Drinks sloshed and spilled onto the carpet, yet no one seemed to care. A group of friends were circled around in a near empty room. Chatter of what they were like in school, how they met their current lovers, all leading up to the stories of their first kisses from dates.
"You know that guy Ryan I dates in med school? We went out for drinks at Gastavo's and when he dropped me off.. I think that was the most magical kiss ever. Too bad he had to be a cheating scumbag." Giggled a brown haired girl.
"Fuck that! My best first kiss with someone was at this football game. The chick was hot and I'm pretty sure she was a stripper or something y'know? So our team scored a point and she flipped. Kissed me, didn't stop 'till we got back to my place." A husky man with dark eyes gloated.
"Mine was actually with a girl."
A series of 'ooh's' erupted from the group. She rolled her crystal blue eyes and continued.
"She and I were just friends and we just were a tad drunk so just said 'fuck it' and made out. That was honestly the best first kiss I'd ever had."
All eyes then turned to the one person who hadn't yet shared. Dan Howell. Usually, he was quite the talker, but not here.
"Oh, um, I just... I don't know." He said blankly.
"Please.. You're lying." The girl with the crystal eyes pressed.
Dan shook his head.
"C'mon buddy, you can trust us." The man said reassuringly.
Dan looked up and examined the faces. He didn't want to seem like a wuss but he didn't want to be made fun of either.
"Fine. Under one condition. You can't make fun of me."
The group stuck out their pinkies as if to 'pinky swear' to Dan that they wouldn't.
"Okay, so I guess my best first kiss was my one that got away. I really do think we were a match made in heaven."
"Well what happened?"
"Fights, family, problems that I now realize I could have solved but didn't. His name was Phil Lester."
"A boy?!" The group gasped unanimously.
"Yeah. A boy. It all started in art class. I only took a couple months just for the fun of it, but then things got interesting."
Not knowing what he should bring with him, Dan over packed. A sketchbook, pencils, pens, paintbrushes, two art sets etc; his backpack weighed him down on his trip to the studio.
Dan took his seat at an empty easel near the front. He tried to organize his supplies without distraction but the person sitting to his right kept looking over at him. Finally, Dan gave in.
"Can I help you with something?" Dan hissed with an irritated tone.
The person on Dan's right wore a purple striped sweatshirt and black skinny jeans. His hood covered his face, hiding his identity from Dan. That was, until he looked over.
"Hi, I'm Phil Lester! You must be new to the class?"
Dan was startled by the sudden friendliness towards himself.
"Yeah.. Hi, I'm Dan."
Dan reached out to shake Phil's hand and caught a glimpse at what Phil was drawing. It was an incredibly detailed picture of Dan's head.
"Hey Phil, how'd you draw that so quickly? I've only been here for 10 minutes."
Phil looked at his easel and squinted at Dan.
"It's rough right now. Not done. Not ready."
Dan rolled his eyes. The instructor walked in calmly with a fruit basket.
"Alright, welcome in or welcome back. This week's class should be interesting. See this fruit basket. Draw not the fruit but the colours. What does red look like? What is green?"
The next week, Dan sat in the same spot, Phil sitting next to him.
"How was your week Dan?" Phil asked without taking his eyes off of whatever it was he was drawing.
"Pretty good, and yours?" Dan replied politely.
"Awful! Bleh!" He shook with disgust, almost dropping his pencil.
"What happened?"
"So I met this guy at the bus stop and we decide to get drinks. That's when he gets all touchy feely. I'm okay with that, but then he drunkenly kisses me and I'm out. The kiss is awful! Ruined my whole week." Phil said, cringing at the memory.
"Wait, you're gay?" Dan asked, still hung up on the 'I met this guy' part.
"Yeah, aren't you?"
Phil finally looked up from his drawing and right at Dan. Dan nodded.
"I am.. How did you know that? I haven't told anyone. Not even my closest friends."
"It's obvious. Everything about you screams it." Phil answered, refocusing on the pencil and paper.
Dan was silent for a moment, looking over his outfit, thinking over what he'd said recently. Nothing really stood out as 'raging homo' to him. How would Phil have known? Was it just a lucky guess?
When the instructor walked in with two buckets and gave the prompt and clay out, it was time to work. Somehow though, this task seemed harder now that he knew Phil was gay. He seemed more attractive. It was impossible to a degree, for Dan to not look in that direction.
Dan created his poetic sculpture as if it were his feelings. He formed a bean shaped object and carved the words 'hair like the night and eyes like the day' into the top.
Week three and Dan was growing needy. Needy as in to return to the studio, to return to Phil. He sat in the same seat as normal, as did Phil.
"Hey Phil." Dan said softly, partially giving away that he felt weak now that Phil was wearing him down.
Instead of greeting Dan with his usual cheery smile or even a side glance, Phil simply nodded and scribbled down what seemed to be ideas into a journal.
Another thing that seemed off with the situation was that Phil wasn't drawing. He seemed distant and lost.
"Are you okay?"
Dan received another nod. He couldn't help but feel as if he were the problem. Dan tried three more times at trying to start a conversation, followed by failing the task each time. The instructor came in after a long 5 minutes of silence.
"Paint what you feel but cannot say." She instructed.
Dan's canvas started with a simple and basic heart, until it began to melt and become poisoned in the center. He craned his neck to catch what Phil was doing. It appeared to be an apple on the ground with other fruit crushed beside it.
At the end of class, Dan packed up but found it necessary to figure out what the deal was with Phil. He walked outside and sat on the edge of the fountain that was illuminated by the glowing lights under the water.
Phil was the last one out. Dan jumped up and walked along with him.
"Sorry to bug you but I just feel like I did something wrong and maybe I'm just being stupid or whatever but I think I'm starting to like you but then you go all cold and distant on me and I just don't really know what to think and-"
Dan's blabbering was cut off when Phil turned around and pulled Dan's lips on to his own. Phil cupped Dan's cheek as Dan melted into the moment. Lips brushing softly against another pair of lips, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. When Phil finally pulled away, Dan was completely dazed.
"I'm okay." Phil mumbled.
"We started going out after that. It didn't end great. I guess I was just too stupid to realize what I'd found." Dan concluded.
"Well!" The brown haired girl said interrupting the silence of collective thoughts. "I think it's time we should start watching that movie we were originally going to watch."
Everyone agreed and gathered on the couch and watched the movie quietly, trying to brush off the story of Dan's best first kiss.