Playing With Fire || d.h

38. All Coming Together

Phil's POV

He's changing.

I don't know if it's in a good or bad way, or if it even matters. Everyone changes eventually, I couldn't expect him to stay the same person he was when we met years ago. Still, it's strange, and it's hard to get used to.

There's still something I'm petrified of, however. What if we start drifting apart?

It feels like Dan is hiding a new part of himself from me, and it's not as easy to read him as it used to be. Ever since (Y/n) got here, it's almost as if he's started to become a different person. That may just be because of the added stress and such, and it might go back to the same once the storm settles. But maybe he'll change permanently.

I'm not blaming (Y/n), like, at all. It's not like she forced herself into our lives, or meant for disaster to follow her like her own shadow.

"Phil. Phil!" My eyes go back into focus, and I see Dodie sitting in front of me, her eyebrows snapped together in curiosity. "What're you thinking a about?"

"Oh, uh, nothing, just zoning out," I reply, sitting up on the couch. Dodie only shrugs, and goes back to scrolling through her phone.

I get a sudden itch on my calf, on the inside of my large cast. "Ugh, I can't wait until I can get this garbage off of me," I groan, trying to stick my fingers far enough down. I've done this same thing at least five times a day since I fell, but I've never been able to reach the itch.

"Well, maybe if you weren't such a clutz, then you wouldn't be stuck in this situation," Dodie replies matter-of-factly.

I roll my eyes jokingly. "Maybe if you were born with this curse, you would grow to understand how difficult it is for us in the clutz community."

"Well, because of you being born a clutz, now the closest thing we get to a date is sitting on your bed, eating takeout and watching Netflix."

"What, that's not good enough for you?" I counter. "I didn't know you were expecting candlelit dinners with thousand-dollar champagne."

"What?" She jokingly scoffs. "That's probably the lowest expectation I have for a date. Someone like me always deserves the best." She flips her hair over her shoulder, giving me a glitzy smile that mesmerized me on the spot.

"You're not wrong," I reply, grinning sheepishly. "To me, you deserve nothing less than the world."

"Aww," Dodie grins, and kisses me on the cheek, causing a smug smile to cross my face. "I'm gonna go get a snack, do you want anything?"

"Um...chocolate?" I ask, trying to sound innocent, pouting my lips.

She chuckles in response. "Ugh, fine," she says, and walks away. As she leaves the lounge, Dan enters.

"Morning," he yawns into his hand, still half asleep. Obviously I can't help but get caught off guard at the swollen, purple side of his face. I feel bad for him, but I also feel bad for (Y/n), who is no doubt going to be compulsively beating herself up about this for awhile.

"Goooood morning!" I reply dramatically.

Dan cocks an eyebrow at me. "You are so weird," he chuckles, and drops into the sofa crease by instinct. However, he still isn't used to the fact that he needs to be more fragile with himself, and winces painfully while holding his lower abdomen.