Without love ~ phan

Chapter V

Phil's POV

What do I wear on a date that's not actually mine? Something dressy but not too dressy. The whole point is for Link to fall in love with Tracy, not me. I chuckle at my own absurd joke all the while hoping no one else is home to hear me. Like that makes sense, I am in my own room with the door shut. Focus, Phil! Just calm down and get some clothes on. Wear something you would wear on any day when hanging out with Tracy.

With that thought on my brain, it's a lot easier to pick out clothes. I settle with a black t-shirt style button up that's buttoned up all the way, patterned with tiny white dots, and black skinny jeans. One sock with parrots on it and the other with Santas completes the look. I look sharp if I do say so myself.

Tracy said the date thing would be at the park at noon and it's only nine thirty at the moment. I was planning on helping her prepare for it but we're both not morning people and our combined grumpiness could cause the world to explode. Yes, it is a scientific fact. I can still make myself breakfast, eat it... what's that, like, half an hour? Then, ...chores for two hours? Sure, yeah. Whatever will keep me occupied for the next two and a half hours. I glance at my clock. Make that two hours and twenty-eight minutes.

My kitten Reese's follows me down the stairs and ducks into the living room as I start to make my meal. I'm relieved that he doesn't stay behind with me in the kitchen as he is most likely the spawn of satan. He doesn't like to be pet or held and uncalled for scratches happen on the daily. At least he's cute.

The time passes, my egg cooks, the english muffin in the toaster heats up. I fill a cup up with water and distribute it out to the herbs on the windowsill, then to the houseplants bubbling up and over their hanging pots. I sing good morning to each of them by name until the toaster dings. In response, I gather my food onto a plate with the fried egg on one half of the english muffin and peanut butter on the other, just the way I like it. Grabbing a glass of water for myself for absolute completion of the meal, I leave the kitchen with the plate in my hand.

Once in the dining room, I come across my dad sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in his hand. He smiles at me and the skin adjacent to his eyes crinkles together. I set my food down next to him so I can sit in my usual seat, the head of the table facing the kitchen, the best seat at the table. "Do you have any plans for today? I had a really weird dream last night that I thought you would like to hear about in the park," he says. "Um, yeah. Actually I'm hanging out with Tracy in a little while, sorry. But I'm free tomorrow." He nods, approving, and goes back to his coffee, sipping mindlessly. I tell him about recent school events while alternating between each half of the english muffin, finishing my food with still too much time to spare.

Wrapping up our conversation, I go back to the kitchen with little on my mind and a daydreamy stare. Reese's catches my attention with a meow like a yell. "Feed me or I will eat you when you die!," I imagine him saying. It is indeed possible considering cats do eat dead humans but outliving him is the most likely of the two options. That's right, fight me Reese's.

The dishes get put into the dishwasher and the clock gets checked once again. I have a little less than two hours to go so I follow the beckoning call of the dishes in the sink. It may sound ridiculous, but I always feel useless and selfish if I see something that needs to be done and I don't do it. Besides, it gives me the perfect opportunity to pretend to be Cinderella. Therefore, I take my time to find a decent station on the radio and advance towards the pots and pans.

I find that the time goes by very fast because in the middle of a singing concert, put on by myself for myself, I hear my dad asking me when I'm planning on going to meet Tracy. That automatically hushes my embarrassing, creaky notes and gives me a moment of fear where I assume I've taken too long a time without looking at the clock. So I do, discovering with a loosening sigh that I still have a couple minutes until I have to leave. That gives me enough time to put on my extra clothes and get going.