Personal Space (Patrick Hockstetter)

Chapter 17: Appreciation

       [Name] sat at the table with an ice pack pressed against her arm. Every so often she would remove the pack and look at the big purple mark forming on her shoulder. She couldn't roll it, nor could she move it. Patrick came out of her parents room wearing a navy blue tee shirt. He sat down at the table and took the ice pack from her. She shot him a weird look, before realizing what he was doing. He had gently pressed the ice pack to the bruised part of her arm. "Thank you", she said in a hushed tone. "I see you parents aren't home again. Why aren't they ever here?", he asked. "I don't know. I guess they think I'm old enough to take care of myself again. They're always going out to clubs or to get food or hang out with old friends", she shrugged her one good shoulder. "Sometimes I'm happy I get this place to myself, but it gets lonely", she added. He nodded, trying to relate. Patrick didn't get lonely, so he tried to make it seem as if he felt that way too sometimes. She gave him a half smile and her returned it. "Thank you for helping me out back there. I thought I was going to die", she said. "Yeah, no problem. I didn't even leave the woods this morning, I was just busy with something", he said. [Name] didn't quite understand, but she didn't ask either. She should learn to respect his privacy, even if he is really strange.

       He pulled the ice pack off her arm. "The damage isn't horrible I think. I could get you a sling but nothing is broken", he said. "You sound like a doctor", she giggled. "Admit it, I'm the hottest doctor you've ever visited.", he said. "I've only seen one doctor in my entire life", she said back, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe it's time for a new doctor then. Call me anytime you need to be examined", he winked. "Ew you're so gross", [Name] said, laughing. She stood up and looked at him with a judging stare, holding back her laughs. He shrugged and acted like he didn't know what he did wrong. She rolled her eyes and let out a laugh. He smiled back at her. Although he was doing a bad job at keeping this secret, he loved the sound of her laughs. It made him feel like he was appreciated, something he usually didn't care about. "Are you hungry?", she asked him. "Only for you", he responded. "Dude", she laughed again, "I'm serious, what do you want to eat?" "I'll take some waffles", he said to her. His grin was still spread across his face from [Name]'s laughs. She popped four waffles in the toaster, two for her and two for him. She sat down across from him as she waiting for them to heat up. "How are your knuckles?", she asked. "They're fine. The real question is how is Henry's nose?", he laughed. "You really did beat the shit out of him", she said with a nod of approval. She usually didn't like this kind of stuff, be she had to be appreciative now. Patrick had just saved her arm, and maybe even her life. The waffles popped up and she got up and walked over to them, using one arm to separate the waffles onto two plates. "Here you go", she said, setting down Patrick's plate. "I love this place. I can always get free food", he said, dipping a waffle into syrup. She laughed lightly, "I bet that's the real reason you came here today." He nodded, "You got me." [Name] made a 'tsk' sound, "I knew it", she said. She dipped her own waffle into the syrup. "My mom's gonna be so pissed when she finds out that I ate all the waffles", she said. "It's okay. We can go get some more, it'll give us something to do for the day", Patrick said, and she agreed.

If anyone is interested in started a new story also set in the 80s but deleted my story about the Losers. My chapters didn't inspire me enough to keep writing. Everytime I see my ranking go up for this story I get so happy! I think I'm at 640 right now, thank you all again!😂❤

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