Internet Scales (Patrick/Pete)

18 - Fat ass cardigan boy in the ugly hat

Have an extra chapter today cos I'm feeling generous. I've written loads of this book and I'm writing chapter 32 so there's a lot to come and I hope you guys enjoy it. 

Thanks for reading this btw, it means a lot. Jess xx

Pete's POV

I had two days left with Patrick. We decided to actually leave the house. I had run out of clean clothes so I was looking through Patrick's wardrobe. Most of the shirts were way to big for me. I found a pastel purple to pastel blue faded shirt. It had a note stuck to the hanger. It said "GOAL" in bold letters. He was trying to fit into this shirt? Wait, I got this for him for his fourteenth birthday. I looked at the size. It was a medium. He comes into the room and stops, looking at me holding the shirt.
"Why do you want to fit in this?"
"Cause you got it for me and it's special and I want to wear decent clothes again" He looks down. "Why?" He looked so awkward, tugging on the bottom of his black cardigan. 
"I was just wondering. Could I borrow it or would you prefer if I didn't?" He goes and sits on the bed.
"Yeah sure, I'm not getting into it anytime soon" He sighs.  I take off the black tank top I was sleeping in and slip into the denim shirt. 
"Cheer up buddy" I say, grabbing his fedora off the hook on the back of the door, jumping on the bed and placing it over his face. I hear his chuckle. He moves it off his face to look at me. 
"I love you so much" He says to me. My heart jumped a little. I hadn't told him I was bi... and I kinda had a crush on him. I didn't want to tell him because he would think I was lying cause he has no self confidence and he would think I was making it up. 
"I love you too".

Before we leave, I grab his inhaler just in case.
"I hope I won't need that" He points to the inhaler in my hand.
"I hope so too. It really scares me when you have asthma attacks". I turn to face him, slipping the inhaler into my left pocket. We looked at each other and I straightened his glasses and hat for him and smile at him, he smiles back. Jesus, he had a beautiful smile. 
"You ready?" I ask him.

"You bet" He chuckles. 

When we get to the cinema, Patrick is puffing slightly. He sits down on the pavement next to the door and just takes a minute to get his breath back. 
"Inhaler?" I ask him. He nods and I hand it to him. He takes a few puffs and then hands it back to me. Some of the guys that must have been in Patrick's grade at school walked past us.
"Oi Patrick!" One of them shouts. "Got a new boyfriend?" They all cackle. 
"Lose some weight and you might be able to breathe!" Another shouts at him, all while Patrick was trying to get his breathing under control. 

"Cardigans are for girls" They laugh again. Patrick's face twitches and he pulls his sleeves down.

"Get your fat ass up and get on a treadmill!" They shout at him, laughing more. I turn around.

"Can you shut the hell up?" I yell at them. 
"Oohh! Getting defensive of fat ass cardigan boy? Why the hell is he wearing that ugly hat?" I ran for him and punched him in the face and grabbed the collar of his shirt and kicked him in the balls. 
"Shut up about Patrick." He tell him, punching him with every word. His friends had run. I drop the pathetic kid and he scrambles up and away. I go back to Patrick. I could tell he was holding back from crying. I sit next to him and put my hand on his thigh. 
"Are they like that at school?" I ask him quietly. He nods. 
"Fat ass cardigan boy is a new one though" He smiles a little but still seemed hurt by the comment.
"How creative." I mumble. "Cardigans suit you well, I don't see their problem."

"No they don't" He plays with the cuff of his sleeve.  
"You always say that. What do you think does suit you?" I ask him.
"Nothing..." His mouth twitches. 
"Are you okay?" 
"I'm fine." I could tell he wasn't. The kid was nearly in tears. I don't know why I asked. 
"Wanna go home?" He nods. I help him up and we start walking home. 

Them asses were back. We saw them walking the other way to us. 
"Oi fatty" Patrick rolled his eyes and kept his head down. I grabbed his hand and pulled him along, afraid he would breakdown right there and then. 
"Oi, I'm talking to you!" They shout. 
"At least you're walking. Don't have a asthma attack will you?" They laugh.
"Don't get diabetes!" They kept yelling at him. He had actually lost quite a bit of weight. He had lost about three stone so he was doing well. The only thing I had to do tonight was make sure he didn't pile that back on.