dan watches as phil thanks the waiter for their food. he had ordered for three but the third was wrapped in a to go box while the other steaming plates of noodles and chicken sat in front of them.

phil broke apart his chopsticks. "well dig in."

dan does so but is still trapped in thought. it was obvious phil had someone living with him because of the short 'love you' he had said on the phone before he hung up. he needed a way to steer the conversation towards that question.

"i see that you're still living in your house from years ago."

phil finishes chewing on his chicken before answering. "yes my dad had decided to move to hawaii when i turned 20, he met a nice girl named leah there."

this was really shocking news to dan. "do you keep in touch?"

"yes yes sometimes..." he fidgets then clears his throat. "so what about you? i mean..america! your accent is almost gone."

dan will worry about the hesitation that was in his voice later. "i lived in california and my mom positively fell in love with it so she has decided to stay while i came back."

"has she met anyone yet?"

dan stirs his noodles around with his chopsticks. "she's being really careful this time. i think she just started dating someone last year and she's a script writer now so we didn't have to worry about living in someone else's house."

phil nods. "that's awesome dan, i'm glad that everything worked out for you."

the air was a comfortable awkward as they sat their and ate the warm food. dan kept flicking his eyes to the wrapped up to go box. who was phil on the phone with?

"phil i know this is a stead fast question and it's probably not appropriate but..."

"yes?" again, he looks up at dan with those bright blue eyes and his toes curl.

"i-i really have missed you."

phil laughs. "dan that's not a question, but i have missed you too, nothing really has changed about you, you're still the same shy,rose cheeked 18 year old in my eyes."

"hey!" dan leans the across the table and pushes his shoulder.

phil chuckles a little as he holds his shoulder and smiles at him. they sit there, looking in each other's eyes. dan, looking for an answer, phil, he doesn't know. he should've asked the question. it seemed like phil would be okay with it. when he opens his mouth to speak though, phil suddenly gets up, checking his watch.

"we should get going, i have to get home." he signals for two more to go boxes and pulls out his card.

"phil no it's okay! i'll pay for it." he checks his pockets, "must've left my wallet in my bag, i'll go get it-"
"don't worry about it dan it's on me, i treat you."

when the meal was paid for and the food wrapped up. they walk back outside in the warm sunshine to the car. phil opens the door for dan before getting over on his side. dan noticed that he had accelerated slightly on the way home.

"by the way dan, i really want to know what actually brought you here, besides me." he smirks as he juggles the food while trying to unlock the front door.

dan goes red. "well that's my only reason of coming back."

phil goes quiet as he pushes open the door and walks in. dan definitely thought he over stepped this time and scrambles for an apology.

"no dan it's fine i promise, i'm just really flattered that you spent all that money just to come back and see me without contacting me."

"well i know it was such a risk because you could be very married and-like...are you very married?"

phil sets the bags down on the table and turns towards him. "dan...there's a reason why i stopped talking to you in the first two years that you moved away."

here it comes, the shocking news. dan braced himself. "i knew it, you've found someone else."

phil shakes his head. "not exactly but dan, i love you very much but please keep and open mind about this."

"what? please tell me!"

then phil looks over his shoulder and a nervous smile creeps across his face. "you'll see in a minute."

a bus stops and rolls away. dan turns around to face the door that jiggled before opening. his mouth fell open.

there was a girl with brown hair and short jean shorts on who was struggling back in the house carrying to giant bags with a bright smile on her face.

"i'm back from summer camp dad!" her shocking blue eyes stray from phil's to dan who is frozen to the spot. "who is that?"

brace yourself there is going to be hella angst and drama in this book could you tell?

~alivia