July 1

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July 1

Journal,

Today it started raining. Hard. It was the day I was to take Dan around Manchester. When I told my mum about it, she laughed and asked if it was a date. I replied ‘sort of’. I skyped Dan again just before I was about to leave to meet him at the local park, and he said his parents were okay with him staying over. I had the whole day planned in my head…

“Dan! Over here!” I waved high in the air when I spotted the tall, tan boy looking lost. He followed my voice and sat down heavily next to me on the wooden seat.

“Phil!” Dan exclaimed. “You had to choose the biggest park in the whole area, didn’t you?” He whines. I chuckled and brought several pieces of paper out of my messenger bag, laying them side by side on the bench in front of us. There was a hand drawn map of the city, drawn clumsily by me at an unhealthy time of the morning.

There was a list of potential restaurants that we could eat at, varying in price and food style. There were also a handful of train tickets going all around Manchester. Dan gasped.

“You’ve put so much effort into this!” I smiled, pleased at Dan’s surprised reaction.

“I wanted to make it a good day. It’s been a while since I’ve gone out with someone.”

Dan went red and looked away. “Thanks.” Then he was the one to surprise me again by hugging me briefly around the waist. “So, where to first?”

I quickly pulled myself together, adjusting my hair over my eyes and warm cheeks, and examined the documents on the bench. “Well how about we head towards the Manchester Eyes first? We can see everywhere from there, and decide better where we went to go next!”

Dan nodded once, and I started to get up to gather my things when I felt something hit my head. I looked to the sky, confused, and saw dark purple clouds covering the sky. My heart sank. How was it supposed to be a good day if the stupid rain ruined everything? Ugh, sometimes I really hated English weather.

“Better keep our umbrellas handy, yeah?” Dan said happily, and I laughed with him as I packed my bag.

It was only a quick bus ride until we were at the massive Ferris wheel. On the way there, Dan told me about his poor family situation, and how he was staying with his Grandma most nights now. When I asked why, Dan replied that he didn’t want to tell me yet, just in case. I wondered why.

I stepped into the small carriage on the wheel with Dan and helped him in after me. It started after a few seconds, moving very, very slowly so you could see the view. As soon as we left the ground, Dan gripped my arm and I flinched from his nails.

“You okay?” I asked, patting his shoulder. He loosened his grip, but kept his hands on my arm.

“Yeah, just a little…afraid of heights I suppose.” He forced a smile and I laughed at him, making him glare at me.

“Don’t worry, Dan! It’s completely closed in and stable! Look!” I pulled my arm from him and launched myself off the ground, falling back hard and the sound of shoes on metal rang through the carriage. Dan screamed and fell back onto the padded chair.

“Phil! What the hell!” Dan got back up shakily and shoved me in the chest. I burst out laughing and shoved him back. We were not even half way up yet, not even over the trees!

“Hey Dan! Look!” I pointed out the glass towards the sun. It was just above the horizon, and in front of it was the place I was hoping to take Dan next. It was my favourite shop in the world. Dan craned his neck to look.

“What is it?” He asked, still not seeing what I was pointing at. I guess it made sense; it would’ve just looked like an ordinary shop to him.

I started jumping around in excitement. “It’s my favourite shop! I know you’ll love it. It’s got all these retro games and game merchandise in there, like all the old Final Fantasies and stuffed Pokémon and stuff like that! It’s where I got all my posters!”

Dan smiled and seemed happy at my excitement. “Cool! Wait…Do they sell old consoles too? I want to get a Nintendo 64 to play all my old games!” Dan seemed to be getting excited about it now too. I started feeling proud of myself. Maybe the rain wouldn’t affect our day too much after all!

We were way over the top of the wheel by now, looking over the whole city and not saying anything. Dan’s face was full of awe. The sky was getting darker now, and all the city lights were turning on which made for a nice sight.

When Dan had gotten over his shock at the beauty of night time Manchester, we both sat down on the seat, and I fidgeted a bit. I wasn’t sure what to say. I mean… I wanted to say a lot, but I didn’t know the right way to phrase it.

I liked Dan a lot by now. Even after just spending a few hours with him today, plus skyping for a while and daily booth, I really, really liked him…

“Hey Phil…?”

I snapped my head up, confused and disorientated after exiting my mind. “Yeah, Dan?”

Dan looked at his knees and started playing with the hole in his jeans there, twirling his finger in it. “You like me, yeah?”

I froze for a second. Was he reading my mind? “Yeah, of course I like you. I like you a lot more after today so far.”

Dan smiled a little and looked at my face. We made awkward eye contact for a couple of seconds and I wondered what I should do right now.

“I like you a lot too…”

Dan leaned forward and I, feeling almost brainwashed, did the same. What was going to happen? Our faces were almost touching…

Journal, Dan is just getting out of the shower now. I don’t want him to see what I’m writing so I will continue this in the next entry.

-Phil

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This is for @CribStacks on twitter because she keeps pestering me to upload. Aww I'm having so much fun writing again TY <3

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