Phan Fic-
Based on "Begin Again" by Taylor Swift
Dan took a deep breath as he looked in the mirror one last time, making sure there wasn't a hair out of place. He quickly looked down to check over his outfit, he was wearing the shoes that the last guy he had gone out with hadn't liked but Dan did and it was the first time he had worn them in a long time. As he turned the lock on his house door and put his headphones on, the first song that played was one that the last guy hadn't understood why Dan liked it but Dan did, it was just one of the many things they hadn't understood about each other in the end. Dan set off slowly down the path towards his car, unsure of what to expect when he would get there to meet someone that he had only spoken to online and briefly met in person once, he hoped that this person to turned out to be better than the last.
As Dan reached the cafe door, he checked the time and date on his phone, he was on just on time and that it was the right Wednesday and not the next. Tiny bells above the doorway jingled as Dan walked in , expecting that Phil would be late, he was used to people being late for him. To his suprise he found that Phil was already there, Dan suspected for a moment that he may have even been early, and Phil was stood waiting for him by a table and waved over at Dan. After waving back, Dan walked over to him and Phil pulled Dan's chair out and helped him in. As they both settled down, Dan thought that Phil didn't know how nice it was of him to do such a simple gesture as pulling the chair out but Dan did know and it made him smile for the first time in a while. For a few moments they sat quietly, glancing over the menu and Phil left the table for a moment to give their order to the lady at the till. When Phil returned, Dan made a joke about the way that Phil had almost terrified the woman with his eagerness to order and Phil threw his head back laughing like a little kid about it. Dan thought it was strange that Phil thought Dan was funny because the last guy never did.
Once their order had arrived, they started to talk about each other , trying to find out even the littlest things. When they started to talk about music, Phil said that he had never met a boy with as many Muse records as Dan. As they moved past the simple details, they started to tell each other stories and Dan found himself strangely fascinated by even the silliest of Phil's stories, watching him become more and more animated as he explained his past. When it came to Dan's turn to tell his stories, he could tell Phil didn't know why he was coming off a little shy about some of them in comparison to how he had been online but Dan was trying to avoid talking about the last guy, Dan always seemed to talk about him and he tried desperately not to. Time seemed to slow down as they sat in the little cafe and Dan felt more relaxed than he had in months, joining in when Phil laughed almost hysterically over the slightest thing. Taking the last sip of his drink, Dan sat and waited as Phil went to the bathroom, looking out of the window to see that the clouds from earlier on had rolled away, the sky an almost clear blue that was rare for that time of year.
Once they had paid their bill, they slowly made their way down the street, Phil offering to walk Dan to his car round the corner from the cafe. Quickly, they resumed their previous conversation from before they had left and Dan almost brought up the last person he had gone out with, knowing that Phil should probably know but before Dan could speak, Phil started to bring up the movies that his family watches every single Christmas and Dan found that he wanted to talk about that instead. He found that for the first time what's past is past and there was no point bringing it up again as it wasn't going to change anything for him. Before Dan climbed into his car, Phil pulled him into a hug and Dan responded by hugging him bag, swearing later on that he had felt Phil's lips brush his cheek as they pulled apart. As Dan got into his car and started to drive away, he turned to wave back at Phil who waved back and Dan slowly made his way home.
Driving down the long roads to his home, Dan thought about his afternoon with Phil, he'd enjoyed it more than he'd enjoyed any other afternoon in his life. As he stopped at a red traffic light he thought about how he had spent the last eight months thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end. But he realised, as the traffic light flashed bright green, that on a Wednesday in a cafe he had watched it begin again.