Blue Neighborhood (Phan)

TALK ME DOWN

"I can't believe you guys are graduating already," Phil said as he watched his friends fix each other's caps and gowns.

"I know it's insane!" PJ agreed as Sophie bobby-pinned his mortarboard to his curly hair.

"What's insane is the fact that they're letting you walk," Sophie laughed, "I never thought you'd actually get out of here in four years."

"Well thanks for believing in me Bestie," PJ grimaced, making Phil laugh.

"You can't blame me," she defended, sticking her last pin in the cap, "Not with your grades. I'm amazed you got an average on the SAT."

"Well I'm just full of surprised aren't I?" PJ chuckled, "How do I look?" he asked, turning to face Phil.

"You both look great," Phil giggled, holding up his Polaroid camera, "Say cheese!"

"Cheddar!" PJ shouted, throwing his arms around Sophie in perfect time to make a blurry picture.

"Thanks for moving," Phil rolled his eyes, fanning the film, "I'm sure that'll come out nicely."

"One more!" Sophie insisted, forcing PJ to pose normally as Phil snapped another picture.

"Come on!" PJ hurried, pulling Sophie out the door. "If we don't go now, we'll be late to our own ceremony."

"Well we wouldn't want that!" Sophie joked as the three of them piled into PJ's truck in their usual fashion.

The ceremony was held on the football field as it was the only place on school grounds large enough to hold the large crowd of relatives and friends who would be attending. It was a short ordeal, barely an hour long with some off-key choir performances and a few tearful speeches. Afterword, all the seniors gathered in the field to throw their mortarboards and then everyone gathered around to hug their favorite graduates. Phil waded through the crowd, searching for his friends, when someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, I've been looking all over for you guys—" Phil spun around, but it wasn't PJ or Sophie who was standing there.

"Hey," Dan said.

"What do you want?" Phil asked in a huff.

"I—" Dan didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry."

"Cool," Phil replied coldly, "Is that all?"

"No," Dan said, his face burning red. "I—I wanted to say thank you."

"For what?"

"I—I got a 1550 on the SAT," he smiled meekly, "I never would have gotten that if you hadn't—You just helped a lot."

"I only tutored you for a month," Phil said, still hostile.

"But you helped a lot," Dan swore, "The thing you said, about writing to help you understand, it really worked. Thank you."

"Well, no problem then," Phil said, turning to go.

"Wait—" Dan caught Phil's arm and spun him back around. "There's something else."

"What?" Phil asked, annoyed at the way his stomach flittered at Dan's touch.

"I—" Phil noticed that Dan's eyes were welling as he stared at his feet, "I c—came out to my parents."

"What?" Phil asked, his anger replaced with shock.

"I told them I—I'm gay," he said, "So yeah."

"Why are you telling me this?" Phil asked.

"I never would've, I mean," Dan seemed flustered, "I wanted to tell them the whole time. I wanted to everyone but I was so scared, but you—but then I lost you. And it was my fault because I was too scared and—and I never wanted that to happen again. So—I stopped being scared," he took a small step toward Phil, still staring at the ground. His voice broke a little as he continued, "I'm sorry. And I know that doesn't make up for anything, but--"

"Sh," Phil threw his arms around Dan, pulling him tightly against him. He didn't want to cry, but he couldn't stop the tears from falling. "I forgive you."

"Really?" Dan asked, holding Phil at an arm's length.

"Cross my heart," Phil smiled.

As their lips met for the first time in months, Phil felt every eye on them, but all he could think about was Dan and how his hands and lips still knew their way around so perfectly.