the city // dan howell

Part Two // Tours

"Depends on what kind of plans." I smirk, leading us through the mass of little vendors trying to sell us pretzels or scarves. "Well, as you can obviously tell, I'm not that great with directions. And my friend Phil isn't too keen on them either. Maybe you could show us to some of like, the tourist attractions and your favorite places to eat around here?" His voice wavers, unsure if he really wants to hear the answer I have for him. His worried face searches my eyes for a response. I pretend to think, for no purpose other than to keep him waiting anxiously. "Yeah, I think I could do that." I reply after what probably semt like forever for him. "Really? Thanks! I promise I'll return the favor if you allow me to." He smiles broadly- a full set of surprisingly extremely straight teeth. His smile is... cute. Oops.
"Sure." I smirk at him, resulting in me earning a bright red color on his cheeks.
A snowflake falls onto my nose, and I shiver. Dan laughs at me as I quickly pull my hand away from him to re-adjust my black beanie on my short hair. I'm just as quick, however, to let my hand fall right back into his.
"We're almost there. Do you want to ask your friend where I should take you?" I lead us across a street, packed in the middle of a large group of people. "Um, yeah, I guess I should." He pulls his phone out of his back pocket, and types in a few things without letting go of my hand. The touch of his cold fingers against mine is special to me in some sort of way, even though he is a stranger. I want to be friends with him- get to know him. I'm intrigued, he seems like my kind of person.
Dan presses the phone up to his ear, and begins muttering a few phrases into the phone every so often. Phrases such as,
"Yeah, but where the hell are you?"
"What's that?"
"Phil...."
"I think I'll be fine."
"Yeah, whatever."
And finally, arguably the cutest,
"Yeah, bye, best friend."
I can't help but aw at the last sentence as Dan shoves away his phone. "What?" He asks, completely oblivious to how adorable his friendship is. "Awww." Im only able to say again, leading us across yet another street. He rolls his eyes at my behavior, and begins to talk to me about where I should lead him. "I don't even know if Phil knows where he is or whatever, because he told me he's sitting on big red stairs." Dan questions. "No, that's a thing in the square." I giggle, remembering all the times I've had lunch or written poems in the top corner of the stairs. "Americans are weird." He says in a funny voice. "Brits are weird." I mock him yet again, earning a playful punch with his free hand. "Rude." I laugh, swatting his hand away. "We're almost there." I make a large hand movement, indicating the thick cloud of tourists and tall buildings engulfed in advertisements is in fact our destination. "This place is really busy." Dan says in a surprised tone of voice. I nod quietly and shiver from the cold snow that's already being turned brown beneath our feet. "You okay?" Dan takes him hand out of mine and wraps his arm around me, rubbing my upper arm. "Yeah, I'm fine." I sweetly smile, holding back my actual 'freezing to death' feeling. "Actually, before we find Phil, mind taking my picture in this mass of tourists?" He sheepishly asks, handing me his phone with the camera opened. "Of course." I smile, waiting for Dan to position himself. He stands in the middle of the iconic Times Square 'runway', but everyone avoids standing near him because of the picture, so it looks amazing. He half looks down, half smiles at the camera, and the snow illuminates his face in what is just a perfect picture. I give him a nod and he walks back towards me. "Looking good." I laugh as I hand him back his phone. He blushes in response, whilst standing oddly close to my body. "Come on, let's go." He smirks at me, making sure nobody seperates us while we walk. Just basic safety so we don't get lost, I guess... "Just up here." I sigh, dodging people on the stairs. "He said he's on the top step." Phil's lucky to have found a spot on top, especially during this time of year. "There he is!" Dan excitedly squeals, leaving my side and skillfully hopping up the last few steps to meet Phil. Dan scares him by placing his hand in Phils pocket, and taking out his wallet. "Hey!" Phil screams, whipping his head around, his strangely angry expression melting into a smile. "DAN!" he hugs him, "You've made it!" Phil cheers. Phil has jet black hair and a gorgeous blend of colors in his eyes, leaving me only staring at his complexion, wondering how one pair of friends could have such good genes. "I wouldn't have made it without Tyde." Dan chuckles, holding his hand out to me. I take that as my indication to come up the stairs. I jog up the three steps, just fitting in next to Dan. "Hi! I'm Tyde." I extend my probable icey hand to Phil's glove covered one. "Phil." He grins. "Somehow your friend Dan magically convinced me to show you around. What're you up for doing?" I ask. Phil laughs, while Dan softly kicks my leg. "Why don't we look around Times Square and then eat? Im starving." Phil is quick to respond. "Know any good burger places?" (A/N I KNOW DAN IS VEGAN BUT PLEASE LET ME DO THIS) Dan asks me. "Hell yes I do." Thinking of my favorite place on the face of this earth- Jackson Hole- even though it's quite a distance from here. "But it's quite a walk." I admit. "I don't mind!" Phil says, prancing down the stairs. "You two explore," I shoo Dan along, "Im just here to answer questions and make sure you don't get lost." I giggle. "Alright." Dan laughs along with my, following Phil down the stairs. I keep my distance not wanting to invade their fun, but also staying close enough so I don't lose them or fall behind. Dan and Phil stop at the bottom of the stairs, and look left, then right, in a synchronized motion. "Which way?" Dan asks Phil. "Left." Phil responds.
And so I follow them as they turn left, wondering where they'll go to first. "PHIL, LOOK!" Dan screams as he points towards the Hershey's store down the street, behind the stairs. Phil pouts and replies, "BUT I WANTED TO GO TO THE DISNEY STORE!" referring to the Disney shop fairly close to the stairs. "Fine, we can go there first." Dan gives up, buckling under the pressure of Phil's sweet, pleading look.
"Disney store it is." I smile, imagining how warm it must be inside compared to the arctic death out here. I trail behind them as they smile back at me.