Folie

Act II, Scene 6

Despite the late February chill, Joe bubbled with warmth as he walked to rehearsal. He couldn't wait to see Patrick again. Yes, he knew that Patrick liked Dallon, so he knew they would probably stay friends. He accepted that, though - for the most part. He just liked hanging out with him - he liked hearing the way he laughed, listening to him get excited about all the nerdy subjects he liked, listening to him sing, hearing his compositions, not to mention those gorgeous, blue-green eyes...

Cool it, Trohman. We're just friends.

Right. Just friends.

With a sharp, confident breath he pushed open the doors to the black box. However, that confidence disappeared once he saw the face he came to like so much over the past few weeks. Patrick looked up before he could speak, however, who beamed when he saw Joe's face.

"Hey, Joe! How are you?" Patrick said as he practically ran to him.

"I'm good, and you?" Joe couldn't help but notice how eagerly Patrick greeted him, and he could feel his body tingling with infatuation.

"I'm pretty good," and Patrick meant that. After he made up with Pete a couple of weeks ago, he noticed Brendon had starting acting kinder with him again. Dallon even started talking to him again, around the same time Brendon changed his attitude. He still wondered why Dallon had stopped talking to him in the first place.

"That's really good," Joe replied, "Any developments on the Dallon front?" He wanted to ask about Dallon to see how Patrick might react to the next question Joe had.

"Nah, we still don't talk that much. Just small talk. I never really did find out what happened when we kiss. But honestly, it doesn't really matter. It's not like we were dating or anything. I'm mostly just curious."

Even though Joe knew all this already, hearing a reconfirmation gave him the strength he needed.

"Do you want to get dinner with me tomorrow night?" Joe blurted. He instantly regretted it; he didn't mean to sound so eager, and he meant to frame the question as a request to hang out, but he knew it already sounded like a date.

Patrick blushed, "yeah, that's cool."

"Great, I'll text you about it tomorrow," Joe said, grinning from ear to ear as the Hallelujah Chorus played inside his mind. Before he could say anything more, however, Brendon called everyone to gather together.

---

While Joe asked Patrick out to dinner, Dallon resolved to finally talk to Patrick after rehearsal. Almost a month had passed, and though he had already begun talking to Patrick again, he knew he still owed him a explanation. So, after Brendon dismissed everyone for the night, Dallon rushed over to Joe and Patrick.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow night?" he could hear Joe ask Patrick.

"Sure, tomorrow night. See you later! Hey, Dallon!" Patrick said as Joe left and Dallon took his place.

"Hey, Patrick. Could I ask you something?"

"Sure, Dallon, what's up?"

"Would you mind coming with me to get coffee right now? I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Yeah, I'm down," Patrick replied, somewhat confused.

Patrick followed Dallon outside of the theater building, wondering what Dallon wanted to discuss. He figured he probably wanted to talk about the kiss, but he wondered why it took so long for Dallon to want to talk about it. As they crossed the street to the coffee shop, Patrick even began to speculate that Dallon might kiss him again, or he might ask him out, which would put Patrick in a very difficult place. His chest pounded as they went to order their drinks, afraid of how this night might turn out.

"Good evening, could I interest you in our special tonight, amaretto hot chocolate?" the barista asked the two boys.

Dallon hesitated. Normally, he would have taken a drink like that without a second thought. He knew, however, that alcohol played a large role in his kissing Patrick last time, and he wanted to avoid temptation tonight. Then again, that drink sounded really good, and honestly, how much harm could one cup do?

"Sure, I'll take one," Dallon said.

"Me too," Patrick agreed. That drink really did sound good.

After showing the barista their ID's and paying, they took a seat at a table in a lonely corner.

"So, what'd you want to talk about?" Patrick said, eager to find out what Dallon had to say.

"Well, you see the reason I felt so weird after I kissed you, and probably partially why I was attracted to you in the first place, was because... because you remind me of my ex," Dallon admitted. He knew that he broke a social rule by telling a guy he barely knew and only kissed once that he reminded him of an ex, but he also felt that Patrick had a right to know.

"I do?" Patrick asked, even more confounded than before, "so is that why you stopped talking to me?"

Before Dallon could answer, the barista brought both of them their drinks. They both took a sip, and momentarily forgot about their conversation as the creamy, frothy liquid burned a trail down to their stomach.

"Oh my God, this is so good!" Patrick exclaimed as he began to gulp down the hot chocolate, forgetting that it had alcohol in it.

"Calm down there, it's going to go to your head!" Dallon laughed, even as he took a big sip himself. He then began to notice that Patrick had a little whipped cream on his upper lip, and the temptations started again.

"So, tell me more about this boyfriend," Patrick said, interrupting Dallon's fantasies.

"Oh right, anyway, yeah, that's why I stopped talking to you. It just hurt because after the kiss, every time I would see you, I'd start to feel that pain and that sadness all over again. So I stayed away, but that wasn't fair of me."

"Ah, okay," Patrick replied, starting to feel light-headed, "but tell me more about this boy!" he nearly shouted in excitement.

Between sips, Dallon recounted to Patrick the same story that he told Brendon a few weeks ago. As he spoke, however, his mind began wandering again, fantasizing about Patrick and whipped cream, among other things. He thanked the good Lord for the barista's brilliant idea of giving Patrick alcoholic hot chocolate; it was bringing out the same adorable boy that made him forget all his inhibitions the last time the two drank together.

"So," Patrick slurred, now clearly drunk, "if I remind you of your boyfriend, does that mean you think I'm cute?"

"Yup," Dallon replied bluntly, "super cute."

Wow, what did they put in this drink?

"If I'm so cute," Patrick teased, "why don't you kiss me again?"

Everything jumped within Dallon's body. Everything. Still, he tried to resist.

"I don't know-"

"Pwease?"

Fuck it.

Dallon grabbed Patrick's shirt collar and yanked him so far forward that they almost did a head-butt. He quickly pressed burning lips against Patrick's own, nearly biting his lip off as he began passionately making out with him. Patrick reciprocated by immediately opening his mouth, permitting entrance, and Dallon gladly took it. Then, he had second thoughts.

"Wait, wait," Dallon panted, pulling back, "we can't do this."

"Why? Because I remind you of your boyfriend?" he pouted.

"No, because we're in a public place. Let's go to my house."

"Yes, please!"