The First Time (Phan)

Chapter 22 - Little Shoes and Butterfingers

Chapter 22

29th October 2009

Dan's POV

Phil was back in two days! It had literally only just been over twenty four hours when I got the phone call off of him telling me. Yet that was long enough for me to go through torture without knowing when I'd next seen him.

When I got home two days ago, the first thing I got was my mother bombarding me with questions about what I'd been up to and my brother screaming at me because I was talking over his TV show. It's good to be home...

I thought about telling my family about Phil but I wouldn't even know where to start. "Oh hey loving parents. I lied to you about staying with Chis. I was actually staying with my best friend that I met online and that was the first time we'd met so I didn't even know if he was the same in real life. Oh and I met his family and stayed round there's and they started off being practically a bunch of strangers." Yeah. Something tells me that wouldn't go down well. But I know I had to tell them. Phil had the guts to do it, so why couldn't I? Especially if I wanted permission to go down to London and see him on Halloween.

"Just tell them Daniel!" I had Louise displayed on my laptop screen, "Otherwise I will scream out right now and tell them myself." She let out a big grin and batted her eyelid 'innocently.'

"Louise, how do you bring this up in conversation?" I shake my head as I chuck a t-shirt into my tiny suitcase. I'd told my parents, for now, that I was staying the night at a hotel in London with some school friends. Which, thinking about it, isn't a complete lie. Take the word 'school' out of the sentence and turn friends into singular and you have the truth.

"Easy!" Louise exclaimed, "Hi mum and dad. So these friends I'm meeting aren't actually from school, there some people that I met in Manchester. One's called Phil and I've talked to him beforehand, I dunno say mutual friends or something, and I'm absolutely smitten with him. PS I'm gay."

I rolled my eyes at her, "Whatever. I guess I can tell some of that. And I'm not gay."

"If I had a drink right now I'd spite take over the screen because that's the funniest joke I've heard in a long time." Louise bursts out laughing. "Dan you're in lo-"

"No I'm not Louise!" I interrupt, getting slightly pissed off. "Ok I'll admit. I like Phil. Ta da! Blow the bloody trumpets! But I'm not gay. He's the only boy I've ever had a crush on and to be honest he's the first person I've actually had a crush on. It's strange, it's as though he's the only one I see in another light. It wasn't immediate either... it just sort of, I dunno, happened." I sigh, turning to face Louise on my screen, "I miss you Lou. I need a hug right now."

"Ah young Daniel." Louise sighed outwards, "I need a hug too. C'mon, grab the screen." She outstretched her arms and moved closed to the screen. I followed her actions and very quickly my arms were wrapped around the hard surface of my laptop screen. It was odd and if anyone walked in my room right now then I'm sure they'd send me off to some form of mental institution, but it was a loving embrace all the same. Despite the physical warmth I felt was from my laptop, the warmth of love I got was all Louise.

Both of us pulled away from the screens as we started to giggle to one another. "It'll work out Dan. You'll see." Louise smiled up at me. "And about what you said, have you ever heard of demisexual? Not that we're going to label anything here because ew no that's gross. But if you were curious then I'd suggest you look that up! My cousin is demisexual and yeah, that's how I know about it."

"Thanks Louise. Means a lot, truly. I dunno it's weird, the sone Only Exception is really speaking to me right about now. I couldn't imagine liking anyone else yet hear I am worrying about if he likes me back or not." I grin again whilst shaking my head. It's all so confusing, why does it have to my brain that isn't all there in the head. Why didn't I look at girls and their boobs and think "Yep their cool!" like most boys do my age. I look down at Louise and imagine what I might see if I did look at girls like that, she is incredibly beautiful after all. It's just all so difficult to understand. I stare at her for a while before remembering what she said, "Wait. Lou. Why did you need a hug? You mentioned before."