letters to dan // dan smith

Chapter 8

The next morning, Beth wakes up confused. Why is her pillow warm and moving? She turns around and opens her eyes. Her head is resting on Dan's chest. Oh. That's why. She looks at his face, and aww's silently. His glasses are squished into the side of his face, his breathing slow and steady, cheeks rosy and mouth curving upward slightly, as if he fell asleep smiling. His usually vertical hair flops over his forehead, covering his eyebrows. He looks so young in his sleep. He could easily be an 18 year old boy with no worries in the world. She lies there silently, watching him sleep in a completely non-creepy way. She just can't look away, and there's no one there to make her.

"I can feel you staring," whispers Dan, a tiny dimple appearing on his right cheek, and his eyes opening a bit.

Beth shuts her eyes and pretends to be asleep, trying hard not to giggle.

"I know you're awake," he whispers, lips brushing her ear.

She shivers slightly, but keeps her eyes firmly closed.

"Okay," Dan mutters, his long fingers reaching down under Beth's t-shirt (well his technically, she never returned his t-shirts). He starts tickling Beth's side. She twitches, but is otherwise still.

Realising that annoying Beth wasn't going to work, Dan tries a different approach. His lips brush Beth's collar bones, before making their way up to her neck. He kisses her, then licks her cheek softly.

"Hey!" Beth squeals, opening her eyes and swatting his head away.

"She lives!" He cries happily.

Beth laughs and stands up, stretching.

"Morning," she grins.

"Hello there," Dan says, looking up at her.

"We doing anything today?"

"I dunno," Dan mumbles, taking her hand and pulling her back down onto the couch and kissing her. Beth sighs and wraps her arms around Dan's neck, kissing him back.

About 20 seconds later, Dan pulls away,

"I know!"

"You know what?" Beth grumbles, disappointed that Dan had stopped kissing her.

"We're going on a road trip!"

"What?" Beth looks at Dan like he's crazy, but Dan ignores her and continues speaking excitedly.

"You grab the pillows, blankets and two backpacks. They're in my wardrobe. I'll make sandwiches and hot chocolate. Oh, and take two torches, they're in my wardrobe as well."

Beth laughs, starting to get excited herself.

"Yes sir." She stands and starts towards Dan's room.

Dan goes into the kitchen and starts preparing the food. Beth finds the backpacks with ease, but has to search for the torches. She finally finds them on top of a shoe box in the corner of the top shelf. She can't reach the torches without taking down the box, so she lifts it and holds it above her head, trying to figure out how to get the torches off. Just then, a torch rolls off and hits her on the head. Beth squeaks in pain and drops the box which clatters to the ground. She clutches her head.

"Beth?" She hears Dan's footsteps in the hallway, and then he's in the bedroom. "What did you do?"

"I dropped the torch on my head."

"Oh, Beth." He crosses the room and hugs her, kissing her forehead.

When Beth dropped the box, it had opened and its contents had spilled on the ground. A whole heap of letters. A horrible feeling creeps over Beth. She extracts herself from Dan's embrace and crouches down, running her hands along the creased envelopes.