"i'm s-sorry."

"don't be."

jackson's fingers caught on his sleeve as he helped hoist him up into phil's dad's car. dan grabbed his wrist, latching on.

"i'm s-sorry, sorry for crying at your house..."

"dan," jackson said, his voice stern, yet soft. he pried dan's fingers away from his wrist, only so he could slide his fingers in between them. "i'm serious, don't be sorry. you didn't do anything wrong. it isn't your fault."

dan felt the tears sting at the backs of his eyes again so he just nodded, squeezing his hand quickly before letting go. he let jackson close the door of the car, watching him until they were entirely out of the driveway.

he turned his attention to his lap, picking at his cuticles. he hoped jackson would invite him back sometime, although he didn't know why he would now that dan had made such a fool of himself.

elias kept glancing at him, dan could feel his nervous eyes on him, but he didn't say anything to put him out of his misery. instead, dan cleared his throat.

"thank you for p-picking me up," he said softly. elias nodded, pursing his lips.

"i don't understand why your parents couldn't do it."

"they're at work," dan explained, although they likely weren't. his dad left work a lot lately to come home and watch television on the couch, but he probably would have had too many beers to pick him up anyways.

"ah." elias shifted his hands on the steering wheel, adjusting his grip. "you know, i could talk to phil for you."

dan turned toward the window so he could squeeze his eyes shut and elias wouldn't be able to see. "please don't."

"you're sure?" the back of dan's neck prickled whenever elias looked at him. "maybe you two could work it out."

dan wrung his hands that were starting to shake, just a small tremor up to his wrists. "no. h-he doesn't want to work it out."

"i'm sure he does," elias tried to argue. "he just doesn't know how."

dan shook his head. a loose curl tumbled between his eyes. "d-don't talk to him about me, please. he'll only h-hate me more."

elias sighed loudly, shaking his head. dan watched the man in the reflection from the car window.

"i'm sure i don't know what happened to him," elias mumbled. "it's like his personality just... flipped. we miss him." he bit his lower lip. "we miss you, dan, we miss having you around."

dan gauged his lips against each other before bringing his thumb to his lips and biting at his nail. "i'm sorry."

"no, no, dear... not your fault." he sighed again, rubbing at his temple and forcing a smile. "that jackson kid seems nice."

"yeah," dan said softly, looking at his reflection. "n-not as nice as phil used t-to be," he offered.

another sigh. this one was far more tired, and betrayed much more of what the usually cheerful man was really feeling.

"no one's that nice," he replied, turning onto their street.