Back-Up Boyfriend

The Dance

Dan takes Phil by the hand into the dance. Both boys glance around the room, uneasy. The dance looked terrifying. 

"Well," Phil says as he spots his friends standing in the corner. "Shall we?" He squeezes Dan's hand tighter. 

The boys saunter over to Phil's friends and smile. "Hey guys!" Phil says trying to sound excited instead of scared shit-less. 

"Look who finally showed up!" PJ, a slender built guy with curly hair says to Phil. "Yeah sorry, traffic you know?" Phil says trying to make it sound less obvious that ten minutes ago he was crying in the parking lot alone. 

An awkward beat passes before the other guy, Chris, pipes up. "So are you going to introduce this bloke to us or not?" He asks. Phil chuckles awkwardly. 

He puts his arm around Dan. "This is Dan," Dan smiles and waves. "Dan this is Chris and PJ, my friends." 

"It's nice to meet you guys." Dan replies. PJ smiles. "We've heard so much about you, it's nice to put a face to a name." 

Dan nods and glances at the dance floor and then at Phil. "Shall we?" The fast paced house music melts into a slow ballad. Phil nods and takes Dan's hand. 

The two stand on the outer circle of the dance floor. Dan rest his hands on Phil's hips and Phil's around Dan's neck. 

"So you're friends are," Dan says glancing over at Chris and PJ who were also slow dancing, but much closer. 

"Gay, yeah. They're REALLY into each other." Phil says. In that moment Dan watched as Chris' tongue entered PJ's mouth. He shuddered. 

"So um, should we get to now each other since we're kind of boyfriends?" Dan asks. Phil laughs. "Sure, so um this may sound really awkward since we're boyfriends, but...what is your last name?" 

Dan cackles. Phil watches his face scrunch up into a laugh, it's adorable. "Howell, Daniel James Howell. How about yourself?" Dan finally says after he finishes his laughing fit. Phil blushes. 

"Philip Micheal Lester." Dan smiles. "That is a beautiful name, Philip." Dan's hands sway Phil's hips back and forth with the music. 

"Thank you, Daniel." Phil says with a smirk. 

A few hours later the night was coming to a close. Chris and PJ stood by the doors. "Are you sure you guys don't want to come over later?" Chris asked. Phil quickly answered for both Dan and himself. 

"No we should probably get going, you know curfew and all." He knew that if they went back to Chris' house, things would get weird. Really weird. 

Chris laughs it off. "Whatever dude, see you on Monday!" He puts his arm around PJ's waist and leads him out. 

Phil looks over at Dan with a sudden realization. "I don't have a ride," he says. He felt a pang in his heart as he remembered watching tail lights in the distance. His looked at the ground. 

"I'll drive you home, come on." Dan says putting an arm around his shoulder. 

The drive back to Phil's place was silent. After a few minutes, Dan couldn't stand the silence anymore. He turned the stereo on and turned the volume up to a soft hum. "I hope Muse is okay," He says. 

Phil looks down at the dash. "You like Muse too?" he says quietly. Dan nods. "They're my favorite band." 

Phil frowns in the darkness. "Travis didn't like Muse, he thought they were too weird." Dan sighs. 

"Phil, seriously fuck that guy," Phil jumps at the expletive. "Sure, I've only known you for a few hours, but I can tell right now that that fuck boy wasn't worth your time," 

Dan continues "You are a great, nice, sweet, human being. Travis is scum," Phil looks at Dan's face. He looked serious and calm in the dim glow of the green lights on the dash. "I mean who doesn't like Muse?" 

"Thanks Dan," Phil says quietly. 

Dan pulled into Phil's driveway and dimmed the headlights. "Thanks for tonight," Dan says unlocking the car doors for Phil. "It was nice." Phil nods. 

"No problem, thank you actually."  Phil smiles, remembering the words Dan had said about Travis. He hesitated opening his door. 

"Don't be afraid to text me okay?" Dan says, secretly hoping Phil wouldn't get out of the car. Phil turned towards him and nodded. "Okay," His hand moved towards the handle. 

"Bye." Dan says awkwardly. Phil mumbles a goodbye and opens the door, hopping out of the car and walking towards the door. Dan watches him go in before backing out and driving down the road, kicking himself for not pulling a move. The signs were so obvious. 

Phil got out of his suit and into his pajamas. He laid down in bed and looked at the ceiling. He couldn't stop thinking of Travis, the bastard. 

He tossed and turned towards his nightstand. There sat a framed picture of him and Travis from a few months ago. It was taken at a park near Phil's house, Travis stood behind Phil on a swing set, pushing him. Phil couldn't remember who exactly took the picture. Phil's smile lit up as he ascended. Travis smiled with his arms extended mid-push, his eyes fixated on Phil. 

Phil flipped the frame over, hearing the glass tap against the wood of his nightstand and closed his eyes, hopeful of a dreamless night.