The Steam Lounge

Disc 1 - Track 10

Cherry Wine - Hozier
"Her eyes and words are so icy, oh but she burns like rum on the fire."
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Patrick stumbled quickly back into the front room, sitting down on the sofa. As Pete walked back into the living room, Patrick realised that he didn't want to be in the apartment anymore.

It was easier when he didn't know the truth but now that he did, he felt unbelievably guilty. He had slapped her and almost strangled her. She hated him. Now, if anyone saw him being nice to her they'd want to know why.

Having already heard Pete's reaction to Andy trying to convince him that Mercy didn't deserve what they were doing, he didn't even want to try. He came to the decision that he would have to act like he hadn't found out about Mercy and treat her like he was doing the day before.

"Where is she?" Pete asked, looking for her. Patrick pointed to his room absentmindedly, pretending to look at his phone to avoid any awkward conversation. "Did she wake up?" He questioned.

Patrick nodded. "Yeah. She had pain in her neck so I gave her some codeine and now she's sleeping again." He told him, looking briefly to grasp his reaction. Patrick wasn't sure whether Pete would have wanted him to give her any pills.

Pete smiled widely. "Good, I kinda like that girl. She's plucky. Reminds me of you." Pete replied from beside the fridge.

Patrick gazed over at Pete. "Plucky? Is that how you'd describe me?" He asked feeling more relaxed, laughing slightly.

Pete walked back over with two beers in hand. "Well its not the first thing I'd say but I think you both just have the same vibe about you. Is that a weird thing to say?" He questioned, handing Patrick one of the beers. He shook his head in response, sensing a decrease in his resentment for Mercy.

Pete turned on the news, it was all anyone in the apartment seemed to watch these days. Headlines flashed on the screen, but nothing of great interest.

Patrick was on his phone, searching MTV news for something to cure his boredom. His eyes flicked across headlines that meant nothing to him. After a moment of staring at the words on the screen, one of the headlines caught his eye.

'Joey Lambert, lead singer in five piece rock band Nostalgia talks new album, drama with Fall Out Boy and his feelings towards a certain someone.' He scanned. The article seemed gossip like which didn't interest Patrick in the slightest.

It wasn't even the fact they mentioned Fall Out Boy. His gaze fell on a name. Mercedes. Patrick frowned to himself, reading the paragraph.

'I guess my sights have always been firmly set on my music. Its my life, I live and breathe it. I love it.' Patrick paused. Pretentious, stereotypical answer.

'The fact is, I've spent so much time at the label headquarters over the years. For a while I think I actually slept there too. I always used to see this girl around there, normally just sat by herself with headphones in. Keeping away from most people. Baring in mind this was about two years ago. I had just turned 16 and it took all the confidence I had to speak to her but she told me her name was Mercedes and we hit it off straight away. She was only a couple of months younger than me and we just clicked, you know? I used to play our tracks to her and she gave me like a shitload of critique over what I had done. At first I thought she was being horrible but then I started to change things in the way she had suggested and it just all fit. Our music was getting to the point we wanted it to be at. She leaves one day and a guy in the studio says to me "Mercy hasn't come into one of my studios before." and it took me a minute to realise that I'd been hanging with Mercy De Luca the entire time. She'd always been hidden from media by her parents so no one knew her very well and I was just a kid who hadn't even finished his debut album yet. I felt so starstruck.'