Prince | phan (COMPLETE)

XXI

"Wow," Dans mother exclaimed as she entered the house. After Toby left I looked in the hallway to find a phone that hadnt been there before, there was one number on the phone. Tobys. After I stashed the phone away upstairs, I tried to tune out my problems by doing something else: cleaning. The entire house was gleaming and I was pretty proud of it. "You didn't have to-" she began.
"- it's the least I could do," I said. "I would've cooked us something but I really don't know how, I didn't want to burn your house down by accident mam."
"Good thing I like cooking then." She smiled at me and walked right into the kitchen. I wished I could stay here long enough to learn how to cook, there's so many things that I don't know how to do and will never learn about.
Dan entered next and looked as awe struck as his mother.
"You did this?" He asked and I nodded.
"I told you I was more than just a prince," I smiled cheekily and Dan dropped his jacket onto the chair before he walked over to me and kissed me.
When he pulled away his eyes were gleaming but I could still see the tiredness hidden deep in them. He was exhausted but he was smiling like everything was okay.

Pretty soon it was tea time. Dan's mother had made a lovely lasagne and I slowly ate it, savouring every bite as an explosion of pasta and sauce landed onto my tongue.
"How's my mother?" I asked as I cut another piece from the lasagne.
"Nobody's seen her," Dan said into his plate. He wasn't eating much and suddenly my own food tasted dry in my mouth. I swallowed roughly.
"She's gone?" I asked, my voice cracked and Dan heard it because he looked up and stared into me with his tired eyes.
"No, she's in her room. She's locked herself away until you return." He told me.
"And my father?" I asked.
"Your father's going crazy," Dan told me as he put some food into his mouth. I rolled my eyes. My mother was never one to act out, she is strong and knows her place in the castle. My father is a different story.
"When is he not going crazy over something," I muttered into my food.
"This is different." He shook his head. "He literally won't rest until he finds you, we need a new plan. You can't stay here any longer." Dan looked suddenly very worried as he looked over at his mother. Tobys words flittered into my head. Every person you meet, every place you go, will be destroyed.
"I don't want to leave you." I felt my eyes sting, warning me of tears to come.
"You won't have to," he said. But I will have to, if I want him to live.

~~
"Dan, why did Toby leave?" I asked him as we climbed into bed that night. Dan looked at me confused before sighing.
"He said nothing was good enough for him in this town. After he lost his job, he lost a part of himself too." He turned on his side so his body was facing me and traced my arm with his fingertips. "Why?"
"He came over today," I got out. Dan immediately dropped his hand.
"What!? Tell me, what did he say?" He looked very serious. It was a look that made Dan look older and more tired than he has ever done before.
"He, um, said I have to go back to the castle. Otherwise he would tell them I'm here," I stumbled over my words as Dan grew angrier.
"Shit," Dan hissed and jumped out of bed. He knelt down and produced a suitcase from under the bed as he mumbled incoherently to himself. He opened his dresser drawer and I joined him. "I knew he was crazy, he's always had it out for you."
"Wait..." Dan stopped his mad dash suddenly. "You knew Toby knew me?"
"Yeah..." he hesitated. He was hiding something, something big.
"Why did you not tell me sooner?" I wondered
"I didn't think it was important," he shrugged and threw a shirt into the now open suitcase.
Something clicked in my brain. An unwanted thought that I couldn't shake because I knew it was true. It was the only thing that made sense of any of this.
"Wait, he knew I was here. You've been talking to him about me, haven't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Phil. Please calm down." I hadn't realised I had my fists clenched, my knuckles as white as paper.
"Dan! Tell me the truth, what is going on here?" I felt tears cloud my vision.
"I - Phil, I didn't mean for this to happen." Dan looked at me with his sad brown eyes but I had to look away.
"...you didn't mean for what to happen?" I closed my eyes but it didn't stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. They were red hot against my skin. Dan held my shoulders, hands on either side of me, and I couldn't help but look back at him again.
"Toby told me about you. I was mad because you got my brother fired and I wanted to see what you were like... I never thought Id fall in love-"
"-dont say it!" I begged
"It's true." He scrunched his eyebrows together.
"This isn't love," I told him but I could hear the way my heart beat when I was close to him and the way the butterflies in my stomach fly around when I think of him.
"What would you call it?" He asked and laughed sadly.
I couldn't deny the feeling in my chest, this was love.
"What was your plan?" I asked, but I didn't want the answer.
"I don't know." Dan let go of me and ruffled his hair in agrivation. "Toby just told me to get in and I did, I gained your trust."
"Was it his plan to take me away from the castle?" I knew the answer to that.
"It was from the start. I wasn't going to go through with it until I saw how upset you were there."
"What was meant to happen after?"
"I don't know," he told me. He didn't know a lot for someone who had stabbed me in the back and in the heart.
"You thought we'd live happily ever after?" I scoffed, my lip curled up in a sad smile.
"I hoped so... I was such an idiot Phil."
"You are," I agreed.
We paused, the atmosphere around us buzzed. I wanted to believe Dan. If I couldn't believe his words then surely I could believe his puffy eyes and tear streaked cheeks. I wouldn't be surprised if Toby was going to betray Dan all along. "So, you really don't know what he was planning?"
"No, not at all."
"Okay." I believed him. I was stupid but I did.
"Okay?" Dan asked, a bit of hope gleamed inside his sad eyes.
"Yeah... I just, I need some time to wrap all of this around in my head."
"I'll sleep downstairs tonight," Dan volunteered
"Thank you," I whispered and let him leave.

I took the phone and number Toby had given me before we left and quickly text him:
"Ill get you the money. Just don't hurt Dan."

An:
I'm writing this in the waiting room. I'm going to get so many chapters done at this rate
- Rach x