Secrets Not Lies

Chapter Three - Twenty Questions

"Need any help?" Phil asked as he walked into the living room. I was sat by myself in the empty space, brows furrowed in confusion as I stared down at the instructions in front of me. Laying on the ground beside them was an unassembled coffee table.

My eyes lifted briefly toward him before I passed the instructions in his direction. "If you can figure this out, be my guest."

He took the instructions and sat down on the floor beside me. I watched his expression quickly shift to one of confusion. "Pj said he'll be here soon, let's just hope he can figure this out for us," he said.

Phil didn't look away from the instructions as I answered, "We should just leave and let him do all the work for us."

"Yeah," he chuckled.

I found myself pleased with the fact that Phil didn't know how to do any handiwork either. I would've been embarrassed if he'd shown me up effortlessly.

We stayed silent for the next few minutes, both of us eyeing the instructions and pieces for the coffee table in confusion. I was beginning to get used to the silence that we always seemed to be between us, although that didn't mean I'd grown to enjoy it. I wanted to talk to Phil, get to know him, but it seemed more difficult than it should've. He made me too nervous.

"Y'know," Phil spoke up eventually, "I realized this morning that we still don't know much about each other."

It was like his thoughts had begun wandering to the same place as mine, which made me wonder just how similar we really were. Before I could answer him though, I heard the front door click open.

"We're here!" Pj called and I heard his fast footsteps on the stairs accompanied by someone else. Chris, I assumed.

I expected Phil to leap to his feet and greet them, but he stayed seated beside me, only glancing over his shoulder as he shouted back, "We're in the living room!"

Soon after, Pj and Chris appeared in the doorway to the room with excited smiles. They wandered across the room with quick greetings, before Pj snatched the instructions from the floor in front of us and Chris immediately got to work sifting through the pieces. I scooted back to give them space to work, my back coming up against the wall which I leaned against. Phil glimpsed back over his shoulder at me before he scooched back as well.

Pj and Chris were already hard at work, Pj ordering Chris around, asking for tools and materials as he began to screw legs into a large, thin slab of wood. Phil and I watched silently for a minute or two before he startled me.

"Twenty questions," he announced suddenly.

I turned to look at him, realizing his eyes were already on me, his usual excited spark glinting behind them.

"What?" I asked, wondering what he meant by it. He seemed keen on whatever idea he'd come up with so randomly.

"We should get to know each other better," he explained quickly, "so, why not play twenty questions? Pj and Chris can play too if they want."

"No time for playing, we're working," Chris answered instantly, seeming intent on assembling the coffee table. He didn't look away from what he was doing as he added, "Since you two are too much of princesses to do it."

I scoffed, pretending to be offended. "You guys stormed in here and got to work without us even telling you to. We could've done it had you given us a chance."

"How long were you guys staring at the instructions for before we came?" Pj asked, his eyes flickering towards us with amusement. Beside me, Phil laughed.