Procrastinators on the Internet (Dan Howell/danisnotonfire fanfic 1)*unedited*

Part 28- Let the Show Begin

“Dan? Phil?” a voice called through the silence forced upon me by my headphones. Feeling only slightly irritated that someone had spoken up during the chorus of Emma Blackery’s ‘Fear the Future’, I set my headphones down around my neck and looked up to find out who’d spoken.

A relatively young woman with a headset on over her straight, light brown hair, was standing just next to a door, her gaze darting over Dan and Phil expectantly. “Jameela is waiting for you in Studio 3,” she stated, folding her arms up in the thick folds of her woollen cardigan.

Dan and Phil nodded at her before standing to leave. Dan smiled at me whilst Phil shoved the notes he and Dan had made into his coat pocket. “I’ll see you soon, okay, Quartz?” Dan said softly. I loved the nickname.

I smiled shyly at him and nodded slightly. I wanted to say something else to him about how I could maybe watch the show, when the woman spoke up again:

“Who’s your friend?” the woman asked, taking a step forward and bending the microphone on her headset away from her mouth.

“This is our friend Mia,” Phil explained as he tapped the papers against the table to set them straight. “She’s got the all clear from reception and John to be up here. Mia, this is Clara, one of the BBC radio worker people.”

Clara smiled at Phil. “Such a grand title. Is she going to watch the show?”

“That’s the plan,” Dan mumbled. “John said that it was okay when reception contacted him…”

“Okay then, that’s good enough for me,” Clara said cheerily. “Do you want me to take her to your studio so that she can settle down there? You know, to let you guys get on with what you’re doing?”

“Thanks,” Dan sighed with relief. Phil was giving him a poignant look from a few feet away, like he was trying to silently let Dan know that they really had to get going. Instead, Dan smiled a closed mouth smile whilst waving at me. The action was so cute in a bashful and almost shy manner which made my chest tighten. I waved back before both Dan and Phil were ushered off by a busy Clara through a nearby door.

Clara gave a small sigh before turning back to me. “So… hi.” She raised her hand momentarily to wave but then returned to crossing her arms protectively across her chest. Clara had this smile which was both warm, but also had an edge of scrutiny to it. I hoped that I was just imagining it, even if I couldn’t be sure.

“Hello,” I said quietly. I swallowed at the lump in my throat as I stuffed my book into my bag and attempted to hide the Totoro which was also in there. My headphones remained around my neck.

“We should go…” Clara gestured behind her to the door that Dan and Phil had left through as she took a minute step backwards towards it.

“Oh, yeah. Of course,” I stammered, grabbing my bag and reaching for some of the others.

“You can leave those here. Nothing’ll happen to them.”

I dropped the shopping bags to follow Clara to the studio through that door. I was either very talented at doing things wrong or just impeccable when it came to making a fool out of myself. Of course the bags would be safe there, why hadn’t I thought of that? I felt so out of place here, even if it was a fantastic place.

My skin persisted to burn with embarrassment as I trailed Clara through this professional building. Apparently, by having a VIP card around my neck, I may as well have had a neon arrow pointing to me saying ‘I shouldn’t be here!’, because every single person that Clara and I passed seemed to go out of their way to smile or wave at me.

“So what do you do here? At work,” I blurted to Clara after we’d been smiled at by someone who’d been in the midst of a seemingly very important phone call when we’d passed them in the corridor.