Stuck In The Past - A Phanfiction

Chapter 2

Phil's POV

On the train I had a lot of time to think. Should I try and sort it out with him? Back then I'd thought I loved him, I was ready to do anything for him. Now I still would, but in a different way. Our love is the love between brothers, not lovers.

Dan was waiting for me at the station, which was unusual. "Surprise!" he shouted and threw his arms around me. I dropped my overnight bag on the floor and returned his embrace. It lasted a few seconds too long for it to be comfortable, but I reminded myself not to take it the wrong way.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

His smile dropped. "I just wanted to come and see you. Isn't that okay?"

"Of course, of course!" I exclaimed and his smile returned. "It's only we haven't done that since..." I trailed off and he nodded to tell me he knew what I was thinking of. "Come on, let's go home." I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me towards the exit.

"Phil," he stopped me and looked down at our intertwined hands.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Dan. I didn't...I didn't mean to."

"It's fine," he replied and squeezed my hand tighter.

When we got out of the taxi Dan let go of my hand so he could open the front door. Being honest I was sort of grateful as my hand was starting to get sweaty.

He took my bag from me and ran up the stairs. "Dan, where are you..." I started as I ran up after him. After a few flights he reached our apartment door and held it open for me. As soon as he'd shut it his hands came over my eyes. "Dan what..."

"Shh," he told me and guided me up the stairs. At the top he half pushed me to what I could only guess was the living room, which was quite hard with his hands where they were.

Suddenly his hands pulled away from my eyes and I heard a huge "Surprise!" from various voices. My eyes fully opened and I saw PJ and Chris standing in front of the TV, with Dan slipping past me to go and stand with them.

"What's all this for?" I asked them.

"Nothing really," PJ said.

"Well," Chris cut in, "I don't call turning twenty-six and ten months nothing."

We all started laughing and PJ clapped a hand on Chris' shoulder before saying, "Well actually we were all in London with nothing to do, so we thought we'd come over. You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not! It's great to see you." It was also great being able to put off talking to Dan, even if it was only for a few hours. 

It was about midnight when they left. I was grateful for it as Chris had wedged himself in between me and Dan so we couldn't really talk to each other and that was what I wanted. I didn't want to have to think of the conversation with my mum or how nice his hand had felt in mine. When they left, however, I had no choice but to talk to him.

"Thanks for getting them to come over," I told him while we were clearing up the lounge. "I really enjoyed it."

"That's fine. Your mum called this morning and asked me to cheer you up." I didn't have any response. I thought I'd been perfectly happy this morning, certainly happier than after our conversation. "Are you okay though Phil?"

"Yeah, sure, I mean why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason," he said, raising an arm as if to stop me from doing something. "It's just you have seemed down lately, y'know. If you're not okay you can tell me, I'll always try and help you, no matter what."

"Of course I'll always tell you!" I told him forcefully. We had always shared everything and I wouldn't hide anything from him.

"Good," he said, a smile appearing on his face. "Now go to bed or there'll be no coffee for you in the morning."

I put my hand dramatically on my chest. "You really know how to wound me Mr Howell." It was sad how true it was.