One More Time // Dan Howell

Chapter 2; Do I Know You?

Winnie awoke early, at around 8 am. She yawned and opened her phone, scrolling through social media for 20 minutes before she decided to actually get out of bed. She freshened up, taking a nice warm shower. While she was doing so, the doorbell rang twice. She had no idea who it could be, since she just moved back. She cut her shower short and quickly put on some clothes. When Winnie opened the door, there was no one there. Instead there was a small brown box. She felt confused as she hadn't ordered anything. She picked up the box and checked the address, and sighed when she read that it was supposed to be delivered to someone named Phil Lester. The address was very different from her own, too. How could someone mess up so badly? She sighed once more and decided to fix her hair so she could drop this parcel off to the right address.

Within an hour, Winnie found herself outside of an apartment building similar to hers, with the parcel by her side. Although the exterior was a lot like the place where she lived now, the interior was nothing alike. Hers was fancy-looking and orderly. This was simple-looking and cozy. She walked up the stairs as the building had no elevator and searched for the correct apartment. After a few minutes of searching, she finally found it. She rang the doorbell once, and someone from inside yelled "coming!". They opened the door, and she was greeted by the sight of a fairly tall boy, with very pale skin and bright blue eyes.

"Yes?" He asked in a polite tone.
"Does someone named Phil Lester live here?" Winnie asked.
"Yes, that's me." The boy, now Phil, answered.
"Hi! My name's Winnie and the mailman accidentally dropped your parcel off at my address." She explained.
"Oh, I was wondering where that went! They said they dropped it off but I didn't see it, and my flatmate said that them saying it was here must've been a mistake."
Winnie gave a polite smile. "Well, now you can tell your flatmate that he was wrong. They did drop it off...just at the wrong place."

"Who's at the door, Phil?" A new voice called out. Another person appeared in the doorway and Winnie swore that her heart stopped. It was an even taller boy, with brown hair parted in a fringe and brown eyes...out of all the people she could have re-united with, did it have to be...

"Dan?" Winnie's small voice betrayed her by speaking out his name.
"Hi, um..I'm sorry if this seems rude, but do I know you? You look quite familiar and since you know my name, I'm guessing you must be someone I know." Dan said, clearly oblivious that it was the girl who's heart he'd broken 6 years ago, and they never quite cleared things up.

"..No," Winnie said. "You don't know me."

"Um, okay..then do you watch my videos?" Dan asked, his awkward side showing.

Winnie was about to say no once more, when Phil spoke.
"Dan, this is Winnie." He said. "The delivery guy dropped my package off at her place by accident and she came to deliver it here. I told you it wasn't a mistake!"
An awkward silence passed as neither Winnie nor Dan said anything.
"Um, guys?" Phil said.
"Winnie...that name sounds familiar.." Dan said, now slowly realizing who she was. "Winnie Waters..?" He said, his voice shaking very slightly.
"Well," Winnie said, handing the package to Phil, "it's been very awkward seeing you again. Thanks for breaking me 6 years ago, Dan. I'll be leaving now." A bitter rage had taken over her. "Bye, Phil."
Without waiting for a further reply, Winnie set off back downstairs. She felt angry. She wanted to scream. Who at, she didn't know. She wanted to yell at Dan for doing what he did all those years ago. She wanted to yell at the mailman for delivering his flatmate's package to her house. She wanted to yell at herself for speaking his name. She wanted to yell at her goddamn fate. It was only the second day since her return, and she'd already managed to run into her ex. That was only supposed to happen in movies and books.

She stomped back towards her place. She didn't want to take a taxi. She just wanted to break something. All those emotions that she'd buried had suddenly risen up. That closed up wound she'd spent months of bandaging had opened up again, and it was all done just by looking at his face. He'd grown taller, he'd gotten paler and his voice seemed richer, but he was still the same old asshole. She didn't even feel pain anymore, which was good, but it seemed like all the pain turned into additional feelings of anger which added up to the anger she was already feeling.
When she reached home, Winnie crashed on her bed and screamed into her pillow. She repeated the words "I hate you I hate you I hate you I HATE YOU" over and over again.

'I hope he's feeling the same sort of rage.' She thought. "I hate you".