Pest//phan au

Six

"I have some news for you," Cat said as she greeted me outside my door. Usually I go to her house in the morning, but I texted her and told her I was running late. I didn't have time to straighten my hair, so it was curly and out of control.

"Good or bad?"

She shrugged. "Take it how you want. I was in a group chat with some girls on Facebook yesterday."

"Oh the horror!" I shouted, throwing the back of my hand against my forehead.

"Shut up," she giggled. "They were all in agreement that you are a lot cuter than they originally thought."

I stared at her, one of my eyebrows cocked.

"Before you started talking to Phil, they never really paid attention to you. Now, when they look at Phil and notice how beautiful he is, they see you and think you are also cute."

"Okay cool," I said blandly. It's nice to know that people think I'm attractive, but I'm not really interested.

"Also, a certain someone said that you were also attractive," Cat smirked. "He told me."

"No he didn't," I replied, but my face started to heat up against the cold air.

"That was one of the questions I asked on the phone," she replied, practically bouncing with happiness.

My face started to heat up even more. Why was I blushing when I was told he thought I was attractive but not the fact that a group of girls do? This makes no sense.

"Stop trying to force us together," I growled.

"I'm not going to push you together. I'm just going to gently shove you in the right direction," Cat grinned. "Do you think he's attractive?"

Do I? I never actually thought about how attractive he was. I mean, his eyes are so pretty, and his hair is always perfectly straight, and his face is proportioned accurately. Does that count as attractive?

"You do!" Cat shouted, taking my silence as her answer. "I didn't know you swung for the other team, but this is perfect!"

"I don't! I mean, I don't think I do," I yelled.

"You don't what? Which one?" Cat asked curiously.

"Both," I answered softly. "Can we not discuss this?"

"Aww, Danny do you have a crush?" Cat teased.

"No, I do not have a crush," I said confidently. "This isn't middle school."

"Fine, but you're attracted to him and that's enough for me right now."

---

When I walked to the spot that I normally meet Phil at, he was already there, which is unusual. He greeted me with a big smile.

"Sorry I left so quickly yesterday," Phil started, "my mom likes for me to be home by seven."

"It's alright," I said. We walked down the hallway to lunch. "Did you get out of class early?"

"What? Oh, sort of," Phil mumbled, scratching the back of his head. "So, I think I'm almost ready for the test tomorrow, I just need a bit of review," he quickly changed the subject.

"Alright, we'll finish up at lunch then," I said, looking at him curiously.

We walked in silence for a moment, and for once, I didn't enjoy it. It felt heavy.

"I'm really sorry about Cat," I mumbled, attempting to shatter the quiet that surrounded us. "She a bit much sometimes."

"Oh, it's fine," Phil said dismissively. "By the way, your hair curly looks nice."