Dan kept thinking in his head what he was going to say. He had never been nervous at a concert, but calling a girl for some reason was the most difficult thing in the world.
"Hi, is Melissa home?"
"This is me," she answered. "Who's this?"
"Oh hey, it's Dan. Dan Stadnicki, we have algebra together."
"Oh yeah, I know who you are," she said. "So what's up?"
"Oh not much. I'm kind of enjoying my down time between gigs for right now."
"Down time?" she said. "Oh yeah, you're in that one band. . .Serial Joe?"
"Yeah, I'm the drummer."
"That's cool. I heard something on Much the other day about your singer being sick or something."
"Yeah, Ryan collapsed backstage before a concert about a week ago, from exhaustion."
"Oh wow, I didn't know it was that bad," she said. "Is he alright?"
"Yeah, he's good now. He's doing much better," he siad. "We might be able to make up the concerts in about a month or so."
"That's great. Maybe I'll go watch you guys play."
"That would be cool. I'll save you a backstage pass for whenever. You could meet the rest of the band."
"I'd like that." After Melissa's last sentence a long silence ensued. Neither could really break it.
"So, um. . ." said Dan. ". . .listen, I just wanted to ask you if. . .well there's this thing going on at Stever's house on Saturday night. . .if you're not doing anything, would you like to go with me?"
"You're asking me out on a date?" she asked. "Seriously?"
"Well you know, it's a little hard to do when I'm not serious. It just doesn't work very well." he said. "But if you want me to be not serious I can try."
Melissa laughed. "In that case, I'd love to go with you. It sounds like a lot of fun."
"Really? Great. I'll pick you up around 7:00?"
"Okay. That sounds good," she said. "If you've got a pen or something ready I'll give you drections to my house."
"Oh yeah, uh. . .gimme a sec," he said as he started searching his room for something to write on. He was happy beyond belief about this date. He'd been sweet on Melissa for months, and now he had a date with her. It was almost too much to believe. Melissa was one of the most popular girls in their grade, although that didn't matter to Dan. He remembered when he first began noticing her. It was her intelligence, her sence of humor, her whole aura. It didn't hurt that she was drop dead gorgeous. She had this amazing wavy auburn hair that fell just below her shoulders. Her eyes were a brilliant green, no emerald could even compare. Just like Tori was perfect for Ryan, she seemed perfect for him. He was going to see to it that their date was nothing less than perfect.
"Taia?" Melissa said into the phone. "Oh my god you will never believe what just happened."
"What? Did Nick Carter move to Ontario and leave his girlfriend for you?"
"Argh! Are you ever going to get boy bands out of your head? This is way better than that faerie."
"No, and what's way better than Nick Carter?"
"Dan Stadnicki. The guy from Algebra."
"An algebra dude is better than Nick Carter?"
"Will you shut up about the freakin Backstreet Boys?!"
"Wait a minute, is this Dan guy the one who's gone all the time?"
"Well not all time, but a lot."
"He's in a band or something right?"
"Are you oblivious?. . .Actually I forgot too, for a moment. He's like, famous! He's the drummer."
"So. . .you found out that the guy in our algebra class is famous, and this is spectacular?"
"Taia I knew he was famous before, but you know he's always been normal at school so I kind of forget, but his celeb status isn't why I called you."
"Okay, then what's the big deal?"
"He asked me out! I, me, Melissa Biddle, am going out on a date with Dan Stadnicki," she said. "The totally cute, totally sweet, and totally funny drummer for Serial Joe!"
"Really?. . .Wait a sec, Serial Joe? That's the band he's in? Ahh! No wonder he always looked sort of familiar!"
"Duh! Like I said before, are you totally oblivious?"
"Oh my god, you're dating a famous guy!"
"Wait, hold it. A.) He's not a 'famous guy', he's Dan. B.) We aren't dating, we have a date for Saturday night." She paused for a second. "But I hope it turns to something more."
"You Melissa? Getting serious with a guy? Now?"
"Why not now? There's nothing wrong with me dating a guy now," she said defensivly.
"Think about it. Derek ringing a bell?"
"Derek isn't a part of my life anymore, I intend to keep it that way."
"Regardless of whether or not you want him in your life, he's there."
"No Taia, he's not. He chose not to be, he left. If he wanted out then I want him out too."
"But you know that. . ."
"Yeah, I know. Dan may not be thrilled. . .he'll probably say 'forget it', but I have to take that chance."
"You're a lot braver than me."
Bravery has nothing to do with it. . .it's moving on," she sighed, hoping that she would actually be able to do so.