David X Daniel Lemon Novels & Stories

in a tone that left no room for argument. Liam jolted as if shocked, his nerves still frayed from the recent chaos. Without a word, he hastily followed Danial, with Letty trailing behind him. The assistant watched them go, her gaze lingering on Danial. There was something about him—something more than just the fire trick. She made a mental note to keep an eye on him, then left the building to catch up with Luna.

"Daniel wanted a reaction from you. You didn’t give him one. That’s strength." I bit my inner cheek. He was correct. But all the same , he was watching me too closely for comfort, assessing me like he always assessed everyone else, as if I were a piece of chess that he had to understand it's place on the board. "How do you know Daniel so well?" I asked. Leon took a slow sip of his drink. "We move in the same circles. Our companies compete. We’ve clashed more than once." "And now you married his ex-wife," I said dryly.

Daniel brushed off his bleak past like a pesky fly. Damon scrubbed a hand over his two days’ worth of stubble. He had a feeling what they were about to do would either be the best time of their lives or shit was about to hit the fan. Damon pulled up a stool, popped the top to a beer, and took a swig. “So, what’s all this about?” he asked pointing at the food on the counter. Daniel smiled. “Glad you asked.”

“I don’t know how to explain it to you either. I just don’t know what to say.” “Sigh... alright,” David exhaled, pretending to be resigned. “But I’m still a little doubtful,” Luna added. “Doubtful?” “Yes, I’m still unsure if this Daniel guy is really serious, or if he’s just tricking me.” “I think he’s serious. But if you don’t believe it, we’ll find out in three days.” “Alright. I guess that’s how it has to be.” After a short while, they both left the Eastern Star Restaurant.

The cold air of night keeps us company as we walk along the busy streets of New York. “You said you won’t be late again, that we would have dinner together today. Why did you lie?” Derek asks, breaking the silence between us. I should’ve known ice cream wouldn’t be enough to buy his disappointment. “I’m sorry. I thought I would be finishing early at the restaurant but Mr. Cheng needed me to stay another hour and you know how he gets when I try to turn him down. I’m really really sorry bro.” I extend my right hand to his side and pull him closer to me. “Am I forgiven?”

But before I could say anything, Daisy stopped me and winked at me, telling me to ignore them. "What part of 'a small issue' did you not understand?" replied Daisy sounding like a Mother. Clearly, she was Responsible among the triplets. They were like a team. Daniel was the most Representable and the kind-of-a-leader guy; Daisy, a 'Mother' and the brains, and Dylan, The muscular and The perfect driver. “Oh it is that particular “small issue '' '' Daniel replied quoting. ‘Now I feel embarrassed’ I thought. I dozed off, and after a few minutes, I was woken up by their loud debates. I kept my eyes closed even though I was awake.

David asked. “Are you really only 21 years old?” Leeman did not answer David, but instead, asked a question. “Yeah, I’m going to be 22 soon,” David replied. “Haha, good! Thompson gave me such a huge present!” Leeman guffawed and said.

They had been assigned to the same group project in September and had spent three weekends working on it together, and somewhere in the second weekend, surrounded by primary sources and cold tea, Leo had understood. Daniel was funny, Leo said. Not performing funny, not the kind that required an audience, but the kind that surfaced unexpectedly in quiet moments and was better for being unexpected. He was careful about things. He had an older sister who was studying medicine, and he wanted to study history, and their shared history teacher had told him he should consider academia, which he was thinking about.

“I have four D.C. possibilities in the Northbridge orbit for that year. Diana Cole, listed as program liaison through the Cole Family Education Trust. David Carr, a music patron who appears twice in donor acknowledgments. Deborah Crane, assistant director of a youth arts council. And a department code that may have been abbreviated D.C. in some internal captions.” Daniel opened his eyes. “So nothing.” “Not nothing,” Elaine said. “Not enough.” Leah looked at him before she meant to. The words were his language. Distinction. Precision. A hand held against fear before fear could build its own house and call it truth. Daniel heard it too. His gaze moved to Elaine, then to Leah. For one second, t

They sat in the room for a while, the morning light coming through the window, the garden visible below, the hidden garden somewhere beyond it behind its gate. “Thank you,” Daniel said. “For the park. For the stationery shop. For all the mornings in the kitchen.” Leo looked at him. “Don’t make it weird,” he said. Daniel almost laughed. Leo stood up and finished his coffee and moved toward the door and stopped. “For what it’s worth,” he said, “I think he’s going to be better at this than either of you expect.” Then he was gone and Daniel sat in the chair by the window and looked at the ring on his hand and believed him.