Sixty-Two ☼ Phan

Three

"Hello."

My tray clunked a little too aggressively against the table. The hotdog fell over, and I cringed as I sat down.

Phil was sat with legs crunched underneath him, like a bird. His hoodie t-shirt fell loose over his shoulders, just where shaggy black hair began to bend outward. Eyes downcasted onto his lap, he didn't reply.

"Are you not hungry?" I asked, noticing the lack of both a tray and food.

No answer. I took it that he was the silent type.

I sat up a little straighter, then began to eat my fries. They crunched under the two-year-old silver filling in the back of my mouth as I waited for Phil to show some sign of life.

For a couple minutes, he just stared. Blatantly at his lap, hands in his pockets. I finished my fries.

I faced him further. "You like jazz?"

All of a sudden, he looked up, startling me. He focused halfway at me, though without making eye contact. I shortly calculated his gaze to have rested somewhere between the neighboring table and my neck.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"Talking to me? Why?"

Snap. His eyes met mine. It was like facing an animal I'd never seen before, some strange creature mankind was unaware of. Blue eyes on brown, propelling my sense of interest in the new species like the arms of a fan.

"Why not?" I tipped my head, truly curious.

Phil stared at me for a moment, as if to see if I was serious. If I really wasn't joking, or playing a prank. When he apparently came to an answer, he turned away and looked up at the ceiling.

"I can give you several reasons why not." He studied the panels of wood that overlapped one another above us. "And ten are at this table. You're sitting in the eleventh."

I didn't have to count the chairs surrounding us to understand. I opened my mouth to say something, but found no words. My brain fogged like a hot mirror and the alphabet was no longer sensible. He looked back down at me, smiled softly, then stood and left.

Suddenly, all those chairs turned from why nots to whys, and I don't think I've ever wanted to get to know someone more than I did right then.

I wasn't hungry anymore, so I threw away the last of my food. Taking a moment to look for Chris and Peej, who had miraculously vanished, I then left as well.

The sky was beginning to purple a little, with splotches of bruise-colored clouds that made the sun look like a big rid circle behind the trees. Phil was nowhere to be seen, but I figured he couldn't hide forever. We shared a cabin, after all. We had a whole bonfire to plan. I wouldn't let him ignore me.

Either everybody else just took a very long time to eat, or I ate too fast, because the camp seemed deserted. There were a couple of counselors talking by a tree some cabins away, but that was it. I was about to go back to my own cabin, maybe take a nap, when I heard a sharp whisper.

"Hey, Dan!"

I looked over to see both Peej and Chris crouched against the wall of the main hall. Bushes clogged their feet. They gestured for me to come over, and I gave them a strange look, but adhered nonetheless. When I got there, they pushed me down into a squat and I was pulled backwards, nearly falling over.

"What are you doing?" I said too loudly, earning an equally loud shhh from both of them at once.

"We want to show you something. Come on," Peej told me.