Kiss Me

PART II, chapter 1

DANNY

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December 15, 2004

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- I -

He put on his sunglasses and walked outside, ignoring his father's angry outburst.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered under his breath. "Go screw yourself."

He got into his car and lit a cigarette, not even caring if his father would see that. He started the car and drove away, cigarette clenched in his teeth. He felt so angry that he couldn't even think.

"i***t," he muttered. "Imbecile... Just get her out of your damn head... She was just a good lay, nothing else."

He parked his car and climbed out. He was walking towards the front door of the school, hands clenched into fists in his pockets, when he heard someone call his name. He stopped and turned around.

"Ah, hell..." he muttered when he saw a dark-haired girl run towards him.

"Danny!" she called again, and he smiled at her.

"Hey, Palmer, what's up?"

"I need to talk to you," she said quickly, and Danny wondered if she was purging again. It seemed, she lost at least ten pounds since the last time he talked to her at that damn Halloween party.

"Palmer, how much do you weigh?" he asked, and she grimaced.

"Don't even start that again," she said. "I am not purging, okay? I swear," she added when he narrowed his eyes.

"Whatever," he shrugged. "What do you want?"

"I need a favor," she said in a low voice, and Danny laughed.

"What else is new? What is it?"

She shook her head.

"Not now. Can you come over tonight?"

"Sure," he shrugged indifferently, thinking that tonight he would not lose his self-control again. "I'll pick you up at six, how's that?"

"Perfect," she beamed. "Thanks, Danny!"

Danny looked at her walking away and felt like breaking something.

"Hey, Danny," someone said quietly, and he turned his head.

"Oh, hey, Trish," he said lightly.

"Danny..." she said uncomfortably. "I need to talk to you..."

He laughed bitterly, and she just looked at him, her eyes puzzled.

"What is it with you people today?" Danny said. "Everyone wants to talk to me... I feel so needed, it's nice really. What do you want, Maxwell?"

"I..." She bit her lower lip.

"Look," Danny brushed his hair off his face. "I need to go turn this in, okay? Figure out what you want and catch me later, okay?"

"Danny..."

"Later, Maxwell," and he walked off.

He left his thick binder in the office of the government teacher and went outside through the back door. Usually, he liked to be amongst people, but right now, he couldn't stand it. He sat on the bench that was covered with snow, and absent-mindedly kicked snow around with the heels of his boots.

"Danny! Just the man I needed to see!"

Danny looked up, smiled, and thought that he would be the happiest man on earth if he could just kill the guy right now.

"What's up, Tyler?" he asked cheerfully.

Tyler pulled out a hundred dollar bill.

"I need my refill," he laughed, and Danny nodded.

"Okay," he said. "Tomorrow."

"Sweet," Tyler nodded and handed him the money. "Just take it, man. I trust you."

Danny shrugged and shoved money into his pocket.

"So how's life, Ty?" he asked lightly and pulled out a pack of Parliaments.

"Good," Tyler nodded and took a cigarette that Danny offered him.

"How's Laurie?"

"She is good..." Tyler nodded again, and Danny narrowed his eyes.

"You two broke up or something?" he asked casually.

"Sort of," Tyler said slowly. "She found out about Stephanie and me..." he shrugged. "So she gave me an ultimatum... Wanna guess what it was?" he smirked bitterly.

"I have an idea," Danny muttered. "Did she say something like, 'Either her or me'?"

"Close," Tyler nodded and blew smoke out of his nostrils. "She said that if I don't dump Stephanie by Christmas, then I can kiss her good-bye..."

"What you gonna do?" Danny looked up in the darkening sky.

"I don't know..." Tyler said slowly. "I don't want to lose Laurie, but I don't wanna dump Stephanie either."

"Do you care about Palmer?"

"In a way," Tyler shrugged. "I don't love her or anything like that, but she is so crazy about me that..."

"Makes it totally worth it, huh?" Danny smirked, wishing for Tyler Blake to spontaneously combust right this second.

"Yeah," Tyler grinned. "She is sweet, really... Do you wanna know what she did last night when I was about to..."

"Not really," Danny said tightly. "I gotta go, man. See you around," and he got up and walked away without looking at Tyler, who just shrugged.

****

...He stopped his car at the curb and waited. She came out five minutes later, her coat wrapped around her.

"Hey, Danny!" she smiled when she got in the car.

"Hey," he said and pulled the car into the street. "So, what's up?"

"I have a request..." she said slowly. "I'll wait until you park somewhere though."

"That good, huh?" Danny laughed, and she smiled weakly.

"Yeah."

He parked behind some dark church and left the car running. Stephanie looked at her hands for a few seconds.

"It's two things, really..." she said, and then laughed. "Well, actually three."

"Go on," Danny nodded.

"Okay..." She took a deep breath. "Can you get me some Ecstasy?"

Danny looked at her with disbelief.

"Why?" he finally asked, and she uncomfortably shifted in her seat.

"I don't want to start purging again," she said in a small voice. "And I've heard that Ecstasy is a really great way to keep the weight off..."

"Uh huh," Danny nodded. "It's also a great way to end up in one of those neat wooden boxes... What are they called? Oh, yeah, coffins!" He shook his head. "No, Palmer, I won't give you any drugs."

She flashed him an angry look.

"I didn't say give," she said sharply. "I'll buy them from you!"

"Palmer, you are giving me a headache," Danny sighed. "I won't give or sell you any drugs, got it?"

"Fine!" she snapped and turned away from him.

He looked at her with a small smile.

"Right now you are thinking that you will just find another dealer," he said softly.

"So?" she said defensively, and he laughed.

"Palmer, look at me... Stephanie..." She finally looked at him. He leaned closer to her and immediately realized that was a bad idea. The smell of her skin made his heart ache. "Nobody in this town will sell you any drugs, okay?" he murmured and pulled away from her.

"Why?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Because I will tell them not to," Danny said patiently, and she snorted angrily at that. "Believe me, nobody wants to get on my bad side because of some crazy chick who wants to lose weight with Ecstasy... Now, that was thing number one. What are the other two?"

She looked at him indecisively.

"Okay..." she said finally. "Thing number two is sort of weird..."

"Oh, do tell," he snorted.

"Okay," she turned towards him and started absent-mindedly playing with her seat belt. "I need you to drug Laurie..."

Danny just stared at her, unable to speak.

"Let me explain," she said quickly. "She is really getting on my nerves lately with her being all righteous and shit..." She grimaced. "So I want you to drug her, get her naked, and get on top of her... And then Tyler and I will walk in on you two..." She smiled. "And then he will just dump her!"

Danny thought that he must have been as insane as she was, since he still loved her.

"Palmer..." he said weakly. "Are you completely out of your mind?"

"Will you do it?"

"Jesus..." He rubbed his forehead. The headache was starting to become worse. "No, Palmer," he said patiently. "I will not."

"But..."

"What's thing number three? Or do I even want to know?"

She sighed with frustration.

"It's nothing," she said gloomily a few minutes later.

"Just say it," Danny winced.

She looked at him, and suddenly, there was sadness in her eyes.

"I miss you, Danny," she said quietly, and Danny just wanted to scream at her.

"Why?" He asked evenly. "You've got your soulmate. You can always just run Laurie over with a car, so she won't bother you in your happily-ever-after."

"I don't know," she said in a small voice. "I love Tyler. I love him so much that sometimes it hurts... But I keep dreaming of you, Danny."

Danny turned away from her and looked outside at the silent white snow that was lazily falling on the ground. He almost said to her that Tyler didn't love her; that he would never leave Laurie; that Tyler would probably break up with her before Christmas. He looked at the snow and said:

"Let's go, okay? My headache is getting worse."

He threw the car into a gear and slowly drove out of the parking lot without saying anything else.