SF Chapter 184: Photo II
(Flashback, Olsen's birthday)
Dani was waiting for the right moment until he finally saw the twins alone - something extremely rare that night.
He appeared in front of them. "Hello, there!"
"Oh, hi," they both said, visibly trying to remember if they knew him from somewhere.
"Would you..." He stepped closer. "Marry me?"
"Huh?" The twins had trouble even reacting to his sudden proposal.
"Just to be clear," little Dani continued, "I'm proposing to you two. Would be awesome! Us three together!"
"No, sorry," Ashley now rejected him.
Mary-Kate was still processing it, especially after he said that the proposal was for both.
"Oh, man, another rejection!" Dani lightly complained.
Mary-Kate deadpanned. "So you proposed to other girls?"
"Yeah," he confirmed without any shame. "Last year, there was this awesome girl. She is also an actress. Natalie. But in her case, she said we were too young."
"Oh, by the way, happy birthday!" He grinned, not even looking like he had just been rejected. "Have a happy life! Continue your nice career!"
"And most important, continue to be cute! Very cute!" he praised them.
"Right... thank you," Ashley chuckled. "Sorry, but who are you?"
Dani gasped. "You don't know me?"
But he soon smirked. "I'm your friendly neighborhood, Dani Harper."
"Oh, nice to meet you," she replied.
But he narrowed his eyes. "You didn't get the Star Wars reference, and now you didn't get the Spider-Man one. I'm annulling my proposal."
"But I already rejected you," Ashley retorted.
"You can't reject something that's been annulled," he said.
"Wait... what happened to MY answer?" Mary-Kate played along, having finally gotten over her earlier stupor.
Dani opened his mouth. "I only annulled hers," he clarified.
"But my answer is also no," Mary-Kate replied.
"Hey!" He pouted, making the twins laugh.
"Ha," Dani exclaimed, "there's a good side. Now I have a reason why I didn't give you two presents."
"Huh?" The two of them stared at him.
"I wanted to," he defended himself, "but I only found out about the party today."
"Wait, did you sneak into our party?" Ashley asked in disbelief.
"What do you mean, sneak? I'm not a thief!" He made a face. "I came in through the front door. I just had to wait and stick close to a family of blonde people."
"Security thought I was their son."
"Holy moly," Ashley exclaimed, her eyes widening. "This feels just like one of the movies we make..."
Mary-Kate was laughing again, finding the whole thing very amusing.
"Oh, right. You two are very famous because of your movies," he said nonchalantly.
"You... didn't watch them?" Mary-Kate asked.
"Yeah, I prefer superhero movies and other stuff," he said. "These kids' movies aren't really my thing."
"But you're a kid too..."
"And you asked us to marry you?"
"You two are pretty cute. That's enough for me." He gave them a thumbs-up.
Mary-Kate lightly knocked him on the head.
"Ouch! What was that for?"
"I just felt like it," she replied.
"Heey!"
But then he looked at the girls more seriously. "Can I stay at your party?"
"You already are..." Ashley pointed out.
"No, I mean, can I get a formal okay from you two?"
Mary-Kate shrugged. "I don't see why not. I think you're funny," she said with a smile.
"Great! Now when Mom tries to scold me, I can say I was invited to this party! And she taught me not to be impolite, so I had to come."
"But that was after you sneaked in here..."
He waved his hand dismissively. "Didn't you learn in school? Commutative property: the order of the factors doesn't change the result." Dani bullshitted them.
"I... don't think that makes any sense." Ashley looked at him.
He shrugged. "When you're grounded for a year, you stop trying so hard..."
"You're grounded for a year?!" Ashley almost yelled. "Why?"
"Because of some small stuff..." Dani made a face. "Just because I got expelled."
Now it was Mary-Kate who exclaimed, "You were expelled? Why?"
Dani told them the whole story.
Mary-Kate started listing, "You got caught drinking; recruited other kids; broke into your own school..."
"So you could paint a giant 'I'm sorry, Sis' on the football field?!"
"...and on the school's walls!" her twin added.
"It's a true story!" he said normally. "I have lots of witnesses."
"We totally should be friends!" Ashley threw herself at him.
"Absolutely!" He grinned.
"Ashley!" Mary-Kate scolded.
(Flashback ends)
-------‐-----------‐-----------‐-----------‐-----------‐---------
"Whoa," Amanda exclaimed after the Olsen twins had finished telling the whole story. "Jesus, Dani-bro, is there anything normal in your life?" she joked.
Lindsay Lohan, who had arrived a little while after the twins started telling the story, mocked him. "Yeah, how come you only get worse every time I hear a new story?"
"What do you mean, worse, Lohan Girl? Did you miss part of the story?" Dani scoffed.
He playfully tugged on her ear. "Are you not hearing well?"
Lindsay just slapped his hand away.
"And hello to you too, Lindsay," Dani said with a smile.
But then he turned his head. "What are you doing here?"
Amanda Bynes, the last one to arrive, looked momentarily surprised. "Uh... I got called here," she said.
"Oh, don't mind me. I've heard that question twice today. I just wanted to be the one asking it now," he joked.
"Dani Harper. Enchanté." He held out his hand.
"Amanda Bynes."
A moment later, the photographer finally walked in, followed by several members of the Vanity Fair crew.
"All right, ladies, we're ready for you."
Dani immediately stood up with them.
The photographer stopped. "Uh... not you. Who are you?"
"Me?" Dani exclaimed. "I'm her friend." He pointed at Hilary, who was the closest to him, as if that justified him being there.
Mark, the photographer, stared at her. Hilary waited for Dani to say something more, but he didn't.
Not until things got a little awkward and she turned her head toward him, urging him to say something more (and stop screwing with her on purpose).
"Oh, right, I'm also friends with her, her..." he said, pointing at them one by one.
"Seven out of nine! Hey, I'm so friendly!" Dani praised himself.
[Dani and Lexi commentary]
"The cover will still feature the nine girls - 'it's totally raining teens' - but there will be an extra shot with me," Dani revealed.
Lexi explained, "They soon realized he was Dani Harper. Obviously, the person in charge at Vanity wasn't going to let an opportunity like that slip away..."
(Flashback)
"Can I lie down in front while all nine of them stand behind me?"
"No."
"Can they carry me?"
"No."
"Can I-"
"Daniel."
"Fine. Regular picture."
(Flashback ends)
Dani turned to Lexi. "But Vanity still lacks creativity!"
Lexi just ignored him.
[Commentary ends]
-----------
Author's note: The photo of the nine girls without Dani. (Only Amanda Bynes ended up looking unrecognizable.)
If you enjoy it, please leave a Review and Power Stones
You can also support me on patreon and read up to 25 chapters ahead, plus 32 chapters of Modern Family: Francis Jacob Pritchett
[email protected]/Japa_Madri