Now You See Me: Daniel Atlas

Chapter Four: Planning Our Year Party

The next morning, Carly gets out of bed and rubs her eyes. She couldn't fully get her brain to wake up so she stumbles out of bed to go and make herself some coffee. Walking through the living room, Carly's foot catches on a rogue pillow and she topples forwards onto something.

"Ow," Carly whisper shouts and just lays there a moment longer, slowly falling back asleep on the new warm surface.

"You can get off me now," Another voice says and Carly jolts to find Daniel laying underneath her.

"What are you doing there?" She asks lazily, still not fully off of him.

"I was sleeping," Daniel says and helps her get off him smoothly. They both stand up and take a moment to stretch before Carly walks into the kitchen with Daniel in tow.

Carly starts a brew while Daniel leans on the counter watching her process. Grabbing two mugs, Carly sets them down on the counter for them both.

"Don't worry, I really don't mind being woken up by a girl falling on me," Daniel says sarcastically. "You're a lot lighter than you look."

"Mhm," Carly mumbles, not wanting to bring up any gross thoughts, but instantly she started to feel insecure about herself. Filling up the mugs, she hands one to him before nodding and walking back into her bedroom to get ready for the day.

She changes into leggings, a black crop top and gray sweater before pulling her hair up into a bun and doing some simple skincare. After doing a big stretch, Carly grabs her computer and the rest of the copies of the show's blueprints. Leaving her room she finds a Henley, Jack and Merritt still waking up and pouring their own cups of coffee. Daniel comes up to the blonde and takes the extra blueprint copies out of her hands before setting them down on the dinner table.

"In the kitchen, next to the stove in the top drawer is a bunch of stationary," Carly tells Daniel. "Would you be able to grab a couple things for everyone. I'm going to wake up Jae."

He nods and walks off while Carly goes into her roommates bedroom. Slipping under the covers, Carly faces the brunette and starts to pet her nose with one finger.

"Wakey wakey...." Carly sings softly. Jaelyn just groans and buries her face further into her pillow.

"No, it's the weekend," Jaelyn mumbles.

"We're about to start the planning process," Carly informs the sleepy girl. "Would you be able to make a snack run for us, when you wake up of course."

Jaelyn just nods into her pillow before pushing Carly out of her bed. The blonde laughs before leaving the bedroom to face everyone else in the dining room already flipping through the pamphlets she printed.

"Are we really doing this?" Jack asks, suddenly becoming skeptical that this was all really happening.

"Yes, and you better be prepared this is going to take a while to complete," Daniel says as he takes a seat at the round table, pulling out his own computer.

Throughout the day Carly is inputting certain dates and times for all the events that will have to be played out into a calendar. She also called Tressler Inc. and booked an appointment for the group to go and introduce themselves and convince him to be their benefactor. It was 3:30pm when we finished the bulk of the strategizing. Jack and Jaelyn went to go get some food for everyone. Henley and Merritt were talking about who knows what, while Daniel helped Carly clean up everyone's mess at the table. Suddenly Daniel jumps into their conversation, instigating another argument between Henley and Daniel.

Carly's hands start to fidget with her cardigan as the argument gets louder. She doesn't know how it started but all at once Carly starts to feel like the walls are closing in on her. That there wasn't enough room in the apartment for this many people. Silently she makes her way into her own bedroom and grabs a backpack before putting on her sneakers and slipping out of her apartment.

She continues to shake out her hands while she walks downstairs and out the apartment building. There she finds herself walking aimlessly around downtown New York. Sure there were loud cars and tons of people on the sidewalks, but she didn't feel nearly as claustrophobic as she did in her own apartment. Making use of her alone time, Carly enters a boutique where she searches for a dress to where to their Tressler Interview.

After finding a long sleeve, flared dress that went down just past her knees, Carly leaves the boutique and heads back to her apartment. As she's rounding her last corner, she hears someone shout at her.

"Hey!" Daniel's voice shouts and she looks up to see him jogging towards her. "Where did you go? And why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I'm sorry," Carly says her heart racing in her chest. "I just... I needed some fresh air."

"Well come on," Daniel beckons her to follow him which she does. "Jack and Jaelyn are back."

"Were you worried about me?" Carly asks playfully, bumping his shoulder with her own.

"No, everyone else was though," Daniel informs her as they walk towards the stairs.

"But you're the only one to come out and search for me," Carly points out making him stare down at her, opening his mouth to say something before turning back to walk up the stairs.

"Do whatever you want, I don't care," He says and leaves her standing at the bottom of the stairs. Just as he's about to turn to go up the next flight, Carly speaks up in a soft voice.

"I'm sorry," Carly mumbles to herself before following him upstairs. When they reach the door he pauses before entering.

"Just say something before you disapear again," Daniel tells her, barely glancing over his shoulder to look at her. She nods before finally following him into the apartment.

Jaelyn and Jack brought back Chinese food, so the two of late comers grabbed a plate and started serving themselves. Nobody else mentioned that she was gone for a while, but Carly was sure Jaelyn was able to calm everyone else down knowing the blonde liked to wander aimlessly from time to time, plus Jaelyn made her always share her location just in case something happened.

As the two sit and eat in silence, Daniel and Carly also listen in on the conversations happening in the living room. Everyone was trying to pick a movie before they'd go to bed, wanting a brain break from all the planning they did earlier. When Carly finishing eating her food, she cleans off her dish before joining the others, taking a seat on the floor with her back to the couch. Merritt, Henley and Jack already claimed couch seats while Jaelyn sat on the floor next to Carly. Just when the movie, Disney's Cars, starts to play Daniel came and sat down on the other side of Carly.

The blonde didn't last long and the movie continued on. Easily falling asleep at the same time Mack did on the screen. Her head falls backwards and hits Jack's knee. He quickly adjusts himself to having one knee on either side of her to keep her upright, but also letting her lean against his legs so she could get more comfortable.

Daniel on the other hand, just watches out of the corner of his eye, no longer caring about the movie in front of him.