Powder [phan]

XVI

WARNING: WITHDRAWEL

***

Dan's POV

"Do you really feel fit enough for this? We can tell Oliver to come around another time." Phil asked worriedly as  I put on my sweatshirt.

"It's just Oliver. I don't have to be the blooming life. He knows what's going on." I replied and immediately punished myself internally for reacting so irritably. Phil couldn't help it, but the hardships of the last day and last night had made me thin-skinned, so that pretty much everything annoyed me.

"I was just thinking." he murmured, pushing the candle on the dresser back and forth in the bedroom.

Oliver would come over today so that we could finally talk about how things should go for all of us in the future. At least Phil had put it that way, I didn't know exactly what it meant, but I assumed that it was about YouTube and I didn't really care about the reason, because I was just happy to be able to talk to him again.

But of course I was still not feeling well and if I wanted to get through this day, then at least there should be no thick air between Phil and me, which I provoked with my constant wobbling around.

"I'm sorry." I started, walking towards him until I was right in front of him.

"I know." Phil said immediately and stroked my hair gently and before I could say anything else, the doorbell rang. Phil left the bedroom and opened the door and a second later I stood next to him and waited for Oliver to climb the stairs, which happened shortly afterwards.

He looked at us expectantly. His brown eyes scanned my eyes almost a little fearfully, kept switching back and forth between Phil and me until I turned my head to Phil next to me at some point so that he might give me a sign of what Oliver was waiting for.

Suddenly Oliver bridged the last step and gave me a quick hug.

"It's good to see you in this apartment again." He said in a warm voice before he let go of me. "Let's go to the living room and talk in peace." He suggested, then went straight past us and Phil wanted to follow him straight away, but I held him back.

"What's going on?" I asked quietly after Oliver had gone ahead and looked him straight in the eye.

"Nothing." he replied, trying to tear himself away from me again, but I didn't let him go.

"Phil, what's going on?" I insisted. "Don't lie to me."

He took a deep breath and looked sideways before putting his warm hand on my cheek and gently stroking the remaining wounds from the last nights.

"Does it hurt?" He wanted to know, while I hardly noticed anything more than his dangerously sparkling eyes. I put my hand on his, took it from my face and kissed the inside of his palm.

"No." I shook my head and saw him swallow hard.

"Just come with me." he said suddenly, pulling my hand so I could follow him.

Meanwhile, Oliver had made himself comfortable on the couch. He grabbed another cookie from the bowl on the table, although he hadn't even swallowed the other, and eyed me. Typical Oliver.

"What about your face?" He asked, pointing to the scratch marks in it. I raised my hand and timidly touched it as I considered telling the truth.

"It isn't that important. Don't worry." My eyes went to Phil, afraid that he would betray me, but he said nothing. Oliver knew the truth, but he didn't need to know every cruel detail.

I stared at the cookies to avoid his gaze, and I would normally have taken one of them, but I was absolutely not hungry. Loss of appetite was just another symptom of withdrawal. To be honest, they even disgusted me a little.