When I Met Dan (A Dan Howell Fanfiction)

Nine

(The photo is what I imagined Grace's living room to look like. Enjoy the chapter, it's over 2000 words! You are welcome.)

Grace's P.O.V

I watched Dan get up to pay the bill for the coffee, a soft smile on his mostly pale, slightly freckled face. I caught a glimpse of his dimples again, I had worked out that one was much more prominent than the other, making my insides feel a little more fuzzy. I ran a hand through my hair and stood up, seeing as we were both about to leave, I put my jacket back on which I had put on the back of my chair then looked up to see Dan making his way back over. He smiled at me, then quickly asked, "Is it okay if I get your number? So I can call you?"
"Yeah, sure." He handed me his phone so I could put my number into a new contact. As I was handing it back I saw one blonde girl and one brunette girl nervously walking toward us across the Starbucks. I had seen them subtly watching us the whole time.
"Uhm, hi I was just... wondering if you... are you Dan Howell?" Asked the brunette when she reached us. They were cute, they looked about 12 or 13 years old.
"Hey, yes I am. Nice to meet you two." Dan said smiling, he was a natural at talking to his viewers.
"Can we get a picture?"
I had the awkward job of taking the picture and Dan mouthed me a sorry as I took them. I didn't mind, they were cute and the blonde reminded me of Em when she was younger. I felt a pang of sadness and remembered how I probably wouldn't see her for a while. I shook it off and smiled, giving their phones back.
"Nice meeting both of you!" One of them said to me and Dan. That caught me off guard a little because Dan was the only one they recognised. I guess they were just being nice, I thought.
"Shall we go then?" Dan's smile made my knees weak, I nodded not trusting myself to speak and he opened the door for me and we left.
"So how far away is your apartment from here?" Said Dan, glancing down at me as we walked along the crowded street.
"About a 10 minute walk."
"That's fine then."
I looked at him, a little confused.
"I'm obviously going to walk you back! Plus I want to see whereabouts you live and what your apartment is like. Not in a weird stalker way I promise!" He said.
I laughed, "Whatever you say."
"Have you kept in touch with Louise?" He asked.
"Yeah, we talk whenever we get the chance, she's so lovely!"
"Yeah she is, she's hilarious too. You should chat to Phil at some point too, you'd get on well."
"I will." We had got onto quieter streets now so it felt more private. I looked down at the grey pavement, making sure to avoid the chewing gum. "Em told me everything about vloggers."
"Everything? She must be an expert."
"Yeah, definitely."
"You said you couldn't find a job you were happy with right?" Dan said.
"Yeah..."
"Why don't you try vlogging?"
I didn't answer, the question just whirled around my brain for a few minutes. Dan took it as an unsure sign and continued talking.
"You're making friends with YouTubers already and I could teach you everything you needed to know about cameras and editing. Even if it was just a hobby." He looked at me hopefully.
I met his gaze, "It's not a bad idea actually."
"And you already have a following on Tumblr and Twitter, you could ask them if they would watch you."
"I'll definitely have a think about that one," It was a really good idea actually, who knew what friends and opportunities could open up if I did this? "My apartment is just up here."
We walked up to where my apartment complex was and stopped in front of the nice double doors.
"Wow, it's nice."
"Do you want to see my apartment?"
"Um yeah, sure." He smiled.
We walked into the lobby and into the lift, "Yours has a lift? Phil and I have to climb like a thousand flights of stairs to get to ours."
"I'd be far too unfit for that."
The lift doors opened and I unlocked the my front door.
"Make yourself at home I won't judge you." I laughed as I took my phone out and checked it before leaving it on the side. I left my bag by the door and kicked my shoes off next to Dan's. I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out the envelope Harrison had given me at the station. I opened it, already guessing what it was. I sighed and left it on the side, more ridiculous amounts of money from mum. I should be more grateful, I know.
I looked up to see Dan looking round the rooms. "Exploring, are we?"
I heard him chuckle, "It's so nice," he came back into the living room, "I love the window, it would make a nice Instagram actually."
I shook my head, smiling and looked down to see Dan's TESCO bag with two pints of milk in that he had left next to his shoes. "Do you want me to put your purchases in the fridge, sir?" I held up the milk.
He turned his attention away from taking hipster photos of my window and living room on his phone and laughed, "Yes please."
I went into the kitchen and put the milk in the fridge.
"Make sure you don't Instagram any obvious shots of exactly where I live." I called to him.
"I won't." He called back.
I grabbed a large bag of Doritos from the cupboard, went and got my laptop from my room, then came back through to the living room and crashed on the sofa next to Dan who had made himself at home and was on his phone. I shoved the unopened Doritos in his face and he laughed, snatching them off me, opening them and taking one. I opened my laptop and went to Twitter to check my DMs. I also now had 8k followers which was cool. I DMed Louise.
Grace: Heyy, I'm back, sorry I was out ages!xxx
I opened a new tab and Googled cameras. "Sooo, what are good cameras to use?" I asked Dan.
He took an interest and shimmied up next to me, offering me Doritos. "Well, personally I think Canon make the best DSLR cameras."
I nodded along, not really understanding, "Which camera do most YouTubers have?"
"600D." He said through a mouthful of crisps.
I found a detailed description and bookmarked it. He showed me tripods, lenses, wires, etc.
I bookmarked all of them so I could have a look later. I went back to Twitter and saw Louise had DMed me.
Louise: I have a spare couple of hours and Matt has taken Darcy out, do you want to Skype?xxx
Dan looked over my shoulder, "What's your favourite Fall Out Boy song?"
"I really like Centuries, but I don't think I have a favourite. You?"
I typed back to Louise and nodded, listening to him talk about how they had changed over their career and how he couldn't pick.
I gave Louise my Skype and she added me. I took a Dorito and crunched on it, "Is it okay if we Skype Louise?" I asked.
"Yeah! I've barely spoken to her since Summer In The City."
I called her on Skype, she accepted and eventually her face came onto the screen.
"Hiya!"
"Hey sorry I was out ages." I smiled.
"No worries, who's that with you?"
I realised Dan wasn't even in shot, it was just his shoulder. He looked up when Louise asked and leaned close to me to get into view. I had to force myself not to smile like an idiot.
"Hey Louise!" He said.
"Dan! Awh you guys are hanging out! Cute, cute."
"Oh my God." I laughed.
Louise Skyped us for a little bit longer until she said she wanted to go and have a bath.
Dan showed me his Instagram photo he had taken of my living room. When he was half way through showing me, his phone rang.
"It's Phil." He answered it and I stayed quiet so I could hear what was being said.
"Hey."
"Dan, where are you? You've been out hours! I thought you'd been attacked by wild animals or something!"
"Phil, there are no wild animals here, this is London."
"There are in Zoos."
"You have a point."
They talked for a little bit longer then Dan hung up.
"I should get back soon." He said stretching.
I was scrolling through Tumblr while speaking, "Yeah, tha... wait what the hell?" I stopped on a Tumblr post on a Phan blog Em had made me follow ages ago. It was a photo. Well, two.
Dan looked over my shoulder.
There was two photos, both of them were of me and Dan sitting across from each other in Starbucks. Not gonna lie, they were really nice pictures; one was Dan talking to me with me sipping my coffee, and the other photo was us both laughing.
"It must've been those girls," I said looking at him.
"Ugh God I hope this doesn't cause a shit storm."
I went to the danisnotonfire tag at Dan's request to see who had posted it.
"Oh no." Dan face palmed as I scrolled through the endless reposts of the same two pictures of us with captions like:
dans pulled;)))
this was earlier today guys omg
isn't this the girl he tweeted that selfie with from sitc on sunday???
guys dan does have other friends apart from phil
who is this girl? does anyone know her blog?
There was one account that had posted a picture of me from my Twitter and a link to my Tumblr blog and Twitter saying:
Guys I follow this girl she's so pretty and funny and likes all the same stuff Dan does, I wouldn't surprised if they became friends somehow. I ship it #Drace ^_^
"Oh God here comes the shipping too." Dan laughed.
"Aren't you worried about the shit storm?" I asked.
"You're too cute to swear, don't swear." He said sweetly.
My heart skipped a beat and I smiled.
"And no, I'm not really worried, it will either fade away into the depths of Tumblr or they will get used to it."
"Okay, what if they give me hate?"
"Most of them are really nice and will get your sense of humour. Making YouTube videos might help them to get a better sense of your personality though." He grinned innocently, he was obviously determined for me to give YouTube a go. Before I could answer he stood up and stretched, "I should get going, is it okay if I call you later or something?" He looked hopeful.
"Yeah call whenever." I went and got the milk from the fridge and slowly followed him to the door as he put his jacket on.
"Are you sure you'll be okay getting back to your apartment on your own?" I asked, looking up at him.
"I'll get a taxi, it's not too far." Before I knew it he had engulfed me in a hug where I hugged him back because he was warm and smelled good.
We pulled away, "I really enjoyed today." He said, walking into the lift.
"Me too," I smiled, "I'll speak to you later."
"Okay. One thing though,"
"Yes?"
"Can I call you Gracey? It's cuter."
My stomach clenched with warm fuzzy feels, "Of course, Dan."
"Okay then, bye Gracey."
The lift doors slid shut and I closed my front door. I leaned against it for a few minutes and gathered what had happened before squealing and jumping onto the sofa. I literally couldn't stop smiling.
I calmed down and opened my laptop to see the tab I had forgotten to close; the Canon camera. I stared at the screen, then looked over at the money in the envelope that mum had given me. I looked back at the screen.
"Screw it." I said, clicking buy.