When I Met Dan (A Dan Howell Fanfiction)

Fourteen

"Phil!" Dan shouted as he let me through their apartment door, and locked it behind us. "We're back!"
There was a pause and then I heard Phil's voice shout back: "What do you mean we're back?"
Dan smiled, shaking his head slightly as he lead me up a two sets of carpeted stairs (passing what looked like a bathroom on the way) and onto a landing. Looking to my left, I saw a cozy, white walled corridor, that had two doors at the end, and one more door slightly closer on the left wall. To my right, another set of stairs led up to God knows where.
There was a door directly opposite us too, half open.
"Welcome to the Dan and Phil household! I'll show you around in a bit, but it's not massive, so it's easy to get the general idea of it." Dan said, turning to me.
"It's so nice in here, I–"
"Dan who are you talking to? If you are talking to yourself again I swear I'll call some kind of doctor." I heard Phil, and after a couple of seconds, his head popped around the side of the door opposite us.
"Grace?" His expression cleared, and he broke out into I caring smile. "Oh my God, I didn't know you were coming back to our apartment!" He stepped past the door he was behind and gave me a quick hug. He turned to Dan, "So, I'm guessing we're ordering pizza?" He said hopefully.
"Of course." Dan said.
"Come into the living room! I was just playing Mario Kart." Phil flopped onto the sofa, and I crashed next to him.
"I'm so good at this game, I bet I could beat you." I said, trying to be serious.
Phil laughed, making me laugh, "We'll see about that, race me then Grace. I'd like to see you beat me."
He handed me a controller, "I'm so competitive, just FYI." I warned.
"So am I, no worries." Phil nodded.
Dan walked in the room, looking at his phone, I almost forgot he wasn't in here.
"Uh guys, it's nearly 9pm, and I promised everyone I'd do a liveshow tonight, is that okay?" He asked, looking slightly worried.
"Of course it's fine Dan! Phil and I are about to start a match of Mario Kart anyway." I smiled up at him reassuringly. Phil nodded too, backing me up.
"Thanks guys, I won't be too long. I'll be in my room if you need me." Dan disappeared again.

Dan's P.O.V
I walked into my bedroom, not bothering to close my door behind me, and sat down in my chair in front of my desk. I switched on my Mac, while I waited for it to boot up, I put my head in my hands and took a deep breath, trying to think. My mind flashed back to the London Eye, and the moment when Grace realised I was watching her. The way her expression has softened and she had moved closer.
I had genuinely thought she would kiss me. It was the first time in a long time that I had felt this way about anyone, even if I only liked her a tiny bit.
She hadn't kissed me, but maybe she was one of those people who took things slow. That had to be it, and I knew I would have to respect that.
I clung onto that hopeful thought as I loaded up YouNow, and logged in. I clicked 'Go Live'.
My own face appeared on the screen in front of me, and so did the chat, which began to fill up with people saying hi.
"Helloooo everybody. How are you doing on this fine Tuesday evening?" I smiled, watching the chat. I read out some of the things people were saying, "Kate says she's doing good, Georgia is feeling great, aaand Sarah says she is feeling... Shrektastic. Sarah don't bring Shrek into this." I laughed.
"I'm just going to Tweet that I'm live so hang on a moment everybody." I opened a tab and Tweeted a link to my liveshow.
People began to pour into the chat and it quickly rose to 15,000 viewers. "Okay, so I think everyone's here, what should we chat about?"
I rested my head on my hands and watched the chat. I spotted a question.
"How is the book coming along? Asks Lia." I smiled. Phil and I had announced the book back in March, in a crazy trailer. "The book is going great thanks, Lia! It's being printed now, it's so crazy. I'm so excited for the tour! I can't wait to meet you all."
For the next half an hour, I swung back on my chair, talking about Kanye, music, TV shows, and the book. I could see people spam the chat with #Drace every few minutes, or mention her in some way. Eventually I decided I should talk about it. Although it felt weird to talk about her, especially to 15,000 people, when I had very mixed feelings about her.
"Okay everyone I think I need to address something, and I know many of you have been waiting for this, and I know some of you don't care, but I need to mention it anyway." I laughed. "I'm sure many of you have seen the photo of me in Starbucks with the 'mysterious girl'." I used air quotes. "Well I've made a new friend recently and she's great. She's called Grace, and I know many of you have found her successful Tumblr blog, and you've worked out we met at Summer In The City." I paused. "I saw #Drace trending worldwide. Guys it's not like that, come on. She's a really great friend I've made recently, and that's all."
Everybody was really understanding in the chat. "Thanks for understanding, guys. And because you've been so understanding, I'm going to let you in on a little secret about her." I moved close to the webcam, "She may or may not be starting a YouTube channel. That's all I'm gonna say." I say back in my chair again, and winked. Then laughed.
I went to change the subject, but that was when I was interrupted.
"YES! TAKE THAT MARIO YOU SNEAKY SHIT!" Grace shouted so loud from the living room. There was no way that the people watching the liveshow couldn't have heard it.
The chat went crazy.
I started to giggle slightly, and before I knew it I was full on laughing as Grace shouted insults about Princess Peach this time through the wall. I could hear Phil laughing too.
The shouting directed at the Mario Kart characters stopped eventually. "Yes, for all of you asking, that was Grace playing Mario Kart."
TELL HER TO COME AND SAY HI.
So many people in the chat were asking her to say hello.
"Do you want me to get her to say hi?" I asked, and a flood of 'yes' appeared in the chat. It was probably time to introduce her.