❛ GREY ❜ - seavey

twenty-one

melanie's jaw clenched. she really wished it wouldn't have to come to this.

she grabbed alaska's cell phone from her hand.

"hey- let go mellie, what the hell!" she yelped as melanie grabbed the hood of alaska hoodie and dragged her towards jack's closet.

"you have been nothing but a pain in the ass. you're always so fucking angry, and i'm fed up with it. you need to talk things out with daniel, i want my best friend back."

"wait? melanie where are you taking me?" alaska struggled, as melanie pushed open the closet door, and brought her into jack's closet.

a second later, she pushed alaska into the closet and slammed the door shut.

alaska eyes widened as she saw daniel standing at the other end of the closet, and she spun on her heels, trying the handle, but seeing that it was locked.

she banged her fist loudly on the door, "melanie! open the fucking door!"

"not until you talk to him!" she yelled back. jack's fine with it, i can literally wait all day!"

"no! melanie!"

"you can scream my first name all you want at me, i'm not opening this door! now i'm going home, i'll be back in an hour to make sure you haven't killed daniel!"

"no-!"

"bye!"

and with that, alaska heard the bedroom door slamming shut.

she glanced back at daniel who was standing there awkwardly, swaying back and forth on his feet, displaying how nervous he was.

she turned back to the door, and started knocking on it, hoping that somebody would hear and walk in.

daniel didn't really know what to do as he watched her desperately trying to get out. it broke his heart to see how badly she didn't want to talk to him.

he bit his lip and moved over to the wall then against the wall and looked down, picking at his nails. he didn't want to say anything until she cooled down.

after a few minutes, alaska's knocking gradually weakened until it completely stopped. she sighed deeply and rested her head against the door, shutting her eyes.

"um," daniel started, "a-are you oka-"

"i'm stuck in a room with you, of course i'm not okay."

daniel bit his lip. "...sorry."

she didn't reply, as she turned, her back against the door and slid down onto the ground.

so here she was stuck with daniel seavey in jack's closet with no phone and no way to get out.

she refused to talk to him, so if that meant she'd have to wait all night until 9, then so be it.

the two of them sat in an awkward and tense silence for god knows how long, until she suddenly remembered:
"wait, you can just open the door," she said, remembering daniel knew how to pick a lock.

"w-what?" he asked in surprise.

"with your lock picking skills, you can just open the door," she repeated, getting to her feet.

"um... i dunno."

she furrowed her eyebrows, "why not?"

"un, because, uh.... this was kinda my idea."

"what?" she hissed, "why?"

"i-wait! it wasn't all me, it was mela's idea to lock us in here. i just wanted... to talk."

"talk?" she scoffed, "you're kidding me right? we already talked remember?"

"yeah but- i just wanted to do it right this time."

she rolled her eyes, "and that was by having me locked in a room with you so i'd be forced to listen?"

"... well, that's what melanie thought. she said you wouldn't listen any other way."

she didn't respond, knowing that melanie's reasoning was technically correct, she couldn't imagine herself willingly wanting to speak to him again about all this.

instead, she buried her head into her knees, and fell silent.

daniel wanted to give her some more time to cool down before saying anything again.

so the two of them sat in complete silence, the only way she had to tell time, was when melanie had come back.

"i don't hear any talking!" alaska suddenly heard yelled from the other side.

"cause i'm not talking to him! c'mon it's been an hour already, just open the door."

"not until you talk to him," she answered, getting frustrated, "i'm not kidding when i said, i'll keep you in there all night. i'm going again, and since it seems like you need more time to think and speak, i'm not checking up on you two until 6."

alaska jumped up, "no! c'mon-"

"k bye!"

she groaned, sitting back down again. "this fucking blows," she sighed.

and once again danirl still didn't know what to do to make her less angry. so he continued to sit back, and wait until she was ready to speak.

she was stuck in her own head now, with nothing to distract her.

she was stuck with daniel all alone and she couldn't leave.
but she didn't want to talk either though.

it was just too hard.

she felt so angry and bitter over everything still, and she knew she was being ridiculous. the two had broken up months ago and he just wants to apologize.

but she wasn't sure she could handle it.

she had built this image of daniel, that he was the same asshole that accused her of cheating when she broke up with him.

but she could tell he wasn't like that anymore.

she didn't know what happened but he looked better. he talked more and looked a bit more hopeful lately.

he looked like the old daniel again. not completely, but more like himself.

he looked like her daniel.

but it was easier for her to be in denial about it, because if her daniel was back, she wouldn't know how to keep pretending.

she liked to pretend she was moving on, but she really wasn't. she was lying to herself, saying he's still just as much as an asshole as he was before, and that he doesn't deserve a second chance. even if it was just as friends.

but then that stupid question popped up, the more she thought.

why did daniel act like that before?

what happened?

she knew things were hard after the pandemic hit but he never told her what actually happened. randy telling he band that their music won't make it, and that they will fail in the music industry for "being outside the box", but he never wanted to talk about it, even when she'd ask him explicitly about it.

she just wanted to know what happened with him.

and alaska figured, if she was already stuck in here with him for hours, finding out why couldn't be the worst thing.

"why?" she suddenly asked, filling the thick silence.

daniel perked up at that, "what?"

"after the pandemic started... what changed?" she asked, head still buried in her knees.

"with me?"

a/n
this chapter was so short-