Cocktails & Emotions ~ [DR3]

10. 'For You'

"I know you've got things to do,"
-All Night Parking Interlude, Adele (with Erroll Garner)
You guys this song is so soft I fully recommend a listen

It was five minutes after dropping Emmy off at school that I turned to Daniel and asked "Is now a bad time to tell you I already ate?" The question made Daniel pause at the traffic lights we were at and look to me with a flat expression that told me that then was exactly the wrong time to share the information. So when Daniel simply huffed, rolled his eyes, said 'okay' and carried on driving I assumed he was taking me back home. And I suppose in a sense I did get taken home, it's just his home instead of mine.

The track leading up to Daniel's home is exactly how I remembered it to be from my last visits. Only this time at the end of his driveway a dark blue and black quad bike replaces the usual crowd of cars from visiting guests. It leaves enough space that Daniel can nearly tuck the black truck under nearby tree shade, grumbling to himself how he'll move everything later.

"It's not the tidiest." Daniel warns whilst rounding the car so he's at my side.

"It's never untidy." I argue my face flat to which he just shakes his head as if I don't understand. I probably don't. I'm sure I remember Michael saying once that whilst he's away a cleaner comes to make sure the place hasn't fallen into complete disrepair and his mum and close family even use the place from time to time. Surely with all that help it can't be too chaotic and dusty.

"Today it might be." Daniel counters, his hand slipping around my back and resting at my tailbone as we take the steps up his front porch at half speed. It's almost as if he's nervous to let me inside with the lingering of his body. "I just crashed after landing last night. I opened the bags this morning but only to grab some stuff for a shower before heading to your place." He explains with a grimace whilst finally pushing the door open and guiding me inside.

"You did not." I reply as I'm slipping off my shoes, leaving me in only clean white socks. A part of me is calmed by it, the idea of me being somewhere of an afterthought fading into obscurity. Daniel's hand barely leaving me as he kicks his Vans from his feet helps more.

Then I see the chaos laid out across the open plan space of Daniel's home.

Two large suitcases, backpack and a duffel bag line the floor in various states of disarray. The suitcases are both unzipped with clothes strewn messily around the floor. There's even shoes abandoned haphazardly  around the bags and a pile of creased clothes that makes me smile. When Daniel said he crashed last night he clearly was not exaggerating in the slightest. The process of undressing himself for sleep clearly began in the living room and finished in the hallway of his bedroom. The small clutters of clothes begin with a denim jacket, then a hoodie and a t shirt until I can't work out what the items of clothing are anymore as they detail the stairs. "Okay maybe you did." I accept, my awkward words almost chuckled. Daniel just nods quietly and for the first time I notice he looks tired. I guess a day of travel  and switching timezones would do that to you.

"What were your plans today?" He asks leading me to the large open plan kitchen space of his home.

"My plans today," I correct Daniel's words with a slight edge to my glance in his direction. It tells him that I've caught what he was trying to do; just because I'm here doesn't mean that all of my plans have changed. "Are to get my shit together. I have a meeting with a bank tomorrow to secure a loan for Shaken & Stirred so I need to check all my figures and..." I gesture to the world around me hoping that whatever I'm trying to say Daniel will understand. I need to pull myself together.

"A loan?" Daniel says the word slowly, as if it's foreign. To him I guess it is.

"A loan." I confirm, nodding in acceptance when Daniel gestures the bottle of apple juice in my direction. He's been slowly assembling a bowl of yogurt, grains and fruit whilst we've been speaking. And still, whilst chopping up the banana for breakfast, Daniel finds the time looks baffled by the concept of a loan. I can't help the snicker that leaves me at his confusion. "You know? When a bank gives you money on the condition you pay it back?" I joke, quietly thanking Daniel for the juice with a smile still on my face. His expression remains flat, unentertained by my poking fun.