TW: i'm gonna talk about anxiety/panic attacks in this chapter. how i interpret anxiety and panic attacks may be different from your personal experiences, but besides that, enjoy :))

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elizabeth
hey um i know we're not really friends but i need someone to talk to like i'm freaking out rn

me
no it's okay, what do you need to talk about?

elizabeth
i'm just like freaking out for no reason and idk what to do

me
weird question, but where do you live? not like house address, i mean like city and state. if you don't mind me asking ahaha

elizabeth
oh yeah um i live in LA, u?

me
i live in LA as well, anywhere specific?

elizabeth
i'm at a park idk i just kinda left my house to go for a walk, and then i started to get overwhelmed and none of my friends are texting me back and my mom and dad are at work so i can't contact him, but besides them you're the only person i talk to

me
tell me what park, hopefully it's not too far away and i can come get you

elizabeth
ok it's um (idk any parks in LA so just pretend she said one)

me
wait that's like 15 minutes away from me, i'll be there soon :)

elizabeth
ok
seen

———

"guys, i'm going out again. i'll try to come by later but if not i'll see you tomorrow," daniel said as he got up from the couch. his friends took turns saying "okay," and "see you later."

he walked out to his car, he turned on the ignition and began driving to the park elizabeth had told him she was at. he was honestly a little worried about her by the way she was texting him. he hadn't realized that this would be the first time he had met her, and for some reason once he came to that realization he got nervous. he had no reason to be nervous, but he was.

he arrived at the park not long after, walking around trying to find a brunette girl. after walking around hopelessly he heard someone call from behind him.

"daniel!" elizabeth yelled, waving her hand over her head in attempt to get his attention. he turned around and began walking towards the girl.

"hey," he started, "are you okay? you look a little.... pale."

"um, no. not at all," she said looking down at the ground.

"do you wanna talk about it?" daniel asked, walking her over to the nearest bench.

"y-yeah, sure," she tried her best to keep her voice stable, but it was difficult since she had been crying for 30 minutes, before he showed up.

"whenever you're ready," he smiled at her.

she looked in his eyes, becoming mesmerized by his blue eyes. they were gorgeous. she was probably looking at him for too long, but he didn't break eye contact either. after a couple seconds she looked away.

"everything's just to stressful. i have finals coming up and i don't understand anything i have to study. i stay up until 4 in the morning every night studying, and i'm so tired. at this point i'm not even physically tired, i'm mentally tired. i'm tired of everything, of having to try so hard," she said quickly, her breathing quickening.

"hey, it's okay," he said noticing that she was becoming anxious.

"no, it's not okay. anything i do is never good enough. i've been trying to impress the people around me for as long as i can remember. and it's never enough," at this point she was talking faster than the speed of light, and it was getting harder for her to breathe.

daniel just sat there, not knowing what to do. he didn't want to interrupt her because sometimes you just need to get out your feelings without anyone interfering.

"i cant. i cant. daniel, i cant," she said trying to breathe, "i cant do this- i cant- i cant breathe,"

"it's okay, you're okay. everything will be okay," he said in a soft voice, giving her a small hug, "look at me."

she looked at him, still breathing like a maniac, "count to 3 with me," he said to her, "deep breath in, 1"

"and exhale, 2"

that routine went on until they reached 3. her breathing calmed down but she was still feeling anxious. her leg was bouncing up and down, and her hands were shaking.

at that point she needed to get all of her feelings out, so she started crying. she cried, and he pulled her into his chest. he played with her hair, trying to calm her down. he would whisper things to her like, "you're okay," and "everything will be okay, i promise."

after about 10 minutes of crying her eyes out, she broke the hug and looked at him.

"sorry," she said quietly, "this was probably not how we should've met." she laughed slightly.

"thanks for calling me," he smiled at her, admiring her features. even though she just got done having a melt down, he thought she was beautiful as ever.

"do you want me to drive you home?" he asked the girl, tilting his head to the right.

"i don't want to go home right now, it'll be dark, and lonely" she said looking down at her feet.

"do you want to come to the studio with me? you can just sit by me the whole time," he asked the girl again, this time looking at her with slight worry.

"um," she looked at him, "yeah. yeah that would be nice, change of scenery i guess" she gave him a little smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"okay, my cars over there," he pointed to his car, as they both stood up, grabbed their things, and began walking over there.

once they got in the car the secured their seatbelts, and elizabeth rested her head against the window.
daniel looked over at the girl, and smiled to himself before looking back at the road. 15 minutes went by, and they arrived at the studio.

"we're here," he said to the girl turning off the car, and unbuckling his seatbelt. the girl unbuckled her seatbelt as well, and got out of the car.

"are the rest of your band mates in there?" elizabeth said laughing.

"yeah, but they'll like you," daniel opened the door before walking inside.

daniel lead her to the recording room, and the 4 boys looked him, before looking at elizabeth. they all went wide eyed, but gave her a small smile.

"hi," elizabeth said smiling at them.

———

a/n

ok idk how well i did at like portraying an anxiety attack/panic attack, so pls don't hate me HAHHA it's my first time ever writing something like this but um yeah