All My Heart

28th May 2011
Weybridge, Surrey

Aria walked out of the mall, subtly knotting her eyebrows together at the amount of people in the mall. Did they really have nothing better to do than go to the mall on a Saturday afternoon? They should be staying at home and just, not being in the mall, because Aria was there and she disliked people.

She blew out a breath between her lips, inwardly cursing anyone that almost walked into her. She only came to the mall to buy a pair of flip-flops – hers decided to break and she wore flip-flops practically all the time – and she needed a couple new t-shirts because she seemed to have only just realised that her t-shirts were all becoming relatively worn. Soon enough, she reckoned she'd look like a hobo.

In all honesty, if Dan were in Surrey, Aria would've probably just pulled her wounded puppy eyes and ask him to go buy her the stuff she needed. He knew what size she was, and he usually picked out the best t-shirts, (they were only t-shirts, after all), so she wouldn't be giving him such a difficult task. But alas, he was out of town, on tour and living his rockstar life.

Aria, though extremely supportive of the band and his music and everything else, always had a lingering thought in her mind that told her that one day, Dan would realise that he was wasting his time being mates with someone as plain as her when he was in a slowly-gaining-more-fame "punk" band. She was afraid that one day, she'd pick up the phone and dial his number, only to get an automated message telling her that the number was no longer in use. She was afraid that once he saw her in the street, or if she dropped by his house, he'd just shut the door in her face – laughing at her and telling her that she wasn't worth his time anymore.

Losing a boyfriend was terrible, yes, but you'd get over it. Losing a friend was horrid, too, but you'd eventually also get over it. Losing a best friend? Someone that knew you inside and out, lived your best and most memorable moments with you, been there with you through everything? That was a whole other story. One could also get over that, but there would always be a tiny gaping hole in one's heart, no matter how much one tried to stitch it up.

As if Dan knew that she was thinking about him – sort of – her phone started to ring. She pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her high-waisted shorts, lips turning up at the corners at the stupid picture that showed up on the screen. It was of herself and Dan, both of them pulling ridiculous faces. Funny how even while pulling such an ugly face, Dan still looked good. It was unfair, really.

Her thumb slid across the screen, before she brought the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, you," Dan greeted on the other end of the line. "What're you up to?"

"Getting some stuff at the mall."

Dan snorted, "You're getting stuff at the mall on a Saturday? Never thought I'd live to see the day."

"Piss off," Aria laughed. "What are you up to, Mr. Rockstar?"

"Nothing much. It's like, half eight here."

"Forgot about the time difference," she laughed again. "Why are you up? You're never up before eleven."

Dan made a whining sound from his throat, "Max woke me up because he wanted breakfast and no one else would wake up. They're all still passed out cold."

Aria laughed softly, so as to not get unwanted attention from passer-bys. "Good night, I assume?"

"The usual – got drunk with the lads." He said. "All the lads. Like, literally everyone from all the band and crew touring."

"Sounds like you had fun."

"I did," Dan hummed. "But I'm still pissed at Max for waking me up so early."

Aria laughed again. "Hey, at least you got breakfast."

"No, I didn't." He deadpanned. "I got up and then he was all: I changed my mind. I think I'm gonna go back to bed." He grumbled as Aria giggled lightly. "Fucking dick."

"Oh lighten up!" She chided mockingly. "Isn't your last show today?"

"Yeah, it is. Australia's amazing, don't get me wrong, but I literally can't wait to go home and sleep in a proper bed and bother you everyday," Dan responded and Aria just knew that he had a stupid smirk on his lips.

She rolled her eyes even though he obviously couldn't see her. "You, sir, are a massive dick."

"Thanks for the acknowledgement, love."

"Oh my God, no," she whined, though she smiled as she heard Dan's joyous laughter from the other end of the line. She opened her mouth to say something then, only she paused when she thought she heard someone trying to get her attention. Dan was still laughing, seemingly proud of himself with his witty comeback, so Aria turned her body slightly – eyebrows furrowing at the sight of a young woman probably only a few years older than herself, speed-walking towards her.

"Miss, do you mind if we chat for a minute?" She asked kindly, smiling at Aria.

Aria angled the phone away from her mouth. "Uh, I'm not interested, sorry," she said with an apologetic smile, only to receive a shake of her head from the woman.

"It's just a minute," she promised.

Aria frowned lightly but nodded, holding up a finger. "Hey, uh, Dan?"

"Yeah, love?"

"I'll ring you back later, yeah? Bye," she said before Dan could say anything else, pocketing her phone and then turning her attention back to the young woman before her.

"Thank you," she grinned. "So I work for this company called DNA Model Management. We're looking for models and we'd love to have you work with us."

"Oh, um," Aria blinked, letting out an awkward laugh. "That's... Flattering, I guess, but I'm not a model. Don't really fancy being one, either."

The woman handed her the card anyway. "It's not runway modelling," she assured her. "You would probably just be a print-model. That's the type of modelling where you're just in magazines for clothing or accessories, etcetera. Maybe you could check out our website and then e-mail us if you want to give it a shot."

"Um... Okay, I guess. Thank you," Aria smiled shyly, still trying to comprehend what had just happened. "Right. Well... I'm just gonna... Go..."

"We need your name first, love." She stopped her.

"Aria." She responded easily. "Aria McAllister."

"And your phone number?"

"Yeah... No. If I'm interested then I'll shoot you an e-mail." She grinned, taking a step back as she turned. "Thank you."

Aria blinked, glancing at the business card in her hand. For all she knew, they could be a freaking porno company. With a silent laugh to herself, she pulled out her mobile once more, dialling back Dan. He answered after one ring with no greeting. Instead, she got a: "Why'd you hang up on me, you knob head?"

"I think I just got scouted to be a model."

"Are you serious?" Dan laughed. She hummed in response. "Ari, that's actually amazing."

"It's weird!" She retorted with a laugh.

Dan scoffed, "I always told you you should be a model."

"You've never told me that."

"Well... I thought it!" He bit back, making her chuckle again.

"Right, right," she mumbled nonchalantly. Someone else was approaching her then, a smile on his handsome face. He seemed to have completely disregard the fact that she was on the phone and walked up to her, a hand outstretched with a black business card in hand.

"Hi – "

She held up the exact same card to show it to him with a small smile. "I've already got one, thanks." She laughed and he did, too, before he walked off.

"Got one what?" Dan's voice came in from the other end of the phone.

"Some bloke from the same company just approached me." She laughed.

"I bet if you were walking with me, you'd get, like, ten more people."

Aria blinked, "Well. You're just a humble lad, aren't you?"

"Duh." He deadpanned before they both laughed. "Go for it," he encouraged.

"What? The modelling thing?" She asked with another laugh. "Are you kidding?"

"No way," he insisted. "Go for it! You were approached two fuckin' times in under five minutes, so clearly you've got to believe me now when I say you're gorgeous. So go for it. Plus, it's kinda easy cash, innit?"

She shrugged lightly, humming again. "I guess," she mumbled. "It's weird, though. What if they're just playing a trick on me or something? You wouldn't know."

"True. But you got a take a chance, you know?" Dan said and Aria let out a little scoff. He breathed a laugh. "I'm serious. You didn't think that the guys and I thought Blink were playing a trick on us when they told us they wanted to tour with us?"

"Technically, the tour cancelled... So that's a pretty bad example."

"I am trying to make an inspiring speech, why are you doing this to me." He deadpanned and Aria laughed, her other hand – though holding plastic bags – moving to cover her mouth.

"Anyway. As I was saying," Dan continued as though the past few seconds hadn't just happened. "Take a chance. You're still young, and if you don't take chances whenever they pass you by, you'll probably spend the rest of your life regretting it. Who knows? This may be your start to a promising modelling career or something."

***

28th April 2013
Towson, MD

Dan bowed slightly, offering Aria his arm with a cheeky grin playing along his lips. "Shall we, m'lady?"

"We shall, kind sir," she curtsied while talking in an overly posh accent, looping her arm through his – both of them giggling to themselves like little kids as they walked down the sidewalk.

If anything, they looked so much more like a couple than they already did. But the thing was that Dan could never summon up enough courage to confess to her, or just pull her into his arms and kiss her. He'd been trying and every time he thought that that would be the day he finally told her how he really did feel about her, he chickened out. He'd read a quote somewhere once and he never forgot it. 'Sometimes, all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage, just literally 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery, and I promise you: something great will come of it.'

Thing was, every time he thought he had finally found his 20 seconds, he lost it the moment he saw her smile. Hell, she didn't even need to smile. She just needed to look in his direction and bam: Dan Flint was a melted puddle of human goo, because he knew that he'd never be good enough for her.

With a glance to his side, he felt himself smile. The reason behind his smile was simple. It was her smile.

Aria must've felt his gaze, for she turned to face him – sticking out her tongue at him, making him laugh as he pulled a face right back at her. Her phone rang then, making her stop walking for a short moment as she frowned lightly, pulling her arm from his grasp and then pulling out her mobile.

"Hello? ... Oh, hey!... I'm alright, yeah. And yourself?... – in Towson?... Sure, I don't see why not... Yeah, yeah, okay... – Thanks, Jayne... I'll see you when I get back... – You too, love."

Dan raised a brow as she cut the call, immediately tapping on an app and then seemingly typing out a message.

"You've a secret mission or something?" Dan joked, earning a grin from the girl, though her eyes never strayed from her phone screen.

"Top secret," she nodded, smirking.

Dan laughed, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "What did Jayne want?"

Every model had an agent once they went 'professional'. Aria's was a lovely lady in her mid-forties with a kind smile and an even kinder heart by the name of Jayne. Aria, though she'd started as a print-model with the small company two years prior, had eventually branched out into a more professional and proper one. She did runways now, too, since she was of the minimum required height to be a runway model. She'd even walked the runway for Victoria's Secret the year before. Dan, though he claimed to only be watching the show for her, had the time of his life – bringing it up like a proud father. Then of course, in true Dan-fashion, he got overprotective once they Googled her runway pictures in the tiny Santa outfit and the other one where she was clad in the lingerie with a very weird contraption made up of little plastic thingies that was apparently a skirt of sorts.

"She want you to dress up in another weird costume and walk down the VS runway? Think you could get me an actual invite this time?" He smirked and Aria snorted, shoving his arm off with a roll of her eyes.

"Idiot," she mumbled, making him laugh. "She said there's someone over at ALDO who was asking about me."

"And?"

"Jayne said I wasn't in town, and they said that they've got plenty of places where they can shoot the thing. Turns out there's one in Towson. So..."

"You're heading there now?"

"Yup," she nodded. "Do you want to come with?"

Dan pulled a face, "And watch you get make-up put on and then try on different stuff and basically be alone for ten hours?"

"Now you're just exaggerating. It doesn't take ten flippin' hours."

"Still." He snorted. Though he still didn't feel particularly safe with letting her be alone while at a photoshoot, especially after the whole James thing, he knew that he couldn't spend the rest of forever being there to protect her. He could wish all he wanted, but he knew that if she didn't think she was ready for a shoot, she would've told Jayne to cancel it. Since Aria had agreed to it, it just meant that she was so much closer to letting go of what had happened and moving on, once more becoming the girl that was his best friend in the whole entire world, and the love of his life.

Aria laughed with a nod this time. "Point taken. The place is nearby and the person just contacted me so... I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, I can meet up with you once you're done or something."

She shrugged. "I'll give you a ring when I'm finished."

"Have fun. Call me if anything happens," he said as he pulled her into a tight hug, placing a deep kiss on her cheek. "Promise?"

"Promise."

-----

@ariaxo_: Thank you make-up people for making me feel kinda pretty. pic.twitter.com/bpG8Le

Dan felt his lips pull up into a smile as he clicked on the picture that she'd linked. It was just a simple photo of herself with her brown hair in perfect ringlets around her face, eyes more grey than blue, eyelashes that had a slight coat of mascara and pink lips. It didn't look like she had much make-up on at all, and Dan reckoned she probably didn't, because she really was just that pretty.

He bit down on his bottom lip as he favourited the tweet, his thumb then hovering over button that would bring him back to his timeline to mindlessly scroll through the tweets. He was interrupted though by a fellow drummer walking into the band's dressing room. Dan glanced up, eyebrows furrowing at the sight of the American drummer who was from the town that they were currently in.

"What are you doing here, mate?" Dan asked with a confused grin. "Shouldn't be chilling at home with your family and stuff?"

Rian chuckled, "I was. But soundcheck," he said and Dan nodded in understanding.

You Me At Six had already done their soundcheck. The rest of the guys had either gone to have a sleep or a nice meal with their tour mates. Dan was going to meet them in a pub in a bit, when whoever was there gave him a ring. Since they'd left the same time that Dan had left with Aria, he hadn't joined them earlier. Right now, they were also currently semi-lost, so they told him that they would give him a ring when they found a pub that they could have a beer together at.

"Where's Aria?" Rian asked with a sly grin on his lips.

"She's at a photoshoot," Dan replied easily, ignoring Rian's sly grin.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Photoshoot?"

"Yeah," the Englishman nodded. "She's a model," he explained further when Rian still looked confused.

"For real?" Rian blinked, wide-eyed. Dan nodded again with a small frown. "Woah."

"What?" He laughed.

"You're dating a model. A proper model. Not like the type of model that Alex's ex was – where she did, like, a few real modelling gigs and then basically nothing after that."

Dan laughed again, shaking his head in amusement. "Do you not like his ex or something?"

"Well," Rian started, his voice going higher for a bit before he chuckled. "We were all friends with her, and she's actually really cool. It's just... I don't know. 'Lex is so happy with Riley now that I find myself asking how did I not notice how he wasn't happy while with Lisa."

"Understandable," Dan nodded once.

Rian sat down next to Dan on the couch, bumping shoulders with the younger male. "So what's the story with you and Aria?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows. "And don't give me the whole we're just friends bullshit. I see the way you look at her."

Dan raised a brow. "And how do I look at her? Like she's a human being and she actually exists?" He drawled out sarcastically, making the other male chuckle.

"You look at her the way that a man in love looks at the woman he loves." Rian replied simply, not even bothering to beat around the bush. "Take it from a man who's whipped and willing to admit to it," he gestured to himself; both of them chuckling.

He shook his head in response, smiling slightly. "Just mates." He assured Rian.

"Yeah right." He scoffed. Raising a brow, he easily swiped Dan's phone from his loose grasp, hitting the home button and then turning the phone towards the Englishman. "Mates don't stare at their mates photos."

Dan rolled his eyes. "I clicked on the tweet and I didn't get to close it before you walked in."

"Sure." He let out a single laugh, handing the phone back to Dan. "But let's be real here. You're in love with her, aren't you?"

Dan stayed silent, opting not to answer. Maybe if he didn't answer, then Rian would leave him alone. Though he knew that it was most definitely not going to happen. So he shrugged his shoulders, "What does it matter?"

"Tell her," Rian encouraged, gently punching Dan's shoulder as he got to his feet. "Tell her before you lose the chance to."