Just Once - A Peterick Fic

Chapter 27

        Pete still hadn't come back. It was nearly 9 the next morning and I hadn't heard from him at all. This disappearance was turning out to be much longer than his others and it worried me like few other things could. I just wanted him to be okay.

        I'll just have to be more careful with my words next time so as to not send him running.

        On the up side, this gave me time to look for a Christmas present for him. Surely I'd be able to find something for him in the entire city of Chicago. Last year I'd gotten him a pair of headphones, but now, as his boyfriend, there was a bit more pressure to get him something nice and I didn't have a clue what to buy. I grabbed my car keys and my wallet and headed to the shopping district to look for a present.

        I tried Radio Shack first, thinking maybe I'd spot some electronic that he'd love, but I had no luck. Nothing had screamed out at me, "Pete Wentz would love me!" and that's what I really needed an item to do.

        My next stop was a book store. Pete wasn't a huge reader, but I thought I might be able to find something he'd like in there. I had no such luck, an outcome that hadn't surprised me.

        Close to ten more stores wentz about like that, nothing seeming worthy of being a gift for Pete. My last stop was a little record shop not too far from my place. It was actually the same place he'd asked me to be his boyfriend and I wondered if he remembered that interaction as clearly as I did. In my mind, it was as if it were yesterday, nearly every word playing back in my head if I tried hard enough.

        I spent nearly an hour in there, browsing the titles before I found an album by some band I'd never heard of before. The title is what caught my eye, though. Always In A Cord was a stupid pun on love and music that Pete would adore. Whether or not he'd like the music, I had no idea. It had been in the thrash metal section, but the cover didn't fit that genre. It was softer, as if it were a soul or blues record. Either way, it wasn't the music that mattered and that's the only time I'd ever say that.

        I quickly paid for the record and headed back home. As I walked through my front door, I held the plastic bag containing Pete's Christmas present shut and close to my own body. If he had come home while I was gone, I didn't want him seeing what I'd bought.

        The precautions were unnecessary though, and when I realized that, I sighed, disappointed. He'd been gone way too long and I was worried about him. Just come home, Pete. I miss you.

        His absence did give me a chance to wrap his gift, though, so that was the one and only advantage to him still being gone.

~~~~~~~~~~

        I was in the kitchen, fixing myself a light lunch when Hemmingway came bounding towards me at full speed, nearly knocking me over despite his small size.

        "Hemmingway? What the...?" I said, my voice full of confusion. As my eyes flicked to the doorway, I trailed off, seeing the owner of this particular dog standing there.

        "Pete."

        Finally. I rushed over to him and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug, his arms wrapping around me too, just with not quite as much force. Hemmingway ran around us, jumping and barking excitedly. With my face pressed into his shoulder, my voice was muffled when I spoke again. "You scared the shit out of me, you asshole," I told him, refusing to release him from my grasp.

        "I'm sorry," he told me, and I could tell he really meant it just by the tone of his voice although he was fighting a smile too, probably because of my reaction. Yeah, hugging him like I never would again and calling him an asshole simultaneously was a tad contradictory, I know. "I'm here now though."