Silence

Exposure

[Pt. 7. 1448 Words]

"I murdered Charity's parents."

Pft, as if. Barnum wasn't that dumb. Of course he wanted to tell Phillip about it, but there was at least a 50/50 chance that he wouldn't agree with his, quite questionable, decisions. If not even higher. What if he'd went and told the police? He didn't want to go out that way.

  "Barnum scandal tells love interest of his crimes, gets ratted out on."

No way. What a boring and stupid way to get caught.
P. T. seized his pen tapping as he realized it had been bothering Phillip. The boy stared at the other through the arch in his eyebrows from across the small room. "Sorry. It gets pretty boring after awhile of doing, well, nothing." Phineas apologized sheepishly for having disturbed Phil, which was returned with a short smile. "I'm almost done anyway, you're fine. Wanna get dinner after this, by the way? I meant to ask this morning but I must've spaced it."

Hearing the words 'this morning' sparked the memory of the specks of blood on his neck that Phillip had noticed in bed. It made his heart race a little faster. "Sure! Sounds great, a little stress reliever would be nice after all."

"Okay cool. How about the restaurant down the street? We can finish up work and head out right after everyone leaves." Barnum nodded. "Yeah, that works." He said simply, glad that he had something else to think about other that his acts of the previous few days. As much as he was proud of them, they got overwhelming after awhile. 

The rest of the evening went along quite slow, as Barnum had sat there waiting for Phillip to finish his paperwork and for the night to come to a close. He tried to think of something they could talk about over dinner to pass the time, but nothing really came to mind. The cool breeze from the oncoming night blew from underneath the seems of the large tent, creeping into the office and sending a light chill down P. T.'s spine. "Alright, I believe that's it for this weeks show." Phillip interrupted the silent room as he lied his overused pen down on the desk top, making the showman jump ever so slightly. Phil noticed this, as well as his awfully out of character quietness, and thought it was odd. Usually he would talk his ear off while they worked, especially if Barnum had finished before him, which wasn't an infrequent occasion. 'Maybe he just needed some time to think about all that's happened, or he just wanted to let me work or something.' Phil justified, before turning to the man rising out of his chair. "Perfect! Took you long enough." Phin exclaimed with a joking chuckle, wrapping around his desk while grabbing his coat from the back of his seat. "Why don't we see how everyone is doing before they leave? We've been quite cooped up in here the past few days after all, I'd like to see how practice is going. Maybe go through a quick run through."

As P. T. and Phillip walked outside their office, they were greeted with the sound of the acts singing the second half of  'Come Alive' from down the hallway. The two peeked their head in to see the in progress performance, and were surprised to see how well everyone was doing for only having the choreography for a day or two. Barnum and Phil stepped out and clapped after the last note of the song had played.

"Wow, very nice! You've taken the scripts pretty well I see." Phineas exclaimed with a beaming smile on his face, the acts bowing, smiling, and talking amongst each other, taking the compliment well.

"Well, while you two have been caught up in your office all day, we've been working our asses off." Anne spoke through the crowd, stepping out into view, her flowy purple outfit sparkling under the spotlights. She smiled in Phillip's direction, which gave off an oddly nervous glint. "That's just what I expect out of you. Good job." Barnum complimented, taking a few steps into the bleachers. "Wanna run through it one more time? I'd like to see it from the start, then tomorrow you can work on the next song."

Phillip scooted in next to Barnum as everyone regrouped to take their places off stage. "You take a lot of pride in them, don't you?" Phil remarked, looking up at the smiling Phineas. He'd never seen him as happy as he would get when he watched his performances unfold. It was heartwarming.

"Of course I do." P. T. responded over the booming voices singing ahead of them. He placed his hand on Phillip's lower thigh, leaning over so that the boy could hear him better over all of the noise. "That's why I want you to get out there, you have such great potential! You'd make my pride level fifty times higher." The boy blushed at the touch, looking down at his lap. "I know, I just- I don't like being out there, y'know? I feel better taking credit behind the scenes. You know what happened last time I tried..."

Phin laughed slightly under his breath. "When you got out there and stuttered two words before passing out? Yeah, I remember." Phillip elbowed the showman in the side. "You gotta admit it was kinda funny."

"Whatever."

The two watched the oddities play out their scene one last time for the night, clapping even louder than the last time once the couple minutes of singing seized. "You guys did wonderful, I bet our guests next show will be delighted." Phillip shouted so that everyone could hear through-out the large enclosed room. He climbed down out of the metal benches. Turning around, Anne stood and met his eyes with a soft, anxious look. "Gosh, you scared me." Carlyle blurted, placing his hand over his chest. Anne looked down at the dusty circus ground, kicking an empty peanut shell past Phillip's feet. Her vision blurred. "Sorry, uh.. can I talk to you? Before you and Barnum head out?"

Her voice so quiet, the director could hardly hear over the jumbled chatting filling the room. He tilted his head, wondering if something was wrong. "Um.. yeah, of course. What's up?" The pink haired girl cocked her head in the direction of the tent opening as she walked out, signaling for him to follow, not answering any questions he had as if they went through one ear and right out the other. The stars began to twinkle in the sky, the sun having set fairly recently. As Phillip retraced her footsteps in the dirt, he noticed Anne fumbling with something in her hands, something he hadn't noticed earlier. It looked like a folded piece of paper.

Eventually the girl stopped about halfway around the tent. The noise too far away to hear now, the night was silent aside from faint noises of crickets in the distance. "Is everything okay?" Phillip asked, concern tracing his words. Anne turned to face the boy, handing him the item in her hands. Unfolding the paper, he read the following words under his breath.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this, so I'm gifting you this note. It's been about two years since we met. I remember the day you first walked into our old building before it burned down, and we locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity. I couldn't explain to you even now what that felt like, was it joy? Intrigue? Love? Who knows. But I know what I feel now. I like you a lot, Phillip, and I just want to tell you. I know that you have eyes for Barnum, it's pretty obvious. And frankly I feel quite foolish for falling for somebody who is not only out of my league, but who seems to be in love with somebody else, who isn't even the same gender as I. But I just want to say thank you for being my friend, and hopefully we can continue to be. Signed, Anne Wheeler."

Phil's eyes grazed over the few lines of beautiful handwriting grasped inside of his slightly shaky hands before he glanced back up at the girl who gave it to him. He didn't have words, his tongue went dry. How did he not know? Was he just blind to everything else, or was she hiding it that well? Either way, his confusion and surprisement grew even more as suddenly his lips were met with Anne's. He furrowed his eyebrows as they kissed, not sure how to react. It wasn't a long interaction, the shorter girl pulling away after only a few seconds, and then with a soft smile, she briskly walked away into the dark night.