Ben sat on Daniel's bed flipping through the channels. "You know, it never surprises me that no matter where we go we always end up channel surfing."
Daniel giggled a bit and looked at his watch, "Where is she? She said an hour."
"No. She said ABOUT an hour," Ben retorted, "That could mean a little before or a little after."
Daniel rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at him.
*Knock. Knock*
Daniel sprang up from his seat and ran to the door. He looked through the peep hole. "Oh, it's only Chris," he opened the door, "Come in," he said sounding very disappointed.
"Well, it's nice to see you to Daniel," Chris pouted.
"Don't pay any attention to him. He's just a little anxious to see Sarah," Ben said.
"And so what if I am."
"Nothing, man. I just never thought you could get so whipped so quickly," he laughed.
"Oh, that's it Gillies!" Daniel ran and tackled Ben off the bed and to the ground.
Ben was laughing and screaming at the same time, "Get off me! Get the fuck off me!"
Chris, laughing himself, pulled Ben up and put him in a head lock, "There you go Danny-Boy, give him a couple of good ones in the arse."
Daniel laughed and began kicking Ben.
"Oww! Quit it! Stop...owwww! Oh, you guys are sooo dead!" Ben started grabbing at the bed sheets trying to pull himself away from Chris.
*knock knock*
The boys suddenly froze at the sound and looked at the door. Chris dropped Ben, who hit the floor with a thud, and he quickly sat down at the nearest chair. Ben then got up and sat on the bed muttering, "Wankers," under his breathe.
Daniel fixed his hair a bit before calmly walking over to the door to look out the peephole. A smile formed across his face. He opened the door, "Hi."
Sarah stood in the hallway, "Hey. Sorry, I'm late I..." She suddenly noticed that Daniel's shirt was a bit crooked. She looked behind him and inside the room and saw Chris with a big smile on his face and Ben sitting on a very messed up bed, rubbing his ass. Sarah pressed her lips together and tryed not to laugh, "Umm, I wasn't...interupting...anything, was I?"
The boys looked at her questionably, until they looked around and noticed how the situation looked.
"No! No, no. We were just fooling around...no, no I mean..."
"You see, Daniel jumped on me and...wait, no...I was..."
"Ben was grabbing the sheets trying to get away...wait..."
The guys were quickly trying to explain as best they could.
Sarah started laughing and waved her hands in front of her, "Guys, guys. It's okay. I was just picking on you. I mean, you have to admit, the scene did look a bit questionable."
"We didn't do anything I swear," Daniel debated once more.
"I know you didn't, hun. It's Ben that I'm not so sure of though," she smiled and walked inside.
"Don't start girl," Ben snapped.
Sarah giggled, "So, are you guys ready?"
"Yeah, do we need to take anything?" Daniel asked.
"Oh, you might need some swim trunks or something. I was thinking of taking you guys to the lake."
"That sounds cool."
"Alright. Do mind if Marissa comes along?"
Chris stood up and walked to the door, "Not at all. The more the merrier. I'm just gonna go get my things. Ben you want your shorts?"
"Yeah, thanks man."
"Okay, let me just call her," she picked up the phone and dialed, "Marissa?......Hey, you busy today?......No?......Well, I was thinking of taking Daniel and the guys to the lake, wanna come?......Yeah?......yeah okay......yes pack the cooler......the blue one......yeah, it's bigger......what?......oh, hold on," she put the phone down, "What kind of beer do you guys like here? Bud Light or Miller?"
Ben's eyes widened to capasity, "Beer?" he looked at Daniel, "Did she say beer?"
Daniel smiled, "You better get the Miller, but not the lite stuff."
Sarah nodded, "Yeah, pack the Miller that Mike bought the other day......No, he won't mind. I'll give him money to buy more later......okay, we'll be there in about 20 or so......Okay......laters."
Ben moved over to Sarah, "So you did say BEER, right?"
After picking up Marissa (and the beer) the five new friends headed for Travis Lake. Sarah and Daniel rode in front while Marissa, Ben, and Chris squished themselves in the back. The three back sitters were laughing and joking around and singing along to Everclear blasting through the radio.
Daniel looked over and stared at her. She could feel his eyes on her. She smiled, "What?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry. It's just that...well, oh nevermind."
"No, what is it?"
"I'll tell you later. I can't tell you right now. Not here."
She looked at him and furrowed her brows, "Is there something wrong, Daniel?"
"No. Not at all. I'll explain later. I promise." I just hope that you'll understand and feel the same way.
"Okay." I need to tell you something anyway.
The group finally reached the lake. There weren't a lot of people around just as Sarah had expected. She got out of the car and walked the edge of the hill and stood by the stairs that led to a small pier.
Marissa came up behind her, "I say we get that party one," she said pointing to a fairly large pantoon (a flat boat) docked down.
"I agree," Sarah said and walked back to the car. The boys were standing around admiring the view when she walked up to them, "Okay, guys. Here's what were gonna do. Marissa and I are going to go negociate a deal about getting that boat over there. So if you guys won't mind carrying the cooler down?" Sarah threw Daniel the keys.
Ben, of course, quickly jumped to the task, "You got it."
"Great. We'll meet you down there then," Marissa said grabbing her stuff and following Sarah down the stairs.
Once, Sarah got the keys to the boat and the guys finally made their way to the dock, they all boarded the pantoon and were off. The boat was really relaxing. It was a flat ship with an overhead cover. It had two couches, a few chairs, and an awesome stereo.
"This thing is so cool," Chris commented, "I'm loving this."
"So where are we going," Daniel asked Sarah, who was driving.
"We're going just behind those cliffs over there and so we can find a cove where we can drop ancore."
"Oh, cool."
Finally finding a secluded area they parked the boat, Chris and Ben quickly threw off their shirts and jumped in the water. Sarah reached into her bag and pulled out a tape cassette. She popped it into the player and Black Sabbath blasted through the speakers. She looked over at Daniel and winked.
He laughed, "Good choice."
A couple of hours later, the five were now tired and very wet. Ben, Chris and Marissa couldn't stop giggling due to the fact that they had shared a whole case of beer between the three of them. Sarah was a little relaxed from the two wine coolers she had drunk and Daniel was only laughing at the intoxicated trio since Marissa had packed some water and juice just for him.
Ben sat up from the couch that he had been laying on, "Say, what do you girls do by the way? Don't you have jobs or school or something? Marissa I know you work."
Marissa nodded and took a sip of her beer, "Mmm, hmm. But today was my day off."
"How about you, Sarah," Ben turned to her, "What do you do?"
"I work at a bar, called the Ivory Cat. But it's only part time. I take screenplay writing classes every other Sunday and well that's about it."
"You write screenplays?" Daniel asked, "That's cool."
"So neither of you go to college?" Chris asked.
"Well, I can't afford it right now," Marissa said, "But, I hope to go to the university here by next spring. Just as long as my father comes through."
Chris nodded and then looked at Sarah. Sarah smiled, "I just don't want to right now."
They all sat in silence for awhile until Ben stood up, "Well, I'm going for another dip before we go. Who's gonna join me?"
Marissa and Chris were quick to oblige and followed Ben into the water.
Daniel and Sarah continued sitting on the couch. "So, what got you into writing screenplays?" Daniel finally asked.
"My brother Tony. He writes screenplays too. You see, I used to write stories, in hopes that they would become movies someday. Tony always liked my stories so he suggested I take this class. He takes it as well."
"What are they usually about?"
"Fantasy and Sci-fi mostly. But a lot of them have like period settings and stuff. You know like medieval and Elizabethian times."
"Why those kinds of settings?" Daniel asked.
"I don't know really. I just like those times. I wish I had lived in them. Sometimes I think I live in the wrong time period."
"Yeah," Daniel laughed, "I know what you mean. I really wished I had lived in the 60's and 70's."
"Oh, yeah. Me too. Gone to Woodstock and shit."
"Exactly!"
They looked at each other and smiled. There was that sense of peace again. That strange, familiar feeling that only came when they looked at each other. Why?
Sarah looked away quickly. "What?" asked Daniel, "What is it?"
She looked back at him and shook her head softly, "Nothing," she whispered.
He looked at her oddly, but she only let out a dry laugh before placing her head on his shoulder. He placed his head on hers and remained silent.
When they got back to the dock it was already close to 6:00 and the sun was starting to go down.
"Well, thanks for today, Sarah. We had a great time," said Ben as he helped Chris put the cooler into the trunk of the car.
"No, problem. It was my pleasure."
"Sarah? Aren't you....?" Marissa started to ask.
"Oh, yeah! I almost forgot." Sarah looked at her watch, "I was wondering if you guys wanted to go to the Ivory Cat with us tonight," pointing to Marissa. "I was supposed to meet my brothers there last night but I decided to go to the gig instead. You guys might like it there. It's pretty cool."
Chris, Daniel, and Ben looked at each other and just nodded. "Yeah," Chris said, "Sounds like fun."
"Great. Marissa can I borrow your cell phone? I'm going to call Tony and let him know."
Sarah silently sat in the Embassy Suites lobby waiting for the band to come down. She stared at the necklace that the strange woman had given her earlier. She was carrying it with her everywhere now. It was so beautiful. It gave her a familiar peace as she held it in her hand. The same peace she felt when she was with Daniel.
"Hey, there," a voice whispered into her ear from behind.
She turned around in her seat and smiled, "Hey." She stood up and gave Daniel a hug. "You look great." She stood back a little and examined him. He wore a pair of khakis and a black, long sleeve, buttoned up shirt.
"Thanks," he smiled, "So do you." She wore black slacks and small light blue sweater.
"Where are the other guys?" she asked.
Daniel looked back at the lift just as it was opening up, "There they are." The boys came out trying to looke cool. Chris wore a dark blue shirt with black pants and Ben was wearing all black. "You guys ready to go?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah," Chris nodded. "Where's Marissa?"
"Oh she went to pick up her boyfriend. They're gonna meet us over there." Sarah said while putting on her coat.
"Hey, what's that?" Ben asked pointing to the object in Sarah's hand.
She looked down at the forgotten necklace and then quickly put it in her purse, "Nothing. Just a piece of jewelery that I carry around with me. Well, we better go. I told my brother we'd be there by 9:30."
The four well dressed kids walked into the fairly crowded bar. The boys got a few looks and whispers, but nobody bothered them.
"Hey Sarah!".....
"Sarah!".....
....."What's up girl?" These
were the calls that were being
heard from around the bar as they
preceded futher in. Sarah was
waving and nodding at the
different people that greeted
her. They finally made it to the two
center tall tables in front of the
small stage.
"Hey, sis," a guy, in about his late twenties, came up and hugged Sarah, "How's it going?"
"Hi, Tony. Good."
Another guy came up to her and hugged her as well, "Hey, dork."
"Hey, Mike." After she finished hugging and greeting everyone at the tables she turned to the three boys that had remained behind her, "Well, guys, these are my new friends. This is Daniel, Chris, and Ben. Guys these are my brothers Tony and Mike."
"Hey," said Mike.
Sarah continued, "This is Heather, Tony's girlfriend, that's Lisa over there and her boyfriend James. That's Kelly, my roomate. That's Amy and of course you know Marissa there and that's her boyfriend, Eddie."
"Nice to meet you all," said Ben.
Amy walked up to them, "Here let me take your coats. I'll put them in the back office."
"Oh thanks," said Chris handing her is coat. Ben, Daniel and Sarah, handed her their coats as well.
"So you guys are silverchair, huh?" asked Eddie, "That's pretty cool."
"Yeah it is," Ben smiled. He could tell some of these people had already been drinking.
"Hey, you guys want something to drink?" asked Mike.
"I guess, I'll have a soda," said Chris.
"A soda? No, man. I can get you guys a beer if you want."
Again Ben's ears shot up, "BEER?"
Sarah laughed, "You said the magic word Mike."
He smiled, "You guys want a couple of Long Island ice teas? They make them really good here."
Sarah leaned over to Chris and Ben and joked, "Or, they have a drink here called Newcastle, if you want to try that."
"The ice tea sounds good," Ben said to Mike.
"Yeah, I'll have one too," said Chris.
"How about you two?" Lisa asked.
"I'll have a cherry tart for now," said Sarah.
"And you, Daniel?"
"What Sarah's having, but no alcohol," he said.
"Alright then," Mike and Lisa walked over to the bar to get the drinks.
Marissa finally walked up to the guys, "Glad you guys could come. I hope you don't mind standing. No one here really sits since we end up dancing to the music anyways."
"No, it's cool," Ben said, giving her a quick hug.
The night seemed to fly by quickly with dirty jokes and sing-a-longs. The crowd especially loved it when the piano player that was performing, brought up Mike and Ben to sing a duet version of "I Will Survive". Sarah's stomach was still hurting from watching the whole routine.
The owner of the bar came up to the mic and stated, "Okay, guys, it's almost 2:00. Time to finish up those drinks. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."
"Alright, who's got a bed time?" Lisa asked loudly claping her hands together.
Amy slowly stood up from her stool, "I do. I've got to be at work by ten."
Eddie took a last swig of beer, "Yeah, me too actually. Hey, it was great meeting you guys," he shook the hands of the three band members, "Hope to see you again before you leave."
"I'm sure you will," Chris toasted to him.
"Well, I better go with the big dope and make sure he gets up in time," Marissa said, "See you all later." They all waved goodbye and left.
"Alright, then. That's three down," said Lisa, "Anyone else?"
Everyone looked at everyone else but no one was anxious to leave the party quite yet.
"Cool. Then I say everyone back to my place. We can finish ourselves off there."
"Party at Lisa's," boasted Ben.
Everyone started getting up and began discussing who would drive who. It was decided that Ben would go with Lisa, James, and Mike. Tony and Heather would drive themselves and Chris, Kelly, and Daniel would go with Sarah.
Once at Lisa's everyone pretty much ran for the liquor cabinet, except for Sarah and Daniel. Sarah decided to end the night only slightly buzzed and enjoy watching the other's get plastered.
The little party died quickly when James decided that they would play the drinking game called "The Eleventh Man". One of the worst games of all time, especially if you were chosen as the eleveth man. Luckily, Ben took that honor and well let's just say he was the first one to pass out.
After awhile, Daniel looked at the clock. 5:03. Watson would probably be pissed off, but at least they didn't have a gig later. He and Sarah were the only one's awake except for Tony and Chris who were in a deep conversation about what came first; the chicken or the egg?
Sarah lifted her legs up and placed them on Daniel's, "So, did you have fun tonight?"
"Yeah, I did actually. I don't usually like to go out, but I really had fun tonight. You're brothers' are hilarious."
"Oh, don't I know it. Everyday, is one laugh after another with those two."
"I bet," Daniel giggled. "I guess, you need that from time to time, huh?" Sarah smiled and nodded her head once.
They suddenly noticed that everything was quite now, except for the snoring coming from Ben, James and Mike. Tony and Chris had finally passed out on the floor. Daniel looked at Sarah and noticed she was staring at him.
A slight smile formed on his face, "What?"
She smiled back, "I remember that earlier you said you were going to tell me something that was on your mind. You promised, actually. Well, now is as good a time as any."
Daniel giggled, "Oh, that's right. Well, ummm....I don't know. I mean...."
"You promised, Daniel."
He sighed, "I know, I know. Alright then. But, not here. Is there somewhere else we can go?"
Sarah sat up, "Well, we can always go to my place."
"No," Daniel quickly said. "I have a better idea. Just leave a letter for the guys."
Daniel and Sarah quietly walked into his hotel room. Sarah followed him in, dropping her coat and purse on the floor. The whole room was dark and Daniel couldn't see a thing. Sarah could hear him bumping into things. "Becareful," she giggled, "Don't want you to break an ankle or anything."
"Oh, ha, ha," Daniel mocked. He finally made his way to the curtains and drew them open. A very dim light came through and they could finally see a little better. He opened the sliding door to the balcony outside, "The sun's about to come up. I thought it would be nice to see the sunrise from here."
Sarah smiled and walked outside. The air was cool and fresh. A slight breeze in the air gave her a chill and she held herself tightly. A sudden warmth covered her and she realized Daniel was putting a blanket around her. "Thanks," she said quietly.
"You're welcome," he said, gently brushing her dark strands away from her face, "Feel better now?"
"Mmm, hmm," she nodded and returned her attention to the rising sun.
Daniel stared at her intently and couldn't tear himself away. He wanted to speak so badly and ask her how she felt about him. Did she have the same feelings he had for her? But he didn't what to break this beautiful silence either. The moment was pure pleasentry. Sarah was the perfect image of a gorgeous angel. Her hair and skin glistening in the golden glow of the morning sun. She was so beautiful. He wanted her so badly.
He slowly turned and walked back into the room. Sarah noticed this and broke her attention from the sunrise, "Daniel? What's the matter? Are...are you alright?"
He sat on the bed and looked up at her. He smiled slightly, "Nothing is the matter. I'm fine. Everything is fine."
Sarah sat beside him, "Then why do you seem so sad all of the sudden?"
"I'm not sad," he said, "In fact, I haven't felt this good in a very long time. It's just that I began thinking about that thing that I wanted to tell you and...and I don't know exactly where to start."
"Is it that bad?" she giggled.
"No," he laughed, "Just different for me."
She took his hand in hers and used her other hand to turn his face to her, "Tell me," she said softly.
He stared deep into her eyes and lost all feeling. Could this really be happening to me? Am I really falling for this girl? "Sarah...just, umm...promise me you won't freak out. Okay?"
She nodded slowly, "I promise."
He cleared his throat a little, closed his eyes, then began, "Sarah, you're the best girl I've ever met and eventhough we've only known each other for a couple of days for some reason I feel like I've known you forever. No, like...like we've met before really. It's hard to explain, but..."
"I know what you mean," she interuppted.
"Huh?"
"I feel the same way. Like I've known you before as well. I don't know why."
Daniel smiled, "It's weird isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is, but...is that all you wanted to tell me?"
Daniel stopped smiling, "No. There's a little more. I just hope that you'll understand." He looked down for a second before lifting his head and turning his body completely towards her, "That night at the club. Well...that was not the first time that I ever saw you."
She shook her head, "What do you mean?"
"The day we arrived, we went to a restuarant to be interviewed. I was feeling pretty bad because the interviewer touched on a very hard topic for me. I remember sitting there and feeling scared and sad. My manager asked me something and I looked up to answer him, but when I did I saw," he paused for a moment, "...I saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She was sitting at a table not to far from us and was writing things down. She looked so sad. All I wanted to do was hold her. Yet she was so radiant that her beauty made me feel peace just by looking at her. A peace that I haven't felt in what feels like forever."
He noticed that Sarah's eyes were starting to become clouded. She opened her mouth to speak, but he placed a finger on her pink lips and shook his head, "Please. Let me finish." She sighed deeply and waited for him to continue. "Before I knew it she had left the restaurant and I feared that I would never see her again. The next day we had a gig, but instead of consentrating on what needed to be done, all I could think about was her. I would sit and wonder what it would be like to touch her," his voice came down to an almost breathless whisper, "To feel her body against mine. To possibly kiss her." Sarah blushed and looked down. "She had taken over my mind without even knowing it. But while we were performing I felt that peace again and I looked all around the room until I finally saw her. Later that night, I found her in the back and I felt like the luckiest guy in the world. And now I'm sitting alone with her telling her how I feel and hoping that she feels exactly the same way."
Sarah looked up at him. The clouds in her eyes had turned to tears. She smiled at him, "I had regreted leaving the restaurant that day. Afraid that I had ruined a chance at happiness." Daniel looked at her confused, until she spoke again, "When I saw you I felt....I don't know how to explain it, except that it was probably the same feeling that you got when you saw me. I didn't want to leave, but I had to because...well....I just had to," she held back a sob and continued, "When Ben came into the store the other day and invited us to the show, it was like fate was giving me a second chance." She was silent and then looked straight into his eyes, "Did you mean it?" she asked softly.
"Did I mean what?" he asked back.
"Do you really want me?"
Daniel smiled and placed a hand upon her smooth cheek, "More than anything else in the world."
She closed her eyes, "Good, because," she placed both hands on his face, "I've never wanted anything as bad as I want you," she whispered.
He brought her face closer to his and they looked at one another for a moment, losing themselves in each others eyes. Sarah's bottom lip began to tremble, "Your eyes...." she whispered, "I know them."
Daniel just stared back at her. He slowly moved closer to her and softly, but passionatly pressed his lips against her's.
An unbelieveable feeling coursed through their bodies. They both felt a warm, white glow surround them and hold them together. It was as if the world had disappeared and they were the only ones left in the whole universe. The kiss was like a dream and seemed to last forever. Finally they parted and they slowly opened their eyes. All they could do was look at each other.
Sarah seemed perplexed. She had never her dreams experienced that kind of feeling.
Daniel also was in awe. He couldn't explain what had just happened. Not even to himself. He smiled, "Did you feel that?"
Sarah nodded slowly and smiled as well.
Daniel slowly kissed her again.
A warm, white glow surrounded them.....
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