I Will Love You Endlessly (Sequel to i dare you to love me)

Part 11

Dan should've known things were too good to be true, that the bulk of the wedding planning was not going to get taken care of as easily as it had been during the past month.

He sits before his laptop, chewing his nails in distress as he tries to work on a 'day of' timeline and schedule for the wedding - something Louise advised them to do.

"The more you plan for, the less likely it is that something will go wrong," she tells them, and they can't really protest because she has one wedding under her belt while they have none.

It's a good idea in theory, but actually sitting down to put together a timeline for the day of their wedding is much harder than Dan had anticipated. He couldn't remember a time when he felt so clueless before - not even while he was taking his exams in uni (he didn't study at all for those), not even while he tries to pay his taxes and year after year he finds himself aggravated and confused. Hell, not even the first year he tried to get his shop in motion.

He tries to remind himself that he was young and oblivious and helpless but he still managed to build his own shop up from the ground on his own, so he could tackle a wedding day itinerary. But at the moment, it feels like he'd much rather put together another business than stare at this spreadsheet any longer, and he thinks he could rip his hair out.

He likes planning - he thrives on organization and planning- but for some reason this task seems impossible. He barely has any idea what time the wedding itself should start, and does the timeline start when he and Phil wake up or when the wedding actually starts? Should he take into account the time it'll take for them to get ready in the morning before the wedding? Does breakfast need to be scheduled in?

He sighs heavily for the umpteenth time and runs his fingers through his hair.

"Phil," he whines. "I have no idea when to schedule in cutting the cake - it should go before our first dance, right?"

"Um," Phil mumbles, not looking up from his own laptop and Dan is already getting annoyed with him. Phil is very "go with the flow" and "we'll see what happens", while Dan is the exact opposite: he needs structure and planning and order, and it seems as if Phil couldn't care less about that. Or planning the wedding, for that matter.

"I guess so," he finally says. "I mean, we can't dance while we're hungry, right?"

"Okay," Dan types something up but stops. "Wait, so is cutting the cake right before our first dance? Or should be plan for some leeway?" Phil doesn't say anything and Dan shoots a glare in his direction. "Phil!"

"What?" He finally looks up from his laptop.

"Could you at least try to be a little helpful?" Dan asks, annoyance evident in his tone. "I can't exactly plan out our entire wedding on my own."

"I am helping!" Phil insists and Dan just rolls his eyes. "What? I am! I just helped you about the - the cake cutting thing!"

"Barely!" Dan replies. "C'mon Phil, I'm stressed enough as it is, I need help."

"I'm trying!" Phil says. "But I'm just as clueless as you are, love."

"Well we may both be clueless, but at least one of us is at least making an attempt to do something for this wedding," Dan grumbles under his breath, looking away from Phil to try and compose himself. But looking at the spreadsheet is just making his skin crawl and adding fuel to the fire.

Phil sighs a little. "Look, why don't we just figure this all out later and you take a little break, okay?" he asks.

"What 'later'? There is no later!" Dan exclaims, feeling his resolve crumbling completely. "We're getting married in six months, Phil! And we're barely ready for it - we can't do 'later' anymore!"

Phil blinks in surprise, clearly not expecting Dan to snap at him over this. "Why are you so mad at me?" he finally asks.

"Why am I - are you serious? Have you even been listening to a word I've been saying?" Dan is shouting now, and he slams his laptop shut angrily because he can't bear to look at that damn spreadsheet for another moment longer, but right now, he isn't sure if he can stand to be around Phil for another moment longer either. "Phil, I can't plan an entire wedding on my own!"

"You aren't!" Phil tries to keep himself from shouting back but his temper is just as bad as Dan's can be, especially when he's arguing with someone. "Why are you all of a sudden forgetting everything I've done? I helped pick the date, I got PJ to take the photos -"

"And I appreciate all of that," Dan interrupts. "But you can't just do a few things and then call it a day! Wedding planning is constant work, we can't afford to fuck around and hope everything falls into place!"

"You're way too stressed out about this," Phil tells him.

"Of course I'm stressed!" Dan groans, trying not to roll his eyes yet again because he's sure at this point they're going to roll right out of his head. "Because you aren't taking any of this seriously!"

"I'm trying!" Phil insists.

"You aren't trying hard enough!" Dan snaps back, and he stops himself before he can say anything else. "I'm going to take a walk," he says looking underneath the coffee table for his shoes because he just needs to cool down before he starts yelling at Phil some more - and that's the last thing he wants to do right now.

"You're just going to leave?" Phil asks and he sounds a bit like a kicked puppy, but Dan ignores the hurt in his voice, because he can't spend a minute longer trying to plan this wedding, especially not while he's upset with Phil.

"Yes, I'm going to take your advice and take a little break, okay?" he says and he doesn't wait for Phil to reply because as soon as his shoes are on, he grabs his jacket and leaves their flat, slamming the door shut behind him.