it, because she is calm again when we're walking out with our groceries, and only says, "Dude, you're friends with two of London's biggest Youtubers. You're pretty much set for life."

I nod, but I can't get what Phil said out of my head. Could Dan really like me? Most likely not. But who knows?