There's a Reason I Go to the Library & It's Not Cause I Like Reading

Chapter 17

If you asked Dan that afternoon whether he enjoyed Rawtenstall any more or less than Wokingham he wouldn't have been able to give you an answer. His mind was clouded as he watched Phil lay on the sofa beside him staring intently at the television as it played the adverts. Phil confused him, but he hadn't once doubted his prior, undoubted knowledge that the supernatural only belonged in books, instead he'd rushed into the situation eagerly.

Dan hadn't yet asked Phil about his 'un-bucket list', unsure how he'd explain why he was snooping in Phil's bag in the first place and about what else he'd seen. In all honesty, Phil intimidated him.

"Hey Daaaan?" Phil drawled, turning his head away from the television and towards the brunet. "Do you think the pub accepts student cards 4 years past their expiry as ID?"

"I think that's illegal, Phil," Dan laughed.

"Does the law apply to dead people?"

"I think so, Phil."

"Well, I have a lot of explaining to do then."

"PHIL! What did you do?!"

"I didn't kill anyone or anything!" Phil panicked, before chuckling suddenly. "I DON'T COUNT OKAY!"

"Well, what did you even do?" Dan asked.

"Trespassing, anti-social behaviour, y'know, the stuff that I didn't really think counted," Phil explained.

"Right."

"Well if we can't get drunk what can we do?" he asked.

"I don't know, do you wanna just go down to the park and piss around on the equipment?" Dan suggested.

"Yeah, sure."

-

The sun had begun to set when the boys got bored of throwing their tall bodies around on structures designed for children and it wasn't until Dan had gotten himself stuck inside the monkey bars, suspended 3 feet from the ground that they decided to throw in the towel.

"Phil! You can't just say that!" Dan giggled.

"What? I'm older than you, I make the rules on what I can and can't say you prick!" Phil laughed in reply.

"But Miss Cooper is so lovely!" Dan pushed Phil jokingly.

"You haven't had the pleasure of being in her class while she was pregnant, Dan! She absolutely lost it one time before an exam, it was scary," Phil said.
"Oh, my god!"

"I wonder how she's doing, like, it'd be nice to just pop in for a chat like a normal ex-student but that wouldn't exactly be the most pleasant thing, seeing a dead student walk into your classroom asking how the hubby is. It'd be really funny though now I think about it. Not so, now I've thought a little more," Phil wondered sadly. They sat in silence for a while in the park bench, Dan unsure of what to say in reply, it wasn't exactly a situation he'd ever had to advise someone on before.

"Hey, Phil?"

"Yeah, Dan?"

"Can I ask you something?

"Sure."

"What's the Un-Bucket List?"