Touch - Phan

Chapter 16

Dan's POV

I checked my email the next day, surprisingly, with a response!

"Hello Dan! Thank you for contacting me! I would love to meet with you and your loved one. I'm very confident in my ability and I feel that this surgery is the only thing currently out there to repair optic nerve damage. Before anything else, can you tell me a few things before, so I know what I'm dealing with if we go through with this?"

Below was maybe twenty questions, not all of which I knew off the top of my head. Names, insurance, locations, all were easy. I tried my best to describe Phil's injury, and tried to recall what happened to cause his vision loss. It was a lot of work, but I actually finished it, and sent it to her.

"Dan," Phil said, gripping my arm. "Do you want to go out?"

"Sure." I figured going out would loosen us both up to relax a bit.

We walked and walked, just away from everything. We were faster than the first time we went out as Phil and I got used to our new lifestyle. He still hung on to my arm for life as a guide, and I was happy to assist him.

We stopped walking when we had reached Starbucks and decided to sit down. It had been so long since we did. Even though we went out often enough, we didn't return to the coffee shop after the rude girl yelled at Phil. But today, he was happy to go. I ordered drinks for the both of us and sat down with him at our table.

"Dan," he said, sipping his drink. "I was thinking about that surgery.... Do you think it's safe?"

"Probably," I answered reassuringly. "I wouldn't see why not. If we look into it and find that it's not, we wont do it. I wouldn't put you in danger, or let you be put in danger."

"Yeah."

"Why? Were you considering it?"

"Well, yes. Being able to see again would obviously be helpful. If there's a chance for that, I would want to take it."

I smiled. "I'm proud of you, Phil. And I'll love you whether you can see or not. I don't care if you can see, only if you're you." I placed my hand on his. He flipped his hand around to touch mine with his fingers.

"Besides," he said, "I want to see you. So badly."

My face twitched like I might cry. The sadness in his lowered voice was so horrible. He sincerely wanted to see me. I checked it back and drank my coffee.

Phil's POV

Later, as we continued to walk, me attached to Dan's arm, Dan stopped walking.

"It's Dan and Phil!" an excited female voice shouted. "Oh my God, I love you guys!"

"Hi there!" Dan said sweetly to her. "Nice to meet you!"

"Can I have a picture? Please?"

"Of course."

I worried. I had no clue where to stand or where to face. Did she know I was blind? Do I say something? I tugged on Dan's sleeve, hoping he'd say something.

"She's kind of tall," he said quietly. "Just stand and smile. It's okay."

I smiled and heard a phone camera click a few times. Dan let go of me to hug the girl. She then spoke to me.

"Can I hug you, Phil?" she asked.

"Of course you can," I said smiling. "Where... are you?" I opened my arms.

She jumped into them and hugged me tightly. "You are so amazing," she said. "And you're so strong. Thank you for everything."

I wished I could see her. I wanted to look at her and thank her and tell her that it meant a lot to me. I couldn't, and that's what hurt.

I hugged her back for a longer time. "Thank you," I said.

"I love you, Phil. A lot of us love you. I know about what happened," she said carefully, "and when I found out I cried and began freaking out because the most amazing person in the entire world doesn't deserve this. I mean, no one does, but a lot of people care about you. You're super important to me so I hope you're okay."

Someone - Dan or her - touched my shoulder.

"I love you too, Dan," the girl said. "I love you both!"

"We love you too," Dan said.

"We do," I finished.

She squealed, and said goodbye. It felt so wonderful to meet another fan, but it felt different than usual. It was too hard to explain.

After meeting her, I decided I would tell Dan that I wanted to try the surgery. She said that a lot of people care about me, and I believed her. I wanted to be there for my fans like they're there for me. I wanted to see them when they met me and want to talk to me.

Mostly, I wanted to be there for Dan.

He's been stronger than I have, and it's him who's helped me so much. I wouldn't know braille or be able to get around or do anything without him. I wanted to be there for him and I wanted to be able to see his beautiful smile again. I would do anything for it.

I would do anything for him.