"I...I'm glad I could help, though," Dan said, feeling like he was forcing conversation a little. He knew she was a bit shy, especially so around someone like him. Every interaction they'd had up until this one revealed that little by little, but he'd always known it. His personality was intimidating and intense, he knew, so her hesitance around him was a given. It always put a distance between him and other people, which was exactly what he wanted. Letting too many people in was too much, too much risk. It still made little sense how the guys hadn't left him early on with the walls he had put up when meeting them, which...had only gotten higher as the years passed. They'd been the last he'd let get close to him, them and Zoe...but Zoe came as a package deal with Emmett. And he was still warming up to Miles a little even though he'd met him at the same time. He supposed it was because of how inconsistently he'd seen him, only at parties and occasional outings. "Are you heading out? I...can walk with you in case that guy or his friends come back."
Shiloh smiled faintly, as if trying to be reassuring that she wasn't really afraid. Just nervous as she always was around people. They either gave her the time of day or they didn't, it was hard to gauge how they would treat her. She didn't fear Dan would try anything, she's accepted by now that he wouldn't, but she was always on her toes. It seemed silly that she had to be all the time, but experience has proven that it was better to always be wary of ones surroundings. Not to mention that not everyone was trustworthy to begin with; her stepmother had made sure to tell her all about the criminals in the big cities before she moved here. Being from a small town with hardly any crime, it had been easy to scare her and she didn't live in the best neighborhood because that's all sne could afford on her small salary. Her father had offered to help but she hadn't wanted to put him out. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts since that wasn't what was important right now. "Oh. You don't have to go out of your way, I was just headed home." She would feel bad if she made him late to anything he had to go to.
"I'm heading to my car. My class got canceled last minute," Dan explained, glancing to the parking lot in the distance behind her for a moment. Going back home was getting pushed back the longer he stayed around Shiloh, but he wasn't going to let her off on her own after what had happened. He had a feeling Carter was behind it, or at the very least knew it happened and would make things worse if she was on her own. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I thought I would offer," he said, turning his gaze back to her. He didn't want to risk Carter's goons getting to her; he suspected after their conversation he would be making things much messier. His phone vibrated in his pocket a few times, most likely his sister and even more likely the guys. Hopefully the group chat had gone back to a somewhat normal, away from the topic of Dan and his emotional state and onto something much easier, lighter. He'd ignore the messages for now, telling himself to remember to check them before he started driving.
Shiloh ran her free hand through her short, ashy blonde hair, wincing slightly. She no longer had to wear a sling but her shoulder was still a little tender considering a few big blisters lingered. The small ones had healed just fine thankfully. Her blue gaze turned back to Dan, he looked uncomfortable or maybe that was just her uneasiness. The air felt tight but she was otherwise calm. He was oddly a soothing source, something she would not reveal aloud. That was weird. "Okay," she relented, glancing towards the parking lot and still feeling guilty. Dan had to get involved in her situation just now and now he felt the need to make sure nothing else happened. Genna was sure to have a field day about this all when she told her about it. If Dan didn't first. "I appreciate it."
Dan hadn't expected her to actually say yes, he thought she would have turned it down from the image of him she'd kept seeing. He nodded towards the parking lot, a silent gesture for Shiloh to follow him as he started his slow walk with her. He slowed down his pace considerably for her, knowing the chances of her keeping up with his normal speed were low; he had nearly a foot on her. He exhaled, trying to get rid of some of the tension in his body. It worked, little by little, something to make himself appear less angry and threatening next to her. As much as he used his intimidating nature to his advantage, Shiloh wasn't someone he wanted to view him that way, at least not to the extent most people did. She was Genna's best friend and the subject of Emmett's cruel predicament; he had to play both sides, and she didn't deserve the negative treatment. "Did you drive here?" Dan finally spoke, glancing down at her.
Shiloh followed after Dan, walking a step or two behind due to her slower pace. She was short in comparison to him and so her gait was affected. Not to say she was the slowest walker, she did walk everywhere to get to where she needed to be but she knew shortcuts and things like that. The silence settled around them as she put her folder in her bag so that it wouldn't be snatched again, making sure that she didn't trip or run into him in the process. She wasn't a clumsy girl per se, but accidents happened all the time. Her gaze went back to the sidewalk once she was finished though she paused when he asked a question, suddenly feeling embarrassed again. It was no secret that she wasn't that well off, that had been the first rumor to spread quite quickly about her. Everyone knew she was the scholarship fund kid. "Um...no, I walked." She replied, not wanting to outright say that she didn't have a car. A car and an apartment would be too much for her to handle for the time being and having a roof over her head seemed more important. There was a store nearby where she lived and the school wasn't...that far. Shiloh made do.
Dan found himself frowning at that, even though he did expect the response. He wondered what that said about him that he just assumed she didn't drive, but he ignored that; it didn't necessarily mean he jumped to judge her. "I can take you home," he said, before he realized that it had even come out of his mouth and mentally cursing himself when he did. How could he just let that slip? Now Shiloh would be even more embarrassed, and probably even uncomfortable. He resisted the urge to smack himself in the forehead, sighing a little. It was the right thing to do and he was being nice after what had happened, he had to remind himself of that so as to not feel weird about asking in the first place. I'm not an asshole for this. Genna would be pissed if she found out. "Just so you don't have to walk all the way home."
Shiloh went to once more say that he didn't have to go out of his way when she stopped herself. He seemed a little frustrated, not with her, and she couldn't understand why, but she didn't want to make things worse. If anything, Shiloh liked to make things easy for others, as long as they were kind to her and he was being that. He didn't have to help her out with that guy and yet he did, didn't have to do any of this and yet here they were. Genna would appreciate her being nice to him, she hadn't seen what their friendship was like back in the day but she could just tell that the two were close. Something about the way they acted when she last saw them stuck with her, but she wasn't sure what it was. She bit her lip and nodded after a moment, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. Genna trusted him so there was that. "I live in the Red District." It wasn't exactly the worst neighborhood, but it wasn't the best and had to be a good ten or so miles from the college of that said anything about her character or what kind of shape she was in. Shortcuts were her friend.
At least the Red District isn't the worst area, Dan thought to himself, a little relieved to hear she wasn't staying in the most dangerous part of the city. That surely would have been the icing on the cake, and Dan was glad for her that she was staying at least somewhat safe. "You walk ten miles to get here?" He asked once he had fully processed that bit of information. That was quite the hike, a three hour hike and that was only if one was walking briskly and was regularly athletic. He was surprised, seeing as she didn't seem the type to do a sport like he did; she was tough indeed. Though, he knew that even he didn't look like he was that athletic despite the rigorous training and practice he endured. He wasn't going to deny Shiloh a ride, even if she lived where she did. "Yeah, don't worry about it. It's no trouble."
"Not all the time. Genna drives me when she can, and I take the bus sometimes...I know shortcuts for the other days..." Genna was sometimes busy and the bus wasn't super reliable in her neighborhood; they preferred to avoid high crime areas. Hers wasn't the worst but she'd be lying if she said crime wasn't slowly on the rise. Lately a group of kids has been going around some weekends smashing out windows of cars and buildings, both business and residential. Luckily she didn't live on the first floor of her apartment building. It wasn't every weekend, but that didn't mean it couldn't be. The kids generally weren't that bad in her neighborhood, but they befriended kids from the worse off neighborhoods and then it spiraled from there. She worried about Dan, but she figured he was intimidating enough that no one would want to mess with him. That was an oddly comforting thought. "I think I always tend to worry..." In her experience it was hard not to, but worrying about everything had started young. Probably right after the accident she couldn't remember.
"You shouldn't have to walk ten miles for school," Dan said, glancing over at her. Of course, his gut reaction was to ask 'Have you considered moving closer?', but he knew this wasn't a situation where he even could. It would come off more rude than genuinely curious, especially from someone she barely knew. Though, he noticed the way she looked at him, the glint of worry for him rather than of what he could do to her. It was a nice change, for once, to not have someone constantly worry about the damage he could cause He knew she shouldn't worry about him, he knew he would be fine regardless but the intention was nice. They stepped into the parking lot, Dan leading her over to where he parked his car. For a moment, he forgot how expensive his car actually was; he wouldn't be shocked to see Shiloh nervous about breaking something, seeing as he already could tell how much she was worried about this whole thing anyway. "I'm over here," he told her, gesturing to his car as he pulled out his key to unlock the doors.
Shiloh shrugged like it was no big deal, it wasn't like she had much of a choice. Cars were expensive and considering the college was in a nice neighborhood every apartment nearby would be well out of her range. She felt like she didn't belong in such a nice area, just coming to stand next to his car made her feel out of place. It was probably worth more than her life, but she wasn't at all intimidated by fancy cars. Anymore, due to Genna. Genna had to practically drag her into her car every time she gave her a ride at first and though she was still afraid of breaking something, she was more used to it now. Except this wasn't Genna's car. Still she fought back the urge to frown in worry, forcing a smile on her face. "...you have a very nice car." She didn't know much about cars so she didn't know what kind of car it was, but she knew it was a nice one. Like Genna's. Shiloh smoothed out her jumper as if to make sure she had no dirt on herself, she was a very clean person but it was good to double check sometimes when outside. The dirt and dust could just attack you if you weren't careful. Now she was just trying to keep her mind occupied, a busy brain was a quiet one.
Dan glanced over at Shiloh, peering over the hood of his car as she commented on how nice it was. The worry didn't disappear, he knew, he could see the struggle to conceal it but he chose to keep those comments internal. "Thanks. The door's unlocked," he said, a small reminder as he got into the driver's side. He tossed his bag into his backseat, settling into his seat as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He made no moves to do anything past start his car to get the air on, considering it was still hot outside even in the beginning of the school year. Living in California did that, but that wouldn't get him out of his skinny jeans very often; practice with the team was usually the only time once school started up again. He reached for his aux cord, scrolling through his music as he plugged his phone in and made sure the volume wasn't deafening considering he had a new passenger. Dan needed the music while he drove, otherwise he ran a high risk of disassociating and getting lost in his head which was never a good thing; often it was loud to keep him focused, but he made sure today it wasn't as bad. When he finally decided on a playlist, the familiar sounds of heavier rock and punk easing him a little as he turned to Shiloh again. "Just tell me where to go," he said, buckling his seatbelt before he pulled out of the parking spot. He focused in on the song that was playing, a favorite of his, exhaling slowly to make sure he stayed in check as he left the school grounds.
Shiloh got in carefully, settling for putting her book bag and camera bag in her lap. She was comfortable enough in Genna's car to put her things in the back but that wasn't the case here. He was new to her, relatively, and she wasn't sure what was okay and wasn't okay in his vehicle. Some people took their cars very seriously, rich or not. Her gaze peered out the window as he messed with his phone, some harsh tones coming from his speakers moments later. It wasn't that she hated this kind of music, she just didn't often listen to it. The music was rough whereas she was gentle. Her tastes lined up with her personality, but Genna listened to something similar to Dan so she really wasn't bothered by it. It was different, not in a bad way. She nodded and buckled her seat belt, giving him simple directions; where to turn before they came onto those turns and things like that. This route was the way Genna took her when she did so this was the only way she knew by car. That guilt from before rose up in her chest again but she pushed it down, focusing on this task more than anything else.
Dan stayed relatively silent for a majority of the drive, taking Shiloh's directions and following them. He was doing his best to not drive like an asshole and let his temper flare too much; his friends were used to how he could get behind the wheel when other drivers weren't being considerate or doing the right thing but he couldn't do that now. He had to remind himself that Shiloh was still new to...his whole personality and all that. Though, he came close to when someone cut him off, opting to bite his tongue and tighten his grip on his steering wheel for a moment. Today's going to be a long day. He sighed, letting go of the brief surge in anger to drive in peace. Well, what was peaceful driving to him; the music said otherwise, taking a turn for far more intense when the next song came on. Though, this was the kind of music that never failed to keep him grounded when things slipped; he was never a calming music kind of person when things got bad or he needed to calm down. No, listening to the steady but intense beat of the drums and the guitar behind gut-wrenching, powerful lyrics and even screams was what kept him at ease. As they got closer to Shiloh's, he glanced over at her and spoke for the first time since the quiet acknowledgements of her directions; he wasn't phased by the location, but still confused from before. "Walking all this way every day must...eat into your time outside class. Why not get a ride with someone?"