If only I could love you

Chapter 5

They arrived at a deli style sandwich shop. Before they went in, Phil grabbed Dan’s arm to stop him, and turned to face him.

“Before we go in, Howell,” he said earnestly, “I just want you to know that this is the best sandwich shop in England-no- the world.” Phil was looking so serious that Dan couldn’t stop himself from laughing. Phil frowned, “seriously! Stop laughing!” he sighed, “Okay, well, you can thank me later.” He glared at Dan, before grinning and pulling him through the door and into the shop.

As the shop was empty, apart from a tired looking woman in her 20s at a table with a screaming infant, the young man behind the counter seemed pretty pleased when they came in. He practically ran to the counter as his voice rang out in a thick Italian accent, “Welcome to Andre’s Deli! What would you like to-” as he looked up and recognised Phil, his expression went from welcoming to reproachful, “Phil Lester… I am sorry, but I don’t have any of the special product… I thought-”

Phil interrupted him “Andre! Don’t worry! I’m just here to get some food, okay? None of that stuff,” Andre’s face seemed to relax slightly. He then turned and saw Dan seemingly for the first time, and smiled. Phil also turned to Dan, “What do you want?” Dan stepped forward, asking himself the very same thing. What do I want… he looked up, but couldn’t see a menu. Phil must have realised that he was looking for a menu because then he said “Yeah there are no menus. You order a sandwich, and Andre will make it.” Dan was still confused, Phil sighed, “watch me,” he turned to Andre, “I’ll have ciabatta bread with mayonnaise, pastrami, cucumber and emmental cheese.” He grinned, and turned back to Dan, “See? What do you want?”

Dan turned to Andre, who was waiting expectantly, “I’ll have what he’s having,” Andre smiled and held up five fingers to show how long it would take, he then disappeared into a side room, probably the kitchen. Phil went and sat down at a table by the window. He turned and beckoned for Dan to join him. Dan obeyed.

As he sat, he asked, “Andre didn’t seem too pleased to see you. What’s this…‘Special product’?”

Phil chuckled, “He wasn’t expecting to see me, I’ve been away for three weeks,” ah. So that’s why he wasn’t in school! Phil leant in a little closer to Dan, and lowered his voice, “He used to sell me dope, but someone got suspicious so he said he would have to stop. I wasn’t in a good mood when he told me…needless to say, I got a bit angry. I think he’s scared I’m going to beat him up or something.” He smiled at Dan’s look of surprise and leant back in his chair, “Don’t worry, I may look tough, but I’m not looking to hurt anybody. Unless it’s for a match,” he added.

“A…Match?” Dan enquired.

“Oh yeah, I do boxing matches. My dad wants me to go professional, that’s why I’ve been away three weeks, I was kind of on tour.” Wow, that’s really impressive. Dan liked this guy more and more by the minute.

“That’s awesome!” Dan exclaimed. Damn, he didn’t want to seem overly excited.

“Nah, it sounds cooler than it is. I don’t actually enjoy it too much, it’s my dad mainly…he’s a bit of a dick-” At that moment, Andre came out with two huge sandwiches. Phil stood up and went over to the counter, so did Dan. As he got up, however, He realised that he’d forgotten his wallet. Fuck.

“That’ll be £7.50 please,” Andre said and he put the sandwiches into two paper bags.

“Shit. Phil, I left my wallet back at my house. Uh… could you possibly get it and I’ll pay you back-”

Phil laughed, “Don’t worry, I’ll get it. My treat, ok?”

Dan was taken aback, “Are you sure?”

Phil, having taken it out, opened his wallet and showed it to Dan. It boasted at least £150. Wow! “My father may be a dick but he’s rich.” He patted Dan on the back and chuckled, “Don’t worry about it.” He turned towards Andre and paid. Then they took their sandwiches and left the shop. They walked down the road until they reached the park where Dan had been jogging earlier. They entered and walked for a while, not speaking, until they stopped under a tree where they both sat. Dan took out a cigarette and was about to light it when Phil took it out of his mouth and placed it on the grass.

“Mate, what the fuck?!” Dan was confused, why the hell would he do that?

“Don’t smoke before you’ve eaten your sandwich. A cigarette would completely destroy the flavour.” Was he actually being serious? As if Phil had read his mind, he said “I’m being completely serious! Just try it, okay?”

Reluctantly, Dan unwrapped his sandwich and lifted it to his lips. Before he took a bite, he looked up at Phil, who smiled and nodded, like a child watching a show.  Admittedly, the sandwich did smell good. He took a bite and-holy mother of god. That was good. The sandwich was better than good, it was excellent. It was better than Phil had described. Ok Dan, be cool. But he accidentally let out an orgasmic “MMMMM” sound.

Phil laughed, “How is it?”

Dan swallowed, “It’s ok, I guess. Nothing special,” he winked.

“Bullshit! You like it, don’t you? I told you so!” he stuck out his tongue, before unwrapping his own sandwich and tucking in. “Ohh yes, Andre never fails to make amazing sandwiches.” They ate in silence until both had finished their sandwiches. Then Phil picked up the cigarette from the floor and handed it back to Dan. Phil got out a box of his own and they both lit up. “So… You know about me and my boxing and stuff, how about you? What do you do?”

“I don’t really do any sports or anything… I do some jogging sometimes, that’s what I was doing earlier today,” Phil nodded, looking down at Dan’s trainers, and then back up to his face.

“So that girl I saw before, behind the shed, that was your girlfriend, right?” Phil asked. Fuck. Dan had forgotten about Zoe, and the whole ‘I love you incident’. He needed to sort that out. He’d talk to Chris and PJ, his good friends, tomorrow.

“Yeah…” Dan sighed.

“Well, you don’t seem too happy about it?” Phil looked down at his phone, before locking it and looking back up at Dan. He stood up, put his cigarette out on the tree and flicked away the end.

“Yeah well, it’s a long story.”

“It’s a long story which you’re gonna have to tell me another time. The club closes soon, and I left my bag there,” he motioned in the direction of the boxing club with his thumb. Dan stood up too.

“Okay then, it was nice to meet you again, thanks for the sandwich. See you around?”

“Yeah. See you around some time. Bye!” and with that, Phil jogged off in the direction of the club. Dan sat back down against the tree and smiled to himself. He held his cigarette in his mouth whilst he took out his phone and earphones. He pressed play, and closed his eyes.