Undercover (Phan)

Chapter 23

Phil's POV

When we were baking in the kitchen, Martyn pulled me aside a moment.

He said a lot of things to me.

Important things. Serious things.

But every single word disappeared when I felt Dan's soft lips press against my cheek.

I knew from the moment I saw the mistletoe that it was likely Martyn or Cornelia's doing. I doubted Dan would ever actually kiss me just because of mistletoe, and he didn't kiss my lips either, just my cheek...But what did that mean? Was it just meant to be friendly? He's never done that before, and certainly hasn't done it to anyone else that I know of. So now, of course, the only thing I'm wondering is if, maybe, possibly, by some amazing miracle, Dan likes me...

When I walked back into the lounge after coming back inside from walking Dan out, my mum, Martyn and Cornelia all looked at me with smirks on their faces.

"Shut up!" I laughed.

"We didn't say anything!" Mum said.

"You're all thinking something though," I retorted.

"He kissed you!" Cornelia exclaims.

"It was just my cheek; I'm not going to get my hopes up."

"Just be careful, okay? He's a nice kid, but you've got every reason to be suspicious," Martyn says.

I nod, growing serious again, "I know."

x

Christmas was amazing.

I'll admit, it was a little bit hard waking up on Christmas morning knowing that my dad wasn't here to celebrate it with us. Nevertheless, I promised myself I wouldn't be sad because I know that Dad wouldn't want me to be. One by one, my family members awoke an we exchanged gifts. Then we made Christmas pancakes which were delicious, and then we got dressed and ready for the day.

I visited a lot of relatives and saw a lot of loved ones that I haven't seen in a really long time, which is always one of my favorite parts of year. A lot of people brought up my dad as it was our first Christmas without him, which kind of bummed me out, but they only said good things about him, remembered him, which was really nice. More gifts were exchanged, more food was eaten, many hugs were given; it was a good day.

By the time we arrived home, I was so stuffed that I was sure I would never eat again. We had a lot of things with us to carry into the house, so I almost didn't notice the fact that the mail box was opened just slightly due to something being in it. This is peculiar, obviously, because the post doesn't come on Christmas. I opened the box and saw that there was a rectangular object wrapped in wrapping paper inside of it.

Phil was written on it.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, then took it upstairs to my room with me. I didn't know what this was or who had sent it, so I wasn't sure I wanted any of my other relatives seeing it. Once I'm situated, I sit criss-crossed on my bed and look at my name again written on the wrapping paper.

And then I see it.

Somehow, it had gone unnoticed before.

Just below my name is written (from Dan).

I break into a smile. I rip the paper open to reveal a book and a folded piece of paper to it that says Read this first!

I remove the paper from the book and unfold it. In Dan's handwriting - it's obvious that he took time to write this; I usually can't read his handwriting but this time it's actually neat - it reads: