Awkward Encouter: A Dan Howell Story

Chapter 6: Continued

I flipped my phone on and off habitually over the next several hours while watching the ending of the fashion show rehersal. I suddenly felt a faint buzz on the palm of my hand. My heart leaped to the side of my chest and I braced for the message. I turned on the screen and checked the inbox.

It was Phil. I mentally cursed Phil out for not being Autumn but then stopped because obviously it was not his fault…it was his mum’s. The text read “Fix things up before the show or this mess will cause a show of its own. P.S. we’re out of cereal.” I knew he was right, I had to fix things between Autumn and Veronica. Also we were in fact out of cereal; I had two toaster pastries for breakfast instead. I looked at my jeans and tapped on my thigh repetitively while thinking.                                                                                                                                                    

I looked up to see the rehearsal was almost over. I only had a couple minutes before driving a very pissed Veronica back to her loft downtown. I kept tapping and tapping until a plump woman, who was wearing a headset therefore implying her importance, shushed me. I glared her down but she was preoccupied with writing something on her silver clipboard.

As I turned back around the sudden urge to talk to Autumn was too overwhelming. I grabbed my iPhone out of my pocket and quickly texted: “We need to talk about this. I’ll call you later.” I figured that would suffice until I called her after I dropped Veronica off. I sighed loudly and the woman shushed me again. I decided not to glare this time but I may have burped in her direction just for my own small revenge.

            I couldn’t help but wonder what Autumn was thinking. It was not her fault I came over, I shouldn’t have done that. I knew she had feelings for me. I shook my head to clear my mind. This was too much for me, I hate being in  these situations. Relationships and feelings were overrated. I could just buy myself a hedgehog for a friend; or a Galapagos turtle, they live very long.

My thoughts of my lonely future were interrupted by the force of a heavy purse smacking the back of my head. I grimaced at my now throbbing skull. “Hello love. Oh, have I hit you? I’m so sorry.” Veronica said with bitterness on her tongue. She smiled a brilliant smile and motioned for me to stand up which I did. We walked to the car in tense silence and I let her in the car. Phil’s words of wisdom echoed through my head, ‘fix it.’

                                                                                 I took a breath and started to speak. Before I could finish one sentence she broke down into tears. I was in shock myself and pulled the car over. I rubbed her back slowly and let her mascara stain my shirt.After about two minutes of that she sat up and stared me in the face.She was a gorgeous girl but like this, she really scared me.                                                                            “I kn-ow you lo-ve her D-an.” She choked out while dabbing her smudged makeup away.

    She sounded defeated and hurt. I reached over to put my hand on her shoulder but she gently shook her head and I put my hand back on the wheel.  We sat there for several more minutes while she cleaned off her face and reapplied her makeup but this time with less of it.                                 

“You love Salvatore…” I ventured carefully. I kept my eyes focused on her.                                 

“Yes, but I have not done anything with him. He knows I am with you, that I still love you….loved you….” She turned her face toward the window to stop herself from crying again.