My Neighbors the YouTubers (A danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil fanfiction)

Chapter 26: Tension

*Dan POV*

I woke to the sound of muffled voices reverberating in my ears, disrupting the quiet darkness of my sleep. My eyes slid open and stung with tiredness. I rolled onto my face, pulling my duvet over my face.  I found myself become more and more awake the more I tried to fall back asleep. The voices invaded my ears and disrupted my beautiful sleep.

Soon the voices became more clear, and I regonized them to be Phil's and Rachel's. I was reminded of what happened the night before, and it haunted me.  I wanted to go back to sleep and wake up to a time when all my problems were solved, but I knew that wasn't going to happen.  Soon enough, I heard the careful, polite concern in Phil's voice, although I failed to hear any words.  Rachel was speaking low and slowly, as if sad or lethargic. Reality hit me, and I knew I couldn't hide away here forever.

I almost tumbled out of bed, fumbling hardly onto my feet, regaining some balance on the way down.  I then traveled to my dresser where I retrieved clothes suited for the day: black jeans, black shirt, and a useless black belt.

I jumped into my jeans, and pulled my shirt over my head, feeling suffocated as it was stuck on my face for a bit.  I looked at myself in the mirror, slouched and exhausted even though I hadn't done anything really.  My expression was of a person who looked like they had the extreme urge to stab someone.  Damn mornings.

I carefully walked to the door, and slowly turned the doorknob, feeling nervous as to what happened.  Don't mess things up. If you mess them up, it could be permenate if it hasn't been already.

I found myself standing awkwardly at the end of the kitchen table, where Phil and Rachel paused in time of conversation and cereal eating. Rachel held her spoon in her bowl and looked at me, while Phil's spoon was in his hand halfway to his face, with milk dripping off of it onto the table. Say something.

I couldn't find a thing to say, and managed to sit beside Phil at the table, across from Rachel. Time continued as Phil finished his bite and Rachel moved her spoon around in her bowl. I soon noticed that she was stirring it around without taking a bite.  Crumbled, soaked pieces of cereal floated around, falling apart bit by bit.

She noticed me staring, and she looked up, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

I opened my mouth to say something, paused, but then ended up saying it anyway, "Aren't you going to eat?" Smooth, Dan. Really smooth.  That's what you say after not speaking to her in forever and possibly ruining her life?

"No," she responded to my surprise, "I'm just not hungry."

I nodded slowly. There was a silence. I decided staring at the table awkwardly for now was the best option.

"So," Phil said, causing me to lift my gaze from the table.  He nervously smiled.

I waited for him to complete what he was saying, but he didn't finish. "So?" I asked him.

"So," he paused, "I was wondering if we could all go out and about London today. It's been a while since we've all hung out, and you haven't seen much of London, right, Rachel?"

"I'm busy. Can't," she instantly responded, nervously quickly.

"Are you going out with friends?" I asked her politely, trying to be as kind as I could.

"No, I have school today, actually."

"But it's Wednesday?"

"So?" There was an aggrevated tone to her voice.

"You don't have any classes on Wednesdays?" I asked timidly, hoping I wouldn't have to argue with her, "You're not going to hang out with Michael, Kevin, and Christina are you?"

"...Who?" She squeaked. Her head lowered.

I paused, confused.  Kindly, I said, "Your uni friends? The ones you told me about?"

"No, not going to hang out with them. Nope nope nope nope. Oh, God, nope."

I was positively puzzled, "Why not?"

I heard her sniffle, and I hated to hear her get emotional, although I had no idea what I did. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes, "Why do you care, huh? Seriously? Just leave it alone!"

She stood up abruptly and I stood up too, "Wait, Rachel... I'm sor-"

She didn't respond, but quickly made it to the door, I followed her, hoping I could stop her and apologize and explain, but she slammed the door in my face.

It was silent.

Until a vigourous knock shot through the door.

I opened the door, where our nasty downstairs neighbour was standing. "Will you boys STOP slamming the door? Could you slam your door any louder?" 

Says the neighbour who has loud sex downstairs every damn minute.

"Sorry," Phil said, and the lady gently closed the door and agressively stomped down the stairs.

The silence returned.

I laid face down on the sofa right away.  A few minutes later, I felt a hand on my shoulder, "Dan, it'll be okay."

I didn't answer.

"Dan?"

"It won't be okay."

"Of course it will."

"No. You don't know half of it. All of this is my fault."

"How could it be?"

"Phil, she was my girlfriend, for only a few hours before I screwed up and made her feel horrible. I hadn't talked to her, afraid. Now this horrible thing happened to her. I could've protected her. I could've been there, but I wasn't. She doesn't want me now."

"Oh," Phil said simply.

"Well have you tried apologizing?" Phil asked.

"Just now. Much too late. There's nothing I can do, really."

"Okay," Phil said, "I'm sorry, Dan."

"I'm sorry too, for everything. I don't deserve anything."

"Don't say that Dan, you're a good person."

"Well," I said, "It certainly doesn't feel like it."

Finally uploaded and completed!  Sorry again for all the technical difficulties.  I've had uploading issues recently.  Hope you're enjoying the story. Please comment a lot, it'll make me smile so much.  I love you all, and thank you for reading my story.