Hi all! I was a bit inspired to write this after Phil talked about going to a wedding. I just thought, what if I went to a wedding and Phil was there, and BAM! there came this story!
This was just meant to be something cute and fluffy, no romance, just appreciation for Phil cause he definitely doesn't always get the credit he deserves. But this is also a bit of a prequal to a story I am going to post tomorrow with more Dan in it (a preview is at the bottom of this fic!)
The Wedding
Late May, 2016:
Weddings were always lovely. But being a bridesmaid meant that I couldn't enjoy like I usually do. I had to make sure that the Bride didn't have anything to worry about.
This meant that the morning ceremony was a blur of me running around. But now it was time for the reception. Finally I could relax. Well, I could relax after I greeted all the guests. All 200 of them! Seriously, this was the biggest wedding I've ever been to.
Thankfully I didn't have to greet everyone alone. Rachel, Becky's (the Bride) sister and maid of honor, was helping greet. And who knew where Eva, the third bridesmaid, was. She was Becky's sorority sister, and probably making out with one of the groomsmen in a closet somewhere.
Greeting was exhausting. It was the same thing over and over. "Ah Aunt Muriel! So glad you could make it." "Where's little Tommy? Not so little anymore!" And of course waving off the constant "your next" winks from every elderly relative.
Thankfully, Rachel somehow stayed upbeat, and she was also always willing to spill all the gossip she knew about the family, which certainly kept it entertaining.
"Aunt Kathryn, Uncle Nigel, I haven't seen you in so long!" Rachel says, "where's Martyn and Phil? Couldn't they make it from London?"
"Hello dear! Oh the boys are around here somewhere," she looks back, "oh here they come. I know you've been getting your ears talked off, so I'll see you inside, dear," Aunt Kathryn said while hugging Rachel.
She also wrapped me up in a hug, even though she doesn't know me. Although so many people have been doing it, that I'm not even surprised.
The hug distracted me, so I didn't see when her sons approached.
I only heard Rachel say, "Martyn and Phil!" As she hugged them.
When I finally looked up, I was face to face with someone I had only seen through a computer screen.
"It's so nice too see you! And this is Attie, David's cousin," she introduces me.
Rachel was clearly expecting me to introduce myself, but I was in shock. I couldn't form words. She gave me a weird look but I didn't notice, so she tried to continue. "Attie, these are my and Becky's cousins, Martyn and Phil," she gesture. But I was still shocked silent.
Rachel elbowed me in the side. Oh right, I'm suppose to speak. But of course, when I opened my mouth, the only thing that came out was what was on the top of my mind, "you… your… Phil… AmazingPhil…" I stuttered.
Phil's cheeks were getting pink, and thankfully Martyn spoke up. "Ok. Well I can see you have a lot of people to greet, so we'll see you guys inside," he said as he grabbed Phil's arm and headed inside with him.
"What was that?" Rachel hissed before I could think again. Now that they were gone, my mind could finally process what just happened.
"Your cousin is AmazingPhil?"
"What?" She looked confused.
"Phil! I'm such a huge fan!"
"Fan of what?"
"Do you not know what he does?"
"Not really. He has some internet job. The whole family thinks it's weird, but I guess it pays enough, cause he's able to live in London with his boyfriend."
HAHA! I laugh, and Rachel still seems confused. "His boyfriend?" I ask.
Now Rachel is in full on gossip mode. "Well we don't really know. But we all suspect. I mean, he's been living with some guy for 5 or 6 years now. And he hasn't had a girlfriend the whole time. My whole family is just waiting for him to come out already."
"Yea, you and the whole internet."
Rachel gives me another confused look, but before I can elaborate, more people have arrived, so we have to pause our gossiping.
Rachel soon forgets about it, because after those guests she delves right into other gossip about the family members who just arrived. But I keep thinking, well really laughing, about how the whole family thinks Phil is gay.
Finally, we finished our greeting duties. I look at the seating chart to find my table. I need to sit down for at least 10 minutes, my feet are killing me after standing for an hour. I also can't help but search for Phil Lester on the seating chart. He and his brother are placed at table 8, the table for Becky's cousins, while I am at table 7, for David's cousins. Still, they are right next to each other, so I know I haven't seen the last of Phil for the night.
For the next hour, I am busy mingling with my family that I haven't seen in awhile. I catch sight of Phil doing the same, but our paths never collide (although I could have sworn I saw him walk in my direction, see me and then walk the other way, but hopefully that was just me imagining things. I really hope I didn't scare him with my earlier introduction).
I have been meaning to congratulate Becky all afternoon, but as expected, she was constantly being swarmed by guests. Finally, after the first food course, I had my chance when I noticed she and Rachel were chatting. Rachel wouldn't mind me butting in.
"Becky! Congrats!" I said as I pulled her in for a hug. "I'm so happy that you're officially my cousin!"
"Thanks Attie. I really should be thanking you. After all, if it wasn't for you, I would never have met David." It's true. David and I were the same year in school, and we just so happened to both end up attending the same university. Rachel was on my freshman hall, and on the first night of orientation when our whole hall decided to go out together, I invited David along. They met, and the rest was history.
"No, I should thank you. You finally whipped David into something respectable," I joked, and she and Rachel laughed.
"So Rachel tells me that you know our cousin Phil." Oh, I did not expect Rachel to remember our exchange nor bring it up to Becky.
"Yea. I mean, I don't know him. But I just know who he is."
"Ok..." She seemed just as confused as Rachel was earlier. Did they seriously not know that he was internet famous? I looked into it earlier, and he's their second cousin, so I guess they're not that close. But still.
Rachel continued talking. "I told Attie our theory about how he's gay. She didn't seem too convinced."
At that moment, Eva decided to crash the conversation. "Who's gay?" Ugh. Her lipstick looked smudged, and her dress was a little wonky. I didn't have to guess what she was just doing and I didn't want to guess with who. Nor did I want her involved with this conversation.
But apparently Becky felt like spreading the gossip too. "My cousin Phil, the one with the black hair and fringe," She pointed to where he was still seated, talking to Martyn, "Our family has had suspicions about him for a while. He's nearly 30 and has lived with the same guy for nearly 6 years. And he hasn't had a girlfriend since he was at University. I say gay."
"Well, I can surely find out once and for all," Eva smirked. She adjusted her dress, making a point to pull it down to show off more of her cleavage. Oh no!
Martyn had just left the table, leaving Phil alone for Eva to pounce.
"Nope!" I said, out of nowhere. I just couldn't let this happen. I pushed Eva out the way, and quickly ran to sit in the seat that Martyn had just vacated.
I looked back at Eva. She was just pouting. But Rachel and Becky looked intrigued. A little too intrigued if you ask me.
I turned back to Phil, and he had a scared look on his face. Oh no. That must have looked weird, me running over to sit with him. Adding to our introduction, he must think I'm some stalker.
"Hi, sorry about this. But believe me, I am saving you."
"From what?"
"Eva," I look back at her, and Phil's eyes follow, "I think she's hooked up with every single groomsman and then some. And now she has her eyes set on you. I didn't want to subject you to that."
"Uh. No. Thanks then." He still seemed a little worried, like I was about to pounce on him or something. Let's make this better.
"Sorry about my introduction earlier. Can we start over? I'm Athena. But you can call me Attie."
"Athena?"
"Yea, I know. It sounds pretentious," I said with a hint of disgust, "That's why I go by Attie. I'm just happy I was able to convince my parents not to name my younger brothers Romulus and Remus." My parent's were a bit hippy dippy when they had me. Still are I guess. Thankfully, I was old enough when they had the twins to knock some sense into them. (They eventually went with Perseus and Theseus, which still sounds bad, but at least I nicknamed them Percy and Theo).
"I think Athena is a cool name. I'm Phil by the way."
"I know."
"Right." There was an awkward silence for a minute. It was weird because I could tell he was thinking about how he should proceed. "So you're a fan I take it?"
A huge fan, but I couldn't freak Phil out. I was actually surprised I managed to stay calm this long. But I was coming dangerously close to full on freaking out. "Yea. I have been for a while. I love your videos. And Dan's. I didn't know you were Becky's cousin. So seeing you was a bit a of a shock. So again, sorry for scaring you."
He kind of laughed at that. "It's ok. It was actually much better than some of the random fan encounters Dan and I get. But I wasn't expecting it here at a wedding. Most of my family doesn't understand what I do."
"Yea I noticed. Rachel described it as some weird internet job. She didn't understand how you can afford a flat in London."
It was at that moment that Becky decided to come over to our table. "Phil, I see you met David's cousin Attie!"
"Yea, we were just chatting."
"Well you should get up and dance. I see Martyn dancing with Aunt Stephie."
"Oh, I'm not much of a dancer."
"I insist! Why don't you dance with Attie! It's my wedding, so you have to."
Phil and I looked at each other. There was no room for argument. We knew we had to. So at the insistence of the bride, I found myself heading to the dance floor with AmazingPhil of all people.
Of course, from the corner of my eye, I saw Becky head to the DJ. What was she up to? But a second later, a slow song came on. That's what she was up too. Ugh. Why did family have to be so nosey.
Phil and I looked at each other and hesitated, but then we locked eyes with Becky.
"It doesn't look like we have a choice," I said as I led Phil to the dance floor. Becky seemed satisfied as Phil put his arms around my waist, so she disappeared, I would assume to search for her husband.
"I'm going to apologize now for stepping on your feet," Phil said awkwardly as we started swaying to the music.
"It's okay. My feet are so numb from these heels that I probably wouldn't even feel it," I joked.
It was awkward for a minute. Phil and I were just dancing in silence. I didn't know what to say without making myself look like a total fan girl.
"So…Where are you from, America?" Phil struck up conversation.
"Did the accent give it away?" I joked. David and most of his family were from the states, but both he and Becky got jobs in Manchester where Becky was from, and Becky wanted to have the wedding with her family.
"I bit," he smirked.
"Yea. I'm from Philadelphia. Same with my parents. But they're not here because my mom is almost due with my new baby sister."
"Sounds like you have a lot of siblings."
"No. Just the twins. They're 10 now. And soon baby Penelope. My parents are weird. As soon as one baby grows up, they want another one."
"Ha. Well I think my parents decided not to have more children after me because I was like a devil child, or so my mum says."
"I know. You stood at the foot of her bed in the dark waiting for her to wake up. That would convince me," I laughed.
He gave me weird look. Uh oh. I realize I just did the weird fangirl thing, mentioning something from his videos. Opps, that was probably creepy. "Sorry. Remember I'm a fan. That probably was weird though. Sometimes I forget to think before I speak."
"No it's alright. Just for a second I forgot. But I guess you know a lot about me then. I'm at a bit of a disadvantage."
"Well there's not a whole lot to know. I just graduated from University. Same one as David and Becky, I actually introduced them. I'm going back to school for my Masters though, but only one more year. Oh, and I'm studying engineering. Getting my Masters in Robotics."
"Cool. Sounds hard."
"Yea. My senior design project had me banging my head against a wall for the last two months. But building stuff is always fun. But enough about school."
The song ended, thankfully, and with no Becky in sight, Phil and I felt okay leaving the dance floor.
I was expecting him to want to get rid of me the first chance he got, but for some reason, when I sat at my table, he followed me and stole the chair beside me. I was surprised but I wasn't going to pass up this moment.
We ended up chatting about a lot of things. We had a lot in common (unsurprisingly since I liked his channel, so one could assume I liked a lot of things that he liked).
When it was time for the main course, Phil had to go back to his own table, and after, we both went around greeting more relatives. I so desperately wanted to be my usual antisocial self, but I knew I couldn't.
Thank god Rachel flocked to me soon after. Talking to her was easier than having relatives ask what I was planning on doing with my life. But of course, she wanted to know everything about my dance with Phil.
"So. What's the verdict. Is he gay?"
"He's not gay." I told her. Honestly I didn't actually know, but I wasn't going to perpetuate the rumor.
"So you like him then. You should ask him out. You guys looked so cute dancing. I even got some pictures," she smirked as she pulled out her phone to show me. "We'll use them at your wedding. It'll be adorable," She joked (well at least I hope she was joking).
"I'm not going to ask him out. I like him as a someone I would like to be friends with. Besides, I'm too young for him." Believe me, I have thought about dating AmazingPhil. I am a fangirl after all. But I'm 22, he's 29. It just wouldn't work.
"Excuses, excuses. Age is only a number," Rachel continued to tease.
"If you're going to continue to play match maker, I think I'm going to need a drink." It wasn't a joke. And with the assistance of Rachel, I ended up drink a few glasses of champagne. But I might have had one glass too many, because I was definitely tipsy now. I just hoped I wouldn't make a fool of myself. Especially in front of Phil.
Speak of the Devil, I was surprised to find him heading towards me. Thankfully, Rachel had already left because I don't think I could handle Rachel getting more gossip about me and Phil.
Of course, the gossip seemed to have reached Phil too. "I don't know what it is about relatives wanting to know every detail about my life. The only thing they all seem to want to know is why 'that nice boy you live with' isn't here. Silly right."
I giggled. Wow. That was definitely a tipsy giggle… Reign it in Attie! And no more drinking for you.
"Oh, I'm sure they just want to meet Dan. Have you ever introduced him to your family."
"Of course my parents and brother. But not any extended family. Why would I do that? He's just my friend."
Sure he is Phil, tipsy me inwardly nudged myself. Keep it to yourself tipsy me!
"Oh I don't know. You and Dan are close." I didn't want to talk about this anymore. I was afraid of why I might accidently say. "You know what. I feel like dancing all of a sudden."
I quickly headed to the dance floor hoping Phil wouldn't want to dance, but I was not expecting Phil to follow.
"Philly Lester! Your dancing?" I exclaimed.
"What can I say," He smirked, "It's a wedding and I'm in the dancing mood."
And so we danced. And it was FUN! We danced with other cousins too, and aunts and uncles. Overall, it turned into a really fun time. I don't think I would have had this much fun if it wasn't for Phil. And I'm hoping he had fun with me too.
Unfortunately, the wedding was coming to a close. It was just time for the Bride to throw the bouquet, the Groom to throw the garter, and then the send off.
I went up with all the single ladies, but I apparently had no chance of catching the bouquet. It was meant to be all good fun, but Eva was a monste. She practically clawed it out of the hands of some girl that looked like she could have used the confidence boost.
I headed back in the direction of Phil. "Are you going to be the next guy to get married?" I teased, as the guys gathered on the dance floor to catch the garter.
"I think I would need someone to marry for that. Too bad I'm perpetually single," Phil joked.
"Come on. Go up anyway. You never know what will happen on your next crazy adventure in Vegas."
Before Phil could counter my joke, Martyn came, "Come on Phil. You're not gonna get out of this one."
Martyn practically had to drag Phil to the dance floor. Funny enough, it was Martyn who ended up catching the garter.
As Phil walked back towards me, I joked, "So should I expect wedding bells for Cornelia and Martyn in the future?"
"Who knows. But after that, my mum is probably gonna be intolerable on the subject."
The only thing left was to send of the Bride and Groom. David and Becky looked so happy. But once they left, I knew it was time to say goodbye to Phil.
I don't know where it came from, but I found myself saying, "You were wrong."
"About what?" Phil asked confused.
"It's silly of me to bring up. But earlier, when you said that I must know a lot about you. You were wrong. Sure, I know your internet persona. But there was a lot I didn't know about the real you."
"Oh yea?" He seemed unsure if that was a good thing or not.
"Yea. But I like the real you." This Phil that I had gotten to know wasn't as innocent or silly compared to his internet persona. He was thoughtful and funny and smart, more than he let on in his videos. But I liked that he still did that cute smile thing with his tongue.
Everyone was gathering up to leave, so before I missed my chance, I pulled Phil in for a big hug. It was nice and warm. Exactly how I imagined an AmazingPhil hug would be. I didn't want to let go, but I knew I had too. "It was a lot of fun hanging out with you. I don't think this wedding would have been as fun without you," I admitted.
"Yea, it was a lot of fun for me too."
"Watching your videos is going to be so weird now that I know you a bit more." It would be weird. But I was assuming I wouldn't have any reason to see Phil again. This would be the end. "I'm not really good at goodbyes. So. Well. Bye." I said, as I gave him one last hug, and then turned to gather my own things.
"Wait," Phil called out. I turned back, not knowing what to expect. "Can I get your number?" What? AmazingPhil is asking me for my number? "You know, in case I ever find myself in your neck of the wood."
"Yea," that made sense, "And you never know when I'll just decide to pop into London."
I didn't have a UK phone, so instead we exchanged Facebooks so that we could use messenger. I didn't want to say goodbye again, but ultimately, we had too. Still, at least I know that this isn't the end of my friendship with Phil.
WELP! there you go! It might not be very good, but I'm glad I got it down.
Now if you liked that, and you want more of Phil and Attie, but with /Dan/ in it, then read my next story, 'Knock, Knock.'
Preview:
December 23 , 2016:
Ughhh. My head was pounding. How much did I drink last night. I just wanted to go back to sleep.
"Dan, have you seen Attie? She's not in the off-" Phil burst into the room and froze.
I sprung up, clutching the duvet around me, realization suddenly hitting me.
"I… I'll… sorry." Phil quickly exited and shut the door behind him.
I looked over beside me. Just as I thought. A sleeping Dan. A naked sleeping Dan. And I was naked in his bed.
Fuck.
