So this plan to make friends with Summer hadn't worked.
There was always next time, Phil supposed, but it all just seemed too under whelming.
He felt as if it was a bit of a waste of time, actually. That he shouldn't have spent so long worrying about it, and it definitely wasn't worth making himself ill.
Not to worry, though. He was trying to relax and take everything in his stride, so he wasn't about to let an unsuccessful attempt to peace-make faze him.
"That didn't go how you wanted… did it?" Eliza said as she walked beside him into Willow Creek, making their way to Courtyard Lane.
"Not quite," Phil chuckled, nervously, "But there's plenty of time to try again."
"You're going to try again?" Eliza inquired, sounding a tad confused as to why Phil hadn't given up.
"Why not?" Phil shrugged, turning to her.
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Eliza sighed, "All she wants is to make Liberty jealous so that she'll leave Travis to Summer. I'm not trying to stop you making friends with her, but I'm just saying… you have to be prepared to have to deal with a lot. Their household always has something going on."
Phil frowned, looking away and instead staring down the road. They were nearing their neighbourhood now – just over the bridge and they'd be there – and the lights from the Howlter's home were visible even from this far away because of how dark it was outside.
Dark and chilly.
"I… don't want to mess this up more than I already have done," Phil swallowed, slipping his thumbs through the belt loops on his jeans and shivering in the cold, "I didn't come all this way just to leave again no better than last time."
Eliza stayed silent for a while, thinking.
"Do you regret coming?" She asked.
"I will do if I can't figure out these failed friendships," Phil replied, bluntly. Nothing had really worked out his way so far and he wasn't planning on letting that continue.
"Well as long as you don't stress yourself," Eliza told him as they wandered over the bridge into Courtyard Lane, "Be careful, alright?"
Phil smiled,
"Don't worry – I will. From now on, that is," he assured her, but she didn't look convinced.
"'From now on'?" Eliza repeated, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well…" Phil coughed, "I might have been a bit too strict earlier in the week. Let's just say that if getting yourself accidentally ill was an Olympic sport, I'd get the gold. This week hasn't been all that successful."
"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that…" Eliza murmured, quietly, the only other sound being the chirping of the crickets, "Hopefully you'll be able to get everything sorted, though, right? And you can always come back again after and just have a relaxing time."
"I don't think Dan and I will be coming back again," Phil said in a small voice, "This time was supposed to be relaxing and just look at how that turned out… Ach, sorry, I didn't mean to be all down all of a sudden."
"It's fine," Eliza smiled, "Just remember, if there's anything you need, or if you just need to talk to somebody other than Dan, I'm just across the road, OK?"
Phil grinned and gave a firm nod.
"Thanks, Eliza," he said as they both stopped in the middle of their street, "I'll see you later."
"You, too!" Eliza chuckled, and gave a wave, hurrying back to her door and leaving Phil to wander down the path back home alone.
He tiredly laid his hand on the door handle and pulled it down to open, the catch clicking as he did, and he quietly stepped inside.
"Hey, Dan…" he whispered with a smile, wiping his shoes on the mat and making sure not to wake Dab.
"Philly! How's my best pal?" Dan grinned, getting up off the sofa and enthusiastically walking over to greet his friend with a hug, "How did it go?"
"Just as well as you would think."
"And by that, you mean..?"
"It didn't work," Phil sighed, hanging his head, shamefacedly, as Dan pulled away and instead laid his hands on his shoulders.
"Why, what happened?" Dan asked, appearing surprised.
"Well… Nothing. And that's the whole thing, I think," Phil muttered in reply, "The whole point in going was to try and get across my point and try and make friends with Summer instead of having this strange… not quite friendship… that we have with her. Of course, the only thing she did was sit and talk about her housemates for a while and then drag me away from our table to-"
But he stopped himself to calm down.
"There was a jukebox playing," he continued eventually, "Summer asked if I was any good at dancing. I didn't let her force me into a 'dance', though, and signalled to Eliza that we should leave. I didn't really want to stay much longer after I realised what Summer's whole deal was."
"Which is?"
"I'll tell you later."
"Tired?"
"Yeah… It's quite a long walk there and it was getting pretty cold on the way back."
"You look cold," Dan smiled, fondly, "Here, sit down and I'll get you a blanket."
Blankets could always make things better.
"I just feel like I really try my best to get along with people," Phil mumbled when Dan came back into the room with a soft blanket.
"You do," Dan nodded, wrapping it around his friend.
"But everyone always has a problem with something."
"Like what?"
"Well, Erica has problems with everything, Summer refuses to acknowledge discomfort and is only trying to get Liberty envious – I'll tell you about that, too – Eliza is OK, only I think she's realizing it was me who caused the whole freeze-ray bed fire thing… Don't even get me started on Dab and Dil. Everyone's got a problem."
"Hey, now, if you think people dislike you and all that jazz, that's not true," Dan frowned, brushing aside the mention of Dab and Dil and deciding not to ask questions, "You know I lo-"
"Hey, guys!" Came Dil's cheery voice, cutting off Dan's sentence, "Are you both OK?" He asked, seeing Phil's expression and wondering why he needed a blanket. For comfort, perhaps? Comfort from what?
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything…" he added.
"Oh, no; it's nothing!"