\\ the bfs // [texting story] [ON HOLD]

014

*DING DONG*

"Dan, who's at the door?" His mother called out to him from downstairs.

"Oh, remember that friend I told you about? He's coming over to work with me on homework." Dan explained as he walked down the stairs and opened the door.

Dan was left breathless as he saw Phil's messy bangs and sweaty skin and awkwardly invited him in.

"Oh, hi! You must be Philip!" Dan's mum walked in, introducing himself.

"Dan, is this your mother? Why, she's lovely." Phil complimented, making Dan's mum blush and giggle.

"You're welcome anytime, dear!" She said as she busied herself with dinner.

"Come along, Phil. Your chariot awaits you." Dan mocked, revealing the glamorous stairs.

"Why, thank you, Danny." Phil teased before heading upstairs.

Dan mentally cursed him and quickly followed him up, shrugging away his feeling of uneasiness.

As they entered Dan's room, he suddenly felt self-conscious as piles of clothes were everywhere, and his drawings were exposed to Phil's wandering eyes.

"Wow! This is your room?! Unbelievable!" Phil gaped, heading over to Dan's desk where his laptop rested.

"Yeah, just a normal teenage boy's room. Nothing special to see here." Dan nervously chuckled.

"Well, it's better than mine, for sure. My father doesn't exactly let me have many things." Phil sighed, plopping down onto Dan's bed.

Dan went to sit next to him and noticed that Phil had a cakey looking complexion around his eye.

"Phil, are you wearing makeup?"

"Maybe." He said, the atmosphere of the room turning more serious.

"He hit you, didn't he?" Dan asked, slowly looking down at his ratty lace-up shoes.

"Are you a psychic or what?" Phil laughed dryly, rubbing the spot where he had been hit.

"Isn't there something you can do?"

Phil sighed and took a deep breath.

"My mother...well, we can't afford anything on her salary, so we rely on my dad's. If she ever left him..."

Phil wiped his eyes and sniffled a bit before answering again.

"We'd be homeless."

Dan couldn't keep his face from expressing a mix of shock and concern as he listened to Phil explain his horrible living situation.

"D-Does he hit her too?" Dan questioned, now starting to pick at his nails.

"Not anymore. Not since I got old enough to make sure the old man doesn't lay one filthy finger on her."

"O-Oh..." Dan was at a loss of words. One part of his mind was saying to tell someone about this, but another part was saying that he could completely lose Phil's trust if he did that.

"I'm sorry, Phil. I can't relate, but I wish you didn't have to suffer so much." Dan finally uttered out after taking his time to carefully choose his words.