The Last Of The Real Ones // Patrick Stump

5. I Think That I Was Meant To Be Next To You

An hour later, both Patrick, Joe, and had I changed out of our blood stained clothes, and into shirts from the gift shop in the gas station which read 'Chicago, Illinois.'

Not only was it embarrassing that the T-shirts were in wild colors, but the three of us picked the same shirt, so you can only imagine how that looked.

We were all squished in Pete's car again, except Patrick had decided to take off his cap until we got to the restaurant to avoid any further injuries.

Once we got there, we found Susan, Alex, and Ronnie all sitting at the table, plates of food already in front of them.

"Where the hell were you guys?" Susan Asked, then taking a sip of her martini.

"And why are you wearing matching shirts?" Alex Asked, taking a sip of his apple juice.

"We had a bit of an incident." I Said.

"But...that's all over now." Pete Said. "Let's eat, and talk about albums and stuff."

He sat down in the chair next to Susan, and Andy and Joe also sat at the table.

I looked around and noticed that there were no other chairs, and even if there was, the table was crowded as it was.

Of course. Why would anything go right for me today?

"Hey, Pete." Andy Said.

"Yeah?"

"There's no more seats."

Pete looked around, then chuckled nervously. "I guess not.." he said. "Why don't you and Patrick sit at another table? You can get to know each other that way."

I looked over at Patrick, who, for some reason was by one of those little toy dispenser things you find in restaurants, putting his hat back on now that I was safe from hitting my nose on it.

"Patrick?" Pete called.

Patrick turned around, then jogged back over. "Yeah?"

"Did You hear me?"

Patrick hesitated, then shook his head.

"There are no more seats." Pete Said. "So...why don't the two of you go sit together?"

Patrick gave Pete a look, and Pete just winked at him.

Patrick shook his head in disbelief.

"I mean...if you don't want to it's okay.." I Said, feeling slightly uncomfortable in this situation.

"Oh, no...we can go sit." Patrick Said, looking over at me.

"Okay.." I Said.

We both looked around awkwardly for a moment. "So...What about that table?" He asked, pointing over at a table with two chairs by it.

I nodded. "That should work."

"Okay.." He said, scratching his arm. "That table it is, then.."

Another hour later, the both of us were laughing hysterically after Patrick told a funny tour story.

We had also had a few drinks, which definitely made everything seen ten times funnier than it actually was.

Pete and the others kept giving us looks, Pete looking like he was happy for us, and the others giving us a 'Why the fuck are they drinking so early in the day?' look.

But I was definitely enjoying this side of Patrick. He seemed so much less shy then when we had first met, and it had only taken a couple of drinks to get him to come out of his shell.