Chapter fifty
I yawned and opened my eyes halfway. I tried to roll over, but my attempt was stopped by the arm draped across my abdomen and the unmoving body behind me. Dan groaned as I tried to move his arm from around me.
"Just keep sleeping"
"But I'm awake now and I'm not tired anymore" I protested, but gave up my attempts at moving him against his will. That was obviously not working.
"I'm tired and I don't want to let you go" Dan countered squeezing me slightly.
I sighted, giving in to him. I didn't really want him to let me go either to be honest.
Dan noticed my lack in protest "Good girl" he praised me. We continued lying together for at least another half hour. I traced circles on the back of Dan's hand and hummed softly to myself. After that I grew restless and he finally allowed me to get up, reluctantly though.
I checked my social media and stuff on the computer and after a little while Dan finally got up too. We had breakfast together, just cereal, and kept sitting at the table talking for a while afterwards. Dan had to leave to go work on the radio show the next evening.
A Saturday without anything to do was something I hadn't had in a little while. I enjoyed days like that where I didn't have work or plans and could just sit around all day and not do anything in particular. As an introvert I needed days where I just didn't engage in a lot of social activity, just to charge my batteries. I managed to waste most of the day on tumblr and watching series' and movies, although that was what I called productive, I always got behind on series'.
Before I knew it I was having lunch, then dinner then I was watching a final movie and texting Dan goodnight before going to bed at quite a reasonable hour.
Sunday was relaxing as well, at least the start of it. I had a long conversation with Anna over Skype and that was nice even though it wasn't very long since I had seen her last. The radio show was going to be new years themes as it was the 30th of December and New Year was just around the corner. Dan had told me about a party for all the YouTubers on New Years Eve, he wanted to take me so I could meet all of his internet friends. Of course I was dying to get to meet them all, I knew of most of them from before.
When I arrived to the studio, a little early, it was almost ready for the show. I helped finish up the last of the decorations. There were streamers, a banner that read "Happy New Year" and little things that shot confetti into the air. I could tell it was going to be a lot of cleaning up to do.
Ally showed up just after the show had started, she seemed a little upset that she hadn't had the chance to wish Phil good luck, but she got over it. We watched on the monitor in the lounge outside. For the DanVsPhil challenge they could do it without leaving the studio so we could stay where we were for once. They were wrapping each other in plastic wrap, or as they called it "Clingfilm", and then they had to escape. The winner was Dan who successfully wrapped Phil in what looked like a cocoon of plastic which he almost didn't manage to get himself out of. Dan was happy about this of course. Music videos which were sent in by the viewers were getting more and more impressive, in my opinion at least. They were either really genuinely well made or they were really funny, like parodies.
After the show, as I had predicted, there was a bit of cleaning up to do. Ally and I stuck around to help the boys and their producers. When we had finished the four of us made plans for the following evening. The part started at seven at Google. I didn't want to arrive without my friends not knowing anyone so we decided to meet at Dan and Phil's apartment at six, so we had enough time to get there even if one of us was running late. The plans were set and we left, not together though mind you.
Ally invited me over to her apartment so I could help her pick out what to wear for the party. It wasn't too late so I agreed and we headed off together.
"So basically I've narrowed my choices down to either this one" she held up a short, sparkly, tight fitting, blue dress "or this" she held up a dress that looked like a skirt and a shirt, but connected, the skirt was basically a pencil skirt and the top part was a kind of loose, stripy material. I was sitting on her bed and she had just pulled the two outfits out of her closet.
"Hmm" I thought for a few moments "Personally the sparkly one is a bit much for me, but I'm sure you'd pull it off nicely. I don't see anything wrong with the other one. Which one were you leaning more towards?"
"I was actually considering going with the sparkly one"
"Then go with that" I encouraged "If that's what you want. You'll look great"
"But then again I could wear this other dress. Hold on a sec" she reached back into the closet and after rummaging around a bit pulled out another dress. We discussed her options back and forth for a while, considering accessories, temperature, comfort ability, all the important factors. In the end we settled on the sparkly one, which I could have predicted we would end up on from the start. After talking for a while longer I deiced it was time to get home and left. Sundays usually felt like they went by really fast, then they slowed down for a couple hours while I sat in the lounge at the BBC building watching the radio show and then suddenly the day was over after that.
I did have work the following morning, but again it was a shorter shift because the shop was closing early since it was New Years Eve. That meant I had tons of time after work to take the long way home and then relax and get ready for the party. It was a slow day and even though I had a short shift it felt like it lasted forever.
Ally talked animatedly about the party and meeting all of Dan and Phil's friends. I started wondering if it would be weird for me, meeting all these people in such a casual setting when I was actually one of their fans. I had gotten over that fear with Dan because he didn't know who I was or that I was a fan when we met and even after I told him he didn't really care because we were already friends. Since I had already infiltrated the YouTube social group by being friends with both Dan and Phil and since I was Dan's girlfriend they would have no choice but to accept me as not just a viewer. The real problem would be me. How would I react to so many familiar faces of people I had watched and admired for so long?
From my closet I decided to go with a dress of mine which had always been one of my favorites. It was green with black polka dots in various sizes. The skirt was flowy and had bigger polka dots on the sheer material covering a layer of silky green fabric, and the sheer fabric on the top had smaller polka dots with buttons down it which covered the silky material underneath almost like a vest over a tank top. The dress came with a thin black belt around the waist which hit right at my skinniest point accentuating my slim figure.
I took my time getting ready, since I had so much time. It was nice to just take my time to clean myself off and pretty myself up. That was something I had always enjoyed. Experimenting with makeup was fun and after searching around my small drawer of it I found a green eye shadow a very similar shade to my dress. I wasn't the biggest fan of bright makeup, but darkening it a bit with a black over top actually made the color even more similar.
Even though I had hours to get myself ready I was still in a hurry to get out the door in the last minute. Things always seemed to play out like that. I debated between a pair of 10 cm high heels and a pair of 5 cm high heels for a while and finally settled on the lower ones. The tall ones would just get uncomfortable more quickly.
Dan and Phil were barely ready when I got to their apartment anyway, even though I had been slightly late. Ally was the only one it seemed who had managed her time correctly. Usually that was me, but obviously not that evening. Both Dan and Phil were always a mess when it came to time management anyway.
"Are we all ready now then?" Dan asked for the third time. After receiving three exasperated answers of "yes" in return he finally allowed us to follow him out the door to their flat.
The taxi whizzed through central London for the first few minutes before we hit traffic. Of course there was traffic, it was New Years Eve. Everyone was going somewhere. Since we had tons of time to talk while we were in the car we decided public transport might have been a better option.
We actually only arrived at the party about twenty minutes late which wasn't too bad. The Google building was impressive, with clean-cut lines in the exterior architecture and a neat, colorful interior. Upon arrival we were directed to an assembly haul on the second floor. Getting off the elevator we could already hear the sound of the party. Just by following the noise we found our way through the corridors and were welcomed to hosts at the doors who took our coats. Then we were led into a big hall complete with tables, a dance floor and DJ stand. The moment I stepped into the room I was flooded by familiar faces and suddenly it was all real. I wasn't dating just Dan, I was dating Dan Howell.
