Canvas (Peterick)

Two

August, 2009
Patrick Stump

In the midst of the band's break, Pete was out designing album covers, posters, and book covers. In the apartment, he was always hard at work trying to come up with multiple designs for each project (he always needed others to fall back on). He spent most of his time cooped up in his room on his iPad, brainstorming and sketching. I was definitely proud of him for pursuing his dream. I kept him fed whenever he was working, which was most of the day almost every day. He started off rather quickly, grabbing every opportunity he could. He was a hurricane.

And me? I was spending a lot of my time with my fiancé, Elisa Yao. Actually, nobody knew that we were engaged yet, because the boys have been so busy lately and I hadn't gotten a chance to tell them all. They all love Elisa (not as much as me, of course), and I know they will be happy. Her and I had already spoke about the date, and although we hadn't come up with a solid one, we know we want it to be before the band starts up again. We had no clue when that would be, but probably not any time soon. I arranged a night out for dinner so we could tell them the news all at once.

"Hey," I spoke under my breath, gently knocking on Pete's ajar bedroom door.

"Come right on in." He motioned for me to come inside, his eyes glued to his tablet. I told him I was sorry for interrupting but he said he was almost finished with his design anyways.

His skin hung under his dark eyes and his hair looked like it had been untouched for days. His smile said "happy" but his body said "dead".

"So how about we go out tomorrow night?" I implied. He pulled his eyes from the screen to my face, still looking as happily dead as ever.

"To where?"

"Well..." I shifted awkwardly, trying my best not to smile even the slightest. "We can go out to dinner with Elisa and the guys. I think we all need it."

He was all for it. "Totally! I could use a break from work." Pete clicked off his iPad and placed it on the side table, then stood up, stretched his arms toward the ceiling, and wrapped them around my neck. "You know you've been the best friend ever, right?" He whispered.

I giggled and patted his back. "What are friends for?"

"Seriously, man. You're so supportive and I'm so lucky to live with someone like you."

At this point we were still in each other's arms and my face became hot. My best friend let out a breath and pulled back with a kind smile. He started to climb into bed.

"Goodnight, Patrick."

"Night, Pete." I started out of the room.

"Love youuu."

"Love you, too."

* * *

I grew more and more nervous as the next night drew closer. I had to tell my friends that I was getting married. Something inside just told me to wing it, but I knew that it wasn't a good idea to do that. Besides, there was no way in hell Elisa would let us put it off any longer. She wanted them to know now.

The time was approaching and it was time to get ready to go out. I picked out a decent outfit and messed around with my hair in the mirror. But I couldn't get my hair to stay how I wanted it. Pete entered the room with a confused look.

"Dude, why do you look so nervous?" He pushed my hands away from my hair and started to brush it around himself.

My eyelids fell closed as I let out a deep breath. I couldn't keep it in anymore. "Elisa and I... have big news."