ART DECO | PHAN

eight.

1/17/17

phil lester tried to seem like he was listening to his girlfriend screaming at him in the middle of the street. well, not screaming really, but she was clearly more pissed than she should be.

"do you see why that's a problem?!" she rested a hand on her hip, staring at him in disbelief and snapping her fingers in his face. "phil! are you even listening to me?"

"sorry, what was that last part?"

she scoffed. "you brought some random boy as your date. do you not see how that's a problem?"

phil sighed. usually he wouldn't argue, but he wasn't in the mood for this today. dan had left the night before without telling him, and he wasn't answering his texts, and phil felt extremely guilty for making him come.

"he wasn't my date, he was my guest. and he's not a random boy."

"who is he, then?" she glared at him.

"my partner on a project."

"oh, that makes it better." she crossed her arms over her chest. "are you kidding? no one brings their class partner to a party as their guest."

"well, maybe i do."

eva shook her head. she was positively fuming. "why?"

phil shrugged. "it's a nice thing to do. he's a nice person, and he doesn't know anyone."

"how do you even know he's a nice person?" her voice was getting increasingly high pitched, and phil flashed an apologetic smile at someone passing. "you don't even know him!"

phil frowned at her. "so you just assume people are awful until you get to know them?"

eva ground her teeth, glaring at him, her eyes narrowing. "do you just feel bad for him? because he's anorexic or whatever?"

phil stared at her, shocked. "why would you say that? he isn't anorexic, that's really mean."

"you're fucking oblivious."

"and you're really rude!"

phil hadn't really meant to say it, but once it was out, he couldn't take it back. eva stared at him, seemingly a bit shocked. phil didn't blame her; even when he was mad, he tried not to call people things in stone. you're acting rude would be fine, but he had said it without the temporary addition.

"talk to me when you want to be civil," she muttered, whirling away from him, her hair tossed over her shoulder. phil sighed, rubbing at his face.

he looked up, and spotted a familiar boy running towards him, his head down. dan looked up and saw him, his eyes going wide, and he turned around. phil ran after him.

"dan!" he sighed when dan didn't acknowledge him. why was everyone mad at him this morning? "c'mon, just talk to me. i'm sorry, okay?"

"i'm not mad," dan called back. phil frowned, catching up.

"you aren't?"

dan shook his head, turning large brown eyes on him. "no... it's not your fault. it was nice of you to invite me."

phil bit his lip, struggling to keep up with him.

"then why are you avoiding me?"

dan shook his head, looking away again. "i don't think i should spend time with you. outside of studying, of course."

phil frowned, still looking at him. "why not?"

"i don't think your girlfriend likes me very much..."

phil sighed loudly, running his fingers through his dark hair and tugging. "i don't care."

"well, i do." dan finally looked at him. "i don't want to piss her off, and i don't want to come between your relationship." he licked his lips, which were swollen and red from chewing on. "bye, phil. i'll talk to you later."

he sped up, and phil couldn't keep up anymore. he stopped, watching him run away. he wasn't quite sure why, but he wanted to be dan's friend. maybe it was from a lack of real friends, real people in his life. he ran his fingers through his messy quiff, starting back towards his dorm.

something eva had said kept echoing in his mind. dan wasn't anorexic, was he? i mean, it was clear he was skinny, maybe a little skinner than he should be. but he didn't have an eating disorder, did he?

phil had just assumed that was just his body shape, or maybe he was sick, but it hadn't seemed like any of his business. but now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen dan at breakfast... he hadn't seen him eat at all.

still, he brushed it off. that was silly, eva was just being mean.

he pushed the thought to the back of his head as he opened the door to his room. maybe he would test it, try and get him to eat in front of him. just for closure.

phil sighed, falling backward on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

he couldn't wait for this day to be over.