Nighttime Conversations

****Terra****

After I cried for a few minutes in my mother's loving arms, the two of us headed downstairs. I could smell the oven from my spot on the staircase. "Dennis," my mother chuckled.

"I'm in here," he yelled from the kitchen.

"Oh, I thought you were burning something in the backyard," I jested. We walked into the kitchen to see Dennis waving a towel over the stove.

I asked, "What are you making?"

"I tried to make oven-baked teriyaki chicken from this recipe on Pinterest. I think the meat is good, but I might have burnt the beans." My mom laughed as she walked over to the stove. "The chicken smells wonderful."

I leaned across the island, "How do you burn beans?" I observed after a careful examination.

"I think you mean overcooked. It can be salvaged though." Our mom smiled up at him in awe of his accomplishment.

As Dennis came close to me I whispered, "I understand if you don't want to talk about it in front of Mom, but we can talk about what you said privately."

We ate our dinner of smoked Teriyaki chicken and Lima beans with a comforting repartee amongst us. It was almost normal, but not quite there. It always felt that way since Dad's been absent. I hoped it would be more ordinary in time. I adored being with them, but it still felt cloudy and like the rain could fall at any minute, ruining everything.

I decided to get ready for bed early. I had nowhere to run off to, or any more people to disappoint. I went to the bathroom and got ready before I headed back to my room. My hair was damp from the shower and I slipped into something more comfortable.

A nervousness traveled throughout my body as I saw my phone buzzing. There was no more avoiding it. Earlier in the day, I was looking forward to speaking with him. But because of the events of the day, I was worried about what he might say to me.

I responded at the first ring. He must've been waiting for me. "Hey!"

"Hi," we spoke at the same time. My hand fidgeted around the phone and on my lap.

Banks' voice could be compared with velvet, but it still had a strong cadence. "Hey," he repeated.

"Hey, it's Day, which rhymed. I'm sorry," I bowed my head.

"Hey, Day," he quickly said as if it was one word.

As I fidgeted on my bed I questioned, "Have you talked to Piper?"

"Yeah, we talked," he spoke softly, causing my anxiety to increase.

I think he was about to continue, yet I said, "Yeah, I talked to her too. You know I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be, I don't know, disrespectful to you. I like you and all. He's just been my best friend for years and I was talking to him. Like, he dropped some heavy stuff in my lap, and I had to talk to him. And yeah, I hugged him. We stayed like that for a few minutes. It was more like a side hug than anything. And yeah, there was a kiss, but," I babbled.

"Daya," he interjected. "Piper said you had something to tell me, but she didn't say... what."

And I realized that I tried to glaze over the kiss when he didn't even know and I immediately facepalmed. "Oh, Jay my... old best friend, he kissed me today. Terrible timing, I know. Right after you asked me if I was rebounding. Which I'm still not doing."

There was silence on the other side of the line but my heartbeat was growing louder and louder. Finally, he replied, "I'm not upset about it. I understand."

I didn't believe him for a second. Blinking I said, "You do? Because you can be, mad. I would be mad if it was the other way around. I'm upset with him and myself and..."

"Hey, take a breath," he interposed as I began to ramble again. I could hear it in the back of his voice that it was hard to hear yet he was still concerned about me.

I obliged before he asked me, "Do you feel better?"

I nodded even though he couldn't see me. "Oh, yeah. That's much better. I mean it though. You can be mad at me if you want. But, if you're really not then that's fine too," I smiled sheepishly.

"I understand. As you said, he's your best friend. It's not that big of a deal. I didn't expect you to stop talking to him forever," he mumbled his way through the words making me think they weren't true.

"Still, it's too soon. We were just together this morning and-" I ceased speaking because his voice forcefully came through the phone. "It doesn't change anything. I'm still on board for whatever you want to do."

Rolling around my bed I responded, "I don't know what I want to do. I even asked my mom about you."

"You're talking to your mom about me already. Did she give good advice?" I could hear the smugness on his tongue.

"I haven't tested out her advice yet, and I don't even know that it'll work. She said to make a pros and cons list. I think she was joking though. She also said to keep doing what I am doing but I don't even know what I'm doing so..." I tried to shrug it off.

"Do you want my advice?" A static sound interrupted his words.

"Yeah, what do you think I should do about a situation involving you?" I moved my head with every syllable.

He chuckled, "I agree with your mom. You should take your time and decide, not when it's convenient for me or him, but for you."

Biting down on my lip, I spoke, "Are you willing to wait? I don't want to lose you because I'm indecisive. And I don't want to hurt either of you, but I've already done that."

He paused, "Don't worry about me. I'll wait, I won't wait forever, but I'll wait. And whether we get together or not, you don't have to worry about losing me. I'm here for the long haul."

Gulping, I said, "How long is a good time frame then? For future purposes," I awkwardly laughed.

"I don't know. I'll tell you when the time gets closer. It's definitely not two days though." A silence came over the phone for a few seconds. "What did you tell your mom about me?"

Moving my hair to one side, I spoke, "Nothing that wasn't pg. thirteen, if that's what you mean."

I could practically see him smirk through the phone. "That's not what I meant, but good to know. We wouldn't want her to see you any differently."

I changed the course of the conversation, "I told her that I liked you and a few things that you told me about yourself. She said that you sound astonishing. I think that was the exact word she said."

"She sounds great too. Do you think she would like me in person? It wouldn't be good if she didn't," he clarified.

"Have you ever met someone who doesn't like you? You're kind of amazing." I wanted to ask him about what he said about me or Taryn or Dennis or Celia even, but I didn't know how to say it.

He cleared his throat, "I'm not the best with families. Your brother didn't like me much when we first met, or now."

"Really? And why was that?" I attempted to say it like I wasn't already aware of some of the story beats.

He sighed, "I'm only telling you this because he's your brother. But, you know how out of everyone in the group Serrano is my best friend and we're the closest?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I gathered that much."

He explained, "I really only started hanging out with him because of Michy. But Dennis and Serrano got kinda close. Usually, Serrano doesn't branch out much so I thought it was good for him. But Dennis and I just didn't get along. And I tried to tell Michy and Serrano that I wasn't a big fan of the guy after he was hanging around a lot."

Banks paused, "And then the whole hallway encounter happened. I was so pissed about it. The guy told me he would fucking kill me. I thought he was crazy. So, I told Serrano to cut him off. I knew he was into him, but Dennis was dating Michy. And I was selfish... Serrano's my best friend." He seemed to lose himself in his retelling of the story. I needed to hear his perspective on things compared to Denny's.

"You said Mark was into him. What do you mean by that?" I pondered.

Matter of factly, he replied, "Serrano had a crush on him at one point, a big one. I really shouldn't be telling you since it was Mark's secret crush. But he thought maybe there was something there. What I said about you, I regret it. But the look in Dennis' eyes. It was like he might actually kill me for talking to you."

Deliberately and with careful intent, I asked, "Mark's gay?"

"He's never put a label on it so I'm not either." It made me wonder more about their friendship and Dennis' role in it.

Lost in my own thoughts, I spoke lowly, "And you think my brother..."

"Dennis was dating Michy and she's one of the sweetest girls I've ever met. But, I think they felt the same way about each other," he paused. "Would that be a problem for you?"

"No, it just makes sense now." All the pieces of the puzzle were coming together. Dennis hated Banks because he got in the way of the Mennis love story. And Dennis was around Banks because he and Mark were flirting it up. He faked cheating on Michy because he wanted to avoid coming out.

There were still some holes in the story, but I thought that was the gist of it. Maybe I was oversimplifying it, but the only way I could find out was to talk to Dennis. He didn't appear open to speaking to me about it.

I took that opportunity to bring up his comments about me. "Dennis told me what you said. Like exactly what you said... about me."

"Oh shit, Daya! I... I didn't mean it. I didn't know you at the time and I didn't realize Dennis was your brother. I should have. I've literally been in your house before. I'm sorry... it was dumb. I'll apologize for it every day for the rest of my life if I need to." It bothered me at first, but it was almost funny how worried he was about it.

"You have a thing for virgins? Do I just give off big virgin energy?" I poked fun at both of us.

We shared a laugh, "I didn't mean that I was going around looking for virginities to take. I was talking out of my ass. And you were a random sophomore who walked by and looked in our direction weirdly. I didn't know you were looking at him. For all I knew you could have been checking me out."

"Did I look easy to you?" Things took a turn for the more serious.

"You're everything but easy, Daya Johnston. You're so much better than me. I'm lucky that you like me still. You do, right?" He said in a jokey tone.

I laid back, "For some reason, I still do. I feel lucky that someone like you would even look my way. But I am seeing a bit of pattern: Celia, me, Liv definitely wasn't but still."

He chuckled awkwardly, "It wasn't like that. I hope you don't think I'm some sort of creep."

"I don't. We didn't know each other. If you said it now after we have, then I would think that you were just trying to sleep with me. But I feel like I know you better than that." And I truly believed it. He hadn't shown me anything to make me believe those were his intentions.

"My mom, she would love you, though. I bet she would like to meet you, especially after everything I told her about you. I know she would," I bit my fingernail.

The smile in his voice was evident. "I could come over there and meet her now."

I smiled, "It may be too soon for that. She just found out you existed today. And it's too late, Oliver."

"It's barely eight o'clock," he paused. "Wait, if I came over would she call me Oliver?"

I giggled, "Yes, she has a thing about nicknames. She never calls me Day or calls Dennis, Denny. She uses pet names though, like honey. I don't get it, but it's her thing I guess."

I shrugged. "What's your thing," he questioned.

"The anxiety thing. I haven't been my best self recently," I exhaled.

"Your best self must be the epitome of brilliance because you're pretty damn great." He was becoming my own personal hype man and I was actually enjoying it.

I blushed, "You only think that. I can be a real bitch if I need to be, or if I'm in a bad mood," I moved to lay on my stomach.

He reasoned, "Everyone can at times."

"Well, we both know your thing. Mister eyebrow quirk followed by a smirk," I quipped.

"Are you trying to say you don't like it?" Even without seeing him, I could tell he was doing his thing at that exact moment.

"It's uniquely you, so I love it." My eyes widened, "I don't mean I love you. I love the way you look. No, that does not sound right. I love your personality too. I don't love you okay," I clarified.

He laughed, "I got that. I don't love you too."

I choked on my laugh, "Is this going to be a cute couple thing that we do now?"

His voice got further away, "It'll be an inside joke and only the two of us will know what we're talking about."

"We have our first inside joke now." I placed my phone on the bed and released my hair from its bun. "It's our second, Diya," he joked.

"How could I forget about that piece of comedic genius," I said sarcastically. "What are you doing," I asked, as his voice got even further away.

"I'm getting undressed." My face flushed red after that.

I tried to avoid thinking about the undressing going on the other side of the line. "Oh! Are you getting ready for bed? Because after last night I forgot how to sleep in a bed."

"I'm sure you will figure it out. Was it weird for you to sleep in a truck?" I loved that he checked in on my thoughts.

Jokingly, I said, "I spent the whole night wondering if we would get mugged or carjacked."

"This isn't Grand Theft Auto. No one is going to touch Dark Knight, especially not with you in it." We had a nice banter transpiring on.

I joked, "You would protect me from any homeless people trying to squat in the truck."

"Correction, I would protect you from every homeless person trying to squat in the truck," he said causing me to want to roll on the floor with laughter.

"What a hero," his soothing voice got closer again. We were definitely in for an interesting nighttime conversation.

*I feel like we're hitting a lot of heavy topics.

Do you guys feel like they were executed properly? How do y'all feel about the Dennis storyline?

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