Tomorrow's Sorrow (Peterick)

Part 10: Curiousity Killed the Cat

Patrick's POV:

My father's words dragged on for twenty minutes longer than usual, and I felt myself dozing off until Elisa pinched my arm. I glanced behind me, catching Pete in his Sunday best grinning ear-to-ear. I mouthed 'hi' and returned my attention back to the speech that was winding down to a close. The residents shuffled out of the church a few minutes later, but I noticed Pete lingering near the holy water fountain.
"Where's Brendon and Sarah?" I asked.

"Can you keep a secret?"
I crossed an 'x' over my heart. He pulled me into the empty classroom for children during service and sighed.
"There's a tumor in Sarah's cervix."
"Is it...is it cancer?"

"They're not sure yet. They've got a lot of tests to do, but Brendon's a wreck. He wants to keep it a secret, y'know, to not cause a stir around town, but sooner or later everyone's going to wonder where she's been. This place is like that."
"This is a time for prayer. We need everyone to pray for them."

Pete brushed his hand across my cheek lightly.
"Darling, we have to respect his wishes about not telling people, alright? But you have a good heart."

He kissed me hard, and everything was okay again. God would help Sarah. I knew He would.

"How's my favorite boy doing?" he inquired, "I've missed you."
I couldn't help but laugh.
"You saw me two days ago, Pete."
"Yeah, but you're all I ever think about."
I noticed how closed in I was between the wall and Pete, how small I felt with his arms around my waist, how special I was right then to him, to anyone ever.

"Why?"
"What do you mean 'why'? You're awfully amazing. You should think that of yourself."
And the truth was that most of the time I never thought highly of who I was.

I was plain, plain and boring and typical. Apparently, Pete and most of the townsfolk didn't see me that way. Except for Dallon. He probably thought I was worth less than the mud on his boots. The thought of him must've miraculously tipped him off because at that second Dallon barged into the room, and we broke apart. He halted immediately and assessed the situation with suspicion.

"I'm looking for my grandma. You two seen her?"
We shook our heads too fast for his liking, and he approached us with a crooked smile.
"What's going on here?" he looked to Pete who seemed to have swallowed his own tongue.
"Nothing," I mumbled.

"Listen," he whispered, "I'm not one to go around and gossip, alright? I hate most everyone in this God-forsaken town, but I'm trying to tolerate them my grandma. If you two have something going on, because, God knows if you do, I'm cool. I've had my share of male fantasies. I mean haven't we all?"

He paused, entirely too amused with himself, and watched our cautious faces.
"Just be careful. If the reverend caught a whiff of you two fooling around Pete here might get beheaded. So chill out. Try to keep it outside of God's holy place."

He shot us both a couple of finger guns and left, letting us breath again.
"He's right," Pete told me.
I rolled my eyes and walked past him back into the crowd of people surrounding my father. Elisa swooped by, taking my arm, and led me out into the garden before I could even think about it. It wasn't much of a garden, but everyone liked to refer to it as such.

All it really held was a row of rose bushes and a shady oak tree. She attached our lips, hastily, and fell back against the bark of the tree.
"God, I've been wanting to do that for days," she said.
I didn't know what to say to her. Our friendship was slowly fading, and I had no control over it in the slightest.

What it was becoming was something I wasn't so sure about anymore. I loved Elisa, but, as I told Pete, it was more of a sister/brother love. At least I believed so. For the life of me I couldn't disappoint her. She was too sweet for that, so I sucked it up and tried my hardest to stay interested.