Speed By • DANIEL GILLIES

37 | irl

Daniel pulled up the driveway with Red blasting. He had the windows down, so the neighbors would be blessed by the voice of an angel. He stopped the music, turned off the engine and got off the car. He was feeling nervous about tonight, about meeting Gia's daughter. Mostly, he was nervous after his kiss with Gia. He didn't feel comfortable kissing Gia in front of her daughter.

And he wanted to kiss her again.

Really bad.

Daniel walked up towards the entrance and rang the doorbell. Julie opened the door, her eyes glued on her phone. She looked up briefly, then noticing it was him, she put her phone away.

"Mom! Your boyfriend is here!" Julie shouted.

Daniel let out a chuckle. "Miss Julie, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," Julie said. She stuck out her hand and Daniel gave it a firm shake. Gia appeared from behind Julie, putting an earring on. She ran her hand through her hair and gave him a smile, a smile that he easily returned. 

"Gia," he said. "You look stunning."  He wondered when he would see Gia and those words wouldn't slip out. Never, probably. 

"You look like nice too," Gia said. He was wearing a normal pair of blue jeans and a plan white t-shirt. He had had Phoebe help him pick out clothes while Paul moaned because he wasn't going to be attending the concert and there Phoebe was helping his 'enemy' pick out clothes.

"You better marry this girl, Gillies," Paul had muttered. 

"Alright, let's go," Daniel said. "Have you got everything?"

Gia looked at Julie and Julie looked back at her mom before the two of them walked out of the house. Without a single word, Julie walked towards the car and took a seat on the backseat. Gia on the other hand, locked the front door. Daniel opened the passenger side for Gia once she was done locking the front door. He closed the door after her, walking to the driver's side.

...

It was a sold out show. Outside, Daniel had to on hold to Gia as to not get lost. He had wanted to be in control of the direction of the date. As soon as they got there and he couldn't find parking and Gia was telling him where to park, he knew she was really in control. He didn't mind it, though. He didn't mind that she found their way to their seats and handed him a water bottle from her purse when he was about to get up and buy some water.

"They a bottle for five dollars. Here you go," Gia had said. 

"You know, Joseph is coming," Daniel said. The statement had sounded a question. 

Gia nodded. "Uh-huh, is he bringing someone with him?"

"His friend," he replied. 

"Why are you saying friend that way? Are they really not friends?" She asked. He shrugged a shoulder and sipped his water. Pedro and Joseph were only friends but Joseph clearly wanted it to be more.

Thirsty fucker.

"Are you talking about Joseph Morgan?" Julie looked up from her phone.

"Yeah, the one," Daniel replied. "Do you watch the show?"

"Do I watch the show?" Julie asked.

"Yes, that's what I said."

"I love the show! I watched it before I knew who you were but I sort of gave up on it. But then I was looking you up and I realized I hadn't watched the season you appeared on. So I got watching," she said. Daniel couldn't help but smile. Julie watched the show!