We're a Classic Case of Teenage Romance...

　

"I hate myself. I'm such a freaking idiot." Dan mumbled to himself as he walked to Chris' house for that stupid party he had agreed to go to. After last nights memory, he did not want to be around Reagan. It would physically pain him to see her tonight. But because Dan was a sadist, he went to the party anyway. It was close to 10 p.m, and he knew that Reagan loved to go to sleep early, so maybe, just maybe she had already left. Or she was going to be leaving soon.

And when Dan got there, and he recognised all of the old faces, and was greeted by all of his old friends, he decided that it wasn't all that bad of a decision to come after all. Best part, Reagan was no where in sight. And not one mention of her from anyone.

So far he was having a good time as he shared a beer with an old acquaintance.

"So how's London?" Sabrina, one of Reagan's friends asked him.

She was Reagan's blonde sidekick. They had been best friends almost as long as Reagan and Dan had been.

"It's great," Dan replied.

"How's living with Phil?"

"That's great too, he really is amazing." Dan said smiling at his pun.

Sabrina rolled her black eye-shadowed eyes at him, "Wow, you really are just as lame as you were before you left."

"I'll have you know that at least a million people think I'm cool." Dan informed her.

"I'm subscribed to you dummy, I know the type of fans you attract. Most of them are convinced that Phan is real." She said.

"You cant prove that its not," Dan joked.

Sabrina rolled her eyes again, "Its not,"

"You dont know my life," Dan retorted.

Sabrina laughed, "Yeah, well..." She let her words trail off as she took a sip of her bottle.

"So how's Rea?" Dan finally decided to ask, using their pet name for her.

And even though he didn't want to focus on her tonight, he couldn't help but wonder. He had been dying to know. He wanted to know how she had carried on after he left, especially with the news that she going to be leaving for the states. He wanted to know if her dad had seriously hurt her once he had gone away. Just like that day back in June, when they were still together...

But most importantly to Dan, he needed to know if she hated him.

Sabrina's eyes widened for a moment, the question taking her by surprise. "Wow, okay. Didn't expect for you to ask about her."

"Why not?" Dan asked.

"Because of how things ended between the two of you."

Dan shrugged, "I still care about her," that was a lie, he more than cared about her, "I just want to know
what's been going on with her."

"Well, uh, I haven't really talked to her since you left. I mean, I still see her around. But we're not as close as we used to be, actually we're not close at all anymore."

"Why not?"

She sighed, "After you left she was a mess you fucking twat. What, do you honestly think that what you did wasn't going to leave a bruise? She refused to leave her room, she refused to see anyone. We were all worried about her, she wouldn't eat, she wouldn't sleep, and she wouldn't stop crying. It was all pretty Twilight-ish, it was pathetic watching her crumble all because of some fucking twat -no offense- Anyway after a while everyone gave up trying to help her. Even me, which I regret. However, I'm extremely grateful that Chris is such a great person, because he helped her get back to her normal self. Well, as normal as she could be without you."

"I-I don't know what to say," Dan muttered looking down at his beer. He really regretted asking the question.

"Of course you dont you fucking twat."

"You already called me that," Dan muttered.

"Yeah, well, just in case you forgot."

"So, are Chris and Reagan dating?" He couldn't help but ask.

She rolled her eyes, with annoyance this time, "Wow, okay, why I didn't see that question coming I don't know. But if you must know, no they are not. Rea hasn't dated anyone after you."

"Oh," was all Dan could say.

Sabrina rolled her eyes once more, clearly doing that was still her favorite thing. "Figures that's all you'd have to say."

Dan felt the sudden need to defend himself. "What I did that night, you know that all I ever had for her were my best intentions."

"I don't care. That's none of my business. You can tell her all of this, not me."

"Yeah, well, she's not here."

"Turn around," Sabrina said gesturing behind him with her beer.

Dan looked over his shoulder and watched as Reagan walked in through the door with Brandon. Another one of Dan's annoying nuisances.

Brandon was an awkward kid, who wanted so badly to be funny and cool. But instead just came off as weird and a huge loser. But a huge adorable loser apparently.

And looking at him now, Brandon had definitely gone through some changes. He had let his golden blond hair grow, and it had the volume of a Charlie's Angel. His style had definitely evolved from khakis and polos. He was wearing dark jeans, and a long sleeved shirt.

"What the hell is Brandon doing here?" Dan asked.

Sabrina laughed, "He's been trying to get in Rea's pants for about 6 months now."

"And?" Dan prompted.

"And what?" Sabrina asked.

"Has he?"

Sabrina choked on the sip of beer she had taken, and couldn't stop laughing.

"What?" Dan asked, annoyance filling his voice.

"How stupid are you? Dont you get it? She hasn't dated anyone after you! She hasn't so much as held another guys hand, let alone fucked another guy."

"She held another guys hand?"

Sabrina sighed, this time she was the annoyed one. "Right, of course that's what you focus on. Anyway, Chris and I tried to fix her up with Brandon. They went out on a date and had hit it off, you know. He made her laugh, and she was happy. But he tried holding her hand, and she let him, but after that she stopped returning his calls, and texts, and they're just now getting back in touch." Sabrina explained.

"Is she really moving back to the States?" Dan asked.

"Dan, how about you stop asking me all of this and ask her, or are you two not talking?"

Silence.

"Of course you're not." Sabrina walked away from him then.

And now he was left standing alone.

"Hey Dan!" James yelled.

FUCK!

Dan turned around and saw that Brandon was making his way towards him.

"Hey, how have you been?" Dan greeted.

"I'm good. Man it feels like I'm talking to a celebrity."

"I'm not really a celebrity," Dan said taking a sip of his drink.

"I dont know, it feels weird now. So how's London?" Brandon asked.

"Cold," Dan replied.

"I can imagine."

"So did you like want something?" Dan asked.

Brandon gave him a weird look, "I just came to say hi, and catch up."

"Right, so where's Chris?"

And that's how the rest of the night went. People asked him how London was, how living with Phil was, and how being being away from home was like. Everyone spoke to him, except Reagan, in fact he barely even saw her. She did a great job of hiding from him.

Dan was about ready to call it quits and go home, but Eric, another old friend of his invited him to go down to the basement where a whole bunch of people were hanging out at.

Reagan was down here, with Brandon. They were gathered in a circle with a bottle in the middle of the circle.

"You came just in time Dan. We're playing truth or dare. Take a spot." Chris said making room for Dan.

Dan wanted to say no, but found himself taking the spot next to him anyway.

Chris spun the bottle. It landed on Cody of all people.

Cody was a posh kid, but he was an asshole posh kid. Cody treated everyone like they were beneath him just because they didn't have as much money as him. Not to mention, he and Dan had been sworn enemies since the day they met. Cody's sole mission in life was to make Dan's a living hell.

"Truth or Dare?" Chris asked.

Cody's stare was fixated on Dan. He wore a nasty smirk on his face. "Dare," he said.

"I dare you to chug the rest of this vodka in under 10 seconds." Chris said handing the bottle over to Cody.

"Do it! Do it!" everyone began to chant.

And he did.

Dan watched him chug it with ferocity, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Reagan was watching him instead of Cody, like everyone else was. Dan's gaze left the train wreck that was Cody, and rested it on
Reagan, who immediately looked away.

Dan looked down at his hands now, feeling an unwanted blush reach his ears. He looked up and caught Cody starring.

Shit, Dan thought.

Once Cody finished his dare he replaced the beer bottle they had been using earlier to spin with, with the now empty bottle of vodka.

Since Cody had completed the dare, it was now his turn to spin.

Round and round, and round it went, until finally it landed on

...Dan.

FUCK! was Dan's immediate thought.

Everyone was silent. They all knew how badly this could go, and a fight at a party would only make things more fun.

"Truth or Dare?" Cody asked with that stupid smirk.

If Dan picked dare, he could be subject to a million different horrors. But if he picked truth he might be forced to reveal something about his new life in London, or worse yet, Reagan.

So deciding that humiliation was the safest way to go Dan said: "Dare."

Cody's smirk widened. "Since I completed my dare, I'd like to cash in on my skip for now. So for now Dan, I'm not going to dare you to do anything, but I will be cashing in on it when I see fit."

Could he even do that?

Apparently he could seeing as how no one said anything about it and continued playing.

And soon, while everyone was admitting embarrassing stories, or doing embarrassing things, Dan forgot about Cody, and was genuinely having a great time, laughing and hanging with his friends.

Cody had just finished another dare and was spinning the bottle.

Round and round and round it went until it landed on

...Reagan.

"Reagan my dear, Truth or Dare?"

Reagan hesitated for a moment.

Dan could see the same torment going through her as it had him, until finally she whispered: "Dare."

"Excellent choice sweetheart." Cody said turning to Dan. "Daniel, I would now like to cash in on your dare."

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! HE COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE DOING THIS. NOT TONIGHT. NOT RIGHT NOW. NOT WHILE THINGS WERE SO FUCKED UP!

"Reagan and Dan, I dare the both of you to a round of 7 minutes in heaven in Chris' cozy closet over there."

Cody said pointing to the closet at the end of the room that was stocked with blankets and pillows, and all kinds of house supplies.

By now the whole room had gone silent. Everyone was now watching Dan and Reagan and Cody.

"No," everyone turned to look at Chris. "They're not going to do that."

"It's okay," everyone now turned to look at Reagan. "I'll do it."

"Are you sure?" Chris asked her.

She shrugged, "It's just a stupid dare."

For some reason that hurt Dan. He wanted to know that Reagan...well that Reagan still cared about him. At least a little bit, at least enough to care.

Reagan stood up and walked towards the closet. Everyone watched her.

She stepped inside and sat on her legs, looking down at her hands, waiting for Dan.

Dan cleared his throat softly and headed over to Reagan. Everyone followed.

Dan stepped inside, and sat cross legged next to Reagan.

The last thing Dan saw before the door closed was Cody's stupid, annoying smirk.