Phan- You and Me (completed)

Chapter 3: My bitter-sweet reunion

Phil's POV

The terrace was decorated with beautiful flowers and candles. My father cooked his famous stew and my auntie Lilly baked a gigantic cake. It was a wonderful evening. I hadn't seen Dan so relaxed and happy in weeks and to be honest I didn't feel so carefree since a little enternity, as well. I managed to not drop Mary (Adulthood: Level up! yays for me!) and was surely delighted about our new familiy member. Lucas was mid way through telling us a funny story about his coworker, when the fence door creaked again. "Oh,that must be him!" my mum cried delighted and ran to the door. My dad huffed a little. "You're late, my dear, as always!""So sorry auntie, my flight got delayed. Happy Birthday!", replied a deep male voice.

I tensed up immediately at this sound.What is he doing here? The only voice I didn't want to hear at a family gathering. Wasn't he abroad? The owner of this voice, the only family member I wasn't delighted to see, my thunderstorm on my parade, walked on the terrace. "Jace, my boy!", my auntie Lilly hugged her son tight. " Momma, so glad to see you again!""I didn't know you'd make it" my father said coldly. He hada strong dislike for Jace's lifestyle. And I well...I have my reasons to hate this guy. "Well, surprise!" he grinned.

"Who'sthis?" Dan whispering asked me. "My cousin" I replied emotionless. The second I closed my mouth Jace opened his: "I'm so happy to be with the family again! Philly, great to see you! Lemme look at you- well, we have gained a little weight since the last time we met, like 5 years ago, haven't we?" He mockingly pinched my cheeks as if I was a three years old. "Hey Jace", I replied, trying to hide my discomfort and hurt about his comment.Great, he was there for less than 5 minutes and had already insulted me. It would be a pleasurable weekend. Let me get something straight,my cousin nagged at me ever since we were 10 years old. I don't know where it came from, but he seems to enjoy making me feel bad. His eyes fell on Dan. He smiled, a little too flirty for my liking."Well, well now we haven't met before, have we? I'm Jace"  "Dan," he smiled a little nervous, I know he doesn't like meeting new people. "He's here with me" I interrupted whatever Jace tried to start. "He's my best friend. Sort of belongs to the family." Jace laughed manky and sat down next to Dan. "So glad you finally found friends, Philly! Took you long enough" "Boys" my mum said playfully stern. "Behave" Dan gave me a quizzical look. I just shook my head and started talking to my sister in law, ignoring Jace as best as I could.

The hours passed and so did the glasses of wine. My parents and auntie went to bed some while ago and I rocked my little precious niece Maryto sleep. Out of the corner of my eyes I watched how Jace talked to Dan. I hated to admit it, but he looked good. He grew a beard int hese 5 years, gained muscles, long hair and a ton of tatoos. His skin got a sunkissed tone, I was a bleached ghost compared to him. He always looked better than me, which made it for him far more easy to be the jerk he was and still be popular.
"We'll get some sleep too", Lucas yawned and left with his little family. Now only Dan, Jace and me were left on the terrace. Both of them were so in full cry that they didn't seem to know I was still there. "Yeah,I travelled around Australia and New Zealand for 5 years, to youknow, find myself" "What have you been doing all these years?" Dan asked fascinated. I know he always wanted to travel to Australia. "Oh you know, music, girls, boys- just pretty things" he winked at Dan with a smug smile. And Dan- to my appal- blushed. He actually bought the rubbish that came from Jace's mouth!

To be honest, I don't know why this made me so angry. But seeing Dan laughing and smiling with this person made me want to vomit. "Just me and my guitar, it was an unique experience! You playing any instruments?" "Piano", Dan mumbled. He was impressed by Jace, I could tell. This made me even more angry. "Beautiful! Always lacked skill to learn it! You must be really talented" "He is" I joined the conversation. I knew I made a mistake the second I opened my mouth. I knew that every word coming out of Jace's mouth would shoot tiny needles in my direction.I should have known better. I should have just left. But I didn't want to. After all, he was talking to MY best friend here. I gave Jace a hard look. He smiled mockingly at me. "How great. You two