All My Heart

11th August 2009
Weybridge, Surrey

Aria blew out a breath of annoyance as she watched her best friend pace the length of her bedroom, his eyes darting across her room, looking for things that she might've missed while packing. Unable to help it anymore, she grabbed a hold of the stuffed dinosaur on her bed and threw it at him, letting out a loud laugh as it caught him off guard and hit him smack in the head.

Dan shot her a look, frowning, rubbing at the side of his head before he chucked it back at her, eventually going to let his body fall onto her bed beside her. He groaned, head-butting her shoulder gently and then grabbing her hand and placing in his hair, acting much like a kitten who simply wanted to be petted on the head.

Aria laughed but ran her fingers through his hair, anyway, making him sigh in content. He always liked it when she played with his hair. The funny thing was that when anyone else messed with his hair, he'd already be plotting out their murders in a way that no one would find out that it was him - Aria got him watching way too much Criminal Minds and CSI - but with Aria, he actually encouraged it. There was just something about the way she would comb her fingers through his hair so gently, lightly tugging at it - not hard enough to hurt and not soft enough to just be an annoyance.

"Aurh yoff shurr yofh wanna boh?" He mumbled out, making her blink in confusion.

"Parlez-vous Anglais?"

Dan laughed into the pillow, biting on her shoulder in mock annoyance, earning a yelp from the girl. He grinned up at her faux scowl, pulling her into him and planting a kiss on her hairline, sighing in content as she hugged him closely. "I asked if you were sure you wanted to go. And I was talking English, thank you very much."

Aria laughed, shaking her head lightly. "Yes, I'm sure I want to go see my father."

"You know you don't have to..."

"Dan." Aria laughed again, pulling away from him. "Look, I know he's not the best dad out there, but he's still my father. He still contributed to half of my DNA. Although... As far as I'm concerned, he and Mum did a weird dance and then I was born --"

"They --"

"Don't!" Aria yelled, slapping a hand over her mouth, making Dan immediately stick his tongue out against her palm before he laughed. He could understand where she was coming from though. No child wanted to believe that their parents had to have had sex for said child to be born. "Anyway." She emphasised, pulling her hand away, unfazed by the saliva that he'd left on her palm. "He contacted me, and he said he wanted to see me; and have his new pregnant wife meet me. Don't really know why, but who cares?"

"Ari." Dan sighed, sitting up and running a hand through his floppy brown hair.

"You don't understand." Aria sighed, getting off the bed and going to her bedroom window, not even hesitating to climb out and onto the roof of the house.

Dan followed immediately after, feeling like a horrible person as he clambered out the window, sitting in the same position that she was in next to her - knees bent and arms resting on them. "I'm sorry."

"S'okay."

"It's not. I shouldn't be trying to stop you from seeing your father, and I'm sorry." And he truly was. Granted, he still didn't want her to go see her father and new step-mum, but who was he to talk? He had both of his parents, and they were still in love. He knew that the only reason he didn't want Aria to go see him was because he had a gut feeling that her father would do and/or say something to hurt her feelings, and then he'd feel that strong urge to go beat the man up - best friend's father or not.

Aria sighed, rubbing at her eyes. "It's just. He hasn't been around for most of my life, but now that he wants to see me... I'm just hoping that he'll realise that I can actually be the daughter that he thought he couldn't have."

Dan scooted closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her into his chest. He didn't say anything, for he knew that what he said would either come out as if he was an extremely clingy person - which he wasn't - or it would come out as if he wanted to hit the man for not walking out on Aria and Natalia.

He sighed softly, planting a kiss in her hair and then resting his cheek above her head as they watched the sun set from their spot on the roof. He needed to stop worrying so much about her, and stop being so overprotective over her. After all, they were only best friends.

That was it. Best friends.

***

17th April 2013
Lake Buena Vista, FL

"You'll call me, right?"

"I'm not --"

"Right?"

Aria sighed amusedly, nodding. "Yes, I'll call if it means that much to you. I'm only going for some lunch with Keely, Dan. I'll be back for the show."

"Yeah, but, but, -"

"I'll be fine." She assured him.

Dan frowned at her. "I really don't like the idea of letting you go out alone."

"I can't keep --" she started, cutting herself off with a sigh. "I can't keep being so afraid of him, Dan. I'm terrified, to tell you the truth, but I just - it feels like like I'm letting him control my life. I don't want to be so scared anymore. I want to be brave, and, - I don't want to run anymore. Fuck him, y'know?"

Dan managed a weak smile, only opting to wring his long and muscled arms around her smaller frame. "Yeah..." he said after a moment, nodding. "Yeah, I know."

Aria smiled, pulling away from him. "So do I still need to call you?" She raised a mocking brown, earning a deep chuckle from the male before her.

"A text to make sure you're safe and well would be fine." He smiled that charming grin of his that made women weak in the knees.

Aria felt something stir in her gut at the sight of that smile, but she rolled her eyes. She leaned in, gently kissing his cheek before she pulled away, waving at him cheerily before she got into the taxi that had just pulled in, from when she called for it ten minutes prior. As she slid into the backseat and gave the driver the street in which she was supposed to meet her old friend at, her eyes unconsciously darted over to the man in the snapback, t-shirt and cut-offs, a hand buried in the front pocket while the other was touching his cheek.

And by God, he'd never looked more perfect.

She nibbled on her bottom lip before very reluctantly tearing her gaze away from him. What was all that about? She tried to tell herself that it was just how he'd been her saviour, her own personal hero. She was admiring his hero complexion - his constant need to protect her, because of what had happened with the whole James incident.

That was what she told herself.

But then what was his excuse for the past how many years that they'd been best mates?

This was the first time that anything like that had happened to her. Even before the whole 'messed-up-in-the-head-ex-boyfriend' thing, Dan had always been protective and kind and caring and... Loving.

Aria shook her head from side-to-side, squeezing her eyes shut before she reopened them, just in time to see the driver pull up at her destination. She smiled, thanking him and then handing him the exact change for the ride. Once she'd stepped out of the taxi, she was immediately engulfed into a hug, causing her entire body to tense up before her mind registered the messy ginger curls and how the person 'attacking' her was half a head shorter than she was. A smile crossed her face as she hugged the petite woman before her, laughing lightly as she got squeezed even tighter.

"I haven't seen you in ages!" Aria exclaimed as they finally pulled away, grinning madly.

"I know!" Keely squealed, pulling her in for another quick hug. "Do you have any idea how strange it is to hear an English accent that doesn't belong to my aunt after living in America for three years? Because it is very strange."

Aria laughed, shaking her head in amusement. Her friend hadn't changed one bit since she last saw her. "Can we talk about how strange it is over lunch? Because I am absolutely starving."

Keely chuckled, nodding and then offering Aria her arm. "Shall we?" She mocked a posh accent, bowing her head just the slightest bit.

"We shall." Aria replied in an equally posh tone that made the two women dissolve into laughter, as though they were thirteen-year-olds again.

The two women headed into an Italian restaurant, chattering away about everything and nothing in particular. It was one of those friendships in which you could easily be comfortable with each other even if you hadn't spoken to the other in a while, and Aria really liked that.

She'd been, as of late, spending a majority of her time with Dan, and though she valued every moment with him, it still felt like she was being a bane to him. Like she'd said before, he should've been out and partying, getting laid and drunk; not worrying over Aria as much as he actually was. Her being with Keely was actually part of her ulterior motive of making sure that Dan went out with the other band and/or crew members for the afternoon, since he'd been sticking to her like glue ever since the tour started. She just wanted him to stop worrying over her, because that seemed to be all he was capable of doing ever since the incident.

"So..." Keely trailed off with a cheeky grin upon her painted red lips.

Aria raised a brow but smiled anyway. "So...?" She mocked.

"Are you and Dan finally together yet?" Keely asked, waggling her eyebrows in Aria's direction.

The brunette frowned, though her smile stayed in place. "What?"

"Did one of you finally confess to being completely, madly in love with the other?"

"What are you talking about?" Aria laughed self-consciously.

Keely frowned. "You mean... You're not together?"

"Nope."

"Then why are you here?" She immediately asked. "I mean, not like I'm not thrilled that you're here, but why would you be here if you're not together?"

Aria shrugged. "I had some... Things... Going on back home and Dan suggested that I come on tour with him."

"Huh." Keely let out a small, disbelieving laugh. "So you're still 'just friends'?"

"As always."

"Wow." Keely shook her head, taking a sip of her iced tea.

"What?" She laughed again.

"It's just --" Keely smiled, biting on her bottom lip. "Do you not see the way he looks at you?"

Aria's eyebrows knotted together. "What way?"

"Like you're the only girl in the world that would ever matter. Like you're the most important person in the world. Like you're the reason he's alive."

Aria frowned, gulping nervously, because now that Keely had mentioned it, she could see Dan looking at her with that sparkle in his eyes. That sparkle that wasn't present any other time, apart from when he looked at her. Even with his past, and very rare, ex-girlfriends, he'd never look at them with that little star dancing in his crystal blue eyes. She tried to tell herself that it was because they'd been best mates for so long, so maybe that was why she could notice it. And that when the whole homeless man incident happened the day before, it was just a spur of the moment sort of thing; that Dan didn't mean to lean down and almost kiss her, though she found herself often wishing that he'd just went ahead and kissed her.

"Aria?" Keely's voice called out, gently patting her hand.

Aria snapped out of her daze, painting a smile on her lips as she looked back at Keely. "Yeah?"

"You just spaced out for a bit there." Keely smiled, amused.

"I've been told I do that sometimes." She laughed lightly. Her phone vibrated on the table and she hurriedly plucked it off of the cloth covered table and smiled apologetically in Keely's direction, who simply waved her off.

Are you okay? Do I need to come get you? xx

Aria found herself smiling at the text as she subtly shook her head. There she was, trying her damned hardest to get Dan to just forget about her momentarily, and there he was, texting her and worrying about her.

I'm completely fine, my dear Daniel. I'll see you at the show later. Try to not miss me too much, yeah? xx

When she glanced up from her phone, she was met with the sight of Keely's grinning face. Aria frowned, just a little bit freaked out as she took a drink of her soda. Though she hoped that Keely would've stopped staring at her like an absolute creep, it didn't work; for the redhead was still grinning at her madly.

"Why are you looking at me like that?!" Aria finally cried out in exasperation, after challenging her stare for a full second.

"You like him."

"What?"

"You. Like. Him." Keely punctuated each word, her grin growing wider and more smug.

Aria raised an eyebrow. "Dan?"

"Who else?" She rolled her eyes.

Aria laughed, shaking her head. "I don't."

"Uh, yes, you do." Keely snorted. "Honey, I saw the way you looked when you read the text from him."

"How'd you know it was Dan that texted me, anyways?"

"Because you two are literally inseparable?" Keely suggested sarcastically, earning an eye roll from the other woman. "Fine. I won't push it. If you say that you don't like him, then you don't. Although you definitely do."

Aria opened her mouth to protest and defend herself, but Keely held a hand up, cutting her off. "Let's get the bill and then go shopping." She finalised, raising a hand to grab a waiter's attention and making gestures for the check. "I'm paying, by the way."

Aria shook her head, again opening her mouth to protest but getting shushed from the redhead. "Shush. It's my treat."

"At least let me pay half." Aria tried, though she knew that it would be fruitless. Keely had to have been the most stubborn person that she'd ever met in her life, and nothing that one said could change her mind.

Keely simply shook her head again, handing the waiter her credit card with a smile before turning back to Aria with a shit-eating grin that literally translated to 'I always win.' Aria rolled her eyes anyway, pulling her phone out of her purse once more, tapping open the text that had just come in.

Be safe, because I can't live without you. And I'm already starting to miss you, oops. xxx

The weird feeling that came to her gut after reading the text made her bite on her bottom lip, to contain the smile that wanted to spread across her lips, so hard that she feared she might've started bleeding. Her heart sped up just a tad bit, too.

Diverting her eyes from the phone screen to her friend who was eyeing her knowingly, Aria simply scoffed silently, shaking her head as she gently threw her phone back into her purse.

Keely raised an eyebrow. "You don't like him, huh?"

"Nope." Aria shook her head. "We're friends. Just friends. Best friends."