Collaboration || Dan Smith

Ten.

𝙏𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙠𝙚𝙜 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙮 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙪𝙘𝙚
- 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗗𝗲𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝘆

~ January 31st 2018 ~
Flashback

   "Oh my god!" I moan in sheer frustration as my mate refuses to serve me. In our house we're doing 'dry January'. It's only because last month was all about booze and Christmas parties. My friends thought this month would be better if we joined the trend by not consuming any alcohol for the entirety of January.

   January in twelve minutes is coming to an end. And I can't fucking wait. "I'll give you twenty pounds!" An American girl shouts over the music. All night she's been standing besides me, I guess me and her aren't exactly the life of the parties. I don't think I haven't talked to her for the mere reason that she seems a little young.

   "You know the deal Maisie!" She must be one of his friends? I don't think I've seen her around before. "Seriously?! We're twelve minutes early...twelve minutes." She repeats to herself.

   Honestly I feel her pain.

   I don't think I've ever gone a whole month without booze before - my body isn't used to it. I'm a guy who uses drink as substitute for meals. Sure I can smoke weed, but I don't want to be constantly living in a paranoia-induced high. I want to feel numb and have fun.

   "I'll go and find my own fucking keg party then. Or even better - I'm going to ask around for a cigarette." With that Maisie then walks away while my mates smiles shaking his head. I can't resist but to point at him while weirdly swaying to the music, "so are you two a thing or not?" Oddly enough my mate - who is a Mr Lover-Lover to all the ladies in the world - shakes his head. "Nah man. Wish she was...they don't make them like Maisie anymore." Wow.

   I then point behind me in the direction I think she went in. "She single?" He cracks a smile and nods his head. "And how old is-" while he tells another one of my mates to fuck off away from the keg filled with larger, he manages to cut me short. "If you fancy her, go ask her yourself. Believe it or not but she's older than what she looks. That's all I'm going to say." If she's older than her actual looks - then I guess I can probably...ask her out for a date?

   But wouldn't that be strange though?

I only know her as the girl in the little red dress - who was standing to me at a stupid house party waiting for January to end so we can all get pissed. I wait several more minutes. The three minute countdown has begun. While everyone is acting like it's new year or whatever - I look around the room for Maisie.

I ignore my friends awfully singing on the cheap karaoke machine. I ignore the party poppers and the mess my other friends make. In the mist of all of the joy - Maisie -stands with her back against the wall with her eyes focused on the keg. I guess she didn't find another keg, nor did she find a cigarette.

I think we've all been eyeing up the silver cylinder all night. I'm not saying that we all have a drink problem - because that's untrue - but I'm not saying we don't exactly have a problem. It's clear we do. I guess everyone who lives here...or is friends with us are unhappy human beings that would rather spend their nights drunk than sober. Sad but unfortunately very true.

That's when I get out my own cigarette pack. If only she'd asked me if I have one. I then get out my phone, "What are you doing?" My friend, Ralph, says as I scribble my phone number down onto the side of the cigarette. "I honestly have no idea." If this doesn't go down well - I can't blame it on the fact that I'm drunk or whatever. Because she knows I'm not.

This is all on me.

That's when I leave Ralph talking to Kate and Sophie about a random Movie which is coming out later this year. Instead I make my way over to Maisie. I'm starting to feel like a teenager again - I guess I haven't tried impressing a girl for a very long time. I feel stale...I must look it too. Maisie Dee's me coming and rolls back her eyes, she has a resting bitch face.

As I stop on front of Maisie I panic. Once completely lost all of my sense. What do I say? I don't know. I can't just stand in silence looking at her...that's fucking terrifyingly weird. "Do you want it..." my voice trails over as I pass the cigarette to her. Maisie goes from looking mildly pissed off for a reason...to biting her lip looking at the cigarette. "So now you talk." She tilts her head sideways.

Feeling embarrassed I nervously laugh nodding my head. "Sorry about that. My mind is a fucking mess at the moment. Kind of the reason why I'm here - expect for the fact that I live here..." Maisie smiles as she plucks the cigarette from my fingers. She then holds with before folding her arms over her pretty red dress, making it disappear.

"Maisie." She whispers. "I'm Daniel - you can...call me...Dan...Dan Smith." I'm not exactly a romantic. When it comes to girls - this part always scares me. The rest of the relationship is fine...but this bit...terrifying I know first impressions count - but I also feel myself becoming a bit of a weirdo.

"Let's get a drink then...Daniel Smith." Why the fuck did I say my actual name and just not Dan? At what point did I ever think that it was a good idea. "Just Dan..." I nervously whisper as I follow Maisie back besides Ralph and the keg.