I Do I Did

Twenty Three

"What are you doing here?" Patrick asked when he finally managed to get Brendon off the stage.

Of course he let him sing his song first. Brendon wouldn't have it any other way. It didn't help that the crowd loved him. The drunken bunch yelling encore only made it twice as hard to get him to come down.

But talking to Brendon wasn't as helpful as he thought it would be. Because, while Patrick wasn't completely sober himself, Brendon was completely wasted. And every second Patrick spent talking to him, killed his buzz a little more. Drunk Brendon could sober anyone up.

"Having fun!" He yelled. The crowd cheered.

"Brendon, who are you here with?"

"You're Pattycakes, right?"

"I'm Patrick. I'm your best friend."

"Good. You're cute."

"Brendon, how much did you drink?"

"Yes." He nodded.

Patrick sighed. "Is Ryan here-"

"There you are." Ryan cut through the crowd and grabbed Brendon's arm. "I have been looking everywhere."

"Hey, Ryan." Patrick muttered.

"Oh shit! Hey, Pat. What are you doing here?"

"Having my date?" He motioned towards William. Who was sitting at one of the tables. "Remember?"

"Oh yeah! But I didn't know it was here. Pete said..." He trailed off. Thinking something over. "He asked us here. To ruin your date, didn't he?"

"Probably." Patrick nodded. "But that's not going to happen. We were just leaving anyway."

"You're going home with him? You don't even know him!"

"You sound like, Pete."

"And you're not sober enough to make smart decisions."

"Ry, please." Patrick scoffed. "Your hypocrisy is showing."

"At least when I did it, I did it because I thoroughly enjoyed it. You're doing it to get back at Pete. And it's going to backfire."

"I may not be a man whore like you are, Ry. But trust me, I will enjoy it."

Ryan drew back as if he'd been slapped. His gaze hardened. "Really, Pat?"

Regret fueled him as soon as the words left his mouth. But he didn't take them back. And he didn't apologize. He and Ryan stood there staring at each other.

"You're sexy." Brendon's slur broke the tense silence. He snuggled into Ryan's neck. "Are you single?"

"No." Ryan snatched his glare from Patrick to smile down at the drunk Brendon. "And my fiance is crazy enough to kill.

"Aw." Brendon pouted, kissing his neck." What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

Ryan laughed. "Come on," He grabbed Brendon's hand. "I'm taking you home."

"Woot woot!" He fist pumped his free hand in the air.

Ryan began pulling him through the crowd. But then he stopped to look back at Patrick.

"I don't know what happened to you during that coma. But you woke up a real dick." And they were gone.

Patrick rolled his eyes. Ryan was such a drama queen. But he wasn't going to let it ruin his night. He rushed over to the table William was waiting at. Lifting up the drink in front of him and finishing it off.