Messy Ending

Ben

Daidara. That was who I’d seen unless my eyes were failing me.

Vaguely, I was aware of a conversation between Danny and a girl stood behind the counter.

“Hey, Steph.” Danny smiled. “Who was that?”

My head snapped up, glad he’d asked.

“That was my friend, Dai. She’s an employee here, but she went home sick.”

Dai… it was most definitely her. She’d provided me with her full name, but I had a feeling everyone else called her Dai as Steph had just exhibited.

I moved my tongue along the spider bites protruding in my lip.

“Oh, Steph,” a high pitched voice cut into the air and I turned to notice a petite girl, with reddish black hair and the palest skin I had ever seen, skipping toward us.

“Yes, Sam?” Steph’s brow furrowed . “Aren’t you supposed to be at work or something?” Steph rounded the counter, resting her manicured hands on it.

“I have lunch,” she sang. “Where’s Dai?” This Sam girl rocked back and forth on her heels.

“She went home sick, Sammi.”

Sammi scrunched her face up in confusion and I glanced at where Danny stood. He seemed to have taken to studying the strange girl intensely.

“She seemed fine this morning…” she trailed off, her eyes wandering to me and widening in shock, casting themselves downward.

I assumed this girl to be Dai’s friend so of course Dai would have told her what had happened.

“I’m gonna go call her to make sure she’s okay.” The small girl swallowed, dancing out of the diner.

Steph cocked her head to the side, staring after the strange girl, an eyebrow quirked. “She has problems.” Steph shook her head, sitting on a stool placed behind the counter. “So, Danny, how’ve you been?” A grin etched itself onto her face.

“Great, we just got back from tour.” Danny mirrored her grin.

“Let me guess… you have no food?”

“You know me too well, Steph.”

Steph shrugged and slid a notepad that Dai had dropped on the counter in her haste. “I’ve known you for, what? Five years?”

“About that, yeah.” Danny nodded, a grin still evident on his face.

“So, what can I get y’all?” Steph poised a pencil above the notepad.

Each of us gave her simple order and sat at a booth near the back.

“Ben, what’s up, man?” Cam inquired, cocking his head slightly to the side.

“What?” My head snapped up. “Oh, nothing.”

“You sure? You’re acting distracted, man,” James cut in, examining my face.

“Yeah.”

Danny wasn’t buying into my story and I could tell that, but I just hoped he didn’t question me on it later. I was closer to Danny than I was with the other guys and it was safe to say he actually was my best friend.

~~~

Dai

I’d just pulled my car into the parking lot of mine and Sammi’s apartment building when my phone went off loudly from where I’d set in the passenger seat.

I drew in a breath to calm myself before pressing ‘TALK’ and pressing the phone to my ear, not bothering with the caller ID. “Hello?”

”Dai, Steph told me you went home sick?” It sounded as a question though it had been put into statement form.

“Oh, uh, yeah. So, I should get into bed-“

”I saw Ben at the diner,” Sammi cut me off.

“Oh, did you?” I bit my lip.

”Yes, and I know you’re not really sick and I know that you are going to go directly home and bake until our counters are full of every possible pastry and bread.”

Sammi knew me too well. I baked when I was when I was upset, which did put more money in my pocket, but left Sammi irritated and the house burning hot from the constant running of the oven.

I’d been silent for too long apparently, because Sammi spoke. ”You’ve never been one to run from your problems, Daidara.”

Shock set in at the use of my full name, she almost never used it and when she did she was either really pissed off at me or jokingly pissed off at me.

I brushed my dark bangs from my eyes. “I know, Sam.” I sighed heavily. “I’d never been expecting to see him again, but for the past week he’s all that’s been on my mind… I just, I don’t know.” I shook my head to myself, chewing my lip.

”I’ve got to get back to work, Dai, but we are talking about this when I get home,” she warned.

“Alright, Sam.” I sighed, hearing nothing else knowing she’d hung up.

I slung my purse into the crook of my arm and climbed out of my car.

Cool air greeted as I pushed into the building.

“Hey, Dai!” a call brought my attention to the fifteen year old boy ambling toward me, mail in one hand and skateboard in the other.

“Hey, Parker.” I managed a half smile for him.

Parker was the sweetest kid I had ever met. He lived next to Sammi and I, but often visited his dad in Nevada, which is where he’d just come from.

“How was your concert?” he inquired, smashing the elevator button down.

“Oh, it was great. I got to meet the band,” I smirked, knowing he’d be jealous. Parker’s absolute favorite band of all time had to be Asking Alexandria.

His eyes grew about three times their original size and he flipped his light brown hair out of his dark brown eyes. “God, you are so lucky. I would kill to meet them, especially Ben or Danny.” A dreamy glaze swept over his eyes, the dream of meeting his favorite band.

“Oh, um, yeah I had a pretty interesting conversation with Ben,” I coughed awkwardly.

Parker tilted his head, quizzically, but I shook my head, the elevator doors opening at this time and we both stepped in.

I rested my back against the beautiful black marble wall in the back of the elevator, Parker pressing floor six.

It was the very top floor of the apartment, but had less people than the other floors filled. Of the twenty rooms on the floor about maybe five were filled.

“Maybe one day I’ll take you to a concert,” I broke the awkward silence.

Parker’s face broke into a bigger grin than I thought possible. “Oh, would you, Dai?”

“We’ll see,” I smiled, hearing the ding and the elevator door opened allowing us to step out into the narrow corridor.

I stopped in front of door 66, Parker in from of door 67.

“Bye, Park.” I ruffled his hair.

“Dai!” he groaned, fixing his hair back into place.

“Bye,” I sang, skipping into my apartment.

~~~

Ben

Danny and the guys had each left to their respective apartments, leaving me to my thoughts for a while. I just propped my back against the arm of the couch and laying there, head back against the black leather couch.

Dai had seen me and she’d run. We’d both been expecting to never see each other again and she fucking runs when we do see each other? It was a possibility she was embarrassed, which was assumedly what had happened. She was shy, that much was evident of the beautiful, quiet, girl.

I bit my lip and I hadn’t expected to fall asleep there, but I didn’t remember anything after that moment.