Love Me Senseless, Chapter 3

Love Me Senseless 1

Chapter 3: Possibilities 2

Dani didn’t notice the rest of the school day. After Algebra she only had Science and Gym, and those two hours seemed to pass her by in a meaningless blur. Not that she didn’t expect that, nor mind it all that much. An amazing, warm feeling had bloomed inside her with the bell that ended fifth period, due largely to the fact that she had a piece of a paper with a phone number written on it in slanted, elegant writing. Her mind and heart were both freaking out. What was she supposed to do with Crystal’s phone number, and why had she received it in the first place?3

Could it be…possibly…that Crystal liked Dani? Liked as in liked? 4

Wow. That sounded stupid. Dani sighed and shook her head to clear it of the weird thoughts she was having. With the final bell, she rushed to the locker room. After quickly changing and stopping by her hall locker, she made her way out Sunny Hill’s front gate and turned right down the street. She decided to not get too excited about the number yet. Maybe she would tell Arai tomorrow. Imagining her reaction was pretty funny. 5

Sunny Hill, being literally a smudge on the map of the state of California, was made up of three small subdivisions. The first consisted of all the two star hotels, bad restaurants and pretty much all the touristy stuff one would desire. Two or three grocery stores, one book store and a couple video arcades were there too, but they weren’t attractions so were therefore, never mentioned. The second was meant strictly for work and education, so all the office buildings failed in looking majestic and mostly, did nothing but show their age. The third was where everyone lived, be it in short, tidy little houses or overly passionately named trailer courts. Riverwood Street was located six blocks from the school and marked entrance to the third and final subdivision. It was as ordinary as a street could get, and Dani was proud of that little fact. Unfortunately, it was also next to a trailer court for the elderly called Dark Green Dragon. Whoever thought it would be a brilliant idea to put teenagers and old people next to each other on the town outline, Dani didn’t know, but they obviously hadn’t gotten much out of life. The people in that court scared her and she scared them.6

The small house in which Dani lived with her Dad was down at the end, across from a squat duplex that someone had painted an ugly shade of turquoise. It was small and gingerbread house style, red with white trim decorating the windows, door and roof. It was also the only house on Riverwood that didn’t take pride in a beautifully furnished garden. After Dani’s mother had moved away, neither Dani nor her Dad had bothered to take care of her flowers and Dani had eventually taken them all out with the lawnmower. Now only two large squares of perfect emerald grass framed the concrete walk that led to the front door. Dani knew her Dad was home already because his banged up white Honda was sitting in the driveway.7

“Dad? I’m home!” she called once inside. She plopped her leopard spotted school bag down on the floor under the coat rack and walked into the living room. The inside of their tiny home wasn’t much different from the outside: pretty, old fashioned mixed with modern, and simple. 8

“Hey Dan!” Dani’s father scooped her up in his arms and spun her around the living room once. Dani squeaked in surprise, then wasted no time in complaining.9

“Hey! Whoa! Put me down! That’s not funny!” Her Dad laughed before bringing them to a stop and planting his daughter back on her feet. Russell Parker was a tall and roughly built man whose face looked years younger than it was supposed to. He was thirty two, but from his face, looked about nineteen or twenty. You also couldn’t tell his age from the way he was always so enthusiastic and happy. Dani often thought that his attitude was what kept him looking so young. Unfortunately, it kept him on her case too. She loved her Dad, but it was all too true that a single father taking care of his daughter presented some problems. Because there were things the girl just couldn’t explain and he couldn’t help her with.10

Dani recovered from her little bout of lightheadedness before looking up at her Dad with stern eyes. “Dad, for the thousandth time, please stop calling me that. There’s an ‘e’ sound on the end of that Dan.” He laughed again before reaching out to ruffle her hair. 11

“Sorry kiddo. It’s a habit. I’m working on it I swear. Did you have a good day in school?” 12

“Oh yeah, school was great,” Dani replied a little too quickly. She barely managed to hide the blush that ignited on her cheeks again at the words. “How was work?” Her Dad worked in one of the office buildings in subdivision two as an assistant. It may not sound like a stable job, but it worked well enough to keep him and Dani both in good hands. 13

“Work was great too,” her father informed her. “But enough about that. I went to the store before I came home and got some fresh tomatoes. You want to help me make a salad for dinner?”14

“Sure!” If there was one thing to calm Dani down after an intense (for lack of a better word) day at school, it was cooking. She didn’t know much, but what she did know, she was incredibly good at. So she put together a vegetable salad while her Dad unthawed some chicken. 15

About twenty minutes later, they sat down to dinner and talked about their day. Dani didn’t have much to say. She definitely didn’t want to bring up the true highlights, but luckily, she didn’t have to. Her Dad kept her entertained with little details about computers and filings until the phone suddenly rang, making them both jump. Dani got up and went to the phone. It was Arai. Big surprise. 16

“Who is it, Dani? One of your friends?” her Dad asked.17

“Yeah.”18

“Well, I’ll clean this up. You can go ahead and talk.” 19

“Alright. Thanks Dad!” Dani left the tiny dining room and frolicked up the little flight of stairs. Her room was the first one on the left by the bathroom. She flopped down on her bed, making the springs groan in protest, before answering the phone on the fourth ring. 20

“Hey Arai.”21

“Dani! There you are! You know, I always forget that you don’t get home before I do, so I have to force myself to wait and it’s so hard! But now…well, we have tons of things to talk about!” 22

Oh goody. Dani couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive as the familiar voice exploded through the phone. The fact that it was at least ten times more energetic and bubbly than usual didn’t help. Oh well. She knew what Arai wanted to talk about and hoped that she wouldn’t want too much detail. 23

“So…I take it that the fabulous Crystal Change is the mystery girl that had you all out of whack during lunch break,” Arai said, wasting no time. “Right?”24

Dani’s blush returned full force. Jeez. She could tell she would be blushing a lot from now on because the subject of Crystal would be the most popular one in school from now on. “Is it that obvious?” she asked Arai. 25

“Oh yeah. I thought it was probably her when she came through that door, and when I looked at the way you reacted, there was no mistaking. But yeah, holy crap! You were right Dani. That girl is something else. But don’t feel embarrassed, I can assure you that you weren’t the only girl turned on by her.”26

“Arai!” Dani’s blush turned three shades of red darker. “What kind of thing is that to say?”27

Arai couldn’t help but laugh. “Normally I would say I was kidding, but I’m absolutely serious Dani! Your reaction may have been obvious, but some people in that room…woo! Not surprising that a girl as good looking as her could make a whole room stop functioning.” Dani’s blush was getting steadily darker as this conversation continued, but it was hard to disagree with Arai when she was right on every account. It didn’t take being so good at observation it was scary to see the effect Crystal had on people. She tried to calm down a little, despite the raging fire in her face.28

“She really is amazing, isn’t she?” Dani whispered.29

“Amazing doesn’t begin to cover it,” Arai agreed. “A girl like that will have the whole school, boys and girls alike, all but swearing service to her before too long.” Dani let out a small chuckle. She could almost feel her friend warmly smiling on the other end.30

“Well, Arai, despite what other people think, I really like Crystal and want to get to know her. I want to let her know she’s welcome here, and that she has friends if she wants them.”31

“You’re not thinking about friendship, Danielle Parker.”32

“Hey! You shut up!” 33

“You’re blushing aren’t you?” 34

“Seriously Arai, not funny!”35

“I’m right though. You want to be her girlfriend, not her friend. Anyone could tell from the way you looked at her today, even if they don’t know that you’re queer. Tons of boys from school feel the same way about her as you do, what if she starts going out with one of them? What will you do?”36

For several moments, Dani was speechless. Arai had not only hit the situation dead on, but Dani’s feelings as well. Despite her overly hyperactive nature, Arai was the smartest girl Dani knew. She opened her mouth, but felt like her insides had been shut down. Then she heard a soft sigh on the other end.37

“I’m sorry Dani,” Arai told her. “I’m just…worried about you, is all. I’m very happy that you’ve found a girl that you like, I just don’t want you to get hurt.” 38

“It’s okay,” Dani replied. “No, you’re right. I need to be taking these things into account.” That was the moment when Dani remembered. Her eyes widened, and a smug smile twisted its way onto her lips. “Arai, you do have a point about the possibility of Crystal dating a boy sometime soon, but I ask you: how many boys, at this point in time, happen to have her phone number?”39

Lots of crashing noises sounded through the phone. Either Arai had knocked a bunch of things over or she had been holding something and dropped it. 40

“SHE GAVE YOU HER PHONE NUMBER?!”41

Dani grinned in triumph and resisted the urge to jump up and down like a two year old. “Yup! After Algebra today!”42

“You’re shitting me!”43

“I shit you not.”44

“Seriously, for real?!”45

“Seriously, for real.”46

“My god Dani, why didn’t you say so sooner?! Then you wouldn’t have gotten that stupid pep talk from me! If Crystal gave you her phone number the day she met you, then it means she has her eye on you! Holy crap! I can’t believe this!” More crashing noises. Now Arai was bouncing off the walls. Dani started shivering inside at those words. Crystal had her eye on Dani? For real? Surely someone like her wouldn’t look twice at someone like Dani! 47

“You really think so?” she asked Arai breathlessly.48

“Honey, I KNOW so. Believe me, I have experience in this area. But…wow. Honestly, what were the odds of that? Dani, I’m so happy for you girl.” 49

Dani was so happy, she didn’t know what to say. Her heart swelled, so much so that she was afraid her chest couldn’t restrain it. She closed her eyes and allowed the warmth to radiate through her body, drench her heart and touch her very soul. This was all too good to be true. 50

Then Arai’s voice sounded in her ear again. “But let’s not jump into this too soon though, Dani girl. Crystal’s new and everything, she’s probably not ready to date anyone yet. Tomorrow at school, we’ll approach her, or vice versa, and get to know her. Hell, even if she becomes your girlfriend, she has to be your friend first, right?”51

Dani smiled, not feeling her blush return because she was so warm already. “Right. I want to be her friend.”52

“Well, I do too. So let’s go from there, but you keep that number close. Okay?”53

“Okay,” Dani agreed. “Thank you Arai. I love you.”54

“I love you too Dani. Look, I gotta go. See you in school tomorrow!”55

“Alright. Bye.” Dani hung up the phone. Two seconds later, she was at the bottom of the stairs and snatching up her school bag, going through its contents to find that little piece of paper. She found it and once back in her room, Dani smoothed the number out and taped it to the wall in front of her desk. Finally giving herself time to slow down and breathe, she stared at it fondly. My god, she thought. I wonder…could this be what I’ve been looking for?56

By this time, it was well past eight o’clock. Dani’s Dad was downstairs watching TV, and she needed to get started on her homework. She quickly ran back downstairs for the rest of her school bag and to kiss her Dad goodnight. When she returned to her room this time, she closed her door, set her bag down and settled back on the bed with her homework surrounding her. 57

It was no surprise that she couldn’t concentrate. As much as Dani tried to focus, her eyes kept drifting from Crystal’s number to the phone. She wouldn’t be making that call tonight, but did she ever long to hear that silky voice again…58

A soft, gentle wind came delicately through her open window like a beast that was afraid it wasn’t welcome. As the soothing fingers touched and played with the ends of her hair, Dani released a sigh of pure happiness, holding the phone loosely to her chest.