Run Away With Me (FOB FanFic)

[Chapter 24] Oh, Honey, You Don't Have To Lie

-Stella's POV-

I want to tell you that after that everything went well, that it ended up with Patrick and me living happily ever after. But if I told you that, I'd be lying.

Now, it's not that we didn't get back together or that something terrible happened. Because we did get back together and nothing terrible happened. What had happened was that, shortly after our reunion, I moved back in with him. He was happier, I was happier, life was good.

But at the same time, life wasn't good.

Things quickly reverted back to the way they were when we were in New York.

Patrick was constantly out of the house, doing whatever he was doing with the band, whereas as I was constantly in the house, stuck there with nothing to do.

I tried to go back to school - having failed years ago because I stopped showing up to my classes and, therefore, wasn't there to take the exams that would allow me to graduate - but the community college I applied to didn't accept me, for reasons I wasn't quite sure of. Patrick even talked to the admission's representative himself, telling them what a great addition I would be, but to no avail. I wasn't getting in. Period.

Once again, I was confined to the house that was honestly too big for two people. I couldn't comprehend how Patrick lived here by himself before I came back.

The only difference between then and now was that this time I was sober, and the emotional pain I was enduring hurt more.

So one day, weeks after Patrick and I got back together, I met up with Max for a "check up" (as he called it). He picked me up from Patrick's house around 12:30, the two of us were going out to lunch. Patrick was, as usual, not home.

"So...pretty nice place you're living in now," Max commented as he pulled away from the curb, me strapping the seat belt over my chest.

"Yeah," I murmured in response, "It's alright."

"It's alright?" He laughed, "What, do you want something bigger?"

"No, not really," I tilted my head back on the head rest and gazed out the car window, heaving a sigh, "If anything, I want something smaller."

Max looked over at me, blurting out, "I thought Patrick was supposed to make you happier."

"He does."

"You don't sound happy."

I turned my head so that I was looking at him and replied, "Max, I'm fine."

"Stell, you and I both know that you're lying to me," He retorted before returning his attention to the road in front of us. "I thought we were past this, keeping things from each other. So tell me, what's on your mind?"

I exhaled softly and once again averted my gaze outside, "I just...I don't feel right. I mean, I know I should be happy, I've got everything anyone would ever want. I've got a nice home, I've got someone who loves me unconditionally, I've got it all. But even so, something just doesn't feel right, you know?"

"Not really," He admitted with a slight chuckle, briefly glancing over at me out of the corner of his eye.

"I want to leave," I confessed.

"Leave?" He repeated.

"Yes. I want to leave," I sat up in my seat a little more, straightening my posture and turning towards my sponsor the best I could while still being buckled in, "Max, you don't understand, running away with Patrick was the best decision I ever made. Being on the road with him was the most fun I'd had in my entire life. Even though we only had my pickup truck and whatever we could fit into our backpacks. We had no destination either, we were just going where the day and night took us. But even so, those were the best time I had. And I miss them."

Max made a sound of acknowledgement.

"I mean, sure," I continued, "Now that the band's big and Patrick has more money than anyone really needs, things are undoubtedly easier. We're not stealing Ho-Hos and Twinkies from drugstores or sleeping in the back of my pickup truck in a deserted parking lot. We've got plenty of food and a nice bed to sleep in. I'm not shaking and feeling sick to my stomach because I ran out of cigarettes or don't have enough for heroin. I don't need them to get me through the day. But still...something's just not right. I'm not happy. I'm not sad. I don't know what I am."

I hadn't even realized we were at the restaurant, pulling into the parking lot and Max was turning the car off. He pulled the keys out of the ignition and met my gaze, "Well whatever you do, Stella, I just want you to be happy and I want you to be safe. If you're not happy here, then leave. But just know that, if you ever need anything, if anything happens, I'm always just a phone call away."

An appreciative smile crawled onto my face.

He smiled back and said, pushing his car door open, "Now let's go eat something. I'm starving." I nodded my head in agreement and mirrored his actions, closing the car door behind me.

*****

I was sitting on the couch in the living room off of the main entryway, nervously shaking my leg as I waited as patiently as I could for Patrick to return home. I had the lights off and the TV across from me was on, though I wasn't paying any attention to the program whose images were flashing in my eyes. My mind was elsewhere, trying to figure out how I was going to do what I wanted to do.

Snapping me out of the daze I had fallen into, the click of the front door echoed through the foyer and Patrick called out, "Stell?"

My head snapped in the direction of his voice and before I could even get up, Patrick peered into the living room, his head popping out from behind the wall. "What are you doing sitting in the dark?" He chuckled before flicking the light switch up and stepping into the threshold, revealing the rest of his body and making his way over to me. He bent down and cupped my face in his hands, leaning in and pressing his lips against mine softly. He pulled away and smirked, swiping his thumb across my cheek, "You don't know how nice it is to come home to someone again."

I couldn't suppress the nervous giggle that escaped through my lips.

Patrick gave me a weird look before sitting down beside me and leaning back in the couch, "So what are we watching?"

"I don't know," I told him honestly, sitting back as well and curling up beside him. He draped his arm around my shoulder. "We should do something."

"What do you want to do?" He inquired, glancing down at me.

"Oh I don't know..." I bit my lip and began to play with the buttons on his shirt, "...run away with me."

Author's Note: Guys, I can't tell you how sorry I am for updating this so late. It's just that I had a lot of shit to deal with this week, emotional and non-emotional, and writing kind of got away from me. Plus, it didn't help that my good old friend Writer's Block came to visit me for this book. It visits me way too much, but I finally got rid of it and I figured out how to write this chapter. I hope you like it and I hope you're not too upset with me, upsetting you guys is the last thing I want to do. I've got so many books to update this weekend, fingers crossed I can do it all. Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween! -Rachael