Along Came Danny

Chapter eight: Christmas with the Rossi's.

It had been two weeks since we sky dived, and we had only done one other thing on Danny’s list, which was help someone without wanting anything back.

We headed towards the Royal Children’s Hospital, a bag of nail polish in hand as we walked into the caner wing. Danny seemed a little bit jumpy being in this wing but powered through the jitters.

Danny and I both sat there, talking to the little girls as we painted their nails, talking adamantly about some of the pop stars that were new to the business.

I had finished painting another little girls nails when I glanced over at Danny, who was chatting excitedly to a girl no older than nine, his glasses slipping slightly off the bridge of his nose as he concentrated on the small nails in front of him.

I listened into their conversation and let out a giggle as to what they were talking about.

“I think Harry is the cutest,” Danny laughed as he painted her pinky; the girl shook her head, running her free hand over her hairless head.

“Nuh uh, Niall is the cutest. Harry is adorable. There’s a difference,” Danny laughed louder at the young girls comment, making me smile broadly.

Danny looked up at me once he was finished painting the girls nails and gave her a hug. I lifted my hand and gave him a thumbs up.

It had only taken two hours of our time and all the girls had their nails painted, and I must say I was surprised how well Danny could paint nails, as if he had been practicing since I gave the suggestion.

Since the trip to the hospital two weeks ago I had barely seen Danny, he seemed to have to disappear a lot and I found myself  missing him immensely. Soon it was a week before Christmas and I was still deciding on what to get Danny for Christmas when my phone began to vibrate next to my laptop.

“Hey,” I breathed, the caller ID identifying that it was Jeremy on the other end of the call.

“Hey Katie, What’s new?” I laughed at Jeremy’s casualness over the phone. We had been talking a lot since Danny hadn’t been around for a while and every time I asked where Danny was Jeremy was quick to change the subject, so I knew to back off about it.

“I’m just thinking of what to get Danny for Christmas,” Jeremy laughed through the phone and I felt my face change into confusion.

“Why are you laughing?” I asked, my brain frantically searching for some reason he could be laughing at me.

“You are so whipped,” the laughter continued and I sighed. To be completely honest I guess I was. Danny had been the only thing I could sleep about. I would look at my phone all day waiting for him to call so I could hear his voice.

“So, what should I get him?” I changed the subject quickly, feeling uncomfortable with the topic of discussion.  I heard a sigh come from the other end before Jeremy’s voice flooded through the phone.

“Look at his bucket list, you might get an idea then,” thanking Jeremy and saying our goodbyes I hung up and grabbed the sheet of paper out of my bedside table, looking through the list.

No way in hell was I buying him a lap dance, and helping him learn an instrument wasn’t exactly meaningful. As I looked down the list I found the perfect solution.

We had talked about it briefly, talking about different ideas and styles for this particular item and the more I thought about it the more excited I became.

The week before Christmas went faster than you could blink and soon it was Christmas Eve. Dad and I never made a big deal out of Christmas seeing it was just us two but when  received a call from Danny I realized this year would be different.