Exception // JJ Maybank

04 ; alexithymia or denial?

"Mom," Danny droned and rolled his eyes.

She shushed him and raised her phone once more. "Stand still and smile, Daniel Reed."

He huffed and adjusted the strap of his backpack. He's been standing in front of the garden in their front yard for over ten minutes now. His mom wanted to get their yearly first-day-of-school pictures. She had to of had over one hundred pictures by now.

"Alex?" he complained, trying to find some sympathy.

Alex smiled and continued to stand next to his mom, clearly showing where his loyalties lay.

She lowered the phone and said through gritted teeth, "Smile."

Danny obliged and posed for another minute or two. Finally, Alex stepped in and offered to take a picture of the pair. Now, with his mom standing next to him, he smiled genuinely. He wrapped his arm across her chest and pulled her snugly against him. He lowered his head to press his cheek against hers.

He squeezed her a final time and stepped away.

"Have a good time at school, Darling."

She leaned up and fixed the johnny collar of his polo shirt. Her bracelets clashed into each other. "Do you like the shirt?"

He nodded. He was testing out a new design for her. It was navy with white trim on the collar. It fits tight around his arms, but he didn't mind that. In fact, it made his arms look bigger than they actually were, so it was a win in his book.

"It's a nice material."

"Good."

She waved him off as he entered his car and drove down the street.

Danny drove as quickly as he could, carefully walking the line of way-over-the-speed-limit-but-not-quite-fast-enough-to-get-pulled-over-for-reckless-endangerment. He wanted out of this car as soon as humanly possible.

He looked in his rearview mirror with a glare.

The seats were clean, he would know, but he still felt as if the leather was ruined. The car was tainted point blank period. He couldn't sit in here anymore.

He suited up in full hazmat to clean the back seat the day after the illicit affair, but he only managed to wipe one fingerprint from the rear window before he lost his cool and needed to take it to the cleaners. There was no visible mess, but he still couldn't stomach it.

Danny groaned when he finally pulled onto campus. Hundreds of kids were still milling about in the parking lot and on the front lawn. He really didn't want to talk to any of them.

He spotted Kie's car and made a beeline for it. He waved apologetically to a group of guys hanging out in the back of a pickup, calling him over.

Danny rounded her car and opened the door for her. He bowed and said, "M'lady."

He smiled when he saw her roll her eyes in amusement.

She stepped out and said, "Thank you, kind sir."

He took her hand and kissed it.

When JJ opened the rear door, Danny tsked. "Mighty brave of you, Kie, to let him in your back seat."

"Shut up," JJ said and tossed his flask back in the car before closing the door. Danny observed his supplies or, rather, lack thereof. He had a single binder and a pencil.

Danny fist-bumped Pope, who said, "If I remember correctly, you said your back seat was up for grabs."

He regretfully did remember that time. John B's van is normally the go-to option, but one night, they all called dibs before going into a party. Danny suggested one large orgy, but he was shot down and instead offered his car as a backup. It's never been acted upon before since none of them got lucky at the same time. Technically there's still open season on his car, but that was before—whatever.