Supine 'til Aurora • Dan Howell

• Chapter 5 •

After getting the ticket, Dan and I rushed back outside, the bitter, chilling air suffocatingly cold as we made our way to the nearest tram station. The orange neon writing spilling across the timings board estimated 3 minutes until the next tram.

"Perfect timing!" Dan exclaimed, keeping tight hold of his ticket.

"Yeah." I humoured him, not wanting to tell him they came every 3 minutes or so, and never really took more than 5 minutes to arrive. "Are you sure Phil won't mind me coming?" I questioned.

"No, not at all. As I said, I mentioned you and he told me that he'd like to meet you."

Wow. AmazingPhil wanted to meet me? This was so surreal I had a difficult time comprehending it.

As the tram, rocking slightly, slid towards us, Dan got noticeably more and more excited. He leaped onto the tram before it had even come to a total stop, and was scanning his ticket before I had even gotten on. I smiled at his sudden child-like behavior.

How is he so cute?

Within a few minutes the doors closed and the tram shunted forward, almost sending Dan flying backwards, who was still dancing down the isle.

"Okay. I think I should sit down before I die."

I laughed at him as he plonked himself down next to me, both turning to stare out the window as the scenery changed slowly, trickling into more city-like buildings.

○○○

Sky clouded, and air chilling, we arrived. The building looked even more breathtaking than the last time I saw it - though it didn't help that the wind was rapidly pummeling my chest. The word looked grey under the veil of the low, heavy clouds, but the cathedral stood in white at the center of Helsinki, erected in a beautiful haze... At least, I thought it looked nice.

"There you are!" Phil yelled down the steps to us, placing his hands on his hips.
Dan looked sheepishly at me, before darting up the stairs, taking the majority of them 3 at a time. I, however, took them 2 at a time, and still seemed to trail miles behind him and his freaking spider legs. When I reached the top, Dan was panting with his hands on his knees, at which I raised my eye brows at before turning my attention to Phil.

"You must be Ava!" Phil bubbled, holding his hand out to me for a handshake.

It was much windier at the top of this hill, and so our hair was blowing rapidly in the icy wind. My teeth chattered, and I attempted to stop them, which failed.

My hands were red and dry from the bitterness and dryness of the wind, and my nose felt like I had fallen face first into some snow. I realized, as I reached out to shake Phil's hand, that he was also very tall, maybe slightly shorter than Dan, but honestly, most people were. They both towered over me, even though, I was averagely taller than most people I knew. It was daunting to be with them.

"Its great to meet you, Dan has told me a lot about you."
The emphasis that Phil put on 'a lot' made me very curious as to what Dan had been telling Phil about me.
There couldn't have been much he had to say about me considering we had known eachother for less than 24 hours. That I was Finnish? Maybe. That I worked in a rundown charity shop? I didn't know.
We hadn't known each other for long, so it definitely can't have been very personal information.

I glanced at Dan, who looked like he was internally dying at Phil's previous comment.

"It's really lovely to meet you too." I grinned, deciding to ignore the second comment, "I can't stay long, because I have to head back to work." Phil nodded at me, pressing his lips together tightly.