Love is Old, Love is New

Part 1

Content Warnings: Heartbreak, crying, cheating, insecurity, nudity, deprecating thoughts, intense sadness, self-isolation, boner, mentions of sexual situations, lots of skin touching including breasts (but in a non-sexual way), love confessions, mentions of sex, considerate Danny.

𓅪

"You alright?" Danny asked, pausing the movement of his fingers and ripping his intense attention from the melodic chords he had been working on, letting his acoustic guitar falter in his hands.

You looked up from your phone, "What? Oh, yeah, fine."

You weren't really fine. It was your boyfriend, Otis's birthday, and you hadn't been able to get a hold of him all day. You swiped through your text chain, seeing that your message at 7am wishing him a happy birthday was followed by an embarrassing amount of messages almost once an hour asking what he was doing, how he was doing, and if he was okay.

You had grown unbelievably restless, your anxiety bordering between genuine concern for his well being, and fear that he was shutting you out for some reason.

Though, this wasn't completely unusual for Otis. He had always been distant, emotionally elusive in a way that left you second guessing your every move. Sometimes, he would go an entire day without a word, shutting down for reasons you could never quite figure out. You attributed it to the way he must've been raised, but often, and without warning, he would go into a mood. You had tried to understand, tried to make excuses for it. Maybe he just needed space. Maybe you were overreacting.

It was terribly confusing, but you'd grown used to it, trying your hardest to take note of anything that may be a consistent trigger in his moods.

Danny, who was by far your closest friend, did not approve of his behaviour at all. In fact, he didn't approve of Otis full stop. You had grown up together, graduated together, and were now splitting the rent of some small, shitty apartment in Nashville together, and it was hard for you to conceal the faults in your relationship when Danny seemed to always be there.

"You sure? You've been staring at that phone all afternoon," he argued pointedly.

You huffed and ran a hand down the side of your face, "It's just Otis...it's his birthday but he hasn't texted me back all day." You paused, and Danny set his guitar down, its neck leaning against the arm of the couch you were both seated on. "I'm getting kinda worried," you added.

Danny's jaw tightened at the mention of Otis, a familiar tension brewing in his stance. You knew what he thought of your boyfriend, he had never been shy about it. As your best friend since childhood, Danny had always been protective of you, and he couldn't stand how Otis treated you. To Danny, Otis was an undeserving ghost, always there, but never really present.

But it wasn't as if Otis treated you poorly. No, you wouldn't be dating him if he was. He just was a bit flaky sometimes- physically and emotionally.

Danny's brows furrowed, "That is weird. Maybe he's just busy with friends or something?" he suggested.

You shook your head, "No, he told me he was celebrating with them on the weekend. Told me he would see me today too," you said anxiously, biting at the corners of your nails.

"Stop that," Danny warned, pulling your hands away from your mouth.

It was a habit you seemed to have only picked up only recently, and Danny was always quick to stop it as soon as he saw you begin to nibble at the uneven edges of the nail.

"You're right, 's a bit worrying. I would be pretty worried as well. Did he go out last night?" Danny asked.

"No." You were beginning to feel more and more nervous, anxiety flooding through your body as you wondered what was going on.