~chapter thirty: day to day
He scanned the list of movies. "Me, Myself and Irene?"
Dana frowned. "What about going to see Mission Impossible 2?"
"Come on," Brian protested. "Jim Carrey. He is such a good actor, so much better than Tom Cruise. Plus, the Farrelly brothers are super funny. Let's go see a comedy."
"But Tom Cruise is so...," Dana grasped for a word. "Mint."
Brian laughed. "So is Renee Zellweger."
"Rock paper scissors?"
"Fine."
Dana counted it off under her breath, then balled up her fist. "Rock, paper, scissors." Brian stuck out a rock, and Dana presented scissors. "Damn," she hissed.
"Jim Carrey it is." Brian adjusted his hat, and approached the ticket counter. "Two for Me, Myself and Irene," he requested.
The teenaged girl behind the counter examined Brian with a stunned look. "Uh... sure, just a second," she rambled. She stabbed at the buttons on the cash register as though her fingers were made of putty or some other type of heavy clay. Her eyes never once moved from Brian's thoroughly-amused-struggling-not-to-laugh frame. "That'll be fourteen dollars and fifty-nine cents."
Dana dropped a twenty dollar bill on the counter, and when Brian opened his mouth to protest she gave him silencing look. The change, along with the tickets, slid across the counter. Dana pocketed the five dollar bill, and the coins that came with it, and passed Brian his ticket.
"Theatre six," the girl said.
He turned to walk away, and the girl reached out and grabbed his arm. "Wait!" she whispered excitedly. "I know you don't want anyone to know you're here, and I swear to God I won't make a big scene..." Wide-eyed, the teen seemed to tremble under Brian's gaze. "Just, please sign this." She shoved a staff memo and a pencil in his direction. "Please!"
Brian offered her a smile. "Sure. Just promise you won't tell anyone you saw me here." Poised to write, his hand waited for her response.
"Cross my heart, hope to die," the girl breathed anxiously, doing the hand-motions in time with the pledge.
He scribbled his signature across the memo, along with an 'xo' and a 'thanks for the movie'. Brian nodded his farewell, leaving the breathless girl to take in everything that had just happened to her.
Dana gave him a look. "You're too much," she laughed finally.
He shrugged. "What can I say?"
They bought a large pop, and Dana grabbed a large bag of Reeses Pieces. She jammed two straws into the opening in the lid of the pop, and reached for some napkins... just in case. They climbed the steps of the huge theatre, and settled into the back corner. The previews flickered across the screen. Dana leaned over to Brian. "I feel like a teenager," she whispered gleefully. "Like we should be making out or something."
Brian grinned. "You wanna?"
Dana laughed in a hushed voice. "No," she retorted, amused. He pretended to yawn, stretching one arm in the air and letting it settle on her shoulder. He leaned over, and began kissing her cheek sloppily and making squelching noises. "Stop it!" Dana whispered, surpressing a laugh. "That is so gross!"
++the next afternoon++
Dana held onto Brian's left hand, and used her own left hand to point at the school. They walked past slowly.
"So this is Thomas Jefferson high, huh?" Brian commented, examining the brick building.
She nodded. "This is where I suffered for four years."
Brian laughed. "Suffered?"
"Yeah, suffered," Dana confirmed. "I loved all the people I met in highschool, but I hated going to highschool. I mean, I got good grades and everything, but I hated being cooped up in that building all day. When I think about it now, that's kind of stupid, but that's the way I was. I used to make up reasons not to have to come to school, only to be forced by my mom. She always made me go unless I was deathly ill." She looked at the familiar red-brick facade. "God, it was awful."
"It couldn't have been that bad," he said skeptically.
She nodded. "Trust me, it could have."
They continued walking, Mac darting back and forth across the sidewalk, pausing only to pee or sniff something. They wandered all through her neighbourhood, Dana showing him all the 'landmarks' of her childhood. The place where she broke her arm in the fourth grade. The soccer pitch where Dana punched the coolest girl in school for spreading a rumour about her. The hill where she slammed her bike brakes on and took a nose dive over the handle bars.
"Have you ever felt like this before?" Dana asked abruptly. She didn't know what possessed her to ask such a question, she only knew that she needed to know.
"Like what?" Brian asked in return.
She knit her eyebrows. "I'm not quite sure... how to describe it. This at ease, maybe? I don't know."
Brian listened to Mac's nails clicking on the cement. "I know what you mean. Like, I- I understand what you're getting at, but I don't understand, you know?"
She stared into the distance. "Sorry. I'm getting kind of weird on you."
"No, it's okay," Brian shook his head. "I know where you're coming from."
Dana watched the sidewalk that they walked over for nearly fifteen minutes before beginning to speak again. "You know, I don't think that we were supposed to happen."
"Huh?" he exclaimed.
"I wasn't supposed to work that night that I met you," she explained. "And then, when we finally did hook up, look at everything that went against us. My past, Faith, Steve, you traveling, me working. School, jobs, commitments. So much was in our way, and we overcame it. I've never managed to do something like that."
"Yeah, but now that it's through, I'd never change a thing about it." He stopped walking for a second allowing Mac to smell the crack in the cement, then resumed. "Not one single thing."
"Me neither," Dana agreed.
"Plus, I think that if it'd been any easier to get to where we are, we wouldn't be so happy." He pulled his sunglasses off of his head and onto his nose. "You know, the harder the fight the sweeter the victory," he quoted.
"Yeah, I know." She looked around, using her mental map to plot their location. "There is a park near here, we can let my dog off the leash. And," she added, grinning childishly. "We can play on the slide."
"Well, we just have to go there then," Brian said sarcastically.
Dana looked at him, her eyes twinkling. "Shut up."
"Make me," he countered. She reached out to give him a playful smack, but Brian quickly darted out of her reach and laughed with false egotism. "Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!" He taunted her, jogging down the road. They were being gleefully immature, and not caring one ounce.
"Gladly," she yelled after him, breaking into a quick run, chasing him down the street. Mac barked happily, racing alongside Brian and jumping into the air at irregular intervals, overly pleased by the turn of events. "Better run for your life, Littrell," Dana shouted, laughing between breaths. "You know I'll catch you and make you pay!"
"Make me pay how?" Brian huffed over his shoulder, turning into a vast expanse of greenspace. He slowed his pace, dropped Mac's leash, spun around quickly, and scooped Dana up. He proceeded to run in a few fast circles.
"Brian!" she shrieked, squeezing her eyes shut. "I think I'm gonna puke!"
"Say what?" he asked her, spinning around quickly.
"I'm gonna hurl on you!" she shouted, her stomach flipping around from laughter and the spinning motion.
He set her back on her feet after a few minutes, grinning.
She flopped down onto the cool grass. "Bastard," she wheezed, still laughing and struggling to breathe. Her head raced, pounding as blood rushed around in her brain. "I hate you."
"No you don't," Brian stuck his tongue out. "You love me."
"Do not," she panted.
"Do too," he disagreed.
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do too," Dana blurted, trying a bit of reverse psychology.
Brian caught on to her plot, and set his hands on his hips. "See? I told you that you loved me."
She smiled at him, happy that her head had nearly stopped thundering. She exhaled slowly, and put a hand over her eyes to evade the sun. Mac scampered back to Brian, and wiggled his tail excitedly. Dana laughed at the little dog's expression. "Whatcha wanna do tomorrow night, hon?"
Brian unclipped the dog's leash from his collar, and watched Mac scamper across the park. He ran circles around the couple, sending flecks of grass flying into the air. "What's tomorrow night?" he asked absently.
Dana faced him, and laughed. "Hello?!"
"Shut up," Brian laughed at her. "Smartass."
Dana grinned saucily, and licked her lips.
"Tell me what tomorrow night is," he insisted.
"Fourth of July... does that mean anything to you?"
Brian lolled his head back, and smiled. "Oh, yeah."
"Oh, yeah," Dana mocked. "Jeez."
"Jeez yourself." Brian pulled some blades of grass out, and piled them in front of him.
"Just thought I'd let you know, my mom'll probably ask you to come watch the fireworks with her, Megan and my dad. She has a tendency to spring little invitations on any boyfriend that comes home with me." Dana smiled. "She won't tell me if she's gonna do it either, and she thinks that I don't know she's going to do it. She likes to see how family-oriented you are. I know because she does it everytime someone is at the house."
He chuckled silently. "So what do you want me to say?"
"Whatever you want. I don't care. If you wanna go, then we'll go. If not, then we'll stay and rent movies or something."
"We can go," Brian shrugged. "You're not gonna be here forever, and you should spend some time with your parents."
" 'Kay." She watched Mac run around the park absently. "Oh! Since you leave soon, I better tell you now. Thanks for not getting iffy about sleeping in the basement."
Brian made a face. "Why would I?"
"I have no idea, but when Steve was here he flipped out 'cause he had to sleep down there." She laughed sadly. "My mom told him that if it bothered him that much, he could go stay in a hotel."
He laughed. "That guy must be such a loser, I can't imagine anyone thinking that he's cool."
Dana blushed, and fiddled with the hem of her shorts in a shy manner. "He has a way of hiding his true self, and he makes himself a very convincing 'innocent'."
"I didn't mean that you-"
"I know," Dana cut him off. She sprawled out on the grass, gazing at Brian. "I know."
He sighed. "He seems like such a jerk," Brian mused softly.
"He is." She patted Brian's shin. "Nothing like you, I'm glad to say."
"I'm glad you say that too." He smiled at her. "If I was anything like him... can you imagine?" Brian gagged, and shook himself as if he was ridding his body of toxins. "That'd be so awful."
"Uh huh," she agreed. A car drove past, interrupting the silence that had enveloped the pair. Mac's dog tags jingled pleasently as he raced around picking up pieces of garbage and delivering them to Brian. "I think that if you were anything like Steve, I would have left you loooong ago." A muddy shred of fabric was dropped on top of the pile, and Mac wandered over to Dana and started to lick her leg. She wrinkled her nose, thinking about how much dirt, garbage, germ, and various other sickening things had been encountered by that enthusiastic pink tongue.
Brian rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. "What happened... if you don't mind me asking, what really happened when he came to your apartment?"
"Oh," Dana swallowed. "I guess he still had a key from when we were dating and he just walked in one day while I was getting ready to go to class. He came into the kitchen, asked me how I was, I told that I hated him. He offered to take me back."
Brian's eyes bugged out. "He what?!"
She laughed. "That's pretty much what I said. Then I laughed in his face. He didn't like that too much, and started reminding me that no one could love me, cause I was a... a whore."
"What did you-"
"I started to scream at him, telling him that he was an asshole and that I would, I don't know, call the police if he didn't leave." Dana closed her eyes. The sun was beating down with a full arsenal of UVA and UVB rays, and it was too bright for her eyes. "Then he left, and I freaked out. I think I was very mentally unstable," she joked sadly.
"What do you mean, was?" Brian teased, lightening the sombre mood that had descended.
Dana waved him off. "You're no Einstein yourself."
Brian grinned at her. "When are you coming back to Florida?"
Dana shrugged, and said, "I think I'm back in the third week of August. Somewhere around then."
"Dear Lord," Brian declared overdramatically, drawing a hand to his forehead. "So long without my baby? How will I survive?"
"Dear Lord," Dana imitated, grinning mischieviously. "So long without a brain? How do you survive?" He shoved her teasingly, and she laughed at him. "Awww," she cooed. "Did I hurt your feelings?"
"Uh huh," he sniffled, brushing away an imaginary tear.
Dana laughed. "I love you."
Brian smiled calmly. "And I love you."
"We should probably head home soon, my mom will have started supper." Dana heaved herself to her feet. She extended a hand to Brian, and pulled him up. She whistled for Mac, who came leaping over with record speed. Brian clipped the leash back onto Mac's collar, and started walking. "Wait!" Dana exclaimed. She bent over, and began leafing through the grass.
"What?" Brian called.
Dana plucked a tiny four-leaf-clover out of the grass. She smiled at it, and closed her fist around the little flower. "Nothing," she waved it off. "Just working on healing some old wounds."
++later++
Mrs. Commons bustled about the kitchen, pouring a steaming mug of hot chocolate. Dana whisked the tall blue mug off the counter, and took a sip. "Thanks mom," she said quickly.
Despite the fact that it was summer, chilling rain pounded on the roof and howling wind boomed past the house. It felt more like mid-winter thatn summer. Decked out in sweats, Dana passed the second mug of hot chocolate to Brian. He murmured his thanks, and plopped some marshmallows in. They puffed up, and softened, and Brian sipped the marshmallows into his mouth.
'Scrabble' in hand, Dana carried her hot chocolate and the bag of marshmallows downstairs. Arranged around the basement television, the couple sprawled out for a night of relaxing. The pullout couch had been opened, and fluffy pillows were tossed randomly across the periwinkle sheets. It was their time bond, their time to chill.
Brian departed the next evening, England bound, and more specifically, studio bound. He would reunite with the group in Basement West, a little known British studio that had some serious hit-making equipment. Following that venture, Sweden was the destination. A little rendezvous with Max Martin and Co. was on the agenda. After that, though, no one knew for sure. The itinerary had yet to be faxed in from the management head offices, so nothing could be scheduled until then.
She shook the bag of letters, and pulled out her seven. Brian did the same, and they set up the board. The game progressed, Dana winning sometimes, Brian winning at other times. In the end, however, Dana prevailed. She pounced up victoriously when Brian finished totaling the scores, and laughed at him. "I win!" she heckled amiably. "Youuuu lose!"
He just shook his head, and waited for her to stop dancing. "'Nuther game?" he asked, amused.
Dana grinned. "Aren't you scared of loooosing again?"
"No," Brian answered boldly. "Nope, nada, not even close."
"You should be," she teased. "I'm 'Grand Master Scrabble'."
"I'll tell you a secret," he began. "The reason I'm not scared of losing again."
Eagerly, she did a seat drop and bounced over to him. "Tell me."
He leaned close to her ear, and whispered, "Cause I let you win this time."
"Nice try," Dana replied smugly. "But my pure talent and skill won me this 'Scrabble' match."
"Fine." Brian held up his hands, grinning proudly. "Don't believe me."
"I won't," she retorted with a smile.
"You should."
Dana scrunched up her eyes. "Nuh uh."
"Fine. Just don't blame me when you lose nine hundred million to two next time." He smiled kiddingly.
"Deal." Dana shook his hand. "You know, you have an awful lot of confidence for one so short," she teased.
"Yeah, but I'm the sexy Backstreet Boy, so height doesn't matter," he said, rubbing his nails on his shirt boastingly.
Dana pushed him away with a laugh. "Sorry, hon, that's Kevin."
++a year later++
"Where did he go," Dana wondered curiously over the hullabaloo. "It shouldn't take someone that long to grab a pop."
"Maybe some overzealous fan kidnapped him," Kira supplied with a smile.
"Don't start with me," Dana warned, finger wagging.
Kira rolled her eyes at Dana's anxiety. "I'm sure he's just stopped at the bathroom or something. Relax."
Dana shifted her bags to the other arm. "It's so great to see you again Kira, it's been insanely quiet on campus without you.
Kira laughed. "Yeah, but life outside school is just deadly. You have no idea, Dan. It's so great to wake up and not have to go to a class, no matter what day of the week it is, no matter what month of the year it is."
She smiled, and hugged Kira. "Listen, I should probably go. You give me a call, ya hear? And soon!"
"Promise," Kira nodded. "You'll hear from me so much it'll make you sick."
"Fat chance," Dana retorted.
She weaved through the Saturday afternoon mall crowd, surprised at the endless flood of people filling up Washington's Lincoln Mall. It was that crowd that was making it so difficult to find Brian.
Brian's eyes roamed over the crowd, searching for Dana. He couldn't see her, but she had said she'd be there. 'Right next to the fountain' had been her exact words. His eyes darting over the heads in the crowd, he spotted someone he'd never thought he'd see. Resolutely, Brian weaved through the crowd of people. "Hey," he greeted the man.
"Oh my God!" Dana almost fell down the escalator she was on. Just as she was about to begin walking down the stairs, and machine grumbled to a halt. The people in front of her murmured wonderingly, and Dana couldn't seem to elbow her way past.
Steve eyed up the guy. "Hey," he replied, and attempted to keep walking.
"Got a sec?" Brian stepped in front of Steve. "I've gotta talk to you about something."
He narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, sure," he agreed suspiciously, waving his friends to go ahead. When they were gone, Steve sized up Brian. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
Brian shrugged. "Maybe."
"Whatever." Steve brushed off the odd comment. "So, what's up?"
"You used to date Dana Commons, didn't you?" Brian stared at Steve square in the eyes. It was a very crowded, very public place. People were milling around, waiting for the escalator to resume motion so they could go about their shopping. There was no way this guy could get away with any funny stuff, even so, he would take any flak Steve gave.
At the mention of her name, Steve visibly bristled. "Why?"
"Yes or no," Brian insisted. "Did you or didn't you?"
"What's it to you?" Steve questiond. "Who the hell are you anyway?"
Dana barely blinked. She could see Steve puff out his chest, and try to look macho. Steve towered over Brian, and would unfailingly punch Brian should he be so inclined. Steve was the larger of the two, being atleast four inches taller than Brian. Whatever Brian was saying obviously his a soft spot in Steve. She just prayed that Brian would know when to stop.
"Did you ever date her?" Brian repeated. He was almost positive it was Steve.
"Yeah."
He suppressed the grin. "Your name's Steve, right?"
Steve didn't blink, just stared at Brian coldly. "Listen, if she sent you on some kind of -"
"Just thought I'd let you know that you missed out on a great girl." Brian smiled smugly. "A really great girl."
"Shut the hell up," Steve shot quickly.
"I'm serious, man," Brian nodded. He clucked his tongue piteously. "I guess the losers always miss out though, don't they?" Brian patted Steve's shoulder sympathetically. "Sorry man, your loss." He paused, before adding, "As always." Enraged, Steve looked as though he would jump on Brian if one more word passed from his lips. "Well, it was nice talking to you." With the satisfaction that he'd capped up an old problem, Brian strolled away confidently.
Horrified, Dana managed to run up the stairs. "What did you say?" she demanded, tugging on his hand.
Brian shrugged, and kissed her cheek, taking the mound of bags into his arms. "Don't worry about it," he shrugged nonchalantly. "It's nothing worth repeating."
"Tell me!" she insisted. "You have no idea what he's capable of, and you could have just waded into some serious shit, Bri."
"It's nothing, Dana," he repeated. He held out his hand. "Shall we?" Brian said, leading her towards the parking lot.
"Honestly, Brian tell me what you just said. You just had a conversation with someone I consider to be deranged. Doesn't that frighten you in the least?" Realizing she was fighting a losing battle, Dana sighed. "You always have to fix what isn't broken, don't you?"
"You know me to well," Brian allowed with a smile. "But trust me on this one, hon..." Dana examined him skeptically. With mock indignation, Brian reached for her hand and lead the way to the parking lot. "Believe me, Dan."
"I dunno..."
Brian smiled knowingly. "Let's just say that he'll probably never bother you again, okay?"
~epilogue~
~chapter index~
