Alright guys, the final two posts are up (I hope you didn’t get your hopes up too much, I kind of lost motivation half way through...). But, it’s been a fun year on here and all of you have been lovely :) 

I will be keeping this blog up so you guys can come back here and read stuff if you want.

Here is a link to my personal blog if you want it.

Love you all! <3

The Reunion (Phil)

Tonight was your high school's ten year reunion. A few years ago, you would have never imagined that you would be going to a high school reunion, especially since Facebook allowed you to stalk pretty much anyone. But here you were getting ready for one.

You were cursing your past self as you saw the shoe box you needed at the very top of your closet. You reached for the box and grabbed the very end of it to pull it towards yourself. But, that caused another box to fall with it. You jumped backwards as both boxes hit the ground, and the mystery box's contents scattered.

"You alright?" you heard your roommate call out to you.

"Yeah, I'm fine," you replied as the items that were in the box caught your eye.

As you bent down to see what those items were, you realized that box was full of stuff that you had never unpacked after your last move. You rifled through the contents and towards the bottom of the pile you found a small journal-like book. You opened it, and saw that there were pictures of you and Phil.

>><<

You and Phil had met during university.

It was your second year, and you were looking for a roommate. You and a good friend had planned to get an apartment off campus, but she had ditched you at the last second leaving you with a two bedroom apartment that you couldn't afford on your own. Two weeks before you were to move in, you were frantically asking everyone if they needed a place or if they knew of someone who did. Luckily, one of your friends knew of someone who was trying to find a place, and that someone was Phil. At that point, you didn't really care if you knew nothing about him-- as long as he wasn't a serial killer and could pay for his half of the rent, you were fine.

During the first week, you and Phil didn't really talk too much. You went to your lectures, he went to his. But as time wore on, you both realized you had a lot in common. You both liked similar shows, liked the same music, and the two of you began to hang out together. You got to know his friends and he got to know your friends. It actually wasn't until a couple months into living together that you had realized the two of you had gone to high school together. The school you went to was pretty large, so it wasn't much of a shock that you didn't know him-- you didn't know half of the people you graduated with. But, you had wished you had known him back then too as you got along really well.

Soon enough, hugs turned into cuddling, cuddling turned into kissing, and kissing ended up in cool bedsheets draped over tangled limbs.

But after three years, things began to fizzle out. He didn't annoy you, the two of you didn't fight, things just became kind of "eh". You had thought it was because the two of you spent too much time together since you had lived together before your relationship even began-- you didn't really have time to miss each other. But even after sleeping separately a few times a week and seeing friends by yourselves, things hadn't changed. You still loved him-- you didn't think you could ever stop-- but neither of you could deny that there was no longer a spark.

The two of you broke up, but continued to live together for another year until you could both afford to live on your own.

>><<

You looked at the photos that were in front of you. On each page there were two photos, and underneath each of them were small anecdotes of what happened that day.

The first photo said, "Brighton 2008". God. The two of you looked like children. You were both sat on the beach and you had your head resting on Phil's shoulder.

We had decided to take a small trip here once exams were over for the year. During these three days, I think we ate enough food for about ten people. (Right after this photo was taken, a bird pooped on my leg.)

You laughed to yourself as you remembered Phil running into the water to try and get it off with some seaweed.  

Below the photo was on that read, "Christmas 2008."

This photo was taken by one of Phil's parents. The two of you were in your pajamas as you sat in front of the tree at his parent's house on Christmas morning. You looked extremely tired since Phil had woken you up at 6am.

Our first Christmas :) If I remember correctly, it also snowed for the first time that season. (sorry for waking you up so early…)

On the next page, there was a photo titled, "New Years 2008". You could tell the two of you were both slightly intoxicated as you kissed his cheek.

I don't remember much of this night, to be honest. But, I think there was karaoke? Maybe?

You weren't sure either.

The next photo was one just of you. You were sat on your bed playing an acoustic guitar that Phil had gotten you.

Your birthday I'm really glad you enjoyed your gift :) I love hearing you play (even if you think I can't hear you).

You flipped forward a few pages to when you and Phil had graduated university.

Graduation This is when we realized we actually had to be adults now. If you look close enough, you can see the fear in my eyes.

Under that was a photo of you sitting at a table with Monopoly.

Isle of Man Longest. Monopoly. Game. Ever, Seriously though, it took like four hours.

"You almost ready to go?" your roommate had asked you from your doorway, which broke your concentration. You looked up at her from where you were sat on the floor.  

"What? Oh, yeah."

You placed the book on the floor next to the spilled box and walked out of the room.

>><<

"Oh wow. How did our class afford this?" your roommate marveled as the two of you looked around the restaurant.  

It was more of a lounge than a restaurant, really. But all around there were plush sofas with low coffee tables, and you could even see a couple of modern fireplaces.

"I'm not sure, but I'm not complaining," you replied, seeing some of your friends across the room.

You didn't think you would ever have fun at something like this, but now that you were catching up with everyone, you were glad you came. Nobody had really changed, the lounge was awesome, and the drinks they were serving were delicious.

You were currently grabbing another drink for yourself and for your roommate. When you were walking back to your group, you accidentally bumped into someone while trying to avoid a waiter carrying a tray.

"Sorry!" you apologized as you turned to whoever you almost knocked over.

It was Phil and you smiled when you saw he was wearing his glasses for once.

"Oh. Hi," he said in a surprised fashion.

"Hey! I haven't seen you in ages!" you exclaimed as you hugged him.

The two of you moved to one of the sofas so you could continue the conversation without blocking people's way.

"So what have you been up to? Conquering the world? Or do you have a large farm house with a wife, a dog, and two kids?" you asked.

He laughed. "Neither, actually. I live in London."

"No way! That's awesome!" You had always wanted to live there.

Phil took a sip of his drink.

"It's pretty cool. What are you doing these days?"

"Honestly, nothing new. Still have the same job and I'm still living here."

You two sat there for at least an hour catching up before Phil checked the time on his phone.

"Dammit! I was supposed to catch the last bus twenty minutes ago," he paused as he began typing on his phone. "Do you think a cab can take me all the way back to my parent's place?"

"Um, I'm not sure. You can crash at my place if you want. It's only a few blocks from here."

"You sure?"

"Nah, you're right. You can fend for yourself," you joked. "Yes, I'm sure."

>><<

When you arrived at the apartment, you gave Phil the obligatory tour-- showing him the kitchen, the lounge, the guest room, and the bathroom, while letting him know where all of the extra things were in case he needed them.

"And here's my room. It's a little messy," you warned before you opened the door all the way. It was then that you realized you hadn't put the book away and hoped that he wouldn't notice it lying on the floor.

Phil looked around at the art on your walls as well as the little knick knacks on top of your dresser.

"Wait, is that what I think it is?" Phil asked as he looked down at the small pile of things next to your closet. Well, so much for that.

"The book? Yeah."

"Can I?" he inquired, referring to whether or not he could look at it.

"Sure."

You walked into the room to pick up the book and hand it to Phil. While he was flipping through the pages, you sat down on your bed to lean against the headboard.

"We look like babies!" he exclaimed as he sat down next to you and turned back to the first page.

After a little while, you felt yourself beginning to doze off. Phil noticed this too, so he closed the book and placed it on the nightstand before getting up.

"Wait, where are you going?" you mumbled as your eyes threatened to close.

"I'm going to bed. It's like 2am and you're about to fall asleep."

"Okay. Good night."

Once he left, you figured it was probably a good idea to change out of what you wore to the reunion and into comfier pajamas. Afterwards, you laid in bed for a few minutes thinking about how much you had missed Phil now that you had seen him again. For a second, you thought about what it would be like to be in a relationship with him again. Although, you quickly pushed that thought aside as after this, you would probably go your separate ways again.

About a minute later, you heard a knock on your door.

"Hey, sorry. I left my phone in here," Phil apologized as he quickly grabbed it off of your nightstand.

He was about to walk out of the room and close the door when you spoke.

"Wait, Phil?"

He peeked his head around the door. "Yeah?"

"Can you stay?" you asked quietly, as you patted the space on the bed next to you.

"Oh, um, sure." He walked over to the other side of your bed, and was beginning to unbutton his shirt when he stopped. "I obviously didn't bring any pajamas so I hope it's alright if I just wear my boxers."

"You're saying that as if I've never slept in a bed with you before," you laughed.

"True."

After getting undressed, he crawled into bed. Once he got comfortable, you curled up next to him and he put his arm around you.

"Can I tell you something?" he seemed to ask the dark room.

"Yeah," you replied softly, having a hard time staying awake again.

You prepared yourself for the "this is strictly platonic and I can't see this working out" speech. Or for him to tell you that he was currently in a relationship. But, neither of those happened.

"I really missed you," he confessed.

You smiled to yourself as you were not expecting that at all.

"I really missed you too."

He held you even closer once he heard your response.

A few minutes passed before Phil spoke again.

"Would you want to give us another shot?" he asked quietly.

"I think we would be stupid not to," you mumbled before falling asleep.

The Book (Dan)

All day you couldn't get over how it had already been seven years. A little under a third of your life had been spent with Dan. In celebration, he had made dinner reservations for the two of you. He didn't say where, only that the reservation was for 7pm.

"I'm home!" you announced as you placed your things on the dining table. You looked at the time and realized it was almost 6pm. You didn't have much time to get ready, especially if the restaurant wasn't close by.

Dan walked into the room and kissed you before asking how your day was. After having a small rant about people not answering their emails, he took your hand.

"Come into the lounge for a second," he requested as he began to lead you into the room.

"I have to get ready for dinner," you protested, although you kept following him.

"Just real quick. I have something for you."

"I thought we agreed on no gifts…" You eyed him suspiciously as you gingerly sat down on the edge of the sofa.

"When have I ever listened to that?" he asked rhetorically as he handed you a small wrapped object.

Your eyebrows knitted together in confusion as you unwrapped it. It was a book. The cover read "26 reasons" in a minimalist white font on a contrasting black background. You turned the book over to see what it was about and realized that the title was the only text on the outside.

"What is this?" you inquired, still confused.

"Read it," Dan stated simply as he sat down next to you.

"Wait, right now?" Just by looking at it, you figured that the book was probably around 150 pages.

Dan nodded.

"What about dinner?" you asked.

"This shouldn't take long."

As you curled your legs underneath of yourself to get more comfortable, you opened the book. But before you could begin, there were a few sentences right after the title page.

People sometimes ask me what the secret to our relationship is, and how we've stayed together for so long without any of the usual relationship drama. So, here are twenty-six things that have happened over the last seven years that I believe are the reason for that. -Dan

Next to that was a picture of the two of you from at least six years ago.

"You made this?" you asked as you looked over at him.

He nodded.

You turned the page to see a giant letter "A" with some black text on the page beside it.

A

Confession: I love domestic discussions. Should we buy new plates? Whose family are we visiting for the holiday? What should we have for dinner? I don't know why, but I love them.

As a result, I loved it when we were searching for an apartment. Should we have a guest bedroom? Is this kitchen big enough? Is this too far away from work? Sure, it was a little stressful at times (especially when apartments were being rented out faster than we could look at them), but it was nice walking through each place and trying to imagine ourselves living there.

I also think that living together has been really great. I love having you here all of the time. We've also learned things about each other, like how you need to have a snack before bed and how I sometimes talk in my sleep (I had no idea I did that. I'm so sorry. That must be so annoying).

You turned the page again to now find the letter "B" and some text, but this time, the page was a darker gray, instead of white.

B

I'm still angry at myself for letting this happen-- the time I forgot your birthday. And not just any birthday, but your 18th.

God, I still remember the look on your face when you walked up to me that day in school. At that point, I hadn't realized what had happened. But I had asked how your weekend was, and then you said that you had your birthday dinner with your family. At first, I thought you just had it early, but then I put everything together-- the tone you were using, the look on your face-- I had forgotten your birthday. I remember the blood rushing from my face as I tried to justify that it was currently the 18th and your birthday was the next day, and that I hadn't forgotten it like the idiot I am, but you shook your head as I checked the date on my phone. It was the 21st. I had missed it by two days. I felt like such a shit boyfriend.

You stopped reading for a second as you recalled Dan's face the moment he realized he had forgotten. He had looked mortified. You knew it was an honest mistake-- Dan was never all that good at remembering dates anyway.

But, you forgave me and still let me make it up to you, which I greatly appreciated because I knew you weren't happy with me.

You were confused as the next page was back to white.

C

I guess this is where all of this started-- the camping trip of 2008.

You immediately smiled thinking back to that trip.

We had gone with a group of about ten people and had four tents to share. Naturally, everyone had already split up into groups before we got there, leaving the two of us to share a tent. I had nothing wrong with sharing a tent with you, I just didn't know you all that well.

We had spent the rest of the day setting up the tents, exploring a little, and then making food by the fire. I don't even think either of us got any sleep that night, which sucked because we went hiking the next day-- we just spent the entire night talking. But by the end of the trip, I guess that sleepless night was worth it because we realized how much in common we had and we had made plans to go on a date that following Saturday.

D

Dogs. Just dogs. I don't think this one needs an explanation.

He was right; it didn't.

The next page was completely black with white text.

E

I know I have thanked you for this already, but I just want you to know how appreciative I am of you always being there during my existential crises. And I know I joke about them a lot now by saying, "oh no, here comes another existential crisis. Time to go lay on the floor," but you were always there when they were really bad a couple of years ago. So thank you, because without you, that would have been very difficult to overcome.

Now you understood. The colors of the pages reflected whether they were good or bad memories, or somewhere in between.

The next page was back to white.

F

Did you really think I'd skip on the opportunity to talk about Formula 1 and Kanye? But in all seriousness, I appreciate that you tolerate me ranting about them, even if you don't particularly enjoy it. We're our own people, but we're our own people together. I hope you get what I'm trying to say.

As you continued reading, you reflected on how the two of you skipped prom to have a small holiday in Paris, how he loves having lazy days around the house, and the time you went to Reading festival.

And before you knew it, you were nearing the end.

X

What the hell starts with x? Xylophone? X-ray? What a stupid letter.

You laughed as you read that. But you had to agree though-- what the hell was up with 'x'?

The next page was dark gray.

Y

I'm glad that we've only had one fight in the seven years that we've been together, but I must say it is one of my least favorite memories, if not the worst. I don't even know what the fight was about anymore. I just know there was a lot of yelling and that it was my fault. But I'm glad that we can now have calm conversations about things that have been bothering us, or even joke about them at times.

You remembered what the fight was about.

"It was because you had been so caught up in work for so long that you started to ignore my texts and phone calls for days on end," you pointed out.

"What was?" he asked, his attention clearly on something else at the moment.

"The fight."

"Oh, right."

It wasn't pretty either-- four years of petty frustrations were all let go of at the same time. Nothing was thrown, but there was a lot of shouting and crying on both sides because you both thought that the relationship was ending after four years. You remembered that in order to cool down a bit, you had left to go stay with a friend for the night. But the next morning, you went back over to Dan's place where the two of you discussed the issue in a civil manner.

The final page was back to white.

Z

Out of all of the places for us to go on a first date, I think the zoo was probably one of the best choices. Going to the cinema or going out to dinner are so overdone. Why would someone choose to sit in a dark quiet room while they could be feeding giraffes?

As you got closer and closer to the bottom of the page as you continued reading, you noticed that Dan was getting more and more fidgety. He was bouncing his leg up and down as well as fixing his hair every ten seconds. You decided to ignore it and continued reading.

But, the book wasn't over. You realized there were still a few pages left. You turned the page to find only two sentences.

You probably noticed that the letter "W" was missing. But there's a reason for that…

You turned back a couple of pages just to check. Lo and behold, "W" was missing, and you hadn't even realized since you were too engrossed. You turned the page to see the giant letter, similar to the others. It sort of bothered you that it was out of order, but you knew that Dan probably had a very good reason for doing so. Next to the letter was some text.

W

When we had first started talking during that camping trip--about embarrassing childhood stories, what we feared the most, and what our dreams were, I knew you were something special, but I didn't realize just how important you would become to me.

But as we became closer over the next couple of months, I knew that you were someone I wanted to keep in my life for a while. And that feeling didn't change as the years wore on. I've fallen in love with everything you are, and never want to spend my life without you.

Will you marry me?

You read that last line over and over again just to make sure you were processing the words correctly. Once you realized you had, the shock set in. Marriage. Dan wanted to marry you. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with you. You hadn't seen this coming at all. I mean, sure, you had been together for a long time and you had thought a lot about marrying Dan, but the two of you had never discussed it.

You looked over at him as he was getting off of the couch to kneel in front of you with a velvet box in hand.

"I love you so incredibly much. Will you--" he began, but then scrunched up his face before he violently sneezed. "--marry me?"

"Of course I'll marry you, you goon," you laughed.

He delicately slid the ring onto your finger before you stood up to kiss him. But before you could, you ended up stumbling backwards and pulling Dan with you as you fell back onto the sofa.

"You're crushing me," you muttered as he landed on top of you.

"Sorrysorrysorry. This whole thing is just a complete disaster," he apologized as the two of you sat up.

"No, it's not. It's perfect," you smiled before kissing him. You then rested your head against his arm.

After a few minutes, Dan patted you lightly on the leg. "We need to leave soon if we still want to make it to dinner in time for our reservation."

You looked up at him. "Could we-- I hate to ruin the plan-- but would you mind if we just ordered a pizza or something?"

"You know I can't say no to pizza."

Later, while the two of you ate pizza and watched a movie, you turned to Dan and said, "You know, I'm surprised you didn't use Comic Sans."

"Oh, trust me. I thought about it."

284. You don’t believe in love (requested)

Dan: There was currently a jewelry commercial on tv that was talking about giving a certain necklace to someone you loved. "Such a social construction," you muttered as the commercial continued to play. "Wait. You don't believe in love?" You shook your head. "I don't think it exists." He looked at you for a second in confusion. How could you not believe in one of the strongest emotions? How could you just discount the feelings that Dan was sure he had towards you? You both let the conversation drop, but Dan couldn’t stop thinking that it probably wouldn’t mean much if he told you he loved you.

Phil: After awful relationships with both your parents and ex-boyfriends, you perception on love changed. People say that they love you, but they don't really mean it in the end. And for that reason, you had abandoned the idea of love completely. Luckily, Phil had known about this before you even began your relationship, which spared you from explaining everything. Although you thought love didn't exist, you did believe that people could form strong bonds, which is what you and Phil had. You cared about him, and he cared about you, and that's all you really needed.

283. You’re Christian (requested)

Dan: You and Dan had been spending a lot of time together recently. But one habit of Dan's that was starting to bother you was how often he took the lord's name in vain. You weren't one to force your religion onto someone else-- you understood that every one was different, but Dan noticed how much it bothered you and had been making a conscious effort to stop. "God damn it!" he exclaimed as someone threw a blue shell at him whilst playing Mario Kart. You looked up from your laptop. "Sorry," he apologized once he realized what he had said. You just appreciated that he was trying.

Phil:  When you were growing up, your family went to church every Sunday. Even though you had moved out years ago, you continued to go every week. You had Phil hadn't been dating for very long, only a couple of months, so he sometimes forgot that you did that whenever you two made plans. "What about Sunday morning?" he asked as you were trying to find a time to get brunch. "Um, could we possibly make it Saturday morning?" you replied tentatively. You knew his schedule had been a little hectic recently. "Sorry! I totally forgot about church. Yeah, Saturday works."

282. What he’s afraid of

Dan: The dark. There had been a threat of a major thunderstorm all day. They were calling for at least a couple inches of rain as well as damaging winds. Right after dinner, the storm really started to pick up, and it had began thundering. You didn't really think too much of it until the power went off. The sun had gone down a while ago, so the whole room was pitch black. All of the sudden, you heard Dan call your name. You turned on the flashlight on your phone and made your way up to the office. "Yeah?" you asked from the doorway. "I left my phone downstairs. I needed some light." “Do you want me to go get your phone?” you asked. “No! Don’t leave.”

Phil: The ocean. You loved the beach. When you were younger, you would spend countless hours in the ocean with your siblings. And now that you were older, not much had changed. You and Phil were currently spending the day at the beach, but he wouldn't go into the ocean past his knees. "Come in a little bit farther. It's really nice," you coaxed. "Nope. That's as far as I'm going," he said stubbornly. "Aww, c'mon. Please?" "I can't see the bottom!" "So? Nothing's going to get you," you reasoned.  "You don't know that. A crazy shark jellyfish demon might attack me." "Because that's extremely likely," you joked.

281. You’re an atheist (requested)

Dan: You were having dinner with Dan's family at his grandmother's house. The food was spread across the table and everything looked delicious. "Would you like to say grace for us?" his grandmother asked you. Oh no. How were you even supposed to start grace? No one in your family was religious-- you had no idea what you were supposed to do. "Uh, why doesn't Dan do it instead?" you insisted. "That's a great idea! Go ahead, Daniel." Dan glared at you before he began.

Phil: The other day you had told Phil that you really didn't celebrate Christmas for the traditional religious reasons, but rather you celebrated it in order to bring positive feelings during the darkest time of the year. So, on Christmas morning, Phil woke you up with a, "merry time of giving and spending time with family to bring happiness and cheer to the darkest month!" You rolled over and looked at him. "Phil, I still call it Christmas," you laughed.

280. Troublesome teen

Dan: When your daughter came home from school, she dropped her bag onto the floor and stomped passed you and Dan. "How was your day?" you asked her. She just grumbled and went off to her room. Sometimes you thought that having a teenager was worse than having a toddler. A few minutes later you walked over to her door. "Honey? You okay?" you asked as you knocked on the door. "Just leave me alone," she replied. "Do you want to talk about it?" You got no response. "Let's just give her some space," Dan whispered as he placed a hand on your back. You nodded and walked away in the direction of the kitchen, deciding to start dinner. When it was ready, you called her down, but you still got no reply. Now you were concerned. You walked back up stairs and knocked on the door again. Nothing. Dan walked over to you. "Could you please open the door?" he asked. After he got no response, he knocked louder. Normally, that would have made your daughter open the door, but not today. Dan reached up to the top of the door frame to grab the key to the lock. He opened the door, but when the two of you stepped inside the room, she wasn't there. Her purse was gone and her window was open. "Shit," Dan muttered. You grabbed your phone and called her. But, it went straight to voicemail. "Her phone's off," you stated. You were trying to stay calm as being worked up in this situation would help nothing. You began to call everyone you knew who was in the area to see if they had spotted her anywhere. No one had. Leaving dinner untouched on the table, you and Dan hopped in the car and began driving around. After about an hour, Phil called back. "She's here," he said once you picked up the phone. "Oh thank god." You and Dan let out sighs of relief. You should have known she would have been there. Phil was like a second father to her. Dan turned the car around and headed towards Phil's place. When you got there, you immediately hopped out of the car and ran inside. Your daughter was sitting on the sofa. Instead of scolding her, the two of you ran over to her and hugged her. "Thank god you're alright. We were worried sick about you."

Phil: You both knew she had been sneaking out to go to parties. She would wait until both of you went to bed around midnight, and then she would quietly leave through the front door, only to return around three hours later. But, you didn't exactly know how to get her to stop. Grounding her probably wouldn't do much-- she'd still wait til both of you were asleep. Taking away her phone and computer might work, but you weren't entirely too sure. In order to confront her, you and Phil stayed up one night when you were sure she was out. You waited for her until she returned around 2:30am. Once you heard the front door close, both of you walked towards her. Neither of you said anything, you just looked at her. "Um, I just had to get something out of the car," she lied. You raised your eyebrows. "Bullshit. We're not stupid. We know you've been doing this every weekend." She just looked at the ground. Neither of you really wanted to punish her. She was actually a pretty good kid, because this, of course. She got really good grades, she held a job, and even had some extracurricular activities. You knew that she was just trying to have a good time, which was understandable, you just didn't want her to get in trouble. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "We've come to the decision that we're taking your phone and computer away." "For how long?" she asked. "Two weeks," Phil stated sternly. "Two weeks?!" she exclaimed. You both looked at her. "Fine," she sighed. She handed over her phone and then went up to her bedroom to grab her computer. "And no more parties, okay? We don't want you getting in trouble." She knew that the two of you were only looking out for her, but she was still a little annoyed that you wouldn't let her have a little bit of fun while she was young. But it seemed to work as over the next few months, you hadn’t heard her sneaking out. Instead, she always asked if she could have a few friends over, which you normally agreed with as long as either you or Phil was home.