Modern Empathy ~ a Patrick Stump Fanfiction

Indoor Thunderstorm

May 3, 2012 ~ Thursday

The next day, I didn't need to report to school due to state testing, as neither did my friend Abigail, since she was a senior herself. She and I were taking a walk after an early dinner at her home, only to see something that looked like hail.

"Oh my god." she said. "Zo, do you know anywhere we can find shelter? Can we go to your house?"

"No, Abby, it's pretty much too late." I said. I looked to see we were right near Patrick's house. I immediately grabbed her hand and led her to his front door. Thank goodness we were under his front porch roof before the hail started to go out of control.

"Do you two need shelter?" he asked.

"Yes, immediately." I said.

"Absolutely. You may come in."

"Oh, thank you." Abby and I headed right in with our phones still in our purses. Patrick took a strange, closer look at me.

"I didn't realize." he said.

"What?" I asked.

"That it was you, Zoey."

"Yeah, yeah." I chuckled. "How are you doing this fine evening?"

"Not too bad. How are you?" He gave me a firm hug.

"Not too bad, either. I was at a friend's house. We took a walk, only to see hail coming."

"Oh no! Who's with you tonight?"

"This is my friend Abigail, but call her Abby." I pointed to Abby. "Abby, meet Patrick. Patrick, meet Abby."

"Good to meet you in real life." she said.

"You, too, Abby." said Patrick as they shook hands.

"Odd question, but how'd you meet Zoey?"

"I met her on my neighborhood. She lives on the same street, but has to cross two different ones to get to me."

"I think she told me about that. I'm sure she was such a sweetheart to you, wasn't she?"

"Oh, yeah. She told me she wasn't the best at advice because she was a teenager, but she knew what she was saying. I tried to get that into my head, but there was just something inside of me that just didn't let it happen. . ."

"I know what battling inner demons feels like, and that must really suck."

It was at that moment I realized I had hit home for Patrick. "It's just the worst feeling. . . and it doesn't seem like anyone understands it. . ." His voice cracked on the word "anyone."

"How long will this storm continue?" Abby asked.

"Till tomorrow." I said. I turned back to Patrick. "I have to call my sisters, but I'll get back to you."

Abby didn't need to call anyone, as she had her own home and lived on her own.

"Hi, Amber," I said. "there's a thunderstorm."

"I know. Are you safe?" asked Amber. "Did you find shelter?"

"Yes. You won't believe this, but Abby and I are at the real Patrick Stump's house."

"Oh my god. How sweet of him. I'm okay with you staying since Abby's your friend and you met Patrick before. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call me."

"Awesome, thank you." I said, and Amber hung up.

Getting back to Patrick, I noticed he had his face covered completely by his hands. He looked like he was going to cry and was trying not to.

"Patrick, are you okay?" I asked.

"No. . ." he said.

"Anything we can do about it?"

"No. . . there's nothing. . . nothing I can do, either."

I got up from my chair, sat on the couch and rubbed his back. I noticed he had taken off his glasses.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"I just don't want to talk about it. Can I-I just have some time? I-I'm afraid I'll upset you." A lump came into his throat as he left to go upstairs.

Within a few seconds, Abby asked, "Should we go and check on him?"

"I don't know." I said. "He said he needs a moment."

"Well, yeah, but he said he's scared he might upset you."

"I don't care if he upsets me. I'm sixteen and I should understand the complexities of other people's problems."

"Yeah, yeah. It's been about thirty seconds. Don't you think we should check on Patrick?"

"Absolutely."

I headed up the stairs in exactly the same direction Patrick went, only to hear muffled sobs. I plugged one ear at a time for a second to realize it was coming from the bedroom forward from me left in my direction. Taking a deep breath, I knocked.

Patrick opened the door with a red face. "I'm so sorry, Zoey. I just. . . I don't want you to see me cry. I know. I'm a terrible friend for saying that."

I put my hand over his shoulders. "This is why I came in. It's okay to talk to someone about what's bothering you. It's okay to cry. I am here, and I will not let anything happen."

We sat on a bed.

"Everything's eating me, Zoey. Things are getting so terrible that. . . I don't know what to do anymore."

"It's okay if you don't know." I felt my voice crack on the word "know." I was rubbing Patrick's shoulder. His breath was wavering.

He took a look at me realizing that I was crying myself as much as him. I pulled him into a hug. He sobbed into my shoulder loudly while silent tears streamed down my face. Within ten seconds, I just said, "I love you. I'm so sorry," and sobbed myself.

As soon as Patrick and I were finished crying together, I checked the clock to see it had been only five minutes.

"Wow." I said after taking a drink of water. "I honestly thought we had cried for thirty minutes."

Patrick wiped his mouth after drinking his water. He laughed. "I can't disagree on that. How long did we really?" he asked.

"Five minutes. And it seems like the weather will be misbehaving until tomorrow. Can I stay for the night?"

"Oh, absolutely. I don't want you and Abby getting drenched."

That night was one of the best nights of my life. We killed time by watching The Office, playing ping pong and sleeping. Patrick's girlfriend, Elisa, was also with us after coming home safely from her work, and I was glad to have met her as well.