letters to dan // dan smith

Chapter 16

Regardless of her promise, Beth actually didn't visit Dan again. She'd fallen behind on her uni course while she'd been away that week, and had a lot to catch up on. Dan's broken leg was worse than originally thought, so he had to have surgery. Neither him nor Beth knew when he was going to get out of the hospital.

However, early one morning, when Dan was finally discharged he decided to surprise Beth. Knowing that on tuesdays she didn't have class till ten, she woke up at nine, and the first thing she did was come downstairs and check her mail.

The moment he's discharged, he takes his car and drives to Beth's place. He parks the car out of view, and sits on the brick ledge near the mail boxes, waiting for Beth.

At 9:30 Beth still hasn't come down, and Dan realises she won't actually leave her apartment until she leaves for class. Deciding to play it off Romeo and Juliet style, Dan heaves himself off the ledge and makes his way to the area below her window, his crutches clacking against the cement and his plastic booted foot making scratching sounds against the rough ground.

"Oy! Beth!" He shouts up, hoping she'd hear him through the kitchen window on the second floor.

"What?" She yells back, "Who's there?" She sticks her head out of the window and looks down, grinning wildly when she catches sight of Dan.

"Dan! I'll be right down, hang on!" The window slams shut, and moments later she barges through the front door of the building.

"Dan! I missed you so much!" She clutches him like she hadn't seen him in months, when it really had only been two weeks. Dan's crutches fall to the ground and he hugs her so tight he squeezes the breath out of her, his face buried in her hair.

"I missed you so so much," he whispers into her ear.

She hugs him harder and buries her face in his chest.

Dan lifts her face up with his hands and kisses her warmly, softly. His hand rests on her cheek, and he can feel her hands against his back.

Beth's stomach fills with butterflies, but the butterflies feel drunk, moving slowly, a warmth spreading through her body.

Beth pulls away and Dan looks disappointed.

"I've got class in fifteen minutes, can you drop me off?" She asks, not feeling bothered to walk.

"Can't you skip class?" Dan looks guilty almost as soon as he says it.

"No! Daniel, how dare you, I promised my mother you'd be a good influence. I've only got one class today, I'll be done at quarter past ten."

"Sorry, I'll drive you."

"Thank you!" Beth dashes away, blowing him a kiss at the door, "I'll be right back, gotta get my books!"

About thirty seconds later she's back, panting and clutching a black messenger bag to her chest.

They get in the car, and the whole way to the university, they just talk about everything and nothing.

When they arrive, Beth starts climbing out of the car.

"See you at quarter past Dan," she tells him, focusing on not dropping her books.

"Bye babe," he says.

Beth turns and looks at him, almost laughing. "Babe?"

"Just trying it out. No?" Dan blushes.

"Definitely not." Beth shakes her head firmly.

***

The moment class finishes, Beth darts out of the building towards the parking lot, where she was supposed to meet Dan.

To Beth's dismay, but not surprise, Dan isn't there. Late. As always. Sighing, she plonks herself down at a near-by picnic table and pulls out a book Dan had given her a while back. Completely absorbed in the book, she doesn't hear Dan approaching, only notices him when he sits opposite her and shoves a bunch of flowers in her face.

"Dan! Why..." She takes the flowers, smiling brightly at the big, floppy yellow things.

Dan mumbles something quietly, looking down and blushing.

"What?"

"I said... Thank you for the letters. I can't think what to give you in return, but Woody said girls like flowers so I bought you flowers but I wasn't sure which ones so I took forever to choose which is why I was late and-"

"Dan, you're rambling. But seriously, you don't need to thank me. I'm the one who should be doing the thanking!"

Dan sighs, knowing that if he didn't agree with Beth, she would never let it go.

"Okay. Let's go to the park," he tells her, standing up.

"Okay. Chips first though."

Dan laughs at Beth's undying love for chips, and hops away on his crutches, Beth giggling at how silly he looked.

At the fish and chip shop, Dan orders chips while Beth grabs drinks from the fridge.

"We'll have a medium serve of chips and--"

"Medium?" Beth interrupts, "He means extra large, sorry."

"No, I mean medium."

"Extra large!"

"Fine! An extra large serve of chips, and two drinks thanks."

The girl at the counter smiles at their bickering and puts the order through.

"That'll be seven pounds, your order will be ready in five minutes. Would you like sauce?"

"Yes-"

"No-"

Beth and Dan look at each other.

"Could we please have the sauce on the side?" Beth asks.

"Of course," the girl smiles.

***

At the park they sit by the lake, throwing chips to the ducks. Well, Dan was throwing them at the ducks, but the chips were being eaten anyway, so it didn't make a difference.

"Let's go out for dinner tonight. My treat. Somewhere fancy," Dan offers, "you'll need a dress," he adds as an after-thought.

"Sorry, I don't do dresses," she tells him.

"That's because you don't own any," Dan replies.

"No it's because dresses look really bad on me."

"Well, how about I'll take you shopping? I'll find something that looks good. I know it!"

"Shopping sounds good!" Beth stands up, brushing crumbs off her jeans.

"You're such a girl, Beth."

"Oh, shut up," she says, bending down and kissing him lightly on the lips.