phil fans. here's chapter 5. thanks for the great reviews and thoughts on my story. you are all so generous! there was a suggestion to slow things down a little, so that's what i had in mind with this chapter. of course there's pheeliness on the horizon. and of course there's plenty of phil and keely avoiding-the-obvious confusion as usual. will these two kids ever learn? lol. hope y'all enjoy. i'm out of town for a whole week starting tomorrow, so this will have to hold you. maybe i'll be able to write from the beach... we'll see.

Chapter 5

"Sleeping Over"

Phil ran to Keely's house. When he got there, he saw a bright pink Post-It note stuck on the front door.

PD

I'm in the shower.

You know where the key is.

KT

Phil's stomach somersaulted. As usual, he didn't know what he was doing. First thing's first, Phil thought. Just get yourself inside the house. Worry about what comes next later. He walked through the gate into the backyard. The Teslows kept a key underneath a garden gnome. But they had at least fifty gnomes scattered around the patio, and Phil, for the life of him, couldn't remember which one had the key under it, although Keely had shown him at least a dozen times.

Phil picked up a gnome in red pants. No key. He picked up a gnome in yellow pants who was holding an umbrella. No key. He picked up one in a blue shirt and purple hat. No key. This is ridiculous, Phil thought. She'll be out of the shower in no time. I'll just wait on the porch. But, hang on Phil, if you get in the house now, you can surprise her. Orange hat. No key. Pink spotted hat, holding flowers. Key! "Yes!" Phil shouted. He held the gnome under his arm and bent to grab the gold key. The gnome was bigger than the others and heavier. Should have figured it would be the pink one.

"Phil!" a girl's voice yelled behind Phil. It startled him, and he immediately threw the pink spotted gnome into the air. It landed on top of his right foot, and rolled into the grass. Phil had never felt such pain in his life. He collapsed, sending gnomes clattering over the patio.

"Oh my gosh, Phil!" the voice yelled again. Phil heard footsteps approaching. He opened his eyes. Keely knelt down beside him. She was already dressed for movie night in her blue-and-yellow bunny pajamas, no shoes, pink polish, tangly ponytail. You're adorable. I love you, Phil thought, despite the situation. "Are you okay?" she asked. Her tone was panicky.

"My foot," Phil said, wincing. He felt a bit nauseous. "I dropped your gnome." Please don't let me puke. Not here in front of her. Please, Phil wished.

"Phil, I'm so sorry," Keel said. "I didn't mean to scare you. I saw you from my window, and I thought I'd save you the trouble of looking for the key..." She brushed aside the hair on his forehead. "Can you wiggle your toes?"

"I haven't tried yet," Phil said. He gazed into her concerned eyes. The foot was throbbing. Keely slipped off his flip-flop. His toes moved weakly.

"Well, that's a good sign. Maybe it's not broken," Keely said. "Can you sit up?" Phil nodded and raised his top half off the ground. She put an arm around his shoulders. They both looked at his foot.

"I dropped a garden gnome on my foot," Phil said. Can I be a bigger idiot? he thought. It really hurt. Keely sort of laughed. "Hey," Phil said. "You're laughing at me in my time of pain and suffering?"

"Okay, sorry. Again," Keely said, smiling. "It's just... how many people break their feet by dropping stupid garden gnomes on them?"

"I thought you said it wasn't broken," Phil said.

"I said that maybe it's not broken," Keely said. "I don't know for sure, but chances are it'll just be bruised. Why don't you try to stand up?"

"Yeah," Phil stood up, putting his arm around Keely and leaning on her for balance. "I can't put any pressure on it," he said. "It better not be broken. It's my driving foot... Our trip."

"Phil, if the trip doesn't happen, it's not the end of the world. We can still be together," Keely said.

"But you were so excited about it," Phil said.

"I know, Phil. But mainly I was excited about us hitting the road. The two of us. It wasn't the trip, so much. It was being with you I was looking forward to," Keely said. Then she thought maybe she had said too much. "Um, let's get your foot inside and put some ice on it."

She's looking forward to being with me, Phil thought. He smiled. He was feeling better already. Still nervous, but better.

Phil and Keely hobbled together up the steps of the back porch and into the house. They landed on the sofa with their arms still around each other. Phil looked down and realized what he was wearing. I'm still in my swim trunks? he thought. He made a face.

"Something stink, Phil?" Keely asked.

"What?" Phil asked. "Oh, no, I, uh, just realized I never changed or showered or anything. I must smell kinda lakey." Stupid Phil, he thought.

"I hadn't noticed. Swear," Keely said. She smiled. "So. Let me go see about that ice."

As Keely stood, Phil reached out and touched her fingers, loosely hooking his pinkie onto hers. She looked at his face and both of them smiled sheepishly at one another. Phil hoped that little motion, that touch, told her something. He watched her walk to the kitchen, her bare feet sliding on the hardwood floor, her ponytail wagging back and forth.

When she reappeared with the Ziploc bag of ice and a glass of orange juice, Phil was trying to swing his legs onto the couch so he could lie down. "Here, let me help you," Keely said, setting the ice bag and glass of juice on the coffee table. She arranged some pillows on one end of the couch for Phil to rest his foot on and gently raised his leg onto them.

Phil felt awkward and fidgety. His stomach was all fluttery. It's only Keely. Keely. Don't freak out. He thought the pain in his foot might overshadow the anxiety he felt around her, but so far it hadn't. "I, uh, like your pajamas," he finally sputtered.

"Thanks, Phil," Keely said, ruffling his hair. She picked up the ice and slowly set it on top of his foot. Phil grimaced. "I know it's uncomfortable, but ice helps the swelling. I brought you some Tylenol, too," Keely said, handing the juice to Phil and taking two red-and-yellow Tylenols out of her pajama-shirt pocket.

"Sorry you have to go to all this trouble," Phil said, throwing back the pills and swallowing the juice.

"It's fine," she said. "I like taking care of you." Keely scratched her chin. "Maybe I should be a nurse instead of a journalist... Nah." She plopped down on the couch next to Phil.

"Yeah, 'cause if you were a nurse, that would mean wearing white before Labor Day," Phil said, smiling. Sometimes it's so easy and I can relax and just be Phil.

"Philly Willy, I think I'm rubbing off on you!" Keely said. "Why don't you lie back and rest your head on my lap?" she offered, patting her legs. Phil obeyed, and Keely ran her hand through his hair.

"Feels good," Phil said, grinning sleepily and closing his eyes. He wanted to fall asleep right there. Her bunny pajamas smelled like fabric softener.

"I love for people to play with my hair. I'm glad you let yours grow out some," Keely said, twisting a curl around her finger. "And your eyelashes are so long. I would die for your eyelashes." Phil smiled when she said that. He's just so beautiful, Keely thought. She stroked his temple with her thumb. Neither said anything for a few minutes. Keely just watched Phil doze. She looked at his nose and his ears, loving every inch of him. I can't believe how much I love you, the thought. Keely had an urge to lean down and kiss him right then, but she held back. It's an old-fashioned Phil-and-Keely movie night. Just friends, right? "Hey, do you want me to call your mom? Maybe they should come pick you up. I'd take you home myself but Mom's got the car all weekend in San Diego..." No answer. "Phil?"

"Hmm," he said.

"Don't you want me to call someone to come get you?" Keely said. She didn't want him to leave. If she had her choice, he'd never leave.

"I don't wanna go," Phil mumbled, his eyes still shut. He was half asleep. "I wanna stay with Keely."

"I want you to stay, too, Phil," Keely whispered, still fooling with his hair. This made her a little nervous. Her mother was out of town. Phil wanted to stay. She wanted him to stay... "What do you want to tell your parents, though? I mean, I don't think they'll be okay with you, you know, sleeping over with my mom gone." Phil had never spent the night at Keely's house. She had stayed at the Diffys' once before, in ninth grade, because of an all-night science project they were working on. But Phil had slept on the sofa and she had his room to herself. That was before...

Phil opened his eyes, suddenly wide-awake. "You want me to stay?" he asked.

Keely looked away bashfully. "Well, yeah." She hadn't thought Phil was fully listening when she said she wanted him to stay.

"Then I will..." Phil said. "You're okay... with, um, that?"

"I'm okay with that," Keely said. So now what? she wondered. It's like we're speaking in code.

"Now for parents," Phil said. He sat up, reached into his pocket, and got the Wizard. He punched some buttons. A glowy hologram of Lloyd Diffy popped up. "Hi, Dad," Phil said.

"Hi there, son," Lloyd said. "Where are you?"

"Keely's. Look, Dad, I kind of dropped a gnome on my foot, so I'm gonna stay here and watch some movies and maybe just sack out on the couch. That cool?"

"A gnome? Sack out?" Lloyd said. "Where's Keely's mom?"

"She's, uh, not here right now..." Phil said. "But she's on her way back from San Diego." Phil glanced at Keely. She mouthed tomorrow.

"Okay, well, call me when Mandy gets there," Lloyd said. "You and Keely aren't..." Lloyd cleared his throat. "You know, together--" Keely's eyes widened.

Phil blushed, coughed, and interrupted his father, "Uh, um, so Dad I'll see you later," Phil said. He punched some more buttons and Lloyd disappeared. Phil swallowed hard. "So, are you, um, hungry or anything?"

"I could eat," Keely said. She felt suddenly like a stranger in her own home. She wished they could just use normal words. It was tiring always having to read between the lines when their "relationship" was concerned. And after today when he'd pulled away from kissing her... What's going on?

"Pizza?" Phil suggested.

"Fine," Keely said.

"What's wrong, Keel?" Phil asked. He looked genuinely concerned.

"Nothing," Keely said. Truth was Keely didn't know what, if anything, was bothering her. She didn't want to talk yet in case she'd been reading Phil wrong the whole time. Maybe he didn't have any intentions after all. Maybe earlier at the lake had been because of the champagne. A fluke one-time thing. But that didn't seem like Phil. Did he want to spend the night as friends? As more? Maybe he'd let her know later. Maybe she just needed to quit worrying. "How's your foot?"

"It's better. I can wiggle my toes. I think it's just gonna be sore..." Phil said, then he reached over and put his hand on Keely's knee. "Are you sure you're okay with me staying over, Keel? I mean I can call Dad back--"

"I want you to stay, Phil," Keely said. She really meant it. She hoped he understood that. "It'll be fun."

"It will be fun," Phil said, grinning. He was happy. And hungry. "Now about that pizza..."