"like sands through the hourglass... so are the...Days of our Lives"

Christyne's "The Teens"  
Fan Fiction Site

"I am such an idiot," Philip suddenly exclaimed before Chloe had a chance to answer his question. "I forgot that your clothes were wet. Stay here and I’ll get you something else to put on."

Before Chloe could speak, Philip was already opening the double doors and heading towards the stairs. Now she felt a bit uncomfortable. Not only with her surroundings, but with the reminder about her still wet clothes. She was also embarrassed by the idea that she had now managed to make the passenger seat in Philip’s car wet as well as this very expensive looking couch. Being with Philip made it easy to forget everything else, including the fact that she had fallen into that stream and had gotten her clothes wet.

Philip came bounding back into the room with some clothes thrown over his shoulder. "Here, let me help you up. There’s a bathroom right here." Chloe removed the ice pack from her ankle and let Philip help her off of the couch and over to the bathroom. Once inside he flipped a light on and handed her the clothes.

"Are you going to be okay?" he said as she held onto the sink. "You don’t need help getting undressed or anything, do you?" he asked hopefully, a bright twinkle in his eyes.

"Believe it or not, I’ve been dressing and undressing myself since I was three years old," Chloe replied. "I think I can manage."

"You sure?" Philip said with a smile.

"Positive," she replied as she began shutting the bathroom door in his face.

"Never hurts to ask," he said through the closed bathroom door. He stood in the frame of the door, his nose almost touching the door. Philip let out a sigh and turned around, heading back towards the couch. He grabbed his root beer float and began spooning ice cream into his mouth as he flopped down. He wondered again what it was that Chloe was doing to him. He hadn’t meant to kiss her earlier. Philip was very aware of how shy Chloe felt about being affectionate. This was one girl he was willing to wait for. He’d go as slow as she needed him to.

But they had been sitting on the couch and she had just looked so damn irresistible, and before he knew what was happening…he’d kissed her. As soon as his lips were on hers he realized his mistake and had pulled away. He’d even apologized. Philip resisted the urge to hang his head in shame. He’d never apologized to any girl for kissing her before. But everything with and about Chloe was so completely different, so unlike anything else he’d ever known.

Besides, what else was he supposed to do when he was finally alone with a girl who fit in his arms as if she’d been created to be there?

Philip heard the bathroom door open and turned to see Chloe peeking her head out. "Your stuff is too big for me, so you can’t laugh at how I look, okay?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Philip told her.

Chloe emerged from the bathroom at the same moment that Philip had taken a large gulp of root beer. One look at Chloe and Philip sent some of his root beer spewing across the room.

"I knew it. I look silly, don’t I?" Chloe asked self-consciously, misinterpreting Philip’s reaction. "I don’t even match."

He had given Chloe a pair of gray cut-off sweats with a draw-string waist, thinking that she could pull it as tightly as she needed to to make them fit. But it was his blue football jersey that caught his attention. The jersey nearly swallowed Chloe up; the hemline went to the middle of her thighs. Philip hadn’t picked it deliberately - it had just been the shirt that was on top when he opened his drawer. He never would have imagined that the blue and gold shirt could make anyone look so feminine or so sexy. One thing was for certain – he’d never look at his jersey the same way again. He thought the only thing that could have turned him on more would have been her walking out in her underwear. While Philip mulled that particular image over in his head for a moment, he realized that Chloe was waiting for him to speak.

"N-No," Philip finally stuttered, putting his mug on the table and getting to his feet. "You look amazing. Looks like I was right." Chloe raised one eyebrow as if questioning his remark.

"You remember," Philip smiled. "When I lent you my letterman jacket and I wondered what else of mine would look better on you than it did on me. I think we have our answer."

Chloe tucked her hair behind her left ear, avoiding Philip’s gaze. The way that he would look at her…it was so intent and disconcerting at times. She wasn’t ever really sure what she should do or how she should act when he looked at her like that.

"You’re walking by yourself," Philip observed in surprise as Chloe came over to the couch and sat down next to where he had been sitting. Philip sat back down, leaving only an inch or two between them.

"Been doing that since I was one," Chloe teased. "My ankle is feeling much better though."

"I’m getting the whole life story here, aren’t I?" Philip grinned back, relieved that she was able to get around under her own power. He’d been worried that she might have sprained it. "Let’s see, walking since you were one, dressing yourself since you were three…anything else I should know?"

"Why don’t we watch the movie now and save the talking for later?" she suggested, tucking her legs up underneath her.

"You still have to pick a category."

"Okay," Chloe said thoughtfully, tapping a finger against her cheek. "I pick comedy."

"Your wish is my command," Philip said, reaching over to touch the screen of the laptop. He went through a few directories until he found what he was looking for. "Cabinet 4, E-8," he muttered. Philip got up and walked over to one of the built-in cabinets that lined the wall behind them. Chloe turned to see Philip open a large cabinet up as he counted down and over.

"E-8?" Chloe asked him. I’ve never heard of that movie." Chloe picked up her root beer and began to polish it off.

"It’s not a movie. It’s a grid system so that I can find the DVD I’m looking for."

Grid system? His movies were set up on a grid system? Chloe choked on her soda for a minute and some root beer escaped. Her eyes darted over to make sure that Philip was still looking for his movie. She would have been too embarrassed if he’d seen her spill like that. What are you, four years old? she thought to herself as she reached over for a napkin and began dotting it along her collarbone. She glanced at him again, and then pulled open the neckline of the jersey to dab at the liquid in between her breasts.

Philip had turned at that moment and froze in his tracks at the picture in front of him. Something in his gut tightened. Philip had never wanted to be a napkin so badly in his entire life. Once Chloe had released her hold on his jersey and had placed the damp napkin back on the table, Philip had to command his feet to start moving again. He put a large smile on his face as if to convince either himself or Chloe that he hadn’t been thinking about suggesting that she come up to his room with him.

"Ever heard of Chris Farley?" Philip asked as he put a copy of "Tommy Boy" into the laptop. He leaned back against the couch as the opening credits began to roll.

Chloe’s eyes were glued to the screen. Philip kept looking over at her as a young Tommy chased after a school bus. He looked at the screen and then back at Chloe. He scooted a little closer to her, of which Chloe was very aware. Her heart started to pound a little harder and Chloe did her best to keep her attention on the movie in front of her. Not sure how to make the next movie smoothly, Philip then began yawning, stretching his arms up over his head. As he finished his yawn he brought his right arm down and rested it on Chloe’s shoulders.

The butterflies in Chloe’s stomach twirled frantically as she tried to play it off like this sort of thing happened to her all the time. "Did you really just pull a yawn and stretch on me?"

"Worked, didn’t it?" Philip’s bright blue eyes sparkled. "I’ll have you know I have a 100% success rate with that move."

Chloe moved her hand up to Philip’s playfully, as if she was going to push his arm away. "Hey!" he protested. "You don’t want to ruin my record, do you?"

"No," Chloe sighed as she snuggled against him, the warmth from his body seeping into her own, the scent of his cologne filling her senses. "I don’t want you to ruin your record."

Philip’s arm tightened around her, pulling her as closely against him as he could. Philip didn’t think he’d enjoy any movie as much as he was about to enjoy this one.

**************************************************

The movie was nearly over, and it had warmed Philip’s heart to hear Chloe laughing over and over again. Philip had chuckled, but because he had watched the movie so many times, it didn’t affect him the way it was affecting Chloe. She had placed the popcorn bowl in her lap and every now and then took some pieces and put them in her mouth. Philip had actually watched Chloe more than he had watched the movie. He enjoyed watching her laugh. He loved the way her smile softened all her features and put a light in her eyes that made them glow. Philip watched as she took a couple of pieces of popcorn and placed them gently on her tongue and then closed her mouth. Some part of him was afraid that if he looked away, she’d disappear. This whole night - being with her - felt like some sort of dream, one that he didn’t want to wake up from. The movie ended and she turned to look back at him as if she’d felt the touch of his gaze.

"Did you like the movie?" he asked.

"Very much," Chloe nodded, a big grin still plastered on her face. "It was funny, but some of it was so sad." Her expression suddenly changed, and a hint of that sadness crept into her expression.

"You mean like when his dad died?"

"That, but I meant more like the way everyone teased him. How they made fun of him for being overweight or for being dumb. I know what that’s like," she said softly, averting her gaze from his.

"I’m so sorry that I ever made you feel that way," Philip apologized, the memory of the things he’d done and said to her rushing to the forefront of his mind. It made him feel horrible. He could only imagine how it had made Chloe feel.

"Well, Ghoul Girl was pretty inventive, I do have to admit," she said in a self-deprecating tone, turning back to face him. "But it wasn’t my favorite. I think Ice Queen was my favorite."

"Ice Queen?" Philip asked. "Who called you that?

Chloe turned so that she was facing him. Philip’s arm slipped from her shoulders and moved down her arm until he was holding her hand. It felt natural and comfortable.

She sighed. "It was at the last school I was at before I came to Salem. The kids there called me the Ice Queen. Said I was beyond feeling, that I was completely frozen. That no guy could thaw me out," she said with a half-laugh, remembering what it had felt like as her eyes got a faraway look. "And do you want to know what the worst part of it was? I was afraid they were right. That I was beyond emotion. That I was so numb that no one could ever reach me. Sometimes I felt like I wasn’t even really a person. Like I wasn’t real, like I just drifted without any happiness or any sadness in my life. One day was just like the next. I was afraid that I was so abnormal that I couldn’t even be classified as human."

Philip sat quietly, not knowing what to say. How could he dare comfort her when he had been guilty of the same thing those kids had been guilty of? He had called her names. He had caused her to feel the way that she was feeling right now, and it tore him up inside.

Chloe shook her head, willing the tears that had formed to stay where they were. "Wow. Listen to me. What a bore, huh?"

"No," Philip shook his head. "I like listening to you talk about yourself."

"Well, now that I’ve shared something about myself, maybe you should share something about you so that we’ll be even."

"Okay," Philip shrugged, thinking what he could tell her that would rival her admission, something that would make her feel like she wasn’t the only one that was strange. "My parents aren’t married."

"What?" Chloe exclaimed. "Wow. I just assumed…"

"Yeah, most people do," he sighed, squeezing her hand a little tighter. "They were supposed to have tied the knot years ago, but they ran into this legal technicality and by the time they got it straightened out, my dad had a stroke."

Chloe tried to picture Philip as a little boy, wondering what it had been like for him to have his father alive, but to not really have him.

"Your mom must have been devastated."

"Yeah, big time. I was only a kid. It was so hard to see her go through so much pain and not being able to do anything about it." Philip’s voice caught a little bit. He couldn’t believe what he had just confessed. But there was something so comfortable about being with Chloe. Like putting on his favorite pair of jeans right out of the dryer. Like settling into his bean bag chair while listening to his MP3’s. Like climbing into his freshly made-up bed after a long day. Something about her actually eased some part of his soul. And then there was the added benefit of the unknown. Of the mystery sounding Chloe. Of everything that was exciting and new with her, things he’d never felt or experienced with any other girl. He was fairly certain that he could be around her the rest of his life and still always be finding out something new about her.

"That must have been rough," she said sympathetically. Chloe knew what it was like to be parentless.

Philip was also amazed by what a good listener Chloe was. She wasn’t like most girls. She didn’t stop him to ask him inane questions. She hadn’t said all the things most people would have said after such a revelation. She hadn’t offered him pretty words or platitudes. She could have told him to be grateful for what he had, but she hadn’t been judgmental at all. She had merely been sympathetic. Philip felt like he could tell her anything.

"I’ve never told anyone that before," he quietly admitted. "I’ve never been able to talk like this to a girl before."

"Is that a good thing?" Chloe asked.

"It’s great," Philip smiled. "I like the idea of sharing secrets with you." His hand moved from hers up to the side of her face, his intent obvious. "There’s something else I’d like to share with you."

Chloe’s heart began to race in anticipation.

to be continued...

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