…I have no idea where this plot came from, but I'm glad it hit me. So, weeks or months after I've posted the summary for this in my forum, it's finally here!
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.
"Danny! Danny, over here!"
Danny twisted around sharply, catching sight of a short, dark-haired figure fighting her way through the crowded airport terminal.
"Danny!"
The young man was immediately tackled by a black blur, which proceeded to suffocate him in a rather non-intentionally violent manner.
"Sam…" he wheezed, lungs slowly being crushed by his friend, "need…air…!"
Sam Manson, called "Samantha" only by her parents a brave, suicidal few, finally let go of Danny, who was able to breath again.
"Can you blame me?" she asked. "I haven't seen you for almost three years. Believe it or not," the sarcasm was then generously applied, "we haven't been in touch for a long time, despite yearly Christmas cards."
Danny grinned guiltily. Over the years, he had grown into a handsome young man. His hair still hung messily over his eyes, which were still the same bright blue, but physically he had grown. He was taller, and my, he's grown some muscles…or so Sam's noticed after almost squeezing him to death.
Sam, on the other hand, still looked almost the same as before. She now stood only up to Danny's shoulder and had still retained her unique style of clothing. But instead of putting her hair up in a ponytail, she now had it down. And it looks nice, Danny mused to himself.
"You jerk," Sam teased, leading the way out of the airport terminal, "how come you never respond to any of my emails?"
"You never respond to any of my emails either," Danny shot back. "Besides, you know how busy college life is."
"Ah, true," Sam said. "Apology accepted, then."
"What apology?" Danny joked, earning himself a light punch on his shoulder. "Ow."
It was true that Danny, Sam, and Tucker had barely been in touch for three years. Near the end of high school, the three had discovered, to their disappointment, that they had all made it into different colleges, all quite a long way from each other. They had promised each other to keep in touch, but somewhere between the mid-terms and tests and research papers, the time it took to reply to emails and remember to make phone calls got longer and longer. And one day, somehow, their friendship had dwindled down to sending yearly mimeographed Christmas cards.
What's ironic is that Sam didn't even celebrate Christmas.
Of course, there were times when a stray thought like "I should call Tucker" or "I haven't talked to Danny in a long time" would drift into the surface of their thoughts, but they were pushed away by the more important issue of a major test coming up next Friday, a project that was due soon, or new friends yammering for their attention. And so the three slowly but surely lost touch with each other.
Then, two weeks ago, when Danny went to check his mail, he found a small white envelope with his name and address hand-written on it. He glanced at the return address and discovered, to his mild surprise, "Sam Manson" neatly written in purple ink. Tearing open the envelope he was amazed to find a plane ticket to the town where Sam's college was. Enclosed was also a rather forceful letter that almost demanded Danny to take these tickets and visit her and a shy "I miss you" at the bottom. He could tell from the tone of the note that his friend wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. So he packed his bags and, two weeks later, found himself being hugged to death by a certain violet-eyed Goth.
Sam reminded Danny strongly of Tucker as she talked all the way to the car, not that he was any better. After two and a half years, they had some catching up to do. Their sentences were rushed, and, more than once, Danny found himself tripping over his words as he tried to tell Sam something.
He blamed it on the excitement of having a reunion with his best friend.
"…and this is my humble abode," Sam said with a flourish, kicking open the door to her apartment. Walking in, they threw Danny's suitcase in a corner of the room.
The first word that came to Danny's mind was "cramped." He walked into what he guessed was the living room, which consisted of a tiny desk with a battered laptop lying on top of it. There was a small table in another corner of the room. An open carton of soymilk had been abandoned on it, probably empty, as it was tipped over on its side.
"All right, come in, Danny," said Sam, tossing her car keys onto the desk. "It's a bit of a mess, I didn't have time to clean up this morning…"
"Hey, it looks a heck of a lot better than my dorm room, that's for sure," said Danny.
"It isn't very roomy in here, so you may wake up in the morning with a crick in your neck from lying curled up on the floor—you don't mind, do you? Besides, I'd rather gouge out my own eyeballs than ask my parents for money…I don't want to get used to always depending on them. Of course, it helps that Devin pays half the rent. I mean, he lives here, after all—"
Danny's eyebrows suddenly flew. "Devin?" he asked curiously. "Who's Devin?"
"I'm Devin," a voice said behind him.
Danny turned around to face a guy about his age stepping out of what he presumed was the bathroom. Judging by the towel wrapped around his waist, and his wet hair that was dripping water onto the floor, he had just finished with his shower. He was of average build, with light gray eyes and short, spiky red hair.
But the most important thing he noticed was that he was a guy who was rooming with Sam. Danny couldn't help but glare evilly at him.
"Devin, this is Danny," Sam said, barely even registering the fact that a wet, half-naked man was standing in the middle of her apartment. "You know, the one I told you about yesterday? Danny, this is Devin. He's my roommate."
"Oh, that Danny," he said, a look of dawning comprehension on his face. "Yeah, Sam talks about you a lot. What's up?" He held out his hand, which Danny shook tersely.
"Anyway," Sam continued, seemingly unaware of the one-sided tension in the room, "Danny and I are just here to drop off the luggage, which was crowding up the car. I'm going to take him around town and finish some errands while we're at it. Don't wait up for dinner, Danny and I are going to the Nasty Burger a few blocks away."
With that, they left, Danny slamming the door rather loudly on his way out.
"So…this Devin," he said, attempting to sound nonchalant, "he has no sense of decency, does he?" Really, what kind of shameless guy would walk around with only a towel on while rooming with a girl?
Sam blinked. "What do you mean? It's not like it matters, since we're cousins and all."
"Cousins?"
"Yeah, on my mom's side of the family. My parents wouldn't stop nagging 'cause I was going to a college so far from Amity Park, but I finally persuaded them when I told them I'd room with a relative. They were pretty okay with it after that, and I don't really mind, since Devin's a nice guy."
Yeah, he isn't so bad, Danny thought to himself.
First stop, chips and soymilk at Wall 2 Wall Mart.
Unfortunately, Sam became slightly sidetracked when walking down the canned food aisle, after a classmate caught sight of her. Which was why Danny found himself glaring at a pretty boy who seemed to be annoying Sam with endless bits of conversation. Except she didn't look annoyed, and the person talking the most was Sam.
Seriously though, he is a pretty boy, Danny thought venomously. Blonde hair that hung down over his eyes, deep brown eyes, a round, innocent baby face, and a perfect smile that showed off his teeth, which, of course, just had to be straight and pearly white, too.
Sam and her classmate were in a deep conversation when the boy suddenly peeked over her shoulder and caught sight of Danny.
"Ooooh, Sam, who's the guy? Have you finally gotten a boyfriend?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Ashley, he's not my boyfriend!" Sam squeaked, blushing furiously.
Wait…Ashley?
Danny suddenly understood as pieces of the puzzle fell together…the girly-looking features, the strangely high-pitched voice, the stuff around the boy's eyes that he suspected and now knew was definitely eye shadow and not a trick of the lights…
Ashley the "pretty boy" was a girl.
"You…you…I thought you were a—" Danny spluttered.
"Guy?" Ashley asked, rolling her eyes before laughing it off. "Yeah, that happens a lot, but I refuse to grow my hair out after I got my ponytail stuck in a fan in tenth grade." With that, she waved good-bye, pushing her shopping cart into the next aisle.
Danny just stared and felt like slapping himself.
Next stop…
"A flower shop?" Danny asked dubiously.
"Yup," Sam answered, refusing to elaborate any more as they entered the store.
Danny immediately heard an ear-splitting squeal.
"Like, Sam! You're here!"
Danny turned to see Star, of all people, leaning behind the counter.
"Oh my God! Is that you, Danny?" she asked, squinting.
"Hi, Star," Danny said. The last time he saw Star, she had been halfway decent, and, judging from the fact that she was willing to get a job and work, she had remained decent, if not a bit shrill.
Star then turned to Sam. "I thought you were never going to show up," she said, turning around and quickly fixing a bouquet of carnations. "Anyway, here are Kwan's flowers. You remember what to say, right?"
Danny looked at them, confused.
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Sam grumbled from underneath the huge bunch of flowers. "Although this is really quite bothersome…"
Star giggled. "Uh-huh, whatever. Thanks, Sammy!"
"Don't call me Sammy," Sam groaned, nudging the door open and leading a rather green-eyed Danny out. When they finally reached the car, Sam stopped short, frowning.
"Danny, I think I left my purse in there," she said, sounding muffled from behind the large arrangement of flowers. "Can you go inside and get it for me?"
"Yeah, sure," Danny sighed, turning around and heading back into the flower shop.
Five minutes later, he came out holding a small black purse, attracting weird looks from an old couple who was crossing the street.
He was almost to the car when the wind carried snatches of a conversation to him.
"…and thanks for last night," someone said, obviously male.
"Oh, no problem at all," someone else said, the voice sounding like Sam.
Danny didn't like to eavesdrop, but this, in his mind, was for a worthy cause. So he promptly turned invisible and walked through a car, coming face to face with Sam and…Dash?
Sam continued speaking, both people unaware that Danny was listening in.
"I mean, it was fun for me too," she added, actually smiling.
Danny's jaw dropped. They…couldn't be talking about that, could they? And…Sam and Dash…together…the Dash Baxter, and the Sam Manson…
"I mean, you really saved my butt yesterday when you baby-sat my little brother," said Dash. "I don't know what the heck my parents were thinking, sending my ten year old kid brother over for a week during summer vacation. Don't they know I gotta work?"
So they weren't talking about "that" after all. Feeling tremendously relieved, Danny waited until Dash walked away before regaining visibility behind Sam's car and walking up to her, purse in hand.
"Back," he said, leaning against the car.
"Thanks," said Sam. "I just saw Dash, by the way. I think you just missed him."
"Oh really?" Danny asked innocently. He glanced at the bouquet again, and, disguising his curiosity, asked, "So those are flowers for Kwan?"
"Yeah," Sam said. "Star's making me deliver them to him and tell him she's leaving this afternoon and going out of town for a few weeks. Apparently, she forgot to tell him when she saw him this morning. And he just lost his cell phone a few days ago, so she can't call him." Noticing Danny's confused look, she added, "They're going out."
So Sam was delivering the flowers for Star, who was going out with Kwan, which meant that Sam wasn't going out with Kwan, which was good…but Danny only cared because she was his best friend. Really.
"Usually, I wouldn't do nice stuff like this for Star, but she's been okay for the past couple of years and she helped me out with a huge problem at work last week. I guess I owe her." Danny nodded contentedly, settling back in his seat. But not before fixing a crooked flower in the bouquet.
Oddly enough, after dropping the carnations off at Kwan's place, they went to Nathan's apartment.
Danny vaguely remembered Nathan from school. He was the typical sci-fi nerd, complete with glasses, pimples, and alien shirt. He also remembered that he stalked Valerie obsessively, which had definitely freaked the girl out more than any ghost ever would.
Danny was surprised when Sam just swung the door open without knocking. Plopping her stuff down on the table with an air of familiarity, she called out, "Hey, Nathan, I'm here!"
There was a loud crashing noise, an "Everything's fine!" and next Nathan came out of the kitchen, picking fragments of glass off his shirt. Sam sighed, exasperated, and walked up, brushing the bits of what used to be a wine glass out of his shirt.
"If you want me to sweep it up for you too, you're outta luck," Sam said dryly.
Nathan had bulked up over the years. Now at an impressive six feet two, plus an extra three inches for his poofy hair, he looked like a force to be reckoned with…if he wasn't wearing a pink frilly apron, that is.
"Thanks for lending me these books," Sam said, holding up a few thick volumes of SAT for Dummies. "Can I get a few more?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, sure," said Nathan, who was sweeping up the broken glass. "Eh, watch where you step, you might slice your foot open."
Danny noted that Sam seemed to know where everything was and was familiar with the rooms. It was almost like she lived here, or came here regularly. He suddenly felt a large wave of envy towards Nathan, who began talking to Danny.
"Haven't seen you in a long time, Danny," he said. "How is everything?"
"Fine," Danny grunted, glaring. Nathan coughed nervously, and an awkward silence ensued. A few uncomfortable minutes later, Sam came backed, a few more books tucked under her arm.
"Ready to go, Danny?" she asked. "Nasty Burger's closing early today, and I want to get there before they lock up. You don't mind, do you, Nathan?" The redhead shook his head 'no.'
Danny got up, glad to be leaving. Stepping outside, he asked Sam, "Nathan's apartment looks…strange. I could've sworn I saw the barrel of an ecto-gun under a huge pile of laundry."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you," said Sam. "Valerie and Nathan are living together. They hooked up almost two years ago, and she moved in last year. I visit a lot, Valerie's great to talk with."
"Oh," said Danny, blinking. He suddenly felt slightly guilty for "terrorizing" Nathan.
"We almost didn't make it to Nasty Burger in time," said Sam, plopping down on the park bench. They had decided that eating out here was much better than being indoors in the stuffy fast food place. Danny sat down beside her, resting his bag of food in his lap. He was looking at Sam, really looking at her for the first time today, and thought to himself…Sam is beautiful.
It wasn't an earth-shattering conclusion, but he felt vaguely awed. It didn't make sense that it took so long for him to come up with this. Then again, few things had made sense that day, like that hot, angry feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought that Sam was involved with someone. He had just thought of her as a friend in high school, and, tentatively, maybe a crush…but there was always that fear that their friendship couldn't survive a blow that big if they ever got into a fight. Three years had changed that though…
So he leaned forward and kissed her.
It was mind numbing, the way her eyes widened, then closed, and she wasn't pushing away, but just sitting there, letting him kiss her. Danny felt the world had tilted, then started spinning and making him dizzy, and found himself actually liking it, because it was different. Not an unpleasant sort of different, far from it…it was a strange, wonderful sort of feeling, one of the kind of happiness that came from deep inside and finally bubbled out after something like this happened.
Finally, he pulled away, looking at Sam and grinning shyly.
"I…Danny…that was amazing," Sam said, amazed.
A sudden thought came to Danny.
"Sam, you didn't learn to kiss from those any of those guys today, did you?" he asked teasingly. This earned a slap on the arm from Sam.
Poor Danny. Even after all these years, he's still clueless on how to handle girls.
Whew! Finally, after all this time, I've finished it! So…tired…
Anyway, please review, and remember: Constructive criticism is appreciated, and blatant flattery is coveted. : )
Now, I'm going to crawl into my bed and get some sleep…