Phil soon clocked out, and although the man was still finished his food, he left he restaurant, but did not drive away from the parking lot.
He sat in his old, beat up, silver car and waited patiently. He looked in his rearview mirrors to watch for the man, who he soon saw approaching the car.
Phil got out of the car and soon he and the man were standing across from each other.
"So, I never did get your name," Phil realized.
"It's Dan. I'm Dan."
"Well, it's good to meet you, Dan."
"You as well, Phil."
"So, I was under the impression that you er…" Phil trailed off. How exactly did you tell someone that you had the feeling they wanted to hook up?
"Yes, well, I just sort of wanted to talk with you a bit more."
Phil was mostly relieved, to tell the truth. He had never done anything quite like hooking up with someone when he had just met them. He hardly even hooked up with anyone. Like, ever.
But he enjoyed talking and beautiful people.
"That sounds nice," Phil replied. "We can hang for a bit. Go ahead and get in."
"Thanks, Phil." Dan grinned widely and Phil's heart stuttered in his chest.
As Phil drove down the rode to his small home, he said to Dan, "Er, my house is actually not very nice or anything. This is sort of, well it's very short notice, otherwise I would have cleaned. But I've got video games, and a Netflix account."
"What's Netflix?"
Phil shot Dan a deadpan look. "Please tell me you're joking."
"I'm joking." Dan replied flatly.
"Oh good, cause I was about to say how the hell do you not know what Netflix is."
"That was a lie."
"For real?"
"For real. What is it?"
"Movie and television show site on the internet. You can also rent DVDs and have them sent in the mail."
"That's pretty neat."
Phil hummed in agreement as he cruised closer to his home.
"So, here we are," he said he pulled into the driveway.
They both stepped out of the car and Dan looked over the house thoughtfully.
"This is nice."
"Nice, Dan? It's pretty worn down."
"Yeah, but it's got character, you know?"
"I suppose, that's true."
Phil led the way up the rickety wooden steps to his porch deck and front door.
He unlocked the heavy wooden door and let Dan step inside.
He stepped underneath the threshold, his boots thudding dulcetly on the dark wood floor.
"You can sit down, I can get us something to drink. Do you want some soda?"
"Sure," Dan said as he sat on the old, faded red sofa. "Thanks."
His strong nose could smell Phil everywhere in the house. His ears could pick up Phil's breathing from the other room and the electricity from the fridge in the kitchen.
Phil returned with a can of soda for Dan and sat opposite him on the couch. He cracked the soda can open, appreciating the pop and hiss and listened as Phil's can did the same.
"So, do you live around here, Dan? I've never seen you at the restaurant before," Phil asked.
Dan turned a bit, bending one of his long legs and said, "Well, I live closer to downtown, but I was in the area and was sort of attracted to your restaurant for some reason. But now I know why."
Phil smiled and said, "You're sort of strange, you know."
"No, I don't." Dan replied, looking at him expectantly.
"Well, you speak kind of… vaguely… and I just don't really know exactly. You're very well spoken. You're not like other people."
"Well, I could use the cliché response and say I'm not like most people, but I really am not like most."
"I've gathered that."
Phil gazed at the strange man opposite him on the couch, who looked back steadily.
He stood quite abruptly. "You read a lot?" He maneuvered around the couch and to the other side of the room where Phil's tall, dark, dusty bookcase stood.
"Yes. Do you?"
"Loads," Dan said. He raised a finger, scanning the titles.
"This one is excellent," he said, pausing on a certain book and Phil hummed in agreement.
"What's your favorite of his?"
Dan and Phil discussed the author for a few minutes and Phil began to soon wonder, "How late do you plan on staying?"
"As long as I'm welcome."
"Well, I don't mind if you stay over night, but I can't be up late as I've got work tomorrow."
"You don't strike me as the early to bed, early to rise type." Dan looked at Phil as if he knew something he wasn't aware of just yet.
"I'm really not, but you have to be if you want to be at all successful in society."
"Society is shit."
The vehemence that Dan suddenly spoke with caught Phil's attention.
"Society is full of people who are too afraid to experience anything passed their little bubble of beliefs, people that are too afraid to learn about any new, unconventional ideas."
Phil agreed wholeheartedly, but was struck with how well he had worded it.
Dan downed the last of his soda.
"I can get you another, and throw that one out," Phil offered.
Dan passed him the empty can of soda, their fingers brushing and a familiar feeling rushed through Phil's body. It was exciting and electric, something that made him feel purposeful. Like he was meant to be with Dan, in less than just a we-could-be-romantically-involved and more like a you're-meant-to-be-at-my-side sort of feeling.
Phil turned away, the feeling still traveling through his body and collected another can of soda for Dan. He tried to shake the feeling away.
"Should I make us dinner? If Chris comes over I normally get pizza for us, but I just had pizza last night."
"Dinner sounds good."
"Any favorites?"
"Not really. Just something really meaty."
"How about… meatloaf?"
"Sounds mouth-watering," Dan said and he opened the can of soda Phil brought to him.
"Great. I'm kind of excited, I haven't cooked for two in a long time."
That caught Dan's attention, but he didn't question Phil about it as he returned to the kitchen to begin cooking. He reached for a dusty paperback on Phil's shelf and stretched himself out on the floor with it.
Phil noticed this and grinned. He supposed that for someone with legs as incredibly long as Dan's the floor was a bit more comfortable than his couch.
Phil did all the prep work for the meatloaf and after he slid the load into the oven and set the timer he turned to ask Dan if he would want rice as a side.
"Do you want-," he stopped when he noticed that Dan had begun to doze, with his hands beneath his head, over the book.
He smiled at the sweet image.
He hadn't thought that this man would look so peaceful and downright adorable as he napped.
Still smiling, he walked quietly to his bedroom where he grabbed a pillow and brought it out to the living room. He knelt beside Dan and carefully tried to remove the book and put the pillow beneath his head.
Dan stirred and Phil was prepared to quickly explain, but he settled again onto the pillow.
As the meatloaf began to cook, Phil changed into some lounge pants and a band t-shirt and he also splashed some water onto his face.
He cooked rice, as well as some carrots for the both of them to go with the meatloaf. He was quite proud of his cooking ability, if he was being completely honest.
As Phil set their places at the table and pulled the meatloaf out of the oven, Dan stirred and looked up at Phil.
"Hey, sleepy-head."
Phil walked over and helped him to his feet.
"You must have been tired."
"Yeah… I'll sleep just about anywhere, really."
"It was cute," Phil said, earning a slight blush from Dan. "Foods done."
"Excellent."
Phil led Dan over to his old wooden dinner table and the two of them sat opposite each other.
"Wow, this looks really good," Dan eyed the meatloaf. His tongue came out to wet his lips as he continued to stare.
"Have as much as you like," Phil dished out his rice and carrots and Dan sliced himself a chunk of meatloaf from the baking dish.
Phil laughed, "That's quite a big piece. Are you always this hungry?"
"Yes," he replied in a joking manner. "I just really love meat. I'm sorry for being so weird."
"Don't apologize. I don't think you're weird. How old are you, Dan?"
"I'm 23. You?"
"27."
"You don't seem quite that old."
"Right, well, I like to er, keep that inner child alive." Phil said, partly joking.
"Right," Dan agreed.
They chatted a bit as they ate. Dan ate a bit of rice and carrots but mainly ate two large helpings of meatloaf.
"You want some food with that meatloaf?" Phil asked him at one point and Dan looked up at Phil with a peculiar look on his face and then broke out in a wide smile and began to laugh.
"I can sarcasm," Phil said, grinning and began to laugh a bit along with Dan.
Phil had finished eating and cleared his place. "You can just put your plate in the sink, I'll worry about it later," he said to Dan.
He put away the leftovers and then went back into the living room where he logged into his Netflix account using his Xbox.
"Do you feel like watching a movie or something?"
Dan joined Phil at the couch.
"Why did you agree to see me so easily?" Dan wondered, not looking at Phil but watched the movie titles slide passed them as he navigated the Netflix website.
"You're interesting," Phil paused. "Intriguing."
Dan sort of hummed, and then to Phil's surprise he leaned over and laid his head in his lap. That same buzz ran through his body and it continued to baffle him.
"I like you," Dan said to Phil.
"You're sort of cuddly aren't you?"
"It's kind of in my nature to be affectionate."
Phil gently pushed Dan's curly hair out of his face, and ran his fingers through it, appreciating the softness of it.
They shared a smile.
"I like you too, Dan."