the city // dan howell

Part Four // Skates

"Now I see why you brought us here." Dan says, taking one last bite of the monstrosity that is our burgers. "Well, I wasn't gonna take you to just some plain old restaurant." I giggle, eating a steak fry. "I'm literally stuffed." Phil slightly pushes away his plate. Dan nods, agreeing. "Guess we're going to have to wait for a waitress." I sigh, looking around with high hopes of a worker walking around.
I don't find such a thing. "Well, anyways, should we take a taxi again because of the baggage? It might take a 'lil longer though, it's around rush hour. You know, crunch time." I say, quickly checking the time on my phone. We'd been in here just singing along to the music and eating for a full hour. Wow.
"I mean, how long of a walk is it? That's a big determining factor." Dan squints. "Why?" I laugh at his actions. "I'm not a fan of physical movement." His face stays straight. Of course he isn't big on exercise. Duh. I'm pretty oblivious for not seeing that. "It's like, maybe about 30 minutes on foot." I nonchalantly say. "Woah, um, no thanks. Taxi please, I don't care about traffic." Dan sarcastically yet seriously (if that makes sense) responds. "Sure thing." I manage to say before the waitress stopped our conversation by picking up our plates. "Is that all?" She coyly asks. "Yep." I answer for everyone, starting to pull out my wallet.
But, in the blink of an eye, Dan scoots over to me and holds my arms down. "Dan, what the hell?" I start thrashing my arms around, attempting to get out of his grip. "Not letting you pay." He grunts, holding me tightly. The waitress stares at us, snickering to herself. Phil takes out his wallet instead and asks how much for the food. "32.81." She impatiently holds her hand out to Phil, her mood snapping from kind to rude. "Calm down." I hear Dan whisper. I start giggling, trying to keep my laughs to myself so I'm not embarrassed yet again. I hate being in embarrassing situations. But then again, don't we all?
By this time I've given up trying to escape from Dan's immensely firm grip on me. I just let him hold me, feeling the warmth of his fingers transfer onto my wrists.
Phil hands the woman 33 dollars. "Keep the change as a tip, I think you'll need it." Phil blatantly says, putting his wallet away. My jaw drops at his sudden confidence. It seems as if the waitress had followed my actions as well, standing wide eyed and surprised. "Let's go." Dan tries to stifle his laughs, making quiet choking sounds instead. "Excuse me." Phil pushes past the waitress standing in front of his chair. She gives us one last death glare, and leaves. Me and Dan follow Phil out of the restaurant. "And I thought she was nice..." Dan finally lets out his laugh that had been building up inside him.
His laugh is contagious, his deep chuckles leaving an imprint of joy in my mind. I join his laughing; and so does Phil. Their deep, agonizingly gorgeous laughs and my childish giggles harmonize in the perfect melody of laughter.
And there we stand together on the streets of New York, probably looking like psychopaths, laughing our heads off.
This is great.
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We step out of the taxi I had hauled not much over 20 minutes ago. During the ride, all I could think about was the chances of today actually happening. I was supposed to pack- but one silly collision started a possible friendship and one hell of a ((good)) day. If that bump hadn't happened, who knows how my day would've went and how my London trip could've gone. And, I wouldn't of had a great day with some great people. So, I obviously felt lucky.
As we step out of the taxi, Dan points directly at the Apple Store. "Is that Apple?" he asks, already knowing the answer. "Yes...." I slowly reply, pretty much knowing where this is going. "We're going there next." He simply replies. "Daaaaaannnn." Phil sighs, not wanting to come, I think. "You don't haveee to come with us, Phil. Get a taxi to the hotel." Dan nudges Phil's shoulder. "Alright..." Phil sounds relieved as he says this. Kind of like... some weight is being lifted off of his shoulders. "Anyways, let's go in." I look at the entrance of FAO, surprised that there is no line of people waiting to get in like there usually is. Guess today is just filled with luck.
The man dressed as a British soldier (you know, the ones with red uniforms and tall black fuzzy hats..) greets and invites us in, as usual.
"Guess there's a little Britain everywhere." Dan whispers to me, slightly elbowing me. "Sure." I scoff playfully. "IS THAT A... GIANT PANDA?" Phil runs away from us to the 5 foot stuffed panda sitting right in front of the escalator. "Child." Dan jokes, beckoning me to follow him to the panda, which Phil is now sitting in front of.
"Catch." Phil squeals as he throws his phone to the approaching Dan.
Dan, surprisingly skillfully, catches the phone within a second of the toss. "Phil, I could've dropped that." He says matter-of-factly, dangling the phone above the ground; holding it with only two fingers. "Dan, just take a picture, please!" Phil whines, taking a few nervous glances as the couple of people who stare at him from time to time. "No." Dan smirks, walking away.
I, coming to a rescue, grab Dan's shoulder, holding him back, and take Phil's phone out of his hand. "Rude! Tyde!" Dan jokingly yells at me. I pretend to be scared, and run away from him. I run to Phil. "Got it!" I smile to him. "Great, good going Tyde!" Phil cheers me on. Dan watches us from a distance, giving me in particular a disapproving look.
I take a few steps back and aim the camera effortlessly at Phil. It aligns itself perfectly, none of my help needed. I snap the photo (well, three...) and hand Phil his phone back. "Thank you!!" He smiles, appreciating the pictures. "Let's go upstairs, since we're by the escalator?" I suggest, beckoning Dan to come over to us. He walks over to us, taking his time. Now that I think about it, he never runs. But I don't run unless I need to, so I can't really have a... negative opinion on it.
"Yeah. Piano first, please, guys?" Dan reaches our side, speaking out before anything else could have been mentioned. "Sure, Dan." Phil chuckles. The two boys go up the escalator, and I stay close behind, but within reasonable proximities. Phil pulls out his camera again, to film his and Dans feet riding up the escalator. He's got an eye for good shots, I've got to say.
We reach the top of the escalator and step off. "Which way?" Dan asks, referring to the fact that there's about 5 different ways to turn. "Farthest to your right." He doesn't seem to understand, so Phil takes action. "Come on, idiot." He toys. "Yeah, yeah."
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A/N: I know this is a bit short, but a really long, fluffy and lovey-dovey chapter is coming up next. I promise!