Phil had gone to sleep that night exhausted after the apparent out of body experience, but still with a small, hopeful smile etched on his face. He laughed silently to himself about the cat whiskers before drifting off to sleep with a single word echoing repeatedly through his thoughts: “Dan”.
-
2:30am. “Well, shitting dick nipples”, Dan muttered to himself as he paced frantically around his small, dark bedroom, unaware of what he was saying as he was so caught up in his thoughts. He had always been the one who hadn’t believed in the whole 22nd-birthday-body-exchange thing, he’d laughed at the concept, not believing in soulmates. When asked why, he’d always told people it was because he was a heartless person who didn’t believe in love. This, however, was not true. Dan did believe in soulmates, he just didn’t ever think he would be good enough to have one of his own. And this self doubt had led to him creating the grumpy persona which he adopted every time the topic was brought up. Yet here he was, age 18, having already gone through it all. None of the people his age he knew had – as far as he knew he was the first in his year. And “Jesus Christ” he mumbled, he hadn’t been possessed by any old soulmate. It was Phil Lester. “Phil fucking Lester”, he thought, and suddenly Dan regretted every second he’d spent watching AmazingPhil videos, all the times he’d spent fantasising about being with Phil, and every creepy comment and message he’d left for Phil since 2006. He sat on his bed, having broken out in cold sweat, almost dreading the meeting. But as he settled to sleep, a strange thought entered his mind: “At least maybe I’ll find out what snokoplasm is”.
-
Phil woke up tangled in sheets with his heart racing. At first he was unsure why, but then he glanced at the clock and remembered. 10:00am.2 hours to go. He leapt out of bed, ran straight to the shower, and cringed as he realised that he didn’t have any Lynx shower gel left, and all he had was the “Raspberry Kiss” which had been delivered to him by mistake for the 4th time, so after washing his hair he grudgingly used it (although he did secretly love the smell). It look him at least 40 minutes to choose what to wear because he was so nervous, he felt he needed to make a good first impression, so he had to look amazing today, especially seeing as the boy – Dan - was so clearly out of his league. In the end he settled for black skinny jeans, a checked shirt, and mismatched cherry and watermelon socks. After straightening his hair, he checked the time. 30 minutes to go. His heart skipped a beat as he left his house.
-
11:30am. Dan was practically paralysed with fear – he imagined people usually only got half the amount of anxiety he currently was experiencing when faced with the prospect of meeting their soulmate; but Dan was not only doing this, but also meeting his favourite YouTuber. So naturally he was terrified beyond belief. All he could think was that Phil was going to take one look at him and realise he was too good for Dan. Or Dan would say something stupid or creepy (especially something about YouTube) and scare Phil off. He was wearing black skinny jeans, a Muse t-shirt, and had straightened his hair as if his life depended on it. Dan was on time (for the first time in his life), trembling, he approached the big wheel.
-
Phil had been standing in front of the wheel since 11:40 because he was so petrified about being late, but as the clock struck midday he saw the brown haired boy approaching the wheel, not noticing Phil yet. His heart leaped into his throat as he realised that Dan was even more stunningly beautiful in person, and very definitely out of Phil’s league. Feeling guilty because he could see that the cat whispers had not washed off properly - Phil half-ran, half-tiptoed up to Dan, shaking slightly he tapped him on the shoulder.
-
As Dan turned around, the only thought on his mind was “Fuck, it’s actually him”. Phil was standing right in front of him, and (if it was possible) he was even more gorgeous in real life, what with his piercingly blue eyes, jet black hair, and prominent cheekbones. A small part of him had still thought that it may be another Phil Lester, one less incredible than AmazingPhil. But here he stood. “Uh, hi, I’m Dan”, he mumbled shyly wanting to avoid Phil’s eyes for fear of seeming too intense and creepy. “Hi, I’m Phil, thank you for coming, sorry about the cat whiskers, I don’t know what I was thinking, I...” Phil was rambling again, knowing that what he was saying must have been dull he cut himself short before asking the boy, “Want to go to Starbucks first?”. Dan nodded and smiled, it was a kind of lopsided smile that made Phil’s stomach flip over. When they had walked into the Starbucks the barista asked what they wanted.
“A tall caramel macchiato, please”, they both said in unison. They both blushed and laughed slightly while looking at each other.
This was already going better than expected.
-
