Hate Me Closer (Phan)

Chapter Eighteen

"So...Phil, huh?" Chris asked, watching Dan drag his suitcase into the dorm corridor. He had an apologetic smile on his face, yet he couldn't help but hope this would stop Dan from being such a dick to the innocent boy.

Dan nodded, pursing his lips and huffing, "Yep." he crossed his arms, pouting at Chris, "Could be worse, to be fair. At least Phil's...Phil, and not a dick."

Chris nodded, "Well, I'm off to spend over a month in a five-star hotel in Australia!" he celebrated cockily.

"Dickhead." Dan teased, flicking him on the forehead.

"It's part of my identity now." Chris joked, "It would be like denying I snogged PJ on stage for personal reasons rather than theatrical."

"I still can't believe you did that." Dan smiled, never ceasing to be surprised by his friend's antics.

"The finalé performance wasn't the last time we did that, either."

"What?!" Dan quietly shrieked, "Chris?! When was this?!" he grinned with amusement, but also pride for his friend.

"When wasn't this?" he replied, a smirk on his cheek.

"Chris!" Mrs Blackwell called, "Come down already, your parents are here."

He shrugged at Dan, "Got to go, Mate."

"Oh, I'll be calling you."

"So will PJ." he winked one last time before disappearing down the staircase.

Dan was scheduled to be the last to leave, despite not being in the oldest year of school. They'd arranged it so Phil's parents could come with a van and discreetly move his belongings out of the school, out of the eye from the rest of the student body.

"Have a good time, okay?" Mrs Blackwell told Dan as he stood at the main school doors, three boxes of belongings, a suitcase, a rucksack, and a piano that the maintenance workers were bringing through the corridors. She put a hand on his shoulder, "I'll be thinking of you, and I'll see you in two-thousand-and-five."

"See you, Miss," Dan replied, seeing Phil walk over from his right, with two suitcases and a rucksack on his back.

"Is this it?" Phil asked, smiling eagerly.

Dan glared at him, "Why, expect more?"

"Oh my God, I wasn't saying it like-"

"Dan's aware of that." Mrs Blackwell sighed at her student, "He's just teasing, right Daniel?"

"Sure." he agreed unconvincingly.

"I'll leave you two boys to it. Enjoy yourselves, take the holiday to relax, you both deserve it." she gave them a wave as she walked off across the pebble campus path.

"My parents just pulled up." Phil smiled, pointing to a van his family had hired for their temporary addition to the family. And, Phil was very much aware his mother would be treating Dan as one of his own.

Dan nodded, mumbling almost inaudibly, "Do you get along with your family?"

Phil smiled, "Very well. Maybe not so much my brother." he shrugged, "But give us a few years, I guess."

Down the path came two people: one a lady about half a foot shorter than her son, and a man about the same height. The woman wore a large smile that already reminded Dan of Phil's, and between the two of them, you could see how they made up their son through both looks and characteristics.

"Well, hello to the both of you!" the lady smiled, giving Phil a hug around his waist. She then turned to Dan, gauging his closed-off body language and pout to his lips, "I'm Katherine, call me Kath, and I've heard you're Daniel?" she continued to grin.

"Dan." he nodded, "Uh, thank you...I guess?" he awkwardly smiled. It didn't quite look natural on him, yet.

"Oh, Dan. Don't thank us." she stepped closer, opening her arms and giving him a lopsided grin as though to show she was offering the hug, not forcing him. Dan sighed, stepping close and taking it without returning it, before pulling away a split second later. Kath took it as a sign of hope. The maintenance workers came through the doorway with the piano between the two of them. Kath looked up, stepping out of the way, "Right, let's get that in first." she turned to Dan, picking up one of his boxes, and her husband one of the others, "This is Nigel." she informed Dan.

"Lovely to have you with us, Dan." Nigel greeted as they walked down the path. Phil lugged his belongings away from the school, consciously walking slightly behind them all. He knew his parents and trusted them entirely, but he was entirely aware Dan had no clue who they were, nor did he trust them a single bit. His mother got a hug out of the troubled boy, but he knew she could get one out of anyone, so it wasn't too much of a surprise.

They loaded the teenagers' belongings into the van, getting into the front of the vehicle together. Kath smiled in the rear-view mirror, seeing Dan shuffle his hands into his pockets and look helplessly out of the window at his home that was his school, "We're only an hour and a half away, but that son of mine can't go ten minutes without getting car sick, so don't expect a very amusing drive." she chuckled.

Dan attempted a grin back, watching Phil uncomfortably smile. The van began and Nigel drove them down the village roads out of the place that homed Auburn School.

The brown-haired boy who'd straightened his hair every morning, without fail, for many years now, let his fringe fall onto the window with his forehead pressed against the cold glass. The trees and shrubbery passed quietly as they headed Southeast from familiarity, taking Dan down roads he'd never seen before.

After ten minutes, Phil shuffled in his pocket to pull out an MP3 Player, unravelling his knotted earphones and placing one in his ear. He silently offered one to Dan, but the boy stuck his palm in the air and shook his heart to refuse the kind gesture. However, Phil left the screen of his device up and Dan was about a foot and a half from it, but still close enough to catch a glimpse of the screen. He smirked with amusement, a small, sharp breath escaping his nose as he asked, "I like Muse, do you like Muse, too?" The band that was displayed on the screen was one Dan had been following since before he joined Auburn.

Phil smiled, nodding as he held the earbud up again, "Want to listen?" he simply offered.

Dan sucked in a breath and nodded, tucking the earpiece into his ear and returning his gaze to outside the vehicle he was trapped in. With the music, the scenery around him seemed much more alive and for the first time in over a month, he felt as though he had the right to hope again, even if it was fuelled by heavy bass and drums.