The Nobody's Angel (danisnotonfire fanfic)*ON HOLD*

Chapter 5: Messages

CHAPTER 5

- MESSAGES-

**LATER THAT DAY**

"Here, Kara" Mom wakes me, gently shaking my shoulder before setting down a steamy hot bowl of soup on the table in front of me. I sit up and thank her while she hurries back to the kitchen, the timer beeping loudly on the stove. Judging by the delicious comforting sent, I can tell Mom has made her homemade chicken-noodle soup, something she only makes when I'm feeling ill. I cup my hands around the warm ceramic bowl and breathe in it's soothing aroma.

I lay on the couch that afternoon watching the snow gently float to the ground through the window. In front of me, the TV flickers while I flip through the channels, but I'm not paying attention. Instead, my head pounds from a headache, a common side effect I deal with at least once a week. Mom thinks it's because I've "been outside too much," but I know that's not the reason; I blame it on too much thinking, or too many attempts to recall memories back. Either way, it didn't matter because it had already lasted for two hours and I could finally feel it fading away. Finally. 

I take a spoonful of soup and set the bowl back down on the table. How long was I asleep? At the start of my headache, it was around 2pm...I feel around the couch to find my cell phone swallowed up by pillows, and the screen displays 4:14pm.

Suddenly, the events from this morning flood back to me. "Let's start again," Dan had said. I blush while remembering that feeling of confusion and embarrassment, not knowing how to respond or react. Dan was still a stranger to me..was'nt he? He told me laughingly he wanted to forget about our first encounter and start again, and we shook hands awkwardly. Just before he left, he put his contact in my phone and said "See you around,"...I guess we were'nt strangers anymore? More like I-just-met-you-and-I-only-know-your-name kind of acquaintances. 

I nervously stare down at my iPhone. I had his number, but he didn't have mine. That meant I had to be the first to text him, right? 

I scroll up and down through my contact list, half of which are people I don't know. Emily, Anastasia, Ben, Steven, the list goes on, random people I'm assuming I went to school with. I again try to remember if I was popular, or who my true friend was, but I can't. If I had any, they probably would have texted me by now. 

I stop when it gets to Dan. He didn't put his last name or any other information besides his phone number, and I'm relieved there are no other Dan's in my contact list to get mixed up with. I hit 'message' and it prompts the screen to send a new text to him. 

My mind goes blank. What am I supposed to text him? I didn't even want to; part of me says to leave it be and forget about him, since he's just another random boy in the random-contacts list . But, he probably wants me to text him, which is why he gave me his number in the first place...

Without thinking, my fingers quickly type 'Hey, it's Kara' in the message box. I stare at it for a moment without hitting send. Is now a good time to text him? Should I even text him? 

Oh, fuck it. I press send. 

My phone makes a loud whoosh sound to indicate the message successfully sent. I worryingly glance up to see if Mom is around and turn on mute just in case; I don't want her to hear me texting someone since she will mostly likely investigate, especially if it's a boy. The living room is empty except for the quiet chatter of the TV. I sigh a breath of relief and lay my back down on the couch, adjusting comfortably under the fuzzy blanket and setting my phone down just an inch from my face in the stack of pillows. The screen goes dark. 

I rest my head and search the channels again. By now, my headache is almost completely gone. I grasp the bowl of soup from the table, thankful it's still warm, and finish the rest of it, filling myself with content and comfort. Outside, it's stopped snowing but the sky is still cloudy and grey, filtering the living room with a strange twilight-like glow that you can only see in the winter. My mind wanders to Bandit, and I blissfilly reminice our first ride on the open hillside. 

Suddenly, Mom walks in and takes my empty dish from the table. "Was it good?"

"Yeah, Mom" I reply, shoving my phone underneath the blanket. Mom smiles and places a hand on my forehead. 

"Still got a headache? Remember, you still need to feed the horses their dinner" Mom chimes. I feel the phone vibrate beneath me. Pressing it deeper into the couch to muffle the sound, I nod and glance at the time on the cable box, which glows 4:35. Mom looks at me suspiciously for a moment, but then another timer in the kitchen goes off and she heads out of the room. 

I wait until I can't hear Mom's footsteps anymore. Hands shaking, I whip out my phone and unlock the screen. My heart is doing little jumps. Why am I excited about this? I could'nt tell if it was from the sheer joy of even getting text message (which I had'nt received in months), or if it was because of Dan. Probably both. 

I can't help but smile as I hit the notification '1 unread message from Dan'. The screen opens up to our conversation.

'Hey' the first message reads. 'How r u?'

I smile. For a second, I feel an ache in my chest from the lack of human interaction I'd had in so many months. I kept telling myself I wasn't lonely, that it did'nt matter, when in reality, I had'nt ever felt more alone in my entire life. I suddenly feel the desperate need for friendship, realizing that Dan is the closest thing I've had to one since the accident. It almost fills a void in my heart; and right then and there, I promise myself not to mess it up.

'Im good hbu?' I reply.

'good :)' Dan responds with lightning speed. I smile so big my cheeks hurt. The fact that he actually wants to talk to me, and potentially be friends, makes me realize I want him to be more than just the random boy living across my street.

For the next hour, we text back and forth. We discover we both love Muse, and video games (especially Super Mario), and malteasers. He asks me where I go to school, I tell him I'm home schooled. I ask him if he has any pets, he says he has a dog. He asks me about my horses. I ask him how his school is. He tells me he hates it with a sticking-tounge-out emoji. I reply with a frowning face. Even though it's just small talk, I feel a hapiness I hadn't felt in ages. 

My phone vibrates for about the 30th time in the last hour. 'are you around tomorrow?' the message reads. 

My heart skips a beat. I want to reply 'YESS!!!!!!!!!!:D:D:D:D' but think that may be too over-excited, so I change it to 'yes!!' and send. 

'lets hang out tmrrow' 

'sure'

'is my house at 4 ok?'

'yeah!' 

'see you then'

I set the phone down on the table just as the battery dies, my heart feeling warm and not so alone anymore. I forget about our first awkward encounters. It was as if they had never happened, and almost like I was a normal girl who just happened to make a friend, just like everyone else in the world. 

((Author Note: This chapter is still under MAJOR edit. If you enjoyed it so far, please give me feedback!!))