Picture Perfect | Daniel Ricciardo

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Going back to Adelaide Dani had first say goodbye to her family before Will was going to bring her but also Finn and Oliver to the airport again. She had to be honest, saying goodbye to her family was way easier than when she had to do it do Daniel. When they arrived at the airport and had said goodbye to Will, Dani couldn't help herself but think back about the day she was here to say goodbye to Daniel. Finn who was observing Dani had seen her change of mood and dragged her along through the airport until they were at their gate.
'So Oliver? Are you again paying for our snacks this flight?' Finn asked with a grin as the three of them had set next to each other on the chairs.
'Yeah... didn't think so. Summer is over, I spent all my money and I have to spend my time as a poor student again.' Oliver explained proudly.
'Okay then...' Finn said a bit surprised by his friend's comment. 'Is someone hungry anyway?'
'I'd like a croissant now that the smell has arrived in my nose.' Dani said innocently.
'Okay well. I guess my treat then. Be right back.' Finn said and stood up from his chair.
'Okay now that he's finally gone...' Oliver said loudly as Finn obviously could hear it, but that was Oliver's plan. Finn had rolled his eyes to his friends and kept on walking.
'yeah?' Dani laughed, waiting for what he was going to say. Oliver shrugged.
'I have nothing. I just wanted to be funny.' Dani shook her head but couldn't help that smile on her face.
'You're an idiot.' Just like Daniel sometimes was, Dani thought. Could she even think without Daniel being in her thoughts? 

The flight felt too long and too boring to Dani. She had been sitting in between Finn and Oliver again and slept for the whole flight, or at least she tried to. Back in her own dorm room Dani was all alone. Imogen, her roommate, would arrive tomorrow night so even tomorrow she would be all alone. It wasn't what she needed right now, but she still got it anyway because she didn't want to interrupt Oliver and Finn again. Her suitcase was open on the ground but she had no energy to unpack everything. She blamed the travelling for her being so down right now. She took out her phone and opened her contacts where Daniel was saved in her favourites. She called him and put her phone on her ear. She waited but no one that picked up. She sighed and threw her phone next to her on the bed.  She looked up to the ceiling and wondered what Daniel was currently doing. She didn't even know what time it was where Daniel was. An empty feeling was flying around in her stomach as she felt at this point that she really missed having Daniel around. They have been hanging around so much lately that it was now hitting her. But the last thing she wanted was to worry Daniel so maybe it was a good thing he didn't pick up his phone. She looked around the room she first thought she would miss, but now funny enough wished that she was back in Perth with Daniel. She looked over to Imogen's bed and remembered her secret stash she had always hide in the drawer under her bed. Dani did consider pouring herself at least one drink that hopefully would make her feel better. It's why Imogen hid it for the two of them. Although she had needed it more than Dani, until now. Dani looked at the drawer and with a little bit of a discussion with her own mind, she decided to stand up and open it anyway. She took out the red wine that was both Imogen and her favourite one and in her other hand she took one of the glasses to pour the wine in for herself. She sat down on the ground against her bed and took a small sip. She closed her eyes for a second, before returning her eyes to her suitcase. She put her glass next to her on the ground and took out her little box with pictures that she this time did take with her to Adelaide. Daniel had as he had told Dani printed out some recent pictures and before he left had put them in this box. She looked at some at the pictures and hoped it would help her get that empty and lonely feeling out of her stomach.

It didn't. The only thing that did help her do was to drink more and drinking didn't help her get her lonely feelings away, it only made them worse. After a headache had formed she finally decided to go back to bed and she immediately fell asleep. To Dani, it felt like just minutes that she fell asleep until she got woken up by her ringtone. Immediately her attention went to her headache that only felt worse now that she had woken up. She puts her hand to her head and regretted drinking alcohol. She usually could control her feelings and avoid alcohol or at least kept it to a minimum, but not this time. With closed eyes she looked for her phone and even took the call without looking.
'Mmh yeah?' Dani struggled to get out as her focus was mostly on her burning headache. She let out a sigh as she buried her face in her pillow.
'Dani? Are you alright?' For a second she thought her heartbeat had stopped as she heard the familiar voice through the phone. Sudden embarrassment went through her.
'Yeah. I am.' she tried to say as normally as she could with her current state to Daniel on the phone. What time even was it right now? Why did she felt so nauseous all of a sudden? 'How about you?'
'You don't sound like you're alright... Or did I wake you up?' Daniel sounded worried on the phone, but that was the least of Dani's concerns right now as she felt something coming up from her stomach.
'Hold on a minute,' she said fastly as she stood up fastly. She almost fell as the room spun a little bit while she walked over to the closet and took out a bucket. She threw everything out of the bucket and held it close to her body. She sat down on the ground and started to cry while she waited until something came out of her if that even was going to happen. She felt like shit though. Her headache became worst, she had to concentrate hard on one point in the room otherwise the room started to spin and the feeling of thinking you have to throw up didn't help. She slowly stood up with the bucket still close to her body and her tears still on her cheeks and sat down on her bed. Why couldn't she just act normal and maybe not miss Daniel this much? Dani wondered. She almost forgot she still had Daniel on the phone until she heard him softly talking through it. She picked it up and put it slowly on her ear.
'Sorry, I'm back.' she said as quiet as she could, hoping she sounded normal and not like she was crying. 'What were you saying?'
'Dani... Is there something I should know? You're starting to worry me.' Daniel asked.
'I'm fine Dan.' She said but a sob that came out of her that she couldn't stop gave it away to Daniel.
'You're crying. Hold on, I'm facetiming you. Pick up okay?' He ended the call and Dani lowered her phone without being allowed a respond. She wiped away her tears and saw the notification that Daniel was calling her again, but on facetime. She hesitated on answering his call, but finally clicked on the green icon. She couldn't avoid him now. As it was dark in her room she clicked on her lamp that was on her nightstand and looked nervous to her phone.
'Why are you crying? Did something happen?' Daniel's voice came alive again through Dani's phone. Just because of his voice the tears started to slide down on her cheeks again. 'Dani?' he asked again as she kept quiet to wipe her tears away.
'I'm just missing you and I did something stupid tonight.' Dani confessed as more tears had formed. She didn't even dare to look at her phone. She was embarrassed about her behaviour from just hours before.
'Ah baby, I'm missing you too. What did you do?' She heard Daniel ask. She dared to look at her screen and saw a worried look on his face.
'You don't want to know.' She told him while another sob came out of her mouth.
'well, you called it something stupid. So I think I need to know.' he explained. She sighed as her headache was still very much existing.
'I'm back in my dorm room and my roommate isn't here yet and I felt very lonely without you or with anyone around me that could distract me about missing you. And I.... and I drank a lot... by myself.' It stayed very quiet for a little bit after Dani confessed.
'Did it help?' he finally asked. She shook her head no to the camera on her phone. 'Is it still in your system.. or..?'
'I don't know. I've got a massive headache.' she said in a very sad tone. Daniel couldn't help but feel a little bit amused with the way she was acting. He, of course, hated it that he couldn't be there with her and comfort her, but on the other side, he was amused of how innocent she looked about how she explained that she drank a little bit too much all by herself.

'Oh, Dani.' Dani could hear the amusement coming out of Daniel's voice and she looked up to the screen. She wanted to raise her eyebrows, but that would only made her headache become worse. 'Go back to bed and sleep it off. I'll call you in a few hours okay?'
'But I want to talk to you right now.' Dani mumbled.
'I promise you I will call you in a few hours. I promise.'
'Okay.' She finally sighed, although she didn't want to hang up they finally said goodbye to each other and Dani went straight back to lying down on her bed and turned off the lights.