I'd never given much thought about my teenage years. I suppose it was the fact that you're supposed to enjoy it while it lasts, but now as that day looms over the horizon with a menacing glare, I find myself staring blankly at the rain in an inexplicably confusing train of thoughts. Sure, it's inevitable, but who really wants to grow up? I mean, if some insane scientist came blubbering through this window, screaming he's found the secret to infinite youth, would you really say no?
Didn't think so.
"Um.. Lols, who're you stalking?" I heard a distant voice mutter. It sounds familiar, my boss? Oh shit, I'm not supposed to be slacking. Right. No wait. What kind of boss asks their employee who they're stalking? Unless of course, you're working for a paedophile. Well, that's that possibility crossed out.
Oh, hold on! How could I have doubted the owner of that oddly perfect voice?
"No one, Harry. You just wish I would stalk you." I replied, my eyes still fixed out the rain, my hands still glued to my chin. I felt him take the chair next to me and heavily plop himself down on it. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see him following my line of view, determined to find whatever I'm ogling at.
Giving up, he sighed. "You know lunch was over ten minutes ago?"
"FUCK!" I yelped and jumped out of my seat, knocking the cold coffee that was formerly sitting quietly on top of the table. Poor coffee. Now, on any other day it would have been fine to have checked in late, again, but today I simply can't afford to put the boss in a bad mood. Not if I want tomorrow off.
Why, might you ask, would I want to miss the party my workmates would most likely be throwing me tomorrow? I can supply you with a number of reasons.
I'd learnt long ago that the parties Tesco workers throw can be… eventful. I made the mistake of coming to one once. Let me tell you, if ever you have the supposed fortune of being invited to one, do remember to bring your own food. Better yet, just don't come at all. I swear, it'll be one of the best decisions you'll ever make.
"Don't worry, I already told him you can't come tomorrow. Your cousin from Australia will be arriving and you have to spend the whole day showing her around London. Oh yeah, I'm good." said Harry, a proud smile gracing his timeless face. Oh, how I love this man.
You see, Harry probably means the world to me. Next to my family of course. Ever since that fateful day, that one day the gods decided to be nice to me and let me spill on someone for once rather than them spilling on me. Of course, I apologized religiously, since it honestly was a new experience for me.
After that, I was sure I wouldn't see him again, so all thoughts of him were banished. Or at least I tried to do so. Two weeks later, I started work in Tesco. And guess who offered me a first day tour.
"Thank you Harry! Thank you thank you thank you thank you! I swear that guy loves you, you could say I need to pee the whole day and I'd be excused." I beamed, hugging him tight and kissing his cheek. How I wish I could do this everyday, to wake up to his face, to kiss his lips every night.
My oh my, a girl can dream, can't she?
"So listen, you know how it's your birthday tomorrow?" he asked cautiously as we walked home together.
"Really? Hmm. This calendar stuff sure is perplexing." I replied sarcastically, forcing back the stubborn smile. He chuckled as he punched my arm, light banter, as always.
"Well, I got you a present, and uhm.." he stopped walking.
"Spit it out, Judd!" I laughed, turning round to face him. He gave me a slanted smile and handed me a crisp, white envelope. I scrutinized his expression, it was one that seemed.. scared?
I opened the envelope, a slight feeling of fear slowly creeping up on me as well. It was a wrist band, a plastic neon green wristband, with small black writing on it. It looked like ones you get in a hospital, the ones surgeons identify you with when they're gearing up for an operation.
Harry's sending me to an operation?! No, no, surely not. That does not make any sense at all. I held the wrist band closer to my face, examining the minute writing on the middle.
"A day with danny jones"
"FUCK ME." I muttered. No way. No forking way. No forking way in hell! HARRY WON ME TICKETS TO SPEND A DAY WITH DANNY JONES?! DANNY FLIPPING JONES?! DANNY "WILL-YOU-SIGN-MY-GENITALS" JONES?!
"Don't faint, please. I'm too tired to catch you babe." I vaguely heard Harry say. His voice, his velvet voice bringing me back to reality. Reality, where I'll be spending one whole day with the infamous, insanely perfect, ridiculously beautiful man that has graced my dreams ever since he appeared in the worldwide fame stage.
"I.. You.. Danny.. Jones.. Oh god." I muttered senselessly. This is too much to take in! I, little old Lauren, will be the envy of girls and ladies alike in every corner of the globe, I, will be living my own, and most likely any normal girl's dream, I, have the best birthday present ever, I.. I won't be spending my birthday with my best friend.
"What about you, Haz? We were supposed to spend the whole day together, booze trip remember?" My god, this is gonna be hard.
"I'll be okay, boss wants me to work. You can spend any day with me, baby." he gave me a wink and a hug, leaving me in the corner by myself.
Well.. that certainly hurt.
So I'm sure you're curious about how my day with Danny went. Well, let's start at the beginning. I woke up to the alarm blaring right next to my ear, some old tune that sounded like my little sister's cheap rendition of Mozart. She used to use her music notations for paper aeroplanes.
I hadn't been able to go to sleep the night before, and I was afraid I was going to wake up late, so I placed the bloody item beside my pillow, assuming that loud noises wake me up.
Well, I found that that one part is indeed true. It does wake me up. Another thing I found out is that loud noises at early hours do tend to put me at my worst moods.
And then it took me an exact amount of 53 minutes and 5 seconds to get dressed. In the end, I decided to go with black skinnies and a plain black shirt. I know, I know what you're thinking.
'All that fuss..'
At precisely 9.03, through my window, I spied a black stretch limo parking outside my house. As usual, my.. mind, if you could call it that, came up with some bizarre scenario, one that involved aliens, The President of USA, universal invasions, and that guy who lives above me who always makes bumping sounds in the morning.
Then a guy, a tall guy with dark brown hair and had jet black sunglasses on, dressed in a thin, slightly revealing, white t-shirt--which didn't help stop the nerves that was slowly building inside me at all--and baggy jeans stepped out, a bouquet of daisies held firmly in his hand.
Well, I'd recognize that grin anywhere.
I waited patiently for the bell, counting slowly in my head. One.. Two.. Three.. Four.. Five.. Six? What's taking him so long?
There it goes. Okay, calm down. Cliché, but true. Nice, slow breaths. He's just another guy Lolly, he'd hate it if you went all crazy fan on him. Okay, no crazy fan. Forgot anything? Nope. Phone, money, wristband. Right, all set.
Hands, doorknob, turn. Process, you stupid brain, PROCESS!
Wow. Would you look at that. Wow.
Of course, me being me, I didn't do that thing, you know, what they do in movies. Where I follow his sneakers, up to his pants, up to his shirt, and up to his face. I just had to be human and gaze blankly at his face. And whoa. Let me tell you, TV sure can be modest.
His skin shimmered in the sunlight, so smooth, so.. perfect. And his eyes, my god, his eyes. How can I describe them? They.. they.. sparkle. They.. shine. They're like.. diamonds. Two gorgeous oval sapphires, gleaming in the natural light.
I look like the ugly duckling next to him.
"Uhh.. Hi." I muttered feebly, my fingers pinching each other nervously. Don't ask, it's a habit.
He smiled an inhuman smile, looking more like a beautiful Roman Emperor than the rockstar everyone adores. My brain registered everything in slow motion, his arms reaching out, pulling me into a hug. Why, of all days, do you decide not to function today, brain?
"Hello there! You must be Lauren."
"You can call me Lolly." I smiled. I'm sure it can't even compare to his.
"Well then, Lolly. Do you wanna get going? I've got an exciting day planned for you!" he chuckled, gripping my hand, lacing his fingers through mine.
Well, at least it'll keep me from my habit.
"So Lolly, tell me about yourself." he said casually, his eyes penetrating through mine, an illusion of interest masking his expression. I couldn't bring myself to believe it was genuine, of course not.
"Well.. what would you like to know?"
"Okay, tell me about your day yesterday." he smiled. Hmm, easy enough.
"Alright, well.. went to work early, since I couldn't afford to put my boss in a bad mood."
"Why's that?"
"'Cause I wanted today off,"
"Why?"
"'Cause I don't want my workmates to throw a party, and before you ask why again, it's cause they always throw the stupidest parties ever, which always either blows up or simply sucks"
"Wow." he simply said. Oh, great. I'm boring him.
"I'm sorry, I'm boring you. Do tell me about your day yesterday"
"No, no, you're not boring me, on the contrary, in fact, you're interesting me, a lot."
"And why's that?"
"Your life, it just sounds really interesting."
"How?"
"Well, for one, it's nothing like what I've ever experienced."
"Really?" Hmm.
"You're thinking. You've got an idea."
"Wow. You're observant." I replied.
"And you're beautiful."
"Would you like to hear my idea?" I quickly said, avoiding the blush that I know would soon surface.
"Sure." he smiled.
And that's how I apparently changed his life. And our plans.
Bringing Dan Johnson to life didn't really prove to be a difficult task. A pair of sunglasses and a cap did the trick. That, and the gorgeous beach I took him to was practically deserted.
We did everything a normal person would, pushed each other in the sea, pissed off the lifeguard, built sandcastles. It was odd how comfortable I was with him, it was like he was Harry, but in another form, a form I could love.
Of course, I do love Harry. But what is love?
Love is, mutual isn't it? I love Harry, but he'll never love me.
You must think my head is blown up, to think that Danny Jones, The Danny Jones would love me back. To even think of loving him myself.
But I didn't mean love. By saying what I said, I meant that Danny would give me more attention than Harry ever would. In fact, he already has.
Strange how this is turning out.
The impossible seems possible, and the possible seems.. impossible.
"So how do you like you new average life?" I asked as we sat on the warm bench, licking our ice cream like there's no tomorrow. He turned to me and smiled his breathtaking smile for the thousandth time, still managing to make me choke on oxygen.
The day was nearing a close now, and as the stars shone brightly in the darkening sky, and as the sea water glimmered, and as the moon graced us with her presence, there was nothing more beautiful than the look of content that quickly spread across his face.
"Thank you, Lauren." he whispered. God, my full name never sounded so.. graceful before.
We stared at each other intently, our heads subconsciously nearing each other. Don't think, Lolly. This will be easy. Just don't think.
His eyes were soft, so soft, so inviting. And within a split second, his lips were suddenly on mine, moving so swiftly, gently, like he was nervous.
IMPOSSIBLE! Danny Jones? Nervous? Simply impossible!
"I'm just a normal guy, Lolly. I'm Danny Jones, the guy who left you those notes when you were fourteen. I'm so glad I found you, Lolly. I am so, so, glad."
This is simply, obviously impossible.
"Please believe me." he pleaded.
At least I could grant him that one wish.
I was eager to get home, to check those notes, to reassure me that I still have that one ounce of sanity left in me. Yes, someone left me notes when I was fourteen. Yes, I never found out who it was. Yes, said person never left my mind.
"Goodbye Lauren." he said as the limousine parked outside my house. He refused to look at me.
"Why won't you look at me?"
"You don't believe me."
"Of course I do."
"Then look in my eyes and say it." he said, now facing me. His sharp gaze pierced through me, and as I tried to soften it with my own stare, I whispered, "I believe you, Danny."
And the door opened behind me.
With a smile, I waved his car away. When I was ready to step back in reality, and contemplate the bizarre day I've just experienced, I spotted a figure, sitting quietly on the porch steps.
"Hi, Harry."