Kiss Me In The Rain

Chapter 3

Dan's POV

I sighed loudly and idly stirred my drink. Chris, Pj and I were sat in the back of a bar and, despite my friends' best efforts, I wasn't doing much to keep the conversation going and still hadn't cheered up any. Sometimes I do that, you see – if I'm not in the mood, I'm pretty much the worst conversationalist ever. And tonight was one of those nights.

'Hello? Dan?' Pj waved his hand in front of my face as I was snapped out of my thoughts. 'Did you even hear what I said?' Feeling a bit guilty for being so out of it, I shook my head in response. Pj grunted in irritation and stood up.

'Oh, I give up. Come on, Chris, let's go get a last drink and then we're going home. Okay?' Chris got up and followed him as the two headed over to the bar. As I was watching them go I spotted out of the corner of my eye a vaguely familiar figure. After studying them for a second, I realised that it was the guy from the hairdresser's! Phil, wasn't it? I stared at him for a minute longer, then, draining what was left in the glass, I made a spontaneous decision. Weaving my way through the tables to where he was sitting, I plopped myself down on the seat opposite him with a confident,

'Hi, Phil!'

Phil looked up in surprise as he recognised me. 'Oh! Aren't you the guy from...?' I smiled and nodded in response, noticing that he was quite tall, nearly my height, even sitting down. But my moment of confidence faded just as quickly as it had come when he blushed and ducked his head.

'Oh, yeah... Sorry about that note, I mean, you probably aren't – I don't usually -' he trailed off. Of course, it was only then that I remembered I had kind of ignored the cute little note he had given me before running off. Blushing myself now, I cut through his apologies.

'No, it's okay, it's my fault, I should have texted you or something. Sorry,' I mumbled, both of us avoiding each other's eyes in the now awkward moment.

'Hey... pretty cool shirt though. You're into Pokémon then?' I asked, trying to alleviate the tension. Thankfully, it worked. Phil grinned.

'Yeah! Gengar's one of my favourites – well obviously, I have his face on a tshirt,' he giggled. 'You must know your Pokémon pretty well too then?'

'Pokémon was basically my childhood,' I smiled back, glad the conversation had been saved. 'Hang on though – you still don't know my name, do you? I'm Dan,' I added sheepishly. 'Here – you'd better give me your number properly or I'll probably go and lose it or something,' I said, handing him a new contact on my phone. He took it and handed me his phone too, with a little pleased smile playing around his lips that didn't pass unnoticed. I was just handing it back again, about to comment on the also pretty swaggy Adventure Time case he had on it, when we were suddenly interrupted.

'Well! First you barely talk all night, and then you disappear to go talk to some random stranger. Very friendly of you, Dan,' Chris joked as himself and Pj appeared next to the table, making Phil turn pink yet again.

'Phil, these are my friends Chris and Pj. Chris, Peej, this is Phil,' I said, watching the three's faces dubiously as I waited to see how they would react. Phil smiled and gave a little wave and started chatting with Chris, while Pj raised an eyebrow at me. 'What?' I mouthed at him, but he just rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to speak again, a smile tugging at his lips.

'Well Phil, good to meet you, but we've gotta head. Dan – we'll be outside, alright?' Pj said, a twinkle in his eye as he dragged Chris out after him. I watched them go, wondering what on earth was up with Pj, before shaking my head and turning back to face Phil.

'I'd better go after them, I guess. Great to see you again, Phil – we'll have to play Pokémon sometime,' I smiled as I got up to follow them.

'Bye, Dan,' Phil waved, a widening grin on his face as I headed out into the night, the first few drops of rain just beginning to fall. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out as I hurried towards the taxi Pj and Chris had called.

TEXT FROM: AMAZINGPHIL

Night, Dan :)

I grinned at the name he had given himself and typed a quick message back as I ducked into the warm car with Chris and Peej, it occurring to me that I hadn't even thought about Jessica for the past number of minutes. Huh, I thought to myself as the taxi pulled off. Maybe my cute new friend – wait, he's cute now? I rolled my eyes at myself as I rested my head against the window. Perhaps he was definitely going to be a distraction.

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Greetings earthlings :)

Hope you're enjoying this so far. Pleeease comment and vote and things and I will rescue you, chinperson, and show you the stars :)

- Mint xxx