TAMPONS | PHAN

one; january

j a n u a r y;

Dan Howell had no clue what he was doing. He stood facing the shelves of feminine hygiene products and slowly raised his phone to his ear.

"What ones did you want me to get again?"

"I don't care! Just grab a box off the shelf Dan!"

"Uh... okay... there's a lot of options though..." stammered Dan subtly checking for any passersby behind him before grabbing a random blue box off the shelf. Luckily the aisle was deserted.

"Is Platex Sport okay?" asked Dan reading the scripted font off the front of the box. It was coupled with colourful silhouettes of women running and jumping, creating an aesthetically pleasing visual effect.

"It's fine. Just hurry, it's not like I can stop the blood!"

"Alright, I'm heading to the cash now." said Dan rushing past an aisle where a bunch of chocolates were stacked.

"Do you want chocolate or something?" Dan asked, remembering some tumblr post that proclaimed that all girls wanted on their period, was to curl up in a ball and stuff their faces with chocolate.

"Whatever."

Dan grabbed a large stack of on-sale christmas chocolates off the shelf, balancing them over the box of tampons. He ended the call and shoved his phone in his pocket to liberate more space in his arms for his purchases.

He headed towards the cash register, the only one open due to the late hour. It was a young man on duty, his black fringe falling over his face as he bent over the cash register handing the change back to the heavily tattooed girl who was buying a teddy bear.

Fuck.

Dan had wanted it to be a girl on duty - for it meant less questions and odd looks. Feeling panic rise in his chest Dan scurried to the next rack, and began to grab random things: lip balm, tissue packs, and a bunch of bows for your hair.

He waited until the teenage girl had gone before he dumped his assorted purchases onto the counter, trying to camouflage the box of tampons the best he could.

"Good evening welcome to-"

"It is a good evening isn't it?" stated Dan nervously. "It would suck to be home sick like Kate is. Which is why she sent me here to get her a few things," Dan rambled nervously as the boy began to scan articles.

He wore all black underneath his red apron which was twisted hiding his name tag. He looked as though he was biting back a smile, as he stayed focused on the produce while Dan ran his hands nervously through his quiff. Dan watched as his hands got closer and closer to the box, Dan sweating nervously the whole time.

"T-those aren't for me, obviously I'm buying them for someone... a girl ... of course she just really needed me to pick her up some stuff because you know things were uh... getting bloody down there so she didn't exactly want to come to the store to get the stuff as she's feeling pretty awful and I thought i'd be nice for once and-"

"Your total is 17.45£" said the cashier cutting across Dan's rambling. Dan's fingers fumbled with his wallet as he shakily pulled out a 20£ bill and handed it to the boy. Dan withdrew his hand hastily as their fingers touched for a split-second in the exchange.

"Would you like a bag?" asked the boy once he had finished arranging the bill in the cash box.

"Uh...sure."

"Receipt?"

"That won't be necessary," Dan replied and the boy nodded placing everything carefully inside a plastic bag with the store logo.