“Fuck!

” rang out through the room, followed by the sound of fists hitting a table with a background of
still swishing cymbals. I’m so fucked… how am I going to do this, Daniel thought, furiously running his
fingers through his own hair. Two weeks, two fucking weeks and I still can’t get it… Daniel sighed before
reaching for his sticks and pulling it out of its holster. He took a deep breath, laying the tops of his sticks
on the snare and ride respectively, Right, this time! This time I’ll get it... Daniel started playing once
more, trying his best to keep up with the insane tempo and, frankly, crazy arrangement that his dad had
come up with.

It was going pretty well, Daniel knew this part was always going to be simple enough, it’s just the
dreadful bar 23 onwards that always catches him. He could feel his heart beat getting faster as it
approaches. Here it comes crash Come on! now’s the time crash Fuckin’ get it now crash. With a high
degree of finesse, Daniel led the sticks across his kit, filling up the room with a crescendo of sound as
sticks meet toms to a background of the bass drum and ever present chick of the hi-hat. With a loud
crash the moment finally arrived.

And with another crash the moment was gone, Daniel could barely contain himself, his knuckles were
white from how tightly he was holding his sticks. Short... he gripped his sticks even tighter, Fucking
SHORT again, Daniel let out a deep sigh before his breathing became ragged, “SHORT AGAIN!” he stood
up and kicked the stool he was sitting on away.

Daniel stood there, his breathing ragged, before he let out a scream, not a scream of anger, not sadness,
just desperation. “Motherfucker!” he screamed again as he punched his crash cymbal, causing the stand
to topple over with a loud thud and, fittingly enough, a crash.

Daniel paced around his drum kit, furiously thinking about how the hell he’s going to get this part right
in two days. He stopped just in front of his kit and rubbed his temple. God how am I going to do this… he
sighed. Daniel refused to disappoint his dad, everything he does will be absolutely perfect and nothing
less, he refused to accept less. His inner monologue continued before he realized that he had been
hearing these movements in the background, movement that wasn’t his own.

Daniel looked towards his bed, and there sat a familiar figure topped with a mess of chestnut hair,
looking at him with curious hazel eyes. “When are you gonna’ learn to knock…” Daniel said followed by a
sigh, he really wasn’t in the mood to deal with this.

“What’s wrong?” Lena asked, with a look of concern on her face.

“Lena please… not now…” Daniel rubbed his temple, his fuse was running short.

“Why?” She scooted to the edge of the bed, “Dan, what’s wro—“

“God dammit I said not now!” Daniel yelled, the anger and frustration very clear in his tone.

“Well maybe if you’d tell me what’s wrong maybe I could help…” Lena said weakly, she could barely
finish that sentence before Daniel just lost it.

“Well you fucking can’t!” he yelled, getting in her face, “It may be hard to get it into your cheerful little
head where it’s all sunshine and rainbows and everything goes perfectly but guess what!?” He flailed his
arm for effect “Not how it is!” Daniel turned around and stomped over to his drum kit “You can’t fuckin’
help everyone! As much as your fucking naïve ass wants to!” Daniel practically screamed as he slammed
his fist down on his snare, ripping the head on impact.

Daniel stood there, facing away from Lena; his mind was still flooded with anger and frustration, racing,
trying to figure out what the hell he’s going to do, he only had two days to get the part absolutely
perfect, and it has to be perfect. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a whimper behind him,
which progressively turned into soft crying. Oh no… the realization hit him hard. Oh no no no no NO! He
turned around and sure enough, Lena was balled up on the edge of the bed, her face buried into her
knees.

The sight caused all the anger in Daniel to just disappear. Instead he felt sad and empty, and so
incredibly stupid that he would let all his anger out towards his innocent best friend who didn’t even
know why he was mad in the first place; all she wanted to do was help.

Daniel walked over and took a seat besides Lena, he extended a hand towards her. “Lena I—.” Before
Daniel could finish, Lena moved and turned away from him, it absolutely broke his heart. Daniel sighed,
he had to try something else, so he moved closer and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into a
hug. He felt Lena struggle to free herself from his grip, but ultimately Daniel’s strength with her
disadvantageous position meant that she’s stuck there, so she just dropped her head on Daniel’s
shoulder in defeat.

“Lena please, listen to me…” Daniel said, he felt Lena struggle again but his grip kept her there. “Look.…”
he sighed, “Lena, I’m so sorry that I yelled at you, I didn’t mean what I said… I just…” Daniel looked at
Lena, “I’m just so angry and frustrated that I couldn’t get this stupid part right that I… let it out towards
you.” he chuckled, not a fun filled chuckle, but the chuckle of a desperate man with no hope, “And I’m a
horrible friend for saying all those things to you… I know you just wanted to help, and I really appreciate
that…” he chuckled again, “Look, I’m a massive dummy alright? I’m awful with words. You have every
right to hate me after what I did and what I said.…” He felt tears coming down his face, disappointed in
himself. “Just… know that I’m so sorry…” and with that he let go of Lena, to his surprise the woman
stayed there, leaning on his shoulder.

To Dan’s instant relieve he felt Lena’s face contort into a smile, “You are a huge dummy…” she lifted her
face and looked at Dan with a smile, the smile on her face faded once she saw Daniel was in tears. “Dan,
it’s alright, I forgive you. I know you didn’t mean it. I was just scared….” she said weakly, running her
hand along Dan’s cheeks and jawline in a comforting way.

“Doesn’t make it better does it? I’m still a shite friend for saying all those things to you.” Daniel rubbed
his eyes with his fingers, wiping some of the tears away. He felt Lena’s hand pulling him towards her, he
felt her soft lips land on his cheeks, causing a fiery blush to spread.

Lena giggled as she pulled away and noticed Dan’s reaction, “Look Dan, you’re not a shit friend, you’re
my best friend, alright?” she shrugged, “I just walked in at a bad time is all, just make me your ‘super-
secret’ grilled cheese and we’ll call it even.” she said with her signature grin.

Daniel couldn’t help but laugh at how quickly and drastically Lena’s emotions could change. “You’re just
a blackmail artist aren’t you?” he said with a laugh, to which Lena just winked at him. He would make
her the grilled cheese though, it’s one of her favourite (it’s Daniel’s ‘secret recipe’ that he wouldn’t
share with her no matter how much she begged him to) and to be fair, he owed her much more than
that after what happened.

Daniel was glad that the situation was at least better, “You really do need to learn to knock though, I
could be naked in here.” Dan said with a chuckle.

“Mmm… wouldn’t that be sweet?” Lena teasingly said, nudging Daniel playfully.

“Would it?” he said with a laugh.

“I nearly did as well, remember?”

“Oh yes.…” Daniel said as his face heated up again. Daniel shook his head, “That was embarrassing as
fuck….” he said, looking at Lena before both of them laughed.

“Yes, you really should lock your door, you’re lucky it’s only me.” She grinned.

“’Cause only you would just barge in without knocking.” Daniel laughed as he got off the bed to assess
the damage to his kit. The image of Lena’s balled figure sobbing quietly flashed in his mind. He turned
back and looked at her again. She was checking her phone before she realized Daniel was staring.

“What’s wrong?” She said with the ever present grin on her face.

“I’m so sorry….” He said, looking down before glancing back at her.

“Dan, I told you, it’s okay.” Her grin turned into a warm smile.

Daniel nodded slowly before looking at his kit again, the Snare head was ruptured. He sighed, I just
bought it too… He turned his attention to the cymbal he punched and toppled, the stand was fine, but
the cymbal was badly cracked and bent from the punch and fall. Crap… there goes 260 quid….

Daniel walked over to his desk and grabbed his keys and wallet before sliding them into his pocket.
“Hey, I need to go to Andertons, wanna’ come? I promise I’ll make you the grilled cheese after.”

A massive smile grew on Lena’s face. “Yay! Of course I’m coming!” she said before jumping off the bed
and practically blinking to the door.

Daniel shook his head and followed her out.

“Hey, what were you two doing in there? I heard shouting…” Daniel’s mom asked with concern. Daniel
realized that he must have been shouting so loudly if it could be heard from his generously
soundproofed room where drum beats only come out muffled.

“Uhm… Yea… well, it was nothing” Daniel replied sheepishly, causing Lena to giggle.
Dan’s mom cocked an eyebrow before noticing Dan had his car key in hand. “Where are you going?” She
asked sternly.

“I… need to go to Andertons, I have to buy new drum heads and cymbals.” Daniel regretfully admitted.

Dan’s mom covered her mouth in shock, the new information combined with the shouting and her
knowledge that Dan tended to go ballistic when over the edge. “Honey, what’s wrong?” she asked,
putting her hand on his shoulder.

Dan smiled, “everything’s fine, mum.” He replied giving his mother a kiss on the head, “I’ll be back in a
couple hours.” He said, and with that he walked towards his car.

Dan’s mom watched him with a look of concern before looking at Lena, the latter knew what she was
about to ask. “Really, he’s fine, emotions just ran high when he was practicing it seems.” she said with a
chuckle. Dan’s mom just nodded, “Thank you, Lena.” she said with a smile. Lena nodded and waved as
good bye before joining Daniel outside.

“What’d mum ask you?” Daniel asked as he unlocked the door to his British Racing Green Land Rover
Range Rover Classic, a car he bought used for basically nothing and fixed up. It took a chunk out of his
savings along with helpings from his dad, but it was worth it as it’s a reliable vehicle to get him to and
from gigs, and it’s big enough to pack all his drumming stuff and then some.

“Oh, just about what happened, I told her you’re fine.” Lena replied as she climbed on the passenger
seat.

Daniel twisted the key to start the car, “Alright then… Is it really fine though? I feel awful about yelling at
you… especially saying all those things I did.” He put the car in gear and reversed out of the driveway.

“For the fifth time, it’s okay, I understand” Lena giggled. “You know how I get when you interrupt me in
the middle of a game? Same thing.” That caused both of them to laugh, it made Daniel feel slightly
better. “I think you’re scarier when you’re interrupted in the middle of a game,” he quipped.

“Exactly! So relax!” they both laughed again, “You still owe me the grilled cheese though.” She said with
a grin, Daniel just shook his head and laughed lightly.

The trip was relatively uneventful, they just talked, and roughly 30 minutes later they were parked in
front of Andertons. Andertons had always been Daniel and Lena’s go-to store, friendly staff, great
inventory, good prices and policies, and it’s relatively close. They are also friends with the Captain
himself, also Rob Chapman, Rabea, Dave Hollingworth, Ben Minal, and many among the staff.

Going into Andertons was always fun if a bit dangerous; the first display right in front of the front door
was Acoustic Guitars, something Daniel loves, so he tends to end up browsing instead of going straight
to what he was looking for. On the other hand, Lena would just rush the electric guitar areas, checking
out guitars, amps, and pedals like a kid in a toy store.
“Alright Daniel.” Lena slapped him on the shoulder, “You know where to find me!” she said with a grin
before walking towards the guitar displays.

“Okay, when I’m finished I’ll look for the sound of shameless showing off.” he shouted, Lena flashed him
a “V” which got him to laugh.

Left on his own, Daniel strolled towards the “Drum Shed”, otherwise known as the drums section, but
Drum Shed sounds cooler. After climbing up the shallow stairs he was immediately greeted by one of
the staff. “Daniel! Back so soon?” he asked as he bumped his fist.

“Alright Pete?” Daniel replied with a smile.

“What’cha need, mate?”

“Head.”

“Whoa whoa, I don’t swing that way man.” Pete replied with a smirk before the two of them laughed.

“Not that kind of head mate, snare heads.”

“Hang on, didn’t you just get one ‘couple days ago?” he said as the two walked towards the Evans drum
head section.

Daniel shrugged, “shit happens, man.”

Pete laughed lightly as he scanned the stack of boxes, “Reverse Power Centre?”

“Reverse Power Centre.”

Pete scanned the boxes and pulled one out of the middle. “’Ere you go, anything else?”

“Actually, do you have a 20 inch Byzance Trad Med-thin crash in stock?” he asked as they walked away.

“Sure, let me check out back bruv’” he said before walking towards the back door.

Moments later he got back with another box, “There we go, that’s all?” Daniel nodded and the two of
them walked to the register. “Hey, you alright bruv? It’s not often you break cymbals, or heads.” Pete
asked as he scanned the items.

“I’m fine, just practice gone bad.” he replied, laughing.

“Alright, if you say so.” Pete slid the two boxes into a bag, the display on the register read £284.

“Tell you what, toss in a couple pairs of sticks mate, make in an even 300.” Daniel said, “I’ll get it, it’s
fine,” he added as Pete was about to walk around the counter.
After fetching two pairs of his signature sticks, he handed them to Pete along with his card.

“Right, 300 quid.” Pete said as he charged Daniel’s card, the latter dying a little bit inside as he’s £300
poorer.

“Thanks Pete.” Daniel returned his card into his wallet and grabbed the bag.

“Anytime, see ya’ Mate.” Pete gave him a brief wave as Daniel walked out of the drum shed.

Now he just had to find Lena, he reached into his pocket for his phone and was met with an empty
pocket. Fuck…. An image of his phone laying on the table by his drum kit flashed in Daniel’s mind. Oh
well then. he started to walk towards the guitars section, it shouldn’t be hard to find her.

Daniel went deeper into the guitar section, and sure enough he heard the tune of crazy fast shredding
from one of the demo rooms; he immediately knew who was in it. He found Lena trying out a Gibson
Firebird. She’s always been in love with the Firebird; she’d go on and on about the guitar and would
demo it whenever she goes to a store, but she never actually pulled the trigger to buy it.

“You need to buy that guitar already.” Daniel sat beside her.

“Easy for you to say, it’s 1.3 thousand quid.” Lena replied with a chuckle.

“Good point.” Daniel laughed.

Lena thanked the staff and put the guitar back where it belonged, “Let’s go then, I can’t wait for that
grilled cheese.”

Daniel laughed as he stood up and walked with Lena out, “You really should get that Firebird, it’s been
your obsession for so long.”

They passed the front door, “Maybe, someday I’ll save up enough.” Despite having quite a bit of money
from Alter Bridge, Lena actually saves a lot and is really humble and simple, Daniel greatly respects it.
Daniel himself is the same way, he has money saved up but is not extravagant in any way.

“But it’s so tempting, innit?”

“You have no idea.”

The both of them laughed as they climbed on Daniel’s car. Daniel put his stuff on the back seat and
turned the car on, starting the drive home. They were silent for a moment as Daniel backed out of the
parking slot. Lena was the first to break the silence, of course.

“You know what would be badass?”

“Anthropomorphic Sabretooth Tiger wielding a massive axe riding a giant mechanical bear.” Daniel
deadpanned.

“No- well… yes, but not what I was going to say.” The both of them laughed.

“What do you have in mind then?” He said as he flicked on the indicator lights.

“A firebird shape guitar with seven strings and spitfire style finish, shark grin and all.” Lena said with a
massive grin, waving her hands for effect.

“Sounds awesome”

“It is.”

“Why don’t you get Patrick to do it?”

“Cause it’ll cost me a shiteload.” The both of them laughed. “Would be cool though, although it might
not capture the feel of the actual firebird.”

“How so?”

“Well, seven strings for one.” Lena laughed. “Pickups, construction and all that guff too.”

“Would feel pretty different huh?”

Lena nodded, “Exactly, kind of defeats the purpose, you know, a good instrument makes you feel and
play a certain way and all that.” Lena chuckled, “I suppose it would be badass to have one, but it
wouldn’t be a firebird.”

“So get both.”

“Yeah, you’ll pay for them, right?”

“Of course, as soon as I finish my money bath in my gold tub.”

The both of them laughed, they continued talking about random things on the way home.

Soon they got to Daniel’s home, the both of them got off, Daniel making sure to grab the bag with his
cymbal and drum head in it before they got off. The two entered the house. “Mom I’m home” Daniel
yelled, but there was no response. She’s probably in the bathroom or something, he thought. “Hey could
you put these in my room?” Daniel said, handing the bag to Lena.

“Sure.” She said with a smile, accepting the bag before walking towards Daniel’s room.

“Feel free to play or something. I’ll get my chef on.” Daniel said with a grin.
“Oh god I can’t wait!” Lena excitedly ran to Daniel’s room.

Daniel shook his head as he laughed before preparing all the stuff he needed, thankfully he had
everything handy. He started to prepare the grilled cheese; layering the cheese and spices in his own
way. After preparing a few sandwiches (he figured he’ll have some, and his parents and brothers could
have some as well).

“Daniel, you’re back.” Daniel turned his head towards the source of the voice, “Hi mum.”

“And you’re cooking… what’s the occasion?” she asked as she approached Daniel.

“Well… I kinda’ owe Lena. I kinda sorta… yelled at her earlier” he admitted.

Daniel’s mom had a look of concern on her face, she put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Well, are you OK?
Do you want to talk about it?”

“Mom, it’s fine, I just lost my temper during practice.” He looked at his mom. “She said she forgives me
but I feel really bad so… this is the least I could do.”

Daniel’s mom smiled, “Okay well, I’m glad you two are fine.” She turned around to walk towards the
dinner table, “Save some of that for me!” she added with a laugh.

“Don’t worry, I made extras.”

Daniel entered his room, plateful of grilled cheese in hand, he was really proud of this batch, it turned
out great. He saw Lena was watching some videos on YouTube using his computer. Dan is usually a bit
touchy about who uses his computer, but he didn’t mind Lena, or more to the point, he’d just given up
telling her that it’s off limit. Presumably the pixie caught whiff of the delicious aroma emanating from
the grilled cheese as she swivelled around on the chair with a large grin on her face as she exaggeratedly
inhaled through her nose.

“Finally! I’m starving!” she said as she charged Daniel.

He chuckled, “You’re always starving.” he said before he climbed on his bed.

Lena snuggled up beside him, grabbing the remote and turning the TV on before opening Netflix to look
for something to watch.

After a bit of browsing around they settled on a movie and began watching while enjoying the grilled
cheese, laying down besides each other, almost to the point of cuddling, both sitting with their backs
against the backboard with Lena laying her head on Daniel’s shoulder, watching the movie. The both of
them are very intimate even as best friends, they keep no secrets, they share physical contact, which is
both a point of great joy and great distress to Daniel as he had to nurse his feelings for her through all of
this, he’s just really scared to rock the boat.
A couple hours later they were out of grilled cheese and out of a movie. As the credits rolled Daniel
realized the weight was still on his shoulder. He looked to his side to be greeted by Lena’s peacefully
sleeping figure and her soft snore. Daniel couldn’t help but smile, she must be exhausted, he
remembered Lena just did a few shows with Alter Bridge.

Daniel just sat there, he didn’t have the heart to wake her up. Eventually he heard movement beside
him, he thought Lena was awake, instead she got off his shoulder and on his bed, resting her head on
one pillow. Daniel smiled to himself, he pulled the covers up on her as it’s quite cold before moving out
of his bed and on his computer chair before spinning around and browsing the internet. He only lasted a
few minutes before he himself felt a bit drowsy. Daniel and Lena are opposites in this regard, Lena is a
heavy sleeper but doesn’t sleep often and is a morning person, Daniel is definitely not a morning person,
he is definitely a light sleeper, but he loves sleep, although both could just spontaneously fall asleep.
Eventually Daniel succumbed to the feeling and fell asleep on his chair, facing slightly away from his
computer.

Daniel was rudely awakened by the vibrating of his phone, that gives you an idea of how light a sleeper
Dan is that his phone vibrating would be enough to wake him. He grabbed his phone to see a zillion
notifications waiting. Daniel’s phone is almost always buzzing, he chats with people a lot, he has a lot of
people responding to tweets, commenting on his Instagram posts, and this and that and this and that
and so on and so forth. He started going through the notifications which piled up because he left his
phone from the start of his practice to now.

He heard a yawn from the direction of his bed, he saw Lena stretching before looking around in a panic
once she realized she’s not in her own room. “Relax, you’re in my room.” Daniel said with a laugh, which
got her to breathe a sigh of relieve. “I swear you can fall asleep just like that.…” he added, chuckling
lightly.

Lena scratched her head before stretching again. “Sorry….”

“It’s fine.” Daniel replied, waving his hand in a dismissing manner.

“I fell asleep on you didn’t I?”

“Yep.”

Daniel chuckled as he saw a faint blush on Lena’s cheeks. “How’d you escape?” she finally said with a
laugh.

“Thankfully about twenty minutes in you decided to use an actual pillow instead of me.”

Lena chuckled lightly. “Lucky sod,” she said with a grin. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

Daniel shrugged, “I didn’t have the heart, I know you’re tired.”

“It’s your room though.” She shifted to the edge of the bed.

“Well you know, my room is your room and all that.”

“Well in that case.…” Lena shrugged. “I’ll get comfortable….” she stood up and started to unbuckle her
jeans.

Daniel’s face lit up with red, he averted his eyes and used one hand to cover Lena’s general direction,
“What the hell, Lena!?”

Lena started to laugh hard. “Relax, dummy! I’m just joking!”

Daniel looked at Lena, she still had her jeans on and was rolling on his bed, clutching her stomach.

“Oh my god! The look on your face was priceless!” she took another look and saw that Daniel’s face was
still bright red, she started on another laughing fit.

“Oh god you scared me…” Daniel sighed.

“What did you think I was about to strip in your room? I was just joking!” she said between fits of
laughter. “Oh man your face….” Her laughter finally slowed, she was wiping tears off her face.

“Well it’s you, I have to expect everything.” Daniel said with a laugh.

“Correct.” She said with a sly grin on her face. “You are such a gentleman though, averting your eyes.”
Lena teased.

Daniel just chuckled and shook his head.

“So, whad’ya wanna’ do?” Lena asked as she crossed her legs on Daniel’s bed.

Daniel shrugged, “I have to set up my drums, wanna’ jam after? I could use someone to play with.”

“Of course! You could show me how to change a snare head!” Lena said enthusiastically, jumping out of
Daniel’s bed.

“Wait, Flip never showed you?”

“He barely lets me near his kit. He lets me play it sometimes but that’s about it.” Lena shrugged.

“Probably because it’s a deadly boring and tedious process.” Daniel chuckled, “Come on then, I’ll show
you.” Daniel smiled before rummaging into the Andertons bag for the boxes of drum head and cymbal.

The two of them walked to the snare, Daniel explained to Lena the process of taking the head off,
putting it back on, getting it to the right tension and the entire tuning process. Daniel expected Lena to
be bored by this point, but still she watched and listened with her bright smile and unending
enthusiasm, it’s really endearing.

“And that’s how you do it, it’s on and in tune.”

“That was cool! Thanks for showing me!” Lena said with a grin.

“More like boring… I’d rather get to the playing.” Daniel said with a chuckle as he loosened the clamp on
his cymbal stand, the one with the ruined cymbal.

“Well, sitting down and taking care of your gear is a joy in itself! I do it to all my guitars and amps!”

“Yeah, I sat in for one of your massive cleaning sessions remember?” Daniel chuckled as he took the
cymbal off.

“Yea! It’s really relaxing…” Lena noticed the cymbal, “Bloody hell Dan, you did that?”

Daniel examined the cymbal, one side was bent and the other shattered, “It was mostly the fall.”

“The bent side maybe, but the other side… you’re really strong huh? Like the orangutan that you are,”
Lena said with a grin.

Daniel sighed, “Well I have to fit the part.” he laughed, Lena laughed as well.

“Ready?” Lena asked

“Sure” Daniel sat down and grabbed his sticks, doing some rudiments to get a little bit warmed up.

Lena walked over and grabbed Daniel’s Les Paul. It was one of his only electric guitars, she plugged into
an amp and turned the amp on, letting the valves warm up a bit. “What do you wanna’ play?” she asked.

Daniel shrugged, “Some Jazz?”

Lena nodded, “Alright, play me a beat.”

Daniel started playing something, unbeknownst to Lena it was the beat he was supposed to be
practicing, the drum part he couldn’t get.

“Hey, this is cool! It’s really fast though… hmm… gimme’ a sec.” Lena’s face contorted slightly and one of
her eyebrows raised as she thinks. It’s an endearing look, but after a few seconds she started to play
along with a rather cool sounding Jazz solo.

The two of them kept going, Lena could lock in with Daniel quite easily as the two of them often play
together and recognize each other’s style, not to mention their almost supernatural ability to lock in
with other musicians.

After a few minutes they got to the part Daniel dreaded, but Lena’s playing and even her simple
presence gave him a lot of confidence and allowed him to relax. With a crash, the moment arrived again,
Daniel held his breath and led his sticks with great finesse, to his surprise and amazement he ended
perfectly on beat. Lena laughed, “Bloody hell, that’s an awesome lick!” she yelled over the sound of
their instruments. After an extravagant outro the jam ended, Daniel still couldn’t believe it.

Daniel jumped off his throne, “Yes!” he ran around his kit cheering.

Lena cocked an eyebrow, “Hey, it was a good one, but that much?” she said with a chuckle.

“Not that! I finally did it! The part I’ve been struggling with!” Daniel tossed her the charts.

She gave it a brief read, “Wow… you played this? You’re amazing.…”

Daniel blushed from Lena’s comment which got her to giggle at him, “Well it’s all thanks to you!” he said
as he pulled Lena into a hug. He realized what he did and pulled away, Lena often hugs him and even
kiss him on the cheeks, but Daniel had always been more shy about initiating it. “Sorry…” he said.

Lena looked at him with a confused expression, “What are you on about? C’mere big guy!” she said with
a laugh before pulling Daniel into a tight hug.

Daniel revelled in the physical contact, “Thank you so much, you’re a huge help….”

“Ehh… you did everything, I just hung around.”

“That’s enough.…” Daniel said with a smile as they separated, Lena grinned at him. “I’m so sorry about
earlier, looks like you’re a huge help after all.” He added, the image of Lena crying flashed in his mind
again which got him to look down with a sorrowful look.

“Dan I swear to god if you bring it up one more time I will hate you forever!”

Daniel laughed at her comment, the two of them spent the afternoon playing together.