The Music Or The Misery (FOB FanFic)

Chapter 10

-Pete's POV-

I shut the television off and turned towards Gabe whose cheeks were slowly turning a deep shade of red, crossing my arms. "Well, Gabe? What are we going to do now?" I asked him, "Your little plan failed. This whole plan is a fail!"

"No it's not..." Gabe murmured under his breath, the confidence he once possessed earlier today completely gone. His gaze began to wander around the room, avoiding our gazes.

"Oh really?" I yelled at him, anger boiling up inside of me, "Gabe, people died back there because of us!" I motioned to the television that had been turned off. "How the hell do you expect us to rally support if the support we rally gets shot down by police or beaten by them to the point where they have to be hospitalized? How the hell do you expect us to take down the ban when the police are going take us down first?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" He shouted back at me, tears brimming his eyes. He shook his head and covered his face with his hands, mumbling, "I don't know..."

"This wasn't our idea, Pete," Alex chimed in, defending Gabe who had escaped to the staircase, where he started making his descent from the hundredth floor because he was too impatient and embarrassed to wait for the elevator. "You can't blame us. You can't blame anyone. We're just doing as we're told. We're just following Boss's orders."

My eyes widened as I remember what I had wanted to tell Patrick.

"So this first attempt didn't exactly turn out like we wanted it to," Alex went on to say, "Sure, some people were injured and some lost their lives. But those people are just a small price for what we're going to do in the future."

"A small price?" Joe interjected, "No person's life is a 'small price'. Not mine, not one of my friends, not a stranger at a bar's. It's impossible put a price on a life. The lives lost tonight aren't worth whatever outcome you or Gabe or whoever the fuck this Boss person wants to make happen. I agree with Pete on this - this ban isn't going to be lifted if the people we get on our side are killed before we can even fight it."

"I can't deal with this anymore," Andy mumbled under his breath, holding back the tears that wanted to stream down his cheeks, "People died because of us...because of me..." He rushed away to his bedroom and slammed the door behind him.

A blanket of silence fell over the remaining four of us.

"Alex, I don't know whose idea this was, but I'm not okay with it either," Patrick remarked, swallowing hard, "If people are going to lose their lives or get hurt because of something I did," He poked his chest, shaking his head, "I don't want any part of that. I don't think any of us do, and if you expect any of us to be here tomorrow morning, you're out of your mind." And with that, he brushed past the former All Time Low member and into his room. Leaving Joe and I with Alex.

Another awkward silence.

"Tonight was rough guys, but it's only because this is the first time we've done this," Alex tried to cheer Joe and me up. But it was difficult, knowing that we were the reason someone had died. Whether it was directly or indirectly. It hurt. "Next time is going to be better. It just takes time. And we're going to make mistakes, but...it's gonna get better."

"Really?" Joe inquired, "How can you say that, Alex? There's no way you can possibly be sure of that."

"I'm going to talk with Boss about it..."

"Talking isn't going to do shit, Alex," Joe spat at him, fed up with both him and Gabe, fed up with this whole thing, "You can talk with 'Boss' all you want, but what we've been doing isn't working." Alex hung his head in shame. "Maybe Pete's right..." I glanced over at him. "This plan, at the rate we're going at, is not going to get us anywhere. Maybe we'd be better off confronting the goddamn president ourselves. Because I don't think strength in numbers is going to help us this time." And just like Andy and Patrick, Joe retreated to his bedroom, making it only Alex and me.

He ran his fingers through his hair and heaved a sigh.

I slipped my hands into the pockets of my pants and inquired, "So when are you going to tell Patrick who 'Boss' is?"

Alex met my gaze and dropped his arm to his side, "I'm not going to tell him. And neither is Gabe. The two of us agreed to keep their identity a secret and we intend to keep it that way. I shouldn't have even told you, Pete. I didn't want to but you threatened to leave!"

"What if I tell him?" I questioned.

The lead singer shrugged his shoulders, "You know what? If you think it'll make him want to stay and follow through with this plan, sure, go ahead and tell him. But if you don't think it'll make a difference, then I'd keep it to yourself. Because it's pretty obvious you guys aren't going to listen to us ever again after tonight, so the fate of the country is really resting on you four." He patted me on the shoulder and said, "I hope to see you here tomorrow morning, Pete. And if not...well...looks like we're going to be stuck in this musicless world forever."

*****

I peered my head into Patrick's room and saw him sitting at the head of his bed, guitar in lap as he strummed the strings softly.

"Hey," I greeted.

He looked up at me and then back down at his guitar.

"What are you working on?" I inquired as I stepped into his room, closing the door behind me and making my way over to his bed, where I plopped down on my stomach and rested my head in my hands, smiling up at him.

"Nothing, just playing an old tune," He muttered. I lied there for a little, listening to what he was playing. It took me a while to catch on, but I recognized the tune to be the guitar part for "I've Got A Dark Alley And A Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth".

I looked up at him and sighed, "Patrick?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something you should know..." I sat up up from my lying position and moved so that I was closer to him. "You know how we were brought here because of this 'Boss' person?"

"Yeah? What about them?"

"Well...uh...um..." I scratched behind my head. I didn't know why I was having so much trouble telling Patrick what Alex told me. It was a simple as Patrick, "Boss" is and then say their name. But for some reason the words wouldn't come out.

"Um...?" Patrick repeated, a slight smirk crawling on his face as he set his guitar aside. "What? Cat got your tongue?"

I took in a deep breath before meeting his gaze and disclosing to him that, "'Boss' is Mara, Patrick. The person who brought us here is Mara."