Those Who Trust (Phan)

Part 16

As the clock struck midnight, cries of "Happy New Year" and "Cheers" filled the apartment as glasses full of champagne, beer, wine or other beverages of choice clinked against each other. The room was crowded with people, what had originally started as a small gathering of friends had played out into a party with strangers that neither Dan nor Phil had ever met before, but they brought more alcohol and snacks and a good mood, so neither of them had complained upon their arrival. Their apartment had never seen more people in it before than tonight, and no matter where Dan looked, now that it was midnight people were hugging, or sharing passionate kisses.

An arm was thrown around his shoulder and Dan instinctively flinched away, his reaction delayed by the alcohol in his body, the alcohol in the glass that he was holding in his hand spilling over the edge and wetting his fingers.

It was only PJ, PJ who was grinning at him widely, looking almost manic. He had obviously had too much to drink already as well as most of the other guests in their apartment.

"Happy New Year, my friend," he screamed into Dan's ear, and Dan repeated the words to him while his eyes searched the lounge for PJ's girlfriend to come and get him off, because even though he felt mostly calm thanks to the amount of alcohol he had already had tonight, PJ's touch was a bit too much. On a normal day he could accept his friend so close to him, but the people surrounding them already put him on edge and a drunk PJ was more affectionate than Dan liked him to be.

Once he found her and managed to maneuver PJ from his shoulder to hers, he left the lounge, feeling like he needed a few minutes to be on his own and breathe. So he snuck off into his room, closed the door, and immediately the thousand noises- the voices and the music and the glasses clinking- all faded into a dull sound that was easy to tune out.

Dan placed the glass in his hand on his desk and wiped his sticky fingers on the fabric of his black skinny jeans. His head slightly hurt and he was tired, and all he really wanted to do right now as get undressed and crawl into bed, but there were people out there and he couldn't leave Phil hanging, Phil who turned out to be the perfect host. He made smalltalk with everyone, always made sure that people's glasses were full, always smiled and refilled the bowls with snacks, and knew the weirdest party games. Phil was the life of the party.

For five minutes Dan allowed himself to just sit on the edge of his bed and close his eyes, but then he got up and joined the others outside again, the glass in his room long forgotten, and he stopped in the kitchen on the way to the lounge, grabbing an energy drink.

He met Phil in the hallway, who he hadn't seen in about an hour, and the other man stopped the conversation he had ongoing the second he spotted Dan coming out of his room.

"Are you alright?" he asked, words slurred, but the concern still audible in them.

"I'm fine. I just needed a second to breathe," Dan reassured him and then Phil smiled and offered his glass, and Dan clinked his energy drink can against it.

"Happy New Year! Let's hope it's a good one."

Dan returned the smile, although not as brightly as Phil's was. "Happy New Year, Phil."

___

"Some people seriously have no manners at all," Phil complained as he came up the stairs, tripped over the last one and fell to the floor. "Oops."

Dan saw the entire scene from his position in the lounge and laughed while he was busy picking up the plastic cups littered around the room. It was 7 a.m. and the last guests had left the party about half an hour ago - Phil had to carry PJ down to a taxi around 6 a.m. because no matter what they tried, he wouldn't wake up from his sleep - and in their heavily intoxicated states, Dan and Phil had decided to clean their apartment right away.