the broken

Chapter 28

MAY, 2009

Phil

I never quite realized just how boring waiting was.

It feels like I've been stuck in this chair for hours and hours, although I know that of course it hasn't even been one.

Today was Dans last session, where they determined if he was okay to go home or not, and they'd requested I sit this one out, so here I sit, glumly swinging my feet back and forth like an impatient little kid. I lean my head back, resting it on the uncomfortable plastic backing of the sticky chair, staring at the white ceiling. One of the lights was flickering, the sickly yellow light washing over the blinding white of this stupid hospital. We're both sick to death of all the white.

Finally, the thick white doors creak open and Dan walks out of the room, looking smaller than usual.

"Hey!" I say, jumping out of my chair and walking over to join him. "How'd it go?"

Dan just smiles and replies "Fine," in the simplest, most unreadable way possible.

"That's good."

I am about to open my mouth to push him for answers when he turns to me.

"Hey, maybe when I finally get out of here we can go get some actual real coffee instead of that gross stuff from that cafe, yeah?" he said, tilting his head, and I nod gratefully, glad that he'd unintentionally stopped me from being stupid.

"Don't let them hear you say that, or they'll dump their gross coffee all over your head," I said teasingly, and he gave me one of those cute little grins that he has where his mouth goes all lopsided and his eyes light up. They'd only appeared a short while ago, but they truly own every single soft place in my heart.

"Right, better be careful then."

Without another word, he grabs my hand and starts chattering on about a conversation he and Pj had the other day.

My mind wanders. 

Wanders to soft lips that taste like vanilla and the feel of his hands curled up in my hair.

We kissed, that much is for sure. More than once, which normally I would say is a pretty good indication of relationship status, but he hasn't said anything. Not a damn thing. Are we together? Are we still just friends? God, boys are confusing. All of a sudden, a sweet voice interrupts my swirling confusion.

"Phil? Did you hear what I said?"

I force a sheepish smile onto my face, hoping my inner struggle hadn't been obvious.

"Um, no?"

Dan just laughs and taps the side of my head.

"Come out of your mind and talk to me."

God, he was so adorable.

"Okay, okay. What was the question?"

"I said, do you mind if I borrow one of your t-shirts that you have here, all mine are gross," he says, swinging our hands back and forth.

"Yeah, of course."

We reach Dan's hospital room and Dan breaks his hand away from mine, bouncing across the room to where my bag was, while I flop down onto a chair and watch him in amusement. He ruffles through the bag for a second before coming up with a brightly colored shirt and a cute little smile.

"Can I borrow this one?"

"Of course," I smile, and he disappears into the bathroom before popping back out in the shirt, which was adorably huge on him. He hugs his arms to himself and spins around.