Sanctuary (A Dan Smith/ Bastille fanfic)

27. Chloe

We’ve been at Eloise’s a few hours before we all decide to go out. It was inevitable really. We weren’t meant to go out tonight, we were meant to save ourselves for Andy’s birthday tomorrow, but that was never going to happen. As soon as we all get a few drinks down us we’re raring to go to the nearest club that we must have been to hundreds of time. I’m only home or one weekend so I want to make the most out of it.

I’ve kept my distance from Dan to try and let him socialise with my friends without having me breathing down his neck. I know he isn’t usually used to these sorts of social situations so I want to give him the best opportunity to hang out with some new people.

Also, I can’t stop thinking about that fucking dream. I’ve never properly considered Dan but that doesn’t mean that I’ve completely ruled him out. I just don’t want to feel awkward with him, he’s the closest friend I have in London and I don’t think I would be able to cope without him.

I’m inside the house now and drunkenly searching through Eloise’s fridge for something to munch on before we go out. I give up and decide to get a packet of crisps instead. When I close the fridge door I see Dan’s happy face beaming at me, giving me a bit of a fright.

“You scared me, you prick.” I tap him on his chest and walk past him towards the cupboard. I find a packet of ready salted crisps and tear them open, taking a few in my hand and shoving them ungracefully into my mouth. Before I even notice Dan is behind me, he’s thrusting his arm past me and into the packet. “That’s my food, you prick.”

“Stop calling me a prick.” He leans over me and shovels more crisps into his mouth. He’s still stood behind me and I can hear the crunching from the crisps right in my ear.

“Listen to me then, you prick.” I turn around to face him and stick my tongue out childishly at him.

“I hate you.” He says unconvincingly with a grin tugging at each side of his lips.

“No you don’t, far from it.” He raises his eyebrows and nods slightly.

“You got me.” He holds his hands up in defeat. “Are you enjoying your night?” Dan leans away from me and takes a step back. I don’t know why but I feel upset by his movements, I would rather he of stayed close. I think the alcohol is affecting me. That and the weird dream that I had in the car. It was almost as if I could actually feel Dan’s touch and it was something that I enjoyed. “Well?” He questions again.

“Hmm?” I swallow hard and try to remember of the question. “Yeah.” I attempt to answer the question that I’ve forgotten.

“Good, I’m glad you’re having fun.” Ah ‘am I enjoying the night’, that was the question. “I like to see you having fun.” He rubs my shoulder and lets his hand loiter for a few seconds.

“Guuuuuuuys!” Eloise’s drunken slurring echo’s through the large marble kitchen, causing me to jump slightly and edge away from Dan. His hand drops to his side as if he doesn’t want anyone to see him touching me. “You ready to go out? Chloe! What is that in your hand?!” I look down to see the packet of crisps that me and Dan have half eaten. “Eatings.. Cheating.” Eloise hiccups. “Although I think I could do with some of them.” She prances over and takes the bag from my hand to eat the remaining crisps. Can these people not just get their own food, goddammit?

“You’re welcome, I guess!” I throw my hands in the air and go back to the rest of the group in the garden. “Fucking bitch.” I drunkenly ramble as I get outside.

“Don’t be mean.” Dan’s voice coming from behind me shocks me, I didn’t realise he had followed me outside. He needs to stop following me; I’ve had a huge amount of alcohol so I won’t be aware of my own actions in a short while.

“God you’re so demanding.” I groan overdramatically.

“High maintenance, that’s me.” He laughs as he flops down onto the grass. I take a seat next to him and decide to lie down on the grass. It’s cool and soft and I want to feel it. Seconds later I feel the warmth from Dan as he lies down next to me. We’re quiet for a moment and I’m listening to everyone else’s conversations. Or trying to at least. There are so many different conversations going on, it’s hard to focus on one. “We need to get up or I’m actually going to fall asleep.” Dan pokes me in my side and I let out a loud yelp. “Get up.” He repeats and pokes me again. “Up! Up! Up!” He quickly spins and gets to his feet and holds his hands out for me to grab too. “Come on Chloe, we’re going now I think.” I look up and Eloise is trying to gather everyone together in order for us to leave.

“Okayyyy.” I moan, enjoying the feeling of lying down far too much.

It’s not a long walk to the club, Eloise lives pretty close to the centre of the town so it only takes us 5 minutes before we’re in the club that I know so well from many a drunken night. I walk the whole way there with one of the girls Amelie, who is persistent on questioning me about my relationship with Dan. “We’re just friends!” I slur, trying to persuade her, but she’s having none of it.

“You love him! Admit it!” She jokily pushes my arm and I squirm away. “I was watching you two lying down in the garden together and I was sure that something was going to happen.”

“Ew no!” I turn my nose up at her accusation. “We’re just friends!”

“Well, we’ll see what happens tonight and then we’ll see if you’re just friends!” She smirks back at me. I manage to change the topic of conversation away from Dan and onto Amelie’s love life. I’m thankful that she seems to take joy on telling me all of the guys she’s been on dates with, but I’m not really listening to her. I’m, again, trying to overhear someone else’s conversation but this time it’s Dan and Eloise’s, who are both walking in front of me. To my annoyance I can’t hear a thing though; I just hope she isn’t being embarrassing about me.

When we’re inside we head straight for the bar and I happily accept the drinks that are bought for me from friends that are excited to have me back for the weekend. After downing numerous jagerbombs I glance around to find Dan and he’s nowhere to be seen. He was right beside me just a moment ago.

I begin looking for him around the dancefloor but can’t find him through the sea of people. I go back towards the bar and he’s not there either. I’m about the check the bathrooms before I realise that this is exactly what happened in my dream. Before I know it, my legs are taking me out to the smoking area and I see Dan sat outside exactly where I expected him to be. I walk straight up to him and sit down next to him.

“Hello.” He says with a cheesy grin.

“I was looking for you for ages. You didn’t tell me where you were going, you dick.” I find myself repeating the movements that I made just hours ago in my dream. My hand pushes his leg and finds itself almost stuck to him.

He’s about to tease me for worrying, I know it.

“Naww were you worried?” He mockes me. This time his hand doesn’t squeeze mine though so I quickly remove mine from his leg.

“No.” I pout. This is exactly what happened. If I carry on with this conversation, does it mean we will kiss? Is that what I want?

“Sure.” He laughs and looks away; back to the group of people he was talking to before and begins engaging in conversation with them again.

I’m left feeling somewhat rejected by Dan. In no way did he reject me. He’s still sat close to me and keeps glancing over and involving me in conversation. But he didn’t react how I thought he would or how my dream told me he would. I immediately curse my subconscious mind for messing with me. He doesn’t like me and that’s that. I need to go back to enjoying my night with my friend. I never saw anything more with Dan and now that I’m sure he doesn’t see anything more with me I can ignore everyone else’s comments about us being more than friends and get on with things.