Promising Danielle Ch. 01

Mountains of gratitude to honeywldcat for her editing of this entire series.

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I was working on a paper when I found her again. Well, I was wandering around at 1 a.m. to take a break from writing a paper is what I was really doing. I generally walk around at night. The world is far more peaceful, easier to look at, without humanity getting in the way.

My paper was due next week, but boredom proved to be a helpful motivator into getting homework done. Unfortunately for me, this usually leads to dissatisfaction with my current activity and forces me outside, both to think about my homework and escape from it. Fortunately for her, this was one of those nights.

I found her sitting on a bench beneath a streetlamp on campus. Very noir, if you ask me. She had her head in her hands, those streaked locks curtaining her face. I couldn't tell much else about her from the distinct bagginess of her clothing. It wasn't due to ill-fit of the garments. On the contrary, they were baggy on purpose; more for comfort than anything else.

How on earth I recognized her was beyond me. She was so different from back then, bent over like someone had destroyed any happy emotion supporting her front. This made me question my own eyes, as it seemed impossible the girl she seemed to be could express unhappiness.

That seat next to her called to me. The orange sodium illumination of the streetlight, perhaps mixed with some tint of moonlight, bid me sit next to her. What manner of twisted fool is called to sit next to someone like her, by a city streetlight, no less?

This manner of fool.

"Danielle?" I asked tentatively. Danielle . Never "Dani," Danielle. What a fitting name. She had been the 'Hot girl' of our high school class. Queen Crap of Shit Mountain. Popular, beautiful, and exuberantly happy. Everything that every girl wanted to be, and everything that the boys wanted to fuck was Danielle Carter.

"Toby?" She looked up at me. She remembered my name? Remembered, hell, how could she have even known my name? We'd never really interacted on any level. We may have spoken maybe once or twice directly to each other in the course of high school.

She looked up at me with a very odd palette of emotions indeed. Her mouth was neutral, seemingly devoid of emotion, a very distinct difference from the rest of her face. Her eyebrows were nestled somewhere between their usual happiness and uncertainty. Her cheeks were rosy, possibly from the chill from the pervasive lack of sunlight at 1 a.m., or from something else? It was her eyes, however, that were a mystery unto themselves. Each was a dazzling turquoise, but had streaks of hazel in them, as if part had died somewhere along the way.

"Yeah, it's Toby. What are you doing here all by yourself at a time like this?"

"Nothing, really." She said. The violent absence of her wistful exuberance made her sound sad, though to someone who had never heard her speak, she would have sounded merely bored.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked, indicating the rest of the bench.

"No. Some company would be nice." She sat back, folding her hands in her lap as I occupied the remainder of the seat.

"What brings you to this bench, at 1 a.m.?" I asked, smiling slightly. She gave a mirthless snort.

"I've been kicked out of my house, so I'm trying to think of who's still in town that I can crash with."

"How's that working out for you? Been here long?"

"I've been here probably for an hour or so."

"Haven't been able to come up with anyone?"

"No, unfortunately." She sighed, looking up into the sky, quickly realizing that the streetlight qualified as "bright" and returned her gaze forward.

"That shouldn't be a problem for Ms. Popularity. You were always going on about parties in high school."

"How would you know about those?"

"You mean, 'How would a loser like you know about those?' You nearly broadcasted it to the whole school. You'd have to be deaf, dumb, and blind to not know." She blushed, bringing a little more color to those cheeks. I found it cute.

"Well...yeah," she said, a little embarrassed. "I don't talk to many of my friends from high school any more. Or rather, they don't talk to me." Even from my sidelong angle, I could see her glazed, far-off look in her eyes. It wasn't a good look.

"Oh?" My interest piqued.

"There was a bit of a falling out after graduation after it got out that I had slept with...someone." She clearly didn't want to talk about this, so I didn't inquire further.

"So what do you plan on doing?"

"I'm still not entirely sure." She sighed. "I had hoped that I would have come up with something by now."

"Well, from one alum to another, I've got a couch you could stay on until you find a new place."

It was true. By some miracle, I had managed to secure for myself a room the size of most houses. It could honestly be described as a wing of a mansion, but it wasn't quite that. It was more along the lines of a studio apartment attached to a house. The house was owned by a pair of lesbians who needed a lodger to help with the last bit of the bills, but so far had only found homophobes or horn dogs trying to get into their pants. Because I was neither of these, and I managed to help out with little household chores, they absolutely adored me and I could get away with pretty much anything, including a mildly psychotic ex-girlfriend.

"That's very generous of you, but I wouldn't want to impose."

"Oh don't worry. There's plenty of space."

"Still..." She was unsure.

"How about this, I give you my number and address, and if you don't find anyone, you can come crash on my couch? If I don't hear from you, I'll assume you've found something better." I quickly scribbled my number and address on a random piece of paper I managed to pull from my pocket and offered it to her.

"Sure..." She accepted the scrap of paper, to my surprise, somewhat eagerly.

"Care to get a late night snack? Coffee or something?" I suggested.

"You just gave me your number, don't push your luck!" She laughed.

It might be a cliché thing to say, but her laugh was like music. It wasn't that shrill cackling of girls who fell under the "Stupid Bitches" category, as Danielle used to. No, this laugh had body, character, and harmony, like pixies were dancing in her throat.

"Ok. Well, I have papers to finish writing, so I need to get back to those." I smiled. "Don't hesitate to call." I rose from that bench, mind far clearer, and at the same time somehow muddier, and walked back home.

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My cell phone rang, pulling me from the warmth of my dreams. Who in the name of Godzilla's twelve story cock would be calling at--I forced an eyelid open to discern the time: 3:45. I cleared my throat.

"Hello?" I rasped out.

"Toby?" 'Why was there music coming out of my phone?' My sleep-addled brain wondered.

"Yeah?" Answers were going to be mono-syllabic until absolutely necessary. Whoever was calling should consider themselves lucky they weren't getting grunts.

"It's Danielle." Danielle? Why are you singing into my phone? Enough sleep had been wiped away to bring my conversation on the bench back to the forefront of my brain. Mono-syllabic answers were not going to cut it for the rest of this conversation.

"Hey, Danielle. What's up? Did you find someplace to crash?"

"No." That was all she said. Don't ask me how but I somehow knew that on the other end of the phone, her lip was trembling.

"My offer still stands. I've got plenty of room if you want it."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't be imposing?" We were just going through the motions now. She didn't want to seem too eager.

"I'm sure. When do you think you'll be here? Do you need a ride?" I sat up and pulled on some pants, which is far more difficult when you have a phone pinned between your ear and shoulder.

"I'm out front." I nearly fell over. She really was at the end of her rope if she had walked here with whatever she had managed to get that night.

"Ok." I gathered my wits about me, her last comment driving the last of my sleep from me. "Come around to the side door."

"Ok. Be there in a minute." She hung up. I picked up one of my pillows and hurled it to the other end of the room, as it would leave my arms free to carry bedding. I picked up some of the spare blankets and carried them with me to the air-mailed pillow by the couch.

A shadow crossed the curtains covering the sliding glass door that served as my own private entrance and exit. I pulled the curtain back to find Danielle waiting for me with a very large duffle bag. She was indeed desperate if she had hauled that thing with her out here.

"Come on in." I opened the door and ushered her inside.

"Thank you so much." She said, hefting her bag behind her. I really should have tried to be a gentleman and get it for her, but by the time that registered on me, she was inside with her bag.

"There're a couple of blankets on the couch with a pillow. Right through there is my bathroom, which you are welcome to. Now, excuse me if I don't tuck you in, but I have class in the morning."

"Don't worry about it. Go back to bed; you've done enough for me for one night." She gave me a quick hug and disappeared into the bathroom. Without really thinking, I shuffled back to bed, kicked off my pants, and fell unceremoniously down, wrapping myself in blankets.

I heard the water running in the bathroom. Danielle was brushing her teeth or something of the sort. This would be my first time living with someone other than my immediate family. What a strange thing to realize.

The water shut off and a short moment later, the door quietly opened. I heard quiet footsteps approaching me. Dammit, I was nearly asleep too. The cracking of ligaments and swishing of skin told me that she was sans pants, something that would have been of great interest to me should I have been awake. I felt her breath on my ear next.

"Thank you." She whispered, nearly inaudible, even to me in this close proximity. I sensed, more than felt, her hovering near to my cheek. She stayed for what felt like a year, but may have only been a few seconds. In the end, she walked back to the couch and climbed into her makeshift bed.

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More to come. Any feedback is welcome. If you have any questions, let me know with a way to respond to you, and I'll do my best to answer.