He said my name… Dan had said my name again. My breath faltered in my lungs and emerged in tiny little gasps from my lips. I tried to smile without choking on my own saliva. 'Oh, right.' I said stupidly. 'I don't actually listen to radio 1, which is probably why I didn't know who you were, sorry, Dan.'

He smiled again, and for a second I felt a jolt of energy as our eyes met. I forced myself to look away from his soft ivory skin and to a pile of rust coloured leaves blowing in the uneven currents of icy cold air that were streaking through the park. I shivered in my hoodie.

From the depths of Carla's leather handbag, the cell phone I'd taken the photo on rung suddenly. Carla sighed.

Dan shifted awkwardly. 'I'll leave you to it.' he said to Carla. 'Bye, Carla, Bella.' As he said my name again, he smiled, a warm sincere smile, unlike the forcedly cheerful ones he'd given Carla. Our eyes linked again for one last moment before he sauntered back across the tarmac, his shirt dappled with delicate February sunlight. I finally dragged my eyes away from his departing figure. I knew I had to snap out of this, he was a celebrity – a Radio 1 presenter…No way could any relationship form between us. He barely knew my name.

And, I told myself firmly, he's older than you – much older than you. And if he was going to get with anyone it would be his biggest fan, Carla.

'Okay, Dan Howell.' I murmured softly to myself. I liked the way his name bounced off my tongue… Dan. I'd never really thought about that name before, but suddenly it seemed the perfect combination of letters. I knew I was being stupid again, but I just couldn't force the memory of his face from my head. Picturing his smile, my heart trembled again.

I was sat in front of my laptop, waiting for the Internet to load Twitter. I tapped the desk absently as the browser responded to my impatience, loading every inch of the page for what seemed like years.

My phone suddenly rang; I jumped, almost knocking over my coffee. It was Carla.

'Hey,' I said into the smooth shiny surface of my IPhone.

'Bells! Bella, listen!' she shrieked. I had to hold to the phone away from my face to prevent my eardrums from exploding. 'Dan followed me on Twitter, oh my god!'

A huge feeling of insecurity washed over me. Dan had followed Carla on Twitter… Not me, Carla. He liked Carla over me.

I feigned enthusiasm. 'Oh, that's great, Car.' I could feel my heart slamming furiously in my chest. 'Congrats.'

Carla didn't say anything for a moment. I could almost hear her breathing on the other end of the call. 'Bells… Are you jealous?'

I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing the kitchen tiles would swallow me up. If anyone could read my emotions with that effortlessness, it was Carla; why couldn't I be better at lying?

'No… Me? Jealous? No!' I said, laughing shakily. 'Of course I'm not! Why would I be? I don't even like Dan Howell. No, of course I'm- '

'Bella?' Carla interrupted.

'Yeah?' I said resignedly.

'Shut up.'

I was silent for a moment as I watched my slow internet connection finally load up Twitter. 'Okay fine, Car, I am. You got me.'

I could picture the Cheshire cat smirk that would be residing on Carla's face at that moment.

'You're thinking: why did Dan follow her instead of me? He doesn't fancy me, my life is over.' She said decisively.

'Pretty much.' I agreed. I put the IPhone on speaker and began to scroll through my Twitter feed. Nothing had happened since I'd logged on this morning… Of course there was the usual mess of tweets from my followers, but nothing of any importance.

'And I'm guessing you're now on Twitter, trying to see if Dan has tweeted you.' Carla said sweetly.

I remained sullenly silent. Why did she have to have that strangely telepathic ability to read my thoughts?

'For god's sake, he doesn't even know your second name! There could be billions of Bella's out there. He only found me because I tweeted him, now do you see why he hasn't followed you?' Carla exclaimed in frustration.

I sighed and took a sip of my coffee, which by this time had turned lukewarm, on the brink of cold even. 'I know… But isn't it also that he's a celebrity who has so many followers he can't afford to give a fuck about any of them? It's not like we're famous or worth talking to…' I paused miserably. 'We're just more middle-class teens who are drooling over Dan Howell.'

Carla sighed shortly. 'Bella I know. I'm not suddenly expecting him to ask for my hand in marriage or something… And yes it's hardly like we have some special connection with him, but didn't you see how he looked at you?'