Phil awoke early on Sunday morning. The first thing he thought of was Dan.
He rose from bed with a craving for hot coffee. More specifically, the coffee Dan had first picked out for him the first time he went into his coffee shop. So he dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater from the college he had gone to before becoming a teacher. After he put his shoes on, he grabbed his laptop bag and left the house.
He drove through the city to downtown where the coffee shop was located. In contrast to the streets which were alive and awake, he felt tired. He found a place to park, grabbed his laptop bag from the passenger seat, then climbed out of the car. He went into the coffee shop and fell into line behind two other customers.
Phil eyed a small table and one chair that was still available to sit at. He hoped that by the time he made his order it wouldn't be taken.
When Phil was first in line, he was face to face with Dan.
"Hi, what can I get you?" Dan asked him. Half of his mouth was turned up in a smile.
Phil recited his order to Dan.
As Dan operated the computer, he asked, "Having a good weekend?"
Phil smiled and said, "Yeah, it's alright. And yours?"
"It's fine," Dan said and gave Phil the total. Phil handed Dan his card, who swiped it and returned it to him.
Phil moved off to the side to wait for his coffee to be made. It was ready within just a few minutes and with his coffee in hand, he claimed that small table and single chair. He set up his laptop, connected to the wi-fi and logged onto the school's website.
He glanced up as he waited for the website to load, noticing Dan looking his way. He glanced away again and had to force the corners of his mouth down.
Phil went on to grade the papers he had assigned at the beginning of the previous week.
"John, right?"
Phil looked up to see Dan talking with another customer.
"Yeah," the man said with a wide smile. "How've you been?"
"Good," Dan said, then laughed at something this man called John had said.
Phil sighed.
Dan took down John's phone number with a slip of paper from the receipt printer. They had met at Hazel's on Halloween weekend.
After he had put John's order in and collected the cash payment he glanced over and saw that Phil had left. He frowned, but moved on to the customer who had just walked into the shop.
It occurred to Dan that Phil may have seen his entire exchange with John. He shrugged internally.
Before John left with his coffee, he promised to text Dan.
"Alright, later," Dan said with a smile.
"Later."
As promised, John did text him later that day. They talked well into the evening. They clicked easily and there was hardly a single dull exchange as they talked. They continued to talk throughout the week as well.
But at the end of each night, and the beginning of each day, it was Phil he thought of.
However, nothing could be done about that so he agreed to go out with John when John invited him to see a movie. They agreed to meet at the cinema on Friday evening. Dan took the bus and walked partway.
The cinema was attached to the downtown mall, so he cut through the shops to reach the cinema. John was waiting right where he said he would be.
Upon seeing Dan he smiled widely.
Dan grinned back as he approached him.
"Hey," John said to him.
"Hey," Dan replied.
"Let's go ahead and get our tickets," John suggested and Dan agreed.
A few minutes later they were in the right theatre, sitting through the previews. They chatted quietly.
They had many similar interests, so they always talked easily. When the movie began they quieted down and focused on the movie.
After the movie, John walked Dan to the bus stop. He had a different bus to get on, but Dan's was arriving before his.
"Well, that was really fun," Dan said to John when he saw his bus approaching the stop.
"Yeah, it was," he agreed.
The bus stopped just ahead of them.
"Alright, I'll talk to you later, then," Dan said to John.
Before Dan turned, John leaned in. Dan froze where he stood. John pressed his lips to Dan's cheek.
"Talk to you later," John said.
Dan turned away, his cheeks growing very warm very quickly. He got onto the bus and found a seat near the back.
"But what about Phil," Chris asked Dan later that night when Dan returned to their flat.
"What do you mean, "what about Phil?"" Dan said.
"Well, you like Phil. Not John, right?"
"I like John," Dan said. "We get along really well. And I wouldn't have gone out with him if I didn't like him."
"Yeah, I know. But-."
"But nothing," Dan said. "There is no way it could ever work out with Phil, let alone even start."
"But I ship it so hard," Chris said with a wide smile.
Dan sighed.
"And you never know. When you're no longer his student, there's nothing that'll be in the way, right?"
"I guess. But still, you know," Dan said.
"Not really. But whatever," Chris said.
Dan frowned and got up from the couch to retreat to his bedroom. There, he dived into a book he'd recently checked out from the library. A book about neat and tidy plots, and happy endings. He eventually put his book aside and slept.
Over the next week Dan went through the motions of going to work and school. He and Phil shared pleasantries before and after class and in the coffee shop but it never went much further than that.
During the week after that, Dan discovered that John had a similar class schedule to his. They were both on campus on Mondays and Wednesdays. So John began joining Dan, Chris, and PJ for lunch much to the dismay of Chris and PJ.
"He's boring," Chris said to Dan one day.
"He is not. We talk constantly," Dan said.
However, John was approaching their table so Dan made room for him.
Phil left his empty classroom just a few minutes after everyone cleared out. He was dying for something good to eat, rather than just micro waved leftovers. He walked down the halls and down a flight of stairs into the cafeteria.
He passed tables full of students, but then a group of four caught his eye. There was Dan, sitting with his friends, but also with the man called John from the day he had gone into the coffee shop.
His jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw that John had his hand over Dan's. Dan looked up and slipped his hand out from underneath John's when he saw that Phil was looking his way. With his teeth gritted he got into line to pick out something to eat.
Phil rolled his eyes at himself internally. It was completely inappropriate to feel so angry that Dan was getting into a relationship with someone. He had no attachments to Dan, no claim over Dan.
He's your student for crying out loud, he told himself.
Chris, Pj, and Dan had all seen that Phil walked passed their table.
Chris looked between John and Phil, noticing a few slight similarities. John and Phil both had black hair, blue eyes, and wore glasses. That couldn't be a coincidence, he thought.
When Chris brought this up to Dan that night in their flat Dan said, "I guess I have a type."
"You mean it's not just because he looks like Phil," Chris said with a look in his eye.
"Of course not. They didn't even look that alike," Dan said defensively.
"I'm only teasing," Chris said with his hands up.
Dan didn't reply and fell into silence for the rest of the night.
It began to snow as the next week began. Dan couldn't put it off any longer. He bought new shoes.
Phil noticed on Monday after class.
"You got new shoes," he said to Dan from where he stood with the whiteboard to his back.
"I had to," Dan replied with a shrug.
Phil wrung his hands as he stood. Dan waited for him to speak. He pushed his glasses up his nose and then slipped his hands into his pockets.
Phil said, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
"I don't think that's appro-,"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Why does it matter?" Dan asked, becoming defensive.
"I want to know," Phil said.
"Well, it's not official yet, but yeah, I'm seeing someone," Dan answered. He asked again, "Why does it matter?"
Phil said, "Because-," and sighed.
"Are you jealous?" Dan asked quietly.
Phil walked passed Dan to sit at the front desk.
"Yeah, I am," he admitted.
"Well, don't be," Dan said softly. "He's-, he's not you."
Phil looked up at Dan for a long moment. Dan thought that maybe if they weren't bound from each other they would have kissed in that moment.
"I better go," Dan said.
"Yeah," Phil agreed and turned to the computer in front of him.
Dan left the classroom and headed for the cafeteria.
hi sorry that this chapter is a bit short, but i wasn't sure where to go next
i mean i know whats gonna happen next in the story but its best to leave it for the next chapter probs
anyways please review and let me know what you thought i rlly appreciate the feedback
okay have an awesome week