Oblivious Hearts (Phan)

Chapter Two

Word Count: 1050

They walked around the town centre for a while in silence, neither of them knowing where they were headed. Dan then had an idea. "I know of a place that will be quiet and pretty much empty if you want to try there? It's not a coffee shop, but there will be coffee." 

"Yeah sure, wherever." Phil replied. Being outside just the two of them seemed to relax him slightly but he now seemed distant and had a glazed look to his eyes, he seemed as though he was concentrating on something going on in the depths of his mind rather than taking any notice of what was happening in front of him. This made a shiver creep it's way down Dan's back, there was something odd going on with Phil, but it didn't put Dan off in fact in drew him in further, Phil was slowly becoming more and more mysterious and Dan craved to find out more.

Dan led them to the end of the high street where an old, run down building stood in the pale relief of the streetlights. The library was one of Dan's favourite places and somewhere he occasionally worked over the weekends so he had a key, for emergencies. Dan glanced at his watch; the library would close in less than hour. Phil didn't question where they were; he just silently followed Dan inside, not really acknowledging his surroundings.

"Hey, Jess! I'll lock up today, you go home, I'm just showing my friend something upstairs and then we'll go. You do too much here you should get off early today." Dan said, smiling at Jess, who was slumped behind the reception desk with earphones blasting out an upbeat tune in one of her ears. She thanked him and packed up very fast as though she had been waiting and ready to leave given a moments notice.

Dan looked at Phil who seemed lost in his own world, and he wondered whether Phil even knew they were in the library. Dan gently grasped Phil's wrist and led him up the stairs. At Dan's touch Phil seemed to drift back into the present and let Dan lead him, all the while staring at his wrist with Dan's long fingers wrapped around it.

Dan sat down on one of the square sofas in the 'Hobbies and Interests' section of the third floor. Phil, again, dropped himself in the chair opposite. They were completely alone in the building. Dan shifted in his chair to face out the glass wall behind them and he glanced back at Phil. "This is one of my favourite places, even when it's busy it's nearly silent. You can see life going on beneath you, the cars, the people, the buildings, but you are apart from it. If I have some good music to listen to, when I look outside I almost feel timeless even though I can see life spinning so fast below me." Dan said, trying not to get lost in his own thoughts. "Sometimes, when life gets a bit too much for me I come here to calm down. You know, when I start to think about how we are all disposable and just living our lives to make enough money to fuel our bodies to go to work the next day, to then repeat the same vicious circle until the day we die. Which we do alone and afraid with nothing but regrets about the times we chose to work harder, to get a tougher job, to fund our materialistic impulses that ultimately won't contribute to our overall happiness and satisfaction with life." Dan said, spilling the thought's he usually kept to himself for fear of coming across too dramatic.

"Why did you bring me here Dan? Why are you telling me all this? Do you trust me?" Phil said, surprising Dan. He had been so quiet for such a long time he didn't expect Phil to say so much. Now he came to think of it, maybe it was naïve to go somewhere with a complete stranger and then pour out some of your deepest and most private thoughts, but something about Phil made Dan think he could be trusted.

"I j-just thought you'd appreciate the view..." Dan said, avoiding Phil's gaze and questions, looking outside again.

"I do, thank you." Phil's voice was a lot closer to Dan than before. He had moved to sit next to Dan, making Dan jump and snap his head back to face Phil. Phil was looking into Dan's eyes so intensely now, his own burning with curiosity as though he had never truly seen Dan before.

Dan stood up and padded over to the coffee machine. He drummed his fingers on the tin machine's dented lid, waiting for the bitter drink to fill the two cups. He was on edge with the situation and the over dramatic suspicion of Phil he was chasing about in his mind.

"Here," Dan said, finally offering Phil a plastic cup of scorching black coffee, "It's not Starbucks, but it's caffeine."

"Thank you." Phil smiled up at Dan, having relaxed considerably. This didn't, however, manage to completely shake off the feeling Dan felt in the pit of his stomach that maybe he was wrong to trust Phil so completely so soon.

They sat next to each other looking out of the glass wall, sipping on their warming drinks in a comfortable silence. Even though they weren't touching they were very close and Dan could swear he felt a magnetic attraction to Phil, as though his body was being pulled to Phil's, longing to be drawn together.

Phil took Dan's hand in his own and gently thumbed a light scratch on his index finger. A dark look shadowed Phil's face.

"It's just a scratch, it doesn't hurt... Normal wear and tear." Dan said, confused as to why Phil was staring so concernedly at something so unimportant.

"You should really look after yourself more, I hope it heals soon." Phil said, his brow furrowed.

"Of course it will. Phil, what's wrong?"

"What?" Phil snapped, "Nothing's wrong, you just shouldn't be so careless." He almost glowered at Dan, as though Dan scratching himself was a personal insult to Phil. His constant mood swings were beginning to give Dan whiplash. 

So I basically when they were in the library I just made Dan say what goes through my mind everyday, usually when I'm trying to sleep. 

I know, I need to chill. So does Phil, why is he so touchy about Dan's scratch?

I hope you enjoyed it! 

T x