Falling Together (Patrick/Pete)

5 - Casey

Two years later

Pete's POV

I drove up to the gas pump at the station. It was 11:43 in the evening. I had been out for a drive to distract myself. I fill up my car and go inside to pay. 
"Number four please" I tell the young boy behind the counter, sorting through money on my hand. 
"Aren't you Pete from Fall Out Boy?" He asks me. I look up at him.
"No" I give him to money for the gas and look at the cigarettes behind him.
"Is that all sir?" He asks. I keep looking. "Sir?" I point to the packet of eighteen. 
"One pack of them please and a lighter" 

I sat in my back yard smoking my eighth cigarette. I didn't see the point in it but it distracted me. I had become depressed again. I had only spoken to Andy really out of the other boys since the break up. Andy had gone to play in some other bands that needed drummers. Joe was doing his own thing really, which being Joe was not very much. Patrick? I heard he was writing some stuff for a solo project. I hadn't spoken to him at all. He didn't want to speak to me. I followed him on twitter of course. He was talking about how he'd lost weight for health reasons. He had a before and after pictures. He looked great. He'd lost so much weight and he looked a lot more healthy now. He said he was about eleven stone which for him was freaking great. He never told any of us but I think around the time of the last tour, he was about nineteen or twenty stone. He looked happier now. 

Patrick's POV

I missed Pete. I hadn't spoken to him since the night he had yelled at me. I wondered how he was. That was in the past. I didn't want to bring the past up. I look at myself in the mirror. My stomach was somewhat flat. I had had to get myself a new wardrobe. I was eleven stone which was amazing for me. I wasn't at the weight I wanted to be but I was never going to be. I grab the pack of nicotine patches from the side and look in the box. There was none left. Crap. I was having one of my craving moments. I'd have to go to the shop. 

I had one of my old t-shirts on as I slept and just lounged around in them and couldn't be bothered to get changed. I still had jeans on though. I got the usual looks and people asking for pictures and asking if I actually used to be in Fall Out Boy. Yes, yes I did. With big t-shirts on, I looked half the size I actually was. A girl came up to me while I was in the pharmacy.
"Are you Patrick Stump?" She asked me. I turn around.
"Yeah, yeah I am"
"Hey. I've met you before." She tells me. I looked at her face, trying to figure out if I recognized her. 
"I met you guys at your last show. Puberty has done wonders for me. I was the girl who got you to sign Kerrang and got the photo with you. I'm Casey" It was her. I did remember her. 
"Oh my God, I do remember you!" We laugh. "Sorry I looked awful in the photo, it's my face so it would"

"No, you don't. You're adorable" She tells me. "You look amazing" I look confused at her and she looks at my stomach. 
"Oh yeah, thanks. Yeah, I'm about eleven stone now" I nod at her. Why are you telling her this? She doesn't care Patrick. 
"Oh my God, that's great" She smiles at me. 
"I have one of my old shirts on as I just needed to come and get some stuff"
"Did you wear that in a photo shoot once?" I look at it.
"Probably" I tell her, smiling. "I kinda need to do stuff so I'll see you around yeah?" 
"Yeah, sorry for keeping you"
"Nah it's fine. I'm just on my break and need to get some things" 
"Okay. Thanks again Patrick" She leaves the shop. I grab the nicotine patches, pay for them and leave also.