Chapter Nine
I awoke sometime that afternoon to find Danny and I in a sweaty tangle. My right leg was dead asleep from where it was jammed between his and we were lying so close to one another, that I could feel his hair tickling my cheek. For a few moments I couldn't work out what had woken me up. But suddenly my senses zoned in on my phone ringing shrilly from my bedside table.
Ring, ring Ring, ring
I groaned and extracted one of my arms from the depths of my blankets to grab the phone, "hello?" I rasped down the line, my voice thick with sleep.
"Now, I don't remember a lot about last night," Lana began on the other end, "I think the punch was spiked."
I grinned and untangled myself from Danny before rolling onto my back.
"But I do remember a few things," Lana continued her voice light and casual, "I remember dancing the Macarena with the Gremlin."
I laughed at the visual.
"And I remember agreeing to a drinking game with Eric. And I definitely remember not getting an award."
"Aw," I sympathised. Speaking of awards, where in the world had I put mine? I scanned the room quickly, and spotted it half in and half out of my purse which had been tossed haphazardly onto the floor.
"But do you know what my most vivid memory of last night is?" Lana pressed.
I played dumb, "what?"
"I have this really crazy memory of standing in a dingy alleyway, swearing at a taxi driver and then turning around to see Danny and yourself making out by the trash cans."
"What a strange memory to have," I replied innocently.
Beside me Danny shifted and rolled over. I watched as he rubbed his eyes tiredly and looked at me curiously, "who is that?" he murmured.
I was just opening my mouth to answer him, when on the other end of the line Lana shrieked, "omg! Amber you slut," she burst out laughing, "is that Danny? You know I wasn't actually serious, I just thought I dreamt about the alleyway…" she trailed off laughing.
"You're the worst friend ever," I informed her, "I'm going now."
"No, no," Lana protested still laughing, "bloody hell, I thought you two were never going to get together. What did I miss last night?"
I glanced at Danny, my eyes trailing over his messy hair, and flushed skin, "quite a bit," I replied reaching out and smoothing a few strands out of his eyes, "look, can I call you later Lana? I have a very attractive guy beside me just demanding attention and…"
"Ew," Lana interrupted, "stop right there, I don't want to know."
I grinned, "bye Lana."
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"Hey? Did you happen to see Lana dancing the Macarena last night?" I asked Danny curiously a few hours later. We were in McDonalds eating our way through a second round of fries.
Danny stared at me blankly, before his eyes lit up and he laughed, "Oh is that what she was doing?"
I grinned, "What'd I miss?"
Danny laughed and bit into a chip, "She was just dancing and miming like an idiot. It was hilarious. Then your boss came onto the dance floor, and the Macarena came on…" Danny trailed off laughing.
"I officially feel left out," I pouted. I dug through my handbag and pulled out my forgotten award, "although I did get this."
Danny took it from me and held it up to the light, "Amber Blair," he read from the plaque, "Public Relations Consultant of the year… Impressive."
"It'd be more impressive if I got a promotion to go along with it," I replied.
Danny shrugged, "I dunno about that. I'd be pretty happy if I got a trophy for something."
"Yeah but it doesn't mean anything," I replied.
"Of course it does. According to this it means you're the best," Danny replied simply, passing the trophy back to me.
I shrugged, "it means I'm the best in a little London PR firm," I replied placing the award back in my bag.
"You want world domination huh?" Danny asked, resting his elbows on the table and surveying me curiously.
I shook my head, "not at all. I think awards like these are a cheap way to ensure your employees keep working. It's like being in primary school when they give out certificates for good spelling or whatever."
"What's your point?" Danny asked reaching across the table and twining his fingers through mine.
I grinned, "I don't think I have one."
Danny smiled back. "I think awards are a good thing. It shows someone is appreciating what your doing."
I ran my thumbs over the back of Danny's hands softly, "yeah but I don't need a piece of metal to know that."
"Then what do you need?" Danny asked curiously.
"Nothing," I answered simply, "as long as I'm doing what makes me happy then I'll be fine. I'm not in the PR industry to be the best. I'm here because I love it."
Danny stared at me for a long time before lowering his eyes, "I know what you mean," he murmured.
"I thought you would."
"Sometimes I wonder about that actually," Danny began, settling back into his seat and getting comfortable, "I wonder what I'd be doing if I wasn't in McFly."
"What do you come up with?"
Danny shrugged, "I'd be doing exactly the same thing. Just in pubs instead of arenas."
"It's a nice feeling to know your doing exactly what you want to be doing," I mused, trailing a fry through a goop of sauce and popping it into my mouth, "especially after spending the first 19 years of my life thinking what the fuck?"
Danny laughed, "really?"
I nodded, "why do you think I'm here in London?"
Danny shrugged, "I don't know."
"Because London was on the list."
"The list?"
I nodded, "As soon as I turned 20 I sat myself down and wrote a list of all the things I wanted."
Danny raised an eyebrow, "was I on the list?"
"Attractive next door neighbour?" I grinned. "I don't think anything that good crossed my mind."
"Attractive next door boyfriend," Danny corrected.
"Even better."
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The next day I had to go back to work, and once again my life was filled with all things PR. Lana and I began working overtime for a new client, so most nights I practically fell into Danny's apartment where I had taken up temporary residence.
Along with my crazy workload, Danny and I had an unspoken agreement to spend as much time with each other as possible. We had never discussed what would happen when it was time for Danny to leave; I think we had an unspoken agreement about that as well. So we just enjoyed each other's company as much as we could.
That week was filled with late nights, and sluggish mornings, which usually resulted in me arriving at work looking like a zombie who had just risen from the grave. All my work mates were worried about me, except Lana who just laughed and told everyone I was having too much sex. She was probably right, but that didn't mean she had to pass that fact around the office.
Meanwhile the Gremlin was keeping an almost scarily close eye on me as. I didn't know what her deal was, but it was starting to creep me out. So I worked extra hard just in case she thought I was slacking off.
Before I knew it, we were out of the first week and into the second. Then out of the second and into the third. It was at that point it hit me that Danny would be leaving at the end of the week… and the idea of that did not impress me at all.
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I hummed as I pushed open the door to Danny's apartment after a long day at work, "hello," I called through the deserted room as I dropped my bag on the floor, and continued my way throughout without missing a beat.
"Out here" Danny called back from the balcony.
I kicked off my heels, and shrugged out of my jacket. Before stepping onto the balcony to find Danny sitting cross-legged on the floor, papers spread all around him, guitar in hand.
I raised an eyebrow, "busy day?"
He looked up and smiled, "let's just say I was suddenly inspired to write." He placed his guitar carefully down beside him and patted his lap. "Get over here. How was your day?"
I carefully tip toed my way through his papers before plopping myself carefully down between his legs. "Busy, but overall rather productive. Remember that new client I was telling you about?"
Danny nodded.
"We presented our campaign ideas to them today."
Danny wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on my shoulder, "was everyone blown away?"
I turned my head slightly to the side and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "I don't know about blown away, but they were impressed."
Danny smiled and pressed his lips to mine awkwardly in our position.
"So play me some of this stuff," I suggested pulling away from his lips and picking up a piece of paper off the floor at random.
Danny winced, "it's not very good."
I smiled, "then who better to try it on than me? You know I'd be impressed no matter what you played."
Danny laughed, "Ok, get up for a sec."
I slid off his lap, and changed my position so I was sitting cross-legged facing him. I stared at him expectantly.
Danny picked up his guitar and looked at me, "ready?"
"Always."
Danny strummed his way through the page softly humming to the lyrics that were in his head that he just couldn't get onto paper. I watched quietly. I always loved when Danny played for me. There was something incredibly intimate about the act. Most the time he was performing for hundreds upon thousands of people. But at these moments, he was performing just for me. That, and the fact he looked so incredible sitting there in his denim jeans, and black t-shirt, while his hair was incredibly tousled. He must have been for a shower recently because it looked all messy, like he had just gotten out of bed.
Danny finished the page and shrugged, "well it's a work in progress."
I stared at him.
Danny looked at me, "what?"
I smirked before leaning forward and capturing his lips with my own. Danny hastily shoved his guitar out of harms way before I pushed him down onto the tiles, stretching out on top of him. I kissed him passionately, twining my fingers into that gorgeous hair before running down the side of his face to cup his jaw.
Danny clutched me to him, his hands manoeuvring themselves under my white dress shirt to caress my back before rolling us over so he was hovering over me. His fingers began to nimbly un-do the buttons of my shirt, his lips kissing every inch of skin he uncovered.
He had just reached the last button when something happened that caused us both to groan.
Knock, knock
"You can't be serious," I mumbled, my breath incredibly uneven as Danny's lips hovered over mine
"Ignore it," he replied.
Knock, knock
"Danny you idiot!"
Knock, knock
I chuckled, "you better get that."
Danny muttered darkly under his breath and pushed himself off the ground. I smirked as I watched him leave, sitting up and buttoning my shirt as he went. Once this task was done I stood up and placed Danny's guitar carefully back on its stand before stepping back into the apartment.
I was pleasantly surprised to find Dougie, Tom and Harry there. I smirked at them, "Douglas, Thomas, Harold."
Harry grimaced, "for that you owe me a drink."
"Get dressed," Tom ordered me, "we're going out."
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"I… look into the sky," I sang pointing at the sky, "and I have to ask why… she'd go and leeeeaaavvvee meeeee. Oh why, do feelings have to die? Is it all just a sign, of what is meaaannnt to beeeeeeee?"
"Danny," Dougie called over his shoulder, "get your girlfriend away from me!"
I laughed and linked my arm through his, "sorry."
"I think its quite possible you have one of the worst singing voices ever," Harry informed me as he ran up and threw his arms around Dougie and myself from behind.
I smiled proudly, "thank you."
"Hey, where are we going again?" Tom called from a few meters behind us where he was walking with Danny.
"Some new bar," Harry replied, "we got free tickets."
"How many?" Danny questioned.
"Eight."
"Oi Am, lets call Eric and Lana," Danny suggested, "It can be a goodbye party of sorts."
And just like that our unspoken agreement was broken. And the fact that Danny would be leaving hit me heavier than ever. I untangled myself from a laughing Dougie and Harry and doubled back to walk with Danny and Tom.
"Goodbye party huh?" I murmured.
Danny wrapped his arms around me and kissed my temple, "sorry, I broke the agreement."
I shrugged, "I guess it had to come up sooner or later."
"It doesn't have to be tonight," Danny murmured, "We can make it another night."
I shook my head, "no tonight is good. Call them."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
While Danny was straggling behind on the phone to Lana and Eric, Tom took the opportunity to give me a big hug.
"He'll be back you know," Tom assured me.
I let out a deep breath, "yeah I know. Its just bad timing, we only just got together."
"What?" Tom asked in confusion, "You mean, you guys aren't staying together once we go on tour?"
I shrugged, "we've never talked about it."
"Don't you think you should?" Tom questioned.
"Maybe."
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'Some new bar' turned out to be owned by a mate of Harry's. A mate who had promised us free drinks all night. And deliver on this promise he did. Every half hour there were new rounds of drinks on our table, so within a few hours Lana and I were sipping water in between our drinks in attempt to keep everything balanced.
We weren't very successful.
It was probably the earliest night I'd had in a long time. It was barely midnight by the time we were all being ushered into taxis by bouncers and ordered to get home.
My memories of that night are foggy at best. I remember dirty dancing on the dance floor with Danny, and I remember having a very long conversation in the ladies toilets with Lana, and I remember drinking a lot of beer… other than that… nothing.
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To be continued...
