We Don't Believe What's on TV

Chapter Four - Tyler Time

The film had been pretty good- When Stars Collide hadn't really been all that special. The title was sort of ironic-"When Stars Collide" sounded like a meaningful, romantic movie, but really it had been more of a sci-fi comedy. Phil might have liked it more than I did-the character Jonas had reminded me of him, but other than that I hadn't really thought about Phil at all. In fact, I hadn't gotten his opinion on the movie. I would ask him about it later.

I hadn't thought about him when I arrived at the cinema and took a seat next to Lauren.

I hadn't thought about him when I went with her to Starbucks later.

I hadn't thought about him when she told me my videos made her feel like she was watching someone "speak her thoughts" and we chatted about our relatable feelings.

I hadn't thought about him on our taxi ride home where she told me it had been a huge dream of hers to actually meet me.

I hadn't thought about him when we exchanged phone numbers.

I hadn't thought about him when we got to my flat and she kissed my cheek goodbye.

Actually, I hadn't been thinking about Phil until I got upstairs and saw him sitting there.

"Hi Phil," I said. He barely looked up from the laptop resting on his legs..

"Have a nice time?" he asked.

"Yeah, it was pretty fun," I said, draping my coat over the back of a chair. Normally, Phil would have been pestering me about the movie, but not tonight. Maybe he just wasn't interested.

I touched my cheek for a moment, thinking about the kiss. Then, blushing to myself, I turned my attention back to Phil. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah! It is," he insisted. Then, "Hey Dan, do you want to, I don't know, have a guy's night, next week or something? Just us? I just want to, I don't know, maybe talk. I feel like we haven't done that in a long time.

"Sure," I said, brightening. Phil probably just needed to talk about stuff. That cheered him up a lot sometimes. "How about next Thursday? Let's make it a sleepover."

"In my room or yours?" asked Phil.

"Dunno. Doesn't matter to me," I said. "Want to invite Chris and PJ as well? D'you think they'll come?"

"Sure. PJ's off on holiday, I'm not sure when he gets back...But , maybe Chris'll come."

"That'd be awesome. Just like old times," I smiled.

As I heated the stove to begin making dinner, Phil called Chris, and I could hear the muffled rumble of their voices over the sound of my cooking.

Phil was oddly subdued that night, only opening his mouth to eat, or to reply to one of my own remarks.

I went to bed that night, content at first, but then thinking...

What was wrong with Phil? Usually he just told me straight out, like how one of his old friends was bullying him, or how his computer had crashed, losing an important file, or how there hadn't been any lactose-free chocolate at a corner store, and he'd accidentally pissed off the manager of the store.

It was stressing me out-I didn't feel trusted, for some reason.

***

Lauren, Sienna and I were beginning to see each other frequently- sometimes I just visited their flat or they came over to ours. They didn't own many video games, so they both were terrible at our games. It was entertaining to see them try to figure out how to work game controls.