Chapter 1: Dan Is Not In Love (he thinks)

I woke up to a harsh slap across my face.

"Wake the fuck up you lazy sod."

Ugh, not another day. I consider punching my indifferent and bastard-like step father in the face when I remember what day it is. The day I plan (kind of) on running away.

OK, it was a muffed up plan and I don't really know where I'm gonna run to. My friend PJ was in London for the weekend so I'd ring him up and see where I could go. I don't want to end up crashing in a disabled toilet in Cafe Nero.

I drag myself out of bed and get changed quickly. "Why do you want me up so early?"

"I want you out of the house." he roughly replies, not making eye contact.

I growl. "Why?"

"Cause I hate you and I have a woman coming over so get the fuck out. Now."

"What the hell? You're such a douche!"

He picks up a blue backpack and throws it at my face. I rub my nose and bring away some blood. "You have seven minutes to pack some shit for the weekend. After those seven minutes, I will come up here and if your ugly ass isn't gone, damage will be done."

I let out a low snarl then chuck in my favourite stuff and clothes into my bag then run down to the kitchen in under three minutes. I grab loads of toiletries and food then legit out of the house and down the drive.

I run for about half an hour. Steve had never done anything too serious to me before, the most was probably a broken arm that was half my fault. After all the air has been thrown out of my body from running, I slump down inside a bus shelter and pull out my phone, punching PJ's number in.

He picks up after the second ring.

"Yeeello?"

"Hey, PJ?"

"Chris. PJ's peeing."

"Oh, OK, Chris, hey, can you put me onto PJ when he comes back?"

"Yeah su-" I hear a loud flush and a shout : 'What are you doing on my phone!'

I laugh despite the raging stitch in my chest.

"Hey, Liv, you alright?"

"Yeah, um, look. I don't wanna be a burden or anything but I kind of need a home for the weekend." I explain, biting my lip.

"Oh, yeah, why?"

I sigh. When he sees the state of me and my scarce amount of items he'll know something's up. And I'm finally sick of lying to my best friend.

"I got kicked out."

"Ah, shit, really? I'll have to ask Dan and Phil, cause we're staying at theirs but I'm sure they'll say yes. We are all dying of female company." he says. I sigh in relief.

"Who are Dan and Phil?" I query about the friends he never told me about.

"Just a couple of friends we are staying with. They moved into London a few days ago. They're YouTubers as well."

I've never really been on YouTube before myself due to my complete lack of internet. The only videos I've seen are a couple of Chris and PJ's at their house. They were quite funny.

"OK, as long as none of you are vlogging when I get there." I joke.

"Where are you?"

"Pimlico."

"OK, coming."

I wait at the bus shelter for a few minutes, playing on my phone for a bit, before a small car pulls up and the window rolls down.

"Hello there, need a ride?" Chris says, winking.

"Shut up Chris." I laugh and climb into the backseat. I notice there are two other guys in the car as well. A guy with ebony black hair and a pale face is sat in the back and a taller guy with brownish hair and a slight tan sits in the seat across from me. I can't help but notice how fucking attractive the guy with brown hair is.

"Um, Liv this is Dan and Phil." PJ introduces me to them.

I smile. "Hi, Liv."

"Dan." the fit one gives me a cute smile and a little salute.

The guy in the back has earphones in that are blasting out a loud video game song. I laugh and strap myself in.

"So what happened, Liv?" PJ asks from the passenger seat.

"Oh, nothing. Just Steve being a dick again. He had some chick over so he said I had to be out for the weekend."

I put the backpack down at my feet and look over to the fit guy- I mean Dan. He is staring back at me. I grin and he returns it, baring his pearly teeth. I remember I forgot to brush this morning and hope to god I don't look like crap.

"What the hell? Steve is such a knob." PJ growls, angry about the way he treated me earlier on. I'd told him about my arm but he'd guessed the rest.

We arrive at their flat and pile inside. Dan offers to take my backpack but I protest.

"OK, suit yourself." he smiles and my insides flip over.

Ugh, he was so cute.

PJ said that he'd crash on Phil's floor and Chris was staying in Dan's on his sofa so I had the living room to myself. I smiled and threw the backpack on the floor then jumped onto the sofa. We'd had a long day of tours around the house and getting to know one another. We'd ordered pizzas and watched a film. Kill Bill, their favourite.

I dread when I have to go back. I had so much fun today. I'd have to talk to PJ and ask them if I could stay longer. That would be awesome. Then I could make the move on Dan... Oh shut up, Olivia, you barely know this kid. And besides, he's friends with Chris and Peej that'd be weird.

I can't sleep. I think I've registered that. I get up and make my way to the kitchen. I remember the route from the tour earlier. I get a glass and fill it with water from the tap. I nearly choke when I see the time. It's 2:39, we were up that late? I mean, yeah, I've been up way later than that before it's just, I never noticed this time.

"Need any help?" a voice comes from behind me in a slight whisper due to the time.

I spin around and see Dan in the doorway. He looks unbearably sexy in his low slung jogging pants and tight white tshirt.

"Sorry, I was just getting some water." I say, shaking the glass slightly.

"Nah, its fine. I was just making sure you weren't getting molested." He walks inside then opens the fridge, taking out a canned energy drink.

I raise an eyebrow then chuckle. "Did I wake you?" I ask taking a gulp of my water.

"No, I was on my computer."

"You were on your computer at this time?" I laugh.

"Yeah, I don't sleep much." He says honestly. I laugh again. Man, I need to stop laughing. I notice he has his ears pierced and I bite my lip. It looks hot.

"Well if you were planning on sleeping, I wouldn't suggest Relentless." I joke. He smirks.

"I wasn't really, there's no point in sleeping now."

I cock my head to the left a little. "What do you mean?"

He laughs. "Well, you're hear now and you look pretty wide awake to me."

I smile softly. "It'd be nice to talk to someone." I admit.

"Do you wanna take this into the living room?" he asks. I nod and follow him into the living room where we sit down on the sofa. Or my bed, as it is now.

"So, Liv.. I can call you Liv right?" he asks. I chuckle.

"Sure you can. I mean, I don't see why not."

He laughs, this sweet, articulate laugh. I don't know how exactly a laugh can be articulate but his voice suits it. I don't want to say 'posh laugh' as it sounds like I'm mocking him.

"So, as I was saying, what brought you here?"

"Um, my douchey step dad kicked me out." I say, sighing.

Dan made a concerned face (I don't know the word, when you kind of push up one side of your mouth and scrunch up the other. It's the concerned face, OK.) and nodded. "Yeah, my dad was a prick too. What did he say?"

"He said I had seven minutes to pack and be out of there or he'd 'do some damage'." I say, trying to hold back tears. I didn't want to start blubbing in front of this guy I had only met today, especially when he's ridiculously gorgeous.

"I'm so sorry. If he did does do anything to you, I'll kick his ass I promise." he says, his face quite close to mine now. I can see how strongly brown they are, like a Malteser. What the fuck, Olivia, a Malteser? Really? How poetic of you. Wow, you really are a freak.

"Really?" I say, shocked by his sudden concern.

"Yeah, I know we only met but...you're just so nice and sweet and..."

"And?" I ask him to finish his sentence, already flattered and blushing from his previous compliments.

"And.." He looks down at the floor. "...You're really pretty." He bites his lip then slaps his face. "Sorry I shouldn't have said that." He gets up to leave.

"No!" I grab his shirt and pull him back down onto the sofa. "That's lovely of you. I think you're really cute too."

"Really?" His beautiful eyes light up.

I laugh. "This is like a High School Musical film."

"Hey." he playfully hits me on the shoulder. "Don't diss HSM."

I laugh again. "You really think I'm pretty? I mean, not many people do." My inside lip is bleeding now.

He takes me hand and my cheeks go crimson. "You're beautiful." Then he plants a kiss on my lips.