Homewrecker With A Heart Of Gold (Patrick Stump FanFic ft. Zack Merrick)

Chapter 5

-Patrick's POV-

"I just don't know what to do anymore," I confessed, shaking my head, "I love her, like, I really love her. She's the one I want to be with. She's everything Elisa wasn't and...and I mean, I feel bad about what I'm doing, but...we're meant to be, Pete."

"Meant to be?" He chuckled, keeping his gaze locked to the television across from the couch the two of us were sitting next on. "You said the same thing about Elisa and look where the two of you are now. She's married to the guy she left  you for and is expecting her first kid with him. Meanwhile, you're still  single - in fact, as far as I know, you haven't dated anyone since - and you're sleeping  with the wife of one of our best friends. If you and she were meant to be, why aren't the two of you married? Why isn't it your child that she's carrying? Why-"

"Okay," I interrupted him tersely, sending a glare in his direction, "I get it."

He met my gaze and sighed. "I'm just saying, Patrick, don't do anything you'll regret."

"The only regret I have is coming to you for help," I mumbled, resting my head in my hand and returning my attention to the TV. I didn't intend to come off as rude as I did, I was just upset. At who or what? I wasn't quite sure.

"You know, you had other people to go to," He retorted coldly, crossing his arms, "It's not like I made you come here."

The two of us sat there in silence, a heavy tension residing in between us.

"I'm glad you came, though," Pete admitted under his breath, unfolding his arms and leaning forward to grab a slice of pizza out of the box he had sitting on his coffee table, "I was feeling pretty lonely. The house has been uncomfortably quiet ever since Ashlee took Bronx."

I did the same thing and took a bite out of the room-temperature-but-on-the-verge-of-being-cold slice of pizza, leaning back in the couch.

Ashlee filed for divorce from Pete a little more than two months ago.

I guess what had happened was that Pete woke up one morning to find that both Ashlee and their son, Bronx, were gone. He assumed she just took him out to run errands or something, not suspecting anything of it. But when she didn't return home all day, and didn't answer any of his calls or text messages, he started to get suspicious. The next day he went over to the Simpson's residence, where Ashlee had gone. There, she told him that she wasn't happy and didn't want to be with him anymore.

That pill was hard for Pete to swallow. He loved her, he really loved her, and then one day she just up and left him, telling him it was over with basically no explanation. Apparently Pete tried really hard to get her to change her mind, but she was set on getting a divorce, having met someone new. That someone was a guy named Vincent, and it wasn't until after their divorce was finalized that Ashlee publicly  announced the two of them were dating.

The divorce had been really rough on Pete. Ashlee had taken main custody of Bronx, only allowing him to see him on weekends. Without Bronx, and without the band, Pete really didn't have much to do. Consequently, he spent most of his days at  home, sitting around, unsuccessfully fighting the urge to sink back into the unhealthy lifestyle he had before Bronx was born, where he would either always be wasted or be high, and there was no in between.

I wondered if that was what things would be like if Gwen and Zack were to get a divorce, if she actually left him like she'd been wanting to. Would it be difficult on Zack like it had been difficult on Pete? Would the same thing happened to Chase that happened to Bronx?

"You still get to see him, though, right?" I asked randomly, turning my head to look at him. "Him" being Bronx.

"Barely," The bassist mumbled, ripping all of the cheese off his piece of pizza in one bite and groaning. He set his cheese-less piece down on the top of the box and began just to eat the cheese with pepperoni and sausage attached to it. "I try to go over and see him, you know, to take him out for a little to do  something fun, but she always comes up with some excuse. Either she's  planning on doing something with him or her parents took him out and he's not there. But you know, I never believe her. I think she just wants to make me as miserable as possible."

I shook my head in disgust. "That's not right."

"Tell me about it," He agreed sadly.

Another blanket of silence fell over us.

"Does he even care?" I blurted out.

"Who?"

"Bronx."

"Care about what?"

"Who he's with." Pete just stared at me, like he didn't understand me, as if I was speaking a completely different language. "You know, does he like being with you better or does he like being with Ashlee better?"

He shrugged his shoulders as he finished chewing the glob of cheese he still had in his mouth. He swallowed and turned his head to look at me, finally giving me the answer of, "I mean, when I did have him once, I asked him how he liked living with just Mommy. He said it was okay, but that he misses me."

"Does he want to move back in with you?"

"He's only a kid, Pat," He replied, starting to agitated by my frequent questions about a topic he'd rather not discuss, "I don't think he even really realizes what's going on yet."

I bit my lip and tilted my head down. "How badly do you think it's going to affect him growing up?"

Pete scoffed. "How am I supposed to know?"

"I'm just wondering."

"Well...I don't know. I mean, I don't think it's not going to affect him."

I groaned and covered my face with my hands.