Picture Perfect | Daniel Ricciardo

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Daniel was relieved when three out of four of his friends needed to go, leaving him alone with Carl. Daniel felt different kinds of things when Dani suddenly escaped from him and their friends. He was mostly annoyed because she decided she wanted to yet again spend more time with her new and better friends. But was it all annoyance? Or was there a bit of jealousy as Daniel suddenly wasn't Dani's number one guy anymore. If that one stupid mistake that was more of a misunderstanding never happened, he would still have been Dani's number one. 
'They always keep screwing things up with Dani and me,' Daniel sighed frustrated as he moved back with his back against the backrest of the couch. 
'You talking about Gavin, Sarah and Corrie?' Carl asked confused as he moved to the seat where Dani sat at the beginning. Daniel nodded while his head was resting on his hand at the table. 'Well, don't get this the wrong way, but you kind of let them.' Carl looked at the raised eyebrows that his friend gave him by his comment.
'I don't let them. They just come in and ruin it, no offence to you. You're fine.' Daniel said, disagreeing with Carl's comment. He just doesn't see what Dani sees, was what Carl was thinking in his head. 
'You do. If it bothers you why don't you tell them to fuck off,' Carl tried again. He saw his friends glance change into a confused one as he frowned. 
'Dani didn't do it either,' Carl couldn't help but roll his eyes to his friend as the guy obviously hadn't pay attention back when they all went to the same school. 
'Dani kind of gave up with the three of them when we all were still a group in school. The fact that Sarah is still that jealous bitchy girl that is in love with you, probably makes Dani realise that she is too old for that childish shit. And then it obviously doesn't help that our Gavin is still in love with Sarah and our Corrie is-'
'Is in love with you, but you're too stupid to not see that,' finished Daniel Carl's sentence with a big wink. What a group they are...
'Anyway. Maybe it's time to tell Sarah to fuck off so that you can actually try with Dani. That is of course if you're still madly in love with her, but I think that's quite obvious.' Carl got a slapped for that last comment of his. 
'I am not telling Sarah to fuck off okay?' Daniel said back moving back again to the couch's backrest. 
'You have to, in a nicer way of course. It kind of sucks if you lead her on all this time. But don't be too nice, because knowing you. You will make it seem like she needs to try even harder for some reason.'
'Are we done here?' Daniel said. Now it was his time to roll his eyes to his friend. For some reason, Daniel was getting more and more annoyed with the lesson Carl tried to learn him. 
'Sure,' Carl said while Daniel was already up to pay for Dani's and his drink. It didn't take long for them to be walking outside again. 
'Where are you planning to go now?' Carl asked as he wasn't really sure what his friend's plan was. 
'I am going to find out if these two replacements of Dani's are really worth her time,' Daniel said. Carl decided to just let it go. Mostly because Dani was someone special to Daniel. Hell, she was more than special to him. The fact that he had given up racing, something that was his passion since he was a child, just because it felt so different without his Dani screamed how much she meant to Daniel. And now that Daniel seemed to have Dani back into his life, he felt attacked by those two boys who she seemed so close with. He didn't want to lose her again because of those two strangers. No, he wouldn't let that happen. Mistakes were something that happened a few times in Daniel's life, whether it was about racing, or about his personal life. But he never made the same mistake twice, and that applies also for the relationship he once had with Dani. It will come back, it has to. 

~0~

It didn't take long for Daniel to find Dani when he walked on the beach with Carl next to him. He had stopped in his trail immediately as he watched them from afar. Carl had at first looked at him weird because he suddenly just stopped walking, but then he found out what his friend was looking at. He didn't say anything and let Daniel just watch from the place they were standing. If it was a smart idea to let him torture himself like that was debatable. But Carl also knew that Daniel wouldn't listen to him, so he kept wisely his mouth shut and watched the same scenario as his friend did.