I dare you to love me (part of the flower shop love story series)

~ Part 9 ~

A few days later, Dan is back to work and doing what he does best - tending his flowers and putting his problems off to the side for the time being. Even though his crush on Phil isn't necessarily a problem, it's inconvenient, but it's certainly not the best thing to happen. Dan hates having crushes on people; he gets awkward and blushy and shy and he stutters - god he stutters so much - but it's worse when he has a crush on someone he can never have.

But he's just going to put it all in the back of his mind, because he isn't going to be bothered by it - not today. Today he's going to take this big ass bag of soil and tend to his flowers.

As he hoists the bag up, he struggles under its weight, but the sound of the door shop opening and Phil's voice saying, "Hey, Dan!" is enough to make him fumble the bag and drop it, spilling the soil at his feet. He hears Louise laugh and his face is about as red as ever right now; what is it about Phil that always gets him so jumpy and flustered? Dan decides that crushes are stupid and annoying and he hates them. "Sorry, did I startle you?" Phil asks.

"Nah, I drop bags of soil all the time," Dan tells him, and Phil laughs a bit. "So," Dan shoves his hands in his pockets. "Who'd you forget flowers for this time?"

Phil chuckles a little. "No one," he says. "I just wanted to see you." Dan's thankful that he wasn't holding anything else at this moment in time, because he's positive that he would've dropped it. "Actually, I wanted to know if you were okay with exchanging numbers?" he asks. "You know, so we could talk more about the wedding... or about anything, really."

"Anything sounds good,." Louise pipes up, and Dan's face reddens.

"Louise, don't you have a lunch break to take?" he asks, and Louise chuckles a bit, but takes Dan's hint and grabs her purse. "Pick me up something, please?"

"Of course," Louise says.

"You know what I like," Dan adds, and Louise nods as she says goodbye to Phil before leaving the shop.

Dan turns to Phil. "So, numbers?" Dan and Phil exchange mobile numbers, then text each other their favourite emojis just because they can, which makes Dan smile so much his cheeks almost ache. He then pockets his phone and tells Phil as much as he wants to continue texting Phil the smiling poop emoji, he needs to clean up the mess he made.

"So," Phil kneels down along with Dan with the intention to help him clean up; Dan glances up, startled, as he definitely expected Phil to leave after this. "Is Louise your girlfriend?"

Dan can't help but to chuckle; it's not the first time someone's asked him this. "Nope, she's just my best friend," he tells her. "Actually, Louise is married and she has a daughter - my goddaughter."

"Aw," Phil smiles a bit. "D'you ever want to get married, Dan?" he asks.

Dan shrugs. "I don't know," he says, and pauses for a moment. "Maybe now that the law has changed."

The other boy raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" he asks.

Dan blushes a bit. "Oh, well..." he clears his throat a bit before saying. "I'm... I'm bisexual."

Phil blinks and all he says is, "Oh."

Dan's stomach drops and he breaks out in a nervous sweat that floods his armpits, and he keeps his arms pressed tightly to his sides so he doesn't reveal it to Phil. "That's - uh," he pauses, then clears his throat so he can give off an 'I really don't care what you think about me or my sexuality' vibe and definitely not 'please don't hate me' vibe. "That's not a problem is it?" Dan asks.

"Oh no!" Phil's eyes go wide. "No, no. Of course not. I'm sorry, I was just a bit taken aback for a second."

"It's okay, I just wanted to make sure," Dan says. "I mean, I know it's 2014 but people still aren't all too accepting."

"I understand," Phil says, and there's an awkward silence that follows. Dan looks down at the leftover soil on the ground as if it's the most interesting thing in the world. "So..." Phil breaks the silence after a few painful seconds. "Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?"

"Nope, I'm single," Dan tells him.

"Interested in anyone?" Phil asks him, and Dan glances up at him just briefly enough to see the tips of his ears tinted red. "Sorry if I'm being too invasive."

Dan chuckles a little. "No, you're not," he tells him. "And... yeah, I kind of like this guy," he pauses for a moment, then sighs. "But it'd never work out for like a thousand reasons," he concludes.

"I don't see why not," Phil says, and Dan glances up at him. He smiles a little and tells him, "Anyone would be lucky to date you."

Dan just bites his lip and he can't help but to think, 'Except you.'