Silence [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter Seven

Joey turns to see the one person he begged God to never see again. Daniel. Crossing his arms, Joey stands in front of the boy, his eyes narrowed "I know you never want to see me again Joey, but you have to let me explain" looking around, Joey leads Daniel to the backspace, an area only he and his boss know about. Motioning for him to begin, Daniel takes a deep breath "Joey, you're a great guy. You're funny, smart, talented, even though you're unable to speak. You set up your boss and your friend because you thought they'd be perfect for each other! And I know I messed up, like, a lot. I laughed along with my friends, never stood up for you against them, dumped water on your head instead of getting you a towel. And there's no good reason as to why I did those things, but living through the pain of seeing you absolutely crushed, it crushed me." "Well, you should've thought of that before you joined along" Daniel sighs "I know. But Joey, it took awhile for me to realize this but, I like you."

Glaring at Daniel, Joey types "stop playing with me, you don't like me. Did your friends put you up to this?" "No! Of course not!" "Prove it" Daniel stepped forward but Joey put his hand up in between them. "Not like that" Daniel looks down at the floor "you want me to stand up against my friends" Joey nods "if you mean it, you'll tell your friends about me." Turning on his heel, Joey storms off back to work. Daniel went to follow, but stopped, not wanting to upset his crush anymore. 

"Joey, your shift is over. You can go home you know" Mr. Dawson tapped the distracted Joey on the shoulder. Standing up, Joey turns to his boss with a smile "sorry, I just wanted to finish up what I was doing" smiling, Mr. Dawson hands him two envelopes. "Don't open these until you're home" nodding, Joey waves goodbye to his boss before walking out the back door. Hopping on his bike, Joey pedaled faster than he ever had before. Skipping up the stairs, Joey opens his apartment to see Daniel standing there, typing quickly, Joey wrote in all caps "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? WHY DO YOU ALWAYS APPEAR EVERYWHERE I AM?!" Daniel sighs "Joey please" pointing at the door, Joey glares at Daniel. Walking away with his head down, the last thing Daniel did before he left took Joey by surprise, he kissed his cheek.

The next day at school was a strange day. Everyone seemed to leave Joey alone, no one cracking jokes about his past or dumping cold water over him. Daniel's friends wouldn't even look at him, instead, they looked at their feet, kicking the lockers. Joey sat down in class, no one cares to kick his chair or shove the desk at him. Not even Daniel looked at him, the boy who kissed his cheek last night won't even look at him. This would be a good thing if Daniel would talk to him, tell him that everything is alright now. But Joey knew he had pushed the boy away when he screamed at him last night, Daniel is done chasing him. Joey continued the day with slumped shoulders, his head down facing the floor. Does he regret screaming at Daniel? Yes. Does he want to be friends with Daniel? Yes. Does he want to date Daniel? No, not yet. Does he miss Daniel? More than he ever thought he would, and it's only been three classes. As he's walking, Joey runs into someone. His head snaps up, meeting Daniel's sad eyes. "I'm sorry Joey" Joey tilts his head in confusion before Daniel pulls him closer, pressing his lips to Joey's. 

Joey pulls away stunned, his fingers going up to his lips that seemed to be tingling. He looks up at Daniel, who is looking at him with his fingers up to his lips as well. They keep their eye contact before people begin barging into them, snapping them back into reality. Joey rushes away, but not before taking Daniel's hand, pulling them both to their next class. For once Joey is thrilled that he can't talk because if he could, he'd ramble on about how surprised he was by the kiss, most likely weirding out Daniel in the process. Looking beside him at Daniel, he wonders what life would be like if he was Daniel's boyfriend. Sure he'd be happy, but at what cost? Daniel would get sick of his silence sooner or later and leave. Especially if intimacy comes into play, he can't...you know. Daniel catches him staring, a nervous smile spreading across his face. Joey looks away, continuing his story that was written in his math notebook. 

After seventh period, someone taps Joey on the shoulder "hey" Joey turns to see Daniel "are you going to work today?" Joey shakes his head "day off" the animatronic voice says, Daniel nods "can I come over?" Nodding, Joey takes Daniel's hand, leading them outside. "You're biking home I presume?" Again, he nods. "Alright, I'll meet you there" Joey watches as Daniel gets in his car and drives off, shuddering at the sound of his tires screeching across the pavement, the memory swirling in his mind like a Ferris wheel. 

Once Joey arrives at his apartment, he sees Daniel just getting out of his car, was he waiting for Joey? Walking up, his mind plays tricks on him, telling him that the kiss today was just a prank, that Daniel is only here to tell him to back off. Inside Joey's apartment, Daniel looks around "it's the same as the first time I came here" Joey nods, wishing Daniel had said some other icebreaker. Looking over at Joey, Daniel sits down on the chair across from him "I know what I've done today was quite the shock. I didn't expect it either, but it felt right to me" Joey looks down at his hands, his cheeks reddening "so Joey, I know we don't know much about each other, apart from what happened to you. So I'm not going to ask you to be my boyfriend, not yet. I want to know you first. I feel like people just jump into relationships without getting to know the person, I don't want that to happen with us. I want to know you, and slowly but surely fall for you. That kiss today didn't mean anything negative, it meant the start of something between us. What do you say?" Joey looked up at Daniel and smiled, taking out his phone and quickly typing "I love that idea."