I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy ...

Chapter 14 - Don't Blink. Don't Close Your Eyes And Most Of All Don't Apologize

The bus was rolling happily towards Ohio when I decided to move to the back and catch up on my reading in my father book. I was somewhere between learning about children's energy levels and preparation tips when Joe came back and plopped down beside me. He grabbed the remote without a word and turned the TV on. Now here was a guy I could talk to. Joe had been with his girlfriend since he was 18 surely he knew something about the female mind and how it worked.

"Joe," I said breaking his concentration on the episode of Lost.

"Hmm," he merely muttered looking at me.

"What happened when you said goodbye to Marie?"

Joe gave a confused look and answered. "What, you want like details?"

"No, no," I said slightly embarrassed thinking of Joe intimate with his girlfriend. "I just wanna know...well was she sad?"

"Well, of course she was sad," Joe answered lifting the remote to turn down Jack who was yelling on the TV. "But she kinda has gotten use to me going away."

"Yeah," I answered not completely satisfied with his statement. "So she didn't throw a rage and tell you to stay away from her eggs, did she?"

At this Joe gave a laugh. "That's what Maddie did?"

"Yes!" I said waiting for Joe to just tell me that Maddie was crazy and I was right to feel this way.

Joe gave another laugh and his dark eyes returned to mine. "Look Patrick, it doesn't mean anything," he said shocking confusion back into me. "You have to think what she's going through. Maddie and you kinda have a backwards relationship. The baby is the last thing that's suppose to happen and for you guys it's become the first."

"Mmhmm," I said still debating the 'she is crazy' stand point. "So how am I suppose to react when she says stuff like that?"

"I guess," Joe said a little uneasily. "You're suppose to support her."

"Support her in yelling at me?"

"Patrick, maybe you should take this relationship back," Joe offered.

"Well it's a little late for that," I chuckled thinking asking Joe for advice had been a wrong move.

"That's not what I meant," Joe said. "I mean, maybe you guys should concentrate on being friends, instead of a couple who's going to have a baby."

The thing Joe said sounded logical and well thought out. I nodded to Joe and he gave me a small smile before returning to Lost. So friends, I thought. "Wait, Joe," I said realization hitting me. "Does that mean no more sex?"

Joe just laughed.

........

#33 Be The First To Admit You're Wrong And The Last To Admit She's At Fault

What was wrong with the book! I could swear Maddie was making me read it just to brain wash me into thinking she was a God or something. It's not like I couldn't read right through this bullshit. I was a man! Not some sissy who would apologize for everything that went wrong. I just wouldn't do it! I wouldn't do it!

So later that night, I picked up my phone to apologize to Maddie. On my own accord of course! But my well thought out plan to get back in her good graces was tarnished when Maddie didn't even acknowledge anything had happened.

"What are you apologizing for?" She asked bewildered. "I'm pretty sure I was the one who blew up on you."

"You can't just let me apologize?"

"For what?"

"I don't know," I said just as confused. "It's in the book."

"It says to apologize to me in the book?"

"Yeah!"

Maddie gave a small chuckle and pretty soon I was laughing too. It was stupid! The whole situation was stupid! "Pretty sure you're crazy Patrick," she said subsided her giggles.

"I could say the same to you," I retorted fiddling with the material on the couch. I heard Maddie laugh again and suddenly I envisioned how she looked. Her bright smile which seemed to light up her eyes even more. Her mouth in a slight U-shape just waiting to be kissed, but I couldn't think those things. I couldn't according to my new 'friend rule' detailed fully by Joe. From now on it was 'how are you? Let's talk about the world' instead of 'you look hot! Let's fuck.' So that's what I did...I asked Maddie about world politics and fell into the slow conversation. Having friends is great!