the city // dan howell

Part Three // We Don't Believe What's On TV

"Is this what Americans eat?" Dan asks me, picking up a bag of giant Twizzlers. "Yep." I giggle, watching him examine the bag. "We supersize things, I guess." I beckon to the array of other giant candies- giant Reese's, giant chocolate bars, giant Hershey's kisses. "Well, if it's giant, I'm getting it." Phil speaks up, grabbing a few things. "Guys, we've been in here for an hour and the only things you seem to have been attracted to is the giant candy shit." I roll my eyes. "Maybe we should do a giant candy taste test!" Phil overly excitedly shouts to Dan. "Yeah, alright." Dan snorts, nodding his head. "I think we might be done here..." Dan slowly says, a little unsure of what he's saying. "You, uh, sure?" I ask, noticing his tone of voice. "I dunno." He shakes his head. "What about you, Phil?" Dan asks him. "I mean, if you're done I'm done. We did get all this candy for that video I definitely want to do." Phil says sounding more sure than Dan did. "So we're leaving? To go to that burger place?" (A/N please dont lecture me in the comments about how one of them is vegan or something pleASE) I ask, assuring that I got the plans correct. "Yeah, yeah, we'll do that." Dan says before Phil could even open his mouth. "Should I wait outside for you, get a taxi? So you don't have to walk with all those bags? The traffic shouldn't be too bad at this time of day." I say, checking my phone for the time. It is 4 pm- nobody should be leaving work yet, but it is dinner time- kind of. This is only the beginning of rush hour, so we can manage to squeeze into the restaurant before any major road jamming hits. "Yeah, that would be wonderful." Phil smiles kindly, then following Dan off into the line. I solemnly nod, walking down the store to the exit. I bypass all the stuffed toys that are designed to look like candies and tiny little samples, wondering how we could've been in here so long but none of them even cared to look at these little trinkets. They're so weird- I kinda like it. I hope they'll let me tour them around tomorrow, too.
I push the doors to the exit open, and stand there, trying my best not to get in the way of people walking down the street. I infrequently whisper a 'sorry' to those who are in a rush and have to slow down because of me.
"Hey." Dan's soothing voice startles me again. "Hello." I shyly wave to them. "Should I hail a taxi?" I ask, seeing Phil's heavy bags. "Please." They both reply. "We're gonna need to get out of the square, though. Someone give me a bag." I say, sighing. Phil gives me one of his because he was carrying two, and Dan had the privilege of carrying one bag. Now the weight is evenly spread out between us. "Just lead the way." Dan nudges my arm with his elbow. "Follow the leader." I joke.
I start to walk them down the long, shop-filled road, when Phil yells, "Wait!" So, I wait. He pulls out his camera and starts doing something, which seems like recording. "Okay, we can go." He smiles to me. Okay then.
I begin to walk them down the road again, listening in on Phil and Dan talking to the camera. "And that's when I met this girl, Tyde. Pretty damn lucky I did find her." My head whips around to stare at them, my face only to be met by a camera. "That would be Tyde." Dan laughs at me. I laugh too, and flip off the camera, turning back around. "Woah, a-ggre-ssive." Phil says. I stick up the middle finger again, this time Dan being the one to swat my hand down. "Where are we?" He whispers, standing by my side, leaving Phil to film the city. "Right where we need to be." I reassuringly squeeze his arm, and then stand out on the curb. I stick out my hand, waiting for that signature yellow Manhattan cab to pull up to me. In about two seconds, it does. "Where the hell did that cab come from, and how'd you do that so fast?" Dan asks me, astonished. I roll my eyes in response. "Coming, Phil?" I ask. Phil immediately puts down his camera, walking over to us and standing next to Dan. I tap the taxi window and the driver pulls it down. "We need to get to Jackson Hole, 521 3rd Avenue, A.S.A.P." I straightforwardly say to the fairly wrinkled man with a crewcut that's behind the wheel. "Get in." He simply replies. I gesture for Dan and Phil to come over, and then I get in the taxi.
-
The order of the seating is me (behind the driver), then Dan, and then Phil. Dan and I's legs are touching, and he's resting his hand on my knee. It sends shivers up my spine and for some reason I like being close to him. We're just gonna have to see where my feelings lead me, I guess.
"The snow isn't coming down fast at all. Is that normal?" Phil questions me, looking out the window of the taxi. "It's not normal but it's not abnormal. I mean, the rate that the snow comes down always varies, you know?" I answer, looking at the brown mush on the streets, snow being turned to sleet from the wheels of thousands of cars. "You always give the most interesting answers." Dan laughs at presumably me. "Thanks." I sarcastically say. "Do you know what you want to do after we eat?" I add. "Um, I was thinking we could go to one more shop and then I, maybe not Dan, would go to the hotel room. It's a bit chilly and it's going to be a little late by the time we finish with the other shop. Dan?" Phil responds shyly, almost as if he feels mean for saying he'd prefer to leave soon than stay. "Tyde, would you care to stick around with me a bit more after Phil leaves?" Dan suggests to me, grinning brightly. I don't even know why he asked, I thought I made it pretty obvious I like hanging around with them, despite barely knowing them. "Yeah, of course. I could show you Rockefeller Center at night or something. But after burgers, we could go to this cute but really popular toy store I went to all the time as a kid, FAO Schwarz?" (A/N RIP FAO, SEE YOU SOON.) "That would be cool, what do they have there?" Phil cheers, looking like a little kid during Christmas. "There's a big lego section", I wink, "and a place where you can make your own mugs or cereal bowls, and a lot more, I guess. The most popular, um, parts are the, like, damn huge candy section, literally gigantic stuffed animals and.. foot?... piano." Dan's eyes light up at piano. "Like, stepping on the keys?" He asks eagerly. "Yep." I ruffle my hair, suddenly feeling very self-conscious with both of them looking at me. They're smiling, but hell, I don't know what they're thinking of me. They probably wish they had someone prettier than me- yeah, seems right. I should probably also stop thinking about Dan the way I do, because based off of the stares he's been giving me, he wouldn't like me back. No point, is there?
"7.81." The driver abruptly stops in front of the area we need to be in.
I reach into my pocket and grab eight dollars before either of the boys next to me could do anything. "Thank you." I roll my eyes, give him the money, and step out of the yellow vehicle into the cold, smoke-filled streets. I quickly walk over to Dan and Phil at the restaurant entrance to get of the snow. "Why'd you pay for the cab? Let me give you the money back, here, I-" I push Phil's arm away. "It's fine, really." I say, nervously laughing. "Im paying for your meal." I clearly hear Dan whisper. "What?" I ask, a smirk playing on my lips and an eyebrow raised. "Lets just go inside." The two guys sputter out together. "Yeah, mhm." I doubtingly reply. I lead them down the very short, thin hallway and turn to the right, into the place. They have a quick look 360 look around before we're lead to a table. The waitress thrusts menus into our hands. "Any drinks to start off with?" Her sweet smile and crinkled eye automatically come off as comforting, which is good. Waitresses who make me feel welcome are always easier to order to, considering I'm always a bit nervous about ordering food in restaurants. "W-water." I manage to stutter, but do actually order by myself for once. "Me too." Dan presses his lips together after he finished saying his two simple words. "I third that option!" Phil cheers, with a mood the exact opposite of Dan's. "I'll be back." She places her pen inside her bun and her notepad in her apron pocket, winking at us. "She's cute." Phil states, eyeing the wording on the menu, careful not to look at us as he says this. Dan nods. "I know, I'm jealous. She's pretty as hell." I admit, toying with the corner of my closed menu. Dan comforts me subtly; "Don't be.", he whispers, extending his arm under the table to my side, to give my hand a squeeze. I gladly let him, also allowing my insecure thoughts from now and before to flow out of my mind for the quick 2 seconds his body was in contact with mine. I smile giddily at him, getting lost in his deep, chocolate-y brown eyes. He doesn't seem to notice my staring, and neither does Phil. They don't care to pay attention to me because they're looking at their menus. I zone out, thinking about Dan. How his life as a YouTuber, along with Phil's, is. Other things, like if he has interest in me. But again, why would he? I also wonder if his hair is naturally straight- mine's wavy. "And what do you want, Tyde? Tyde, Ty- the waitress is here, taking orders." Dan reaches across the table and runs his fingers through my side-swept, across the forehead bangs. "Shit, shit, um..." I begin, flattening out my hair. "The cheeseburger with bacon, platter." I recite my usual, handing the waitress my menu as I order. "Thanks." I whisper, to nobody in particular. Saying thank you to everyone and everything is kind of like my calling. It's weird.
"I'll be back, hopefully soon!" The waitress chuckles, leaving the three of us alone with the music from the overhead speakers. "That was awkward." I cringe. "What even was that?" Phil laughs. "You were just kind of, staring at Dan, missing out on the world." He continues. "I, um, zoned out, I guess." I struggle to find words as I wrap my hand around the condensation covered cup. I take a sip of water, look at the pickles on the table, and then look at Dan, who also happens to be looking at me. I'm a little embarrassed, I gotta say. I go for another sip, but quickly slam my cup down, almost spilling the drink inside. "Tyde, wha-" Phil starts. "Shut up!" I half shout, holding up a finger and closely listening to the music. "This is Twenty One Pilots." I hum to the short intro. Dan gives me a wide eyed look before finishing my sentence properly, "We Don't Believe What We See On TV." I grin, appreciating his knowledge. Now, also knowing that I'm not the only one familiar with the song, I begin to sing. Sadly, I missed the intro.
"I need to know that when I fail you'll still be here, cause if you stick around, I'll sing you pretty sounds, and we'll make money selling your hair" I belt out. "Im recording this." Phil snickers, bringing up his camera from the chair beside him. I continue to sing in my semi good voice, this time Dan adding his amazingly deep voice to the mix. "I don't care what's in your hair, I just wanna know what's on your mind. I used to say I wanna die before I'm old, but because of you I might think twice." Dan smirks at me on the last lyric, making a look of confusion shoot across my face. What? "Nice." Phil manages to squeeze in before I set aside what just happened to sing with Dan again, this time harmonizing more. "Alright, second verse." I quickly giggle. I love that part. "What if my dream does not happen? Would I just change what I've told my friends? Don't want to know who I would be when I wake up from a dreamer's sleep." Dan stops singing because he's laughing too hard by now. I stop too, not wanting to poison Phil's viewers' ears. "You have an amazing voice." I laugh at Dan. "Your voice is actually very good, too, Tyde." Phil compliments me, Dan bobbing his head in agreement. I bit down on my bottom lip to stop laughing for a moment, to thank Phil. "Thanks. I don't really hear it but..." I trail off. "You're good." Dan assures me.
..And that's about when Phil turned his camera off. "Here is your food!" The waitress places all the plates on the table, each of us taking the appropriate one. "Thank you." We all agree, beginning to eat.
Let's just say, that thank you was the last thing we said before diving right into our food.