To Hate is to Love

•11• The morning after

A/N: Filler chapter. I have writers block so this is what you get
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[Pete]

I wake up the next morning only to be blinded by the rays of sunlight streaming through the blinds. I squeeze my eyes shut to try and engulf them in something less painful, like darkness or sleep, and roll away from the window. And this time instead of being blinded I roll into something soft and warm, not like in a blanket type of way, more like in a sleeping person kind of way. A naked sleeping person. Who just so happens to be Patrick. Flashing images of last night immediately flood my mind and, oh yeah, we had one hell of a night.

I opened my eyes and caught sight of Patrick's face. He was sleeping peacefully, soft breaths escaping his body, hair a mess and sticking up in every direction. I couldn't help the small smile that crept onto my face.

I placed a chaste kiss on his nose then quietly crept out of bed, careful not to wake him. I make my way to the bathroom and stop in my tracks when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Because, for one, I'm also naked but I kind of expected that. But what made me stop and stare were the oval shaped marks occupying my thighs and hips. Purple-ish blue bruises were everywhere, I rotated myself to get a better look and, oh would you look at that, they're on my ass too. There's ten finger-shaped marks on my ass alone, five on each cheek, and five on-- I'm done counting, you get the point. There's just a lot, okay. Not to mention the mark Patrick sucked directly below my adam's apple.

I knew there would be bruises.

It's like I've been marked as someone's property, like branding cattle. This is different though, I think this actually means something. But whatever it is I should be careful, my past relationships didn't exactly end on good terms. Mikey was a cheat and Ashlee was using me. I just hope I'm not setting myself up for another heartbreak.

Patrick steps into the bathroom, sleepily rubbing an eye with the back if his hand. "Morning." He mumbles, then blinks a few times to clear his vision.

"Morning."

"Guess I gripped you a little too hard, huh?" He says, glancing down at the many bruises across my skin.

I look down at myself again. "I don't mind." I smile at him. I really didn't mind that the marks were there, it just reminds me of the night we had.

Patrick shuts the door behind him and walks further into the room, standing behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. He murmurs something that I didn't quite catch and I look up at his reflection in the mirror.

"What?" I asked.

"Shower." He repeats louder, then he's pulling me by the arm and taking me into the shower with him, immediately attaching his lips to mine.

It took him nearly twenty minutes to actually turn the water on.

[Joe]

I didn't get out of bed until about two p.m.. I didn't have to get up early for class so I'm taking advantage of it and staying underneath my blanket until I absolutely have to get up....which is now because my stomach just yelled at me. I believe it sounded something like 'feed me'.

I get out of my insanely comfortable bed and go to the kitchen. I'm too lazy to cook so I just grab a poptart and go into the living room.

Okay, now what? It's not like I have any plans today. Maybe I should turn the TV on, or I could tell everyone to come over and hang out. Yeah, that sounds good. I grab my phone and send out a mass text:

Me: Get your ass over here

I place my phone on the coffee table then grab the remote and click on the TV, channel surfing until I found something decent to watch. I couldn't remember the name but it looked okay enough. Then I ripped open my poptart packet and took a bite of one of the frosted pastries.

Ten minutes pass before anyone shows up, meaning Brendon and Frank burst through the front door.

"Wassup, Joetroh." Brendon says cheerfully, plopping down beside me on the couch.

"Hey, Bren. Frank, confess your undying love to Gee yet?" I asked and Frank shot me a look.

"You know I didn't. Where are the other shit heads?"

"Should be on their way."

Then as if on queue, Gabe bursts in speaking Spanish. "Hola, mis adorables idiotas!" Gabe shouted, bursting through the front door.

"Dammit, what did I tell you about the damn Spanish? We speak English." I complain. There was always that one rule in my house; don't say things we can't understand. Well mainly just things that I can't understand.

Pete and Patrick are the last to show up. They look to be in a good mood today, which is weird because Pete usually looks pissed half of the time. Then when he scans the room and his eyes land on Frank, his cheery expression quickly fades. I wonder what that's about.

Then someone else shows up, and oddly enough it's Andy. But I didn't send him a text.

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A/N: The thing Gabe said was "Hello my lovely idiots!" But you don't really need to know Spanish to figure that outs so, y'know...