Between The Two of Us

Chapter Three

It hurt just to think about Mell's death. It was penetrating his brain and leaving him dead on the inside. Danny looked out onto the yard to find a car pulling into his drive. It was Lucas.

He was wearing his classic bow tie but it was dark and not the usual color of the rainbows. Danny just smiled at the sight of one of his closest friends with Kim coming out of the back seat along with her future husband Christian and their daughter, Alexis. Danny got up from the porch and ran up to them hugging each one of them. It was comforting to see them all again.

"I can't believe it." Lucas said. "I'm back here."

"Yeah, I can't believe we're all back here again." Danny chuckled. "I guess we'll stay small town boys forever."

"I guess..." Lucas said and then he looked at Danny and hugged him. "I missed you so much and I'm sorry about Mell."

"Life moves on." Danny said.

They hugged for a couple more minutes until Harrison came out of the house smiling at everyone and greeting them. It all felt so distant at this point. The thought that Mell was gone hurt but at the same time he felt a bit happy about seeing everyone back. Danny looked out onto the front yard where Mell would chase him whenever they played tag. She also dragged him to Sainted and that's where he met James. He was so grateful his sister was herself.

A cherry bomb that exploded everywhere and left a mark on the ground. She'll never be forgotten.

__________

Danny was walking back into the house drenched in water. He felt horrible. The rain was hit him hard and left him all wet hiding his tears. The red eyes where the only clues to what occurred that day. Mell got up from the couch and hugged Danny.

"Don't give up." Mell said holding him tight.

"I don't want to but... He was the one, Mell." Danny said. "At least, I thought he was the one."

"Who cares?" Mell said. "You know what comes after the one?"

Danny looked up at Mell and asked, "What?"

"The next one, little bro." Mell smiled.

Danny chuckled and Mell went back to hugging him.

__________

Everything in her room still looked the same. Except for the added red pins on the map there was nothing different going on in her bedroom. Danny just felt a rush of nostalgia hit him as he wrapped himself with Mell's blanket.

_________

Harrison looked at Danny and smiled as Mell came from the restroom brushing her teeth. She smiled at Harrison and spit out the toothpaste with water.

"Well, if it isn't the one." Mell said shaking Harrison's hand.

"Of course, he's the one." Danny said.

"I'm the one?" Harrison said shocked. "Me?! Me?! How could that be? I mean aren't we moving too fast."

Danny threw a pillow at Harrison as he laughed.

"We've been dating for a year!" Danny exclaimed happily.

"Well, damn aren't I always right." Mell said. "I'm always right. I'm never wrong. As you can tell by my magical powers of predicting the future."

"You're lucky Mell told me that you were close." Danny winked at Harrison.

"So little brother." Mell said. "When are you two gonna pop the question to each other?"

"Soon..." Harrison winked at Danny.

Danny just smiled and felt his face turn red.

"I love it when I get you flustered." Harrison chuckled.

"Stop it!" Danny jumped on Harrison and kissed him. "Tease..."

"Okay, guys go get a room." Mell rolled her eyes. "Can't you guys wait till you get to Danny's room?"

As Danny and Harrison left Mell smiled at the thought of her brother finally getting to meet his one.

__________

"Hello, old friend." Danny looked up from the pillow to see James looking back at him.

Danny jumped from the bed and hugged him tightly.

It was a relief to see him. For some reason the sight of James Grey just calmed him and soothed him. He felt like home. Almost all the memories of Mell being close to Danny were linked to James.

"Things are pretty shitty right now, huh?" James asked as he held Danny in his arms.

"Yeah..." Danny said as he buried his face in James's chest.

___________

"A long time ahead of us we could be getting married." Danny said to Mell.

"The future with James seems so perfect in your head, huh?" Mell asked.

Danny nodded.

"I'm in love with the idea of a future of him."

"It's like a movie inside your head."

"That's exactly what it is and the soundtrack is a bunch of love songs."

"He's your one and only."

"Of course he's my one and only. To think it was you who started this."

"Who else would give you the guts to do that?"

"Only you."

"The one and only awesome and amazing sister in your life slash person."

"You're pretty amazing, sis."

Danny put his head on Mell's shoulder and looked at the sunset as it fell below the tree lines. Everything was a beautiful light orange with a dark pink radiating to light pink. The sky looked like a perfect representation of calm. Everything was soothing and the future seemed vast and certainly amazing. Mell was there and assuring Danny that things would work out.

__________

"I've missed you." Danny said as he sat on Mell's bed.

"Remember when we used to talk with Mell about our future in this room?" James said.

"Yeah..." Danny said. "We had so much planned out. Everything seemed so perfect."

"You know that I bought a ring because Mell made me." James chuckled.

"A ring?" Danny asked confused.

"Yeah, I was going to propose to you at one of our famous date night dinners." James said reminiscing. "I was going to marry you and have the wedding of our dreams. It was all planned out by me and Mell. Things change, I guess."

Danny thought about what his life would've been like if James had proposed. Waiting for him wouldn't have been so bad. He probably would've had a blast in college. All those bad dates would be nonexistent because he would've been engaged. Maybe Mell would've still been alive. Things would've been so different...

"Why didn't you propose?" Danny looked into James's eyes.

"We fell in love during the wrong time." James put his hands on Danny's face. "Just know that you'll always be the one for me and I regret not doing it. At the same time, I'm glad I didn't do it because you found the other one. I will never find the other one because you're all that will ever be."

Danny smiled and started to tear up. He hugged James feeling his body press against him. Their hearts were beating at the same pace. They looked at each other.

Danny kissed the one and felt the past emotions rush in. It was passionate and it felt right to kiss each other . Danny was just feeling the past and the sounds of love songs hit him hard. It was an amazing combination that deterred his sadness. After the kiss James just looked at Danny with that winner's smile that he fell for so long ago.

"I love you." Danny said as he got up and walked away leaving James in the room feeling the pain of losing him all over again.