Keeping the Secret

8: The Morning After

Dan stumbled almost blindly through the masses of hot bodies. What seemed fun at first turned out to be terrifying and sweaty. He tried to make his way back over to Phil, but Tom caught Dan's arm before he could figure his way out of the crowd.

"Where're you going?" Tom basically screamed at Dan so he could hear him.

Dan shrugged in response. He had always thought that Tom was slightly cooler than him when they were in college. Dan wished he could be more like Tom in some aspects, but he was always too self-conscious.

Dan decided that he didn't care anymore. He was an adult, he could do whatever he pleased. So he followed Tom to a less-crowded area of the dance floor, and danced the night away. After a couple of songs, Dan and Tom went to the bar and got a couple of drinks in their system before returning to the dance floor.

The night carried on as a blur of lights and sounds for Dan. He was also vaguely aware of Tom's location at most times, but somewhere along the line, he found himself lost.

Dan stumbled out of the crowd into an unfamiliar place of the room. He knew he needed to use the bathroom, but had no idea how to locate one in this state of mind. Tom, who was a bit better at controlling his liquor, kept an eye on Dan and saw him when he stumbled out of the crowd. Tom followed him and caught up to Dan when he was trying to open a door to outside.

"What are you doing, Dan?" Tom asked.

"I need a toilet," Dan slurred.

"Hey, you're pretty wasted mate, maybe you should call it a night?" Tom suggested.

"I'm 'ot allowed t'leave without Philip," Dan said and hiccuped.

"Yeah, I'll find him for you, but let's head up to my room in the mean time. Okay?" Tom asked and started to guide Dan out the correct exit.

They went up to Tom's room so Dan could use the restroom. After that, Tom had Dan lay down on the bed while he pulled out his mobile to call Phil, only to find that he hadn't saved Phil's number in his phone yet.

"Where's your phone, Dan?" Tom asked.

Dan gestured around him vaguely as he had no clue what had happened to his phone. He checked in his pockets, but they were empty except for the keycard to his and Phil's room.

"Well, I guess we could hang out here for a bit until the party's over, and then we could go and find Phil... How's that sound?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, I just love TV," said Dan.

"That's nice, Dan." Tom replied, "I love TV too."

"I also love food," Dan continued.

"Really? What else do you love?" Tom decided to humour him.

"You," Dan said, reaching out and poking Tom on his nose.

"Aw, I love you too, Dan," Tom replied. He then went to find the remote. Dan fell asleep shortly thereafter as Tom watched TV for a bit. Tom dozed off about an hour later, and decided maybe it was time to look for Phil.

He almost went to wake up Dan, but decided he'd wake him up only after he found Phil. That way he could devote all of his attention to searching for Phil, and not having to worry about where Dan was along the way.

Tom exited his hotel room in search of Phil. As soon as the door shut, Dan woke up. He was still far from sober, and it took him a few moments to register a few thoughts. It took Dan only as long as it took Tom to walk down the hall and into the lift, to remember he was supposed to look for Phil. He got up from the bed and wandered into the lift. Dan went all the way down to the lobby. Tom had already left the building, and was making his way to where the party was.