Paper Hearts (Phan)

72 days

PJ was finally back, as was Chris and Cat. And thankfully they didn't question the 6 pissed off people complaining about their trashed dorm rooms.

And then my semi apartment was a complete mess again within the first 10 minutes of helping PJ unpack.

Also within the first 10 minutes of helping PJ unpack, I'd acquired a stress ball in the shape of an egg. It was apparently my Christmas present that had shipped Christmas Day due to "Amazon prime being as lazy as I am", quoted from PJ Liguori, 4 minutes ago. Also another quote, "it's because you're so stressed out, you're shaken up like a fuckin' scrambled egg." to which I replied with a simple agreement. Because I was stressed out. Constantly stressed out since all my classes were pointless and had no meaning. Just like literally everything else, I told myself.

And of course Cat, Chris, and Dan hadn't stopped by yet, so I was shown everyone else's presents in advance.

The only gift that made sense was Chris'; a red ballpoint pen in the shape of a medical syringe so it looked like blood was suspended in the clear tubing. PJ said he'd found it in his box of stuff from home, and he'd claimed it was from Las Vegas about a year or so back when he had saved up enough money to visit. He'd said he wasn't old enough to buy any drinks so he mostly drifted in the lazy river for hours and tried out all the weird shit in the lobby, coincidentally including some CSI staged crime lab where he'd gotten the pen. PJ went into so much detail, I couldn't tell if his lie skills had improved drastically since the last time I'd seen him or if the CSI staged lab actually existed. [fun fact it's in the MGM and it's super fun – og writer]

And then there was Cat's gift, which was a blanket with a pattern of cartoony cats on it. But she'd probably love it anyways.

"What'd you and Dan do over break?" He asked and tossed a pillow across the room and back on to his bed. I was stunned he hadn't brought up any romantic topics yet, but then I remembered that he was the one that told me Dan wasn't going to fall for me. And he wasn't lying.

"We watched Disney movies, scaled a building, demolished some rooms, and set off firecrackers."

"Hell of a Christmas break?" He laughed, an overexcited smile spreading across his face.

"Best Christmas break of my life." And I wasn't lying.

For the past 2 weeks and 4 days, I'd gotten just what I wanted and began to get to know him. But throughout all the messes and the firecrackers and the spray paint, there was something he wasn't telling me. And I had a feeling it hid behind the 'S!' drawn across Emma and Zoe's wall. And I couldn't ask PJ or anyone else about it, because then I'd have to tell them what we did to their rooms, and then somehow the secret would leak and Joe would literally kill us. And although death didn't seem to be that bad of an option at this point in the school year, I didn't particularly feel like dying today.

So I kept it to myself, and continued to help unpack.

"Hey, uh, did he... Yknow," PJ said, tilting his hand back and forth above his mouth, mimicking drinking "or did he actually go cold turkey?"

"He held out," I told him and he broke out in a smile that would rival the Cheshire Cat "didn't have a drop that I saw."

It didn't take long to put everything back in the previous spots, considering PJ hadn't brought back very many things, until Cat carried Dan through the bedroom door, holding him up by the shirt collar and still coughing. Dan looked incredibly happy with himself, whereas Cat would've probably killed him already if she wouldn't be charged with man slaughter and if she could actually get a good look at him from the blue powder in the hair hanging over her eyes.

"Keep an eye on him while I figure out how to get this shit out of my hair." Cat growled and shoved Dan into my chest, who snickered to himself.

The blue powder tracked behind, and at the last second, I yelled "try washing it out with shampoo!" before the door slammed shut. I hope she wouldn't be too mad after finding out the dye was put in her shampoo.

Dan howled with laughter and fell backwards on top of PJ's bed. "You should've seen the look in her eyes when she came to beat me up;' he said in between uncontrollable smiles "I could've sworn I was about to die."

PJ stared confusedly from where he stood, lowering his hands from tacking a picture of him and Cat together up on the wall. "What are you guys talking about?"

I felt my cheeks flush and my face heat up from realization that he'd either think it was hilarious or a terrible thing to do, so I turned to Dan who I sincerely hoped was brave enough to confess to what he did.

"I put some setting powder in her hair, which was the stuff you just saw, and replaced her shampoo with blue hair dye. So when she goes to wash out the setting powder, her hair will turn blue." Dan said, clearly impressed at his genius plan.

PJ nodded, bit the inside of his cheek, and simply said, "I've always wanted her to dye her hair.'

__________

It was an understatement to say Cat wasn't very happy with her new hair color. Instead of a lighter blue like I'd expected, it turned out to be more of an electric color, much brighter than the results online displayed it to be.

And of course PJ had insisted on taking a picture with the Polaroid camera, against Cat's wishes which were quickly drowned out by the flash flickering on then off again, and the shuddering wave of the photograph getting developed in the air.

Dan was huddled against my chest again, holding on to my shirt for dear life because Cat swore she'd punch him in the face if he ever got up. And I'd attempted to break up the fight, which resulted in Cat getting really pissed at me, and long story short, he now hated everyone. Which was expected when your friends permanently dye your hair blue.

"I'm going to assume this isn't all the destruction you caused while we were away?" Cat sighed, giving up on her new look and sitting down in the middle of the floor.

"Just in your room."

"Well, where else then?" PJ asked. He grinned one last time at the picture in his hands before setting it down and crouching down next to Cat.

"Tanya and Abigail, and then Caspar and Alfie." Dan said.

He'd not included the other place he'd demolished.

"The two girls that spread the rumour and the garbage dump?" Cat mumbled under her breath, like she was trying to refresh her memory of them.

"Wait what about the other -" I started but got cut off by Dan sticking his fingernails into the side of my neck to stop the sentence from leaving my lips.

"The other what?"

"What?"

"What?" PJ and Cat frowned for a second, dismissed the topic, and went to fill each other in on their winter break details. My heart started beating normally again, my neck still thumping a mile a minute from where Dan's fingernails had nearly drawn blood.

"What was that for?" I whispered down at him, and he cleared his throat and glanced up to me.

"That's a secret. That we keep between us."