Serving You

Untitled Part 1

I carried the tray up the long set of stairs, following its twists and turns until I reach his room. He is not like his dad and sister, who demand food and call me a servant. He never asks for anything, denies any of my offers, and calls me Phil. His family was rich, Mr. an Mrs. Howell being snobs, Mrs. Howell being less of one, who have a servant for everything and to him I was just a bug that he could squish, but to Dan I was so much more. I know what you're thinking, but we're not together, no matter how much I want it.I knock on the door and, considering he should know this is when I force him to eat, I let myself in without an answer. I look around and sit the tray on his table, moving his computer occupied by Tumblr onto his pillow. "Dan?" I ask. "Phil," he says, his voice hoarse from what seems like crying. "I'll be out in a minute." It came from the bathroom, so I sit down on the edge of his bed, for we always talk during my breaks."Hey Phil," he said, smiling at me, causing butterflies to explode in my stomach. Yes, by the way, I am madly in love with him. "Hey Dan, today I brought you pizza and your malteasers from my special hiding spot.""Phil, how'd you make me such a 'poor' meal, as my parents would say. Wouldn't Cindy see it?"

"I have my ways."

"Anyway, I said that you don't have to bring me food, I'm not hungry."

"You always say that, but if I didn't bring you food, you would starve."

"I just know you work so hard for my parents, I can't have you dying from working to hard."I smile."Thanks for caring Daniel, but I don't need your help, I get payed 30 dollars an hour to serve your parents. Plus I live in your house."

"Yeah. I guess so, but seriously, now that you started living in that bigger bedroom, I'm gonna need twice as many malteasers."

"Oh, really, Mr. Howell?"

"I was joking. I need 4 times as many,"he says sarcastically. "Whatever."I am so tempted to reach up and brush Dan's fringe out of his eyes. I don't though and just look down at his pizza, realizing I forgot to make my food in excitement of seeing Dan again."You look like a sick puppy. Eat some."

"No. Its yours."

"Take it!"

"Dan, if I must, I'll have a piece of a piece."

"Or a whole piece?"

"Fine," I whine.We both dig into the pizza, dropping it and laughing, smiling at each other, and, when our mouths weren't full, we talked about little things. The whole time I sneak glances at him, thinking about his amazingness."Mr. Lester," I hear a booming voice say, letting the malteaser spew from my mouth in little bits of chocolate. I jump up and bow, mumbling a curse word under my breath, for I'm not supposed to have been doing multiple things I was at the moment. "Um, Yes, Mr. Howell?"

"Your break ended 5 minutes ago, my son is eating peasant food, and your doing so with him," he spits angrily." I am sorry Sir."

"Okay. And servant, I want my bathroom wiped from my latest shower."

"Yes sir."I wave goodbye to Dan and he looks at me with a weird mix of emotions in his eyes, but I brush it off, rushing to aid Mr. Howell.

*************************************

I awake with a sigh, pulling at my duvet to try and shelter the little bit of comfort I can bring with me all the way to the stove, but I'd prefer just bringing a mattress. I know that Cindy, the head maid, will notice my absence and surely tell her bosses, so I drag myself out of bed and into the kitchen, already huffing and puffing with sleepiness. I was up all night doing extra work because my friendship with his son causes Mr. Howell to have even more of a mood, reserved just for me. I looked under the counter, going to the very back of the cabinet, where I find mini muffins I had reserved for my little Danny boo. I put them on a plate and start on the others breakfasts, built of food that's so fancy, its gross. After twenty minutes, I put the food on tray one, for the Howell adults and put the plate of muffins and a glass of milk on Dan's.I carry the first to the master bedroom, having a brief talk with Mrs. Howell and then take the muffins to Dan. I knock once and here a groan from the other side."Sorry, Dan, I been up since 4:00 a.m."

"Come in, you early freak."

"Alright, you late llama."I sit his muffins and he smiles."Its so weird that my parents made me eat stuff like fish eggs and unknown green Goop with kale chips, but they hire you and I actually enjoy meals.""Its nice to know I have an impact."

"You are always making an impact. More than you know."

"What do you mean."He gives me a look that says he shouldn't say, but still goes on after a pause."Well, I go to therapy for severe depression. Anyway, Dr. Hindle said that I have improved so much that I get to move to group therapy, which is for weaker depression. I had no change for a year after- Anyway, you gave me this, so, you make a difference, Phil."I smile sadly, hugging him lightly, keeping it as masculine as a gay man hugging his crush can get. As I pull away, he grabs me again, pulling me into a deeper hug, a lot more gay, and if I am not mistaken or insane, I feel him smell my hair slightly, but I bet it was something else."So, I'll get going now,since your dad probably needs me to clean the room or do the laundry.""I need you first.""Oh. That's the first time I've heard you say that.""Yeah, its just. First, do you get on the Internet?"

"Yeah, but rarely. I do see what you were on sometimes, when I bring you your food. Also, I have my own laptop, but I spend all my free time with you, so its basically new."

"Well, I post these videos every week. I have meals with you, weekly sessions with my doctor, formal stuff with my dad, but I still have, like, seven hours where I'm not sleeping each day. With that, I record, edit, and post videos.I have about a million subscribers."

"Wow. Why do you need me."

"I want to, you know, do a challenge with you."

"Ooh! Like what?"

"Well, I already have it planned, but it may seem weird. We'll still just be- we don't have to be dating.""Oooooo kaaaaay?"

"Lets do the boyfriend does my makeup challenge."

**********************************

He looked like a clown. I try to apply the lipstick, but it goes anywhere, but his lips. It was weird enough for it to be a man getting make up, but the fact that it was me was even wielder. I grabbed the mascara, but it was liquid eyeliner and it got all over his eye area, resulting in a ring. "Phil, what are you doing?" he laughed, but it came to an abrupt stop." I turned around and Ms. Howell sat, staring at the scene."What in Gods name, are you boys doing?!?!"

"A video," Dan said, laughing and winking at the camera, doing some solute before hitting the off button."Phil, you need to work on your aim with that lipstick," she joked. "And Dan, why exactly did you buy liquid eyeliner. When it is a pen, it does not get all over you." I laugh. Mr. Howell would rush in, fire me, and call us both very terrible things for being so gay, but Mrs. Howell has always secretly been the nice one and, honestly, she was the one who helped me get Dan's food. "I am very sorry, Mrs. Howell."

"Its no problem at all, Phil." Her face got slightly dark. "But, Dan. Your father said he wanted you in the study." She nodded almost un noticeably, but when Dan saw, he began shaking. "Dan, I mean, um..." I say, realizing his parents don't want me calling anyone by their real name. "Sir, I will see you at lunch." "Just call me Dan," he whispers in my ear, and even though he didn't mean for it to be sexy, it sent a shiver down my spine."Bye, Dan." I walk over to Ms. Howell, both of us beginning to prepare for Emily, Dan's sister, to visit tomorrow. "So, whenever she arrives, will we need to have all weeks meals planned, and the wedding."

"Obviously, we have planned the wedding and, because of your good work, we have now fired all 3 other workers, excluding only, Cindy, You, Ed, and Dianne. So, Dianne and Ed will be working on overall serving, but you and Cindy will set up the wedding it our meeting room."

"Thank you for the honor ma'am. I've never had such a big job."

"Yes, Philip. This is the biggest job you have had in your eighteen months here, but you will surely be able to achieve this."

"Thank you."

"Oh, will you go to the library, I left my reading glasses in there."

"I surely will."I walk up the steps and open the door to the study, thinking its the library. I look in and see blood smeared on the nice floor and bottles of vodka strewn about. I knew this was happening, but hoped to God I was wrong. The Howell's have darker secrets then I could have imagined.