Everybody Wants Somebody [Patrick Stump High School AU]

Chapter Five; This City

It was close to eleven and the lights of downtown Chicago burned bright against the sky, adding to the stars reflecting against the faces of strangers. To Kay's luck the nearest hospital was only about eleven blocks away. The adrenaline had faded away from the two teens as they made their way up Michigan Avenue, leaving Kay to deal with the pain and Patrick to listen to it.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, Patrick. This honestly hurts so much wow tonight sucks I wish I had stayed home." She sighed out as she pulled her sweater neck over her face to protect it from the icy wind. "I mean, I guess It was kind of worth it because I got to see you play, but that's about it." She bumped into him and smiled, grimacing and shivering.

"Stop talking dummy, you're gonna rip the scab open...again."

"Yeah whatever." She pulled the neck farther up her face, wishing she had actually worn her glasses, because then she'd have the wind out of her eyes.

The wind cut through the figures on the street, pushing them along and forcing most back into shelter. The street was alive with late night rush traffic, but there were very few people on the street as they grew closer to their destination, weary and cold. They had fallen into a rhythm together, taking opposite steps and occasionally bumping into each other. Kay coughed as Patrick sneezed, and in those sparing moments everything on the street was at harmony.

Kay shivered violently, causing her to run into one of the passing above-train-track-rail support poles. "Go me." She sighed as she rubbed her shoulder.

"Come here you loser." He unzipped his jacket and swaddled her in as she came close, then attempted to zip it. "I can do it,...hold on..."

"Patrick,"

"I can get it."

"Patrick-"

"Hold, on...there."

"Patrick this is nice, but we're here. Well I mean, basically here, but we're here." She was right, the hospital was in view now, only a few block away. They seemed busy as there were people surging in and out of the front revolving doors, making distance with haste and speaking with the same vigor into super expensive cell phones.

"Eh, we've got another solid five minutes of warmth before we get there, so let's just enjoy it." Patrick replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. They made slow progress down the street, just slowly walking with one another, drunk on heat.

"You know I've never actually been in Chicago at night before?"

"Seriously? You've been here for over a year, and you've never been to Chicago?"

"I said at night you doofus." She lightly elbowed him in the stomach.

"Yeah and so did I,...but seriously....Chicago is so nice. Especially at night."

"We should just skip the hospital and just go for a walk around the city." Kay suggested.

"No ma'am, you are going to go get your mouth stitched up, and then maybe if Mr. Jay says we can, we might. Next weekend, after you've healed and are dressed appropriately."

"Ugh, fine...you kn-" She was cut off by Patrick's cell phone ringing. He fished around in his pocket for it and brought the green screen to his face.

"It's your uncle,...Hey Mr. Ward, what's good?...Oh,...um, she's right here. Kay he wants to talk to you." Patrick awkwardly shoved the phone to her face, smacking her in the head.

"Oh my god Patrick, I'm going to have a concussion before tomorrow,....Hey Uncle Jay, what's up?"

"Kay where are you two, it's past eleven and it's not that I don't trust you it's just I'm worried. Aren't you two supposed to be at a show? Why does it sound so quiet?" He spoke quickly.

"Okay, uh, better question, how many cups of coffee have you had tonight?"

"...4, but I'm just trying to run through this paper because Saber wants it on his desk by tomorrow afternoon and Kay don't you dare try to change the subject, where are you?"

She sighed into the receiver. "Okay, don't freak out, but we're at the hospital, actually we're just making out way towards the emergency room."

"..."

"But all in all, we're fine, I just might need a few stitches and some medication, it's no problem at all. I'm sure I'm fine."

"Kay please tell me you didn't bust your head open."

"No, not my head, I pretty sure I would have bled out by now if I had."

"Don't get smart with me, now go sign yourself in and hand the phone to a nurse or something because I need to come get you."

--

And that's what they did, and by the time the doctor had finished his examination of Kay's lip, Uncle Jay had texted Patrick saying that he was coming up.

"Tell him I said I'm giving him a citizens ticket for speeding." Patrick laughed and continued to play with the different things in their curtained cubicle.

"I still can't believe they put you in the kid's wing." Patrick teased.

"Hey shut your mouth, you would be too." He chuckled more, and she held up her fist, shooting him a look.

From down the hall they heard Ward making his way there, past the coughing children, and cries of sick toddlers. "Oh my god, Kay are you- ew. That looks really nasty. Ew and it's already scabbed over? Wow, how'd you even manage this!" He smiled as he sat on the edge of the bed and pulling her face in all different directions.

Patrick explained everything because her doctor had recommended she not talk too much, just to make sure it didn't rip the skin and muscle more. Soon after she was being brought into an area where they stitched her lip, slowly but surely.

It took about 45 minutes to stitch the entire wound up - it went from beside her nose, all the way down, a few of the stitches going into her mouth. 27 stitches in all, a sight to see and a story to tell. They washed her neck off for her, which had originally been soaked in a large layer of blood, and Uncle Jay had deemed her shirt was unsavable. The entire collar and most of the left side of the chest was stained red - a sore sight against the original light gray fabric. Kay was going to keep it though.

She was written a prescription and was given a small dose of something to make her sleep the way back to Glenview, which in her opinion she didn't need it in the first place. But from the emergency room to Patrick's house, she slept snuggled against him in the backseat, drooling on him most of the way there.

Jay sat her on the couch and left her to sleep most of Saturday as snow began to lightly coat the town and bring forth the beginning of the winter of '98.

--

yeah this was a pretty short filler type thing,...

i feel kind of bad about it and might write and upload some more later.

so yeah, thanks for reading.