Sanctuary (A Dan Smith/ Bastille fanfic)

17. Chloe

I drag Dan all the way to his car and it’s only then that I realise I’m still holding onto his arm. I quickly drop it and hope he’s not feeling as awkward as I am. If he looks at me he will see that my cheeks have reddened, which I really don’t want him to see, so I turn away quickly trying to keep up my overly confident façade.

We both climb in his car and by that time the flush in my cheeks has calmed. “So where are we going then?” He asks as he starts the engine and puts the car in reverse. I watch him as he stretches his arm behind my seat and looks out of the rear window as the car moves back slowly.

“Anywhere.” I reply, still looking at him whilst he puts the car into first gear and the car moves forward out of the college car park. “Where can we go to get drunk?”

“I know a few places.” He replies with a smirk. I almost pry further into where he is planning on taking me, but for some reason I trust him to take me somewhere safe.

We stop off at a supermarket and Dan runs in to buy some alcohol. I study his car whilst he is inside, taking the time to get to know his prized possession. I sift through his CD’s and am happy to see some pretty good names in his collection. At least I know that he has good taste in music.

 After a few moments Dan comes out of the shop looking happy with himself with two bags full of whatever he has picked up. “What did you get?” I ask as he places the bags in the back seat of the car.

“Everything. Beer, wine, vodka. I didn’t know which you would prefer.” He calls from the back whilst he arranges the bags. After sorting out the alcohol he opens the front door and takes his seat behind the wheel.

“All of those sound bloody amazing right now.” I relax further into my seat and look forward to the effect that the alcohol will soon have on me.

We drive for only a small amount of time and end up in a place that I don’t recognise at all. “Where are we?” I question as we get out of the car.

“You’ve never been here before?” He replies. I shoot him a look to say ‘obviously I haven’t seeing as I asked the question’. “Oh fuck sorry, we’re in Richmond Park. Nothing special just a place I like to come for a walk sometimes.”

“So we’re just going to sit and drink in the park?”

“Yep.” He replies firmly whilst he gets the bags out of the car. “If you have any better ideas, please go ahead.” He smirks because he knows that I know hardly anywhere in the area. “There’s nowhere else to go. And it’s a place of mine I come to, okay? So don’t diss it.”

“Don’t diss it?!” I splutter loudly. “How old are you, ten?”

“Shut up.” He mutters as he leads me further away from other people in the park.

“Is this the part where you kill me?” I joke as I notice that no one else is around us now.

“If I wanted to kill you I would have done it somewhere more private then this.” He jokes back. “Na, we’re just getting drunk now. But away from prying eyes.” He finally finds a spot under a tree so out of the warm spring sun. “What first?” He starts searching through the bags and pulls out a bottle of white wine. “This?”

“White wine? Dan you girl!” I remark.

“Fuck off, remember no one’s around so I could still change my mind about killing you.” He unscrews the lid and takes a large gulp before handing me the bottle.

“You know, I would kick your ass before you could even touch me.” I state before taking a few swigs of the wine. I can tell by its taste that it’s probably the cheapest that was in the shop, but I’m not fussy at all.

“Yeah sure, whatever you think Chloe.” He smirks as he changes his position to lie on his front.

“I so could! Look at those little arms.” I joke as I poke his bicep.

“Ah so now you’re judging me cause I’m not a guy who spends ninety percent of his time at the gym?! I thought you were better than that!”

“Definitely. Why aren’t you like all of those other idiots Dan?”

“Because I’m obviously much cooler than them.” He chuckles as he reaches for the wine that I’m holding and takes yet another sip. “This is fucking rank.” He squirms and studies the bottle.

“Drink it quickly then so that we can move on to the vodka.” I shrug.

“Yeah cause that tastes so much better!” He shakes his head after taking another sip of the horrendous wine.

“Sorry I didn’t realise you were a fucking pussy.” I grin as he turns on his side to face me.

“I liked you better when you were the shy new girl.”

“I never liked you.” I joke and stick my tongue out, causing Dan to pull an overly shocked hurt face. “And I was never shy. Do you not remember my second or third day or something when I got in a bitch fight?”

“Fuck that was funny! You need to do that again.” He begins to laugh. And I mean really laugh. He throws his head back and allows his laugh to take over his entire body. I laugh just watching him. It doesn’t seem like he’s laughed like this with anyone for a long time, if ever. I kind of like the fact that I’m the one who’s made him laugh like this.