One Dance is all I ask

Chapter 2: Preparation

Dan woke up at some point in the afternoon. He doesn't remember what time he managed to get to sleep at but Louise is already awake with her pink dress hanging up on the back of her door, sealed in a plastic cover to keep it clean for the dance tonight.

"What.. what time is it?" Dan groans while rubbing his eyes and sitting up in the bed. "Finally the princess awakes ready for the ball hm?" replies Louise. 'The ball?' Dan thought, 'what ball?'. "So, do you think tonight is the night you're going to speak to Prince Charming?", Louise asks Dan as she giggles while sorting out makeup on her desk. 'Oh crap' Dan thought, he'd forgotten he'd agreed to go to prom after all.
"Um, Louise? I- I don't have a suit I don't think I can g-", Dan was cut off by Louise proudly stating that her dad had found his old suit in the attic and it was just the right size for Dan.
"Great.." Dan said sarcastically while turning on his phone to open Instagram, his entire feed was filled with photos of groups of girls getting ready for prom, getting their makeup done, getting pictures with the boys they were going with.
How Dan longed he'd spent the night with Phil, and that him and Phil would be posting pictures on Instagram together, and that him and Phil were going to prom together, he longed to cuddle with Phil in the back of the car on the way to the venue, he longed to go out into the garden with him and hold his hand as they walked out to get away from all the crowds and loud music, but that was just a dream, Dan claimed he had a better chance of being struck by lightning before he'd even get to speak to Phil without stuttering at every word. Phil, that's all Dan could think about right now, Phil and his beautiful blue eyes and his pitch black hair and how amazing he was and- "Dan?"
It was Louise interrupting his train of thought again,"Dan seriously are you ok?" Louise said half joking, half serious, "Yeah I'm fine, just nervous about tonight that's all.. I think I'm finally going to talk to Phil" Dan responds still scrolling through Instagram liking posts every so often.
He stops scrolling when he comes across "amazingphil's" new post.
"..Louise" Dan says in worrying tone, "What's up?" She responds with a peppy tone as to not worry Dan any further. "Phil's going to the dance with Pj", Dan hands Louise the Phone and Louise looks at the photo of Phil and PJ in suits with the caption "off to prom with my Prince Charming @kickthepj".
"M-maybe they're just going as friends" Louise stutters out. "Yeah" replies Dan, with a hurt tone in his voice, "because you'd call me your Prince Charming on your Instagram post", Dan just feels broken, as if he doesn't want to talk, eat, move, he just feels numb all over.
Dan is just lying on his back staring at the ceiling, he can hear Louise typing something on her phone when he feels a tap on his shoulder, "Dan look, they're just going as friends", Louise hands Dan the Phone, Dan takes the phone and looks at a post Louise has brought up, it's from PJ's Instagram, it's a photo of him with a girl. The caption reads "Love this girl with all my heart". Dan let's out a huge sigh of relief, "I feel like a weight has just been lifted from my shoulders", he breathes out.
A few hours of makeup, suits and Dan almost melting Louise's hair with a curling iron, they were both ready to head to the school.
"So" says Louise's Dad as Dan and her get in the back of his car, "what time do I pick you kids up at huh?". "Well the bus is going to bring us to the venue Dad so I'll text you when we're on our way back ok?" Louise says to her father. "Alright that's fine" Her dad replies.
The drive took 20 minutes, and it was mostly silence. Louise was on her phone almost the whole ride on Instagram showing Dan all the couples and all the other girls dresses, but every photo just made Dan more anxious that everyone else looked so amazing that they'd outshine him and Phil would never even notice him let alone speak to him.
"And we're here, have fun kids, but not too much fun if you catch my drift" chuckled Louise's dad, "Thanks dad love you" chirped Louise as she got out of the car, "Yeah thanks dad love you" mimicked Dan in a high pitched voice which made him and Louise laugh.
They watched Louise's dad drive off and turned to head towards the crowd waiting for the bus, "Louise come get a picture!" some girl shouts towards Louise, "I'll be right back Dan", she tells him and hurries off to take a photo. Dan notices a couple beside him taking a photo so he steps back so he won't be in the couples photo. He feels himself walk into something, no not something it's moving, oh god he's bumped into someone, he turns around and starts frantically apologising to the mystery stranger he's just bumped into.
"Hey it's ok, slow down", chuckles a familiar voice. Dan pauses and takes in the persons features in front of him, tall, black hair, blue eyes.. those eyes..
'Oh god' he thinks to himself,
'I can't believe I just bumped into Phil'