At Last: A Peterick Story

Chapter 6

It's one of those weddings where they don't open the dancefloor until after the food's already been served. Patrick has to sing, at some unspecified point in the future, and so he's not eating.

"You're taking this very seriously," Pete says around a bite of salad. "It's very sweet."

"Please enjoy your food," Patrick says drily. "Don't feel like you have to suffer with me."

Pete waves his hand around. "It's wedding food. You're not missing much."

Everyone at the table glares at him.

Pete is going to get them kicked out of this wedding.

Patrick is going to have to do a really great job with his song to make it better.

The bride comes over and says warmly, "Hey, Pete," and Pete stands up and gives her a hug and says, "You look beautiful," sincerely, because Pete can be sweet when he wants to be.

"Thank you! So do you! Love this coat." She leans past Pete and says, "Hi, Patrick," because apparently she at least knows who Fall Out Boy is, which is nice. Although, if she knows who Fall Out Boy is, that doesn't explain why she'd ask Pete to sing for her.

"Hi. It's a great wedding. Thanks for having me."

"Hey, we figured Pete deserved a plus-one," says the bride, grinning, and ruffles Pete's hair.

He ducks his head away, making a face, and says, "Don't worry, I'll make Patrick earn his free meal here."

"Are you ready to open the dancefloor?" she asks Pete.

"So, so ready," says Pete, and grabs Patrick's guitar case, exactly like he's going to perform. Patrick, who had half-risen out of his seat, sits back down, confused, as Pete bounces up to the microphone.

"Hello!" he shouts into the microphone, like he's working the crowd at an arena, and he gets a similar response. Pete is magic, Patrick thinks. Patrick just always sounds like an idiot when he's trying to work the crowd. "I'm Pete." Pete waves his fingers in a hello, before pausing to take Patrick's guitar out of its case. "I'm a cousin of the bride, if you didn't know. And...I totally can't sing." There's an awkward beat of reaction, as the wedding guests try to determine what's coming next. The bride and groom stand on the dancefloor, holding hands, looking uncertain. "So. As a wedding gift. I am not going to sing. As a wedding gift, I brought with me the best voice on the entire planet." Which shouldn't make Patrick blush, since that's such a Pete thing to say, but it still does. Pete holds the guitar out toward Patrick and grins and says, "Come blow them away, Tricky."

Patrick, to applause, makes his way over to where Pete is standing and takes the guitar from him and slips the strap over his head. Pete takes a step back, dramatically ceding the microphone to him.

"Um," Patrick says, plucking at the guitar a bit, "that was an unnecessary introduction." He thinks people laugh but he's trying not to pay attention. He focuses on his guitar and says, "Okay. Here's a song." He takes a deep breath and plays himself an intro and closes his eyes and sings, "At last, my love has come along, my lonely days are over, and life is like a song." He glances toward the dancefloor, where the couple is dancing, so he assumes they're okay with this. He had no idea what they liked, so he went with the most basic wedding song he could think of.

When he's done the applause seems warm and genuine, so he thinks he did a good job. He says, "Uh, congratulations," and does a weird little head-bob thing because he doesn't know what else to do, and then he steps back from the microphone, taking his guitar off as he does it.

Pete is staring at him.

Patrick feels alarm. "What?" he asks. "Did I do it wrong?"

"You sang a love song," Pete says, sounding shocked.

"Yes," Patrick says slowly. "It's a wedding. It seemed like I should sing a love song."

"I didn't expect that," Pete says. "I wasn't prepared." He does sound a little strangled.

Patrick says, "Well. I mean. Well." And doesn't know what else to say.

"That was so good," Pete says, and suddenly gives him a tight hug. "It was really good."

Patrick hugs him back and doesn't say anything because he's still clueless as to what to say.

Pete eventually steps back and says, "Okay, I guess you can go eat your salad now."

Like that's what Patrick's thinking about.

But Patrick doesn't have a better idea, so Patrick goes to eat his salad.