Stand Up

Chapter 15

This is Dan
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It can't be!! Theres no way! I mean..... it's just. NoPe. My mind is playing with me. It's not the guy from the movie theater. The one who stood up for me and said "I don't like seeing girls get molested." Or something like that.

I'll just act like I don't know him. That's it!!

I cut my gaze from him and slid casually into the booth. I go for a 'good friends' arrangement and sit across from him. Not next to him.

Now that I'm level with him I know it's him.

The same eyes. Brown and with such a depth to them, I feel like I can see all the way to his soul. Brown hair. It's not Midnight Brown, but it's definitely dark. The look. It sounds weird but it's the look. The one he had at the movies. It shows all his emotions but hides their true meaning. It's kinda creepy...

"Hi."

I lean back and quit observing him. I guess I was being weird just staring at him.

"Hi."

My voice cracks on the 'i' and he narrows his eyes. Now I get to be observed. He scans my face the most. He hesitates when he looks at my eyes. It's pretty unnerving.

"You look nice."

"Thanks."

This is just getting more and more awkward.

"So we finally meet in person."

"Ya."

"Am I what you expected me to look like."

"Sure."

He stops. And gazes at me again. I can tell he's a little mad. I can't blame him. I haven't even said more than one word at a time to him. I'm gonna try!

"So it's pretty weird isn't it? Meeting-"

"Stop!"

Okay. I tried. I give up. I try to talk and he interrupts me!! What does he want, why can't I talk. He can't be that angry!

"Look."

He passes his gaze to the area beside me now. He lets out a sigh and seems to calm down before speaking again.

"I know you recognize me. And I recognize you. And it's awkward. But that's in the past. It wasn't that long ago but still. I made sure Blake understood what he did was wrong and he's stopped. I apologize fo-"

I stop listening. I should have know he would recognize me. What happened was pretty much yesterday. I get he feels bad for what his friend did and I get how he thinks it's awkward. It is. But he needs to stop rambling. Now that I know it's him I can admit it and we can move on to meeting properly. That's why we are here anyways.

"And I'm okay if-"

Here we go.

"Dude. Stop. It's okay."

He halts and looks at me catching his breath.

"Like you said that was in the past. The very very recent past, but still it is. And you shouldn't apologize for your friend. It was him who was a jerk, not you. And it was also my fault for budding in. I shouldn't have got in your conversation. I'm sorry."

I looked up to see that he was still listening. Now that I said that I think it's time we do what we came here to do.

"So let's start over. As if we never meet. Hi, I'm Carissa, aka GraceporterFMAB. And you are?"

I stuck my hand out to him and waited. He looked at me and then smiled.

"Hi. I'm Dan, a.k.a HereIWillAlwaysBe. It's nice to meet you."

And then he stuck out his hand and we shaked hands.